Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she did not ask President Biden to step aside and insisted she made no phone calls on the matter, amid reports that she led a pressure campaign to remove Biden on the ticket.
On a interview on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” Pelosi declined to detail her private discussions with the president but said she did not lead a pressure campaign.
“No, I was not the leader of any pressure party,” Pelosi told Lesley Stahl. “Well, let me tell you things I didn’t do. I could always tell him, ‘I never called anyone.’ What I’m saying is that I had confidence that the president would make the right choice for our country, whatever it was, and I said, ‘Whatever it is, we’ll accept it.'”
Pelosi said, when asked, that she saw no decline in Biden.
“No,” she replied. “My main point was: whatever he decides, we have to have a more aggressive campaign.”
Upon hearing reports that Biden is “furious” with her, Pelosi said, “Well, he knows I love him very much.”
Pelosi emphasized that her focus was on preserving Biden’s legacy. In the CBS interview, she praised Biden’s accomplishments and specifically praised his leadership at the NATO Summit, saying, “So he was in a good position to make any decision — the top of his game.”
“Such an important president of the United States, kind of a Mount Rushmore president of the United States,” she said, later adding, “Well, you have Teddy Roosevelt up there, and he’s wonderful. I don’t say take it down. But you can add Biden.”
Pelosi echoed a similar sentiment in a Monday interview on ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” when George Stephanopoulos asked Pelosi to expand on the nature of her role in Biden’s decision to step aside.
“Well, I have the greatest respect for the president. I think he will be… viewed as one of the most important presidents in our country,” Pelosi said. “I want him and his legacy to be recognized and preserved. He is also our legacy in Congress. We work together for a great legacy for our country, for a great agenda for working families, and for kitchen table issues for America’s working families.
“So I wanted this to be recognized, and he was the one who was most able to recognize it. So we just wanted him to make the decision on how best to preserve that legacy,” Pelosi said.
Stephanopoulos asked if “the only way to do that would be for him to resign.”
“That would be for him to decide,” Pelosi said in response. “It was always about him. And why did I say I didn’t make calls – because people said I was burning my airways. No, I was not. The only person I spoke to about this was the president. Other people called me to see what their opinions on this were, but I rarely returned a call, much less initiated one.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
