California Gov. Gavin Newsom, during a press conference on the ongoing wildfires on Wednesday, was asked again about the future of President Biden’s campaign and whether he would run against Vice President Kamala Harris if she ran.
Newsom stood by what he said when he said he would not run against Harris in 2023.
The governor reiterated that he still supports Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I’m sure 100 media outlets have asked me the same question, but I feel I have answered it well in my support for the president and the support I saw on the ground was clear,” he said.
Newsom said he had not read the full comments made by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on MSNBC in which she said “it’s up to the president to decide whether or not he wants to run.”
He also said he had not read George Clooney’s New York Times op-ed, which called on Biden to back down.
“Morale in the building is extremely low,” a person who works regularly with senior White House staff told ABC News on Wednesday.
Sources say some of President Joe Biden’s closest aides, including senior adviser Anita Dunn and chief of staff Jeff Zients, are extremely unhappy and upset about George Clooney’s New York Times op-ed calling on President Biden to resign.
A Democratic adviser told ABC News that the donor base is also deeply divided.
While small donations continue to flow in and the largest donors have doubled, the majority of mid-tier donors are holding back, according to the advisors. This group of donors who give five- to eight-figure amounts have paused giving, which is very harmful because they are a key part of the donor ecosystem, the advisors said.
The adviser added that the anguish that has been going on during this time has had a very negative impact on the election campaign.
Another Democratic fundraiser said a strong performance at a solo news conference on Thursday could help turn the situation around, but many donors believe the crisis surrounding Biden won’t go away.
Doubts raised by lawmakers, comments from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and an op-ed by George Clooney have sparked an intense debate among donors about what to do if Biden withdraws.
-Selina Wang, Senior White House Correspondent for ABC News
Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus voiced their support for the president as the Democratic nominee after their weekly meeting on Wednesday.
“I’m going to work very hard for him,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told ABC News. “I think he’s kept all of his promises and I’m very supportive of him.”
Waters and Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas stressed that they have long supported the president’s reelection and backed Biden’s decision to continue the campaign.
“I don’t think he should resign,” Greene said. “I think the president has said he won’t resign, so that should be taken into consideration as well.”
But Mississippi Democrat Rep. Cori Bush did not fully endorse him, but stressed she wants to defeat Trump in November.
Asked whether Biden could beat the former president, Bush told ABC News, “That’s a question you have to ask Joe Biden.”
“I have no say in that. That’s up to the president,” she added.
-Arthur Jones II and Rachel Scott, ABC News
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, told colleagues in a private meeting that he plans to convey concerns about Biden’s campaign expressed by House Democrats directly to the president, people with knowledge of his remarks told ABC News.
Jeffries has been meeting with Democrats across the ideological spectrum this week to hear their concerns about the presidential race and their own lower-tier candidates’ campaigns in the wake of Biden’s poor debate performance and ABC News interview.
-Ben Siegel, ABC News
