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      Bitter tensions as reporters feel misled by White House over Biden health

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      It was the moment when long-simmering media resentment at a seemingly opaque White House broke through the surface with startling intensity.With Joe Biden’s candidacy teetering in the wake of last month’s alarming debate showing, journalists who had covered his presidency full-time for years suddenly asserted that it lacked that most basic political element: credibility.The trigger was the revelation – disclosed in several news outlets – that a specialist in Parkinson’s disease had visited the White House eight times in as many months. The press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, was forced in a live televised briefing on to the defensive over a supposed lack of transparency.“My first [question] to you is on the credibility of this White House when it comes to talking about the president’s health,” the Associated Press correspondent, Zeke Miller, asked Jean-Pierre, who, taken aback, responded by calling for “a little respect”.The exchange quickly devolved into an angry back-and-forth over whether Jean-Pierre had given an accurate picture about the president’s health and her continuing refusal to confirm the name of the visiting specialist, despite it already being in the public domain. The White House ultimately clarified matters in a subsequent news release that confirmed the specialist as Kevin Cannard and explained that he had visited the White House in January to carry out the neurological part of Biden’s annual medical check-up.Yet the flare-up went beyond one narrow episode.Many journalists increasingly feel they have been bamboozled by a White House culture of denial and non-disclosure. People who pride themselves in holding power to account in the world’s leading democracy have been asking how they could have been so blinded to Biden’s diminishing state before it burst into the open so vividly on the debate stage in Atlanta.At least some have reached the conclusion they have been misled by a campaign of obfuscation by White House staff – some of whom themselves privately complain of feeling deprived of access to the president that their seniority would normally have assured.Wider staff access, the argument runs, could have given more people a clearer picture of whether Biden was in decline – which, in turn, would have created a higher chance of the true state of his functioning coming to light.But Biden’s age-related decline was a media issue long before his disintegration at the debate, which the Biden campaign asked for partly in an effort to discredit such speculation. Little more than a week beforehand, widely circulating videos purporting to depict the president in varying states of confusion were reported in several respected outlets as tendentiously-edited “cheap fakes”.“The evidence was there for people to see, and it’s somewhat disingenuous in the press corps to say, well, you know, we were kept in the dark,” said W Joseph Campbell, professor emeritus of communication of American University in Washington.“Trump was ranting about Biden’s troubles and his gaffes in the 2020 campaign, so I think it depends on what outlets you were following. And to use a phrase the administration seems to be employing these days, this is a big-boy town and you find your news where you can – it doesn’t necessarily have to be ladled out to you by the White House press office.”Yet those who did report the matter quickly found themselves rounded on by an outraged White House. When the Wall Street Journal published a 3,000-word front-page article in early June carrying detailed anecdotes that questioned Biden’s cognitive faculties, an administration spokesman, Andrew Bates, dismissed the stories as “false claims” made by Republicans.The article – which has since been vindicated by reports in other US news sources, including the New York Times – was also attacked by the MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a Biden supporter who later called on him to stand aside after the debate.In a social media post showing that disquiet over Biden’s cognitive faculties was neither secret nor new, James Rosen, White House correspondent of the hard-right Newsmax outlet, recalled being ostracised after asking Biden in a press conference two and a half years ago about polling showing public concern about his perceived decline.“When I asked Potus on January 19 2022, ‘with utmost respect for your life accomplishments and the high office you hold’, why the electorate harboured such profound concerns about his cognitive fitness, it was considered rude, and I was blackballed in briefings for eight months,” he wrote on X the day after the debate, accompanying his post with a transcript of the exchange.Just as the whisperings over the president’s age and health have escalated into a roar, so too have the long-running tensions between the administration and the New York Times, which this week published its second editorial in 10 days urging Biden to end his campaign.The calls have been in line with similar pleas from rival outlets but animus may have been sharpened by a lack of access to the president, keenly felt by an organisation that styles itself as America’s newspaper of record.“The newspaper carries its own singular obsession with the president, aggrieved over his refusal to give the paper a sit-down interview that Publisher AG Sulzberger and other top editors believe to be its birthright,” Politico reported earlier this year.Biden has given fewer press conferences and media interviews than any US president since Ronald Reagan, in what now looks like a deliberate strategy to conceal his deterioration. Trump – who has frequently denounced the media as “enemies of the people” – gave nearly three times more news conferences and interviews in office than Biden.With a rash of hastily organised interviews and a high-profile news conference at Thursday’s close of the Nato summit, the administration is now trying to rectify that – a panicked tactical change which, if it results in more verbal flubs, may only serve to justify the previous approach.It is an unintended irony that the White House has been shielding Biden from media accountability – a key component of the democratic process – and rubbishing questions over his age in an effort to maintain his credibility as a self-proclaimed defender of democracy and a bulwark against Trump’s authoritarian visions, which the administration insists is inimical to press freedom.That circle, says Campbell, cannot easily be squared.“It does seem to be in conflict with this greater goal as a protector or defender of democracy if you’re protecting the chief executive for an extended period of time, and then really criticising any attempts to pierce the veil.” More

