US President Joe Biden has revealed he dropped out of the race for the White House because Democrats felt his candidacy was “going to hurt” their chances of being re-elected.
The 81-year-old abandoned his campaign in July after months of speculation about his age and his fitness to serve another four years.
Concerns increased among Democrats after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump in June and a series of high-profile gaffes.
Senior Democrats, including former US President Barack Obama, expressed their concerns about him running, while former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr Biden‘s long-time friend and ally, urged him to step aside.
Asked on the US news show CBS Sunday Morning why he chose to abandon his campaign, Mr Biden said: “Look, the polls we had showed that it was a neck and neck race which would have been down to the wire. But what happened was, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races.
“And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic [journalists] would be interviewing me about – ‘Why did Nancy Pelosi say [this]? Why did someone [say this]?’
“And and I thought it would be a real distraction.”
Mr Biden added he thought of himself as a “transition president” when he ran in 2020, and added: “I can’t even say how old I am. It’s hard for me to get out of my mouth.”
The US president also said the “critical issue” for him is “maintaining this democracy”.
He continued: “Although It’s a great honour being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do the most important thing you can do and that is – we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.”
In the interview with CBS’ chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa, Mr Biden also said he was “not confident at all” that there would be a peaceful transfer of power if Mr Trump loses the election.
It comes after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building on 6 January 2021 as they sought to keep him in power two months after his election defeat to Mr Biden.
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The US president quickly threw his support behind vice president Kamala Harris when he withdrew from this year’s race and urged Democrats to donate to her campaign.
Ms Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential candidate, with the pair making their first public appearance together at a rally in Philadelphia this week.
Meanwhile, the campaign for Republican candidate Mr Trump has claimed it was hacked by Iran in June.
News website Politico said it had received emails in July from an anonymous source offering authentic documents from inside Mr Trump’s operation, including a report about running mate JD Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities”.
“These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.