Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most influential voices outside President Joe Biden’s family, sent a rare public signal Wednesday morning suggesting she was trying to push him to consider dropping out of the race.
“It’s up to the president to decide whether to run,” she said on MSNBC. “We all encourage him to make this decision because time is running out.”
Pelosi sandwiched her comments with praise for Biden and his record. But Pelosi has appeared extra cautious and calculated in her public comments, and it’s clear that Biden has repeatedly and forcefully indicated that he has made the decision. She spoke on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Biden’s favorite cable news show and the same venue Monday where he made his most defiant statement that he would remain in the race. one.
Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, is no longer in Democratic leadership but remains in the House after one of the most consequential terms in history. At 84, she is three years older than Biden and has served alongside him for much of his political career. She also watched close friend Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s condition worsen before she died in office last year.
Pelosi said Biden will receive “overwhelming support” from House Democrats. “He’s loved, he’s respected, and people want him to make this decision.”
She also said she would not call for him to withdraw more directly.
“I’ve said to everyone, let’s take a breather, whatever you’re thinking about or tell someone privately, but you don’t have to put it on the table until we see how it goes this week,” she said .
The comments follow high-profile calls to quit another category of influencer, George Clooney. The actor is a major supporter of the Democratic Party and starred at a major fundraiser for Biden in Hollywood last month.
“The one battle he cannot win is the battle against time,” Cloney wrote in an op-ed published in The New York Times on Wednesday. “None of us can do that. It’s frustrating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was at the fundraiser with three weeks ago is not the Joe Biden of 2010. Everyone witnessed the debate.
