Closing summary
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York postponed his sentencing to 18 September, agreeing to pause proceedings to weigh whether the supreme court’s recent ruling on immunity could imperil the conviction.
The first congressional Democrat broke ranks and called on Joe Biden to withdraw his presidential candidacy following last week’s calamitous debate performance. Lloyd Doggett, a House member for Texas, became the first Democrat in the House of Representative to urge the president to step aside.
Biden’s medical team said a cognitive test “is not warranted” and “not necessary”, the White House has said. The comments came after Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic House speaker, admitted that questions over whether Biden’s debate performance were “an episode” or “a condition” were legitimate.
Biden has invited Democratic governors to meet with him on Wednesday, as he attempts to shore up support among his party’s leaders.
Biden will sit down for his first TV interview since his debate performance. The interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos will air on Friday.
The former New York City mayor and legal adviser to Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, was disbarred in New York after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Biden's lapses increasingly common – report
People who have spent time with Joe Biden over recent months have said that the 81-year-old president’s lapses appear to have grown “more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome”, according to a New York Times report.
Several current and former officials have noticed that Biden has increasingly appeared “confused or listless”, with recent moments of disorientation generating concern among advisers and allies, the report said. According to the report:
Last week’s debate prompted some around him to express concern that the decline had accelerated lately. Several advisers and current and former administration officials who see Mr. Biden regularly but not every day or week said they were stunned by his debate performance because it was the worst they had ever seen him.
Updated
The Democratic congressional candidate for Colorado, Adam Frisch, has called on Joe Biden to step aside.
Frisch, who is running for Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, said in a statement on Tuesday that neither Biden nor Donald Trump is “fit for office”.
“We need a President that can unite America to realize our nation’s unlimited potential,” Frisch said, adding:
We deserve better. President Biden should do what’s best for the country and withdraw from the race.
For some time, I’ve been worried about the state of the presidential race. Neither candidate is fit for office, but only Joe Biden has the power and decency to move us forward by stepping aside and passing the baton to the next generation of leadership. pic.twitter.com/G2CijTSVnF
— Adam Frisch for CD-3 (@AdamForColorado) July 2, 2024
White House says Biden cognitive test 'not warranted'
Joe Biden’s medical team said a cognitive test “is not warranted” and “not necessary”, the White House has said, after the president’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last week.
The White House’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, in a briefing with reporters today, said Biden had a cold and a “hoarse voice” during the debate, as she admitted “it was a bad night”.
Asked if there was any consideration given to releasing a more robust set of medical records, Jean-Pierre replied:
We have been transparent. We have released thorough reports from his medical team every year since he’s been in office.
KJP on the debate: "We are not taking away from what you all saw, or what the American people saw. We understand. it was a bad night. It is not uncommon for incumbents to have a bad night on their first debate." pic.twitter.com/FnBvOmo96W
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 2, 2024
Asked about former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comments earlier today in which she said both Biden and Trump should provide the public with test results regarding physical and mental health, the White House spokesperson said:
His medical team have said it is not warranted. In this case, we have put forward a thorough, transparent annual report on his health. They have said that is not warranted. It is not necessary.
Updated
Here’s a look at the announcement by judge Juan Merchan in which he postpones Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case to 18 September, as shared by Law360’s Frank G. Runyeon.
NEW: Justice Merchan delays Trump's NY sentencing until September. pic.twitter.com/CRg6nnE0qN
— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) July 2, 2024
Merchan’s announcement comes after Manhattan prosecutors earlier today said they did not oppose a request by Trump’s lawyers to postpone his sentencing, originally set for 11 July.
Trump’s lawyers asked to have the case re-evaluated, and the sentencing postponed, in light of the supreme court’s decision on Monday that conferred broad immunity on former presidents for official acts undertaken in office.
Judges typically grant motions when they are unopposed. The postponement marks an unexpected setback for prosecutors and for the prospect of criminal accountability for Trump before the 2024 election, given that the other cases are indefinitely delayed.
