Joe Biden, the US president, mistakenly referred to Kamala Harris, the US’s second female vice president, as “Vice President Trump” during a news conference on Thursday.
During a press briefing at the NATO summit in Washington D.C. this year, Biden made his first solo press conference of the year.
Many prominent Democrats and donors urged him to step down from the presidential race, and Reuters’ Jeff Mason asked the president about his concerns about Harris’ ability to defeat Donald Trump if she became the nominee.
When pressed by Mason about his thoughts on Harris’ qualifications to be the country’s leader, Biden said that he was the most qualified candidate to run for president.
He also noted that he would continue campaigning as he had more work to do.
During the press briefing, Biden noted that he had more work to do.
He then focused on the economy, noting that the US has created over 800,000 new jobs and over 1.5 million non-farm jobs under his watch. Overall, he had a strong performance.
Although Biden occasionally fell off during his press briefing, he was able to provide coherent responses to various questions about the US’ economic policy and NATO.
David Axelrod, a former senior advisor to Barack Obama, noted that the president made the right decision to hold a press briefing at the NATO summit.
The president’s positive comments about the national security issues during the conference came at a crucial moment in Biden’s campaign.
Since he performed poorly during the presidential debate against Donald Trump, many Democrats have started to question his ability to beat the Republican candidate.
Some Democrats, such as 18 members of Congress, have urged Biden to step down from his position as the party’s nominee so that a more prominent candidate can take his spot.
Despite the growing pressure to quit, Biden has vowed to continue campaigning.
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, he said that he would only drop out if God told him to.
Although Harris has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Biden, she has maintained that she supports the former’s campaign.
In an interview, she noted that she is proud to be Biden’s running mate.
During his speech, Biden mistakenly referred to the leader of Ukraine as Vladimir Putin when he called Volodymyr Zelensky. He then corrected himself and claimed that Zelensky was going to beat the Russian president.
