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The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s new liberal majority reversed a ruling that banned most ballot drop boxes, opening the door for election officials to reinstate their use in the swing state before November.  

In July 2022, the state Supreme Court, then under a conservative majority, held that absentee ballot drop boxes, which were used widely during the 2020 election, were not authorized under state statute and, therefore, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) guidance encouraging their use was unlawful. 

That case, known as Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, centered on a state statute that requires an absentee ballot be returned “to the municipal clerk” by one of two ways: by the elector mailing in the envelope or by the elector delivering the ballot in person to the municipal clerk. It upheld that state statute does not allow offsite, unattended drop boxes, and drop boxes could only be placed in local election clerks’ offices and no one other than the voter could return a ballot in person. 

In a 4-3 ruling on Friday, the state’s high court reversed course. 

ARIZONA ELECTION WORKER CHARGED IN SECURITY-RELATED THEFTS SEEN WITH DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS IN RESURFACED PHOTOS

Poll workers sort out early and absentee ballots at the Kenosha Municipal Building on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

Writing for the majority, Justice Anna Walsh Bradley, one of the court’s four liberal justices, argued that the state statute does not make a distinction between whether ballots can be delivered to inanimate objects, such as drop boxes, whose locations are determined by municipal clerks, or to the municipal clerks themselves.  

“Given this, the question then becomes whether delivery to a drop box constitutes delivery ‘to the municipal clerk’ within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 6.87(4)(b)1,” the majority wrote. “We conclude that it does. A drop box is set up, maintained, secured, and emptied by the municipal clerk. This is the case even if the drop box is in a location other than the municipal clerk’s office. As analyzed, the statute does not specify a location to which a ballot must be returned and requires only that the ballot be delivered to a location the municipal clerk, within his or her discretion, designates.” 

All three conservative justices dissented Friday, accusing the majority of politically motivated “activism.” 

“Intense partisan politics saturate our nation, exacerbated by a lack of institutional trust,” Justice Rebecca Bradley, who wrote for the minority, said. “The legitimacy of elections continues to be questioned, each side accusing the other of ‘election interference’ and ‘threatening democracy’ or even the very foundation of our constitutional republic. The majority’s decision in this case will only fuel the fires of suspicion.”    

“Whatever can be said of the majority’s decision, it ‘is not the product of neutral, principled judging,’” the dissenters said. “Although the majority attempts to package its disagreements with Teigen as legal, the truth is obvious: The majority disagrees with the decision as a matter of policy and politics, not law.”

Residents drop mail-in ballots in an official ballot box outside the Tippecanoe branch library on Oct. 20, 2020, in Milwaukee. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“The members of the majority believe using drop boxes is good policy, and one they hope will aid their preferred political party,” the minority continued. “Teigen upheld the historical meaning of Wis. Stat. § 6.87(4)(b)1., which bars the use of offsite, unmanned drop boxes. The majority in this case overrules Teigen not because it is legally erroneous, but because the majority finds it politically inconvenient. The majority’s activism marks another triumph of political power over legal principle in this court.” 

ELECTION OFFICIALS IN ALL 50 STATES URGED TO SEEK INFO FROM BIDEN ADMIN TO PREVENT NONCITIZENS FROM VOTING

In April 2023, Democratic-backed candidate Janet Protaswiecz’s victory flipped the Wisconsin state Supreme Court to liberal control under a 4-3 majority. Seeing an opening, Priorities USA, a progressive voter mobilization group, asked the court in February to revisit the July 2022 decision. The justices announced in March they would review the ban on drop boxes but would not consider any other parts of the case. 

The move drew the ire of the court’s conservatives, who accused the liberals of trying to give Democrats an advantage this fall. Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers in April urged the court to again allow drop boxes. Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature also intervened in the case, arguing that the justices should leave the 2022 ruling alone.

Wisconsin again figures to be a crucial swing state after President Biden barely won it in 2020 and Donald Trump narrowly took it in 2016.

An election worker drops a completed ballot into a ballot box inside City Hall on the first day of in-person early voting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Oct. 20, 2020. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump and Republicans have alleged that drop boxes facilitated cheating. Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Whatley weighed in on Friday’s ruling, arguing in a statement that the “new liberal majority on the Supreme Court overturned this recent precedent and opened the floodgates for drop boxes across the state just months before the presidential election.” 

