First Democratic senator calls on Biden to give up reelection
Vermont Senator Peter Welch today became the first Senate Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Welch emphasized her respect for Biden, but said, “In the national interest, I urge President Biden to withdraw from the race.”
“We have been asking President Biden for a long time to do many things for many people,” Welch wrote. “It has taken unparalleled selflessness and courage. We ask you to put us first, as you have done in the past. We ask you to do so now.”
Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer says Biden should withdraw
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, chairman of Oregon’s delegation and a senior Democratic leader, called on Biden to not seek reelection.
“This is the president and first lady’s decision, but I hope, like others, they will come to the conclusion that President Biden should not be the Democratic nominee for president,” Blumenauer said in a statement today. “While this is a painful and difficult conclusion, I have no doubt that we would all be better off if the president stepped down as the Democratic nominee and conducted a transition on his own terms.”
Blumenauer is the ninth House Democrat to publicly call on the president to drop out of the race.
Gavin Newsom reiterated that he would not challenge Kamala Harris if Biden withdraws.
California Governor Gavin Newsom today, during a press conference on wildfire response, reiterated that he will not campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris if President Biden withdraws from the 2024 presidential race.
Asked if he stood by his previous comments on the issue, he replied: “Of course I do.”
Newsom is a prominent Biden campaign surrogate who said in an interview with “Meet the Press” last year that if Biden doesn’t run, “obviously the vice president will run.”
When asked during the interview if he could consider running against Harris, he replied, “Of course not.”
Biden holds bilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer
Biden is holding bilateral talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of a NATO summit, just days after the Labour politician’s victory in the UK general election.
Biden said the two countries were “the best of allies” and joked that they could start by talking about football.
They both said today’s NATO meeting was good, and Biden said he was optimistic.
“I think things are moving in the right direction,” Biden said.
Starmer said the “special relationship” between the two countries was “hugely important.”
Neither responded to the media’s grilling.
John Fetterman criticizes Nancy Pelosi’s comments about Biden as ‘bizarre’
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) told reporters that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comments about Biden were “bizarre.”
“We’re all in this together,” Rep. Pelosi, D-Calif., said on “Morning Joe” today. [Biden] “Time is running out, so it’s a difficult decision to make,” Biden has repeatedly said of the campaign.
“That’s a strange statement,” Fetterman told reporters. “The president has been very clear, ‘I’m staying on this.'”
Republican-led committee subpoenas White House aides over Biden health issues
Report from Washington
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee today issued subpoenas to three White House aides, requesting testimony to discuss President Joe Biden’s cognitive status.
The subpoenas, first reported by Axios, were addressed to Anthony Bernal, a senior adviser to First Lady Jill Biden, White House deputy chief of staff Annie Tommasini and senior White House adviser Ashley Williams.
The letter attached to the subpoena stated that the aides “have direct knowledge of the extent to which President Biden is personally performing his duties and his ability to do so.”
Read the full story here.
‘It’s already dire’: Biden campaign faces major fundraising blow
President Joe Biden’s campaign has already seen a big drop in donations, and campaign officials are bracing for a major hit to fundraising in the aftermath of the debate about two weeks ago, according to four sources close to the reelection effort.
“The situation is already dire,” one person close to Biden’s reelection bid said of fundraising.
“Funding for the Biden campaign has completely stopped,” said another source close to Biden’s reelection effort.
Read the full story here.
Nevada County Refuses to Certify Results of Two Local Primary Elections
Local officials in Washoe County, Nevada today voted against certifying the results of two recounted primary elections after prominent election deniers claimed the results were fraudulent and called for a manual count.
Robert Beadles, a supporter of former President Donald Trump and a vocal proponent of election conspiracy theories, spent $150,000 to recount three local races in Washoe County’s June primary election. After one of the candidates withdrew his request for a recount, officials spent days recounting thousands of votes that had been cast and found a difference of two votes. — 1 vote for each race — But that didn’t affect his large margin of victory in the remaining two races.
But at a contentious meeting of the Washoe County Commission today, dozens of people spoke for and against the certification, with many of those opposed calling for a recount to be done by hand rather than machine.
Experts have long found that counting ballots by hand is more expensive, more error-prone and more time-consuming than using mechanical tabulators.
It is unclear what will happen to the two primary elections at stake – a nonpartisan school board seat and a Republican county commissioner seat – or to the county commissioners who refused to certify the results.
Read the full story here.
Democratic lawmakers held a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill to voice concerns about Biden’s chances of winning a second term. NBC News’ Ali Vitali reports on the president vowing to stay in the race.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries conveys lawmakers’ concerns to President Biden
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, has told concerned lawmakers he will convey their concerns to Biden, four sources confirmed to NBC News today.
When asked by NBC News about these plans, Jeffries evaded the question, saying, “We are having discussions among ourselves. These are family discussions, and they are important. We are independent and equal in government. On behalf of the people that we represent, we have the right and the responsibility to negotiate among ourselves the way forward and what is in the best interests of the American people. That’s what we’re doing right now.”
Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said in an interview on MSNBC today that while Jeffries has publicly supported Biden because he is the nominee, he acknowledged that Jeffries and others have privately conveyed the lawmakers’ concerns to the White House.
“I understand why he would have to say he’s personally aligned with the president because he’s our nominee at this point,” Moulton said, “but I know that Hakeem Jeffries and other leaders are privately conveying to the White House the concerns that were expressed in the meeting yesterday and all of the private conversations that we’re having with our colleagues in Congress.”
