President Joe Biden’s family is beginning to discuss a plan to exit the 2024 race, a shocking new report revealed Friday, as one adviser insists Biden will be the nominee while even more Democrats called on him to drop out of the race.
It comes as a house Democrat One Biden insider told DailyMail.com he believes election concerns are finally getting through to the president: “I think so and I’m going to leave it at that.”
Biden is increasingly isolated, both physically and politically. His small circle of advisers, which includes his wife Jill, sister Valerie Owens and son Hunter, is growing ever more closely knit, while the family remains furious with some members of his staff following the first presidential debate.
And they are still protecting Biden. The family wants the exit plan, if it comes to fruition, to be done on the president’s terms — to ensure Donald Trump loses in November and to honor Biden’s more than 40 years of public service. NBC News reported.
Publicly, however, Biden’s team has repeatedly said the president is in the race to win, even as lawmakers, donors and top Democratic officials say Biden, 81, cannot win.
President Joe Biden’s family discusses a plan to exit the 2024 race: above Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Hunter Biden and Melissa Cohen in April
Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told MSNBC’s Morning Joe: “You’ve heard the President say it directly over and over again. He’s in this race to win and he’s our nominee and he’ll be our president for a second term.”
Behind the scenes, however, there is turmoil.
The Biden for president campaign is calling for an all-staff meeting for Friday, the Associated Press reported.
And Democrats continue to push for Biden to step aside and make way for an alternative candidate, as the party fears his candidacy could cost them any chance of winning the House and maintaining control of the Senate.
In the hours since Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination Thursday night in Milwaukee, six more Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the race.
Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois on Friday morning became the first House Democrat to demand that Biden drop out of the presidential race. Casten is in a competitive district as he seeks reelection.
Four other Democratic lawmakers quickly joined Casten as the pressure campaign grew with one member of Congress joining after another.
“It’s time to pass the torch,” said Democratic Rep. Marc Pocan of Wisconsin.
Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico then became the third senator to call on Biden to step aside.
“While the decision to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is in the best interest of our country for him to step aside,” Heinrich said in a statement Friday morning.
The mass defections come the morning after the party saw Republicans rally around Trump as their nominee, applauding him Thursday night as he described the assassination attempt on his life.
O’Malley Dillon He dismissed questions about whether Biden’s stay in the race will hurt Democrats in subsequent elections, saying the party has “extraordinary Democratic candidates on the roster in swing states and non-swing states.”
“The president knows better than anyone how to present himself and win at the local level,” he told the Morning Joe team.
He also argued that Trump is “the same person he was in 2020.”
“Donald Trump is at his best with his numbers. There’s no new voters he can bring to the table, right? So that’s kind of an important framework to remember. And we’re about to get into our convention.”
She acknowledged that the campaign has work to do to make up ground after Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
“I’m not here to say that it hasn’t been a tough few weeks for the campaign. There’s no doubt that it has been, and we’ve definitely seen some decline in support, but it’s been a small movement,” he said.
“The American people know that the president is older. They see that. They knew that before the debate. Yes, of course, we have a lot of work to do to make sure that we’re reassuring the American people that yes, he’s older, but he can do the job and he can win.”
Republicans rallied around Donald Trump as their candidate
Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the president is in the race to win.
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied that any such exit talks were taking place within the family.
“That’s not happening, period,” he told NBC News. “The people making those claims are not speaking for his family or his team, and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.”
Biden is holed up in his Rehoboth Beach home with his wife Jill as he recovers from a bout of Covid.
The president himself, in a radio interview recorded just before testing positive, dismissed the idea that it was too late to recover politically.
He told Univision’s Luis Sandoval that many people don’t focus on the November elections until September.
“All the talk about who’s leading, where and how, it’s like, you know, so far everything between Trump and I has been basically even,” he said.
But as he recovers, the sound of Democratic voices against him grows louder.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Chairman Hakeem Jeffries shared insights into Biden’s declining support on Capitol Hill and in the polls.
Martin Heinrich of New Mexico became the third Democratic senator to call on President Biden to drop out of the race.
President Joe Biden, sick with Covid, finds himself increasingly isolated
The White House has repeatedly denied that Biden is dropping out of the race. Officials are moving forward to plan his next round of meetings and events to show that the campaign and his presidency are moving forward.
Biden is expected to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu next week when the Israeli prime minister is in town to address a joint session of Congress.
That meeting was originally scheduled for Monday, but the White House said the date could change depending on Biden’s recovery from COVID.
Netanyahu speaks to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
“We have every expectation that the two leaders will have an opportunity to meet when Prime Minister Netanyahu is in town,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.
“I can’t tell you exactly what that will look like right now, but as we get closer, we’ll probably be able to provide you with more information,” Kirby said.
Biden is also scheduled to go on a campaign fundraising tour later this week, reaching out to wealthy donors in Texas and California as he makes the case for his candidacy.