Trump hush-money sentencing delayed until September
Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case has been postponed to September after the presiding judge, Juan Merchan, agreed to consider the possible impact of Monday’s supreme court ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump became the first US president to be criminally convicted last month when a Manhattan jury found him guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an illicit hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. The sentencing had previously been set for 11 July.
The postponement sets the sentencing for 18 September, well after the Republican National Convention, where Trump will formally to accept the party’s presidential nomination.
Updated
Pelosi says concerns about Biden's health 'legitimate'
Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic House speaker, has said that questions over Joe Biden’s ability to serve after his debate performance were “legitimate”.
Pelosi, in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday, backed Biden’s achievements and said the president “has a vision. He has knowledge. He has judgment. He has a strategic thinking and the rest.”
But she conceded there was “mixed” feedback from Democratic donors about whether Biden was able to run for another term in office, adding that Donald Trump should be given the same scrutiny. She said:
I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ‘is this an episode or is this a condition?’ And so when people ask that question, it’s legitimate, of both candidates.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi says “both candidates” deserve scrutiny over their age, but says it’s fair to question Biden’s health:
— The Recount (@therecount) July 2, 2024
“I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?’ And so, when people ask that question, it’s legitimate.” pic.twitter.com/Y5OJCgtgmG
Julián Castro, the former housing secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has suggested that Joe Biden should step aside, and that he believes there are stronger options out there for Democrats, including Kamala Harris.
Castro, in an interview with MSNBC today, said:
I believe that another Democrat would have a better shot at beating Trump and because, as Congressman Doggett said in his statement that it’s too risky to let Donald Trump walk into this in November, ... I think the Democrats would do well to find a different candidate.
Castro, who ran against Biden for the 2020 Democratic nomination, criticized Biden shortly after the president’s debate performance last week.
“Tonight was completely predictable,” Castro told reporters after the debate. Biden “had a very low bar going into the debate and failed to clear even that”, he said, adding that the president had “seemed unprepared, lost, and not strong enough to parry effectively with Trump”.
Updated
Joe Biden said in his remarks in Washington DC, moments ago that extreme weather is affecting everyone across the US “and beyond”.
He noted the heat records that have been being “shattered” in the west and south-west in the early summer, in places such as Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, and said that extreme heat is the primary weather-related killer in the US.
He also mentioned deadly Hurricane Beryl that’s roaring across the Caribbean right now as the earliest category 5 hurricane on record to brew out of the Atlantic.
“Ignoring climate change is deadly, dangerous and irresponsible,” he said.
The US president spelled out further action his administration plans to take in five areas: federal safety standards for excessive heat in the workplace; greater resilience to withstand flooding; more funding for communities to take action to protect against extreme weather; an Environmental Protection Agency report to be prepared showing “the continued impacts of climate change on the health of the American people” and a White House summit later this summer on the issue of extreme heat.
Updated
Trump, GOP's approach to climate change 'willfully stupid' – Biden
Joe Biden has just given a straightforward, short speech on weather and climate at an event in Washington, DC.
It’s not a press conference or anything where, so far, there has been any scope for journalists to question the US president, he is at the city’s emergency operations center, with the DC mayor, Muriel Bowser.
And he did not make any reference in his remarks to the political heat he’s getting after his feeble debate performance last week that only topped off months of concern about his advanced age and ability to campaign for and execute the job of president for a second term.
Reading from a teleprompter and sounding assertive, though with the odd verbal stumble, Biden spelled out initiatives his administration is taking to deal with extreme weather in the US, especially heat and flooding, that is exacerbated by the human-driven climate crisis.
And he criticized “my predecessor and the MAGA Republicans” for undermining action on climate change and planning to undo Biden’s actions if Donald Trump regains the White House this November.
“They still deny climate change even exists – they must be living in a hold somewhere – at the expense of the safety of their constituents,” Biden said, adding: “It’s not only outrageous, it’s also willfully stupid…dumb.”
