US President Joe Biden has admitted he needs to get more sleep and work less, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two sources with direct knowledge of the remarks.
Biden reportedly made the statements during a gathering of Democratic governors on Wednesday. The event was organized to try and reassure key players within the party that the 81-year-old president is still fit for his job and vigorous enough to run a strong reelection campaign.
During the meeting, the president repeatedly told more than 20 Democratic governors that he would not be pushed out of the race and was “in it to win it,” according to reports by multiple media outlets.
Biden admitted he would like to sleep more and work less, in particular abstaining from scheduling any events past 8pm, the NYT report claims. When pressed about his physical condition, he referred to a recent medical checkup, a separate report by Politico suggested.
Longstanding concerns about Biden’s physical and mental capacities came to the fore in the Democratic establishment following what was widely perceived as a calamitous debate with Republican rival Donald Trump last week. The Biden campaign has provided various excuses for the poor performance, claiming he had caught a cold.
During the meeting with the governors, however, Biden reportedly said he fared poorly during the debate due to his failure to ease up on his schedule ahead of the faceoff against Trump.
Multiple major Democratic donors have already voiced their dissatisfaction with Biden. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings openly told the NYT on Thursday that the debate was “disastrous” and that Biden should step down from the reelection campaign.
“Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” he said.
Dozens of elected Democrats in Congress are reportedly considering signing an open letter to Biden urging him to suspend his campaign. The motion was first reported by Bloomberg, which, however, did not name those considering such a move while attributing the news to an unnamed “senior party official.”