Washington, DC – July 09: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks during the NATO 75th anniversary celebratory event at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium on July 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. NATO leaders convene in Washington this week for its annual summit to discuss future strategies and commitments and mark the 75th anniversary of the alliance’s founding. “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, ‘You got this problem, that problem,’” Biden said in an excerpt released Wednesday.

Joe Biden will leave the presidential race if he has health problems — media “If I had any health problems, if somebody — if the doctors came in and said you have this problem, that’s a problem,” Joe Biden told interviewer Ed Gordon. [pic.twitter.com/7pkPqyjI9X] — * (@SUGMINKUKELMO) [July 17, 2024] Mr. Biden has said repeatedly that none of his doctors have told him he has a serious medical condition. The comment is the latest in a series of shifting explanations by the president about what might cause him to reconsider.

In an interview with ABC News this month, Mr. Biden said he would drop out only if the “Lord almighty” told him to. At a news conference in Washington several days later, he said he would stay in the race unless aides came to him with proof that he could never win. In the same interview, Biden said that he feels the need to run again — rather than serve as a “transitional” leader, as he said in 2020 — because the country is “so divided.” “I said I was going to be a transitional candidate, and I thought I would be able to move on from this and pass it on to somebody else,” he said.

“But I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided. And quite frankly, I think the only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom.”

“I think I’ve demonstrated that I know how to get things done for the country in spite of the fact that we were told we couldn’t get it done,” Biden continued. “But there’s more to do, and I’m reluctant to walk away from that.”