Updated
Joe Biden is giving an interview to the US broadcaster ABC, the first clips from which will air this Friday, the TV channel announce and the news wires have reported.
ABC said the US president will be interviewed by morning show anchor and former political operative George Stephanopoulos on Friday.
We’ll have more details on this in subsequent posts.
Joe Biden is getting ready to speak at an event at the Washington, DC, Emergency Operations Center, where he is being hosted by the Democratic mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser.
He’s been receiving an operational briefing on extreme weather forecasts.
He’s taken the podium now.
Interim summary
Hello, US blog readers, it’s been a very newsy morning and there’s more to come. Joe Biden is (over)due to speak about extreme weather (not the political weather, although that may come up and is stormy) at an official event in Washington, DC, and the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, will brief in the west wing soon after.
Here’s where things stand:
Joe Biden has invited Democratic governors to meet with him on Wednesday, ie tomorrow, as he attempts to shore up support among his party’s leaders after his disastrous debate performance last week. It’s likely to be a virtual meeting.
Texas congressman Lloyd Doggett has become the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to officially call on Biden to step aside following last week’s dismal debate performance.
Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, has said he is “obviously disappointed” but not surprised after he was disbarred in the state of New York after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been stripped of his law license in the state of New York for his efforts to subvert the former president’s 2020 election loss, according to a court filing, which noted that he “flagrantly misused his prominent position as the personal attorney for former President Trump and his campaign, through which respondent repeatedly and intentionally made false statements … concerning the 2020 Presidential election, in which he baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process.”
Prosecutors in the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, has said it will not oppose a request by Donald Trump’s lawyers to file a motion arguing that his conviction should be set aside, following Monday’s supreme court immunity ruling. Prosecutors told the New York judge presiding over Trump’s hush-money trial, Juan Merchan, that they received a request from the former president to postpone the sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for 11 July.
Former congressman from Ohio Tim Ryan has become one of the first figures in the Democratic party to publicly call for Joe Biden to leave the presidential race, arguing that the party must “forge a new path forward” with Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee in November’s election.
Biden to meet with Democratic governors to shore up support
Joe Biden has invited Democratic governors to meet with him on Wednesday, as he attempts to shore up support among his party’s leaders after his disastrous debate performance last week.
The meeting with governors is likely to be mostly virtual, according to Associated Press, and marks the strongest indication yet that Biden is attempting to reassure those in his own party that he is capable of continuing his reelection campaign.
Four days after his disappointing debate performance Joe Biden still hadn’t personally called top Democratic leaders to shore up support, NBC News reported last night.
By Monday night, Biden had not personally reached out to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, or to other Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, the outlet said.
The decision has shocked some lawmakers, it said, amid growing frustration at Biden’s inner circle for being overly “insulated”. “It’s troubling,” one House Democrat told the outlet.
At least four Democratic lawmakers told NBC News that they privately believe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race. One said:
It’s a very tough call. But because he will continue to decline, and because if he continues as our nominee we risk some catastrophic event after the convention that prohibits him from continuing as the nominee, he should step aside and allow for a nominating process at the convention in August.
Some donors have also called for a shake-up of Biden’s campaign team that includes Mike Donilon, a close adviser since the 1980s; Ron Klain, Biden’s first White House chief of staff; Ted Kaufman, who has at his side for more than half a century; Anita Dunn, a former White House counsel and longtime adviser; and Dunn’s husband, Bob Bauer, the president’s personal lawyer who played the role of Trump in practice sessions at Camp David.
The debate strategy was signed off by campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, who helped Biden in 2020 and was appointed in January to boost his re-election campaign, and endorsed by Dunn.
Biden’s biggest career decisions have always come down to family. His wife, Jill Biden, and son Hunter Biden are adamant that he should stay in the race for the White House and no one carries more weight. His sister Valerie Biden Owens, who ran many of his election campaigns, is one of his fiercest defenders.
