Nancy Pelosi stops short of saying Biden should stay in the race in stunning statement sending shockwaves through the party
Nancy Pelosi stopped short of explicitly telling President Joe Biden to stay in the presidential race in a statement that sent shockwaves through the Democratic party on Wednesday morning.
The staunch ally of the 81-year-old president ignored his insistence he will be taking on Donald Trump in November and hinted he should reconsider the decision.
Asked if Biden has her support on MSNBC's Morning Joe, the former speaker said: 'It's up to the president to decide if he's going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running out.'
Reminded that Biden has made up his mind, Pelosi said: 'I want him to do whatever he decides to do.'
'Whatever he decides, we go with.'
It comes as the typically united House Democrats have devolved into chaos with knives out for the leader of their party. As Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., put it, not only are Democrats not on the same page, 'we are not even in the same book.'
Nancy Pelosi said it is 'up to the president' to decide whether he wants to stay in the race but 'time is running out' in pointed comments Wednesday morning
Biden wrote in a letter to hill Democrats on Tuesday: 'I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.'
Pelosi, 84, and Biden, 81, have crossed paths in Washington for decades. She's one typically of his biggest defenders on Capitol Hill.
Pelosi said Democrats should 'let him deal with the NATO conference' happening in Washington, D.C. this week and 'hold off' on public judgment 'until we see how we go this week.'
The remarks seemed to ignore the fact that President Biden has publicly insisted he's made his decision - he'll remain at the top of the Democratic ticket in November
Pelosi was silent upon leaving an all-caucus meeting of House Democrats on Tuesday where they discussed the future of their presumptive presidential nominee.
Asked about Pelosi's comments, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters he would not comment on them until he had spoken with her.
Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said of the remarks: 'Our view has not changed. President Biden is the nominee. There is no light between our caucus and the work we have done with this administration and the work that we will do in the future. As always, this decision is up to the president.'
So far at least seven House Democrats have demanded Biden step aside in on-the-record statements. Others have flirted with the idea or expressed a similar sentiment behind closed doors.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said he believes Biden will lose Democrats the election on Tuesday.
'Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the Senate and the House,' Bennet said.
'I think that we could lose the whole thing,' he told CNN.
