“Final evening the message was proceed with all the things, full velocity forward,” the supply mentioned on situation of anonymity. “At round 1:45 p.m.immediately, the president instructed his senior workforce that he had modified his thoughts.”
Minutes later, Biden made his bombshell announcement.
The choice got here lower than a month after Biden, 81, had a disastrous debate towards Republican Donald Trump that raised questions on his psychological acuity. A senior adviser revealed that Biden got here to his choice over the previous 48 hours after reviewing intensive information and polls exhibiting his path to victory was largely out of attain.
Following the talk, Biden started shedding floor to Trump in battleground states, and his marketing campaign had been pursuing a razor-thin path to reelection.
The announcement caught many White Home and marketing campaign workers off guard, with a number of expressing shock on the sudden flip of occasions. Biden made the announcement whereas recuperating from COVID-19 at his house in Rehoboth Seashore, Delaware, after testing optimistic throughout a two-day journey to Las Vegas final week.
Nursing a cough, the 81-year-old Biden had spent the weekend reflecting on Democratic strain to withdraw, aides mentioned. He was significantly irked at former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom Biden’s advisers believed was orchestrating a strain marketing campaign to power him to step down.
Hours earlier than the announcement, the Biden marketing campaign had denied stories suggesting he was planning to drop out. “It’s false. And I believe that it’s false to proceed to attempt to gin up this narrative,” deputy marketing campaign supervisor Quentin Fulks instructed MSNBC’s “The Weekend” on Sunday morning.