NationalWatch

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is in the Trump running mate spotlight.

The Army veteran, who served in combat in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars before becoming a rising star in Republican Party politics, has been viewed as a potential running mate since he endorsed the former president in early January, two weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

But buzz about the senator intensified following a slew of media reports in late May that Cotton was moving up on Trump’s list for the GOP’s vice presidential nomination.

“I speak to President Trump and his senior team pretty regularly about the campaign and that we’re doing everything we can to set him up for success,” Cotton said this past week in an interview with Fox News Digital.

TRUMP GIVES A HINT ABOUT HIS RUNNING MATE

But Cotton emphasized that “we haven’t talked about the vice presidential choice.”

“I suspect there’s only one person who knows who’s genuinely on his short list and who he’s going to choose and that’s President Trump, and I’m confident that with a great roster of Republicans that he’s going to make a good choice at the right time,” the senator added.

Asked if he’d say yes if Trump offered him the running mate slot, Cotton said, “I do love my job in the United States Senate. It’s a privilege and an honor to serve the people of Arkansas and the people of our nation, but of course, any patriot if asked by the President of the United States to serve in another capacity, would have to seriously entertain it.”

TRUMP ACCELERATES VETTING OF RUNNING MATES

The 47-year-old Cotton has built a reputation during his tenure in Congress as a conservative hardliner and a small-government Republican.

“He’s articulate. He’s smart. I feel like he’s right in the heart of what the party is and wants right now,” longtime Republican strategist David Koch told Fox News when asked about Cotton’s political attributes.

Koch, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, added that Cotton is young and that “he does the work. He’s a workhorse, not a show horse… He’s sharp and is going to be a good debater.”

Pointing to Cotton’s military service and his position on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Koch added, “I think his credibility on foreign policy is pretty important.”

Among the potential drawbacks — the obvious. As a white male, Cotton would bring no added diversity to the Republican national ticket. 

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Another issue — he hails from a reliably red state. But he is far from the only potential running mate contender who lives in a state where Republicans dominate the political landscape.

Cotton was interviewed by Fox News as he made a stop in New Hampshire to help campaign with former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who is the frontrunner for this year’s Republican gubernatorial nomination in the race to succeed retiring Gov. Chris Sununu.

Cotton is no stranger to New Hampshire, the state that for a century has held the first primary in the race for the White House.

The senator made two stops in the Granite State in 2020 on behalf of then-President Trump’s re-election campaign. And he was a frequent visitor in 2021 and 2022 to campaign on behalf of Republicans running in the midterm elections and to test the waters on a possible 2024 White House bid. 

But days before the 2022 midterms, Cotton announced he wouldn’t run for the White House in 2024.

And in his first interview after announcing his decision, the senator emphasized why he didn’t run.

“Family was really the only consideration,” Cotton said at the time.

The senator and his wife, Anna, are the parents of two young boys.

“My boys are ages 7 and 5. They’re old enough to know that dad’s gone and be sad about it, but not old enough to understand the purpose and why it all matters and why the sacrifice is worth it,” Cotton said at the time. “I am pretty sure Republican voters can find another nominee, but I know that my sons can’t find another dad for the next two years.”

The senator added that “over the next two years, my 7-year-old will learn to hit the fastball and my 5-year-old will learn to read, and I want to be there to teach them both.”

But Cotton didn’t rule out a White House bid in the future.

Fast-forward nearly two years, and Cotton reiterated that he “closed the chapter on national race at the time but my wife and I didn’t necessarily close the book” on a presidential campaign in 2028 or beyond. 

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

With President Biden’s decidedly lacking debate performance and subsequent polling downturn, what was an already difficult fight to preserve a Democratic majority in the Senate could be reliant on a resurgence of voters willing to select candidates of different parties for various positions. 

Democrats face a particularly difficult Senate election map, with multiple incumbents in swing states seeking another term. They also only have a remarkably slim 51-49 majority over their Republican counterparts, who enjoy a much more favorable map this cycle.

UNDERDOG DEM USING DAVE CHAPPELLE SHOW TO GAIN EDGE IN PIVOTAL SWING STATE

“If a candidate feels like the presidential candidate is going to lose his or her state, naturally they have to figure out ways to create distance between themselves and the presidential candidate,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

TAMMY BALDWIN WILL STICK TO STATE TOUR INSTEAD OF JOINING BIDEN DURING WISCONSIN VISIT

According to data compiled by the center, split-ticket voting across the presidency and the Senate was most popular in the 1970s and 1980s and more often benefited Democrats, who have been able to frequently score Senate seats in states where Republican presidents won. But the practice has been declining in recent decades. 

Per Kondik, this downward trend could make things harder for vulnerable Democrats in the current environment. 

PRESSURE MOUNTS ON BATTLEGROUND STATE DEMS AFTER BIDEN DEBATE DISASTER

The campaigns of Senate Democrats in tough races will likely look different from those of the president or of a Democrat in a safer seat, according to one expert. “As long as Senate Democrats continue to run ahead of Biden in their states, the candidates are likely to stop short of completely linking themselves to Biden to avoid being pulled down,” said Madison Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.

GOP SENATE CANDIDATE TIES OPPONENT TO BIDEN DEBATE: BOB CASEY KNEW

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“But the calculus is probably different in swing states such as Pennsylvania than in red states such as Montana,” he explained. “As a political misfit in his state, Jon Tester has always needed to portray an identity that is somewhat independent of the national Democratic Party, so 2024 will be no different. In contrast, Bob Casey’s fate depends more on Biden having a good showing in Pennsylvania, so he will probably remain an enthusiastic supporter.”

Republican strategist Doug Heye noted, “No elected Democrat — safe seat or in-play — wants to be first to state the obvious about President Biden’s state of health,” referencing the relative silence of at-risk Democrats amid Biden’s poor debate performance against former President Trump last month.

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

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, said Saturday that President Biden could make a decision within days on whether he stays in the presidential election race to seek a second term.

This comes after Green participated in a recent meeting with Biden and nearly two dozen fellow Democrat governors amid concerns about the president’s re-election campaign, following the president’s shaky debate performance last month against former President Donald Trump.

“I think the president stays in this race unless he feels that it is not winnable, or he feels that he has to hear other voices in his inner circle that he shouldn’t run,” Green, whose family has known the president for years, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “If the president felt that he wasn’t up to it and truly not up to it, he would step down.”

“We’ll probably know in the next couple of days how the president feels about all this,” he added.

TOP DEMS PLANNING MEETING ABOUT BIDEN’S FUTURE DESPITE PRESIDENT’S VOWS TO CONTINUE CAMPAIGN

Green said he believes Biden should be allowed to pick who should replace him on the ticket if he were to exit the race and that the president would likely designate Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.

“I think it’s very clear that the Democratic Party would be ecstatic overall to have the president designate his vice president if it came to that,” Green said.

Harris “is a powerful person, she is also a thought-leading woman, she’s an African American who was [California’s] attorney general,” Green said. “There are no credentials that are better than what the current vice president has.”

Biden, 81, has repeatedly insisted over the past week and a half that he will remain in the race, including in an interview with ABC News that aired Friday night.

But concerns about the president’s mental acuity have been raised, including by members of his party, since his debate performance. Some Democrats have called on Biden to leave the presidential race, while others in the party, particularly governors, have said they continue to support his re-election.

Green said his prediction for the president to make a decision within a few days takes into account expected pressure that could be placed on the president when congressional lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is working to gather support from Democrat senators, aiming for a meeting on Monday, to discuss pressuring Biden to drop out of the presidential race. Additionally, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is leading a virtual meeting with top Democrats on Sunday, with leaders expected to discuss the path forward for Biden’s campaign.

“I really, honestly think that he has to make the decision,” Green said. “And it should not come from another governor. It should not come from anyone but the closest, closest advisers to him and his own heart.”

Green also highlighted that Trump, who is 78-years-old and the biggest threat to Biden’s re-election, is only three years younger than Biden and that both will experience cognitive lapses going forward.

But, Green argued, temperament is more important than age in the presidential race.

“For God’s sake, these two guys have to hold the nuclear codes. I don’t want someone who tweets in the middle of the night and rages at other countries,” Green said, referring to Trump. “That is not good. That’s not the problem we have with President Biden.”

Green, who was a physician before moving to the governor’s mansion, said everyone has elderly parents or grandparents who experience pauses in their ability to express themselves clearly or other mental lapses, but that they are not pushed aside since they still possess great experience and wisdom and have a role in the family.

“That’s why I’m standing by the president until he tells me otherwise,” Green said.

Green also offered some insight into the meeting with Biden and other Democrat governors. Green said he asked Biden about his health, to which the president responded by saying everything was fine except for his brain.

FORMER OBAMA ADVISER LAMENTS BIDEN’S ABC INTERVIEW: ‘DENIAL, DELUSION, DEFIANCE.’

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The comment from Biden, which was previously made public, was made in jest, according to Green, who said that context was lost when leaked by other people.

“It was absolutely a joke, and in order to make a self-deprecating joke, you have to have intact cognitive function, period,” Green said.

Green also pushed back on claims that advisers set up the meeting to have governors supportive of Biden speak first to quell any critics. The Hawaii governor said the reality was that the meeting featured a very candid, unscripted conversation with governors of differing perspectives.

