âA broken-down pile of crapâ on the verge of âquitting the raceâ was Donald Trumpâs summation of Joe Biden in a surreptitiously filmed video leaked on Wednesday.
The clip, obtained by the Daily Beast, shows the 78-year-old former president sitting in a golf cart, holding a pile of cash, and with son Barron alongside, as he offers an analysis of the 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump asked a group off-camera: âHow did I do with the debate the other night?â before predicting that Biden would not seek re-election.
âHe just quit, you know â heâs quitting the raceâ, Trump said. âI got him out of the â and that means we have Kamala.â
The White House and most Democrats maintain Biden will remain the party nominee, though voter polls suggest that he has slipped six points behind Trump and that the vice-president, Kamala Harris, could be a stronger Democrat candidate in November.
âI think sheâs gonna be betterâ as an opponent, Trump continued in the video, but added: âSheâs so bad. Sheâs so patheticâ and appeared to say: âSheâs so fucking bad.â
Bidenâs campaign has denied he is stepping down. âAbsolutely not,â said the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, on Wednesday. Several Democratic governors repeated the phrase âin it to win itâ after meeting with Biden.
The Trump campaign has not commented directly on the video but on Wednesday predicted the âtotal collapseâ of the Democratic party following Bidenâs poor debate performance and mounting calls for him to step aside.
The Biden-Harris campaign responded to the video in a statement: âThe American people have already seen low after low from Donald Trump,â it said, described the video as a ânew rock bottomâ for him.
The clip was leaked hours after the Trump campaign released its first attack ads against Harris, who is the most likely candidate to replace Biden if he decides to quit the race.
Leaked video and audio clips have previously been a source of embarrassment for Trump, including in 2016 with the notorious Access Hollywood tape in which he described women in vulgar terms and bragged about sexually harassing them.
In the latest video Trump expressed disdain for Bidenâs ability to deal with foreign adversaries, including Russiaâs president, Vladimir Putin, and Chinaâs president, Xi Jinping.
âCan you imagine that guy dealing with Putin?â Trump asked. âAnd the president of China â whoâs a fierce person. Heâs a fierce man, very tough guy. And they see him.â