Jeff Mason: Reuters White House correspondent says it's been difficult to predict if Joe Biden would drop out

Joe Biden's dropping out of the US presidential race. 

It's the first time in decades a sitting US President has ended a re-election run.  

Biden's endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place – but the final decision around her nomination lies with the Democratic Party delegates.  

Biden's recent debate performance had sent shivers through the party. 

Multiple senior party members have come forward publicly in recent weeks to express a lack of confidence he could carry out another term.  

Now, many are praising his decision, and his administration's work. 

Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason told Mike Hosking it's been difficult to predict whether this would happen.  

“He has in part of the time really dug in, and part of the time showed a willingness to listen to what people were telling him.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So Biden has gone came from nowhere, not nowhere, nowhere,
but today no one expected it. I don't think Jeff
Mason is the White House correspondent for right as he's
in Delaware and is with us morning. And to you,
if I asked you twenty four hours ago, would this
unfold as it's unfolded in the last couple of hours,
you would have told me what.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I probably would have told you. I don't know, although
I also probably would have told you. I wouldn't have
expected something to happen on Sunday, and it has. There's
been a wave of calls from Democratic lawmakers, donors, others
for President Biden to step down. Last week I reported

(00:38):
on Thursday, I believe that he was soul searching and
thinking about it, taking it seriously. On Friday, his campaign
chare came out on television and said he was still
in and committed as ever. And so it felt like
Friday Saturday like he was committed to staying in. And
then today he released his letter that he's stepping up side.

(01:00):
So it's both a surprise and not a surprise. It's
just been really hard to predict because he has part
of the time really dug in, and part of the
time showed a willingness to listen to what people were
telling him.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
When does he get back to Washington's speak to the
country and is there a vacuum in the ensuing dies?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh, I don't think there's a vacuum. Keep in mind,
he's not stepping down from the presidency. He's just stepping
down from the candidacy for re election. They haven't said
when he's returning to Washington. He's still convalescing from COVID
nineteen here in Delaware where I am now as well,
and they haven't given us a clear heads up on
when he's going to return, but I would expect it

(01:41):
to be earlier midweek of this week.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Will this be an open convention or will they look
to stitch Harris up by the time they get there.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Those are questions that are still being answered, and there
are people who believe in both possibilities. Certainly there would,
They'll have to go through the convention process either way.
The question is whether or not she'll have any rivals,
and whether anyone stands up against her and gets enough
delegates to vote for them to be a reasonable competitor.

(02:14):
Right now, certainly having President Biden's endorsement, which she has
is a huge feather in her cap, as it were.
And she has, of course also the campaign infrastructure that
they built together, although there's some questions about how that
will be transferred now, so that's something that we'll be
watching and reporting on in the coming day.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Just what I was about to ask, what happens to
the money?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, Well, the wisdom at the beginning of all of
this that we got was that the money at least
that's been raised for the campaign, not for the Democratic
Party but large would be hers to keep. But then
I also heard last week from a donor source that
that money could all be transferred to the Democratic Party

(02:56):
and then it would be available to whichever candidate ends
up ascending. So I think there are still some question
marks around it. The one thing there's not a question
mark around is that she is the front runner, and
she's been the front runner even before President Biden endorsed
her today and before he made his final decision to
step aside. But that doesn't mean everyone in the party

(03:17):
is happy about her being at the top of the ticket.
And I wrote a story about that today actually before
President Biden's announcement that there are some who are big
proponents of Vice President Harris, and there are some who
are still very worried that she would not be able
to beat Donald Trump.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
So a two part question then Harris v. Trump can
she win? Or two anyone v Trump? Can they win?

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well? Certainly Democrats believe that they can beat Trump, for sure,
but the last three weeks have not been helpful to
that cause, and not just because of the President taking
this much time to make his decision, but also because
of the back and forth within the party and the
lack of unity in the party compared to what seems

(04:00):
like a pretty unified front on the Republican side, certainly
at the Republican convention where President former President Trump accepted
the Republican nomination. But it can either side still win. Absolutely.
Trump is doing better in the polls, but it is
as it doesn't. It feels like we're close to the election,
and we are. November is not that far away, but

(04:23):
it's not next week, and so both sides have time
to build up support, to raise money, and to to
work on their get out the vote efforts before the election.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
If you go back to Butler, fast forward to this morning,
can you believe this.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
I mean no, it has been one of the most
unbelievable news weeks in my career as a reporter. So
it's you sort of head spinning, I think for the
public as well. Fascinating and we'll see what the next
step is you get.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Some day, Jip appreciated Whitehouse correspondent for Wanters Jim misen
out of Delaware this morning.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
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