Biden to hold news conference Thursday as he tries to quiet doubts after the debate

WAKA Action 8 News,

Posted: Jul 10, 2024 8:04 PM CDT

President Joe Biden arrives for the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press

President Biden will hold a news conference Thursday, the key event in a monumental week during which he is fending off calls for him to step aside as the party’s presumptive nominee following a shaky debate performance.

The news conference is scheduled to start at 4:30PM CDT. You can watch it live on WAKA Action 8. The plan is for him to answer questions from the White House press corps.

Many political watchers have said Biden needs to pull off an event like this successfully to turn back demands — including from within his own party — that he withdraw from his reelection battle against presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.

Biden has argued that he had a singularly bad night in Atlanta and that it wasn’t representative of his mental acuity. A strong performance Thursday could convince members of his party that he still has the ability both to win in November and to serve a second term. A weak effort — or stumbles similar to his debate performances — could make the calls for him to withdraw grow much louder.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has referenced this event as Biden’s “big boy” news conference:

Biden will be speaking from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, a short distance from the White House, where many events of the ongoing NATO summit are being held.

It’s not standard practice for the president to know precisely what will come up during interviews or news conferences. His aides prepare him for a host of possibilities based off the headlines of the day, so they’re prepping him for the likelihood that journalists will want to ask about his fitness for office, the NATO summit or other topics.

Biden hasn’t held very many news conferences that aren’t tied to a foreign leader’s visit or trips abroad. Typically, those are what’s known in the business as a “2+2,” meaning two reporters from the U.S. and two foreign reporters ask questions.

After the news conference, Biden is scheduled to return to the campaign trail with a trip to Michigan Friday. He will also do an interview with NBC on Monday.