When you press the lever to push the bread down in the toaster, it will not stay down

Contact President's Choice directly to request the manual.

Since you don't mention the make or model number of the toaster or its age I can only make the following guesses.
It might be an electronic model. To test if this is the case, leave the toaster unplugged and push the lever of the toaster down. If it does not stay down it is an electronic toaster. If it stays down then it is NOT electronic.
The lights might be lighted push buttons.
If you plug the toaster in then put a slice of bread or two in and push the lever handle down and one light comes on then this is probably a dual purpose pushbutton. It indicates that the heating elements are on and if you push it will cancel the toasting cycle and the bread slices should pop up.
If there is a button beside the above button it could be for extending the toaster cycle time a bit longer to compensate for a thicker slice or a denser bread like a bagel. If you push it, it will light up to let you know that the cycle has been extended for this reason.
If there is a button beside this one, it could be for extending the toasting cycle to compensate for a frozen slice of bread or whatever, like a bagel or even a frozen waffle.
If you find the make and model for your toaster, it might be on the bottom somewhere, google it to see if you can download an instruction manual for it.
Hope this helps. Good Luck.

I have no experience with the deLonghi toaster but in my experience automatic toaster all work in similar ways since they went electronic - toasters were about the first to do that.

Pressing the lever down against the spring pressure also presses an internal switch that sends current to the heating element as well as to the electronics that control an electromagnet, the purpose of which is to keep the mechanism engaged until the toast is brown enough and then the current to the magnet will be cut by the browning brain and the toast pops up.

If removing any crumbs from inside by inverting it and giving it a good shake and then pressing the lever a few times fairly vigorously doesn't make it work then nothing short of surgery will make it work so returning it will be the only realistic option.

The lever will not stay down. Sometimes the lever will catch and other times it takes 6-8 times befroe it will stay down and toast the bread. Thanks....

mcdevito75 here, The lever mechanism could be worn OR the setting for darker / Lighter toast is set to Light, swtch to darker see if that helps.

remove the housing & you will probably notice the 2 ceramic pieces are burned out. (They maybe plastic) But these are the 2 pieces and the 2 long metal contact points that come together when the lever is pushed down. The 2 metal contact strips come together & make the eletronic connection to start the heating process. let me know if you find the parts.

For what it might cost to fix it buy a better brand of toaster for about 10% of the cost of this horrible brand.
You'll notice their new ones are "smart" toasters with NO LEVER. You push a button and the electronics takes care of the rest (and blow up quickly.)
$15 to $25 at Walmart.. instead of $100 to $200.

Go for a new toaster

We ran into the same problem today with our toaster. There was never a problem before I cleaned it--not only by sliding out the crumb drawer, but by turning it upside down to dislodge every last crumb. After that, It would not stay down when pushed down.

My husband took the cover off and found that a magnet is what keeps the lever down when the toaster's on, and allows it to go back up when the toasting is done. It's an electro magnet that works only when the toaster is on. It seems that when I turned the unit upside down and rightside up again, crumbs landed on the magnet's contact plates (which are about 1/4" x 1/2") and would not allow the magnet to engage. Because the magnet wouldn't engage, the lever would not stay down, and the toaster shut off. Brush off the magnets, replace the cover and toast away!