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      Hakeem Jeffries reportedly did not offer Biden his endorsement in private meeting – live

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      CNN reports that Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries did not offer Joe Biden his endorsement when they met following the president’s press conference yesterday.Jeffries “bluntly” shared the views of his caucus in the meeting, though CNN notes it is unclear if Biden asked for his support.Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that he had met with Joe Biden following his closely watched press conference yesterday, and conveyed “conclusions about the path forward” that he had heard from lawmakers. CNN later reported that Jeffries did not offer Biden his endorsement, though it was unclear if the president asked for it. Later in the day, Biden called in to a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic caucus, which reportedly did not go very well. Some lawmakers were not allowed to ask questions, while one who did told Biden he should step aside. Despite all that, his campaign says they remain on track, and that donations “exploded” during his press conference last night.Here’s what else happened today:

      James Clyburn, a House Democrat close to the president, reiterated his support for Biden, but noted that the party has until the start of their convention next month to make decisions about replacing him.

      A new poll may undercut arguments that Biden has lost significant public support following his debate, after it found him in a statistical tie with Donald Trump.

      Speaking of Trump, the former president wants congressional Republicans to insist on the passage of a law, opposed by the White House, to require people to present proof of citizenship when registering to vote, raising the possibility that a government spending fight could break out just weeks before the 5 November election.

      The former president also said that he would take a cognitive test if Biden took one, and that all future presidential candidates should follow suit.

      Melania Trump, who has generally been absent from the campaign trail, will reportedly make an appearance at the Republican national convention next week.
      In a briefing to reporters as Joe Biden flies to Michigan for a campaign event in Detroit, Biden-Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said they had seen a surge in donations during the president’s press conference last night.“Since last night, we’re seeing strong support across our coalition, but most importantly, we’re seeing it with our grassroots base. We have close to 40,000 donations last night alone. Donations exploded during the president’s press conference. In fact, we hit seven times our average during the press conference,” Tyler said.He also said the campaign believes polls are in his favor.“Polling continues to show the same race we’ve been seeing, right, one that is close and unaffected by the debate. President Biden has enduring strength with high propensity voters, while Donald Trump demonstrates a low ceiling, unable to expand his support,” Tyler said.Biden yesterday told reporters he remained confident in his ability to win, and spoke at length about foreign policy topics, but made a few blunders in the closing hours of the Nato summit, including by accidentally introducing “president Putin”, when he meant Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy.Tyler downplayed those moments, saying, “Joe Biden has been making gaffes for 40 years. He made a couple last night. He’ll probably continue to do so. Our opponent is somebody who, every single day out on the stump, is calling for a bloodbath if he loses, is pledging to rule as a dictator on day one, and is pledging to ban abortion nationwide, across the country,.”Here is a look back at press conference:Donald Trump has more harsh words for George Clooney, over the actor and director’s New York Times column in which he called for Joe Biden to stand aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, given concerns about the 81-year-old’s fitness for office.“I thought George Clooney was very disloyal,” Trump, 78 and the presumptive Republican nominee, told The Clay and Buck Sexton show on Friday.“Because whether you like Biden or not, you know, he’s been nice to Clooney. I thought it was very disloyal, backstabber, third-rate movie actor.“He was a television actor and never made really a good movie. So he’s sort of third-rate as a movie actor. Clark Gable, he’s not. I thought it was a great act of disloyalty.”The Times column was headlined “George Clooney: I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.”Clooney wrote: “It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump in Atlanta last month fueled a crisis for Democrats, with members of Congress and reportedly donors calling for the president to quit.Trump had already attacked Clooney, writing on social media after the Times column: “He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are. What does Clooney know about anything?“Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television.”Trump famously got out of television and went into politics, having made his name as a cartoon version of himself on The Apprentice for NBC.Clooney has not commented.As the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports, Trump and his aides are keen to see Biden stay in the race.A conference call between Joe Biden and lawmakers in the Congressional Hispanic caucus left many with a bad taste in their mouth, Notus reports, as the call’s organizers prevented some members from speaking and one congressman told the president that he should drop out.Only two members of the Democratic group were initially allowed to ask questions, but after Biden opened the floor to more questions, California’s Mike Levin told the president he thought he should make way for another candidate.Notus said the president responded to Levin, though they did not report what he said. Then, the call’s host, Representative Linda T Sánchez, ended the call, and Levin later went public with his belief that Democrats would be better with another candidate. Here’s what he had to say:
      Like so many of you, I was naturally concerned about President Biden’s performance in the recent debate.Since then, I’ve made my opinions known in the appropriate manner with House Democratic leadership and my colleagues. And I called upon all Americans to give the president a window to make an expeditious decision about his candidacy.
      In the two weeks since the debate, I’ve had a chance to connect with so many of you, our constituents and supporters. The response from literally several hundred of you has been overwhelming, and I’m very grateful for your candor.First, let me say that President Biden has been an outstanding leader, not only of our nation, but of the entire free world. Making this statement is not easy. I have deep respect for President Biden’s five-plus decades of public service and incredible appreciation for the work we’ve done together these last three and a half years. But I believe the time has come for President Biden to pass the torch.
      In a string of posts on Truth Social spent insulting Joe Biden over his debate performance, Donald Trump said that he will take a cognitive test if the president undergoes one, and that such exams should be mandatory for all presidential candidates:
      Joe should immediately take a Cognitive Test, and I will go with him, and take one also. For the first time we’ll be a team, and do it for the good of the Country….And from now on, all Presidential candidates should be mandated to take a Cognitive Test and Aptitude Test, regardless of their age!!!
      Nikki Haley, Trump’s former United Nations ambassador who made a quixotic bid for the Republican presidential nomination, had campaigned on making such tests mandatory for politicians over the age of 75. Both Trump and Biden would meet that criteria.Republican senator Lindsey Graham took up the call following the first debate, in which the president struggled to counter attacks from Trump, who attracted criticisms of his own for repeatedly lying:Melania Trump, the wife of former president Donald Trump, will make a rare appearance at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee next week, CNN first reported.Melania’s appearance at the RNC was confirmed by two sources familiar with the former first lady’s plans.Melania has been mostly absent from the Trump campaign trail. It is unclear if she will give remarks at the convention or participate in any significant way.As Biden works to rebuild trust among Democratic lawmakers and voters, the president will be speaking at the same high school in Michigan where he campaigned with high-ranking Democrats in 2020.According to CNN:
      Biden will speak at same site in Michigan where he promised to be a “bridge” to next generation in 2020, in their ‘live’ piece: The president is set to speak at the same high school in Detroit where he stood hand-in-hand with then-Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as he cast himself as a link to the future.“Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” Biden said on March 9, 2020 during the Democratic event. “There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.”
      Over the weekend, Biden also will be meeting with the Congressional Progressive Caucus in a virtual meeting, Punchbowl News reported.Biden has already received support from key progressive lawmakers following his widely criticized debate performance, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.Biden will also meet with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) on Friday as well, several outlets have reported.CNN and Punchbowl News have said that Biden will meet with CAPAC as he continues to assuage fears among lawmakers concerning his ability to be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.The meeting will take place virtually.Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that he had met with Joe Biden following his closely watched press conference yesterday, and conveyed “conclusions about the path forward” he heard from lawmakers. CNN later reported that Jeffries did not offer Biden his endorsement, though it was unclear if the president asked for it. Later today, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose leaders say they support Biden, will reportedly meet with the president, while one more House Democrat has announced that they think Biden should “pass the torch”. We will see if any others join her, and are also keeping an eye on the president’s campaign visit to swing state Michigan this evening.Here’s what else has happened today so far:

      James Clyburn, a House Democrat close to the president, reiterated his support for Biden, but noted that the party has until the start of their convention next month to make decisions about replacing him.

      A new poll may undercut arguments that Biden has lost major support following his debate, after it found him in a statistical tie with Donald Trump.

