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For the first time since President Joe Biden dropped his bid for reelection, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spoken candidly about her role in the party upheaval, and her relationship with Biden.
In an interview with The New Yorker published Thursday, Pelosi spoke at length about her fateful decision to publicly put a question mark on Biden’s future as a candidate during a July 10 interview with MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Earlier this week, Pelosi published her new memoir, The Art of Power, which in the wake of Biden’s exit from the campaign — and rumors about Pelosi’s role in rallying Democrats to call for him to step down — has shot up bestseller lists. The book does not discuss the recent developments in the 2024 elections, but their specter lingers.
“I really wanted him to make a decision for a better campaign, because they were not facing the fact of what was happening,” she told The New Yorker. “We couldn’t see it go down the drain, because Trump was going to be president and then he was going to take the House. Imagine! Imagine how that would be! Well, we don’t have to imagine. We saw.”
In a moment of candor, Pelosi — widely hailed as one of the most effective operatives in political history — made her views on Biden’s campaign abundantly clear.
“I’ve never been that impressed with his political operation,” she said. “They won the White House. Bravo. But my concern was: ‘this ain’t happening, and we have to make a decision for this to happen.’ The president has to make the decision for that to happen. People were calling. I never called one person. I kept true to my word. Any conversation I had, it was just going to be with him. I never made one call. They said I was burning up the lines, I was talking to Chuck [Schumer]. I didn’t talk to Chuck at all.”
Pelosi was also asked if she felt her relationship with Biden could ever recover from the political debacle. “I hope so […] I pray so. I cry so,” she said, adding that she’s lost sleep over the situation.
