Democrats call for Biden to step aside as nominee after debate disaster, COVID diagnosis

People close to President Biden are "furious" that a pressure campaign calling for him to step aside is picking up speed, according to reports. 

Biden is self-isolating in Rehoboth, Delaware after testing positive for COVID-19. 

"Lots of anger toward some donors for talking of $ drying up if he doesn’t quit, toward what they see as muted support from Pres. Obama, and toward Dem leaders who one source says are ‘hiding’ behind statements," CBS News reporter Robert Costa posted on X. "If they want him out, they’ll have to push, source adds.

Costa added that Biden feels "disrespected" but that no one has figured out to "out an effective way to quiet this drift of nervous Democrats away from Biden and know many Dems want Biden to just break at some point soon."

Multiple Democrats have come out in recent weeks to call for Biden to exit the race amid questions about his health. 

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., about his plan to call on President Biden to step down ahead of time.

The Montana Democrat, who is facing a significant challenge in a red state, publicly urged Biden to step aside on Thursday night.

After Tester consulted with the majority leader, Schumer told him to do what he thought was best, a source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News Digital. 

"While I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term," the Montana senator told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Tester is the 22nd Congressional Democrat to call on Biden to drop out of the race and only the second Senate Democrat, following Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., called on President Biden to exit the presidential race on Thursday night, becoming the second Senate Democrat to do so.

"Montanans have put their trust in me to do what is right, and it is a responsibility I take seriously. I have worked with President Biden when it has made Montana stronger, and I’ve never been afraid to stand up to him when he is wrong," he said. "And while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term."

Tester is in one of the most competitive races in 2024 as he attempts to keep his seat in a state that has voted twice in favor of former President Trump.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital's Julia Johnson.

Senior current and former officials, diplomats and lawmakers at the Aspen Security Forum have concluded that President Biden’s refusal to step aside is a threat to the U.S. and its allies, according to reports.

“It’s time for him to move on,” one former U.S. intelligence official told Politico.

“It’s time,” said a current U.S. official at the annual event in Colorado. “It’s over.”

Some at the event questioned why Biden hasn't exited the race to allow someone else to run against Trump, who is expected to formally accept the nomination Thursday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“The idea that they think keeping him on is democratic is wild to me,” said a former senior U.S. official. “It doesn’t make sense. It’s contradictory. If he wanted to save democracy — which he did — then he’d realize that what he’s doing isn’t helping.” 

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., added his name to the growing list of Democrats calling for President Biden to reconsider his re-election bid. 

In a short statement, Costa called Biden an “incredible President” who brought the country back after the pandemic. 

“But for the good of the country, I think it is time for the President to pass the torch to the next generation to carry on the legacy he started,” he wrote. “Democrats need to unite to deliver their strongest team to the American people in this election.”

Other Democrats have called on Biden to exit the presidential race amid concerns about his health. 

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told some House Democrats that she believes President Biden can be convinced to exit the presidential race, according to media reports.

The Washington Post reported that Pelosi, D-Calif., believes Biden is getting close to abandoning his re-election bid. Her office didn't confirm the discussions to the newspaper.

“Speaker Pelosi respects the confidentiality of her meetings and conversations with the president of the United States,” a spokesperson for the former speaker said.

Some Democrats believe that if Biden stays in the race, he would be handing the White House to former President Trump.

Rev. Al Sharpton on Thursday said he told President Biden that remaining in the presidential race could “imperil” his legacy.

“I said that whatever he does, I’ll always respect what we’ve done together,” Sharpton told The New York Times. “I was not one to push him out of the race, but he needs to take a serious calculation of where we’re at because I’m afraid all of the things we fought for because voting rights and affirmative action is at risk.”

The call took place Monday. Sharpton said that Biden told him that he plans to remain in the race.

“He called me to let me know that he was hanging in the race no matter what I heard,” Sharpton said. “He said, ‘If anything changes, I’ll reach out.’”

“I got the feeling that he was trying to say to me that he is still running as much as he was telling himself to stay in the race,” Mr. Sharpton said. “He did not want me to join the chorus of people asking him to step aside."

More than 1,400 Black women have come out in support of President Biden, according to a letter released Thursday.

Some of the signers include Carol Moseley Braun, the first African American woman elected to the senate; Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta; and Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable.

