Pelosi: I Never Asked Biden Not To Run, I Asked One Thing Of Him That I’d Rather Keep Private
“This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl sits down with House Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi for a conversation about her nearly four-decade career in Washington as she prepares to leave office. In this portion, Pelosi denies asking then-President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race but acknowledged she did ask him something she would “rather keep private.”
JONATHAN KARL: So I want to ask you, when you announced you were stepping, not running for Congress again, Joe Biden put out a very nice statement. REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): He was lovely. I was very proud. KARL: Did he call you? PELOSI: Not yet. KARL: And what do you make of that? Because you haven’t spoken to him since he, I mean, substantively since he dropped out. PELOSI: We’ve been on programs. We both spoke at Ethel Kennedy’s funeral. KARL: Yeah, I was there. I saw him. PELOSI: He was lovely. But I’m sure he’s very busy doing many things. I can tell you when you’re leaving office, you have a lot to do. KARL: But the last substantive meeting you had was there at the White House. And as I understand it, the two of you broke out your rosaries and prayed. PELOSI: Let’s not go into that. I never, I agree that I asked him to not run. I didn’t. I just said I want to see what the polls really show. And I asked one other thing of him that I thought would be useful for the public, which I’d rather keep private. But I never asked him not to run. I never did. No, I just said that there seems to be a difference of understanding of where the public is on all of this with the path that you’re on. Now we have to adjust the path, but you have to accept the fact that the polls that you’re seeing are not complete. KARL: You may not have told him not to run or asked him not to run or said he shouldn’t run, or said he should have dropped out, but he clearly puts blame on you for the opposition within the party, which is presumably why he hasn’t bothered to talk to you since. PELOSI: Yeah. Look, I’ve known him for decades. KARL: Yeah. PELOSI: I respected him enormously. I love him and his family very much. And he was a great president. He accomplished a great deal. I don’t think their team publicized that enough. We’re doing the heavy lifting over here. We need air cover. I don’t think we got that, but it wasn’t about his not running. I never told anybody they shouldn’t run, much less the president of the United States. But he’s wonderful. He’s a fabulous president of the United States with such integrity. KARL: So you want to repair that relationship? PELOSI: Well, when you say talk about — I wanted him to know how much I, I mean, I got so much in terms of relationships. I have 22 people in my family. I have Congress that I’ve served with forever and staff that I respect and former presidents that I have good rapport with. And I hope to have one with him. I don’t know how much of a relationship it would be. That’s up to him.
