Biden plans to address the nation on Wednesday night

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden returned to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since withdrawing from the presidential race and announced plans to address the nation tonight to explain his decision and outline how he wants to use his final six months in office.

Biden emerged from isolation at his vacation house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he spent six days recovering from COVID and recalibrating his political future, and flew back to the capital. His trip to the White House was the first time he had been seen in public since late Wednesday, when he arrived in Delaware looking frail and uncertain.

Arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the flight home, Biden was wearing a suit and tie along with his signature aviator sunglasses. “I’m feeling well,” he told reporters, giving a thumbs-up sign without answering questions. After landing back at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland outside Washington, he was asked about his upcoming address. “Watch and listen. Why don’t you wait and hear what I say?”

In a post on social media disclosing that his address from the Oval Office would be at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Biden wrote that he would discuss “what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people.” He made clear in a phone call to his old campaign headquarters Monday that he was determined to use his remaining time in office to campaign vigorously for Vice President Kamala Harris and to advance domestic and foreign priorities. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said, a phrase he used three times in four minutes.

It is a sign of how accelerated the political cycle has become that Biden gave only two prime-time Oval Office addresses in the 3 1/2 years of his presidency, but as of Wednesday night will have given two more in just 10 days. He addressed the nation on July 14 to denounce the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump the day before.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White House physician, said in a written statement that after days of treatment with Paxlovid, the president’s “symptoms have resolved” and he had tested negative for COVID.

“Over the course of his infection, he never manifested a fever, and his vital signs remained normal, to include pulse oximetry,” O’Connor wrote. “His lungs remained clear,” and he “continues to perform all of his presidential duties.”

While Biden has said he planned to campaign for Harris, who headlined her first campaign rally as the putative Democratic nominee on Tuesday in Milwaukee, the president has canceled his travel schedule for the rest of the week, including several campaign fundraisers.

The president plans to sit down at the White House on Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel a day after the premier addresses a joint meeting of Congress. After that, he is scheduled to go to Camp David on Friday for the weekend.

The White House announced that it had rescheduled a trip to Austin, Texas, that had been twice postponed for Biden to attend a ceremony at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. Biden will travel there Monday and receive an award for his commitment to liberty and justice.

Biden faces an uphill challenge in making progress on his domestic goals in his last months in office, given that Republicans control the House and the chances of major legislation during a campaign season are slim at best.

But he expressed optimism Monday that he could soon broker a cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “I think we’re on the verge of being able to do that,” Biden said.

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