Congressional Black Caucus Mounted ‘Fierce’ Defense of Biden on High Level House Dems Call

A high-level meeting of House Democrats on Sunday convened by Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries saw four names added to the list of members who want President Joe Biden to step aside in the 2024 election, bringing the total now to nine in the House.

NBC News congressional correspondent Julie Tsirkin, reporting on the call Sunday, pointed out that while there were those pushing for Biden to step down, members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the call offered a “fierce” defense of Biden, and criticized other members for wasting time.

Reps. Jerry Nadler, Mark Takano, Joe Morelle, and Adam Smith, high-ranking members with important committee assignments, are the four who reportedly came out for replacing Biden on the ticket.

However, California Democrats Rep. Barbara Lee and Rep. Maxine Waters offered a “fierce” defense on the call, Tsirkin reported.

Another CBC member, Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida, was not on the call, but put out a statement Sunday saying in part that, “Any ‘leader’ calling for President Biden to drop out needs to get their priorities straight and stop undermining this incredible actual leader who has delivered real results for our country.”

Vulnerable Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, meanwhile, did not call for Biden to step aside on the call, reported Tsirkin, but expressed many of the concerns that prompted such a call from fellow Frontline Democrat Rep. Angie Craig on Saturday.

You see all of those names and faces on your screen. The four additions are very significant because remember this call that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries convened actually had the top Democrats on the key committees join the call. So you’re talking about guys like Jerry Nadler. This is somebody who is the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. You’re also seeing Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. You’re seeing others as well following suit.

And we’re told, according to our sources, that on the call, those four expressed a lot of concern, specifically with Biden being the top of the ticket, they want to see another nominee. Other sources said that there was overwhelming support, for example, for Vice President Kamala Harris, to step into that role with others should Biden step aside? Certainly not all of them calling on him to do so.

He was, he did have a large defense, a fierce defense from members of the Congressional Black Caucus that were on the call.

We’re told Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, two veteran lawmakers from California, they defended Biden on the call, as they have done publicly.

We also saw a statement from another member of the Congressional Black Caucus who was not on the call, Frederica Wilson of Florida. But she criticized some of her fellow Democratic colleagues who are taking this moment to call on Biden to step aside, saying, like many others that I’ve talked to, that every single minute they talk about the need to replace Biden is a minute wasted that they could be talking about Trump.

Also importantly, we heard, according to sources, Susan Wild, for example, who was the Democratic ranking member on the ethics committee, she is a frontline Democrat, a vulnerable Democrat in Pennsylvania. She did not, according to my sources, call on Biden to step aside, but she expressed significant concern, Katie, with being able to run with Biden at the top of the ticket, with being able to campaign with him and her own reelection prospects, as we learned, of course, Angie Craig, one of the faces on that screen coming out yesterday, also front line Democrat expressing the same concern.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.

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