How Biden’s re-election campaign fell apart – a timeline of three tumultuous weeks

Joe Biden fought off suggestions he step aside from the presidential race, while Trump survived an attempt on his life, before Biden’s eventual decision to step aside. Composite: EPA, Reuters

They may go down as the wildest three weeks in the history of the US presidency, when the prospects of Joe Biden’s candidacy surviving until polling day seemed to change from day to day – sometimes even from hour to hour.

Here’s a summary of the milestone events in an rollercoaster period in US politics. It began with a political debate on national TV that triggered a Democratic rebellion, took in a shocking assassination attempt on Donald Trump and ended with Biden withdrawing his 2024 candidacy and endorsing his deputy Kamala Harris.