“The Court did this after unnecessarily fast-tracking the case to issue this decision before the election,” Whatley said. “Make no mistake: this partisan decision handed down by a partisan Court gives Democrats a green light to dismantle election security safeguards and invite election fraud. The RNC’s unprecedented election integrity operation will continue fighting to ensure drop box safeguards are adopted and implemented.” 

Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell, who administers elections in Wisconsin’s most Democratic county, argued drop boxes make the election process more convenient and easier for rural and disabled voters and help reduce the number of ballots that arrive after Election Day too late to be counted.

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“Secure drop boxes provide a convenient alternative to mailing absentee ballots or returning them in person to an elections clerk,” McDonell said in a statement. “Drop boxes are a common sense tool that Dane County utilized safely and securely for many years prior to the 2022 ban.”

“Having drop boxes in place for the 2024 elections in August and November will encourage civic participation in our democracy,” he added. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Democrats met behind closed doors Sunday as pressure mounted on President Biden to drop out of the race.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., held a virtual meeting with ranking Democrats on House panels Sunday afternoon.

Fox News learned that multiple Democrats on House committees expressed concerns about the viability of Biden continuing to run for re-election against former President Trump.

Fox is told the consensus among most Democrats on the call who suggested Biden should abandon the race was that the party should focus on Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential successor.

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

President Biden has faced increasing pressure to step aside in the 2024 race. (Getty Images)

Which Democrats called for Biden to bow out, or what their level of apprehension about the current president continuing his run for a second term remains unclear.

The meeting was proposed 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.

Instead, the interview set off a new round of fears among Democrats who were already concerned by Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

BIDEN PANNED FOR NOT BEING CERTAIN ABOUT WHETHER HE WATCHED THE DEBATE: ‘HE DOESN’T KNOW???’

House Minority Speaker Hakeem Jeffries called a virtual meeting with ranking Democratic House Committee members to discuss President Biden.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“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.

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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.'”

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.

House Democrats launched a united effort to vote against a Republican-backed election bill that would require voters provide proof of citizenship to cast ballots in federal elections. 

Republicans are pushing the passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, otherwise known as the SAVE Act, which would amend the National Voter Registration Act, and require states to obtain proof of citizenship from voters for federal elections, as well as purge noncitizens from voter rolls. 

Democratic leadership is urging its House members to vote against the bill in the lead-up to the vote, saying it would place “an extreme burden [on] countless Americans” in order to vote. 

“As we’ve seen a number of times this Congress, House Republicans continue to irresponsibly call into question the credibility of our elections. Despite numerous recounts, challenges in court, and deep-dives by conservative think-tanks, there has been zero evidence of the widespread fraud that this bill purports to target. It is already illegal under current law for noncitizens to register to vote or to vote in federal elections,” the office of House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., wrote in a “whip question,” Axios first reported. The whip vote rounds up this coming weeks’ votes and outlines guidance regarding how Democratic House members should vote. 

‘TRAITORS’: MUSK CALLS FOR ULTIMATE PENALTY FOR THOSE OPPOSED TO REQUIRING VOTERS TO PROVE CITIZENSHIP

Rep. Katherine Clark speaks at the Mother’s Day press conference calling for action on health care and reproductive rights on May 8, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MomsRising)

“Democrats are urged to VOTE NO on H.R. 8281,” the whip question states. 

Republican House leadership, meanwhile, is urging the bill’s passage, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., posting on X that “the SAVE Act will safeguard our elections by ensuring only American citizens vote in federal elections.”

He detailed in the X thread that, if passed, the law would: require “state election officials to ask about citizenship before providing voter registration forms”; require “an individual to provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections”; allow “state officials to accept a wide variety of documents that will make it easy for CITIZENS to register to vote in federal elections”; provide “states with access to federal agency databases so they can remove noncitizens from voter rolls and confirm citizenship for individuals lacking proof of citizenship,” among other directives. 

Under the legislation, voters would be required to provide proof of citizenship via IDs and documentation such as a passport, a government-issued photo ID showing proof the individual was born in the U.S., military IDs, or a valid photo ID as well as documentation showing proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, the legislation states. 

WE NEED TO SAVE OUR ELECTIONS FROM ABUSE AND HERE’S HOW

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks at a news briefing at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee on June 26, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy introduced the legislation in May, with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introducing the Senate’s companion bill, and received widespread support from Republican lawmakers who said it would secure elections. Johnson notably unveiled the bill earlier this year alongside former President Trump in a high-profile press conference at Mar-a-Lago. 

“Secure elections are a key cornerstone for any representative government; without them, we won’t have a country. Radical progressive Democrats know this and are using open border policies while also attacking election integrity laws to fundamentally remake America. That’s why I am proud to introduce the SAVE Act with Speaker Johnson and my Republican colleagues, along with the invaluable support of citizens and organizations that recognize we must end the practice of non-citizens voting in our elections,” Roy said on May 8. 

MAJORITY OF HOUSE DEMS VOTE TO ALLOW NONCITIZEN VOTING IN DC

Rep. Chip Roy speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 29, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Johnson circulated a 22-page report late last month urging House members to pass the legislation, contending there is “irrefutable evidence that noncitizens have been illegally registering to vote and have illegally voted in U.S. elections.”

“While falsely claiming the 2016 election was ‘stolen’ due to ‘foreign election interference,’ Democrats ignore the real threat of foreign election interference posed when noncitizens are allowed to register and vote in U.S. elections,” Johnson wrote in the report. “Lax voter registration laws make it possible for noncitizens to register and vote in federal elections while campaign finance loopholes allow noncitizens to fund U.S. election activities – both of which can affect the outcome of our elections.”

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

Johnson’s X thread championing the legislation last week received support from fellow Republicans, as well as critics of the Democratic Party. Tech billionaire Elon Musk notably sounded off that lawmakers who vote against the bill are “traitors” to the U.S. 

“Those who oppose this are traitors. All Caps: TRAITORS What is the penalty for traitors again?” Elon Musk posted in response to Johnson’s post. 

The Constitution calls on traitors guilty of treason to be sentenced to death or be imprisoned for no less than five years. They are also to be fined no less than $10,000 and be barred from ever holding office in the U.S.

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The bill comes as the immigration crisis continues mounting under the Biden administration, with at least 1.6 million migrants designated as “gotaways” alone between Fiscal Year 2021 to Fiscal Year 2023, Fox previously reported. Gotaways are individuals who evade Border Patrol agents. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX – House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is demanding that the White House physician appear before Congress to answer questions on President Biden’s “declining mental state,” while also revealing that the doctor has been involved in the Biden family’s business dealings. 

Fox News Digital obtained the letter Comer, R-Ky., sent to Dr. Kevin O’Connor on Sunday. Comer is seeking to question O’Connor, given his “connections” with the Biden family, on whether he is “in a position to provide accurate and independent reviews of the President’s fitness to serve.”

Comer wants to know whether O’Connor’s medical assessments of the president have been improperly influenced by his work with the Biden family with the company Americore. 

COMER DEMANDS WHITE HOUSE PROVIDE RECORDS TO PROVE $200K PAYMENT TO BIDEN FROM BROTHER WAS A LOAN

“After a concerning debate performance by President Biden against former President Donald Trump on June 27, journalists have rushed to report on what Americans have seen plainly for years: the President appears unwell,” Comer wrote. 

President Biden speaks at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Comer said that because Americans have been questioning Biden’s “ability to lead the country,” his committee has been investigating circumstances surrounding O’Connor’s February assessment of the president. 

Comer noted that O’Connor determined in February that the president “is a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old-male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.” 

Comer, though, pointed to reports that O’Connor did not recommend that Biden take a cognitive test. 

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

“The Oversight Committee is concerned your medical assessments have been influenced by your private business endeavors with the Biden family,” Comer wrote. 

Comer said the committee has obtained evidence that shows he was involved with Americore Health, LLC, along with the president’s brother, James Biden. 

President Biden speaks with White House physician Kevin O’Connor as he arrives back at the White House on Aug. 28, 2023. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Americore, a company which operates rural hospitals, has been investigated by the committee as part of its impeachment inquiry against the president – specifically related to James Biden’s work, which brought him more than $600,000. 

