Biden heading on a delayed mission to reassure lawmakers over his political future after meeting with Jeffries

Washington CNN —

President Joe Biden is launching a delayed outreach campaign to key groups of lawmakers – the kind of effort Democrats have long called for – after he met Thursday with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries following the president’s closely watched solo news conference.

In the meeting, Jeffries “directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together,” the New York Democrat wrote in a letter to his colleagues on Friday.

But Jeffries did not offer Biden one key thing: His endorsement.

A person familiar with the meeting said Jeffries “bluntly” shared the views of the caucus – as he stated in his letter – but intentionally did not offer an endorsement or say publicly that the decision is Biden’s to make.

While it is uncertain if Biden directly asked Jeffries for his tacit endorsement, a person familiar with the matter said, Jeffries did not extend it at the meeting or in the public letter released Friday morning.

Following the conversation, the president has embarked on a series of calls to key groups of Democratic lawmakers – the kind of enterprise that many in Congress asked him to make weeks ago following his disastrous debate performance. CNN reported Friday that Biden had calls with the political wings of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday and a Saturday virtual meeting with both the New Democrat Coalition and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, according to sources familiar with those meetings.

Ahead of those meetings, defections in Biden’s Democratic coalition in Congress continued.

Biden’s performance during his