President Biden steps aside
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 July 2024
⏱️ 18 minutes
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Summary
On Sunday afternoon, President Biden released a statement announcing that he would stand down from seeking reelection in the 2024 presidential race. The statement came after weeks of mounting pressure from members of his party, many of whom expressed concern over his health and speculated whether he would be able to beat former president Donald Trump.
Host Elahe Izadi speaks with White House reporter Tyler Pager about this monumental decision by the president and whether it puts Democrats in a better position to beat Trump.
Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick and Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | President Biden is no longer running for re-election. |
| 0:05.0 | On Sunday afternoon, Biden released a statement saying that he's decided not |
| 0:11.0 | to accept the Democratic nomination in 2024. |
| 0:14.8 | He said he would finish out his term |
| 0:16.8 | and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris |
| 0:19.1 | to lead the Democratic ticket. |
| 0:21.4 | He put out a letter on X, social media, talking about his record and then saying, |
| 0:28.4 | it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president and while it has |
| 0:31.8 | been my intention to seek re-election, |
| 0:34.0 | I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely |
| 0:39.3 | on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. |
| 0:43.0 | That's White House reporter Tyler Pager, reading out part of Biden's statement. |
| 0:48.0 | Tyler has been reporting on the president who currently has COVID. |
| 0:52.0 | Which is just also puts into perspective this whole moment, |
| 0:55.0 | his political career is ending |
| 0:58.0 | as we believe he is isolating |
| 1:00.0 | in his Beach House in Robith, Delaware. This is the first time in more than 50 years |
| 1:08.0 | since Lyndon B. Johnson, that an incumbent president |
| 1:11.0 | has dropped out of a re-election bid, and no incumbent president |
| 1:15.3 | has ever dropped out this close to the election. The election is now less than four |
| 1:20.6 | months away, and no one can know for certain what is going to happen next. |
| 1:26.4 | But it is a remarkable moment in American politics just given how quickly this all changed. |
... |
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