“That call had just like you’d expect in a coffee shop, a few people mouthed off, a few people, you know, probably excessively praised the president, but almost everybody was just trying to see, ‘Are we OK?’” Green said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden claimed Thursday he’s been  “in and out of battles” while addressing an audience of military service members and their families at Thursday’s White House Fourth of July Barbecue. 

“And by the way, I’ve been all over the world with you. I’ve been in and out of battles,” the president, who never served in the military, though as Commander-in-Chief, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine in February 2023 and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in October 2023.

It’s not the first time Biden has come under fire for remarks to military service members. In 2019, Biden came under fire for conflating and misrepresenting war stories after the Washington Post exposed a “moving but false war story” told on the campaign trail. Biden, then the former vice president and candidate for president, later defended what he said, saying the “central point” was accurate. 

Veterans 4 America First Institute, a non-profit veterans’ group, responded to Biden’s Fourth of July claims in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Peter O’Rourke is a former Acting Secretary for Veterans Affairs under President Trump and a veteran of both the Air Force and Navy. Darin Selnick, Former Veteran Affairs Advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council, is also a former Air Force veteran. They both currently serve veterans in their roles with Veterans 4 America First.

GOLD STAR FAMILY SPEAKS OUT AFTER BIDEN FALSELY CLAIMS NO TROOPS HAVE DIED ON HIS WATCH: ‘SHAME ON YOU’

“It’s always bad form when a politician tries to make it about themselves and somehow equate their service with the service of those men and women who serve,” Selnick said. “So the only one who has been in battle are the men and women who served, not President Joe Biden.”

DEM GOVERNOR AND TOP BIDEN SURROGATE URGES PRESIDENT TO ‘CAREFULLY EVALUATE’ HIS PATH FORWARD

“The men and women who serve have been all over the world in battle. So just keep it to that. Don’t try to equate what you’re doing with that, cozy up and and and that sort of thing. Just speak about the servicemen and women, think about the country; don’t make it about you. That’s the sad part, because every time Joe Biden speaks he always somehow tries to make it about him,” Selnick added.

“…every time Joe Biden speaks he always somehow tries to make it about him.” 

— Darin Selnick

Former Acting Secretary of the VA Peter O’Rourke also critiqued the president’s claim.

“I think the disappointment Darin and I both share is the continued disrespect, whether it’s examples of veterans that have been harmed in ways that don’t make a lot of sense, or just not really providing the efforts that we’d love to see our presidents give when it comes to articulating their concerns or their feelings toward veterans,” he said. 

O’Rourke continued, saying, “we saw this example, trying to find every opportunity to politicize, trying to sneak in a jab at his political opponent on a day where really, we should just be celebrating our independence. He was there to recognize and honor both veterans and active duty members.”

Veterans 4 America First Institute supports former President Trump for his military policy in November’s presidential election. Selnick told Fox News Digital, “we’re in a very crucial time both for the military and for the veterans who have left the military. We need a commander in chief that’s going to move things forward and do what’s right, for the veterans, and for the American people.”

Selnick added, “and that’s why we need Donald J. Trump back as commander-in-chief, because under him, we had a thriving military.”

Veterans 4 America First Institute’s mission as listed on their website is “To preserve and expand our nation’s commitment to our Veterans, military, and their families through public education and advocacy.”

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The White House has not responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Top Democratic congressional leaders are planning to hold a meeting to discuss President Biden’s fledgling re-election campaign, even as Biden himself has struck a defiant tone amid calls to drop out of the race.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is leading a virtual meeting with top Democrats on Sunday, with leaders expected to discuss the path forward for Biden’s campaign, according to an NBC News report that has been confirmed by Fox News.

The meeting will feature Jeffries and top committee Democrats, a person familiar with the arrangement told Fox News, but will not be a meeting of the full Democratic caucus. 

CRITICS PILE ON BIDEN FOLLOWING ABC INTERVIEW, BLAST HIS REFUSAL TO COMMIT TO COGNITIVE TEST: ‘DISQUALIFYING’

The meeting comes after Biden’s 22-minute interview with ABC News on Friday, which the Biden campaign hoped would ease fears that the president doesn’t have what it takes to continue the campaign and defeat former President Donald Trump in December. Instead, the interview set off a new round of fears among Democrats who were already concerned by Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week.

“Look, Biden looked better and certainly more coherent than he looked during the debate, but there’s nothing in this interview that is calming the nerves of jittery Democrats who fear that Joe Biden is on a trajectory to lose this race, to lose to Donald Trump,” ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl said after the interview.

Biden, however, struck a defiant tone, saying at one point that he would not drop out unless “the Lord Almighty were to come down and say, ‘Joe, get outta the race.'”

But Democrats, many of whom have expressed fears a lackluster performance by Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket and cost the party Congressional seats, are seemingly not persuaded.

PRESIDENT BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WEEKEND OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER

The meeting of House committee leaders, which is slated for 2 p.m. Sunday, is not part of any regularly scheduled meeting for top Democrats, NBC reported. Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is organizing a meeting among Democratic senators next week to discuss Biden’s electability and the potential fallout for down-ballot races.

While some Democrats have kept concerns about the president’s electability private, a growing number have publicly called on Biden to step aside.

Meanwhile, Biden defenders such as Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., have urged others not to panic. Fetterman told NBC News that he “can’t think of a single situation where panicking or freaking out has made a situation better.”

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“He’s the one person who has beaten Trump before,” Fetterman said of Biden.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

President Biden’s White House staff is the largest since former President Richard Nixon’s and has seen a turnover rate of 77% since he took office in 2021.

The White House boasts 565 staffers at a price tag of nearly $61 million, a slight increase from the record-setting 560 staffers Biden had his first year in office, according to a report from Open the Books.

Biden is the first president to boast over 500 staffers since Nixon, the report noted, a staff that was so big that Time magazine declared in 1971 that it was growing with “startling rapidity.”

BIDEN REPEATEDLY DODGES QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER HE’D TAKE NEUROLOGICAL TEST: ‘NO ONE SAID I HAD TO’

First Lady Jill Biden’s staff has ballooned to 24 in 2024, matching the often-criticized count of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s staff in 2009 and more than doubling the number on hand for former First Lady Melania Trump, which maxed out at 11.

The first lady’s staff, which includes advisers in foreign policy, education and healthcare, comes in at a price tag of $2.5 million, the report notes.

The staff employed by President Biden far outstrips the number on hand at the same time in the presidencies of his immediate predecessors, with former President Donald Trump employing a staff of 413 in Fiscal Year 2020, and former President Barack Obama boasting a staff of 468 in Fiscal Year 2012.

BIDEN TAKES BLAME FOR ‘BAD NIGHT’ IN DEBATE AGAINST TRUMP: ‘MY FAULT, NO ONE ELSE’S FAULT’

Meanwhile, the president’s current payroll of $60.8 million also outstrips the highs seen under both Trump and Obama, with Obama’s highest payroll coming in at an inflation-adjusted $58.3 million, and Trump’s at an inflation-adjusted $52.2 million.

Biden’s highest paid staffer is Michelle Barrans, an associate counsel who is “on detail” from the Securities and Exchange Commission and receives a salary of $251,258. The second-highest-paid is Farah Ahmad, a special advisor for economic development, who pulls in $191,900.

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But Biden has also seen overwhelming turnover since he took office in 2021, with 435 of the initial 560 employees having left from when the numbers were first reported. 

Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a White House spokesperson acknowledged a nine percent increase in staff from last year, noting that the increase was “primarily driven by building out teams with a certain policy focus, such as the Office of Pandemic Preparedness & Response Policy and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.”

“Over the last year, the White House also filled vacancies across various departments — and these vacancies were not reflected in the July 1, 2023, report,” the spokesperson added.

Democratic Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts, a top surrogate for President Biden as he seeks a second term in the White House, is urging the president to “carefully evaluate” his path forward in the wake of his disastrous debate performance last week.

Healey, in a statement Friday, didn’t call on the president to end his re-election bid, as other Democrats have done. But her statement was far from a forceful defense of the embattled Democratic Party standard-bearer.

“President Biden saved our democracy in 2020 and has done an outstanding job over the last four years. I am deeply grateful for his leadership. And I know he agrees this is the most important election of our lifetimes,” Healey wrote.

PRESIDENT BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WEEKEND OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER

And the governor of the reliably blue New England state said that “the best way forward right now is a decision for the President to make. Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump.”

“Whatever President Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump,” the governor emphasized.

BIDEN RAMPS UP SPENDING IN BID TO STEADY HIS FALTERING CAMPAIGN

Healey traveled to the nation’s capital on Wednesday to attend a White House meeting with the president. She was one of roughly two-dozen Democratic governors who huddled with the president. 

Sources with knowledge of the meeting say Biden faced questions about his health, stamina, and political viability going forward.

Speaking with reporters following the meeting, Democratic Governors Association chair and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Maryland Gov Wes Moore boosted Biden with supportive comments.

But Moore also noted that “we always believe that when you when you love someone, you tell them the truth. And I think we came in, and we were honest about the feedback that we were getting. We were honest about the concerns that we are hearing from people.”

WHAT BIDEN SAID ABOUT HIS DEBATE PERFORMANCE 

Healey did not speak to reporters at the White House after the meeting and Friday’s statement is her first since the gathering with Biden.

