Top Democrat Schiff calls on Biden to ‘pass the torch’

Mr Biden is still working to salvage his candidacy nearly four weeks after a CNN debate against Donald Trump. The president has since admitted that he “screwed up” during the debate.

Polling of the 2024 race continues to show the two locked in a tight race, but with Mr Biden trailing his Republican rival in battleground states and leading him by surprisingly narrow margins in states usually won by Democrats, such as Virginia and Minnesota.

Frustrations also spilled over this weekend on a call between a group of moderate House Democrats and Mr Biden, according to CBS.

Participants described the president as “defensive” and “rambling” in his answers, at one point lashing out at Colorado Democrat Jason Crow when questioned about his campaign strategy.

The Biden campaign responded to the reporting by pointing to positive reactions from other participants on the call, who said he had “accepted criticisms” and laid out a “sharp, forceful message”.

But Mr Crow told CBS’ Face the Nation programme this Sunday there is now a “high risk” Democrats will lose the election “unless there is a major change”.

“Reading the tea leaves is very troubling for many of us right now,” he said. “So we want to see a change.”

Party members have largely stifled their public calls for Mr Biden to withdraw from the race since Saturday’s attempted assassination of Mr Trump.

After a brief pause following that incident, the president resumed campaigning on Tuesday and Wednesday in the battleground state of Nevada.

He was joined by some of his top defenders, including Congressman Jim Clyburn, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Steven Horsford and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragan. Both caucuses have recently reaffirmed their support for him.

In an interview with BET due to air on Wednesday, Mr Biden acknowledged he had once described himself as a “transitional candidate” but did not feel he could pass the mantle with the country so “divided”.

“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 cannot get it done,” he said.

“But there is more to do, and I am reluctant to walk away from that.”

The president added, for the first time, that he would consider dropping out if any of his doctors said he had a “medical condition”.