Biden goes on public event blitz as White House backs off pressure to leave race

WASHINGTON – The White House announced Tuesday that President Joe Biden will meet with Democratic legislators and governors, sit for an interview on a TV network and will hold a press conference in the coming days as he resists mounting pressure to step aside in the 2024 race following his disastrous performance in last week’s debate with Republican Donald Trump.

“We really want to turn the page on this,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the growing calls for Biden to withdraw from the race. She added that the 81-year-old president had no intention of walking awaycharacterizing his failures in the debate as simply evidence of “a bad night” when he had a cold.

The White House also held an all-staff meeting on Wednesday, billed as a post-debate morale boost and an opportunity for senior staff to keep the team focused on the government, according to three people familiar with the details who spoke. told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

But Democratic leaders were increasingly signaling that they were not buying the White House’s attempts to ignore Biden’s head-to-head performance when he hesitated and meaningless answersas just a momentary lapse.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC that she believes “it’s a legitimate question” whether the disruption to Biden’s performance is just “an episode or is it a condition.”

“When people ask that question, it’s a legitimate question — for both candidates,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said she has not spoken to Biden since the debate, but emphasized that the president is “on top of his game as far as knowing the issues and what is at stake.”

Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democratic member of Congress to publicly call for Biden’s resignation. He said Biden should “make the painful and difficult decision” to withdraw, citing the president’s inability to “effectively defend his many accomplishments” in the debate.

Rep. Jared Golden, a moderate Democrat from Maine, said in a local newspaper column Tuesday that the debate “didn’t shake me like it did others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: Although I don’t know you don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump will win. And I’m okay with that.”

Jean-Pierre said Biden, who has not taken questions from reporters since Thursday night’s debate, will meet with Democratic governors and top congressional leaders on Wednesday. And Biden also agreed to an interview Friday with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, which will air Friday. He planned trips to Wisconsin on Friday and Philadelphia on Monday. And he will hold a press conference during the NATO summit in Washington next week.

The president’s accelerated timeline comes after a private discussion within Biden’s campaign about what can be done to counteract the damaging impression left by last week’s debate.

“We’re going to get there, all over the country. Americans will see it with their own eyes,” Jean-Pierre said at a White House briefing, rejecting any suggestion that the president undergo cognitive testing or provide additional information about his medical condition.

When asked if the president had a degenerative disease or dementia, Jean-Pierre said: “No. And I hope you’re asking the other guy the same question,” she said, referring to Trump, who is 78 and once challenged Biden to a cognitive test. just to confuse whoever applied the test to him in the next sentence.

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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Zeke Miller contributed to this approach.