‘I would have beaten Trump,’ says Biden

PTI, Jan 11, 2025, 8:24 AM IST

Washington: Outgoing US President Joe Biden on Friday said that he would have defeated Donald Trump in the November general elections, but he decided to withdraw from the race mid-way for the sake of the unity of the Democratic Party.

“Mr President, do you regret your decision to not run for re-election? Do you think that that made it easier for your predecessor to now become your successor?” Biden was asked during a news conference at the White House here.

“I don’t think so. I think I would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump and I think that Kamala (Harris) could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump,” Biden said in response.

“It wasn’t about — I thought it was important to unify the party and when the party was worried about whether or not I was going to be able to move even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party,” he said.

“It was the greatest honour of my life to be president of the United States but I didn’t want to be the one who caused a party that wasn’t unified to lose an election. And that’s why I stepped aside. But I was confident she could win,” Biden said.

Biden, 82, decided to withdraw from the US Presidential race against Trump after his disastrous performance at the presidential debate in Atlanta in June.

Following a lot of criticism from his own party leaders, Biden decided to withdraw from the race mid-way and endorsed his running mate Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.

Harris lost the election to Trump. The general elections resulted in a clean sweep for the Republican Party, which not only recaptured the White House, maintained its majority in the House of Representatives but also got a majority in the Senate.