      Speaking of Trump, the former president wants congressional Republicans to insist on the passage of a law, opposed by the White House, to require people present proof of citizenship when registering to vote, in a sign that a government spending fight could break out just weeks before the 5 November election.
      Teamsters president Sean O’Brien nearly threw hands with a Republican senator during a hearing on Capitol Hill last year, but that apparently has not discouraged the union leader from planning to address the Republican national convention. The Guardian’s Michael Sainato reports that is not sitting well with senior members of the union:The Teamsters International president, Sean O’Brien, has been accused by senior members of the union of disgracing it by agreeing to an unprecedented appearance at next week’s Republican national convention.O’Brien’s decision was branded “unconscionable” by John Palmer, vice-president at large at the Teamsters, who accused him of lending support to the “most anti-union party and president” in a generation.In a letter seen by the Guardian, Palmer urged members of the union to demand that O’Brien cancel his planned appearance. The Teamsters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Teamsters is one of the largest labor unions in the US, with 1.3 million members. While other large labor unions and the largest coalition of labor unions, the AFL-CIO, have already endorsed Joe Biden, the Teamsters has yet to make an endorsement in the 2024 presidential election.CNN reports that Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries did not offer Joe Biden his endorsement when they met following the president’s press conference yesterday.Jeffries “bluntly” shared the views of his caucus in the meeting, though CNN notes it is unclear if Biden asked for his support.Semafor reports that members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus plan to meet with the president today:Earlier this week, the all-Democratic caucus’s chair Nanette Barragán and deputy chair Adriano Espaillat reaffirmed their support for Joe Biden, saying in a joint statement:
      We stand with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. More

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      Biden heads to Michigan to shore up support as calls to quit persist

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      Joe Biden was headed for the battleground state of Michigan on Friday, to campaign both for re-election and for his survival as the Democratic presidential nominee.In Washington, calls for the 81-year-old president to quit continued, while the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives said he had discussed the issue with Biden on Thursday, after Biden’s press conference following the Nato summit.In a letter to colleagues, Hakeem Jeffries of New York said discussions about Biden’s age and fitness for office had been “candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive”.“On behalf of the House Democratic caucus,” he said, “I requested and was graciously granted a private meeting with President Joe Biden.“That meeting occurred yesterday evening … I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward.”Biden’s response was not disclosed, nor details of Democratic “conclusions”. But as the letter was released, an 18th congressional Democrat said Biden should let someone else face Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, in November.The 19th Democrat to say Biden should go, Mike Levin of California, was reported by Politico to have told the president so to his face on Friday, during a virtual meeting with the Congressional Hispanic caucus. Levin then stated his position publicly.Politico also quoted a “pro-Biden Democrat who attended the meeting” as saying the president “sounded very lucid, sharp, engaged”.There was further worrying news for Democrats when the New York Times reported that so long as Biden remains the nominee, major donors will put on hold “roughly $90m in pledged donations”.The Sunrise Movement also called for Biden to quit. Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the youth-led climate-focused activist group, said she was “concerned Joe Biden isn’t in a position to mobilise young voters and win”.As Biden headed for Detroit, the capital remained abuzz. At the Nato summit on Thursday, Biden spoke assertively and showed his foreign policy experience but also made embarrassing slips, introducing Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine as “President Putin” and referring to Kamala Harris, his vice-president, as “Vice-President Trump”.Trump seized on that, posting on social media: “Crooked Joe begins his ‘Big Boy’ press conference with, ‘I wouldn’t have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president, though I think she was not qualified to be president.’ Great job, Joe!”Biden had appeared to say: “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president [if] I think she’s not qualified to be president.”Online, Biden fired back, posting: “By the way: Yes, I know the difference. One’s a prosecutor, and the other’s a felon.”Trump, 78 and facing questions about his own cognitive fitness, was convicted on 34 charges arising from hush-money payments to an adult film star. He faces 54 other criminal charges, concerning election subversion and retention of classified information, and was fined millions of dollars in civil cases over business fraud and defamation arising from a rape allegation a judge called “substantially true”.Harris came to prominence as a prosecutor in San Francisco before becoming attorney general of California, a US senator and Biden’s running mate.Michigan is a swing state, choosing Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, its Black voters a key part of Biden’s support. The Oscar-winning actor Octavia Spencer was set to appear with Biden in Detroit on Friday.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBiden’s campaign said he would target Project 2025, a policy plan led by the Heritage Foundation, a rightwing thinktank. Trump has tried to disavow the project, which Democrats say shows his extremist agenda.There was good news for Biden on Friday: a poll showing him improving since the disastrous debate against Trump in Atlanta that pitched Democrats into crisis.“Biden actually gained a point since last month’s survey, which was taken before the debate,” wrote Domenico Montanaro of NPR, which carried out the poll with PBS and Marist. “He leads Trump 50%-48% in a head-to-head matchup. But Biden slips when third-party options are introduced, with Trump [leading] 43%-42%.”But Politico noted telling dissonance in responses to Biden’s Nato performance. One unnamed Biden aide said the president exceeded expectations and had some great lines. A Democratic aide said Biden had “lowered the bar … until it’s on the floor”.Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the dean of the Congressional Black caucus, told NBC Biden “sometimes mangles words and phrases but all of that is almost natural for people who grew up stuttering”.He added: “He has one of the best minds that I have ever been around … and so I would hope that we would focus on the substance of this man … and how he has run this country.“… The conversation should focus on the record of this administration, on the alternative in this election, and let Joe Biden make his own decisions about his future.“If he decides to change his mind later on then we will respond to that. We have until 19 August to open our convention” in Chicago.Asked “Is this the same Joe Biden that we saw four years ago?”, Clyburn said: “No!”“I’m not the same Jim Clyburn that I was four years ago and in 10 days I’ll be 84. But I’m a bit wiser than I was before … It’s biblical. When I became a man I put away childish things. Joe Biden has put away childish things because he has become a man. His opponent [Trump] is still a child.”Biden, Clyburn said, “knows what a democracy is all about.” More

