WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden joins a final decision on his choice of running mate, four sources familiar with the matter told NBC News when the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee with family rushed to his home Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, this weekend.
The sources said that Biden could announce a final decision by the middle of the new week as before and insisted that although he has blown several self-imposed deadlines, his only real deadline is the Democratic National Convention, which begins on August 17.
Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan traveled to Delaware last weekend for a private meeting with Biden, NBC News confirmed.
A source familiar with the process said the other women in the final concierge included Senator Kamala Harris and former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Several sources said that Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth could not be counted.
None of Biden’s major political decisions have been made without a family reunion. One adviser said that the contribution of the Biden clan would be important to him again now, because it was with the decision to run more than a year ago, even if it can not happen in the same typical way, with all gathered in one place around the dinner table.
Biden drew frenzied speculation this morning when, during a bike ride, he said, “Yes, I have,” in response to a Fox News reporter asking if he had chosen a running mate. When the reporter asked, “Who is it?” Biden replied, “Yes.”
The Biden campaign said he was joking. A senior campaign adviser, Symone Sanders, tweeted, “Can’t believe anyone thought we’d break this news with FOX while Joe Biden is on a bike ride.”
Andrea Mitchell contributed.