They also indicated their dismay at the lack of unity in the Democratic Party.

“The suggestion that any candidate who won their primary should simply step aside because victory appears difficult at the moment is disrespectful to the voters, unjust and undemocratic,” the women wrote.

“During the primary election process held across the country earlier this year, 14 million Americans cast ballots for President Biden and Vice President Harris," the letter states. "They are the duly elected democratic party nominees for the 2024 Presidential election. We reject all efforts to disregard this fact or to circumvent the will of millions of voters who participated in a democratic process.”

President Trump will not mention President Biden when he takes the stage Thursday at the Republican National Convention to accept his party’s nomination again.

He will instead refer to the current administration" or "current leadership," sources told Fox News.

The speech is expected to last north of an hour, sources said. Trump is expected to "lay out the case for the ticket" and focus on unity following last weekend's assassination attempt.

Thursday's speech will be Trump's first since being shot in Butler, Pennsylvania during a campaign rally.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio arrives for the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said if President Biden withdraws from the presidential race, then he should resign altogether.

Rubio made the comment while speaking to reporters at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“The question is, if he's not going to be their nominee because he's not up to it, how can he be our president for the next six months?” Rubio told reporters at the Republican Party of Florida breakfast, Politico reported. “If there's something wrong with you that doesn't allow you to run for president, how can you still be there as president? If they're going to remove him as nominee, they’ve got to remove him as president, and that's really bad for our country.”

Reports have emerged that top Democrats have privately called for Biden to re-consider his re-election bid.

“They knew Joe Biden — I don’t mean this to be cruel, but they knew the condition that he was in, and they deliberately hid it from the world. And it makes you wonder who's running our country," Rubio said. "That's what I worry about.”

Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, during a news conference on free speech on college campuses, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said it was “shameful” to hear about leaks pertaining to whether President Biden will stay in the presidential race.

“I can’t tell you all how shameful it feels to hear all these leaks about what Democratic leaders are staying and not to have a single one of them out here confirming or denying it,” she wrote on X.

The post comes amid multiple reports of Democratic leaders and donors calling for Biden to step aside.

“It’s a lack of leadership and it’s making all Democrats look bad," she wrote. "Whatever this mess leads to will not undo the damage that has already been inflicted. May God help us all." 

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) talks to reporters on the steps of the House at the Capitol on July 8, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., sent President Biden a letter last month where he urged him to reconsider whether to continue his presidential campaign while comparing him to a tiring baseball pitcher.

After praising Biden for three pages, Raskin then compared the president to now-retired Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martínez, a Hall of Famer. Fox News has confirmed the letter.

Martinez was left on the mound for the eighth inning of Game Seven of the 2003 American League Championship Series despite being tired, against the New York Yankees.

The Yankees scored three runs to tie the game before winning it when Aaron Boone hot a walk-off home run to send the team to the World Series.

“There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics,” Raskin Wrote, The New York Times reported. “Your situation is tricky because you are both our star pitcher and our manager. But in democracy, as you have shown us more than any prior president, you are not a manager acting all alone; you are the co-manager along with our great team and our great people. Caucus with the team, Mr. President. Hear them out. You will make the right decision.”

Biden has rebuffed calls to step aside despite pressure from fellow Democrats and major donors.

President Biden's COVID-19 diagnosis has forced him to slow down for a period of reflection, a Democratic source told Fox News.

Democratic House and Senate members sense there's a shift in Biden’s thinking that he will remain at the top of the ticket, the source said.

Biden is self-isolating at a home in Rehoboth, Delaware, after testing positive for COVID on Wednesday. The illness has forced him to scrap some campaign events.

“This will be an important weekend in Rehoboth,” one senior House Democratic source said.

Biden is under pressure from donors and Democrats to step aside as questions continue to hound him about his physical and mental acuity.

“There may be time for him to reconsider staying at the top of the ticket," another source said.

Major donors in New York City made it clear to Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries they want President Biden to drop out of the presidential race, according to a source who attended a recent fundraising event.

Jefferies was at the Wednesday fundraiser in Manhattan with 40 or so major donors. The event was for Democratic U.S. Reps. Eric Sorenson of New York and Yadira Caraveo of Colorado.

During a question and answer session, the first question came from someone asking why Biden won't step down, the source told Fox News. The person asked the room: “Who here wants Biden to step down?”

