Democrats put more pressure on Biden to abandon re-election bid

Washington, July 12

President Joe Biden faced more calls from fellow Democrats to abandon his re-election bid on Friday, following a news conference in which he delivered nuanced responses but occasionally stumbled over his words.

It was unclear whether Biden’s performance would convince doubters in his party that he is their best bet to defeat Republican Donald Trump in the Nov 5 election and serve another four-year term in the White House.

At least 17 congressional Democrats so far have called for him to drop out and allow the party to pick another standard-bearer, including some who announced their positions after the news conference on Thursday night.

Democrats are worried that Biden’s low public approval ratings and growing concerns that he is too old for the job could cause them to lose seats in the House and Senate, leaving them with no grip on power in Washington should Trump win the White House.

But Biden made clear that he did not plan to step aside. “If I show up at the convention and everybody says they want someone else, that’s the democratic process,” he said. “It’s not gonna happen.”— Reuters

Prez refers to Zelenskyy as Putin

Washington: US President Joe Biden on Thursday mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin before correcting himself at the NATO summit in Washington. “And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination, ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said, referring to Zelenskyy. Reuters

‘Kamala qualified to be president’

Washington: US President Joe Biden on Thursday said his deputy, Vice President Kamala Harris, is “qualified” to lead the country. “From the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be the president. That’s why I picked her.” PTI

Donors Threaten to hold $90 mn funding

Washington: Some major Democratic donors told the largest pro-Biden super PAC, Future Forward, that roughly $90 million in pledged donations will remain on hold if US President Joe Biden maintains his candidacy, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing unidentified sources. Reuters

US ‘deep state’ hid Biden’s condition: Russia

Moscow: Russia on Friday said US President Joe Biden’s mental state had been the main story of this week’s NATO summit, and the US “deep state” and media had long hidden his true condition from the public. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that those who wanted to portray Biden as competent had only worsened the situation. Reuters