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On Saturday evening, at his beach house in Delaware, Joe Biden began to consider whether he should withdraw.

He huddled with a small circle of aides, which included Steve Richetti, one of his closest advisers, Mike Donilon, his chief strategist, Annie Tomasini, his deputy chief of staff, and Anthony Bernal, the chief of staff to First Lady Jill Biden.

Biden and his aides pored over new polling data and discussed whether he could defeat Donald Trump in the current political landscape.

Faced with the new data and bracing for another week of more public defections within the party, the president had a decision to make.

He worked with Donilon, drafting the historic statement that would bring an end to candidacy, while Richetti worked through the details of rolling out the announcement and informing other staff.

Biden made the final decision that he was dropping out on Sunday morning, separately calling chief of staff Jeff Zients, his campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon, and Vice-President Kamala Harris to inform them.

On Sunday afternoon at 13:45 EDT (17:45 GMT), the president held a video call with his most senior White House and campaign staff, including Anita Dunn, who manages his White House communications strategy.

One minute later, he released a public statement that sent shockwaves across the American political landscape and upended the 2024 election.

Image source, Reuters