Biden tells ally he is weighing whether to withdraw from 2024 race against Trump: Live updates
President struggling to soothe Democratic fears about his health as Republican rival continues to gloat over Supreme Court immunity ruling shielding him from criminal prosecution
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Joe Biden has reportedly told a key ally he may not be able to continue with his 2024 campaign if he cannot change the American electorate’s mind about his health and wellbeing with his next handful of public appearances, the first indication from the president that he understands the seriousness of the damage done by his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump in Atlanta, Georgia, last week.
Biden, 81, has an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News scheduled on Friday and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin upcoming as he seeks to reassure voters and his party that he remains the right man to the lead the country.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates wasted no time in dismissing the story, calling the claim “absolutely false” and attacking The New York Times for not giving the West Wing sufficient time to respond to its request for comment.
Trump, 78, has meanwhile claimed that the Supreme Court’s ruling that he has “absolute” immunity from criminal prosecution for “official” acts carried out during his presidency represents a “total exoneration” of his conduct, despite being twice impeached, convicted at his hush money trial and found liable for offenses in two civil cases.
Trump lashes out at Biden over Iran
Would somebody please inform our WORST President in history, Crooked Joe Biden, who doesn’t have a clue, that while he dithers around and illegally attacks his political opponent, ME, and is always trying to blame everyone else for the MANY, MANY, MANY mistakes he has made, IRAN IS RAPIDLY BUILDING A LARGE SCALE ARSENAL OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
Once they have them, which will be soon, all negotiations STOP. That’s when our incompetent fool of a President will drop to his knees and beg IRAN for mercy.
“Please, Please, Please, Mr. Ayatollah, SIR, I will give you everything, I will do anything you demand. Don’t hurt us!” This is the position that this stupid fool has put us in.
Three years ago, under “TRUMP,” Iran was BROKE — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS, OR PROSPECTS. BIDEN HAS MADE THEM RICH, AND HAS NO IDEA WHAT TO DO.
They started the attack on Israel and desperately want to become openly involved. “Death to Israel,” they chant. DON’T LET IRAN HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
Biden insists ‘I’m not leaving’ while allies prepare for end of his campaign
President Joe Biden has insisted to his campaign staff that no one is pushing him out and that he’s “not leaving” his re-election campaign after multiple reports have suggested that he is preparing to drop out if he fails crucial campaign tests in the days and weeks ahead.
“Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running,” he reportedly told campaign staff on a call on Wednesday.
“No one’s pushing me out,” he said. “I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.”
The presdident reportedly admitted that he will have to end his re-election campaign if he cannot convince voters that he is up for the job after his flailing performance at last week’s debate against Donald Trump.
Biden insists ‘I’m not leaving’ while allies prepare for end of his campaign
White House denies that the president is confronting the possibility of dropping out
Trump moves ahead of Biden in new CBS post-debate poll
A new poll from CBS News shows that Donald Trump has taken a slight lead over President Joe Biden. The former president slightly trailed Biden last month.
The poll comes after Biden’s lackluster debate performance against Trump in Atlanta, which sent Democrats into a panic. Some Democrats have even speculated that Biden might need to be replaced.
CBS News surveyed 2,826 registered voters between in the days after the debate between June 28 and July 2, with a margin of error of 2.3 points.
The poll showed that 51 per cent of voters would pick Trump compared to 48 percent of voters who would pick Biden. The numbers are a reversal from last month, when 50 percent of voters said that they would pick Biden and 49 percent said they would pick Trump. That poll came days after a jury in New York found the former president guilty on 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records as part of a conspiracy to corruptly influence the 2016 election results.
Trump moves ahead of Biden in new poll after disastrous debate
Trump now also leads Biden in the battleground states
Biden: ‘I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end'
On a campaign call on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said, “Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can, as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running … no one’s pushing me out,” according to Politico.
He added: “I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.”
Biden staffers preparing to move Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket: ‘It’s a case of when, not if’
Staffers working on President Biden’s re-election effort are preparing for the campaign to elevate Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket. Sources say Biden will step aside but finish out his term after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump nearly one week ago.
One Democratic strategist who worked on Biden’s 2020 campaign and still speaks regularly to senior campaign officials told The Independent on Wednesday that there’s “no question” that Harris would be passed the torch.
They said campaign officials have been counseling prominent Democrats to refrain from explicitly calling for Biden to withdraw his candidacy in favor of letting him make the decision on his own.
Biden insiders: ‘It’s a case of when, not if’ Kamala Harris steps up
Insiders tell The Independent there is ‘no question’ the vice president will be handed the torch
Trump leads by six points among likely voters, poll shows
Trump now leads Biden by six points among likely voters, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll.
The poll comes after Biden’s debate debacle last week which reignited concerns that he’s too old to govern.
The former president is ahead by 49 to 43 percent – increasing his lead by three points compared to the previous week, ahead of the debate.
Among registered voters, Trump’s lead is eight points – 49 to 41 percent.
Meanwhile, 74 percent of voters see Biden as too old to be president, an increase of five points since the debate.
VIDEO: How Trump has molded the RNC to fit his MAGA agenda
Biden and Harris take part in call to rally White House staff
Who could replace Joe Biden? Debate performance has Democrats in crisis talks
“Sleepy” Joe Biden gave the Democratic Party a wake-up call last week. And the concerns about the incumbent president’s age and mental fitness are not going away.
Last week’s debate in Altanta, Georgia, was the president’s shot to bat away concerns about whether he can effectively serve a second term, one that would end well into his 80s.
Instead, apparently battling a cold, Biden appeared raspy and hoarse onstage, forgetting words at times and at other points seemingly losing track of his point altogether.
Democratic sources who spoke to The Independent and a wide range of other media outlets immediately after the debate were in panic mode, with some openly fretting about whether it was possible for their party to do the unthinkable: replace a sitting, incumbent president on the ticket after he breezed through primary season virtually uncontested.
Who could replace Joe Biden? Debate performance has Democrats in crisis talks
The president gave his party a reality check last week. Where can Democrats go from here?
White House chief attempts to rally staffers during all-hands meeting after debate debacle
During an all-hands meeting on Wednesday, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients said President Joe Biden “didn’t have a great night but that was one night and what we all know is he is a great president,” in reference to the debate.
“Put your head down. Execution. Execution. Execution,” he added, according to Axios. “At the same time, hold your head high. There’s so much the President has accomplished for the American people.”
Zients continued: “As almost everybody knows ... I’m obsessed with teams ... we need to stay together as a team and have each other’s back.”
“The president and his team have been through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and you know what? That will continue, and the only way to get through it is as a team,” he said. “There’s so much to be proud of and so much more we can do together”
“This is a period of intense noise out there. People are looking for chatter. Tune it out,” he added.
Zients quoted Biden’s words from the day after the debate – “When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
“That’s what he is doing and that’s what we all need to do ... follow the president’s lead,” Zients said, according to The Washington Post.
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