US President Joe Biden says it has been 'greatest honour' to serve as he ends campaign

US President Joe Biden has announced that he will forego re-election, saying "it is in the best interest of my party and my country".
Four months before Americans go to the polls,  the race for the White House is heating up.
It follows a week of intense pressure from the Democrats after the debate show against Republican Donald Trump in late June.
Following  Sunday night's announcement, President Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president. In support of , he said his "first decision as the party's candidate in 2020 was to choose Ms Harris" and said it was "the best decision I have ever made".
Kamala Harris said she "will do everything possible to unite the Democratic Party and unite our nation to defeat Donald Trump."
In a letter published on his social media page, he said that he was resigning from his position, saying that it was a great honor in his life to be president.
"Although it is my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and my country that I step down and  focus solely on  the duties of the presidency for the remainder of my term," he wrote. 's call for Biden to drop out of the race has grown since the brutal campaign against  in late June has been criticized for  incoherent and  weak rhetoric.  As time went by, there were more and more calls from within his own party for him to leave, as many representatives worried that his campaign was harming his chances of running the elections in November   to remove .  Less than two weeks ago, President Biden hosted a NATO summit, knowing he would face intense scrutiny after appearing in the debate.
The occasion did little to calm nerves within his own party, with him mistakenly calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”, and appearing to refer to the vice president as "Vice President Trump".

Although Kamala Harris has endorsed the current president, it is unclear whether she will be elected unopposed as a new candidate. In , with the president, he supported former president Bill Clinton and his wife, as well as former president Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama, who Joe Biden served as vice president, issued a statement praising Biden and calling him "one of the most influential presidents of the United States" - but he did not mention Kamala Harris. After Sunday night, BBC America's CBS reported that the Democratic National Committee held an emergency meeting. The focus is now on next month's Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Biden eliminated the primaries, which means that each state's delegates will vote for him - although they are believed to be free to vote for someone else.

'Heartfelt appreciation'

In a statement, President Biden thanked his surrogate, Kamala Harris, saying they were a "special couple." "I sincerely express my gratitude to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me," he added. "We believe today and always: There is nothing Americans can't do - if we do it together. We will remember that we are Americans." He wrote that he will discuss this issue in the country next week. returned to his home in Delaware last week after being diagnosed with Covid, but said on Friday that he hopes to be back on the campaign trail next week. He previously said that only "Almighty God" could make him retire, and said that he would consider retiring if he had health problems. . In response to a campaign by Republican Donald Trump, he said that Joe Biden "is not good enough to run for president."