Joe Biden vows still to run in presidential election and plays down disastrous debate with Trump as 'bad episode'
6 July 2024, 09:10 | Updated: 6 July 2024, 12:20
Joe Biden has vowed that he is still running in the US presidential election in November, as he played down his poor performance in a recent debate with Donald Trump.
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The Democrat president said he was "completely" ruling out the possibility of quitting the race for the White House, despite calls from some in his party after the debate last week.
Mr Biden, 81, spoke incomprehensibly at times during the debate and his attention appeared to drift, sparking concerns for his mental state.
Behind the scenes, Democrats have been talking about where they would go next if the president drops out - or what it would mean if he stays in.
But Mr Biden said he had simply suffered a "bad episode" during the debate and there were "no indications of any serious condition".
"I didn't listen to my instincts in terms of preparing," said Mr Biden, who rejected the idea of having an independent medical assessment.
"I have a cognitive test every single day," he said. "Every day, I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I'm running the world.
"Can I run the 100 in 10 flat? No. But I'm still in good shape."
Mr Biden claimed Mr Trump was a "pathological liar" and claimed that disruptions from his rival had flustered him during the debate.
He said: "I realised that, even when I was answering a question and they turned his mic off, he was still shouting and I let it distract me," he said.
"I'm not blaming it on that. But I realised that I just wasn't in control."
At least three House Democrats have called for Mr Biden to step down as the nominee, with Seth Moulton expressing his concerns in a Thursday radio interview and joining Lloyd Doggett and Raul Grijalva in seeking an alternative.
"President Biden has done enormous service to our country, but now is the time for him to follow in one of our founding father, George Washington's footsteps and step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump," Mr Moulton told the radio station WBUR on Thursday.
Eric Ham - is a US Political Analyst and anchor at Firstpost Americ, said that Mr Biden's insistence he was staying on might not be sufficient.
Eric Ham - is a US Political Analyst and anchor at Firstpost America, said that Mr Biden's insistence he was staying on might not be sufficient. loud number of insiders within the Democratic Party that are calling for Biden to step down."a
Caller Phil, 80, says ageism is 'rife' and playing a part in the responses to Joe Biden's CNN debate
Since the debate, Mr Biden has continued to make slip-ups that did not help that effort.
During an interview that aired on Thursday, Mr Biden tripped up and said "I'm proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, the first Black woman to serve with a Black president".
This was as scrambling of some of his often-used lines about his pride in serving with the first Black president and choosing the first Black woman to be vice president.