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      Will Biden drop out? Key questions on his presidential campaign

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      As he addressed reporters at the conclusion of the Nato conference on Thursday, Joe Biden sent a defiant message to his critics: I’m not going anywhere. Despite demands from dozens of Democratic lawmakers that he withdraw from the presidential race following his disastrous debate performance, Biden argued he was the best candidate to defeat 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,” Biden said. “There’s a long way to go in this campaign, and so I – I’m just going to keep moving.”That message did not assuage some skeptics in Biden’s party, as three more House Democrats called on the president to drop out in the hours after the press conference. Biden and his team have not yet quieted critics’ concerns, but the president’s detractors have few options beyond their public pressure campaign to get him to step aside.With just one month left before the Democrats convene in Chicago for their convention, the party has limited time to determine who will be on the top of the ticket in November.Here’s what you need to know about Biden’s path forward:How many Democratic lawmakers are calling on Biden to drop out of the race?At least 19 congressional Democrats – 18 House members and one senator – have publicly called on Biden to withdraw from the race as of Friday morning. Although those lawmakers represent a relatively small fraction of the more than 200 Democrats on Capitol Hill, their damning statements have intensified scrutiny of Biden and his ability to serve another four years as president.“I understand why President Biden wants to run,” Senator Peter Welch wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “He saved us from Donald Trump once and wants to do it again. But he needs to reassess whether he is the best candidate to do so. In my view, he is not.”What do voters think about Biden’s candidacy?A clear majority of voters believe Biden should step aside, but Democrats specifically have more mixed views on the subject. According to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Thursday, 67% of Americans, including 56% of Democrats, say Biden should step aside and let someone else run for president.In comparison, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last Tuesday showed 32% of Democrats saying Biden should withdraw from the race. If the proportion of Democrats calling on Biden to drop out continues to grow, the president’s already vulnerable position in the party could become untenable.That being said, the concerns about Biden’s fitness for office do not appear to have fundamentally reshaped the race for the presidency. The Post-ABC-Ipsos poll showed Biden and Trump each capturing 46% of the vote, a result that is essentially unchanged since April. A hypothetical match-up between Trump and the vice-president, Kamala Harris, also appears to be a virtual tie, with 49% of voters supporting Harris and 47% backing Trump.Has Biden given any indication that he plans to drop out?No. Biden has instead planned a campaign blitz across the coming days to demonstrate his ability to deliver a convincing pitch for re-election. On Monday, he will visit Austin, Texas, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and he will also sit down for an interview with the NBC News anchor Lester Holt.“I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears by letting them see me out there,” Biden said on Thursday. “I’m going out in the areas where we think we can win, where we can persuade people to move our way.”Can Biden’s critics force him out of the race?They have few options to do so. Presidential primary voting has already concluded in all US states, so the delegates going to the Democratic convention are the only people who can nominate another candidate at this point. But of the roughly 4,000 delegates bound for Chicago, nearly 3,900 of them are pledged to Biden because of his strong performance in the primaries.Biden said on Thursday that the delegates pledged to him can “do whatever they want” at the convention, but it is a bit more complicated than that.Elaine Kamarck, a member of the Democratic national committee rules committee and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, notes that current party rules state: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”Kamarck wrote on Thursday: “Few, if any, delegates to recent conventions have ever sought to test [the rule]. But if worries about President Biden’s ability to run and to serve continue to grow, along with fears of handing the presidency over to Donald Trump, some delegates may find themselves tempted to vote for someone else.”How long does Biden have to decide if he will stay in the race?The Democratic convention begins 19 August, but the party may formally nominate a candidate before then. Before Biden’s poor debate performance, the Democratic National Committee already planned to virtually nominate a candidate to meet an Ohio ballot deadline of 7 August, but no date has been officially announced for the roll call vote.Because of the Ohio deadline, Democrats have even less time than it might appear to determine who their nominee will be.What would happen if Biden did step aside?If Biden withdraws from the presidential race, the more than 4,000 Democratic delegates will need to nominate another candidate to run against Trump in November. The winning candidate will need to secure the support of a majority of delegates to capture the nomination.Harris would enter the nomination fight with an early advantage, as she has the largest national profile of any potential candidate and some Democrats have already named her as their preferred option. But Harris would not automatically become the nominee if Biden steps aside, as she would still need to win the necessary number of delegates. Other names floated as potential replacements for Biden include the California governor, Gavin Newsom, Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and Illinois governor, JB Pritzker.Asked about Harris on Thursday, Biden said he had the utmost confidence in his vice-president, but he reminded reporters that any other Democratic candidate would enter the election with minimal time to introduce themselves and deliver a winning message to voters.“I believe I’m the best qualified to govern, and I think I’m the best qualified to win,” Biden said. “There are other people who could beat Trump, too, but it’s awful hard to start from scratch.” More

