A crushing Zoom call between President Joe Biden and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Friday began with an hour-long delay, and ended in seemingly the first instance of a lawmaker telling the president directly that he should exit the 2024 race.
Originally, just two members of the caucus were going to be allowed to ask Biden questions: Representatives Sylvia Garcia and Lou Correa, reported NOTUS. But trouble brewed after Biden tried to open up the floor for comments from other lawmakers.
Representatives Gabe Vasquez and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez—the latter of whom had already called for Biden’s withdrawal—both attempted to use the “raise hand” feature on the teleconference platform in order to ask a question, but had their signal disabled by leaders of Bold PAC, the caucus’s political arm.
Still, one member was able to sneak in some final comments: Representative Mike Levin, who announced to the president that he believed Biden should step out of the race and allow another party leader to face off against Donald Trump in November.
Before the call’s host, Representative Linda T. Sánchez, abruptly shut down the meeting, Biden responded that the growing calls for his withdrawal are precisely why he’s letting people “poke” him and ask him questions.
“It’s a legitimate concern for people, but that’s why I think it’s important I gotta get out and show people everything from how well I move to how much I know and that I’m still in good charge,” Biden told Levin, according to CNN.
But apparently, Biden did not make as good a showing as he hoped. Shortly after the call concluded, Levin released a statement reiterating his call for Biden to withdraw from the race.
