Watch: Kevin McCarthy holds press conference after talks with Joe Biden over debt ceiling standoff

Watch House speaker Kevin McCarthy hold a press conference after a behind-closed-doors meeting between Joe Biden and congressional leaders about the US debt ceiling.

Mr McCarthy met with the president to try to find a path out of the months-long standoff over the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling as the nation creeps closer to a possible devastating default.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, vice president Kamala Harris and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer were pictured alongside Mr Biden and Mr McCarthy in the Oval Office at the White House earlier on Tuesday 16 May.

Mr Biden is trying to reach a debt ceiling deal by 1 June to lift the threat of economic calamity.

Mr McCarthy, and others who attended the meeting, chose to speak to the press after talks concluded.

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