Biden says he felt pressure from Democrats to drop out before he ended his reelection bid

President Joe Biden said in his first interview since dropping out of the 2024 election that he was focused on beating former President Donald Trump and helping his fellow Democrats in tight races across the country when he decided to end his campaign.

Biden said it was his Democratic colleagues' concerns he would hurt the party in down-ballot races, not poll numbers, that led to his decision to exit the race. He said he thought the divide would be a distraction from defeating Trump.

"A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in their races," Biden said in the interview that aired Sunday on CBS. "And I was concerned that if stayed in the race, that would be the topic."

The president added that "I have an obligation to the country to do the most important thing we can do, and that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump."

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Biden, 81, faced a barrage of calls to drop his reelection bid over concerns about his age and fitness for office, especially after his shaky debate performance against Trump on June 27. In the Sunday interview, the president expressed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly minted running mate Tim Walz.

Biden said he's working to elect Harris and Walz, noting that he's spoken to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro about campaigning in the pivotal swing state for his vice president. Trump and Harris will face off in their first presidential debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10.

Biden added, however, he is "not confident at all" in a peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses in November. The Republican nominee still claims, without evidence, the 2020 election was "stolen" from him.

"He means what he says. We don't take him seriously. He means it; all the stuff about 'If we lose, there'll be a bloodbath,'" Biden said. "You can't love your country only when you win."

Trump earlier this year told a crowd of supporters in Ohio that "if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath," while talking about the American auto industry and Chinese imports. He's also used the term to refer to the southern border.

Biden during the interview also said the Supreme Court is top of mind for him in the coming decades. One way Biden would like to protect American democracy is through reforms to the highest court in the land. Last month, he proposed a code of ethics and 18-year term limits for justices, who currently serve for life.

"Look, we're at an inflection point in world history, we really are," the president said. "The decisions we make in the last three, four years, and the next three or four years are going to determine what the next six decades look like. And democracy is the key," Biden said.

Rachel Barber is a 2024 election fellow at USA TODAY, focusing on politics and education. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @rachelbarber_

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden says he was focused on beating Trump when he dropped out