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Biden Announces He Is Dropping Out Of The Race; Endorses Kamala Harris To Be Nominee. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 21, 2024 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:59:46]

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been during that time that he's also been deliberating. He is with his closest advisers and his inner circle in what has been a challenging and at times frustrating time for this campaign.

Now, we should also note, Alex, that earlier today on the airwaves, the president's allies were saying that he was in it to win it. Again, this was the resounding message that we were getting from the campaign time and time again.

But this letter tells us that the president, upon self-reflection, upon all of the calls from Democratic lawmakers, allies and donors for him to step aside, has listened to those calls and has decided to not seek reelection in what we really just cannot overstate how remarkable a moment this is.

We are on the cusp of a Democratic National Convention. There've been ongoing calls to get that process underway for that virtual roll call. And now many open-ended questions as to what happens next.

We should note vice president Kamala Harris was at a fundraiser in Massachusetts yesterday, where she too, was focused on the vice- presidential nominee for the Republicans, J.D. Vance.

She was trying to gin up those donor dollars amid some donors deciding not to give money because of all the questions of this campaign. Of course, well keep eyes on her. She is in Washington, D.C. today.

Many, many questions moving forward, but one thing has been answered, Alex, and that is that the president will not seek reelection after what has been multiple Democratic lawmakers and allies coming forward to say it was time for him to withdraw. Alex?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And Priscilla, this was announced by President Biden in a letter from the president addressed to "my fellow Americans", just 14 minutes ago on his X profile. It's not long. It's just one page.

You mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris. He says in the second-to- last graph that he wants to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all of this work. "And let me express my heart heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me." Priscilla, you mentioned all the questions, of course. One of the biggest is going to be, does this automatically mean that Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the nominee of the Democratic Party? Will there be a bit more of a competition to figure out who will be the nominee. Will vice president -- will President Biden endorse his vice president as that nominee.

But I just want to get back to this question, Priscilla, of timing. Of course, we have seen the pressure growing from within the Democratic Party. Weve seen a number -- a growing number, three dozen or so Democrats coming forward publicly, lawmakers to say that they don't believe that President Biden should be running one.

One of the latest is Senator Joe Manchin. He, of course, is an Independent now. He's a longtime Democrat, close to the president. But it was not clear that Biden was going to be making this decision, and it certainly was not clear that he was going to be doing so today.

So as of 15 minutes ago, Priscilla, where were we and how does that make what we now know this announcement now from the president, from President Biden, all the more shocking?

ALVAREZ: Where we were was that the campaign his allies had said he was staying in this race. That is what we were hearing over the course of the morning, including from his campaign co-chairs.

But Alex, what everyone told us, what multiple sources told CNN is that -- CNN is that this was ultimately the president's decision to make. That he was going to sit with this, that he was going to have those private conversations including with his family. Some of the most pivotal people or people -- influential people in his life in pivotal moments. And it was going to be ultimately his decision to make.

And that is what I think this letter captures in this moment, is that after that self-reflection, he decided it was not -- it didn't make any more sense for him to stick it out and do this reelection.

Now I will say because you mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris, I had been talking to sources over the last several weeks. And what they all told me is that there was no daylight between the vice president and the president. That she was fiercely behind him, and that she was continuing this campaign as the Biden-Harris ticket.

Recall, that one of the first things that she said on CNN after that debate performance was that the president should be judged based off his record and not those 90 minutes. And it was that -- that statement that was later used by many of the president's allies, including the first lady.

And so this was the reality for her inner circle as well, was to stay with the president, stay in line with him and not to flirt with any of the replacement theories that she would be the lead of the party's ticket.

[14:04:49] ALVAREZ: Now, of course, this -- this doesn't answer the question as to what happens next, but I do think it's important to know that the vice president, certainly up until this point, has fiercely been behind the president.

Now as far as Democrats -- Democratic lawmakers had -- some of -- some of them had started to gain some consensus about the vice president becoming the nominee. if President Joe Biden were to step aside because of internal polling that suggested that she would fare well against former President Donald Trump. And also, because in terms of the process, it might be easiest because she is already part of this campaign apparatus.

So the Democratic lawmakers, as much as they were calling out publicly for the president to drop out, were quietly also trying to sort out what this process would look like. And again, starting to mobilize behind the vice president.

But again, it was unclear if the president was going to withdraw. And so a lot of these conversations have been happening behind the scenes. But how they actually come to fruition, and what happens next is still unclear. And even those who were having the conversations don't have those answers yet.

And so certainly the vice president, again we should note, is in D.C., we'll see -- we'll wait to see if we hear from her today. But this letter from the president, this one-page letter does not -- still leaves, I should say, a lot of open-ended questions.

But to get to your initial question, Alex, as of a few minutes ago, as of an hour ago, it was certainly the message from the president's top brass that he was going to seek reelection. The only caveat to that over the course of all of these weeks was that it was the president who is going to decide ultimately what he was going to do.

MARQUARDT: And he has now made that decision in a one-page letter to the American people.

Priscilla Alvarez, I want you to stay with us.

I'm going to bring in Juliegrace Brufke from Axios.

Juliegrace, first, your reaction to this extraordinary development that the president has decided after growing pressure in the past few weeks that he will not be running for reelection.

JULIEGRACE BRUFKE, CAPITOL HILL REPORTER AXIOS: No, I don't think many -- I've been texting with some members of Congress just now since the news broke. And I don't think anyone expected this news to come today.

A lot of people kind of thought it may have come later down the line if Pelosi had publicly spoken out. That being said Republicans, I think you're going to be hearing a lot of if he can't serve in four months from now, should he be serving now, which I think is going to be the big talking point on their end. And they're also feeling like a Kamala Harris is kind of their best

odds to run against right now, but also kind of warning they shouldn't measure the curtains before too soon and still need to kind of stay focused on the race.

