Host of “Pod Save America” went In the latest episode on Friday, individuals surrounding President Biden accused the White House of picking a losing battle and spreading false rumors.
The hosts, who worked with Biden in the Obama administration, have led a campaign calling for Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race against former President Trump, leading to harsh comments from the Biden campaign about “self-serving podcasters.”
One of the co-hosts, Dan Pfeiffer, criticized Biden’s team on the podcast for what he called a media attack, as well as George Clooney, who wrote an op-ed this week calling on Biden to step down, former Obama adviser David Axelrod, who has long questioned Biden’s candidacy, and even former President Obama.
“The incompetence of being a political activist and spending your time fighting ‘Pod Save America,’ and David Axelrod and George Clooney and the most popular man in the Democratic Party, when you’re struggling to win over black voters, is just insane.”
Another host, Jon Favreau, said he had heard from reporters that people at the White House were trying to spread rumors that he had written Clooney’s op-ed.
“I don’t know who in the White House is doing this, but I firmly believe it’s not friends that we know. Not just because they wouldn’t do this to us, but because I think they’re smarter than that, because this is just a really stupid thing to do,” he said.
“Why are you wasting your time on us?” Favreau later added. “Fuck it, just hit us up.” [President Trump.] Or helping candidates get their message across.”
Neither the Biden campaign nor the White House have publicly accused Obama of being involved in the calls for Biden to step down, but MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a Biden ally, said on his show Thursday that the Biden campaign sees Obama as having a hand in the unrest.
“One thing I need to highlight here so viewers understand what’s going on behind the scenes is that the Biden campaign and many Democratic leaders believe that Barack Obama is quietly orchestrating this behind the scenes,” Scarborough said.
Co-moderator Mika Brzezinski, who had defended Biden amid calls for him to resign following his disastrous debate defeat two weeks ago, specifically implicated Obama in Clooney’s op-ed.
Axelrod and his podcast co-hosts were early members of a growing chorus of Democrats who say Biden is likely to lose to Trump following Biden’s shaky performance in last month’s debate. Now, more than 20 House members have called on Biden to resign, and Democratic donors are reportedly panicking as well.
Clooney, writing in The New York Times on Wednesday, said he witnessed Biden’s approval rating drop at a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles earlier this summer.
“I’m shocked to say this, but the Joe Biden I was sitting with at a fundraiser three weeks ago was not the ‘big’ Joe Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same person we all witnessed at the debates,” the Hollywood star wrote.
Later that day, New York Times reporter Annie Khan wrote that Biden’s team was fighting back.
“A source familiar with the planning of the event said, ‘The president was there for more than three hours, while Clooney quickly posed for photos and then left,'” she said. Post to X.
Biden has repeatedly said he’s not going anywhere and still believes he is the party’s best choice to beat Trump.
Biden said at a press conference Thursday night that he is “the best qualified person to run for president.”
“I believe I’m the best person to govern,” Biden said, “and the best person to win. But there are other people who could beat Trump. But starting from scratch would be a terrible thing.”
“Let’s start there. Number one,” he continued, “the fact is, the thing to consider is that I believe I am the best qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I intend to win again.”
The Hill has reached out to the Biden campaign and the White House for comment.
