The dam is showing signs of breaking.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reportedly had a one-on-one conversation with President Joe Biden over the weekend and “forcefully made the case that it would be better” for him to not fight for a second term against former President Donald Trump and instead bow out.
ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reported the news on air Wednesday night after another Democrat with close ties to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called on Biden to drop out earlier in the day.
“I am told that the pressure from Democratic leaders for Biden to get out of the race is intensifying. In fact, one person who has been out there publicly defending Biden told me just a short while ago, Biden is going to see the whole house of cards come down soon,” Karl said.
“As for that meeting in Rehoboth, Delaware, I am told that this was a one-on-one meeting, just the Senate leader and the president, and that Chuck Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be better for Biden, better for the Democratic Party and better for the country if he were to bow out of the race,” he said.
Karl added: “When I went to Schumer’s office to … tell them I was going to report this and tell you this tonight, absolutely no denial from Sen. Schumer’s office. They only said this, ‘Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus.’ In other words, the views of Democratic senators.”
The veteran reporter also said, “Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, has expressed similar views directly to the president.”
Schumer’s office responded to his report in a statement: “Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation. Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.”
“This is not a denial,” The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman posted to X.
And from the Times’ columnist Ezra Klein: “It’s not just that Schumer told Biden he needed to step aside. It’s that Biden didn’t step aside, and so now the meeting is being leaked to build pressure and signal to others that they can act.”
Biden has maintained he’ll run against Trump and will stay in the race despite a disastrous debate performance last month followed by a few interviews and speeches where the president stumbled over his words at times or made gaffes.
Earlier Wednesday, Congressman Adam Schiff called Biden to “pass the torch.” The California lawmaker who is running for U.S. Senate is an ally of Pelosi.
Schiff said in a statement to the LA Times he has “serious concerns” that Biden could defeat Trump, adding, “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy. He added: “There is only one singular goal: defeating Donald Trump. The stakes are just too high.”
Nearly 20 congressional Democrats have called for Biden to leave the race, though public calls for him to step aside have stopped since the assassination attempt against Trump over the weekend. Privately, the internal party debate about Biden’s future is far from over.
Democrats are deeply splintered on Capitol Hill over the president’s ability to carry on his campaign and win reelection, and a constituency that should provide a groundswell of support for the sitting president instead is worried they could lose not only the White House to Trump, but control of Congress to Republicans.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
