South Carolina senator says evaluations should be part of presidential nominee process to ensure they’re ‘capable’
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham added his voice on Sunday to a chorus calling for cognitive and physical evaluations for Joe Biden – but also called for the same for Donald Trump and others.
The Republican lawmaker recommended such tests for all future presidential nominees as well as those who may take over from a president or a nominee.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the US election, you can read our full coverage here.
“God knew Biden needs some love,” said J Louis Felton, the church’s senior pastor, who noted that the president had been due to speak today at a National Education Association conference in Philadelphia.
When the NEA’s union announced a strike on Friday, the president cancelled his speech.
Continue reading...The New Maga Deal full of errors and omissions from former Trump adviser convicted of contempt of Congress
In a book due to be published a day before his release from prison this month, the former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro praises Donald Trump’s Maga movement – and claims to list errors and omissions that led to his four-month sentence for criminal contempt of Congress, for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6 committee.
But Navarro makes striking errors and omissions of his own, including jarringly misidentifying Ashli Babbitt – the Trump supporter shot dead at the US Capitol who became a martyr to many on the far right – as a US marine corps veteran.
Continue reading...Polling shows critical group unenthused about Biden and Trump – and moved by economy over abortion
The independent voter is the elusive prize in any election. This year, Democrats are hoping that widespread support for abortion rights will draw in women who might have previously shied away from the party.
But polling shows that independent female voters, a critical group for any candidate, are particularly unenthused about the prospect of choosing between the same two guys who ran for election last time. Now, with some Democrats publicly mulling replacing Joe Biden in the wake of his catastrophic debate performance and Kamala Harris emerging as a possible heir apparent, a key question is whether a Harris-topped ticket would provide them with some much-needed excitement.
Continue reading...Angie Craig of Minnesota asks Biden to ‘step aside’, as California governor stumps for president in Pennsylvania. This blog is now closed
Biden’s career worst debate performance against Trump last month has triggered acrimony, angst and panic among Democrats just four months from election day.
There are growing calls for oldest president in US history to step aside in favour of Vice-President Kamala Harris or another candidate. But Biden has so far dug in and vowed to fight on.
Continue reading...Parkinson’s expert at Walter Reed medical center has visited White House eight times since August 2023 – report
Joe Biden’s doctor met with a leading Washington neurologist at the White House this year, it was reported on Saturday.
The report came after Biden on Friday ruled out taking an independent cognitive test and releasing its findings publicly, in an interview with ABC News arranged following his disastrous performance in last week’s presidential TV debate with Donald Trump.
Continue reading...House Democratic leader schedules virtual conference for Sunday as several members call for president’s withdrawal
Congressional Democrats are to hold an emergency weekend meeting to discuss Joe Biden’s tottering presidential candidacy, after a primetime television interview failed to dispel doubts triggered by last week’s debate fiasco.
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrats’ leader in the House of Representatives, scheduled the virtual meeting for Sunday with ranking committee members, according to multiple reports, even as Biden struck a defiant posture in Friday’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
Continue reading...This blog has now closed. You can read our full story here
Joe Biden has cancelled his upcoming Sunday address to the National Education Association Staff Union after the country’s largest union announced a strike over unfair labor practice complaints including overtime nonpayments.
A statement released by Biden’s campaign team said:
President Biden is a fierce supporter of unions and he won’t cross a picket line. The president is still planning to travel to Pennsylvania this weekend, and we will have more details to share at a later point.
I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.
Continue reading...The president blamed his debate performance on a bad cold, said he was in fine cognitive shape, and doubled down on staying in the race
Joe Biden is pushing back against questions about whether he has the mental and physical stamina to serve another term is president, arguing, in a much-hyped Friday television interview, “I just had a bad night.”
In a pre-taped sit-down interview that aired on Friday evening, the 81-year-old president told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he had been sick, exhausted, and had not prepared well for last week’s presidential debate with Donald Trump.
Continue reading...In appearance aimed at quelling nascent rebellion among Democrats, Biden made no big gaffes, but reviews are mixed
Joe Biden has insisted that only “the Lord almighty” could persuade him to exit the US presidential race in a potential make-or-break TV interview aimed at quelling a burgeoning rebellion in the Democratic party.
In an exchange free from major gaffes but unlikely to appease his critics, Biden was asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News how he would feel if he were to remain the nominee and lose to Donald Trump. “I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about,” the president replied.