As first reported by the New York Times, Healey told her fellow governors and the president’s top staff that his political position is “irretrievable” following his dismal debate performance.

Biden’s halting delivery and stumbling answers during the debate with Trump sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers and some party donors for Biden to step aside as the party’s 2024 standard-bearer.

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This week, three House Democrats publicly called on Biden to step aside from his re-election bid, while more than a dozen Democratic members of Congress and governors publicly raised serious concerns about whether Biden could continue as the party’s standard-bearer.

As he frantically fights to salvage his campaign following last week’s debate, the next couple of days may determine if Biden can survive or fall victim to a rising tide of calls from within his own party to end his re-election bid.

The 81-year-old Biden, the oldest president in the nation’s history, will need to show Americans that he still has the stamina and acuity to handle the toughest and most demanding job in the world — and prove to Democrats that he has the energy and fortitude to defeat Trump.

At a rally on Friday afternoon in battleground Wisconsin, Biden reiterated that he’s staying in the race.

“You probably heard that I had a little debate last week. Can’t say it is my best performance, but ever since then, there’s been a lot of speculation. What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? What’s he going to do? Well, here’s my answer. I am running and gonna win again,” Biden told cheering supporters in Madison, Wisconsin’s capital city.

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

Polling expert Nate Silver is calling for President Biden to step down following his Friday night ABC News interview. 

The 22-minute interview with George Stephanopoulos was intended to calm the president’s critics following his disastrous debate performance last month — but Silver claimed the back-and-forth made him look even worse.

“This is a pretty incoherent answer including a non-sequitur [complaining] about a New York Times poll, which he incorrectly claims had him down 10 points before the debate (it was actually 3 or 4 points, depending on which version you look at),” Silver said about a clip of Biden describing how he felt throughout the debate.

BIDEN REPEATEDLY DODGES QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER HE’D TAKE NEUROLOGICAL TEST: ‘NO ONE SAID I HAD TO’

Silver — who had written a morning column about Biden’s campaign earlier that Friday — claimed he had “wimped out” and deleted a line urging the president to begin transitioning the campaign to Vice President Kamala Harris.

But the pollster said that following the ABC interview, he believed it was time to begin preparations for a new candidate.

“I wimped out in today’s column and deleted a line saying he should formulate a plan to transition the presidency to Harris within 30-60 days, but I’m there now,” Silver said. “Something is clearly wrong here.”

BIDEN TAKES BLAME FOR ‘BAD NIGHT’ IN DEBATE AGAINST TRUMP: ‘MY FAULT, NO ONE ELSE’S FAULT’

“The most generous way to put it is that he doesn’t seem in command, and that’s an extremely hard sell when you’re Commander in Chief,” Silver concluded — adding that he believes “Democrats will apply incredible amounts of pressure” to make the president resign.

Biden claimed during his interview that his poor performance and concerning disposition was caused by a mix of fatigue and illness.

The president spent almost an entire week at Camp David in preparation for the debate following a long trip to Europe that included an event in France to honor the anniversary of D-Day.

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Democratic allies continue to press Biden to step down from the 2024 presidential race, claiming he is suffering a mental decline that jeopardizes the election.

The Biden administration and lawmakers loyal to the president have rejected such claims, repeatedly telling critics that the president remains sharp and only suffered a one-time episode during the debate.

As calls for President Biden to be replaced in the 2024 race for the White House strengthen, some lawmakers and liberal pundits believe Vice President Kamala Harris has what it takes to challenge former President Donald Trump in November — despite the questionable positions she took during her own 2020 presidential campaign.

“The reality is if you’re even going to have a conversation about who’s next, if Kamala Harris, the sitting vice president, is not the first and last name out of your mouth, then tell me how you’re going to get Black voters to engage when you change the rules to accommodate somebody other than her,” political strategist Basil Smikle said during a recent appearance on “MSNBC Reports.”

The possibility of Harris replacing Biden, however, has led to questions about how successful she would be in a general election matchup against Trump, who Biden has suggested is “determined to destroy American democracy.”

During her 2020 presidential campaign, which launched in January 2019, Harris faced intense criticism and scrutiny for her record as a prosecutor and as attorney general of California.

GROWING NUMBER OF HOUSE DEMS LOOK TO KAMALA AS POSSIBLE BIDEN REPLACEMENT

Lara Bazelon, a University of San Francisco associate law professor, suggested at the time that efforts to paint Harris as a “progressive prosecutor” didn’t match her actions as district attorney of San Francisco and then California’s attorney general.

“Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent,” Bazelon wrote for The New York Times amid Harris’ 2020 campaign launch.

“Most troubling, Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors,” she added.

Bazelon also listed multiple instances at the time when the then-Democratic senator for the Golden State failed to embrace criminal justice reforms — either opposing them or declining to state an opinion.

Harris’ record as a prosecutor, which failed to resonate with many voters in her party, also took center stage at a Democratic presidential primary debate in July 2019.

During the debate, then-presidential candidate and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, took aim at Harris and said she was “deeply concerned” about her record.

“Senator Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president, but I’m deeply concerned about this record,” Gabbard, now an independent, said at the time. “There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”

HIP-HOP MAGAZINE CALLS KAMALA HARRIS’ ‘PANDERING’ ATTEMPT AT VOTER APPEAL ON BET AWARDS ‘UNFLINCHINGLY CORNY’

Gabbard added, “She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California. And she fought to keep cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way.”

Defending her record as attorney general, Harris said she was “proud of that work” and insisted at the time that she “did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system of a state of 40 million people, which became a national model for the work that needs to be done.”

Responding to Harris, Gabbard said: “The bottom line is, Senator Harris, when you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people’s lives, you did not.”

Should the hypothetical of Harris replacing Biden become a reality for Democrats, it is unclear how the positions she once held, some of which weren’t popular with members of her own party, will come into play in the election.

Harris raised eyebrows during her 2020 campaign when it came to her health care plan, which she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper would result in the removal of Americans from their private plans offered by employers.

Among the many other positions she took during her campaign, which ended in December 2019, Harris signaled her support for a ban on fracking and plastic straws. She also insisted she would “get rid of the filibuster to pass a Green New Deal” and that there would be a “carbon fee” if she were elected president.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN SAYS BIDEN’S FUNDRAISING CASH WOULD GO TO KAMALA HARRIS IF HE DROPS OUT AS TOP DONORS WAVER

During her campaign, Harris also pushed for a repeal of the tax cuts offered during Trump’s tenure in the White House and insisted “we’ve got to increase the corporate tax rate.”

Additionally, Harris said during her campaign that estate taxes “have to go up.”

Though many high-profile Democrats have been evasive since the president’s disastrous debate performance last week, a few House Democrats have voiced support for Harris stepping in to lead the party in the presidential contest.

“If our president decides this is not a pathway forward for him, we have to move very quickly. There’s not going to be time for a primary. That time is past,” Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., a member of the House’s progressive “Squad,” said during a recent radio interview. “The vice president is the obvious choice. She’s sitting right there.”

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., similarly told “MSNBC Reports” recently: “I want this ticket to continue to be Biden-Harris. This party should not, in any way, do anything to work around Ms. Harris. We should do everything we can to bolster her, whether she’s in second place or at the top of the ticket.”

The potential move has also received support from former Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who challenged Biden for the 2020 presidential nomination. Ryan’s recent op-ed for Newsweek was headlined, “Kamala Harris Should Be the Democratic Nominee for President in 2024.”

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On Independence Day, Biden told a crowd of supporters that he has no plans to drop out of the election, despite continued struggles and gaffes during unscripted events.

Democrats will officially nominate a candidate for president and vice president at next month’s Democratic National Convention, which is slated to take place in Chicago from Aug. 19-22.

Several incumbent Democrats who are fighting to win re-election in November have been reluctant to sound off on President Biden’s debate performance against former President Trump last month or whether he should be the Democratic nominee. 

The campaigns for Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bob Casey, D-Penn., did not provide comment on the debate or any concerns they have to Fox News Digital in time for publication. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., told Fox News Digital, “There is a clear choice for voters this November between an administration focused on lowering costs, growing the middle class and restoring reproductive freedom and Trump’s MAGA agenda that would ban abortion and devastate hardworking Nevada families.”

UNDERDOG DEM USING DAVE CHAPPELLE SHOW TO GAIN EDGE IN PIVOTAL SWING STATE

“Senator Rosen is focused on her own re-election campaign and continuing her track record as one of the most bipartisan, independent and effective Senators,” the statement continued, without mentioning Biden. 

The campaign did not address Fox News Digital’s questions on Biden’s debate showing or his status on the Democratic ticket. 

“Considering she has voted with Joe Biden on 100% of his disastrous Bidenomics policies, it is hardly surprising that Jacky Rosen refuses to call for him to step down as leader of her party, regardless of how impaired he appears to be,” said Kristy Wilkinson, a spokesperson for Sam Brown, the Republican Senate candidate in Nevada and a former U.S. Army captain. 

TAMMY BALDWIN WILL STICK TO STATE TOUR INSTEAD OF JOINING BIDEN DURING WISCONSIN VISIT

A spokesperson for Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., referred Fox News Digital to a comment she gave to a local outlet, the Capital Times, in which she claimed she is still supportive of Biden but is “running her own race for the people of Wisconsin.” 

