WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden made his first public remarks Monday afternoon since leaving the 2024 race for the White House.
The president, who has been recovering from COVID-19 at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, surprised campaign staff by calling into a meeting to thank them for all they've done.
“The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all," Biden said, promising he was “not going anywhere” and plans to campaign on Vice President Kamala Harris' behalf.
He said of his decision to step aside, “It was the right thing to do.”
Biden's departure freed Democratic delegates to vote for whomever they choose at next month's convention. And Harris, whom Biden backed after ending his candidacy, was working to quickly secure support from a majority.
Harris spoke after the president's call and acknowledged it had been a "rollercoaster" since Biden's exit, but vowed to unite the Democratic party and the nation.
The president on Monday remained out of public view for the fifth straight day. He announced he was ending his reelection campaign in a letter posted Sunday on social media.
The president was last seen in public late Wednesday after arriving at a U.S. air base in Dover, Delaware, after testing positive for COVID-19 while campaigning in Las Vegas earlier in the day. He then motorcaded to his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Biden’s public schedule for the week has remained clear as he recovers from the virus, but he said in his letter on Sunday that he planned to deliver an address to the nation this week to discuss his decision to end his candidacy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.