Report: Biden held disastrous rambling Zoom call with Democrats

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump Saturday in Pennsylvania came just minutes after President Joe Biden held a train wreck Zoom call with lawmakers – with the turmoil possibly saving him from another flood of calls to step back. Participants have termed the call ‘tense’ and ‘awful’, with one saying Biden had a particularly combative exchange with Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Things went so badly that ‘had the assassination attempt not occurred an hour later, I imagine 50 people on that Zoom were ready to come out publicly against him,’ a participant told Puck news. The participant characterized the president as ‘rambling, dismissive of concerns, unable or unprepared to present a campaign strategy.’

‘The call was even worse than the debate,’ said another participant. ‘He was rambling; he’d start an answer then lose his train of thought, then would just say “whatever.” He really couldn’t complete an answer. I lost a ton of respect for him,’ a person on the call told the publication.

Sources have pointed to the angry clash with Crow, with Biden invoking his son Beau and rattling through foreign policy boasts. ‘Tell me something you’ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son,’ he told the lawmaker.

A video of the call viewed by Puck had Biden scolding the lawmaker, saying, ‘First of all, I think you’re dead wrong on national security. You saw what happened recently in terms of the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Tell me!’

The call, which ended around 5 pm, followed days of Democrats raising concerns about Biden’s political viability, with about 20 calling for him to step back. Biden held it to try to check in with the New Democratic Coalition, after holding other calls with black and Hispanic lawmakers in an outreach effort following a series of public and private complaints about him by House Democrats.

But at 6:19, a shooter fired on the former president, instantly shaking up the race and creating a massive media frenzy. The inside baseball reporting on Biden’s political fate was immediately overtaken by reports about the health of the president and the firefighter killed in the incident, what has been termed a ‘massive’ security breach, and the political implications for Trump. The Saturday events coincided with a fundraising call where California Rep. Adam Schiff of California said of Biden: ‘I think if he is our nominee, I think we lose.’

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During another call with progressive lawmakers, Biden read from a note that said ‘stay positive you are sounding defensive.’ Members claimed he read the note ‘intentionally’ as a joke rather than another Ron Burgundy moment. Now, with Trump preparing to attend Day Three of his convention, some of the recriminations have concerns. A group of about 20 House Democrats signed onto a letter calling to delay the ‘virtual roll call’ party leaders had put in place to deal with a potential snafu in Ohio.

The DNC announced it would delay the roll call until the end of July, but would not wait until the party’s in-person convention. Biden campaign co-chair Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware told MSNBC Wednesday, asked about criticism, ‘Poll after poll nationwide head to head polls, still show this within the margin of error in a head to head race. And bluntly, it’s July. There are months left. I don’t know of any candidate for president in modern history, who because the polls are moving one way or the other by a few points, abandon their campaign for the presidency in July.’

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