President Joe Biden told an ally he is weighing whether to drop out of the presidential race, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
However, White House spokesman Andrew Bates claimed the leak was “absolutely false.”
“That claim is absolutely false. If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so,” he posted on X.
The leak to the Times represents frustration within the Biden campaign, which is reeling from a poor debate performance and subsequent calls for Biden to drop out of the race.
The Times reports:
President Biden has told a key ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after a disastrous debate performance last week.
The president, who the ally emphasized is still deeply in the fight for re-election, understands that his next few appearances heading into the holiday weekend — including an interview scheduled for Friday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — must go well.
