EIGHTH House Democrat calls for Biden to drop out of the presidential race after Nancy Pelosi's stunning statement on Joe staying in race

New York Rep. Pat Ryan became the eighth House Democrat to call on President Biden to step aside from the 2024 running on Wednesday. 

'Trump is an existential threat to American democracy; it is our duty to put forward the strongest candidate against him. Joe Biden is a patriot but is no longer the best candidate to defeat Trump,' Ryan, a moderate from a swing district, wrote on X. 

'For the good of our country, I am asking Joe Biden to step aside -- to deliver on his promise to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders.' 

Ryan was first elected in 2022 and Republicans have made his district a top target for 2024. 

As the White House tries to tamp down dissent, Biden's chances of being the Democratic nominee in November are waffling. 

Democrats who haven't called on him to step down have insisted the door is still open for him to do so – even though Biden adamantly insists he'll remain in the race. 

'It's up to the president to decide if he's going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running out,' former Speaker Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday morning. 

Reminded that Biden has made up his mind, Pelosi said: 'I want him to do whatever he decides to do.' 

'Whatever he decides, we go with.' 

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said Biden's insistence that he'll remain in the race doesn't mean that decision is final. 

'It doesn't work that way.' 

'I had totally decided to take an Uber to dinner. And then I heard about the gridlock in DC because of the NATO traffic. And I redirected to the Metro and it was a really smart decision,' he told reporters. 

Biden wrote in a letter to hill Democrats on Monday: 'I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.' 

Also on Wednesday actor George Clooney, a longtime ally of top Democrats, called on Biden to step aside. 

'I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced,' Clooney wrote in a New York Times op-ed. 

'But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,' he said.