>> david: tonight, an abc news special. president biden calling it in the best interest of the party and the country and giving his full endorsement to vice president kamala harris up ending the race for president. don't donald trump and the republican party launching

attacks on the vice president assuming she's the nominee. a special edition of abc news and our coverage of the race for president begins right now. >> announcer: tonight president biden stands down. the race for the white house. the president's historic decision to withdraw from the race against donald trump. pressure mounting for weeks following his poor performance at the debate. vice president chairs now in the spotlight. what will democrats do now? will they rally behind her or take their fight to the democratic national convention 29 days away? donald trump and the republican party already on the attack. how will american voters respond? this is an abc news special. now reporting, david muir. >> david: good evening. the case for the white house.

the campaign turned upside down. president biden vowing with people in his own party. passing the torch to another set of young leaders. he sent out a letter to, quote, my fellow americans. it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down. the president facing growing calls for him to step down. the president had called it a bad night saying he was exhausted. last night during the republican national convention we learned president biden had covid. he came off the campaign trail. we saw him moving slowly getting off of air force one. over the weekend he held multiple zoom calls with his family. president biden revealed that

decision today and immediately endorsing vice president kamala harris to be the democratic nominee. the vice president vowing to run and to win. less than a month away now. many questions to get to in this hour. the will she get the support she needs? if so, who would her pick be for running mate? all of this days after president trump and j.d. advance accepted the nomination. if president biden isn't fit to run, they're arguing he isn't fit to serve. i want be to bring in mary bruce leading us off. first off, mary, let's go inside the last 24 hours. what your sources have told you about the evolution of this decision from the president. because we know that he made this decision just over the weekend here. this wasn't something he had on his mind late last week. he was dealing with covid. came off of it.

the but very much indicated he was still the t take us through the evolution. >> reporter: this was the decision he did not want to make. for weeks he was adamant he wasn't going anywhere, he was all in. he was going to beat donald trump but the pea lit call pressure, it was clear. it was just going to be too much to bear and then just over the last 24 hours the president isolated with covid recopk recuperating. his wife and family members, david, the president just announcing a staff email saying he had to do it so best for the party and the country. rfr tonight just 24 days

battling covid, president biden finally giving in. the the abandoning his bid for a second term. in a letter addressed to my fellow americans, it the best interest of my country and my party and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remained beer of my term. i will speak to the nation later in detail and then the president endorsing vice president kamala harris to take his place atom t -- atop the democratic ticket. he posted today i want to sp the party nominee. let's do this.

>> do we believe in the promise of america? >> yes! >> and are we rely to fight for it? >> reporter: tonight president biden is doing what he has been doing throughout his life of service and my irch tension is to earn and win this nomination. we have 107 days until election day. today we will fight and took we will win. in the days after the debate he was defiant. >> i am running and i am going to win again. the i am all in! my word i am all in. >> in an interview with

stephanopoulos, if the race we're going to lose the house and senate. how would you respond? >> i've spoken to all of them in detail. efr one of them. they all said i should stay in the rice >> if they do? >> they're not going to do that. >> david: are you sure? >> yeah, i'm sure. look, i mean, if the lord almighty came out of the race and said, talk the money, and he penned an on ed writing it's devastating to stay with it was not the joe biden 2010.

it wasn't the -- the same man and house minority leader hakeem jefferies told biden to his face. former house speaker nancy pelosi did that and more though biden said it was still the we're all encouraging him to make it decision because time is running short. >> reporter: the glad gates had opened. ultimately 40 democrats called on biden to drop out of the race. do it for his legacy, his country. >> what's on everybody's mind is there a clear path to victory here? can we honestly

>> i do not think he is the best person to go into this election. i think if he is our nominee, we lose. biden tested positive for covid and he said last night the president finally began to come to his decision. >> today he started making calls to his vice president. releasing his letter to the world. today pelosi calling him a patriotic american who has always put our money first. pelosi and giving people the opportunities at this to reach their fulfillment.

