West Virginia senator on calls for Biden to step down and concerns with Trump
EDITOR'S NOTE: President Biden has announced that he will drop out of the 2024 presidential race. Read more HERE.
WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Joe Machin (I-WV) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday, calling for President Biden to 'pass the torch' and step down for a new Democratic nominee to take his spot.
"For three weeks, I haven't said anything because I thought after the debate, that the President needs to process that and it took a week, I thought, you know, there might be some movement there. And then the next two weeks have been from my colleagues around the country, whether it be Congress, Congress districts, or whether it be states of Senators that are in really challenging areas. Now, you're hearing from them and the concerns they have with down ballot and how it might affect them. Then on top of that, you have the donor class, who is showing great reserve right now. With that, and I do this with a very heavy heart in saying that, I would like for President Biden to be able to finish his five months of leading this country, truly leading this country, the way I know we can. I've known him for many, many years. He's a good person...he's a patriot, and he wants to do the right thing. He wants to heal and bring people together. And if at this point in time, he would pass that torch, he would be able to focus all of his energy towards in the next five months of how do we heal? How do we stop the fighting in Gaza? How do we get to a peace treaty? How do we support Ukraine so that they can have a strong position at the bargaining table? These are the things and then basically show the rest of the world how the superpower of the world is able to have a transfer of power, and do it in the most beneficial way for the whole world to see that it can be done."
Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV)
During the interview, Brennan asked Manchin if the "Democrats are not just hurting their own candidate but hurting faith in the process," following Trump's comments during a rally in Michigan Saturday night, to which Manchin responded by saying:
"First of all...we saw [at] the convention...for the Republicans, they did a wonderful job [for] four days. Perfectly scripted, done a great job unity. And then President Trump spoke in the last hour of his speech, never changed. So, I still have the concerns about orderly transfer of power. I know that January 6th was real. I have all these concerns about his basically continuing to attack the judicial system that we have, and the rule of law, I have all those same concerns I've had, and also sending signals he might not be there to help the free loving countries that are allies and our NATO allies and people that count on us to have that leadership of freedom and be there for them. Those are my concerns with what I heard and nothing has changed."
Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV)
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Manchin, click here.
