Hawaii governor says Biden could decide within days whether to remain in the presidential race

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Hawaii governor says Biden could decide within days whether to remain in the presidential race

2024-07-07 08:54 Last Updated At：09:00

President Joe Biden could make a decision within days whether to remain a candidate for reelection, said Hawaii’s governor who participated in a recent meeting with Biden and other Democratic governors and whose family has known the president for years.

And if Biden decides not to run, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press on Saturday that he believes the president will designate Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the ticket.

“I think the president stays in this race unless he feels that it is not winnable, or he feels that he has to hear other voices in his inner circle that he shouldn’t run,” Green said. “If the president felt that he wasn’t up to it and truly not up to it, he would step down.

“We’ll probably know in the next couple of days how the president feels about all this,” he said.

Biden has repeatedly insisted that he will remain in the race against his likely Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump. But questions about Biden's mental acuity have swirled since his disastrous debate performance last month. As some of his fellow Democrats have encouraged Biden to exit the campaign, the president has pointed to support from other elected officials in the party, particularly governors.

Green, who was a physician on Hawaii's Big Island before he was elected governor, said everyone has parents or grandparents who have moments that aren’t that great or pauses in their ability to express themselves clearly. But, he added, they aren’t discarded because of their experience, wisdom and their role in the family.

“That’s why I’m standing by the president until he tells me otherwise,” said Green.

Green said the timeline of a few days for a decision anticipates pressure that might be placed on Biden after members of Congress return this week to Capitol Hill.

“I really, honestly think that he has to make the decision. And it should not come from another governor. It should not come from anyone but the closest, closest advisers to him and his own heart,” Green said.

Green was quick to point out that Trump is only three years younger than Biden and both will have bad days going forward. But he argued that temperament is more important than age.

“For God’s sake, these two guys have to hold the nuclear codes," Green said. “I don’t want someone who tweets in the middle of the night and rages at other countries. That is not good. That’s not the problem we have with President Biden.”

If Biden were to leave the campaign, Green said the president should be allowed to say who he thinks should replace him on the ticket.

“I think it’s very clear that the Democratic Party would be ecstatic overall to have the president designate his vice president if it came to that,” Green said.

Harris “is a powerful person, she is also a thought-leading woman, she’s an African American who was (California’s) attorney general,” Green said. “There are no credentials that are better than what the current vice president has.”

Green, whose wife’s uncle was Biden’s college roommate, also provided insight into last week’s meeting that governors had with the president. During the meeting, Green asked Biden about his health. Biden responded by saying everything was fine except for his brain.

Green told the AP that the president was joking, and that context was lost when leaked by other people.

“It was absolutely a joke, and in order to make a self-deprecating joke, you have to have intact cognitive function, period,” Green said.

He also discounted any assertion that advisers crafted the meeting to have governors supportive of Biden speak first to quell any dissent. Instead, he said it was a very candid, unscripted conversation with 25 governors with differing opinions.

“That call had just like you’d expect in a coffee shop, a few people mouthed off, a few people, you know, probably excessively praised the president, but almost everybody was just trying to see, ‘Are we OK?’” Green said.

Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.

Liverpool leads the way in the Premier League and gives Slot club record

2024-10-06 00:19 Last Updated At：00:20

Arne Slot earned a Liverpool record of nine wins from his first 10 games in charge after the club stayed on the top of the English Premier League on Saturday.

Diogo Jota's ninth-minute goal at Selhurst Park held up to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and ensure Slot would be looking down on rival managers Pep Guardiola of Manchester City and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal heading into the international break.

Four-time defending champion City is second after beating Fulham 3-2 and third-placed Arsenal won against Southampton 3-1. Both trail Liverpool by a point.

Slot is making light work of filling the void left by Anfield great Jurgen Klopp, with no other manager in the club's history winning so many of his opening games in all competitions.

“It definitely is (very satisfying). And it’s actually also quite special if you know how many great managers Liverpool had,” Slot said. “But I also said last week I think that I hope they don’t only remember me in one, two, three, four, five years only for this. We are hoping to do more special things than this.”

Liverpool's only defeat under the Dutchman was a shock 1-0 home loss against Nottingham Forest. Otherwise, it has been a perfect start for a man who had the ominous task of replacing Klopp, who won a full set of major honors including the Premier League and Champions League.

Slot looks likely to be the main challenger to City and Arsenal, who have been first and second respectively in the last two seasons.

Both of those teams survived scares to come from behind to win at home.

It wasn't all good news for Liverpool after goalkeeper Alisson sustained a suspected hamstring injury and was substituted in the second half at Palace.

The Brazil international, who has only recently returned from a muscle injury, was holding the back of his right leg after limping off Selhurst Park and is likely to miss Brazil's World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru.

Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister also went off with a groin issue that makes him a doubt for his country's qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia.

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer