Joe Biden officially withdrew from the presidential race on July 20, following mounting pressure after a lackluster debate performance.
According to insiders who spoke with the Daily Mail, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi played a decisive role in Biden’s decision to exit, delivering an ultimatum the night before his announcement.
Four sources with direct knowledge of the situation revealed that while Biden was recuperating from COVID-19 at his family home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Pelosi sent an “urgent message” to Biden.
The message made it clear that if Biden did not step down, Pelosi would publicly voice her concerns about his ability to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming November election.
“The ultimatum was clear: Drop out now—or Pelosi trashes her political ally, and friend of over 50 years, on the global stage,” the Daily Mail reported. One insider mentioned that Pelosi even threatened to release polling data to support her claims during a phone call with Biden, pushing him to draft his withdrawal letter.
Both the White House and Pelosi’s office have denied that this phone conversation took place.
In his first television interview after withdrawing from the race, Biden told CBS, “The polls we had showed that it was a neck and neck race, would’ve been down to the wire. But what happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic.”
He further explained, “And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic—you’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say [something]… and I thought it’d be a real distraction.”
