Democrats are laying the groundwork for Joe Biden to make a “dignified” exit from the presidential race.
Following his disastrous performance against Donald Trump in Thursday night’s debate, members of the Biden family gathered in Camp David, the president’s country retreat, where they are expected to discuss his future.
One Democrat official said the US president could not be “dragged off stage”, and needed relatives and trusted advisers to convince him to “walk off” on his own terms.
Senior Democrats and friends of Mr Biden pushed for this conversation to happen over the weekend.
However, his family are said to have urged him to stay in the race when they met on Sunday, while expressing frustration with aides who prepared him for the debate.
Mr Biden was expected to spend Sunday and Monday surrounded by members of his immediate family, including Jill Biden, the first lady, and their granddaughters, Finnegan and Natalie Biden.
Among those pushing Mr Biden to keep fighting was his son, Hunter, who wants to repair the damage done to his reputation by Thursday’s debate, the New York Times reported.
A Biden campaign source downplayed the significance of the gathering, insisting the stay had been planned some time in advance, adding that discussions about his re-election bid would be “informal or an afterthought”.
However, Mr Biden has previously said he would not run a political campaign without the support of his family. “We do everything by family meetings,” he said in 2019.
The 81-year-old president repeatedly mumbled, veered off topic and froze while speaking in front of an estimated 50 million viewers during the first showdown between Mr Biden and Trump hosted by CNN on Thursday.
