President Joe Biden has withdrawn from the presidential race after weeks of mounting pressure from Democrats.
He says it’s “in the best interest of my party and the country” – but will stay on for the final six months of his term.
Jo Biden endorses Kamala Harris, his vice-president, to be the new Democratic nominee.
The decision comes after weeks of intense pressure from fellow Democrats following a stumbling and sometimes incoherent debate performance against Republican Donald Trump at the end of June.
Joe Biden, 81, had resisted calls to step aside even as concerns over his mental fitness and capacity to beat Donald Trump mounted.
The announcement paves the way for another Democrat to become the party’s presidential candidate, with Vice-President Kamala Harris the most likely successor.
He will remain president until January, when the winner of the 2024 election will take office.
Joe Biden’s full statement pulling out of the race for the White House, which he posted on X a short time ago:
“My Fellow Americans, over the past three-and-a-half years, we have made great progress as a nation. Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We’ve made historic investments in rebuilding our nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans.
“We’ve provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years. Appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. And passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world. America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today.
“I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve protected and preserved our democracy. And we’ve revitalised and strengthened our alliances around the world.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.
“I will speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision. For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me re-elected.
“I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me.
“I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America.”
VP Kamala Harris says she intends to “earn and win” the nomination and do “everything in my power to… unite our nation to defeat Donald Trump”
Kamala Harris, now 59, was the first woman and the first black person to serve as California’s attorney general, the top lawyer and law enforcement official in America’s most populous state.
She gained a reputation as one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars, coming to power after being elected as California’s junior US senator in 2017 before setting her sights on the presidential nomination in 2020.
However, her adept debate performances were not enough to compensate for poorly articulated policies.
It was Joe Biden who returned Kamala Harris to the national spotlight by putting her on his ticket as the Democrat vice-presidential candidate in that same race.
After Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election, she focused on several key initiatives and has been instrumental in some of the Biden administration’s most touted accomplishments, including the launch of a nationwide “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, highlighting harm caused by abortion ban, and calling on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v Wade for abortion rights.
While she struggled to achieve broad appeal among Americans, in recent weeks – as speculation about Biden swirled – she has found a renewed base of support.
President Biden’s aides had been planning campaign events next week upon his return to the White House before he announced his decision to end his election campaign.
The president informed senior White House and campaign aides of his decision to exit the 2024 race shortly before the letter was publicly released, according to a senior White House official.
He told his team he had been reflecting on it over the past couple of days.
Former President Bill Clinton and Hilary Clinton, who ran against Trump in 2016, also endorse Harris – saying Democrats must “fight with everything we’ve got to elect her”
Former President Barack Obama says Democrats will name an “outstanding nominee”, but does not endorse Kamala Harris or any candidate.
Americans go to the polls in four months – on November 5.
Top Democratic fundraiser George Clooney has issued a damning call for Joe Biden to quit the presidential race, hours after senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi swerved questions about whether he should continue.
George Clooney said that the president had won many battles in his career, “but the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time”.
His comments came after Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, joined growing disquiet in the party, saying that time was “running short” for Joe Biden to decide whether to stay in the race against Donald Trump after his disastrous debate.
President Biden has stated, repeatedly, that he is determined to remain as the Democratic party’s candidate and beat Donald Trump in November.
George Clooney wrote in The New York Times that it was “devastating to say it” but the Mr Biden he met at a fundraising event three weeks ago was not the “‘Joe ‘big ****ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020.”
“He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” the actor said.
The fundraising event, held in Los Angeles, brought in a single-night record of roughly $30 million for the Biden campaign.
“Our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw.”
“This is about age. Nothing more,” he continued. “We are not going to win in November with this president.”
George Clooney added that his concerns matched those of “every” member of Congress he had spoken to.
Asked to respond, Joe Biden’s campaign referred to a letter the president sent Democrats in Congress that said he was “firmly committed” to his candidacy and beating Donald Trump.
Yet public dissent continues to grow within Joe Biden’s party as he faces scrutiny while hosting the NATO summit in Washington.
Nancy Pelosi, still one of the most powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill, on July 10 appeared to disregard Joe Biden’s insistence that he was determined to continue.
When asked if he should stay in the election race, she told MSNBC’s Morning Joe: “I want him to do whatever he decides to do.”
“It’s up to the president to decide if he’s going to run. We are all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short.”
A Biden campaign spokesperson referred to Nancy Pelosi’s comments on July 9, in which she said that she had “always been committed” to the president.
Around a dozen elected Democrats have suggested he abandon his campaign since his June 27 debate with Donald Trump.
On July 9, Michael Bennet of Colorado became the first Democratic senator to publicly dissent.
Although he did not call for Joe Biden to quit outright, he said Donald Trump would win the election, possibly by a “landslide”.
Pat Ryan, a congressman from New York, later wrote on X: “For the good of our country, for my two young kids, I’m asking Joe Biden to step aside.”
Overall support from elected Democrats remains robust, however.
Gavin Newsom, the California governor who was named by George Clooney as a potential replacement, said he was still “all in” with Joe Biden.
The Congressional Black Caucus, a group of roughly 60 politicians, and newer House members like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, have publicly backed him.
Donald Trump has been criticized by Joe Biden’s campaign team for sharing a video on social media featuring a truck bearing the image of the president with his hands and feet tied together.
The Biden campaign team accused the former president of “regularly inciting political violence” ahead of November’s election.
A spokesman for the Trump campaign said Democrats have been calling for “despicable violence” against Donald Trump.
Donald Trump posted the video on his social media site Truth Social on March 29.
According to the caption, it was filmed in Long Island, New York, on March 28 when the former president attended the wake of a New York City police officer who was killed during a traffic stop.
The video shows two passing trucks on the road, both covered in US flags and flags claiming support for the police.
The second truck was emblazoned with the words “Trump 2024”, and the rear of the vehicle features an image of Joe Biden with his hands and feet tied.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Donald Trump’s promotion of the video drew criticism from Joe Biden campaign’s team.
“Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously – just ask the Capitol police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6,” spokesman Michael Tyler said, referring to the storming of Congress by the former president’s supporters after he falsely claimed the 2020 election had been stolen from him.
But Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, responded: “That picture was on the back of a pickup truck that was travelling down the highway. Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him.”
The Republican presidential nominee faces four criminal cases, with an election subversion case and New York hush money case the most likely to be heard in court before the election on 5 November.
Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty in all the cases, and claimed he is being politically persecuted.
The row over the tailgate image is the latest in a series of heated exchanges between the two presidential candidates in the run-up to the polls.
In his bid to return to the White House, Donald Trump has ramped up his rhetoric, frequently referring to those convicted for their part in the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 as “hostages”.
He also came under criticism for comments in Ohio earlier this month in which he warned of a “bloodbath” if he wasn’t elected. He made the reference after talking about foreign car imports and their economic impact.
The Biden campaign seized on the comments but Donald Trump accused them and the media of taking him out of context.
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