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Joe Biden launched an aggressive effort Monday to hang on to his party's presidential nomination, firing off a defiant letter to wavering Democratic lawmakers and appearing on national television to insist “I'm not going anywhere.”
Biden's actions, which included attending a strategy meeting for key donors later in the day, came as his grip on Democratic leadership in Washington continues to weaken, with some party officials calling for him to step down over the weekend.
The multi-pronged counterattack — attacking key support bases on Capitol Hill, the left-wing media and the donor base — appeared to be part of a coordinated effort by the president's campaign after sporadic attempts to quell an intraparty rebellion in the days following Trump's toxic performance at the debate failed to end calls for him to resign.
In a letter to congressional Democrats, Biden said more than 14 million voters selected him as their candidate, saying, “Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the agenda ahead will only help Trump and hurt us.”
“The question of how to proceed from now has been under discussion for well over a week now,” Biden wrote. “And it is time to end it.”
Shortly after sending the letter to Congress, Biden called MSNBC, a cable network watched by many Democrats, to stress his commitment to the campaign. “I'm not letting my guard down,” he said. “The bottom line is, we're not going anywhere. I'm not going anywhere.”
The president also said he was “very frustrated” with party elites who were trying to oust him. “Run against me. Please. Run for president. Challenge me at the convention,” he said.
The timing of Biden's new effort comes as congressional Democrats return to Washington from a holiday recess, with some preparing to launch their own efforts to persuade the president to step down.
According to Democrats, in one of the first strategy meetings after the recess, a conference call convened by Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday, seven senior party representatives — Reps. Jerry Nadler, Adam Smith, Jim Himes, Mark Takano, Don Beyer, Jamie Raskin and Joe Morrell — called on Biden to drop out of the campaign.
The call was the clearest sign yet that Biden's efforts to reaffirm his own fitness, including an interview with ABC News on Friday, have done little to ease anxiety within the party about his ability to fight a tough campaign against his Republican rivals.
Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, argued that Democrats stand to lose the White House, the Senate and three House seats if Biden remains the nominee, according to a person familiar with the matter. The seven people did not or declined to respond to requests for comment.
After details of the private call were leaked to the media, Beyer posted on X, “I support the Biden-Harris combination and look forward to helping us defeat Donald Trump in November.” Raskin told NBC he “never said” Biden should drop out of the race and said he believes the president can beat Trump.
Other Democrats, particularly Biden's allies within the Congressional Black Caucus, also defended him.
“We're not going back, we're going forward,” CBC president Stephen Horsford wrote in a post on X.
Biden's possible reelection will dominate discussions in Washington as NATO leaders arrive for a summit marking the alliance's 75th anniversary. Biden will address the NATO summit on Tuesday, hold a news conference on Thursday and head to Michigan for a campaign rally on Friday.
In a letter to congressional Democrats, Biden said he had “no doubt” Democrats would beat Trump on issues like the economy, abortion and democracy, without mentioning concerns about giving the 81-year-old man another four-year term.
Donors, government officials and other power brokers have named other candidates, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Gov. Gavin Newsom, as possible candidates to take on Trump and are inquiring about how hundreds of millions of dollars raised by Biden's campaign will be channeled to candidates running in his place.
Additional reporting by James Fontanella Kahn in New York and Demetri Sevastopoulos in Washington
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