In his first interview since abandoning the presidential race, US President Joe Biden counted CBS broadcaster who made the decision to maintain democracy in the United States.
Speaking on CBS News’ Sunday Morning program, Biden said: “The polls that we had showed it was a close race, it would have gone down to the wire… But what happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate thought I would harm them in disputes.”
“And I was worried if I stayed in the race, that would be the issue. You’d be interviewing me about ‘Why [former speaker of the House of Representatives] Nancy Pelosi said…’ ‘Why did so-and-so…’ And I thought that would be a real distraction,” Biden added.
The 81-year-old leader abandoned his re-election bid and supported Vice President Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate in July.
Biden stressed that in addition to what the polls showed him, the main reason for his decision was also to “maintain democracy” and “defeat Trump”, in reference to former President Donald Trump, who is once again the presidential candidate of the Republican Party .
“I thought it was important. Because while it’s a great honor to be president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what [is] the most important thing you can do, and that is, we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.”
Polls initially showed that Trump had built a lead over Biden, including in swing states, following Biden’s debate performance on June 27, when he appeared to have difficulty speaking coherently and when his performance strengthened the argument that he did not he had more of the cognitive capacity to be president.
But Harris’ entry into the race changed the dynamic.
An Ipsos poll published Thursday showed Harris leading Trump nationally 42 percent to 37 percent in the run-up to the Nov. 5 election.
Although the Democratic Party has not yet officially announced Harris as its presidential candidate, some within the party question whether she will be able to defeat Trump.
‘Ceasefire possible’
In addition to the elections, Biden also spoke about Israel’s war in Gaza and highlighted that he still believes a ceasefire is possible before the end of his presidency.
“The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, etc., is still viable. And I’m working literally every day – and so is my entire team – to make sure this doesn’t turn into a regional war. But it easily can,” Biden told CBS.
Reporting from Washington DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said one of the big reasons polls were telling Biden he could not win re-election was his support for Israel in the war in Gaza – where almost 40,000 Palestinians have been dead –. and its inability to secure a ceasefire.
“He [Biden] said he will send more of his team to Israel to close the deal,” Fisher said.
On Thursday, Qatar, Egypt and the US called on Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. In a joint statement, the three countries urged Israel and Hamas “to resume urgent discussion” on August 15 in Doha or Cairo “to fill all remaining gaps and begin implementation of the agreement without further delay.”
But amid calls for a ceasefire, a deadly Israeli attack on a school in Gaza on Saturday renewed calls for the US to also stop providing staunch support to Israel, including arms transfers that rights advocates say , are fueling atrocities in the Palestinian enclave.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said more than 100 Palestinians were killed and dozens more were injured on Saturday when Israel launched an attack on al-Tabin School in Gaza City.
“The US and allies say a ceasefire is close. But all the Palestinians see is more death, displacement and despair. The genocide continues,” wrote James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, on social media.
“It is past time to end the charade. Israel does not want peace or a ceasefire. Why are we still sending weapons to Israel?”
Washington has faced growing national and international criticism, including from human rights groups, for its military support for Israel. Saturday’s airstrike came a day after a US State Department spokesman said the US would provide Israel with $3.5 billion to spend on US weapons and military equipment, after Congress had appropriated the funds in April.
“We know that Hamas has used schools as meeting and operations sites,” the White House said.
“But we have also said repeatedly and consistently that Israel must take steps to minimize harm to civilians.”
At least 39,790 people were killed and 92,002 injured in Israel’s war in Gaza. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, and more than 200 were taken prisoner.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
