The White House has refuted claims that President Joe Biden is contemplating withdrawing from the presidential race.

Andrew Bates, the Senior Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Assistant to the President, labeled the New York Times report as inaccurate.

Posting on X, Bates stated, “This claim is absolutely false and if we had been given more than 7 minutes we could have communicated this before it was publicized. That claim is absolutely false. If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so.”

Bates was responding to a New York Times report suggesting Biden had informed his allies that he was considering exiting the presidential race.

The newspaper cited an anonymous source who mentioned, “He knows if he has two more events like that, we’re in a different place,” referring to Biden’s subpar performance in last week’s presidential debate.

The New York Times reported that Biden’s conversation marked the first sign he was seriously questioning his ability to recover from a poor debate showing in Atlanta.

The report quoted an ally saying Biden acknowledged the uphill battle to assure voters, donors, and the political class that his debate performance was an outlier.

The paper also noted that Biden had told a key ally he understood he might not be able to revive his campaign if he couldn’t convince the public in the coming days that he was still fit for the job after the disastrous debate.

Despite this, the president remains committed to his re-election campaign, understanding that his upcoming appearances are crucial, particularly an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.