MARQUARDT: How surprised are you with this timing considering the fact that not only had Biden and his top aides been saying publicly that they had every intention to continue running. But that actually talked about him getting back on the campaign trail after he recovered from COVID. I mean, we've been told by his doctor that he's getting better.

But the expectation was that he was going to hold out at least a little longer.

BRUFKE: Absolutely. I mean, I spoke with a Biden aide just hours ago that said that he was going to be hitting the campaign trail, but they hadn't announced which locations yet. But that that was going to be happening and it felt like they were kind of digging in despite the mounting pressure.

So I think there are a lot of people who have been caught off guard by this.

MARQUARDT: All right. I want to bring in our White House correspondent Priscilla Alvarez.

Priscilla, so much of this discussion was also about where the party elders stood. I'm thinking about President Obama and his wife. Of course, the Clintons and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

All of them had been fairly quiet on this question in the past few days. In fact, we saw Nancy Pelosi in public last night, not saying one way or the other, "I would like Biden to leave the race" or notably that she was fully backing Biden and his candidacy.

So how did that play out behind the scenes? There were some reporting that President Biden was seething because of Pelosi's position. How much did those party elders play into what we now know is this decision for President Biden not to run for reelection?

ALVAREZ: Well, certainly as we waited to see what the decision would ultimately be by the president, what was remarkable to watch over the last few weeks was this division among high profile Democrats, including between President Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Sources had told CNN that the former House Speaker had shared polling with the president and essentially said that he couldn't defeat former President Donald Trump, and that it would have -- destroy the chances of Democrats running in House races.

During that private conversation, according to sources, was a moment in which the former House Speaker asked to get the president's senior adviser on the phone to talk through the data.

[14:09:48] ALVAREZ: So we know that behind closed doors, these conversations were happening and the president was feeling quite defensive. He did not believe, or at least he cast doubt over the polling that he couldn't win against former President Donald Trump.

And so, this was often the moment that we were in was seeing these divisions play out.

And then also, of course, we should note that the leaders on Capitol Hill, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries -- they were taking those caucus concerns to the president and in some of those meetings, including between Jeffries and Biden, Jeffries did not offer his full endorsement.

So, as we were watching this unfold, it was clear that the party was quite fractured on this issue of whether or not President Biden should stay in the race.

It's also worth noting where we were in terms of money, of course, donors were among those that were adding their voices to the chorus of calls asking for the president to withdraw from the race.

I spoke to sources who said big-dollar donors were withholding their checks. There was just so many questions about what was happening next that they didn't feel it was worth putting the money forward because there was no clear answer.

Then two Democratic strategists were also trying to navigate this as they were trying to get donors to continue to pour money into down- ballot races.

In fact, just yesterday, we were reporting that the Clintons, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, they were privately urging donors to give money as long as President Biden was the nominee. Essentially as one source said, they were deferential to the process, if not giving their full-throated support of President Biden.

So I note all of these examples to show that there was so much tension and division within the Democratic Party over this issue of whether or not the president had the vigor to go up against former President Donald Trump. And this was also playing out during the Republican National Convention that was when the campaign really wanted to come in with their counter programming to the former president and his vice-presidential nominee.

And instead, we're still wrestling and grappling with all of this incoming from Democrats over the course of the week that the president -- they just didn't and how faith that the president could take on and win against former President Donald Trump.

And so certainly it has been a moment -- come back to this of reflection for the president. Just last week I was talking to sources on calls with the president when he was reaching out to key groups of lawmakers and they were telling him directly that he needed to step aside. The polling that they were seeing in their districts does not -- was not matching what the campaign was saying. And they felt like the campaign was being dismissive.

The president, just a week ago was still very defensive and said that he had what it took to go up against Trump.

And so this has developed over time and it was in this moment where the president is isolated in his Delaware residence since Wednesday -- we haven't seen him since Wednesday -- that clearly it allowed this moment of reflection for the president when he was here with his senior advisers to decide on his next steps and to make this announcement on a Sunday afternoon, that he's no longer seeking reelection.

Now, I should also note, we do anticipate that there -- or at least we were told that the campaign was still planning stops and fundraisers this week, and then also in the coming weeks.

So, we'll see whether that continues all the same, for example, fundraiser is expected at the end of the week. The question is, will the president still go to help whoever is going to now be the candidate and nominee?

But it just really speaks to how over the course of all this time, we saw the different stages of a campaign and a president going through -- wrestling through these calls from Democratic lawmakers to get to this point on a Saturday, only weeks away from the Democratic National Convention for him to essentially say enough is enough. He's going to focus on finishing out his term.

So just truly a significant moment in what has already been quite unprecedented election year, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Absolutely right that this historic moment coming at 1:46 Eastern Time with this letter to the American people from President Joe Biden that he will not be seeking reelection.

We're joined now by Jeff Zeleny, CNN's chief national affairs correspondent. Jeff, walk us through what comes next. We're just now a month out from the Democratic National Convention.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It is going to be one of the most extraordinary months in American politics. The Republican convention just ended. Republicans have been planning to run against Joe Biden.

Talking to just a few of them as we -- before coming on the air here, there could be legal challenges to this. There are many, many questions being asked now.

[14:14:50]

ZELENY: But in terms of the Democratic side, talking to two Biden officials, this news was just coming -- they were alerted to this just moments before the president sent his letter out. So this is still being digested in the party. The first the question

is, will he when he addresses the nation later this week, which one official says could be on Tuesday, possibly on Wednesday, depending on his COVID diagnosis and depending how the week plays out. Does he extend his endorsement or support for Vice President Harris.

That I'm told is unclear to Biden officials. If he does the -- it's certainly up to the delegates because delegates have the decision here.

But what we know, the timeframe of this is the delegates will be voting beginning August 1 through August 7. So this is an extraordinary moment here that we will certainly hear more from the president this week.

MARQUARDT: All right? Jeff stay with us.

