Pelosi Dodges Question On Wanting Biden To Run: ‘Time Is Running Short’

 Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday morning did not provide a direct answer when she was asked if she wanted President Joe Biden to continue his campaign for president.

The California Democrat was pressed on the issue on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and said she and other Democrats would support whatever Biden chooses to do.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” Pelosi said.

“We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short,” she added.

Pelosi said Biden has the “overwhelming support of the caucus,” although she noted that “it’s not for me to say” since she no longer leads House Democrats.

“But he’s beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision,” she said.

MSNBC’s Willie Geist countered, “He has said he has made the decision. He has said firmly this week he is going to run. Do you want him to run?”

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” Pelosi responded. “And that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with.”

Pelosi then shifted gears, saying Biden is “orchestrating” this week’s NATO conference “magnificently.”

The former speaker said she told her fellow Democrats to refrain from expressing their opinions about Biden’s candidacy until after this week.

“I’ve said, everyone, let’s just hold off, whatever you’re thinking either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week,” Pelosi said.

Biden’s campaign is facing a crisis among Democrats since his dismal debate performance last month against former President Donald Trump.

Democrats are currently divided on Biden, and many have publicly expressed concerns that the president may not be up to the task of serving another four years or even campaigning for the next four months.

Pelosi’s unenthusiastic remarks on Biden’s candidacy Wednesday come as other top Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have declared their solid support for the president.

Biden has made it clear he has no intention of dropping out.

“I’m firmly committed to staying in this race,” Biden wrote in a letter to Congress on Monday.

One Senate Democrat is warning that Biden is likely to lose in November.

“Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election — and maybe win it by a landslide — and take with him the Senate and the House,” Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) said on CNN.