Former President Barack Obama was not pleased that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris the day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.
In his new book Retribution, ABC News’ Jonathan Karl provided new details on what had been widely known – that Obama didn’t want a quick coronation of Harris, but rather ‘a process’ to determine who would become the Democratic nominee.
The Daily Mail obtained an advanced copy.
Obama called Pelosi shortly after her endorsement of Harris became public.
‘The Obamas were not happy,’ a Pelosi confidant told Karl. ‘This person summed up Obama’s message to Pelosi as, essentially, “What the f*** did you just do?”‘
Pelosi told the former Democratic president: ‘That train has left the station.’
The endorsement had come as a surprise to Obama because he and Pelosi had been in ‘regular communication’ as it appeared then 81-year-old Biden was nearing the decision to drop out of the race, and ‘they agreed Harris should not simply be handed the nomination unchallenged,’ Karl wrote.
‘Therefore, Obama and Pelosi – arguably the two most influential figures in the Democratic Party – had privately agreed to abstain from making any endorsements,’ the longtime ABC News reporter said.
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