None of the four Democrat leaders reportedly most responsible for forcing President Joe Biden out of the presidential race has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party's nominee.
Former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., all refrained from backing Harris after Biden announced Sunday he no longer will seek reelection.
The four party leaders "did more to engineer Biden's ouster from the campaign than anyone else," Politico reported Monday.
Democrats had been in turmoil over Biden's status as the party's presumptive nominee since his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump on June 27 when he appeared lost and unintelligible at times.
Biden, who until he posted an exit letter on X on Sunday had insisted he would remain in the race, threw his support behind his vice president.
Obama, in a statement praising Biden for his decision to leave the race, did not endorse Harris' candidacy. Instead, he called for an open convention to decide on a new nominee.
"Just like he did in 2020 once Joe Biden earned the nomination, President Obama believes he will be uniquely positioned to help unite the party once we have a nominee, lift up that candidate, and do everything he can to get that candidate elected in November," one source told Politico.
Pelosi, Jeffries, and Schumer did not mention Harris in their initial statements after Biden's announcement, Axios reported.
Politico reported that Obama, Pelosi, Jeffries, and Schumer do not want to be seen as engineering a Harris coronation.
Politico also reported that Pelosi had been ready to increase pressure this week on Biden if he didn't step aside.
"Senior Biden aides were bracing for [Pelosi] to go public this week and possibly even disclose Democratic polling clarifying Biden's dire political straits," Politico said.
"Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way," said one Democrat familiar with private conversations who was granted anonymity. "She gave them three weeks of the easy way. It was about to be the hard way."
NBC News reported it was Pelosi who was most front and center in the effort to push out Biden. Instead of calling out the president publicly, she worked "quietly and methodically, speaking to scores of rank-and-file lawmakers, members of her old leadership team, and her large network of Democratic donors who had once made her the party's most prolific fundraiser."