Biden tells governors he’ll stop hosting events after 8pm as Trump mocks him: live

Democrat says his health is fine and that he’s remaining in race as Republican rival sneers at possibility of Kamala Harris succeeding him

Trump falsely claims ‘broken down’ Biden is quitting White House race and derides Harris

Joe Biden reportedly told a group of Democratic governors that he needs to work fewer hours and get more sleep as his the president and the White House fight off suggestions that he should end his re-election campaign.

The president also reportedly told the governors that he’s staying in the race, as he outlined his recent foreign travel in the weeks ahead of his dismal debate performance, during which he lost his train of thought, his voice was raspy, and he made several gaffes.

Meanwhile, a gloating Donald Trump posted a video to Truth Social in which he falsely claimed that the embattled president has already quit the race for the White House, referring to him as a “broken down pile of c***” and ridiculing his Vice President Kamala Harris as “pathetic.”

President Biden insisted “I’m not going anywhere” to a crowd at the White House during a Fourth of July event, during which he laid out the stakes of the 2024 election: “We must look at ourselves and ask the question, will we stand for freedom again? Will we stand for democracy?”

Key Points

• Biden campaign uses July 4th to blast Trump for turning U.S. ‘into monarchy’
• Biden admits to Democratic governors he’s tired and needs to work less: ‘It’s just my brain’
• Biden asks Americans to ‘stand up for democracy’ at Fourth of July event
• Trump lashes out at Biden, Harris, and special counsel in July 4 message
• Recap: Biden admits he ‘screwed up’ debate

[3 July 2024 18:51 · Andrew Feinberg]

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.

[3 July 2024 18:50 · Gustaf Kilander]

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.

[3 July 2024 18:40 · Gustaf Kilander]

VIDEO: How Trump has molded the RNC to fit his MAGA agenda

[3 July 2024 18:25 · Gustaf Kilander]

Biden and Harris take part in call to rally White House staff

[3 July 2024 18:20 · John Bowden]

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.

[3 July 2024 18:06 · Gustaf Kilander]

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.