Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain has shared his reaction to the “nasty” Democratic pressure campaign to get President Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, saying he was “surprised” by the president’s ultimate decision to drop out after weeks of tension within his party.
Crane, In an interview published on Monday Speaking with journalist Kara Swisher, Biden said he “respected” Biden’s choice not to seek re-election, but added that he was “surprised” and “thought he would keep fighting.”
“If you’re in Biden’s world, the Biden campaign, we’ve been in trouble before. We lost badly in Iowa in 2020 and we lost even worse in New Hampshire, and we came back and won in a landslide victory. And then we were told throughout 2021 that our plan was never going to get done,” he told Swisher, adding, “And then in the fall of 2022 we were told that it was going to devastate our party in the 2022 election.”
“In fact, we produced the best midterm election results of any Democratic president since Franklin Roosevelt, so I just assumed we would do the same again, so I was surprised when he made that choice,” he added.
Klain was one of Biden’s closest aides but had come under increasing pressure to withdraw from the race after his disastrous debate performance with former President Trump, raising concerns about whether Biden could beat Trump to a second term.
Klain has vocally supported Biden amid the backlash and criticized donors who have pulled their support for the president.
Klain said Biden “has earned himself a second term based on his record” and said he was “disappointed” by calls from within his own Democratic Party for him to resign.
“I thought they got out of control. It was unfortunate, spiteful, very public and I don’t think it should have been that way,” he said. “I thought they were doing him a disservice, but he handled it very graciously and put a plan in place that worked for us in 2024, which was to very clearly hand the baton over to the vice president and put the campaign organization and the resources of the campaign into her.”
Klain’s comments came about a week after Biden quickly consolidated his Democratic support by dropping out and endorsing Vice President Harris.
Klain said he advised Biden not to withdraw but believes the president reflected on divisions within his party that ultimately led to his decision.
“I think the president made a decision that he couldn’t keep the party united, and that decision wasn’t just to walk off the field and say, ‘You guys figure it out,'” Klain said. “He was trying to point the way forward, and he was very clear about that direction to Vice President Harris. So I think it was a sound and wise decision, and I think he executed it very well.”
“I think we’re heading in the right direction right now,” he added. “So, I’m not happy with where we’ve been, but I think we’re in a good spot. We’re going to keep going. We’re going to win this year.”
He acknowledged that Biden and his team “took a gamble” by arguing with Trump last month, but stressed that he believed it was a “reasonable bet.”
“I thought the President was more than capable, as he demonstrated in the days following the debate, of making his case forcefully during the speech and answering off-scripted questions as he did in the press conference. I expected to see that on debate night, but of course that didn’t happen,” he said.
