Anonymous reports, silence, and public statements about Biden stepping down muddy the waters

The denials, the leaked conversations, White House and campaign staffers contradicting the reports—as President Biden faces the critical decision about whether to continue to seek reelection, it’s difficult to believe anything coming out of the campaign or White House.

In recent weeks, chaos has been engulfing the Democratic Party as anonymous reports, notable silence, and public statements emerged calling on President Joe Biden to consider whether he should remain the nominee, with some explicitly calling him to step down.

In the face of these public and private criticisms, the White House has maintained its staunch insistence that Biden is the nominee and will remain in the race.

The pressure from senior Democrats seems to be mounting in private, though some continue to deny their roles in public. For example, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,  was one of the latest who publicly denied what he reportedly said in private to the president. According to ABC News, Senator 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.”

“Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden, the reporting is idle speculation,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.”

Senator Schumer is not alone. Countless Democrats, according to media reports, are circling the wagons—some publicly and some in private. In the face of this, the Biden White House is remaining staunch in its assertion that the president is the nominee and will not be stepping down. After his meeting with Schumer and with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the White House said Biden remains committed to remaining the nominee.

“The president told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families,” the White House told Axios in response to the reporting.

The Biden-Harris campaign echoed these sentiments. "If the facts matter—and they should—here is one: President Biden is the Democratic nominee and he is going to win this November,” the campaign said.

Other prominent Democrats are reportedly on board with pressuring Biden to step down in private, but have yet to make their criticisms public. Today, one report says former President Barack Obama has jumped on board with efforts to oust Biden from the nomination.

According to the Washington Post, Obama has told allies in recent days that he sees Biden’s path to victory shrinking and should seriously reconsider his candidacy. If Obama makes his opposition public, he would be the most high profile Democrat to call on Biden to reconsider his campaign.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who Axios identifies as the “mastermind” behind the efforts to get Biden to step down as the nominee, reportedly told the president during a recent private meeting that polling shows he cannot beat Donald Trump and would hurt the party’s chance to regain control of the House and keep the Senate.

Yet, the former speaker has so far not criticized the president publicly. Though, some anonymous commenters have said she has given the green-light to allies to voice their own criticisms of Biden.

The Daily Beast published an unverified report on Thursday afternoon claiming that a “major West Coast donor” drafted bullet points for a “victory speech” that Biden could deliver to the party and the nation as he steps aside.

One Democratic official running to join Schumer in the Senate, and Pelosi’s fellow California representative, went further than the majority leader and the former Speaker. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a staunch supporter of Biden and purveyor of "Russian collusion with Trump" conspiracy theories publicly stated he believes President Biden should step down as the party nominee, calling on him to “pass the torch” after a successful presidency.

In a statement reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Schiff said Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a Senator, a Vice President, and now as President has made our country better.”

“But our nation is at a crossroads,” he said. “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November.” Schiff encouraged Biden to move on so that the party can field a new nominee to defeat Trump in November.

Polling shows Democratic politicians calling on Biden to step down likely have the backing of their voters behind them. An Associated Press/NORC poll Tuesday showed that nearly two-thirds of Democrats queried thought that Biden should withdraw from the race and make way for a different candidate. The same poll shows that nearly half of Democrats are very or somewhat unsatisfied with Biden as the nominee. Democrats’ confidence in Biden’s mental capacity is also decreasing.

Despite the pile-on of anonymous leaks and closed-door criticisms, Biden’s campaign and White House are remaining adamant that the president has not changed his mind and intends to continue as the nominee.

"The president has said that he's running,” Quentin Fulks, the Principal Deputy Campaign Manager said in an interview with MSNBC.

Biden himself has appeared to soften his approach to deciding whether to remain in the race. Earlier this month, Biden said in an interview with ABC News that only the “Lord Almighty” could stop him from running. “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” he said. “The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.” This week Biden's rhetoric shifted. He said in an interview with BET News that he would be willing to step down if the “doctors came to him” and diagnosed him with a medical condition.

Biden announced this week that he has contracted COVID and cancelled appearances planned in Nevada. 

Indeed, The New York Times reported that President Biden has become more receptive in recent days to arguments from his fellow party members about why he should drop out. However, the report cited more anonymous sources and the White House’s official statements have remained unchanged.