Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has denied that he was part of a coordinated effort to pressure President Biden to drop out of the race during an interview on "The View." despite being one of the first to publicly ask him to withdraw.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) claims he was not part of a "coordinated effort" to pressure President Biden to drop out of the race despite being one of the first to publicly ask him to withdraw.
In an interview on "The View" on Wednesday, Schiff said, "I can't speak to the private efforts that either Speaker Pelosi or Chuck Schumer or Hakeem Jeffries were undertaking, because I really wasn't part of those internal discussions, so I don't know what they were conveying to the president except that they were conveying the feedback they got from members of the House and Senate."
Schiff Denies Coordinated Effort to Pressure Biden Out of Race
He continued, "I can only speak for myself. I wasn't part of a coordinated effort."
Schiff was one of the first prominent Democrats to publicly call on Biden to drop out of the race in the weeks following the president's disastrous debate performance.
Schiff Denies Coordinated Effort to Pressure Biden Out of Race
In an interview with The New York Times, Schiff said he voiced concerns over Biden's candidacy during a Democratic fundraiser before publicly calling on him to bow out.
"I think if he is our nominee, I think we lose," he said, according to the Times. "And we may very, very well lose the Senate and lose our chance to take back the House."
Schiff Denies Coordinated Effort to Pressure Biden Out of Race
Schiff's comments come as Biden faces increasing pressure from within his own party to drop out of the race. A number of Democratic lawmakers have privately expressed concerns about Biden's age and mental fitness, and some have even begun to publicly call for him to step aside.
In a recent poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post, 62% of Democrats said they would prefer a different nominee in 2024.
Despite the pressure, Biden has said that he intends to run for re-election. In an interview with CBS News, Biden said, "I'm not going to let the Republican Party decide who's going to be the next president of the United States."
It remains to be seen whether Biden will be able to overcome the challenges he faces and win the Democratic nomination in 2024. However, Schiff's denial of a coordinated effort to pressure Biden out of the race suggests that there may be some fractures within the Democratic Party over Biden's candidacy.
In addition to Schiff, a number of other prominent Democrats have also publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race. These include former South Carolina Rep. Joe Cunningham, former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
However, a number of other Democrats have come to Biden's defense, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Pelosi has said that Biden is "the strongest candidate to lead our country," and Schumer has said that he is "100% behind" Biden.
It remains to be seen whether Biden will be able to overcome the challenges he faces and win the Democratic nomination in 2024. However, the fact that a number of prominent Democrats have publicly called on him to drop out of the race suggests that there is significant unease within the party about his candidacy.
