Biden's 'defeat Trump' plea after leaving election race

Joe Biden talked about the pressure from his fellow Democrats to leave the White House race as he sat down for his first interview since becoming the first sitting president in over 50 years not to seek re-election.

- OLIVER O'CONNELL

Speaking to Robert Costa of CBS News, Mr Biden said that while polling showed him neck and neck with Donald Trump, “a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races”.

“I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic you’d be interviewing about,” he said in the interview which aired yesterday adding that he had first run as a “transition president” and that maintaining democracy was a critical issue, the combination of which led to his decision.

Mr Biden said: “Although it’s a great honour being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I… the most important thing you can do, and that is, we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.”