Biden is trying to salvage his campaign. Democrats say things are only getting worse

By Annie Grayer, Lauren Fox and MJ Lee, CNN

(CNN) — President Joe Biden has said repeatedly that there is a simple cure for his political troubles: Get out there and show the skeptics that he has what it takes to run for – and win – a second term.

Since his disastrous debate performance that sent his party into a tailspin, the president has sat down for numerous interviews, held a rare solo news conference, held calls with factions of the House Democratic Caucus, met with top Democratic leaders and hit the campaign trail. Unfortunately for the president, he has hardly reassured worried Democrats – if anything, the concerns inside his party have only grown more serious.

“Anyone who thinks this is over is mistaken,” said one House Democrat about the ongoing conversations happening behind the scenes.

Another Democratic lawmaker told CNN that Biden’s full court press in recent days following Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has only exacerbated the panic inside the party.

“Getting worse” is how the member put it.

A third House Democrat who watched Biden’s interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Monday described feeling “profound sadness watching an admirable man tread water instead of leading us through it.”

As Biden travels back to Delaware from Las Vegas on Wednesday night, cutting his trip short after testing positive for Covid-19, he faces one of the most momentous decisions of his long political life.

While the nation reeled from the shock of an assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday before the political spotlight quickly turned to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Democrats had briefly put their public griping on the backburner. But those in the party who are fearful of Biden remaining their nominee recognize that time is running out to convince the president to change his decision and drop out of the presidential race. The party appears to be quickly approaching an inflection point— either come up with a plan to convince Biden to step aside or begin to rally around him.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told Biden in a recent conversation that polling shows the president cannot defeat Trump and that Biden could destroy Democrats’ chances of winning the House in November if he continues seeking a second term, according to four sources briefed on the call.

Even though anger and panic have been steadily rising inside the Democratic Party for nearly three weeks, the White House and the Biden campaign are in a new place, multiple Democratic officials told CNN.

“The private conversations with the Hill are continuing,” a senior Democratic adviser told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid alienating the campaign and the White House. “He’s being receptive. Not as defiant as he is publicly.”

“He’s gone from saying, ‘Kamala can’t win,’ to ‘Do you think Kamala can win?” the adviser said. “It’s still unclear where he’s going to land but seems to be listening.”

The panic has fully set in not just among elected officials, but the donor class, as well.

One major Democratic donor who previously made seven-figure contributions to Biden’s 2020 race – and has paused donations this cycle – said they believe the NBC interview reached the campaign’s objective of getting the president out in public, but not the goal of convincing anyone on the fence to vote for Biden.

“He’s not sharp, but he’s fine,” the donor told CNN. “The problem is: He goes from being fine to having moments like, ‘Whoa what the f**k just happened?’”

The competing forces on Biden’s candidacy spilled out into public view once more when CNN and others reported that some Biden allies were making a quiet push for the Democratic National Committee to speed up Biden’s virtual nomination process – with the hope of beginning the roll call vote as soon as next week. Concerned Democrats bought themselves a little more time by convincing the DNC to not move up the timeline – voting will not begin before August 1, CNN reported.

The delay stopped a draft letter circulating among House Democrats that, if made formal, would have exposed further cracks in the party. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both pushed the DNC to delay the process, multiple sources told CNN.

But that August 1 date has now effectively set a deadline for Democrats worried about Biden’s candidacy. One member is actively encouraging colleagues to voice their concerns in the next 48 hours if they are going to do so, in order to stop the continuous drip of opposition, a source familiar with the conversations told CNN.

That drip began again on Wednesday. California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff became the first lawmaker to break the silence since the failed assassination attempt against Trump and publicly call on Biden to leave the race, becoming the 20th Democratic lawmaker in Congress to do so.

The first House Democrat to call on Biden to step aside, Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, also renewed his call on Wednesday, citing “worsening poll numbers” that not only hurt Biden’s chances of winning but also pose a “real threat” to vulnerable House and Senate candidates as well.

The behind the scenes push for a more forceful, public outcry stems from the acknowledgement that, as one Democratic lawmaker put it, “this can’t go on indefinitely.”

‘Insulated from his own party’

Biden’s outreach to Democrats on Capitol Hill came, for many, too late. It took more than two weeks for the president to address the House Democratic Caucus directly and, in that time, many were distraught over the idea of getting through to Biden despite the president’s impenetrable inner circle.

“The president strikes me as insulated from his own party,” one House Democrat, who has raised serious concerns about Biden remaining the nominee, told CNN.

One senior House Democrat said on television that they had not heard from the campaign or the White House in the wake of the debate. A former Biden White House employee currently on the campaign called the lawmaker to follow up.

“I set (them) straight that was indeed true. And (their) reaction was, ‘That’s crazy,’” the senior House Democrat said.

