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Former president Barack Obama and ex-speaker Nancy Pelosi have reportedly expressed concerns about Joe Biden’s future as he struggles to convince the American electorate and his fellow Democrats that he remains the right person to take on Donald Trump in November.
Since his disastrous presidential debate performance last month, Biden has faced panicked calls, and a blunt op-ed by George Clooney, asking him to quit the 2024 race and make way for a younger successor. Wealthy donors are withholding $90m in donations as long as he tops the ticket.
Speaking at an hour-long press conference (with notable gaffes), watched by 22.5 million Americans (more than the Oscars), the president again vowed to “finish this job”.
Back on the campaign trail in the must-win state of Michigan on Friday, Biden told supporters: “I promise you, I’m OK.”
Trump’s campaign meanwhile is said to fear Biden stepping aside in favor of a younger candidate — age would no longer be a factor and their polling is favorable.
The former president will be heading to another battleground state — Pennsylvania — on Saturday evening at the Butler County Farm Show grounds, where he could announce his running mate.
Key Points
- Pro-Biden super PAC donor withholding approximately $90m, report says
- Obama and Pelosi ‘hold talks on Joe Biden’s future’
- The 18 House and Senate Democrats who say the president needs to step aside
- Trump wishes Biden luck and says he shouldn’t let Clooney and Obama push him out
- 22.5 million tuned in for Biden press conference — more than the Oscars
- ‘I promise you, I’m OK’ Biden tells Michigan supporters as he returns to campaign trail
Trump, clinging onto the prospect of facing Biden in November, slams George Clooney for calling for the president to step aside
Former President Donald Trump slammed George Clooney as a “backstabber” and a “third-rate movie actor” for his New York Times op-ed calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of his race for re-election.
Trump appeared on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show on Friday saying that regardless of what you think of Biden, “he’s been nice to Clooney.”
“I thought it was very disloyal, backstabber, third-rate movie actor,” Trump said on the program in reference to the op-ed.
On Friday, Trump — who’s campaign is reportedly eager to see Biden remain in the race since it could be more difficult for the former president to defeat a younger Democrat — said that Clooney “was a television actor and never made really a good movie. So he’s sort of third-rate.”
Read the full story...
Trump calls Clooney a ‘backstabber’ over NYT op-ed calling on Biden to drop out
Trump says Biden has been ‘nice to Clooney’ after actor writes ‘one battle’ president ‘cannot win is the fight against time’
Kelly Rissman13 July 2024 15:00 1720878300
Peter Mandelson suggests Barack Obama should step in after latest Joe Biden gaffe
Peter Mandelson has suggested Barack Obama should “step in” and make Joe Biden withdraw from the US presidential race. The Labour Party’s former director of communications appeared on BBC Newsnight on Thursday 11 July shortly after Mr Biden mistakenly introduced Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” at the Nato summit. “It’s extremely unfortunate,” Lord Mandelson said of the gaffe. “My view, frankly, is that the initiative is going to pass to President Obama and Mrs Obama. President Obama as the most recent ranking Democrat president is now going to have to take a position. he’s going to have to take a stand.”
Oliver O'Connell13 July 2024 14:45 1720874700Michael Douglas: ‘Hard to imagine’ Biden in a second term
Michael Douglas said that it’s “hard” for him to imagine Joe Biden serving another term in office after he praised George Clooney for making a “valid point” in his scathing op-ed in The New York Times, calling for the president to stand down.
The 79-year-old Hollywood actor voiced his concerns over Biden’s re-election bid while on the red carpet at the premiere of his upcoming documentary America’s Burning in New York City. It marks a complete U-turn from his formerly staunch support of the president — including hosting a fundraiser for Biden in April.
James Liddell has the story.
Michael Douglas admits it’s ‘hard to imagine’ Biden in a second term
Actor was concerned over president’s ‘inability to acknowledge’ Donald Trump’s ‘lies’ at the first debate of the 2024 election
Oliver O'Connell13 July 2024 13:45 1720871100Biden needed to reassure America after disastrous debate. He did not.
Joe Biden delivered his much anticipated “big boy press conference” on the sidelines of the Nato summit on Thursday night, marking his latest attempt to put mounting fears about his fitness to serve another term to rest.
In Thursday night’s high-stakes briefing, the president spoke to reporters for just under an hour, answering 19 questions from 10 journalists, and once again insisting that he is the best person to take on Donald Trump in November.
“I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again,” he said.
“There’s a long way to go this campaign and so I – I’m just gonna keep moving.”
The press conference comes at the end of a crucial two weeks for the 81-year-old president to reassure American voters, donors and House and Senate Democrats that he should remain in the 2024 presidential race, following his abysmal performance in the first presidential debate last month.
Biden has sought to counter that night’s performance – where he stumbled over his words, appeared frail and lost his train of thought – with a string of public appearances and high-stakes interviews.
But, rather than prove the debate was a one-off, the president has simply added to his list of gaffes.
