Nancy Pelosi helped pressure Joe Biden to end his 2024 campaign
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi kept the pressure on former President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 election, worried Democrats could lose the House or Senate.
WASHINGTON — Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepped down from her powerful perch leading House Democrats nearly a year and a half ago. But behind the scenes, sources say, Pelosi, a Democrat from San Francisco, played a critical role in delicately nudging President Joe Biden to the exits.
Although Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Pelosi’s protégé, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, also told Biden about Democrats' concerns about him continuing his campaign, three sources told NBC News that any time the issue of his dropping out began to die down and lose momentum, they viewed Pelosi as the one fanning the flames.
Unlike Schumer and Jeffries, Pelosi is no longer on the Democratic leadership team and could afford to be more front and center in the effort to push Biden out after his disastrous debate performance last month.
“I think Pelosi continues to show she’s a master political tactician,” a House Democratic leadership aide said Sunday.
Throughout Democrats’ painful three-week ordeal, Pelosi never publicly called on Biden to quit the race; neither did Schumer or Jeffries. Doing so could infuriate Biden and cause him to become intransigent and never step aside.
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