Joe Biden has said he “nearly fell asleep” during last week’s first presidential debate and put his poor performance down to travel exhaustion after going “around the world a couple of times” shortly before it.

The US President, 81, said he “wasn’t very smart” for having travelled extensively in the weeks leading up to the event in Atlanta, where he performed so poorly that friends and foes alike have told him to quit the race for the White House.

Mr Biden told supporters at a campaign event in Virginia on Tuesday: “I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, going through around 100 time zones.”

He added he “didn’t listen” to his staff, “came back and nearly fell asleep on stage”.

“That’s no excuse but it is an explanation,” he added while admitting: “I didn’t have my best night.”

The Biden campaign doesn’t allow media outlets to film fundraisers, so it wasn’t immediately clear whether he was joking, NBC, Sky News’ US partner said.

The President visited France and Italy during two separate trips in the space of two weeks last month, flying overnight from the G7 summit in Bari to appear at a fundraiser with former president Barack Obama in Los Angeles on 15 June before returning to Washington the following day.

However, he then spent six days at Camp David preparing for Thursday’s contest against presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

But there was little sign of preparation as the Democrat candidate paused and stumbled his way through a gruelling TV debate in a performance dismissed as an “unmitigated disaster” by some in his own party.

ALSO READ:

• Trump scores debate points as Biden stumbles on key issues

• 8 things to watch for in CNN’s 2024 debate between Biden and Trump