Longtime aides to President Joe Biden are convinced he will have to drop out of his reelection campaign and are working on ways to get him to leave the race, three sources told The New York Times.
The aides have said they will try to convince the president to exit the race, the Times reported. Biden remains convinced he can defeat former President Donald Trump, even though national polls and polls in key battleground states show him behind, the Times said.
"Unequivocally, this is not true," Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, told the Times. "President Biden's team is strongly behind him."
"Patently false," T.J. Ducklo, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, told the Times. "This team stands with the president."
Other people close to Biden, including his family, believe he should stay in the race despite his widely criticized debate performance, the Times reported.
Ten House Democrats have called for Biden to drop out, along with Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Celebrities like George Clooney, Stephen King, and Rob Reiner have also called for Biden to exit the race.
Biden also believes he has a better shot at beating Trump than Vice President Kamala Harris, the Times reported. Biden's team believes it will take hard numbers to convince him to step aside, like polling showing his support has eroded.
A memo distributed to staff on Thursday and obtained by the Times reaffirmed the view Biden is still the best candidate to beat Trump.
"The movement we have seen, while real, is not a sea change in the state of the race," read the memo, written by Jen O'Malley Dillon, the campaign chair, and Julie Chávez Rodríguez, Biden's campaign manager.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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