Biden, 81, mangles his words as his swan song convention speech is delayed until the dead of night: Joe passes the torch to Kamala with a tearful farewell and Hunter by his side

President Joe Biden mangled his words as his swan song speech at the Democratic National Convention was delayed until the dead of night. 

Biden's keynote address - which concluded day No. 1 of the four-day Chicago gathering - didn't start until 10:25 p.m. local time and he concluded after clocks had struck midnight on the east coast. 

The speech started with tears, with the president embracing daughter Ashley, who had introduced him, and ended with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and a flurry of Biden family members, including son Hunter by his side. 

During the nearly hour-long address, the 81-year-old touted his record, trashed former President Donald Trump, mocked his own stutter and vowed to help Harris capture the White House in November. 

'I promise I will be the best volunteer Harris and Walz's campaign has ever seen,' the president said. 

In typical Biden fashion, he mangled a portion of the speech, as he talked about abortion rights. 

'Women are now without electrical... not allowed, excuse me, not without electoral, electoral... or political power,' he fumbled, as he tried to cite the Dobbs Supreme Court case, which overturned Roe v. Wade. 

As he messed up the words, he made a knowing look and laughed. 

Later in the speech he recalled his childhood stutter - and how he persevered to become president of the United States. 

'Nowhere else in the world could a kid with a stutter and modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Delaware grow up to sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office,' he said. 'That's because America is and always has been a nation of possibilties, possibillty. We must never lose that.' 

He gave a full-throated endorsement to Harris - and did so with humor. 

Biden said picking the U.S. senator from California to be his vice president was the 'best decision' he made in his decades-long career. 

'Like many of our best presidents, she was also vice president,' he said. 

The 81-year-old also protested and said he wasn't angry about having to give up his ambition to serve a second term. 

'All this talk about how I'm angry about all the people who said I should step down, that's not true,' he said. 

He noted how he had five months left in office. 

'I've got a lot to do - I intend to get it done,' he said. 

'It's been an honor of my lifetime. I love the job. But I love my country more,' the president continued. 

He pushed that was the determining factor when he made his shocking decision on July 21 to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, endoring Harris on his way out the door. 

'I was too young to be in the Senate because I wasn't 30 yet and too old to stay as president,' he said. 

He noted that he had made 'a lot of mistakes' in his career. 'But I gave my best to you,' he said. 'For 50 years, like many of you, I give my heart and soul to the nation.'

Throughout the speech, he slapped around Trump. 

'Donald Trump calls America a failing nation,' Biden pointed out. 'He's the loser. He's dead wrong.' 

'America's winning, and the world's better off for it,' the president stated.

He called out Trump for numerous 'lies' as convention attendees booed at references to the three-time Republican nominee. 

'Trump continues to lie about crime in America. Like everything else,' Biden said. 'On his watch the murder rate went up 30 percent - the biggest increase in history. ... Now the murder rate is falling faster than anytime in history.' 

'And crime will keep coming down when we put a prosecutor in the Oval Office - instead of a convicted felon,' Biden said. 

Biden also charged that Trump was lying about the border.  

'Here's what he won't tell you - Trump killed the strongest bipartisan border deal in the history of the United States,' the president said. 

MAGA aligned Republicans rejected a border deal in February, despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell backing it, due to Trump's influence. 

Since then, the Republican nominee has hammered Biden for having an 'open' border and will take a trip to a border town during the DNC this week. 

'I never thought I'd stand before a crowd of Democrats and refer to a president as a liar so many times,' Biden also commented. 'I'm not trying to be funny,' he added. 'It's sad.' 

Biden daintily waded into his own party's drama. 

He talked about how he and Harris were working toward completing a ceasefire-for-hostages deal, which could help bring to an end the war in Gaza. 

As some pro-Palestinian Democrats turned their backs to Biden in silent protest in the room, the president threw a bone to demonstrators - who took over Chicago's streets ahead of the DNC.

'Those protesters out on the street have a point a lot of innocent people are being killed,' Biden said. 'On both sides,' he then added. 

Ahead of the president's appearances, his family members filed into a special box along the side of the convention hall. 

Grandchildren Naomi, Finnegan, Maisy, Natalie, little Hunter and baby Beau were on hand, alongside Hunter Biden's wife Melissa Cohen, Naomi's husband Peter Neal and Ashley Biden's husband Howard Krein. 

Hunter remained out of sight until the president wrapped up his remarks, but then led the Biden clan onstage.  

First daughter Ashley Biden introduced her father, calling him 'the O.G. girl dad.' 

'And he wasn't just a girl dad. I could see that he valued and trusted women. How he listened to his mother. How he believed in his sister. And most of all, how he respected my mother's career. Dad was always there doing everything he could to be a true partner to her,' Ashley said. 

'Dad, you always tell us, but we don't tell you enough, that you are the love of our lives and the life of our love,' she added.