Biden Regrets Stepping Aside for Kamala Harris Because He ‘Could Have Defeated Trump’, Allies Say

President Joe Biden regrets dropping out of the 2024 presidential race because he believes he could have defeated President-elect Donald Trump, sources close to the White House told The Washington Post.

The newspaper reported it spoke to numerous people close to the outgoing president. Some said Biden had a number of regrets about his four years running the country.

Among them was stepping aside in July and putting his weight behind the presidential bid of Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Post reports:

Biden and some of his aides still believe he should have stayed in the race, despite the rocky debate performance and low poll numbers that prompted Democrats to pressure him to drop out. Biden and these aides have told people in recent days that he could have defeated Trump, according to people familiar with their comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Aides say the president has been careful not to place blame on Harris or her campaign.

According to the Post‘s sources, Biden also regrets tapping Merrick Garland to run the US Department of Justice.

The paper reported the outgoing president had privately expressed Garland slow-walked prosecuting Trump while simultaneously allowing his son Hunter Biden to be pursued on gun and tax charges.

Biden pardoned his son on Dec. 1 for any crimes he might or might not have committed dating back to Jan. 1, 2014.

Meanwhile, two federal cases against Trump have fallen apart since last month’s election and cases against Trump in New York and Georgia have also fallen apart since he was elected to a second term.

Sources close to Biden also told the Post that the president has no regrets about participating in a June debate against Trump that resulted in an effort from within his own party to pressure him to drop out.

Biden does reportedly regret his dazed and confused performance. The Post reported:

Biden acknowledged that he had “screwed up” in his June 27 debate against Trump, as he struggled to put together sentences and defend his policies as his rival held forth with a series of falsehoods and called him a criminal. (He does not regret participating in the debate — just his performance that night).