those words echoed with presidential barack obama it's a historic example of a again u win public servant once again putting his interest of the american people ahead of his own. no mention whether kamala harris should be the official nominee. bill clinton called the people whatever we can to support her. tonight first lady jill biden forwarding her husband's actions with a heart. and from the president's

southern hunter, an emotional statement. for my entire life, i've looked at my dad in awe. how could he suffer so much heart ache and yet different from the last 54 years. i'm so lucky every night i get to tell him i love him and to thank him. i ask all-americans to join tonight and do the same. >> we all have to be mindful of that for our viewers from home. this must not have been an easy decision for the president and his family who we know had turned to last night and he says he'll come to share more

with him. do we know how he came to this decision? >> he will be explaining this remarkable decision. this is a deeply painful, frustrating, many -- not just men, the closest in there is a sense coming close to the camry. i think seeing the pressure build on him politically, seeing all of this was really difficult. you do have to remember, joe biden spent a lifetime to get right here. trying to goat to the white house. he was just 29 years old when he was elected to the senate. now he'll leave the white house. the oldest president to ever serve. he'll explain now.

we know he's working the cell phones. he's roechd out to chairs. what a whirlwind. >> on that point, mary, such a closely held, personal decision that the closest administration officials and others can not know, you and your team report she had to be done. >> exactly. she didn't know either. this difficult decision, the most difficult decision of joe biden's life was huddled with a few, a hand full of his closest advisors over the past 24 hours. learning about this and having

multiple what's going over the laps. she is out there championing, pushing. the they know they will need come november especially reaching out to black voters, young black we know she is expected to hit the trail in the coming days. >> the scrutiny will be hare much. putting in these last couple of weeks, mary, when they were facing very difficult days, very tough debate performance against

against. the last couple of weeks knowing the question was out there, the polling and asking serious questions about the president's age, she had to go out there not knowing if she was going to get this. >> what a tremendous circumstance. adamant that the president was not going anywhere. he was staying at the top of the ticket all while knowing that pollsters were out there asking questions to see how she would fair. she was a loyal soldier, out there fighting at the root that is at the campaign. the the biden for president campaign is officially in paris. campaign aides are telling me

they are full steam ahead. >> biden campaign. they have people who joe biden has dropped out. kamala harris is making fundraising appeals. too. the it is officially the harris campaign moving forward. michael whatley is the co-chair of the rnc. >> david: obviously a brand-new chapter. how does it move the

that? >> a political split screen considering we were coming out of a washing community. so we had a very strong vice presidential candidate. we were moving forward playing awe fence. now the fact that they have no candidate, they'll have to go through the process moving forward with it. what i would say on our side of the fence, president trump will hit higgs mark. he's going to talk to the american people about the issues they care about and the contrast couldn't be any bigger. >> is this sort of flipping the

swigs because it will perceived by people as the next group of leaders. >> not at all. i think we saw president trump get up off the ground and say he's going to continue to fight for the american pe accepting his nomination as well as a rally we held yesterday up in michigan. he has the strength and resilience to continue to lead the republican party. more importantly, he is the candidate who's going to be able to unify the country. restoring this.

the trump campaign had a 2k3wr50ed to do >> president trump said he would sent a president. the buy the den harris campaign or anybody else, we've seen the biden and harris administration adopt over the last four years. they have dismantled them come in and they have put inflation

inflationary p and they have adopted the same platforms. doubling down on the same issues. we welcome that. donald trump, kamala harris will show up in september here on abc. obviously i'll determine we've welcomed the debate. we want to talk about the contrast between the biden/harris agenda and he'll lead us into a boulder future. >> giving us a preview of the playbook ahead. we look forward to given you out. the trump campaign supplieding down. the issues going after chais

should she be the democratic nominee. the rnc going after the record. here's rachel attack, attack, attack. >> trump said to attack it and be more of the same. it was a week ago after the attempt on trump's life that trump and biden called on his rival. >> i spoke with him last night. he's doing >> tonight trurk calling it on biden to resign from office. house speaker mike johnson said if it's not fun to

the trump campaign having to shift course though they've been working for weeks. trump polling the crowd. >> who would you like to run against if you're us. ready, kamala harris? >> booo. >> crooked joe biden? >> yeah! >> all right. >> reporter: the rnc already has an ad attacking kamala harris. >> warning, the following may upset liberals. >> reporter: j.d. advance has been the worst of my time. she owns all of these failures.

