
At his vacation home on the Delaware coast on Saturday night, President Joe Biden began to consider the end of his more than 50-year political career and came to the conclusion that it would come to an earlier end than anticipated. He was surrounded by First Lady Jill Biden and a small group of trusted advisers, according to people familiar with his decision.
He was abandoned by comrades who deceived him in his hour of need, leaving him feeling alone, furious, and disappointed.
“He’s really irritated,” a source close to Biden’s inner circle claimed.
Even though he was and still is insane, Biden reluctantly accepted that his campaign could not be sustained when poll numbers declined, donors started to leave, and party heavyweights pushed for his resignation. Though he might have taken a bit longer than other Democratic insiders to figure out that calculation, by Saturday night he had a firm grasp on it.
Interviews with two dozen Democrats who were aware of the events that up to Biden’s startling statement provided the story of this pivotal weekend.
On Sunday, Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the race for reelection to his vice president, Kamala Harris, his White House chief of staff, Jeff Zients, and his campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, during separate phone conversations. The fact that he had to tell them in this way demonstrated how close his circle had become in the last few days to his family as well as a few dependable aides and advisors, including Mike Donilon, Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Steve Ricchetti.
While White House and campaign officials were not surprised by the decision, they were taken aback by the timing. When Biden published his post on X, the majority learned about it along with the rest of the world. State party chairs and representatives of the Democratic National Committee felt the same way. Senior Biden aides hurried to arrange separate meetings with White House and campaign workers, assuring political advisers that their positions were secure.
The conclusion was sudden, as usual. However, it followed a terrible 25-day period that began on June 27 with the worst debate performance in contemporary American political history. In his subsequent public appearances, Biden was unable to comfort enough Democrats or other Democrats in general. Large donors stopped funding the party and his campaign. The calls from political officials to withdraw his candidacy came in a drip-drip-drip method. After he asserted he had decided to stay in the race, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, known as the Democratic Party’s godmother, said he still had a choice to make.
On the horizon, there was less light than darkness.
He had a conversation with Pelosi on Saturday, which her staff refuted, according to a source who talked with CNBC directly. A text message requesting comment from Pelosi was not answered. In recent weeks, she stopped short of calling for him to withdraw from the campaign, despite being among her closest backers.
After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, senior Biden aides anticipated that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Democrats from New York, would likely publicly call for him to resign.
On Saturday, Biden also had meetings with Donilon and Ricchetti. Sources claim that after going through “literally everything” on his options going forward, including depressing polls in battleground areas, the two reliable aides offered no advice on what he should do. They got the impression that Biden had already decided to step down and that the conversation had solidified his decision. They all nevertheless agreed to sleep on it.
They regrouped on Sunday morning, sealing everything up tight to avoid any leaks.
Former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain stated on Thursday that Joe Biden was “feeling the pressure,” indicating his desire for Biden to remain steady. The individual in close contact with him said that by Friday night, he had not changed his decision.
His friends warned him that he was endangering his reputation as the candidate who stopped Donald Trump and passed numerous significant reforms and that if the Democrats lose badly in November, he would wind up being used as a scapegoat. At least until this past weekend, he continued to think he could win. He had declared himself to be a bridge candidate in 2020. Ultimately, he had no desire to serve as a transitional figure between two Trump terms.
Co-chair of Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and former White House staffer Cedric Richmond stated on Sunday, “It turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy where there was no way out.” “He’s always prioritized his party and nation over winning, and it’s impossible,” the saying goes, as the money runs out and elected officials withdraw their support.
By 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, when Biden called a conference with all of his top advisers, a formal statement announcing his choice had already been written. After a minute, he made the announcement on his X account, informing the world that he would stay in office but give up his party’s candidacy. This made him the first president who was still eligible to hold office after Lyndon Johnson in 1968. In less than half an hour, he gave Harris his endorsement, deeming her the greatest option to defeat Trump in the final four months leading up to election day.
According to insiders, Biden called between 40 and 50 people on Sunday night after making his announcement regarding his choice.
According to two people familiar with the situation, Biden requested to view polls his campaign had commissioned on Harris’s potential performance against Trump in light of the growing calls for his resignation in recent days. They claimed that in order to learn more about her position against Trump, he also examined public polling. According to the two persons with knowledge of the situation, the Harris survey was extremely selectively conducted and only a small number of influential campaign aides, such as Donilon and O’Malley Dillon, received it.
Rather than being motivated by concerns about his health or capacity to perform his job, Biden’s appeal seemed to be solely motivated by political considerations. Although Biden had recently stated that he may reevaluate his campaign if “some medical condition” occurred, a top administration official claimed that there was no new medical information influencing his decision.
In an interview that aired last week, Biden conjectured, “When doctors told me they had this problem or that problem, I would listen.”
According to the official, Biden has not recently undergone any comprehensive testing or medical examinations, even though his doctor has been keeping an eye on him for a Covid diagnosis and has performed bloodwork in connection with it. He had a thorough physical in February of last year.
By reiterating his intention to stay in office, Biden seemed to be saying that he doesn’t worry about his ability to lead the country.
Minutes after Biden’s statement, Democrats all over the nation rushed to react and get ready for life without him on the ticket.
When he received the news stories, Democratic Party chair Ken Martin in Minnesota was getting ready for a Biden open house in Minneapolis. A representative from the Biden campaign had just called a delegate in Illinois to inquire if they would still back Biden in a convention vote. An hour later, word of Biden’s withdrawal broke.
After learning of the situation, Martin called other state party leaders and pushed for the party to adopt a united front to support Harris for president as the next step.
“We need to come together as soon as possible,” stated Martin, who arranged a conference call with the chairs of the state parties on Sunday afternoon. “I’m not overly thrilled about the prospect of focusing the conversation inward for four weeks. The sooner we can bring our party together behind a ticket, the sooner this campaign can get underway.
After a family member read a news alert, a crucial member of Biden’s reelection campaign learned of it. The individual observed that Biden caught everyone off guard, especially after some of his closest supporters publicly endorsed his candidacy on Sunday shows.
Nobody was aware. Even Kamala was unaware of it, the source claimed.
As numerous party leaders attempted to guarantee that Harris would encounter minimal challenges in securing the nomination, Harris conducted her own round of phone calls on Sunday. She also received the support of Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, and former President Bill Clinton.
On Sunday, a number of well-known Democratic governors, such as Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gavin Newsom of California, who are both regarded as potential presidential candidates in the future, endorsed Harris. Several outside organizations that are crucial to Democratic chances in the presidential and congressional elections also did so.
Biden wanted Harris to not feel betrayed in the same way that he had when he was vice president and President Obama supported Hillary Clinton rather than his own running partner. That clarifies why he decided to quickly let everyone know that she is his pick.
Some individuals don’t desire her. An associate of Biden stated, “The president knows how that feels, which is why he did the loyal thing.”
Many Biden supporters in Washington were still resentful at their party’s treatment of him on Sunday, even as they started setting the stage for Harris to assume control of Biden’s campaign and secure the nomination.
“This man has consistently discussed dignity,” a close ally of Biden’s stated. Furthermore, what was occurring to him in a highly visible environment lacked dignity. “Where can the President go to regain his honor?”