President Biden says he bowed out of the 2024 presidential election to avoid creating a “distraction” in what he characterized as a high-stakes race that would determine the future of the country for decades to come.
Speaking on CBS in his first interview since announcing he was dropping out, Biden said his primary goal was to ensure that former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, loses in November. He noted that polls earlier in the summer showed Biden neck-and-neck with his Republican opponent.
“Although I, it was a great honor being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I, the most important thing you could do, and that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump,” Biden told CBS.
“The critical issue for me still is — not a joke — maintaining this democracy,” he added.
Although polls showed the two men in a tight race, Biden's halting performance in a June debate with Trump resulted in some polls giving the Republican an advantage in key swing states. The ensuing panic among Democrats resulted in a pressure campaign on Biden to withdraw, culminating in his historic decision July 21.
Biden said some Congressional Democrats believed their chances in the election could be hurt by him remaining on the ticket and he also wanted to avoid any public infighting. “I thought it would be a real distraction,” he said.
After dropping out, Biden endorsed Vice President Harris, who has since become the official Democratic nominee.
But Biden said he is still concerned about the election and the months that will follow. He alluded to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and said he was not confident that there would be a peaceful transfer of power if Harris defeats Trump in the fall.
“If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” Biden said.
The campaign rolls on
Also over the weekend, both campaigns were on the trail trying to woo potential voters.
At a rally in Las Vegas, Harris said she intended to focus on the economy, including lowering costs on everyday goods, capping rent increases and reducing the price of prescription drugs — all policies she supported alongside President Biden in the White House.
Harris also told the crowd that she would work with Congress to end federal taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers, echoing a proposal advanced by Trump earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Trump’s vice presidential pick, JD Vance, appeared on multiple political talk shows on Sunday, discussing a range of issues from the presidential campaign to abortion to immigration.
Vance addressed how the government might go about deporting as many as 20 million people in the U.S. illegally, something Trump has suggested he would do in a second term.
Vance told ABC News that the government wouldn’t have to deport all of those people at once, but rather could start by deporting “violent criminals” and making it harder for employers to hire undocumented workers.
“I think it’s interesting that people focus on, ‘well, how do you deport 18 million people?’” he said. “Let’s start with one million — that’s where Kamala Harris has failed — and then we can go from there.”
Vance also responded to criticism from Harris' running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who coined the term "weird" as an attack against the Trump/Vance ticket.
Speaking to CNN, Vance accused the Harris campaign of "name-calling" and said, "This is fundamentally schoolyard bully stuff."
NPR's Deepa Shivaram contributed to this story.
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