Jill Biden suggested in a new interview that the first family still feels betrayed by Nancy Pelosi over the Democratic powerbroker’s role in shoving President Biden to the political exits after his shaky debate performance.
The outgoing First Lady said she and her husband were blindsided when Pelosi joined a successful pressure campaign to force Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race in the interests of the party.
“We were friends for 50 years,” Jill Biden told The Washington Post in an interview published Wednesday, putting a deliberate stress on the length of time. “It was disappointing.”
“Let’s just say I was disappointed with how it unfolded,” Jill Biden said. “I learned a lot about human nature.”
Joe Biden planned to stay in the race even after he stumbled badly in a historic early summer debate with President-elect Trump.
But Pelosi piled pressure on him to get out of the contest when she told him to his face that he was heading for a landslide defeat — and could drag down congressional Democrats too. The blunt conversation reportedly left Joe Biden “seething.”
It’s unclear if either Joe or Jill Biden has spoken to Pelosi since he ended his campaign and endorsed Kamala Harris in her ultimately unsuccessful campaign against Trump.
Pelosi seemed to pour salt in the Bidens’ wounds after the election loss when she said the 82-year-old Biden should have pulled the plug far earlier on plans to run for a second four-year term given his age and widespread concerns about his fitness for the office.
“Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said at the time. “There would be an open primary.”
In the new interview, Jill Biden answered “sure” when asked if she is confident her aging hubby could have served four more years in the White House.
“He has a full schedule,” she said. “He started early with interviews and briefings, and it just keeps going.”
Jill Biden said she had a cordial chat with Trump when they both attended the rededication of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after the election.
“I had a good meeting with your husband in the Oval Office,” Trump said, according to Jill.Biden, referring to the onetime rivals’ post-election sit down.
“Yes,” Jill Biden replied. “Because you’re both talkers.”
With just days left in the White House, the first lady said she hopes to be remembered for the multiple roles she juggles: ” a mom, a grandmom, a working woman, a sister, a friend.”
As for Joe Biden, his partner predicted Americans would come to appreciate his presidency.
“I hope that they remember Joe as a strong, empathetic president with integrity and character,” she said. “I mean, character really is everything, isn’t it?”
