Critics Oppose Biden Candidacy Despite News Conference

Joe Biden’s press conference in which he insisted he was still fit to run for US president has failed to silence critics from his own party.
Three Democratic politicians joined the growing list calling on Mr Biden to drop out of the US presidential race.
Calls for the 81-year-old to step aside have escalated since he stumbled through a TV debate with Republican Donald Trump last month.
At an hour-long briefing taking reporters’ questions on Thursday night he was more steady and fluent but there were also gaffes.
He mistakenly referred to his deputy, Kamala Harris, as “Vice President Trump” when answering the first question.
Two hours earlier at a Nato event he introduced Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” before correcting himself.
It means Mr Biden’s candidacy still remains in peril, with the possibility of more defections over the next few days.
Some donors including actor George Clooney have pulled their financial support, saying he is not competent to carry out another four-year term.
One Democratic fundraiser who wants Mr Biden to step down told the BBC that the chat among like-minded Biden sceptics was that the president had done OK at the news conference but not well enough to change minds.
A problem for Mr Biden going forward is that he will be under constant and intense scrutiny at every event.
Any slip or mistake will be seized on as evidence that he is not fit or capable enough to be running for a second term.
Shortly after he finished his press conference, Connecticut congressman Jim Himes posted on X praising Mr Biden’s record in public service, but calling on him to step away from the campaign.
The strongest candidate to confront the “threat” posed by Trump, he wrote, was no longer Joe Biden.
Illinois congressman Eric Sorensen also posted on social media that Mr Biden ran in 2020 “with the purpose of putting country over party. Today I am asking him to do that again”.

BBC / Titilayo Kupoliyi