OOPS! Rep. Maloney Tells NY Times ‘Off the Record’ Biden is Not Running in 2024 — in On the Record Interview

New York Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney entered the next stage of her rocky saga with President Joe Biden by saying “off the record” that the president won’t run for a second term.

Maloney, who is challenging Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), raised eyebrows when she expressed her doubt in a debate that the current president would seek reelection in an interview earlier this month. She then gave an extremely clumsy interview in which she attempted to backtrack those remarks.

The New York Times editorial board interviewed Maloney the day before that debate, for a story published over the weekend. In it, she tried to say off the record that Biden is “not running again,” before being reminded the interview is on the record.

From the interview:

Eleanor Randolph: Should there be an age limit for members of Congress?

Maloney: Members of Congress have a term limit. It’s called an election every two years. We have a term limit. No one else has to run.

Eleanor Randolph: So that’s a no? Is that a no?

Maloney: Yeah, we have a term limit. We have to run for election. It’s difficult.

Eleanor Randolph: Should President Biden run again?

Maloney: Off the record, he’s not running again.

Jyoti Thottam: Not off the record. On the record.

Maloney: On the record? No, he should not run again.

Despite Maloney’s wish to go “off the record,” that arrangement must be agreed to by both parties before any remarks from an interviewed subject can be considered as such.

Since Democrats are facing an uphill battle in the 2022 primaries, party members have been hesitant at best whether Biden should run for re-election, given his less-than-ideal poll numbers.