President Joe Biden announced he was ending his reelection campaign a week after meeting in Delaware with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
But the New York Democrat won’t say if he privately urged the president to step aside.
Reports emerged earlier this month that Schumer, 73, was joining the lengthy list of Democrats pressuring Biden to drop out, but he has not confirmed whether this is true and kept up the act during an interview on Sunday.
CBS Face the Nation host Robert Costa pressed the senator and said it was important to know for ‘history’s sake’ whether he had such talks with the President.
‘I’m not going to get into the specifics,’ Schumer shot back when asked for a second time if he told Biden, 81, it was time to step aside.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is remaining mum on whether he privately urged President Joe Biden to end his reelection bid
He went on: ‘President Biden will walk away from the presidency with his head held high because of all the great things he’s done, and because he put America first. He always has.’
Around 40 Democratic lawmakers publicly called for Biden to stop running for a second term before he ended his bid last weekend. They joined strategists and other lawmakers who said it was time to bow out after his debate against Donald Trump in June.
This included top ally and Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
Initially, Schumer dodged the question on if he was among those to press Biden out and instead discussed the President’s three-and-a-half years in office.
‘Senator, on July 13th, you went to Delaware to meet with President Biden. It was a private discussion, and I know you like to keep your discussions with the president private,’ Costa said on Sunday morning. ‘But that, for history, was a very momentous meeting in the sense that you were the Senate Democratic leader, the majority leader, meeting with the president to discuss the presidential race.’
‘For history for the record, did you in any way suggest to the president that he should leave the presidential race on July 13th?’ Costa questioned.
Schumer met with Biden just eight days before the president dropped out of the race
Schumer responded by evading the question, saying: ‘Well, first, let’s look at President Biden’s record. He’s had one of the most amazing presidencies we’ve had in decades, passing so many good things.’
‘The infrastructure bill, the IRA bill, getting the price of prescription drugs down for the first time, going against the NRA successfully, helping our veterans with burn pits,’ he listed. ‘So he’s had an amazingly successful record and he’s always done what’s right for America and I respect him.’
‘I respect his patriotism. I respect the amazing things we worked together on many much them,’ Schumer concluded.