The committee says James Biden, while serving as a principal at Americore, received payments for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The committee found that James Biden received a $200,000 wire in 2018 from the company that he then used to write a $200,000 check to his brother, President Biden, which he labeled as a “loan repayment.” 

JAMES BIDEN GIVEN LOAN, DIDN’T PROVIDE SERVICES TO AMERICORE DESPITE PROMISES TO USE LAST NAME, TRUSTEE SAYS

James Biden, according to testimony from other Americore employees, did not provide any services to the company, but instead, promised that his “Biden” name could bring funding to the struggling hospital operator from the Middle East. 

That employee, Carol Fox, a Chapter 11 trustee for Americore, testified that the loan was provided to Biden with no documentation in return for the promise of funding from the Middle East that never came. She filed a lawsuit against James Biden, saying he made “representations that his last name, ‘Biden,’ could ‘open doors’ and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections.” 

But during James Biden’s interview with the committee earlier this year, he told investigators that O’Connor “provided him counsel in connection with the alleged work he was performing for Americore.” 

James Biden arrives to federal court during Hunter Biden’s trial, June 11, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

“I met with, for example – my brother wasn’t in office at the time. He was a private citizen. And I had gotten through his – as vice president, his personal physician was Colonel Kevin O’Connor,” James Biden testified. “And Kevin O’Connor – there was a very – and still there is an outcry for a solution for post-traumatic stress disorder.” 

James Biden said O’Connor “introduced me to a team” that worked with PTSD and alcoholism amid a “backlog” at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

COMER RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT $200K ‘DIRECT PAYMENT’ FROM JAMES BIDEN TO JOE BIDEN IN 2018

Comer, in the letter, also notes that O’Connor, along with Hunter Biden, “joined a meeting with Jim Biden and the president of a hospital being acquired by Americore.” 

Hunter Biden was found guilty on all counts by a Delaware jury. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Meanwhile, the White House maintains that Biden has not been examined by a doctor since February. But during a call with Democratic governors last week, the president himself told governors “he was checked out by a doctor and that everything was fine.” 

President Biden speaks at a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin, Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

“The statements by the White House Press Secretary and President Biden appear inconsistent, and the Committee seeks to understand the extent of your role at the White House at this time,” Comer wrote. “Given your connections with the Biden family, the Committee also seeks to understand if you are in a position to provide accurate and independent reviews of the President’s fitness to serve.” 

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Comer requested that O’Connor make himself available for a transcribed interview with counsel for the House Oversight Committee by July 14. He is also demanding all documents and communications that O’Connor has regarding Americore and James Biden. 

The request for O’Connor’s cooperation with Congress comes amid calls for Biden to suspend his re-election campaign – even from top Democrats, former staffers and allies. 

But the White House maintains that President Biden is “absolutely not” considering dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

“I am running. I am the leader of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out,” Biden said last week. 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pointed to a problem with a potential Kamala Harris-Gavin Newsom ticket on Sunday as President Biden reels from calls to drop out of the race.

Rubio, who is reportedly among the top contenders being considered as former President Trump’s vice presidential pick, was confronted during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on whether he’d move out of Florida or resign his U.S. Senate seat if he does become the running mate. 

CNN host Dana Bash pointed to how the U.S. Constitution says presidential electors cannot vote for a president and a vice president who are both from the same state. Rubio and Trump are both residents of Florida. 

“That’s presumptuous … I have no idea who he’s going to pick,” Rubio said. “But I think it’s comforting for Americans to know that when Kamala Harris becomes their nominee, she can’t pick [California Gov.] Gavin Newsom because I don’t think we can afford, as a country, to have two Californians with their crazy policies become the law of the land.”

NEWSOM STUMPS FOR BIDEN IN PENNSYLVANIA, DEFLECTS ON IF ‘OPEN CONVENTION’ WOULD TEMPT HIM: ‘LEGIT QUESTION’

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is seen in the spin room after the presidential debate between President Biden and former President Trump on June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Rubio said he will be working with the Trump campaign “in some capacity” over the next three or fourth months until Election Day, and he will be working in the Senate as well.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a stop at the Van Buren County Democratic Party Fourth of July reception in South Haven, Michigan, on July 4, 2024. (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)

“Either way, all I care about at this point, and what I care about the most, is we can’t afford another four years like the last four, and I’m willing to help in any way I can. But as far as making an announcement, that’s up to him and their campaign, and I don’t have one for you this morning, that’s for sure,” Rubio said.

