Sun 21 July 2024:
United States President Joe Biden says in a letter on X he is stepping down as a candidate in the 2024 election, endorses Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Dozens of congressional Democrats have publicly urged the 81-year-old to step aside after his shaky debate performance last month against Republican challenger Donald Trump, 78.
My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
Biden took office in 2021, he became the oldest sitting president in US history — and he was 78 at the time. Now, at 81, criticisms about his age and vitality have only increased, leading to today’s decision.
If Biden had completed a second term in office, he would have exited the presidency at age 86.
Some have questioned whether he would live to reach that milestone. But when asked on July 9 whether Biden would be able to serve a full second term, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave an unequivocal answer: “Yes.”
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Biden ‘must resign the office immediately’: House Speaker Johnson
In a statement posted online, Johnson said “November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”
At this unprecedented juncture in American history, we must be clear about what just happened. The Democrat Party forced the Democrat nominee off the ballot, just over 100 days before the election.
Having invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans who selected Joe…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 21, 2024
How did we get here?
The turning point came on June 27, when Biden and Trump met each other on stage in Atlanta, Georgia, for the first debate of the 2024 presidential race.
Neither candidate had appeared in a public debate since they faced one another in the 2020 presidential race. Critics openly questioned whether they would be rusty.
But Biden, who had spent days at the presidential retreat Camp David preparing for the debate, delivered a noticeably wobbly performance. From the moment he stepped on stage, observers noted his stiff walk and hoarse voice. And it only got worse from there, as he delivered meandering answers and incomplete thoughts.
Biden’s debate performance reignited long-standing criticisms that the 81-year-old was simply too old to handle the pressures of the presidency.
In the aftermath, Democrats publicly called on Biden to step away from the race, warning that questions about his ability to lead could endanger candidates up and down the ballot.
Trump says ‘crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President’
“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t,” Trump said, repeating his claims that Biden’s presidency enabled millions of people to cross the border into the US unchecked.
“We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump, Biden’s predecessor, added.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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