Thursday Briefing

“Nothing — nothing — can come in the way of saving our democracy,” President Biden said from the Oval Office. “That includes personal ambition.”Credit…Pete Marovich for The New York Times

Why Biden stepped down

In a brief prime-time address from the Oval Office, President Biden said he had abandoned his re-election bid despite believing that his record and his leadership merited a second term. He declared that it was time for “new voices, fresh voices — yes, younger voices” led by a new generation of leadership in America.

“I revere this office, but I love my country more,” he said in his first speech since passing the torch to Kamala Harris, now the Democrats’ presumptive nominee. “Nothing — nothing — can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition.”

Biden did not directly address the concerns about his age and his health that led him to quit the race. Instead, he pledged to keep working on foreign and domestic policy, seeking to advance his agenda for the next 180 days, even as a lame-duck president.

Donald Trump: The former president described Harris as a “radical-left lunatic” who would destroy the country, called her “Lyin’ Kamala” and repeatedly mispronounced her first name.

Harris campaign: The vice president continued an energetic sprint around the country, saying that Trump wanted to return America to a “dark past.” Here’s a timeline of how she locked down her party’s nomination in just 48 hours.

Trump assassination attempt: The F.B.I. director said the gunman had researched John F. Kennedy’s assassination and flown a drone near the Trump rally site before the shooting.