we saw dr. jill biden, the president s wife, and the vice president s wife go into the west wing, and dr. biden, and it is almost certain she is going to be walking out here, and in a few moments as well. but to give you a sense of how big of a deal this is at the white house, the white house gave no indication how it was happening. i was coming out of the pen and paper session with the environmental adviser, and i happened to take a peek to the rose garden and started to ask ed the sources, what is going on here, and within minutes, e we were getting the e-mails with the announcements, come out to the rose garden, because the vice president is going to make a statement. and this is extremely unusual to see joe biden the vice president come out here in a moment s notice like this, and wolf to, add to what i am seeing here sh, we are also seeing denis mcdonough, the chief of staff, and susan rice the senior advisers of the
vice president has decided, you know, i took a close look at it, and i looked at all of the considerations, the family considerations, and all of the political considerations, and would i have a chance. remember, he has run for president of the united states twice already, and he didn t do so well either time including eight years ago when he was running for the democratic presidential nomination, and spent more than 30 years in the united states senate, and now seven years as the the vice president of the united states. i know from my conversations, brianna, and you know from your conversations, he always felt that maybe it was the last chance. he is 72 years old, and maybe this is the last chance the seek the presidency, and if he didn t do it now sh, he might always regret that moment where he had that shot, and there s also all of the reports, briana, that over the past few months just before his son beau biden passed away that his son suggested to him to run for the president of t
on the vice president to come to this decision. i just have to say, it was extraordinary political theater to be out here, ashleigh. it is unbelievable to see us all called together at the last minute to witness what we saw, but in many ways, it was a kind of a fitting signoff for this vice president. he is going to be very active and vocal in the coming months, but the way that joe biden wrapped up his time here in washington and talked about what his son means to him and so forth, it was quite something to watch. ashleigh. i have to say that i asked wolf at the top of the show, is this the best kept secret in washington, because it is not often that you can scramble a news conference in the rose garden with potus standing behind you within minutes and nobody knowing it. and this is the proof, because we had the show planned today, and we are not going to do it, but we are going to be here. we will be here. and yes, we have numbers that might tell more of the story coming back a
the cost of running on one s family and the cost than joe biden. we all laud him for being candid about the feelings and being open about his feelings, and he he has been telling us for months that he didn t know whether he had the emotional reserves to get there, and that kept him from doing what he obviously was drawn to do which is to run. i think that, that tug and pull was going on for months, and ultimately time ran out, because he could not resolve that question, that consulate. and i know that gloria, you have been hearing, and gloria borger with us as well, and you have been hearing for months of the really difficult arduous decision making that was going through the vice president and the family as a result of the loss of their son beau and now the decision coming forward in the last few minutes that the vice president will not run for president. and now, i want your reaction to the news.
president biden was staring reality in the face, and looking at how far out hillary clinton was in fund-raising and organization, and they had put out a list of mayors who had endorsed her and she had done the legwork and the groundwork to build a formidable groundwork, and vice president biden had not done that. the only key player that we know about who was mobilizing to support him was the international firefighters union and i talked to if president of the uniyour harold schaffer who seemed revved up over the weekend, and sounded like joe biden would jump into the race, and i talked to him last night and this morning, and not so revved up, so clearly something changed in the last 48 to 72 hours, and it seems that the vice president and the team were coming to the conclusion, and this is why we heard vice president biden say what he said a few moments ago, and despite