Hillary Clinton slams Biden, says trying to run for re-election in 2024 was 'terrible mistake'

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Former secretary of state and multi-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took shots at former President Joe Biden on Monday, saying Biden made a "terrible mistake" by seeking re-election, and that had he not mounted a re-election bid, another candidate would've won the 2024 election against Donald Trump.

Clinton's comments came during a discussion with David Remnick, the top editor of The New Yorker, at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, after Remnick asked about Biden's decision to run for re-election in 2024. "I know you had a long political alliance together, a complicated relationship and so on and so forth, but when you look back on his decision to run, did he make a terrible mistake?" Remnick asked.

"He made a terrible mistake. He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country." Clinton declared. "He had said that he would not run again and, you know, counterfactual narratives are always a bit tricky. But I believe if he had kept to that plan and said in, say, the late summer of '23 that he wasn't going to run, that he was going to pass the torch to the next generation we would have had a real contest. And, very sadly, I believe whoever emerged from that contest -- whether it was the vice president or a governor or a senator or anybody else -- would have beaten Donald Trump. So I think it was a terrible miscalculation on the part of President Biden."

If her relationship with Biden was "complicated" before those comments, as Remnick suggested, Clinton likely complicated things further.

Clinton went on to say that Biden, with his decision to go for a second term, left the Democrat Party in "a terrible dilemma." It wasn't clear if Clinton was criticizing the decision to install then-Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee without a presidential primary, and Remnick didn't question her about the decision.

But she did admit to being a part of closed-door meetings meant to convince Biden to withdraw his candidacy, which he eventually did. Clinton said Biden was convinced by what polls at the time showed about the state of the race.

The former secretary of state played a little bit fast and loose with the facts in the key part of her conversation with Remnick, particularly with the suggestion that Biden had a plan to not run again. At various points in 2019 and 2020, Biden described himself as a "bridge" or "transition" candidate, but had stopped short of pledging to be a one-term president.

What Clinton didn't mention in her remarks criticizing Biden was that she issued full-throated endorsements of Biden running for re-election prior to 2024. "I think he's done a really terrific job," she said during a March 2023 interview. "And so, yes, I want him to run, if that's what he wants to do. And, of course, I'll support him."

Later that year, she criticized Democrat voters' tendency to "always be looking for the next cool thing," and said, "I believe Joe Biden will be the nominee. I believe he will be re-elected." At that point, it was November 2023, and she said she believed Trump would be the Republican nominee.

The lion's share of the conversation involved Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential election, venting her fury at Trump, even going so far as to say the U.S. has lost its war with Iran. Watch a clip of Clinton's remarks below and watch the full discussion here.