Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California) said on Monday that she hasn’t spoken to President Joe Biden since he decided to end his reelection bid, adding she hopes their relationship is “OK” following his exit from the race.
The lawmaker and Democratic power broker was a key figure in persuading Biden to step aside as concerns about his ability to challenge Donald Trump in November snowballed. In an interview on Monday on CNN, which came as Pelosi is set to release a new book on her career, she praised the president’s time in office and reiterated that her work has been to ensure her party had a “campaign that would win.”
“Is everything OK with your relationship?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked the lawmaker on Monday.
“You’d have to ask him,” Pelosi replied. “But I hope so.”
CNN previously reported that she had spoken to Biden as he was facing pressure to bow out of the race, warning him that polling showed he couldn’t defeat Trump in November and his loss could cost the party control of the House. Pelosi stressed on Monday it was Biden’s decision to end his campaign and rejected claims that she pressured any of her Democratic colleagues to call on him to do so.
“I have loved Joe Biden, respected him for over 40 years,” she told Bash. “I think he has made one of the biggest contributions to our country in the shortest period of time of any president.”
In other interviews as she promotes the new book, the speaker emerita has defended making “every decision” necessary to defeat Trump. Pelosi endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris last month as the Democratic Party quickly coalesced behind her bid for the presidency.
“We just wanted him to make the decision in how he best preserves that legacy,” Pelosi told Politico on Monday. “And also — win.”
The former speaker’s memoir also includes fierce critiques of the Trump presidency, including troubling anecdotes about his mental fitness and his constant attacks on his political enemies.
“And that’s what my purpose was, to say that we need a campaign that will win,” the lawmaker said when asked about a passage in the book in which she said a doctor told her they had concerns with Trump’s “mental and psychological health.”
“The House, the Senate and all the way down the line,” Pelosi said. “There’s so much at stake. We’re talking about saving the planet with legislation.”