Joe Biden QUITS: President bows out of re-election bid as he admits running not in 'best interest of my party and country'

Over the past several months fellow Democrats gradually lost faith in his mental acuity and ability to beat Donald Trump, leaving the presidential race in uncharted territory.

The President said "it is in the best interest of my party" to stand down and "focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term".

Biden, in a post on X, said he will remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025 and will address the nation this week.

In a statement, he wrote: "It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term."

By dropping his re-election bid, he clears the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to run at the top of the ticket, the first Black woman to do so in the country's history.

Biden's announcement follows a wave of public and private pressure from Democratic lawmakers and party officials to quit the race after his shockingly poor performance in a televised debate last month against Republican rival Donald Trump.

LATEST ON PRESIDENT BIDEN'S ANNOUNCEMENT:

• Biden announces who he endorses for President as 'it's time to come together and beat Trump'
• Joe Biden's statement in full: Read the President's message to America
• Farage reacts to Biden exiting 2024 race
• Trump boasts Harris will be 'easier to beat' as he gives brutal assessment of Biden
• MSM skewered over Joe Biden decision as 81-year-old drops out

Before his announcement, 37 Capitol Hill Democrats had called on the president to step aside.

A source close to Biden told Reuters that, as of Saturday night the President had planned to continue the 2024 run but told senior staff at 1.45pm EDT (6.45pm GMT) on Sunday that he was dropping out.

In a post on social media, President Biden said: "My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made.

"Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this."

Earlier this week, Biden tested positive for COVID-19 while on a trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday and is self-isolating after experiencing mild symptoms.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the positive test for the 81-year-old Democrat after Biden cancelled a speech due to the diagnosis.

Naomi Biden, granddaughter of President Joe Biden, said she is "nothing but proud today" of her grandfather. She wrote on X: "I’m nothing but proud today of my Pop, our President, Joe Biden, who has served our country with every bit of his soul and with unmatched distinction.

"Not only has he been—and will continue to be—the most effective president of our lifetime, but he has likely already cemented himself as the most effective and impactful public servant in our nation’s history."

Former President Donald Trump told CNN that Biden would go "down as the single worst president by far in the history of our country."

While it’s unclear who the Democratic nominee will be, Trump said he thinks Vice President Kamala Harris will be easier to defeat than Biden would have been.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised President Joe Biden for putting "his party, and our future first."

He said: "Joe Biden has not only been a great president and a great legislative leader but he is a truly amazing human being. His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first...Joe, today shows you are a true patriot and great American."

During the primary race, Biden accumulated more than 3,600 delegates to the Democratic National Convention to be held in Chicago in August. That was almost double the 1,976 needed to win the party's nomination.

Unless the Democratic Party changes the rules, delegates pledged to Biden would enter the convention “uncommitted," leaving them to vote on his successor.

Democrats also have a system of “superdelegates," unpledged senior party officials and elected leaders whose support is limited on the first ballot but who could play a decisive role in subsequent rounds.

Biden beat Trump in 2020 by winning in the key battleground states, including tight races in Pennsylvania and Georgia. At a national level, he bested Trump by more than seven million votes, capturing 51.3 per cent of the popular vote to Trump's 46.8 per cent.

The decision caught many White House staff off guard, with several expressing shock that the president had made the announcement while recuperating from a bout of COVID-19 at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Nursing a cough, the 81-year-old Biden had spent the weekend stewing over Democratic pressure to force him to leave the race.

He had been particularly irked at former House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom Biden advisers believed was orchestrating a pressure campaign to get him to stand down.

Hours before the shock announcement, the Biden campaign denied reports that he was planning to drop out.

"It is false. And I think that it is false to continue to try to gin up this narrative," deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told MSNBC's "The Weekend" on Sunday morning.

Governor of California Gavin Newsom said: "President Biden has been an extraordinary, history-making president — a leader who has fought hard for working people and delivered astonishing results for all Americans. He will go down in history as one of the most impactful and selfless presidents."

Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer said: "President Biden is a great public servant who knows better than anyone what it takes to defeat Donald Trump. His remarkable work to lower prescription drug costs, fix the damn roads, bring supply chains home, address climate change, and ensure America’s global leadership over decades will go down in history.

"My job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families' costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan."

Donald Trump Jnr. said: "Kamala Harris owns the entire leftwing policy record of Joe Biden. The only difference is that she is even more liberal and less competent than Joe, which is really saying something. She was put in charge of the border and we saw the worst invasion of illegals in our history!!!"

RNC chair Elise Stefanik said: "If Joe Biden can’t run for re-election, he is unable and unfit to serve as President of the United States. He must immediately resign."

Donald Trump took to his Truth social media to slam "crooked" Joe Biden.

He said: "Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve - And never was! He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement. All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t."

The Gen Z-led organization that says it engages young Americans in politics and government, praised Biden "for delivering the most pro-youth agenda in American history."

"We are ready to mobilize young people to elect Kamala Harris as president," the group said.