President Biden is due to face the press late Thursday afternoon for his first solo news conference since his disastrous debate defeat last month and is expected to be grilled as the public assesses his mental state amid growing health concerns.
Biden is scheduled to hold a press conference at 5:30 pm on Thursday after hosting NATO leaders in Washington DC this week. The media is calling this a “big boy press conference,” in which Biden will answer questions from the media alone. According to a Fox News report, this will be Biden’s first solo press conference this year, and his first time speaking to the media at a press conference since the debate with former President Trump on June 27.
Biden’s poor debate performance has raised concerns about his health, and there is growing concern within Democrats that the president’s advanced age of 81 and declining mental capacity will be a disadvantage for the party as he takes on Trump.
Since the debate, at least nine Democrats have called on Biden to step down, and at least 23 other Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin, have expressed concerns about Biden’s performance and reelection efforts.
In debate aftermath, Democrats and media urge Biden to give more interviews, press conferences
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg listens to President Biden’s speech during a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2024. (Yuri Grypas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Biden has vowed to continue campaigning amid growing concerns and calls for him to withdraw from the race and allow another candidate to take on Trump.
“There’s a lot of speculation about what Joe’s going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What’s he going to do?,” Biden said Friday during a speech in Madison, Wisconsin. “My answer is this: I’m going to run and I’m going to win again.”
Speaker Pelosi added fuel to the fire of turmoil within the party in an interview on Wednesday when she suggested Biden should reconsider his vow to remain in the race.
The NATO summit in Washington is a “pivotal” moment for Biden as he faces growing scrutiny over his fitness to serve as president
“It’s up to the president to decide if he wants to run,” she said. “Time is running out and we’re all urging him to make the decision to run.”
“I want him to do whatever he decides and that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we will go along with it,” she added.
Pelosi said in the interview that she and other Democrats are waiting to see how this week plays out for Biden, and suggested she has told other Democrats not to publicly discuss their thoughts about Biden until the week is over.
“Just wait,” she said, “whatever you’re thinking, you don’t need to bring it out until you’ve told someone privately or seen how this week plays out.”
Biden delivered a powerful speech on NATO on Tuesday afternoon, but the speech drew far less praise from key allies than his dismal debate performances and repeated public gaffes in recent months.
On social media, liberal-leaning accounts praised the president’s speech as “classic” and “powerful.” But leading Democrats have overwhelmingly refrained from publicly commenting on the speech. Fox News Digital reached out to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Mark Warner and the White House for comment on whether the speech was a success, but did not receive a response.
“Today, NATO is stronger than it has ever been,” Biden said in a speech Tuesday night. “This moment in history calls for our united strength, and it’s good that we’re stronger than we’ve ever been. Dictators seek to upend a world order that has held together for nearly 80 years. Terrorist groups continue to plot their evil plans, sowing mayhem, chaos and suffering in Europe. Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, and he wants Ukraine’s total subjugation to end it.”
Biden gives strong endorsement for NATO in speech amid health concerns, Democratic concerns
In addition to Tuesday’s NATO address, President Biden’s schedule this week is packed with NATO meetings, dinners, a bilateral meeting with newly appointed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and a meeting with the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor union federation. The press conference is the most eagerly anticipated event on the president’s schedule, not just for Democrats but also for members of the media, as it allows the president to speak directly to reporters amid growing questions about his health.
World leaders attend a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Since Biden’s disastrous debate performance, Democrats and the media have repeatedly argued that Biden needs to give more interviews and press conferences if he wants to stay on the campaign trail.
“The only way he and the campaign can respond is not to talk to senators or governors, because this is not a ‘tell me’ situation, this is a ‘show me’ situation,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) told CNN last Wednesday. “So he’s going to have to go through the chaos of the campaign and have unlimited press conferences with your people and have unscripted conversations with voters.”
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President Biden shocked the nation with his disastrous debate performance, sparking calls for him to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. (Getty Images)
Biden gave an interview to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that aired on July 5, but the interview did nothing to allay growing concerns about the president’s mental capacity and age, particularly his repeated evasion of whether he would take a cognitive test.
Biden says ‘the world is watching America’ amid intense scrutiny ahead of NATO summit
“Have you had any specific cognitive testing done, or seen by a neurologist or other specialist?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“No, nobody said I had to do that. They said I was OK with it,” Biden responded.
President Biden drew attention when, in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, he said he wasn’t sure whether he had watched his own performance in the debate. (Screenshot/ABC)
Stephanopoulos pressed Biden for a third time about whether he would undergo cognitive or neurological testing and whether he would make the results of those tests public, but the president dodged the question, saying he gets tested every day as president.
“Look, I take cognitive tests every day,” Biden said. “I take tests every day. Everything I do. You know, I don’t just run a campaign. I run the world. This may sound like a stretch, but we’re the center of the world.”
President Biden stressed that he has no intention of stepping down from office. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Experts have previously told Fox News Digital that Biden’s public events this week will be crucial not only to his campaign but also to how America is perceived on the world stage, which may explain why Democrats were reluctant to openly praise the president’s NATO speech on Tuesday.
“This is a crucial week for President Biden, not only because there will be intense interest in what he says at his press conference, but also because this summit will be a clear example of the restoration of American global leadership in support of our national defense,” Joel Rubin, a senior State Department official during the Obama administration, previously told Fox News Digital.
Congressional Democrats largely resist Biden withdrawal call despite personal concerns: Report
“With the world’s eyes on the NATO summit, Biden must demonstrate to the American people that he is capable of serving the remainder of this term, let alone future terms,” Rep. Mike Lawler, D-New York, told Fox News Digital this week.
“President Biden has a responsibility to demonstrate that he is competent and up to the task,” Lawler said. “What we’ve seen in recent weeks is insufficient to meet that responsibility.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (Andrew Thomas/NurPhoto via Getty Images/File)
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said this week that reporters would ask the president questions at a news conference at the end of the NATO summit.
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“The president will be giving a solo press conference at the end of the NATO summit, which he looks forward to, and he will answer your questions, so that will be good,” Jean-Pierre said Monday.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken and Hanna Panreck contributed to this story.
