‘Behind the Scenes, It’s Full-Scale Panic’: Van Jones Says Democratic Insiders Are Scrambling to Try to Push Biden Aside

CNN commentator and former Obama administration official Van Jones said Democratic Party insiders are still in “full-scale panic” mode a week after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

Biden had an epically bad showing against former President Donald Trump on Thursday that has prompted very public discussions about whether Biden should step aside to make room for another candidate – likely Vice President Kamala Harris.

Publicly, Democratic elected officials have put up a virtually unified front in still backing Biden, but Jones said there is chaos behind closed doors:

I gotta be honest. Everybody comes on the air and it says all this great stuff, but behind the scenes, it’s full-scale panic. People are passing around legal memos, PDFs are flying back and forth on WhatsApp trying to figure out what are the options. How can you replace Biden? How do you get him to do it in a way where he feels respected as he should be respected? Who should Kamala Harris’ vice president be?

The conversation on air in the conversation off air are completely different.

Jones went on to praise Biden as a “great candidate,” but added that “he may not be able to get across the finish line.”

“And a mature party has to take that into account,” he said. “And that is what’s happening… There is a big conversation happening right now about how this happens, not whether.”

On Tuesday, dozens of major Democratic donors participated in a conference call with Democratic strategists including James Carville, who offered advice on how to try to get Biden off the ticket. He suggested they not donate money to Democratic candidates who are backing Biden.

“What I would say is, if we don’t do something about this, I’m going to put you on call block on my cell phone,” he said.

Watch above via CNN.

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