FROM NBC NEWS: Former President Joe Biden is running into a problem in his nascent effort to raise money for a presidential library: Donors are checked out.
Most of the more than half a dozen people who were once major Biden donors or bundlers who spoke with NBC News said they harbored no ill will toward Biden himself but either wouldn’t give to the library or would give only a token amount. A number of them requested anonymity to speak frankly.
They cited a range of factors, from not wanting to make themselves a target of the White House to holding their financial firepower for the party’s future. Some cited personal interactions with Biden’s inner circle as being so distasteful they believed it would be a barrier to ever raising significant funds for the 46th president of the United States.
Biden also faces residual anger from the party over his decision to seek a second term despite health issues. Biden then upended the party’s nomination process with a late exit after his mental frailties were in full view during a June 2024 televised debate.
“I’d like him to have some nice library,” one donor told NBC News. “I just don’t see that’s where I’m going to spend my money.”
“I want an $800,000 refund,” said personal injury lawyer John Morgan, who raised the money for Biden but saw it go to the wildly unpopular Harris.
“I don’t believe a library will ever be built unless it’s a bookmobile from the old days,” Morgan joked.
READ MORE AT NBC NEWS
