During what the White House referred to as his "big boy news conference" in Washington, D.C., after the NATO summit, President Biden addressed a flood of questions about his ability to carry out another term successfully.
In his attempt to quash any doubt, President Biden made a comment that may have raised a few eyebrows.
In response to a question about reports circulating that members of his own party want him to step aside, the President said delegates are free to 'vote their conscience,' at the convention in August.
But is that true?
KNX News spoke with some experts to determine what, if anything, this statement means for the President's future.
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Jeff Timmer is the campaign director for the Lincoln Project and was previously executive director of the Michigan Republican Party.
Tony Smith is a political science and law professor at UC Irvine and editor-in-chief of Political Research Quarterly.
Christina Bellantoni is the director of the Political Media Center at USC Annenberg.
Timmer: "Well, the way the process works is there are rules that govern the convention, and those rules are about to be determined. And now there is going to be enormous pressure brought from the outside to what is normally a very inside task - determining what those rules are and how exactly the delegates are bound to the candidate they were elected to vote for.
So, there's going to be enormous pressure now to have the rules written in a way that allows the delegates to actually go in and be free agents, should that be what they choose.
There will be enormous pressure from the inside, from the campaign professionals, from those running the convention to not let that happen.
That's going to cause a lot of internal friction, so I think what may have been an inadvertent or bravado remark is going to cause some heartburn here in the next couple of weeks."
Smith: "I agree with everything that was just said, but I will tell you, the delegates are overwhelmingly Biden supporters.
You end up being a delegate by being an aggressive party activist, and so some of these people have known Joe Biden since he met Golda Meir, which I'm not sure when people are worried about your age that's really where you ought to go and bragging.
But I think the fascinating thing is the rules aren't written yet.
The dynamic that was just described is exactly what will go on, but the question is, if Biden has assuaged enough people to believe that he could still be Trump, then the rebellion ends.
If Nancy Pelosi decided yesterday or today after the news conference that he just doesn't have what it takes, then the rebellion is gonna flare up.
You might remember long ago when Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter; he was sitting President, and the day before, the vote counting started at the convention, Ted Kennedy released his delegates to vote their conscience.
It's irrelevant that he said that because the candidate doesn't really control the delegates.
The rules will dictate whether the delegates can actually vote how they want or not, and what the candidates say, don't really control it.
Now, because Biden said this this far out, well, you know, who knows? The rule makers may say let's see what happens.
The folks who are pushing for a Donnybrook at the convention are crazy if they think that will help the Democratic Party.
There's never been a splintered convention that resulted in a victory in the fall."
Bellantoni: "I remember when people said the same thing about Clinton delegates in 2008.
I had covered that campaign extensively, the primary fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Then senators and everybody said these delegates have known the Clinton family going all the way back to when Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas and they're never going to go any other way.
And I think that the Democratic Party, whatever happens, will ultimately put on a face of harmony; they're not going to let the party go into a general election at war with itself.
If those party leaders determine that Biden's defiance, which is everything that I have seen in that press conference and in the last few days, remains, they'll figure out a way, whether that's a brokered convention or what, to make sure that they have that harmony.
So, I think those delegates are going to start getting calls and behind the scenes maneuvering."
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