A new book about the 2024 election says that House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., secretly told President Joe Biden not to debate Donald Trump last year.
Reporters Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes talked to Tara Palmeri, who used to work for Politico, about some of the things they learned while writing their book “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House.”
In the days before Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, they talked about a secret disagreement between his team and Democratic Party members, which also included Pelosi.
Pelosi reportedly asked Biden not to take part in the famous debate against Trump. Biden’s poor, stumbling performance made other Democrats lose faith in him, which ultimately caused him to drop out of the race.
“Joe Biden wanted to debate really badly,” Allen said. “He wanted this fight. He relished it. You’ve heard Biden before say things like ‘I want to meet him out behind the schoolyard.’ He really wanted to debate.”
He continued, “Pelosi went to him and tried to play to his ego, saying, ‘You shouldn’t lower yourself, you shouldn’t lower the presidency to Donald Trump.’ Even in her mind, she would say to him, ‘Don’t roll around in the mud.’ Remember, she hates Donald Trump…She kind of lays it on thick with Biden and says, ‘This is going to lower you’ because she knows that might appeal to him.”
Allen said Pelosi most likely did not believe that Biden could manage a debate against Trump.
“If she thought Biden was going to beat Donald Trump in a debate, she would have been telling him to debate,” Allen said.
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Along with Biden’s former advisor Anita Dunn, Parnes said that other people worked behind the scenes to tell him not to debate.
Regrettably, Parnes expressed that the campaign found itself in a difficult situation as his poll numbers declined.
To set the stage for Biden’s debate with Trump in June, Pelosi said she would “never recommend” a debate with Trump but thought it would be “a good one.”
Pelosi played a big role in getting Biden to drop out of the race after the debate made him sure he couldn’t beat Trump.
The book also revealed former President Barack Obama “lacked confidence” in Kamala Harris’s ability to defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 election and quietly “worked behind the scenes” to orchestrate a “mini-primary” following then-President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race, according to a new book.
The book reveals the turmoil within the Democratic Party as it scrambled to find a replacement for Biden, offering the surprising revelation that Obama did not want Harris to be the nominee.
The reporting reveals a deep sense of skepticism at the highest levels of the Democratic establishment, despite Obama ultimately endorsing Harris five days after Biden handed her the reins.
NBC political reporter Jonathan Allen, who co-wrote the book with The Hill’s senior correspondent Amie Parnes, said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Tuesday that sources told them Obama “didn’t think that she was the best choice for Democrats” and instead pushed for an open convention.
“So President Obama absolutely did not think that Joe Biden should continue, according to our sources close to President Obama. And he also didn’t want Kamala Harris to be the replacement for Biden. He didn’t think that she was the best choice for Democrats,” Allen said. “And he worked really behind the scenes for a long time to try to have a mini primary or an open convention or mini primary leading to an open convention. He did not have faith in her ability to win the election.
“So, and as it turned out, she didn’t win, but he was really working against her,” Allen continued.
“In one moment, he had set up a phone call with Congressman [Jim] Clyburn from South Carolina on the day that Joe Biden handed off the baton to Kamala Harris, and Obama had set up a call with Clyburn for like 5:30 that afternoon,” the co-author continued.
“And Clyburn thought to himself, ‘This guy is going to try to rope me into the open convention thing. I better get my endorsement of Harris out there fast.’ So this is a short conversation and when Harris talked to Obama on the day that Biden handed off to her, Obama was unwilling to give his endorsement then,” Allen added.
