Biden faces mounting pressure to step aside as Democrat donors reportedly withhold $90 million

More than a dozen House Democrats have publicly called for an end to Mr Biden's re-election bid, and one Democratic Senator has spoken out against him, US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports


Joe Biden is facing mounting pressure to step down as core Democratic donors withhold around $90 million (£69 million) after the president made further gaffes during a Nato press conference.

Mr Biden mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as President Putin while addressing reporters on Thursday, before immediately correcting himself by saying: "I'm so focused on beating Putin".

The New York Times reported that Democratic donors have said they will not hand over the money until Mr Biden abandons his re-election bid after the error.

The Zelenskyy-Putin muddle-up was not the only mistake in the press conference, as Mr Biden also referred to his Vice President Kamala Harris "Vice President Trump".

Reports suggest that the frozen donations include "multiple eight-figure commitments", and that "the decision to withhold such enormous sums of money is one of the most concrete examples of the fallout from Mr Biden’s poor debate performance".

On Friday, the Kremlin called Joe Biden's errors "unacceptable" and said this does not make him "look good".


Here's the full clip of Biden introducing Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin"


Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Kremlin noticed that the "entire world" saw the mistakes.

"There can’t be any comment, it’s clear that those were gaffes and it’s clear that they have attracted so much attention in the context of internal political deliberations in the US that we have been watching together with the rest of the world.

"But it’s not our business, it’s the US internal affairs.

"We still think that the behaviour for the head of a state is unacceptable, impermissible when he talks so disrespectfully about the heads of other states," he said.

Key figures have been questioning the current president's capacity to re-run for office for weeks, after a disastrous TV debate with his opponent Donald Trump last month.

More than a dozen House Democrats have publicly called for an end to Mr Biden's re-election bid, and one Democratic Senator has spoken out against him.

Senator Peter Welch said on Wednesday that the president should quit "for the good of the country."

Mr Biden's campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said to staff in a call on Thursday that the period after the president’s disastrous debate performance late last month has been “hard,” “very bad” and “bad f**king weeks,” according to CNN reports.

Multiple celebrities have also called for the president to step down, including George Clooney, Stephen King, Abigail Disney and Ashley Judd.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi hinted at the possibility of Biden stepping away from the race, saying he had a "decision" to make about his future.

At a press conference after the Nato summit, Sir Keir repeatedly dodged questions about Mr Biden’s blunder.

Responding to questions about the president's mental capacity, the prime minister told journalists: “I would urge everyone to look at the substance of what’s been achieved over these two days” over support for Ukraine.

President Biden is due to hold a rally in Detroit, Michigan late on Friday.


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