Pelosi noncommittal on Biden’s 2024 bid, says ‘time is running short’ to find replacement
House Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi remained noncommittal in a Wednesday interview about President Biden’s candidacy, saying that “time is running short” to find a replacement Democratic nominee and suggesting a Thursday news conference would be a crucial moment in his political future.
“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” after praising the 81-year-old president’s “spectacular” performance during his opening remarks at the NATO summit in Washington, DC.
“We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short,” she added. “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.”
Biden already sent a stern letter to lawmakers Monday morning that left no doubt he was “firmly committed” to staying in the 2024 race.
When MSNBC co-host Jonathan Lemire pointed this out to Pelosi, who is three years older than Biden, the former House speaker responded: “I want him to do whatever he decides to do.”
“Whatever he decides, we go with,” she said before adding: “I think it’s really important and I would hope everyone would join in. Let him deal with this NATO conference. This is a very big deal. Thirty heads of — over 30 heads of state are here. He is the host of it, and that means not just hosting, it means orchestrating the discussion and setting the agenda. And he’s doing so magnificently.
“And I’ve said to everyone, let’s just hold off whatever you’re thinking,” Pelosi added. “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.”
Pelosi tried to walk back the remarks hours later when confronted 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 responded, before taking a swipe at 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.”
Biden will face a test of his improvisational speaking skills Thursday evening when he holds what White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has described as a “big boy press conference” that will feature questions from multiple reporters.
House Democrats huddled 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 verbal scuffle, Pelosi questioned whether it was “an episode” or “a condition” for Biden.
“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.
In a notable turn, one of four high-ranking House Democrats who had privately agitated against Biden’s re-election campaign this weekend reversed course to issue a public statement of tepid support before the meeting.
“At this point, he’s the best candidate — he’s the only candidate,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
After the caucus meeting, senior party lawmakers were united in their support for Biden — despite a handful of holdouts standing by their assessment that he would drag down the Democratic ticket.
“We’re riding with Biden,” proclaimed Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a congressional confidante of the president.
Several swing-state Democrats nervous about competitive races had a vent session before the meeting that resulted in “actual tears,” one lawmaker spilled to Axios on Tuesday, and a recognition 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.
Just nine Democratic members of Congress have come out against the oldest-ever president, urging their party to reconsider before a potentially disastrous electoral outcome up and down the ballot in November.
