This live coverage has now ended. You can find our full wrap here:
Updated
Biden initially used the final Nato summit press conference as something of a stump speech, brandishing his national security record in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression and saying that the November vote was “much more than a political question … It’s a national security issue.”
He then turned to his record on the economy, border security and his efforts to broker a peace in the Israel-Hamas war to bolster his case for his campaign in November.
Biden spoke for 58 minutes, including 50 minutes of unscripted question-and-answer. He appeared most comfortable and cogent as he discussed thorny foreign policy questions.
“Don’t make the same mistake America made after [Osama] Bin Laden,” he said he told Netanyahu, as he sought to ward off a potential occupation of the Gaza Strip. “There’s no need to occupy anywhere. Go after the people who did the job.”
He also indicated that European countries were prepared to cut their investments in China if Xi continued to “[supply] Russia, with information and capacity, along with working with North Korea and others, to help Russia in armament”.
But at times he got lost in the weeds. Asked about reports that he had asked his schedule to be moved up, he said: “I’m not talking about, and if you’ve looked at my schedule since I, since I made that stupid mistake in the campaign, in the debate. I mean, my schedule has been full bore.”
“Where’s Trump been?” he continued. “Riding around on his golf cart? Filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball?”
Summary
Here is a summary of what happened during and after Biden’s press conference earlier today:
During a signing ceremony alongside Zelenskiy on the final day of the summit, Joe Biden accidentally introduced Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “President Putin” in a gaffe that will fuel further concerns about his mental acuity that have threatened to scuttle his presidential campaign. Realising his mistake, Biden caught himself and said: “President Putin! We’re going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskiy. I’m so focused on beating Putin. We’ve got to worry about it. Anyway, Mr. President.
Later, while taking questions from reporters, Biden mistakenly called Kamala Harris ‘Vice-President Trump’. Asked if he has concerns about vice-president Harris’s ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket, Biden said he, “wouldn’t have picked vice-president Trump to be vice-president if I didn’t think she was not qualified to be president. From the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her.”
He was also asked whether he would step down if staff showed him data that indicated Harris would be more likely to beat Trump in the election. He said he would not step down unless staff showed him data that said there was no way he could win.
Biden was asked several questions about whether he is fit to run for president. In response to one, he said he was, “the most qualified person to run for president”. He said he beat Donald Trump once, “and I will beat him again”. Biden said there’s a “long way to go” with his campaign, and that he is “just going to keep moving” because he has “more work to do”. “We’ve got more work to finish,” he says.
Biden called the debate two weeks ago “a mistake” and said his schedule since then had been “full bore”, and that his wife, Jill Biden, had been critical of this.
Asked how he can assure the American people that he won’t have “more bad nights” like on the debate stage last month, Biden said the best way to assure voters was to ask if he was “getting the job done”. He said, “Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in three-and-a-half years?”
Biden was asked if he wished he had done anything differently over the course of the Israel-Gaza war so far. Biden said he immediately went to Israel and was in immediate contact with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the Jordanian leader, to try to get a consensus on how to get more aid and food and medicine into the Gaza Strip. “We pushed it really hard,” Biden says, but Israel was “occasionally less than cooperative”. He points to the Israeli war cabinet as being one of the most conservative war cabinets in the history of Israel. He said he put together a process for a two-state solution, because “the question has been from the beginning – what’s the day after in Gaza?”
Biden was asked what has changed since his candidacy in 2020, when he referred to himself as being a bridge candidate for a younger, fresher generation of Democratic leaders. Biden said what has changed is the “gravity of the situation” that he inherited in terms of the economy and US foreign policy. He says that most presidential historians have given him credit for having accomplished more than most any president since Johnson, “and maybe before that”, to get major pieces of legislation passed.
Biden said he is “determined” to keep running in November. “I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears. I say let them see me out there.”
As soon as the press conference wrapped, Representative Jim Himes, a Democrat of Connecticut and a member of the House intelligence committee, joined the small but growing group of congressional Democrats asking Biden to step down.
Representative Scott Peters of California then called on Biden to withdraw his campaign. “Today I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign,” he wrote in a statement obtained by Politico. “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course.” A few days ago, Peters had indicated on CNN that he was “pretty close” to taking this stand.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his campaign want Joe Biden to stay in the race, according to people familiar with the matter, and have discussed taking steps to ensure they don’t push the president to withdraw amid escalating panic among Democrats following his recent debate performance.
Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois then also joined Democrats calling on Biden to step down from his campaign. “In 2020, Joe Biden ran for president with the purpose of putting country over party,” Sorenson wrote in a statement. “Today I am asking him to do that again.”
Both Politico and Vanity Fair reported that George Clooney reached out to Obama before publishing an op-ed in the New York Times calling for Biden to drop out.
“While Obama did not encourage or advise Clooney to say what he said, he also didn’t object to it, we’re told from people familiar with their exchange,” Politico wrote. Vanity Fair also reported that Obama “did not try to stop [the op-ed]” by the actor and Democratic donor.CNN is reported that former president Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as Vice President, met privately with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to discuss their mutual concerns over Biden’s presidential bid. Obama’s doubts over Biden’s ability to win is “one of the worst kept secrets in Washington”, CNN reported. “Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi have spoken privately about Joe Biden and the future of his 2024 campaign. Both the former president and ex-speaker expressed concerns about how much harder they think it’s become for the president to beat Donald Trump. Neither is quite sure what to do,” CNN reported.
In case you missed this earlier: New York Times reports that the Biden campaign has been quietly polling to test Kamala Harris’s strength against Biden.
It reported:
Under siege from fellow Democrats, President Biden’s campaign is quietly testing the strength of Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald J. Trump in a head-to-head survey of voters, as Mr. Biden fights for his political future with a high-stakes news conference on Thursday.
The survey, which is being conducted this week and was commissioned by the Biden campaign’s analytics team, is believed to be the first time since the debate that Mr. Biden’s aides have sought to measure how the vice president would fare at the top of the ticket. It was described by three people who are informed about it and insisted on anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.
