Abigail Disney says choice to suspend donations is based on ‘realism, not disrespect’, and suggests Kamala Harris as an alternative

In the minutes after Joe Biden and Donald Trump stepped on to the stage for the first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, the grand narrative of this election year shifted off its axis and, in the words of CNN’s veteran broadcaster John King, “a deep, wide and aggressive” panic set in among Democrats.

A week on, and Biden has said he isn’t going anywhere, but a trickle of major Democratic donors speaking out against the president has grown into a stream.

President gives interviews with stations in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, calling on voters to look at his record

Joe Biden has told a radio show he “screwed up” and made a “mistake” in last week’s debate against Donald Trump, but vowed to stay in the election race, even as a series of polls show him now trailing the ex-president by about six points.

In two interviews with local radio stations in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Wednesday, the president urged voters to judge him on his time in the White House.

Polls show Kamala Harris would be only a point behind Trump if she were to replace Biden in presidential contest

Cracks in support among Democratic leaders for Joe Biden’s campaign continued to widen on Wednesday ahead of his evening meeting with Democratic governors, as Barack Obama reportedly privately shared that he believed Biden’s path to re-election had become even tougher.

Biden will be talking with state governors and Capitol Hill leaders all week, officials indicated on Tuesday, in attempts to reassure them of his competence after last week’s calamitous debate performance against Donald Trump. The White House said Biden will also sit for an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday, to be aired over the weekend.

The US president met with his family at Camp David, after a disastrous debate performance last week led to calls for him to drop out of the election

Joe Biden’s family have urged him stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance last week, according to reports in the US media, as senior democrats and donors have expressed exasperation at how his staff prepared him for the event.

The president gathered with his family at Camp David on Sunday, where discussions were reported to include questions over his political future. It came after days of mounting pressure on Biden, after a debate in which his halting performance highlighted his vulnerabilities and invited calls from pundits, media and voters for him to step aside.