Meanwhile we're back to Priscilla Alvarez, who is traveling with the president in Rehoboth Beach.

Priscilla, there is news about an endorsement for the vice president.

ALVAREZ: That's exactly right, Alex, we've been walking through some of the questions we still had. Well, one of them, a very important one was just answered by the president in this post.

He says "Today, I want to offer my full endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats, it is time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this."

So there you have it. The president is putting his support behind his vice president to serve as the nominee of the party and pleading Democrats to come together in this moment.

Of course, there have been so many questions about whether the president would offer this endorsement, whether Democrats would also come behind the vice president in a moment or they could choose someone else.

The president is making it clear, there has been enough divisions in this party. It's time to come and provide the endorsement of Kamala Harris.

And I want to reiterate because it has been weeks now of these concerns and questions that over the course of all of this time, the vice president was on the campaign trail as she has been over the course of the year.

And over that time, aides repeatedly told me that she was in line with the president. She was following his direction. As long as he was the candidate and the nominee, she was going to continue on the trail and target the Republican vice-presidential nominee that we learned of this week J.D. Vance.

And so this is a moment now where she, according to the president, and at least what he wants to see, would now be elevated to be the Democratic nominee.

Now, as far as how this works in terms of the campaign apparatus and who takes the wheel from here, I think we still have some questions that we'll be asking our sources about and trying to get more on. But just to come back to this, Alex, the president after announcing only moments ago that he would no longer seek reelection, is putting his full endorsement behind his vice president, Kamala Harris, and asking Democrats to come together and unite behind her in this moment.

MARQUARDT: Yes. In another post, just after his announcement, again on X, just half an hour later, he says, "My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice president. And it's been the best decision I've made. Today, I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year."

Jeff Zeleny, you were just touching on this. Walk us through the mechanics now, she has the backing of the sitting president to be the Democratic nominee which would be made official at the convention next month.

ZELENY: It would and that's extraordinary, I was hedging a bit because that is what the signs look like. But now we have it official from President Biden.

I'm also told by a senior Democratic official that look for other party elders to join in his call to unite the party and reshape the conversation, reframe the conversation to fight against Donald Trump.

So what happens now is this is the Biden-Harris campaign. She's been part of the campaign. So campaign finance officials that we've been talking to for the last three weeks, three plus weeks, believe that she could inherit the entire campaign.

Some Republican election lawyers have argued that she could not, so this could be one of the things that could be litigated in the coming days. But as of now, Vice President Harris has been an integral part of the campaign. She was raising some $2 million just yesterday on Cape Cod.

So this contingency plan that has been in the works sort of behind the scenes for a few weeks now will come into place. And what that means is that these delegates, the Biden-Harris delegates, will make the decision and they will still move to formally nominate her likely before the convention.

What we don't know, will there be any dissent inside the party? Will anyone else sort of raise their hand and say, no, we also want to challenge her.

[14:19:44]

ZELENY: That's very difficult. A, because again, these delegates are Biden delegates. So if he's sending a signal out there, this is certainly important also. As we reported a couple of weeks the contingency planning is such that

who would stand in the way of the first black vice president and South Asian-American vice president and certainly the presidential nominee?

So we shall see in the coming days here. There is one month until the convention, but they are still I'm told planning to move to formally nominate her before the convention.

But this is uncharted territory. There is no doubt about it. But an extraordinary step here by the president endorsing his vice president.

MARQUARDT: Juliegrace obviously to quell the chaos around Democrats, the easiest path would be for Harris to become the nominee with the full-throated support of those who could potentially challenge her. How do you expect this to play out?

When you look at the bench of other Democrats, governors foremost among them, who could also be solid Democratic candidates.

Do you expect that there could be a challenge to Kamala Harris?

BRUFKE: I mean, I think it's going to be hard pardon for somebody to challenge her with Biden's endorsement. And my guess is, we're going to hear from Democratic leaders that are going to come out and follow.

That being said, there's still a lot to be seen and I got to check in with some progressive sources, but I think they'd, on the Republican side, you're going to start hearing a ramped up calls for 25th amendment.

I think the legal challenges are probably they're not going to make this easy for Democrats and they're going to definitely highlight the chaos right now.

So still lot to be seen.

MARQUARDT: Jeff, speak to that because there is a growing Republican argument that if he's going to drop out of the race, he should -- he should leave the presidency altogether. How can he say that, I am not capable or not willing to run for reelection, but I should be president for the next six months.

ZELENY: And we are already getting that word. And Elise Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair, she says this. "If Joe Biden can't run for reelection, he's unable and unfit to serve as president of the United States. He must resign immediately."

So these calls will be coming in. This is something that has been telegraphed.

What's extraordinary about this is the country and the political parties have had more than three weeks to kind of think about these scenarios. And that is going to be an argument.

The White House obviously is going to be pushing back against that by showing that he will do his job, his day job. He's already meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister on Tuesday. That is the schedule.

But look, this is going to be an issue. Republicans control the House, as we know very well. They could have hearings, et cetera. But the presidency is still his. But this is going to be a soundtrack of the rest of the campaign. Is he fit to serve for president right now?

It may be a distraction or it could be a rallying cry for Democrats as well. But one thing this does. This injects energy and uncertainty into this pretty stable presidential race up until this period.

MARQUARDT: Yes, whether that meeting goes ahead with Netanyahu on Tuesday remains to be seen, but that is a question that is way, way down the list right now.

ZELENY: It should be.

MARQUARDT: This whole race has been thrown into an extraordinary upheaval. First with the announcement at 1:46 p.m. that he would not be running for reelection. And that was followed then just half an hour later by this endorsement by the president for his vice president, Kamala Harris.

I want to bring in Bakari Sellers. He's a CNN political commentator. He's also a former South Carolina State Democratic representative.

Bakari, an extraordinary announcement from the president. Do you think he made the right decision?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think that both of the announcements he made today was extraordinary and I don't want to deal in the past.

