Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) made headlines earlier this month after notes for a call between President Joe Biden and House Democrats, including Crow, were released after the fact. It certainly looked to be part of a larger effort to oust Biden as the nominee. The president has now since withdrawn from the race, and Crow is defending him.
Crow, as Biden himself angrily acknowledged when verbally attacking him during the call, earned a Bronze Star. The president referenced it when taking a question from the congressman about concerns that voters may have with national security and made it about his dead son.
In what was described as a "tense" Zoom call, Biden had a "troubling exchange" with Crow, demanding, Ttell me something you've never done with your Bronze Star like my son." The president also ranted about his supposed successes with NATO.
.@juliaioffe reports.
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 17, 2024
A recording of Biden telling Rep. Jason Crow: "Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Tell me! Tell me who the hell that is! Tell me who put NATO back together!"https://t.co/5KJ3rEiAOp pic.twitter.com/HXn694T664
Since Biden dropped out of the race last Sunday, Crow spoke to Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation's "The Hill Sunday," during which he expressed gratitude for Biden and claimed he has confidence in him finishing out his term.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that [Biden] will continue to do remarkable things as our commander in chief. No doubt whatsoever,” Crow said.
The congressman recalled a heated conversation between Biden and House Democrats earlier this month, during which Crow and others levied harsh criticisms on the president amid concerns about his electoral viability.
“I had a tough conversation with him, and I raised concerns about the campaign and the course of his candidacy, and what that looks like going forward,” Crow said. “I had at no time outright asked him to step aside, because that is his decision and [his] decision alone, and we saw that he made the right one.”
A source familiar with the conversation told The Hill that the exchange between Biden and Crow was “hard to watch,” characterizing Biden’s response as “tense” and “defensive.”
Despite that previous criticism, Crow reaffirmed that he has confidence in Biden now, and lauded the president’s decision to end his campaign.
“He did an incredible act of service to this country,” Crow continued. “You almost never see this in politics, somebody’s putting aside their own interest and their own advancement to do what’s good for the country. And you know, it was a remarkable act of love in service for America.”
There's close to six months left in Biden's term, and Crow's fellow members of Congress from across the aisle have called for the president to resign or for Vice President Kamala Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment. If he isn't fit to run for and serve another term, there are concerns he's not fit to finish this remaining one.
When it comes to Biden's role as commander-in-chief, foreign policy is a particularly precarious issue right now, especially with the Israel-Hamas and the Russia-Ukraine wars. Israel was also hit with Hezbollah rockets over the weekend.
Crow also spoke about his support for Harris. He was even referred to on the show as a "Harris campaign surrogate."
In a clip he shared to his X account, Crow spoke glowingly about the vice president. As he explained, "What I do is I focus on the personality, I focus on the character and the leadership of the individual person and what type of approach they take to governing. Are they a pragmatist? Are they somebody who's actually willing to compromise and build coalitions to get things done? Because in closely divided government, you have to be willing to do that."
"And she has a track record and history of doing that," Crow went on to say about Harris, "actually figuring out what is that path to getting sensible things passed. That is what Kamala Harris is about."
In the context of our closely divided government, labels don't mean much.
— Jason Crow (@JasonCrowCO) July 29, 2024
Building coalitions to get things done for the American people says more.
That’s exactly who @KamalaHarris is – she’s about the path forward. pic.twitter.com/OOO3jWHwYz
That might all sound very nice, but GovTrack, before they deleted the information, regarded Harris as not only the most liberal senator for 2019, but one of the least bipartisan ones.
Crow hasn't just spoken glowingly about Biden and Harris. He's also been harsh on former and potentially future President Donald Trump. In addition to serving as an impeachment manager for then-President Trump's first impeachment, he's referred to him as "a demagogue."
As he claimed he was sharing "facts" from the House floor in June of last year, Crow claimed "Donald Trump remains one of the greatest dangers to our democracy that we have ever seen" adding "he's a demagogue."
Democrat Jason Crow:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 21, 2023
"Donald Trump remains one of the greatest dangers to our democracy that we have ever seen. He's a demagogue!" pic.twitter.com/fFro0UOGPq
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