“Sen. Baldwin’s silence speaks volumes. After voting with him 95.5% of the time, we can only assume Sen. Baldwin still thinks President Biden is fit for the job—a fact that says as much about her judgment as her rubber stamp support for the failed inflation-and-open-borders Biden agenda,” said Ben Voelkel, spokesperson for Wisconsin Republican Senate frontrunner Eric Hovde, in a statement.

Tester, whose race is rated as a “Toss Up” by non-partisan political handicapper the Cook Political Report, alongside those of Rosen and Brown, didn’t comment on the debate or Biden’s status on the ticket to a local Montana outlet either. The Wisconsin and Pennsylvania races are considered “Lean Democratic.”

However, a Tester spokesperson reportedly told the Montana Free Press, “Sen. Tester has always worked with President Trump when it was good for Montana and stands up to President Biden when it doesn’t work for Montana. He’ll do whatever it takes to defend Montana regardless of who is in the White House,” while avoiding questions about Biden’s performance and likely position as the Democratic nominee.

PRESSURE MOUNTS ON BATTLEGROUND STATE DEMS AFTER BIDEN DEBATE DISASTER

A spokesperson for the Republican Senate candidate in Montana, Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, pointed Fox News Digital to posts on X criticizing Tester. In the posts, Sheehy slammed Tester for previous assurances of Biden’s ability and his failure to “hold him accountable.”

In Ohio, Brown told reporters following the debate that he was focused on his own race and not on the presidency. 

“Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance made it clear that he is unfit to lead, and it is pathetic that Sherrod Brown will not admit the truth,” Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Brown votes with Biden nearly 100% of the time and helped create the border invasion, dismal economy and chaos on the global stage that has occurred under this administration. Biden and Brown are forever politicians with over 100 years in office combined, and Ohioans will send them into retirement in November.”

GOP SENATE CANDIDATE TIES OPPONENT TO BIDEN DEBATE: BOB CASEY KNEW

When Casey was prompted by reporters following the debate, he said, “He had a bad night and debate, but I think people know what’s at stake.” But the senator did not elaborate. 

In a video shared to X by Casey opponent Dave McCormick’s campaign, the senator did not answer a question on whether Biden was still fit to be president. 

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, McCormick said, “Bob Casey, you’re really not worried about Biden’s ‘bad’ debate performance? The Pennsylvanians I’ve heard from sure are. Our troops deserve a Commander-in-Chief with the strength and acuity to lead in a crisis. Yet, here is Casey going back to his tired, old routine: protecting Biden and lying to Pennsylvanians.”

As both Biden and the vulnerable senators fight for re-election in critical swing states, the president has seen a drop in post-debate polls from the New York Times and Siena College and the Wall Street Journal. Among registered voters in the former survey, Trump won 49%-41%. With the same group in the latter, Trump similarly defeated the president 48%-42%. 

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

NEWFIELDS, N.H. — It’s been 24 years since a Republican carried the swing state of New Hampshire in a presidential election.

You have to go back to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 2000. Four years later, as he won re-election, then-President Bush was narrowly edged in the Granite State, kicking off a losing streak that has extended to the present day.

But in the wake of two recent polls that indicated a margin-of-error race in New Hampshire and following President Biden’s extremely rough debate performance nine days ago in his first primetime face-to-face showdown with former President Trump, Republicans are increasingly hopeful they can bring an end to the losing streak.

BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL STRETCH OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER

“I firmly believe that New Hampshire is very much in play,” Steve Stepanek, the senior Trump adviser in the state, told Fox News.

Former longtime state party chair and former Democratic National Committee member Kathy Sullivan disagreed, spotlighting that “New Hampshire is not Trump-friendly territory” and that “there’s nothing changing the dynamic now in terms of Biden versus Trump in New Hampshire.” 

BIDEN RAMPS UP SPENDING IN BID TO STEADY HIS FALTERING CAMPAIGN

Since the start of the general election rematch between Biden and Trump four months ago, much of the campaign spotlight has shined on the seven key battlegrounds that decided the 2020 election. Those states include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada — which Biden narrowly carried four years ago — and North Carolina, which Trump won by a razor-thin margin.

Starting in May, Trump’s campaign started eyeing Minnesota and Virginia, two blue-leaning states in presidential contests, with his top advisers saying they were “clearly in play.”

Trump headlined a Minnesota GOP fundraising gala later that month, and last week, on the day after his debate with Biden, Trump held a large rally in Virginia.

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 sparked a rising tide of calls from within his own party for him to step aside as its 2024 standard-bearer.

Fighting back, Biden is now aiming to show Americans that he still has the stamina and acuity to handle the toughest and most demanding job in the world and prove that he has the energy and fortitude to defeat Trump.

TOP NON-PARTISAN POLITICAL HANDICAPPER SHIFTS TWO STATES TOWARDS TRUMP

Earlier this week, well-known non-partisan political handicapper Sabato’s Crystal Ball shifted two key states towards Trump in the wake of the debate.

Michigan was shifted from “Leans Democrat” to “Toss-up” and Minnesota was moved from “Likely Democrat” to “Leans Democrat.”

In New Hampshire, a poll conducted after the debate by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center suggested that Trump was edging Biden by two points, which was within the survey’s sampling error. The poll followed a survey conducted in late May by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center which indicated Biden with a lower single-digit edge.

“I do think we are now in a battleground,” said Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. “You are likely to see states that are similar to ours that show it’s tied up or Trump has the lead.”

But pointing to the new poll, Levesque told Fox News that “the good news for Biden is he’s weak with the people who self-describe as very liberal. Just 67% support. That means, in the end, most likely many of those people are going to vote for Biden even if they don’t want to admit it right now.”

New England College president Wayne Lesperance, a veteran New Hampshire-based political science professor, also said that the state “is in play.”

“Biden’s performance at the most recent debate has pushed Democrats to question his ability to campaign, win and govern. Recent polls in New Hampshire point to continued rock-solid support by Republicans for Trump. Democratic support seems to be faltering with some looking at independent candidates,” Lesperance noted. “As long as questions remain about Biden’s ability to go forward, the President will continue to bleed support, putting the Granite State in play.”

TRUMP GETS BOOST IN POST-DEBATE POLLS AFTER BIDEN’S BOTCHED PERFORMANCE

While the polls indicate a close contest in a state Biden carried by seven points over Trump four years ago, the Democrats currently hold a very large organizational advantage over the GOP when it comes to ground-game operations.

The Biden re-election team and the state Democratic coordinated campaign have 14 field offices across New Hampshire, with boots on the ground since January. Meanwhile, the Trump team and the GOP currently have one field office in addition to the campaign’s state headquarters.

“New Hampshire Democrats will continue to use our robust, grassroots campaign infrastructure to reach Granite Staters in every corner of New Hampshire to ensure we come together and re-elect President Biden and Vice President Harris in November — the stakes could not be higher,” longtime state Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley emphasized in a statement.

But Stepanek, who chaired Trump’s 2016 campaign in New Hampshire before later serving as state GOP chair, touted that “there’s an army of Trump supporters out there, and they’re all coming out.”

“It’s going to be a turnout situation, and we feel we have a very significant ground game that’s going to turnout not only all the Trump supporters but all the Republicans and independents leaning Republican in spite of all the things the Democrats have on the ground here in New Hampshire,” Stepanek predicted.

And he argued that the Democrats “have a significant enthusiasm gap that they are contending with, and we don’t have that.”

As for specifics on how the Trump campaign will build out its ground game in New Hampshire, Stepanek answered, “My game plan I can’t tell you because it’s confidential.”

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Sullivan, a top Biden surrogate in New Hampshire, shot back, claiming that when it comes to ground-game operations, “Republicans always say they’re going to do something, and they never follow through.”

Sullivan pointed to the Democrats’ “incredibly strong ground game and seeing nothing on the ground from the Trump campaign.” She also spotlighted that “the issues like abortion, the Republicans are just not in the mainstream.”

“Between the ground game, the issues, the spending by the Biden campaign and the lack of any presence by the Trump campaign, I don’t see the Republicans catching up,” she predicted.

Sullivan also highlighted that they “got a real good head start when we had the write-in Biden effort,” as she referenced the outside effort by state Democrats that boosted the president to a large victory in New Hampshire’s unsanctioned Democratic presidential primary in January, where Biden wasn’t on the ballot.

And in a state where Trump’s GOP presidential primary rival, former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, won 43% of the vote — losing to Trump by only 11 points — Sullivan noted that “the Biden campaign is going to be reaching out to moderate to conservative Republicans who understand what a danger Donald Trump is to our democracy.”

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

House Republicans are already sharpening their attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris as public discussions swell over whether she will replace President Biden at the top of Democrats’ 2024 ticket.

GOP lawmakers — in both safe red seats and swing districts being targeted by the left — dismissed Harris as a political threat to their chances in November, arguing she’s still tied to the same progressive Biden policies they believe are unpopular with voters.

Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., who served as longtime chair of the New York Republican Party before coming to Congress, told Fox News Digital, “Kamala Harris is just as responsible for this administration’s failures, but she’s more incompetent.”

“She will make no difference to the outcome. President Trump will be our 47th,” he said.

