'Not a coincidence': Analyst points to cascade of leaks around Biden's candidacy

A series of leaks about private conversations between President Joe Biden and Democratic leadership suggests the dam is breaking on his chances of remaining the party nominee, according to MSNBC's John Heilemann.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) became the latest Democratic lawmaker to call on Biden to step aside, and party leaders Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi have privately urged the president to exit the race over concerns about his age and fitness, and Heilemann told "Morning Joe" those leaks appear to be part of a pressure campaign to get him to drop out.

"Yesterday was not, this is not an accident or a chaotic day, it was a day in which a series of carefully orchestrated, sequenced things took place," Heilemann said. "I said a couple weeks ago on the show that there are a handful of Democrats [who] Joe Biden might listen to on this topic: Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, the Clintons and Obamas, but only secondary secondarily, and Jim Clyburn. They were the only ones Biden would take this argument seriously from. What we learned yesterday, at the end of last week, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer all had similar conversations directly with Joe Biden, saying, 'You need to seriously consider stepping aside – the polling is so bad, it could doom Democrats in the House and Senate.' Nothing happened after that. We had the assassination attempt, this all went quiet."

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"It's not a coincidence that Adam Schiff, one of the closest allies of Nancy Pelosi, went public with his call on Biden to step aside," Heilemann added. "Then the sequence of leaks of the Jeffries leak, the Schumer leak and then the Pelosi leak, in the space of 12 hours, that is not an accident, it's not coincidence. That is former Speaker Pelosi and those other leaders sending a very public signal to Joe Biden that they are not going to keep their concerns quiet anymore. They are going to make them public. They made them public yesterday, and I think the pressure publicly will ratchet up on Joe Biden over the coming days from those people if he does not decide to bow out."

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