I was under pressure from Democrats, Joe Biden explains election exit

US President Joe Biden waves as he rides his bike through Gordons Pond State Park in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on August 11, 2024. [AFP]

US President Joe Biden, in his first TV interview since withdrawing from the election, has said he acted under pressure from fellow Democrats and out of a determination to see Donald Trump beaten.

Explaining his shock exit in new detail, Biden said party colleagues standing for reelection feared he was damaging their chances as his age and mental abilities came to dominate the campaign.

Biden, 81, has kept a low profile since ending his second-term bid on July 21 after his flailing debate performance against Trump triggered a slow-burning Democrat revolt against him.

In the short TV interview, recorded in the White House last week and broadcast on Sunday, the president appeared frail but cogent, again admitting he failed in the debate but stressing that health-wise he has "no serious problem."

"A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the (election) races," he explained.

"I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic you'd be interviewing me about," he continued.

He singled out former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a party heavyweight whose refusal to explicitly back his campaign was seen by many as pivotal.

"You'd be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say (something)... I thought it'd be a real distraction," Biden said.

"A critical issue for me still is -- not a joke -- maintaining this democracy.

"I have an obligation to the country to do what is the most important thing we can do, and that is -- we must, we must, we must defeat Trump."

Helping Harris

Biden said he was proud of his record on jobs, investment and Covid recovery -- and vowed to campaign hard for Vice President Kamala Harris, who has replaced him on the ballot.

"I'm going to do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help most," he said.

Democrats' hopes of winning have soared since Biden's withdrawal, as Harris enjoys a surge in support that has left Trump and the Republicans struggling.

The outgoing president said he had expected to serve only one term when he won in 2020, but that he had been persuaded to push for a second.

"I thought of myself as being a transition president -- I can't even say how old I am. It's hard for me to get it out of my mouth -- but things got moving so quickly, it didn't happen," he told CBS's Robert Costa.

As Harris holds huge rallies in swing states, Trump's light schedule has come under scrutiny, and it was his running mate, J.D. Vance, who blitzed the Sunday morning political talk shows.

Appearing on CNN, ABC and CBS, Vance fielded questions about child care, asylum seekers and abortion.

In one testy exchange with CBS's Margaret Brennan, Vance complained that she had asked "six questions about abortion."

"I'm still trying to get a clear answer," Brennan retorted.

He also claimed that Harris was the one "calling the shots" in the Biden administration.

"If she's not calling the shots, Dana, who is?" he told CNN's Dana Bash.

Biden in his CBS interview warned that Trump was "a genuine danger to American security."

"Mark my words, if he wins... watch what happens," he said. "He's a genuine danger to American security.

"Look, we're at an inflection point in world history... and democracy is the key."

He added that he was "not confident at all" of a peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses a second time.