Joe Biden Reportedly Loses Top Democrats as Pressure Grows to Stand Aside

President Joe Biden continues to face pressure to end his 2024 campaign, with leading Democratic figures reportedly urging him to withdraw from the race.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have all spoken with Biden amid fears he will not beat Donald Trump in November, multiple news organizations have reported, citing unnamed sources.

Schumer and Jeffries, the top two Democrats in Congress, are said to have both privately told Biden they were concerned about the president’s chances of victory and that it might be best that he drop out of the race, The New York Times and ABC News reported.

Pelosi is also said to have relayed fears that the polls suggest Biden will not win the 2024 election, CNN reported—though none of the sources cited in the report indicated whether the California congresswoman specifically said the president should not seek a second term.

The slew of reporting has led some political experts to suggest that the leading Democratic figures are leaking details about the private discussions with the president to news outlets themselves to increase pressure on Biden.

Biden, 81, has faced ongoing calls to end his reelection bid in the wake of a stumbling performance on June 27 in this election cycle’s first presidential debate, which highlighted concerns about his physical and cognitive ability to run for office again.

Fears over Biden’s ability to run for reelection continued during a recent NATO summit in Washington, D.C., where Biden mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” and introduced Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.”

Schumer is said to have met with Biden at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Saturday and told the president it would be best for the party if he ended his campaign.

Schumer’s office put out a statement on Saturday saying the New York senator had a “good meeting” with Biden. The meeting initially received little notice as it occurred on July 13, the same day an assassination attempt was made on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Schumer said: “Unless ABC’s source is Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation. Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.”

Jeffries, a New York representative, is also said to have expressed similar concerns directly to Biden in private discussions.

Reacting to the reports, a spokesperson for Jeffries told ABC News: “The letter sent by Leader Hakeem Jeffries to his House Democratic colleagues speaks for itself. It was a private conversation that will remain private.”

In a July 12 letter to House Democrats, Jeffries said that during a meeting with Biden he “directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together.” The letter did not say whether Jeffries told Biden he should drop out of the race.

It is unclear exactly when Pelosi is said to have addressed her concerns about the polls in a phone call with Biden.

A spokesperson for Pelosi told CNN that the former House speaker has been in California since July 12 and has not spoken with the president since.

On July 10, Pelosi did not specifically say she wanted Biden to stay in the race when pressed by MSNBC‘s Morning Joe. Instead, she replied, “Whatever he decides, we go with.”

Ezra Klein, a political analyst and podcaster, was among those who suggested that Schumer’s and Jeffries’ teams leaked reports of their private conversations with Biden to the press.

“If the top Democrats wanted to shut down the replace-Biden movement quickly, they could. They don’t,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Klein added in a separate post: “It’s not just that Schumer told Biden he needed to step aside. It’s that Biden didn’t step aside, and so now the meeting is being leaked to build pressure and signal to others that they can act.”

While sharing screenshots of headlines about the meetings and phone call, pollster Nate Silver wrote on the platform, “So they basically held an intervention with Biden, and it didn’t work, so now they’re leaking the details publicly.”

Newsweek has contacted the offices of Biden, Schumer, Jeffries and Pelosi for comment via email.

Biden has long pushed back on suggestions that he should end his reelection campaign, insisting he is still the right candidate to beat Trump in November.

In a statement regarding the reports that leading Democrats have asked Biden to withdraw from the race, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, “The President told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families.”

On Wednesday, California Representative Adam Schiff became the latest Democratic member of Congress to publicly call on Biden to end his presidential campaign.

Schiff said, “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November.”