Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) threatened to go public with concerns over President Biden's cognitive decline and ability to lead if he refused to end his re-election bid, according to a new report from the Daily Mail.
Biden had vowed to stay in the race until a shocking decision to step down on July 21. He continued to hold on despite weeks of public and private pressure from prominent Democrat lawmakers, donors and strategists.
Both White House and Democratic Party insiders have reported that a group of the most prominent left-wing politicians in the country including former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Pelosi increased pressure on the president in private conversations.
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According to a new report from the Daily Mail, Pelosi, 84, threatened to go public with her concerns over Biden's abilities if he refused to step aside. These concerns were conveyed directly to the president in a phone conversation in which Pelosi threatened to publish her own damaging poll information.
The former House speaker's demands were so effective that they triggered a "come to Jesus moment" for Biden, who then ordered his staffers to draft a letter of resignation from the race.
Tensions between the two prominent Democrats appear to remain, as the two have not spoken since.
Pelosi has denied her role in forcing the president to step aside. When asked whether she participated in a pressure campaign, Pelosi claimed that she did not make any direct phone calls.
The longtime Democrat leader appeared to contradict her statements during a recent interview with the New Yorker, however.
"I love him so much. I think he's been a really a fantastic president of the United States. So I really wanted him to make a decision of a better campaign. Because they were not facing the fact of what was happening," Pelosi told the New Yorker. "Just a little background. I've never been that impressed with his political operation."
When asked to clarify, she confirmed that she was talking about President Biden's political operation. "Yeah, I'm not. I mean, I just haven't. They won the White House, bravo," Pelosi said.
"But so my concern was this ain't happening and we have to make a decision for this to happen and the president has to make the decision for that to happen. Let me just say, I won't say necessarily I knew what I was doing at that time. I knew what I was doing in the whole thing, not just that ship," the former House speaker went on to say.
