Just hearing via the Reuters news agency, IONI, that Joe Biden is saying that he supports Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. Not a surprise, I suppose, but the party will want to get on with this quickly. The Republicans, meanwhile, will make hay from all of this.

That's right. I can read you the statement that Joe Biden has put out. He has, as you say, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. He said, My fellow Democrats, I've decided not to accept the nomination and focus all my duties on my duties as president for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice President. He also goes on to say, It's been the best decision I've made, and today he wants to offer his full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of the Democrats this year. He said, It's time to come together and beat Trump. In his words, Let's do this. Now, It's interesting. There's echoes there of you might remember that famous clip when Joe Biden won the last presidential election. There was a clip of Kamala Harris that went viral at the time where she said, Joe, we did this. Clearly, he's now almost reflecting that back to her. He wants her to be the one who takes this baton on now to try and beat Donald Trump. I think that was really the growing concern, as we've discussed already, about whether he was able to beat Donald Trump.

The polls were certainly suggesting that he wasn't in a good position to. There was widespread concern across the Democratic Party about whether he would even be able to win the Senate, the House, with him as leader. I think he has clearly decided to make that endorsement very swiftly. I think We're probably going to see now a series of statements from him as this resignation news develops. I think he'll be wanting to make a series of statements, probably as well, a public speech when he is feeling strong enough to do so. Of course, he has been recovering, as we've discussed, from COVID. But I think one of the reasons for getting this endorsement out the door very quickly has been to try to encourage as little chaos and disruption as possible. Now, I think he wants, as he's outlined in the statement, the party to try and resolutely get behind her. The question will be, do they? Are there Democrats who just don't want to endorse Kamala Harris, feel like she has been imposed on them as a candidate? I think that will be the question that follows Democrats around now for the next couple of days.

We're also hearing, again, via the Reuters news agency, that Donald Trump has been speaking to one of the American networks, CNN, and he says that he thinks that vice President Harris will be easier to defeat than Joe Biden after Mr. Biden decided to step down. We would expect him to say that, wouldn't we?

That's right. Interestingly, though, over the last couple of weeks, obviously, these are only polls. Polls only suggest things. They don't give with certainty what would happen, but there have certainly polls suggesting that Kamala Harris was actually better placed to defeat Donald Trump than Joe Biden was, given the concern around his health, his fitness for office. I think one of the things that's interesting, though, as well, over the weekend, there was a number of reports suggesting that the Trump campaign were gearing up a series of attacks towards Kamala Harris, almost in anticipation of the fact that he might resign and she would be the person that he endorses to replace him. I think we are likely now to see over the next couple of weeks, we'll see the direct attacks made from the Trump campaign on Kamala Harris. Obviously, all their attention now will be on how they show that they are better place to win this election than she is, because a lot of their election attacks so far have centered on Joe, that infamous phrase we've heard a lot of times now from the former President Trump's Sleepy Joe. He's certainly played on the criticisms of Joe Biden and how sharp he has been, for example, in some debates and interviews.

Now, I think all that energy is going to be diverted into trying to undermine, attack Kamala Harris and her image, her fitness for office as well from Trump's side. Of course, it is important to remember that although Joe Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris, she isn't yet the candidate. We are still waiting to find out what Democrats will do over the next couple of days and whether or not she will actually end up being formally endorsed and nominated as the candidate.

Meanwhile, the US Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, has has said that Biden once again put his country, his party, and our future first. This is where we get the reframing, that PR exercise, isn't it? Where the Democrats, of course, frame this as this Is Joe the 2024 presidential race. As we were just reporting, as of last night, Saturday night, he had planned to stay in the race. The Reuters news agency are saying that a source familiar with this matter has now revealed that on Sunday afternoon, senior staff were told that Joe Biden was in fact, withdrawing. And the quote says, Last night, the message was, proceed with everything full speed ahead, but around a quarter to two this afternoon, the President told his senior team that he had changed his mind. I know it'll be fascinating to learn who he discussed this with that brought about that change of heart overnight.That's right, because there was growing speculation and reports over the weekend that not just close aides of his, not just close allies like the former of President Barack Obama, but also members of his family, his really close inner circle had been discussing this issue with him, also discussing even potentially plans for him to stand down, how they would manage that going forward. I think there's probably been Well, there have inevitably been a series of discussions that have taken place. But I think one of the things that is really interesting is just how quickly this has happened. As you say, in the last 24 hours, there's been this tone shift because it was only, I think, about 24 hours ago that That he himself was saying he was looking forward to getting back campaigning this week. His campaign was saying that. Now, of course, there is an element to which if somebody is about to resign, of course, until the moment they actually do, they are going to carry on as normal, act like things are normal. But I think the defiance that he was going about those statements did imply to some people that he was digging in for a bit longer.The fact that he has now dropped this in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday when he's not at the White House, he's been isolating in his holiday home in Delaware, certainly come as a surprise to a lot of people here. I think that is, as you say, it will be interesting to find out more about what it was in the last moment that changed his mind. From his statement, he stresses that this was about essentially trying to put the country and the party first and do what is in the best interests of the United States. I think that's the message we'll hear again from him when he does address the public, address his party at some point. He has said that he will speak to the nation later this week, and he will talk in more detail decision. I think we will get more information from him personally about what led him to take that decision in the 11th hour.

the 2024 presidential race. As we were just reporting, as of last night, Saturday night, he had planned to stay in the race. The Reuters news agency are saying that a source familiar with this matter has now revealed that on Sunday afternoon, senior staff were told that Joe Biden was in fact, withdrawing. And the quote says, Last night, the message was, proceed with everything full speed ahead, but around a quarter to two this afternoon, the President told his senior team that he had changed his mind. I know it'll be fascinating to learn who he discussed this with that brought about that change of heart overnight.

That's right, because there was growing speculation and reports over the weekend that not just close aides of his, not just close allies like the former of President Barack Obama, but also members of his family, his really close inner circle had been discussing this issue with him, also discussing even potentially plans for him to stand down, how they would manage that going forward. I think there's probably been Well, there have inevitably been a series of discussions that have taken place. But I think one of the things that is really interesting is just how quickly this has happened. As you say, in the last 24 hours, there's been this tone shift because it was only, I think, about 24 hours ago that That he himself was saying he was looking forward to getting back campaigning this week. His campaign was saying that. Now, of course, there is an element to which if somebody is about to resign, of course, until the moment they actually do, they are going to carry on as normal, act like things are normal. But I think the defiance that he was going about those statements did imply to some people that he was digging in for a bit longer.

The fact that he has now dropped this in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday when he's not at the White House, he's been isolating in his holiday home in Delaware, certainly come as a surprise to a lot of people here. I think that is, as you say, it will be interesting to find out more about what it was in the last moment that changed his mind. From his statement, he stresses that this was about essentially trying to put the country and the party first and do what is in the best interests of the United States. I think that's the message we'll hear again from him when he does address the public, address his party at some point. He has said that he will speak to the nation later this week, and he will talk in more detail decision. I think we will get more information from him personally about what led him to take that decision in the 11th hour.