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 general tone of the conversations has been that any exit plan — if Biden decides to take that step, as some of his closest allies increasingly believe — would have to put the party in the best position to defeat former President Donald Trump while being worthy of the more than five decades he served the country as an elected official, these people said.
Biden’s family members have discussed how he wants to end his reelection campaign, on his own timetable and with a carefully calculated plan. Considerations about the impact of the campaign on his health, his family and the stability of the country are among the main topics of discussion, people familiar with the discussions said.
The prospect of Biden considering stepping down, let alone his family developing a possible exit plan, is an extraordinary development that comes after he has repeatedly said he will not give up his position as the party’s presumptive nominee.
But concerns are growing among party leaders, donors and even officials involved in his reelection campaign as the days pass since the devastating debate three weeks ago. At the same time, Democrats are watching Republicans rally behind Trump, who just survived an assassination attempt and accepted his party’s nomination Thursday night.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied that such exit discussions were taking place within the family.
“That’s not the case, period,” he said. “The people who make those statements don’t speak for his family or his team — and they will be wrong. Keep the faith.”
Ron Klain, Biden’s former White House chief of staff and a Biden adviser for decades, said in an interview that Biden is hearing public and private calls for him to leave the race.
“I think he feels the pressure,” said Klain, who spoke recently with Biden. “I want him to stay in office.”
Klain says it’s foolish to sideline Biden. Some in his party underestimate Trump at their peril and underestimate the fact that Biden is the only one who has beaten him before.
Biden and his family have felt eroded by what they see as backhanded and disrespectful efforts to push him to resign. The family is distraught and has been going through phases of anger and grief over how people they considered friends treated the president.
“There was a much more dignified way to do this if that’s what they wanted,” said one Biden ally. “That’s no way to treat a public servant who has done a lot for this country.”
Discussions about how to develop an appropriate plan for Biden’s departure have also been taking place among members of the leadership team, not just the president’s family, according to a person familiar with the re-election team. Bates also denied that those discussions were taking place.
The family members Biden has leaned on most include first lady Jill Biden, her son Hunter and his sister, Valerie Owens, as well as a few longtime close aides who have been at the heart of the discussions.
Discussions over Biden’s political future are raging as he remains at home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, isolated after testing positive for Covid on Wednesday.
On Thursday, some of Biden’s closest aides called trusted allies to get a sense of their views on his policy stance, according to a person familiar with the calls.
One Democratic lawmaker described Biden at the time as “reflective.” A third person close to Biden described the president as politically “fighting for his life.”
Some allies increasingly expect Biden to step down in the coming days. But they also warn that the decision is his and that he is not prepared to resign, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds.
Of the possibility of an imminent announcement, a person close to the Bidens said: “We don’t even know what we’re going to do tomorrow.”
Still, Biden is not immune to the growing pressure from his own party, and he himself has said since the debate that he might consider leaving the race if there was no chance for him to win.
“I think it’s inevitable,” a second person familiar with the reelection bid said of Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
As reports, including from NBC News, suggested that Biden had shown signs of stepping down as a candidate, rumors and reports, some of which the president’s allies have categorically denied, began to circulate. Speculation included the timing of a possible departure, whether Biden would immediately endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, and who was on the running mate’s shortlist.
Among the reports: that Jon Meacham, a longtime speechwriter and historian, wrote Biden’s exit remarks.
Meacham refuted this claim.
“The report is totally false,” he said.
Amid the turmoil, the Biden campaign sent pitches to Democrats, following a Democratic playbook: “President Biden did not speak to congressional leaders today. The president is the nominee of his party, having won 14 million votes in the Democratic primary. He is running for reelection, and that will not change until he is reelected.”
As many in his own party have turned against him, Biden this week continued to reach out to allies and gauge their sentiments.
“With all the rumors that I’m leaving, I’m not going to,” Biden told the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader and MSNBC host, in a phone call Monday, Sharpton said.
“I will support whatever decision you make,” Sharpton told the president.
Sharpton said in an interview Thursday that Biden “has to think about his legacy” as he considers his political future. “If there’s anybody who could make a comeback … it’s Joe Biden. Whether he chooses him or not, I don’t know.”
Some in Biden’s camp hoped he would be able to weather the storm of pressure to step down — that current events, including the Republican National Convention, would shift the national debate away from whether and when he might end his campaign. But even Trump’s assassination attempt Saturday failed to quell the furor around Biden. If anything, Democrats have since ratcheted up the pressure.
A major factor driving the pressure on Biden is Democrats’ fear that his candidacy could deprive them not only of the White House and the Senate, but also of a chance to flip the House of Representatives under their control. That partly explains why senior lawmakers have been pushing Biden to reconsider his decision to stay in the race.
“The House is on the brink,” said Brian Wolff, treasurer of House Majority PAC, the main super PAC that supports Democratic candidates for the House. “These candidates don’t deserve this.”
Wolff said Democratic incumbents and their challengers in tough races cannot risk shattering their own electoral coalitions by publicly taking sides as Biden weighs his options.
“They can’t afford to alienate the base that wants to support Biden or the base that wants someone else,” he said.
