Donald Trump responded to President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the election race Sunday by angrily attacking his former opponent and baselessly claiming he “never had COVID.”
After immediately reacting to the news by trashing Biden as “the worst president in the history of our country,” the 2024 GOP nominee continued the flaming in a fusillade of posts on his Truth Social platform. “Does anybody really believe that Crooked Joe had Covid?” Trump wrote in one. “No, he wanted to get out ever since June 27th, the night of The Debate, where he was completely obliterated.”
Biden announced his decision to drop out Sunday afternoon, describing his withdrawal as being in the “best interest” of his party and the country. The announcement, which came while the 81-year-old recovered from COVID at his vacation home in Rehoboth, Delaware, was reportedly a surprise to many of his staffers who weren’t told of Biden’s decision until one minute before the news was made public.
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The revelation was shared with voters in the form of a written statement instead of a video as Biden was still “sick and raspy” on Sunday, according to The New York Times. Just under 30 minutes later, Biden released another statement endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him as the Democratic nominee.
Despite Biden’s illness apparently being bad enough to keep him off camera as he announced the biggest news of his political career, Trump claimed without evidence that the whole thing was an act. “Biden never had Covid,” he wrote in one late night post. “He is a threat to Democracy!”
Earlier, Trump groused that the GOP had spent “time and money on fighting Crooked Joe Biden.” “Now we have to start all over again,” he added. “Shouldn’t the Republican Party be reimbursed for fraud in that everybody around Joe, including his doctors and the Fake News Media, knew he was not capable of running for, or being, President? Just askin’?”
He also demanded that the next presidential debate—regardless of who “the Radical Left Democrats choose” as their nominee—should be “held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC.” Trump further complicated his attacks by claiming that his race against Biden is “not over” because Biden would “wake up and forget that he dropped out of the race today!”
Biden wrote in his withdrawal announcement statement that he plans to “focus solely” on fulfilling his duties as president for the remainder of his term. Trump signed off his tirade by questioning Biden’s continued fitness for office after dropping out of the race.
“Who is running our Country right now? It’s not Crooked Joe, he has no idea where he is,” Trump claimed. “If he can’t run for office, he can’t run our Country!!!”
Biden’s physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote in an update Saturday that Biden’s symptoms had “improved significantly” and he “continues to perform all of his presidential duties.”
