Biden will speak about ‘inflection point’ faced by country in first address since standing down from 2024 race

Biden will address the nation at 8pm ET on Wednesday

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House on July 24. (AP)

President Joe Biden will use tonight’s Oval Office address to speak to the nation about the choice Americans will make in this November’s presidential election.

Biden will also describe what led him to make the historic decision to stand down from his re-election bid, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has said.

Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily White House press briefing that Biden, who on Sunday announced in a letter that he’d decided to step aside “in the best interests” of both his party and the country as a whole, would address that decision as well as “the inflection point we face as a country in this moment” when he speaks at 8pm ET on Wednesday.

“This is one of those rare moments in history when the decisions we make now will determine the future of our nation. America must choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division,” Jean-Pierre said.

Biden’s address to the nation — the second in the last month delivered from behind the iconic desk made from timbers harvested from HMS Resolute — comes as Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to accept their party’s nomination in next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Jean-Pierre touted Biden’s record to reporters ahead of his speech, telling them that the 46th president had “signed historic, monumental pieces of legislation into law” while working “across party lines to get a lot of them done.”

“From jump-starting a historic economic recovery to the largest investment in clean energy and climate action, gun safety and more, the president is proud to have delivered these historic results for the American people, and he’s going to use the remainder of his term to build on this progress for the future with the enduring faith he has in our nation. And so therefore, I encourage all Americans to tune in tonight to hear directly from the president,” she said.

Jean-Pierre also said Biden plans to use the remaining months of his term to “run through the finish line” and “do everything he can to fight for the American people” between now and when the next president — either Harris or former president Donald Trump — takes office on January 20, 2025.