Biden Says He’d Consider Dropping Out if a ‘Medical Condition’ Emerged

In an interview with Ed Gordon of BET News, Mr.

Biden was asked if there was anything that would make him re-evaluate staying in the race.

“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” Mr. Biden said, according to a brief excerpt released by the network.

The comment is the latest in a series of shifting explanations by the president about what might cause him to reconsider. In an interview with ABC News this month, Mr. Biden said he would drop out only if the “Lord almighty” told him to. At a news conference in Washington several days later, he said he would stay in the race unless aides came to him with proof that he could never win.

“You may remember Ed, I said I was going to be a transitional candidate, and I thought I would be able to move on from this and pass it on to somebody else,” the president said. “But I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided. And quite frankly, I think the only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom.”

It is the most explicit that Mr.

Biden has been in suggesting that he considered serving only one term in office when he ran in 2020. At the time, he said he would be a transitional candidate who could serve as a bridge to a new generation of political leaders in the party.