In a surprising turn of events, several campaign staffers and White House officials learned of President Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election campaign just one minute before he posted the announcement on X. The announcement, made at 1:46 pm on Sunday, caught many by surprise.
Senior staff were informed of Biden’s decision at 1:45 pm, just moments before the public announcement. This left many staffers, who believed Biden would continue his campaign, to find out through his tweet. “We are all finding out by tweet. None of us understand what’s happening,” a Democrat close to the matter told Politico.
A source close to the campaign shared with The New York Post, “He (Biden) told the senior team right before. I’m sure they didn’t want it to leak.”
At the time of the announcement, Biden was at his beach house in Delaware, recovering from Covid-19, accompanied by key aides including Chief Strategist Mike Donilon, Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, and Anthony Bernal, Senior Adviser to First Lady Jill Biden. Biden had multiple conversations with Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he endorsed as the Democratic nominee. He also informed White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and his longtime aide and campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon of his decision.
A small group of senior advisors from both the White House and Biden campaign were assembled for the 1:45 pm call to learn about Biden’s decision. Just a minute later, the announcement was released on X. The rapid dissemination of the information left even Biden’s closest aides in the dark until the tweet was posted.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk reacted to the news, commenting, “White House aides learned Biden was dropping out by reading X.”
Interestingly, just eight minutes before Biden’s announcement, his campaign had sent out an email seeking donations for “Joe and Kamala,” as reported by The New York Post. Business continued as usual in Delaware up until the surprise announcement, with delegates being finalized for the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “I don’t think a soul in Delaware knew,” a Biden state official told the outlet.
While more junior aides did not take offense to the late notice, seeing it as a relief, senior aides expressed frustration over not being consulted about the decision. “There’s a lot of frustration at the senior staff who put him in this situation (and) enabled him to not have a dignified exit (from the campaign) nine months ago,” a source noted.
Biden, at 81 years old, faced increasing pressure from Democrats to step aside due to concerns about his age and mental fitness, especially following a lackluster debate performance against former President Donald Trump.
