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GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome
to the "News Hour."

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President Biden is facing
more calls from Democratic
lawmakers to step aside

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as the party's nominee since his
Thursday night press conference.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Five House
Democrats, Jim Himes, Eric
Sorensen, Scott Peters,
Brittany Pettersen,

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and Mike Levin, have all
issued statements asking for
the president to step down.

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They joined 15 other
congressional Democrats
who've made similar
calls earlier this week.

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Our White House
correspondent, Laura
Barron-Lopez, has the latest.

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JOE BIDEN, President of
the United States: Thank
you. Please be seated.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: With
all eyes on his high-stakes
press conference...

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JOE BIDEN: I'm not in this
for my legacy. I'm in this to
complete the job I started.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: ...
President Biden played
defense Thursday night,

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trying to prove that he's still
fit to run for reelection.

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JOE BIDEN: A lot can happen.
But I think I'm the best
qualified -- I know -- I

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believe I'm the best qualified
to govern. And I think I'm
the best qualified to win.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And while
there were gaffes and slip-ups.

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QUESTION: What concerns
do you have about Vice
President Harris' ability

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to beat Donald Trump if she
were at the top of the ticket?

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JOE BIDEN: Look, I wouldn't
have picked Vice President
Trump (sic) to be vice

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president if I think she's
not qualified to be president.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: He gave
detailed answers on foreign
policy and national security.

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JOE BIDEN: China has
to understand that
if they are supplying
Russia with information

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and capacity, along with working
with North Korea and others
to help Russia in armament,

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that they're not going
to benefit economically
as a consequence of that.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And went
after Donald Trump on his
plans for a second term.

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JOE BIDEN: Do you think
democracy is under siege based
on Project 2025? Do you think

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he means what he says when
he says he's going to do
away with the civil service,

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eliminate the Department of
Education? We have never been
here before. And that's the

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other reason why I didn't,
as you say, hand off to
another generation. I have
got to finish this job.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But
it wasn't enough to stop

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some Democrats from
urging him to step aside
as the party's nominee.

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Immediately after the press
conference, Connecticut
Representative Jim Himes,

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the top Democrat on the
House Intelligence Committee,
issued a statement calling on

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Biden to step away from
the presidential race and
urged Democrats to act fast.

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REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): This is
not about one press conference,
one debate, one speech. This

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is about the presidency of
the United States. This needs
to be resolved, I don't know,

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in the next five to seven
days, because we just
went 10 days where the
story was not Donald Trump

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promising totalitarianism.
It was, how is Joe Biden
going to do in the big
boy press conference?

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ:
Despite the growing number

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of congressional Democrats
calling for Biden to
drop out of the race,

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longtime allies like Congressman
Jim Clyburn reaffirmed their
support for the president.

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REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC):
I would hope that we will
focus on the substance
of this man, rather

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than these sometimes misspoken
words and phrases, and how he
has run this country. I'm riding

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with Biden no matter
what direction he goes,
no matter what method he
takes. I'm with Joe Biden.

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And if he were to
change his mind,

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I will just answer the
question that I would be all
in for the vice president.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: As
Democrats figure out what
to do about their nominee,
House Minority Leader

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Hakeem Jeffries said he met
with the president shortly after
Thursday's press conference.

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In that meeting, Jeffries said
that he directly expressed
the full breadth of insight,

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heartfelt perspectives, and
conclusions about the path
forward that the caucus has

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shared. In an attempt to assuage
fears, Biden himself virtually
met Friday with some members

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of the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus and the Congressional
Asian Pacific American Caucus,

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and planned to speak with more
Hill Democrats over the weekend.

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For now, the president has no
plans to step aside, unless
his advisers say otherwise.

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JOE BIDEN: Unless they
came back and said,
there's no way you can win,

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me. No one's saying
that. No poll says that.

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There are other people who
could beat Trump too. But

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it's awful hard to start
-- start from scratch.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And members
of the president's inner circle,

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like former White House Chief of
Staff Ron Klain, say yesterday's

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press conference are reason
enough to end the freak-out
and unite behind Biden.

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Hitting the campaign trail
today in the battleground
state of Michigan,

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the president showed no signs
of backing down. His next test,

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another cable news
interview on Monday and
campaign stops next week.

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For the PBS "News Hour,"
I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.