West Virginia senator on calls for Biden to resign, concerns about Trump

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) — Sen. Joe Machin (I-WV) spoke to Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday and called on President Biden to “pass the torch” and step down to allow a new Democratic candidate to take his place.

“For three weeks I didn’t say anything because I thought after the debate the president had to process that and it took a week, I thought, you know, there might be some movement. And the next two weeks were from my colleagues across the country, whether it was Congress, congressional districts, senatorial states that are in really challenging areas. Now you’re hearing from them and the concerns they have about the vote and how it might affect them. And then on top of that you have the donor class, who are now showing great reluctance. With that, and I say this with a very heavy heart, I would like President Biden to be able to finish his five months of leading this country, to really lead this country, the way that I know we can. I’ve known him for many, many years. He’s a good man… he’s a patriot and he wants to do the right thing. He wants to heal and bring people together. And if he were to pass that torch right now, he could focus all of his energy in the next five months on how do we heal? How do we stop the fighting in Gaza? How do we get to a peace treaty? How do we support Ukraine so that they can have a strong position at the negotiating table? These are the things and then let the rest of the world see how the world’s superpower is able to have a transition of power, and do it in the most favorable way possible so that the whole world can see that it can be done.”

Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV)

During the interview, Brennan asked Manchin if the Democrats were “not only damaging their own candidate, but damaging confidence in the process,” following Trump’s comments at a rally in Michigan Saturday night. Manchin responded by saying:

“First of all… we saw (at) the convention… for the Republicans, they did a great job (for) four days. Perfectly scripted, did a great job of unity. And then President Trump spoke in the last hour of his speech, never changed. So, I still have concerns about an orderly transition of power. I know January 6th was real. I have all these concerns about his continued attacks on the justice system that we have, and the rule of law, I have all those same concerns that I had, and also sending signals that he may not be there to help the free-loving countries that are our allies and our NATO allies and people who are counting on us to have that leadership of freedom and to be there for them. Those are my concerns about what I’ve heard and nothing has changed.”

Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV)

Click here to see more of Brennan’s interview with Manchin.