When Joe Biden became engulfed in a plagiarism scandal during his first US presidential campaign in 1987, his adviser and friend Ted Kaufman was blunt:
There’s only one way to stop the sharks, and that’s pull out.
When Biden was contemplating another run for the White House in 2015, it fell to another longtime confidant, Mike Donilon, to deliver the verdict. “I caught him looking at me and gestured, What is it, Mike?” Biden later wrote in his memoir. “‘I don’t think you should do this,’ he said.”
On both occasions, Biden heeded the advice. Now, in 2024, he is president but again facing questions over his future after a car crash debate performance against Donald Trump last week. The debacle has also shone a critical light on the counsel provided by his most trusted advisers.
It was the Biden campaign that called the early debate, set rules that seemed to play into his opponent’s hands and rehearsed him for the televised showdown. Members of Biden’s family reportedly criticised his top advisers at Camp David last weekend and urged him to make changes.
Democratic senator Peter Welch of Vermont has criticized the Biden campaign for its “dismissive attitude” towards concerns about Joe Biden’s age and ability to lead after last week’s debate.
Welch, in an interview with Semafor on Monday, said:
I really do criticize the campaign for a dismissive attitude towards people who are raising questions for discussion. That’s just facing the reality that we’re in.
The Vermont senator was alluding to a fundraising email sent to supporters on Saturday in which Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, described people calling for the president to drop out of the race as the “bedwetting brigade”.
“The campaign has raised the concerns themselves,” Welch added.
So then to be dismissive of others who raise those concerns, I think it’s inappropriate.
He added that the Democratic party has an “existential responsibility” to voters to defeat Donald Trump. “Passivity is not the response that is going to work for us. We all have to be self conscious,” he said.
We all have to be acutely aware that our obligation is to the country, even more than the party. That’s the obligation we have — what’s best for the country.
Texas congressman Lloyd Doggett is the first House Democrat to publicly urge Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race after Thursday’s debate.
According to the Texas Tribune, Doggett has been in Congress since 1995 and shared the title of longest serving member of Congress from Texas with Sheila Jackson Lee. He represents a comfortably Democratic seat based in Austin.
As we reported earlier, former Ohio congressman Tim Ryan wrote a Newsweek op-ed published last night in which he called on Biden to step aside, and for Kamala Harris to replace him.
Texas congressman Lloyd Doggett becomes first House Democrat to call on Biden to step aside
Texas congressman Lloyd Doggett has become the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to officially call on Joe Biden to step aside following last week’s dismal debate performance.
In a statement on Tuesday, Doggett said Biden had “failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies” on the debate stage.
Doggett said he represented a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson, who had made the painful decision to withdraw. “President Biden should do the same,” he said.
While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional. He has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process.
He added that his decision was “not done lightly" and that his respect for all that Biden has achieved has not been diminished, but
Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.
Updated
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has said he believes Joe Biden is fit to serve as he continued to defend the president following last week’s debate.
“I’m with Joe Biden,” he said at an event in Syracuse today, according to NBC News’ Frank Thorp V.
We’ve worked hard together for four years and delivered a lot for America and for central New York, I’m for Biden.
At an event in Syracuse, SCHUMER was just asked his confidence in Biden as the nominee.
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) July 2, 2024
"I’m with Joe Biden,” he said, "We’ve worked hard together for four years and delivered a lot for America and for central New York, I’m for Biden.”
Q: Do you think President Biden is fit to…
Schumer defended Biden immediately after Thursday’s debate in a post on X that deflected questions about the president’s age and fitness for the job.
But Schumer had signalled that he was open to options other than Biden if his debate performance was disastrous, according to Axios, who said he had liked the idea of an early debate because it would give Biden time to recover from a potentially poor showing, as well as the Democratic party more time to consider the best way forward.
The New York appeals court decision to disbar Rudy Giuliani comes as the former mayor of New York City and Donald Trump adviser already had his New York law license suspended for making false statements after the 2020 election.
