- Biden was greeted by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the first Democrat to ask him to leave.
- Asked about President Johnson’s claim that his judicial plan was “stillborn”
President Joe Biden had a strange response Monday when asked about Speaker Mike Johnson’s criticism of his new Supreme Court plan, calling the House speaker “dead on arrival.”
Biden, who returned to the country after stepping back and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his party’s presumptive nominee, made the comment on a trip to Texas to promote his plan that would impose 18-year term limits on the Supreme Court.
That role put him back in front of the press, a week after his debate performance and subsequent interviews prompted top Democrats to pressure him to step back as their party’s standard-bearer.
Johnson had previously called his Supreme Court plan, which has virtually no chance of overcoming a Senate filibuster or passing a Republican Congress, “dead on arrival.”
“That’s what it is,” he said when asked about the matter by a reporter. The reporter asked him for clarification on the comment.
“He’s dead on arrival,” Biden repeated.
President Joe Biden traveled to Texas to present his Supreme Court reform plan. When asked about House Speaker Mike Johnson calling his plan “dead on arrival,” Biden said Johnson was “dead on arrival.”
Johnson also called it an effort to “delegitimize the court” and said the Republican House would not take it up.
He responded to Biden’s comment on Monday afternoon: destination A clip from Biden’s debate against Donald Trump, when Trump improvised: “I don’t really know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knew either.”
Biden corrected the comment during his speech at the LBJ Library, where he recalled the speaker’s comment. “Well, I think your thinking is dead from the start,” Biden said.
Biden’s bizarre comment came moments after he smiled during an awkward on-target handshake with Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who was the first House member to call on him to step away from his reelection bid following his debate disaster.
It was advice Biden ultimately adopted after coming under pressure from a number of lawmakers who feared he would lose and perhaps cost Democrats the House and Senate.
His comments came as the White House continues to feel its way through how it will handle the situation with a sitting president who is stepping back from some of his political duties as Vice President Kamala Harris takes the reins, admitting Monday that it will “recalibrate.”
“There was a major shift last week, so we have to recalibrate and figure out what the next six months are going to look like. It’s only fair that we figure it all out,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“You’ll see the president. He’ll be there… we need to recalibrate and get a sense of what the next few months are going to look like,” he said.
On Monday, Biden reasserted his role as the current president, both by laying out a sweeping policy idea in an op-ed and by being the public face of his own administration.
Biden consulted with Harris on his plan to overhaul the Supreme Court, his first major policy announcement since stepping aside before Harris became the party’s presumptive nominee, the White House said, after Harris publicly endorsed the plan.
“It’s dead on arrival,” Biden said of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said his own plan to impose a code of conduct and term limits on the court was dead on arrival.
“She was indeed involved in this. The president consulted her, he said. “He certainly also listened to her experience in this area,” Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre discussed Biden and Harris’ continued contacts, though he offered little insight into how Biden’s role might change in the coming months, as the outgoing candidate finishes his term while Harris takes on greater responsibility as her party’s presumptive nominee.
“They have a very close relationship. They communicate regularly. They meet for lunch. They talk on the phone,” he said.
As for what role Biden might play at his party’s convention next month in Chicago, Jean-Pierre offered little insight. “I’m going to let the convention speak for that,” he said, adding that the campaign would talk about Biden’s travel, in a week when he has nothing scheduled other than a speech Monday and attending a church service for the late Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee in Houston.
Biden also interacted with reporters as he left the White House midday Monday.
He responded to a shouted question about how the Supreme Court should be reformed.
“Let us reform the Supreme Court because it needs to be reformed,” was his circular response.