Joe Biden hints at US presidential bid in 2020

Could Joe Biden run for president in 2020? Picture: AFP/Getty

The 74-year-old departing vice-president was speaking to reporters on Monday after presiding over the Senate as it cleared away procedural hurdles to a biomedical research bill he is supporting.

With a slight smile on his face, Biden told reporters: “I’m going to run in 2020. For president. So, uh, what the hell, man.”

When asked if he was joking, Biden responded: “I’m not committing not to run. I’m not committing to anything. I learned a long time ago, fate has a strange way of intervening.”

Biden, who will turn 78 shortly after the 2020 election, would be the oldest person to serve as president if he did run and was elected.

Ronald Reagan was just shy of turning 78 when he left office in January 1989.

Biden decided not to run for the White House in 2015, instead backing Hillary Clinton. In 2008 he was unsuccessful in gaininig the Democratic presidential nomination but entered the White House as Barack Obama’s running mate.

The outgoing vice-president also made an unsuccessful bid in 1988.

Since Trump’s victory last month, Biden has become a rather popular internet meme.