In a meeting last week, Jeffries presented Biden with the “the full breadth of insight” he had received from the Democratic caucus, and did not offer the president an endorsement. ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reported earlier Wednesday that Schumer told Biden on Saturday that it would be best if Biden bowed out of the presidential race.

In a statement responding to the ABC News reporting, a Schumer spokesperson said, “Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden, the reporting is idle speculation. Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.”

What that statement did not say, however, was three important words that Schumer has included every time he is asked whether Biden’s candidacy should proceed: “I’m with Joe.”

White House spokesman Andrew Bates responded to the ABC News reporting, saying, “The President told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families.”

Christie Stephenson, a spokesperson for Jeffries, said “further characterization of the private, one-on-one meeting between President Biden and Leader Jeffries is speculative and uninformed.”

But those conversations were just the beginning.

During a Saturday call with a moderate group of House Democrats, Biden lashed out at Rep. Jason Crow after the Colorado Democrat bluntly told him that voters are concerned about his vigor and strength, especially as it is perceived on the world stage.

The president responded to Crow, an Army Ranger who served two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, that he knows the congressman is a Bronze Star recipient, like his son Beau: “Tell me who did something that you’ve never done with your Bronze Star, and your – like my son, (I’m) proud of your leadership” according to a source familiar with the call.

But that “he didn’t rebuild NATO.” According to two sources familiar with the call, the exchange became even more contentious when Crow pushed back on the president, who also argued that NATO leaders are supportive of him. Crow told the president that he needs to understand that voters aren’t seeing him that way.

At one point, Biden told Crow, “I don’t want to hear that crap” in addressing the lawmaker’s concerns.

Biden also said if Crow and other frontline members wanted to walk away from him, they could do so. Crow responded to the president that he does not want to walk away from him, which is why he was on the call, but an angry Biden dismissed the congressman by saying he should just walk away then.

Another source familiar with the call said the president’s message to members was that he understood those in tough districts might need to distance themselves from the top of the ticket, which he did not take issue with given his own electoral history.

One House member who was on the call said it was “extremely disheartening” and it “looked like he (Biden) could fall asleep any moment,” except when he got riled up by criticism from other Democratic members on the call.

The source said Biden started off the session citing a poll that was in his favor, but quickly rebuffed any other polls that were brought up showing him behind. The source called it “almost delusion” because “every time someone else brought up what the polling says, he dismissed it.”

“It wasn’t just a disagreement, it was embarrassing,” the source said.

The Democrat who leads the group, Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, described the Saturday call as “candid, respectful and productive,” which was echoed by a number of the group’s members.

Reassurances fall flat

Separately, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, Democrat from Pennsylvania, shared concerns with Biden that he was losing ground in her state. The president pushed back, suggesting that he didn’t believe that, which prompted Houlahan to tell Biden that she had polling and it is what she is seeing.

In response, Biden told Houlahan that his team would get her talking points about all of the things that he has done for Pennsylvania, reminding her that he married a Philly girl.

Biden’s rejection of the premise that he has to change anything and his exchange with Houlahan about Pennsylvania left many on the call convinced that not only is the president dug in, but that he is not getting valid information from his tight group of advisers – leaving House Democrats, and others on the ballot in November, frustrated and despondent.

Instead, the reassurances that lawmakers sought from Biden over the course of the call sometimes fell flat, and sources described the president’s responses as defensive.

“He doesn’t have an answer to the question about what he’s going to do to change the momentum of the campaign,” Washington Rep. Adam Smith who was on the call told CNN, adding that the president largely focused on his accomplishments in office.

“The message we’ve been getting from him and his team: Shut up, fall in line, everything’s fine,” Smith, who’s urged Biden to step aside, said. “That’s not good.”

Biden, who was 30 minutes late to his call with the moderate Democrats, only took three questions and ended the meeting by saying he had to go to church, according to multiple sources familiar with the call.

On a separate call with the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus the day earlier, Democratic Rep. Mike Levin told Biden directly it was time he steps aside.

Others on the call however walked away with a more positive take, including the group’s chair Rep. Nanette Barragán who said Biden had her “unwavering support.”

And still, more than 70 members of the House and Senate have publicly reaffirmed their support for Biden as the party’s presidential nominee.

Biden’s calls with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus seemed to go smoother, with a number of lawmakers expressing their public support for the president, but the overall performative nature of the outreach still left many members dissatisfied.

“The president can learn a lot and benefit from candid conversations. He is not going to learn anything or benefit at all from canned, scripted, orchestrated Q&A sessions,” one of the lawmakers on the call told CNN.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, a close ally of Biden, told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Wednesday that the president is “well aware of the concerns” with his electability and his age.

The Delaware Democrat noted that in one call with Biden and the other campaign co-chairs, he shared two text messages he had received in recent weeks – one calling for him to “keep at it,” and one encouraging the president to drop out.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, Kayla Tausche and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.

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