As President Joe Biden tries to talk with Democratic lawmakers and relieve their concerns, a virtual meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday appears to have caused more problems than it solved.
For starters, Biden showed up an hour late to the Zoom call, according to a source familiar with the meeting, and it didn’t get much better from there.
Organizers of the Zoom meeting had said only two members were allowed to ask questions — Reps. Sylvia Garcia and Lou Correa — but Biden opened the floor up to more questions, the source familiar with the call told NOTUS. At least the president tried to open up the meeting to more questions.
The source said the campaign tightly controlled who could ask a question on the call. Reps. Gabe Vasquez and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez both used the “raise hand” feature on the Zoom call, and both had their hands lowered by organizers of the call and were not allowed to speak, the source said.
Of the lawmakers who did get to ask Biden a question, Correa told Biden that Latino voters need to hear from him and urged the president to “talk to these families and say to them, there is a pathway in my second administration for all of you that have been here for decades, that have followed the laws, that have paid taxes to be part of the American dream,” according to a partial transcript of the call obtained by NOTUS.
Biden responded that he strongly agreed “with every word you just said, not a joke.”
“I’m being deadly earnest,” Biden said, according to the transcript.
“We’re in a situation where, that’s why I used the executive action, for example, to make sure that over a million Latinos who are married to an American citizen are, get complete access to citizenship, and get — you get a green card now,” Biden said, claiming that would “change the dynamic in a big way.”
Of the Democrats who weren’t preordained to speak but were still able to ask a question was Rep. Mike Levin. Levin’s question, however, was more of a comment: He said it was time for someone else to lead the party, and he called on Biden to step down as the nominee.
The president responded by trying to ease concerns about his age.
“That’s — that was great when you were feeling good, Biden, are you OK now? That’s what’s underlying,” Biden said, according to the partial transcript. “That’s what people are worried about. ‘I’ve got a grandfather who’s 85 years old, and he can’t walk.’ It’s a legitimate concern for people, but that’s why I think it’s important I gotta get out and show people everything from how well I move to how much I know and that I’m still in good charge.”
Biden said he had time for one more question. But the host — Rep. Linda T. Sánchez — ended the meeting anyway.
Still, Levin managed to get the last word. Soon after the call, the San Diego-area congressman became the 19th congressional Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw from the race.
The Biden campaign declined to comment on this story.
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Reese Gorman is a reporter at NOTUS.