Donald Trump’s lawyers are imploring a New York judge to overturn his hush-money conviction and dismiss the case, arguing his historic trial was “tainted” by evidence that shouldn’t have been allowed because of the US supreme court’s recent presidential immunity ruling.
In a court filing dated 10 July but made public on Thursday, defense lawyers said the guilty verdict in the first-ever criminal trial of a US president should be set aside.
“The use of official-acts evidence was a structural error under the federal Constitution,” wrote defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove. “The jury’s verdicts must be vacated.”
The supreme court released its immunity decision on 1 July, giving broad protections to presidents and insulating them from prosecution for official acts. It also said evidence of a president’s official acts cannot be used in a prosecution on private matters. The supreme court did not define what constitutes an official act, leaving that to lower courts.
More context now on Orbán’s meeting with Trump.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, when asked about Orban’s initiative, said Ukraine would be rightly concerned about any attempt to negotiate a peace deal without involving Kyiv.
“Whatever adventurism is being undertaken without Ukraine’s consent or support is not something that’s consistent with our policy, the foreign policy of the United States,” Sullivan said.
Orbán’s self-styled peace mission has also irked many members of the European Union, whose rotating presidency Hungary took over at the start of this month.
The Hungarian embassy in Washington declined to comment on the planned meeting with Trump, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
Orban has been attending a Nato summit hosted by Democratic President Joe Biden. Hungary’s delegation voiced opposition to key NATO positions, w
And joining the actors / pop stars calling on Biden to step aside is R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe:
On Instagram, Michael Stipe of @remhq calls for Biden to step down from the campaign pic.twitter.com/21KuGvpMwA
— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) July 12, 2024
Here is Himes on CNN earlier, after calling for Biden to step aside:
Jim Himes, the top Democrat on House Intel and one of the latest to call on Biden to get out: “Imagine that three months from now, we get another performance like there was in the debate, right before the election. Do you want to take that risk? I don’t." pic.twitter.com/HOk0FgWa2I
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 12, 2024
John Crace's politics sketch: 'You could sense the embarrassment as Biden spoke'
Should I stay or should I go? If I stay there will be trouble … This wasn’t so much a press conference, more a job interview conducted in front of an audience of millions. One where almost everyone had already made up their mind that they would rather almost anyone else got the nod.
This was politics as a bloodsport. Painful to watch. Like intruding on a personal grief. Because there could be no winner here. Were Joe Biden to be word perfect and razor sharp, the doubts would remain about his cognitive abilities. The US president cannot erase his recent past. The gaffes come with ever increasing frequency. The obvious confusion. The long silences. The middle-distance stares.
The tipping point was last month’s presidential debate with Donald Trump. Biden tried to pass it off as one bad moment. The reality was that it was an excruciating 90 minutes. A complete meltdown no pretence or artifice could cover up. You would be embarrassed if this was an elderly relative. No one should be allowed to humiliate themselves in this way. But this was the most powerful man in the western world.
There was no coming back. Senior Democrats have become increasingly vocal about calling for him to step down. Nancy Pelosi has been notably careful in what she says. Congressmen have spoken out. George Clooney – reportedly with the implicit support of Barack Obama – has said it’s time for Biden to go.
But Joe is the only person who can’t read the room. He could step down with dignity. He could point to his record over the last four years and say that at 81 he has had enough. That it’s time for someone else to take over. Yet Biden has dug his heels in and so this can only end one way. With him being dethroned. Either by losing the presidency to Trump or being forced out by increasingly desperate members of his own party.
Earlier, Representative Jim Himes, a Democrat who serves on the Intelligence Select Committee, Himes told MSNBC more about his decision to call on Biden to step aside:
He said:
The numbers, the trajectory and what Americans feel in their bones right now suggest not only that Biden would lose this race but that we would lose the Senate and the House”
Updated
Orbán meets with Trump, discusses 'ways to make peace'
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has met with Trump.
Orban flew to Florida on Thursday to meet with the former US president after the end of the NATO summit in Washington, AFP reports.
Right-wing Orbán, whose country took over the rotating presidency of the European Union this month, has been a vocal supporter of Trump, and last met the 2024 Republican presidential hopeful in March.
“We discussed ways to make peace,” Orban said in a post on social media Thursday evening with a picture of the two leaders meeting. “The good news of the day: he’s going to solve it!”
The post did not elaborate further.
Updated
Tom Malinowski says 'vast majority' of Democrats in Congress think Biden should step aside
Speaking a short while ago on CNN, Tom Malinowski, a former Representative for New Jersey, a Democrat who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under Obama, said a short while ago on CNN that Biden does not respond well to public pressure, and tends to dig his heels in.
So those around him are trying to find another way to convince Biden to withdraw, he says. He adds that, the “vast majority in congress thinks he should drop out”.
The presenter confirms this: “The vast majority?”, she asks, “Yes,” he says.
The British politician Roy Jenkins once famously observed that Tony Blair’s challenge in getting Labour elected in 1997 was “like a man carrying a priceless Ming vase across a highly polished floor”.
Joe Biden dropped the vase, shattering it into a thousand crazy pieces, before his rare press conference even got started on Thursday.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Biden declared at the Nato summit in Washington while introducing Ukraine’s Volodymr Zelenskiy. “President Putin!”
It was a cringeworthy moment for European leaders who did not know whether to clap. The 81-year-old US president caught the error and corrected himself, but it was yet another blow to his anguished campaign to convince Democrats that he’s still got the vim and vigour to beat Donald Trump in November.
Come the press conference, Biden started by grinding fragments of that broken vase further into the carpet. The opening question was about him losing support among many fellow Democrats and key unions, and about Vice-President Kamala Harris possibly replacing him on the ticket.
Against the backdrop of Nato blue and eight US national flags, Biden proceeded to mix up Harris and his opponent Donald Trump. “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice president if I didn’t think she was qualified to be president,” he said:
Here are the other Congressional Democrats who have called for Biden to drop out since the President’s debate against Trump:
Senator Peter Welch: “For the good of the country, I’m calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race,” the senator from Vermont wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. Welch was the first Democratic US senator to call on Biden to step aside as a candidate.
