On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) discussed his call for President Joe Biden to leave the race and said that “This is not about one press conference, one debate, one speech. This is about the presidency of the United States. It’s about an apocalyptically powerful individual and whether the trajectory to the election and the outcome of the election and beyond, in the event that Joe Biden were re-elected” and “A debate with Donald Trump is a walk in the park compared to what happens at 4:00 a.m. in the White House.” Himes also stated that “it’s excruciatingly hard to answer” if Biden can deal with Putin and Xi.
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “Was there not anything that he said that could have changed your mind on calling him to get out of the race?”
Himes answered, “That’s precisely the problem, right? This is not about one press conference, one debate, one speech. This is about the presidency of the United States. It’s about an apocalyptically powerful individual and whether the trajectory to the election and the outcome of the election and beyond, in the event that Joe Biden were re-elected into a job that requires you to deal with the most hideous stuff on the planet. The president doesn’t get to answer any easy questions. A debate with Donald Trump is a walk in the park compared to what happens at 4:00 a.m. in the White House. So, this has nothing to do with one particular debate. I didn’t put out my statement, because there’s an old tradition that politics and partisanship stops at the water’s edge and I wasn’t going to do that with the important NATO things happening, but that was the timing.”
Collins then followed up, “Well, you heard him get a question from David Sanger about the ability to deal with President Putin, President Xi. And he said, I can deal with them now and I’ll be able to deal with them three years from now. Do you not agree with that?”
Himes responded, “Look, it’s excruciatingly hard to answer that question, right? Because a huge part of politics is loyalty and love and emotion. And nobody understands that better or attracts that better than Joe Biden, a storytelling Irishman, who lives in an emotional world, and those are critical values for politics. That’s why rallies are so exciting. That’s why people tear up when they hear the name Bobby Kennedy or Jack Kennedy or John McCain or whatever. But the problem is that can go way too far.” And that he called on Biden to leave because he can’t win.
Himes further stated that Biden had a good first term and he doesn’t want to risk another debate performance like the one Biden had in the first debate. And that if Biden is the nominee, he’ll support him.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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