Minutes after the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump ended, several political commentators who had been friendly with the president stressed the need to find another candidate for the Democratic Party. One of them was CNN's Van Jones, who now assures that it is just a matter of time.

"That was painful. I love Joe Biden, I worked with Joe Biden, he didn't do well at all, he did not do well at all. He had a test tonight to restore the confidence of the country, of the base and he failed. There is time for this party to figure out a different way forward, if he will allow us to do that, but that was not what we needed from Joe Biden and is personally painful for a lot of people. It's not just panic, its pain of what we saw tonight," Jones remarked after the event.

Just days later, Jones said that while Democrats defended the president on TV, closed-door discussions are very different.

"A big conversation about how this will happen, not whether or not it will happen."

On the CNN screen, the political commentator suggested that the plan to replace Biden is all but a done deal, which could completely change how the presidential election plays out.

"I understand people want to, you know, defend him and protect him and give him the space and the dignity to make his own choice," he began in dialogue with colleague Jim Sciutto, later adding that "there's a big conversation about how this happens, not whether it happens or not."

"Behind the scenes, it’s full-scale panic. People are passing around legal memos, PDFs are flying back and forth on WhatsApp, trying to figure out, what are the options? How can you replace Biden? How do you get him to do it in a way where he feels respected, as he should be respected?" Jones declared under the watchful eyes of his colleagues.