Representative Greg Stanton: “For the sake of American democracy, and to continue to make progress on our shared priorities, I believe it is time for the President to step aside as our nominee,” Stanton, who represents a district in the key state of Arizona, said in a statement.
Representative Ed Case: “My guidepost is what is the best way forward for our country. I do not believe President Biden should continue his candidacy for re-election as President,” Case, of Hawaii, said in a statement.
Representative Brad Schneider: “I love President Biden. I am forever grateful for his leadership and service to our nation. The time has come, however, for President Biden to heroically pass the torch to a new generation of leadership to guide us to the future he has enabled and empowered us to pursue,” Schneider, of Illinois, said in a statement.
Representative Hillary Scholten: “For the good of our democracy, I believe it is time for him to step aside from the presidential race and allow a new leader to step up,” Scholten, of Michigan, said on social media. “It is essential that we have the strongest possible candidate leading the top of the ticket - not just to win, but to govern.”
Representative Earl Blumenauer: “The question before the country is whether the president should continue his candidacy for re-election. This is not just about extending his presidency but protecting democracy,” Blumenauer, who represents a district in Oregon, said in a statement. “While this is a decision for the president and the first lady, I hope they will come to the conclusion that I and others have: President Biden should not be the Democratic presidential nominee.”
Representative Pat Ryan: “Joe Biden is a patriot but is no longer the best candidate to defeat Trump,” New York’s Ryan, who was first elected in a special election in 2022 before winning the seat in the general election months later, said in a social media post.
Representative Mikie Sherrill: “Because I know President Biden cares deeply about the future of our country, I am asking that he declare that he won’t run for reelection and will help lead us through a process toward a new nominee,” Sherrill, of New Jersey, said in a statement.
Representative Adam Smith: “President Biden should end his candidacy for a second term as President and release his delegates to the Democratic National Convention to enable the party to nominate a new candidate for President,” Smith, of Washington state, said in a statement. “The President’s performance in the debate was alarming to watch and the American people have made it clear they no longer see him as a credible candidate to serve four more years as President,” he added.
Representative Angie Craig: Craig, whose district in Minnesota is considered a top priority for Republicans to win back in November, was the first incumbent from a highly competitive district to call for Biden to step down. “Given what I saw and heard from the president during last week’s debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the president himself following that debate, I do not believe that the president can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump,” Craig said.
Representative Mike Quigley: A moderate from Illinois, Quigley said Biden must step aside and “let someone else do this” or risk “utter catastrophe.”
Representative Seth Moulton: Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, praised Biden’s service to the country but told a local radio show that the president should follow in “George Washington’s footsteps and step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump.”
Representative Raul Grijalva: Grijalva, a liberal who represents a district in southern Arizona along the border with Mexico, told the New York Times it was time for Biden to end his campaign, saying, “If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere.”
Grijalva’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Representative Lloyd Doggett: Doggett, a House member from a safe Democratic district in Texas, was the first congressional Democrat to call for Biden to step down. “President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump,” Doggett said in a statement. “I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not.”
Updated
Three Democrats in Congress have called for Biden to drop out since Nato presser, bringing total to 17
A growing number of Democrats in Congress are publicly calling on Biden to end his reelection bid.
Three called for him to drop out shortly after Biden finished his Nato press conference, bringing the total to 17.
The most notable of these is Representative Jim Himes, who serves on the Intelligence Select Committee.
Here are the three who called for Biden to drop out tonight after Bidden’s press conference:
Representative Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut and a member of the House intelligence committee: “The 2024 election will define the future of American democracy, and we must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no longer believe that is Joe Biden,” Himes, who represents a district in Connecticut, wrote in a statement posted on X.
Representative Eric Sorensen, Illinois: “It is more important than ever that our neighbors have a candidate for President who will communicate a positive vision for every person in this country,” Sorensen, who represents a district in Illinois, said in a statement posted on X. “I am hopeful President Biden will step aside in his campaign for President.”
Representative Scott Peters, California: “I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign. The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course. My conscience requires me to speak up and put loyalty to the country and to democracy ahead of my great affection for, and loyalty to, the President and those around him,” Peters, who represents a district in California, said in a statement cited by several media outlets. Peters’ office did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters.
Updated
Obama spoke to George Clooney ahead of actor's calls for Biden to drop out - reports
Both Politico and Vanity Fair report that George Clooney reached out to Obama before publishing an op-ed in the New York Times calling for Biden to drop out.
“While Obama did not encourage or advise Clooney to say what he said, he also didn’t object to it, we’re told from people familiar with their exchange,” Politico writes.
Vanity Fair also reports that Obama “did not try to stop [the op-ed]” by the actor and Democratic donor.
Barack Obama met with Nancy Pelosi to discuss Biden – report
CNN is reporting that former president Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as Vice President, met privately with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to discuss their mutual concerns over Biden’s presidential bid.
Obama’s doubts over Biden’s ability to win is “one of the worst kept secrets in Washington”, CNN reports.
“Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi have spoken privately about Joe Biden and the future of his 2024 campaign. Both the former president and ex-speaker expressed concerns about how much harder they think it’s become for the president to beat Donald Trump. Neither is quite sure what to do,” CNN reports.
The report continues:
Many of Pelosi’s colleagues are hoping that she can bring an end to the turmoil that has engulfed Democrats for the last two weeks. And to a good chunk of them, that end can come if and when she tells Biden that he has to drop out.
Pelosi has spoken to Biden since the debate, but in the time since, the California Democrat has made clear that she does not see Biden’s decision to stay in the race as final. But she, through an aide, declined to comment further.
…
Obama’s decision not to make any public comment for two weeks has left a number of leading Democrats feeling like he has left them flailing by holding to the same posture that has largely defined his post-presidency. After the debate, he posted on X, “Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know,” reiterating that sentiment at a fundraiser in New York for House Democrats the night after Biden’s performance.
But Obama’s deepening skepticism about his friend’s ability to win reelection is one of the worst kept secrets in Washington.
Analysis: Joe Biden defiant despite gaffes
In a critical press conference meant to make or break his presidential campaign, Joe Biden spiritedly defended his foreign policy record even as he faced a barrage of questions on his mental fitness and, in another gaffe, mistakenly referred to Kamala Harris as “vice-president Trump”.
