Defiant Biden tells Democrats 'I'm staying in the race!'

By Andrea Shalal, Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden scrambled to defuse a political crisis over his shaky debate performance on Friday, using an ABC News interview to argue again that he had a bad night, and telling voters he vowed to fight on in the 2024 race despite calls for him to step aside.

Biden taped an interview with ABC after telling a crowd in a fiery speech in Madison, Wisconsin, that some Democrats are trying to push him out of the race in the wake of his debate against Republican Donald Trump.

Biden cited "a really bad cold" for his stumbling performance at the debate and exhaustion after two trips to Europe.

"I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts in terms of my preparing. It was a bad night," he told George Stephanopoulos in the ABC interview.

The ABC interview was a departure from Biden's heavy use of a teleprompter for his public remarks and as a result it was being closely watched.

Biden traveled to Wisconsin, a political battleground state, to rally voters and sit for a television interview that will be closely watched after his debate with Trump prompted some in his party, including major donors, to question whether he can handle a second four-year term.

"We had a little debate last week. Can’t say it was my best performance. But ever since then there’s been a lot of speculation. ‘What’s Joe gonna do? Is he gonna stay in the race? Is he gonna drop out?" Biden said. "Well here’s my answer: I am running and gonna win again."

The president faced a potential new hurdle from within the party ranks, however. Senator Mark Warner, a well-respected moderate Democrat, is inviting Democratic senators to a meeting on Monday to discuss Biden's campaign, a source told Reuters. The Washington Post reported Warner was seeking to ask the group to press Biden to exit the race.

The president told reporters later that he had spoken to at least 20 lawmakers and that they were telling him to stay. Asked about Warner calling for him to go, Biden said: "Well, Mark Warner, to my understanding, is the only one considering that."

At the rally, Biden said he was thankful for the support of his vice president, Kamala Harris, who has emerged as a top choice to replace him were he to step aside as the Democratic Party's standard-bearer. One person at the Madison rally held up a sign behind Biden that said, "Pass the torch, Joe."

Harris posted a supportive note on X, formerly Twitter, after Biden's rally, saying the president had devoted his life to fighting for Americans. "In this moment, I know all of us are ready to fight for him," she said.

Biden knocked Trump's intelligence and called him a liar, delivering stinging attacks that were absent when he appeared on the Atlanta debate stage. He referenced a comment in which Trump mistakenly said George Washington's revolutionary army had taken over British airports in 1776. "He is a 'stable genius,'" Biden said.

But he had sharper words for those in his party who have raised doubts about his ability to lead them to victory over Trump in the Nov. 5th election.

"I'm the nominee of this party," Biden said.

"They're trying to push me out of the race. Well let me say this as clearly as I can: I'm staying in the race! I'll beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020," Biden said, getting the year wrong. He followed up by saying: "And by the way we're going to do it again in 2024."

While in Wisconsin, Biden will be interviewed by ABC News, part of a flurry of events over the next week aimed at showing Americans he still has the stamina to run against Trump in the Nov. 5 election.

DONORS, BUSINESS LEADERS, ALLIES

A handful of donors and business leaders are making their displeasure with Biden's candidacy known loudly, halting funding or looking at possible Democratic alternatives. Even some of Biden's closest political allies, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have raised questions about his health.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey issued a statement on Friday asking Biden to weigh the decision carefully, the rare Democratic governor not to issue a statement of support in recent days.

"President Biden saved our democracy in 2020 and has done an outstanding job over the last four years," she said. "The best way forward right now is a decision for the president to make. Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump."

Some public opinion polls have shown Trump widening a lead since the debate, while a Reuters/Ipsos poll found one in three Democrats want Biden to quit the race.

A group of business and civic leaders urged Biden to end his reelection bid in a letter to the White House on Friday, a day after its CEO said members would still back him if he continued to run, the Washington Post reported.

The White House has blamed a cold for Biden's shaky performance and Biden himself cited jet lag from back-to-back trips to Europe.

Biden's former chief of staff, Ron Klain, who led his preparation process ahead of the debate, pushed back against donors complaints. "We are the Democratic Party!" he wrote on X. Donors "don't get to decide to oust a pro-labor pro-people President."

Trump's campaign and some of his allies have launched a pre-emptive political strike on Harris, moving swiftly to try to discredit her amid talk that she could eventually replace Biden as the Democrats' nominee.

The Biden campaign has shown no signs of changing course, although the Trump team has overtaken it on fundraising.

The campaign announced it would spend $50 million on a media blitz for July, "including strategic investments around key events that draw in large and politically diverse audiences like the 2024 Olympic Games and the Republican National Convention."

Trump, 78, who made multiple false statements during the debate in Atlanta, falsely claimed in a video that was circulated on social media that he had driven Biden out of the race. He made disparaging comments about Harris in the same video, which the Trump campaign stood by.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Kanishka Singh and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Ross Colvin, Heather Timmons, Alistair Bell, Daniel Wallis and Diane Craft)