Fresh slips prompt new calls for Biden to quit

Joe Biden headed for the battleground state of Michigan yesterday to fight both for re-election and for his survival as the Democratic presidential nominee, after an embarrassing slip at the Nato summit fuelled new concerns about his mental acuity.

- Martin Pengelly

As Biden flew to Detroit, the capital remained abuzz. At his press conference at the Nato summit on Thursday, Biden spoke assertively and showed his foreign policy experience but also made embarrassing slips, introducing Volodymr Zelenskiy of Ukraine as "President Putin".

Speaking somewhat indistinctly, he also appeared to say of Kamala Harris: "Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice president [if] I think she's not qualified to be president."

In Washington, the chorus of calls for the 81-year-old president to quit continued, while the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives said he had discussed the issue with Biden on Thursday night.

In a letter to colleagues, Hakeem Jeffries of New York said discussions among party members in the House about Biden's age and fitness for office had been "candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive".

"I requested and was graciously granted a private meeting with President Joe Biden," he said. "I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward."