Centrist Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) said he offered to become an independent if he was a “embarrassment” for Democrats. However, he would still caucus with the Democratic Party in the Senate.
He was asked by reporters about a report that he had threatened to leave the party if his demands were not met while negotiating the $3.5 trillion social spending bill.
“The only thing that was ever said that we’ve ever talked about is if I’m an embarrassment to my Democratic colleagues, my caucus, the president being the Democratic leader of the Democrat Party, Chuck Schumer and all them. I said me being a moderate centrist Democrat, if that causes you a problem let me know and I’d switch to be an independent, but I’d still be caucusing with Democrats.”
Manchin added: “That’s the only thing was ever discussed, no one accepted that, and I just said, ‘I’ll make that offer if you need it.'”
Manchin was responding to a Mother Jones report earlier this week claiming he was actively considering formally leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent if President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats didn’t agree to spending cuts in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.
Manchin called the report “bullshit.”
People who know Manchin also denied he would make that kind of threat. “There’s absolutely no way this is true,” an associate told CBS.
Even Republican Sen.John Cornyn (Texas) dismissed the idea: “Joe’s not gonna do that. He’s like a bunch of moderate Democrats in Texas: they were born that way and they’re never going to change.”
