Biden to highlight achievements in his farewell speech

US President Joe Biden will deliver a farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office next week, the White House has said.

The address, days before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, will take place Wednesday, at 8 pm Eastern Time (0100GMT Thursday).

The last time Biden delivered remarks from the Oval Office was to announce his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

On Friday, speaking from the Roosevelt Room, Biden said he didn't think that dropping out of the presidential race over the summer helped deliver the election to Trump.

Biden stepped aside amid enormous pressure from Democrats following a disastrous debate performance, and Kamala Harris ran in his place with just a few months to set up a campaign that normally is years in the making.

"I think I would have beaten Trump, and I think that Kamala could have — would have beaten Trump," he said. "I thought it was important to unify the party. Even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party."

Biden said he didn't want to cause a divided party to lose an election, adding: "That's why I stepped aside. But I was confident she could win."

State Department speech

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier on Friday that Biden would reflect on his "50-plus years as a public official" in his speech on Monday.

"He has some thoughts on the future, not just of the country, but how this country moves forward as a leader, when you think about global events, important global issues, and certainly he will lay that out," she said.

The president is also scheduled to deliver remarks on Monday at the State Department on his foreign policy and the work his administration did about America's place in the world.

"When President Biden entered office, our alliances had been badly damaged," according to a senior administration official.

"We were falling behind in our competition with China. US troops were still engaged in America's longest war. Our adversaries were gaining strength. And the nation and the world were in the midst of a global pandemic."

"President Biden confronted these challenges head on. Now, as he prepares to leave office, our country is in a much stronger position and we have delivered results for the American people," said the official.

"During his remarks, President Biden will outline how our alliances and partnerships are the strongest they’ve ever been thanks to our work," the official added.