In May, Giuliani was also suspended by New York radio station WABC for using his show to declare that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election because of supposed electoral fraud.
In an interview with the New York Times, billionaire John Catsimatidis, the Republican owner of WABC, said that Giuliani had been “warned” to not discuss lies about the 2020 election. Catsimatidis said:
We’re not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it … So he left me no option. I suspended him.
Despite the slew of legal trouble, Giuliani has said he has no regrets for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. Last month after posting bond in the Arizona fake electors case against him, Giuliani said he doesn’t regret his actions.
“I’m very, very proud of it,” Giuliani said while leaving the state courthouse.
Giuliani has plead not guilty to criminal charges for reportedly pressuring Arizona legislators and the Maricopa county board of supervisors to change the state’s 2020 presidential election results. Giuliani also told Arizona Republicans electors to vote for Trump.
Giuliani lawyer says he's 'disappointed' but not surprised by disbarment
Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer has said he is “obviously disappointed” but not surprised after he was disbarred in the state of New York after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Giuliani’s attorney Arthur Aidala said they “put up a valiant effort” to prevent the disbarment but “we saw the writing on the wall”, according to Associated Press.
A New York appeals court in Manhattan ruled on Tuesday that Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, federal prosecutor and Trump legal adviser, be “disbarred from the practice of law, effective immediately, and until the further order of this Court, and his name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law in the State of New York”.
Updated
A Democratic congressman is calling for a new constitutional amendment to reverse the supreme court’s ruling granting presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution, a decision that could hamstring the federal case against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Congressman Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, raised the idea on Monday, just hours after the supreme court issued its 6-3 decision, which fell along ideological lines.
“I will introduce a constitutional amendment to reverse Scotus’s harmful decision and ensure that no president is above the law,” Morelle wrote on X. “This amendment will do what Scotus failed to do – prioritize our democracy.”
I will introduce a constitutional amendment to reverse SCOTUS’ harmful decision and ensure that no president is above the law. This amendment will do what SCOTUS failed to do—prioritize our democracy.
— Joe Morelle (@RepJoeMorelle) July 1, 2024
But Morelle’s plan is highly unlikely to succeed. A constitutional amendment can be proposed either by a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate or by a constitutional convention, which may be called by two-thirds of state legislatures.
With Republicans controlling the House of Representatives and a majority of state legislative chambers, that hurdle appears impossible to overcome. Republicans largely celebrated the court’s ruling as a win for the rule of law, despite legal experts’ warnings that the decision could set a dangerous precedent for future presidents.
If Donald Trump’s request to delay his hush-money sentencing is granted, it would push a sentencing decision past the Republican National Convention, which will kick off on 15 July.
That would mean that Trump could be officially named the Republican presidential candidate while it remains unknown what sentence he could face for his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Trump’s sentence is up to the judge, and it could include prison time or probation.
Updated
Donald Trump’s request to set aside his hush-money conviction is probably just the first real-world impact of Monday’s controversial ruling from the supreme court.
The decision by the conservative-dominated court, which ruled that former presidents are entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution, was seen as a major victory for the presumptive Republican nominee.
The court found 6-3 that presidents were protected from prosecution for official actions that extended to the “outer perimeter” of his office, but could face charges for unofficial conduct.
Although the offences in Trump’s hush-money trial happened before Trump was president, his lawyers argue that the supreme court ruling confirms their argument that some evidence should be inadmissible because it related to presidential acts.
The supreme court’s decision will also likely eviscerate numerous parts of the criminal prosecution against Trump over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
It is now up to judge Juan Merchan to determine whether to grant Donald Trump’s request to postpone his hush-money sentencing, after Manhattan prosecutors said they would not oppose delaying the 11 July sentencing date.
The former president’s request came after the supreme court’s ruling on Monday granting him broad immunity from prosecution. According to the decision, Trump cannot be held criminally liable for many acts taken when he was president.
In a letter to Merchan, Trump’s legal team asked him to postpone the sentencing hearing while he weighs how the court ruling affects the case.
