Questions have been swirling about President Joe Biden‘s location and why he hasn’t been seen publicly in days, especially after Sunday’s sudden departure from the presidential race.
During a speech at the White House, her first public appearance since receiving Biden’s endorsement in the race for president, Vice President Kamala Harris said Biden was continuing to recover from COVID, which he tested positive for last week.
“Our president, Joe Biden, wanted to be here today. He is feeling much better and recovering fast, and he looks forward to getting back on the road,” she told the crowd at an event celebrating NCAA champion athletes.
Biden, remains isolated at his Rehoboth, Delaware, beach home, where he has been since his COVID-19 diagnosis.
Biden’s decision to bow out came after escalating pressure from his Democratic allies to step aside following the June 27 debate, in which the 81-year-old president trailed off, often gave nonsensical answers and failed to call out the former president’s many falsehoods.
In his first post-debate interview, Biden said he was convinced that he is the best person to take on Trump, adding that he could only be persuaded to step down “if the Lord Almighty comes out and tells me that.”
But as his resolute posture failed to quell the unrest in his party, Biden suggested he could be moved to withdraw in other ways. Biden is already the country’s oldest president and had insisted repeatedly that he was up for the challenge of another campaign and another term.
Concerns over Biden’s age have dogged him since he announced he was running for reelection, though Trump is just three years younger at 78. Most Americans view the president as too old for a second term, according to an August 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A majority also doubt his mental capability to be president, though that is also a weakness for Trump.
Biden often remarked that he was not as young as he used to be, doesn’t walk as easily or speak as smoothly, but that he had wisdom and decades of experience, which were worth a whole lot.
In a BET interview that aired Wednesday during the Republican National Convention, Biden said he might reconsider his decision to stay in the race “if I had some medical condition that emerged.”
On the day that interview was set for broadcast, Biden tested positive for COVID. The president was last seen exiting Air Force One that Wednesday and heading in a motorcade toward his Delaware home.
Biden previously said he would address the nation later this week to provide “detail” about his decision.
In addition to his planned speech, Biden still intends to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, according to a person familiar with the president’s schedule who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The exact timing of the meeting is still not set in stone as Biden continues to recover from COVID. Netanyahu is scheduled Wednesday to deliver an address to Congress and he is also expected to meet with Harris while in Washington.