President Joe Biden has finally admitted that Nancy Pelosi’s concerns about other Democratic contests contributed to his decision to drop out of the race.
“A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought it was going to hurt them in the election,” Biden said in his first interview since ending his re-election campaign.
“And I was worried that if I stayed in the race that would be the topic… I would be interviewed about why Nancy Pelosi said (something)… and I thought that would be a real distraction,” she said in the interview with CBS News Sunday Morning anchor Robert Costa.
A growing list of Democrats has called for Biden to drop out of the race following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump in June.
Joe Biden spoke about dropping out of the race in his first interview since ending his re-election bid
Immediately after ending his campaign, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place on the ticket in November.
Former House Speaker Pelosi was among those lobbying Biden to step aside, along with other top party leaders including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Adam Schiff.
Biden’s cognitive decline was on display during his debate with Trump, and Democrats who for years downplayed concerns about the president’s fitness were forced to confront him.
In the weeks after the debate, Biden took it upon himself to clear the field, but his efforts only led to more gaffes and mistakes that raised fears that the president could hurt other Democratic candidates’ chances in their races.
Biden insisted he only wanted to be a one-term “transitional president” to welcome new leadership and acknowledged he might be too old to be president.
“When I first ran, I thought I would be a transitional president,” Biden said.
“I can’t even say how old I am, it’s hard for me to say,” she continued. But things moved so fast that it didn’t happen.