Continue reading...Critics point out political roadmap for a potential second term created by ‘more than 20 officials Trump appointed’
Donald Trump is trying to claim he has “nothing to do” with Project 2025, a political roadmap created by people close to him for his potential second term.
The project, which is led by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank, seeks to crack down on various issues including immigration, reproductive rights, environmental protections and LGBTQ+ rights. It also aims to replace federal employees with Trump loyalists across the government.
Continue reading...Jan Brewer has had it with election denialism – and she’s speaking out to defend poll workers across the political divide
The former governor of Arizona, once a Trump surrogate in the swing state, is now speaking up to defend the state’s elections as election denialism continues to grip Republican politics.
Jan Brewer, the Republican governor from 2009 to 2015, signed an infamous anti-immigration law, which reverberated in state politics and affected the state’s reputation for years. She was secretary of state, which oversees elections, before becoming governor.
Continue reading...Hospitality union Unite Here hopes to do the same again in 2024 election – and this time the stakes may be even higher
America’s hospitality workers had it tough in 2020. Covid triggered mass layoffs and many wondered when – and even if – the industry would recover. But the turmoil didn’t stop the industry’s largest union from pulling off one of the most successful voter drives of the election.
As the 2024 election cycle gets into full swing, Unite Here is hoping to do the same again, and this time the stakes may be even higher.
Continue reading...Abigail Disney says choice to suspend donations is based on ‘realism, not disrespect’, and suggests Kamala Harris as an alternative
In the minutes after Joe Biden and Donald Trump stepped on to the stage for the first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, the grand narrative of this election year shifted off its axis and, in the words of CNN’s veteran broadcaster John King, “a deep, wide and aggressive” panic set in among Democrats.
A week on, and Biden has said he isn’t going anywhere, but a trickle of major Democratic donors speaking out against the president has grown into a stream.
Continue reading...President gives interviews with stations in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, calling on voters to look at his record
Joe Biden has told a radio show he “screwed up” and made a “mistake” in last week’s debate against Donald Trump, but vowed to stay in the election race, even as a series of polls show him now trailing the ex-president by about six points.
In two interviews with local radio stations in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Wednesday, the president urged voters to judge him on his time in the White House.
Continue reading...Clip obtained by Daily Beast shows ex-president sitting in golf cart, holding cash, as he discusses presidential debate
“A broken-down pile of crap” on the verge of “quitting the race” was Donald Trump’s summation of Joe Biden in a surreptitiously filmed video leaked on Wednesday.
The clip, obtained by the Daily Beast, shows the 78-year-old former president sitting in a golf cart, holding a pile of cash, and with son Barron alongside, as he offers an analysis of the 2024 presidential campaign.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
House Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington said that Joe Biden “is going to lose to Trump” following the president’s poor debate performance last week.
In a new interview with KATU News, Gluesenkamp Perez said: “About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate. I was one of them for about five very painful minutes. We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump.”
Continue reading...President meets with Democratic governors for ‘candid’ talks as he seeks to reassure his party and the public
A group of leading Democratic governors offered words of support for Joe Biden on Wednesday as pressure mounted on the president to leave the race.
The governors, including Tim Walz of Minnesota, Wes Moore of Maryland, Gavin Newsom of California and Kathy Hochul of New York, held a closed-door meeting with Biden in Washington as he sought to reassure his party – and the public – that he is up to the job after a shaky debate performance.
Continue reading...After president’s poor debate performance, pundits point to polls saying Harris would do better in a race against Trump
As Joe Biden faces increasing pressure to withdraw his candidacy following last week’s poor debate performance, Kamala Harris has emerged as the frontrunner to replace him.
The president forcefully rejected calls to end his campaign on Wednesday, telling his staffers: “No one is pushing me out … I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.” His defiant remarks came after the New York Times reported that Biden had privately told allies he understood he might not be able to salvage his candidacy if he could not convince voters of his viability.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Michigan governor and potential Biden replacement writes in memoir True Gretch of desire for ‘face-to-face’ talks
Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan widely spoken of as a possible Democratic candidate for president should Joe Biden cede to growing pressure and leave the race, wants to meet members of a far-right militia who plotted to kidnap and kill her.
“I asked whether I could meet with one of the handful of plotters who’d pleaded guilty and taken responsibility for their actions, just to talk,” Whitmer writes in a new book, of the plot motivated by resistance to Covid public health measures and revealed with 13 arrests in late 2020.
Continue reading...