As President Biden continues to meet with world leaders as part of the NATO summit in Washington, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are grappling with the fallout of Biden’s debate debacle. 

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif. says it’s not just elected U.S. officials who are concerned about the outcome of the 2024 election.

“It's very important for these world leaders and for the world stage to hear our President continue to say that he believes in NATO and sees it as incredibly important, contrasting with a former president as in [Donald] Trump, who disbelieves all of the things that NATO stands for,” railed Kamlager-Dove in an interview with Spectrum News. “I will say that I talked to a number of leaders who have been here, and they were all very hopeful that President Biden will win his reelection, because they know that he is also going to be supporting them.”

What You Need To Know

  • As President Joe Biden met with world leaders during NATO events in Washington Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers continued to grapple with whether he is up to the job

  • Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said on MSNBC's Morning Joe Wednesday morning that "it's up the president to decide if he is going to run," side stepping a follow up question as to whether she wanted him to run

  • Freshman Rep. Sydney Kamlager Dove, D-Calif. gave Biden a full throated endorsement of the president, telling Spectrum News Democrats have gotten off message and are ignoring their real problem: Donald Trump

  • It comes as more Democrats have called for Biden to step down, including multiple House Democrats and the first Democratic senator

Just nine House Democrats and a lone senator, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., have come out publicly to call for Biden to step aside from the top of the ticket, but there has been a steady stream of Democrats saying “it’s the president’s decision” whether or not to stay in the race.

Early Wednesday, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was one of them.

“It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short,” said Pelosi, when pressed by Jonathan Lemire on MSNBC’s Morning Joe whether or not Biden had her support to be at the top of the ticket.

“He has said he has made the decision. He has said firmly this week he is going to run. Do you want him to run?” pressed Lemire.

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do. And that's that's the way it is,” answered Pelosi.

A spokesperson for Pelosi doubled down on ambiguity in a statement to Spectrum News after the interview.

“Speaker Pelosi fully supports whatever President Biden decides to do. We must turn our attention to why this race is so important: Donald Trump would be a disaster for our country and our democracy,” said spokesperson Ian Krager.

Kamlager-Dove, who holds a safely-Democratic seat representing much of mid-city Los Angeles, has been a vocal champion for the Biden-Harris administration and reelection campaign. 

The freshman lawmaker gave a full throated endorsement of Biden, saying he should “absolutely” remain at the top of the ticket.

“I don't know why you would try to fire someone who has been as effective and successful as this president. Some may say he is the most consequential president of our lifetime, so we need to stop complaining, pull up the big girl, big boy pants, and talk about the issues that the American people and the world care about,” she said.

Before we spoke with Kamlager-Dove, heavyweight actor and democratic donor George Clooney urged Biden to step down with an op-ed for the New York Times. Clooney held a Hollywood fundraiser for Biden just three weeks ago, where the campaign hauled in over $28 million.

But Clooney said while he loves Joe Biden, he should step aside.

“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe “big F-ing deal” Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” Clooney wrote.

“Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024.”

We asked Kamlager-Dove whether surrogates and allies raising concerns now about Biden’s age and abilities hurts his bid for reelection

“I think a lot of folks are looking at polls, which are snapshots – which we are actually contributing to how people are feeling – because [Democrats] are not staying on message. And the message is defeating Project 2025, the message is defeating Donald Trump, a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist, a liar, a criminal, a thief, someone who initiated a coup against the American government. We should be talking about the issues that people care about,” she argued.

“I really don't know why folks are not talking about the threat that is in front of us. The name is Donald J. Trump.”

But Welch, as he wrote in The Washington Post Wednesday night, says it is Trump’s threat that led him to his decision to call on Biden to step down.

“I, like folks across the country, am worried about November’s election. The stakes could not be higher. We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night,” Welch wrote. “I understand why President Biden wants to run. He saved us from Donald Trump once and wants to do it again. But he needs to reassess whether he is the best candidate to do so. In my view, he is not.”

Whether the dam continues to hold or crumbles for Biden could be determined in the coming days. Biden will face likely his biggest test yet since the debate with a solo press conference Thursday before Washington's press corps.

He can’t afford any missteps.