HARRIS’ RECORD AS PROSECUTOR COULD COMPLICATE EFFORT TO REPLACE BIDEN AS DEM NOMINEE

Newsom, a top Biden campaign surrogate, has been campaigning on behalf of the president in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania in recent days.

Vice President Harris speaks during the 30th annual Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans on July 6, 2024. (Matthew Perschall/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

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Newsom has repeatedly deflected questions about whether he’d run for president if Biden bows out of the race and allows for an open convention when Democrat delegates convene in Chicago next month. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Sunday that while President Biden had a “terrible” debate against former President Trump, he recently spoke to Biden and continues to support him in his quest for re-election.

Sanders – who at 82 is older than Biden – said people should look beyond age, despite increasing concerns from both parties over the president’s mental fitness.

“Biden is old,” Sanders told host Robert Costa of the 81-year-old president. “He’s not as articulate as he once was. I wish he could jump up the steps on Air Force One. He can’t. What we have got to focus on is policy, whose policies have and will benefit the vast majority of the people in this country.”

The senator said he believes the American people want a president with the “guts to take on corporate America.” Someone who will expand Medicare, raise and extend the life of Social Security benefits, and talk about a “permanent child tax credit to cut childhood poverty in America by 50%.” 

SECOND LOCAL RADIO HOST ADMITS TO GETTING QUESTIONS FROM BIDEN TEAM AHEAD OF INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT

The independent senator from Vermont says he supports Biden over former President Trump in the 2024 election. (Getty Images)

Sanders said 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and that 25% of “elderly people” are trying to live off $15,000 a year or less.

“The American people want an agenda for the next four years that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country,” Sanders said. “He has got to say, ‘I am prepared to take on corporate greed, massive income and wealth inequality and stand with the working class in this country.’ He does that, he’s going to win and win big.”

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

Bernie Sanders says he has spoken to President Biden in the days since his debate with President Trump. (Getty Images)

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Sanders wrapped up the interview by saying he is running for re-election as senator from Vermont. 

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., took aim at a group of intelligence officials responsible for signing a letter that sought to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story on the eve of the 2020 election.

“The 51 should all be prosecuted for knowingly pushing a false statement,” Tenney said in a post on X Sunday. “See 18 U.S.C. § 1001, it’s a felony crime to: make a ‘false statement’ to an agent of the federal government related to a federal matter.”

“The 51” in Tenney’s post refers to 51 former top intel officials who signed on to a letter claiming that the laptop at the center of a New York Post report just weeks before the 2020 election bore all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign, a document that was later used by President Biden to shrug off concerns over the device in a debate with former President Trump. It was later revealed that the laptop was real, even eventually being entered as evidence in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.

EX-INTEL OFFICIALS DOUBLE DOWN ON SIGNING ‘PATRIOTIC’ LETTER AGAINST HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP: ‘WOEFULLY IGNORANT’

Hunter Biden, son of President Biden (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In the wake of that trial, Fox News Digital reached out to all 51 individuals who signed the October 2020 letter to ask if they regretted signing it after it was revealed to be authentic.

“No,” former Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said.

“This is very old news,” Greg Treverton, a signatory who previously served as chair of the National Intelligence Council, told Fox News Digital. ‘”What we said was true, we were inferring from our experience, and it did look like a Russian operation. We didn’t, and couldn’t of course say it was a Russian operation. Enough said.”

Rep. Claudia Tenney, a Republican from New York (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

BIDEN SAYS HE WON’T PARDON SON HUNTER, VOWS TO ACCEPT VERDICT IN FELONY GUN CRIME TRIAL

Meanwhile, an attorney for signatories Ronald Marks, Marc Polymeropoulos, Douglas Wise, Paul Kolbe, John Sipher, Emile Nakhleh and Gerald O’Shea provided Fox News Digital with a statement that claimed signing the letter was a “patriotic” move by his clients.

