Trump says in Hannity interview that Biden will stay in the race
But, if the president does exit, Trump thinks Harris would replace him.
Donald Trump predicted Monday that a beleaguered Joe Biden would remain the Democratic nominee — and speculated that Kamala Harris would replace the president if he did exit the race.
“It looks to me like he may very well stay in. He’s got an ego, and he doesn’t want to quit. He doesn’t want to do that,” Trump said in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, the former president’s first TV interview since last month’s debate with Biden.
The president has resisted calls from top Democratic Party figures since his disastrous performance in the debate. Biden, Trump predicted, would continue to push back against the pressure.
“No one wants to give it up that way,” Trump said.
Trump also argued that it would be impossible for Democrats to stop Biden from running since he has accumulated enough delegates to win the party’s nomination at next month’s Democratic National Convention.
“Unless he says, ‘I’m getting out,’ there’s nothing they can do to get him out,” Trump said, though he added that Biden’s cabinet could remove him from office by using the 25th Amendment.
Trump has maintained an uncharacteristically low profile since the debate, choosing to cede the spotlight to the besieged Biden. That will change this week. In addition to his appearance on Hannity, Trump is scheduled to hold a Tuesday rally at his Doral, Florida, golf club and another event Saturday in Butler County, Pennsylvania. It’s possible that Trump will unveil his vice presidential candidate this week, though during the Hannity interview he raised the prospect that he would do it during next week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
James Singer, a Biden campaign spokesperson, ripped Trump’s appearance, saying in a statement that “a low energy Donald Trump has been off the trail for 12 days and nothing has changed.”
Trump has mocked Biden’s debate performance and suggested he would rather run against the president than another Democratic candidate. Trump predicted that, should Biden step aside, he would most likely run against Harris.
“If he gets out for whatever reason — and I don’t think he wants to get out — but if he gets out, it will be her,” Trump said.