I think Democrats have been doing that for the past month. I've have echoed my disenchantment with Democratic leadership in the way that Joe Biden was treated.

I think the first thing that I'll say is that Joe Biden has been one of the most consequential and transformative presidents this country's ever seen. And by stepping aside and doing so today, you know, he continues that -- that mantra of being that transformational candidate.

Look, I will tell the viewers a few things. earlier this week, the DNC, the rules committee actually met and kind of set forth the rules and parameters as we go into this convention.

And momentarily, the credentials committee will meet and we will have all of our DNC delegates who will be credential for the 2024 DNC in Chicago. I think that there will be efforts in place and things in place to help make sure or R ensure that the vice president of the United States is able to drop into this campaign that is as already up and running, has cash. I think you're going to see a boost or a boom in donations over the next couple of days.

I don't see this open primary that people are dreaming of or warning of or eliminating the entire ticket. And last but not least, I think it's pretty clear to Elise Stefanik

and others, my response and my retort and I expect the vice president and others to echo the same things, that Joe Biden made a clear and conscious decision that he cannot lead the country for the next four years. That does not mean that he cannot lead us for the next four months.

[14:24:51]

SELLERS: He's been a noble leader up until this point. He will end his administration with a bang and do the work of the people for the next four months.

But he made the very consequential decision that serving the next four years was something out of the realm of possibility for him to do and he wanted to turn over that to Kamala Harris.

And let me just tell you, as a Democrat, somebody -- I was national co-chair for Kamala Harris for president. We're so damn excited now. My phone is blowing up, it's going crazy.

I think that there is a lot of excitement, a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion. But at the end of the day, Democrats have Kamala Harris. And a long list of others possible VP individuals taking on J.D. Vance and Donald Trump. And we stand a fair chance.

MARQUARDT: Bakari, it's more like six months, not to quibble with you that that he will be president, but I certainly take your point.

(CROSSTALKING)

SELLERS: -- the election I'm getting my dates -- I'm sorry.

MARQUARDT: I totally get it and we're going to come back to you for more reaction in just a moment.

I want to get to CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins in New York. Kaitlan, you have some exclusive reaction from the former president and Biden's rival in this race, Donald Trump.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes Alex, I spoke with former president Trump minutes after President Biden tweeted that he is not going -- that he is exiting the 2024 race.

Obviously, this has been something that the Trump team has been singularly focused on over the last week, as those calls for Biden to get out of the race did not dissipate.

I was told he was tracking this even from the Republican convention while he was focusing on who is speaking when his own speech on that last Thursday night. He was still tracking these efforts, Alex and he told me in a quote and I'm quoting the former president now. He said referencing Biden, "He is the worst president in the history of our country. He goes down as the single worst president by far in the history of our country." But what I pressed him on Alex and obviously what's important here is what this means for him and for his campaign. He told me that he believes that Vice President Harris will be easier to beat than Joe Biden would have been.

Obviously, we don't know that she is going to be the nominee. Obviously, Biden has endorsed her. But there is a real question among Democrats over what that's going to look like.

And also, I should note that Trump's team has been so worried about this exact situation. They wanted President Biden to stay in this race because they looked at the numbers that we were all looking at, that Democrats were all looking at and they thought that essentially that he would fare better against President Biden in this race, given that debate performance, given what this looks like.

this does, as Jeff said, injects a huge the amount of uncertainty in this race, we don't know what it means. It's not clear what it means for the Trump team. They are going to be looking at this closely and following that as well.

But it is a notable response from Donald Trump, who now has a big question of who it is he's going to be challenging for the presidency come November.

F4: And Kaitlan, game this out for us in terms of what we could expect to see in the coming hours, in terms of responses from those party elders, in terms of the boost in fundraising that Bakari was just talking about.

And what -- what the campaign trail is going to be looking like in those next few weeks heading up to the DNC.

COLLINS: I mean, to be frank, we have no idea. The DNC is going to be held one month from today.

Democrats will be gathering in Chicago and it's an open question. We've seen politico reporting Friday night that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has endorsed this idea privately of an open convention should that be the case. Now we don't know if that's actually what we'll see.

This is notable when it comes to donors though because we had been hearing a lot of reporting from donors who were telling the Biden campaign that they were not going to be offering more money or helping fundraise more money for the Biden campaign until this very situation was figured out, whether or not President Biden was ultimately going to drop out of the race and who would replace him in that situation.

And so now that this has happened, I think that it's a big question for donors. I think it's going to be a big question now that Biden has endorsed Harris as the nominee, if that actually happens, who she would pick to be on the ticket with her.

I mean, we just finished the vice presidency nomination race with Donald Trump and now it is an open question of if it is Harris on the ticket who she selects to be her vice president and what that would look like.

That was also a factor in Donald Trump's selection of his VP. He was kind of watching that closely to see what was going to happen with the Democratic ticket. They wanted to have a good idea of who they would be up against.

And now that has completely changed even though J.D. Vance is now formally his running mate. And so I mean, this is just a huge mountain of uncertainty for everyone, I think, a question of what this looks like going forward. And if the party does line up behind what President Biden did today by endorsing Harris as the nominee going forward.

Clearly, I mean, I think a lot of people didn't believe there was any other option for that because he picked her to be his vice president. So it would be incredibly unusual if he didn't select her, to endorse her as the next nominee after he got out of the race.

But obviously, you know, this is uncharted territory for anyone, much less the White House. And so it is a major question of what these next few weeks looks like.

[14:29:49]

COLLINS: But it's safe to say this race has completely altered itself since that CNN debate in Atlanta, a little over three weeks ago. The entire game has changed, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yes. It certainly was the assumption that if he were to step out, he were to drop out of this race that he would hand things over to Kamala Harris. But it is not as we've just been discussing, a forgone conclusion pollution that she is necessarily the nominee. That is one of the biggest questions, if not the biggest, right now.

I want to get back to our Priscilla Alvarez, who is traveling with the president.

Priscilla, what more are you learning from the White House just moments after the president made this historic announcement?

ALVAREZ: Well, we're learning a little bit more about what happened in the minutes before the president put out this later, this letter sources telling our colleague, MJ Lee, that the president informed senior campaign and White House team about his decision before the letter went out saying that he had been reflecting over the last couple of days and, of course, this decision was being very closely held.

Of course, with the president was doing over the last couple of days in addition to deliberating, was that he was self-isolating. He was diagnosed with COVID earlier last week and he immediately came here to his residence in Delaware. He got here on Wednesday, has since been behind closed doors, self-isolating as his doctor had said, his symptoms were improving, and over that time, we are now getting a better picture of what was happening. He was listening to those around him. He was reflecting on what the

next steps were and clearly came to this decision to not seek reelection. And it was in the minutes, again, before putting out this letter that he had told -- notified his senior campaign and White House team.

Now, of course, the president, in addition to putting out this letter, has provided his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, essentially urging Democrats to get in line behind her.

We should note that the vice president, this upcoming week had travel plans to go to Milwaukee for events and other sort of attempt at following the Republican National Convention there to provide her counterprogramming the president, the vice president, of course, has spent a lot of the time on the campaign trail really focused on reproductive rights that has been aligned tack consistently against Republicans and an assignment that was provided by the campaign fairly early on already in January, was she out there talking about one of the most galvanizing issues for Democrats and this campaign.

So I think you've heard now from everyone that there are so many questions about what happens next. There's so much uncertainty, but the president, at least offering a little bit of a notification and some behind the scenes here in terms of how he had been reflecting over the last few days to his senior team and now were also getting a deluge of reactions from his allies supporting this decision and moving forward with the party.

So, again, just to reiterate here, it has now been 24 days from that June debate, 24 days out. This is where we are now -- the president deciding not to seek reelection notifying his senior team only moments before putting out this letter for the entire public to see.

MARQUARDT: All right. Priscilla, stay with us.

Jeff Zeleny, back to you. When do you think we can expect to hear from Kamala Harris and then the biggest question to her I think is going to be, who is her running mate?

ZELENY: That is the central question now. And again, this is not even though this news is a bit of a shock, the timing of this afternoon, there have been quiet discussions that have been growing louder over the last three weeks. What would she do if?

So, certainly, there are some top of potential candidates. She will have the ability to choose her own running mate should she become the nominee. But I'm told just by all au reporting in these last few weeks that she's not likely to wait until she's formally nominated. She is moving forward with this.

So the Democratic governors are certainly those who come to mind. Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is such a key state of course, in all of this. She was down in North Carolina just last week campaigning with their Governor Roy Cooper, who is term limited and he is leaving office. Of course, other governors as well, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker. So it would be hard to imagine that governors would not be at the top of the list or the only list here going forward. But just speaking to another Democratic adviser, as you were on the interview with Kaitlan there, this a senior Democratic official says that people will unite behind Harris, who would run against her.

So we will see this is unfolding on a Sunday. Some people are just getting this information, but it is unlikely that a governor would not be at the center of this list.

MARQUARDT: To add to your list, Beshear from Kentucky, someone who has been named a lot, Gavin Newsom from California.

ZELENY: Unlikely Gavin Newsom him because he would have the same constitutional issues being a resident of California.

MARQUARDT: Of course.

ZELENY: And Andy Beshear, absolutely. Some Democrats believed that he would be a good messaging thing.

[14:35:03]

It's going to be who she is comfortable with. But also this is dramatically different race going forward. It's a tougher race for Democrats.

The battleground is already expanding more. So, someone from the blue wall, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. We shouldn't rule out the possibility of Gretchen Whitmer, that would be certainly history- making of its own, two women on the ticket.

But look, this is someone that is going to be Vice President Harris, should she become the nominee, this is going to be her first and biggest choice.

MARQUARDT: And we have heard from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer who posted on X that she was thanking President Joe Biden and said, quote, that the that her role will remain the same doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump.

I'd like to go back to Bakari Sellers.

Bakari, when you listen to that list of governors that Jeff was just mentioning, is there anyone there who you think says, okay, actually now, this is my moment. I would like to challenge Vice President Harris for this, or do you expect them to largely fall in line and do whatever they can? Because as we were just discussing, there are only four months to go before this election.

SELLERS: No, I don't expect that. All of those governors that were named are very talented. I don't have any indication that they are going to run during the short frame. I know that Gretchen Whitmer has already said no. Gavin Newsom, of course, said no, and is eliminated from vice presidential conversations because of the constitutional issues. I would want to add two more people to just list of individuals or maybe three more, Admiral McRaven is somebody who I believe Kamala Harris would look at with some keen eye. I would also include Mark Kelly, who is an amazing senator from the great state of Arizona, which is also a swing state, married to Gabby Giffords. We all know his -- his background, his history of fighter pilot and astronaut. I think that he brings something to the campaign that would be formidable against the J.D. Vance, and Donald Trump.

Also in the business for all, you know, you have names like Mark Cuban and others who would be bandied about, but I do believe it will you will look at Josh Shapiro. We will look at Roy Cooper from the great state of North Carolina. You will look at somebody like Andy Beshear.

But I think that somebody like Mark Kelly probably would be pushing to the top or near the top of the ticket, but these are all decisions that will be made. I can tell you the first thing that Kamala Harris has to do something that that work begins right now with the credentials meeting because as soon as these individuals get their credentials, these delegates, firm enough delegates. It's a mini campaign.

I think a lot of people come on TV and really don't know the process. But you have to go out there and get these delegates. Many of them are going to be willing to support them.

My phone is blowing up with people who are off, and the reason they're off is because they feel like people from on high pushed Joe Biden out the door in the text that I just got from a friend was like it, they pushed Joe Biden out the door. What are they going to do with Kamala Harris? They will probably try to push her, too.

