US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid on July 17 and four days later, he announced that he would withdraw from the presidential race in the “best interest” of the party and the country. Biden said he would speak to the nation later this week with more details about the decision. The announcement came out of the blue though White House experts were expecting this.Reports said though Biden was in the process of consultation following his debate debacle, the decision was taken only in 48 hours, and all these days when he and First Lady Jill Biden asserted that Biden was not going anywhere — they were not putting up a facade. The decision was indeed a last moment.
Family meeting, telephone calls: Here’s what happened
Family meeting, telephone calls: Here’s what happened
- A senior campaign adviser told CNN that Biden consulted his family and top advisers and the plan to exit the race began Saturday night.
- Biden was not sure about Kamala Harris and was studying the data. On Saturday, Biden huddled with two closes advisers — Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti — who presented data that showed that a path to victory (for Biden) was “basically nonexistent”, CNN said.
- In that meeting, Biden made it clear that he was planning to pull out of the race and asked his aides to start drafting the letter that he posted on Sunday afternoon. Biden’s health condition was not a factor behind the decision, White House insiders said.
- Biden was at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as he was recovering from Covid. First Lady Jill Biden was with him.
- On Saturday night, he held a family meeting and announced his decision to drop out of the race. His daughter Ashley Biden and son-in-law Howard came to visit him Sunday,
- On Sunday morning, he confirmed his decision and stared making calls to people outside his close circle.
- One of Biden’s closes communication advisers Anita Dunn was not informed about the decision till the very last moment, it was reported. They came to know about it minutes before the post.
- Biden spoke to Kamala Harris multiple times Sunday before his announcement. Biden also held separate calls with chief of staff Jeff Zients and campaign co-chair Jen O’Malley Dillon informing each of his decision, CNN reported.
- Axios reported the exact time when the senior staff outside of Biden’s inner circle were told of the news — at 1:45 pm, a minute before an official statement was posted online.
- Absolute secrecy was maintained so that the news did not get leaked before Biden made the post.