Iain Marlow | (TNS) Bloomberg News

President Joe Biden is forging ahead with a political war on two fronts: against skeptics from his own party and against Republican challenger Donald Trump.

A high-stakes press conference on Thursday evening that began with a major gaffe — his second in as many hours — saw the incumbent 81-year-old Democrat flatly insist he was keeping his campaign alive.

“I’m determined on running,” Biden said, adding he would only step aside if aides told him that he couldn’t win, something “no one is suggesting” now.

His performance failed to stem the tide of Democratic angst. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Biden Thursday evening and “directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives, and conclusions about the path forward” that had been shared with him, according to a letter sent to lawmakers Friday. The White House confirmed the meeting, but declined to provide details about the discussion.

Shortly after Biden’s NATO appearance ended, three more members from his party, including Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called for him to step aside.

Biden acknowledged Thursday night that “it’s important that I allay fears” within his party.

On Friday, he’ll head to a campaign event in Detroit, taking that effort to the crucial swing-state of Michigan. Next week, he’ll look to shore up his standing with key Democratic blocs with a stop Monday in Austin to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act — an attempt to also counterprogram the Republican National Convention which starts that day. That will be followed by visits to the NAACP National Convention and a gathering of Latino activists.

Focus on Trump

As Biden left the stage Thursday, he also sought to shift the focus to Trump, suggesting to voters that despite his own missteps his general-election challenger’s rhetoric and policies are much worse.

“Listen to him,” Biden said.

That message was amplified Friday morning by one of the president’s closest allies in Congress, Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, who said he remains “all in” with Biden and that the party should let him “make his own decisions about his future.”

Clyburn said attention should be on Trump and what his return to power would augur for American voters, citing Project 2025, a sweeping policy blueprint being crafted by some of the Republican’s closest advisers that proposes a massive overhaul of the federal government and replacing thousands of civil servants with officials deemed loyal to the former president to help enact a more conservative agenda.

“I would hope that we would spend our time now focusing on the record that we will lay out for the American people, remind the American people of what is in store for them if Project 2025 were to become the law in any form. That is where our focus ought to be,” Clyburn said on NBC’s Today.

Trump has repeatedly sought to distance himself from the project, despite the involvement of some of the most prominent members of his former administration in the initiative — a reaction that suggests concern that the Democratic attacks may land with voters.

NATO Summit

The NATO summit in Washington this week gave the White House a chance to showcase Biden uniting world leaders in support of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion. The president survived nearly a week of intense scrutiny as he hosted dozens of world leaders in Washington before making the kind of gaffe Democrats feared as the gathering concluded.

Biden confused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while on stage with fellow NATO leaders, a misstep that drew gasps from the audience and threatened to unleash a new round of anxiety in foreign capitals worried about the prospect of Trump returning to office.

The president quickly recovered, seeking to clean up the mistake. “President Putin? We’re going to beat President Putin,” Biden said, but the event marred the close of an otherwise successful summit.

Up until the Putin gaffe, Biden had won praise from European leaders and their advisers, who said he appeared energetic and strong.

He delivered a strident speech at the summit’s opening, held various meetings with delegations from allies and led alliance members in pledging new security assistance for Ukraine — including badly-needed air-defense systems. The final communique also called out China’s aid to Russia with strong language, reflecting an ability to broaden hard-nosed US concerns about Chinese behavior to European allies that are not always willing to risk Beijing’s ire.

Ahead of his solo appearance, several European aides suggested the level of scrutiny on Biden was unfair, and that younger leaders might have withered under a similar microscope. Following the Thursday evening slip-ups, however, one senior European official said it was unfortunate that the gaffes would likely overshadow the progress made at the gathering.

Later that evening at the start of his press conference, Biden also mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump,” this time failing to correct himself.

Before the press conference was over, Trump had already mocked Biden’s reference on social media, writing “GREAT job, Joe!”

Still, the president handled most of the questions at the event well, speaking at length on various issues, including a detailed foreign policy question about China and Russia. White House aides were quick to highlight Biden’s ability to handle detailed policy questions.

“To answer the question on everyone’s minds: No, Joe Biden does not have a doctorate in foreign affairs,” one White House deputy spokesman, Andrew Bates, wrote on X.

But the White House and campaign’s efforts to have Biden speak more and increase his visibility offer more public tests for a president who has long shown a propensity for verbal stumbles. Biden will sit for an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday, to be aired in prime time, the second such sitdown with a broadcast network in as many weeks.

On Thursday night, after his press conference Biden responded to Trump on X.

“By the way: Yes, I know the difference” between Harris and Trump, he wrote. “One’s a prosecutor, and the other’s a felon.”

——-

(With assistance from Alex Wickham and Billy House.)

___

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — NATO leaders met this week to celebrate the alliance’s 75th anniversary under the cloud of deep political uncertainty in its most powerful member — the United States.

But even as questions swirled about President Joe Biden’s future and the implications of a possible return to the White House by NATO skeptic Donald Trump, the 32 allies put a brave face on their strength and unity going forward, particularly in relation to Ukraine.

Over three days in Washington, Ukraine, Russia, the threat posed by an increasingly aggressive China and NATO’s future dominated the formal summit discussions, although all eyes were on Biden.

He hoped to use the summit as a symbol of his strength as leader of the free world as he struggles to salvage his reelection campaign. Biden is facing growing calls to withdraw after a poor debate performance against Trump last month.

Here are key takeaways from the summit:

Biden gets some slack

Biden stunned the audience at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council on Thursday by referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin before quickly correcting himself.

At his news conference later at the conclusion of the summit, he mistakenly called Vice President Kamala Harris Vice President Trump.

NATO leaders paid great deference to Biden by either ignoring or sidestepping questions about his comportment, appearance and grasp of the issues. They praised his leadership and the achievements that NATO has made during his tenure in the White House, including rallying the allies to oppose Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the addition of Finland and Sweden as members.

French President Emmanuel Macron and new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were asked repeatedly about the gaffe but declined to answer directly.

“We can all have a slip of the tongue,” Macron said. “It’s happened to me. I’m sure it will happen to me again tomorrow, and I’d ask you to be just as kind to me.”

Macron said he had a long discussion with Biden during Wednesday’s dinner with NATO leaders and heard his discussions in meetings during the summit. He described Biden as “very much on top of things.”

“He knows the issues, and around the table, he is amongst those who has the greatest depth of knowledge on these international issues,” Macron said.

Starmer, who made his debut on the international stage at the summit, ducked multiple questions about the gaffe, instead praising Biden for his leadership and his preparation in putting an event together to secure solid outcomes for Ukraine.

“I want to look at the substance of what’s been achieved over these two days,” he said.

Trump looms over the summit

A potential Trump presidency has raised concerns in some European capitals. Trump has repeatedly questioned NATO’s relevance, has suggested he might withdraw from the alliance or short of that has threatened not to defend allies who do not meet the 2% defense spending commitments.

Biden said at his news conference that he’s the “best qualified person” to ensure that the 32-member transatlantic alliance remains strong and that Ukraine does not fall to Putin.

“Foreign policy has never been his strong point and he seems to have an affinity to people who are authoritarian,” Biden said of Trump. “That worries Europe, that worries Poland, and nobody, including the people of Poland, think if (Putin) wins in Ukraine, he’s going to stop in Ukraine.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he’s not concerned about the U.S. commitment to the alliance if Trump is returned to the White House, because it has bipartisan support in Congress and a record number of allies are hitting their goals for military spending.

Trump was asked this week on Fox News Radio whether he wants the U.S. to exit NATO. He answered, “No, I want them to pay their bills.”

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, gave a speech to friendly Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the sidelines of the summit, saying he hopes the U.S. never leaves NATO.

“I hope that if the people of America will elect President Trump, I hope that his policy with Ukraine will not change,” Zelenskyy said in a question-and-answer session with Fox News host Bret Baier after his speech.

Ukraine brings in aid

Although they stopped short of offering Ukraine an invitation to join, the allies affirmed that Ukraine is on an “irreversible path” to NATO membership and pledged to maintain a baseline of roughly $43 billion in annual support to Kyiv as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion and attempts to deter future aggression.

