Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer advised President Biden in a one-on-one meeting in Delaware Saturday to drop out of the presidential race, ABC News reported.
“Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be better for Biden, better for the Democratic party, and better for the country if he were to bow out,” ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl said in a Wednesday evening broadcast.
Mr. Schumer’s camp quickly pushed back on the report but did not outright deny that the Democratic leader urged Mr. Biden to drop out.
“Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation,” a Schumer spokesperson said. “Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.”
Mr. Biden told BET that he would consider dropping out of the presidential race if doctors diagnosed him with something that would keep him from being in the White House.
“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” Mr. Biden said in the interview, which was taped Tuesday. The White House announced Wednesday that Mr. Biden has tested positive for COVID.
Not long after the ABC report, CNN reported that Mr. Biden is becoming more “receptive” to the push for him to leave the ticket and has gone from saying privately that Vice President Kamala Harris “can’t win” to questioning if she can win.
Ms. Harris has been polling ahead of Mr. Biden in various public surveys that have asked voters about a hypothetical matchup between her and Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Karl also reported that House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed “similar views” as Mr. Schumer did when he met separately with Mr. Biden last week.
Mr. Jeffries sent a letter to his caucus on Friday informing them that he requested and was granted a meeting with Mr. Biden to share the “candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive” feedback they had provided him that week. The two met Thursday evening.
“In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together,” Mr. Jeffries said.
Mr. Biden has reiterated his plans to remain in the presidential race this week, even after his private meetings with Mr. Schumer and Mr. Jeffries. In an interview with NBC on Monday he expressed confidence he can beat Mr. Trump despite those in his party doubting his prospects. “There’s no wide gap between us. It’s essentially a tossup race,” the president said.
So far, 21 Democrats have publicly called on Mr. Biden to step aside as the party’s presidential nominee. Many more have raised concerns about his path to victory without directly asking him to drop out.
“He’s facing a real question of what is best for the country. And I think he’ll make that decision,” Sen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Democrat, said on CNN Wednesday. “A lot of us are doing everything we can behind the scenes to really talk openly and honestly with the president, with his team about the best way forward.”
Mr. Booker said Democrats had private meetings in Washington all last week and they shouldn’t be fighting in public about Mr. Biden’s future, especially while Republicans are holding their convention in Milwaukee.
The private pressure on Mr. Biden comes as Democratic National Convention officials, under pressure from various members of the party, agreed to push back plans to nominate Mr. Biden in a virtual roll call vote to the first week of August, instead of as early as Sunday.
Absent a decision from Mr. Biden to drop out of the race before then, the move would still lock him in as the party’s nominee ahead of the official Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19.
• Dave Boyer contributed to this report.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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