Top Democrats in Washington walking a careful line on Biden amid party panic about his candidacy

Top Democrats in Washington are mired in an ongoing crisis over President Biden's continued candidacy that has been exacerbated by his recent COVID diagnosis.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, are all responding to leaked reports that they have directly appealed to Biden to step aside. None are publicly denying the leaks. Democrats have been panicking — both in public and in private — as they try to appeal to Biden to voluntarily step aside.

Biden has continued to insist that he is still expects to be the party's nominee and is undeterred from his campaign.

Asked in an interview on Wednesday whether he feels betrayed by leaders in his party, Biden acknowledged that his "terrible" debate against former President Donald Trump three weeks ago had fueled the questions about his age. But he said his record stands for itself — and took a swipe at political reporters.

"They have no limit," he told Luis Sandoval of TelevisaUnivision’s Uforia, complaining that "there are no editors anymore."

On Thursday, Biden was working from home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and was “feeling fine,” his deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters in Milwaukee.

Fulks, who was trying to talk about Republican policies ahead of Trump's speech on the sidelines of that party's national convention, expressed some frustration at the continued line of questioning about whether Biden might change his mind about running.

“I talk to the president every day, like I said: he is not wavering on anything. The president has made his decision. I don't want to be rude but I do not know how many more times we can answer that," Fulks said.

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