Senior Democrats have called on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race after he called Kamala Harris “vice president Trump” at a Nato summit.
The US President made the blunder in a “make or break” press conference as he attempted to “allay” Democrats’ fears about his re-election bid. An hour earlier, he introduced Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader, as “President Putin”.
Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called on Mr Biden to make way for a “younger successor” just moments after he finished speaking.
The US President needs to protect his “legacy” and is not the “strongest candidate” to take on Donald Trump in November’s election, he said, urging him to “put our nation first”.
He was quickly followed by Scott Peters, a California congressman, who said in a statement: “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course.”
Eric Sorensen, of Illinois, urged the 81-year-old president to give up the Democratic nomination to a “leader who will stand up to the present threats against democracy”.
Mr Biden, who was repeatedly asked about the state of his re-election bid in the press conference, said he was “determined” to continue his campaign.
He said he could stand down and make way for Ms Harris to take on the nomination, but only if his team told him he could not win the election.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama and frequent critic of Mr Biden, said on CNN: “If that’s the case, then they’re not really levelling with him about where this race is… it’s not fair to him if they’re not telling him the truth.”
Mr Biden said he wanted to “allay fears” among Democratic colleagues by doing more campaign events by “letting them see me out there”.
“I’m going out into the areas where we think we can win, where we can persuade people to move our way,” apparently conceding that voters have moved towards Trump since their debate last month.
