Biden mocks ‘stable genius’ Trump as he rallies in Wisconsin to ease post-debate future: Live updates
Biden sits down with George Stephanopoulos during critical week for his re-election campaign
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Joe Biden thrashed Donald Trump in Wisconsin before the president’s major interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos set to air on Friday evening, a crucial broadcast that his campaign hopes will reset his 2024 plans and reassure voters that he is fit for office after his disastrous debate performance in Atlanta last week.
“I beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020,” Biden said during an energetic rally on Friday. “I’m not gonna let one 90-minute debate throw out three and a half years of work.”
The former president meanwhile issued a withering attack on the president and Kamala Harris, calling his rival “highly incapable” and saying he “choked like a dog” during the debate while mocking Biden for blaming his poor performance on exhaustion and having a cold.
Turning his attention to the vice president — who is being tipped to succeed the president as the 2024 Democratic nominee — by calling her “Laffin Kamala Harris”, a new nickname alluding to her infectious chuckle.
Trump also challenged Biden to a “no holds barred” debate despite one already being scheduled for September 10 on ABC.
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White House responds to questions about Biden needing to work fewer hours
Reporters asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about recent reports that Biden told governors that he needs more sleep and to end his days by 8pm.
Biden “took ownership of trying to do too much in the lead up to the debate” and that he “understands about striking the right balance,” she said on Friday.
“He’s human, just like we all are. It’s a 24/7 job,” she added.
Biden had a ‘verbal check-in’ about his ‘cold’
During a brief press gaggle on the way to Wisconsin, White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre clarified answers she gave about whether Biden had checked in with a doctor after aides said he had a cold during the debate.
Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier this week that he didn’t, but then Biden told governors assembled at the White House that he did.
“He did have a short check in recent days about his cold ... It wasn’t a medical examination. It was a conversation,” Jean-Pierre clarified on Friday.
He had“a verbal check in about the cold” in the days after the debate, she said.
Full story: Trump wants to distance himself from far-right Project 2025 plan while his PAC pushes ads promoting it
Project 2025’s 900-page manifesto for nearly every detail of a second Trump presidency was drawn up by more than a dozen former Trump administration officials and advisers, who have planned to “integrate” the document into the campaign’s platform in the coming months.
But on Friday, as his Democratic rivals use Project 2025 as shorthand for his agenda, Trump claimed that he the proposal is news to him.
Trump distances himself from Project 2025 while his PAC pushes ads promoting it
The far-right blueprint for his second term was drawn up by more than a dozen people who worked for him
How Trump’s allies and Project 2025 are planning for a nuclear Trump
Trump’s allies are now suggesting that, if elected, Trump should restart underground nuclear weapons testing, a practice that the US gave up more than 30 years ago, and if resumed would likely fuel a global arms race in a volatile political moment.
Nuclear weapons testing and weapon stockpiling are also key parts of the defense recommendations in Project 2025, the 900-page Heritage Foundation-backed manifesto for Trump’s second term, and authored by Trump’s former defense secretary.
Donald Trump allies are pushing for the first nuclear tests since 1992
Trump advisers and Project 2025 are calling for a dramatic expansion of the nation’s nuclear stockpile
Just in: Trump uses Clarence Thomas’s argument in the immunity ruling to try to toss Jack Smith from the Mar-a-Lago case
Days after Justice Thomas went rogue and lashed out at special counsel Jack Smith in the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, Trump’s attorneys directed the federal judge overseeing his Mar-a-Lago case to his words.
In a court filing on Friday, Trump’s attorneys claim that Thomas’s argument “adds force” to Trump’s claim that Smith’s appointment and funding is unconstitutional, by highlighting “grave separation-of-powers concerns” in the special counsel’s role.
Last month, Judge Aileen Cannon heard arguments from attorneys over whether the case should be dismissed based on their claims that Smith is unlawfully presiding over the case against the former president.
None of the Supreme Court justices have ruled on that, though Thomas seems open to it. He wasn’t joined by any other justices in his concurring opinion in the immunity case.
More here:
Clarence Thomas just gave Trump ammunition in his classified documents case
The conservative justice goes rogue to lash out at Jack Smith’s credibility and authority
Massachusetts governor nudges Biden to the exits
Two days after Biden met with a group of Democratic governors from across the country, Maura Healey of Massachusetts appears to be the first to suggest that the president should heed the advice of voters concerned about his chances against Trump.
“President Biden saved our democracy in 2020 and has done an outstanding job over the last four years. I am deeply grateful for his leadership. And I know he agrees this is the most important election of our lifetimes,” she said in a statement on Friday.
“Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump,” she added. “Whatever President Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump.”
Biden is due to speak in Wisconsin
President Biden will soon deliver remarks at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, hours before his interview on ABC is set to air during a make-or-break peroid of his re-election bid.
Watch here:
Just in: Biden speaks with Keir Starmer
President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday to “congratulate him on his appointment” after Thursday’s elections, according to a White House readout of their call.
The leaders “reaffirmed the special relationship between our nations and the importance of working together in support of freedom and democracy around the world,” includnig support for Ukraine, affirmation of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement, and working with Northern Ireland leaders “to create and sustain economic growth and opportunities.”
Starmer will meet with Biden at the Washington Summit next week to celebrate NATO’s 75th anniversary, according to the White House.
“Congratulations to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on becoming Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,” the president wrote on social media. “I look forward to our shared work in support of freedom and democracy around the world, and to further strengthening the special relationship between our two countries.”
Coconut pilled
Voters are coconut-pilled, Kamala maxxing, “existing in context” and “unburdened by what has been.”
A flood of only-slightly-ironic KHive revival memes are welcoming a President Harris should Biden drop out of the race.
Kamala Harris memes are resurrecting the KHive across social media
Joe Biden is under pressure to drop out. The VP’s loyal army of supporters and not-so-irony-poisoned Democratic voters are ready for President Harris
Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025
Trump is now trying to distance himself from Project 2025, the blueprint for his administration drawn up by his own former officials and backed by the Republican-aligned Heritage Foundation.
The plan is a 900-page manifesto for every detail of a second Trump White House. Last week, the Heritage Foundation’s president hailed a Supreme Court decision granting Trump some immunity from criminal prosecution as part of a “second” American revolution that he says may or may not be “bloodless.”
Today, Trump says “I know nothing about Project 2025.”
“I have no idea who is behind it,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s own PAC is running ads promoting Project 2025.
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