White House says zero chance Biden will withdraw

WASHINGTON

Joe Biden is "absolutely not" pulling out of the White House race, his spokeswoman said on July 3, as pressure mounted on the president following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

Panic has gripped Democrats in the wake of last week's TV debate, and internal rumblings about finding a replacement candidate before November's election have been amplified by polls showing Trump extending his lead.

The New York Times and CNN reported that Biden, 81, had acknowledged to a key ally that his reelection bid was on the line if he failed to quickly reassure the public that he was still up to the job.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre rejected those reports outright, insisting Biden has no intention of withdrawing.

"The president is clear-eyed and he is staying in the race," she told reporters.

In a call with campaign and party staffers, Biden insisted he was going nowhere.

"I'm in this race to the end and we're going to win because when Democrats unite, we will always win. Just as we beat Donald Trump in 2020, we're going to beat him again in 2024," he said, according to a source close to the campaign.

He repeated that message in an emergency meeting at the White House with Democratic governors, who pledged their continued support, attendees said afterward.

"As the president continued to tell us, and show us, that he was all in... we said that we would stand with him," Maryland Governor Wes Moore, seen as a rising star and potential future presidential candidate, told reporters alongside Minnesota's Tim Walz and Kathy Hochul of New York.

Walz said Biden was "fit to serve."