Although the offences happened before Trump was president, his lawyers argue that the supreme court ruling confirms their argument that some evidence should be inadmissible because it related to presidential acts. “The trial result cannot stand,” lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote.
Rudy Giuliani disbarred for election subversion efforts
Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been stripped of his law license in the state of New York for his efforts to subvert the former president’s 2020 election loss, according to a court filing.
According to the court filing, Giuliani “flagrantly misused his prominent position as the personal attorney for former President Trump and his campaign, through which respondent repeatedly and intentionally made false statements … concerning the 2020 Presidential election, in which he baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process.”
The seriousness of his misconduct “cannot be overstated”, it states, adding that Giuliani “not only deliberately violated some of the most fundamental tenets of the legal profession, but he also actively contributed to the national strife that has followed the 2020 Presidential election, for which he is entirely unrepentant”.
Updated
Manhattan DA's office says it will not oppose Trump request to delay hush-money sentencing
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has said it will not oppose a request by Donald Trump’s lawyers to file a motion arguing that his conviction should be set aside, following Monday’s supreme court immunity ruling.
In a letter addressed to the New York judge presiding over Trump’s hush-money trial, Juan Merchan, prosecutors said they received a request from the former president to postpone the sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for 11 July, while Merchan weighs how Monday’s court ruling affects the case.
Prosecutors wrote:
Although we believe the defendant’s arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file and putative request to adjourn sentencing pending determination of his motion.
NEW - The Manhattan DA’s office said Tuesday it would not oppose Trump’s request to file a motion arguing his conviction should be tossed, a move that will almost certainly delay Trump’s sentencing, which is currently set for July 11. Reporting w/ @AaronKatersky & @PCCharalambous pic.twitter.com/z6VzU8L2ug
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) July 2, 2024
A silver lining of Joe Biden’s pernicious debate performance was, according to a succession of upbeat emails from the president’s re-election campaign, a record fundraising haul.
By Sunday night, only three days after he stumbled through 90 painful minutes in the company of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, more than $33m had dropped into Biden campaign coffers. Debate day itself was “our best grassroots fundraising day ever”, officials announced.
But while the dollar amount is substantial, it portrays a mixed picture. Almost all of that money, $26m to be exact, came from so-called small-ticket donors, signaling support from his voter base. Many wealthy benefactors who will be crucial to the president’s chances of securing a second term in November are still undecided on backing him, or calling for him to stand down.
Some potential donors are waiting for the mainstream media opinion polls before deciding whether to echo calls for Biden to step aside, Axios reported. A number of flash polls post-debate show a majority of voters want him out of the race.
Others, such as prominent New York investment analyst Whitney Tilson, who has a long record of financial support for Biden and the Democratic cause, said he fears the president could be “well on that path” to dementia, and needed to see proof that Biden was “not an old man in a moderate to advanced state of cognitive decline” before making a commitment.
Some donors, meanwhile, are turning their criticism on aides who advised Biden before the debate, messaging that also emerged from the president’s weekend meeting at Camp David with his family.
In private, however, many Democrats concede Biden’s performance was potentially hugely damaging to the party’s prospects in November, and are reportedly discussing a possible strategy shift for donors if Biden stays in the race, which he is looking increasingly likely to do.
Read the full report: Anxious donors plot next moves after Biden debate calamity
Illinois congressman Mike Quigley suggested that the only thing that could convince Joe Biden to step aside would be polling numbers.
“It’s clear that what took place last week isn’t — doesn’t seem to influence his decision. I don’t know what will,” Quigley told CNN.
It probably takes up to a week to get decent polling … I do think that’s probably the only thing out there right now that could change his mind or influence that critical decision that, again, only he can make.
Illinois congressman Mike Quigley says 'it wasn’t just a horrible night’ for Biden
Mike Quigley, the longtime Democrat congressman from Illinois, has signaled his openness to replacing Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, saying that the president’s poor debate performance last week was not an aberration.
