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Nancy Pelosi told CNN she hasn’t spoken to Joe Biden since he ended his campaign for president.
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When asked about the health of their relationship, Pelosi said, “You’d have to ask him.”
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Pelosi has denied pressuring Biden to step aside.
In her first interview since Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign, Rep. Nancy Pelosi said she hasn’t spoken to him since.
Speaking to CNN, Pelosi said she hopes to speak with Biden, but “we’re all busy.”
When the prominent California Democrat was asked about if her relationship with the president is all right, Pelosi said, “You’d have to ask him, but I hope so.”
“Look, I have loved Joe Biden, respected him for over 40 years,” Pelosi said, recounting how she’d worked closely with Biden in her years as a member of Congress. “I think he has made one of the biggest contributions to our country in the shortest period of time of any president you can name.”
She added: “He’s been a great president with a vision for our country based on values, knowledge, and judgment — and a heart full of love for the American people.”
Biden ended his presidential campaign on July 21. Though she has denied pressuring him to step aside, Pelosi is widely regarded as one of the most powerful Democratic lawmakers and a frequent bellwether of the party’s sentiment.
Several of Pelosi’s closest allies — Reps. Adam Schiff of California, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Zoe Lofgren of California — went public with their opinions that Biden should drop out of the race in rapid succession, prompting speculation in Washington that the Speaker Emerita orchestrated the growing calls among Democratic lawmakers for Biden to abandon his campaign.
“I know I had nothing to do with that,” Pelosi told CNN when asked if she was behind the members’ unified message for Biden to drop out. “And if you ask them, it’s almost insulting to them because they’re formidable figures in the Congress of the United States; they make their own judgment and their own statements.”
Representatives for Biden and a spokesperson for Pelosi did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
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