By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-16 02:06:43 | Updated at 2025-01-16 05:16:37
3 hours ago
Jill Biden is 'disappointed' with her friend of 50 years, Nancy Pelosi, after she betrayed her husband Joe after his Georgia debate disaster in June.
Pelosi has been widely credited as a major player in Biden's July decision to drop out of the race just months before Election Day.
After Kamala Harris' loss to Donald Trump, she doubled down, saying that the president should've dropped out of the race sooner to allow for a more open primary to take his spot.
'I was asking for a campaign that would win. And I wasn't seeing that on the horizon,' she said in July, despite denying she had pushed Biden out.
First Lady Jill, in an exit interview released Wednesday, does not appear to have gotten over what Pelosi did to her husband.
'Let's just say I was disappointed with how it unfolded,' Biden said, adding that 'I learned a lot about human nature.'
Biden was asked about Pelosi after mentioning that she'd 'been thinking a lot about relationships.'
'It's been on my mind a lot lately, and... we were friends for 50 years. It was disappointing,' she said of the former Speaker of the House.
Jill Biden is 'disappointed' with her friend of 50 years, Nancy Pelosi , after she betrayed her husband Joe after his Georgia debate disaster in June
First Lady Jill, in an exit interview released Wednesday, does not appear to have gotten over what Pelosi did to her husband
Mary Doody, a longtime friend of Jill and the Biden family, told the Washington Post a little more of the family's thinking about Pelosi.
'It was awful. It was mean. It was disrespectful. [Jill] talked a lot about that. I know I'm biased, but Joe Biden did not deserve that.'
The former speaker has spent much of her interviews praising Biden for exiting the race. She even told CBS that he belonged on Mount Rushmore.
There have long been reports Biden is angry at her for her role in his ouster.
Pelosi was working behind-the-scenes to try and calm panicked Democrats after Biden's first debate performance, where he stared into space and struggled to answer questions.
Democrats were worried that, with Biden at the top of the ticket, they would lose the House, Senate, and White House.
Pelosi was said to be relaying those messages to the White House.
Publicly, she always said she trusted Biden would make the right decision, a message she echoed in Monday's interview.
Pelosi has been widely credited as a major player in Biden's July decision to drop out of the race just months before Election Day
Pelosi was working behind-the-scenes to try and calm panicked Democrats after Biden's first debate performance, where he stared into space and struggled to answer questions
'I have the greatest respect for the president,' she told GMA. 'I think he will be one of the most consequential presidents in our country. I want him, his legacy, to be recognized, preserved.'
'I wasn't asking him to step down. I was asking for a campaign that would win. And I wasn't seeing that on the horizon,' she said.
She also explained what it takes to have a winning campaign: 'Winning an election is a decision. You make a decision to win and make every decision in favor of winning, in terms of how you mobilize at the grassroots level and own the ground to get out the vote. How you have a message that is bold and progressive, but not menacing to the public. And how you have the money to do that, to attract that largely from small donors. And then the most important decision is the candidate.'
After the election, however, she twisted the knife again, saying that if Biden had dropped out earlier, the party she has led for decades would have had time to weigh its options.
Pelosi's admission that she did not want Harris to automatically become the nominee after Biden's mid-July drop-out appeared to be damage control by the longtime Democratic kingmaker after the embarrassing loss.
The veteran lawmaker admitted that she wanted the president's campaign cancellation, which she helped orchestrate, to go a different way.
'Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,' Pelosi said.
'The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.'
Biden was asked about Pelosi after mentioning that she'd 'been thinking a lot about relationships.' 'It's been on my mind a lot lately, and... w e were friends for 50 years. It was disappointing,' she said of the former Speaker of the House
'Let's just say I was disappointed with how it unfolded,' Biden said, adding that 'I learned a lot about human nature'
That primary would have allowed many different Democratic candidates to throw their hats in the ring and make their case to the delegates.
An array of candidates appeared to be in the offings, some floated Michelle Obama, others said Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Reports indicate that Pelosi's plan was to have the party march forward with the primary, and Biden's rapid and unexpected endorsement derailed Pelosi's plan.
'And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time,' Pelosi shockingly admitted.
'If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.'
'That didn’t happen,' the lawmaker said. 'We live with what happened.'
Pelosi said Harris may have won the open primary, though it would not have been a certainty.
'And as I say, Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward,' Pelosi continued. 'But we don’t know that.'