“We have to be honest with ourselves. It wasn’t just a horrible night,” Quigley told CNN today.
But I won’t go beyond that out of my respect and understanding for President Joe Biden, a very proud person who has served us extraordinarily for 50 years. I just want him to appreciate at this time just how much this impacts not just his race but all the other races coming in November.
Quigley said Biden “has to be honest with himself” and warned that his decision “will have implications for decades to come”.
.@RepMikeQuigley on @JoeBiden's possible replacement: "It's his decision. I just want him to appreciate at this time just how much it impacts not just his race, but all of the other races coming in November ... it wasn't just a horrible night." pic.twitter.com/nHHKHKBYyq
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) July 2, 2024
Former Ohio congressman Tim Ryan calls for Harris to replace Biden
Former congressman from Ohio Tim Ryan has become one of the first figures in the Democratic party to publicly call for Joe Biden to leave the presidential race, arguing that the party must "forge a new path forward” with Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee in November’s election.
“We have to rip the band aid off! Too much is at stake,” Ryan posted to X, adding that Harris would “energize our base, bring back young voters and give us generational change.”
We have to rip the band aid off! Too much is at stake. @VP has significantly grown into her job, she will destroy Trump in debate, highlight choice issue, energize our base, bring back young voters and give us generational change. It’s time! https://t.co/izPypeSmDL
— Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) July 2, 2024
In an op-ed in Newsweek, Ryan described Biden’s Thursday debate performance as “deeply troubling” and “heartbreaking”. “After deep reflection over these past few days, I strongly believe that our best path forward is Kamala Harris,” he wrote.
Kamala Harris should be the Democratic nominee because she can energize the electorate and govern effectively as our next president. She has honed her raw talent and intelligence through a tough national campaign and three and a half years of experience that have her steeped in the knowledge of domestic and international issues. All of this while joyfully operating in our toxic and complicated political environment. In short, she is ready for the job.
Updated
'There are no kings in America': Biden denounces supreme court decision on Trump immunity
In a Monday evening address, Joe Biden issued a full-throated denunciation of the supreme court’s decision to grant his predecessor, Donald Trump, broad immunity from criminal charges of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, calling it a “dangerous precedent” that overturned the basic principle of equality before the law.
In a 5-minute speech from the White House, Biden said the 6-3 ruling “undermined the rule of law” and rendered a “terrible disservice to the people of this nation” because it means Trump is much less likely to be held legally accountable for inciting a mob to launch a deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
Citing and echoing the words of the liberal and dissenting supreme court justice, Sonia Sotomayor – who criticized the ruling – the president said: “I dissent.”
“This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America,” said Biden.
Each, each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States.
With today’s supreme court decision on presidential immunity that fundamentally changed for all practical purposes. Today’s decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits to what the president can do. This is a fundamentally new principle. It’s a dangerous precedent, because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the supreme court in the United States, the only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone.
Top Biden campaign officials downplayed the political fallout of last week’s presidential debate during the Monday evening call with wealthy donors, according to reports.
“Everyone just needs to breathe through the nose for minute,” the New York Times reported that Chris Korge, the finance chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said during the call.
After presentations from campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and pollster Molly Murphy, roughly 500 members of Biden’s regional and national finance committee had the chance to submit questions, which the call moderators controlled. According to the Times report,
One donor asked the campaign how it would respond to a significant erosion of polling; the campaign largely dismissed the concern. ‘The media has spent a ton of time blowing this out of proportion,’ said Mr. Fulks, the deputy campaign manager. ‘We are not going to be in a defensive posture on this campaign.’
Some of those who joined the call described it as almost facile and rudimentary, the Times said.
James Carville, the strategist who has been one of the few establishment Democrats to have been warning about Joe Biden’s age issue before the president’s disastrous debate performance Thursday, has called on his party to “deliver change” and replace the president as its nominee for November’s election.
