The now-former Democratic nominee is scheduled to address the nation Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, White House officials said.
Biden is expected to speak from the Oval Office about his decision to exit the race, a decision he was forced to accept by his own political party over fears Donald Trump will cruise to a second term.
Biden is also expected to somehow explain why he plans to remain as president and commander in chief for six more months in office.
The live address will come after Biden was whisked away to his Delaware beach home last week after being diagnosed with COVID-19. From his beach home he announced Sunday afternoon, in a post on X, he was ending his bid as the Democrat nominee.
After that surprise announcement came speculation the 81-year-old was sickly, or even dying, but those Internet rumors died when President Biden arrived Tuesday at Dover Air Force Base for a trip back to the White House.
Biden on the mend
The White House on Tuesday released a letter from Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s personal physician.
“The President’s symptoms have resolved. Over the course of his infection, he never manifested a fever, and his vital signs remained normal, including pulse oximetry. His lungs remained clear. The President continues to perform all of his presidential duties,” O’Connor wrote.
O’Connor said Biden has tested negative and will continue to be monitored for possible recurrence.
While Biden will discuss his decision Wednesday night, The New York Post beat him to the topic in a Tuesday story. The Post reported that Democratic Party leaders – it did not name them – threatened to invoke the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution if Biden did not voluntarily end his campaign.
The amendment allows a president to be stripped of his authority if the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet declare in writing that the President is unable to fulfil his duties.
Beginning with a House resolution from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), Republican lawmakers have been pushing the 25th Amendment, too. Their argument is simple: Biden shouldn't remain in the Oval Office if he can't remain the Democrat nominee.
“The American people have been slowing coming to terms with this for a while. Our government is fake. It’s very clear that Joe Biden was not running the country when he had the debate,” Blaze TV host Auron MacIntyre said on American Family Radio Tuesday.
FEC chairman raises legal questions
Biden’s publicists were pushing back against the idea of his withdrawal in the days and even hours before his X post went live.
MacIntyre told show host Jenna Ellis that it was clear that Biden’s exit from the race was pre-planned and well-orchestrated.
The speed with which the Federal Election Commission responded to Biden proved as much, he said.
“I don't hear a lot of government bureaucracies that wake up on Sunday afternoon to fast track a process, but they managed to go ahead and switch everything over to her in like a few hours," MacIntyre said. "It’s very obvious that these dominoes were all set up to fall as quickly as possible to make sure that there are no questions about, Is this legal?”
The transfer of Biden-Harris campaign dollars to the Harris for President campaign raised a red flag with Sean Cooksey, the Trump-appointed FEC chairman. He told NPR the issue is "complicated" because it is unprecedented for a candidate to drop out like Biden has done.
The NPR reporter, reading from the federal law, said political contributions must be "returned or refunded to the contributors, or redesignated or reattributed as appropriate."
In an X post Tuesday, Cooksey posted a letter to the FEC, from Democrat Rep. Joseph Morelle, that accused Cooksey of sowing "doubt and confusion" for a political agenda.
Morelle began the letter by praising President Biden for his "patriotic decision to prioritize the wellbeing of the nation over his own political ambitions."
Delegating responsibilities or 'dictatorship'
Biden says he’ll keep his nose to the grindstone though he already announced a shifting of responsibilities relating to the war in Ukraine on Monday. The president posted a memorandum saying certain functions of the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act would be handled by the Secretaries of Treasury and State.
The REPO Act aims to provide assistance in Ukraine for rebuilding civilian infrastructure, economy and agriculture. It provides humanitarian assistance, too.
“This is called the commissarial dictatorship. This is what you use when you used to take a particular issue and you would assign it to a commissar and they would go ahead and handle this. This is something that is a function of other governments, but it's not something that's ever been in the United States. We assume that the executive is making a decision on those issues, even though it's getting the input of other advisors,” MacIntyre said.
This is a preventive measure designed to ensure money continues to flow through Ukraine in the event of further decline for Biden while he remains in office, MacIntyre said.
“You want to make sure that you shore up that authority just in case the guy who otherwise pretends to be making those decisions isn't around, or is incapable of signing a piece of paper, or handing out a mandate,” he said.
Shifting to Kamala and a new V.P.
Biden’s announcement was posted at 12:46 ET. It was 27 minutes later before his account posted again, this one endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, for the Democratic nomination.
Some Democratic leaders endorsed Harris immediately, but others did not.
Former President Barak Obama wrote about “uncharted waters” and expressed great confidence in “the leaders of our party to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
Obama’s statement helped revive rumors of Michelle Obama as a hopeful nominee. But money and support quickly followed Harris, and an Associated Press survey on Tuesday found that Harris has secured enough Democratic delegates to become the nominee.
Focus shifted to Harris’ choice of running mate.
Two swing-state governors each bring something different to the table, MacIntyre said.
Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer would help Harris “double down on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion aspect of the ticket” and is “well-liked inside the party,” MacIntyre said.
But Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, an observant conservative Jew, is intriguing for “Kamala Harris being somewhat pro-Palestinian which puts her at odds with a very important constituency inside the Democratic Party,” MacIntyre said.
