Closest Biden aides learned of withdrawal via social media

US President Joe Biden has announced his withdrawal from the presidential election campaign. Apparently many of his staff were not privy to the plan – the last hours must have been dramatic.

At 1:46 p.m. (7:46 p.m. German time), Biden’s most important contribution went online on Platform X: a letter to the nation in which he announced his withdrawal from the presidential candidacy. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve you as your president,” Biden wrote.

“And while it was my intention to seek re-election, I am convinced that it is in the best interest of my party and the country to withdraw my candidacy and focus on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” the 81-year-old continued.

He plans to address the nation later this week to explain his decision. Until recently, Biden had at least publicly stuck to his candidacy – despite harsh criticism from his own party. The news on Sunday was all the more surprising for many political observers.

But not just for them. As the BBC now writes, many Biden employees were apparently not privy to the announcement plan. Most in the White House only found out about Biden’s plans through his X-post, it continues.

“He said he had been thinking about it for the last few days,” a senior White House official told the broadcaster. “It was a well-considered decision.” Nevertheless, the last hours before Biden’s withdrawal must have been quite dramatic. BBC has traced them: According to the report, Biden’s staff had put together a campaign plan on Saturday.

The US President actually wanted to return to the election campaign this week. After all, he had to recover from a Covid illness for a few days and isolated himself in his beach house on the east coast of Delaware (read more about that here). Here, too, he insisted on sticking to his candidacy.

According to the BBC, Biden began to think about whether he should resign on Saturday evening. The reason for this was apparently Biden’s latest poll results. Biden had been studying the latest poll results intensively over the past 48 hours, two people familiar with the matter from the US presidential office told the Reuters news agency. The data indicated declining chances of a successful re-election.

According to the BBC, he consulted with a small circle of staff – including Steve Richetti, one of his closest advisers, Mike Donilon, his chief strategist, Annie Tomasini, his deputy chief of staff, and Anthony Bernal, chief of staff to First Lady Jill Biden. Biden made the final decision to leave on Sunday morning, the report continued.

He then called his chief of staff Jeff Zients, his campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon and Vice President Kamala Harris separately to inform them, the BBC writes, citing people familiar with the matter. At 1:45 p.m. – one minute before his post was published – the 81-year-old held a video conference with the highest-ranking White House staff and his campaign team, the BBC writes.

Chief of Staff Zients immediately called White House officials and sent an email to other White House staff – not least to confirm the authenticity of Biden’s announcement.

Immediately after announcing his withdrawal, Biden proposed his deputy as a replacement candidate for the November election. The 81-year-old said that choosing Harris as his running mate was his best decision in the 2020 election year. He therefore expressed his full support for her to run as the Democrat’s candidate in the upcoming election. According to the BBC, she called important governors and party officials on Sunday to secure their support. Read here what speaks for her as a candidate.

She now said: “I am honored to have the President’s support and I intend to earn and win this nomination.” Harris is the first black woman to be sworn in as US Vice President. She is 19 years younger than the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump.