Joe Biden declares he's 'not sure' he would run for President in 2024 without Donald Trump

President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he wasn’t sure he would be seeking another term in 2024 if former president Donald Trump wasn’t running for the White House.

Biden made the comment during a fundraiser event with Democratic donors at a private home outside Boston, and according to sources, it took senior Biden campaign advisers by surprise.

The president said: “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running. [We] cannot let him win.”

Upon learning of the comment, one of Biden’s top advisors said: “Yikes.”

Biden’s campaign quickly dismissed the remark and pointed out that Biden had expressed similar sentiments about his decision to run in the 2020 election.

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Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a co-chair of Biden’s 2024 campaign, told CNN: “President Biden said in 2020 he was running to restore the soul of our nation - he got into the race after Trump said what he did after Charlottesville - and he correctly views the former president as a unique threat to our democracy.

“President Biden beat Trump before and he will do it again.”

When asked whether he would still be running if Trump dropped out, Biden told reporters later Tuesday at the White House: “I expect so, but look - he is running, and I have to run.”

The president began fundraising for the race on Tuesday in Boston, where he headlined three fundraisers in the area - the first of seven events between Tuesday and Monday.

Biden’s campaign is expected to cost billions of dollars, according to Democratic officials, as Biden works to convince the public he is fit to run again.

Biden said in his first fundraiser on Tuesday that Trump is “telling us what he’s going to do. He’s making no bones about it.

“Trump’s not even hiding the ball anymore. He’s telling us what he’s going to do.”

Biden also bashed Trump’s recent remarks in a speech in New Hampshire last month, where Trump said to his supporters: “We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

In the last quarter, Biden and Democrats reported raising $71 million for his reelection - far ahead of his Republican rivals, but way behind Trump and former president Barack Obama at this point in their reelection.

Campaign officials have said the money is being used for television ads to test messaging and make an affirmative case for Biden’s reelection.

His campaign is also airing ads in several battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada, to highlight the administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug costs.

Biden remains in a tight race with Trump, with several recent polls giving Trump a slight lead over Biden in the general election.

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