(Daily Caller) President Joe Biden confirmed that Democrats pressured him to drop his reelection bid over down-ballot concerns in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News.
Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential election through a letter posted on X July 21, roughly three weeks after the president’s poor debate performance against 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Countless reports surfaced during the three weeks before Biden’s announcement relating to private meetings held by top Democrats — including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama — to discuss the potential of dumping the president out of concern for the future of the party.
Biden told CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa that the polls between Trump and himself were “neck-and-neck.” Although the president claimed the race would have “been down to the wire,” Trump saw a significant surge in swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — even putting Democratic strongholds like New York and Virginia into play.
“Look, the polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race. It would’ve been down to the wire,” Biden said.
“But what happened was, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in their races,” he continued. “And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. You’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say, why did so and so… and I thought it’d be a real distraction.”
NEW: President Joe Biden confirms he was pushed out of the race by top Democrats who apparently staged a coup on him.
“But what happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the house and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races.”
The statement coincides… pic.twitter.com/jyifuqG4KC
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 11, 2024
