NewsNation host Chris Cuomo has alleged that former President Joe Biden deliberately undermined Democrats' 2024 presidential campaign to retaliate against party leaders who pushed him aside, offering an unverified account of Biden's motives in the election Donald Trump won against Kamala Harris.
Speaking on the Sept. 24 episode of The Chris Cuomo Project, Cuomo attributed his claim about Biden's private acknowledgments to unidentified people he said had heard the former president speak. He did not name those individuals or present documentary evidence supporting an effort to damage the Democratic ticket.
"He was so pissed that they didn't want him to run again, that I believe he submarined the whole thing," Cuomo said. "I believe he forced Harris on them, I believe he delayed it, I believe he screwed up the process, I believe he wanted to punish them for not letting him run again. I really believe that."
The allegation turns on an assertion about intent: that Biden's withdrawal and endorsement of Harris were designed to hurt his party. The events themselves are documented, but the supplied reporting contains no independent corroboration of Cuomo's explanation for them. Biden has not publicly responded to the claim, according to the reporting provided.
Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21, 2024, following weeks of pressure from Democratic lawmakers and donors. About 30 minutes later, he endorsed Harris, offering his "full support and endorsement" and urging Democrats to unite behind her.
That endorsement gave Harris Biden's backing but did not formally award her the nomination. Democratic delegates subsequently backed her candidacy, a distinction that Cuomo did not explain when asserting that Biden had forced the party to accept his vice president.
Cuomo also disclosed his own dissatisfaction with the Democrats' handling of the election. He said he was "very angry" about the process and so "disgusted" that he chose not to vote for Harris. Those remarks accompanied his allegations but supplied no additional evidence of Biden's intentions.
The pressure to replace Biden intensified after his June 27 debate against Trump, when halting answers and difficulty completing some responses heightened concerns about his candidacy. Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first congressional Democrat to publicly urge him to withdraw.
By July 21, 31 House Democrats and four Senate Democrats had publicly called for Biden to leave the race, according to CBS News. His exit left Harris to assemble a presidential campaign during the remaining months before the November election.
Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. Their ticket lost to Trump and JD Vance, who captured 312 electoral votes against the Democrats' 226, including victories in all seven major battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
