Senator Chuck Schumer “forcefully” urged President Joe Biden behind closed doors to exit the race, ABC News reports, though the senator’s office called the claim “idle speculation.”
“This was a one-on-one meeting, the Senate leader and the president, in which Chuck Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be better for Biden, better for the Democratic Party, and better for the country if he’d bow out of the race,” ABC News correspondent Johnathan Karl said, adding that Schumer’s office didn’t deny reports, but that he was conveying the caucus views in the meeting.
Schumer’s office, while not issuing an outright denial, pushed back on the claim in a quick and direct statement.
“Unless ABC's source is Senator 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," a spokesperson for the Majority Leader wrote.
The president’s reprieve during calls for party and national unity amidst an assassination attempt against his opponent was short-lived, with additional Democratic forces organizing a push against Biden in recent days.
Despite polls showing Biden holding or gaining ground since the debate, and forecasters like 538 projecting an electoral victory for the Democratic candidate, an onslaught of donors, pundits, and now down-ballot representatives have only intensified the calls to quit.
Biden — who clarified in an interview with BET on Wednesday that he wouldn’t exit the race barring “some medical condition” forcing him out — has remained defiant, despite testing positive for COVID later that evening.
The Senate Majority Leader, one of Biden’s most vocal advocates on Capitol Hill, reportedly pushed back a “virtual confirmation” vote for Biden to formally become the nominee weeks ahead of the convention, a move which the campaign hoped would be a nail in the coffin on talks of Biden’s future in the race.
