US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told President Joe Biden in a meeting on Saturday it would be better for the country and the Democratic Party if he ended his reelection campaign, ABC News reported on Wednesday.
Schumer met Biden in Delaware, according to the report. Following the meeting, Schumer only described it as a "good meeting."
The ABC News report follows an Axios report last week which said that Schumer is privately signaling to donors that he's open to a Democratic presidential ticket that isn't led by Biden.
According to the report, Schumer has been listening to donors' ideas and suggestions about the best way forward for the party.
A Schumer spokesman initially declined to comment, but Schumer later issued a statement in which he said, "As I have made clear repeatedly, publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November."
Biden has faced calls to withdraw from the presidential race following his poor showing at the recent debate against former President Donald Trump.
So far Biden has resisted the calls. Asked in an interview on Wednesday what would convince him to drop out of the race, the President replied, “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem."
“I said I was going to be a transitional candidate, and I thought I would be able to move on from this and pass it on to somebody else,” he said, explaining why he feels he must run again. “But I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided. And quite frankly, I think the only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom.”