US President Joe Biden has stepped down from the presidential election.
In a statement on Sunday, Biden said it is his intention to seek reelection as president, but his decision to quit the race is in the interest of his party and country.
“I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” he said in a statement.
Calls for the 81-year-old president to withdraw from the race began to heighten after his feeble performance against Donald Trump in the presidential debate on June 27.
Biden occasionally stammered, spoke incoherently, and delivered a slurred speech during the debate against Trump, his immediate predecessor, who is seeking a return to the White House.
Former US President Barack Obama had reportedly expressed doubts about Biden’s chances of retaining the White House ahead of the November polls.
Obama was said to have been deeply engaged in conversations about the future of Biden’s campaign.
On July 11, George Clooney, Hollywood actor and prominent Democratic fundraiser, implored Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
In an opinion piece titled ‘I love Joe Biden. But we need a new nominee’, Clooney said Biden has won many battles in the last four years but “the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time”.
