DNC chair pressed on whether Biden was 'bullied out of office'
Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison was pressed on Tuesday about whether President Biden was "bullied out of office" by members of the Democratic Party, following the president's decision to withdraw from the 2024 race.
"Listen, the president, we owe him a tremendous amount of gratitude. He’s a good man. He’s a decent man. He’s been a transformational president. But what he also demonstrated by stepping out of this race is that he is selfless," Harrison told NBC's "Today" co-host Craig Melvin.
Melvin followed up, "but was he bullied?"
"He made an assessment, Craig, that this was the best thing for not only the American people but for the Democratic Party," Harrison added.
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Democrats quickly rallied around Vice President Kamala Harris following Biden's Sunday announcements that he was abandoning his re-election bid and supporting Harris for the nomination.
Harrison also discussed their process at the DNC and explained how they plan to nominate Harris.
"This process is going to be fair, transparent, open, but it’s going to be fast. And we have designed it to allow our nominees to really hit the measures and to hit the requirements that are necessary to be on the ballot in all 50 states. And in Ohio, in order to be on that ballot, you have to have not only a presidential nominee but also a vice presidential nominee. So it is going to be up to the eventual nominee to make that determination. But we have designed this process so that they have the sufficient time in order to select who that may be," Harrison said.
He emphasized that Harris' vice presidential pick should be decided by August 7, in order to meet the Ohio ballot deadline.
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Following the president's rocky debate performance against former President Trump at the end of June, Harrison told MSNBC that they were still "riding with Biden" because the president had always had their backs.
"What I have seen is that galvanization, particularly in the Black community," he said. "I'm a Black man. I've seen the galvanization of support for Joe Biden because, you know, in the Black community, in your family, you can say all that you want to say about a member of your family, but don't let somebody else."