Washington: US President Joe Biden on Thursday said his deputy, Vice President Kamala Harris, is qualified to lead the county. At a press conference here, Biden said, "From the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be the president. That's why I picked her."
When asked about the reasons for this, he said Firstly, because of the way she's handled the issue of freedom of women's bodies, to have control of their bodies and secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board. This was a hell of a prosecutor. She was a first rate person and in the Senate, she was really good. I wouldn't have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be the president, Biden said.
At the press meet, Biden also gave detailed responses about his work to preserve NATO and his plans for a second term. And he insisted he’s not leaving the race even as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers ask him to step aside.
Biden batted away questions about his age and fitness for office, while defending his record. The president opened with an eight-minute statement, largely about the NATO summit he hosted in Washington, before taking reporters’ questions.
Biden called on reporters from 10 news organizations. He was asked about Democrats calling on him to drop his reelection bid, Vice President Kamala Harris and foreign policy. The fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again, Biden said.
Biden insists he has no plans to leave the presidential race to make room for the vice president or anyone else.
Asked if he would consider bowing out before November if he’s shown data that Harris could perform better against Trump, Biden responded, “No, unless they came back and said, ‘There’s no way you can win.’” “No one’s saying that,” Biden said. “No poll says that.”
He conceded that there were probably other candidates “who can beat Trump” but pointed to his campaign’s strong fundraising and operations in battleground states. He noted that anyone other than him would have “to start from scratch.” The idea that senators and congressmen are running for office worrying about the ticket is not unusual. And I might add, there were at least five presidents running or incumbent presidents who had lower numbers than I have now later in a campaign, he said. So, there's a long way to go in this campaign and so I'm just going to keep moving, he said.
