President Joe Biden will have lunch with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday as he faces growing pressure to drop out of the 2024 race following his disastrous debate performance last week.

The 81-year-old Democratic president has signaled that he has no intention of stepping aside, despite his weak debate performance against Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, on Thursday.

Biden's poor showing sparked an immediate panic among Democrats and further highlighted concerns about his age and capacity to lead the country for another four years.

Harris is among the top contenders being floated to replace Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, should he step aside. The meeting is closed to the press. Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment on the story via email.

The vice president defended Biden's debate performance in an interview last week.

"Yes, there was a slow start, but it was a strong finish," Harris said on CNN. "What became very clear over the course of the night is that Joe Biden is fighting on behalf of the American people on substance, on policy, on performance."

Amid the pressure to quell concerns about whether Biden is the strongest candidate to face Trump in November, the president is also scheduled to meet with Democratic governors on Wednesday evening.

The White House on Tuesday said Biden would speak with congressional leaders later this week; give an interview to ABC's George Stephanopoulos; and hold a press conference in the coming days, The Associated Press reported.

Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas on Tuesday became the first Democratic member of Congress to publicly call for Biden to step down.

Representative James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who helped Biden secure the Democratic nomination in 2020, said on Tuesday that he was still backing the president, but would support Harris if Biden dropped out.

"I would support her if he were to step aside," Clyburn said on MSNBC.

Attending a campaign event in Virginia on Tuesday, Biden blamed his poor debate performance on jet lag.

"I wasn't very smart," the president said. "I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, going through I don't know how many time zones—for real, I think it was 15 time zones... I didn't listen to my staff. And then I came back and nearly fell asleep on stage."

Biden added: "It's not an excuse but an explanation."