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Donald Trump suggested that Hunter Biden is “calling the shots” behind the scenes, and that the president’s ongoing refusal to drop out of the race for the White House was due to his “ego”.
Speaking to Fox News, the former president said that he was “prepared” to face Biden in November, but that it “wasn’t going to matter” if his rival stepped down or not.
“They cover for him, and they still are sort of covering, but now it’s getting very difficult to do that,” he told Sean Hannity. “I think Jill [Biden] would like to see him stay, she’s having a good time. I noticed she seems to be having a good time, and I’m hearing that Hunter is calling the shots.
"You know it looks to me like he may very well stay in. He’s got an ego and he doesn’t want to quit...I think he might very well stay in...nobody wants to give that up that way.
"He’s going to feel badly about himself for a long time. It’s hard to give it up that way, the way where they’re trying to force him out.”
Trump’s remarks come as Biden doubled down on his determination to stay in the race, despite further calls from senior Democrats for him to hand over the reins to vice president Kamala Harris – an unwelcome distraction as the president prepares to host a major Nato summit in Washington, DC this week.
In behind-closed-door crisis talks convened by House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, several representatives suggested it was time for Biden, 81, to make way following his disastrous debate performance.
Five Democrats have now come forward publicly to say the same, with Harris tipped to take over as the party’s 2024 nominee and praised by the influential Adam Schiff yesterday, as well as others.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump echoed the sentiment. “Well, I think that it will be [Harris],” he said. “I think they are very concerned about the vote. If it’s not her, they are very, very, I mean, they’re gun shy. They don’t want to do it any other way.
“She didn’t do a good job, and she hasn’t done a job on a lot of things so but it would seem to me that from a political standpoint, that’s who they’re going with. They’re not even talking about alternatives.
“And it seems that if he gets out for whatever reason, and I don’t think he wants to get out, but if he gets out, it will be her.”
He continued: “Interestingly, he’s got a lot of power because he’s got the delegates. You know, when you have the delegates, unless he says, I’m getting out, they can’t do anything to get him out, other than the 25th amendment.”
On Friday Biden insisted in an ABC interview that only “the Lord Almighty” could persuade him to go, saying he remains convinced he is the right man to challenge Trump.
He doubled down on that in a call to MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday morning after spending the weekend on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania. On Monday afternoon, the White House denied Biden has Parkinson’s disease at the daily briefing.
