President Biden name dropped former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when giving a sit-down interview with CBS. August 11, 2024.
© Josh Morgan / © Mikala Compton/American-Statesman / © Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK
(Washington, DC) – There’s been rampant speculation that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and US Senator Chuck Schumer helped oust President Biden before he abandoned his re-election bid. Now, Biden has all but admitted Pelosi’s role during an interview with CBS. President Biden said he didn’t want to be a “distraction,” leading to his exiting the race.
Biden was specifically addressing the so-called “down ballot” races in November, indicating he felt the race between him and former President Trump was “neck and neck” before he dropped out. The president said if he stayed in the race, news outlets would be asking “about why did Nancy Pelosi say [something] … and I thought it’d be a real distraction.”
In recent weeks, Pelosi made comments that attempted to frame her as a Biden supporter. She even went so far as to say President Biden ought to be added to Mount Rushmore. But the Biden-Pelosi intrigue doesn’t start or end there.
In an interview with New York Times’ columnist Ezra Klein, Pelosi questioned a letter apparently wrote to Democrats indicating he was “firmly committed” to stays in the race. Two weeks after it was sent, Biden dropped out. Pelosi told Klein, “I didn’t accept the letter as anything but a letter. I mean, there are some people who are unhappy with the letter.”
President Biden also took aim at former President Trump during his CBS interview. He suggested Trump is a “threat to Democracy” and added he’s not confident in the “peaceful transition of power” if Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t win. Trump mentioned Biden during comments at a rally this weekend, agreeing with the president that his former opponent was “forced out.”
