White House says zero chance Biden will withdraw

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden is "absolutely not" pulling out of the US presidential race, his spokeswoman said on Wednesday, as pressure mounted following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

Panic has gripped his Democratic Party 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.

Biden told a call with campaign and party staffers that he is 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.

Biden has admitted he performed poorly in the debate, and was blunt in a radio interview recorded on Wednesday with Wisconsin's Civic Media.

"I screwed up. I made a mistake. That's 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I've done in 3.5 years," he said.

He echoed that sentiment in an interview with Pennsylvania's WURD radio on Thursday, saying, "I had a bad debate."

Biden may be tested on his ability to think on his feet when he sits with ABC News on Friday for his first television interview since the debate, and he will also hit the swing states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in the coming days.

'Almost fell asleep'

The president has cited fatigue as a new explanation for his poor debate showing, saying that he was unwise to travel "around the world a couple times" before the debate and "almost fell asleep on stage".

But he had been back in the United States for nearly two weeks and spent two days relaxing and six days preparing for the debate.

The Biden campaign has been desperate to reassure Democratic donors and voters that the president's performance against Trump was a one-off.

But party figures have voiced bafflement over what they see as deflection and excuses from the president and his aides.

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, one of the Democratic Party's biggest donors, told The New York Times that Biden should withdraw.

"Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous," he said in an email to the paper.

The concern was compounded by a New York Times poll conducted after the debate that showed Trump with his biggest lead ever over Biden — 49 percent to 43 percent of likely voters.

Agencies via Xinhua