There's a great deal of fear out there and the people who've done the damage, the Nancy Pelosis, the Chuck Schumers those party, quote/unquote, elders in leadership, it would behoove us all that they came out and wrap their arms around Kamala Harris sooner rather than later, and probably, you know, save those celebratory mimosas for another day because we have work to do.

And so, I'm going to be on the phone tonight calling delegates getting them, whipping them up, trying to get them on board for Kamala Harris, I don't think that's going to be a difficult task. In anything else, the vice president needs to do I'll be there, because right now, Kamala Harris has a work cut out for her. She's running against the oldest nominee for president of the United States in American history. And so, when you have this type of change election, when you have this type of generational divide that you have is a question of whether or not you want to go backwards with Donald Trump or forward with Kamala Harris.

I mean, the man is nearly 80 years old. And so the question is, can he serve another four years? I'm not sure he can.

MARQUARDT: Yah, that is certainly a concern among Democrats that the backlash, the potential anger for the perception that Joe Biden was pushed out of this race. I want to go back to seeing an anchor, Kaitlan Collins, in New York,

who is going to pick up our coverage -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yeah, Alex, of course, this is changing by the moment now, as we are closely following this breaking news this hour.

And just to get everyone up to speed, President Biden has announced in a letter that was posted online a short time ago that he is exiting the 2024 race. He followed up by saying that he is endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, to be the Democratic nominee.

But this is thrown a lot of uncertainty into this race. It is a complicated process to replace a nominee, and that is a major question of what will happen next. There are a lot of phone calls happening behind the scenes right now from all of our sources, from top Democrats who are asking themselves that very question of what happens next?

I want to bring in Ron Brownstein, CNN's senior political analyst, who had written a lot about this dynamic that was facing and Democrats, Ron, and this, you just wrote in "The Atlantic" a few days ago, talking about how you believed keeping Biden on the ticket was forcing Democrats to drift toward disaster.

[14:40:02]

What do you make of this decision now that the president it has come to as he has been sequestered away in Rehoboth Beach, dealing with COVID-19? We just got an update from his doctor this morning and then this letter dropping this afternoon.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, Kaitlan, the famous economist, Herb Stein, had a dictum that any trend that any trend that can't be sustained won't be. And somewhere be -- in the beyond Herb Stein is being validated again.

I mean, the situation had become untenable since the debate. There was no way that Americans could unsee what they saw, which was evidence of the cause concern about whether Biden was up to doing the job for another four years. It wasn't only the question of whether he could beat Trump. It was the question about whether he could do the job for another four years and that consensus spread and sort of concentric circles and the Democratic Party, starting with the donors and strategists moving out to more and more elected officials, and then in the most recent polls, a majority of the voters as well.

And so, you know, as I tweeted, what would it mean to be the Democratic nominee if the Democratic congressional leadership, Nancy Pelosi, you know, Barack Obama, a majority of the voters and a majority of the donors thought you shouldn't.

I think Democrats understand that this is a difficult and risky situation to switch from Biden. At this point, but it kind of inverse the saying that he often -- that he often used: don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative. The Democrats who understand this is -- this is, you know, uncertain

proposition felt that it was a certainty that Biden was not going to get over the top in the states that he needed. And thus, jumping out of the speeding car as it headed toward the cliff was a better bet than staying in the car as it went over the cliff.

COLLINS: Yeah, but the question now is, if you've stopped that car from where you thought it was headed, Ron, I do think it's an open question of what happens now. I mean, do you expect Democrats to rally behind Vice President Harris or do you expect it to be a situation where obviously Biden has the power to release his delegates that were going to be voting to affirm him is it him as the nominee one month from now in Chicago, what does that look like over the next few days?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, technically, he doesn't even have to release them. You know, the Democrats change their rules in the '80s, you are not obligated as a Democratic delegate to vote even on the first ballot for the person that you are pledged to if there's kind of a conscience exemption.

So they can -- they could have done whatever they wanted from the outset. You know, the way I felt about this really since the morning after the debate was a question of demand side and supply side. I mean, I think there is a demand side desire for an alternative to Harris because there's certainly Democrats both professional strategist campaign and jurors and regular Democratic voters who worry whether she can beat Trump.

But I don't think there's going to be a real supply side alternative offer here. I don't think any of the candidates who are a significant number of Democrats would consider a better bet, would actually run against her. You know, Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer, who I was to put at the top of that list, have already said they won't.

I don't think after this enormous internal tension over nudging Biden aside, there's going to be the stomach for climbing another mountain of nudging her aside. And, you know, look, I been talking to people the last couple of days about what the, quote, Kamala coalition could look like. And, you know, she has the potential to help in areas where Biden has been the weakest younger voters, non-white voters.

The question is whether she can maintain where he has been the strongest, which is unexpectedly sustaining his support among white voters, very close to his 2020 levels, despite his overall problems. So I think there will actually be pretty quick rallying around her. And if someone runs, I doubt it will be someone who most Democrats would consider a true full fledged top tier alternative.

COLLINS: Yeah, we had seen the polling that showed her doing well against Trump in a head to head matchup.

Of course, it's a question now, if that becomes the reality of what those numbers look like.

Ron Brownstein, standby. I want to go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who covers the White House

for us, who has been tracking all of this as president Biden is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Priscilla, what is the latest you're hearing from White House officials and Democratic sources on their reaction to this breaking news?

ALVAREZ: Well, certainly, they are surprised. The president only moments before putting out this letter had advised his senior teams that he had made this decision. He had been reflecting on it over the last couple of days.

This was a decision, of course, that had been closely held and one made Kaitlan while he was behind closed doors that his Delaware residence where he has been self-isolating after testing positive for COVID last week.

