Senate Democrats have reportedly canceled a meeting this week where they planned to discuss asking President Joe Biden to leave the presidential race following his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump.
The effort was being led by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA), who told other Democrat senators last week that Biden could no longer be the party’s nominee, The Washington Post reported.
Warner has conveyed that he is “deeply concerned” about Biden’s ability to campaign competently and that the meeting was intended to determine the best way for the senators to present their message to the president.
Axios reported that the meeting, which was supposed to happen on Monday, was canceled after it was leaked, and the planned conversation could no longer remain private. CNN later confirmed Axios’ reporting on Sunday.
NEW: A source familiar with Sen. @MarkWarner thinking says the private meeting he was trying to organize for tomorrow with other Senators to discuss a path forward for Biden’s candidacy is scrapped — after it was leaked to the media, including @CNN, this week.
— Pamela Brown (@PamelaBrownCNN) July 7, 2024
Warner aimed to have the meeting before the Senate Democrats’ weekly caucus meeting on Tuesday, reports suggested.
While no Democrat senators have publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race, few have shown public support for him following his disastrous debate.
One of the only Democrat senators to support Biden is Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who has posted several times on social media expressing his support for the 81-year-old, who 80% of the country says is too old to run for president, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll.
“I’m unwilling to discard a great president, a decent man and a loving father after 50 years in public service, over a 90 minute debate,” Fetterman said. “Responding with disorder, panic and disloyalty is not meeting this moment.”
In a separate post, he wrote: “Like I just said on @CNN with @jimsciutto , Democrats need to get a spine or grow a set—one or the other. Joe Biden is our guy.”