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President Biden said Sunday that he would withdraw as the Democratic Party\u2019s presumptive nominee following weeks of criticism after a poor debate performance and a revolt from high-profile Democratic donors.<\/p>\n
In a letter posted<\/a> on his X<\/a> account, Biden recounted his accomplishments while in office and said he would address the nation \u201clater this week.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAnd while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.\u201d<\/p>\n In a subsequent post<\/a>, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, with the Democratic National Convention just weeks away. She has become an appealing option for donors and lawmakers. The Biden campaign has also quietly tested whether Harris would be a viable choice against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in a survey of voters, the New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a> last week, citing three people informed about the effort.<\/p>\n Since Biden\u2019s uninspired performance in the first presidential debate, questions have abounded about the president\u2019s mental fitness and ability to beat Republican nominee Donald Trump in the November presidential election. A mass of influential supporters, donors, and Democratic lawmakers have called for Biden to step aside.\u00a0<\/p>\n Heiress Abigail Disney said<\/a> last week that she and her family would withhold their donations to the Democrats until Biden is replaced. Over the Fourth of July weekend, Biden\u2019s Wall Street backers, including BlackRock<\/a> CEO Larry Fink, privately discussed<\/a> whether the president should step aside. And on July 10, actor George Clooney, who just last month hosted a giant fundraiser for Biden\u2019s reelection wrote in a New York Times<\/em> op-ed<\/a> that Biden should bow out for the good of the party.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not going to win in November with this president,\u201d Clooney wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n The eventual nominee at the top of the Democratic ticket faces a tough task to win back voters disillusioned with the party. Following Biden\u2019s poor debate performance, which he later blamed on a cold, Trump grew his lead over the president by three percentage points<\/a>, according to a New York Times<\/em> and Siena College poll.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n