Biden offered extensive remarks on thorny foreign policy issues including competition with China and the Israel-Hamas war, in which he said he had warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu away from an occupation of the Gaza Strip.
He said he was directly in contact with Xi Jinping to warn him not to offer further support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, but not with Vladimir Putin, whom he said: “I have no reason to speak to him right now.”
But Biden, who is running to be president until January 2029, fielded an equal number of questions during the press conference on his mental fitness, an issue that has loomed over his campaign since a faltering debate performance against Donald Trump that he called “that dumb mistake”.
Ultimately, it was a performance that supporters will probably say shows he is capable of handling his responsibilities as commander-in-chief, but unlikely to convince those already in doubt about his mental fitness that he can serve another four years in office.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has described a gaffe by US President Joe Biden, who called Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy “President Putin”, as “unfortunate”, AAP reports.
Biden made the slip while introducing the Ukrainian president at the NATO summit in Washington, as he comes under increasing pressure to step down from the upcoming presidential election due to concerns about his cognitive fitness.
Albanese steered clear on whether the US president should step aside from the race but sympathised with Biden, telling Brisbane radio station 4BC:
Everyone from time to time, I think, has made a slip - it clearly was on his mind who President Zelenskiy is fighting … But it certainly is unfortunate.
Albanese said whether Mr Biden stepped down or not was a matter for the US, but that the president was “on top of his game” when the pair met in Washington in 2023:
[Biden] chaired a meeting of the entire cabinet ... I had a long meeting with him in the Oval Office. We had a couple of dinners, including the official state dinner.
He certainly was on top of international affairs, the AUKUS defence arrangements and our relationship, which is so important between Australia and the United States.
Summary
Hello, this is Helen Sullivan taking over the Guardian’s live US politics coverage, as voters, politicans and pundits respond to Biden’s press conference at the Nato summit in Washington. We’ll continue to bring you breaking news, analysis and reaction for the next while.
In the meantime, here are the key developments from the last few hours:
During a signing ceremony alongside Zelenskiy on the final day of the summit, Joe Biden accidentally introduced Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “President Putin” in a gaffe that will fuel further concerns about his mental acuity that have threatened to scuttle his presidential campaign. Realising his mistake, Biden caught himself and said: “President Putin! We’re going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskiy. I’m so focused on beating Putin. We’ve got to worry about it. Anyway, Mr. President.
Later, while taking questions from reporters, Biden mistakenly called Kamala Harris ‘Vice-President Trump’. Asked if he has concerns about vice-president Harris’s ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket, Biden said he, “wouldn’t have picked vice-president Trump to be vice-president if I didn’t think she was not qualified to be president. From the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her.”
He was also asked whether he would step down if staff showed him data that indicated Harris would be more likely to beat Trump in the election. He said he would not step down unless staff showed him data that said there was no way he could win.
Biden was asked several questions about whether he is fit to run for president. In response to one, he said he was, “the most qualified person to run for president”. He said he beat Donald Trump once, “and I will beat him again”. Biden said there’s a “long way to go” with his campaign, and that he is “just going to keep moving” because he has “more work to do”. “We’ve got more work to finish,” he says.
Biden called the debate two weeks ago “a mistake” and said his schedule since then had been “full bore”, and that his wife, Jill Biden, had been critical of this.
Asked how he can assure the American people that he won’t have “more bad nights” like on the debate stage last month, Biden said the best way to assure voters was to ask if he was “getting the job done”. He said, “Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in three-and-a-half years?”
Biden was asked if he wished he had done anything differently over the course of the Israel-Gaza war so far. Biden said he immediately went to Israel and was in immediate contact with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the Jordanian leader, to try to get a consensus on how to get more aid and food and medicine into the Gaza Strip. “We pushed it really hard,” Biden says, but Israel was “occasionally less than cooperative”. He points to the Israeli war cabinet as being one of the most conservative war cabinets in the history of Israel. He said he put together a process for a two-state solution, because “the question has been from the beginning – what’s the day after in Gaza?”
Biden was asked what has changed since his candidacy in 2020, when he referred to himself as being a bridge candidate for a younger, fresher generation of Democratic leaders. Biden said what has changed is the “gravity of the situation” that he inherited in terms of the economy and US foreign policy. He says that most presidential historians have given him credit for having accomplished more than most any president since Johnson, “and maybe before that”, to get major pieces of legislation passed.
Biden said he is “determined” to keep running in November. “I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears. I say let them see me out there.”
As soon as the press conference wrapped, Representative Jim Himes, a Democrat of Connecticut and a member of the House intelligence committee, joined the small but growing group of congressional Democrats asking Biden to step down.
Representative Scott Peters of California then called on Biden to withdraw his campaign. “Today I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign,” he wrote in a statement obtained by Politico. “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course.” A few days ago, Peters had indicated on CNN that he was “pretty close” to taking this stand.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his campaign want Joe Biden to stay in the race, according to people familiar with the matter, and have discussed taking steps to ensure they don’t push the president to withdraw amid escalating panic among Democrats following his recent debate performance.
Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois then also joined Democrats calling on Biden to step down from his campaign. “In 2020, Joe Biden ran for president with the purpose of putting country over party,” Sorenson wrote in a statement. “Today I am asking him to do that again.”
Here is a summary of the other key developments from the summit, from earlier.
That’s it from me, Maanvi Singh, for the evening, thank you for following along. The Guardian’s Helen Sullivan will be taking you through the next few hours of US elections coverage.
Updated
Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois is yet another voice in the growing chorus of Democrats calling on Biden to step down from his campaign.
“In 2020, Joe Biden ran for president with the purpose of putting country over party,” Sorenson wrote in a statement. “Today I am asking him to do that again.”
My statement on the presidential race. pic.twitter.com/bmjlp06psd
— Eric Sorensen (@ERICSORENSEN) July 12, 2024
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his campaign want Joe Biden to stay in the race, according to people familiar with the matter, and have discussed taking steps to ensure they don’t push the president to withdraw amid escalating panic among Democrats following his recent debate performance.