“A careful and objective reading of the document reflects that even today its content is accurate,” the attorney, Mark S. Zaid, said. “It served as nothing more than a warning letter of what we have known for decades: certain foreign governments – including Russia – continue to try and actively interfere in our domestic affairs and our guard must remain vigilant. Every patriotic American should have signed that letter.”

Then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

But Tenney shared a different view, arguing that the 51 should be prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, which states that anyone “within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States” who “falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact,” or “makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation,” or “makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry” could face fines or a prison sentence of up to five years.

Tenney’s office did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

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The full list of signatories is as follows: Former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper, former National Intelligence Council Chair Thomas Fingar, former National Security Agency Deputy Director Rick Legett, former CIA acting Director John McLaughlin, former CIA acting Director Michael Morell, former Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Mike Vickers, former Defense Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Doug Wise, former National Counterterrorism Center Director Nick Rasmussen, former National Counterterrorism Center acting Director Russ Travers, former National Counterterrorism Center Deputy Director Andy Liepman, former CIA chief of staff John Moseman, former CIA chief of staff Larry Pfeiffer, former CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash, former National Security Agency general counsel Glenn Gerstell, former CIA chief of staff Rodney Snyder, former CIA analyst and manager David Priess, former CIA Deputy Director of Analysis Pam Purcilly, former CIA senior operations officer Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA senior intelligence officer Chris Savos, former CIA senior intelligence officer John Tullius, former CIA senior intelligence officer David A. Vanell, former CIA senior operations officer Kristin Wood, former CIA inspector general David Buckley, former CIA analyst and targeting officer Nada Bakos, former CIA senior intelligence officer Patty Brandmaier, former CIA senior intelligence officer James B. Bruce, former CIA intelligence analyst David Cariens, former CIA operational support officer Janice Cariens, former CIA senior operations officer Paul Kolbe, former CIA analyst Peter Corsell, former CIA senior intelligence officer Brett Davis, former national intelligence officer Roger Zane George, former CIA senior intelligence officer Steven L. Hall, former national intelligence officer Kent Harrington, former national security executive Don Hepburn, former dean of CIA’s Kent School of Intelligence Analysis Timothy D. Kilbourn, former CIA officer Ron Marks, former CIA technical operations officer Jonna Hiestand Mendez, former director of CIA’s Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program Emile Nakhleh, former CIA senior operations officer Gerald A. O’Shea, former CIA deputy chief of staff Nick Shapiro, former CIA senior operations officer John Sipher, former National Security Council senior director for intelligence programs Stephen Slick, former CIA deputy assistant director for global issues Cynthia Strand, former CIA Deputy Executive Director Greg Tarbell, former National Intelligence Collection Board Chairman David Terry, former National Intelligence Council Chair Greg Treverton, and former CIA director of analysis Winston Wiley.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, while campaigning for President Biden in the battleground state of Pennsylvania over the weekend, was asked about his own prospects should the Democratic incumbent exit the race. 

A longtime top Biden campaign surrogate, Newsom has rallied behind the president’s re-election bid, making stops in Michigan and Pennsylvania in recent days. Yet his own name has been floated as a potential replacement for Biden should the 81-year-old president step aside and allow for an open convention, when Democratic delegates convene in Chicago next month to formally decide their nominee. 

At an event in Doylestown, Pa., on Saturday, Newsom said a second term for former President Trump would equate to “America in reverse” and touted the Biden-Harris administration’s record on the economy. 

On the heels of a disastrous debate performance for Biden, one reporter asked the California governor afterward, “If it comes to an open convention, will you run?

“No, I mean it’s not even…” Newsom began. Interjecting, the reporter pressed: “Absolutely not?”

NEWSOM DOUBLES DOWN ON SUPPORT FOR BIDEN IN MICHIGAN: ‘I BELIEVE IN HIS CHARACTER’

“That’s not even, it’s to me, it’s the hypothetical that gets in the way of progress in terms of promoting this candidacy,” Newsom said. 