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      Joe Biden defiant despite gaffes at Nato press conference as he battles calls to stand aside

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      In a critical press conference meant to make or break his presidential campaign, Joe Biden spiritedly defended his foreign policy record even as he faced a barrage of questions on his mental fitness and, in another gaffe, mistakenly referred to Kamala Harris as “vice-president Trump”.Biden offered extensive remarks on thorny foreign policy issues including competition with China and the Israel-Hamas war, in which he said he had warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu away from an occupation of the Gaza Strip.He said he was directly in contact with Xi Jinping to warn him not to offer further support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, but not with Vladimir Putin, whom he said: “I have no reason to speak to him right now.”But Biden, who is running to be president until January 2029, fielded an equal number of questions during the press conference on his mental fitness, an issue that has loomed over his campaign since a faltering debate performance against Donald Trump that he called “that dumb mistake”.Ultimately, it was a performance that supporters will probably say shows he is capable of handling his responsibilities as commander-in-chief, but unlikely to convince those already in doubt about his mental fitness that he can serve another four years in office.Biden, 81, insisted he would stay in the race despite calls from some in his party to drop out and to allow another figure, including Harris, run in the November election.Shortly after he finished speaking, Connecticut congressman Jim Himes, the top ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, called on Biden to step down from the campaign, writing on X: “We must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no longer believe that is Joe Biden.”Appearing later on CNN, Himes said: “Imagine that three months from now, we get another performance like there was in the debate, right before the election. Do you want to take that risk? I don’t.”Two more congressional Democrats also called on Biden to step aside, bringing the total to 17. Representative Scott Peters of California said, “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course,” while Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois said that Biden should “put country over party”.Wrapping up a summit of the 32-member bloc in Washington DC, Biden said: “I’ve not had any of my European allies come up and say, ‘Joe, don’t run’. What I’ve heard them say is, ‘You’ve got to win’.“If I slow down and can’t get the job done that’s a sign I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “But there’s no indication of that. None.”Biden said he wouldn’t leave the race unless polls showed him that he had no chance of winning against Trump, even if they showed that Harris’s chances in the election were better than his own.Nonetheless, he said Harris was qualified to be president as well, although he misnamed her in the endorsement. “I wouldn’t have picked vice-president Trump to be vice-president, if she’s not qualified to be president,” he said.That gaffe was compounded by the fact that he had introduced the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as “President Putin” just hours earlier, before correcting himself and saying “we’re going to beat Putin”.Biden initially used the final Nato summit press conference as something of a stump speech, brandishing his national security record in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression and saying that the November vote was “much more than a political question … It’s a national security issue.”He then turned to his record on the economy, border security and his efforts to broker a peace in the Israel-Hamas war to bolster his case for his campaign in November.Biden spoke for 58 minutes, including 50 minutes of unscripted question-and-answer. He appeared most comfortable and cogent as he discussed thorny foreign policy questions.“Don’t make the same mistake America made after [Osama] bin Laden,” he said he told Netanyahu, as he sought to ward off a potential occupation of the Gaza Strip. “There’s no need to occupy anywhere. Go after the people who did the job.”He also indicated that European countries were prepared to cut their investments in China if Xi continued to “[supply] Russia, with information and capacity, along with working with North Korea and others, to help Russia in armament”.But at times he got lost in the weeds. Asked about reports that he had asked his schedule to be moved up, he said: “I’m not talking about, and if you’ve looked at my schedule since I, since I made that stupid mistake in the campaign, in the debate. I mean, my schedule has been full bore.”“Where’s Trump been?” he continued. “Riding around on his golf cart? Filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball?” More

