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      Full Transcript of Biden’s Speech on Ending His Run for Re-election

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      “The best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation,” the president said in a rare Oval Office address. And he told voters, “History is in your hands.”President Biden delivered remarks from the Oval Office on Wednesday on his decision to abandon his bid for re-election. The following is a transcript of his speech, as recorded by The New York Times.My fellow Americans, I’m speaking to you tonight from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. In this sacred space, I’m surrounded by portraits of extraordinary American presidents. Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal words that guide this nation. George Washington showed us presidents are not kings. Abraham Lincoln implored us to reject malice. Franklin Roosevelt inspired us to reject fear.I revere this office, but I love my country more. It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president. But in the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think it’s more important than any title. I draw strength and find joy in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me, it’s about you. Your families, your futures.It’s about we the people. And we can never forget that. And I never have. I’ve made it clear that I believe America is at an inflection point. On those rare moments in history, when the decisions we make now determine our fate of our nation and the world for decades to come, America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division.We have to decide: Do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect, freedom, justice and democracy. In this moment, we can see those we disagree with not as enemies but as, I mean, fellow Americans — can we do that? Does character in public life still matter? I believe you know the answer to these questions because I know you the American people, and I know this:We are a great nation because we are a good people. When you elected me to this office, I promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth. And the truth, the sacred cause of this country, is larger than any one of us. Those of us who cherry that cause cherish it so much. The cause of American democracy itself. We must unite to protect it.In recent weeks, it has become clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future, all merited a second term. But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress: Key Takeaways

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      Here are six takeaways from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to U.S. lawmakers.Israel’s leader traveled some 5,000 miles and did not give an inch.Addressing a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back forcefully on condemnations of Israel’s prosecution of the war in the Gaza Strip. He lavished praise and thanks on the United States for its support. And he gave scarcely a hint that a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and brought protesters out to the streets around the world — including those outside the doors of Congress on the same day as his speech — would be drawing to a close any time soon.Here are some of the highlights.He name-checked both Biden and Trump.Mr. Netanyahu was careful to walk a middle path, thanking both Democrats and Republicans, including President Biden and the Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, for their support.“I know that America has our back,” he said. “And I thank you for it. All sides of the aisle. Thank you, my friends.”Mr. Netanyahu said he had known Mr. Biden for 40 years and expressed particular appreciation for his “heartfelt support for Israel after the savage attack” on his country that was led by Hamas on Oct. 7. But he also made a point of praising Mr. Trump, who as president was more receptive to some of his expansionist policies.Mr. Netanyahu also made clear how well he knew his audience, both in the chamber in the country at large. An American university graduate, he delivered a speech fluent in English and ornamented with colloquialisms like “what in God’s green earth.”He denied that Israeli was starving Gazans.Mr. Netanyahu rejected accusations by the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court that Israel was deliberately cutting off food to the people of Gaza. “Utter, complete nonsense, a complete fabrication,” he declared.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Watch Biden’s Speech Tonight on Exiting the Presidential Race

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      President Biden will address the nation tonight for the first time since ending his re-election campaign on Sunday and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the Democratic ticket, a decision that has reset the party’s once-bleak political outlook.What time is his speech?Mr. Biden will address the nation at 8 p.m. Eastern from the Oval Office.Will it be streamed?The New York Times will stream Mr. Biden’s speech, alongside real-time commentary and analysis from reporters. USA Today and C-SPAN also plan to stream it live.Where else can I watch it?Most cable news outlets, including ABC, are expected to carry Mr. Biden’s address He is the first sitting president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 not to seek a second term.Why now?Mr. Biden, who had been recovering from the coronavirus at his Delaware beach home, has been mostly out of sight since last week. He announced his decision to drop out of the race in a letter posted on X. On Monday, Mr. Biden called into a meeting led by Ms. Harris at the Wilmington, Del., headquarters of what used to be their joint campaign and insisted that he would be “fully, fully engaged” in helping to get her elected. More

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      Trump Demands Equal Airtime in Light of Biden’s Planned Address

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      President Biden is set to address the nation on Wednesday night from the Oval Office to discuss the end of his re-election bid.Ahead of President Biden’s planned prime-time address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, former President Donald J. Trump and his campaign sent a letter to ABC, NBC and CBS on Tuesday demanding that Mr. Trump be given equal airtime.Mr. Biden is expected to address his decision to end his re-election campaign and outline his plans for the rest of his time in office. In a social media post, he wrote that he would discuss “what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people.”But in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times, the Trump campaign’s general counsel, David Warrington, asserted in advance of Mr. Biden’s speech that it would most likely address Mr. Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.Based on that assumption, Mr. Warrington wrote, “it appears that President Biden’s speech will not be a bona fide news event, but rather, a prime-time campaign commercial.” Citing the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time” rule, Mr. Warrington insisted that Mr. Trump be given similar time on air, arguing that Mr. Biden’s address was a “campaign speech,” even as Mr. Biden is no longer technically a candidate for the presidency.None of the broadcast networks responded to a request for comment on Tuesday night. A Trump campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment.The Trump campaign’s letter was a throwback to an earlier, pre-cable era in television, when the broadcast networks were held to strict “public interest” standards to ensure that their local stations aired all sides of the issues and gave candidates equal access to the airwaves.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      For Dean Phillips, Biden’s Withdrawal Offers ‘Unfulfilling’ Vindication

