Biden to give Oval Office speech as clock ticks on presidency
US President Joe Biden will give an Oval Office speech Wednesday to explain his historic decision to drop out of the 2024 election and pass the torch to Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
In his first address to the nation since quitting the race, the 81-year-old is also expected to burnish his legacy and deny that he will spend six months as a lame duck president.
Armed with Biden's endorsement, Vice President Harris has secured enough delegates to become the Democratic Party's candidate in November to face Republican Donald Trump and is already hitting the campaign trail.
"With your support, I am fighting for our nation's future," Harris said in a speech to a Black college sorority in Indianapolis, criticizing Republicans who "plan to return America to a dark past."
The 59-year-old Harris also paid tribute to Biden, saying that his speech would be about "not only the extraordinary work that he has accomplished, but about his work in the next six months."
Biden stunned the world when he announced that he would not seek reelection, bowing to weeks of pressure after a disastrous, stumbling debate performance against Trump last month.
The veteran Democrat will now use the powerfully symbolic setting of the Oval Office to try to restore some dignity as the clock ticks on his presidency and a half-century in public service.
- 'Finish the job' -
Biden said on X he would discuss "what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people" in the primetime televised speech event at 8:00 pm (0000 GMT Thursday).
Just a day earlier he returned to the White House on Tuesday after spending nearly a week with Covid at his Delaware beach house, a period of isolation in which he took the historic decision to step back.
It comes just over a week since his last Oval Office address, following an assassination attempt against Trump on July 13, but is only the fourth of his presidency overall -- and could well be his last.
Republicans have called for Biden to step down altogether, saying that if he is not fit to stand for reelection then he is not fit to serve as president.
The veteran Democrat insists he still has much to offer, with a particular focus on the economy and on disbursing money from a huge infrastructure bill for roads, bridges and airports.
He is also targeting a peace deal in the Middle East -- a legacy-defining dream that many US presidents before Biden have also chased.
- Netanyahu meeting -
Biden, who meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday, said on Monday that they are on the verge of reaching a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
But in a sign of how quickly things are already moving on, Netanyahu will sit down separately Thursday with Harris.
Neither Biden nor Harris will attend the Israeli premier's address to Congress on Wednesday, amid tensions between the president and Netanyahu over the war.
Trump, meanwhile, said in a post on Truth Social that he will meet with the Israeli leader Friday at the Republican's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump is due to appear in Charlotte later Wednesday for his first rally since Harris became the de facto nominee.
Biden's decision to pull out upended a 2024 White House race that had threatened to become a sclerotic rematch between two elderly men.
It has injected a huge dose of enthusiasm into the Democratic Party after the turmoil over Biden, with Harris drawing exuberant crowds at her rallies.
Trump meanwhile has been forced to completely recalibrate a campaign which had revolved around bashing Biden's age, but now sees the Republican himself as the oldest candidate in US history.
Polls so far underscore that the race remains very tight.
A CNN poll released on Wednesday showed Trump with 49 percent against Harris's 46 percent, within the survey's margin of error, while also showing that Harris improved on Biden's performance against Trump.
A.Robinson--TNT
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