Biden’s decision to drop out ‘has nothing to do with his health,’ White House says

President Biden’s decision to step aside as the expected Democratic nominee in November has “nothing to do with his health,” his top spokesperson said Wednesday ahead of his prime-time address to the nation.

“It has nothing to do with his health. The president is going to speak to this directly to the American people in prime time,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing.

“In his letter he talked about the country, he talked about the party, he talked about the moment we’re in right now,” she continued. “It is not about his health. I can say no, that’s not the reason. But hear him out tonight.”

Jean-Pierre also rejected the idea that she and White House aides were engaged in a “cover up” to mask Biden’s decline from the public.

“There’s been no cover up, want to be very clear about that,” she said.

The president’s health became a major point of speculation following a disastrous debate performance on June 27 where Biden struggled to complete his thoughts. The White House said after the debate had started that the president was dealing with a cold.

Biden is 81 and would have been 86 at the end of a potential second term. He has been isolating with COVID-19 the last five days until testing negative on Tuesday.

Biden is scheduled to speak from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. to detail his decision to end his candidacy. It will be the first time he has spoken on camera since announcing Sunday on social media that he would not seek reelection.

Jean-Pierre said Biden met Saturday evening with a small group of advisers and with his family to discuss how to move forward. On Sunday afternoon, Biden made his decision not to seek reelection and had another call with some senior staff shortly before his letter was published on social media.

“He met with a small group of advisers on Saturday evening. And with his family. And was thinking through how to move forward. Sunday afternoon he made that decision.

“It was in a very short period of time,” she said.

White House aides were adamant up, until he did, that Biden wasn’t going to drop out of the race. A source familiar with the White House staff’s thinking on Friday told The Hill that Biden “is committed to staying in this race until he is re-elected, period” and he dropped out on Sunday.

Jean-Pierre cited the “dynamic situation” when questioned on the credibility of the comments from aides.

“When folks from my team, folks from this White House, said that he wasn’t going to drop out, or he was not planning to drop out, that’s where we were. That’s where we were in that time. That is the guidance that we had,” she said.

Biden faced mounting pressure from Democrats for him to step aside as the nominee amid concerns he could not defeat former President Trump in November and would drag down the ticket in the process.

The president endorsed Vice President Harris to be the Democratic nominee in his place. She has quickly consolidated support within the party and has locked down enough delegates to be the likely nominee ahead of the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago.

Updated at 4:33 pm.