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Joe Biden is set to answer reporters’ questions at a highly-anticipated news conference on Thursday evening, a make-or-break moment for the US president as he seeks to reassure his party that he is the right man to take on Donald Trump.
The news conference, scheduled to take place at the end of a NATO summit in Washington this week, will be a rare occasion for Biden, who has given far fewer press conferences as president than his predecessors.
But it comes as a crisis over Biden’s candidacy engulfs Democrats, with the White House and the president’s re-election campaign struggling to stave off calls from lawmakers, top donors and party officials for Biden to step down.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Thursday he plans to speak with all 200-plus House Democrats before conferring with senior leadership to decide the way forward.
“This week, we as House Democrats have been engaged in a process of talking to one another, and those conversations have been candid, comprehensive and clear, and they will continue,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries is facing growing calls for Biden, 81, to step down amid concerns that he is not presidential enough to remain in the White House for another four years after defeating President Donald Trump in November.
On Thursday, Michigan Rep. Hillary Scholten became the latest Democrat to call on Biden to stop campaigning.
“I believe it is time for him to step down from the presidential race and for new leadership to emerge for the good of our democracy,” Scholten said.
New York Rep. Ritchie Torres on Thursday stopped short of explicitly telling Biden to step down, but wrote to X that “the president’s talk of one bad debate performance reflects a continuing pattern of denial and self-deception.”
More than a dozen lawmakers have so far explicitly called on Biden to step down, and many others have also expressed concerns about Biden’s candidacy.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that Biden needed to make a “quick” decision about his future, while actor George Clooney, a major Hollywood Democratic supporter and donor, also called for him to drop out of the presidential race.
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Many lawmakers also worry that Biden could weigh heavily on congressional elections, scuppering Democrats’ chances of regaining control of the House of Representatives.
But Rep. Jeffries insisted on Thursday he remained bullish on Democrats’ chances of winning the vote and his chances of becoming the next House Speaker, saying, “House Democrats will take back control of the House on November 5th.”
A Democratic donor told the Financial Times on Wednesday that the party’s campaign funds are “drying up” as Biden continues to announce his candidacy.
“I have yet to speak to anyone in the Senate, on the donor side or in the House who has said they would not welcome any other nominee,” said Jeff Walker, a Democratic donor and investor with the Leadership Now Project, which has called on Biden to end his campaign.
Lawmakers’ growing concern comes about two weeks after Biden’s disastrous debate defeat against Trump sparked panic across the Democratic Party, with top donors and party officials worried the president was unfit to run a reelection campaign and another four years in office.
The White House and Biden’s campaign maintain that the president intends to defeat Trump in his re-election bid and serve another term in the Oval Office.
Additional reporting by Alex Rodgers in Washington
