Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol about the upcoming presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, Friday, June 28, 2024.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday refused to explicitly endorse President Joe Biden as her party’s presidential nominee, urging her congressional colleagues to refrain from making public statements about whether they support or oppose Biden.
“Just wait a second. Tell someone privately what you’re thinking, but don’t bring it out into the open until we see how this week plays out.” Pelosi He spoke on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Hours after Speaker Pelosi’s interview, Rep. Pat RyanDN.Y. is the latest House Democrats publicly call on Biden to step down and nominate a new candidate.
Pelosi’s comments were notable because Biden has repeatedly insisted he will not withdraw from the race against former President Donald Trump and has said his decision is final.
Pelosi’s carefully worded comments suggest she believes Biden is still undecided about whether to stay on in the top position.
“It’s up to the president to decide whether he wants to run,” Pelosi said. “Time is running out and we’re all urging him to make that decision.”
Pelosi has long been one of Biden’s closest allies in Congress, so her refusal to endorse Biden as the nominee, as many Democrats have already done, sent ripples through Congress on Wednesday.
Ian Craig, a spokesman for House Speaker Pelosi, denied that her comments indicated a decline in support for the president. “Speaker Pelosi has the full support of President Biden whatever he decides. We must focus on why this election is so important. Donald Trump would be a disaster for our country and our democracy.”
Pelosi’s comments came two weeks after Biden tried hard to prove to Democrats and voters that his sluggish, weak performance in the June 27 debate was merely a “one-off” and not evidence of “illness,” as Pelosi said last week. So far, Biden’s public appearances have done little to ease Democrats’ concerns about his health.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Biden said this week in an interview on “Morning Joe.” “I believe I’m the best candidate to beat Donald Trump in 2024.”
That will add pressure to Biden’s NATO summit in Washington this week to prove to Democrats he has what it takes to defeat Trump in November and serve a second four-year term.
On Monday, Biden will give an interview to NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, the same day he is scheduled to deliver a speech in Austin, Texas, marking the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The interview comes more than a week after one aired on ABC News last Friday, but failed to calm Democratic alarm.
As calls for withdrawal grow louder, pressure is mounting on Biden this week to deliver a redeeming public performance.
On Tuesday, Sen. Michael BennettColorado Democrat John McClellan became the first Democratic senator to publicly say he doesn’t believe the president can beat Trump, but stopped short of officially calling on the president to drop out of the race.
A Senate Democratic leadership source told NBC News that Biden’s senior advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, along with Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, are scheduled to address Senate Democrats at a special caucus lunch on Thursday.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the pressure is becoming more public, with Rep. Mickey Sherrill (D-J) on Tuesday joining the growing list of House Democrats publicly urging the president to drop out of the race.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, has told concerned lawmakers he plans to convey their concerns to Biden, four sources confirmed to NBC News, the story was first reported by Politico.
“We’re having conversations with ourselves. It’s a family conversation and it’s important,” Jeffries told NBC News in response to a question about lawmakers’ plans to convey their concerns to Biden. “We have a right and a responsibility, on behalf of the people that we represent, to have conversations with ourselves about the way forward and what’s in the best interest of the American people, and that’s all we’re doing right now.”
Jeffries has held several private meetings over the past few days to hear House Democrats’ concerns about Biden’s weaknesses and potential threats to lower-level elections.
In those and other private calls, Democratic lawmakers, donors and strategists expressed concern about Biden’s ability to run a tough campaign and spend another four years in the Oval Office if he wins in November.
In response to Pelosi’s comments, the Biden campaign pointed to a letter the president sent to Democratic lawmakers on Monday in which he reiterated his commitment to fighting the election and urged them to support him. The Biden campaign also provided a list of Democratic lawmakers who have publicly endorsed Biden.
— CNBC’s Josephine Rozelle contributed to this report.
