Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) became the latest Democrat to call for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race on Wednesday.
“[Biden] has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a Senator, a Vice President, and now as President has made our country better,” Schiff, a close ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
“But our nation is at a crossroads. A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” he added.
Schiff, who is running for U.S. Senate in California, said the “choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone,” adding that Biden should “pass the torch.”
“That’s Nancy using her drone, it’s the SAME as Obama using Clooney,” a Hill aide told Puck, referring the George Clooney’s New York Times op-ed calling on Biden to drop out.
Schiff is one of the highest-profile Democrats to tell Biden to step aside and one of the first to call on the president to bow out of the race after The Hill reported that top Democrats were going to pause their pressure campaign on the president.
“This is not the time,” a donor told the outlet.
Schiff’s call also comes as Dems scramble to get Biden off the ticket before the DNC’s July 21 virtual roll call, according to NOTUS.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) is leading the charge after he drafted a letter to the DNC calling on the organization to cancel the roll call votes, on Tuesday.
“It’s a really bad move by the DNC. Somebody thinks it’s a clever way to lock down debate and I guess by dint of sheer force, achieve unity, but it doesn’t work that way,” Huffman told Politico of the virtual roll call vote.
The post Pelosi Ally Adam Schiff Calls on Biden to Drop Out of the Presidential Race appeared first on The Daily Beast.
