Nancy Pelosi stops short of saying Biden should stay in the race in bombshell statement: 'Time is running short'

Nancy Pelosi sent shockwaves through the Democratic party on Wednesday morning by stopping short of giving Joe Biden a full endorsement to stay in the race.

One of the most prominent members of the 81-year-old president's party said the decision was 'up to him' and 'time is running short.'

Pelosi passionately defended Biden after his disastrous debate performance and even suggested it was Donald Trump who had a long-term cognitive condition.

But on Wednesday morning she wouldn't say Biden is the best candidate to lead the Democratic ticket.

She spoke with her party in chaos. Seven House Democrats have publicly called for Biden to drop out, while dozens have shared concerns about his physical and mental health behind the scenes.

The former speaker told MSNBC's Morning Joe:

Pelosi said she wants Biden to get through the NATO conference, before the conversation about his future restarts.

Nikki Haley disclosed this week that she has not been invited to participate in the upcoming Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

She wrote on X that she's encouraging her delegates to 'support Donald Trump' next week.

'Joe Biden is not competent to serve a second term and Kamala Harris would be a disaster for America.'

When asked about the snub by Fox News' Brian Kilmeade, Trump responded that he may reconsider.

He's still quite angry with Haley for staying in the GOP primary for 'months' longer than necessary.

'In determining how to proceed as a party, there must be a serious reckoning with the down-ballot effect of whomever we nominate,' New York Democrat Ritchie Torres said in a cryptic statement.

'If we're going to choose a particular path, we should be clear-eyed about its consequences. Blindness is not bliss amid the terrifying threat of a Trump presidency.'

'An unsentimenal analysis of the cold hard numbers — which have no personal feelings or political loyalties — should inform what we decide.'

Days ago, Torres put out a statement saying the 'intra-party mixed-messaging' was 'deeply destructive.'

'Weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy for a presidential election,' he said on Monday.

The Ukrainian leader was introduced Tuesday evening by Senator Mitch McConnell at the Reagan Institute in Washington, D.C.

McConnell told the crowd it's 'no mystery' where former President Ronald Reagan would’ve stood on this issue.

'...while a proud nation gave its sons and daughters to beat back neo-Soviet imperialism, asking only that America and the West have its back.'

Zelensky is in D.C. this week for the NATO Summit.

'I’m not going to make a comment about the former speaker's comments until I talk to her,' Jeffries, Pelosi's successor and House Minority leader, told reporters.

He said he had not seen her comments on Morning Joe.

Democratic Senator Michael Bennet warned that Joe Biden will lose to Donald Trump in a ‘landslide’ in November.

The Colorado lawmaker said the 81-year-old president ‘isn’t capable’ of beating his rival in one of the most scathing criticisms from a member of his party.

One of President Joe Biden’s closest friends wants him to take a ‘complete neurological exam’ and release the results to the public as concerns about his cognitive decline grow, his biographer has said.

Chris Whipple, who wrote The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House in 2023, told CNN that Joe’s inner circle believe he is ‘fine’, but have urged him to do the test to put worries to bed.

President Joe Biden avoided a near disastrous slip-up during his welcome speech to NATO leaders on Tuesday as the eyes of the world watched him to judge his fitness to serve four more years in the White House.

The president, visibly reading from the teleprompter, read a three-word instruction to himself as he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg - but was saved from utter embarrassment by the audience applause.

'Ask the military aide,' Biden said while preparing to award Stoltenberg the nation's highest civilian honor.

Biden then quickly caught himself, while the crowd drowned up the flub with cheers.

'Military come forward,' he said. He proceeded to award the medal, hanging it around Stoltenberg's neck, without incident.

Democratic voters in Las Vegas are still committed to voting for President Joe Biden – even though they are painfully aware of his mental decline.

Voters attending Vice President Kamala Harris' rally in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday told DailyMail.com that they are assessing whether they would be OK if she would need to take over for Biden, 81.

Many shared that they felt it was a binary choice in 2024 and that they would still vote for Biden if he were running from a nursing home because it would mean not voting for former President Donald Trump.

'He reminded me of my mother five years before she passed away,' Kat, 67, said when asked about Biden's disastrous debate performance. 'She passed away at the end of this past September and he reminded me of her for about five years before she passed away. He's on that downward trend, you know?'

Harris stepped out on the campaign trail this week as the Biden team continues damage control from the president's car crash debate against Donald Trump.

Joe Biden responded to Donald Trump's challenge to debate again and a game of golf that would be worth $1 million.

'I'm also officially challenging Crooked Joe to an 18-hole golf match right here. On Doral's Blue Monster considered one of the greatest tournament golf courses anywhere in the world,' Trump said. 'It will be among the most-watched sporting events in history.'

Via a spokesperson, Biden put out an immediate response to the missive from Trump shortly after.