President Joe Biden’s family remains “all in” on him remaining in the 2024 race even as questions swirl about the future of his candidacy, a source familiar with the family’s thinking said.
“There is no change,” the source said. “The first lady is all in. The family’s all in.”
First lady Jill Biden, the president’s closest confidant, was on the road in the battleground state of Michigan ahead of a Wednesday evening return. In Washington, meanwhile, the White House publicly maintained the president is “absolutely not” considering stepping down, even as Biden has privately acknowledged the next stretch of days is crucial to his campaign.
“Because there’s a lot of talk out there, let me repeat what my husband has said plainly and clearly: Joe is the Democratic nominee and he is going to beat Donald Trump, just like he did in 2020,” Jill Biden said at the opening of a campaign office in Traverse City, Michigan, according to a pool report. “Are you ready to help me?”
“Joe has been knocked down and counted out his whole life, but when he gets knocked down, he gets back up. When he gets counted out, he works harder. And that’s what he’s doing, but he needs your help,” she added.
The first lady attended two official White House events in Middleville, Michigan, to highlight summer nutrition programs and a Hidden Helpers summer camp for children from military families, as well as the campaign office opening with Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
As the president faced a growing number of calls Wednesday to step aside as the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, a former Biden aide said the president and the first lady would not make any significant decision without consulting the other.
“They don’t make significant decisions in any part of their lives without consulting the other. She is a trustworthy sounding board for him, he always wants to know what she thinks, what her opinion is,” the aide said.
The White House pushed back Wednesday evening on criticism around the first lady’s role and responsibility as her husband tries to salvage his candidacy.
“The President has plenty of political and policy advisors – that’s never been her role,” Elizabeth Alexander, deputy assistant to the president and communications director to the first lady, told CNN. “As much as any husband and wife team make decisions together that impact their lives, they absolutely do, but as she’s said more times than I can count – politics is his lane. She supports his career and he supports hers.”
Alexander lamented the “inherent tension” that previous first ladies have endured that she believes is being amplified in this moment for Jill Biden. “You are supportive, but can’t be so supportive that your motives are questioned,” she said. “Society has put all first ladies, including Dr. Biden, in an impossible situation – with Twitter/X magnifying this on steroids in today’s world.”
Asked whether Jill Biden is hiding a medical condition of her husband, she replied “No. An emphatic no.”
An ally of the president and first lady separately told CNN that all of the calls for Jill Biden to step up at this moment are ludicrous. “It’s unfair to put the future of the Democratic Party on a spouse; she’s not elected, not a professional political advisor; she’s not a pollster, or a campaign manager,” the source said.
Biden, according to the source, will continue to be his biggest defender, saying: “Call it being a Mama Bear or Philly Girl – she’s tough, and of course defends her family. Always will.”
A second former Biden aide said any decision on the president’s future would not be made by the first lady alone, but rather the very small inner circle of family members – namely, this source said: Ashley Biden, Hunter Biden and Valerie Biden.
Members of the Biden family are expected to be on hand for Fourth of July festivities at the White House. The president and the first lady are expected to speak together at an event in Philadelphia on Sunday and will spend the rest of the weekend at their home in Wilmington, Delaware. It is possible other family will join the couple in Delaware as well.
The president huddled with his children and grandchildren at Camp David earlier this week, a long planned gathering to partake in a family photo shoot but one where the state of his presidential campaign arose. The family encouraged the president to stay in the race in the days after his halting debate performance, sources told CNN.
After spending two days at Camp David, the president and first lady returned to the White House with Hunter Biden, his wife Melissa and son Beau. Hunter Biden accompanied his father as he met with staff to prepare for his speech on the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
“Hunter came back with him and walked with him into that meeting, that prep, that speech prep. And you know, and he ended up spending time with his dad and his family that night. That is basically what happened,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday. “They were together at Camp David. They came back together.”
The president’s son, who was recently found guilty on three felony gun charges, also attended a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House Wednesday.
