House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told President Joe Biden in private meetings last week that his continued involvement in the presidential election jeopardizes the Democratic Partyʼs ability to win congressional elections.
This was reported by The Washington Post with reference to four anonymous sources informed about these meetings.
Jeffries met with Biden last Thursday night at the White House, and Schumer met with Biden on Saturday in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
During those meetings, congressional leaders discussed their membersʼ concerns that Biden could strip them of their majority.
In a face-to-face conversation, a person close to Biden bluntly told the president that he should withdraw from the race because "itʼs the only way to preserve his legacy and save the country from another Trump term." Instead, Biden responded that he strongly disagreed with that sentiment and that he was the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump.
Deputy White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden told Schumer and Jeffries during their private meetings that he would not withdraw from the race.
"The president told both leaders that he is the partyʼs nominee, that he plans to win, and that he looks forward to working with both of them to complete his 100-day plan to help working families," Bates said.
This yearʼs presidential election in the USA will be held on November 5, 2024. This will be the 60th presidential election in the history of the country, at which the 47th president is to be elected. On July 15, Donald Trump officially became the presidential candidate from the Republican Party. He also introduced his vice-presidential candidate, Ohio Senator James David Vance.
But the participation of the current president Joe Biden in the elections is in question after an unsuccessful debate with Trump and a press conference on July 12, at which he confused Vice President Kamala Harris with Trump, and accidentally called Zelensky Putin. 81-year-old Biden has recently been greatly let down by his respectable age and health.
Last month, CNN wrote that after an unsuccessful debate, some of the leaders of the US Democratic Party wanted Joe Biden to withdraw from the election. A member of the House of Representatives, Lloyd Doggett, publicly made such a call. This is the first such case in the Democratic Party.
One of the main donors of the Democrats, the actor George Clooney, the editorial board of The New York Times and a number of analysts also publicly called for Biden to withdraw from the election. And a week ago, the first senator from the Democratic Party Peter Welch called on Biden to stop participating in the presidential race.
Today, July 18, Joe Biden informed that he has contracted COVID-19.
"I will be in isolation until I recover, and during that time I will continue to work to get the job done for the American people," he wrote.