OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
1:44 PM – Friday, July 12, 2024
Concerns regarding President Joe Biden’s chances of defeating former President Donald Trump in November are growing among the House Democratic Caucus.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) met with the president on Thursday night to share the views of the group with reference to Biden’s Thursday press conference and his ongoing re-election quest.
The meeting, which was announced in a letter to colleagues on Friday morning, was called for after Jeffries addressed a wide range of House Democrats in the two weeks following the debate last month, raising doubts about Biden’s suitability to lead the presidential ticket.
According to a person close to Biden, the meeting happened following his crucial press appearance that evening, The Hill reported.
“On behalf of the House Democratic Caucus, I requested and was graciously granted a private meeting with President Joe Biden. That meeting occurred yesterday evening,” Jeffries reportedly said. “In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together,” he continued.
The purpose of the discussion, which took place the same evening as Biden’s “high-stakes” press conference to wrap up the NATO summit, was to assuage voters’ and Democrat politicians’ fears about Biden’s potential to remain the party’s nominee. In an appearance that elicited mixed reactions, some Democrats praised the president for his handling of foreign policy and national security challenges, while others called attention to a series of gaffes that seemed to have dominated the evening.
The president took questions for around fifty minutes.
“Four House Democrats have urged Biden to bow out since Thursday night’s high-stakes press conference — Reps. Jim Himes (Conn.), Scott Peters (Calif.), Eric Sorensen (Ill.) and Brittany Pettersen (Colo.) — bringing the total number of Democrats in the lower chamber publicly encouraging him to withdraw to 17. Sen. Peter Welch (Vt.) is the only Democrat in the upper chamber to publicly urge Biden to step aside thus far,” according to The Hill.
Since Biden’s debate performance last month, in which he stammered and consistently seemed to lose his train of thought, Jeffries has been reticent in his remarks.
The performance sparked calls for Biden’s resignation within the party, and those requests have only intensified since. Biden, meanwhile, has insisted that he plans to remain in the race.
On the day of the debate, Jeffries told reporters that he did not believe Biden should resign. However, a few hours later, he avoided answering another question of whether the president is the best spokesperson for the Democrat party, national security, and other matters, as well as pointing out two serious blunders that Biden made in the most recent press conference.
“Until he articulates a way forward in terms of his vision for America at this moment, I’m gonna reserve comment about anything relative to where we are at this moment other than to say I stand behind the ticket,” Jeffries later said.
“Until that process has concluded, I’m not going to address what any outside stakeholders may have to say about this matter,” he added.
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