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President Joe Biden cited pressure from House Democrats when asked by CBS why he dropped out of his 2024 race.
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The president reiterated in an interview on Sunday that he believed he had a strong chance against trump.
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But his allies thought he might hurt his chances in his own campaigns, he said.
President Joe Biden said Democratic lawmakers pressured him to withdraw from the November election because they feared he would hurt their own political campaigns.
Speaking with CBS’s Robert Costa on a interview aired this SundayBiden led that reason when asked about intraparty pressure for him to step aside.
“What happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought I was going to hurt them in the election,” Biden said.
However, he reiterated his belief that he had a strong chance against former President Donald Trump – a point he maintained when he initially defended his bid to stay in the race.
“Look, the polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race, it would have reached the limit,” he told Costa.
But Biden said that amid the backlash against him, he began to worry that his health would dominate election discussions for any Democratic candidate.
“And I thought it would be a real distraction,” the president said.
Biden did not name any specific senators or House representatives who expressed concerns to him. But several reports said that a significant number of Democratic heavyweightsincluding Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelositried to remove the president from the polls.
Biden’s comments to Costa, his first television interview since dropping out, contrasted sharply with his earlier, dogged commitment to staying in the race.
For weeks, Biden has vehemently defended his decision to seek re-election after his lackluster debate performance on June 27that sent Democratic leaders into a panic. (Biden told Costa on Sunday that the debate was a “very, very bad day” because he was sick.)
Just “the Lord Almighty” could force him to give up, he said. Then, in a dramatic turnaround, the president announced at the end of July that he would step aside, saying the decision was “in the best interests of my party and the country”.
Vice President Kamala Harris has already secured the Democratic presidential nomination and Biden told Costa that fully intends to campaign for her despite previous concerns about his health.
“I don’t have any serious problems,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside business hours by Business Insider.
Read the original article at Business Insider
