Pelosi Made a Stunning Threat to Biden Just Before Dropout: Report

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly extended an offer to President Joe Biden that led him to quickly announce on Sunday that he would not be pursuing a second term.

Politico disclosed that as of Saturday, Biden’s campaign team had been preparing to visit Texas and Georgia this week, assuming he would recover from his COVID-19 infection. However, these plans abruptly changed by that evening.

Pelosi had been working behind the scenes to persuade Biden to withdraw from the race, according to the outlet.

The California congresswoman first hinted at her wavering support during a July 10 interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” following Biden’s poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump on June 27.

MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire asked her, “Does [Biden] have your support to be the head of the Democratic ticket?”

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short,” Pelosi replied.

“He’s beloved, he is respected and people want him to make that decision,” she continued.

Lemire noted Biden’s firm stance that he had no plans to drop out of the race.

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do. And that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with,” Pelosi emphasized.

“The comment ricocheted around the Capitol, a signal to the party she long led that the president’s candidacy and looming nomination were not yet a settled matter,” Politico reported on Sunday.

In hindsight, Pelosi appeared to be nudging Biden toward a different decision.

“On Friday, 13 congressional Democrats called on Biden to exit the race, the most defections in a single day, delivering what would be the fatal blow to his campaign,” NBC News reported.

“That groundswell on Friday of members calling for him to step down was all Nancy’s doing,” a vulnerable House Democrat told the news outlet.

“The gist was that she felt our ability to take back the majority was at risk,” the source added.

Politico revealed that going into the weekend, “Senior Biden aides were bracing for [Pelosi], who’d worked behind the scenes to encourage others in the party toward the kind of collective action that might finally push the president to end his campaign, to go public this week and possibly even disclose Democratic polling clarifying Biden’s dire political straits.”

Polling indicated the president was losing in all the key swing states essential for the election and his support was dwindling in states like Virginia and New Mexico, which he had won easily in 2020.

“Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way,” said one Democrat source familiar with private conversations, according to Politico. “She gave them three weeks of the easy way. It was about to be the hard way.”

On Sunday, Biden declared he was stepping out of the presidential race.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote in a letter to the American people. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”