WH and campaign aides didn't know Biden was dropping out

[soandso]

I've seen posts claiming Biden made the decision days ago but it doesn't look like that's true. Some saying they found out by tweet, others notified one minute before tweet posted.

Link to tweet

Steve Ricchetti, who’s been with Biden since his days in the Senate, drove to see the president at his house on the Delaware shore on Friday. Mike Donilon arrived on Saturday. The two men, both of whom had been by Biden’s side during key decisions about whether to seek the presidency in 2016 and 2020, sat at a distance from the president, still testing positive for Covid, and presented damning new information in a meeting that would hasten the end of Biden’s political career.

In addition to presenting new concerns from lawmakers and updates on a fundraising operation that had slowed considerably, they carried the campaign’s own polls, which came back this week and showed his path to victory in November was gone, according to five people familiar with the matter, who, like others interviewed for this article, were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Biden asked several questions during the exchange.

The only other people with Biden in the residence when he arose Sunday were first lady Jill Biden and two other trusted aides: deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and assistant to the first lady Anthony Bernal. At 1:45 p.m., he notified a somewhat larger group of close aides that he had decided the night before to end his quest for another term, reading his letter and thanking them for their service. A minute later, before any other campaign and White House staffers could be notified, he posted the historic letter from his campaign account on the social media site X.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/21/why-biden-dropped-out-00170106

[LiberalArkie]

1. Biden can keep a secret even from aides who like to brag to media

[Skittles]

2. so we weren't the only ones kept in the dark

nope

[TwilightZone]

5. The smaller the group, the less likely it would leak.

He may trust his aides not to leak, but one never knows. If you don't tell them ahead of time, the chances of that happening are eliminated entirely.

[Skittles]

6. if he deliberately delayed until the facists had locked in Trump

that was very well played indeed

[TwilightZone]

8. Funny, I had a similar thought earlier.

But their rules were changed in 2019 to protect Trump and lock in delegates, so I'm not sure they even had a path to get rid of him in 2024.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/us/politics/trump-republicans-delegates-convention.html

[LisaL]

7. Well, there were all these rumors that he is going to drop out this weekend or Monday.

So somebody was leaking.

[bamagal62]

9. True.

I heard it Thursday night from a DNC employee. They were fearful of a shit show. But it appears they were right but also very wrong. I don’t see a shit show!

[EYESORE 9001]

13. It didn't gain a lot of traction, however

The announcement still came as an utter surprise, regardless. The leakers obviously weren’t in on everything.

[TwilightZone]

3. "made the decision days ago but it doesn't look like that's true"

He could have made the decision days ago but only told a very small group of people at the time, and that group didn't include the aides mentioned.

[LisaL]

4. It would appears the decision was very recent, after internal polling

showed bad results.

[OnDoutside]

14. All polls should be banned in June, July and August ! It leads to bad decision making.

[LeftInTX]

10. Yet Newsmax and Carl Bernstein announced that he was withdrawing on Sunday.

There was a mole somewhere.

[Xolodno]

11. It was probably a very small circle who knew.

You don't just go about publicizing to everyone in your campaign they are all about to lose their jobs. But good news, you will have a new job for a different boss. Most would have started abandoning ship right away.

[soandso]

12. "concerns from lawmakers and updates on a fundraising operation that had slowed considerably"

I really think it's the money but we'll never know. I don't look at polls but find it hard to buy that internal polls showed "his path to victory in November was gone". Seriously? Evaporated overnight from one mediocre debate? I don't think so. I think the path was "gone" because the money was being withheld. Just look at how it's pouring in now.