U.S. President Joe Biden spent Saturday at his home in Delaware, joining a meeting of his campaign's co-chairs amid signs that his Friday night interview wasn't enough to quiet concerns over his fitness and that the standoff over his candidacy continues.
While some House lawmakers, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative James Clyburn, were working publicly to bring party support back to Biden, a fifth Democratic lawmaker, U.S. Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota, called for the president to relent.
"Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week's debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump," Craig, a top 2024 target of House Republican efforts, posted on X.
Biden will head out on Sunday, campaigning in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And beginning Tuesday he will host the NATO summit and hold a news conference.
In the meantime, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is to meet Sunday with senior House Democrats, and U.S. Senator Mark Warner is inviting some fellow Democratic senators to a possible meeting on Monday. Both meetings are to discuss Biden's campaign.
'I'm the most qualified person'
In his nationally televised interview Friday, Biden insisted he has the mental acuity and physical stamina to win the election against former President Donald Trump and run the country for another four years.
"I'm the most qualified person and I know how to get things done," Biden told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in a 22-minute interview. Earlier Friday, he assured a rally of about 300 supporters in the Midwestern political battleground state of Wisconsin, "I am staying in the race."
Some Democratic lawmakers in Washington privately — and increasingly publicly — have voiced concerns that, at 81, Biden no longer has the mental and physical capacity to take on Trump over the four months leading to the November 5 election, let alone govern the country over the next four years.
But Biden told Stephanopoulos, "If the Lord Almighty came down and said, 'Joe, get out of the race,' I'd get out of the race. But the Lord Almighty is not coming down."
The Democrats' fear that Biden's time in power is nearing the end have mounted since Biden appeared confused and halting during his debate with Trump a week ago, at times losing his train of thought and unable to mount a sustained attack on Trump or consistently defend his 3½-year tenure in office.
"I was exhausted," he said of the debate night. "I was feeling terrible … a bad cold." He said his poor performance was "nobody's fault but mine. It was a bad episode."
But Biden was alert on Friday and answered Stephanopoulos' questions with little hesitation. He was eager to attack Trump.
"Trump is a pathological liar," Biden contended, adding for emphasis, "The man is a congenital liar." Biden cited news accounts that said Trump had told 28 lies during the 90-minute debate.
Stephanopoulos said Trump turned down a chance to also sit for an interview with ABC.
The news anchor, one of the most prominent journalists in the United States, asked Biden whether he had ever had a neurological test, and Biden responded by saying, "I get a full neurological test every day," dealing with world and domestic issues.
Asked whether he had ever had a cognitive test, the president responded, "No one has said I need to."
Polls show Trump pulling ahead
With Biden's poor debate performance, numerous polls have shown Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, pulling ahead in the contest. After Biden won in 2020, it will be the first time the same two major party candidates have opposed each other in consecutive U.S. presidential elections since 1956.
But Biden took issue with Stephanopoulos' contention that he was falling behind.
"All the pollsters I talk to say it's a toss-up," Biden said.
Biden assured his supporters at the rally in Madison, Wisconsin, "I am running, and I'm going to win again."
"I beat Donald Trump," a forceful Biden said, as the crowd cheered and waved campaign signs. "I will beat him again."
Three major U.S. newspapers, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, have reported in recent days that Biden's mental lapses have become more frequent in recent months, with some Western officials saying they noted his apparent decline at the recent G7 summit in Italy.
Biden's delivery and sharpness in answering Stephanopoulos' questions were sure to be parsed, not only by Trump and his aides, but by Democrats wondering whether their candidate is up to taking on Trump, who is 78, and himself has misspoken.
Most Democrats have held fast in their support for Biden and his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, but some have been suggesting the party would be better off with Biden dropping out and Harris taking his place as the presidential standard bearer.
The national Democratic Party is holding its quadrennial nominating convention in August, leaving the party little time to settle on its presidential nominee.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