the. >> david: rachel skocott, you broke the news. a lot of fast-moving she has less than a month until the democratic national convention. what are your sources telling you? ? we heard from mr. whatley there. a hint of what immigration and inflation. they are pivoting to vice president kamala harris. it appears they are assuming. it sort of does flip the script for them in a way, does it not? were they hoping they were going to run against president biden? >> they were hoping it would be president biden on the ticket. this is not an i

i'm not seeing it at the republican national convention. who exactly are you returning against? harris still has this tie. they're going to be able to go after her on the same things president biden has. there are so many different dynamics. she is, in fact, the still feel relatively reassured. she hasn't had the she does trail donald trump in the vast majority of it's the unknown.

>> that's what's so dangerous. they're working for months and months to build this whole operation against president biden and they have to switch gears at this point. they are looking at some polling. either way, david, this is such a close election. now you have people tuning in now that you have the major shakeup on the democratic side. >> david: a generational shift. with all of the focus on president biden. at 78 that'sth as we have been reporting, many democratic leaders said president biden's support will earner guys the party. will she be the question already, who will be her running mate.

jonathan carl. >> reporter: she doesn't have a single pledged delegate yet, but she is quickly resuming as a squash soup. members of congress >> for the democratic party to coal less. >> considering the black caucus. jim clyburn, by new self received. and more than a dozen senators, many of them who had cut off support for biden. again, kamala harris doesn't have a single pledged delegate.

jamie harrison on cash drawer. it's unclear any be shocker. bill murphy, governor of maryland, wes more. villain know, j.b. she said she had been >> michigan is a state you can't take your eye off of. people should work harder. it's always going to be a close race. >> john carl back with me here. we were side by side last week

at the republican national convention. breaking news all week long. back on the major turn for the race for president. we were talking when you go down the list of potential running mates, kamala harris has to get the race officially, she says she's going to earn that. if and when that happens, she has to choose her running mate. there are going to be a lot of calculations who might benefit her. one of the most telling things, josh shapiro, mark kelly, gretchen whitmer at the end and what she said to george in recent days obviously from the very key battleground of michigan. everyone is going to be reading the tea leaves every hour every day. less than a month until the democratic national convention. tonight she spoke with josh shapiro. it's been confirmed to abc news. she's spoken with house

democratic leader hakeem jefferies. every conversation she has of the names i mentioned, josh shapiro near the top of the list, first-term governor in the key battleground state of pennsylvania, a state that either side is going to have to win if they want to win the white house. >> absolutely. this shows this was wrun of the reasons why. the parties have rising stars. they are sprinkled in battleground states. popular governors. gene rumando. pete buttigieg. there's a lot of talent in the democratic party. it's also notable david in addition to the phone call you just mentioned with josh shapiro, i'm going to say we

haven't heard yet, but i bet you we will learn that there were several phone calls today. kamala harris, i'm sure her phones were ringing and she was getting calls from a lot of those people we just mentioned. look at the penal that endorsed her. josh shapiro endorsed her. you mentioned that. the gavin newsom, another name that had been mentioned. the governor of california endorsed kamala harris. pete buttigieg, the transportation secretary thought of as a potential rival to replace biden. perhaps a vice presidential contender as well. he endorsed kamala harris as well. i think you're going to see much more of this in the coming days. people reaching out to kamala harris, endorsing her and perhaps positioning to remind her that they could be running mates. >> rest assured they are trying to figure out