President Joe Biden exited the presidential race after a barrage of calls from Democratic lawmakers conveyed their concerns about his ability to win. Afterward, rumors swirled about whether one person strong-armed his decision more than others.
Many pointed to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called on Biden to drop out of the race since the two Californians are quite close. Others surmised that former President Barack Obama was communicating his own preferences when actor and Democratic donor George Clooney penned his calamitous op-ed. Congressional leadership didn’t escape the fire — particularly after reports surfaced that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) had spoken with Biden about his future in the race.
Since Biden’s decision to drop out, Democrats’ chances of retaining the White House have rebounded, though. New polling shows Vice President Kamala Harris has erased former President Donald Trump’s lead, which is the result those pushing for Biden’s withdrawal were hoping for.
Now, some relationships may be fractured.
When asked on CNN if she had spoken to Biden since he exited the race, Pelosi said they had not spoken. When pressed further on whether their relationship is positive, Pelosi said, “You’d have to ask him.”
“I hope so, but he knows — look, I have loved Joe Biden, respected him for over 40 years,” she added.
Though Pelosi is close with Schiff, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), all of whom called upon Biden to exit the race, she denied any involvement in influencing their public statements on Biden’s candidacy.
“I have hundreds of allies in the Congress of the United States. No, I had nothing to do with that,” Pelosi told Bash.
She later gave a scathing review of her feelings on Biden’s political power.
“I’ve never been that impressed with his political operation,” she said during an episode of the New Yorker Radio Hour. “They won the White House. Bravo. But my concern was: This ain’t happening.”
Biden seemingly respects Pelosi’s wide range of political power in Washington, D.C., though admits it may come at the cost of personal relationships.
“Biden views Pelosi as ‘ruthless’ and willing to set aside long-term relationships in order to keep her party in power — and, most importantly, to prevent Trump from returning to the White House,” a senior White House official told Politico.
“That’s who she has always been,” the official added.
As for Obama, some believed the former president approved Clooney’s op-ed because he believed Clooney would not write it otherwise.
“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal‘ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” Clooney wrote in the op-ed.
Despite the perceived “bromance” between Obama and Biden during their eight years in the White House, there has been some reporting that Biden has held a grudge from the waning days of the Obama presidency.
After Biden’s son, Beau Biden, died in 2015, Obama reportedly urged Biden not to run for president in 2016 to deal with the grief of losing a son. Biden reportedly has held on to that and viewed it as a way for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to gain the nomination.
“Joe Biden is deeply resentful of his treatment under not only the Obama staff, but also the way he was pushed aside for Hillary Clinton,” Joe Scarborough of MSNBC said.
Scarborough and Biden have a close relationship.
In last year’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, Biden recalled that in 2015, “a lot of people … were encouraging me to run in this period, except the president… He just thought that [Clinton] had a better shot of winning the presidency than I did.”
Obama is set to address the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday in Chicago, where he will likely give rave reviews about his one-time right-hand man. Biden, who is set to speak Monday, will not be around to hear Obama’s address, as he is leaving Chicago before the week concludes, according to the outlet.
Biden’s relationship with the majority leader may be less frosty than with the other top Democrats. According to the outlet, Biden spoke with Schumer on the day he left the presidential race and has reportedly expressed less frustration with him than he has with other big-name Democrats. Still, as a former senator for 36 years, he was peeved that Schumer could have played into behind-the-scenes actions to push him to leave the race.
Schumer and Jeffries each reportedly had meetings with Biden in which they expressed “the views of [their] caucus.
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“President Biden is a patriot and set an example for all Americans by once again putting his country above all else,” Schumer said in a statement in response to the outlet. “We were all proud to work alongside him to achieve an historic legislative record that will leave him with an indelible legacy as president.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Pelosi, Obama, Biden, and Schumer.