Upwards of 80% of people in the room raised their hands, prompting Jefferies to half-smile while acknowledging what happened.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates responded to reports of the event on X: “Incorrect. Keep the faith.” 

Former President Trump's campaign is contrasting what they call a "unified" GOP at the Republican National Convention with the latest turmoil surrounding President Biden's re-election bid.

On Thursday, a Trump campaign  official told Fox News "when you look at what we’ve done with this convention, we’ve demonstrated to the American people that not only is the Republican Party unified, but we have a unifying vision for the entire country with President Trump’s agenda and plan for America well established."

"At the same time, the Democrats can’t even figure out who their nominee should be," the official argued.

The comments come as President Biden’s re-election campaign is pushing back against a slew of reports in the past 24 hours that the president has become more receptive in the last couple of days to hearing arguments about why he should drop his 2024 re-election run.

"Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not at the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee," Biden principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters at a news conference Thursday morning near the site of the Republican National Convention.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser.

Vice President Kamala Harris took aim at Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration, on Thursday.

“He did not talk about it because their plans are extreme and they are divisive,” Harris told supporters in Fayetteville about of remarks made by Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Trump's running mate, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. "You cannot claim you stand for unity if you are pushing an agenda that deprives whole groups of Americans of basic freedoms, opportunity and dignity."

Harris was stumping while President Biden has been sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19 Wednesday. Biden is under pressure from within his own party and major donors to drop out of the race.

Project 2025, a 900-page document, was created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and not associated with the Trump campaign. Trump has distanced himself from the proposal as Democrats try and make it a liability for him.

From overhauling the Justice Department  and FBI to tackling issues like abortion and immigration, the effort led by the nation's top conservative think tank is organized into specific chapters for different agencies.

“From what I’ve heard, it’s not too far, it’s way too far,” Trump told Fox News' Harris Faulkner this week. “They’ve gone, really, too far.”

In a Truth Social post, he called the plan “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”

"I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it," Trump wrote. "I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them."

Fox News Digital's Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

Some of President Biden's most fervent internal supporters now believe that the writing is on the wall as major donations has subsided and top allies have called on the Democratic incumbent to step aside, NBC News reported, citing five people with knowledge of the situation.

“We’re close to the end,” a person close to Biden reportedly said, according to NBC.

That person reportedly acknowledged that it's still Biden's decision whether or not to drop out.

A spokesperson for Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., condemned the press "feeding frenzy" in response to a report that the former House Speaker told President Biden that polls show he cannot defeat former President Trump and will take down the House.

"Speaker Pelosi respects the confidentiality of her meetings & conversations with the President of the United States. Sadly, the feeding frenzy from the press based on anonymous sources misrepresents any conversations the Speaker may have had with the President," a Pelosi spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement.

It came in response to a report by CNN, citing four unnamed sources, that claimed Pelosi told Biden in a phone call that polls are showing he cannot win against Trump in November and that him staying in the race could destroy Democrats’ chances of taking the House.

The phone call marked the second time Pelosi and Biden spoke since the president's disastrous debate performance against former President Trump on June 27, according to a CNN report Thursday citing four sources briefed on the call. The sources also told CNN that the former speaker did not tell Biden to drop out of the race. 

Fox News' Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

Dr. Kevin O'Connor, the physician to the President of the United States, said in letter Thursday that President Biden is still experiencing mild upper respiratory symptoms associated with his recent COVID-19 infection.

Biden does not have a fever and his vital signs remain normal, O'Conner wrote. The president will continue to conduct the business of the American people.

With the president’s permission, O'Connor said he will continue to provide regular updates.

Fox News' Pat Ward contributed to this report.

A Biden campaign official took to X on Thursday pushing back against an Axios report citing unnamed top Democrats who believe the president could drop out as soon as this weekend.

"Joe Biden is his party’s nominee. He’s the President of the United States. He’s running for reelection," TJ Ducklo, a senior adviser for the Biden campaign, wrote on X. "Baseless conjecture from anonymous sources isn’t a scoop. Tonight a convicted felon will talk about how he’ll make people’s lives worse if he gains power. Let’s focus."

Though Biden has publicly insisted he would not drop out, several top Democrats told Axios they believe the president has privately conceded to poll numbers and growing pressure from party congressional leaders, close friends and key donors insisting that he can’t win in November.

