Fact aboutJoe Biden tries to calm nerves of wealthy backers after debate debacle:

Biden met with wealthy backers at a fundraising event in East Hampton, New York, on Saturday afternoon, where admission costs ranged from $3,300 to $250,000 per person, depending on the invitation. She was expected to attend another fundraising event later Saturday in Red Bank, New Jersey, hosted by the state’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy.

Biden also addressed donors and supporters at a fundraiser in Manhattan on Friday night, where he rejected concerns about his age and insisted he would remain in the race for the White House.

“Whether I’m young or old, here’s what I know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job,” Biden said.

“When you get knocked down, you get back up,” he added. “Folks, I wouldn’t run again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I could do this job because, frankly, the stakes are too high. “Donald Trump is a real threat to this nation.”

Since the debate, there have been growing calls for the president to step aside and allow another Democrat to be the party’s nominee for the White House ahead of the November election.

At 81, Biden has faced mounting public questions about his age and fitness for office. But the concerns that members of the Democratic Party had privately about the sitting president came to the fore Thursday night, after nearly 50 million Americans watched Biden struggle in a live televised debate against Trump. The president rambled, appeared to lose his train of thought and had difficulty completing sentences.

Biden has insisted he will remain in the race, and campaign officials say he will participate in a second presidential debate planned for September. The campaign has touted what it says has been a record influx of grassroots, or small-dollar, donations since Thursday. A campaign official said Saturday morning that the campaign had raised more than $27 million between the debate and Friday night.

“It wasn’t his biggest debate. But it’s 90 minutes . . . in a campaign and in an administration, where he’s accomplished enormous things,” Anita Dunn, a longtime senior adviser to Biden, said Saturday on MSNBC. “Maybe it wasn’t a great debate. But he’s been a great president.”

Asked if Biden’s inner circle had discussed his retirement after the debate, Dunn responded: “No, the conversation we had was, ‘Okay, what do we do now?’”

But his bullish stance has done little to calm public concern and criticism. On Friday night, the influential New York Times editorial board published a leader urging Biden to step aside.

On Saturday in East Hampton, reporters traveling with the president saw a group of onlookers holding signs that read: “Please drop out for America,” “Resign for democracy” and “We love you, but it’s time.”

Still, several high-profile Democrats have come to Biden’s defense. On Friday, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton issued statements supporting Biden’s stay in the race.

LinkedIn founder and billionaire Democratic donor Reid Hoffman sought to calm his wealthy Biden supporters in a letter published Friday in which he acknowledged the president had a “very poor performance in the debate” but added that it would be a “bad idea” to launch a public campaign to force him to resign.

“This election is very close and I don’t know who will win,” Hoffman wrote. “But as a political philanthropist, with 129 days until the election, I am doubling down on my bet that America will choose Biden’s decency, caring, and proven success over Trump’s violence, lies, and chaos.”

Biden needs donor support to finance a campaign that will spend hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to secure another four years in the White House. Biden had long enjoyed a fundraising advantage over Trump, but that advantage has eroded in recent months. Trump raised more funds than Biden in both April and May amid a surge of support following his conviction on 34 criminal charges in New York last month.

Trump narrowly leads Biden in national opinion polls, according to the latest FiveThirtyEight average, as well as in most key states that will decide the outcome of the November election.

Few polls have been conducted since Thursday night’s debate, but betting markets moved sharply against Biden during and after the showdown. A Morning Consult poll conducted Friday found that about half of Democratic donors said Biden should step aside in favor of another candidate.