Both White House and campaign aides were completely stunned and blindsided that he dropped out today, according to Politico.
All of them thought he’d remain in the race and some were on the telephone whipping delegates for the DNC coming next month:
President Joe Biden’s announcement stunned White House and campaign aides, who up until this afternoon were insisting that he would stay in the race. Many of them, including some senior aides, first found out that was no longer the case by reading the letter that Biden posted on X.
“We’re all finding out by tweet,” said one Democrat familiar with the immediate reaction. “None of us understand what’s happening.”
In a sign of the abruptness of Biden’s decision, the campaign blasted out a fundraising email for “Joe and Kamala” at 1:54 p.m. — eight minutes after Biden announced he was stepping aside.
President Joe Biden’s state campaign aides were telephoning delegates ahead of next month’s Democratic convention at the very moment he announced his withdrawal from the race Sunday afternoon.
In another sign of how the president’s decision stunned even his own staff, his Delaware-based campaign leadership concluded a staff call with state aides just minutes before Biden released his letter withdrawing from the race.
“I don’t think a soul in Delaware knew,” said the official, alluding to Biden staff.
Honestly, I was also a little stunned myself. I really thought he was going to stay in.