US PRESIDENT JOE Biden will later today give his first press conference since his disastrous debate against Donald Trump, as Nato leaders hold talks with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Biden’s press conference will wrap up the Nato summit in Washington, where the military alliance is marking its 75th anniversary.
The eyes of the world will be on the 81-year-old Biden as he tries to calm growing calls from his Democratic party to step aside over his age and health.
The White House has dubbed it a “big boy” press conference, and Biden will be under severe pressure to show he can handle what has become a rare unscripted moment in his presidency.
Any missteps at the 5.30 pm (10.30pm Irish time) event at a Washington DC conference centre could turn the trickle of Democrats who have so far urged him to abandon his 2024 election bid into a flood.
Party heavyweight and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi also subtly twisted the knife by stopping short of backing Biden, saying only that he should make a decision after the Nato summit.
Many Democrats are believed to be waiting to see if Biden pulls off his first solo press conference since November 2023, or whether it will be a repeat of the debate.
Biden has given fewer news conferences than his predecessors.
His recent appearances have been joint appearances with foreign leaders restricted to two questions each, but today’s will feature multiple questions.
Coupled with a lack of interviews, it has led critics to accuse the White House of shielding the effects of age on America’s oldest president from the public.
A poor performance will pour fuel on the flames of the concerns about Biden’s age and health that were sparked when he appeared listless and often incoherent against Republican Trump, 78.
Nato allies have also been seeking reassurance about Biden’s leadership abilities, and over fears that a return of the isolationist Trump could spell trouble for the alliance.
Biden has blamed his debate meltdown on a bad cold and jet lag after two weeks of gruelling foreign travel.
Clooney said in a New York Times piece yesterday that the signs were already there at a 15 June fundraiser in Los Angeles that he co-hosted with actor Julia Roberts.
“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010,” wrote Clooney.
“He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Clooney said that Biden would lose the presidential election, and Democrats would also lose both chambers of Congress.
Biden has insisted that he is committed to running in November, and with the Democratic party primary votes under his belt there is no real way of forcing him out.
Vice President Kamala Harris is widely seen to be the frontrunner to replace Biden if he steps aside, but any move would have to be before the Democratic convention in Chicago in August.
Meanwhile, Nato leaders will today hold talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and turn their attention to the challenge from China at a meeting with Asian partners, as they wrap up a three-day summit in Washington.
Zelenskyy will join his Nato counterparts after getting promises of new weaponry to bolster the defence of the skies over Ukraine.
But he has called on Kyiv’s backers, especially the United States, to go further – including by giving his outgunned forces greater scope to strike inside Russia.
“Imagine how much we can achieve when all limitations are lifted,” Zelensky said on the sidelines of the summit.
Nato’s leaders once again yesterday demurred from issuing his war-torn country a clear invitation to join their alliance.
Zelenskyy unleashed a diplomatic firestorm at a summit in Lithuania last year by lambasting Nato’s reluctance on membership.
In a bid to soften any disappointment this time around, Nato leaders called Ukraine’s path to membership “irreversible.”
They also pledged to provide Kyiv a minimum of €40 billion in military support “within the next year.”
Ahead of the sit-down with Zelenskyy, Nato will switch its focus to the growing challenge from China as it welcomes the leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Nato leaders have expressed their “profound concern” about the deepening ties between Beijing and Moscow.
A declaration from the summit released yesterday called China a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine” through its supplies of dual-use goods such as microchips that can help Moscow’s military.
Beijing has already angrily rejected the accusations from Nato and says the US-led alliance is seeking an excuse to expand its influence eastwards.
The United States has been pushing its European allies for years to pay closer attention to the threats posed by China.
The summit in Washington will be the third such gathering attended by leaders from the four Asia-Pacific partners.
Several initiatives including bolstering cooperation against cyberattacks and disinformation with the partner countries are expected to be announced.
But the Pacific leaders’ presence is more about signalling Nato’s greater interest in the region at a time of growing competition between Washington with Beijing.
Worried by the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House after November elections, European allies see increasing their focus on China as a way of keeping the United States engaged.
“I think the message sent from Nato, from this summit, is very strong and very clear, and we are clearly defining China’s responsibility when it comes to enabling Russia’s war,” Nato’s outgoing secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said.
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