President Biden has maintained a defiant stance during his media tour as calls for him to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race continue to grow.
NBC News announced Wednesday that Biden will speak with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt in a primetime special on Monday at 9 p.m. ET, the same time as the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The interview follows a series of media appearances after the debate, including on ABC and MSNBC, and a news conference scheduled for Thursday.
Biden has repeatedly vowed to continue the campaign into November and defeat former President Trump.
But turmoil is brewing in Congress, with Democrats divided over whether to stand by the embattled president or call for him to resign.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) added fuel to the fire when she appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday morning, saying, “I want him to make all the decisions,” suggesting Biden may step aside, even though he reiterated his intention to continue in the race in a letter to Democratic lawmakers on Monday.
Meanwhile, at least eight House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race.
Another bombshell dropped on Wednesday was a scathing guest essay in the New York Times by Hollywood liberal George Clooney.
Fresh from hosting a star-studded fundraiser for Biden in Los Angeles last month, Clooney called for a new Democratic nominee and made it clear that he saw the same Biden the nation saw in the presidential debates.
“It shocks me to say this, but the Joe Biden I sat with at a fundraiser three weeks ago was not the ‘big’ Joe Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debates,” Clooney wrote.
Last week’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos was widely seen as a test of whether Biden has the mental fitness to run for reelection.
However, the 22-minute sit-in did nothing to ease tensions within the party.
Questioned about whether he watched the debate on CNN, Biden raised eyebrows when Stephanopoulos replied, “I don’t think I did.”
President Trump shocked the nation by refusing to take a cognitive ability test after repeatedly claiming that as commander in chief he takes one every day.
Biden also infuriated Democrats by saying he would be satisfied if he lost to former President Trump as long as he “tried his hardest.” [his] all.”
After the interview, Stephanopoulos caused controversy when, in a video obtained by TMZ, he said he didn’t think Biden could serve another four years as president.
The anchor later issued a statement saying, “I answered a question from a passerby today, and I should not have done so. ” An ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “George was expressing his own views, not the position of ABC News.”
