President Joe Biden is now reportedly "receptive" to the idea of ending his presidential campaign, potentially clearing the path for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the party’s nominee, sources tell CNN.
According to the report, several sources indicate that conversations with Biden are starting to shift. With an increasing number of Democrats urging him to step aside, Biden's position in private is much less defiant than his position in public.
Even though anger and panic have been steadily rising inside the Democratic Party for nearly three weeks, after the president’s alarming debate performance in Atlanta, the White House and the Biden campaign are in a new place, multiple Democratic officials told CNN.
“The private conversations with the Hill are continuing,” a senior Democratic adviser told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid alienating the campaign and the White House. “He’s being receptive. Not as defiant as he is publicly.”
“He’s gone from saying, ‘Kamala can’t win,’ to ‘Do you think Kamala can win? “ the adviser said. “It’s still unclear where he’s going to land but seems to be listening.
The Biden campaign, which is also facing a growing outcry from Democratic donors, dismissed the suggestion the president was rethinking his candidacy.
“If the facts matter – and they should – here is one: President Biden is the Democratic nominee and he is going to win this November,” Kevin Munoz, a Biden spokesman, told CNN.
This report comes on the heels of Biden telling BET in an interview released on Wednesday, “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem."
Biden tested positive for COVID-19 hours later.
Whether this is the impetus for Biden's eventual withdrawal from the race or not isn't clear, but as far as the White House is concerned, he isn't going anywhere.
From White House spokesperson Andrew Bates: “The President told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families.”
— Robert Costa (@costareports) July 18, 2024
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called on Biden to drop out of the race on Wednesday. “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” he said.
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