Top Democrat reveals what he told Biden minutes after finding out he was dropping out and what he was 'missing' from his historic statement announcing the news

President Joe Biden’s historic letter announcing he was ending his campaign left out a crucial element – an endorsement – longtime Rep. James C. Clyburn counseled him, he revealed while recounting the critical private talk.

Clyburn is a longtime loyalist who helped deliver South Carolina to Biden in 2020 to vault him to the White House. This year, when the president was under fire after his debate disaster, ‘We stuck with Joe Biden,’ Clyburn said in an Axios event outside the Democratic convention.

‘When Joe Biden decided to leave the stage, he called me – read me his statement right around one o’clock. I will never forget it because it was my 45th anniversary of my 39th birthday,’ he quipped.

The statement finally told the country that Biden had seen what many party leaders had pressed: that he woudl step down in the 'best interest' of his party and country.

‘I got that call, he read me his statement. I told him there’s a little thing missing … I said you can’t leave the stage not endorsing. He said I will put out a second statement within the hour. And that second statement came out at 1:46. At 1:47 I was on the phone. And I roped in my little kitchen cabinet. I said we are all in for Kamala,’ Clyburn said.

Rep. James C. Clyburn spoke about the phone call he had with President Joe Biden when Biden gave him a head's up he was ending his presidential run

Clyburn's comments didn't say whether Biden had already made up his mind about the second statement when they spoke.

He posted on X at 2:13 on July 21 that Harris had his 'full support and endorsement.'

In a previous description of the call, Clyburn said Biden 'informed me at that time' about about the second statement. Without getting into his own role pointing out the 'missing part.'

Clyburn, 84, is an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus who has been tirelessly in Biden’s corner. But his July 3 statement about a ‘mini primary’ should Biden drop out helped fuel conversations among Democrats about going forward after a withdrawal.

Clyburn said he had seen Harris had 'arrived' following her major speeches in the last year

The letter that Biden ultimately released mentioned his vice president, but didn’t include an explicit endorsement. ‘I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me,’ he wrote.

But his backing soon thereafter helped set in motion the extraordinary rallying around by top party leaders, which soon ended the chance of a chaotic fight to succeed him.

Clyburn has known Harris for years, but said he gained a new appreciation for her seasoning after the Tennessee House voted to expel black lawmakers last year.

‘The night she jumped on that plane and flew down to Tennessee when those two young African American brothers … were denied or kicked out of the legislature, the speech she gave that night. I'm sitting there and right in the middle of that speech, I said, "she has arrived,"’ Clyburn said.

‘I saw it, I felt it, and then she responded to Dobbs. I said, she's cooking, you know? So it was easy for me.’