WASHINGTON — President Biden’s announcement that he was dropping out of the 2024 race stunned a number of White House and Biden campaign staffers who believed he would stay the course.
Many learned of the historic news from social media.
“He told the senior team right before. I’m sure they didn’t want it to leak,” a source close to the campaign told The Post.
President Biden’s decision to drop out of the race blindsided White House staffers. AP“We’re all finding out by tweet,” one Democrat close to the matter told Politico. “None of us understand what’s happening.”
The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- Biden drops out of presidential race: live updates
- Kamala Harris campaign flooded with ‘record-breaking’ $81 million in donations in first 24 hours after Biden drops out
- Top Dems threatened to forcibly remove Biden from office unless he resigned, set him up to fail at Trump debate: sources
- Schumer, Pelosi played ‘good cop, bad cop’ to convince Biden to drop out with ex-speaker stating, ‘Easy way or the hard way’
- Trump and JD Vance accuse Dems of leading ‘coup’ against Biden, call to ‘invoke the 25th Amendment’
The campaign put out an email blast seeking donations for “Joe and Kamala” eight minutes after Biden announced he was ending his candidacy.
Campaign workers in Delaware, where Biden has been holing up since Wednesday when he was diagnosed with COVID-19, were still business-as-usual right up until the announcement, placing calls to delegates ahead of the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“I don’t think a soul in Delaware knew,” a Biden state official told the outlet of campaign staffers’ apparent surprise at the suddenness of the news.
What to know about President Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- President Biden announced Sunday he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race — after weeks of prominent Democrats and donors calling on him to withdraw following his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate.
- In a letter posted on X Sunday afternoon, Biden admitted that it is in the “best interest of my party and country” for him to step down as the Democratic nominee.
- Biden wrote that he intends to serve out the remainder of his term and will address the country on his decision later this week.
- In a follow-up X post, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the suddenly open Democratic nomination. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” the president wrote.
- Former President Donald Trump reacted to the news by labeling Biden the “worst president in the history of our country” in a call with CNN.
A source close to the White House told The Post that Biden’s more junior aides aren’t necessarily offended by being told so late as Democratic officeholders increasingly demanded he step aside over concerns about his mental acuity.
Instead, there’s “a lot of relief that it’s over” and disappointment in Biden’s most senior aides for not counseling him against running this year.
“There’s a lot of frustration at the senior staff who put him in this situation [and] enabled him to not have a dignified exit [from the campaign] 9 months ago,” the source said.
