President Joe Biden’s family has begun discussing an exit plan for the 2024 election, a new, bombshell report revealed Friday. An adviser continues to insist Biden will be the nominee, while Democrats have increasingly called on him to drop out of the race.
It comes as a house Democrat A politician close to Biden told DailyMail.com he thinks concerns about the election are finally getting through to the president: “I think so, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Biden is increasingly isolated, both physically and politically. His small circle of advisers — including his wife, Jill, sister Valerie Owens and son Hunter — is growing tighter as the family remains furious with some staffers after the first presidential debate.
And they continue to protect Biden. The family wants an exit plan — if it passes — on the president’s terms: to ensure Donald Trump loses in November and to honor Biden’s more than 40 years of public service, NBC News reported.
Publicly, however, Biden’s team has reiterated that the president is in the running to win the election, even as lawmakers, donors and top Democratic officials say Biden, 81, cannot win.
And Biden issued a statement Friday saying he looks forward to campaigning again next week.
“I look forward to returning to the campaign trail next week to further expose the threat posed by Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda, while advocating for my own record and the vision I have for America: a vision where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for all,” he said in a statement released by his campaign.
President Joe Biden’s family discusses an exit plan for the 2024 race: Above, Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Hunter Biden and Melissa Cohen in April
Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told MSNBC’s Morning Joe: “You’ve heard it straight from the president before. He’s in this race to win and he’s our nominee and he’s going to be our president for a second term.”
However, there is unrest behind the scenes.
The Biden For President campaign is calling for an all-staff meeting on Friday, the Associated Press reports.
And Democrats continue to push for an alternative proposal from Biden, as the party fears his candidacy will cost them any chance of winning the House of Representatives and retaining control of the Senate.
In the hours after Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination in Milwaukee on Thursday night, seven more Democrats called on Biden to withdraw from the race.
A total of 36 Democrats have called for him to resign as the party’s nominee.
Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois on Friday morning became the first Democrat in the House of Representatives to call for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. Casten is in a competitive district as he seeks re-election.
Four other Democratic lawmakers quickly joined Casten as the pressure campaign grew and one congressman after another joined them.
“It’s time to pass the torch,” said Democratic Rep. Marc Pocan of Wisconsin.
Then-Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico became the third senator to call on Biden to resign.
“While the decision to withdraw from the campaign was made by President Biden alone, I believe it is in the best interests of our country for him to step aside,” Heinrich said in a statement Friday morning.
The mass defections come the morning after the party saw Republicans rally behind Trump as their presidential nominee and cheer him Thursday night as he described the assassination attempt on his life.
O’Malley Dillon brushed off questions about whether Biden’s continued presence in the race would disadvantage Democrats lower on the ballot, saying the party has “outstanding Democratic candidates on the ballot in the swing states and the non-turn states.”
“The president knows better than anyone how to fight locally and win,” she told the Morning Joe team.
She also claimed that Trump is “the same person as he was in 2020.”
“Donald Trump is at his peak with his numbers. There’s no. There’s no new voter that he’s bringing to the table. Right? So that’s an important kind of framework to remember. And we’re about to go into our convention.”
She acknowledged that the campaign still has a lot of work to do to make up the deficit Biden suffered after his disastrous debate performance.
“I’m not here to say that these haven’t been tough weeks for the campaign. They certainly have been, and we’ve certainly seen some backsliding in support, but it’s been a small movement,” she said.
“The American people know the president is older. They see that. They knew that before the debate. Yes, of course we have a lot of work to do to make sure that we reassure the American people that he is old, but he can get the job done and he can win.”
Republicans rallied behind Donald Trump as their candidate
Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the president is in the running to win
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied that there were any discussions within the family about such a departure.
“That’s not happening, period,” he told NBC News. “The individuals making these claims do not speak for his family or his team — and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.”
Biden and his wife Jill are cooped up in their Rehoboth Beach home as he recovers from a Covid infection.
The president himself, in a radio interview recorded just before he tested positive, rejected the idea that it was too late for him to recover politically.
He told Univision’s Luis Sandoval that many people don’t start focusing on the November election until September.
“All this talk about who’s in charge, where and how, has actually been — you know — so far, everything between Trump and I has been basically the same,” he said.
But as he heals, the Democratic voices against him are growing louder.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries all shared information about Biden’s declining support on Capitol Hill and in the polls.
Martin Heinrich of New Mexico is the third Democratic senator to call on President Biden to withdraw from the race
President Joe Biden, sick with COVID, increasingly isolated
The White House has repeatedly denied that Biden is dropping out of the race. Officials are continuing to plan his next round of rallies and events to show the campaign and his presidency are moving forward.
Next week, Biden is expected to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, when the Israeli prime minister is in town to address a joint session of Congress.
That meeting was originally scheduled for Monday, but the White House said the date could vary depending on Biden’s recovery from COVID.
Netanyahu will speak to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
“We expect the two leaders to see each other when Prime Minister Netanyahu is in town,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.
“I can’t tell you right now … what that’s going to look like exactly. But as we get closer, we’ll definitely be able to tell you more,” Kirby said.
Biden will also be raising money for his campaign later in the week, reaching out to wealthy donors in Texas and California to advocate for his candidacy.