Confusion as Biden workforce says he’ll stand to be President however household casts doubt
Joe Biden’s team has insisted he’ll stand in the US Presidential race but his family has cast doubt on whether he will, reports suggest.
Conflicting briefings from Washington DC have thrown confusion over the situation as the US President faces calls to stand aside as the Democrats candidate amid concerns over his mental ability and age. Mr Biden’s campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said he is “absolutely” staying in the presidential race on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday morning.
But at the same time NBC news reported that Mr Biden’s family members of have discussed what an exit from his campaign might look like, according to two people familiar with conversations. The impact of the campaign on his health, his family and the country’s are all said to be part of the discussions, sources told the platform.
Ms Dillon said President Biden is the “best person to take on Donald Trump” in the presidential race. “Donald Trump is not going to offer anything new to the American people. He’s the same person he was in 2020 … that is about himself and not about the American people,” she said. “And we believe in this campaign. We are built for the close election that we are in, and we see the path forward.”
It came after a series of gaffes at last week’s Nato summit in Washington triggered questions about 81-year-old Mr Biden’s ability to lead the country. On the final day of the summit, in a gaffe that particularly hit headlines, he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the stage as “President Putin”. The US President immediately corrected himself, saying he wanted Mr Zelensky to defeat Putin: “President Putin? He’s going to beat President Putin. President Zelensky. I’m so focused on beating Putin, we’ve got to worry about it.”
An hour after the error, Mr Biden praised his running mate Kamala Harris, but instead mixed her name up with his republican opponent Donald Trump. In his very first answer at a press conference, he disastrously called his own Vice-President Ms Harris “Vice-President Trump” – a painful error in front of a national television audience.