Former President Donald Trump is expected to deliver a highly anticipated speech on the fourth and final day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Thursday night.

A well-connected adviser and fundraising coordinator for President Biden's campaign is reportedly warning that donations are at risk of drying up, according to reports. 

Film producer and Democratic insider Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly spoke with Biden in a private meeting in Las Vegas, on Wednesday. 

During the meeting, Katzenberg allegedly told the president that major donors were likely to cut funding due to concerns about the campaign's viability, according to Semafor and Deadline.

Following the report, Katzenberg released a statement saying the characterization was inaccurate and that the two had "talked about everything from the convention to new ads." "And by the way, we will raise the money we need to run a winning campaign," he added.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital's Timothy Nerozzi.

Former President Barack Obama is reportedly concerned about President Biden's re-election bid viability.

Former President Barack Obama told his allies in recent days that he believes President Biden needs to reconsider his candidacy, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing multiple people briefed on his thinking.

A source familiar with Obama’s thinking, asked about the new Washington Post report, tells Fox News that the former president “continues to see his primary role as a sounding board and counselor for President Biden, as they have long done for each other for many years now. He believes Joe Biden has been an outstanding President and is protective of him both personally and of the Biden administration’s strong and historic accomplishments.”

Obama reportedly has spoken with Biden only once since his disastrous debate performance last month. According to the Post, Obama has expressed serious concern to his allies, however, about the viability of Biden's candidacy and remains focused on preserving Biden's legacy.

In his discussions with others, Obama reportedly has emphasized that Biden alone can make the decision to step away from the race. Obama has also pushed back against the idea that he alone can influence Biden, his former vice president, to withdraw from his presidential re-election bid.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., reportedly called for President Biden to step aside.

President Biden's allies reportedly retaliated against Rep. Hillary Scholten, a first term Democrat from Michigan, after she called for him to step away from his re-election bid.

Scholten, who flipped a traditionally red seat in 2022, was removed from a coordinated effort between the Biden campaign and the state Democratic party to elect candidates up and down the ticket last week, Politico reported, citing four people with knowledge of the situation.

The congresswoman was kicked out shortly after she called for Biden to drop out. The decision to exclude Scholten came from the state Democratic party, two sources told Politico.

Politico reached out to the Biden campaign on Wednesday for comment.

Scholten was reportedly welcomed back to the combined field effort involves the presidential, Senate and House races on Thursday morning.

If she was kept off, Democratic organizers campaigning in her district would have mentioned Biden and the party's Senate nominee, but not Scholten, Politico reported.

“Rep. Scholten is welcome at the coordinated campaign and we look forward to campaigning with her this fall,” Mia Ehrenberg, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, told Politico.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough blasted President Biden's inner circle on Thursday, urging those close to the 81-year-old president to "step up" and help him "do the right thing."

Biden is facing growing calls from Democrats to drop out of the race.

“This is not going to end well if it continues to drag out,” Scarborough said on his “Morning Joe” talk show. "It’s really incumbent on people that are around Joe Biden to step up at this point and help the president and help the man they love and do the right thing."

“The anger I hear are at the people that are keeping him in a bubble or who may have their own interests, some financial, in keeping him in the race. That is the real anger,” Scarborough continued. "It is widespread. Joe Biden deserves better. He deserves better than he is getting from those closest to him.”

Scarborough noted his wife and co-host Mika Brzezinksi’s relationship with the Biden family.

“We have known him for a long time,” Scarborough said. “Mika and her family, extraordinarily close to the Bidens.”

The left-leaning program "Morning Joe" was reportedly pulled from the air on Monday following the assassination attempt on former President Trump.

Several top Democrats told Axios on Thursday they now believe President Biden will discontinue his re-election campaign. The decision reportedly could come as soon as this weekend.

Though Biden has publicly insisted he would not drop out, the Democratic lawmakers told Axios they believe the president has privately conceded to poll numbers and growing pressure from party congressional leaders, close friends and key donors insisting that he can’t win in November.

Biden is self-isolating in Delaware after testing positive for COVID-19 Wednesday, the White House said. The Democrats who spoke to Axios say they expect blowout poll numbers after the Republican National Convention concludes in Milwaukee that could spell disaster for Democrats in Congress this November.