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

A swing-seat Republican who asked not to be named told Fox News Digital they were skeptical Harris would do better on the debate stage than Biden. 

“I would say she’s the weakest part of the ticket right now, as bad as Biden is,” that GOP lawmaker said.

“Whether it’s Joe Biden or [Harris] at the top of the ticket, they’ll have to defend their abysmal, tax-and-spend record,” said Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla. “We’re already seeing significant Republican advantages across the board in swing states, especially increase in support from Hispanic voters.”

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., a Trump ally from a deep red district, told Fox News Digital that Biden and Harris “both own the same disastrous policies.”

It comes as conversations swirl around Harris as one of the most likely successors to Biden if he chooses to withdraw from the race ahead of his November rematch with former President Trump. 

WH AIDES, CAMPAIGN STAFF REPORTEDLY ‘MISERABLE’ AS PRESSURE BUILDS ON BIDEN TO DROP OUT

Biden and his campaign have insisted he will not bow out of the race, but his weak performance in last month’s presidential debate has left many on the left wondering if he’s the best positioned candidate to beat Trump. Multiple polls have shown Biden modestly trailing Trump since the debate aired.

Harris has maintained that she is standing by Biden on multiple occasions when asked about the speculation by reporters.

But if she were to take over, Harris would be the only Democratic candidate who could inherit the $240 million Biden-Harris campaign war chest.

The House GOP campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), is also aiming its fire at Harris as well, in a telling sign that it sees her as the next top Democratic target.

A new advertisement released by the NRCC this week cast Harris as Biden’s “enabler-in-chief” and hits her for her role as Biden’s “border czar.” 

HOLLYWOOD MEGADONOR CALLS ON DEMS TO ‘STOP GIVING’ MONEY UNTIL BIDEN DROPS OUT

A spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) told Axios of the ad, “Republicans are fooling themselves if they think the American public will blame anyone besides Donald Trump and his feckless band of Republican extremists and phony moderates who killed a bipartisan border deal.”

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A recent CNN/SSRS poll shows Harris performing slightly better than Biden in a matchup against Trump.

But when asked about her impact on the November races, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. — a past NRCC chair — would not speak to the vice president specifically, though he was confident in the GOP’s chances to secure the White House.

“It doesn’t matter which incompetent failure Democrats have on the ballot in November — voters are ready to abandon the sinking ship that is the Biden-Harris administration,” Emmer said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign and to Harris’ office for comment.

Former President Donald Trump has requested a partial pause in the classified documents case brought against him after a U.S. Supreme Court decision this week found that presidents have substantial immunity for official acts that occurred while they were in office. 

Lawyers for Trump asked a Florida court to pause all proceedings in the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith — except those that deal with Smith’s gag order request — until the judge can apply the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling to the facts of the case.

“Consistent with President Trump’s pending motion to dismiss based on Presidential immunity, the Supreme Court explained in Trump that it would ‘eviscerate the immunity we have recognized’ if a prosecutor could “do indirectly what he cannot do directly — invite the jury to examine acts for which a President is immune from prosecution to nonetheless prove his liability on any charge,” the Friday court filing states.

It adds: “Thus, ‘even when an indictment alleges only unofficial conduct,’ which is not the case here, prosecutors cannot ‘[u]se evidence’ of official acts. Based on this reasoning, like the trial court in the Trump case, Your Honor must undertake the ‘necessarily factbound analysis’ regarding whether alleged conduct ‘is official or unofficial.’”

TRUMP IMMUNITY CASE: SUPREME COURT RULES EX-PRESIDENTS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL PROTECTION FROM PROSECUTION

Trump referred to the filing as “a really bad day for Deranged Jack Smith, the wacko prosecutor used for Crooked Joe Biden’s attack on his Political Opponent,” in a Friday post on Truth Social.

“Today, as in the past, the Supreme Court gave the Deranged One a high level SPANKING! His ‘real’ bosses, Andrew Weissmann and Lisa Monaco, not to mention Merrick Garland, whose once great reputation has been shattered by these Thugs, and his constant defense of Crooked Joe, must be furious at him,” Trump wrote. “Garland ought to call an end to this never ending HOAX, and let people focus on bringing back Greatness to America!”

The high court on Monday in the case Trump v. United States ruled that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, but not for unofficial acts.

SCOTUS WEIGHS MONUMENTAL CONSTITUTIONAL FIGHT OVER TRUMP IMMUNITY CLAIM

In a 6-3 decision, the Court sent the matter back to a lower court, as the justices did not apply the ruling to whether or not former President Trump is immune from prosecution regarding actions related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The case considered by the court was separate from the classified documents case, although Smith is involved in both prosecutions.

“The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. 

Last month, Trump’s lawyers presented arguments over the legality of Smith’s appointment as special counsel and the limited gag order that prosecutors have requested to bar Trump from making comments that they say could endanger the safety of FBI agents and other law enforcement officials involved in the case.

JUSTICE ALITO QUESTIONS WHETHER PRESIDENTS WILL HAVE TO FEAR ‘BITTER POLITICAL OPPONENT’ THROWING THEM IN JAIL

Trump’s lawyers have said any speech restrictions would infringe on the former president’s free speech rights. Cannon initially rejected the prosecution’s request on technical grounds, saying Smith’s team had not sufficiently conferred with defense lawyers before seeking the restrictions. Prosecutors subsequently renewed the request.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon heard hours of arguments on June 24 from lawyers for both sides, with Trump attorney Emil Bove asserting that the Justice Department risked creating a “shadow government” through the appointment of special counsels to prosecute select criminal cases.

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Cannon did not make a decision on Friday and is expected to issue a written order on the matter in the coming days.

Trump faces charges stemming from Smith’s investigation into his possession of classified materials. He pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony counts from Smith’s probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

Trump was also charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment from the investigation, an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Former President Trump attempted to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 Friday, claiming he had nothing to do with it and that parts of it are “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”

Trump disavowed the effort in a post on Truth Social, saying he didn’t know who was behind the initiative that offers recommendations on how a future Republican president can begin to enact conservative changes upon entering office.

“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” Trump wrote. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

Portrayed as a blueprint for a future Republican administration to restructure many parts of the U.S. government, Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project, launched in April 2023 and is not associated with Trump’s campaign.

HERITAGE RECOMMENDS DOJ, FBI OVERHAUL FOR NEXT GOP PRESIDENT TO END ‘RADICAL LIBERAL AGENDA’

“As we’ve been saying for more than two years now, Project 2025 does not speak for any candidate or campaign,” a Project 2025 spokesperson told Fox News Digital when asked about Trump’s remarks. “We are a coalition of more than 110 conservative groups advocating policy and personnel recommendations for the next conservative president.

“But it is ultimately up to that president, who we believe will be President Trump, to decide which recommendations to implement.”

Trump’s decision to distance himself from Project 2025 came one day after Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts faced criticism from Democrats for his comments about a “second American Revolution” on former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s radio program.

“[W]e are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts said, adding that the “radical left” is “apoplectic” because “our side is winning.”

From overhauling the Justice Department and FBI to tackling issues like abortion and immigration, the effort led by the nation’s top conservative think tank is organized into specific chapters for different agencies.

Some of the chapters contained in Project 2025 were penned with the help of former Trump administration officials. For instance, the chapter on the Department of Homeland Security was written by a team led by former assistant acting DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, who argues the agency has become “bloated, bureaucratic, expensive and [has] lost sight of its mission priorities.”

Project 2025 has been used by the Biden campaign and other Democrats to target Trump’s candidacy in the 2024 race for the White House.

Ahead of last week’s debate, the Biden campaign projected a QR code in different places around Atlanta that led to a campaign page tying Project 2025 to Trump.

The Biden campaign described the effort as “the plan by Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican allies to give Trump more power over your daily life, gut democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office if he wins.”

CONSERVATIVE ORG PREPARES AGGRESSIVE PLAN FOR DHS OVERHAUL IF REPUBLICANS WIN WHITE HOUSE IN 2024

“Trump’s campaign advisors and close allies wrote it – and are doing everything they can to elect him so he can execute their playbook immediately,” the webpage stated.

Among many other claims, the Biden campaign said Project 2025 “Terminates the Constitution,” “Takes Away Reproductive Freedom Nationwide” and “Consolidates Power in the Oval Office.”

Project 2025 accused the Biden campaign of “obsessing” over the effort in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.

“Rather than obsessing over Project 2025, the Biden campaign should be addressing the 25th Amendment,” the spokesperson said.

Other Democrats have also slammed proposals outlined in Project 2025, including Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., who said the plan favoring America-first ideals is “un-American.”

“It’s really un-American,” Dean said during an appearance on “MSNBC Reports” last month. “If you take a look at it, what we pride ourselves on, agencies that support elected officials and government officials who are legislating for a president acting as executive.”

Dean also insisted Project 2025 organizers want to “replace civil servants.”

Despite the proposals outlined in Project 2025, Trump has outlined his own plans to restructure the government if he wins a second term, including staging the largest deportation operation in U.S. history and imposing tariffs on potentially all imports.

Trump’s campaign has previously warned outside allies not to presume to speak for the former president and suggested their transition-in-waiting efforts were unhelpful.

