US President Joe Biden acknowledged being pressured out of the contest. Biden blamed the mounting concerns from within his party. The 81-year-old specifically named Nancy Pelosi while discussing the internal Democratic Party pressure that led to his unprecedented decision.
In his first appearance since leaving the 2024 presidential race last month, Biden spoke on CBS News Sunday Morning, acknowledging that his colleagues were concerned his campaign could harm their own chances of reelection.
“What happened was, a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic,” explained Mr. Biden, adding that he thought it would be a “real distraction. You’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say -why did – and I thought it’d be a real distraction,” Biden told CBS News correspondent Bob Costa.
He also delivered a sharp criticism of former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump, saying, “We must, we must, we must defeat Trump.” Biden labelled trump as a ‘danger’ to American security.
After Biden’s poor performance in the CNN debate, rumors about his withdrawal started to spread widely. By the end of July, he confirmed these speculations by releasing a long statement announcing his exit from the race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate. Although people had been talking about it, Biden’s decision still shocked the nation, with many media outlets suggesting that Nancy Pelosi was behind the move to push him out.