In an interview with the Guardian, he also said it would be in the US’s best interest for Biden’s Democratic presidential predecessors Barack Obama and Bill Clinton to help persuade him to half his re-election – and support an open nomination convention in Chicago in August to select a new ticket for the party.
“If it’s too hard for the Democrats to deliver change, then they’re going to hurt themselves bad – really bad,” said Carville, who led Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign.
Change is messy. But you have to listen to the vox populi. We want something new. I see staggering talent in the Democratic party. Let them speak their minds.
Carville’s comments come after he has spent months saying Biden was too old, should not run again – and that the party’s governors were among the most “breathtaking talent”, as he put it in a 16 December interview. He added: “We’re keeping it bottled up.”
Read the full Guardian interview: James Carville calls on Democratic party to ‘deliver change’ and replace Biden
Joe Biden is “probably in better health than most of us,” Biden’s campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, told top fundraisers during the Monday conference call, according to NBC News.
“He’s also 81,” O’Malley Dillon added. “He knows that he has to prove that he can do this job from a stamina standpoint, but also from substance.”
During the call, she made reference to Barack Obama’s lackluster performance in his first debate with Mitt Romney in 2012, telling donors “every incumbent president that I can remember in my lifetime has had a shit first debate.”
“Obviously, the stakes are higher for us because we are up against Donald Trump,” she continued.
Obviously, we have more work to do because the president is 81, but it was also a terrible debate in 2012. I was there. I remember it clearly.
But one donor told the outlet that they were not convinced by the campaign’s reassurances, and that if Biden stays in the race, they will redirect their money to outside get-out-the-vote groups. The donor said:
I won’t sit on the sidelines, but it’s hard and getting a lot harder to donate directly to the campaign given their judgement.
In a Monday evening conference call, the Biden campaign sought to reassure top Democratic donors and fundraisers who questioned whether the president should stay in the race and why they should keep donating.
Senior Biden officials, including campaign senior adviser Jen O’Malley Dillon, deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks and pollster Molly Murphy, conceded that Biden had blown an opportunity to improve his chances but that early polls showed little damage from the debate.
“The message was, ‘We are not seeing any change in polling,’” a source told Reuters. The “campaign will not win if the focus remains on his age.”
Trump seeks to challenge hush-money verdict after immunity ruling
Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked the New York judge who presided over his hush-money trial to set aside his conviction and delay his sentencing, scheduled for later this month, following the supreme court’s ruling this week on presidential immunity.
The letter asks judge Juan Merchan to delay the former president’s sentencing while he weighs the high court’s decision and how it could influence the New York case, AP reported.
In the letter, Trump’s lawyers ask for permission to formally argue that the conviction should be overturned. The former president was convicted in New York of 34 counts of falsifying business records, arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush-money payment just before the 2016 presidential election.
Biden campaign holds 'difficult' calls with donors after disastrous debate
Good morning US politics readers. Joe Biden’s reelection team held difficult phone calls on Sunday and Monday with top campaign funders in an attempt to reassure them that the 81-year-old president should stay in the race following his car crash debate performance last week.
Senior campaign officials held a call on Monday evening with hundreds of top Democratic donors and fundraisers to tamp down the panic that has gripped the party since the CNN debate, multiple outlets reported. “Can the president make it through a campaign and another term?” One donor asked during the call, according to Reuters.
The Biden campaign has been engaged in full-on damage control, while many Democratic officials and strategists are privately mulling whether Biden should remain on the ticket of step aside in favor of a younger candidate who might stand a better chance of defeating Donald Trump.
Amid calls for the campaign to make Biden more visible, the president added public remarks to his schedule on Monday evening where he issued a full-throated denunciation of the supreme court’s decision to grant Trump broad immunity from criminal charges of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Here’s what else we’re watching:
Biden will receive an operational briefing and deliver remarks at the DC emergency operations center. In the evening, he’ll attend a campaign reception in McLean, Virginia.
The White House’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, will brief at 2.30pm ET.
Kamala Harris will speak at an event in San Francisco.
