WASHINGTON — Members of President Joe Biden’s family have discussed what an exit from his campaign might look like, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
The overall tone of the conversations has been that any exit plan — should Biden decide to take that step, as some of his closest allies increasingly believe he will — should put the party in the best position to beat former President Donald Trump while also being worthy of the more than five decades he has served the country in elected office, these people said.
Biden’s family members have specifically discussed how he would want to end his re-election bid on his own timing and with a carefully calculated plan in place. Considerations about the impact of the campaign on his health, his family and the stability of the country are among those at the forefront of the discussions, the people familiar with the discussions said.
The prospect of Biden’s considering stepping aside, much less that his family is gaming out a possible exit plan, is an extraordinary development that comes after he has repeatedly said he would not relinquish his position as the presumptive nominee of the party.
But concerns have mounted among party leaders, donors and even officials who are part of his re-election effort with every day that has passed since a devastating debate three weeks ago. At the same time, Democrats are watching Republicans rally around Trump, who just survived an assassination attempt and accepted his party’s nomination Thursday night.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied that any such exit discussions are happening amongst the family.
“That is not happening, period,” he said. “The individuals making those claims are not speaking for his family or his team — and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.”
On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon acknowledged that the campaign has seen some “slippage,” but she said it’s been “a small movement” and insisted Biden is “absolutely” still in the race.
Ron Klain, Biden’s former White House chief of staff and an adviser to him for decades, said in an interview that Biden is hearing the public and private calls for him to exit the race.
“I think he’s feeling the pressure,” said Klain, who has spoken to Biden recently. “I want him to stay in.”
Klain’s take is that it makes no sense for Biden to be pushed aside. He said some in his party underestimate Trump at their own peril and undervalue the fact that Biden is the only one who has beaten him before.
Biden and the people closest to him have felt burned by efforts to push him out that they see as backhanded and disrespectful. The family is distraught and moving through the stages of anger and grief over how people they perceived to be friends have treated the president.
“There was a much more dignified way to do this if this is what they wanted,” a Biden ally said. “This is no way to treat a public servant who has done a lot for this country.”
Discussions about how to game out a fitting plan for Biden to step aside have also played out among senior staff members, not just the president’s family, according to a person close to the re-election effort. Bates also denied these discussions are happening.
The family members Biden has relied on most include first lady Jill Biden, his son Hunter and his sister, Valerie Owens, as well as a few longtime close aides who have been at the core of the discussions.
The conversations about Biden’s political future have raged while he remains at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, sidelined after he tested positive for Covid on Wednesday.
On Thursday, some of Biden’s closest aides were calling trusted allies to get a sense of where they thought his political standing is, according to a person familiar with the phone calls.
A Democratic lawmaker described Biden in this moment as “reflective.” A third person close to Biden described the president as politically “fighting for his life.”
There are growing expectations among some allies that if Biden were to exit, it could be in the coming days. But they also caution that it still is up to him to make the decision and that he is not wired to quit even when he faces seemingly insurmountable adversity.
About the possibility any announcement is imminent, a person close to the Bidens said, “We don’t even know what we’re doing tomorrow.”
Still, Biden is not insusceptible to the mounting pressure from his own party, and he has said himself since the debate that he may consider leaving the race if there were no path for him to win.
“I think it’s inevitable,” a second person close to the re-election effort said of Biden’s withdrawing from the race.
As reports surfaced, including from NBC News, that Biden had shown signs that he could budge from his insistence that he remain the nominee, rumors and reports — some that the president’s allies flatly denied — began to fly. They included speculation about timing of a potential exit, whether Biden would immediately endorse Vice President Kamala Harris and who was on the shortlist to be her vice presidential running mate.
Among the reports: that longtime speechwriter and historian Jon Meacham was penning Biden’s exit remarks.
Meacham rebuffed the account.
“The report is totally false,” he said.
Amid the turmoil the Biden campaign sent out talking points to Democrats, according to a Democratic strategies: “President Biden has not spoken to congressional leadership today. The president is his party’s nominee, having won 14 million votes during the Democratic primary. He’s running for re-election, and that will not change until he wins re-election.”
As many in his own party turned against him, Biden continued this week to check in with allies and gauge their sentiments.
“With all the rumors that I’m leaving, I’m not,” Biden told the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader and MSNBC host, in a phone call Monday, Sharpton said.
“I will support whatever you decide,” Sharpton said he told the president.
Sharpton said in an interview Thursday that legacy is something Biden “has to think of” as he contemplates his political future. “If there’s anyone that could make a comeback … it’s Joe Biden. Whether he chooses to or not, I don’t know.”
Some in Biden’s camp had hoped he would be able to weather the storm of pressure for him to step aside — that news events, including the Republican National Convention, would turn the national conversation away from whether and when he might end his campaign. But even the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday did little to quell the furor around Biden. If anything, Democrats have since turned up the heat.
A major factor driving the private pressure on Biden is the fear among Democrats that his candidacy could rob them not only of the White House and the Senate but also of a chance to flip the House to their control. That helps explain why senior lawmakers have pushed on Biden to reconsider his decision to stay in the race.
“The House is on the brink,” said Brian Wolff, the treasurer of the House Majority PAC, the main super PAC supporting House Democratic candidates. “These candidates don’t deserve that.”
Wolff said Democratic incumbents and challengers in tough races cannot risk splintering their own voter coalitions by publicly taking one side or the other as Biden considers his options.
“They can’t afford to alienate the base that wants to support Biden or the base that wants someone else,” he said.
