President Biden on Tuesday made his first public appearance since dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, flying from Delaware to the White House the day before his highly anticipated address to the nation over his dramatic campaign exit.
Biden, 81, saluted and smiled as he left his motorcade at Dover Air Force Base and walked slowly toward Air Force One while reporters shouted questions at him asking how he felt.
“Well,’’ the president twice responded, nearly a week after testing positive for COVID and recovering at his beach house in Rehoboth — before dramatically announcing he was dropping out of the presidential campaign Sunday.
Biden continued to lumber toward the jet, then gripped the steps’ railing as he slowly climbed up them, holding a blue face mask in his left hand.
The president briefly paused at the top of the stairs to salute and give a quick wave before boarding the aircraft.
The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- Biden drops out of presidential race: live updates
- Kamala Harris campaign flooded with ‘record-breaking’ $81 million in donations in first 24 hours after Biden drops out
- Top Dems threatened to forcibly remove Biden from office unless he resigned, set him up to fail at Trump debate: sources
- Schumer, Pelosi played ‘good cop, bad cop’ to convince Biden to drop out with ex-speaker stating, ‘Easy way or the hard way’
- Trump and JD Vance accuse Dems of leading ‘coup’ against Biden, call to ‘invoke the 25th Amendment’
After landing at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland near the White House at 2:18 p.m., Biden descended the stairs of Air Force One, telling reporters on the ground, “Watch and listen.
“Why don’t you wait and hear what I say?” he responded when asked what his message will be during Wednesday night’s Oval Office address.
Another reporter flat-out asked Biden why he dropped out of the election, to which the president turned his head toward the journalist and laughed before getting into the limousine.
The president announced July 17 that he had tested positive for COVID and had been receiving doses of Paxlovid and isolating himself in Rehoboth since.
Biden’s absence from the spotlight drew widespread conspiracy theories about his health as he recuperated.
Then Sunday, Biden — dogged by persistent questions about his mental and physical health — made the stunning announcement he would no longer be seeking re-election.
Biden appeared to “freeze up” at several high-profile events in the weeks leading up to last month’s disastrous debate with former President Trump, which kicked off a rapid accumulation of Democratic allies calling for him to throw in the towel.
Aides confirmed he will travel Monday to Texas to speak at the LBJ Presidential Library.