Biden heading on a delayed mission to reassure lawmakers over his political future after meeting with Jeffries

By MJ Lee, Jeff Zeleny, Manu Raju, Michael Williams and Annie Grayer, CNN

Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden is launching a delayed outreach campaign to key groups of lawmakers – the kind of effort Democrats have long called for – after he met Thursday with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries following the president’s closely watched solo news conference.

In the meeting, Jeffries “directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together,” the New York Democrat wrote in a letter to his colleagues on Friday.

But Jeffries did not offer Biden one key thing: His endorsement.

A person familiar with the meeting said Jeffries “bluntly” shared the views of the caucus – as he stated in his letter – but intentionally did not offer an endorsement or say publicly that the decision is Biden’s to make.

While it is uncertain if Biden directly asked Jeffries for his tacit endorsement, a person familiar with the matter said, Jeffries did not extend it at the meeting or in the public letter released Friday morning.

Following the conversation, the president has embarked on a series of calls to key groups of Democratic lawmakers – the kind of enterprise that many in Congress asked him to make weeks ago following his disastrous debate performance. CNN reported Friday that Biden had calls with the political wings of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday and a Saturday virtual meeting with both the New Democrat Coalition and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, according to sources familiar with those meetings.

Ahead of those meetings, defections in Biden’s Democratic coalition in Congress continued.

Biden’s performance during his news conference, which lasted just under an hour and during which he fielded 19 questions from reporters on topics ranging from his mental capabilities to foreign policy, was much stronger than his appearance during the CNN presidential debate, but it did not stem the steady stream of House Democrats coming out against Biden’s efforts to seek a second term.

More than a dozen Democratic House members and at least one Democratic senator have publicly called on Biden to withdraw from his reelection campaign. That list includes multiple House members in the nation’s most competitive congressional districts, but also senior Democrats on influential committees and members in safely Democratic seats.

One of those Democrats, Rep. Mike Levin of California, told Biden directly on the Congressional Hispanic Caucus call that he should step aside, according to someone briefed on the call, which Biden joined an hour late. It’s the first time CNN has reported on a member of Congress directly telling Biden to drop out of the race.

Biden responded saying that it was important for him to get out in front of people and let them know that he was still moving well and healthy, according to a source briefed on the call.

Dozens of other Democrats have stopped short of calling for Biden to end his campaign, but have either expressed concerns about Biden’s chances, said he’ll lose out right or remain publicly undecided. Still, more than 70 members of the House and Senate have publicly reaffirmed their support for Biden as the party’s presidential nominee following his disastrous debate performance late last month.

The top Democrats in Congress – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jeffries – have made a series of public statement supporting Biden’s bid this week. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who remains in Congress and is among the most influential members of the party – has privately expressed her concerns, CNN reported Thursday night.

Speaking with reporters on Friday, Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler acknowledged “anxiety” from Capitol Hill, but insisted Biden will continue outreach to lawmakers to shore up his support.

“Does there continue to be anxiety? Yes, we understand that, the president understands that,” he said. “That’s why he’s gonna continue to engage with folks on the Hill, that’s why we’ve engaged with governors, mayors across the country, the vast majority of whom are firmly behind Joe Biden and understand the stakes in this election

Biden on Thursday night was able to provide incisive remarks on everything from Israel to Russia to China to gun control in the United States. But he also had two notable flubs: During a NATO event before the presser, Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin,” and repeated a similar mistake during the presser, using Donald Trump’s name to refer to Vice President Kamala Harris.

The evening served as a sort of Rorschach test for Democrats’ feelings on Biden. Those who remain firmly in his corner seized on his extended answers on wonky foreign policy issues to prove he still has what it takes to lead the country effectively, while his Democratic doubters used his verbal miscues to reinforce their calls for someone to replace the president on the top of the ticket.

Biden, for his part, came off as chastened during the news conference and was less defiant than in previous appearances. While he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to remove himself from the race, Biden on Thursday night opened the door for other scenarios in which he would drop out of the contest. Pressed on whether he might reconsider his stance if he was shown data that had Harris performing better against Trump, he offered some openness to that possibility.

“No, unless they came back and said there’s no way you can win,” Biden said.

A Biden ally who has spoken with the president multiple times following the June 27 debate told CNN that since that ABC News interview, concerns about the “Lord Almighty” comments have been conveyed to the president.

“Are you really so absolutely inflexible that even if we brought you compelling polling, you wouldn’t move?” is how the ally described the feedback that has been shared with Biden. And it has been impressed upon the president, they said, that “it’s important for him to continue to show openness.”

The source acknowledged that Biden heard the criticism and appears to be shifting his approach by trying to turn down his instinct of: “You’re not going to push me aside.”

“He heard that level of fierce determination was misread by folks and he’s not an arrogant man,” the source said, adding, “he was genuinely surprised” by the criticism.

Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, has bluntly acknowledged the challenges it has faced since his debate performance two weeks ago.

Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon acknowledged to staff in a call Thursday that the period after Biden’s disastrous debate performance have been “hard,” “very bad” and “bad f***ing weeks,” a source who was on the call said. Some of the details of what O’Malley Dillon said were first reported by Axios.

O’Malley Dillon acknowledged when she fumbled words that she had not slept much recently. She tried to rally the troops on this call after first bluntly accepting that the most recent stretch has been deeply challenging, the source said.

Her case, as this source described it, was: “It’s not just that we feel like we can win. We have a plan to get there.”

She laid out both external and internal polling numbers, and made the case that the data still backs up that Biden can defeat Trump.

O’Malley Dillon argued to her team that the Biden reelection campaign is going through a moment that they are “built for,” and that it is because of the team that the president would ultimately win.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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