U.S. President Joe Biden sent a clear message to Donald Trump, the former Republican president that he beat with wide margin in the last election.
Biden declared at his first press conference on Thursday that he would run for re-election in 2024.
“My answer is yes, I plan to run for re-election. That’s my expectation,” he said.
Biden, 78, is the oldest person to take office as president in U.S. history.
He said he joined the race to send Trump out of the White House.
He succeeded beyond expectation, leaving Trump to make unfounded allegations that he was rigged out.
There has been speculation that Biden would serve only one four-year term.
But he shut down the speculations by declaring that he will run again.
He will be 82 at the time and will likely face his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Trump is believed to be warming up for another shot at the presidency.
For now, he has no rival in the Republican party, having hijacked the party.
The press conference focussed on other issues such as immigration via Mexico border, China, North Korea, Afghanistan.
He spoke about the pandemic and set another goal: to administer 200m doses of vaccines by his first 100 days.
Biden met the 100 million mark that he initially set in 58 days.
Appearing before reporters for more than an hour, Biden seemed well-prepared.
He read from written papers occasionally and calmly took questions, a sharp contrast to the often raucous, combative news conferences held by Trump.
He warned North Korea of consequences for launching two ballistic missiles on Thursday and said he was consulting with U.S. allies on the way forward.
And Biden sought to bring down the tone of rhetoric with China after his top aides had bitter exchanges with Chinese counterparts in Alaska earlier this month.
Struggling to contain a surge in border crossings, Biden told reporters that no previous administration had refused care and shelter to children coming over from Mexico – except that of Trump.
“I’m not going to do it,” Biden said, noting he had selected Harris to lead diplomatic efforts with Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador aimed at stemming the migration flow.
Biden backed away from a May 1 deadline to withdraw U.S. troops in Afghanistan after Trump tried but failed to pull them out before leaving office.
“It’s going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline,” said Biden. But he added, “We are not staying a long time” in Afghanistan, site of America’s longest war. He said he did not think the troops would still be there next year. – Agency report.
