‘I’m not going anywhere’: Biden pushes back on 2024 exit in call to ‘Morning Joe’

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden continued swinging back Monday morning in defense of his job by calling into a popular cable talk show saying he will not be exiting the 2024 White House race.

"I want to make sure I was right, that the average voter out there wanted Joe Biden and I'm confident they do,” Biden said during the phone interview on MSNBC’s 'Morning Joe.' “The bottom line here is that we are not going anywhere. I am not going anywhere. I would not be running if I didn't believe I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump in 2024.”

The phone interview came moments after the president sent a letter to Democrats on Capitol Hill that he will not drop out of the race.

Biden has faced growing concerns from members of his party on whether he should continue to run for president after a concerning debate performance last two weeks ago.

The president said during the phone interview that average voters are not going to turn away from him, and expressed frustration with the “elites” who are calling on him to drop out, claiming they have been wrong in past elections.

“The American public is not going to move away from me,” Biden said. “I'm getting so frustrated by the elites. I'm not talking about you guys, but about the elites in the party. ‘They know so much more.’ Any of these guys that don't think I should run, run against me. Announce for president, challenge me at the convention."

Biden also took a jab at Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, calling him a “liar.”

“This guy is gonna rip away at a woman's right to choose in a permanent way. This guy is gonna make sure that he exacts revenge. This guy's gonna destroy democracy,” Biden said.

"I was feeling so badly before the debate, when I came back, that they tested me for-- I thought maybe I had Covid. Maybe there was something wrong, I had an infection or something."

Biden also noted in the MSNBC interview that he had a "neurological physical" in February, and added that he stayed out until 2 a.m. after sparring with Trump during their first CNN-hosted showdown in late June.

"The night of the debate I went out," he said. "It drives me nuts, people talking about this. That very night I was talking to large crowds."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden pushes back on 2024 exit in call to ‘Morning Joe’