On Wednesday morning, Mother Jones published a scoop by veteran journalist David Corn asserting that Sen. Joe Manchin was considering leaving the Democratic Party.
Manchin, Corn claims, would declare himself an “American Independent” if President Joe Biden didn’t cut the size of the social spending bill from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion. Corn adds that Manchin has told Biden about his potential defection.
According to the report, Manchin “has informed associates that because he is so out of sync with the Democratic Party, he believes it is likely he will leave the party by November 2022.”
Corn based his reporting on conversations with “people who have heard Manchin discuss this.”
Corn told POLITICO that he had reached out to Manchin’s office multiple times for comment, but hadn’t received a reply.
But after its publication, Manchin called the story “bullshit.” He added that he had “no control over rumors.”
Corn reports that Manchin has discussed a “two-step plan for exiting the [Democratic] party:”
First, he would send a letter to Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, removing himself from the Democratic leadership of the Senate. (He is vice chair of the Senate Democrats’ policy and communications committee.) Manchin hopes that would send a signal. He would then wait and see if that move had any impact on the negotiations. After about a week, he said, he would change his voter registration from Democrat to independent.
Even if Manchin becomes an independent, he could still caucus with the Democratic party.
Corn’s story was eyebrow raising on several levels. He’s rushed out big scoops before – in a blog, The Washington Post describes how he reported on the Steele Dossier without attempting to verify its most salacious claims. The Post also points out that when the FBI debunked many of the assertions in the Steele Dossier, Corn ignored their findings. From The Post:
When the dossier’s allegations were fresh and sexy and unvetted, in other words, they were suitable for inclusion in Mother Jones. Once they were vetted and found wanting, however, they lost their appeal.
But Corn also has legitimate journalism chops. In 2012, he won a George Polk Award for revealing that presidential contender Mitt Romney said “47 percent” of the nation is “dependent upon the government, who believe that they are victims.”
POLITICO tries to game out why the Manchin story came to light in the current environment:
Why now? We’ve heard several theories that this was a strategic leak. Some say it was designed to reduce Manchin’s leverage in the reconciliation talks by making him seem desperate.
“I’m just wondering if Joe is blowing off some steam to someone or whether someone planted the story to put pressure on Joe,” a friend of the senator told Playbook. “He hasn’t talked about leaving the party in a very long time. And he’s just not in a desperate situation. He’s feeling like he’s holding all the cards.”
Conversely, others say the story was meant to increase Manchin’s leverage by scaring Democrats. A Manchin exit from the Democratic Party would be hugely embarrassing for Biden. (Though, as several of Manchin’s Senate colleagues told us, even if Manchin became an independent it doesn’t necessarily mean that he wouldn’t caucus with the Democrats.)
The outlet notes that Manchin and Corn were at the same party on Monday night, one held at the French ambassador’s residence.
