President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took part in Veterans Day memorial services Monday, marking the first time the two leaders have appeared in public together since the 2024 election.
Democrats have spent recent days dissecting Harris‘s 2024 loss to President-elect Donald Trump, with some in the party laying the blame at Biden’s feet for not exiting the race earlier to allow Harris more time to campaign.
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The president and vice president have not been seen together in public in weeks. The last joint rally they held together was back in early September, shortly after Biden tapped Harris to replace him on the Democratic ticket.
“The biggest onus of this loss is on President Biden,” Andrew Yang, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said in an interview with the Associated Press. “If he had stepped down in January instead of July, we may be in a very different place.”
Biden and Harris took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Monday. Harris, first lady Jill Biden, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff were all in attendance while the president delivered remarks late Monday morning at Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater.
“This is the last time I will stand here at Arlington as Commander in Chief,” the president stated. “It’s been the greatest honor of my life to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us.”
“Jill and I, Doug and Kamala, our entire administration, are proud of our work for the past four years,” he continued, noting the particular pride he felt at seeing the PACT Act passed on his watch.
Among other provisions, the legislation extended new healthcare benefits and coverage to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving overseas. Biden’s late son, Beau Biden, is believed to have been killed by an aggressive brain cancer linked to such burn pits.
“Today, standing together in honor of those Americans who have dared all, risked all, and given all to our nation, we must say clearly, we never will give up,” the president closed.
Over the weekend, Jamal Simmons, Harris’s former communications director, suggested during an appearance on CNN that Biden should resign, allowing Harris to become the first female president until Trump is sworn into office in January.
“Joe Biden has been a phenomenal president; he’s lived up to so many of the promises that he’s made. There is one promise left that he can fulfill: being a transitional figure,” he stated. “He could resign the presidency in the next 30 days, make Kamala Harris the president of the United States. He could absolve her from having to oversee the January 6 transition of her own defeat.”
The White House did not say if Biden is considering stepping down from the presidency, but last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Biden did not regret his decision to withdraw from the 2024 race in July.
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You can watch Biden’s remarks in full below.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
