NationalWatch

A former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden acknowledged shortly before the CNN Presidential Debate that he believes Democrats are not content with the state of the Biden campaign so far. 

“I don’t think anybody is satisfied right now,” Michael LaRosa told Fox News host Jesse Watters in the run-up to the Thursday night debate when asked if he was “satisfied” with the state of the Biden campaign today.

“Look, after the first debate four years ago, we knew, we saw the data move, we saw it change we knew we won the debate we knew we were probably going to win but the mood of the country is very different now and there’s a lot riding on tonight. There’s a lot of pressure on the president. He does have to pull away at some point.”

LaRosa added, “I don’t think anybody is comfortable. It’s a coin flip.”

JILL BIDEN SAYS HUSBAND IS ‘ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE PRESIDENTS’ IN MODERN HISTORY ‘BECAUSE OF’ HIS AGE

 Michael LaRosa served as the press secretary for first lady Jill Biden (Paul Morigi/Ting Shen)

Earlier this week, LaRosa vocally expressed his frustration with Team Biden’s ongoing strategy. 

“Everything looks and feels so choreographed, scripted and controlled that it doesn’t afford him the opportunities to show off his strengths — humor, empathy and compassion,” LaRosa told the New York Times. 

MICHELLE OBAMA FRUSTRATED WITH BIDENS OVER TREATMENT OF HUNTER’S EX-WIFE: REPORT

President Joe Biden speaks during the United Auto Workers union conference at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2024. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

“Relatability is his superpower, but you can only relate to someone when their humanity is exposed. That means flaws, mistakes and everything else that comes with imperfection,” he added.

“Those who have known him over the years said he remains at heart the same person… But many, including some on his own team, assume the limits on his public interactions are meant to protect him from age-related mistakes,” the Times wrote Wednesday. 

“There has been simmering discontent within his administration among those who think the president’s inner circle goes too far in shielding him from public exposure.”

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Former President Donald Trump holds a rally in the historically Democratic South Bronx on May 23, 2024 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Biden is set to debate former President Trump in a CNN presidential debate on Thursday night that will simulcast on Fox News. 

Former President Trump has a four-percentage-point lead over President Biden in a national poll released ahead of their first 2024 televised presidential debate hosted by CNN on Thursday. 

The latest New York Times/Siena College poll released on Wednesday showed 48% of the electorate say they would vote for Trump, the Republican, if the presidential election were held that same day, while 44% said they would vote for Biden, the Democrat. That contrasts with April’s New York Times/Siena College poll that showed Trump leading Biden by just one percentage point. 

Asked whether Biden should remain the Democratic Party’s nominee, 61% said there should be a different Democratic nominee, while 33% said Biden should remain. That compares to 54% who said there should be a different Republican nominee, while 41% believe Trump should remain. 

The poll showed 26% of Black likely voters would support Trump in the 2024 election. While 65% of Black likely voters said they would support Biden, Trump’s gains represent a significant uptick since 2020. 

According to a New York Times/ Siena College poll conducted June 17-20, 2020, just 5% of Black registered voters said they would support Trump, while 79% said they would support Biden. 

BLACK REPUBLICAN CALLS OUT BIDEN’S ‘REAL RECORD ON RACE’ IN SIX-FIGURE AD BUY TO AIR DURING CNN DEBATE

Notably, for the time, 68% of national registered voters said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the protests and riots following George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis. 

Former President Trump, left, is leading four percentage points ahead of President Biden, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll. (Getty Images)

The latest poll of 1,226 registered voters nationwide, including 991 who completed the full survey, was conducted in English and Spanish on cellular and landline telephones from June 20-25. 

It also asked whether participants believed Biden or Trump are too old to be an effective president. A net percentage of 68% agreed Biden is too old, while 39% said the same for Trump. 

TRUMP ENLISTS PROMINENT BLACK REPUBLICANS TO APPEAL TO THEIR PEERS: ‘FISHING WHERE THE FISH ARE’

Former President Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Saturday.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Conducted following Trump’s criminal conviction in the hush-money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the poll found just 11% of the electorate were more likely to support Trump after he was found guilty, while just 19% were less likely to support him. Most people, 68%, said Trump’s hush-money conviction made no difference in whether they would back him.

There was a two-percentage-point lead in respondents who agreed the charges against Trump are mostly politically motivated contrasted against those who believe Trump was charged mostly because prosecutors believed he committed crimes. The majority, 55%, agreed that Trump should not be sentenced to prison in the hush-money case, while 37% said he should be kept behind bars. 

With just over four months until Election Day, Thursday’s debate offers both candidates a rare potential to alter the trajectory of the race. 

President Biden speaks at an event marking the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 18. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Trump and Biden have not been on the same stage or even spoken since their last debate weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration. 

Thursday’s broadcast on CNN will be the earliest general election debate in history. It is the first-ever televised general election presidential debate hosted by a single news outlet after both campaigns ditched the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had organized every one since 1988.

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Under the network’s rules, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. did not qualify.

Aiming to avoid a repeat of their chaotic 2020 faceoffs, Biden insisted — and Trump agreed — to hold the debate without an audience and to allow the network to mute the candidates’ microphones when it is not their turn to speak. There will be two commercial breaks, another departure from modern practice. The candidates have agreed not to consult staff or others while the cameras are off.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former President Trump and President Biden have spent weeks in preparation leading up to their center stage appearances tonight for the highly anticipated CNN Presidential Debate.

The debate is the first of the 2024 presidential election cycle to include both men, and millions of Americans across the country are seeking answers to questions about critical issues important to voters.

However, Americans are also awaiting viral moments brought on by both the remarks and facial expressions of each presidential candidate, especially as neither nominee is a stranger to social media virality.

YOUNG TRUMP SUPERFAN BROUGHT TO TEARS WHILE MEETING FORMER PRESIDENT

President Biden and former President Trump will go head-to-head tonight in the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. (Win McNamee/Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

A few times since Biden began his presidency, the incumbent has attracted hundreds of thousands of clicks for a number of speaking gaffes and a few falls.

In 2022, Biden was recorded falling off his bike while cycling in Delaware, which quickly circulated across social media platforms.

Last summer, Biden drew social media attention when he tripped and hit the stage floor during an Air Force Academy graduation ceremony.

Last weekend, Trump went viral during a moment shared with a young fan in Philadelphia where the child was wearing a Trump-like suit and wearing a wig. The kid met the former president, who signed and gifted him with a $20 bill, and the exchange was captured on video. It garnered nearly 900,000 views on X at midday on Sunday.

“I like that kid! So, if your parents don’t want you, I’ll take you,” Trump said in the video.

PRESIDENT BIDEN ALMOST FALLS WHILE WALKING UP AIR FORCE ONE STAIRS

Biden has gone viral for falling down several times since becoming president. (Fox News)

In 2023, following his arrest in Fulton County, Georgia, Trump’s mugshot immediately went viral and has since been used to decorate coffee mugs, sweatshirts and T-shirts, including those sold on his own campaign website.

While there will be no audience present tonight in Atlanta at CNN’s Midtown studio, and microphones will be controlled by media personnel, viewers everywhere will be looking at the candidates for clashing reactions to one another, especially the usually unabashed expressions provided by Trump.

Here are some of the most memorable facial expressions by the former president during previous presidential debates.

Trump reacts to Biden saying he has no COVID plan

During the Sept. 29, 2020, presidential debate between Trump and Biden, hosted by Fox News, Biden said of Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic, “He went on record and said to one of your colleagues, recorded, that in fact he knew how dangerous it was, but he didn’t want to tell us, didn’t want to tell us because he didn’t want us to panic.”

He added, “He didn’t want us. Americans don’t panic. He panicked,” and went on to say that Trump “still doesn’t have a plan” regarding next steps to combat the disease at the time.

Trump reacts to Biden saying he “doesn’t have a plan” during a 2020 presidential debate. (Fox News)

Trump reacts to a question about paying $750 in federal income taxes in 2017

During the same presidential debate on Sept. 29, 2020, Trump was asked by the moderator if he would tell Americans how much he paid in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, to which he responded, “Millions of dollars.”

He added, “And you’ll get to see it.”

In late 2022, Democrats revealed Trump’s tax returns and made his finances public to the American people, though Trump worked to stop them in court.

HILLARY CLINTON COMPLAINS IT’S ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ TO DEBATE TRUMP, ‘WASTE OF TIME’ TO REFUTE ARGUMENTS

Trump reacts to a question about his federal tax filings during a 2020 presidential debate. (Fox News)

Trump’s reactions during debate with Hillary Clinton

During a 90-minute CNN-hosted presidential debate on Oct. 9, 2016, in St. Louis, Hillary Clinton and Trump went head-to-head on topics including taxes, a travel ban on Muslims, Syrian refugees and two-faced politicians, among other topics.

Early in the debate, Clinton said, “It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country,” 

Trump responded ominously, “Because you’d be in jail.”

Later in the debate the former Secretary of State said, “Well, everything you’ve heard from Donald is not true. I’m sorry I have to keep saying this, but he lives in an alternative reality and it is sort of amusing to hear somebody who hasn’t paid federal income taxes in maybe 20 years talking about what he’s going to do, but I’ll tell you what he’s going to do.”

Trump reacts to energy policy statement from Biden

During the final presidential debate between Trump and Biden on Oct. 22, 2020, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, the former president and incumbent disagreed over energy policies when Biden said he wanted to move away from fossil fuels.

Biden said of Trump, “He won’t give federal subsidies to the gas, excuse me, to solar and wind,” to which Trump subsequently reacted with “Oooh!” a couple of times.

Trump reacts to Biden’s remarks during an ABC-hosted presidential debate in 2020. (ABC)

Trump reacts to Clinton and climate change remark

The first presidential debate between Clinton and Trump drew over 84 million viewers.

During the debate on Sept. 26, 2016, Clinton said of the former president, “Donald thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese,” to which Trump subtly raised his eyebrows and followed with “I did not. I do not say that.”

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Trump reacts to remarks made by Clinton regarding climate change during an NBC-hosted presidential debate in 2016. (NBC)

President Biden spoke for a maximum of 33 minutes and clocked in at well under half an hour during the majority of the 11 campaign rallies this year at which he gave a solo address – performances that are at odds with the White House’s portrayal of the president’s stamina and that contrast sharply with the numerous lengthy orations delivered by Biden’s 2024 rival: former President Trump.

Biden spoke for more than 30 minutes on just three occasions during the 11 rallies in 2024 examined by Fox News Digital. Rallies are defined as campaign events at which Biden took the stage alone, stood in front of a podium and was joined by cheering supporters, as opposed to intimate campaign stops, fundraising events, or the brief remarks he has made while carrying out his duties as president.

All three rallies at which he spoke for more than 30 minutes occurred during the first two months of 2024. He spoke for 33 minutes at a rally in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in January; for about 32 minutes during a rally at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina, also in January; and for 32 minutes during a North Las Vegas rally in February. 

OBAMA LEADING BIDEN OFF LA FUNDRAISER’S STAGE JUST LATEST EXAMPLE OF ALLIES DIRECTING PRESIDENT

President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Sept. 15, 2023. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Biden’s most recent rally came on May 29 in Philadelphia and was one of just two that occurred after March.

OBAMA AGAIN STEPPING INTO ROLE AS JOE’S CLOSER AHEAD OF TRUMP V BIDEN REMATCH

The eight campaign rallies at which he spoke for fewer than 30 minutes are: roughly 20 minutes at an event in Manassas, Virginia, in January; about 10 minutes during an event in Culver City, California, in February; about 25 minutes during a campaign event in Wallingford, Pennsylvania; and just under 30 minutes at a rally in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in April. He also spoke for about 20 minutes during a campaign rally in Philadelphia in May; about 10 minutes at a rally at a restaurant in Phoenix in March; about 27 minutes during a Las Vegas campaign rally focusing on the economy in March; and about 20 minutes during an Atlanta rally in March. 

 Outside of the election cycle, the 46th president has also delivered far fewer news conferences than his predecessors, which earned him criticism in the first weeks of his presidency. 

Biden notably did speak for more than an hour during the State of the Union on March 7. 

Despite his past comments, Biden has claimed in recent years that he was one of the first leaders who held public office to support same-sex marriage. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Trump, on the other hand, holds rallies on a regular basis – outside of when he faced trial in Manhattan regarding 34 counts of falsifying business records.

CELEBS SHOWER BIDEN WITH CAMPAIGN CASH, BUT COULD UNDERCUT ‘SCRANTON JOE’ IMAGE

Trump’s stops have included instances during which he spoke for nearly two hours in Georgia after winning that state’s Republican primary in March. He spoke for 90 minutes at a Wildwood, New Jersey, rally in May. As recently as Saturday, Trump spoke for an hour at a rally on Temple University’s campus in Philadelphia. 

Former President Trump arrives for his campaign rally on May 11, 2024, in Wildwood, New Jersey. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Biden’s relative bevy of campaign events this year are a departure from his 2020 cloistered campaign strategy during the pandemic, which earned him the nickname “Basement Joe” from Trump. However, outside of the election cycle, the 46th president has also delivered far fewer news conferences than his predecessors, which earned him criticism in the first weeks of his presidency. 

BIDEN LOOKS TO CAPITALIZE ON STAR-STUDDED HOLLYWOOD FUNDRAISER AFTER TRUMP’S MASSIVE CASH HAUL IN BLUE STATE

Former President Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, May 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Biden began his tenure in the White House with criticism from voters and members of the media for waiting months before holding his first formal, solo news conference in March 2021. The nearly three-month stretch of no full news conferences was the longest a newly-minted president has gone without speaking to the press in at least 100 years. 

GAY TRUMP VOTERS SHATTER DEM ‘LIE’ LGBT AMERICANS ONLY VOTE BLUE, SAYS LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS CHIEF

Data compiled by Fox News shows Biden has held 36 news conferences as of this year, with the pressers lasting an average of 33 minutes. During the same time period during the Trump administration, the 45th president held 60 news conferences, while President Barack Obama held 74. 

President Biden addresses a joint press conference with Finland’s president after the U.S.-Nordic leaders summit in Helsinki on July 13, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden is set to take the debate stage in Atlanta on Thursday evening, where he will face off against Trump for the first time since their debate on Oct. 22, 2020. The CNN Presidential Debate will air for 90 minutes, including two commercial breaks, far longer than Biden typically spends at a podium on the campaign trail. 

MELANIA TRUMP RETURNS TO CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH PRO-LGBT REPUBLICAN EVENT APPEARANCE: REPORT

Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer told Fox News Digital when reached for comment that Trump and “the crazy person screaming in the street all speak for longer than 30 minutes” and “no one believes that is a sign of mental acuity – well maybe Dr. Ronny Jackson does.” 

“Every day, Joe Biden is president of the United States, fighting to protect women’s rights, build an economy that works for all Americans rights, and defend democracy at home and abroad. Donald Trump couldn’t do that, that’s why he’s no longer president, spending his weeks golfing, sleeping in courtrooms, and gladhanding racist billionaires who want to cut Social Security,” Singer said. 

Trump has challenged Biden to take a drug test ahead of the event, previously suggesting the president takes substances to enhance his cognitive functioning. While former White House physician Ronny Jackson, who now serves as a Republican Texas congressman, also called on the president to take a drug test ahead of the debate, citing a recent bombshell Wall Street Journal report detailing interviews with roughly 45 lawmakers and administration officials who described Biden as an 81-year-old leader losing his savvy. 

“This is a Biden-specific concern based on the unexplained change in his demeanor during the [State of the Union]. President Trump has been the same his entire life, and there have definitely been no concerning changes. President Trump has also previously offered to take one if Biden does,” Jackson previously told Fox News Digital. 

The White House hit back that the Wall Street Journal story and anecdotes were examples of partisan politics working to deride the “savvy and effective” president. The article, however, was just a more recent example of claims Biden has lost his sharpness, which had been on public display for decades when he served as a Delaware senator and eventually as Obama’s vice president. 

Special Counsel Hur said he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials, calling the president “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Earlier this year, Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents after his departure as vice president under the Obama administration further compounded concern over the president’s mental acuity. 

Hur announced in February that he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, calling Biden “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

TRUMP’S ‘MODERN DAY SALEM WITCH TRIAL’ VERDICT SIGNALS ‘OPEN SEASON’ ON FORMER PRESIDENTS: EXPERTS

“Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone from whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him – by then a former president well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness,” Hur wrote in his report. 

The findings sparked widespread outrage that Biden was effectively deemed too cognitively impaired to be charged with a crime yet could still serve as president.

President Obama takes President Biden by the wrist at fundraising event. (Christopher Gardner via Storyful)

The report’s findings have been repeatedly cited by critics and the media amid a string of gaffes and missed cues Biden has made in recent weeks, including Obama taking Biden’s wrist to seemingly lead him offstage at a fundraiser in LA this month, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni directing Biden back to a gaggle of world leaders in Italy this month after he took a few steps away from the group to give a thumbs up to a parachutist. 

TRUMP RESURRECTS BIDEN’S ‘DEVASTATING’ 1994 CRIME BILL AS HE COURTS BLACK DETROIT VOTERS: ‘SUPER PREDATORS’

President Biden looks toward parachutists during an event that took place during the G-7 summit in Italy on June 13, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)

The White House has pushed back, saying videos claiming to show Biden motionless or receiving assistance from those around him are “cheapfakes presented by discredited rightwing groups who can’t contend with the President’s record and agenda.” 

The CNN Presidential Debate will kick off at 9 p.m. Thursday from Atlanta, Georgia. Biden is anticipated to head to New York City following the debate, where he will join musician Elton John in a visit to the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village to remember the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The 1969 riots are viewed as the beginning of the gay rights movement in the U.S. 

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Trump will head to Virginia following the debate, where he will hold a rally in Chesapeake regarding “Joe Biden’s Incompetent Presidency,” according to his campaign website. 

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

REMINDER: Follow Fox News’ live coverage of the CNN Presidential debate beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

What’s happening…

-Michelle Obama frustrated with Bidens over treatment of Hunter’s ex

-Biden’s worst debate outcome is having a ‘senior moment’

-New poll has found confidence in the Supreme Court has plummeted ahead of 2024

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!

In a presidential election rematch that remains extremely close and where every vote may count come November, it’s no understatement to say that there’s an incredible amount at stake in Thursday’s first of two debates between President Biden and former President Trump.

The two presumptive major party nominees will face off on the same stage at the CNN Presidential Debate, which is being held at the cable news network’s studios in Atlanta, the largest city and capital of the crucial southeastern battleground state of Georgia…Read more

While a good or bad debate performance can make or break any campaign, this year’s debates may be President Biden’s last shot at saving his re-election prospects. (Left: Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Right: (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))

White House

BIG TECH COLLUSION: WSJ: SCOTUS ruling gives Biden admin free rein to censor social media …Read more

MICHELLE MIFFED: Michelle Obama frustrated with Bidens over treatment of Hunter’s ex: Report …Read more

Capitol Hill

‘FREE AND FAIR’: House leaders aim to vote on Trump-backed elections bill next month …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

‘WON’T BE FORGIVEN’: Biden’s worst debate outcome is having a ‘senior moment’, Van Jones says …Read more

NOT YET RECOGNIZED: North Carolina elections board delays recognition of third parties pushing RFK Jr., Cornel West …Read more

DATA ANALYSIS: Biden campaign speeches overwhelmingly brief as mental acuity concerns mount …Read more

ELECTIONS 2024: Biden welcomes Bernie Sanders rallies in key state ahead of election …Read more

DEBATE AD WARS: Trump and Biden campaigns target each other on the airwaves and online ahead of and during CNN Presidential Debate …Read more

Trials and Tribulations

APPROACHING JUSTICE: Bryan Kohberger returns to court for hearing on potential trial date …Read more

Crowds outside the Supreme Court reacting to the Dobbs ruling. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

Across America

EXCEPTIONS: Supreme Court rules to allow emergency exceptions to Idaho’s abortion ban …Read more

SUPREME DISTRUST: New poll finds confidence in SCOTUS has plunged ahead of key decisions on presidential immunity, Jan. 6 …Read more

JUDICIAL INTERFERENCE: Judge rules Montana law defining sex as only male or female is unconstitutional …Read more

FINAL DINNER: Child killer served Little Caesars pizza as last meal before execution …Read more

FLEEING THE SCENE: Jailhouse call busts driver after runaway tire killed college student: police …Read more

‘HEARTBROKEN’: Texas couple believed to have been swept away in flash flood in Utah …Read more

TAIWAN’S CHINA WARNING: Taipei issues travel advisory after Beijing vows to execute independence supporters …Read more

FAILED COUP: Bolivia grapples with aftermath of failed coup attempt as nation strives to restore stability …Read more

CONFLICT THREATENS EXISTENCE: Christians in Israel, Palestinian territory splintered by war pray for peace …Read more

LOCKED UP: Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández sentenced to 45 years in US prison …Read more

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President Biden’s age is viewed as much more of a liability than former President Donald Trump’s, according to a new poll conducted ahead of the CNN presidential debate on Thursday. 

While 81-year-old Biden is just three years older than Trump, who turned 78 this month, about 67% of Americans say Biden is too old to be president, nearly twice as many as the 37% who said the same for Trump, according to a Gallup poll released on Wednesday. 

The results of the poll, conducted June 2-23, following Trump’s conviction in the Manhattan hush money trial, are in line with prior Gallup polling showing that 31% of Americans are willing to vote for a presidential candidate over age 80, and 63% are willing to vote for a candidate over age 70.

TRUMP LEADING BIDEN AHEAD OF CNN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, SUPPORT FROM BLACK VOTERS WAY UP SINCE 2020: POLL

Former President Donald Trump and President Biden will debate Thursday.  (Associated Press )

In the June survey, Gallup said that half of respondents were asked whether each candidate is too old to be president, while the other half of respondents were asked whether they are concerned that each candidate is too old to be president. It showed that 59% were “very concerned” about Biden’s age, versus 18% about Trump’s. 

“When factoring in those who are ‘somewhat concerned,’ a combined 76% are concerned Biden is too old for the job, while 38% are concerned about Trump,” Gallup said.

Gallup assessed that Biden’s age is not just a potential liability among Republicans and independents – majorities of whom say that he is too old and that they are very concerned about it – “but also among a sizable minority of Democrats.” The poll found that 44% of Democrats say Biden is too old, and that 31% are very worried about it. 

BLACK REPUBLICAN CALLS OUT BIDEN’S ‘REAL RECORD ON RACE’ IN SIX-FIGURE AD BUY TO AIR DURING CNN DEBATE

Former President Donald Trump walks on stage to deliver the keynote address at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on June 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Trump was 70 in 2017 when he took office, and Biden was 78 in 2021. 

Before them, Ronald Reagan had been the oldest U.S. president. He was 69 at the start of his presidency in 1981 and was 77 when he left office in 1989. 

A separate survey, the New York Times/ Siena College poll conducted June 20-25, also asked whether participants believed that Biden or Trump are too old to be an effective president. Its results released on Wednesday showed that a net percentage of 68% agreed that Biden is too old, while 39% said the same for Trump. 

President Joe Biden is seen here in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office of the White House on June 17, 2024.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

With just over four months until Election Day, Thursday’s debate offers both candidates a rare potential to alter the trajectory of the race. 

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Trump and Biden have not been on the same stage or even spoken since their last debate weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration. 

Thursday’s broadcast on CNN will be the earliest general election debate in history. It is the first-ever televised general election presidential debate hosted by a single news outlet after both campaigns ditched the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had organized every one since 1988.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden’s campaign repeatedly dodged answering a point-blank question about whether Biden plans to take any drugs to enhance his performance during the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday evening. 

Biden’s opponent at the debate, former President Trump, has led a rising chorus – that has come to include lawmakers – demanding that Biden take a drug test before the showdown. Those advocating a screening suggest that Biden may be motivated by a desire to quell mounting concerns about his mental acuity. 

Given the controversy, Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign, White House and Trump campaign asking if the respective candidates have any plans to use performance-enhancing drugs for the debate.

The Biden campaign twice avoided a direct answer to the question.

“Donald Trump is so scared of being held accountable for his toxic agenda of attacking reproductive freedom and cutting Social Security that he and his allies are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies,” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt told Fox News Digital on Wednesday evening. 

MOST BIDEN RALLY APPEARANCES ARE SHORTER THAN A SITCOM, HELPING FUEL STAMINA CONCERNS

Former President Trump, left, is leading four percentage points ahead of President Biden, according to a new New York Times/Siena College poll. (Getty Images)

When asked in a follow-up email for a “yes” or “no” response, Hitt said her original statement answered the question.

“The accusation from Trump on drugs is a ‘desperate, obviously false lie,'” Hitt added. 

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

In contrast, the Trump campaign issued a direct response when asked if Trump planned to take any performance-enhancing drugs for the debate.

“Absolutely not,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karolina Leavitt told Fox News Digital. 

She added, “President Trump has naturally elite stamina and doesn’t need performance enhancing drugs, unlike Joe Biden, who many are saying will be drugged up for the debate like he was at the State of the Union. President Trump has repeatedly asked Joe Biden to participate in drug testing. What does Team Biden have to hide?”

Despite the accusations of his political adversaries, there is no clear evidence that Biden has used any performance-enhancing drug or other similar substance during his tenure in the Oval Office.

OBAMA LEADING BIDEN OFF LA FUNDRAISER’S STAGE JUST LATEST EXAMPLE OF ALLIES DIRECTING PRESIDENT

Still, Trump has challenged Biden to take a drug test before the Thursday night debate, previously suggesting that Biden uses substances to enhance his cognitive functioning. Trump, when issuing his challenge to Biden, volunteered to also take a drug test.

Former White House physician Ronny Jackson, who is now a Republican congressman representing Texas, has also called on Biden to take a pre-debate drug test. Jackson cited the dozens of lawmakers and administration officials who described Biden as losing his mental edge in interviews for a recent bombshell Wall Street Journal report.  

President Biden is seen speaking in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

“This is a Biden-specific concern based on the unexplained change in his demeanor during the [State of the Union],” Jackson previously told Fox News Digital. “President Trump has been the same his entire life, and there have definitely been no concerning changes. President Trump has also previously offered to take one if Biden does.” 

OBAMA AGAIN STEPPING INTO ROLE AS JOE’S CLOSER AHEAD OF TRUMP V BIDEN REMATCH

In response to the Wall Street Journal report, the White House dismissed the unflattering portrait of the president as nothing more than partisan politics working to deride a “savvy and effective” Biden. 

Earlier this year, special counsel Robert Hur raised further concerns about Biden’s mental acuity within a report detailing Biden’s handling of classified documents after his time as vice president in the Obama administration.

President Biden salutes while arriving during an event in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Hur announced in February that he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after leaving government service, describing the 81-year-old Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

BIDEN LOOKS TO CAPITALIZE ON STAR-STUDDED HOLLYWOOD FUNDRAISER AFTER TRUMP’S MASSIVE CASH HAUL IN BLUE STATE

“Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone from whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt,” Hur wrote in his report. “It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him – by then a former president well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

Former President Trump speaks to supporters at a rally to support local candidates on Sept. 3, 2022 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The findings sparked widespread outrage that Biden had been effectively deemed too cognitively impaired to be charged with a crime yet was still serving as president.

TRUMP’S ‘MODERN DAY SALEM WITCH TRIAL’ VERDICT SIGNALS ‘OPEN SEASON’ ON FORMER PRESIDENTS: EXPERTS

The report has been repeatedly cited by critics and the media amid a string of gaffes and missed cues from Biden in recent weeks. 

Those include: former President Obama taking Biden’s wrist to seemingly lead him offstage at a fundraiser in Los Angeles this month; Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni directing Biden back to a gaggle of world leaders in Italy this month after he took a few steps away from the group to give a thumbs up to a parachutist; and viral video showing the president standing relatively motionless during a Juneteenth concert event at the White House. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre last week addressed the recent videos of Biden “freezing” at public events, describing the footage as “disinformation” promoted by “right-wing critics.”

“They are cheap fakes. … They are done in bad faith. And some of your news organizations have been very clear, have stressed that these right-wing … critics of the president have a credibility problem because the fact-checkers have repeatedly caught them pushing misinformation, disinformation,” she said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni directs President Biden during a G-7 event. (Fox News/POOL)

Fox News Digital reported earlier this week that after Biden’s cloistered campaign strategy during the 2020 election cycle – which earned him the nickname “Basement Joe” from Trump – Biden has delivered just three campaign rally speeches this year lasting longer than 30 minutes. 

TRUMP RESURRECTS BIDEN’S ‘DEVASTATING’ 1994 CRIME BILL AS HE COURTS BLACK DETROIT VOTERS: ‘SUPER PREDATORS’

Biden spoke for more than 30 minutes on just three occasions during his 11 rallies in 2024. Fox News Digital defines rallies in this instance as campaign events during which Biden took the stage alone, stood in front of a podium and was joined by cheering supporters, as opposed to intimate campaign stops, fundraising events or the brief remarks he has made while carrying out his duties as president.

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In addition, data compiled by Fox News shows Biden, in his official capacity as president, has held 36 news conferences as of June 2024, with the interactions lasting an average of 33 minutes. During the same time periods for their administrations, Trump held 60 news conferences and Obama held 74.

The election board of North Carolina has denied two political parties’ bids to nominate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Cornel West as their candidates.

State election officials have confirmed that We the People Party submitted more than the 13,865 valid signatures necessary to register as a political party ahead of the 2024 election. The Justice for All Party similarly turned in more than the minimum number of signatures necessary.

Republican members of the election board on Wednesday backed the two parties’ push for formal recognition, which would allow them to select candidates for the ballot.

NEVADA DEMOCRATS SUE TO KEEP RFK JR., GREEN PARTY OFF NOVEMBER BALLOT

Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. makes a campaign announcement at a press conference in Philadelphia. (Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)

Three Democrats on the election board blocked the motion, citing concerns about how the third parties presented themselves during the signature gathering process and how voters understood their goals.

A delay has been instituted as officials further investigate whether the two parties presented themselves as coherent political organizations or only as a vehicle for Kennedy and West as “independent” candidates.

Independent candidates in North Carolina are subject to a much higher 83,188 signature threshold to qualify for the ballot.

DNC KEEPS GOING AFTER RFK JR. SUPER PAC, ALLEGES TRUMP’S LARGEST DONOR PROPPING UP CANDIDACY

Presidential candidate Cornel West is seen during a Harlem rally in New York City. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Board Chair Alan Hirsch told leaders of We The People that the challenge is “not intended to deny your status as a party.”

“It’s just to do our job and to be sure that […] the people that signed the petition know the purpose and intent,” he explained.

The elections board will reconvene on July 9 to revisit the parties’ demand for formal recognition.

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President Biden delivers remarks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Today the Democrat-controlled North Carolina Board of Elections has done Joe Biden’s bidding, willfully ignored North Carolina law, and betrayed the public trust of North Carolinians by voting not to qualify Cornel West or Robert Kennedy Jr. for the presidential ballot,” said Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Whatley.

Whatley blasted the board’s decision to delay certification as a “desperate attempt” to keep Kennedy from the ballot — a situation many Democratic strategists have warned would warn President Biden in November.

“This is one more example of Democrats fracturing trust in America’s democratic institutions and flouting the electoral process in their increasingly desperate attempts to hold onto political power — we are leaving all options on the table to remedy this issue.”

FIRST ON FOX: House GOP leaders plan to take up a bill enhancing protections against noncitizens voting sometime in July, Fox News Digital has learned.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is circulating a memo within his House GOP conference, obtained by Fox News Digital, arguing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is necessary. After this Friday, Congress is on a week-long recess for Independence Day, returning July 8.

He unveiled the bill, originally pushed by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, alongside former President Trump in a high-profile press conference at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.

The 22-page report argues there is “irrefutable evidence” that noncitizens have voted illegally in U.S. elections, placing blame with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.

BIDEN DEBATE PREP FOCUSED ON WAYS TO ‘TRIGGER’ TRUMP AS FORMER PRESIDENT RELIES ON CAMPAIGNING: REPORTS

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., unveiled the bill at Mar-a-Lago alongside former President Trump, right. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

“The NVRA does not require states to ask for proof of citizenship when registering an individual to vote in federal elections. Rather, the NVRA relies on individuals to merely attest they are a citizen and eligible to vote. In 44 states, if an individual completes and signs the universal NVRA form (Form), then the state is required by federal law to register that person to vote,” the memo reads.

Johnson’s document also argues that the Biden administration’s border policies have exacerbated the issue by making it possible for more people to illegally enter the U.S.

“The Biden Administration’s efforts to dismantle border security, and related policies, have enabled millions of aliens to enter the country, violate our immigration laws, and exploit a system to obtain [a social security number],” it reads.

It also points to reports that states like Massachussetts, Virginia and Ohio recently purged noncitizens from their voter rolls. 

FAITH VOTERS WILL ‘DECIDE THIS ELECTION,’ ACCORDING TO PROMINENT GOP MEMBERS

The bill was first pushed by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.

According to the memo, Virginia removed nearly 1,500 people from its voter rolls since May 2023 due to “non-citizen status.” Citing an Electoral Process Education Corp. report, the memo said 335 of those people have cast ballots in Virginia elections in the last four years. 

“Earlier this year, in Massachusetts, Boston Election Department officials disclosed to the Public Interest Legal Foundation that the city had removed 70 non-citizens from the city’s election rolls,” the document says.

Additionally, Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State recently ordered over 130 people to be removed from the state’s voter list, the memo says, adding, “Ohio law imposes a very high bar before a county board of elections can remove someone from the rolls due to noncitizenship.”

Democratic critics of the SAVE Act have argued that it is unnecessary because it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. 

The timing of the vote happening next month would be significant, coming less than six months before Trump’s White House rematch with President Biden.

HOW TO WATCH THE CNN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SIMULCAST ON THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL

Even if passed, however, it is highly unlikely to be taken up by the Democrat-controlled Senate.

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Johnson said at Trump’s Palm Beach home in April, “I’m going to announce to you today here standing alongside President Trump that we will do everything within our to ensure that we do have free and fair elections in this country. 

“It’s the basis of who we are as a nation, and we owe that to the American people. And so what we’re going to do is introduce legislation to require that every single person who registers to vote in a federal election must prove that they’re an American citizen,” the speaker said. “Our bill will establish new safeguards, will put us on par, by the way, with virtually every other democracy around the world that also prohibits noncitizen voting. And this is a critical thing for us to do at a very critical time. Our bill also will require states to remove noncitizens from their existing voter rolls.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno released an ad on the morning of Thursday’s CNN Presidential Debate linking his vulnerable Democrat opponent’s policies to those of President Biden that will be featured on stage in Atlanta.

“Sherrod Brown voted with Biden 99% of the time,” the Moreno ad says as two men ride a tandem bicycle with the license plate JB SB, the initials of Ohio Democratic Gov. Sherrod Brown and President Biden, in Washington, D.C.

“Sherrod Brown & Biden combined 100 years in office,” the new ad says. “Sherrod Brown & Biden oppose a border wall.”

The ad also says the pair “support amnesty for illegals” and that “prices are up 20%” in the Brown and Biden economy.

VULNERABLE DEM. SEN RIPPED AFTER RAKING IN CASH FROM CORPORATE PACS DESPITE PREVIOUS OBJECTIONS: ‘HYPOCRISY’

Sen. Sherrod Brown, left, and President Biden. (Getty Images)

“Don’t let extreme liberals Sherrod Brown and Joe Biden take America for a ride,” the ad says at the close before Brown and Biden crash their bicycle.

The Moreno campaign also unveiled JustLikeBiden.com on Thursday, where information on the similarities between Biden and Brown’s policies can be found underneath a banner that reads, “Sherrod Brown is always ridin’ with Biden.”

VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR BLASTED OVER VOTING RECORD AFTER AD TOUTS STRENGTH ON IMMIGRATION: ‘WON’T BE FOOLED’

Republican presidential candidate former President Trump, right, greets Ohio Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Bernie Moreno during a rally at the Dayton International Airport on March 16, 2024 in Vandalia, Ohio. The rally was hosted by the Buckeye Values PAC. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“Sherrod Brown said it best: his politics are not much different than Joe Biden’s,” Moreno Communications Director Reagan McCarthy told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“Brown votes with Biden almost 100% of the time and has helped create the invasion at our southern border, a dismal economy with record-high inflation, and a war on American energy. The Biden-Brown agenda is failing Ohio and Ohioans will retire them both in November.”

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Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio and chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on June 22, 2023. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Brown campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

Brown’s race against Moreno in November will be one of the most closely watched in the country. Many view it as one of the best opportunities Republicans have to take back control of the Senate, which Democrats currently hold by a 51-49 margin. 

The Cook Political Report ranks the Senate race in Ohio as a “toss up.”

Atlanta, Ga. – While President Biden and former President Trump meet on stage at the CNN Presidential Debate, their first face-to-face showdown in their 2024 election rematch, their campaigns will be engaged in combat online and on TV in the ad wars all day Thursday.

The Biden campaign announced Thursday morning what they said would be a seven-figure “media blitz” launched ahead of the CNN Presidential Debate.

They said it includes ads on the websites of Buzzfeed, USA Today, CNN, El Tiempo Latino, Telemundo, theGrio and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where they’ll spotlight what they argue are “the dangers of electing Trump to a second term.” 

The campaign also took out full-page ads in the hard copy editions of USA Today. 

THURSDAY’S DEBATE MAY CHANGE THE 2024 ELECTION NARRATIVE ‘IN A MASSIVE WAY’

Signage for the upcoming presidential debate is seen at the media file center near the CNN Techwood campus in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

“Today’s show of force in Atlanta and across the battlegrounds emphasizes the two contrasting visions the American people will see on the debate stage tonight: between President Biden fighting for the American people, and Donald Trump whose campaign is focused on benefiting one person only: himself,” Biden campaign senior spokesperson Kevin Munoz argued in a statement.

WHICH DONALD TRUMP WILL SHOW UP AT THURSDAY’S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

The Biden campaign, which has been dominating the TV ad wars since Trump went dark on air after clinching the Republican presidential nomination in mid-March, has been launching new ads each day this week in the lead up to the debate.

The latest spot, shared first with Fox News, features Genesee County, Michigan Sheriff Chris Swanson discussing how he watched in horror as Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and attacked Capitol police officers on Jan. 6, 2021.

AdImpact, a leading national ad tracking firm, reported that the Biden campaign reserved $2 million in ad reservations for Thursday alone.

The Trump campaign announced on Thursday morning that they would launch two ads for debate day, their first two spots since the end of the GOP primaries over three months ago.

WHICH DONALD TRUMP WILL SHOW UP AT THURSDAY’S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

A commercial titled “Promises” slams what it charges is “Biden’s disastrous record that has destroyed the booming Trump economy, [importing] over 11 million unvetted illegals from all over the world into our country.”

And an ad titled “Who is laughing Now” takes aim at the 81-year-old president’s physical abilities, as it argues that “Biden can’t ride a bicycle, climb a flight of stairs, or find his way off a stage.”

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The spot suggests that the president wouldn’t last another four years in the White House and that “waiting in the wings” is who they derogatorily call “Cackling Kamala Harris.”

The Trump campaign wouldn’t say how much money they’re putting behind the one-day ad buy. But AdImpact said it was tracking only $100 thousand in reservations from the Trump team.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A new poll shows that 70% of Americans believe Supreme Court justices are more likely to shape the law to fit their own ideology, rather than serving as neutral arbiters of the law.

The Associated Press-NORC poll released Thursday further found that less than a third of Americans believe the nation’s highest court is more likely to provide an independent check on other branches of government by being fair and impartial.

The poll comes as the court is poised to release rulings in several high-profile cases relating to former President Trump and the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Roughly 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they have hardly any confidence in the people running the Supreme Court, according to the poll.

The poll surveyed 1,088 U.S. adults from June 20-24 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel. The poll advertises a margin of error of 4%.

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ARGUMENTS IN KEY FIRST AMENDMENT CASE CHALLENGING BIDEN ADMIN TEAMWORK WITH BIG TECH

A new poll shows that 70% of Americans believe Supreme Court justices are more likely to shape the law to fit their own ideology, rather than serving as neutral arbiters of the law. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Just half of Republicans have a great deal or a moderate amount of confidence in the court’s handling of important issues, including gun policy, abortion, elections and voting, and presidential power and immunity, according to the new poll.

BIDEN LIKELY VIOLATED FIRST AMENDMENT DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC, FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS

Meanwhile, 8 in 10 Democrats say justices are likely to shape the law to fit their own ideology. Roughly 7 in 10 independents agree.

Just half of Republicans have a great deal or a moderate amount of confidence in the court’s handling of important issues, including gun policy, abortion, elections and voting, and presidential power and immunity, according to the new poll. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court is due to hand down rulings in key cases both Thursday and Friday. The court mistakenly posted a draft of an opinion on a key abortion case to its website Wednesday before quickly taking it down.

The case relates to whether Idaho hospitals are required to perform abortions in emergency situations despite a state law banning the act in most situations. 

The Supreme Court is due to hand down rulings in key cases both Thursday and Friday. The court mistakenly posted a draft of an opinion on a key abortion case to its website Wednesday before quickly taking it down. (Fox News Digital/Lisa Bennatan)

Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe confirmed to Fox News Digital that the opinion has not formally been posted.

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On Wednesday, the Court handed the Biden administration a win, ruling that plaintiffs challenging the federal government’s effort to influence social media lacked standing to do so.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

FIRST ON FOX: Top House Republicans are leading a bill to reverse the Biden administration’s decision to lift sanctions on a Chinese entity linked to the persecution of Uyghurs.

The legislation targeting the Ministry of Public Security’s (MPS) Institute of Forensic Science of China was introduced Wednesday by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., and is co-led by House China select committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.

“It’s past time for the U.S. to confront the [Chinese Communist Party’s] human rights abusers, and Congress will have to lead in the absence of a strong commander in chief,” Ogles told Fox News Digital.

HONG KONG LAWMAKERS UNANIMOUSLY PASS CONTROVERSIAL SECURITY LAW, GRANTING GOVERNMENT POWER TO CURB DISSENT

House Republicans want to restore Trump-era sanctions on the Chinese government run by Xi Jinping. (Getty Images)

He accused China’s authoritarian government of “a long and sordid history of human rights abuses.”

“Joe Biden has unacceptably chosen to reward a Communist Chinese company despite their genocidal crimes and human rights abuses against the Uyghur population and other ethnic minorities. This legislation to relist China’s Institute of Forensic Science on our Entity List will return us to President Trump’s peace through strength strategy and ensure no U.S. technology is benefiting Communist China’s human rights abuses,” Stefanik said.

The bill has 10 more House GOP co-sponsors and is backed by conservative groups Heritage Action and America First Policy Institute.

NEW TEXT MESSAGE ALLEGEDLY REVEALS HUNTER BIDEN PROPOSED MEETING FOR DAD, UNCLE AND CHINESE EXEC IN NYC

President Biden lifted the sanctions last year. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The CCP agency was one of nine entities sanctioned by the Trump administration in May 2020.

A press release at the time accused it of being “complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).”

The sanctions were lifted in November 2023 while the U.S. was working to persuade China to take a more active role in cracking down on the flow of synthetic drugs and fentanyl precursors from within its borders into the U.S.

CHINA SILENT AS RUSSIA AND NORTH KOREA FORGE NEW DEFENSE PACT, RAISING REGIONAL POWER SHIFT CONCERNS

The Biden administration lifted the sanctions in a bid to boost cooperation on stopping the flow of synthetic drugs. (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration)

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State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at the time that the sanctions were “a barrier to achieving cooperation” on the flow of drugs.

“When we evaluated the issue and looked at all the merits of de-listing the IFS, ultimately we decided that given the steps China was willing to take to cut down on precursor trafficking, it was an appropriate step,” he said.

ATLANTA — In a presidential election rematch that remains extremely close and where every vote may count come November, it’s no understatement to say that there’s an incredible amount at stake in Thursday’s first of two debates between President Biden and former President Trump.

The two presumptive major party nominees will face off on the same stage at the CNN Presidential Debate, which is being held at the cable news network’s studios in Atlanta, the largest city and capital of the crucial southeastern battleground state of Georgia.

“This is a toss-up race and there’s over two months until the next debate. This showdown is going to set a tone and a narrative heading into this summer’s conventions,” longtime Republican strategist and communications adviser Matt Gorman told Fox News, as he pointed to the earliest general election presidential debate in modern history. 

And Gorman, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, emphasized that the debate, which will be simulcast on the Fox News Channel and on other networks, has the potential “to change the narrative in a massive way” as Biden and Trump “try to break out” from the current status quo.

WHICH DONALD TRUMP WILL SHOW UP AT THURSDAY’S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Signage for the upcoming presidential debate is seen at the media file center near the CNN Techwood campus in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.  (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The debate, which kicks off at 9pm ET, will be 90 minutes in length, with two commercial breaks. 

Only the Democratic incumbent and his Republican predecessor will be on the stage, as the third party and independent candidates running for the White House – including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – failed to reach the qualifying thresholds. 

To make the stage, candidates needed to reach at least 15% in four approved national surveys and to make the ballot in enough states to reach 270 electoral votes, which is the number needed to win the White House.

HOW TO WATCH THE CNN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SIMULCAST ON THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL

Trump and Biden bypassed the Commission on Presidential Debates – which had organized these quadrennial showdowns for over three decades – and instead mutually agreed on the rules and conditions.

Those include no studio audience, each candidate’s microphone will be muted except when it’s their turn to answer questions, no props or notes allowed on stage, and no opening statements.

There will be closing statements and a coin flip determined that Trump will get the final word.

The debate comes as polls indicate a very tight race between Biden and Trump, with the former president holding the slight edge in many national polls and surveys in the roughly half-dozen or so battleground states that will likely determine the election’s outcome.

“To put it very simply – debates move numbers in a way few other events do. Period,” Gorman highlighted. “And with over two months to go until the second debate [an ABC News hosted showdown scheduled for Sept. 10], the narratives formed on Thursday night may harden into concrete, so showing up and performing well in Atlanta is crucial.”

Both candidates come into the debate with an ample amount of baggage that will offer their rival plenty of potential ammunition.

The 81-year-old Biden, the oldest president in the nation’s history, for months has faced serious concerns from voters over his age and physical and mental durability. He’s also been dealing for nearly three years with underwater job approval ratings as he’s struggled to combat persistent inflation and a crisis at the nation’s southern border, as well as plenty of overseas hot spots.

FIRST ON FOX: BIDEN CAMPAIGN RIPS TRUMP OVER ‘NEGLECT OF DUTY’ ON EVE OF FIRST 2024 DEBATE

Meanwhile, Trump made history for all the wrong reasons last month, as he was convicted of 34 felony counts in the first criminal trial ever of a former or current president.

Three and a half years after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters trying to upend congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory, Trump faces criminal charges of trying to overturn the results of the last presidential contest. His promises of second-term retribution against his political enemies have created a backlash, and he’s struggled along with plenty of other Republicans to deal with the combustible issue of abortion two years after the Supreme Court struck down the decades-old Roe v. Wade ruling. 

Arguably the biggest question surrounding Thursday night’s debate is which version of Trump will show up?

Then-former Vice President Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 22, 2020. (Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Will it be the undisciplined candidate who continuously interrupted Biden and debate moderator Chris Wallace dozens and dozens of times at their first debate in the 2020 election? 

Trump appeared to lose his cool, failed to condemn white supremacists, and his performance was widely panned by political pundits and viewers alike.

Or will it be the Trump of the second 2020 debate, when the then-president re-worked his strategy and his disciplined and measured performance was a vast improvement.

“If he replicates that performance, Donald Trump’s going to have a very good night,” longtime Republican consultant and veteran debate coach Brett O’Donnell told Fox News.

BIDEN AND TRUMP CAMPAIGNS MAKE MOVES ON THE EVE OF THE DEBATE 

O’Donnell said his advice to Trump is “watch the second debate you had with Joe Biden in 2020 and replicate that performance. Watch it over and over and replicate that performance in this debate.”

“He was measured but firm,” O’Donnell said of Trump. “You can be aggressive and passionate without being offensive.”

O’Donnell knows a bit about coaching presidential candidates ahead of their debates. He assisted in debate preparations for George W. Bush in 2004, GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona in 2008, and Republican standard-bearer and then-former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012. 

This election cycle, O’Donnell coached Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of his debate performances in the Republican presidential primaries.

O’Donnell said Biden needs to be careful not “to fall into the incumbent trap… Many if not most incumbents in their first debate, whether it’s Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush or Barack Obama, most incumbents perform poorly in their first debate going for the second term.”

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“So the advice to Biden is avoid the incumbent trap because if he falls into it, it’s doubly bad because of all the age arguments,” he added.

And O’Donnell emphasized that Biden has “got to somehow frame the race as a choice in defense of his record over the past four years. That is a tall order, but that’s something he has to do in order to justify picking him over Donald Trump.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., warned that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland could be brought into custody for failing to deliver tapes of Special Counsel Rob Hur’s interview of President Biden to Congress. 

Joined by nine other House Republicans, including Freedom Caucus members as well as more moderate members, Luna on Wednesday announced at a press conference that Garland “still has time” to comply with a congressional subpoena for the tapes, but if he does not, “we will press forward with calling the privilege motion on inherent contempt to the floor on Friday morning.” 

If the motion is successful, fellow House Republicans will direct House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to call up the Sergeant-at-Arms, “of which they do have the authority under this inherent contempt motion to bring him into custody,” Luna said. “I also want to make it clear, though, that this is of Garland’s choosing. Again, no one is above the law. And if he chooses to go down this path, then we will.” 

“It is also important to note that if we, as a Congress, do not have the ability to enforce our investigative ability, that we are essentially going to be ignored and undercut and essentially handicapped by all other branches, which would make us not a co-equal branch of government,” Luna said. 

ANNA PAULINA LUNA TO FORCE VOTE ON GARLAND’S ARREST THIS WEEK AFTER DOJ REFUSES CRIMINAL REFERRAL 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., on June 4. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Inherent contempt differs from the criminal contempt resolution passed on June 12. The latter referred Garland to his own department for criminal charges. 

The Department of Justice said it would not prosecute Garland because he was acting on Biden’s own executive privilege claims over the interview tapes.

The inherent contempt power “is a constitutionally based authority given to each house to unilaterally arrest and detain an individual found to be ‘obstructing the performance of the duties of the legislature,'” according to the Congressional Research Service. “The power is broader in scope than the criminal contempt statute in that it may be used not only to combat subpoena non-compliance, but also in response to other actions that could be reviewed as ‘obstructing’ or threatening either house’s exercise of its legislative powers.” 

When asked whether the House speaker has considered alternative ways to enforce the subpoena, Luna said she thinks that Johnson “is open to discussions on how to best enforce this,” but argued that with “what’s currently happening in our country,” a different process “would take a very long time.”

“Why would we do that when we have the direct ability to do it here in the House? What you are seeing is the American people have a deep distrust in our ability to not only effectively govern, but also, too, they’ve lost faith within the Department of Justice and that we are truly an equal country,” Luna said. “Poor White, Brown, Black Americans don’t have the privilege of ignoring subpoenas when they’re called to come to court. I think that it’s pretty egregious that the man that’s in charge, and really the head enforcement officer, is basically choosing to break the law.” 

JOHNSON FLOATS DEFUNDING SPECIAL COUNSEL’S OFFICE AMID JACK SMITH’S TRUMP PROBE

“I understand that this sounds extreme,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said. “It sounds extreme to put the AG in handcuffs and drag him in here…. I’ll tell you why I’m here, what motivates me. Because what the DOJ is doing in my hometown in Houston, they’re willing to arrest a regular citizen, put them in handcuffs, charge them with ridiculous crimes. And for what? Because that particular citizen, a man named Doctor Haim decided to expose a crime in Texas. That crime was performing harmful gender transition practices on minors. He was indicted for alleged HIPAA violations and this demonstrates that Merrick Garland and this DOJ determination to target whistleblowers who oppose their ideology, they want to protect themselves.” 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., walks past a “What is Garland Hiding?” poster as she arrives for the news conference on efforts to hold Attorney General Garland in inherent contempt of Congress on Wednesday. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Citing the 118th Congress Jefferson Manual, Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., said inherent contempt has been used by the House of Representatives more than 100 times since 1795 and has been upheld by the Supreme Court. 

“If we allow the Department of Justice and Attorney General Garland to dictate whether or not a congressional subpoena is enforced, we risk becoming subordinate to the executive branch,” Alford said. “That cannot happen. This is unacceptable. Congress must never rely on the actions of the other branches to carry out our constitutional responsibility under Article One. What does Attorney General Merrick Garland have to hide?”

Luna said Democrats considered using inherent contempt powers under former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when Republicans failed to comply with Jan. 6 committee subpoenas, but they ultimately decided against it to avoid risking opening themselves up to discovery. In a contentious exchange with a reporter, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., on Wednesday said he believes those people who failed to comply are now “in jail.” 

“I think they’re in jail. So are you suggesting the attorney general should be in jail? Because that’s what it sounds like,” Van Orden said. “Listen, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. So the Democrat Party under Nancy Pelosi politicized this body to the point where it’s destructive to the fabric of our nation. And it is time for a reckoning. This has got to stop.” 

“The only way that this is going to stop is if the president of the United States reads this,” he said, holding up a copy of the U.S. Constitution. 

“This is the law of the land. Is that clear? Now do your jobs, people. For Pete’s sake.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Republicans in the House are attempting to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

When asked whether she was confident she had enough votes from GOP colleagues to pass the resolution, Luna pointed to those who joined her at the press conference. Those members also included Republican Reps. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Russell Fry of South Carolina, Max Miller of Ohio, Ben Cline of Virginia, Richard McCormick of Georgia and Tim Burchett of Tennessee. 

“As you’re seeing behind me, we have a great cross-section of what the conference represents. Everyone is aware that this is absolutely backed by the Supreme Court, that we have the constitutional authority to do this, and that this is not a laughing matter,” Luna told reporters. “I’ve yet to hear anyone say that they are going to vote on a motion to table, which would prevent this from coming to the floor.” 

As more than 100 members were still missing Tuesday, Luna said she wanted to wait until Friday when more Republicans returned to Washington to prevent the motion from being tabled. 

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Congress has not invoked its inherent contempt power since 1934, when it resulted in Washington lawyer William MacCracken getting a 10-day jail sentence for not sufficiently complying with a Senate subpoena. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which backed Congress’ right to exercise its inherent contempt powers in its February 1935 decision in Jurney v. MacCracken.  

Fox News’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report. 

Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court clashed over Wednesday’s ruling in favor of President Biden’s administration.

The Court ruled 6-3 that the plaintiffs, a group of conservative states and social media users, had no standing to sue the federal government over its attempts to influence the censorship policies of social media giants. Justice Amy Coney Barrett authored the opinion of the court, but Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented.

Barrett, speaking for the court, argued none of the plaintiffs had established that they were under threat in the case.

“To establish standing, the plaintiffs must demonstrate a substantial risk that, in the near future, they will suffer an injury that is traceable to a Government defendant and redressable by the injunction they seek. Because no plaintiff has carried that burden, none has standing to seek a preliminary injunction,” Barrett wrote.

SUPREME COURT RULES ON CHALLENGE TO BIDEN ADMIN’S EFFORT TO INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA

Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court clashed in Wednesday’s ruling in favor of President Biden’s administration. (Getty Images)

Alito blasted the majority opinion in his written dissent, which Thomas and Gorsuch joined. He said the Court’s opinion “unjustifiably refuses” to intervene on behalf of the “victims” of COVID-era censorship.

“For months in 2021 and 2022, a coterie of officials at the highest levels of the Federal Government continuously harried and implicitly threatened Facebook with potentially crippling consequences if it did not comply with their wishes about the suppression of certain COVID–19-related speech,” Alito wrote.

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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito blasted the majority opinion in his written dissent, which Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh joined. (Getty Images)

“I assume that a fair portion of what social media users had to say about COVID–19 and the pandemic was of little lasting value. Some was undoubtedly untrue or misleading, and some may have been downright dangerous. But we now know that valuable speech was also suppressed. That is what inevitably happens when entry to the marketplace of ideas is restricted,” he continued.

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“These victims simply wanted to speak out on a question of the utmost public importance,” he added.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that plaintiffs did not have standing to sue the federal government over COVID-era censorship. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

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Wednesday’s ruling overturns a lower court ruling that sided with the plaintiffs and imposed an injunction against White House officials meeting with major tech companies. That injunction is now lifted.

The injunction had applied to several federal officials and agencies — including some of Biden’s Cabinet members and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

FIRST ON FOX: Republican senators are invoking a statute to force Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to provide answers to several outstanding inquiries about COVID-19’s origins and vaccine safety. 

“We write regarding the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) complete disregard for transparency, Congressional oversight, and the public’s right to know,” wrote Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in a letter on Tuesday also signed by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan.

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Sen. Ron Johnson, left, led several Republicans in invoking a statute requiring HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to respond to outstanding inquiries. (Getty Images )

The lawmakers announced they were invoking a federal statute which requires executive agencies to “submit any information requested of it relating to any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee” when prompted by five members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC). 

The letter states that the senators on HSGAC have written to HHS and its sub-agencies on several occasions with questions regarding the COVID-19 virus and pandemic and its origins. 

“Rather than provide comprehensive and thorough responses to requests from members of this Committee, HHS has opted to either ignore letters from duly elected U.S. senators, or provide incomplete responses,” the senators said. 

SUPREME COURT RULES ON CHALLENGE TO BIDEN ADMIN’S EFFORT TO INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA

A nurse fills a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Eleven specific outstanding requests are highlighted by Johnson, which he noted HHS should prioritize. Each relates to either the origins of the COVID-19 virus or the safety of its vaccines. The outstanding requests date back as far as 2020. 

Responses to the prioritized requests are expected by the senators from Becerra by July 12. 

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HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has not provided complete answers to the lawmakers, they say. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

“HHS’s indifference and lack of responsiveness threatens our ability to fulfill our Constitutional oversight responsibility,” the lawmakers claimed in the letter. 

According to the Republicans, “HHS’s refusal to provide the requested records over the last three years clearly demonstrates a full-fledged cover-up.”

“What are you and your sub-agencies hiding?” they asked. 

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Sen. Ron Johnson has pressed HHS repeatedly for information on vaccine safety and COVID origins. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The senators also warned HHS and Becerra against non-compliance with the statutory request, saying, “HSGAC Republicans are taking note of HHS’s and your legal infractions and fully intend to hold you and your colleagues accountable using any means at our disposal.” 

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The lawmakers are capable of using subpoena power to compel Becerra to speak to their questions, requesting transcribed interviews, or even attempting to hold him in contempt of Congress. However, with Democrats currently holding a majority in the Senate, it’s unlikely that a contempt of Congress resolution would pass. 

A spokesperson for HHS told Fox News Digital, “HHS has received the letter and will respond directly to the Senators.”

EXCLUSIVE: House GOP negotiators stopped short of targeting funds for Special Counsel Jack Smith in next year’s Justice Department spending bill, but former President Trump’s allies are already making plans to force it into the final text.

At least three House Republicans are aiming to introduce amendments to the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill that would target the prosecutions against Trump in some way, Fox News Digital has learned.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said he was disappointed that his policy targeting Trump’s prosecutions was not included in the base text but that he would be offering it as an amendment later in the legislative process.

“When we have our full House Appropriations Committee markup for CJS next month, I will file my amendment to prohibit taxpayer dollars from funding the prosecution of a presidential candidate before the 2024 election. This measure would impact Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg, and Jack Smith, as they all receive federal funds,” Clyde said.

YOUNG TRUMP SUPERFAN BROUGHT TO TEARS WHILE MEETING FORMER PRESIDENT

Former President Donald Trump’s allies are gunning to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith. (Getty Images)

A source close to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., one of Trump’s most vocal House allies, told Fox News Digital she intends to file an amendment similar to a measure she previously introduced targeting the funding of special counsels.

Greene said Tuesday evening that it was a “failure” for the House GOP to not defund Smith in the legislation’s base text.

Trump ally Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., also plans to introduce an amendment stripping Smith’s funding, his office told Fox News Digital.

The CJS appropriations bill released Tuesday cuts the Justice Department’s funding by nearly $1 billion.

It also includes cuts to the FBI’s budget by roughly 3.5% and blocks the construction of a new bureau headquarters in Maryland.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also signaled that he would push for cuts to the Trump investigations in Georgia and New York in the CJS bill. 

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is among those preparing amendments ahead of next month’s House-wide consideration of the bill. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Earlier this month, Jordan sent a letter to House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., recommending that the spending bill “include language to eliminate federal funding for state prosecutors or state attorneys general involved in lawfare and to zero out federal funding for federal prosecutors engaged in such abuse.”

A spokeswoman for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News Digital when asked about the amendment push, “The Committee is working to methodically mark up appropriations bills and work through its process. The Speaker looks forward to seeing what comes out of Committee and continuing to move bills through a full floor process.”

Johnson said the House needed a more permanent solution for accountability when asked by CNN on Tuesday night about the lack of measures targeting Smith.

“We’ve got to bring accountability because that’s the role of Congress under the Constitution. The question is, what’s the best and most effective way to do that? So there’s a lot of thoughtful discussion and debate. The underlying bill doesn’t have the provision in, but there may be amendments,” he said. “We have to look at what is actually a lawmaking exercise and not just a messaging exercise, because the times are too important.”

He told Politico last month that the House would not seek to eliminate Smith’s job in this appropriations process. 

JOHNSON FLOATS DEFUNDING SPECIAL COUNSEL’S OFFICE AMID JACK SMITH’S TRUMP PROBE

Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN that he anticipated amendments targeting special counsels in the bill. (Getty Images)

He said, “There is a necessity for a function like that, because sometimes the Department of Justice — which is an executive branch agency — can’t necessarily, without a conflict of interest, investigate or prosecute the president who’s their boss, or the president’s family.”

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But a week later, he told reporters that Congress could target special counsel funding. Outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump’s criminal proceeding was taking place, Johnson said, “How does Congress correct that error and ensure that a special counsel is not abusing their authority? You know, we have oversight, of course, we also have the power of the purse.”

The CJS appropriations bill is being weighed by a panel on the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday and is expected to see a chamber-wide vote sometime next month.

But even if the amendments targeting Trump’s prosecutions make it into the bill, it’s unlikely to be considered by the Democrat-controlled Senate, which is working on its own version of the fiscal year 2025 appropriations bills.