Nancy Pelosi seemed to have a less-than-enthusiastic demeanor while participating in a “We love Joe” chant for President Biden at the Democratic National Convention — hours after having to defend herself against claims that she had a beef with the commander-in-chief.
Pelosi (D-Calif.), 84, was spotted brandishing a “We [heart] Joe” sign alongside fellow Democrats who were heard adamantly showing their love for the aging chief executive during his speech in Chicago late Monday.
However, the former House speaker was caught with a half-hearted expression on her face — and appeared to be mouthing the chant quietly.
Biden, 81, spoke at 11:27 p.m. ET during night 1 of the DNC and wrapped up his speech well past midnight for viewers on the East Coast.
Earlier in the evening, Pelosi defended herself against speculation that Biden has been frustrated over her role in the alleged mutiny against him.
“Sometimes you have to take a punch for the children,” she told CNN. “I did what I had to do.”
The California Democrat declined to confirm if she had spoken to Biden since he dropped out of the race last month, but told the outlet her “concern was not about the president, it was about his campaign.”
She then grew uncomfortable with the direction of the questioning and asked, “Why are we even talking about it?”
Biden’s longtime former adviser Anita Dunn, who has since departed the White House, briefly explained the Pelosi situation to CNN before the president took the stage.
“Nobody wants to have a fight with Nancy Pelosi at this time because we’re a united party and we’re going to be moving forward,” she told CNN, glossing over the rumored feud.
During his speech, Biden also told the crowd it’s “not true” that he’s holding grudges after he was allegedly nudged out of a shot at a second term.
On Friday, four sources close to Biden’s campaign told the Daily Mail that Pelosi allegedly had threatened to publicly trash Biden if he didn’t end his re-election bid last month, all while the 81-year-old president was still nursing his COVID-19 infection at his Delaware beach house.
Pelosi allegedly threatened to go public with her belief that her fellow Democrat wouldn’t beat former President Donald Trump in a rematch — and would release unflattering polling data to back it up, the sources alleged.
The demand was reportedly enough for the president to have a “come to Jesus” moment, where he and his staff began drafting the letter that ended his 2024 political campaign, released on July 21.
Pelosi and Biden have a decades-old history together in politics and, over the years, have appeared to have each other’s back.
However, after Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump in late June and fellow Democrats calling for him to drop out, their relationship appeared to be souring.
She confirmed that she spoke with Biden and fielded calls from worried Democrats, many of whom were disgruntled about their 2024 election odds before he quit the race.
A former Biden senior adviser-turned-staffer for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said Pelosi was “absolutely” to blame for ousting the president.
Seemingly seeking to patch things up with Biden, the former speaker has done multiple interviews promoting her new book in which she’s buttered up the aging prez with praise, suggesting that he deserved to be on Mount Rushmore and that she wasn’t concerned about his mental acuity.
Biden hasn’t talked much about Pelosi in public, though he did name-drop her when explaining that the mutiny against him motivated him to drop out.