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      You could sense the embarrassment: Biden’s press conference a sign of how low the presidency has sunk | John Crace

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      Should I stay or should I go? If I stay there will be trouble … This wasn’t so much a press conference, more a job interview conducted in front of an audience of millions. One where almost everyone had already made up their mind that they would rather almost anyone else got the nod.This was politics as a bloodsport. Painful to watch. Like intruding on a personal grief. Because there could be no winner here. Were Joe Biden to be word perfect and razor sharp, the doubts would remain about his cognitive abilities. The US president cannot erase his recent past. The gaffes come with ever increasing frequency. The obvious confusion. The long silences. The middle-distance stares.The tipping point was last month’s presidential debate with Donald Trump. Biden tried to pass it off as one bad moment. The reality was that it was an excruciating 90 minutes. A complete meltdown no pretence or artifice could cover up. You would be embarrassed if this was an elderly relative. No one should be allowed to humiliate themselves in this way. But this was the most powerful man in the western world.There was no coming back. Senior Democrats have become increasingly vocal about calling for him to step down. Nancy Pelosi has been notably careful in what she says. Congressmen have spoken out. George Clooney – reportedly with the implicit support of Barack Obama – has said it’s time for Biden to go.But Joe is the only person who can’t read the room. He could step down with dignity. He could point to his record over the last four years and say that at 81 he has had enough. That it’s time for someone else to take over. Yet Biden has dug his heels in and so this can only end one way. With him being dethroned. Either by losing the presidency to Trump or being forced out by increasingly desperate members of his own party.It’s like a TV show. Imagine a world where Donald Trump – no stranger to getting things wrong and inventing his own reality – is considered to be the model of cognitive competence. But we are where we are. To the rest of the world it’s a sick joke, only one where there are no longer any laughs. We’re way beyond that point now. It’s a theatre of cruelty where the stakes are unbelievably high.The post-Nato press conference was the first opportunity for the world to see Biden in the raw since the debate. Biden unplugged. Biden unscripted. Sure he could read his opening statement off the autocue but then he would have to take questions from the media. A test of whether he could hold it together for nearly an hour. That’s how low the presidency has sunk. We’re obliged to give a president a free pass on the basis of limited information.Things didn’t get off to the best of starts. Ninety minutes before he gave his solo press conference he hosted the Ukraine Compact in front of dozens of world leaders. Making the introductions he referred to Volodymyr Zelenskiy as President Putin. And this was off an autocue. He tried to brush it off as a slip of the tongue. A joke even. But the damage was already done. Do that sort of thing once and you can get away with it. Do it repeatedly and people aren’t so forgiving. Especially when most people are primarily listening out for the mistakes.You could see the awkwardness on everyone’s face. Not long after, Keir Starmer was asked at his own press conference if this was yet another sign of Biden’s mental decline. The prime minister was a model of diplomacy. He had spent much of the conference telling the British media how on the ball the US president had been throughout and he insisted Biden be judged on his performance over the whole two days. He carefully avoided any reference to this latest mistake. But it’s not a good look when world leaders have to cover up.Just before 7.30pm in Washington, Biden went out to face a hostile media, all of whom were looking for any weakness. The president was no more than a global lab rat. He deserves better than that. He deserves respect for his achievements. But respect cuts both ways. His family should have enough respect for him not to put him through such an ordeal. A quiet word that enough is enough.We had been warned that he might only take four questions but he went on to take 10. He was on a mission to prove there was nothing wrong with him. That he could take on all comers. Except he couldn’t. There was no coming back from the Zelenskiy/Putin debacle.The best that could be said about the press conference was that it wasn’t as bad as it might have been. Though that is to damn it with faint praise. There were long moments when Biden was perfectly lucid, with a stronger grasp of foreign policy than Trump could ever have managed.But equally there were many moments when he appeared confused. His sentences would start nowhere in particular and then abruptly tail off. His delivery was dreamy, disconnected and detached. At one point during a rambling diversion about Finland, he became distracted and fell silent for a moment. You could sense the embarrassment in the room. The media were reluctant participants at the crime scene.And of course there were the inevitable gaffes. Mistaking Europe for Asia barely rated a mention. Calling Kamala Harris “vice-president Trump” certainly did. That sent shockwaves through the nation. You just can’t go on making those sorts of mistakes and pretend that nothing is the matter. A decline on this scale should never have to be this public.“I’m ready now and I will be ready three years from now to deal with Putin,” he insisted. Only he didn’t sound like it. Nor did he look like it. It’s as if Biden is waiting on a miracle. To reset his campaign to a Day Zero when none of this has ever happened. Where all mistakes are forgotten. Only it doesn’t work like this. We’ve gone way too far for that.Nor is it enough merely to respond with the counter-factual of imagining how Donald Trump might have answered any of these questions. The bar shouldn’t have to be this low. The Democrats deserve better. America deserves better. The world deserves better. More

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      Joe Biden: key takeaways from his Nato press conference

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      During Joe Biden’s press conference at the Nato summit, which many described as a test for the future of his re-election bid, he demonstrated clarity and conviction on foreign policy. But much was overshadowed by a couple of awkward gaffes and a shaky voice, at a time when the US is hyper-focused on his fitness to lead.After roughly eight minutes of prepared remarks, Biden answered reporters’ questions on Nato, Ukraine, China and Israel, and just as many on his cognitive health and his vow to stay in the race.“I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears,” Biden said at one point.The press conference is not likely to be the decisive moment that some hoped would push a critical mass of elected Democrats to call for him to end his campaign – or decide that he can’t be replaced.Here are the key takeaways:1. Biden showed fluency on foreign policy and hailed the Nato summit as a successBiden answered numerous questions about Ukraine, telling those who thought that Nato’s time had passed that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was a “rude awakening” and resulted in “some of the oldest and deepest fears in Europe” roaring back to life.On China, he said the country has to understand that its people are not going to “benefit economically” if Beijing supplies Russia with information and capacity, and if it works with North Korea to help Russia’s armaments.On Israel and Gaza, he said he put together a process for a two-state solution, because “the question has been from the beginning – what’s the day after in Gaza?”He also said he knows it sounds “too self-serving” but that other Nato leaders have been thanking him and telling him that he is “the reason we’re together”.2. He gave a ringing endorsement of Kamala Harris, his vice-president Speaking about Kamala Harris, he said: “I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president. From the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her.”Harris has handled the issue of the freedom of women’s bodies, he said, and was “a hell of a prosecutor”. But he also made clear that he would not step aside just because of strong polling that favored Harris, if that’s what his campaign found. Instead, he said he would only drop out if he knew he couldn’t win against Trump.3. But Biden made some significant errorsBefore the press conference began, Biden introduced the Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “President Putin”, though he quickly caught his mistake and corrected himself.Then, during the press conference, he made a similar flub. When asked if he has concerns about Harris’s ability to beat Trump if she were at the top of the ticket, Biden said he “wouldn’t have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president if I didn’t think she was qualified to be president”. He did not correct this mistake.A reporter asked about the gaffe at the end of the press conference, mentioning that Trump is already capitalizing on it to point out Biden’s age and unfitness for the presidency. “Listen to him,” Biden said, before walking off the stage.4. He denied reports that he said he needs to go to bed earlierBiden dismissed reports that he asked his staff to end events earlier so he could get more sleep, saying he never made that request. But he did say it would be “smarter for me to pace myself a little more”.“Instead of my every day starting at seven and ending at midnight, it would be smart for me to pace myself a bit better,” he said.He called the debate performance against Trump “a mistake” and said his schedule since then has been “full-bore”.Biden also took the opportunity to attack his opponent, saying that while he has held numerous events and rallies since the debate, Trump has “done virtually nothing” – and spent his time “riding around [on] his golf cart, filling out his scorecard”.5. Biden said other people could beat Trump – but they’re at a disadvantageToward the end of the press conference, Biden addressed the continuation of his candidacy, despite the fact that he called himself a bridge candidate in 2020 who would usher in a younger generation of Democrats.“Other people could win, but they have to start from scratch right now,” he said.He also said he still thinks he is “the most qualified person to run for president”. He says he beat Trump once, “and I will beat him again”. More