Biden will address the nation Wednesday on his decision to drop his 2024 Democratic reelection bid

FILE - Vice President Joe Biden walks off of the stage after speaking on the Obama Administration's nuclear security agenda, Feb. 18, 2010, at Ft. McNair in Washington. Historians and political advisers say history will be kinder to President Joe Biden than voters have been. Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday, July 21, 2024, clearing the way for a new Democratic nominee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)(AP/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening on his decision to drop his 2024 Democratic reelection bid.

Biden posted on X that he would speak “on what lies ahead” and how he will “finish the job for the American people.” He will speak at 8 p.m. ET.

He declined to preview his message after he returned to Washington, telling reporters to “watch and listen.”

“Why don’t you wait and hear what I say?” he said.

The president departed Delaware shortly before 2 p.m. on Tuesday, after nearly a week of isolating at his Rehoboth Beach home after his second bout with COVID-19. Biden is now testing negative for the virus and his symptoms have resolved, according to a letter from his doctor, Kevin O’Connor, released Tuesday.

Holding a blue paper mask, he told reporters that “I am feeling well” but did not answer other questions, such as whether Vice President Kamala Harris can defeat Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Biden has not been seen publicly since July 17, but he called into a campaign meeting on Monday to address staff and express his support for Harris’ bid to replace him a day after announcing he would leave the race.

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