![Senior Democrats are said to be preparing to tell Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/en-us/politics/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385280762_17208151641960_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Biden’s ‘super friends’ plot to end his candidacy
President must step aside or we will get our asses kicked, says one Democrat
![Senior Democrats are said to be preparing to tell Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/en-us/politics/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385280762_17208151641960_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Senior Democratic allies of Joe Biden dubbed the “super friends” are preparing to march on the White House to urge him to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
The group could include some of the party’s most senior, and respected, elected officials, including Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, its two leaders in Congress, and three other party grandees: Nancy Pelosi, Jim Clyburn and Patty Murray.
The showdown is intended to present a united front to make a definitive case on behalf of the party to the 81-year-old president that he is unable to beat Donald Trump or govern for another four years.
“The super friends are assembling,” a Democrat in the House of Representatives told Politico.
“There’s a group of people who are going to go make their case to whomever they can get to at the White House that he needs to step aside and we’re going to get our asses kicked if he doesn’t.”
It is hoped the group’s stature within the party, and the fact that many have historically been some of Mr Biden’s staunchest backers, will shake his assertion he is best placed to beat Trump.
Despite pressure building, Mr Biden’s closest advisers, including Ron Klain, former chief of staff, insisted on Friday it was “time to end the freak-out and unite behind the Democratic nominee and the only person who has ever beaten Trump”.
![Hakeem Jeffries declined to offer the president his endorsement on Thursday nigh](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/en-us/politics/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000385244917_17208153984250_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The opening gambit of the “super friends” began with Mr Jeffries, the House minority leader, meeting with Mr Biden on Thursday night, when he said he “directly expressed” the views of his caucus.
Mr Jeffries, who until recently had been signalling Mr Biden should not stand aside, declined to offer the president his endorsement on Thursday night or publicly suggest the decision was Mr Biden’s to make.
His predecessor Ms Pelosi, a former House Speaker, also pointedly declined to endorse Mr Biden in an MSNBC interview on Wednesday, suggesting there remained an open question about his candidacy, but adding “time is running short”.
![Nancy Pelosi also pointedly declined to back Mr Biden in an MSNBC interview](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/en-us/politics/2024/07/12/TELEMMGLPICT000384970161_17208155368470_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Mr Schumer, who has publicly insisted he is “for Joe”, has reportedly been privately signalling to donors that he is open to an alternative candidate.
Democrats have been sounding alarm over Mr Biden’s political viability since his debate against Trump last month, during which he repeatedly faltered after losing his train of thought.
Some 19 Democrats in Congress have broken ranks in the past few days to call on Mr Biden to step aside as the party’s nominee, with momentum building for more defections.
Joe Manchin, a former Democrat turned Independent senator, said: “If you just wait until this weekend ... I believe we’ll be able to have a better, clearer view of what’s happening”.
The Biden campaign, meanwhile, is attempting to run down the clock until the Democratic convention in August, when Mr Biden is due to be formally crowned the party nominee, and effectively the final opportunity for him to be replaced on the ticket.
Mr Biden’s supporters hope that the political and media spotlight will shift to the Republican convention next week. Congress will be in recess during the gathering, reducing the opportunities for Democratic dissenters to gather and plot Mr Biden’s ousting.
However, the operation to convince him to stand aside in favour of a younger candidate has now become almost as organised as the official Biden campaign, with insiders dubbing it the Committee to Unelect the President.
An informal coalition of party members, donors and celebrity fundraisers, including George Clooney, are all part of the effort, according to Axios, under the banner: “Mission push Biden out of the presidential race”.
Chief among them are veterans of the Obama and Clinton administrations, with backers commissioning polling to deliver an evidence-based argument and identify a joint ticket that would most likely beat Trump in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The lobbying effort includes the party’s biggest names: Barack Obama and Ms Pelosi, who are said to have privately voiced their “concerns” about Mr Biden, according to CNN.
The coalition of anti-Biden Democrats are understood to be texting, emailing and commissioning polls to show other Democrat candidates would likely beat Trump in the election.
Some have been willing to wage their campaign through US cable news, with Bill Clinton’s campaign mastermind, James Carville, and Barack Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, raising the alarm.
The pair have also suggested their former bosses were quietly signalling Mr Biden should go.
Noting that neither former president had publicly voiced support for Mr Biden in over two weeks, Mr Carville told Axios: “Silence is a very loud form of speech.”
“The Clinton diaspora is freaking the hell out,” one former Clinton White House staffer told the website.
“But all these people going on the record aren’t helping. All it seems to have done is cause the Bidens to dig in deeper.”
Mr Biden hoped to allay concerns about his political alacrity with a solo press conference at the conclusion of the Nato summit on Thursday night.
However, two missteps, in which he referred to Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” and Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump”, only underscored his party’s concerns.
Still, Mr Biden’s aides say his agility at responding to complex foreign policy questions and his stronger physical appearance meant his performance “exceeded expectations”.
Displaying the stubborn determination that has been a trademark of his brand of politics, Mr Biden has vowed to continue his re-election bid and there is no formal mechanism to force him out.
“We’ve never been here before,” he told reporters as he explained why he will not “hand off to another generation”.
“I gotta finish the job,” he added.
That mood is reflected by many in Mr Biden’s inner circle. One Biden aide said the president had proved he was “up to the task”, while another predicted “everyone is going to thank us when he wins” in text messages to Politico.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Biden campaign chairman, conceded they had suffered two “bad f------ weeks” in a leaked call, but urged staff to disregard the “crazy f------ gossip land world”.
Mr Biden has increased his schedule in recent days to meet with critical constituencies, including the Democratic Hispanic caucus and “blue wall” voters in Michigan on Friday.
Andrew Bates, White House spokesman, said: “Our comment is the president’s one-hour press conference.”