U.S. President Joe Biden said at a press conference on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., that he intends to move on in the race for president and defeat Donald Trump in the November election. At the press conference, Biden mistakenly referred to Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump" and before that mistakenly brought up Putin while introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, writes UNN citing the BBC.
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Biden spoke to reporters for the first time since his debate with Trump.
"There's a long way to go in this campaign, and that's why I'm going to move on," Biden said. - I think I'm the most appropriate candidate to run.
"I am not running in the presidential race for my legacy but to finish the job I started. Things will be much better if I am re-elected," he said when asked about calls to withdraw from the election race.
Biden's opening statement at the press conference was more like a campaign speech - he again talked about the successes of his administration and achievements in foreign and domestic policy, as well as rebuked Donald Trump, the publication writes.
"America cannot retreat to the world, we must lead it," was, as the publication points out, a clear rebuke to Trump's "America First" policy.
"I defeated him once and I intend to defeat him again," Biden said.
Biden's press conference lasted almost an hour. Journalists questioned the president long and hard about his election plans and state of health. Biden himself called the names of the reporters, reading them out of a notebook in front of him, after which they asked questions. This practice is not unusual, CNN notes, as such a format helps avoid the shouting and chaos that often occurs at such events. In all, the president answered 19 questions from 10 media outlets.
In response to the first question about whether Vice President Kamala Harris would be willing to replace him as the nominee if necessary, Biden quipped and said: "I would not have chosen Vice President Trump to be vice president unless I thought she was sufficiently qualified to be president.
Donald Trump immediately seized on the gaffe, posting a video on his Truth Social network. "Great job, Joe!" - he wrote.
Overall, correspondents note, Biden seemed confident, calm and smiled a lot at the press conference.
But his caveat about Harris wasn't the first of the day.
Shortly before the press conference at a ceremony with NATO leaders, Biden misspoke again. "Now I want to turn the floor over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he does determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin," Biden said.
He quickly realized the mistake and said: "President Putin? He [Zelensky] will defeat president putin. I'm so focused on defeating President Putin that we have to worry about that.
"I'm better than that," Zelensky, standing nearby, joked. "You're a hell of a lot better," Biden said.
As the publication notes, Joe Biden's press conference was the biggest test for him since his unsuccessful debate with Donald Trump in late June, which sparked the current crisis and numerous calls to withdraw from the election race.
All along, the president has been persistent and consistent in his determination to run for president and defeat Donald Trump.
Democrat and Illinois House member Brad Schneider, who previously called for Biden to drop out of the race, said the news conference didn't change his position.
"I think the president has done an excellent job. He has demonstrated a command of the issues - both domestic and foreign policy. [...] But the thing is, as has been said, we can't have a situation where we hold our breath every day. Whether it's a press conference or a debate or a rally," Schneider told CNN.
On Thursday, the NYT wrote, citing sources, that some of Biden's advisers are allegedly discussing how to convince him to resign. "The president's close allies are developing arguments for why he should end his reelection campaign, though it is unclear whether those discussions have reached the president himself," the outlet noted.
The White House denies this information. "It's unequivocally not true. The president's team is firmly on his side," White House spokesman Andrew Bates told the New York Times.