Joe Biden has said that he dropped out of the presidential race because of pressure from Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats in Congress.
The US President, who endorsed Kamala Harris as his successor last month, insisted that his contest with Donald Trump was “neck and neck” but said disquiet from his own party was becoming a “distraction”.
“What happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races,” he told CBS News on Sunday.
“I was concerned that if I stayed in the race that would be the topic you’d be interviewing me about – why did Nancy Pelosi say… And I thought it would be a real distraction.”
Ms Pelosi, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, is reported to have privately urged Mr Biden to drop out of the race and presented him with polling showing he could not beat Trump.
She told The New York Times on Thursday that she had “never been that impressed” with the Biden campaign and suggested she feared he would not win the presidential election.
Several of those who had told the US President to make way for a younger successor were allied to Ms Pelosi.
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