Pelosi and Biden have been thick as thieves for decades. Now that’s all changed.
Because Nancy Pelosi broke ranks and double crossed Joe Biden in a stunning turn of events.
In a Wednesday interview, House Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi remained noncommittal about President Biden’s candidacy, noting that “time is running short” to find an alternative Democratic nominee.
“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) stated on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, while commending the 81-year-old president’s “spectacular” performance at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., in what appeared to be an effort to cover up growing doubts.
“We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short,” she continued. “It’s not for me to say, I’m not the head of the caucus anymore, but he’s beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision,” she added, trying to maintain the party line despite evident hesitation.
Biden had already sent a stern letter to lawmakers on Monday morning, making it clear he was “firmly committed” to staying in the 2024 race, despite increasing concerns about his fitness.
When MSNBC co-host Jonathan Lemire highlighted this to Pelosi, who is three years older than Biden, the former House speaker responded: “I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” she said in a statement that seemed to lack genuine conviction.
“Whatever he decides, we go with,” she said before shifting the focus, “And I’ve said to everyone, let’s just hold off whatever you’re thinking. Either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week. But I’m very proud of the president,” she stated in an attempt to calm the growing unrest within the party.
Pelosi tried to clarify her remarks hours later when approached by a CBS News reporter outside her congressional office.
“I think the president is great, and there are some misrepresentations of what I have said,” she claimed, before criticizing The New York Times.
“I never said he should reconsider. The decision is the president’s,” Pelosi added. “I don’t know what’s happened in the New York Times that they make up news. But if that’s why you’re here it isn’t true.”
House Democrats convened in a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday morning at Democratic National Committee headquarters to discuss their party leader’s future following Biden’s disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump on June 27.
In another MSNBC interview after the president’s freeze-ups and incoherent answers during the debate, Pelosi questioned whether it was “an episode” or “a condition” for Biden, indirectly acknowledging the serious doubts about his capability.
“Both candidates owe whatever test you want to put them to, in terms of their mental acuity and their health,” she said on the network last week, suggesting both Trump and Biden needed cognitive testing of some sort, highlighting the growing concerns about Biden’s health.
In a notable turn, one of four high-ranking House Democrats who had privately opposed Biden’s re-election campaign this weekend reversed course to issue a public statement of lukewarm support before the meeting.
“At this point, he’s the best candidate — he’s the only candidate,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), a statement that hardly inspires confidence.
Following the caucus meeting, senior party lawmakers showed a united front in their support for Biden — despite a few holdouts who maintained that he would drag down the Democratic ticket.
“We’re riding with Biden,” declared Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a congressional confidante of the president, in an effort to present unity despite underlying doubts.
Several swing-state Democrats, anxious about competitive races, had a venting session before the meeting that resulted in “actual tears,” one lawmaker revealed to Axios on Tuesday, acknowledging that Biden would “stay in — which sucks for our country.”
“As someone who wanted the reckoning and is really disappointed that it’s over, trust me: it’s over,” another House Democrat told the outlet, expressing deep frustration.
Only seven Democratic members of Congress have publicly opposed the oldest-ever president, urging their party to reconsider before a potentially disastrous electoral outcome up and down the ballot in November, reflecting a clear divide within the party.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
