Joe Biden has told aides he may have to step down as a 2024 presidential nominee - and what could prompt that decision as early as next week.
Allies who spoke with the New York Times said that the 81-year-old has acknowledged that three appearances scheduled for this weekend will make or break his re-election bid.
These include a ABC interview on Friday night and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin not to mention a campaign call on Wednesday in which he reportedly told campaign staff: 'No one is pushing me out.'
One ally told the New York Times: 'He knows if he has two more events like that [the debate], we’re in a different place.'
All are seen as crucial after last Thursday's disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, which turbocharged calls from other Democrats for Biden to bow out.
White House aides have denied the New York Times' claims an exit plan has been mooted.
These accounts are the first indication that the president is considering whether he is able to recover from his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
His family - including wife Jill and felon former drug addict son Hunter - are among allies who've reportedly pushed him hardest to remain in the White House.
But despite the tough talk, Biden is said to privately concede that he may well have to bow out in favor of a younger Democrat candidate to take on a surging Trump.
On Wednesday, Biden assured campaign staff on a call that despite mounting calls for him to stand down he remains in the 2024 race for the presidency.
He said: 'Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running - no one's pushing me out.
'I'm not leaving. I'm in this race to the end and we're going to win.'
'If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so.'
Later on Wednesday evening, Biden met with 20 Democrat governors at the White House to assure them that he was fit to run.
Afterwards, New York Governor Kathy Hochul claimed she and her colleagues unanimously backed Biden's re-election attempt.
But she's since been accused of lying by an anonymous Democrat source who told the New York Times that there's far more continued discontent about Biden's performance and abilities among governors than Hochul let on.
Senior advisers told the Associated Press that they believe Biden may have mere days to mount a convincing display of his fitness for office before his party's panic boils over, according to two people with knowledge who insisted on anonymity to more freely discuss strategy.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters during her briefing on Wednesday that Biden is not preparing to exit the race.
Jean-Pierre, spent the best part of an hour being grilled on the President's health and confirmed that while he still has a cold, he hasn't seen a doctor.
Jean-Pierre claimed 'jet lag' from his two back-to-back international trips 12 days before the debate contributed to the president's poor showing.
She also confirmed Biden hasn't had a medical examination since February.
Biden himself even admitted that he nearly dozed off on stage during a fundraiser in the ritzy D.C. suburb of McLean, Virginia Tuesday night.
He told the crowd he 'wasn't very smart' for 'traveling around the world a couple times' before his televised showdown with former President Donald Trump.
Biden did back-to-back trips to France for a D-Day anniversary celebration and then onto Italy for the G7 in June.
Upon his return, the president took a holiday at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Then Biden spent a whole week at the presidential retreat Camp David resting and preparing for the debate.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Biden was so drained from the jet-setting that advisers cut debate prep short by two days - in order to fit in the beach trip.
While at Camp David, debate prep didn't start before 11 a.m. and Biden was given time each day in the afternoon to take a nap.
The president made the clear at the Tuesday campaign event his travel is 'not an excuse but an explanation.'
Meanwhile sitting Democrats have called on President Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, striking another blow to the campaign as defectors trickle out against him.
Arizona Democrat Raúl Grijalva, 76, is urging Biden not to run again, The New York Times reported Wednesday. He is the second sitting Democrat to call for the president's withdrawal.
Two other House Democrats have openly said they believe former President Donald Trump will beat Biden - and that lack of confidence will surely be a topic of conversation between the party leaders which is planned for this evening.
'If he's the candidate, I'm going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere,' Grijalva said.
'What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race.'
Biden is holding the annual Independence Day party at the White House on Thursday and traveling to Madison, Wisconsin on Friday where he will sit down with ABC News for his first post-debate interview.
The President will then head to a campaign stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are key swing states that will help determine the outcome of the 2024 race.
In those states and the five other battlegrounds, Trump has pulled ahead in polling following their debate in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, June 27.
Since the debate, Biden and his team have conducted widespread damage control and reached out to reassure party members, staff, lawmakers, donors, allies and voters that Biden is still a viable candidate that can beat Trump again.
But many within the party are looking for other options and are floating those like Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
None are able to beat Trump in nationwide and battleground state polling and all fall behind Biden in his chances of winning against the former president.