There were new pledges of air defense support, including Patriot missile systems and F-16 fighter jets, as well as promises that individual security deals being signed by NATO members with Ukraine constitute a “bridge to NATO.” As part of that bridge, NATO agreed to start up a new program to provide reliable military aid and training to Ukraine and help it get ready to join the alliance.

“Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” the allies said in their joint communique Wednesday.

Zelenskyy embraced the support of allies who have provided substantial new military aid and a path to joining NATO, but he emphatically pushed for the help to arrive faster and for restrictions to be lifted on the use of U.S. weapons to attack military targets inside Russia.

“If we want to win, if we want to prevail, if we want to save our country and to defend it, we need to lift all the limitations,” Zelenskyy said alongside Stoltenberg in the final hours of a summit that saw Ukraine receive fresh commitments of weapons to firm up its defense against Russia.

Harsh words for China

NATO leaders have been concerned about China and its increasing aggressiveness for some time. But in a first, they adopted significantly stronger language calling out Beijing for its support of Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The communique labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war effort, saying Chinese investments and exports of dual-use items are rebuilding Russia’s defense industrial sector. That is helping Russia overcome Western sanctions to ramp up the production of weapons for use in Ukraine.

China has opposed NATO’s reach into the Indo-Pacific region, saying it hurts Beijing’s interests and disrupts peace and stability in the region, said Lin Jian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman.

The four Indo-Pacific countries attending the summit — Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia — issued a joint statement to “strongly condemn the illicit military cooperation” between Russia and North Korea, showing how the military alliance and its Pacific partners are forging closer ties to counter what they see as shared security threats.

“We must work even more closely together to preserve peace and protect the rules-based international order,” Stoltenberg said when meeting officials of the four Pacific partners. “Our security is not regional. It is global.”

John T. Bennett | CQ-Roll Call (TNS)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday stumbled during a key test that could help decide his political future, uttering more embarrassing verbal gaffes under the brightest of lights.

In an unscripted news conference that ran for more than an hour after a three-day conference with leaders of NATO countries, Biden likely prevented an avalanche of fellow Democrats from calling for him to exit the race against Donald Trump — though one prominent House member did just that moments after he left the stage.

But his latest verbal stumbles surely did little during the high-stakes news conference to eliminate further questions about the 81-year-old’s ability to run, win and serve another four years, questions that exploded after Biden at times could not finish sentences during a June 27 debate.

Before Biden — who long has hailed himself a fighter — had a chance to joust with reporters, he committed his second major gaffe of the evening, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.” The slipup came during his answer to the twice-delayed evening session’s first question.

He had been asked if he had concerns about whether Harris could defeat the expected GOP nominee, should she become the Democratic Party’s nominee if Biden stepped aside. At an event earlier during a NATO summit in Washington, he made another slip. “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” he said as he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Biden quickly caught his gaffe: “No, we’re going to beat Putin. … I’m so focused on beating Putin.”

U.S. President Joe Biden walks out to hold a news conference at the 2024 NATO Summit on Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images/TNS)

Biden also appeared to misstate economic data — about high inflation and debt levels — under his watch. He also referred to Asia as Europe, appearing to mix up an economic-themed trip on the other side of the globe. And despite having already debated former President Donald Trump, he said “the campaign hasn’t started in earnest yet.”

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said after the event ended that Biden should “step away from the presidential campaign” because the party needs to “put forth the strongest candidate possible” to defeat Trump.

“I no longer believe that is Joe Biden, and I hope that, as he has throughout a lifetime of public service, he will continue to put our nation first and, as promised, make way for a new generation of leaders,” Himes said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Democratic lawmakers had said he needed a strong news conference and summit for them to maintain their support for his reelection bid. He had mostly passed that test all week, until the “Putin” and “Trump” verbal missteps, which undoubtedly will fuel more Democratic discontent — and drew instant mocking from Trump.

The unprecedented and surreal scene came at a venue of comfort for the former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair: the conclusion of a NATO summit in Washington.

“America cannot retreat from the world,” Biden said at the start of his news conference, using prepared remarks and a teleprompter to tout the importance of keeping NATO together and strong as he took jabs at Trump. “Meanwhile, my predecessor has made it clear, no commitment to NATO. He made it clear that he would feel no obligation to honor Article 5. He’s already told (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, I quote, ‘Do whatever the hell you like.’”