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      For Dean Phillips, the modern Cassandra of American politics, this I-told-you-so moment brings no joy. A little vindication, yes. Sadness, too, and sympathy for a man who gave his life to public service and deserved a better finale.But when it comes down to it, Mr. Phillips did tell everyone so, even though no one listened. He said early and often that President Biden was too old to run again, that he could not win, that the Democrats should find someone else to lead them into the election. When no one else picked up the mantle, he tried himself, only to be alternately ignored or pilloried.So when Mr. Biden stunned the world by pulling out of the race on Sunday, it was a bittersweet moment. Mr. Phillips could tell himself that he had tried to warn the party and at least some people remembered. By the end of the day, his phone had blown up with 1,276 text messages. He could not help wondering what would have happened had Mr. Biden made this decision 18 months ago. “Vindication,” he said, “has never felt so unfulfilling.”The story of Dean Phillips certainly looks different today than it did even a month ago. Until the world saw a frail and fumbling president on the debate stage on June 27, Mr. Phillips was a little-known third-term congressman from Minnesota whose long-shot challenge of Mr. Biden in the Democratic primaries had been dismissed as a quixotic exercise. Now it looks a little more prophetic.The point, he said, was to raise the alarm, not to advance his own ambitions. “My mission was to be a Paul Revere, not a George Washington,” he said. “I think that’s been accomplished.”Mr. Phillips sat down at a Washington hotel on Sunday to discuss his journey just 90 minutes before Mr. Biden announced that he was pulling out. The congressman had just come from the studio of CBS News, where he appeared on “Face the Nation” and discussed his opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal suggesting a secret vote of confidence on the president by House Democrats.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Unions tell the Biden administration to stop sending military aid to Israel.

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      Several unions with millions of members demanded that the president secure a cease-fire in Gaza.A group of unions representing millions of workers sent a letter on Tuesday to the White House demanding a cease-fire in the war in Gaza and that the United States stop sending military aid to Israel.Immediately cutting military aid to the Israeli government “is necessary to bring about a peaceful resolution to this conflict,” read a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times, which added that the unions believed it was the best path forward after Israel and Hamas did not agree to the cease-fire deal the Biden administration outlined in May.But negotiations are ongoing. Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a Gaza cease-fire deal was “inside the 10-yard line,” though the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also said there is no expectation peace would be brokered before Wednesday. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will speak before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.Congress and President Biden have repeatedly allocated military funding for Israel to fight its war against Hamas in Gaza after Hamas brutally attacked Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. But the growing humanitarian toll in the region has led to calls for an end to hostilities among many Americans.Unions, though historically associated with the left, have politically diverse membership and have been courted by both Mr. Biden, who dropped out the race on Sunday, and the Republicans’ presidential nominee, former President Donald J. Trump. Given their membership, the union letter is a strong statement from a key electorate that the administration needs to update its Mideast foreign policy, a policy that Vice President Kamala Harris, who was endorsed by Mr. Biden and several top Democrats to become the Democrats’ nominee, will also have to speak for.Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, the letter noted, and argued that unless the U.S. changes course, “the Israeli government will continue to pursue its vicious response to the horrific attacks of October 7th until it is forced to stop.”The American Postal Workers Union, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, the National Education Association, Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers and United Electrical Workers signed onto the letter.“Our unions are hearing the cries of humanity as this vicious war continues,” said Mark Dimondstein, the president of the postal workers’ union, in a statement. “Working people and our unions are horrified that our tax dollars are financing this ongoing tragedy. We need a cease-fire now, and the best way to secure that is to shut off U.S. military aid to Israel.”The letter is in accordance with a vote that one of the unions representing service employees, the SEIU, took two months ago. In May, that group passed a resolution at its annual convention demanding that the government cease using taxpayer dollars to “fund military aid that enables attacks against innocent civilians in Gaza.” More

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      George Clooney Endorses Kamala Harris, Says Biden Is ‘Saving Democracy’

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      Actor and Democratic fund-raiser George Clooney endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential candidacy on Tuesday morning and thanked President Biden for deciding not to seek re-election. In a statement to CNN, Mr. Clooney said Mr. Biden, 81, “has shown true leadership. He’s saving democracy once again.” He also vowed to “do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic quest.” Mr. Clooney’s representation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.His statement comes less than two weeks after he penned a harsh guest essay in The New York Times calling for Mr. Biden to step aside as the Democratic presidential nominee. The president’s disastrous debate performance and subsequent efforts to revitalize his campaign, including an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and NBC’s Lester Holt, inspired little confidence from Democratic voters and donors, who said Mr. Biden’s age was a liability to the party and its most vulnerable down-ballot candidates. Since suspending his presidential campaign on Sunday, Mr. Biden has been praised by Democrats and by many political figures across the world. The party has also quickly coalesced behind Ms. Harris, whom Mr. Biden endorsed shortly after exiting the race. Since formally launching her presidential campaign on Sunday, the vice president has raised more than $100 million. More