evidence: Biden’s final decision to leave the race was reached in the last 48 hours, a senior campaign adviser said, as he consulted family and top advisers by telephone. He did not have a final in-person meeting with his top campaign or White House advisers as he recovered from Covid-19 at his beach home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. [...] Biden was initially defiant that he would remain in the race. But as the defections in his base of support continued, and leading Democrats in Congress continued to have difficult conversations with the president about his odds against Trump and the damaging effect he might have on down-ballot Democrats in competitive races, Biden opened himself up more to the idea of dropping out of the race. [...] The attempt on Trump’s life on July 13 briefly stemmed the flow of congressional Democrats calling for Biden to drop out and pulled the national attention away from his faltering presidential campaign. But the reprieve didn’t last long. California Rep. Adam Schiff on July 17 became the first House Democrat to call on Biden to step down since the assassination attempt, and more followed in the ensuing days.