Schumer Reportedly Signaling He Is Open to Replacing Biden in Private

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is reportedly communicating to donors that he is open to making a change at the top of the ticket.

Axios reported Wednesday, “Over the last 12 days, Schumer has been listening to donors’ ideas and suggestions about the best way forward for the party, according to three people familiar with the matter.”

Despite publicly stating he is “for Joe,” the outlet noted, “The majority leader is one of several Democrats, including former President Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has the political and personal standing to convince Biden to step aside. Even so, Biden can still dig in and the delegates are pledged to him.”

According to Axios, Schumer’s phone “burned up” with calls from donors.

Yet, he has reportedly not shared the name of a potential candidate he believes would be better than Biden.

And, in a statement after the story was published, Schumer said, “As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November,”

Earlier Wednesday, Pelosi appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and said the president has to “decide if he is going to run,” despite him insisting he is not dropping out of the race.

And her comment fueled speculation she was trying to coax Biden to step aside.

ABC News’ Rachel Scott later asked if she believed Biden should run again, which drew an outburst from Pelosi.

“I’m not… Am I speaking English to you?” Pelosi fired back.

She added, “I’m not going to be making any statements about any of that right now in the hallway.”

On the same day, Hollywood star and Biden fundraiser George Clooney wrote a guest essay in The New York Times in which he called on the president to step aside and opened up about his “devastating” decline.