President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base, in Dover, Del., Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Biden is returning to the White House from his Rehoboth Beach home after recovering from a COVID-19 infection.
AP
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening on his decision to drop his 2024 Democratic reelection bid.
Biden posted on X that he would speak “on what lies ahead” and how he will “finish the job for the American people.” He will speak at 8 p.m. ET.
He declined to preview his message after he returned to Washington, telling reporters to “watch and listen.”
“Why don’t you wait and hear what I say?” he said.
The president departed Delaware shortly before 2 p.m. on Tuesday, after nearly a week of isolating at his Rehoboth Beach home after his second bout with COVID-19. Biden is now testing negative for the virus and his symptoms have resolved, according to a letter from his doctor, Kevin O’Connor, released Tuesday.
Holding a blue paper mask, he told reporters that “I am feeling well” but did not answer other questions, such as whether Vice President Kamala Harris can defeat Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Biden has not been seen publicly since July 17, but he called into a campaign meeting on Monday to address staff and express his support for Harris’ bid to replace him a day after announcing he would leave the race.
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base, in Dover, Del., Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Biden is returning to the White House from his Rehoboth Beach home after recovering from a COVID-19 infection. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FILE — President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sunday, July 14, 2024, about the assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. President Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday on his decision to drop his 2024 Democratic reelection bid. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
(Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)