President Joe Biden told BET News in an interview set to air on Wednesday night that he would consider dropping out of the presidential race if a doctor advised him to.
He continued, saying he thought he could pass the presidency on to someone else but didn’t anticipate the country becoming so divided.
“Quite frankly, the only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom,” Biden said. “And I think I’ve demonstrated that I know how to get things done for the country.”
He said “there’s more to do” and that he’s “reluctant to walk away from that.”
Biden’s doctor said in February that the 81-year-old president is “fit for duty” and “fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.”
Biden’s age has become a point of concern for Democrats, and many have asked him to drop out of the race, fearing that if he stays, former President Donald Trump will win in the fall.
Biden’s performance at the debate last month put Democrats’ fears in overdrive as Biden struggled to string sentences together and seemed to look like he didn’t know where he was.
From summer 2023 to this spring, a neurologist with expertise in Parkinson’s disease had visited the White House eight times, according to the White House visitor log. Reporters questioned the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about it a few weeks ago, but Jean-Pierre wouldn’t confirm the specialist even visited the White House.
“It doesn’t matter how hard you push me, it doesn’t matter how angry you get with me, I’m not going to confirm a name,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “It doesn’t matter if it’s even in the log. I’m not going to do that from here. What I can share with you is the president has seen a neurologist for his physical three times.”
The president’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said in a statement that doctor visits don’t only involve examinations of the president.
Last week, Biden said that he would drop out of the presidential race if he were shown that there was no way he could win. Still, he fought against the claim.
“No one is saying that,” Biden said. “No poll says that.”
However, according to a poll conducted July 11-15, two-thirds of Democrats want Biden to drop out of the race. The poll, released on Wednesday, also says that 3 out of 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident in his mental capability to serve effectively as president.