NationalWatch

George Clooney has bailed on Joe Biden. That’s right, the superstar actor who just helped the president raise zillions of dollars, wants him out of the race.

You may not care what an entertainer who’s not in the business of politics has to say, but his reasoning is what matters here: 

“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010,” Clooney wrote in a New York Times op-ed yesterday. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

This is from a supporter, a lifelong Democrat declaring his love for Biden, who’s observed the man close up.

“We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly.”

TRUMP WANTS BIDEN, HITS KAMALA, AS WHITE HOUSE ADMITS VISITS BY PARKINSON’S DOCTOR

President Biden (right) greets actor George Clooney (left) during the Kennedy Center honoree reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Dec, 4, 2022. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

That’s the weirdness of the political limbo we’re dwelling in. I’ve been wondering whether Biden would be pushed aside if every Democratic lawmaker could secretly vote on denying him the nomination, but we don’t have a parliamentary system, where a vote of no confidence carries the day. 

Biden has made clear he’s not stepping down, no matter how many pundits and politicians demand it, and no one can force him to do it.

But what if the noise level and the pressure gets to be too great?

Nancy Pelosi was on “Morning Joe” yesterday – the same show where Biden vowed to run against the “elites” – and was asked if she wanted him to stay in the race.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” the former speaker said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement. More like a bat signal.

FIRST DEMOCRAT SENATOR CALLS FOR PRESIDENT BIDEN TO DROP OUT ‘FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY’

Michael Bennet became the first Senate Democrat to say Biden will lose in November and Republicans will take over both chambers.

President Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, July 7, after returning from a trip to Pennsylvania. (AP/Susan Walsh)

I’ve interviewed Clooney a couple of times. He’s a smart guy, the son of a journalist. He may have cleared the way for others to speak out.

On “The View” yesterday, Michael Douglas, also professing his admiration for Biden, said: “I don’t worry necessarily today or tomorrow, but a year down the line, I worry…I’m deeply, deeply concerned.”

Clooney’s defection is more important than similar pleas from Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, both anti-Trumpers. That’s because he was actually part of the campaign – and the comparison to the abysmal debate was devastating.

But it’s not like Biden is going to bow out as long as Clooney keeps inviting him to Lake Como. He’s wanted to be president his entire adult life. I covered his first campaign in 1987, after which he had emergency brain surgery for an aneurysm. Nobody can force him to give up the White House and Air Force One.

HOLLYWOOD ICON AND BIDEN SUPPORTER MICHAEL DOUGLAS CHANGES HIS TUNE ON PRESIDENT

There’s something that happens to a candidate who becomes president after being repeatedly written off. He comes to believe he has a superpower, a faith in his own abilities, despite the critics and naysayers. The same thing happened to Donald Trump when few expected him to win in 2016.

Former President Donald Trump during a campaign event at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Biden has been slow off the mark. He just announced he’ll sit down with NBC anchor Lester Holt next Monday. The president should have done a half-dozen interviews by now, not just calling Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to complain about the elites.

Instead, he built up the George Stephanopoulos sitdown but turned in a tentative and low-energy performance. Biden appeared to be in denial, saying he didn’t believe the polls showing Trump widening his lead since the CNN debate.

But tongues are being loosened. On his podcast yesterday, NBC’s Chuck Todd said a “pretty senior” Cabinet secretary told him two years ago, “He can’t run again like this.”

“It’s the classic open secret, conversation, right?” Todd said. “It’s the story everybody knows and everybody was afraid to talk about.”

Well, “everybody” didn’t know. And you can’t betray an off-the-record conversation. 

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Most journalists had no access to Biden or his inner circle, but watched the obvious decline on television. Then the debate blew everything up.

The New York Times says the president may be trying to run out the clock, stalling until it’s too late for others to do anything to open the door for Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer or any other Democrat. 

The only thing that could prompt Biden to reconsider, in my view, is if Hakeem Jeffries, Jim Clyburn and Pelosi march up to the White House and tell him the party wants him to step aside. And even then, the president who won 99% of the delegates may dig in his heels.

Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado of New York on Wednesday joined a growing list of Democratic elected officials calling for President Biden to end his 2024 re-election campaign in the wake of the president’s extremely rough performance two weeks ago in his debate with former President Trump.

Delgado, in a social media post, highlighted that he has “immense respect and admiration for [Biden’s] deep and abiding commitment to the American people and our founding democratic ideals.”

“He can add to his legacy, showing his strength and grace, by ending his campaign and making room for a new leader,” Delgado urged.

Delgado warned, “There is no greater threat to our democracy than former President Donald Trump. He must be defeated.”

THIS TOP NONPARTISAN POLITICAL HANDICAPPER SHIFTS FIVE KEY STATES TOWARDS TRUMP

“That is why I join with millions of Americans — including everyday New Yorkers from all walks of life — who are expressing legitimate concerns about President Biden’s ability to wage a successful campaign against Trump,” the lieutenant governor wrote. “Sustaining our collective belief in democracy and trust in our democratic institutions requires those of us in elected office to be straight with the American people. Dismissing these voices out of hand is misguided and dangerous.”

Following his extremely rough debate performance in his first face-to-face showdown with Trump, Biden has been attempting to prove that he still has the stamina and acuity to handle the toughest and most demanding job in the world. And he’s trying to prove that he has the fortitude to defeat Trump.

WHAT SWING STATE VOTERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BIDEN’S EXTREMELY ROUGH DEBATE PERFORMANCE

The debate was a major setback for Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president in the nation’s history. His halting delivery and stumbling answers at the showdown in Atlanta sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and a rising tide of public and private calls from within his own party for him to step aside as its 2024 standard-bearer.

Former President Trump and President Biden debate in Atlanta on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Since the debate, eight House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to end his re-election bid and a growing number of both House and Senate Democrats have publicly and privately warned that the president will lose to Trump in November.

BIDEN TELLS CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS THAT CALLING FOR HIM TO DROP OUT ‘ONLY HELPS TRUMP AND HURTS US’

Biden, in a letter sent to congressional Democrats on Monday as they returned from the July 4th holiday recess, reiterated that he’s “firmly committed to staying in this race” and argued that “the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it is time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump.”

“Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us,” the president added. “It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.”

President Biden speaks at a campaign office in Philadelphia on Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Delgado’s call for Biden to step aside as the Democratic Party’s 2024 standard-bearer puts him at odds with his boss, Gov. Kathy Hochul.

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Hochul was part of a large group of Democratic governors who huddled with the president last week at the White House.

Afterward, she took to social media to emphasize that the president “is in it to win it. The stakes this November could not be higher.”

Ahead of Delgado’s announcement on Wednesday, Hochul reiterated her support for Biden in a phone interview with Spectrum News 1 in New York.

Delgado is a former two-term congressman who was appointed as lieutenant governor in 2022. His successor representing New York’s 19th Congressional District — Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan — earlier on Wednesday also called for Biden to step aside.

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

As former President Donald Trump narrows the field of his prospective running mates, a senior official from his previous administration says he may only ask two questions of each candidate before he makes his decision.

Former national security adviser John Bolton told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday that he thinks the questions that are most important to the presumptive GOP nominee are, “No. 1, do you think the 2020 election was stolen? And number 2, ‘If I told you to do what I told Mike Pence to do on Jan. 6, would you do it?'”

It has been widely reported that three names remain in play for the Republican VP spot: Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Vance and Burgum are considered front-runners with Rubio more of a long shot.

THE VEEPSTAKES GOES ‘APPRENTICE’: WILL TRUMP REALLY PICK RUBIO, VANCE OR BURGUM?

Former President Trump’s veepstakes has apparently whittled itself down to three candidates: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. (Left: Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Center: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Right: Saul Martinez/Getty Images)

The former cabinet member said the right answers may move any of those candidates up in Trump’s view, but said at a personal cost, “it would be a great loss of integrity for any of those people if they said ‘Yes’ to both those questions,” Bolton said.

“I think the highest priority is absolute personal loyalty to him,” Bolton said of Trump, reminding viewers that although former Vice President Mike Pence was loyal to the former President, on January 6, 2021 when Trump supporters descended on the Capitol, Pence was the one person among senior members of the administration that stood up to Trump saying he did the “right thing even when the rest of them failed.” 

He went on to say of the current VP hopefuls, “I don’t know whether these three are capable of doing that, honestly,”.

TRUMP VP CHOICES ARE ‘EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES,’ THE CHOICE IS IMMINENT: JASON MILLER

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024.  (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump has hinted that he will announce his choice for running mate at next week’s Republican National Convention. The former president even said he has a good idea who it will be.

Bolton thinks his former boss shouldn’t make the announcement at the RNC next week while Biden’s campaign is still dealing with the question of his mental fitness and ability to lead the country, let alone beat his predecessor in a general election.

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“There’s no news that is gonna come out of the Republican National Convention, other than the vice presidential nomination. Why waste it in a week when the Democrats may still be talking about whether Joe Biden is competent to be president,” Bolton said.

