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The president’s allies in the chamber he so revered feared he would drag them down and spoil his own legacy, and played a more assertive role than was previously known in his stepping aside.
Senator Jack Reed, the West Point graduate, Army veteran and Rhode Island Democrat who leads the Armed Services Committee, is hardly known as a troublemaker prone to rash statements.
So when Senate Democrats gathered privately with President Biden’s top political advisers last month to assess Mr. Biden’s capacity to remain the Democratic presidential nominee, the decision by the normally taciturn Mr. Reed to be among the first to speak was notable. What was even more remarkable was what he said, according to two attendees: If Mr. Biden wanted to stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance that underscored concerns about his condition and mental acuity, he should submit to examination by two independent neurologists who were willing to report their findings at a news conference.
It was a striking position for a Democratic loyalist to take, and one that underscored the near unanimity among Senate Democrats in the room that day that Mr. Biden should not continue as the party’s nominee. It was just one of a series of extraordinary moments during a closed-door session on July 11 that would lead Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, to schedule a face-to-face meeting with the president days later in which he urged Mr. Biden to withdraw.
The effort by Mr. Schumer and Senate Democrats to persuade Mr. Biden to step aside was a more pivotal factor than previously known in bringing about the president’s exit from the race, as he found himself with scant support in the chamber that had been his political home for 36 years.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, who appeared on television hinting at her concerns about Mr. Biden and privately made the case that he could not win, has widely been credited as the chief architect of the quiet but intense drive to sideline the president. But behind the scenes, Mr. Schumer and his colleagues — along with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader, and former President Barack Obama — were also playing a powerful role.
Mr. Schumer was spurred to action after it became abundantly clear that Senate Democrats, Mr. Biden’s closest political allies on Capitol Hill, believed that he was putting them and his legacy at risk should he stay in the race against former President Donald J. Trump, an assessment that helped move the president to his ultimate choice.
The first glimmers of discontent emerged at Senate Democrats’ weekly Tuesday luncheon in early July, their first opportunity since the late-June debate debacle to assemble and candidly share their views. They were not reticent. Multiple senators were up in arms about the president’s showing and demeanor in the face-off with Mr. Trump. Of about a dozen Democrats who spoke, attendees counted just three who were supportive of the president remaining a candidate.
“It knocked my socks off how upset and angry people were, how the overwhelming majority got up and spoke really strongly,” Mr. Schumer said in an interview.
This account is based on multiple interviews with those with firsthand knowledge of the events, most of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss details of what are typically confidential meetings.
The Tuesday luncheon came the day after Mr. Biden had released a letter to members of Congress insisting that he would stay in the race and expressing frustration with “elites” who were calling for him to step aside. The missive landed like a bomb on Capitol Hill and fueled a sense of panic at Democrats’ weekly confab in the Senate, where two of the party’s most endangered incumbents — Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana — said they could not survive with Mr. Biden on the ballot.
Democrats were particularly alarmed about a political ad airing in Montana against Mr. Tester that featured the senator saying Mr. Biden was “absolutely, 100 percent with it” — a position that was increasingly hard to defend after the debate.
After the lunch, Mr. Schumer immediately reached out to White House officials and insisted on a high-level meeting between Mr. Biden’s closest aides and Democratic senators. The Biden advisers were reluctant to grant one, apparently fearing it could blow up on them.
Mr. Schumer had been publicly asserting support for Mr. Biden and encouraging his colleagues to take their concerns privately to their contacts in the administration. But now, he sought to force the hand of the president’s team, threatening to publicly demand the meeting if they continued to refuse. He also warned that if they did not agree, senators would go public with their reservations in a flurry of letters urging Mr. Biden to step aside.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/29/us/politics/senate-democrats-biden-drop-out.html
Senator Jack Reed, the West Point graduate, Army veteran and Rhode Island Democrat who leads the Armed Services Committee, is hardly known as a troublemaker prone to rash statements.
So when Senate Democrats gathered privately with President Biden’s top political advisers last month to assess Mr. Biden’s capacity to remain the Democratic presidential nominee, the decision by the normally taciturn Mr. Reed to be among the first to speak was notable. What was even more remarkable was what he said, according to two attendees: If Mr. Biden wanted to stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance that underscored concerns about his condition and mental acuity, he should submit to examination by two independent neurologists who were willing to report their findings at a news conference.
It was a striking position for a Democratic loyalist to take, and one that underscored the near unanimity among Senate Democrats in the room that day that Mr. Biden should not continue as the party’s nominee. It was just one of a series of extraordinary moments during a closed-door session on July 11 that would lead Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, to schedule a face-to-face meeting with the president days later in which he urged Mr. Biden to withdraw.
The effort by Mr. Schumer and Senate Democrats to persuade Mr. Biden to step aside was a more pivotal factor than previously known in bringing about the president’s exit from the race, as he found himself with scant support in the chamber that had been his political home for 36 years.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, who appeared on television hinting at her concerns about Mr. Biden and privately made the case that he could not win, has widely been credited as the chief architect of the quiet but intense drive to sideline the president. But behind the scenes, Mr. Schumer and his colleagues — along with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader, and former President Barack Obama — were also playing a powerful role.
Mr. Schumer was spurred to action after it became abundantly clear that Senate Democrats, Mr. Biden’s closest political allies on Capitol Hill, believed that he was putting them and his legacy at risk should he stay in the race against former President Donald J. Trump, an assessment that helped move the president to his ultimate choice.
The first glimmers of discontent emerged at Senate Democrats’ weekly Tuesday luncheon in early July, their first opportunity since the late-June debate debacle to assemble and candidly share their views. They were not reticent. Multiple senators were up in arms about the president’s showing and demeanor in the face-off with Mr. Trump. Of about a dozen Democrats who spoke, attendees counted just three who were supportive of the president remaining a candidate.
“It knocked my socks off how upset and angry people were, how the overwhelming majority got up and spoke really strongly,” Mr. Schumer said in an interview.
This account is based on multiple interviews with those with firsthand knowledge of the events, most of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss details of what are typically confidential meetings.
The Tuesday luncheon came the day after Mr. Biden had released a letter to members of Congress insisting that he would stay in the race and expressing frustration with “elites” who were calling for him to step aside. The missive landed like a bomb on Capitol Hill and fueled a sense of panic at Democrats’ weekly confab in the Senate, where two of the party’s most endangered incumbents — Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana — said they could not survive with Mr. Biden on the ballot.
Democrats were particularly alarmed about a political ad airing in Montana against Mr. Tester that featured the senator saying Mr. Biden was “absolutely, 100 percent with it” — a position that was increasingly hard to defend after the debate.
After the lunch, Mr. Schumer immediately reached out to White House officials and insisted on a high-level meeting between Mr. Biden’s closest aides and Democratic senators. The Biden advisers were reluctant to grant one, apparently fearing it could blow up on them.
Mr. Schumer had been publicly asserting support for Mr. Biden and encouraging his colleagues to take their concerns privately to their contacts in the administration. But now, he sought to force the hand of the president’s team, threatening to publicly demand the meeting if they continued to refuse. He also warned that if they did not agree, senators would go public with their reservations in a flurry of letters urging Mr. Biden to step aside.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/29/us/politics/senate-democrats-biden-drop-out.html
