Former DNC Chair Says She Mulled Swapping Clinton for Biden as Election Day Neared
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The former head of the Democratic National Committee says she considered replacing Hillary Clinton as the party's presidential nominee with then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Donna Brazile makes the revelation in a memoir being released Tuesday, according to The Washington Post, which obtained an advance copy of the book.
Brazile writes that she considered initiating Clinton's removal after she collapsed while leaving a 9/11 memorial service in New York City. Clinton later acknowledged she was suffering from pneumonia.
But Brazile says the larger issue was that her campaign was "anemic" and had taken on "the odor of failure."
After considering a dozen combinations to replace Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine from Virginia, Brazile writes that she settled on Biden and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey as those with the best chance of defeating Donald Trump.
Ultimately, the former DNC head says, "I thought of Hillary, and all the women in the country who were so proud of and excited about her. I could not do this to them."
It was unclear whether Biden was willing to step into the race or even whether he discussed the idea with Brazile. She writes that on Sept. 12, 2016, the day after Clinton collapsed, she got a call from Biden's chief of staff saying the vice president wanted to speak with her and her thought at the time was "Gee, I wonder what he wanted to talk to me about?" The Post report gave no further details and it was unclear whether the book elaborates on this.
As for Brazile's powers to determine the party's candidate, she writes that as party chair she would oversee the process of replacing a nominee who became disabled.
Brazile's book is titled "Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House."
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