The latest thinking inside Trump’s campaign is for them not to pile on the concern about Biden’s age and mental acuity in case their attack ads push Biden to step aside.
If that happened, the campaign advisers think Trump would lose two lines of attack that have been central to his campaign: claiming that Biden is “sleepy” and lacks the fitness for another term in office, and falsely claiming that Biden is to blame for inflation and an uptick in illegal immigration.
The situation with Biden has flummoxed the Trump campaign as they now walk the tightrope of continuing to campaign against Biden in the likelihood that he remains the Democratic nominee for president, without hitting his age to the extent that it helps push him to withdraw.
Trump’s senior campaign advisers are also concerned that if Biden leaves the race, they would not be able to deploy their contingency plans until a replacement at the top of the ticket was confirmed.
Updated
Biden is again back on damage control.
By the way: Yes, I know the difference.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 12, 2024
One’s a prosecutor, and the other’s a felon. pic.twitter.com/65kYp6m90Z
Representative Scott Peters of California is yet another Democrat now calling on Biden to withdraw his campaign.
“Today I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign,” he wrote in a statement obtained by Politico. “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course.”
A few days ago, Peters had indicated on CNN that he was “pretty close” to taking this stand. In an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room” he said that the president needed to show he had a plan to address flagging poll numbers, and prove he had what it took “to win this election and turn things around, particularly in those swing states.”
Biden faced few questions about Israel and Gaza, another issue that is plaguing his candidacy. Voters – especially young voters and voters of color who are key to Biden’s narrow path to a victory have been horrified by the devastation of Gaza and the president’s continued support of Israel.
In response to a question about whether he would have done anything differently, Biden said he had made efforts to get humanitarian aid to Gaza and that Israel was “less than cooperative early on.”
A US military pier built two months ago as a way to get aid into Gaza is now being dismantled after weather conditions and security issues rendered the infrastructure ineffective for delivering supplies and foods. Over its two months, about 8,800 metric tons of aid has been unloaded off the pier – the equivalent to a single day of deliveries before the war began.
“There’s a lot of things that, in retrospect, I wish I had been able to convince the Israelis to do, but the bottom line is it’s time to end this war,” Biden said.
Updated
Asked what he’d do if his team showed him data that Kamala Harris would fare better against Trump that Biden would, the president said he wouldn’t reconsider his decision to stay in the race.
“No, unless they came back and said there was no way you can win,” Biden responded.
But reports suggest that Biden’s team is already testing Harris in a potential matchup against Trump. David Axelrod, the strategist who took Barack Obama to the White House, noted that the age issue remained “a huge and potentially insurmountable concern”.
If what he said at the end of his presser is true, it sounds like Biden's team has not been very candid with him about what the data is showing: the age issue is a huge and potentially insurmountable concern and his odds of victory are very, very slim.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) July 12, 2024
“There are other people who could beat Trump, too,” Biden said, at the press conference. But, he added: “It’s awful hard to start from scratch.”
The news conference tonight was the president’s first in eight months, and was intended to show that he remained sharp enough to face off against Donald Trump. Foreign policy is an area that Biden has tended to feel very comfortable discussing.
Here’s former Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod:
The wisdom of doing this press conference at NATO is clear. Shaky on other stuff, the @POTUS is very comfortable on national security issues.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) July 12, 2024
But Biden’s slip-ups and gaffes may end up overshadowing the rest of his performance. On MSNBC, host Rachel Maddow noted that his halting speech isn’t helping, marking a discrepancy “between his stylistic presentation and his truly masterful command of the subject matter”.
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As soon as the press conference wrapped, Representative Jim Himes, a Democrat of Connecticut and a member of the House intelligence committee, joined the small but growing group of congressional Democrats asking Biden to step down.
“We must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised Maga authoritarianism,” Himes wrote in a statement. “I no longer believe that is Joe Biden.”
Joe Biden’s record of public service is unrivaled. His accomplishments are immense. His legacy as a great president is secure.
— Jim Himes 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@jahimes) July 12, 2024
He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/FMMrTK8pb8
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'I think I'm the best qualified to win,' Biden says
Biden is asked whether he would allow delegates to vote with their conscience if they have second thoughts about him.
“Obviously they’re free to do whatever they want,” Biden replies, but says that he has “overwhelming support”.
He questions the results from recent polls, saying that all the current data is premature “because the campaign really hasn’t even started”. Biden says:
I believe I’m the best qualified to govern, and I think I’m the best qualified to win.
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Biden says he is surrounded by good doctors every single day.
If they think there’s a problem, I promise you, or even if they don’t think it’s a problem, but they think I should have a neurologic exam again, I’ll do it.
He says that “no one is suggesting that” to him now, and claims that no matter what he does, “no one’s going to be satisfied.”
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Biden is asked if he is open to taking a physical or cognitive test.
Biden says he has taken three significant and intense neurological exams as recently as February, and that the results say that he is in “good shape”.
He notes that he has a “little problem” with his left foot because he broke it and didn’t wear the boot. “But I’m good,” he says.
I’m tested every single day about my neurological capacity by decisions I make every day.
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Biden becomes very animated as he turns to the subject of gun control, and says “control guns, not girls” in reference to women’s reproductive rights.
He points to the number of children killed by guns each year.
More children are killed by a bullet than any other cause of death. The United States of America. What the hell are we doing?
He says he has “got to finish this job because there’s so much at stake”.
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Biden 'determined' to run against Trump: 'Let them see me out there'
Biden says he is “determined” to keep running in November.
I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears. I say let them see me out there.
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Biden is asked what has changed since his candidacy in 2020, when he referred to himself as being a bridge candidate for a younger, fresher generation of Democratic leaders.
Biden says what has changed is the “gravity of the situation” that he inherited in terms of the economy and US foreign policy.
He says that most presidential historians have given him credit for having accomplished more than most any president since Johnson, “and maybe before that”, to get major pieces of legislation passed.
What I realised was my long time in the Senate had equipped me to have the wisdom on how to deal with the Congress to get things done. We got more major legislation passed that no one thought would happen. I want to get that finished.
