Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) stopped short of defending President Biden on Friday, but argued that the one who needs to “step aside” before November is former President Trump.
Asked by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes if he thought Biden should remain the nominee. Swalwell said it would be “a little late” to replace the incumbent, but added that the president needs to “show more” as a growing number of elected Democrats call on him to withdraw from the race.
“It’s a little late, Chris, in election season for a party’s presumptive nominee to step down, but I’m going to call on one of the nominees to do so right here,” Swalwell said Friday. . He’s a convicted felon.”
“There are people in this country who are less cruel and more competent, who could do the job, probably 350 million people,” he later added.
Trump was found guilty in late May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a secret payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election cycle to buy her silence about an alleged past affair. The former president denied the accusation and promised to appeal the conviction.
A New York jury also ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to author E. Jean Carroll earlier this year in a civil trial where a jury found the former president responsible for sexual assault.
Swalwell was responding to a clip Hayes played of Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), who called on Biden on Friday to step down as the party’s nominee. Swalwell said Biden needs to “show a lot more.”
The criticism comes from Biden’s poor debate performance a week ago, when he lacked energy, seemed to stumble over his words and had a hoarse voice. The event sparked widespread panic among Democrats who were worried about his ability to defeat Trump this fall.
“Joe Biden needs to show a lot more, and his team needs to start telling a lot less and marketing the president,” Swalwell told Hayes.
The White House has also been criticized for offering various explanations for Biden’s performance, from jet lag to a cold. Biden took responsibility for the debate, calling it a “bad episode.”
Many Democrats also called on Biden to spend more time speaking impromptu with the public. The president sat down for his first interview since his debate with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday night.
While Biden didn’t stumble in the interview, he doesn’t appear to have done enough to head off calls from elected Democrats for him to withdraw from the race. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) released a statement Saturday morning calling on the president to step aside.
Five sitting House members – Craig and Quigley, as well as Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) – have now pressed Biden to drop out of the race and give the someone else the chance to lead the ticket and face Trump in November.
Two more Democratic House members, Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) also said they believe Trump will win this fall.
Biden has rejected these calls, even as they continue to grow stronger within the party, saying he is the party’s nominee and will not resign.
“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I would get out of the race. The Lord Almighty will not come down,” Biden said during the ABC interview.
Stephanopoulos pressed the incumbent on what he would do if top congressional leaders approached him and asked him to resign, and Biden said that wouldn’t happen.
The Washington Post reported Friday that Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is collecting signatures from other senators for a letter to be given to Biden asking him to withdraw from the race.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
