Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged President Joe Biden “not to run” for reelection shortly after Biden's poor performance in a debate against President-elect Donald Trump in June, The New York Times reported.
In early July, after Biden was widely criticized for his debate performance, Schumer repeatedly said, “I’m with Joe” when asked in a press conference if the president should step aside as the Democratic Party nominee.
However, Schumer told the Times in an interview released on Friday that he met privately with Biden on July 13 and told the president, “If you run and you lose to Trump, and we lose the Senate, and we don’t get back the House, that 50 years of amazing, beautiful work goes out the window.”
Schumer added: “But worse — you go down in American history as one of the darkest figures. If I were you, I wouldn’t run, and I’m urging you not to run.”
Schumer told the Times that he was “tired and tense” during the meeting, not having slept the night before and driving four hours from his residence in Brooklyn to Biden’s summer home in Delaware.
ABC News reported on July 17 that Schumer had met privately to urge Biden to drop out of the race, a story that the senator’s office dismissed but did not deny.
“Unless ABC’s source is 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 for Schumer said at the time.