Biden calls Israel 'less than cooperative' over Gaza aid
Biden is asked about Gaza, and if he wished he had done anything differently over the course of the war.
Biden says he immediately went to Israel and was in immediate contact with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the Jordanian leader, to try to get a consensus on how to get more aid and food and medicine into the Gaza Strip.
“We pushed it really hard,” Biden says, but Israel was “occasionally less than cooperative”. He points to the Israeli war cabinet as being one of the most conservative war cabinets in the history of Israel.
He says he put together a process for a two-state solution, because “the question has been from the beginning – what’s the day after in Gaza?”
Biden says he has been “disappointed” that some of the things that he put forward have not succeeded.
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Biden: 'no good reason' to talk to Putin at the moment
Biden says he has “no good reason” to talk to Vladimir Putin right now.
Biden says he is dealing with Xi Jinping and is in direct contact with the Chinese president.
But the Russian president is not prepared to do anything in terms of “accommodating any change in his behaviour”, Biden says.
I’m not ready to talk to Putin unless Putin’s ready to change his behaviour.
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Biden is asked about whether he has a strategy of trying to interrupt the partnership between China and Russia.
Biden says he has spent more time, including his time as vice-president, with Xi Jinping than any other world leader has.
He says China has to understand that they are not going to “benefit economically” if it supplies Russia with information and capacity, and if it works with North Korea to help Russia’s armaments.
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Biden says that he has not had European leaders coming up to him and asking him not to run.
What I hear them say is, you’ve got to win. You’ve can’t let this guy [Donald Trump] come forward. It would be disaster.
Biden says that Trump seems to have an affinity to people who are authoritarian and that worries Europe.
What I can say is, I think I’m the best qualified person to do the job to make sure that Ukraine does not fall, that Ukraine succeeds.
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Biden is asked how he can assure the American people that he won’t have “more bad nights” like on the debate stage last month.
Biden says the best way to assure them is to ask if he is “getting the job done”. He says:
Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in three-and-a-half years?
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Biden is asked if he is reconsidering lifting the restrictions placed on Ukraine on the use of American weapons in targets in Russian territory.
Biden says the question is what would be the best use of the weaponry that Kyiv has.
If Zelenskiy had the capacity to strike Moscow, to strike the Kremlin, would that make sense? It wouldn’t.
He says he is following the advice “of my commander in chief, my chiefs of staff of the military as well as our secretary of defense and our intelligence people” to determine what is a “logical thing to do” on a day-to-day basis.
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Biden calls the debate two weeks ago “a mistake” and says his schedule since then has been “full bore”.
He says he has been “catching hell” from his wife, Jill Biden, over his schedule.
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Biden denies reports that he needs to go to bed earlier, but admits that it would be “smarter for me to pace myself a little more”.
Instead of my every day starting at seven and ending at midnight, it would be smart for me to pace myself a bit better.
Biden notes that Donald Trump has “done virtually nothing” and has spent his time “riding around his golf cart, filling out his scorecard”.
Biden says he has always had the “inclination”, whether playing sports or in politics, to “just to keep going”, so now he has to pace himself a little more.
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Biden gives a ringing endorsement of his vice-president, Kamala Harris, minutes after calling her “Vice-President Trump”.
Asked about Harris’s accomplishments over the past four years which would make her ready to serve, Biden says Harris has handled the issue of the freedom of women’s bodies, and was “a hell of a prosecutor”. Biden says:
I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president. From the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her.
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Biden is asked about his earlier gaffe where he mixed up the names of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Biden doesn’t answer the question directly, but instead asks if anybody has suggested if the Nato summit hasn’t been incredibly successful.
He says he knows it sounds “too self-serving” but that other Nato leaders have been thanking him and telling him that he is “the reason we’re together”.
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Biden says he thinks he is “the most qualified person to run for president”. He says he beat Donald Trump once, “and I will beat him again”.
Biden says there’s a “long way to go” with his campaign, and that he is “just going to keep moving” because he has “more work to do”. “We’ve got more work to finish,” he says.
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Biden mistakenly calls Kamala Harris 'Vice-President Trump'
Biden is now taking questions from reporters.
He is asked if he has concerns about vice-president Kamala Harris’s ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket.
Biden says he “wouldn’t have picked vice-president Trump to be vice-president if I didn’t think she was not qualified to be president”.
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Biden says a strong Nato is “essential to American security”, and that he believes the obligation of Article Five is “sacred”.
The US president says he has made it clear that he will not “bow down” to Putin.
I will not walk away from Ukraine. I will keep Nato strong. That’s exactly what we did, and exactly what we’ll continue to do now.
Biden says America “cannot retreat from the world”.
Biden says he rallied a coalition of 50 nations from Europe to Asia to help Ukraine defend itself, and notes that his foreign policy experts had thought that Kyiv would fall in less than a week after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Biden says:
Today, Kyiv still stands, and Nato stands stronger than it has ever been.
The alliance is not only stronger, but it is bigger because of the memberships of Finland and Sweden, Biden says.
Biden notes that his predecessor, Donald Trump, “made it clear he has no commitment to Nato” and that he has “already told Putin ‘do whatever the hell you want’.”
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Biden condemns Putin as 'murderous madman on the march'
Biden says Nato was created out of the wreckage of the Second World War, and that the idea was to create “an alliance of free and democratic nations that would commit themselves to collective defense.”
The US president says that to those who thought that Nato’s time had passed, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was a “rude awakening” and resulted in “some of the oldest and deepest fears in Europe” roaring back to life.
“Once again, a murderous madman was on the march,” Biden said.
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Biden begins press conference
Joe Biden has begun speaking at the news conference at the Walter EWashington Convention Center, where many of the Nato summit events this week have been held.
The US president begins by saying this year’s Nato summit was a “great success” and a “special moment”.
