A White House official said Saturday that Biden had scheduled time at Camp David for a family photo on Sunday and Monday, contradicting an NBC News report that Biden would discuss the future of his re-election campaign with his family. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss Biden’s family matters.
Biden was seen talking on the phone with historian Jon Meacham on his way to Camp David on Saturday evening.
Biden and his wife, Jill, had earlier attended an afternoon campaign rally in East Hampton, New York, a beach town on Long Island where real estate company Zillow puts the average price of a home at $1.9 million. According to official records, the event, which was closed to the media, was held at the home of Avram Glazer, an owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team.
The couple then attended a second event in East Hampton at the home of investor Barry Rosenstein, whose wife Lizanne said the president was “a role model of what it means to get knocked down over and over again and get back up again.”
“We can waste our time comparing debate nights,” she continued. “But you know what? It makes more sense to compare presidencies.”
In his speech to the crowd, Biden sharply attacked Trump for his record as president, including his treatment of veterans, and pointed to Trump’s poor performance on Thursday night.
Biden claimed that the poll results he had seen showed that Democrats had caught up after the debate and said of Trump, “The most important thing was his lies.”
Following the debate, Biden showed even more enthusiasm in speeches in North Carolina and New York on Friday, saying he believed “with all his heart and soul” that he could do the job of president.
The Biden team said it raised more than $27 million on Thursday and Friday, including $3 million at a fundraiser in New York City focused on the LGBTQ community.
Jill Biden told her supporters on Friday that he told her after the debate, “You know, Jill, I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t feeling so good.” The first lady then said she responded to him, “Listen, Joe, we’re not going to let 90 minutes define the four years you were president.”
The Democratic president has yet to allay the fears sparked by the debate, which entered the public consciousness as clips and memes spread online and public pressure put him out of the race.
Democratic donors in New York, Southern California and Silicon Valley privately expressed deep concern about Biden’s campaign’s prospects for success following Biden’s performance in the debate.
In a series of text message chains and private conversations, they discussed a shortlist of possible successors, which included Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris.
But there was no formal move Friday to urge Biden to resign, and some suspected such a move would never happen given the logistical challenges involved in replacing the likely nominee just four months before Election Day.
Some donors said they would pause their personal donations, saying proceeds from Biden’s weekend fundraiser would almost certainly be high because tickets were sold and paid for before the debate.
