White House Says Biden Will ‘Absolutely Not’ Suspend Re-election Campaign: ‘He’s Remaining in the Race’

President Biden is “absolutely not” considering dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.

The White House has said Biden will continue to seek a second term despite pressure from Democrats, former staffers and allies to step down.

On Wednesday morning, a report was published in the New York Times that Biden had spoken privately with confidants about the possibility of dropping out of the race.

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But when Jean-Pierre was asked during the briefing whether Biden would drop out of the race, he replied:

“Absolutely not,” she said. “And you heard, I think, directly from the campaign.”

Jean-Pierre insisted that the president’s poor performance in the debate was due to his “cold,” and repeated his own explanation from Tuesday night — that he was still recovering from “jet lag” after traveling to Europe for the G-7 summit.

“It wasn’t his best night. He understands that people have the right to ask that question, but we can’t forget his accomplishments and what he was able to do. We can’t forget how he was able to serve the American people for almost four years,” she said. “That matters, too. And he has the most historic record, the greatest record in modern politics, and that should matter.”

Jean-Pierre said Biden “wants to continue this work.”

“A lot of what’s on his agenda is very popular with the majority of Americans, whether it’s continuing to build a strong economy — economic policy — he’s done that, creating jobs — he’s done that — 15 million jobs. He wants to work on that and continue to do that. And so he wants to continue to deliver, expand health care — all of those things that he thinks are important,” she said. “He wants to make sure that people don’t forget the accomplishments that he’s been able to put forward on behalf of the American people.”

Jean-Pierre again stressed that the debate was simply a “bad night.”

“It wasn’t his best night. He had a cold. He had jet lag. You heard it directly from the president,” she said. “And when we’re knocked out, when he goes down, he gets right back up.”

She added: “That’s what I would focus on. The president is still very stable and he’s still working for the American people.”

Jean-Pierre maintained Wednesday that Biden “remains in the race.”

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Biden himself said: “I’m running. I’m the leader of the Democratic Party. Nobody’s pushing me out.”

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly made a surprise appearance on a Democratic National Committee conference call in an attempt to calm chaos among party allies after the debate.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, speaking at an all-hands meeting Wednesday, urged people to tune out the “noise” and focus on the task of governing.

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Jean-Pierre acknowledged Zients’ efforts, noting that he acknowledged to White House staff that the past few days have been difficult.

Biden himself has reportedly reached out and spoken with top Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Delaware Sen. Chris Coons and South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn.

The chief of staff, however, encouraged White House staff to “continue to work as a team,” tune out the negativity and focus on the job of governing.

Jean-Pierre was also asked about Biden’s comments from 2020 in which he described himself as a transitional candidate and expressed hope that he would be a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leadership.

She responded that Vice President Kamala Harris is “the future of the party.”

“His statement is timely. I mean, one of the reasons he chose vice president, President Kamala Harris, is because she really is the future of the party,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that Biden is “very proud to partner with her and continue to partner with her and achieve an unprecedented outcome for the American people.”

“And I think he will continue to do that, he certainly will. They will continue to do that as partners. As I said, I saw them before they went into the briefing room. They came in to talk to me and my team, and they are ready. They are ready to continue. So the transition will happen in eight years,” she said. “I mean, I’m not going to get into that, to speculate from that point. But you’re asking me if his comments and his statement still hold true. Yes, they still hold true.”

Meanwhile, Biden plans to host a meeting of Democratic governors on Wednesday evening.

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Democratic governors who planned to attend in person included Tim Walz of Minnesota, who leads the Democratic Governors Association, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Daniel McKee of Rhode Island, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gavin Newsom of California, according to their aides. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy planned to attend virtually.

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released this week found that more than four in 10 Democrats said the Democratic Party should intervene and replace Biden as the nominee. Overall, 54% of voters surveyed favored Biden withdrawing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.