Let's shift our focus now to President Biden's decision to end his presidential

bid. I spoke this afternoon with the Senate Democrat who knows him best that

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. Senator Chris Coons, welcome back to the

news hour.

Thank you, great to be on with you, Jeff.

You are President Biden's closest ally in Congress.

You were his campaign co-chair.

The President's speech last night, explaining why he's not seeking re-election he didn't really

concede any of the points made by those Democrats who sought to push him out of the

race that he's too old that he's unable to effectively press the case against Donald

Trump has he explained his reasoning to you was at the polling was at the

fracture in the party what was the specific issue or argument that convinced him to exit the race?

Look Jeff, I think what really matters here is that we take a moment and reflect on Joe Biden's incredible record, one of the most

consequential presidents of my lifetime, maybe of our entire history, and he heard from and took

seriously input from a very wide range of people from

senators and governors and mayors but also just average people friends neighbors

people who worked for him people he'd known for a long time.

And he weighed his gut instinct,

which is to get back up and fight.

He is a person of grit and determination,

and the input he was getting from pollsters, from average folks, from elected officials

suggesting that the path to the presidency to re-election was increasingly narrow.

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