Joe Biden, 46th president of United States. Photo: Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
US President Joe Biden said he could drop his reelection bid if doctors found he had a medical condition, as a top Democrat on Wednesday urged the 81-year-old to step aside.
Biden's comments were the first time he has even slightly opened the door to abandoning the White House race, and came as Representative Adam Schiff, a key ally from California, urged Biden to "pass the torch."
"If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if the doctors came and said 'you've got this problem, that problem,'" Biden told the Black media outlet BET in an interview recorded on Tuesday, when asked what could make him rethink.
Biden however defended his decision to stay on for a rematch with Republican Donald Trump in November, and explained why he had not handed over to a younger generation after one term.
"I said I was going to be a transitional candidate, and I thought I'd be able to move on from this, pass it on to someone else," he said. "But I didn't anticipate things getting so, so, so divided."
Biden has been fighting for political survival since a disastrous debate against Trump nearly three weeks ago, in which his tired and confused appearance sparked concerns about his age.
Schiff became the first Democrat to call for him to step aside since the assassination attempt against Trump on Saturday, which had briefly silenced the growing chorus against Biden.
"A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November," Schiff said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
Schiff, who is expected to win a Senate seat this November, is a key White House ally in the legislature and shot to nationwide prominence as lead prosecutor during then-president Trump's first impeachment trial.
Biden was set to make a fresh attempt to prop up his candidacy in a speech to crucial Latino voters in the battleground state of Nevada later on Wednesday.
Around 20 House Democrats and one senator have now called on Biden to leave the White House race but Biden has refused, insisting he is best placed to beat Trump.
Most polls show Biden trailing in a tight race, with Trump pulling ahead in key swing states but no dramatic movement since the debate debacle or shooting.
Biden said his mental acuity was "pretty damn good" in an NBC interview on Monday, one of a series of unscripted outings aimed at showing he has what it takes.
With pressure on Biden mounting, Democrats said on Wednesday they plan a virtual nomination for the president in the first week of August, ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on August 19.
Some Democrats have slammed the scheme, accusing the party of trying to ram through Biden's candidacy and avoid a full discussion of alternative choices.
Party chiefs say they need to carry out the virtual roll-call by August 7, which is the deadline set by the Republican-led state of Ohio for the submission of nominations.
Biden otherwise risks not being on the ballot in Ohio, the home state of Trump's new running mate JD Vance.
While Ohio's governor has signed a law giving Biden more time, the DNC said it feared further legal challenges.
"None of this will be rushed," the heads of the DNC's rules committee said in a letter to lawmakers "No matter what may be reported, our goal is not to fast-track."
But several lawmakers are planning to sign a letter against the virtual nomination plan and others have criticised it, according to US media.
Biden insists that Democratic voters support him, but a poll by the Associated Press and NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research said on Wednesday that nearly two-thirds want him to step aside.
喬拜登表示，如果“發現健康狀況”，他可能會退出總統競選
美國總統拜登表示，如果醫生發現他有健康問題，他可能會放棄連任競選，週三，一名民主黨高層敦促這位 81 歲的拜登下台。
拜登的言論是他第一次稍微打開了放棄白宮競選的大門，而來自加州的重要盟友眾議員亞當·希夫敦促拜登「傳遞火炬」。
當被問及什麼可以做時，拜登在周二錄製的黑人媒體BET採訪中表示：“如果我出現了某種健康問題，如果有人，如果醫生來說‘你有這個問題，那個問題’。”讓他重新思考。
然而，拜登為自己在 11 月繼續留任與共和黨人唐納德·特朗普重賽的決定進行了辯護，並解釋了為什麼他在一個任期結束後沒有將權力移交給年輕一代。
「我說我將成為過渡候選人，我認為我能夠繼續前進，並將其傳遞給其他人，」他說。 “但我沒想到事情會變得如此、如此、如此分裂。”
自從近三週前與川普進行一場災難性辯論以來，拜登一直在為政治生存而戰，在這場辯論中，他疲憊而困惑的外表引發了人們對他年齡的擔憂。
希夫成為自周六針對川普的暗殺企圖以來第一位要求他下台的民主黨人，這短暫地平息了反對拜登日益高漲的呼聲。
希夫在給《洛杉磯時報》的聲明中表示：“特朗普連任總統將破壞我們民主的根基，我對總統能否在 11 月擊敗唐納德·特朗普感到嚴重擔憂。”
希夫預計將於今年 11 月贏得參議院席位，他是白宮在立法機構的重要盟友，並在時任總統川普的第一次彈劾審判中作為首席檢察官而在全國範圍內聲名鵲起。
拜登將於週三晚些時候在戰場州內華達州向重要的拉丁裔選民發表講話，以再次嘗試支持自己的候選資格。
大約 20 名眾議院民主黨人和一名參議員現在呼籲拜登退出白宮競選，但拜登拒絕了，堅稱他最有資格擊敗川普。
大多數民調顯示，拜登在激烈的競選中落後，川普在關鍵搖擺州領先，但自辯論失敗或槍擊事件以來，沒有戲劇性的變化。
拜登在周一接受美國全國廣播公司採訪時表示，他的精神敏銳度“非常好”，這是一系列即興的採訪之一，旨在表明他擁有所需的能力。
隨著拜登面臨的壓力越來越大，民主黨人週三表示，他們計劃在 8 月第一周、8 月 19 日民主黨全國代表大會 (DNC) 之前進行總統虛擬提名。
一些民主黨人猛烈抨擊了該計劃，指責該黨試圖強行阻止拜登的候選資格，並避免對其他選擇進行全面討論。
各黨領袖表示，他們需要在 8 月 7 日之前進行虛擬點名，這是共和黨領導的俄亥俄州規定的提交提名的最後期限。
否則，拜登可能無法參加川普新競選搭檔萬斯的家鄉俄亥俄州的投票。
雖然俄亥俄州州長簽署了一項法律，給予拜登更多時間，但民主黨全國委員會表示，擔心會出現進一步的法律挑戰。
民主黨全國委員會規則委員會負責人在給議員的一封信中表示，“這一切都不會倉促”，“無論可能報道什麼，我們的目標都不是快速推進”。
但據美國媒體報道，幾名議員正計劃簽署一封反對虛擬提名計畫的信函，其他人對此提出批評。
拜登堅稱民主黨選民支持他，但美聯社和 NORC 公共事務研究中心週三進行的一項民意調查顯示，近三分之二的人希望他下台。
Source : AFP
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