White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made clear that President Biden plans to run for a second term if he wins on November 5, and dismissed concerns about how the US would respond if a nuclear attack occurred after 8pm.
During a closed-door meeting with Democratic governors last week, Biden, 81, reportedly instructed his team to refrain from holding events after 8 p.m. The Washington Post reported..
The president’s curfew came under question during a White House press conference on Tuesday.
“He also said he feels most alert just before 8 p.m. So let’s say the Pentagon detects an incoming nuclear bomb. It’s 11 p.m.. Who would you call? The First Lady?” a reporter asked Jean-Pierre.
“He has a team that is there to inform him of any news that is relevant and important to the American people,” Jean-Pierre explained.
Biden also reportedly told the governors he was healthy but “it’s my brain,” but Jean-Pierre denied that Biden had said that as a “joke.”
When pressed about the election results by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Jean-Pierre also pushed back against any suggestion that Biden was not in real power. First Lady Jill Biden He attended many meetings in the Oval Office.
“No, the president is the president of the United States. He makes the decisions,” she said.
Jean-Pierre also largely avoided questions about why Hunter Biden interrupted a meeting with his father at the White House earlier this month.
“You know, he’s really close with the family. It was the Fourth of July week,” she said. “They walked to the meeting together.”
What you need to know about the impact of President Biden’s debate performance:
Biden has been rocked by public criticism over his sharpness following his performance in a debate last month with former President Donald Trump.
Throughout the argument, Biden stared blankly into the camera, his mouth agape at times and appeared to lose his train of thought at multiple times.
Biden has faced questions about his age since taking office, but this debate was a rare, lengthy, unscripted public event for him.
Since then, seven House Democrats have come forward to urge Trump to step aside and pass the baton, fearing they will not be able to beat him in the Nov. 5 election.
House Democrats met privately early Tuesday to discuss the situation, but differences over how to respond remained.
Biden has refused to back out, insisting he wouldn’t run if he didn’t believe with all his “heart and soul” that he could do the job.
In a letter to Democratic lawmakers on Monday, Trump said he had no plans to give up his presidential nomination.
“The question of how to proceed has been debated for well over a week now,” Biden wrote in the letter. “It is time to end it. We have one job: to defeat Donald Trump.”
The octogenarian then dared anxious Democrats to challenge him for the nomination at the party’s convention, then claimed in the ensuing campaign that voters had rallied behind him.
Biden is holding a “big boy” NATO news conference on Thursday, seeking to reassure anxious Democrats that he’s up to the task.