Here’s a look at Biden’s latest gaffes since the disastrous debate:
All of Biden’s gaffes since disastrous debate performance with Trump
Rather than prove the debate was a one-off, the president has simply added to his list of gaffes over the last two weeks
Joe Sommerlad13 July 2024 12:45 1720863900
Biden says he will ‘complete the job’ despite calls to bow out of presidential race
Joe Biden used his highly anticipated Nato press conference on Thursday 11 July to deliver a forceful defence of his re-election campaign, vowing to stay in the US presidential race. Speaking at the end of the summit in Washington, Mr Biden said he was best qualified to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election and could still recover from his damaging debate performance. “I’m determined on running,” he said. Despite vowing to continue, Mr Biden accidentally referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” as he answered his first question at the high-stakes press conference.
Oliver O'Connell13 July 2024 10:45 1720856700Melania Trump to reportedly attend Republican convention
Former first lady Melania Trump will reportedly make a rare public appearance by attending next week’s Republican National Convention in Wisconsin, according to CNN.
The former president’s wife has largely been absent from the 2024 campaign trail and did not attend Donald Trump’s high-profile hush money trial in New York alongside other Trump family members earlier this year.
Josh Marcus has the story.
Melania Trump to attend Republican convention in Milwaukee in rare public appearance
Former first lady has largely been absent from her husband’s 2024 run for the White House
Oliver O'Connell13 July 2024 08:45 1720854029Stumbling Joe Biden is no longer just America’s problem
Mary Dejevsky writes:
The 75th anniversary Nato summit was seen as the test of Joe Biden’s fitness for presidential office, after last month’s televised debate that went so badly wrong.It was less the two-and-a-half-day gathering itself – which expert planning would ensure ran pretty much glitch-free – but the US president’s hour-long solo press conference that was scheduled to follow, which would be the first time since that fateful debate that he would have to face sustained questions and give spontaneous answers.
In the event, the growing number of those calling on Biden to abandon his bid for re-election had their scalp even before he had tried almost too hard to stride presidentially onto the platform for his duel with the world’s media.
Continue reading...
Stumbling Joe Biden is no longer just America’s problem
The ‘President Putin’ gaffe at the Nato summit was the moment Biden’s re-election bid died, says Mary Dejevsky. Now, the Democrats’ political crisis will have diplomatic implications far beyond the corridors of Capitol Hill
Shahana Yasmin13 July 2024 08:00 1720852229Trump names four finalists for running mate as he compares vice presidential race to The Apprentice
Trump names four finalists for his vice presidential pick
Tim Scott, Marco Rubio, JD Vance, and Doug Burgum are still in play
Donald Trump says he has narrowed his list of potential running mates to four men, a process he compared to his former reality television series The Apprentice.
He wants to announce the man who could be the next vice president of the United States at the beginning of next week’s Republican National Convention, when he is expected to receive the party’s formal nomination for the presidency.
“I’d love to do it at the convention, or just slightly before the convention, which would be — or just slightly before the convention, like Monday,” he told the The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show on Friday.
Shahana Yasmin13 July 2024 07:30 1720849500Biden’s brutal week ends with deluge of calls to quit and donors holding $90m hostage
After a competent but stumbling appearance at a high-stakes press conference on the world’s stage Thursday evening, President Joe Biden’s campaign is hoping to end a weekslong crisis as he faces calls to end his re-election campaign over growing concerns about his viability and fitness for office.
But the campaign’s been unable to stop a deluge of lawmakers, prominent celebrities, and donors calling on him to quit, with potentially $90 million worth of donations now at stake if he remains atop the ticket.
Barack Obama has even reportedly spoken privately with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about concerns that he may not be up to the task of defeating Donald Trump, adding to fears that the president will spend the next several months heading into an election he cannot win. According to multiple reports, Obama and Pelosi are still unsure of how to make the case to Biden that he needs to stand down.
Read more from Andrew Feinberg and Alex Woodward.
Biden’s brutal week ends with calls to quit and donors holding $90 million hostage
The president insists he remains the most viable candidate to defeat Donald Trump despite growing calls from elected officials and American voters who want to see him replaced with a younger Democrat
Oliver O'Connell13 July 2024 06:45 1720848255British PM Keir Starmer says Biden ‘deserves credit’ for the success of the Nato summit
Starmer says Biden ‘deserves credit’ and reveals details of first audience with King
In a new interview with CNN, Starmer also discussed the possibility of working with Donald Trump, should the former president regain the White House in November
Sir Keir Starmer said that Joe Biden “deserves credit” for the success of the Nato summit and that the president was “on good form” during their recent in-person conversation.
In an interview with CNN on Friday, he was asked about the continuing concern over Biden’s mental acuity, following a string of serious gaffes and his disastrous debate performance last month.
“I yesterday spent 45 minutes with the President,” he told the news network’s Jake Tapper. “We’d spoken on the phone, as you can imagine, but this was an opportunity to discuss a number of issues.
“We probably went on for the best part of an hour, covered a lot of ground, and he was in good form.
Shahana Yasmin13 July 2024 06:24 Newer1 / 13OlderDisclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