Now, Kaitlan, what I am learning now is that I'm getting text messages from sources who say donors, big dollar donors are now abruptly suddenly reaching out again to advisers to say they want to donate. This, of course, had been one of the challenges for the Biden campaign over the last several weeks.

[14:45:05]

While fundraising had mostly been a bright spot for the Biden campaign since the president announced his reelection bid last year, we had seen in recent weeks that some big dollar donors were starting to hold back their checks over concerns and questions about President Joe Biden's candidacy.

This had also started to become an issue for Democratic strategists who were trying to ensure that that money was still at the very least pouring in to down-ballot races. Now this decision has been made by President Joe Biden not to seek reelection, I am hearing from sources who say that these big dollar donors are coming back in droves now wanting to give money.

We also have reporting from our colleague Kayla who knows that multiple donor had also reached out ill to the vice presidents team leading up to this decision saying essentially that they were willing to support her if she were at the top of the ticket. Of course, money is important for any campaign. So what this signals at this point still early is that they -- the donors are willing to give to this campaign, knowing now that the president will not be at the top of the ticket.

We should also note that the campaign is often boasted about their grassroots fundraising numbers after multiple events. So we'll see, too, whether they see a similar boost from those grassroots donors toward the campaign.

But, Kaitlan, certainly he a remarkable moment not only with Democratic lawmakers who are asserting to show some openness or at the very least some relief, I should say that the president is deciding to withdraw from this race, but also from the donors who, up until this point, were holding back that money just because there have been so many questions about his viability bloody as a candidate.

Now, of course, White House teams are learning about this as we have been on air.

White House officials are in a call about this decision now and what this means. Moving forward, but certainly everyone absorbing this news as the president again, how closely held this decision, made it over the last couple of days and then notified his senior teams on the moments before putting out that letter.

Now, the president did say in this letter that he will address the nation later this week. We don't know when that will be just yet, but he himself has acknowledged that he will also be addressing the American public over this decision to not seek reelection.

COLLINS: Yeah. And he has meetings with world leaders this week, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday. We'll wait to see what all that looks like.

Priscilla, I'll let you keep checking in with your sources. Let us know if you hear anything new from White House officials.

I want to go to Jeff Zeleny, CNN's chief national affairs correspondent, because this creates a huge amount of uncertainty for the person who thought he was challenging Joe Biden on this ticket? Donald Trump, who I should note is already sending out fundraising emails talking about keeping their foot on the pedal as they are looking at all of this and this new dynamic that the Trump campaign finds themselves in.

ZELENY: Kaitlan, it absolutely does and really we can throw out any of the polling that has been done up until this point? Yes, the record of Vice President Harris will be front and center in this. Of course, she still owns the accomplishments and also the controversial aspects of the Biden-Harris administration.

But until she becomes the nominee, if she does, as Ron was saying, we should leave open the possibility for something else happened to me. I think none of us would have sort of projected this happening already. So let's leave our minds open to this historic-making campaign.

However, the Trump campaign clearly is going to be focusing immediately on Vice President Harris. But we know the battleground states that have already been playing out, but a couple of questions here. Does her candidacy should she be the nominee? Make some states more competitive like Georgia, for example, like in North Carolina, does it make other states less competitive?

So what we know about this campaign, what we've been talking about, how it's, you know, six or seven states, that is not necessarily where this is going to stand, perhaps a month from now, but there is no doubt that this is going to upend sort of all of the assumptions here.

And as you were talking with Priscilla, there, I was speaking with one other senior Biden official in let me bring this news to you, Kaitlan, President Biden's decision, I'm told to leave the race was reached within the last 48 hours or so. A senior adviser explains to me as he was consulting family members and top advisers. He did not have a single final meeting in Rehoboth, Delaware, where he is been spending the weekend. I'm told that he wasn't conversation with them, but an advisor says the president, quote, was not dug in but he was studying all of this data coming in and he became convinced that he would, quote, weighed down the ticket and potentially be a distraction and complication for defeating Donald Trump in November.

[14:50:01]

So, of course, for the last three plus weeks, he has heard the call from so many, but, Kaitlan, it became even louder than we know. A lot of the Democratic office holders and officials, the senators and house members came out and said he should step aside. That was largely for their own political purposes at home, they were in tough races, but it was the information, the data I'm told presenting him with the fact that he was suddenly potentially losing states like Minnesota, like a New Hampshire. So the battleground map, so big, it -- it changed the state of the race here.

So history will judge this period as one more Joe Biden decision that took a while to get there, as you know, from covering the White House, we covered it alongside president Biden is often very deliberate some Democrats believe to slow in making a decision in this fast moving world now, but by deciding on this Sunday, they still believed Democrats still believe they have time to reset the campaign. We shall see.

COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, you can't overstate the enormity of a decision like this. This is something that -- we talked to Bill de Blasio about this on Friday night, and he was saying, you know, he was in the presidential race not very long when he was running for the Democratic nomination, but he was talking about how even for him, how much it weighed on him to make a decision like that, to get out of the race and he was saying, what president Biden had in front of him was ten times that.

ZELENY: Right.

COLLINS: That he's looking at this -- this race, you know, and what a personal decision this is two completely reshape your legacy by making a decision as enormous as this one. And it's interesting that your reporting is that he came to this within the last 48 hours is he got that positive COVID diagnosis last week when he was out in Nevada and, had that time too, where he was self-isolating to really be alone and weigh a decision as enormous as this one.

ZELENY: Without a doubt, I mean it's so poignant to think that this is the third presidential race that Joe Biden has stepped away from, of course, back in 1988, in 2008 and now, but the circumstances, of course, are totally different. And the stakes are so much higher. And the fact of the matter is, you know, he is a consumer of news. He reads the newspapers, watches television. He's not in -- he's sort of -- he sort of physically in a bubble, but

is a modern-day president. So he was aware of what was happening, but it was not until I'm told really some people who had his best interests at heart, he thought.