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Project 2025 includes several former senior Trump administration officials, including Paul Dans, the director of the project who served as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Trump; Russ Vought, who wrote one of the chapters and served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump; and John McEntee, a senior adviser for the project who previously served as director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump administration.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

At least eight advocacy groups have filed permit applications to demonstrate in the vicinity of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, while some organizations have sued the city for access to protest.

As unrest within the Democratic Party leads to conjecture of a situation similar to the infamous 1968 convention in the Windy City, Chicago agencies have remained largely tight-lipped about who has applied for permits and will be able to demonstrate.

Fox News Digital reached out to three city agencies in charge of permitting, the Parks District, Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the city Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

A representative for CDOT said that, under municipal code, permits are reviewed by multiple departments to screen for potential conflicts, safety issues and availability of necessary city resources.

STATE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS RALLY BEHIND BIDEN AFTER DEBATE, AS PARTY CHAIR SUGGEST GOP PULLS TRUMP

“When a permit is denied, the applicant is given an alternative route that allows the parade to proceed while accounting for police resources, security, safety, and other additional factors. Each application that is submitted is evaluated based on the specific details of the proposed routes and any events happening concurrently in the city,” the representative said.

The representative said the city of Chicago has no comment on specific permits or applicants for the convention, citing ongoing litigation.

CDOT also was the only agency to respond thus far to Freedom of Information Act requests from the city’s NBC affiliate seeking similar information, according to the outlet.

Groups that applied for CDOT permits included the Israeli American Council, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, U.S. Palestinian Community Network and the Students for a Democratic Society at University of Illinois-Chicago, according to WMAQ’s findings.

NV DEMS SUE TO KEEP RFK JR, GREEN PARTY FROM BALLOT

Without specifying further, the outlet reported that “objection” was written on some of the applications.

Fox News Digital reached out to several of the applicant organizations but did not receive responses by press time.

In May, nine organizations joined the ACLU in suing the city over a permit denial relating to abortion rights and LGBTQ issues, according to CBS News.

At the time, CDOT said the protest would cause substantial and unnecessary traffic disruptions outside the bounds of what police and the city can handle.

A member of Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws – one of the groups cited in applications obtained by WMAQ – told CBS that the city’s response was reminiscent of that of then-Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1968.

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Chicago law enforcement, however, has sought to reassure the public that a repeat of then-Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey’s nomination being marred by the so-called “Battle of Michigan Avenue” will be prevented.

“This will not be 1968,” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said in June. “[O]ur officers are being trained in the best way possible to respond to any level of civil unrest.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson harked back to his history of community organizing and has highlighted the importance of civil protest.

Johnson said his vision for the DNC is to have a “safe, energetic and vibrant convention.”

“I’m confident that we will be able to deliver that,” he said in public remarks. “As far as applications are concerned, there are parameters in which we are working … that individuals who wish to demonstrate – we’re asking those individuals work within those parameters.”

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Heckman contributed to this report.

President Biden repeatedly refused to reconsider his bid for re-election, time and again dismissing the concerns of those trying to pressure him to quit the 2024 White House race due to lagging poll numbers and concerns about his mental acuity during a high-stakes interview Friday.

Biden’s 22-minute sit-down with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos was taped earlier in the day but aired unedited. It was the 81-year-old president’s first televised sit-down since his debate against former President Trump last week.

At one point, Stephanopoulos informed Biden he was behind in the popular vote, and the president replied, “I don’t buy that.”

“I don’t think anybody is more qualified to be president or win this race than me,” Biden said when pressed about a race his opponent appears favored to win.

BIDEN TAKES BLAME FOR ‘BAD NIGHT’ IN DEBATE AGAINST TRUMP: ‘MY FAULT, NO ONE ELSE’S FAULT’

When asked if he had the mental acuity to be president another four years, Biden said, “I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t think I did.”

Biden also brushed off concerns about his mental fitness for office. When asked if he was being “honest” with himself about his own cognitive abilities, the president replied, “Yes, I am, because, George, last thing I want to do is not be able to meet that.”

But he was also evasive when asked about the possibility of taking a cognitive test and making those results public, something Biden’s Republican critics have long demanded.

“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I have a test. Everything I do,” Biden said. “You know, not only am I campaigning, I’m running the world. And that’s not — it sounds like hyperbole. But we are the essential nation in the world.”

When pressed again, Biden said, “I’ve already done it,” though he did not elaborate.

ABC’S GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS LANDS CRUCIAL INTERVIEW, PUTTING SPOTLIGHT ON HIS PARTISAN PAST 

Biden’s allies and critics were expected to be closely watching the interview after last month’s CNN debate raised lingering concerns about his viability as a candidate.

The president delivered a poor performance against his Republican rival, speaking with a hoarse voice he attributed to a cold and also frequently trailing off while speaking, appearing to lose his train of thought. 

On Friday, Biden insisted he had a “bad night” during the debate.

“I think the most charitable thing you can say about it is it’s way too little, too late,” Democratic strategist Julian Epstein, former chief counsel for Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital after the interview aired. 

“The president looks frail. He looks foggy. He looks weak. He looks like he is using every last ounce of energy that he may have to sort of barely get through.

“Most Democrats now, whether they’re saying it or not, realize that, you know, the Biden campaign is on death watch. And it’s a question of whether I think it will be, you know, early next week or after that.”

Biden said he blamed himself for how the debate went, but he also suggested some fault lies with Trump.

BIDEN DONORS ‘FREAKED OUT’ BY HIS RELIANCE ON TELEPROMPTERS AT PRIVATE FUNDRAISERS

“I was having a bad night when I realized that even when I was answering a question, even when they turned his mic off, he was still shouting, and I … I let it distract me. I’m not blaming it on that. But I realized that I just wasn’t in control,” the president said.

He also responded to questions about recent polls that show him behind Trump.

“All pollsters I talk to tell me it’s a toss-up. And when I’m behind … there’s only one poll I’m really far behind, CBS poll and NBC, I mean, excuse me,” Biden said, his last few words barely intelligible. 

Stephanopoulos then said The “New York Times and NBC, both have you about six points behind in the popular vote.”

“That’s exactly right. New York Times had me behind before anything having to do with this race, had me behind ten points. Ten points they had me behind. Nothing’s changed substantially in The New York Times poll,” Biden answered.

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Toward the end of the interview, Stephanopoulos asked Biden about the growing number of Democratic lawmakers suggesting he should step aside, and Biden pushed back.

“Look, I mean, if the Lord Almighty came out and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’ll get out of the race. The Lord Almighty’s not coming down,” the president said.

Former Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod wrote on X after the debate, “The president is rightfully proud of his record. But he is dangerously out-of-touch with the concerns people have about his capacities moving forward and his standing in this race.”

President Biden said former President Trump distracted him by “shouting” during their debate last week, behavior Biden said only added to his troubles during a disastrous performance.

“How quickly did it come to you that you were having that bad night?” ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked the president during an interview that aired Friday evening. 

“Well, it came to me I was having a bad night when I realized that even when I was answering the question, even though they turned his mic off, he was still shouting. And I let it distract me,” Biden said. “But I’m not blaming it on that, but I realized that I just wasn’t in control.” 

The ABC News interview marked Biden’s first sit-down interview since his widely panned debate performance, which included the president losing his train of thought, stumbling over his words and delivering responses in a raspy voice, something that the White House later blamed on a cold. 

BIDEN TAKES BLAME FOR ‘BAD NIGHT’ IN DEBATE AGAINST TRUMP: ‘MY FAULT, NO ONE ELSE’S FAULT’

The debate’s agreed-upon rules included turning off the microphone of the president or former president when the other was answering a question. At times, Trump was seen and heard speaking when his mic was turned off, but he was not heard or seen shouting at Biden during the first debate of the 2024 presidential election cycle. 

PRESIDENT BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WEEKEND OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER

The president’s performance during the debate sparked concern and panic within the Democratic Party. Traditional allies and media pundits quickly noted Biden appeared to be showing his age – 81 – during the showdown. The concern soon cascaded into media outlets, such as The New York Times, and elected Democratic officials calling on Biden to step out of the race. 

“The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant,” The New York Times editorial board wrote following the debate. “He struggled to explain what he would accomplish in a second term. He struggled to respond to Mr. Trump’s provocations. He struggled to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his lies, his failures and his chilling plans.

“More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence. Mr. Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a range of long-term challenges, and the wounds ripped open by Mr. Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election.“

BIDEN RAMPS UP SPENDING IN BID TO STEADY HIS FALTERING CAMPAIGN

Biden and his administration and campaign have worked to quell concerns about his mental acuity and age since last week, touting his series of campaign events immediately following the debate, as well as upcoming press conferences and continued appearances.

WHAT BIDEN SAID ABOUT HIS DEBATE PERFORMANCE 

The president admitted he performed poorly in the debate, including during the Stephanopoulos interview, summing it up as a “bad night” and a “bad episode.”  

“It was a bad episode,” Biden said. “No indication of a serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing. It was a bad night.”

He said the blame squarely falls on him, not those who prepped him going into debate night. 

“The whole way I prepared — nobody’s fault. Mine. Nobody’s fault but mine,” Biden said during the ABC News interview. “I prepared what I usually would do sitting down, as I did coming back with foreign leaders or the National Security Council, for explicit detail.” 

