A former adviser to Barack Obama struggled to contain his tears Sunday as he described his pain at President Joe Biden’s departure from the campaign trail.
Van Jones — who has publicly called for Biden to step down over the past few weeks — repeatedly struggled to keep his voice from cracking as he spoke to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“Joe Biden's body may not be as strong as it used to be, his language skills may not be as sharp as they used to be. But his heart is as big as ever. His heart is as big and as true and as strong, and this is the difference between a politician and a leader.
“He made a selfless decision and people are heartbroken. Even people who are pushing for this to happen.”
Biden declared Sunday afternoon that he would not be running for re-election as president in November. He endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, to replace him.
The decision followed mounting pressure from senior Democrats after a debate performance last month triggered concern for his cognitive ability.
Jones compared the demands for him to quit to a family’s decision that a grandfather is no longer safe to drive.
“It's kind of like like when, when your grandpa, you got to take the keys and he's fighting, … then you finally get the keys back and then you just cry because this is somebody that you love. This is somebody that you care about, somebody who was there for you, somebody you wouldn't be here without him, and to take something from him…”
“...This is what it means to put the country first and put the party first. When your arm gets tired, you let somebody else finish the pitch in the game. That's what Joe Biden has done, and he's done that for all of us."
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He went, “I just know that I love this man. I care about this man. It was painful every day to sit up here and talk about him like he's just some problem for the party.
“When we get to the convention, you're going to see people crying, standing, screaming, cheering. He may not get a chance to talk for 10 minutes. We finally got a chance to put our arms around this guy. He did the right thing for this country, the right thing for this party.”
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