Top Democrat Senator Patty Murray calls for Biden to consider future, as questions about the president’s health mount

One of the most senior Democratic party figures Patty Murray has urged Joe Biden to ‘seriously consider’ his future, as the White House refused to confirm whether a Parkinson’s specialist was treating the president.

US President Joe Biden and First lady Jill Biden walk to the White House in Washington this week.

The US Democrats’ longest-serving senator has called on President Joe Biden to “seriously consider” his future, in the biggest blow to his attempts to hold on to the White House and revive his crumbling re-election campaign since his poor debate performance against Donald Trump.

Senator Patty Murray - who is third in line for the presidency as President Pro Tempore of the Senate - stopped short of calling for Mr Biden’s resignation but said in a statement on Monday (Tuesday morning AEST) that the Democrats “needed to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate”.

“Just as important, our nominee must be able to articulate what Democrats have accomplished and everything we will do to make life better for American families and protect their freedoms,” the veteran Washington Senator said in a statement.

The explosive missive came after a difficult few days for the embattled president, who has spent almost two weeks publicly and privately trying to stamp out calls for him to step aside as the party’s presidential nominee after his halting, shaky June 27 debate against Mr Trump.

The president and his family have since remained defiant, denying his declining popularity and credibility even as most national polls put him on track to lose against Mr Trump in November and more elected Democrats and supporters cast doubt on the president’s fitness to stay in office.

A member of the Democratic party leadership team, Senator Murray said Mr Biden, 81, “must seriously consider the best way to preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future.”

“We need to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate on the campaign trail in the very near future in order for him to convince voters he is up to the job,” she said. “He must do more to demonstrate he can campaign strong enough to beat Donald Trump.”

Separately, Mr Trump in his first interview since the debate told Fox’s Sean Hannity that he expected the president to stay in the race, reversing an earlier position from a few days earlier.

“It looks to me like he may well stay in... Jill would like to see him stay she’s having a good time, and I’m hearing that Hunter is calling the shots,” he said. 

“When he started to speak I thought his voice was weak I didn’t know exactly what was happening it was strange,” Mr Trump, who dialled own his public events since the debate, added.

President Biden told congressional Democrats in a lengthy letter Monday that he was committed to “running this race to the end” and that it was time for conversations about changing nominees to stop, as public and private calls for him to exit from the contest grew louder, including from at least 10 Democrat members of the House of Representatives.

In the letter, Biden said he had had “extensive conversations” with party leadership, members and voters over the past 10 days and said he wasn’t blind to the concerns about his age and his candidacy that have emerged since his disastrous debate performance.

The president’s efforts to fortify his candidacy have had mixed success: a prime time interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday (Saturday AEST) featured the same sluggish, unclear responses that have drawn increasing criticism from members of his own party.

The president also called in to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, which elicited some mockery after he yelled during the interview in which he said he had been talking to voters around the country and felt confident he could still win.

“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites, now I’m not talking about you guys,” Biden said during a call into MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “But by elites in the party, who they know so much more, if any of these guys don’t think I should run, run against me. Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention.”

“I wanted to make sure I was right, that the average voter out there wanted Joe Biden and I’m confident that they do,” he said over the phone. “I am not going anywhere.”

Earlier in the day a war of words broke out between the Washington press corp and White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre during a regular press briefing over her refusal to say whether a medical specialist in Parkinson’s, who had visited the White House eight times over eight months, had been there to visit the president rather than a member of staff.

“We cannot share names there are security reasons,” she told furious reporters.

Growing criticism will weigh on the president as he begins to host the 75th anniversary NATO summit in Washington this week.

Also on Monday, the president joined a midday call with top fundraisers, alongside Maryland Governor Wes Moore and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon. On the call, Biden noted that he is the party’s nominee and said the party needs to focus on Trump, according to one person on the call.