Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blasted President Biden for not dropping out of the race in a post-election autopsy with the New York Times on Thursday.

Pelosi said “If the president had exited earlier, there might have been other candidates in the race,” Lulu Garcia-Navarro, host of The Times’ “The Interview” podcast, said.

As the former speaker said, “The expectation was that if the president stepped aside, there would be an open primary.” Pelosi played a key role in pushing Biden away from the party after his infamous debate performance.

Instead, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris within an hour of announcing he would leave office on July 21. Announced less than 36 hours later had locked the candidacyHe has pledges of support from a majority of DNC delegates.

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“And like I said, it could have been Kamala, I think she could have done well (in the primaries) and she could have been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened,” Pelosi said. he told The Times. “And because the President immediately endorsed Kamala Harris, it became almost impossible to hold a primary at that time. If it had happened much earlier, it would have been different.”

Fox News Digital He has reached out to the Biden and Harris campaigns for comment.

After Harris secured the nomination, Pelosi insisted many times: There was an open process But no one threw their hat in the ring to seize this opportunity.

“Most of us who were worried about the election wanted an open process. It was an open process, everyone could participate,” Pelosi said. Interview with The Wall Street Journal in August.

“(Harris) had the president’s support, and he politically shrewdly took advantage of that and got shut down; he didn’t get shut down, but he won the nomination. But someone else could have gotten in,” Pelosi continued.

He reiterated those comments on “The View” in September, adding: “I was one of the first supporters of any of the leaders, right? Within 24 hours.”

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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Biden. (Getty Images)

Pressed again that month, Pelosi expressed satisfaction that it happened so quickly.

“No, I haven’t changed my mind. We had an open primary and (Kamala Harris) won. “No one else has entered the race,” Pelosi said. “Yes, people could have raced; there were people who were kind of preparing, but he went right away and it was actually a blessing because there wasn’t a lot of time” from then until the election and it kind of saved time.”

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Pelosi’s “Interview” podcast will air Saturday.