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Trump recently lambasted Biden’s debate performance in a video that appears to have been shot on a golf course earlier this week. 

“We kicked that old, broken down pile of crap,” Trump said in the video.

Despite calls from both Democrats and Republicans to bow out over concerns of mental acuity and age, Biden has vowed he will remain in the race. 

President Biden participated in his first sit-down news interview since his disastrous debate performance last week. 

He spoke on Friday to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, commenting on his “bad episode,” when it occurred to him that he was performing poorly at the debate and dodging repeated questions about taking a neurological test. 

Biden’s interview aired in full for the first time Friday evening, following mounting calls within the Democratic Party that Biden should bow out of the race due to concerns over his age and mental acuity. Biden has vowed to remain in the race despite traditional allies and legacy media outlets calling on him to pass the political baton to a younger Democrat contender.

Below is Biden’s full interview transcript with Stephanopoulos, as reported by ABC News:

BIDEN REPEATEDLY DODGES QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER HE’D TAKE NEUROLOGICAL TEST: ‘NO ONE SAID I HAD TO

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, thank you for doing this.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Thank you for having me.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s start with the debate. eh, You and your team said, have said you had a bad night. But your–

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Sure did.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But your friend Nancy Pelosi actually framed the question that I think is on the minds of millions of Americans. Was this a bad episode or the sign of a more serious condition?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It was a bad episode. No indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing and– and a bad night.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, you say you were exhausted. And– and I know you’ve said that before as well, but you came– and you did have a tough month. But you came home from Europe about 11 or 12 days before the debate, spent six days in Camp David. Why wasn’t that enough rest time, enough recovery time?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Because I was sick. I was feeling terrible. Matter of fact, the docs with me. I asked if they did a COVID test because they’re trying to figure out what was wrong. They did a test to see whether or not I had some infection, you know, a virus. I didn’t. I just had a really bad cold.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And– did you ever watch the debate afterwards?

DEMS ‘COMING TO TERMS’ THAT BIDEN ‘NOT IN CONTROL’ FOLLOWING DISASTROUS DEBATE: FORMER WH DOC

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don’t think I did, no.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, what I’m try– what I want to get at is, what were you experiencing as you were going through the debate? Did you know how badly it was going?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Yeah, look. The whole way I prepared, nobody’s fault, mine. Nobody’s fault but mine. I, uh– I prepared what I usually would do sittin’ down as I did come back with foreign leaders or National Security Council for explicit detail. And I realized–bout partway through that, you know, all– I get quoted the New York Times had me down, at ten points before the debate, nine now, or whatever the hell it is. The fact of the matter is, what I looked at is that he also lied 28 times. I couldn’t– I mean, the way the debate ran, not– my fault, no one else’s fault, no one else’s fault.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But it seemed like you were having trouble from the first question in, even before he spoke.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, I just had a bad night. You’ve had some bad interviews once in a while. I– I can’t remember any, but I’m sure you did.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I’ve had plenty. I guess the question of– the problem is here for a lot of Americans watching is, you’ve said going back to 2020, “Watch me,” to people who are concerned about your age. And, you know, 50 million Americans watched that debate. It seemed to confirm fears they already had.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, look. After that debate, I did ten major events in a row, including until 2:00 in the morning after the debate. I did events in North Carolina. I did events in—in in Georgia, did events like this today, large crowds, overwhelming response, no– no– no slipping. And so, I just had a bad night. I don’t know why.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And– how– how quickly did it– did it come to you that you were having that bad night?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, it came to me I was havin’ a bad night when I realized that even when I was answering a question, even though they turned his mic off, he was still shouting. And I– I let it distract me. I– I’m not blaming it on that, but I realized that I just wasn’t in control.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Part of the other concern is that– this seems to fit into a pattern of decline that has been reported on recently. New York Times had a headline on July 2nd, “Biden’s lapses are said to be increasingly common and worrisome.” Here’s what they wrote.

“People who’ve spent time with President Biden over the last few months or so said the lapses appear to have grown more frequent, more pronounced, and after Thursday d– Thursday’s debate, more worrisome. By many accounts, as evidenced by video footage, observation, and interviews, Mr. Biden is not the same today as he was even when he took office three-and-a-half years ago.” Similar reporting in The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. Are you the same man today that you were when you took office three-and-a-half years ago?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: In terms of successes, yes. I also was the guy who put together a peace plan for the Middle East that may be comin’ to fruition. I was also the guy that expanded NATO. I was also the guy that grew the economy. All the individual things that were done were ideas I had or I fulfilled. I moved on.

And so, for example, you know, “We-Well, that was true then, what’s Biden done lately?” Di-you-just just see today, just announced 200,000 new jobs. We’re movin’ in the direction that no one’s ever taken on. I know you know this from days in– in– in the– in the government.

I took on big pharma. I beat them. No one said I could beat them. I took on all the things we said we got done, were told we couldn’t get done. And part of it is what I said when I ran was I wanted to do three things: Restore some decency to the office, restore some support for the middle class instead of trickle down economics both from the middle out and the bottom up the way the wealthy still do fine, everyone does better, and unite the country.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But what has all that work over the last three-and-a-half years cost you physically, mentally, emotionally?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, I– I– I just think it cost me a really bad night, bad run, but, you know, I– George. I have– I’m optimistic about this country. I don’t think we’re a country of losers that he points out. I don’t think America’s in tough shape. I think America is on the cusp of breaking through in so many incredible opportunities.

In this next term, I’m gonna make sure we gotta– straighten out the tax system. I’m gonna make sure we’re in a situation where we have healthcare for all people, where we’re in a position where we have– have childcare and eldercare, free up– and all these things.

One thing I’m proudest of is, remember when my economic plan was put forward? A lot of the mainstream economists said, “This is not gonna work.” Guess what? We now have 16 Nobel laureates, 16 of ’em in economics saying that “Biden’s next term would be a sig– enor– based on what he wants to do, enormous success.” Trump’s plan would cause a recession and sig-nif– gi– increase inflation. I’ve made great progress, and that’s what I plan on doin’. And we can do this.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I– I– I understand that, and I’m not disputing that. What I’m asking you is– about your personal situation. Do you dispute that there have been more lapses, especially in the last several months?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Can I run the 100 in 10 flat? No. But I’m still in good shape.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you more frail?

BIDEN TAKES BLAME FOR ‘BAD NIGHT’ IN DEBATE AGAINST TRUMP: ‘MY FAULT, NO ONE ELSE’S FAULT’

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I know you

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Come keep my schedule. (LAUGH)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I know you spoke with your doctor after the debate. What did he say?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: He said he– just looked at me and said, “You’re exhausted.” That’s it. I have medical doctors travel with me everywhere. Every President does, as you know. Medical doctors, some of the best in the world travel with me everywhere I go. I have an ongoing assessment of what I’m doin’, and they don’t hesitate to tell me if they think there’s something wrong.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I know you said you have an ongoing assessment. Have you had a full neurological and cognitive evaluation?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I’ve had– I get a full neurological test everyday with me. And I’ve had a full physical. I had, you know, I mean, I– I’ve been at Walter Reed for my physicals. I mean–uhm yes, the answer.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I– I know your doctor said he consulted with a neurologist. I– I guess I’m asking– a slightly different question. Have you had the specific cognitive tests, and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No. No one said I had to. No one said. They said I’m good.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Would you be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation that included neurological and cognit– cognitive tests and release the results to the American people?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Look. I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Not– and that’s not hi– sounds like hyperbole, but we are the essential nation of the world.

Madeleine Albright was right. And every single day, for example, today before I came out here, I’m on the phone with– with the prime minister of– well, anyway, I shouldn’t get into detail, but with Netanyahu. I’m on the phone with the new prime minister of England.

I’m workin’ on what we were doin’ with regard to– in Europe with regard to expansion of NATO and whether it’s gonna stick. I’m takin’ on Putin. I mean, every day there’s no day I go through there not those decisions I have to make every single day.

PRESIDENT BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WEEKEND OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And you have been doing that and the American people have been watching, yet their concerns about your age and your health are growing. So that’s why I’m asking — to reassure them, would you be willing to have the independent medical evaluation?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Watch me between– there’s a lotta time left in this campaign. There’s over 125 days.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So the answer–

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: They’ll make a decision.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Right—the answer right now is, no, you– you don’t want to do that right now.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, I’ve already done it.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You talked a lot about your successes in– at the beginning of this interview. And– and I don’t want to dispute that, I don’t want to debate that. But– as you know, elections are about the future, not the past. They’re about tomorrow, not yesterday. And the question on so many people’s minds right now is, “Can you serve effectively for the next four years?”

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: George. I’m the guy that put NATO together, the future. No one thought I could expand it. I’m the guy that shut Putin down. No one thought could happen. I’m the guy that put together a South Pacific initiative with AUKUS. I’m the guy that got 50 nations out– not only in Europe, outside of Europe as well to help Ukraine.

I’m the guy that got Japanese to expand their budget. I’m the– so I mean, these– and, for example, when I decided we used to have 40% of computer chips. We invented the chip, the little chip, the computer chip. It’s in everything from cell phone to weapons.

