White House predicts Biden will hold ‘major press conference’ as top advisers defend his ‘clarity’ and respond to claims world leaders are worried

President Biden is setting the next hurdle as he proves he’s ready to campaign, while lawmakers are calling on him to step back and submit to what the White House is now calling a “big boy” press conference.

Biden made the pledge in a one-day phone call to MSNBC and a letter to troubled members of Congress, seeking assurances that he can defeat Donald Trump after his shaky debate performance.

“I think we’re going to have a big-boy press conference and we’re going to be able to take some questions from all of you,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby called it during a discussion of Biden’s agenda.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre also used the term — originating with a reporter last week who wanted to know the nature of the event. Biden will “have a press conference — a big boy press conference,” Jean-Pierre said at the White House as he grappled with questions about Biden’s health and cognition.

The White House often uses the term “press conference,” even for events where Biden stands next to a world leader and answers two questions from each side, usually from a predetermined list.

The use of the term suggests that Biden will speak longer, or perhaps even deviate from his list and call for people to raise their hands, a throwback to rituals of the past.

Using the term “big boy” for the upcoming event would also suggest that previous press conferences were less important.

This is happening while Biden himself is emphasizing his vitality and commitment.

“That’s why I went out. I tested myself – everywhere I go, I’m tested. Went out and pleaded my case. The night of that debate, I went out, I was out until 2 a.m. that same night. That same night. It drives me crazy, people talking about this,” he said.

John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications at the National Security Council, also used the “big boys” terminology, which can be traced back to a question from a reporter last week

Biden is under pressure to demonstrate his fitness after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump

Kirby himself was asked if he had ever seen Biden when he was on the debate stage with Trump in Atlanta — a performance Biden called a “bad day” and “terrible.”

“In my experience over the past two and a half years, I have seen no reason to doubt his clarity, his understanding of context, his investigative nature and the extent to which he has complete control over facts and figures,” Kirby said.

He said Biden asked him this morning to provide some facts that he would need to review later.

At every presidential press conference, there is a risk that he will go off script.

The stakes will be high on Thursday after some Democrats complained that Biden did not sufficiently set aside doubts in his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, which aired Friday and Sunday.

Since the debate, he has held several campaign rallies, but has continued to make gaffes and outlandish statements.

When asked how he would feel if Trump won the election next fall, Biden replied: “I will as long as I gave it my all and did my best, that’s what matters,” Biden replied.

(ABC later amended the transcript of the conversation to read: “I did the best job I could do.”)

As more elected lawmakers call for Biden to be ousted, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz told DailyMail.com that any candidate can have a bad day — or five.

“Do you know a candidate in the United States of America who doesn’t have five bad days on the campaign trail? Because I’ve had five bad days and I’m 57 years old,” she said.

‘This is the problem, the press is in a complicated way dissecting, separating and dissecting every word, every movement. There is no human being on earth who would be able to withstand that kind of scrutiny.’

Biden’s news conference comes during a NATO summit he’s hosting in Washington this week, allowing him to focus in part on issues like Gaza and Ukraine that, while difficult, could provide welcome relief from questions about his own fitness, age and sharpness.

During his last news conference in Bari, Italy, Biden complained when a reporter asked him a question about Gaza while he was standing next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.