WASHINGTON ― Top House and Senate Democratic leaders privately met with President Joe Biden in recent days to raise concerns about his ability to defeat Donald Trump in the November election and his continued candidacy, fearing it could lead Republicans taking full control of Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) separately met with Biden in the last week. Both conveyed the concerns they’ve been fielding within their Democratic caucuses, namely that Biden is down in the polls and he could drag Democratic lawmakers down with him.
The president met one-on-one with both congressional leaders, with no aides in the room, according to a source familiar with their meetings.
Beyond those conversations, CNN reported late Wednesday that former longtime House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Biden in a recent phone call that polling shows that he can’t win against Trump and that he could hurt Democrats’ ability to win back the House.
And according to another CNN report on Wednesday, a senior Democratic advisor to Biden said the president has recently shifted from being defensive to more “receptive” to hearing arguments for why he should step aside.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have been in full-blown panic mode about Biden’s mental acuity after his disastrous debate performance against Trump last month. The president’s polling has taken a hit since, and four months out from Election Day, Democrats’ reactions have ranged from saying it’s up to Biden to decide whether to stay in, to straight-up calling on him to bow out. Some are still proudly ridin’ with Biden.
As of Wednesday, at least 20 Democratic lawmakers have publicly urged Biden to step aside.
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But Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz tamped down on the idea that the president is even considering backing out of the 2024 race.
“If the facts matter ― and they should ― here is one: President Biden is the Democratic nominee and he is going to win this November,” said Munoz.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates pushed back on the idea that Biden’s meetings with Schumer and Jeffries changed the game on anything.
“The President told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families,” said Bates.
It’s not clear what, exactly, Schumer and Jeffries told Biden in their private meetings. ABC reported Wednesday that Schumer explicitly urged the president to step aside. But another source familiar with what happened in both meetings told HuffPost that neither Schumer nor Jeffries told Biden they thought he should drop out.
A Schumer spokesperson suggested the meeting with the president was simply a chance for Schumer to convey some of the concerns he’s hearing within his caucus.
“Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation,” said this Schumer spokesperson. “Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are fighting with each other over plans to hold a “virtual roll call” ahead of next month’s Democratic National Convention. The DNC has said it will start its virtual roll call next month, before the convention kicks off, to nominate Biden as the party’s official nominee. But some elected Democrats say that plan is really an effort to shut down debate over Biden being the nominee at all.