White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Pierre is still being pressed about Biden’s feelings toward Nancy Pelosi after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, and that Pelosi reportedly backed Biden up. The spokesperson seemed to avoid a direct answer, at least initially.
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre “how angry” the former House speaker was about the president’s decision to drop out of the race, to which a perplexed Jean-Pierre replied, “You’ve asked me this question so many times. I think I’ve answered this question so many times.”
Doocy countered by citing an interview Biden had over the weekend on CBS Sunday Morning, saying Pelosi was the only person Biden named as being responsible for his departure from the Democratic 2024 field.
“The president has great respect for his good friend, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and I think it’s mutual,” Jean-Pierre said, noting that Pelosi had recently spoken positively about Biden, but did not mention that Biden had said similarly favorable things about Pelosi.
“She gave interviews that I’m sure you all listened to intently over the weekend,” Jean-Pierre said. “She said things like, ‘An outstanding president,’ ‘One of the top people to ever hold this office,’ and I think that says a lot about what the former speaker said.”
When asked if there were any hard feelings, she repeated the same language as before, saying, “He has great respect for Speaker Pelosi, who is a good friend.”
Doocy responded to this apparent evasion by underlining the question and saying, “I asked if there was any resentment.”
“No offense intended,” Pierre-Jean responded, but then quickly backtracked: “He respects her. I think it’s mutual, but of course I’ll let the president speak for himself.”
Biden told “CBS Sunday Morning” that Pelosi’s concerns were one of the reasons he dropped out of the race.
“A lot of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I would be damaging to them in the campaign,” he said, “and they were worried that if I continued on the campaign trail, that it would become a talking point. They thought that Nancy Pelosi would be interviewing me about why I said this, and that it would be a real distraction.”
This comes after Pelosi categorically denied making any calls to other Democrats seeking help in removing Biden from the running.
“I haven’t, I haven’t, I haven’t,” Pelosi told CNN’s Dana Bash on August 5. She later acknowledged that she and the president haven’t spoken since he announced his withdrawal, saying, “We’re all busy.” Pelosi declined to say at the time whether the relationship between the two was good, telling Bash, “You’d have to ask him, but I hope it is.”
Mike Law also contributed to this story.
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