A fundraiser by top Democrats showed that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi were unhappy with President Joe Biden’s decision to endorse Kamala Harris after ending his re-election campaign.
Lindy Li, in an interview with NewsNation, reflected on the delicate battle for primary power that took place within the party as they grappled with Biden’s inability to successfully campaign for the presidency.
“It became clear that he was no longer able to effectively litigate the case against President Trump,” Li said of Biden.
Li said she spoke with Pelosi before publicly calling for Biden to resign because she encouraged anyone concerned about Biden to voice their opinions on the issue.
She also said that both Pelosi and Obama did not want to endorse Harris for president, but instead hoped for an open primary.
“Obama and Pelosi were both hoping for a primary rather than a coronation, so to speak,” Li said.
“I know they didn’t. It’s not a matter of conjecture for me. I know they didn’t,” she added, noting that she was friends with people who worked for Obama.
Obama did not have a preferred candidate in the race, she said, but said he was looking at Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.
Barack Obama did not want Biden to endorse Harris, according to a Democratic fundraiser
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Nancy Pelosi wanted Joe Biden to resign, but wasn’t happy that he supported Kamala Harris
Harris was not ruled out as a potential candidate, but they wanted some kind of process to select Biden’s successor.
“A lot of people were hoping for a lightning round, a lightning first,” she said.
Li said the party was stunned when Biden endorsed Harris just half an hour after he announced his decision to abandon his campaign.
‘I don’t think anyone saw that coming. We didn’t see that coming. I think a lot of people expected him to have stepped aside, but no one expected us to get a twofer that day,” she recalls.
Since Harris lost the election, Li has expressed concerns about the party’s future and criticized Harris for her devastating loss to Trump.
‘It was just startling that there was no sense of responsibility. They basically burned $2 billion in 100 days,” she said.
Li criticized Harris’ out-of-control spending on the campaign trail and warned that Democratic donors were angered by some reports of mismanaged spending that turned political consultants into “multi-millionaires.”
‘There is a lot of conflict of interest here. And we need careful accounting, which is probably more detailed than the FEC report would provide,” she said. “Because if we don’t do that, how can voters and donors ever trust the Democratic Party again?”
Li also criticized Harris in November for failing to strike the right tone in a phone call with donors after the campaign.
She said she was “stunned” that no autopsy had been conducted or lessons learned, and that she was spending more time “patting each other on the back” despite the large debts left over from the campaign.
“I think at some point during the phone call she talked about her Thanksgiving recipe…I think I was stunned to hear that, given the magnitude and the cruelty of the loss.” she said.