Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had a less-than-complimentary assessment of President Joe Biden’s political acumen as the Democratic Party moves on from his struggling reelection bid.
Pelosi was widely rumored to have encouraged Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. Although the California Democrat has demurred over whether she directly talked to Biden about stepping aside, Pelosi told the New Yorker she did have concerns that the Democratic president didn’t have what it took to run a winning campaign.
“I’ve never been that impressed with his political operation,” she said during an episode of the New Yorker Radio Hour released Thursday.
“They won the White House. Bravo,” Pelosi said. “But my concern was: This ain’t happening.” The former House speaker emphasized the word as she referenced Biden’s reelection campaign, which many Democrats warned was destined for failure.
“I really wanted him to make a decision for a better campaign because they were not facing the fact of what was happening,” Pelosi reflected.
After Biden withdrew his bid for a second term in the White House on July 21, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement, and Pelosi followed suit the next day.
The speaker emerita continued to insist she didn’t systematically gather Democratic support against the president while refusing to rule out direct communication with Biden over the state of his campaign.
“I never called one person,” she claimed, adding that “any conversation I had, it was just going to be with him.”
Pelosi’s comments came after she refused to tell reporters on Wednesday if she had directly told Biden he needed to drop out. “I won’t answer that question,” she said.
The California Democrat also confirmed that she has yet to speak to Biden since he withdrew from the presidential race nearly three weeks ago.
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“I don’t know,” she admitted when questioned if she thought Biden was angry at her. “I lose sleep on it,” Pelosi added.
Pelosi’s observations to the New Yorker echoed remarks she made to CNN on Monday. “You’d have to ask him,” the former House speaker deflected after CNN host Dana Bash asked Pelosi “if everything was OK” with her relationship with Biden.
