Several senior members of President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party have privately joined calls for him to concede his candidacy for the November election to another candidate, US media reports.
In a group call with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, four members of Congress explicitly urged Mr Biden to step down, according to media outlets including CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
The quartet was joined by others who expressed concerns about Mr Biden’s fitness for office after a recent stumbling debate performance, but stopped short of calling on the president to clear the way for him, CBS added.
Mr Biden has vowed to keep fighting and has retained the support of other Democrats who insist he is the man to beat Donald Trump in the November vote.
The scrutiny of Joe Biden’s candidacy is expected to intensify Monday as lawmakers return to Capitol Hill. The president will also be in the spotlight in the coming days as he hosts a summit of NATO leaders in Washington.
US media reported differences of opinion over the remarks made by the Democratic representatives during their private conversation with Mr Jeffries on Sunday.
Jerry Nadler, Mark Takano and Adam Smith have all said Mr Biden should step down, according to multiple media outlets, citing people on the call or familiar with what was said.
Joe Morelle added his voice, according to CBS and the New York Times, but the Associated Press said the fourth person was Jim Himes.
Others have expressed concern about Mr. Biden’s electoral chances against Trump. None of the representatives have made their comments public.
Long-running questions about Mr. Biden’s age intensified after last month’s televised face-off with Donald Trump, during which the president stumbled over some answers or appeared to lose his train of thought.
Various explanations have been put forward by the Biden camp, including that the president had a cold and was exhausted from the trip.
The next day, Biden put on a defiant show at a rally in Wisconsin, which didn’t do enough to allay the fears of some of his allies. Last week, Lloyd Doggett became the first Democrat in Congress to urge Biden to step down.
His remarks were echoed publicly last week by at least four colleagues – and later, privately, by the other four who reportedly gave their views to Mr Jeffries on Sunday.
Trump has praised Biden’s disappointing performance and last week called his rival “failing.” He is three years younger than Biden as he seeks a comeback in the White House, despite a recent conviction in a criminal bribery case in New York.
As speculation mounts about Mr. Biden’s candidacy in November, some Democrats are wondering who might replace him.
Some party members have rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris, who is currently serving as Mr. Biden’s running mate in November.
Another representative, Adam Schiff, said Ms. Harris could beat Trump “in a landslide,” though speaking to NBC News, he too stopped short of telling Mr. Biden to give up.
In an apparent signal that he was shifting his sights to Ms Harris, Trump suggested the vice president would be “better” than Mr Biden, but still “pathetic”.
Mr Biden and his allies have spent several days recently insisting that he still has the potential to defeat Trump in a second consecutive election — while apparently recognizing that the coming days and weeks are crucial to saving his campaign.
In two interviews last week, Mr Biden acknowledged he had “made a mistake” but then vowed that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to end his bid to recapture the White House.
Speaking to ABC News on Friday, the president declined to take a cognitive test and make the results public in order to reassure voters he was fit to serve another term.
“I take a cognitive test every day,” he said. “Every day I take this test, everything I do is a test.”
