Former President Barack Obama unleashed his fury on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris just one day following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, according to explosive new details in ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl’s upcoming book.
The confrontation, detailed in Karl’s “Retribution,” reveals a stark disagreement between two of the Democratic Party’s most powerful figures over how the party should select its 2024 presidential nominee.
Obama contacted Pelosi immediately after her public endorsement of Harris became known.
According to a Pelosi confidant who spoke with Karl, Obama’s message was unmistakable in its anger.
“The Obamas were not happy,” the confidant told Karl.
“This person summed up Obama’s message to Pelosi as, essentially, ‘What the f*** did you just do?’”
Pelosi’s response to the former president was equally direct.
She told Obama that “That train has left the station,” making clear that the endorsement was final and the situation could not be reversed.
The endorsement caught Obama off guard because he and Pelosi had maintained regular communication as Biden appeared to be moving toward dropping out of the race.
The two Democratic heavyweights had reached what they believed was a firm agreement regarding the nomination process.
Karl wrote that Obama and Pelosi “agreed Harris should not simply be handed the nomination unchallenged.”
The understanding between them was clear: there should be a competitive process to determine the Democratic nominee rather than an immediate coronation of Harris.
Both leaders had committed to remaining neutral in the early stages.
“Therefore, Obama and Pelosi – arguably the two most influential figures in the Democratic Party – had privately agreed to abstain from making any endorsements,” Karl reported.
The backdrop to this political drama was Biden’s catastrophic June 27, 2024 debate performance against Trump.
His weak showing was followed by an unimpressive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, during which Biden couldn’t confirm whether he had reviewed his own debate performance.
Biden’s problems mounted with a series of embarrassing mistakes.
At the NATO summit, he mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” and called Harris “Vice President Trump.”
These gaffes intensified concerns about the then 81-year-old president’s mental sharpness.
During a Las Vegas trip, Biden contracted COVID-19 and appeared so physically weakened that Secret Service agents seemingly had to assist him into a black SUV.
He was transported to his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware vacation home to recuperate.
Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the reelection race on July 21 from Delaware, releasing a statement followed quickly by his endorsement of Harris.
The next day around 1 p.m., Pelosi issued her own endorsement, prompting Obama’s angry response.
“The former president wanted to know what had happened. Why had Pelosi issued a statement endorsing Harris so soon? Hadn’t he and Pelosi agreed days earlier that party leaders anointing the vice president as Biden’s replacement would be a mistake?” Karl wrote.
Sources offered conflicting accounts of the phone call’s tone, the Daily Mail highlighted.
An Obama source told Karl the conversation amounted to “good-natured ribbing” and that the former president wasn’t actually angry. However, a source close to Pelosi described Obama as “genuinely irritated,” with the expletive accurately capturing his tone.
A senior Biden adviser who had also served in the Obama White House offered a revealing assessment of Obama’s true concerns.
The adviser told Karl that Obama opposed the quick endorsement because he doubted Harris could defeat Trump in the general election.
“There’s only one black Jesus,” the Biden adviser said, suggesting Obama believed his own electoral success couldn’t be replicated by Harris.
Even Pelosi’s husband Paul expressed surprise at his wife’s decision.
“Kamala?” he asked Nancy Pelosi, according to Karl’s reporting. Nancy Pelosi’s terse reply was “Don’t start with me.”
Pelosi had historically harbored reservations about Harris.
She privately told Biden in 2020 that she had concerns about him selecting Harris, her fellow Californian, as his running mate. However, major Democratic figures moved swiftly to back Harris.
With no other candidates entering the race, Karl wrote that Pelosi “had no choice.”
“No other candidates had stepped forward – Kamala Harris was it. The only thing Pelosi could do was try to help her win the election,” Karl explained.
