Former President Barack Obama has told allies that President Joe Biden should seriously consider whether he should stay in the race, as speculation grows he could drop out within days.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Obama – who’s only spoken to Biden once since the disastrous debate – believes Biden’s path to victory has greatly diminished, but thinks the president needs to make the decision to quit himself.
Obama’s view on the state of the race comes after Axios reported that Democratic sources believe the drumbeat to exit the race from party leaders and friends will push Biden to make the decision to step aside as early as this weekend.
‘It feels the most real it’s ever been,’ one senior House Democratic aide told DailyMail.com. Another senior Democratic Hill aide told DailyMail.com that chances are ‘high’ that Biden pulls the plug but the timing is ‘fluid.’
A defiant Biden has insisted publicly that he will be the Democratic nominee and only God or a ‘medical condition’ would compel him to bow out. So far, he’s been supported by family members, first lady Jill Biden and son Hunter, in the decision to stay put.
But privately he’s started to realize that might be untenable, as polling shows him losing to Trump and surveys show widespread concerns about his age and health that he’s unlikely to overcome.
This week private conversations he’s had with top Congressional Democrats have started to leak out, with reports saying Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have delivered to Biden some hard truths.
They warned the president that he will lose the White House – and could take Congressional majorities down with him.
The official line remains that top Democrats didn’t pressure the president to quit.
A spokesperson for Obama declined to comment to The Washington Post.
A source familar with the former president’s thinking told DailyMail.com that Obama ‘continues to see his primary role as a sounding board and counselor for President Biden, as they have long done for each other for many years now.’
‘He believes Joe Biden has been an outstanding president and is protective of him both personally and of the Biden administration’s strong and historic accomplishments,’ the Obama insider added.
A spokesperson for Jeffries also tossed cold water on reports the top House Democrat wanted Biden to go.
‘Leader Hakeem Jeffries privately met with President Joe Biden a week ago. On behalf of the House Democratic caucus, he directly expressed the full breadth of insight, perspective and conclusions reaached about the path forward – after extensive colleague to colleague discussions,’ Jeffries’ spokesperson told ABC News.
‘Any further characterization of the private, one-on-one meeting between President Biden and Leader Jeffries is speculative and uninformed,’ the statement continued. ‘The letter sent by Leader Jeffries to the House Democratic colleagues speaks for itself.’
The letter, released publicly Friday, didn’t give details about the meat of the conversation.
Schumer’s office sang a similar tune.
‘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 told DailyMail.com Wednesday evening.
Overall, 20 Democrats have urged Biden to quit the race.
On Wednesday, Rep. Adam Schiff – who’s on track to win a California Senate seat -made his fears public.
‘While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,’ Schiff said in a statement. ‘And in doing so, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.’
The New York Times reported the day before that Schiff had told a group of Democratic donors at a fundraiser in the Hamptons on Saturday – before the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump – that he didn’t believe Biden could win.
Schiff warned that the president’s unpopularity could kill Democrats’ chances in the House and Senate too.
Publicly Biden has said only ‘the Lord almighty’ would pry him from the race, though added in an interview with BET on Wednesday that he’d leave ‘if I had some medical condition that emerged.’
On Wednesday the White House characterized Biden’s COVID case as ‘mild’ with the White House physician saying the 81-year-old was experiencing ‘general malaise.’
But upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Wednesday night, the 81-year-old paused several times as he walked down Air Force One’s stairs and seemed to need assistance getting into his black presidential SUV.
The White House called a lid Thursday at 9:41 a.m. – meaning the president would not be seen publicly all day as he recovers from COVID in Delaware.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby briefed reporters Thursday and said the president was still engaged.
‘While he’s certainly focused on getting better, as anyone who has COVID would want to do, he’s being kept up to speed as appropriate by his leadership team and certainly that includes on the national security front,’ Kirby said on a call.
Kirby also said Biden still plans to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in D.C. next week, but floated Vice President Kamal Harris could also stand in.