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In the room for Joe Biden’s press conference this evening are the US secretary of state Antony Blinken, defense secretary Lloyd Austin, as well as the White House’s Karine Jean-Pierre, John Kirby and Jake Sullivan, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
In the room for President Biden's imminent press conference: two press aides, Karine Jean-Pierre and John Kirby, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 11, 2024
National security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also on hand.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 11, 2024
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Joe Biden is expected to shortly begin speaking at a news conference at the end of the Nato summit in Washington, in what will be the US president’s most unscripted appearance since his debate with Donald Trump two weeks ago.
We will bring you his remarks as soon as the conference begins.
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Keir Starmer, asked about Joe Biden’s gaffe, insisted that the Nato summit had made breakthroughs that were welcomed by Volodymyr Zelenskiy and had left Nato in a stronger position.
Pressed by reporters on whether the US president was capable of serving another four years in office, he said:
Look, I was with him last night. We spent the best part of an hour together. We covered a lot of ground.
We’ve been through two days of this council and come to a very good outcome. He’s led through all, spoken at every session, pulled people together, and we got a good outcome and I think he should give credit for that.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, defended Joe Biden’s Putin/Zelenskiy gaffe, saying that “slips of the tongue” have happened to him too.
From FRANCE 24’s Kethevane Gorjestani:
In his presser, Macron defended Biden saying “slips of the tongue happen, it’s happened to me.” He also said France, Europe & Ukraine were lucky to have the Biden admin. #NATO #F24
— Kethevane Gorjestani (@ketgorjestani) July 11, 2024
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Joe Biden’s Zelenskiy/Putin gaffe could not have been more ill-timed, the New York Times’s Michael M Grynbaum writes.
The clip was included in the 6.30pm evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC, the most-watched news programmes in the US.
Clip of the Putin gaffe made all three network newscasts, the most-watched news programs in the country.
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) July 11, 2024
Fifteen minutes later, and casual (non-cable) TV news consumers may not have seen it before the news conference.
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On the face of it, it was a busy Nato summit, not short of outcomes: badly needed air defence systems and fighter jets for Ukraine and a commitment that Kyiv was on an “irreversible path” to membership – plus a cross-alliance warning to China for its discreet help to Russia as it continues its assault on Ukraine.
Yet, behind the activity lurks the cliff-edge of the US election. In the Washington heat, the worry is not so much about Joe Biden’s health, but the Democrats’ ability to defeat Donald Trump in the November election. The reality is that Nato will struggle if the US is sceptical, fitful or unengaged.
During the last Trump presidency, Nato survived by hunkering down, making minimal commitments during a period of less geopolitical uncertainty. This time, with a major war continuing on the edge of Europe, a dysfunctional Nato is not obviously an attractive option, but it nevertheless lingers.
The plan had been for Biden to promote Nato, to Americans and to the world, at a summit in the US capital to mark the 75th year of the alliance. Speaking in the Mellon auditorium, the very room Nato’s founding treaty was signed in 1949, Biden emphasised the alliance’s durability could not be taken for granted – a point aimed at Trump.
Yet at the same time, US media was dominated by concerns about Biden’s health and fitness for the presidency, and while his speech was delivered forcefully enough, a lengthy struggle to tie a sash bearing the presidential medal of freedom on to the outgoing Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, was a graphic reminder of the problem.
Read the full report here:
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Joe Biden’s press conference was due to begin more than 15 minutes ago, at 6.30pm ET, but it has been delayed.
The conference was initially slated for 5.30pm. Biden will be speaking from the Walter E Washington Convention Center, a short distance from the White House, where many of the Nato summit events are being held.
We’ll bring it to you when we get word.
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Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy had been due to give a press conference at the end of the Nato summit, starting just now.
But journalists waiting have just been told the event has been cancelled – meaning Zelenskiy won’t have to respond to questions about Biden’s gaffe earlier.
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Nato is “stronger than ever” and Britain will play “a full role” in the alliance, Keir Starmer said at the press conference.
The UK prime minister said Nato allies this week reaffirmed their “unshakeable” support for Ukraine’s victory, adding that any alternative is “unthinkable”. Starmer said:
You will have all seen the scenes this week in Kyiv, Russia using some of the deadliest weapons in its arsenal on innocent children, striking a hospital.
Starmer said he was “determined” to reset Britain’s relationship with Europe, have it return as a leader on climate change, and engage more deeply with the global south.
Whether the challenges we face are military, or global challenges like climate change, cyber and energy security, we will meet them head on, stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends and allies. Because history shows we are stronger when we do so.
Mélanie Joly, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, was asked if she has confidence in Joe Biden’s leadership.
Joly, speaking to CNN, said she believes Biden has been doing “great work”.
Here’s the clip, shared by CNN’s Jim Sciutto:
Q: Do you and does Canada have confidence in President Biden’s leadership of this country and of the @NATO alliance?
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 11, 2024
Canadian FM @melaniejoly: Of course we do and we believe President Biden has been doing great work….we’re getting out of this NATO summit stronger and more… pic.twitter.com/k5sqHqvGDT
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Starmer gives 'enduring and unwavering commitment' to Nato
Keir Starmer is now holding a press conference as he prepares to leave the Nato summit in Washington.
The UK prime minister said he had brought “a message of enduring and unwavering commitment” to Nato. Starmer said:
Every policy we have in pursuit of our missions, everything we’re doing to improve people’s lives, all that we hold dear, depends on our security.
That is our first priority. It is always our first priority. I made that crystal clear to the British people in our campaign and so I also came to this summit with a clear message.
A message of enduring and unwavering commitment to the Nato alliance, to Ukraine, to the collective security of our country, our continent and our allies around the world.
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What happened at the Nato summit today
The US announced a new security package for Ukraine worth $225m, which includes a Patriot missile battery, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems and missiles. oe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, “we will stay with you, period” ahead of a bilateral meeting on Thursday.
Zelenskiy urged Nato allies to lift restrictions on its use of long-range weapons against targets in Russia. He said doing so would be a “gamechanger” in its war with Moscow, adding: “If we want to win, if we want to prevail, to save our country and to defend it, we need to lift all the limitations.”
Hungary does not want, and will not support, Nato becoming an “anti-China” bloc, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said. Speaking on the sidelines of a Nato summit, Szijjarto also said Ukraine’s admission to the alliance would weaken unity within the group.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said that any possibility of a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato was “worrying”. He added: “Any steps that could lead to this outcome should be consciously avoided.”
