WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden held a news conference Thursday evening, the key event in a monumental week for his campaign as he fends off calls for him to step aside as the party’s presumptive nominee. His big moment comes on the last day of the NATO summit.
After a dismal debate performance, Biden’s candidacy is still under question. The first Senate Democrat, Peter Welch of Vermont, and over a dozen House Democrats have publicly called for Biden to end his campaign.
One of the staunchest supporters in the president’s corner has been his wife Jill Biden. As she tries to help her husband salvage his campaign she’s also coming under new scrutiny from critics who’ve cast her as a power-hungry wife pushing her 81-year-old husband to run again.
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After press conference, another Democratic lawmaker says he hopes Biden will end his campaign
Another House Democrat, freshman Rep. Eric Sorensen of Illinois, said following the press conference that he was “hopeful” the president would step aside.
Sorensen said in 2020 Biden ran with the purpose of “putting country over party. Today, I am asking him to do that again.”
Other representatives from across the country earlier Thursday called on the president to end his reelection campaign. In total, over a dozen House Democrats have said they hope Biden will step aside.
Another House Democrat urges Biden to withdraw from campaign
Rep. Scott Peters of California also called on the president to abandon his bid for reelection.
Peters said in a statement after Biden’s news conference that Democrats are on a “losing course.”
“My conscience requires me to speak up and put loyalty to the country and to democracy ahead of my great affection for, and loyalty to, the President and those around him,” he said.
Biden discusses frustrations with Israel and also rising hopes for cease-fire
President Joe Biden acknowledged disappointments, missteps, and frustrations with Israel’s hard-right government but also pointed to increasing hopes of a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, which has devastated Gaza’s people.
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