Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., revealed this week that the White House staff’s rude behavior toward him led him to oppose President Joe Biden’s massive $2 trillion spending bill.
“They figured surely to God we can move one person. We surely can badger and beat one person up,” he said during a local radio interview. “Surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough that they’ll just say, ‘OK I’ll vote for anything.’
“Well, guess what?” Manchin continued. “I’m from West Virginia. I’m not from where they’re from and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they’ll be submissive, period.”
Manchin hinted that White House staffers leaked negative information about him to the press, adding that he is at his “wits end.”
“They know the real reason, what happened. … It’s staff-driven. I understand it’s staff. It is not the president. This is staff,” he said. “And they drove some things, and they put some things out, that were absolutely inexcusable. They know what it is.”
Reporters were hearing “a lot of bad rumors,” he noted, suggesting that the White House was intentionally spreading fake news to make him look bad.
The Democratic senator announced over the weekend that he would not vote for Biden’s Build Back Better bill. And without his vote, the legislation is doomed in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority by one vote.
The White House immediately slammed Manchin, accusing him of “revers[ing] his position” after allegedly promising to support BBB once it made it to the Senate.
In response, Manchin accused Biden’s team of “retaliat[ing]” against him.
“I figured they would come back strong,” he said.
Democrat leadership said the party will still bring BBB to a vote — even though it will almost certainly fail once it reaches the Senate.
Manchin said he would welcome a vote on the legislation so Democrats could understand exactly “where I am.”
“All of my colleagues are getting very frustrated,” he said. “I can understand that. And I said, gentlemen and ladies, it’s time to vote … I can’t guarantee anything upfront, just vote, you’ll find out where I am.”
