Obama 'concerned' as pressure mounts on Joe Biden to pull out of presidential race in wake of Putin gaffe

12 July 2024, 11:00 | Updated: 12 July 2024, 11:05

The former President has privately spoken to Joe Biden as worries over his ability to beat Donald Trump mount.

Barack Obama and ex-speaker Nancy Pelosi have privately expressed their concern over Joe Biden’s presidential prospects, CNN reports.

This comes after the President mistakenly called Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy “President Putin” during a Nato press conference last night.

The outlet spoke with over a dozen Democratic sources, who feel it is clear Joe Biden will need to step down, it is just a matter of how and when.

Those inside the Democratic Party are reportedly dismayed by Obama’s reluctance to speak publicly on Biden’s future.

“They are watching and waiting for President Biden to reach a decision on his own,” one longtime Democrat close to those involved told the publication.

A spokesperson for Ms Pelosi dismissed these claims, telling CNN: “There is no member of Congress who would have any knowledge of any conversation that Speaker Pelosi would have with President Obama. Anyone who says they do is not speaking the truth.”

Despite pressure to step down, the president remains defiant and determined to remain on the ballot this November.

The US president said that if he slowed down and "can't get the job done", that would show he was unfit. "But there’s no indication of that yet," he told reporters.

Mr Biden was speaking in Washington at the end of the three-day NATO summit when he introduced Mr Zelenskyy by the name of the Russian leader, sparking audible gasps.

And in a second gaffe at a press conference an hour later, he also referred to Kamala Harris as vice-president Trump.

He caught himself after the Putin mistake and corrected the error, but he appeared not even to notice the Harris-Trump confusion.

Joe Biden calls Zelensky 'President Putin'

Mr Biden was attempting to allay fears about his age, and his ability to win re-election, on Thursday night.

Political commentators said it was the kind of event he needed to pull off - if he was to hold onto support after a meandering, error-strewn and sometimes incomprehensible debate against Donald Trump last month.

Many Democrats and influential donors have called for him to step down, either privately or publicly - including George Clooney.

But instead of calming fears about his mental state, Mr Biden exacerbated them with the slip-ups.

The president has repeatedly refused to end his bid to retain the White House after his disastrous performance in the debate.

He insists he is the best candidate to beat Mr Trump in November despite mounting pressure to step aside.

Mr Biden's Trump-Harris mix-up came after the Zelenskyy-Putin error, during a press conference.

In the first question he took from journalists, Mr Biden confused Kamala Harris with Donald Trump.

A reporter asked: "What concerns do you have of Vice President Harris’s ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket?

To which, Mr Biden replied: “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President if I didn’t think she was qualified to be President so let’s start there.”

The President also swerved further questions from the press on his abilities to serve another four years in office.

At a press conference at the conclusion of the Nato summit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer repeatedly dodged questions about Mr Biden's first blunder.

Responding to questions about his mental capacity, the Prime Minister told journalists "I would urge everyone to look at the substance of what's been achieved over these two days" over support for Ukraine.

He said: "When we think of the global threats, that is the best possible outcome we could have had today and so I think he deserves credit for that, as does the team that worked with him.

"We close this council with renewed confidence and resolve to meet the challenge of Russian aggression. That is the outcome we all hoped we would get to and President Biden led us through that."

Sir Keir sidestepped a question about whether Mr Biden was capable of serving four more years in the White House, instead again focusing on the outcomes of the Nato summit.

Before Mr Biden's latest slip-up, Sir Keir had told broadcaster their one-to-one discussions had happened "at pace" and Mr Biden seemed on "good form".

"We were billed for 45 minutes, we went on for the best part of an hour," he said.

"He was absolutely across all the detail. We were going at pace through a number of issues."

Asked whether the president was senile, Sir Keir told the BBC: "No... he's shown incredible leadership."

LBC's political editor Natasha Clark described it as a "gaffe of monumental proportions".

Democratic congressman Greg Stanton became the latest in a line of politicians and celebrity backers to distance themselves from Joe Biden - asking that he steps aside in the race for re-election.