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, will fly to Mar-a-Lago on Thursday to meet with Donald Trump, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting. Orbán has enraged his Nato allies by meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping en route to the alliance’s summit in Washington DC. He has also met with Zelenskiy in Kyiv, and is said to be quietly negotiating his own ceasefire plan without consulting either the Biden administration or other EU countries.
France, Germany, Italy and Poland signed a letter of intent to develop ground-launched cruise missiles with a range beyond 500km (310 miles), aiming to fill what they say is a gap in European arsenals exposed by Russia’s war in Ukraine. French defence minister Sébastien Lecornu said the new missile was meant to serve as a deterrent.
Norway will donate 1bn Norwegian kroner ($92.69m) in support to Ukraine for its air defence, prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said. The donation comes a day after Norway announced it would give six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help it in defence efforts against Russian air attacks.
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that France remained a key partner on the international stage as Emmanuel Macron struggles to build a coalition government after elections. “France will be on the international agenda a big partner, a strong partner of all of us, and especially a partner for Germany,” Scholz said at the Nato summit on Thursday.
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece signed a deal to enable swift cross-border movement of troops and weapons to Nato’s eastern flank, Romania’s defence ministry said. The planned harmonised military mobility corridor between the three Nato and EU states was one of two such mobility corridors agreed on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington DC.
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German chancellor Olaf Scholz was asked, in English, about Joe Biden’s gaffe in a press conference a few minutes later.
Scholz sidestepped the question, and said he hoped that Biden would continue to strongly support Ukraine.
Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a bilateral meeting earlier today amid the Nato summit in Washington, during which the US president announced a new $225m aid package for Ukraine.
Ahead of the meeting, Biden told Zelenskiy:
We will stay with you, period.
The new US security package includes a Patriot missile system to bolster Ukraine’s air defences against a deadly onslaught of Russian airstrikes, as well as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), and more artillery rounds.
Zelenskiy called the announcement “strong news” but emphasised that Kyiv also needed US permission to fire the long-range missiles it has provided at targets deeper inside Russian territory.
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Biden mistakenly calls Zelenskiy ‘Putin’
Joe Biden accidentally introduced Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “President Putin” in a gaffe that will fuel further concerns about his mental acuity that have threatened to scuttle his presidential campaign.
Biden made the mistake during a signing ceremony alongside Zelenskiy on the final day of the Nato summit in Washington DC. It came just an hour before a rare press conference by Biden that has been called “make-or-break” for his campaign, as a growing number of political allies and donors have been calling for him to drop out of the race.
Concluding his opening remarks, Biden handed over to Zelenskyy with the words:
Now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination.
Biden said:
Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin!
Realising his mistake, Biden caught himself and said:
President Putin! We’re going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskiy. I’m so focused on beating Putin. We’ve got to worry about it. Anyway, Mr. President.
“I’m better,” Zelenskiy said, shaking Biden’s hand.
“You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden concluded his remarks.
The remark elicited gasps in the hall, where the two men were flanked by dozens of advisers, and in the press centre, where hundreds of journalists were watching the remarks live on an internal television feed.
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Of course this isn’t the first time Joe Biden has mixed up the names of leaders. The US president has a long history of verbal gaffes.
In February during a Las Vegas rally, Biden mixed up the names of the French leaders, Emmanuel Macron, with François Mitterrand. Later that same week, Biden mixed up the former German chancellors Helmut Kohl with Angela Merkel.
“I am a gaffe machine,” Biden admitted in December 2018 when asked about potential liabilities of his election campaign. Here’s a list of previous gaffes that Biden has made.
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Joe Biden, speaking to reporters at the Nato summit just now, mistakenly referred to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as “President Putin”.
Biden quickly realised his mistake and corrected himself. Zelenskiy joked:
I’m better.
Biden just introduced President Zelenskyy as "President Putin," but immediately caught himself
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 11, 2024
"I'm better," Zelenskyy joked in response pic.twitter.com/8MgZHj2cf1
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Earlier today, the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, was asked about his meeting with Joe Biden at the White House.
Biden was “on good form” and went through serious issues at pace during their first bilateral talks, Starmer answered.
The British prime minister said his personal view, having spent almost an hour in private talks with Biden and attended a dinner for Nato leaders at the White House, was that the US president was mentally agile.
Asked in a round of broadcast interviews whether criticism of Biden was misguided, the prime minister said:
Yes … my own personal view is he was on good form. I was very keen obviously to discuss Ukraine, but there were many other issues that we got through.
Downing Street said Starmer had not raised the issue of Biden’s health or his future plans in their meeting, but reporters asked him about media speculation that Biden could have early dementia symptoms. Starmer said:
No, we had a really good bilateral yesterday. We were billed for 45 minutes, we went on for the best part of an hour. We went through a huge number of issues at pace, he was actually on really good form.
Joe Biden did not hear any concerns from world leaders during the Nato summit regarding his health or re-election campaign challenges, the White House said.
The White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said leaders instead offered “a drumbeat of praise for the United States, but also for President Biden personally for what he’s done to strengthen Nato”, Associated Press reported.
Biden was praised not just for his time as president but for his decades in politics, Sullivan said.
Sullivan, who helped prepare Biden ahead of the disastrous debate performance, said he did not “have concerns” about the president’s health, adding:
He said he had a bad night.
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Biden to speak at Nato summit in high-stakes press conference
Hello and welcome to our coverage of the Nato summit in Washington DC, where all eyes will be on Joe Biden this evening as he steps up to the lectern and answers questions from journalists in a critical test after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump a fortnight ago.
Biden is scheduled to begin speaking at 6.30pm ET to close out the three-day Nato summit in his first solo news conference in eight months, amid growing calls for him to step aside his Democratic party’s presumptive nominee.
The US president’s performance tonight will be closely watched by his aides and advisers, who have reportedly been discussing how to persuade him to leave the presidential race, as well as the Trump campaign who reportedly want him to stay.
We’ll stream Biden’s press conference here and bring you more news coming out of the Nato summit.
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