‘DIFFICULT’

Biden’s BFF Chris Coons Weeps on Air Over Prez Quitting

The Delaware senator got emotional while talking about how Biden was “grounded in his faith, in his family, and in our state.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), the national co-chair of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, was teary-eyed as he spoke on CBS News on Sunday afternoon about the president’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race, needing to look away and collect himself before continuing.

Asked by anchor Robert Costa to give viewers a “candid, candid assessment” of what the past few days have been like for the president, Coons responded, “Bob, as you say, Joe Biden is grounded.

“He’s grounded in his faith, in his family, and in our state.” The Delaware senator’s eyes reddened and he glanced to the side, blinking. “Excuse me.”

“I’m sorry,” Coons said, now visibly fighting back tears. “This was a very difficult decision. And one that I think reflects the very best of who Joe Biden is.”

One of Biden’s closest allies in the Senate, Coons was dropping cryptic glimpses into the president’s decision-making process as late as Friday, when he said at a moderated conversation at the Aspen Security Forum that Biden was “weighing” the matter.

“This is an internal party matter and a matter of the campaign that is playing out very publicly,” the senator said, according to The Hill. “I think our president is weighing what he should weigh, which is: Who is the best candidate to win in November and to carry forward the Democratic Party’s values and priorities in this campaign?”

Coons on Sunday praised the president for his decision, characterizing it as “in the best tradition of Joe Biden’s life of putting our nation before himself.” The senator said he was “proud of him as a Delawarean, a Democrat, and an American.”

But Coons acknowledged it had probably been “the hardest decision of [Biden’s] whole life.”