Biden told key ally he was considering dropping out of race, New York Times reports

President Joe Biden reportedly told a key ally that he knows his upcoming public appearances will determine whether he stays in the race.

The New York Times Biden knows he has to look good in his interview Friday with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, as well as at campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

“He knows that if he has two more events like that, we’ll be in a different situation” by the end of the weekend, the ally said, referring to Mr. Biden’s disastrous performance in the debate.

Quentin Fulks, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, quickly appeared on CNN to call the Times “false” story.

Fulks said “the president is in this race to win it” despite “a number of rumors that are circulating.”

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates reiterated that the story was false, saying, “If The New York Times had given us more than 7 minutes to comment, we would have told them.”

The same ally quoted in the New York Times article reportedly told CNN that Biden “sees the moment” and is “clear-headed.”

“Polls are plummeting, fundraising is drying up and interviews are going poorly. He’s not oblivious,” the person said.

In private conversations Tuesday, Biden “blamed himself” for his poor performance in the debate.

“He said, ‘I’ve done way too much foreign policy,'” a source told CNN. The president believes his back-to-back trips to France and Italy, along with jet lag and exhaustion, contributed to the debate stalemate.

It is the first public indication that Biden is considering falling into the trap to save his party from a Donald Trump victory in November.

Biden’s opening the door to withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race is reportedly a major development. Sources around the Biden campaign and the DNC have told The Daily Beast in recent days that an acknowledgement of his withdrawal is tantamount to actually doing so.

Biden’s debate performance threw the Democratic Party into chaos, prompting private discussions about whether he should withdraw from the nomination.

Those discussions quickly evolved into public discussions about whether Vice President Kamala Harris should take over as nominee or, in an even more far-fetched scenario, whether someone could convince her to step aside as well and open the door to a brokered convention.

Biden appears to be leaning on Harris more than ever. ABC News reports that they are scheduled to have one of their occasional private lunches on Wednesday, and the vice president was a late addition to the schedule for his Fourth of July celebration at the White House on Thursday.

If Biden announces he is withdrawing from the race, many in the party believe he may also be forced to resign as president.