And so, we used to have 40%, and we’re down to virtually nothing. So I get in the plane, against the advice of everybody, and I fly to South Korea. I convince them to invest in the United States billions of dollars. Now we have tens of billions of dollars being invested in the United States making us back in a position we’re gonna own that industry again. We have, I mean, I– I just– anyway. I’m– I don’t wanna take too much credit. I have a great staff.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But hold on. My– I guess my point is, all that takes a toll. Do you have the mental and physical capacity to do it for another four years?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I believes so, I wouldn’t be runnin’ if I didn’t think I did. Look, I’m runnin’ again because I think I understand best what has to be done to take this nation to a completely new new level. We’re on our way. We’re on our way. And, look. The decision recently made by the Supreme Court on immunity, you know, the next President of the United States, it’s not just about whether he or she knows what they’re doin’.

It’s– it’s– it’s not– not about a con– a conglomerate of people making decisions. It’s about the character of the President. The character of the President’s gonna determine whether or not this Constitution is employed the right way.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you a tougher, more personal question. Are you sure you’re being honest with yourself when you say you have the mental and physical capacity to serve another four years?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Yes, I am, because, George, the last thing I want to do is not be able to meet that. I think, as some of senior economist and senior foreign policy specialists say, if I stop now, I’d go down in history as a pretty successful President. No one thought I could get done what we got done.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But are you being with honest– with yourself as well about your ability to defeat Donald Trump right now?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You say that, and let me challenge you.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Sure.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Because you were close but behind going into the debate. You’re further behind now by– by any measure. It’s been a two-man race for several months. Inflation has come down. In those last few months, he’s become a convicted felon. Yet, you’re still falling further behind.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: You guys keep saying that. George, do you– look, you know polling better than anybody. Do you think polling data as accurate as it used to be?

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t think so, but I think when you look at all the polling data right now, it shows that he’s certainly ahead in the popular vote, probably even more ahead in the battleground states. And one of the other key factors there is, it shows that in many of the battleground states, the Democrats who are running for Senate and the House are doing better than you are.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: That’s not unusual in some states. I carried an awful lotta Democrats last time I ran in 2020. Look, I remember them tellin’ me the same thing in 2020. “I can’t win. The polls show I can’t win.” Remember 2024– 2020, the red wave was coming.

Before the vote, I said, “That’s not gonna happen. We’re gonna win.” We did better in an off-year than almost any incumbent President ever has done. They said in 2023, (STATIC) all the tough (UNINTEL) we’re not gonna win. I went into all those areas and all those– all those districts, and we won.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: All that is true, but 2020 was a close race. And your approval rating has dropped significantly since then. I think the last poll I saw was at about 36%.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Woah, woah, woah

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The number of Americans who think you’re too old to serve has doubled since 2020. Wouldn’t a clear-eyed political calculus tell you that it’s gonna be much tougher to win in 2024?.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Not when you’re running against a pathological liar. Not when he hadn’t been challenged in a way that he’s about to be challenged. Not when people–

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You’ve had months to challenge him.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Oh, sure, I had months, but I was also doin’ a hell of a lot of other things, like wars around the world, like keeping NATO together, like working– anyway. But look.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you really believe you’re not behind right now?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I think it’s in– all the pollsters I talk to tell me it’s a tossup. It’s a tossup. And when I’m behind, there’s only one poll I’m really far behind, CBS Poll and NBC, I mean, excuse me. And– uh–

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: New York– New York Times and NBC both have– have you about six points behind in the popular vote.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: That’s exactly right. New York Times had me behind before, anything having to do with this race– had me hind– behind ten points. Ten points they had me behind. Nothing’s changed substantially since the debate in the New York Times poll.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Just when you look at the reality, though, Mr. President, I mean, you won the popular vote– in– in 2020, but it was still deadly close in the electoral college–

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: By 7 million votes.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes. But you’re behind now in the popular vote.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don’t– I don’t buy that.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it worth the risk?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be President or win this race than me.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, the heart of your case against Donald Trump is that he’s only out for himself, putting his personal interests ahead of the national interest. How do you respond to critics who say that by staying in the race, you’re doing the same thing?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Oh, come on. Well, I don’t think those critics know what they’re talkin’ about.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: They’re just wrong?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: They’re just wrong. Look, Trump is a pathological liar. Trump is– he is– you ever seen anything Trump did that benefited sa– somebody else and not him? You can’t answer, I know.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I’ve– I’ve questioned him and his allies as persistently as any journalist has.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Oh, I know you have. I’m not being critical. I’m not being critical, but look, I mean, the man is a congenital liar. As I said, they pointed out in that debate, he lied 27– 28 times– times, whatever number, over 20 times. Talk about how good his economy was, how he brought down inflation, how– this is a guy who unlike– only other President oth– other than him is Hoover who lost more jobs than he created.

This is a guy who told us to put bleach in our arms to deal with COVID, with a million– over a million people died. This is a guy who talks about wantin’ to get rid of the healthcare provision we put in place. This is a guy who wants to give the power back to big pharma to be able to charge exorbitant prices for drugs. This is a guy who wants to undo every single thing I’ve done, every single– every single thing.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I understand that. I understand that’s why you want to stay in the race, but have you convinced yourself that only you can defeat him?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I convinced myself of two things. I’m the most qualified person to beat him, and I know how to get things done.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: If you can be convinced that you cannot defeat Donald Trump, will you stand down?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: (LAUGH)- It depends on– on if the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that, I might do that.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, if– I mean, on a more practical level, The Washington Post just reported in the last hour that Senator Mark Warner is– is assembling a group of Senators together to try and convince you to stand down, because they don’t think you can win.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, Mark is a good man. We’ve never had (UNINTEL). He also tried to get the nomination too. Mark’s not– Mark and I have a different perspective. I respect him.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And if Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi come down and say, “We’re worried that if you stay in the race, we’re gonna lose the House and the Senate,” how will you respond?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I– I’d go into detail with them. I’ve speaken (PH) to all of them in detail including Jim Clyburn, every one of ’em. They all said I should stay in the race– stay in the race. No one said– none of the people said I should leave.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But if they do?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, it’s, like, (LAUGH) they’re not gonna do that.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You’re sure?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, Yeah, I’m sure. Look. I mean, if the Lord Almighty came down and said, “Joe, get outta the race,” I’d get outta the race. The Lord Almighty’s not comin’ down. I mean, these hypotheticals, George, if, I mean, it’s all–

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But– but it’s– it’s– it’s not that hypothetical anymore. I– I– I– I grant that the– they have not k– requested a meeting, but it’s been reported–

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: But they– I met with them. I met with a lotta these people. I talk with them regularly. I had an hour conversation with Hakeem. I had more time (UNITEL)with Jim Clyburn. I spent time with many hours off and on in the last little bit with Chuck Schumer. It’s not like– I had all the governors– all the governors.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I agree that the Lord Almighty’s not gonna come down, but if– if– if you are told reliably from your allies, from your friends and supporters in the Democratic Party in the House and the Senate that they’re concerned you’re gonna lose the House and the Senate if you stay in, what will you do?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I’m not gonna answer that question. It’s not gonna happen.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: What’s your plan to turn the campaign around?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: You saw it today. How many– how many people draw crowds like I did today? Find me more enthusiastic than today? Huh?

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I mean, have– I don’t think you wanna play the crowd game. Donald Trump can draw big crowds. There’s no question about that.

BIDEN RAMPS UP SPENDING IN BID TO STEADY HIS FALTERING CAMPAIGN

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: He can draw a big crowd, but what does he say? Who– who does he have? I’m the guy supposedly in trouble. We raised $38 million within four days after this. Over– we have over a million individual contributors, individual contributors. That– that’s less than 200 bucks. We have– I mean, I’m not seen what you’re– you’re proposing.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You haven’t seen the– the fall-off in the polls? You haven’t seen the reports of discontent in the Democratic Party, House Democrats, Senate Democrats?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I’ve seen it from the press.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, I’ve heard from dozens of your supporters over the last few days, and a variety of views, I grant you that. But the prevailing sentiment is this. They love you, and they will be forever grateful to you for defeating Donald Trump in 2020.

They think you’ve done a great job as President, a lot of the successes you outlined. But they are worried about you and the country. And they don’t think you can win. They want you to go with grace, and they will cheer you if you do. What do you say to that?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I say the vast majority are not where that– those folks are. I don’t doubt there are some folks there. Have you ever seen a group– ta– time when elected officials running for office aren’t little worried? Have you ever seen that? I’ve not. Same thing happened in 2020. “Oh, Biden, I don’t know. Man, what’s he gonna do? He may bring me down, he may (PH).”

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, I’ve never seen a President 36% approval get reelected.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, I don’t believe that’s my approval rating. That’s not what our polls show.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And if you stay in and Trump is elected and everything you’re warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about. Look, George. Think of it this way. You’ve heard me say this before. I think the United States and the world is at an inflection point when the things that happen in the next several years are gonna determine what the next six, seven decades are gonna be like.

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And who’s gonna be able to hold NATO together like me? Who’s gonna be able to be in a position where I’m able to keep the Pacific Basin in a position where we’re– we’re at least checkmating China now? Who’s gonna– who’s gonna do that? Who has that reach? Who has– who knows all these pe…? We’re gonna have, I guess a good way to judge me, is you’re gonna have now the NATO conference here in the United States next week. Come listen. See what they say.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, thanks for your time.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Thank you. Appreciate it.