While his family was aware of how poorly he performed against Donald Trump, they also continue to think he’s the best person to beat the Republican presumptive nominee.

President Joe Biden’s family used a Sunday gathering at Camp David to urge him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite his dreadful debate performance, and some members criticized how his staff prepared him for the faceoff, according to four people familiar with the discussions.

Biden spent the day sequestered with first lady Jill Biden, his children and grandchildren. It was a previously scheduled trip to the presidential retreat in Maryland for a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

But the gathering was also an exercise in trying to figure out how to quell Democratic anxiety that has exploded following Thursday’s performance.

While his family was aware of how poorly he performed against Donald Trump, they also continue to think he’s the best person to beat the Republican presumptive nominee. They also believe he is capable of doing the job of president for another four years, according to the people who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

  • @AngryCommieKender
    1•2 days ago

    They have the transcripts. They are only pushing for the tapes for sound bites for ads. There’s no additional information that is related to national security that isn’t provided in the transcripts

    • John Richard
      4•2 days ago

      The transcripts has repetition and long pauses removed. I agree they will use those audio tapes against him, but for Biden’s team to try to hide the memory loss and then say the other side is lying only gives Republicans more ammo. He must have known his base would be defend him only to be shown that the Republicans actually had something right for once.