Biden hosts NATO members in Washington as he looks for reprieve from campaign pressures

World leaders from NATO countries are set to descend on Washington, DC, this week for their annual meeting as President Joe Biden looks to quell fears and move past questions on his future.

Heads of state and government from 32 NATO nations — plus leaders of Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea — began arriving at Joint Base Andrews on Monday for the annual gathering. Biden is scheduled to open the confab with a speech marking the 75^th anniversary of the transatlantic alliance.

The president has touted the alliance’s expansion — including formerly neutral nations Finland and Sweden — in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine as one of his key foreign policy accomplishments. He has also bosted that now more than two thirds of the block are now meeting a decade-old goal of spending 2 percent of their respective gross domestic products on defense needs.

It is expected that Biden will lean into those efforts, plus his work assembling a worldwide alliance to arm and support Kyiv in the face of Russian aggression, when he speaks to world leaders at the Mellon Auditorium late Tuesday evening.

The speech will be his first major address since the June 27 debate with Donald Trump, where Biden performed so poorly that many members of his party have openly questioned whether he is fit to remain on the ballot in this year’s presidential election.

But White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby denied that Biden’s poor performance has rankled NATO allies.

“I think the question presupposes the notion that they need to be reassured of American leadership and President Biden’s commitment, and I don’t believe that’s the case,” he said moments after he was asked if Biden has a plan for reassuring allies