First lady Jill Biden said she found it “disappointing” that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to stand by her husband, President Joe Biden, as Democrats called on him to drop out of the 2024 race.
During a July 10 MSNBC interview, Pelosi declined to answer whether she supported Biden’s reelection bid after his disastrous June 27 debate performance, which caused nearly 40 Democratic members of Congress to urge the president to drop out. The California Democrat denied that she spearheaded the Democrats’ push to force Biden out of the race during an Aug. 6 interview, before admitting she had not spoken to the president since his decision to drop out on July 21.
The first lady told The Washington Post that Pelosi’s actions were “disappointing” since they had been friends for several decades in an interview published Wednesday.
Pelosi reportedly worked behind the scenes to join her party’s efforts to push Biden out of the race, with sources telling Politico in July that she told the president that his candidacy was finished and he could exit the race “the easy way or the hard way.” She later blamed Biden’s delay in dropping out of the race for Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump during a Nov. 9 New York Times interview, suggesting that Harris or another Democratic nominee would have been better equipped to make their case from the American people if they had more time to campaign.
After he dropped out, Biden reportedly held the most anger toward Pelosi, while also expressing frustration with former President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The president has expressed regret about dropping out of the race, stating in an interview with The Washington Post that he thinks he could have defeated Trump.
Pelosi’s office didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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