Biden says only a medical condition would cause him to reevaluate his candidacy

President Biden signaled in an interview Wednesday that he would only reevaluate his decision to run for a second term if a doctor told him he had a medical condition.

BET News’s Ed Gordon questioned the president, amid ongoing calls for him to drop out and lingering questions over his age and mental fitness, on whether there is anything that would cause him to change his mind about staying in the race.

“If I had some medical condition that emerged. If doctors came to me and said, ‘You’ve got this problem, that problem,’” Biden replied. “But, I made a serious mistake in the whole debate.”

The president also defended his decision to not be a transitional president and to run again, arguing that the divided country caused him to want to stay in the White House.

“Look, when I originally ran … I said I was going to be a transitional candidate and I thought that I would be able to move from this and pass it on to someone else,” the incumbent said. “But I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided, and quite frankly, I think the only thing, age brings a little bit of wisdom, and I think I’ve demonstrated that. I know how to get things done for the country.”

“There’s more to do, and I’m reluctant to walk away from that,” he added.

The president’s age and health have been in the spotlight since his rocky debate performance last month against former President Trump, during which he struggled to finish his thoughts and spoke in a quiet, raspy voice. The debate prompted calls among Democrats to step aside, which continued Wednesday when Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.) publicly called for him to drop out of the race.

Biden has defended his health and insisted in an interview with ABC earlier this month that the debate was not an indication of any serious condition and said he was exhausted from recent foreign travel.

In that interview, he said he could be convinced to drop out “if the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race.’”

The White House has also defended Biden’s fitness for office and has leaned on the results of his physical in February, during which his doctor said he was active, robust and fit to execute the duties of the presidency.

The White House and Biden’s doctor have also had to clear up why a neurologist with an expertise in Parkinson’s disease had visited the White House several times over the past year and a half after visitor logs were reported.

The White House said Biden has not been and is not being treated for Parkinson’s, and he is not taking medication to treat the disease, but that the president had consulted with a neurologist three times during his presidency, once during each of his three physicals since taking office.