Yes, he was angry. We've reported at Nancy Pelosi for speaking so openly and publicly about this, but it's hard to imagine that those comments did not play a role here. I think as we look back on this, a turning point will be when the former house speaker essentially reopen to the door that he had tried to close by saying, I'm running and he did not perform much better in those television interviews that he did sort of in the days after that.

So, certainly, now, he will have to defend his decision to remain in the office of presidency. We will see how that plays out. But from here forward, of course, are the most urgent question is, does Vice President Harris become the Democratic nominee? We may know that in about two weeks time, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yeah. And also it's notable, Jeff, you just given we did both cover Biden, he made this decision at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware beach house. It's kind of a place where he would often go to think about big issues. A lot of presidents have used Camp David, obviously Rehoboth Beach is often a place of solace for this president. So to make this decision, they are its also notable.

I want to bring in MJ Lee, who is at the White House for us.

And, MJ, obviously, this decision is landing like a bombshell for a lot of the White House staff who may not have been in that inner circle around Biden to find out about this. What are you hearing from White House officials, but also from Democratic donors that you've been speaking with?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kaitlan. You know, I know you know this better than anyone. There is something that a lot of folks who have known President Biden for a long time will often say about the president and his decision-making process. They'll say, you know, he is somebody who can typically take a really long time, sometimes painfully a long time to deliberate over a really important decision.

And then at the end of the day, ultimately, the decision he ends up making is the most obvious one, at least the most obvious one to the people around him. And I think what we saw today and the events and the days leading up to today is precisely that we have seen the president really think this over for more than three weeks now since that CNN debate at the end of June, he has had a barrage of criticism. So many around him telling him that the right thing to do for the country and for this race in November is for him to get out.

It has taken him a long time, at least in the view of so many around him to get to this point.

[14:55:01] But at the end of the day, I think this was clearly for the party, the obvious choice for him to make. We know this because of a number of really important factors that you need to have behind you if you're going to try to run a winning campaign. We know that the money was drying up. We've been talking about that a lot.

Donors were no longer willing to write the big checks to support President Biden. The Democratic support was starting to really fall apart every day, every hour. We had Democratic elected officials coming out to say that they couldn't get behind the president.

The polls obviously were starting to show a real slippage and including in these key battleground seats are really you are so critical to the president having any chance of winning and defeating Donald Trump in November. And I think this was always going to be President Biden and the campaign running in full force until the moment that he wasn't.

You know, there's no real way for you to run for president, 50 percent. There's no way for you to sort of half be a candidate. I think that is sort of what we have seen play out, the dynamics that we have seen in the recent days, you know, up until yesterday. We know that the senior most folks on the Biden campaign, were not even talking about the possibility of the president dropping out.

We had been told earlier today that some of the most senior advisors in the West Wing were still not talking about the possibility of the president dropping out. And then here we have it. A really cool closely held decision unveiled by the president himself in a letter, a letter that we are told was only given to the top folks in his campaign and the white house moments before the president decided that he was ready to go public with it.

I also just want to take a moment to talk about the importance of the president quickly coming being out to fully endorse his vice president, Kamala Harris. You know, there is so much uncertainty right now about how exactly this race is going to unfold, in the coming days and weeks. We are obviously in a really unprecedented situation.

But it was important for a lot of people in the Democratic Party to hear the words coming straight out of the president's mouth that in his eyes, the person that needs to take the torch from the press, from him, from the president, is his deputy, is the person that he chose. This is the person who he said could take on the role of the presidency on day one.

I was just talking to campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond and he said there's no question about it. This is an example of President Biden doing the right thing and he said he was really glad to hear the president coming out to publicly endorse Kamala Harris and that the campaign is going to be behind her, but sort of the machinations of exactly how the campaign is going to sort of transition over to making that sort of the campaigns operation in the coming days, obviously, all of those things need to get figured out.

But, look, I think if there was a scenario area where the president had delayed endorsing Kamala Harris in any way that could have created even more chaos and even more confusion. And I think that was clearly a situation that the president wanted to avoid, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yeah, MJ Lee, obviously, a lot of dynamics at play here also, dynamics not just there at the White House down the street at Capitol Hill.

We have Manu Raju, CNN, chief congressional correspondent, also here with us.

And, Manu, I know were getting reaction from the Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, what is his reaction to this major news from president Biden dropping out of the 2024 race.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this just came in, praising Joe Biden for his time in office, but also not endorsing Kamala Harris in this statement that he just put out, he called them one of the most accomplished and consequential leaders in American history is that unless than one term praised him for his work in what he says, rescuing the nation from a once in a century pandemic. He praised this economic leader and he says he, quote, saved our country, defeating the insurrectionist in chief.

He went on to say that America is a better place because of Joe Biden, but no mention of what is next.

But I can tell you, Kaitlan, in talking to Democrats over the past hour, one, a lot of them are surprised, some of them did not see this coming. But there is a sense of relief among so many Democrats, particularly ones in difficult reelection races, were concerned that Joe Biden would essentially drag them down with him, worried that it would effectively, effectively undercut their ability to take back the House. But one thing that is also uncertainty in my conversations so far, is Kamala Harris, the best candidate for them to take back the House to keep control of the Senate? That is a debate that is still ongoing within the Democratic party, that is still uncertain about whether the party will simply all fall in line behind her or whether they believe there's another candidate who could be better for this -- suited for them down ticket.

That is something that is still playing out behind the scenes. And perhaps as were one reason why Democratic leaders have not been quick to endorse Kamala Harris the way that Joe Biden has been because they're trying to assess the impact. They want to talk to their members who are coming back to town tomorrow.

But Joe Biden's decision to coming on the heels of Congress so turning into session tomorrow where we were expecting even more Democrats to come out, call for him to step aside, three dozen had done so publicly, more would do so at the end of the day, but this is a shellshocked Democratic Party scrambling to figure out what's next.