US President Joe Biden revealed that he dropped out of the race for the White House because Democrats felt his candidacy would “damage” his chances of being re-elected.
The 81-year-old abandoned his campaign in July after months of speculation about his age and fitness to serve another four years.
Concerns rose among Democrats after a disastrous debate performance against donald trump in June and a series of high-profile blunders.
Senior Democrats, including former US President Barack Obama, expressed concern about his candidacy, while former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi BidenTrump’s longtime friend and ally urged him to step aside.
When asked on US news program CBS Sunday Morning why he decided to abandon his campaign, Biden said: “Look, the polls we had showed it was a very close race that would have gone down to the wire. But what happened was, several of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought it was going to hurt them in the elections.
“And I was worried that if I stayed in the race, that would be the issue [journalists] would be interviewing me about: ‘Why did Nancy Pelosi say [this]? Why does someone [say this]?’
“And I thought it would be a real distraction.”
Biden added that he considered himself a “transitional president” when he ran in 2020, adding, “I can’t even say how old I am. It’s hard for me to get out of my mouth.”
The American president also stated that for him the “critical issue” is “maintaining this democracy.”
He continued: “While it is a great honor to be president, I believe I have an obligation to the country to do the most important thing that can be done and that is: we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.”
In the interview with CBS chief campaign and elections correspondent Robert Costa, Biden also said he was “not at all confident” there would be a peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses the election.
It comes after Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 as they sought to keep him in power two months after his electoral loss to Biden.
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Harris and Walz make an appearance
The president of the United States quickly expressed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris. when he retired of this year’s race and urged Democrats to donate to his campaign.
Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential candidate, and the couple made their first public appearance together at a rally in Philadelphia this week.
Meanwhile, the Republican candidate’s campaign Trump claimed he was hacked by Iran in June.
The news website Politico said it had received emails in July from an anonymous source offering authentic documents from inside Trump’s operation, including a report on the “potential vulnerabilities” of his running mate JD Vance.
“These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States, with the intent to interfere with the 2024 elections and wreak havoc on our entire Democratic process,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.
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