Joe Biden admits he was forced out of presidential race

Joe Biden has made a stunning admission about his decision to drop out of the presidential race in his first TV interview since the historic move.

Joe Biden has admitted he was effectively pushed out of the presidential race by top Democrats in his first TV interview since the momentous decision last month that up-ended the 2024 election campaign.

Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning, the US President specifically named former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when asked by CBS News election correspondent Robert Costa to describe the lead-up to the bombshell July 21 announcement.

“Look, polls we had showed it was a neck-and-neck race, it would have been down to the wire,” he said.

“But what happened was, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic — you’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say why did [something] … and I thought it’d be a real distraction, number one.

“Number two, when I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition President. I can’t even say how old I am — it’s hard for me to get out of my mouth, and uh, but things got moving so quickly it didn’t happen.

Joe Biden speaks to CBS Sunday Morning. Picture: X

“And the combination was, that I thought it was the critical issue for me still is, not a joke, maintaining this democracy.

“But I thought it was important because although I, it’s a great honour being President, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I, the most important thing you can do, and that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.”

The 81-year-old shocked the world when he revealed, via a letter posted to his X account, that he would not be seeking re-election for a second term and, instead, would be endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to stand against Donald Trump.

It followed weeks of increasingly public pressure from top Democrats — including former President Barack Obama — to drop out of the race, amid concerns about his age and mental fitness following the disastrous June 27 debate.

Mr Biden reiterated his excuse that his shocking performance at the debate, where he spoke with a soft, raspy voice and repeatedly appeared to lose his train of thought, was due to being sick.

Mr Biden relaxes in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Picture: Samuel Corum/AFP

“I had a really, really bad day in that debate because I was sick,” he said.

Mr Biden did not elaborate on any potential beef with Ms Pelosi during the interview, however, the ruthless Democratic powerbroker was widely reported to have orchestrated the push to oust the President — a claim she has not exactly denied.

The 84-year-old California Representative initially defended Mr Biden as the Democratic revolt began following the debate in Atlanta, but the former Speaker later began to change her tone in public.

“It’s up to the President to decide if he is going to run,” Ms Pelosi said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe two days after he penned a letter saying he was “firmly committed” to remaining in the race.

Out of public view, Ms Pelosi pressed Mr Biden about polling data indicating he couldn’t win the presidential election, CNN reported.

“Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way,” one Democrat told Politico.

“She gave them three weeks of the easy way. It was about to be the hard way.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Picture: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images/AFP

Ms Pelosi has remained tight-lipped about the nature of her private conversations and publicly claimed that she merely sought to ensure Democrats had a winning presidential campaign.

“I never called one person,” she recently told The New Yorker.

“I kept true to my word. Any conversation I had, it was just going to be with him.”

But she did admit that people called her during the backlash against Mr Biden.

“People were calling me saying that there was a challenge there,“ she said.

“So there had to be a change in the leadership of the campaign, or what would come next.”

Since his decision to drop out, Ms Pelosi has sung Mr Biden’s praises as a “consequential” President, even suggesting he deserves a spot on Mount Rushmore.

Mr Biden, who has kept a low profile since dropping out, also suggested during the CBS interview there may not be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025.

“If Trump wins, no I’m not confident at all,” he said, before correcting himself.

“I mean if Trump loses, I’m not confident at all. He means what he says, we don’t take him seriously. He means it, all this stuff about, if we lose it’ll be a bloodbath, it’ll be a stolen [election]. Look what they’re trying to do now, in the local election districts where people count the votes. Putting people in place in states that they’re going to count the votes, right? You can’t love your country only when you win.”

Donald Trump after being shot in the ear. Picture: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Mr Biden claimed that Mr Trump — who narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 — was “a genuine danger to American security”.

“Mark my words, if he wins … watch what happens,” he said.

The outgoing President said he was proud of his record on jobs, investment and Covid recovery — and vowed to join Ms Harris on the campaign trail, teasing plans to swing through Pennsylvania with Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro.

“I’m going to be campaigning in other states as well,” he said.

“I’m going to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help most.”

Democrats’ hopes of winning have soared since Mr Biden’s withdrawal, as Ms Harris enjoys a surge in support that has left Mr Trump and the Republicans struggling.

As Ms Harris holds huge rallies in swing states, Mr Trump’s light schedule has come under scrutiny, and it was his running mate, J.D. Vance, who blitzed the Sunday morning political talk shows.

Appearing on CNN, ABC and CBS, the Ohio Senator fielded questions about child care, asylum seekers and abortion.

In one testy exchange with CBS’ Margaret Brennan, Mr Vance complained that she had asked “six questions about abortion”. “I’m still trying to get a clear answer,” Brennan retorted.

He also claimed that Ms Harris was the one “calling the shots” in the Biden administration.

“If she’s not calling the shots, Dana, who is?” he told CNN’s Dana Bash.

— with NY Post and AFP

Originally published as Joe Biden admits he was forced out of presidential race