Biden names reason for leaving presidential race

Joe Biden, in his first interview after quitting the US presidential race, has talked about why he decided to withdraw his name, Report informs referring to The Times of India.

He said that the decision was partly motivated by his belief that it was crucial to maintain national focus on Trump and to unify the Democratic Party in preparation for the November election.

"Although it's a great honor to be a president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I-- most important thing you can do. And that is — we must, we must, we must defeat Trump," he said in an interview to CBS News.

The US president announced his decision to quit the race on July 21 after his lackluster performance in the presidential debate against Donald Trump. The debate drew criticism from Democrats with many calling for Biden to step back.

"When I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president," the 81-year-old said, adding, "I can't even say how old I am – it's hard for me to get it out of my mouth."

Expressing his doubts about peaceful transfer of power in case Trump loses, Biden said, "If Trump loses, I'm not confident at all. 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, it'll have to be a stolen election.'"

"Look what they're trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes, or putting people in place in states that they're going to count the votes, right?," he added.