U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries meets with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, DC, the United States, February 27, 2024 to discuss funding the government and Averted a government shutdown and later addressed the media at the White House.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with President Joe Biden to share the Democratic caucus’ views on a “path forward,” Jeffries revealed on Friday — an apparent reference to Biden as president of the party Candidate status.
The meeting between New York congressmen and Biden on Thursday night came shortly after the president held a rare press conference in which he insisted he would continue to attend meetings with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump campaign.
Jeffries had said earlier Thursday that he planned to poll every member of the Democratic caucus to gauge their views on retaining Biden as the party’s nominee.
Biden was participating in a conference call with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday and was expected to make more calls to lawmakers on Capitol Hill later in the day, according to NBC News.
Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democratic and Latino caucus member, was one of the first lawmakers to publicly call on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race.
Biden also plans to speak Saturday afternoon with members of the New Democratic Coalition, a group of more moderate House lawmakers.
In his letter to the caucus on Friday, Jeffries said that in his meeting with Biden, he “expressed the caucus’s comprehensive insights, honest views and conclusions about the path forward that we have shared in our recent time together.” .
As of Friday afternoon, 19 House Democrats and one Democratic senator had publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race and let another party member succeed him as the nominee. There are 213 Democrats in the House and 47 Democrats in the Senate.
Biden did not return to the White House from the NATO summit, where he held a press conference, until just before 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, meaning his meeting with Jeffries likely would not begin until that evening. The timeline underscores the urgency House Democrats feel about the political situation.
“The president and the leaders had a very good conversation, a substantive conversation,” Biden campaign aide Quentin Fulks said when asked about Friday morning’s meeting on MSNBC. As the president has done over the past week with members of Congress, governors, mayors and elected officials across the country.
Fulks did not elaborate but added, “I know the president’s connection to Leader Jeffries is important, so I can only stop there.”
“Over the past few days, House Democrats have had thoughtful and wide-ranging discussions about the future of our country, at a time when freedom, democracy, and the economic well-being of ordinary Americans are all at stake,” Jeffries wrote in the letter. .
“On behalf of the House Democratic Caucus, I made a request for a private meeting with President Joe Biden and was generously granted,” Jeffries wrote. “In my conversation with President Biden, I spoke directly to the core The panel’s comprehensive insights, heartfelt opinions and conclusions about the path forward that we shared recently together.
“As House Democrats have done throughout this Congress, we will continue to work in the best interests of ordinary Americans,” the leader wrote. “Thank you for your continued leadership in serving the communities we are privileged to represent. ”
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