Biden’s make-or-break interview fails to win over skeptics as top Democrats plan crisis meeting: Live
‘I beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020,’ Biden said during an energetic rally on Friday prior to the interview’s broadcast
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President Joe Biden’s interview with ABC News on Friday evening hasn’t dissuaded fears about his mental acuity just yet, as he faces growing calls to step down from Democratic lawmakers.
In a 22-minute uncut interview with George Stephanopoulos, the president assured Americans he is fit to run for president and could defeat his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, in November.
But he stopped short of committing to undergoing an independent cognitive examination, given how poorly his debate performance went last week. Biden’s soft-spoken interview with the news outlet seemingly failed to exceed expectations.
By Saturday morning, a fifth Democratic lawmaker called on Biden to drop out of the race.
Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has apparently scheduled a virtual meeting on Sunday with senior House Democrats to discuss Biden’s path forward, according to reports.
So far, the president has remained adamant he will continue running for president.
Biden campaign mocks Trump’s claim he knows ‘nothing’ of Project 2025
The Biden campaign mocked Donald Trump for claiming he does not know about Project 2025 or who created it by referencing Star Wars.
“A desperate and lying Trump claims he knows ‘nothing’ about his Project 2025 agenda, even though his top aides are the ones behind the plan,” Biden-Harris HQ wrote on X.
In a follow-up tweet, they posted a photo of a fake Truth Social post from Emperor Palpatine, a villainous character in Star Wars, who issued a deadly military order known as “Order 66”.
Trump throws a Clarence Thomas-sized wrench into Mar-a-Lago case
Donald Trump wants to pause his classified documents case in Florida for several months so he can argue that his charges should be thrown out under the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential “immunity.”
The former president’s attorneys also pointed to an opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas, who appeared to agree with Trump’s argument that special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed and funded — a claim at the center of Trump’s attempts to have the case dismissed.
Friday’s filings in the Mar-a-Lago case arrived just days after the Supreme Court declared that no president can be criminally prosecuted for any “official” act in the executive office, likely granting the former president some protection in his federal election interference case.
Trump now wants the judge in his classified documents case to hear arguments that he should be immune from those charges at some point between now and September, which would effectively grind the rest of Florida proceedings to a halt while they debate whether the Supreme Court’s ruling applies.
Trump’s attorneys separately argued that Thomas’s argument “adds force” to Trump’s claim that Smith’s appointment and funding is unconstitutional and raises “grave separation-of-powers concerns.”
Thomas wrote his own separate concurring opinion in the immunity decision to specifically take aim at the special counsel’s office, days after Trump’s attorneys made the same arguments to Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida.
Watch: Manhattan DA agrees to delay Trump’s hush money sentencing
Joe Biden refuses to step down and insists he’ll win against Trump in ‘2020 election’
Classified documents judge hands Trump a win, agrees to consider immunity argument
The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s classified documents case has handed him yet another win as she has agreed to consider hearing arguments that the criminal charges should be dropped based on the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential “immunity.”
In an order filed on Saturday, Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon said she was temporarily granting Trump’s motion to stay proceedings, pushing back several filing deadlines in a case that has already been plagued by delays and is yet to have a trial date.
Top Democrats to ‘hold crisis meeting’ this weekend
Democratic leaders are said to be planning to hold a crisis meeting this weekend to discuss Joe Biden’s future on the presidential ticket after his make-or-break ABC News interview did little to dampen concerns within his party.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is set to meet virtually with committee ranking members at 2 p.m. on Sunday, three sources told NBC News.
The meeting, which was abruptly scheduled on Friday night, is not part of any regular scheduled gatherings and comes just one day before Congress returns to session after the July 4 holiday.
One of the insiders told the outlet that the meeting will focus on Biden’s future as the Democratic party’s candidate to take on Donald Trump in the November 2024 election, in the wake of his disastrous debate performance last week.
Democrat insiders give verdict on Biden’s make-or-break ABC News interview: ‘A huge opportunity missed’
President Joe Biden’s make-or-break interview with ABC News appears to have done little to win over skeptics in his party, with Democratic insiders believing he has failed to undo the damage caused by his dismal debate performance.
In evaluating Biden’s sit-down conversation with George Stephanopoulos on Friday evening, one longtime Democratic donor bundler told The Daily Beast it was a “huge opportunity missed.”
“This was his Alamo, and he’s going down like Davey Crocket,” the unnamed individual said.
Cohen warns Trump will run US ‘like a dictator'
Donald Trump’s former lawyer and one-time fixer Michael Cohen has warned that his ex-boss will run the country “like the Führer” if he is re-elected in November, thanks to the recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
Citing the Trump vs US ruling, Cohen told The Daily Beast that the former president could now wield his power in whatever way he wants if he takes back the White House this November.
“He’ll run the country like a king, like a supreme leader, like a monarch, like a dictator, like the Führer,” Cohen said, invoking the German word strongly associated with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“If re-elected in November, in light of the Supreme Court ruling, his worst impulses will be magnified a hundredfold.”
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump, and other presidents, have absolute immunity from prosecution for actions that fall under a president’s “core” powers – or those directly given by the US Constitution.
Trump’s lead in swing states narrows
The lead Donald Trump took over Joe Biden in key swing states after the president’s disastrous debate performance appears to be narrowing, a new poll shows.
Trump only holds a 3-point lead over Biden in Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina as well as a one-point lead over Biden in Georgia, according to a Morning Consult and Bloomberg poll.
The survey shows that Biden has a lead over Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin.
However, he is the furthest behind Trump in Pennsylvania.
RFK Jr’s back story is even wilder than you thought
America’s most famous political family dynasty has rejected the presidential campaign of one of their own – and it’s not just because of a BBQ-ed dog (or goat)
BBQ-ed ‘dog’ and brain worms: RFK Jr’s back story is wilder than you knew
America’s most famous political family dynasty has rejected the presidential campaign of one of their own – and it’s not just because of a BBQ-ed dog (or goat). Gustaf Kilander writes
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