President Biden’s reelection campaign appears to be facing a wall.
According to reports, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California) said in a phone call with President Biden that polls show Biden cannot defeat former President Trump in the November presidential election, and that her continuing the election campaign could damage the Democrats’ chances of taking control of the House of Representatives in November.
The call was the second time Speaker Pelosi and former Vice President Biden have spoken since the president’s disastrous defeat in the June 27 presidential debate against Trump, according to four sources briefed on the call, reported by CNN on Thursday. The sources also told CNN that Speaker Pelosi did not tell former Vice President Biden to drop out of the race.
The report came just hours before The Washington Post reported that former President Barack Obama recently told allies that he thought Biden should reconsider running.
Adam Schiff urges Biden to drop out of presidential race amid dwindling credibility of Democratic Party
Representative Nancy Pelosi has reportedly clashed with President Biden over his low approval ratings as a presidential candidate. (Getty Images)
Regarding the call with Pelosi, Biden fired back, saying he had seen polls that showed he could win, a source told the outlet.
Another source said Biden had become defensive about the polls, and at one point Pelosi called Mike Donilon, a longtime Biden adviser, asking to discuss the data.
It’s unclear when the call took place, but a CNN source said it took place sometime last week. Pelosi and Biden also spoke in early July.
A spokesperson for Speaker Pelosi told Fox News Digital that the congresswoman does not comment on private conversations with the president.
“Speaker Pelosi respects the confidentiality of her meetings and conversations with the President of the United States. Unfortunately, an onslaught of reporters based on anonymous sources has misrepresented the conversations the Speaker had with the President,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Pelosi is a longtime ally of Biden, having led House Democrats during Biden’s two terms as vice president and serving as speaker of the House for the first two years of his presidency, helping to pass key pieces of Biden’s agenda, including the American Rescue Plan and a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
After the debate, Pelosi said she supported whatever the president decided, but multiple reports said she urged lawmakers to continue to pressure Biden to reconsider his decision to run for reelection.
Pelosi said she was “confident that Biden will lose” and was “on the phone negotiating to get Biden voted out of the election.”
The Washington Post reports that former President Obama recently told allies that he thinks Biden should reconsider running. (Getty Images)
The campaign has been in turmoil ever since, with calls for Biden to resign growing after his disastrous debate defeat and the campaign thinking that the injury to Trump’s right ear in the assassination attempt had weakened those calls.
But on Wednesday, ranking Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California called on Biden to back down, saying in a statement to Fox News Digital that he has “serious concerns about whether the president can defeat President Donald Trump in November.”
Reuters, citing a senior White House source with direct knowledge of the matter, reported Thursday that Pelosi supported Schiff’s request for Biden to drop the election, but her office did not address the report when asked by Fox News Digital. Schiff and Pelosi are both House members from California.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Biden and former President Trump faced off again in a key election debate in late June, and the Biden campaign has been in turmoil ever since. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“Nancy is fully involved in this. She will not fail. Schiff will not move without her approval,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
Last week, several House Democrats The Hill Pelosi had reportedly advised members of the conference to support Biden before a broader discussion took place about whether he was the best candidate to beat President Trump.
“I’ve spoken to her and she’s very concerned,” one House Democrat told The Hill. “She’s not like, ‘We’re sticking with this guy.'”
Fox News’ Brian Flood and Chris Pandolfo and Reuters contributed to this report.
