Asked if there was a “path back” to their friendship, given that the two have not been in contact since Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said continuing President Biden’s legacy was at the top of her list of priorities.
“Is there any way that you two can restore your friendship?” Jen Psaki, a former White House press secretary under Biden, asked Pelosi, D-Calif., on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday.
In answering questions, Pelosi focused on her family’s intergenerational love for Biden and continuing the legacy of the 46th president.
“Three generations of our family have loved Joe Biden. My husband and I, of course, have known him for a long time. We respect and love him and Jill. He and Jill and their family are just amazing. Our children have always adored them. We have pictures of them when they were grown and now our grandchildren are grown,” she said.
Pelosi acknowledges Biden’s campaign was not on a “path to victory” and denies pressuring him to drop out of the race
“But the most important thing we have to do is win the election and continue his legacy and enable the presidency and vice presidency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to accomplish even more,” Pelosi continued.
Biden withdrew from the presidential race last month in a social media message posted to his X account on a Sunday afternoon. He dropped out of the race after Democratic lawmakers and traditional Democratic supporters in the media began pressuring the president to replace him with another candidate following Biden’s disastrous defeat in a debate with former President Trump in late June. Biden’s performance in the debate sparked a firestorm of criticism that Biden’s mental acuity had weakened.
Pelosi denies having “good” relationship with Biden: “I’d have to ask him”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has denied speculation that she helped lead a coup to pressure Biden to drop out of the race. (Screenshot)
Dozens of lawmakers Trump has publicly praised Biden for his work in the White House and his decades of public service and has begun calling for him to pass the baton to another candidate. Biden’s announcement came just over a week after the assassination attempt on Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania and just days after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump was certified as the GOP nominee last month.
“She’s in charge,” the CNN panel said in response to Pelosi’s revelation that she hasn’t spoken to Biden since he withdrew.
Amid growing speculation that Biden would drop out, the Associated Press reported that Democratic leaders including former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Democrats and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been secretly lobbying for Biden to drop out of the race. He didn’t beat Trump..
President Biden kisses House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during an Affordable Care Act event in the East Room of the White House on April 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Custer)
Notably, before Biden dropped out of the race, Pelosi had publicly suggested that the president’s previously adamant decision to continue in the race was not final. She has since denied speculation that she helped lead a coup to pressure Biden into dropping out of the race.
President Biden acknowledges pressure from Democrats led to decision to withdraw
Pelosi said earlier this month that she had not spoken to Biden since his withdrawal.
“Is things going well between you two?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Pelosi in an interview this month.
“I’ll have to ask him,” Pelosi replied, “but I hope so.”
Biden acknowledged in an interview aired Sunday that pressure from his Democratic colleagues, including bringing up Pelosi’s name, ultimately led to his decision to drop out of the race.
“Many of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the campaign, and that if I continued to run the campaign, it would become a talking point, and Nancy Pelosi would end up interviewing me asking why I said what I said, why I said what I said, and that would be a real distraction,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News’ Bob Costa that aired Sunday.
Speaker Pelosi is trying to thwart efforts to end debate on Biden candidacy: Report
“The polls show it’s going to be a close race, and it’s going to be close all the way to the end,” Biden added.
In her interview with Psaki, Pelosi said she was not impressed with Biden’s campaign and chances of reelection when he faces Trump at the November ballot box, but praised him as an “outstanding” and “influential” president.
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“I wanted to make a decision that would improve the campaign so that we could win. I didn’t think we were on a path to victory, so that was really important. He decided that stepping down would accomplish that,” she said.
After Biden dropped out of the race, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place. Harris went on to win the Democratic nomination and named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as his running mate.