Biden gave no indication he is considering dropping out. He described himself as “determined” to run, but acknowledged Democrats’ calls that he must “allay” concerns.

“I think I’m the most qualified. I beat him once and I will beat him again,” he told reporters, referring to Trump. “I’m not in this for my legacy. I’m in it to finish the job I’ve started.”

Asked about his fitness, Biden cited jobs created and legislation passed.

“Am I getting the job done?” Biden said, describing how he judges himself. To those who worry he is slowing down, he said: “There’s no indication of that, none.”

Amid questions about his cognitive health, Biden said he has passed three neurological tests as president, adding that his White House doctors have not suggested he needs another such exam.

In one sharp contrast to the debate, he grew animated talking about gun violence, saying with a pointed finger that more children are killed annually by “a bullet” in the U.S. than by other means.

“What the hell are we doing?” he shouted, before saying that Trump had promised to take no steps to curb gun violence.

Biden dismissed — around 7:45 p.m. — reporting that he told Democratic governors he intended to do less after 8 p.m., urging reporters to look at his nearly 20 public events since the debate. He dinged Trump, saying his foe has been “filling out his scorecard, before he hits the ball,” a reference to Trump recently holding no public events for a week but being caught on mobile phone videos playing golf.

The president, speaking clearer and more coherently than during his debate against Trump, defended Harris amid speculation he lacked confidence she could beat Trump and then be an effective commander in chief.

“She’s qualified to be president,” he said. “I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president.”

The list of Democratic lawmakers calling for him to step aside grew before the news conference — Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez even appeared to suggest he should resign — and senators who huddled with his campaign team said they need to see more gumption, stamina and clarity.

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More than a dozen House Democrats and one senator have called for Biden to step aside from the campaign and others have vaguely said they hope he does the right thing for the sake of the country. But few have proposed a process for what would happen next, and the party has not coalesced around a potential replacement nominee — though Harris is most often mentioned.

At a campaign stop earlier Thursday in Greensboro, North Carolina, a battleground state, Harris repeatedly praised Biden.

“One thing we know about our president, Joe Biden, is that he is a fighter,” Harris said. “So we will continue to fight. And we will continue to organize. And, in November, we will win … because we know what is at stake.” She also said Biden is the “one person in the world” who deserves credit for bolstering the transatlantic alliance.

Hours later, Biden praised his running mate for her advocacy on abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision ending federal abortion rights — or, as the Catholic Biden put it, “freedom of women’s bodies.”

He contended Harris was “a hell of a prosecutor” and was a strong senator from California who was capable of handling “almost any issue, across the board.”

But, notably, he never said he believes she could defeat Trump.

Biden appeared at his most comfortable when discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, declaring “I’m not ready to talk to Putin” because the Kremlin leader has not shown “any inclination” to back down. But he soon after said he would talk to “any” world leader.

“Putin’s got a problem,” Biden said, noting how many Russian troops have been killed or wounded. “If we allow Russia to succeed in Ukraine, they’re not stopping at Ukraine.”

On Wednesday during the summit, Biden said that “for 75 years, our nations have grown and prospered behind the NATO shield. Today, we’re stronger than we’ve ever been.”

“Since I took office … the number of allies spending at least 2% on defense has gone from nine to 23. That’s not happened by chance but by choice,” he said.

He was referring to a pledge by all alliance members to devote 2% of their respective gross domestic products to defense.

Trump has spent eight years calling most other NATO countries “delinquent,” suggesting they spend too little on their own militaries. He has suggested, unless they spend more, he may ignore the organization’s mutual defense pact. Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump aide, told Newsmax Tuesday evening that the other countries only upped their spending as a result of pressure from Trump. Biden countered on Wednesday.

“(For) the first time ever, every NATO nation is pledging to develop plans for defense production at home. That means, as an alliance, we’ll become more innovative and competitive,” he said. “And we’re able to produce more critical defense equipment more quickly.”

Biden used a question about a possible Trump second term and Russia’s Ukraine war to take another swipe at his expected general election foe.

“I’m not hearing any of my European allies come up to me and say, ‘Joe, don’t run,’” he said. “I hear them say, ‘You gotta win. You can’t let this guy come forward. He’d be a disaster.’”

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