Trump claims Democratic-led 'coup' pressurised Biden to relinquish candidacy

Former president of the United States and Republican candidate for 2024 US election Donald Trump has claimed that the Democratic Party led a "coup" to force President Joe Biden out of the election race.

Biden, the former Democratic nominee for 2024 presidential US election, revealed withdrawal from the presidential candidacy earlier this week. 

Trump, without any form of evidence presented his claim in an interview on Fox and Friends today, adding that even if Biden had contested in the election, he would have lost to him.

“Well, I think it was a coup. They didn’t want him running. He was way down in the polls, and they thought he was going to lose. They went to him and they said, ‘You can’t win the race,’ which I think is true,” the former president stated.

Trump assured that he had genuine information from people in the Democratic party and that they were “trying to do a coup.”

“You know, I have it from very good information. I know a lot of people on the other side, too, that they went and they forced him out, between (Nancy) Pelosi and (Barack) Obama and some others that you see on television,” he said. “It’s interesting. I watched them on television, and they acted so nice. ‘Oh yes, we love Joe. We love Joe.’ Behind the scenes, I know for a fact they were brutal.”

Reportedly, Biden had faced pressure from Democrats privately as well with some party members publicly urging the president to step back from the race.

Biden’s decline began with his unimpressive public appearances including the presidential debate in June against Trump himself after which questions were raised regarding the president’s mental wellbeing and fitness.

Soon after, calls for Biden to step back started to ring out from Democrats as well as the general public. While he was adamant that he was fit to do the job and lead a federal government for four more years, Biden stepped down from the candidacy on July 21.

The Democrats further faced backlash from Trump during the interview as the former president accused them of interfering in his legal battles.

“Every single court case that I have is pushed on by them. Just so you know, they push all these cases on me. They’re the ones that start it. And then they say, ‘I’m a prosecutor, he’s a criminal,’ They’re the ones. Every case is started by them, and I’m winning the cases.”

Trump was charged in a case after he halted the peaceful transfer of power in 2021 leading up to the chaos of January 6, 2021, as he claimed the 2020 US election and the electoral college votes were cast unjustly.

Trump was even opposed by his former vice president Mike Pence who believed that the ballots were fairly casted and that Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris had won the office. The two have been estranged since.