US President Joe Biden will deliver a speech from the White House on Wednesday, his first since announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 election race and endorsing Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party nominee for president.
“I will address the nation from the Oval Office on what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people,” Biden said in his post on X.
He announced that the address would take place at 8 pm ET on July 24 (early Thursday morning Indian Standard Time).
Biden, who had been recuperating at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home after catching COVID-19 last week, returned to the White House on Tuesday.
The US Presidential election will take place on November 5. Biden was initially seeking re-election as the Democratic Party nominee. However, after his June 27 debate with Republican candidate Donald Trump, Democrats pressured him to withdraw from the race. Consequently, on July 21, Biden formally announced that he would not seek a second term and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the election.
Harris has quickly consolidated support among Democrats, securing the backing of enough delegates to likely become the Democratic nominee. She will need to secure the majority of delegates at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago in August. She has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, two of the most powerful Democrats in Congress.
The media outlet Axios has suggested that Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro are the most likely candidates to be tapped by Harris as her running mate for the election.
Meanwhile, the Republican campaign has ramped up attacks on Harris. On Tuesday, Republican Senator from Tennessee Andy Ogles filed articles of impeachment against Harris. The filing expands on previously introduced articles targeting Harris’s record on immigration, as reported by The Hill.
Ogles claims that Harris covered up President Biden’s mental well-being, constituting a “breach of public trust.”
“Kamala Devi Harris has knowingly misled the people of the United States and the Congress of the United States, principally to obfuscate the physical and cognitive well-being of the President of the United States, Joe Biden,” the filing reads, as reported by The Hill.