Seven stand-out moments from Joe Biden's high-pressure press conference

By Brad Ryan in Washington DC

Joe Biden walked into this press conference as a president in crisis.

Ever since his debate debacle against Donald Trump a fortnight ago, concerns about his age and mental fitness have dominated the political conversation in America.

So it was a high-stakes gamble to do an unscripted prime-time media conference with a press pool that has been starved of access (his last one was eight months ago).

Here are some of the stand-out moments.

An awkward gaffe before the presser began

Biden's press conference was delayed because he was tied up with other commitments at the NATO summit he'd been attending.

And he was still giving a brief speech at the summit when his press conference had been scheduled to start.

America's cable news networks, which were waiting for the press conference, broadcast that speech live. It was also covered by all the national news bulletins, which aired soon afterwards.

So an unusually large audience saw this awkward moment from the president before his press conference even began.

Biden: Now I want to hand over to the President of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin...

There's a pause and some polite applause, but Biden quickly realises his error.

Biden: President Putin? He is going to beat President Putin! President Zelensky. I am so focused on beating Putin...

Zelensky: I am better.

Biden: You are a hell of a lot better. President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Biden quickly realised his error, recovered tidily, and made a bit of a joke. But it's still the kind of slip-up that very much fits in the categories of "things Biden supporters hoped he wouldn't say" and "things Biden haters will turn into viral content".

It's hard to know whether Biden's pre-presser error was a simple slip of the tongue or a sad sign of decline. But many will diagnose from afar.

And on a day that was widely considered Biden's last shot at turning the tide, it was definitely not helpful.

Things then got off to a decent start (with a bit of help)

Biden began the press conference with some prepared remarks, which he read from a teleprompter.

He criticised Putin as a "murderous madman" who was "on the march", and argued the case for a strong, well-supported NATO alliance.

He also spoke to some new data showing inflation was down and prices had fallen. He pointed to a fall in undocumented migration at the southern border. And he spoke about efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

There were some verbal stumbles and words running into one another, but this isn't atypical for Biden, whose tendency to mutter and mumble has long been the subject of critique.

Overall, it was a spirited, confident speech under high pressure. But these weren't the off-the-cuff remarks everyone had been waiting to watch.

And then, after the very first question, another name mix-up

Predictably, the first thing Biden was asked about was the growing list of people concerned about his candidacy.

"My question for you is: how are you incorporating these developments into your decision to stay and, separately, what concerns do you have about Vice-President Harris's ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket?"

Biden began his response by saying:

"Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president [if] I think she was not qualified to be president."

Unlike earlier, when he called Zelenskyy "President Putin", he didn't notice he'd mixed up some names this time.

But Donald Trump did, and quickly had a dig on social media.

Biden denied he needs an early bedtime

The president's age, acuity and health were always going to dominate this press conference. He no doubt knew that. But he still seemed to bristle a little at some of those questions.

He insisted he was the "most qualified person to run for president".

"I beat [Trump] once and I will beat him again," he said.

He said past presidents had come back from worse polling numbers at this point in an election campaign and won.

He pointed to an "incredibly successful" NATO conference as evidence his presidency was not damaging for America's standing.

And when he was asked about reports that he'd privately acknowledged he needed to go to bed earlier than in the past, he insisted they were not true.

"What I said was, instead of my every day starting at 7 and going to bed at midnight, it'd be smarter for me to pace myself a little more.

"And I said, for example … instead of starting a fundraiser at 9 o'clock, start it at 8 o'clock. People get to go home by 10 o'clock. That's what I am talking about."

He blamed his staff for his 'full bore' schedule

Since he "made that stupid mistake in the debate", he said, his schedule "has been full bore".

"And where's Trump been? Riding around in his golf cart, filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball? I mean, look, he has done virtually nothing. And I have done - I don't know how many, don't hold me to it - roughly 20 major events. Some of them with thousands of people showing up."

He won't "travel into 15 time zones a week before" the next debate, Biden said, referencing the jet lag that was offered as an explanation for his poor performance at the first debate. (He'd travelled to Europe more than a week before the debate, but he had spent the week leading up to it at his Camp David retreat.)

He then said:

"I love my staff, but they add things, add things all the time. I am catching hell from my wife."

This explanation seemed to contradict what he had said previously about his staff and his travel schedule. According to several reports, he told a fundraiser after the debate:

"I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through I don't know how many time zones - for real, I think it was 15 time zones... I didn't listen to my staff."

He finished by calling out the 'self-interest' of politicians, and casting doubt on the polls

Biden said he understood why some Democrats in Congress might be nervous about his candidacy, given his poor polling in some states.

"The truth of the matter is, I understand the self-interest. If they think that, you know, running with Biden is going to hurt them then they will run away. And I get it."

But he suggested their fears were unfounded.

"How accurate does anybody think the polls are these days? I can give you a series of polls where you have, likely voters, me versus Trump, where I win all the time. And in some of them he wins all the time. When the unlikely voters vote, he wins sometimes.

"The bottom line is, all the polling data right now, which I think is premature, because the campaign really hasn't even started, hasn't started in earnest yet.

"Most of the time, it doesn't start until after September, after Labour Day. So a lot can happen."

Before the press conference, there were 14 Democrats in Congress publicly calling for Biden to step aside. (Here's a full list.)

Three more joined the list shortly after the press conference concluded.

The first was Connecticut congressman Jim Himes, who tweeted that Biden's "legacy as a great president is secure", but:

"He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump."

California congressman Scott Peters followed up with a statement soon after, which said in part:

"The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course... We must find a candidate from our deep bench of talent who can defeat Donald Trump."

Then, Illinois congressman Eric Sorensen tweeted:

"I am hopeful Biden will step aside in his campaign for president."

Biden's candidacy remains under a cloud, but he's given every indication he'll keep fighting.

His next opportunity will be at a rally in Detroit on Friday, local time, where he'll be joined by actor Octavia Spencer, according to Variety. He'll also do another one-on-one interview, this time with NBC's Lester Holt, due to air in the US on Monday.

- ABC