While it’s widely believed that Vance or Burgum will be the former president’s choice, Bolton warned, “I think what we have to remember with Trump is, it’s never final ’til it’s final and then sometimes it’s still not final,” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign.

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

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says he’s still backing Joe Biden after reportedly signaling to Democrat donors that he is open to replacing the president at the top of the 2024 ticket.

Axios, citing three sources, reported that since Biden’s debate performance late last month, Schumer has been listening to donors’ ideas and suggestions that the best way for the party to move forward and debate former President Trump is removing Biden. 

In a statement on Wednesday to Fox News after the Axios report, Schumer reaffirmed his commitment to Biden.

“As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November,” he said.

SCHUMER PLANS TO STRIP TRUMP OF IMMUNITY FOLLOWING SCOTUS RULING

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., confers with Alex Nguyen, his director of communications, during the Senate Democrats’ news conference in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)

The outlet revealed that both before and after Biden’s startling debate performance, Schumer’s iconic flip phone was lighted up with donors.

Despite Schumer’s 20 years of camaraderie with Biden, the top senator’s main concerns are about defeating former President Trump and retaining the Democrat majority in the Senate, the outlet said.

After the Senate Democrats’ regularly scheduled policy lunch on Tuesday, Schumer reportedly invited senior Biden campaign officials to brief members and directly address any concerns they might have.

Schumer’s hesitancy to support the Democrat presidential nominee comes after he has publicly voiced his support of Biden’s candidacy.

“I’m with Joe Biden,” he said at a New York press conference on July 2. “I’m for Joe,” he reportedly reiterated while walking into the Senate on Monday. 

Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (Anna Moneymaker/Bill Clark/Leigh Vogel)

Schumer’s signal to donors comes as prominent Democrat leaders privately and publicly questioned Biden’s viability as the face of the party.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., insinuated that there is still a decision to be made about whether Biden will seek re-election despite the president already stating on several occasions that he is staying in the race.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We are all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday. “He’s beloved, he’s respected, and people want him to make that decision.”

Asked about Biden already making it clear that he intends to run, Pelosi again suggested that there is a still a decision to be made.

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with,” Pelosi said.

‘OBAMA BROS’ GANG UP ON BIDEN AS LONGSTANDING RUMORS OF TENSION LINGER: ‘HARD TO WATCH’

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., echoed Pelosi’s comments.

“I think he will continue to make his case to the American people, and he is the one who will decide. There are advisers and supporters who may give him the kind of guidance that he is looking for. But I think, ultimately, it’s his decision to make. I think that this kind of internal debate will end at some point. The question is when,” Blumenthal told reporters Thursday. 

President Biden speaks at a campaign office in Philadelphia on Sunday. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., also released a statement, saying Biden needs to “seriously consider” his political future despite the president’s public declarations that he will continue seeking re-election.

“At this critical time for our country, President Biden must seriously consider the best way to preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future,” Murray wrote in a statement Monday.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also suggested that Biden still has a decision to make.

“I think we’re having an important national conversation,” Hollen said. “I’m confident that the president will make a decision that’s in the best interests of the country.”

President Biden speaks at a campaign event in Atlanta on March 9, 2024. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

Many other Democrats will not say whether they believe the president should remain the nominee, but they suggest – after Biden already said he is not dropping out – that there needs to be conversations about his continued candidacy.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said there are still conversations that need to be had surrounding Biden as the Democrat nominee, warning of a potential red wave in November.

“Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with it the Senate and the House,” Bennet told CNN on Tuesday. “We should be having a discussion about that. The White House, in the time since that disastrous debate, I think, has done nothing to really demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election.”

Biden brushed off news that Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., left, sought a discussion with other Democrats about his candidacy.  (Getty Images)

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., also encouraged conversations about Biden’s candidacy.

“With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward,” the Democrat posted on X. “As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House.”

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Biden addressed members of Congress and skeptics of his re-election bid in a letter on Monday, stating that he is “firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.”

Despite Biden’s attempts to ease concerns within his party, eight House Democrats officially called on Biden to step down as the nominee.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

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

The House of Representatives approved a bill on Wednesday, aimed at ensuring only American citizens vote in federal elections.

After debating the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act on the House floor, which was pushed by House speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, was passed by a final vote of 221-198.

Five Democrats voted in favor of the measure, including Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas; Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas; Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine; Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C.; and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where it will face strong opposition from Democrats. President Biden has also said he will veto the measure. 

HOUSE LEADERS AIM FOR VOTE ON TRUMP-BACKED ELECTIONS BILL NEXT MONTH

The House of Representatives voted 221-198 to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, to ensure only American citizens vote in federal elections. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The bill was introduced by Roy in May and former President Trump pushed the legislation in a high-profile press conference at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.

Leading up to the July Fourth week-long recess, Johnson was circulating a memo within the House GOP conference, arguing why the bill is necessary.

He continued making his case on the social media platform X.

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

Speaker Mike Johnson made his case to approve the SAVE Act during the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s House vote, which passed 221-198. (Getty Images)

“The SAVE Act will safeguard our elections by ensuring only American citizens vote in federal elections,” the House speaker said before continuing with a series of posts that explained what the legislation does.

According to Johnson, the bill requires state election officials to ask about citizenship before providing applicants with voter registration forms. It also requires an individual to provide proof of citizenship before registering to vote in federal elections, allows state officials to accept a variety of documents to make it easy for citizens to register to vote and provides states with access to a federal agency database in which they can remove noncitizens from voter rolls and confirm citizenship for those who lack proof.

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

Members of the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to approve the SAVE Act, 221-198. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Johnson also said the measure directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to determine whether to begin removal proceedings of noncitizens who have been identified as having registered to vote in federal elections and requires DHS to notify state chief election officials when an individual has been naturalized, allowing them to exercise their new right to vote.

After the vote, the Tea Party Patriots Action issued a statement in celebration of the SAVE Act’s passage.

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“Tea Party Patriots Action strongly supports the SAVE Act because it would bolster the integrity of our country’s federal elections by closing the loopholes that allow noncitizens to register and vote,” the group said. “This legislation would represent a step forward in upholding the sanctity of our democratic process and ensuring that every vote cast in our federal elections is done so only by American citizens.”

Opponents of the bill claim it’s redundant and unnecessary because, under current U.S. law, only citizens can vote in federal elections. However, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 prevents states from confirming citizenship status. Critics also argue the bill would lead to U.S. citizens being denied their right to vote, more so than stopping noncitizens from voting.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

Years ago, a veteran, respected journalist called me out on a piece of news copy I wrote.

My sin: Rather than indicating that someone said something, I wrote that they believed something.

My colleague corrected me.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: BACKLASH IN THE HALLS OF CONGRESS

“We know what they say. But we can’t know what they believe,” counseled my friend.

I changed the copy.

No journalist is clairvoyant.

Questions over President Biden’s mental acuity and calls for him to step aside have opened up a new rift in the Democratic Party. (Background: Win McNamee/Getty Images; Inset: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Win McNamee/Getty Images; Justin Sullivan/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images)

But sometimes, those of us in the Capitol press corps know exactly what lawmakers are thinking.

It’s not what Members of Congress tell us. It’s what they don’t tell us.

Often, silence can be louder than the soundbites.

CHIP ROY PLANS HOUSE DISCUSSION ON 25TH AMENDMENT REGARDING BIDEN’S MENTAL FITNESS

Such is the case with this week’s version of the Congressional Laff-A-Lympics as reporters chased Congressional Democrats up House hill and down Senate dell in a quest to determine where they stood with President Biden.

The President’s cheerleaders were easy to find.

“Joe Biden all the way,” hollered Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., as he headed into a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus. “Joe Biden all the way.”

Democratic Maryland Rep. Kweisi Mfume has openly declared his support for President Biden “all the way.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“There’s one person this country that’s kicked (former President) Trump’s ass in 2020. That’s where my money is now in 2024,” said Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn.

“We are ridin’ with Biden,” declared Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

But there’s worry about a down ballot hemorrhage for Democrats if the President stays in the race.

Call it “bleedin’ with Biden.”

REP. CLYBURN DECLARES SUPPORT FOR KAMALA HARRIS AS DEM NOMINEE IF BIDEN HAS TO BOW OUT: ‘I WILL SUPPORT HER’

A few who harbored grave concerns delivered brief, but pointed comments.

“He just has to step down because he can’t win,” said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., of the President.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., called for Mr. Biden to step aside in a statement.

“I am asking that he declare that he won’t run for reelection and will help lead us through a process toward a new nominee,” said Sherill.

Democratic New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill has released a formal statement calling on President Biden to withdraw his re-election bid. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., who represents a swing district, also asked for a swap out at the top.

But when pressed how some really feel, many Democrats don’t “use their words.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., greeted a throng of reporters outside the Democratic National Committee in the sweltering heat Tuesday morning.

“Good morning. Good morning,” said Pelosi.

“Should the President step aside?” asked a reporter.

There was silence from Pelosi.

PELOSI SNAPS AT REPORTER ASKING IF SHE WANTS BIDEN TO DROP OUT OF THE RACE: ‘AM I SPEAKING ENGLISH TO YOU?’

Reporters tried to get Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to weigh-in on President Biden.

“Do you support Biden?” asked ABC’s Rachel Scott.

Warren and an aide hurriedly slid past the press assemblage.

“I’m up in Finance,” said Warren as she darted into the committee backroom.

“I have nothing really to say about it really,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Really? Nothing about the standard-bearer for your party?

At least nothing – in the open.

Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont is the first Democrat in his congressional chamber to urge that President Biden step aside. (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

After the weekly Senate Democratic luncheon, Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, both indicated they wouldn’t discuss what goes on at private caucus meetings.

“We have a ways to go,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., “But we’re not going to negotiate in public.”

Welch became the first Senate Democrat to call on the president to bow out.

FIRST DEM SENATOR CALLS FOR BIDEN TO DROP OUT ‘FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY’

Colleague Aishah Hasnie reported at one point that lawmakers would not even verbally acknowledge some reporters asking about President Biden and would only stare at them.

Consternation about the President has led some Democrats to retreat in public from commenting about his viability. Yet they have been frank behind closed doors.

“In a confidential conversation with other members of House Democratic leadership, I expressed the same concerns that Americans across the country — and here in my district — are grappling with, about President Biden’s electability at the top of the ticket,” said Rep. Susan Wild, D-Penn., who represents a swing district.

Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild claimed to express “concerns” about President Biden’s electoral viability behind closed doors – but remained mum on the subject when pressed by Fox. (Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Wild joined a conference call with other top Democrats Sunday in her capacity as the ranking member on the House Ethics Committee.

Wild was one lawmaker most journalists wanted to speak with this week. When the House conducts roll call votes, Fox deploys what I call “no doubles” defense. In baseball, “no doubles” defense is where the first baseman and third baseman creep closer to the line to prevent “doubles.” We do the same on Capitol Hill. There are two exits near the main exterior House steps. So one crew watches the main exit. Another cheats a little bit toward the Senate side where some member who wish to be elusive try to escape.

Sure enough, Wild departed through the more obscure exit heading toward the Senate. But that’s where we caught up with her. Wild was circumspect when asked about her reservations about President Biden.

MULTIPLE LETTERS CIRCULATING AMONG HOUSE DEMS CALLING ON BIDEN TO STEP ASIDE FOR 2024: SOURCES

“My statement speaks for itself,” said Wild.

“Did you express some of those concerns on the call yesterday?” I countered.

“My statement is my statement is my statement,” insisted Wild.

“Are there concerns among swing district Democrats like yourself?” I queried.

“You can ask it a whole lot of different ways,” said Wild.

“That’s a different question,” I observed.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Wild. “I’m not going to say anything further. I made a statement and that’s all I’m going to say.”

Despite reports that Virginia Rep. Don Beyer referred to President Biden as “very fragile” in talks with colleagues, the Washington, D.C.-area Democrat doubled down on his endorsement by Sunday night. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., dialed into Sunday’s conference call as the top House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee. Punchbowl News indicated that Beyer told his colleagues on the call Mr. Biden is “very fragile” and struggles to put “two sentences together.”

By nightfall Sunday, Beyer’s office sent out a statement saying he backed President Biden.

At the Capitol midday Monday, yours truly encountered Beyer and Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., strolling down a corridor near the floor. I apologized to Courtney, saying I had some questions for Beyer – as did every other journalist in Washington.

DEMOCRATS FACE A RECKONING ON BIDEN CAMPAIGN AS LAWMAKERS RETURN TO CAPITOL HILL

Beyer was gracious in responding to my questions as we walked through a tunnel toward the Cannon House Office Building. But, like Wild, Beyer was guarded.

“Can you clarify your comments from yesterday? You put out a statement yesterday. There’s been some reporting that it didn’t square 100% with what was said,” I said to Beyer.

“I feel I’m very committed to Joe Biden. But it certainly looks like he will be our candidate. And I can do everything I can to get him elected. And I just refer you to the statement of support,” answered Beyer.

“Was what was reported, was that not accurate?” I followed up.

“I don’t want to characterize the reporting one way or the other,” said Beyer. “But I wanted to make clear where I stood with the statement I put out yesterday.”

California Rep. Pete Aguilar, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, insisted his party remains unified against former President Trump, despite concerns about President Biden’s electoral viability. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

At the first leadership press conference since the debate, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., made the case against former President Trump.

“Donald Trump can not win. And we are unified,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar,” D-Calif., on Tuesday afternoon.

But it sounded like Democrats were making stronger arguments against former President Trump rather than in favor of President Biden.

However, Aguilar left open wiggle room.

MULTIPLE RANKING DEMOCRATS ON HOUSE COMMITTEES WANT BIDEN TO STEP ASIDE

“Right now, President Biden is the nominee,” said Aguilar.

Right now.

The conversations about President Biden are now whispered. Sub rosa. Watch for slight tweaks in language from Aguilar and others.

This is what happened when Pelosi said “it’s up to the President if he’s going to run” during an appearance on MSNBC.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries noted his caucus has “the right and the responsibility” to have “conversations about a path forward” amid President Biden’s floundering re-election prospects. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

Meantime, Jeffries gave his members some breathing room.

“We have the right and the responsibility on behalf of the American people, and on behalf of the people we represent, to have these conversations about a path forward that is in the best interests of the American people,” said Jeffries.

Democrats needed to get everyone back to the Capitol after the July 4 recess to take the political temperature. Democrats have endured days of reporters hounding them in the Congressional halls over where they stand with President Biden. They now want to get everyone out of the Capitol so they can breathe and not face reporters around every corner. Congress is out of session next week so Republicans can convene their convention in Milwaukee. During the recess, Democrats have space to offer individual announcements about the President – perhaps appearing on local radio and TV stations.

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No one has said any of this. There was nothing verbal.

But this is the rare case when everyone knows what they’re thinking.

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, mocked actor George Clooney for waiting until three weeks after his star-studded fundraiser in which he raised millions of dollars for President Biden to acknowledge he’s “a vegetable.”

“George Clooney, what a f—— hero this guy is, huh? Comes forward today — now, this guy threw a fundraiser, raised tens of millions, co-chair for Biden, three weeks ago. Today comes out, he’s like, ‘Guess what? The guy you saw in the debate, that vegetable, that’s f—— Biden, he’s a vegetable. He was a vegetable three weeks ago.’ Acting like he’s doing some heroic thing.”

Clooney called on Biden to leave the 2024 race in a New York Times guest essay on Wednesday, writing, “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.”

He added that “party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw” in the debate. “We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign.”

CHARLAMAGNE SAYS ‘ALL I HEAR IS EGO’ FROM BIDEN, CALLS ON DEMOCRATS TO CHALLENGE HIM FOR NOMINATION AT DNC

George Clooney, seen here with President Biden in 2022, called on the president to drop out of the race in an op-ed on Wednesday.  (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The actor joined a growing list of Hollywood elites and megadonors who’ve turned on Biden following the debate, where his halting, frail and at-times confused performance alarmed supporters. Members of Biden’s party, political allies and liberal media figures have also pressured the president to drop out of the race, warning he cannot beat former President Trump.

“So what, George? If [Biden] didn’t do the debate… and wasn’t a vegetable, you were just going to keep your mouth shut?” Portnoy continued. “And by the way, if you just found out Biden was a vegetable, where have you been for two years? Everyone knows he’s a vegetable.”

Portnoy claimed Biden can’t “get on and off a stage without getting lost, he talks about dead people like he had lunch with them yesterday. He can’t f—— ride his bike without falling down. He can’t get up and down f—— Air Force One without taking a tumble. No s— he’s a vegetable. He’s been a vegetable for two f—— years. Democrats don’t care.”

BIDEN SUPPORTER MICHAEL DOUGLAS TELLS ‘THE VIEW’ HE;S ‘DEEPLY CONCERNED’ ABOUT PRESIDENT’S ABILITY TO WIN

He continued, “If I know he’s a vegetable, if Miss Peaches knows he’s a vegetable [referring to his dog] if Clooney knows he’s a vegetable, if the Obamas know he’s a vegetable, if everyone in the world knows Joe Biden is a f—— vegetable, why did he do that debate? Because Democrats wanted to show the world that they have no choice but to f—— whack him,” claiming Democrats want to replace him with Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom he referred to as the “good-looking guy from California.”

Portnoy claimed that Democrats always secretly wanted to select California Gov. Gavin Newsom to run against former President Trump instead of President Biden.  (David McNew/Getty Images)

Newsom has said that he completely supports Biden and would not run against Vice President Kamala Harris if she replaced him at the top of the ticket. 

“It’s all dirty politics,” Portnoy said. 

He said Democrats “were fine” for the last two years “putting a vegetable in our face. They’re fine with doing a fundraiser three weeks ago for a vegetable. So f— it, let’s just have Trump run versus a head of lettuce. Honestly? The votes will probably be the same.”

He said that people who voted for Biden didn’t actually like the president but rather hate Trump. 

“So f— all these games and stuff. Everyone knows Biden’s a vegetable. So let’s just do the ballot,” he joked. “Trump on one side, head of lettuce on the other.”

He added that he wanted to be spared Clooney’s op-ed “like ‘Oh my God, Biden’s a vegetable. We can’t.’ – you f—— Democrats have known for two years that this guy’s a vegetable, and you keep propping up the vegetable and putting the head of lettuce in our faces.” 

Portnoy joked that former President Trump should run against a head of lettuce instead of President Biden.  (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

He accused Democrats of wanting to choose their own candidate rather than having a “free f—— election of other candidates, so you had Biden go win it, and now the Democratic Party is trying to say who comes next. It’s a game.”

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He concluded, “They knew he was a head of lettuce. Everybody with a brain knew that.”

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Portnoy and Clooney, but did not hear back.  

A Democratic senator became the first in Congress’s upper chamber to call on President Biden to exit the 2024 race on Wednesday night, and left the question of Biden’s successor open-ended. 

“We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post on Wednesday, which was published shortly after the Senate adjourned for the evening.

SENATE DEMS TEST WHETHER ABORTION CAN BREAK THROUGH TALK OF BIDEN CONCERNS

Sen. Welch was the first Democrat senator to call on Biden to drop out of the race.  (Getty Images)

Only one day earlier, Welch didn’t answer a question from Fox News Digital about whether he wanted Biden to be the party’s nominee. “He’s our nominee,” he said. 

In his essay, Welch heaped praise onto Biden and his presidency. “But I, like folks across the country, am worried about November’s election,” he added. 

BIDEN ADVISERS TO JOIN SENATE DEMS FOR SPECIAL MEETING AMID SWELLING CONCERNS

President Biden shocked the nation with his disastrous debate performance, sparking calls for him to step out of the 2024 race. (Getty Images)

“For the good of the country, I’m calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race,” the senator wrote. 

He urged Biden to “reassess whether he is the best candidate” to beat former President Trump. 

“In my view, he is not,” Welch said. 

For a replacement, Welch said Vice President Kamala Harris is “a capable, proven leader,” but stopped short of endorsing her alone. He added, “we have other electable, young, energizing Democratic governors and senators in swing states.”

TOP DEM CONTRADICTS PAST DEFENSE OF BIDEN ABILITY: ‘MUST DO MORE’ TO PROVE HIMSELF

President Biden, left, and former President Donald Trump, right. (Getty Images)

Welch laid out all the problems he sees with Trump’s candidacy in the op-ed, but noted, “the national conversation is focused on President Biden’s age and capacity” instead.  

“Only he can change it,” the Democrat said of Biden. 

The Vermont senator cited “real concerns of regular voters who I’ve heard from recently” about Biden, explaining that they “are worried that he can’t win this time, and they’re terrified of another Trump presidency.”

WARNER SAYS PEOPLE ARE ‘RAISING SOME QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO GET ASKED’ ABOUT BIDEN

Harris is a potential successor to Biden if he exits the race.  (Bizuayehu Tesfaye)

“These new shifts — in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia — must be taken seriously, not denied or ignored,” Welch warned of the new polls coming out of previously safe states for Democrats. 

Welch ended the essay by once again pleading with Biden “to put us first, as he has done before. I urge him to do it now.”

While the Vermont Democrat is the first in his caucus to make the request of Biden, he isn’t the only one making his concern known. On Tuesday, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., shared that he told his colleagues during a caucus meeting that he didn’t believe Biden could beat Trump in an appearance on CNN. 

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The Senate Democrats discussed Biden and his candidacy during their regularly scheduled caucus meeting on Tuesday, where Bennet said he made his worry known. 

Democratic senators will also be headed to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) on Thursday afternoon for a special meeting with top Biden campaign advisers. 

Senior Biden advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon will join the senators, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Former President Donald Trump is comparing one of the top names on his running mate shortlist to a “young Abraham Lincoln” for a reason you may not have expected.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee made the comparison to Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Wednesday when asked about a recent report by the conservative-leaning website The Bulwark that said he found facial hair like Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance’s to be distasteful.

“No. I’ve never heard that one,” Trump said when asked about the report, which suggested Vance’s facial hair could potentially hinder his selection as his running mate. “He looks good… He looks like a young Abraham Lincoln.”

BIDEN CAMPAIGN SCHEDULE REVEALS PRESIDENT’S PLANS AMID CALLS TO EXIT 2024 RACE

Former President Donald Trump and Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. (Getty Images)

Vance is one of a few top names either rumored or reported to be on Trump’s shortlist, which includes North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. However, the first-term senator and rising star in the party has been viewed by some top GOP strategists as the best choice to flip traditional working-class Democrat votes in a number of battleground states.

Trump’s pick remains a mystery for the time being, but the former president said during a Monday appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” he would “probably” name the individual “a little before” next week’s Republican National Convention.

“It could even be during the convention that we’d do it,” he reiterated after stating such timing could be “a little complicated.”

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Former President Trump’s veepstakes has apparently whittled itself down to three candidates: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. (Getty Images)

Trump will hold a rally near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not far from the Ohio border, on Saturday, but there’s no word at this time if Vance will join him.

Vance’s team declined to comment for this story.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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

After her fourth term on the bench, Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett is asserting her voice and following in the footsteps of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a pioneer of originalism on the high court and her former boss. 

Barrett, appointed by President Donald Trump in October 2020 to fill the seat of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, surprised some this term by voting in a few key cases with the Democrat-appointed minority.

But legal experts say that the former law professor is proving that her interpretation of the Constitution is consistent with what the Founding Fathers intended, and that disagreements between her and her fellow conservative justices should be “celebrated.”

“This term we have seen all the originalist justices engaged in a healthy debate about how to apply tenets of originalism and textualism in many different contexts,” Carrie Severino, president of JCN, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And that is a sign that the originalist project has matured, and that the justices are fleshing out these important principles, and it should be celebrated.”

AOC FILES ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST JUSTICES ALITO, THOMAS, ALLEGES ‘UNCHECKED CORRUPTION’

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett (L) and Chief Justice John Roberts pause for photographs at the top of the steps of the west side of the Supreme Court following her investiture ceremony on October 1, 2021, in Washington, DC.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

For many years, a widely lauded and accepted judicial philosophy was that the Constitution was a “living and breathing document.” But conservative legal practitioners contested that approach as too volatile to political whims, judicially inappropriate and a departure from what the founders actually wrote in their original intent. 

But in the 1980s, the concept of an originalist interpretation of the law started to grow, largely driven by Reagan-appointed Justice Scalia.  

“It used to be that the late, great, Justice Scalia was basically the only originalist on the court,” said John Shu, a constitutional lawyer and former official in both Bush administrations. “Then, in 1991, it became Scalia and Thomas and sometimes Rehnquist. In 2005 and 2006, it became Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito.  And since 2017, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and of course Justice Barrett joined the Court, and she is very much following in Justice Scalia’s, for whom she clerked, footsteps.”

Some experts say that approach bore out this term when Barrett sided with her liberal colleagues in the case in which the majority ruled in favor of a participant in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot who challenged his conviction for a federal “obstruction” crime. 

That case will likely aid the legal arguments of former President Trump who was charged with obstruction, among other crimes, by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

JUSTICE AMY CONEY BARRETT SAYS PUBLIC SCRUTINY OF SCOTUS IS ‘WELCOME’

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is the keynote speaker at the 2023 Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner that is part of the Federalist Societys 2023 National Lawyers Convention at the Washington Hilton Hotel on November 9, 2023, in Washington, DC.   (Jahi Chikwendiu/Washington Post via Getty Images)

In her dissent, Barrett wrote that by “narrowing” a federal statute, the Court “failed to respect the prerogatives of the political branches.”

“[S]tatutes often go further than the problem that inspired them, and under the rules of statutory interpretation, we stick to the text anyway,” Barrett wrote, adding that the Court’s majority abandoned that approach and does “textual backflips to find some way— any way—to narrow the reach” of the statue at issue. 

Severino says that in her dissent, Barrett was “exactly in line” with Scalia’s approach to that type of clause.

“Within originalism and textualism, there are people who in some particular instances may disagree on how those principles apply in a specific case,” Severino wrote. “So it’s not surprising that Barrett is going to have a different approach than Thomas or Alito or Gorsuch or Kavanaugh. They all have their own slightly different flavors, different personality, to exactly how they apply those,” Severino said. 

“It’s a great sign that the justices are openly discussing what’s the best way to apply originalism and textualism, the original intent and the actual text, which is what good and fair judges are supposed to do,” said Shu.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016) (Liaison)

“Justice Barrett’s opinions from this term indicate that the Scalia approach, over time, carried the day,” he said.  “He also was great at showing how the originalist perspective is the common-sense perspective, and the one most faithful to the law and to a judge’s responsibilities.”

Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, noted that Barrett “was law professor for a long time, so she has a different background than everybody else on the court.”

“She’s very thoughtful, she’s very intellectual, she’s very theoretical. She wants to get the theory right. She’s a professor’s justice,” he observed. 

“She’s still very much in the Scalia mode. She’s thinking about how to apply history and tradition and what that test means, and getting the theory of the matter right,” he said. 

Which he said “was clear in the immunity decision, where she agreed fully with Robert’s majority opinion, but said it would have been better to reframe this as an unconstitutional application of criminal law, rather than calling it immunity.”

BIDEN’S SCOTUS CRITIQUES LARGELY UNPRECEDENTED, EXPERTS SAY, CONTRAST WITH CLINTON’S DEFERENCE IN 2000

Amy Coney Barrett, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, stands with her husband Jesse on the front plaza of the Supreme Court building following an investiture ceremony in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“She’s not a moderate. She’s not a centrist. She’s not moving left,” Shapiro said. “She’s an originalist and a textualist.”

Jennifer Mascott, law professor at Catholic University and former Justice Department official, said Barrett’s writings this term “show a highly intelligent, careful principal jurist who is looking herself, as all the justices do, independently at the questions before her, and just taking the time for the American public to explain in important cases where she may have done something differently than the majority opinion.” 

Notably, Barrett authored a concurrence in the case in which the high court unanimously ruled that Colorado could not remove Trump from 2024 election ballot. 

“The Court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a Presidential election. Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the Court should turn the national temperature down, not up,” she wrote. For present purposes, our differences are far less important than our unanimity: All nine Justices agree on the outcome of this case. That is the message Americans should take home.”

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett arrives in the House Chamber for U.S. President Joe Bidens State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol March 01, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The former Notre Dame professor is not without criticism on the right, with some conservative observers saying she can be too cautious or timid when it comes to upsetting precedent.

Giancarlo Canaparo, senior fellow at the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, says Barrett is “extremely mindful of the difference between conservative judges and conservative politicians, and she’s trying very hard to be a conservative judge.”

“And that means, I think, for her, not only being faithful to the text of the law and the Constitution, but also making sure that the court doesn’t move on a particular issue until it’s sort of aware of the downstream effects on this doctrine or that doctrine,” he said.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett is sworn in during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Monday, Oct. 12, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)

Canaparo observed that Barrett “needs to feel like she knows everything that can possibly be known” about a matter in order to make a move. 

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“She’s going to take positions when she feels like she knows everything, which is often in in those few areas where she wrote that she wrote about as a professor, but in other cases, we see areas where she’s unwilling to make moves based on whatever information she has on hand, which you know that can be a good thing sometimes. Sometimes not.”

But “sometimes, like a general, you’ve got to go with what information you have,” he said. 

“Sometimes it seems like maybe she doesn’t actually want a particular party to win, or she doesn’t want to make a particular move, and so she uses the claim that there isn’t enough information in the record as sort of an out.”

Canaparo’s critique aside, though, conservative legal watchers appear to sign on to Bush administration veteran John Shu’s opinion that, “all in all, I think it’s great that a former Scalia clerk is now on the Court to carry on his legacy.”

President Biden’s inability to energetically campaign has pushed surrogates such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom into extra work rallying for the president — as he faces mounting pressure from his base to drop out — instead of focusing on his own state’s woes. 

This week, Newsom rallied Democrats in Michigan and Pennsylvania before stumping for Biden in New Hampshire — which has been reliably Democratic the last few decades, but now appears to be a 2024 battleground — as part of his swing state tour on the Biden-Harris campaign trail. 

“I think most of America doesn’t understand that Gavin Newsom’s goal is to be president, and it’s always been that,” state Sen. Brian Dahle, who ran against Newsom during the special recall election in 2022, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

BIDEN ‘WORKING THE PHONES’ IN BATTLE TO SAVE RE-ELECTION BID, WITH DEMOCRATS STARTING TO RETURN TO HIS CAMP

California Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigns for President Biden at a Democratic Party event in South Haven, Michigan, on July 4. (Chris duMond/Shutterstock)

“Our budget’s upside down. We have businesses leaving California. You can’t afford to live here, and so those are all things that obviously we need to work on here, and he’s not here to work on those,” Dahle said.

Last month, the state’s Democrat-dominated legislature passed a controversial budget package intended to close an estimated $46.8 billion deficit which Republicans say they were largely left out of. 

Newsom, who has vehemently denied he’s running a “shadow campaign” to replace the president, said during a Biden-Harris rally in Michigan on Thursday that he was tapped by the campaign and has been “going wherever” the Biden administration asks him, and doing “whatever task, large and small, because I believe in this man.”

“I believe in his character,” he said.

Biden’s campaign also held an all-hands conference call on Monday with Democratic National Committee staffers, hoping to address collapsing morale, according to a report. Newsom was present on that call and reportedly urged Biden staffers to “worry less.”

“I plead with you: Worry less, do the work,” Newsom told Biden staffers on the call, according to Axios. “I think there is an old African proverb that says, ‘You wanna go fast, go alone. You wanna go far, go together.’ And that’s what this is all about.”

BIDEN EXITING RACE BUT SERVING OUT TERM WOULD LEAVE HARRIS IN DILEMMA: EXPERT

Newsom’s recent appearance in Michigan comes as President Biden faces pressure to drop out of the 2024 race. (Chris duMond/Shutterstock)

On Wednesday, however, Newsom held a press conference in California about the state’s excessive heat and large number of wildfires burning. Fox News Digital reached out to the governor’s office to get more information about his Biden-Harris campaign schedule, and a spokesperson said his office is “not currently tracking any additional out-of-state travel on the immediate horizon.”

The spokesperson added that “the Governor was regularly briefed on timely incidents, making emergency response decisions, and addressing key issues impacting the state.”

Meanwhile, California continues to lose residents in droves to other conservative states, and its big cities are struggling with lowering crime and reducing homelessness. The Golden State has nearly one-third of the nation’s homeless population, totaling more than 181,000 people living outdoors, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 homelessness assessment. 

“You can’t afford to live in California. It’s because we have regulations and just a liberal legislature that continues to drive up the cost of everything,” Dahle said. “And so housing is high, electricity is high, food’s high, everything is higher.”

“The thing about Gavin Newsom is he’ll put out a policy and talk about it and talk about spending money, but none of it’s worked. He spent $20 billion on homelessness, and we did nothing but increase homelessness,” he said.

BIDEN TELLS WHITE HOUSE AUDIENCE HE’S ‘NOT GOING ANYWHERE’ DURING FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION 

“I will never turn my back on President Biden,” Newsom said Thursday in a comment that appeared designed to dispel rumors that he’s running a shadow campaign. (Chris duMond/Shutterstock)

After Biden’s lackluster performance during the debate against former President Trump last month, Newsom was present and assured reporters in the spin room that he remained firmly behind Biden.

“I will never turn my back on President Biden,” Newsom said Thursday in a comment that appeared designed to dispel rumors that he’s running a shadow campaign. “I don’t know a Democrat in my party that would do so. And especially after tonight, we have his back.”

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Leading up to the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle, Biden’s mental acuity became the center of political discourse after a bombshell Wall Street Journal report — which the White House dismissed — revealed that many lawmakers on Capitol Hill had questions.

Fox News Digital’s Timothy Nerozzi contributed to this report. 

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

What’s happening…

-Biden advisors are joining Senate Democrats for special meeting

-AOC files articles of impeachment against Justices Alito and Thomas

-6 states shift toward Trump in 2024 race

Biden Their Time

The majority of Democrats are continuing to oppose calling for President Joe Biden to drop out of the race after Tuesday’s closed-door meeting, regardless of the fact that most Democrats have expressed concerns about the President’s ability to serve a second term.

Biden sent a sharply worded letter to the party leaders stressing a refocus on former President Trump instead of the President and his cognitive abilities. Momentum is slowing down for the moment as Democrats toe the party line.

“I’m staying with Papa,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., said, according to the AP …Read more

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 09: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks as (L-R) Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) listen during a news briefing after a weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on July 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. Senate Democrats held a weekly policy luncheon to discuss Democratic agenda.   (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

White House

‘RADICAL’: Missouri AG sues Biden admin over controversial Affordable Care Act adjustment …Read more

‘LIKE A SON’: Who is Biden’s White House physician, and how close are his ties to the first family? …Read more

MORE OF THE SAME?: Biden’s border policies would likely be extended if this swing state Dem is the new nominee …Read more

CORRECTING THE RECORD: WH had to correct Karine Jean-Pierre after an erroneous claim that a neurologist did not meet Biden in January …Read more

PACKED SCHEDULE: Biden kept remarks to the AFL-CIO union brief Wednesday before heading to NATO summit …Read more

IN THE ROUGH: Biden changes tune on Trump golf challenge he was once ‘happy to play’ …Read more

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 12: Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) questions U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill September 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer)

Capitol Hill

‘F— TRUMP’: Vulnerable Dem senator meets with radical group that supports ‘halting’ deportations …Read more

‘CORRUPTION CRISIS’: AOC files articles of impeachment against Justices Alito, Thomas on Wednesday …Read more

‘INCREDIBLY IRONIC’: Sotomayor co-signed opinion claiming the Second Amendment does not give private citizens a right to self-defense …Read more

FURIOUS TIRADE: Trump warns GOP to ‘pass the SAVE Act’ or ‘go home and cry yourself to sleep’ …Read more

DAMAGE CONTROL: Biden campaign to meet with Senate Dems as lawmakers express concern …Read more

CIRCLING WAGONS: House Dems defend Jeffries as Left’s disarray over Biden grows …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

SWING STATE SLAMMED: Lawmakers demand answers over ‘weaponized’ election order …Read more

REPUBLICAN RECOUNT: Colby Jenkins trails Trump-endorsed incumbent Celeste Maloy by fraction in Utah primary, sparking recount …Read more

TOWING THE LINE: Democrats are reigning in calls for Biden to step aside after closed-door meeting …Read more

TIME TO GO?: Swing state voters say Biden debate performance ‘really impactful’ on their presidential election decision …Read more

‘DO THE WORK’: Newsom tells DNC staff to ‘worry less’ in pep talk: report …Read more

‘DEEP CONCERNS’: First Democrat senator says Biden can’t win re-election amid health concerns …Read more

‘UNFULFILLING’ VINDICATION: Dean Phillips breaks silence on Biden campaign chaos following debate …Read more

BEATING THE CLOCK: Biden campaign schedule reveals president’s plans amid calls to exit 2024 race …Read more

JOE’S THE MAN: Top Dem says others know they can’t beat Biden …Read more

IN THE MIX: US intel agency say Russia interfering in 2024 election for Trump …Read more

RACE SHIFT: 6 states move toward Trump in Electoral College: Cook Political Report …Read more

Trials and Tribulations

Across America

‘HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE’: Alaska federal judge resigns from lifetime position as new report details misconduct …Read more

ALL EYES ON US’: NATO summit ‘pivotal’ make-or-break for Biden amid fitness scrutiny …Read more

‘NOT TOLERATED’: Woman locked up after allegedly admitting to threatening GOP governor’s life …Read more

NOT OUR POSITION: ABC distances itself from anchor’s explosive Biden comment …Read more

DEMOCRATS IN ‘DISARRAY’: Charlamagne says Dems in ‘such disarray,’ ‘I really don’t think they can win now’ …Read more

‘MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS’: Virginia Gov. Youngkin orders ‘cellphone-free’ schools …Read more

Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Top Democrats are casting doubt on President Biden’s statements that he intends to seek re-election in November and defy calls to drop out of the presidential race.

Biden has stated several times since his damaging debate performance last month that he will not drop out of the race. However, prominent House and Senate Democrats have since made comments that suggest his candidacy may still be up in the air.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., insinuated that there is still a decision to be made on whether Biden will seek re-election, despite the president already stating on several occasions that he is staying in the race.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We are all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday. “He’s beloved, he’s respected, and people want him to make that decision.”

1ST DEMOCRATIC SENATOR SAYS BIDEN CAN’T WIN RE-ELECTION, WARNING OF POTENTIAL RED WAVE IN NOVEMBER

Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talks with President Biden at the White House on June 13, 2022. (Win McNamee)

Asked about Biden already making it clear he intends to run, Pelosi again suggested that there is a still a decision to be made.

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with,” Pelosi said.

‘OBAMA BROS’ GANG UP ON BIDEN AS LONGSTANDING RUMORS OF TENSION LINGER: ‘HARD TO WATCH’

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., echoed Pelosi’s comments.

“I think he will continue to make his case to the American people, and he is the one who will decide. There are advisers and supporters who may give him the kind of guidance that he is looking for. But I think, ultimately, it’s his decision to make. I think that this kind of internal debate will end at some point. The question is when,” Blumenthal told reporters Thursday. 

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., says President Biden needs to “seriously consider” his political future. (Jon Cherry/File)

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., also released a statement, saying Biden needs to “seriously consider” his political future despite the president’s public declarations that he will continue seeking re-election.

“At this critical time for our country, President Biden must seriously consider the best way to preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future,” Murray wrote in a statement Monday.

Murray added that Biden still needs to prove himself as a more “energetic” candidate.

“I have a deep appreciation and strong respect for Joe, who has led a historic first term as President,” Murray wrote. “Still, we need to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate on the campaign trail in the very near future in order for him to convince voters he is up to the job.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also suggested that Biden still has a decision to make.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. (Kevin Dietsch/Filey)

“I think we’re having an important national conversation,” Hollen said. “I’m confident that the president will make a decision that’s in the best interests of the country.”

Many other Democrats will not say whether they believe the president should remain the nominee, but they suggest – after Biden already said he is not dropping out – that there needs to be conversations about his continued candidacy.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said there are still conversations that need to be had surrounding Biden as the Democrat nominee, warning of a potential red wave in November.

“Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with it the Senate and the House,” Bennet told CNN on Tuesday. “We should be having a discussion about that. The White House, in the time since that disastrous debate, I think, has done nothing to really demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., also encouraged conversations about Biden’s candidacy.

Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo. (Pete Marovich/File)

“With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward,” the Democrat posted on X. “As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House.”

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Biden addressed members of Congress and skeptics of his re-election bid in a letter on Monday, stating that he is “firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.”

Despite Biden’s attempts to ease concerns within his party, eight House Democrats officially called on Biden to step down as the nominee.

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

Democrats in the Senate said calls from elites and celebrities to replace President Biden on the Democrat ticket didn’t indicate a “threat to democracy,” despite the fact that primary voters across the country have already cast their votes in support of Biden. 

Lawmakers in the Democrat Party have frequently discussed a variety of threats to America’s system of governance, with a particular focus on former President Trump and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Fox News Digital asked several lawmakers whether calls to replace Biden after his election in the primaries were a threat to democracy in the same fashion that some described efforts to halt the certification of the 2020 election by Trump supporters on Jan. 6.

“I don’t think there is any comparison whatsoever. Zero. No comparison,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with Democrats.

WATCH: DEMS ON THE HILL REVEAL WHETHER BIDEN IS FIT TO SERVE THE REST OF HIS TERM

President Biden shocked the nation with his disastrous debate performance, sparking calls for him to step out of the 2024 race. (Getty Images)

Several House Democrats have called on Biden, the leader of their party, to withdraw from the race. Reps. Angie Craig, D-Minn., Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., Seth Moulton, D-Mass., Mike Quigley, D-Ill., Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., have made such calls. In addition, multiple celebrities and Democrat megadonors have pressured the president to drop out of the race as confidence in his ability to beat Trump continues to fall.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., didn’t remark on those calls, noting, “I just speak for myself, so I can give you my views. I’m not going to characterize or comment on other people’s views.”

Notably, he has pointed to Trump, claiming the former president “presents an existential threat to democracy.”

TOP DEM CONTRADICTS PAST DEFENSE OF BIDEN ABILITY: ‘MUST DO MORE’ TO PROVE HIMSELF

Murphy has referred to Trump as a democracy threat. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

When posed the same question, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., remarked: “In Georgia, former President Trump was caught on tape pressuring and threatening the statewide senior-most election administration official to, quote, find the exact number of votes that he needed to win and by which he had lost.”

Blumenthal said he is supportive of Biden. (YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images)

“That misconduct is utterly appalling. It should be unacceptable to every elected official in the country, to every member of the Republican Party. It should be disqualifying for former President Trump, for every Republican elected official in the country,” he added. 

WARNER SAYS PEOPLE ARE ‘RAISING SOME QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO GET ASKED’ ABOUT BIDEN

Per Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., “I can appreciate, I think, concerns my colleagues have had, but we got our answer from the president on Monday.”

Former President Donald Trump (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

“We have 117 days left between now and the November election. It’s time [to get] back to work,” he said, reiterating his support for Biden to remain on the Democrat ticket but not addressing whether a threat to democracy is presented by calls for him to step down. 

SCHUMER SILENT AS WORRIES OVER BIDEN’S FITNESS SWELL IN SENATE

Baldwin is in a competitive Senate race. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for The Democratic Party of Wisconsin)

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Democrat strategist Kaivan Shroff, however, said the calls could rise to the level of undermining democracy.

“Donald Trump is the singular greatest threat to democracy and yes, in trying to undermine our Democratic primary winner Joe Biden this late in the game — and invalidate the primary votes of millions in our party across the country — I do feel that democracy is at risk if the game playing does not stop.”

“We should be laser focused on building the same winning coalition that elected the Biden-Harris ticket in the first place,” he added. 

Democrat Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi disregarded President Biden’s declarations that he will not drop out of the presidential race, suggesting there is still a decision to be made on whether he will remain the nominee.

Biden has repeatedly said that he will not drop out of the presidential race, most recently penning a letter to congressional Democrats stating that he is “firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.”

Pelosi, however, insinuated that Biden is still making a decision on whether he will stay in the race as more Democrats break on the issue. 

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We are all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday when asked if she is supporting his re-election bid.

BIDEN INTERVIEWERS SHED LIGHT ON HIS FRAILTY BEHIND THE SCENES: ‘IT’S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO NOTICE’

U.S. President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) arrive for a signing ceremony for the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 on the South Lawn of the White House on August 9, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla)

The Democrat added that Biden is “beloved, he’s respected, and people want him to make that decision.”

WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS PRESS SECRETARY KARINE JEAN-PIERRE AMID INCREASING TENSIONS WITH REPORTERS

Pelosi again suggested that Biden still needs to make a decision regarding his re-election when asked if she wants him to run this fall.

President Biden stands at his podium during the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections between himself and former president Donald Trump at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Kevin D. Liles for The Washington Post)

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do. And that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi’s office did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment, asking if she believes Biden has not yet made a decision despite his public declarations that he’s running again.

Pelosi insinuated that Biden is still making a decision on whether he will stay in the race as more Democrats break on the issue.  (Getty Images)

The president has made various attempts to ease concerns over his re-election following his performance at the first presidential debate, stating several times that he is “not going anywhere.”

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Despite attempts to reinforce his position on re-election, concerns over his strength as a candidate have grown within the party after eight House Democrats called on Biden to drop out of the race.

Fox News’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report.

A leading nonpartisan political handicapper is shifting five crucial swing states and one key congressional district toward former President Trump in his 2024 election rematch with President Biden.

The ratings move by the highly regarded Cook Report comes in reaction to new polling in the race between Biden and Trump after the president’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in their face-to-face showdown two weeks ago.

The Cook Report publisher and editor-in-chief Amy Walter shifted Arizona, Georgia and Nevada from “toss up” to “lean Republican,” pushed Minnesota and New Hampshire from “likely Democrat” to “lean Democrat,” and also moved Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District from “likely” to “lean Democrat.” (Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that divide their electoral votes by congressional district.)

“The notion that the presidential race is a Toss Up was a stretch even before the debate,” longtime Cook Report analyst Dave Wasserman argued in a social media post. “Today, Trump has a clear advantage over Biden and a much more plausible path to 270 Electoral votes.”

WHAT SWING STATE VOTERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BIDEN’S EXTREMELY ROUGH DEBATE PERFORMANCE

Wasserman emphasized that “Biden’s post-debate dip represents the biggest polling shift of the year,” with Trump topping the president 47%-44% in the Cook Report’s new national polling average, which they premiered early Wednesday. “Trump’s current numbers among Black and Latino voters are incompatible with any plausible Democratic victory scenario.”

NEW POLL INDICATES TRUMP TOPPING BIDEN IN THIS CRUCIAL BATTLEGROUND STATE

A slew of national and key battleground state polls conducted entirely after the debate and released last week and this week contain plenty of red flags for the president – including Trump widening his single-digit edge over Biden and deepening concerns of Americans about whether Biden was up to the task of running the country.

Following his extremely rough debate performance in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, Biden has been attempting to prove that he still has the stamina and acuity to handle the toughest and most demanding job in the world. And he’s trying to prove that he has the fortitude to defeat Trump.

President Biden and former President Trump face off at a debate in Atlanta, on June 27, 2024. (Getty Images)

The debate was a major setback for Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president in the nation’s history. His halting delivery and stumbling answers at the showdown in Atlanta sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and a rising tide of public and private calls from within his own party for him to step aside as its 2024 standard-bearer.

BIDEN TELLS CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS THAT CALLING FOR HIM TO DROP OUT ‘ONLY HELPS TRUMP AND HURTS US’

Since the debate, seven House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to end his re-election bid, and a growing number of both House and Senate Democrats have publicly and privately warned that the president will lose to Trump in November.

But Biden, at rallies and fundraising events since the debate, has repeatedly emphasized that he’s staying in the race.

In a letter sent to congressional Democrats on Monday as they returned from the July 4th holiday recess, the president reiterated that he’s “firmly committed to staying in this race” and argued that “the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it is time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump.”

President Biden speaks at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 5, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us,” the president added. “It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.”

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Walter, in her analysis on the ratings switch, wrote that “plenty of nervous down-ballot Democrats and donors are hoping that team Biden, confronted with worsening poll numbers and an aggressively antagonistic press corps, will see the writing on the wall and gracefully announce his exit from the contest. That possibility looks remote as of this writing.”

The move by the Cook Report is the second major shift by a leading nonpartisan political handicapper in the wake of the debate. 

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball last week moved Michigan from “Leans Democrat” to “Toss-up.” Additionally, Minnesota was shifted from “Likely Democrat” to “Leans Democrat.”

“President Biden’s debate performance was so bad that it has forced us to reassess some of our assumptions about the race,” Sabato Crystal Ball forecaster Kyle Kondik wrote in explaining the shift of the two states. “Michigan and Minnesota move to more competitive categories in our ratings.”

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

A top Democratic fundraiser said she is fully behind President Biden’s candidacy as others in her party have spent the last week remaining silent on their support.

Philadelphia-area activist Lindy Li, who recently raised more than $1 million for Biden’s candidacy, said he clearly had a bad debate night, but maintained that he remains both the best hope to defeat former President Trump and a true personification of a traditional Democrat.

“Honestly, what we think or what anybody thinks is irrelevant because he is the one who holds all the cards here, and he’s decided to stay in the race and hold onto his preponderance of delegates,” Li said of Biden. “We just have to get behind him.”

Li, a frequent political commentator on MSNBC and a member of the DNC’s National Finance Committee, had previously clashed with the progressive wing of her party, including supporters of democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. 

Li describes herself as a “conservative Democrat,” but has long pledged her commitment to the president, despite his setbacks. She said that Biden has long been a consensus-minded politician.

PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATS RALLY AROUND BIDEN, BLASTING PREMATURE JOSH SHAPIRO SPECULATION

“He has been a moderate his entire life, and that’s why he won the 2020 primary, because the majority of the party saw Bernie as not being able to defeat Trump. That’s why they chose Biden,” she said.

Li noted she is close to several Democratic figures floated as potential Biden replacements – such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore – and while she supports them, she said there is still tacit proof Biden remains the man for the job.

Quoting from HBO’s “The Wire,” Li chalked up the lack of Biden criticism from Democrats as proof of the line, “if you come for the king, you better not miss.”

“No one wants to be the person to knife Julius Caesar,” she said.

STATE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS RALLY BEHIND BIDEN AFTER PARTY CHAIR SUGGESTS GOP PULL TRUMP’S NOM

As for the other names bandied about as replacements, Li said any one of them could have faced Biden in the primary but chose not to.

“These are all ambitious people. I know them all. I know Josh [Shapiro], in particular, very well. If they could have run against Biden and won, they would have. But they looked at the empirical data during the primary and noticed that none of them could beat him,” she said.

“This is not a matter of anyone being altruistic. They were being self-interested and realized that no one could beat Biden, and that’s why they didn’t dare to oppose him.”

However, at the same time, it has been a “Herculean effort” to keep Democrats publicly on the same page in support of Biden.

When she was on a call with Moore on Monday, Biden himself interrupted the Zoom and took questions from the assembled Democrats.

“A lot of people had reservations and concerns. And people asked him point-blank, ‘what happened, what are you going to do differently?’ And he said, ‘going forward, I’m just going to be more vigorously attacking Trump’.”

STATE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS RALLY BEHIND BIDEN AFTER PARTY CHAIR SUGGESTS GOP PULL TRUMP’S NOM

“There were no softball questions, and he answered all of them. And I know he’s doing everything he can to alleviate concerns. And I’m actually impressed by how he was able to outmaneuver all of his opponents yesterday.”

Li also warned against a second Trump term, saying that all political issues aside, his behavior on and leading up to Jan. 6, 2021 disqualified him from office.

As an immigrant to the U.S., Li said, she understands what she saw as “authoritarian” tendencies from Trump, adding that the throngs who rioted at the Capitol on that day in support of him reflect the stakes this November.

Li, who was born in China but immigrated to the U.S. from England, said she lived under authoritarianism and that the U.S. must therefore “cherish” democracy at all costs.

She added that her life experience also conversely draws her to fully support Biden, who she said has taken recent steps to try to secure the border.

“The number of migrants coming down or coming over has certainly dropped because of his measures. But a lot of people in our party were really disgruntled by his actions,” she said. 

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“But I actually am in support of the measures that he’s taken to secure our border. I’m in favor of legal immigration. My family waited years to come to the United States. My dad was a medical doctor who ended up at Harvard Medical School. And we brought useful skills to the country. So I’m all in favor of having a legal way of becoming an American.”

Li rejected claims the president is dealing with health concerns to the extent Republicans crow about.

“For somebody who is accused of being senile and in cognitive decline, he was quite clever. He dropped a letter which basically prevented any more hemorrhaging in the House. And then he went on ‘Morning Joe’ to dare his opponents to run against him.”

In that regard, she said Democrats must unite once again behind Biden as they had in the primary, continue pushing his agenda while preventing Trump’s return.

“I’m not here to gaslight anybody… I’ve had to reassure folks that Biden will remain in the race; that [Trump] is an existential threat to our country. We have to get on board. It’s a binary choice.”

The first Senate Democrat has publicly revealed that he does not believe President Biden will win re-election, warning of a potential red wave in November.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., confirmed reports that he told colleagues Biden would not win against former President Trump in November, just hours after lawmakers met on Capitol Hill for the first time since the first presidential debate of this year.

“This race is on a trajectory that is very worrisome,” Bennet told CNN on Tuesday. “Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election, and maybe win it by a landslide and take with it the Senate and the House.”

Biden is facing increased calls from members within his own party to step down as the Democratic nominee after his performance at the first presidential debate raised concerns over his health and mental fitness for the job.

BIDEN INTERVIEWERS SHED LIGHT ON HIS FRAGILITY BEHIND THE SCENES: ‘IT’S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO NOTICE’

Sen. Michael Bennet asks questions during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on May 12, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

“So, for me, this isn’t a question about polling. It’s not a question about politics. It’s a moral question about the future of our country,” Bennet said.

Bennet said voters have “deep concerns” about Biden’s candidacy, and given the high stakes of the election, there are ongoing conversations regarding whether the president should remain the nominee.

BIDEN TUNES OUT CRITICS WITH JAM-PACKED SCHEDULE KEEPING HIM ON THE MOVE

“We should be having a discussion about that. The White House, in the time since that disastrous debate, I think, has done nothing to really demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election,” Bennet said. 

President Biden participates in the debate against former President Trump at CNN’s studios in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)

Vulnerable Democratic Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, reportedly also voiced to their colleagues in a closed-door meeting that they weren’t confident in Biden’s general election success, Axios first reported.

Fox News Digital asked Tester on Capitol Hill whether the report was true, but he did not answer questions from reporters.

Former President Trump speaks during a rally at Greenbrier Farms on June 28, 2024, in Chesapeake, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Bennet is the first Senate Democrat to publicly call on the president to reconsider his re-election bid, but joins seven House Democrats who said Biden should step down as the nominee following the presidential debate.

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The House Democrats who officially called on the president to withdraw from the race are Reps. Mike Quigley from Illinois, Seth Moulton from Massachusetts., Lloyd Doggett from Texas, Angie Craig from Minnesota, Raul Grijalva from Arizona, Adam Smith from Washington, and Mikie Sherrill from New Jersey.

Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

A vulnerable Democrat senator met with a group on Capitol Hill that supports “halting expansions of immigration detention and deportation” and whose members claim police “kill people of color” and “often for no reason.”

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., according to the senator’s public schedule, met with representatives of Voices for Progress on May 16, 2024, which is a group that has a controversial stance on immigration, law enforcement, the prison system and employs members with radical views on police and the GOP.

New figures reveal there are 7.4 million migrants on ICE’s non-detained docket as a result of the open southern border under the Biden administration, with Tester’s own state seeing direct effects of drug trafficking after reporting a 1,900% increase in fentanyl-related overdose deaths in Montana from 2017 to 2023. Additionally, there were reportedly 7.87 kilograms of fentanyl, or 106,500 pills seized in Montana during calendar year 2023, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

Despite the direct impact on the Big Sky State, the group Tester met with advocates for “halting expansions of immigration detention and deportation.”

TRUMP REVEALS TWO DEM SENATORS HE IS TARGETING DURING CLOSED-DOOR MEETING

Sen. Jon Tester is seeking re-election in 2024. (Drew Angerer)

Voices for Progress also advocates for “ending the money bail system,” a move which the Constitutional Accountability Center says “could let criminals roam free.”

Additionally, the group voices support for “enacting ultra-wealthy taxation” and “ending discrimination against transgender individuals in health care and during incarceration,” according to their website.

The issue of transgender-identifying inmates being housed in prisons based on gender identity was recently brought under the national spotlight after a California biological male, Tremaine “Tremayne” Deon Carroll, was transferred to a women’s prison but was later removed after being charged with raping a female inmate.

When asked about the meeting, a spokesperson for the senator said the focus of the meeting was “ensuring the ultra-wealthy and massive corporations pay their fair share in taxes.”

“Senator Tester meets with a wide variety of groups with a wide variety of viewpoints, all of which can be viewed on his public schedule,” a spokesperon told Fox News Digital. “The main topic of Senator Tester’s meeting with this group was ensuring the ultra-wealthy and massive corporations pay their fair share in taxes.”

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) speaks to reporters as he walks through the Capitol Building on Feb. 5, 2024 in Washington, D.C. The Senate is working on bringing a bipartisan border security and immigration bill to the floor later this week for a vote. The bill, that also provides funding to Ukraine, Israel and humanitarian aid to Gaza, has received criticism from House Republicans, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) calling it “dead on arrival.” (Anna Moneymaker)

Members of the group Tester met with also have individual histories of vocal opposition to the GOP and law enforcement. 

One of the representatives reportedly in the meeting with Tester, Bella D’Alacio, posted a photo to Instagram in August 2020 holding a sign that read “F— Trump” with a caption that read, “I am tired of seeing black people killed by highly militarized, improperly trained police.”

VULNERABLE DEM SENATOR LASHES OUT AT GOP PRESS RELEASE BY BOASTING ABOUT ALL THE VEHICLES HE OWNS

The president of Voices for Progress, Sandra Fluke, has also made several statements regarding law enforcement, claiming officers “kill people of color” and “often for no reason.”

“Police kill people of color at higher rates – and often for no reason,” Fluke wrote in a June 2018 post on X.

Fluke rose to prominence in 2012 after delivering remarks in front of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, where she claimed Georgetown University, where she was studying law, should provide birth control to students as part of student aid. 

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Fluke praised the passing of California’s AB2119 in September 2018, a bill signed by the state’s then Governor that expanded access to gender-related medical practices for transgender-identifying minors in the foster care system.

Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com, co-founder of act.tv, Vote-Pro Choice, Swipe Blue, and named representative for Voices for Progress on the Senator’s public schedule of the meeting, wrote that pro-life Republicans are “fanatical MAGA forced birthers.” 

“There are no sane Republican “pro-lifers” – just fanatical MAGA forced birthers,” he wrote on X in April 2023.

Fertik also wrote that Trump is a “Racist. Rapist. Fascist. Crook” on X in May 2023, and posted a picture of him holding a poster with the former president on it that read “lock him up.”

A Trump-appointed federal judge in Alaska has resigned after investigators determined he created a hostile work environment, engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a former law clerk and lied about it to his colleagues.

Joshua Kindred resigned from his post as a U.S. District Court judge for Alaska effective Monday after serving just four years on the bench. His resignation letter did not give reasons as to why.

The Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit on the same day released a 30-page order that detailed its findings into Kindred’s alleged misconduct. 

“We conclude that Judge Kindred committed misconduct by creating a hostile work environment for his law clerks. That hostile work environment included ‘unwanted, offensive, and abusive sexual conduct, including sexual harassment,’” the order states.

JUDGE ARRESTED AT ATLANTA NIGHTCLUB REMOVED FROM OFFICE FOR ‘JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT’

Joshua Kindred served just four years of his lifetime appointment as a U.S. District Court judge for Alaska before resigning effective Monday. (U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary/Handout via Reuters)

The order described more than 700 pages of text messages between Kindred and his law clerks, many of which were deemed “highly inappropriate.” 

In one message, the order states that Kindred told his clerks, “Who gives a f— about ethics, we need to get you paid.” In another, the order says he joked about “punching multiple Supreme Court justices,” and bringing Patrón tequila, heroin and “whip-its” – a slang term for a type of inhalant drug – to a dinner party in his chambers.

The council said it also found that Kindred had an “inappropriately sexualized relationship” with a female law clerk during her clerkship and after she became an assistant U.S. attorney for Alaska. 

Kindred engaged in sexual contact with her on two occasions, according to the order. The female former clerk said the second incident, which occurred at an Airbnb where Kindred was staying, was not consensual. Kindred has said it was consensual.

Joshua Kindred was sworn in as a U.S. District Court judge for Alaska in early 2020. (U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary/Handout via Reuters)

“The Council need not make a finding on whether the Airbnb incident was consensual to conclude that Judge Kindred committed misconduct,” the order said.

GOP-LED STATES ASK SCOTUS TO TEMPORARILY BLOCK BIDEN’S STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT PROGRAM

When asked about the sexual encounter with his former law clerk during the investigation, Kindred lied to Chief Judge Mary Murguia, the Special Committee and the Council, denying the encounter ever happened until he was put under oath, according to the judges’ order.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, wrote on social media that Kindred’s resignation “is more than appropriate.”

“Judges need to be held to the highest of standards and Mr. Kindred fell well short of that mark,” Murkowski wrote. “I will be working quickly to advance a replacement nominee for consideration.”

Though Kindred has resigned, the matter is not closed. The council referred the case to the Judicial Conference to consider impeachment.

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Kindred was appointed to the position by former President Trump in 2019 and was sworn into office in 2020.