President Joe Biden says his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race was motivated by his “duty to my country” to prevent Donald Trump from returning to the White House.
In his first interview since dropping out of the House race, Biden said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he thought talk of Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, raising questions about his candidacy would be a “real distraction” if he remained in the race.
“Our polling showed it was a close race, and it was going to be a close race,” Biden said on “CBS Sunday Morning.” “But a lot of my Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate thought I would hurt them in the race. And they were worried that if I stayed in the race, it would be a story. We’re going to be interviewed about, ‘Why did Nancy Pelosi say …?’ ‘So-and-so said …?’”
The president added that when he originally ran in 2020, he intended to serve a one-term term and pass the torch to the next generation of Democrats.
“When I first ran, I thought of myself as a transition president,” he said. “I can’t even tell you how old I am, because it’s hard to get it out of my mouth. But things happened so fast that it didn’t happen.”
Biden said he ultimately wanted to ensure that former President Donald Trump, whom he described as a “real danger to American security,” was defeated in November.
“The issue that remains important to me is not a joke, but preserving this democracy,” he said. “I thought that was important because while it is a great honor to be president, I think you have a duty to do the most important thing you can do, which is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.”
After announcing in July that he would withdraw from the race, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take over the White House. Democrats quickly rallied around her, and her campaign showed signs of real momentum. Harris leads Trump in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin among likely voters, according to the latest New York Times-Siena College poll released Saturday.
Biden praised Harris and her vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as a “tremendous team” and said he would do everything he could to get them elected, including campaigning in Pennsylvania and other states.
“I talk to her a lot, and I know that her running mate is a great person,” Biden said. “As we said, if we grew up in the same neighborhood, we would be friends. He’s my kind of guy. He’s genuine and smart.”
Biden also addressed questions about his health and mental well-being, and his poor performance in the CNN debate that led to his absence.
“I had a really, really bad day in that debate because I was sick,” Biden said. “But there was nothing serious.”
Biden said he hopes people will remember him as a president who proved that American democracy can work and recognize the accomplishments of his administration.
“It got us out of the pandemic,” he said. “It created the single largest economic recovery in American history. We are the strongest economy in the world. We have more work to do. And it showed that we can bring the country together.”
