Joe Biden says he ‘screwed up’ in debate as he fights to save candidacy

Joe Biden has said he “screwed up” during his debate with Donald Trump, but insisted he would press ahead with his re-election bid despite mounting pressure to step aside.

“I had a bad night,” Biden told a local radio station in Wisconsin in a pre-recorded interview that aired on Thursday morning. “And the fact of the matter is that, you know, I screwed up. I made a mistake.”

The US president added he was “going to win this election”, repeating a line he has used frequently since last week’s disastrous debate: “When you get knocked down, you just get back up.”

At an Independence Day celebration at the White House later on Thursday, a supporter yelled at Biden to “keep up the fight”. The president responded: “You got me, man. I’m not going anywhere.”

The Wisconsin interview marked the start of Biden’s new effort to quell a revolt against his candidacy from within his own Democratic party, with lawmakers, party operatives and influential donors fearful that the 81-year-old president is unfit to face Trump or serve another four years in the White House.

Biden is heading into a make-or-break weekend for his campaign, with a stop in the swing state of Wisconsin on Friday and a national television interview with ABC News in the evening. He will travel to another battleground state, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.

Biden has reportedly quietly acknowledged to some of his closest allies that he cannot afford to trip up in any of the appearances if he is to regain the confidence of his party.

But The New York Times on Thursday reported the president had told Democratic governors in an emergency White House meeting on Wednesday that he needed to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including avoiding events after 8pm.

Responding to a question from one governor about his health, Biden replied that he was fine, adding: “It’s just my brain.” Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chair, confirmed the comment but said the president was “clearly making a joke and then said ‘all kidding aside’”.

A senior spokesperson for the Biden campaign later released a separate statement: “President Bush went to bed at 9, and President [Barack] Obama made dinner at 6.30. Normal presidents strike a balance, and so does Joe Biden. Hardly the same rigour as Donald Trump who spends half of his day ranting on Truth Social about plans that would cause a recession and the other half golfing,” the statement said without specifying which Bush president.

Governors Tim Walz of Minnesota, Wes Moore of Maryland and Kathy Hochul of New York told reporters at the White House after the meeting that they had Biden’s “back” and the president was “fit for office”.

Before he leaves for Wisconsin, the president is expected to spend Thursday at the White House with close family and then host a July 4 celebration for military members and veterans. Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden, have both encouraged the president to stay in the race.

The holiday comes after a dramatic day for the president, with members of his own party calling for him to drop out of the race against Trump and several opinion polls published on Wednesday showing a sharp fall in support after the debate, leaving him behind his Republican rival.

Many House Democrats are drafting a joint letter calling on the president to end his re-election bid, said two people familiar with the matter.

Walz, Hochul and Moore were not the only governors to praise Biden on Wednesday. Several more, including Gavin Newsom of California and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer posted statements of support to social media site X.

Newsom and Whitmer remain donor favourites to replace Biden. Party insiders also believe the president would support his vice-president, Kamala Harris, if he decided to drop out of the race.

Harris, 59, has suffered from low approval ratings as vice-president, but opinion polls since the debate suggest she would perform better than Biden against Trump.

The vice-president told White House staff on a call on Wednesday that she was behind Biden. “We will not back down. We will follow our president’s lead. We will fight, and we will win.”

Trump and his top advisers, who have kept a low profile since last week’s debate, have signalled they expect Harris will replace Biden on the Democratic ticket.

Trump was recorded secretly at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course telling people he thought Biden would “quit”. In the video, which went viral late on Wednesday, he added: “That means we are going to have Kamala . . . she is so bad. She is so pathetic. She is just so fucking bad.”

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