"His choice is to be one of history's heroes, or to be sure of the fact that there'll never be a Biden presidential library," one of the president's close friends reportedly told Axios. "I pray that he does the right thing. He's headed that way."

MILWAUKEE - President Biden’s re-election campaign is pushing back against a slew of reports in the past 24 hours that the president has become more receptive in the last couple of days to hearing arguments about why he should drop his 2024 re-election run.

“Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not at the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee, Biden principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters at a news conference Thursday morning near the site of the Republican National Convention.

Fulks emphasized that “the president has said it several times. He’s staying in this race” and “we look forward to him accepting the delegates in Chicago and continuing with this race to talk about what’s at stake.”

Following his disastrous debate performance last month in his face-to-face showdown with former President Donald Trump , the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, the 81-year-old Biden has been facing questions about whether he has the physical and mental capabilities to serve another four years in the most demanding job in the world. And politically, Biden’s been pushing back against a rising chorus of calls to end his campaign from elected Democrats, who are deeply concerned about the possibility of the party not only losing the White House but both houses of Congress in the autumn election.

Asked a second time at the news conference if Biden may consider stepping aside, Fulks responded that the president “is not wavering on anything. The president has made his decision. I don’t to be rude, but I do not know how many more times we can answer that. Joe Biden has said he is running for President of the United States. Our campaign is moving forward.”

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., arrives for a private meeting between Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden's senior advisors Mike Donlion, Steve Richetti and campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon on July 11, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., told Reuters that President Biden is "working towards" a decision on whether he'll continue his re-election bid that is "good for the country."

"Joe Biden has always put the country first. He's done what's best for America...I think he'll keep doing so," Hickenlooper told Reuters in a phone interview late Wednesday. "He's working towards that."

The senator, a former Democratic presidential candidate in 2020 before Biden won the nomination, stopped short of joining the growing list of members of his party explicitly calling on Biden to step aside. Reuters asked Hickenlooper about Biden potentially stopping his re-election campaign.

"That's his decision to make, but certainly there's more and more indications that that would be in the best interests of the country, I think," Hickenlooper responded.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former Speaker of the House, had a second phone conversation with President Biden to insist that polling shows he cannot win against former President Trump, CNN reported, citing four sources briefed on the call. Pelosi reportedly told Biden that he could ruin Democrats' prospects of winning the House in November if he stays in the race.

One source reportedly described Biden's response as defensive. Another source said the president told Pelosi that he's seen polling data that shows he can defeat Trump. Biden reportedly at one point asked his longtime adviser, Mike Donilon, to join the call to discuss the data. The call reportedly happened within the past week.

It's the second known phone conversation between the president and Pelosi since Biden's stalling and stumbling debate performance against Trump in Atlanta last month.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer reportedly told President Biden in a "blunt one-on-one conversation" Saturday it would be best if he "bowed out of the race," according to an ABC report on X.

"Chuck Schumer had a blunt one-on-one conversation with Biden Saturday afternoon in Rehoboth. Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be best if Biden bowed out of the race,"  ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl wrote. "Schumer's office wouldn't comment on the specifics of the conversation, telling me only, ‘Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus.’"

The Senate majority leader's office issued a similar response obtained by Fox News Digital on Wednesday, but waved off ABC's report.

"Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation," a spokesperson for Sen. Schumer said. "Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday."

The news comes as the New York Democrat pushed for the Democratic National Convention's delay as questions persist about President Biden's 2024 candidacy due to concerns over his mental acuity, according to multiple sources.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital's Jamie Joseph.

California delegates for the Democratic Party are reportedly in disarray as debate over the president's chances of re-election threatens to tear the party apart.

Private group chats across multiple social media platforms have been set up to facilitate discussion among the delegates, who almost universally worry that a second Biden term is an impossible sell to voters, according to Politico.

A cache of messages was reportedly leaked to the outlet — only the latest in a deluge of leaks from inside the Biden administration and the wider Democratic Party.

"Obviously, the first step would be that President Biden steps down of his own accord and frees his delegates," DNC delegate Susan Bolle posted in a Facebook group discussing the issue. "We should discuss this. This is a painful experience on every level, but we play an outsized role in history this election. This cannot be left to chance."

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital's Timothy H.J. Nerozzi.