MILWAUKEE – President Biden could still cling to power and refuse to relinquish the Democratic nomination, sources close to the 81-year-old president tell The Post, despite speculation that he may step aside this weekend after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined mutineers urging him to retire.
Axios’ Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen — two of the best-sourced and most respected political journalists in Washington — reported Thursday that “several top Democrats” believe the commander in chief is now under such intense pressure that he will indeed step aside.
Sources close to Biden said they weren’t so sure — even after a torrent of reports Wednesday indicating that both Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had privately warned Biden that polling shows he could lose in a landslide, dooming other Democrats on the Nov. 5 ballot, while Biden campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly warned donor funds were shriveling.
“I think anyone who says they know what’s going on in Biden’s mind is lying,” one source close to the White House told The Post. “But it does seem that the winds have changed this morning.”
“I know Biden’s mind well. He’s so f—ing stubborn,” the source said.
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Another Biden insider said: “His mind may be changing, but I don’t think these people would know that one way or the other. I don’t think anyone does except his family [and White House advisers] Steve [Ricchetti], Mike [Donilon] and Anthony [Bernal.”
A third Biden source said that Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis, which forced him to cut shot a trip to Nevada on Wednesday, has bought him some time as he recuperates at his Delaware vacation home.
“I do not think he drops this weekend when he has COVID,” this person said. “I also do not think he drops until he sees a plan in place for a replacement and not sure that work has been done.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, is widely believed to be Biden’s most likely replacement atop the Democratic ticket.
“I think he is very prideful and if [he] sees a path, he will not drop out,” the third source said. “But I also think if they cannot show him that someone else can win he will think ‘then I am staying.’”
But on Thursday, the Biden re-election campaign told reporters they are “not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not at the top of the ticket.”
The precise internal polling that Pelosi and Schumer shared with Biden is unclear, but it’s believed to reflect a dramatic drop in support and enthusiasm for the incumbent following his dismal debate performance against former President Donald Trump on June 27.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) told The Post he will stick with Biden unless he bails.
“It’s a bunch of crap. I just spent two days with Biden in Las Vegas,” Clyburn said in an interview Thursday morning. “I’m still riding with Biden.”
But Clyburn added, “If it’s not Biden, I’m riding with Harris.”
Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, told The Post that the Axios report suggesting Biden would drop out as soon as this weekend is “fundamentally false.”
