Biden confident he could have beaten Trump - report

US President Joe Biden said in private conversations that he regrets stepping down from the election in November, insisting that he could have beaten President-Elect Donald Trump had he not been pushed out of the race by his own party, according to a report on Saturday in the Washington Post.

According to the report, Biden and some of his aides argued that he should have stayed in the race and could have won a second term, but the 82-year-old succumbed to pressure from senior Democrats to leave the presidential race in July due to poor poll numbers and a shaky performance in the June 27 debate, which was marred by stuttering and unclear answers.

Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Biden in a campaign that was easily won by Trump, who will be sworn in for a second term in the White House on January 20. However, the newspaper notes that "aides say the president has been careful not to place blame on Harris or her campaign."

Biden stated in an interview with CBS News in August that former House speaker Nancy Pelosi led the campaign for his resignation, as his party feared he would harm chances a Democrat remaining in the White House. In September, he said on ABC's "The View" that he was confident he would crush Trump in November. Meanwhile, many Democrats attribute Harris's loss to Biden's insistence on not resigning earlier.

In addition, Biden lamented the choice of Merrick Garland as attorney general for a slow prosecution of Trump for the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Garland also pursued an aggressive case against Hunter Biden, the president's son who was later pardoned.