WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will hold a “big” press conference on Thursday, his first major appearance since his debate disaster against Donald Trump, which will be crucial to his shaky chances of re-election.
The eyes of the world will be on the 81-year-old’s solo appearance at a NATO summit in Washington, amid growing calls within his Democratic Party for him to resign amid concerns about his age and health.
Biden will be closely watched to see if he can handle a rare spontaneous exchange with reporters.
Any misstep by Biden at the event – which has been postponed by an hour to 6:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. GMT) – could turn the trickle of Democrats who have so far urged him to abandon his candidacy for the 2024 election into a flood.
The dam appeared to break on Wednesday when Hollywood actor and Democratic supporter George Clooney urged Biden not to run and party leader Nancy Pelosi shied away from supporting him.
About 14 Democratic members of the House of Representatives and one Democratic senator openly called on the man who defeated Trump four years ago to withdraw from the candidacy.
According to a new poll released Thursday, more than half of Democrats believe Biden should end his candidacy for a second term, and two-thirds of Americans believe he should drop out of the race.
But the debate seems to have had no impact on the fight against Trump: the former president and the incumbent remain neck and neck at 46 percent, according to a poll by the Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos.
The New York Times reported that Biden’s campaign team was also quietly testing the strength of Vice President Kamala Harris in a possible duel with Trump.
Some of the president’s long-time associates are now discussing how to persuade him to resign, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources.
The White House said the report was “clearly” false.
Harris stands firmly behind Biden and campaigned for him in North Carolina on Thursday.
“We always knew this election would be tough, and the last few days have reminded us that running for president is never easy,” Harris said.
“But we know one thing about our President Joe Biden: He is a fighter.”
Biden now faces what CNN called “the most intense presidential press conference in modern history,” exactly two weeks after his rocky debate performance sparked a storm of concern about his age, health and mental state.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has repeatedly promised that there will be plenty of questions at Thursday’s “big boys’ press conference” – a term she first used by a journalist and has since adopted.
House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday he was speaking to every single party representative, adding they would then “come together as a leadership team and determine the next steps.”
The once talkative Biden has held fewer press conferences than his predecessors. The most recent ones were only with foreign heads of state and were limited to two questions each.
Combined with the lack of interviews, critics accused the White House of covering up the effects of age on America’s oldest president.
Biden called his collapse during the debate a “bad night” and attributed it to a cold and jet lag.
But Clooney tried to torpedo the narrative that this was an isolated case, saying it was “devastating” to admit it, but the signs were clear at a benefit event he hosted in Los Angeles on June 15.
Biden has stressed that he is committed to running in November, and since he has already won the Democratic Party’s primary vote, there is no real way to force him out of the race.
His campaign hit back on Thursday with a new ad campaign on the final day of the NATO summit that portrayed Trump as a “lapdog” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
NATO allies are also seeking reassurance about Biden’s leadership qualities and expressing fears that a return of the isolationist, Putin-praising Trump could spell trouble for the alliance.