“That’s a legit question, but it’s exactly where the other party wants us to be is having this internal fight,” Newsom added. “And I think it’s extraordinarily unhelpful. Said that literally the second after the debate. It was my first public comments. So I’ve been consistent in this belief, not just privately, but publicly.” 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom greets supporters during a campaign event for President Joe Biden on Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Doylestown, Pa. (Joe Lamberti for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Newsom’s swing through the battlegrounds came following a private meeting between Biden and Democratic governors hosted at the White House on Wednesday. 

Biden is facing increasing calls to step aside amid concerns his age and mental fitness jeopardize Democrats’ chances against Trump in November. 

At a campaign rally in Wisconsin – another battleground – on Friday, Biden himself addressed speculation on whether he’d drop out, telling the crowd: “I am running and going to win again.” 

HOW WOULD A PRESIDENT NEWSOM HANDLE BORDER, IMMIGRATION POLICY?

“I’m not letting one 90 minute debate wipe out three and a half years of work,” Biden added. 

President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School in Madison, Wis., Friday, July 5, 2024.  (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Yet, after the rally and the president’s interview with ABC host George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday, Rep.  Angie Craig, D-Minn., became the fifth and latest House Democrat to call on Biden to step aside. 

In Doylestown, Fox News confronted Newsom on the number, asking: “Are you concerned that by continuing to support President Biden when other elected officials seem to be seeing something wrong with him, that you’re damaging your credibility in the long run?” 

“No. Look, there’s a handful of folks that may have different opinions,” Newsom said. “The vast majority of the caucus remains solidly behind the president – president made that point very effectively yesterday in the interview, and that his speech in Wisconsin was very, very, very good. We’re going to see him out here in Pennsylvania in the next day or so. And, and we’re just, you know, staying the course, have his back.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom gave a forceful defense of President Biden during a stop Thursday, July 4, 2024, at the Van Buren County Democratic Party Fourth of July reception in South Haven, Mich.  (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)

“And so I really believe in the president, believe in his character. I believe in his confidence, in his capacity. I wouldn’t be out here, 4th of July weekend, missing my kids and families unless I really believed it,” he added. 

Earlier at the event, Newsom told Biden supporters that the 2024 election is about daylight versus darkness, right versus wrong, chaos versus incompetence and “the fate and future of our democracy.” 

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“It’s America in reverse. They want to bring us back to a pre-1960s world,” Newsom said of Trump supporters. “And you are the front lines of that opposition. You are the folks that can make sure that does not happen. Voting rights, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, not just access to abortion, access to contraception, all of those things are on the ballot. Bucks County, and we are counting on you. America’s counting on you. The world is counting on you. I’ve counted on you. My four kids are counting on you. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for being here tomorrow. Thank you for being here on Election Day. We are going to save democracy and bring back Biden-Harris for four more years.” 

Biden is expected to deliver remarks in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon. 

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

President Trump speaks while Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., listens during an introduction of the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.,  on Aug. 2, 2017. (Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas speaks with an activist at a GOP fundraiser in Rye, New Hampshire, on Aug. 16, 2022. (Fox News)

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.

Sen. Tom Cotton R-Ark., joins former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, the front-runner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in New Hampshire, on the campaign trail in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on July 2. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

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

Senate Democrats up for re-election may be hopeful that split-ticket voting increases in frequency as President Biden’s poll numbers fall. (Getty images)

“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

From left: Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; former President Trump; and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. (Getty Images)

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

From left: Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; and Bob Casey, D-Pa. (Getty Images )

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

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., speaks during the Inaugural Independence Dinner in Philadelphia on Nov. 1, 2019. (Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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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

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, second from left, and his wife Jaime Green as they pass the massive Banyan tree while visiting areas devastated by the Maui wildfires, Aug. 21, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP)

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.

President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“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.’

Governor of Hawaii Josh Green speaks during a press conference about the destruction of historic Lahaina and the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui in Wailuku, Hawaii on August 10, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

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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’

President Biden made a gaffe at the White House Fourth of July barbecue Thursday, claiming to have been ‘in and out of battles’ to military service members and their families. (Getty Images)

“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. 

US President Joe Biden speaks during a 4th of July event on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2024 in Washington, DC. The President is hosting the Independence Day event for members of the military and their families.  (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

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.”

US President Joe Biden, center, speaks during a barbecue with active-duty military service members and their families on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 4, 2024. Biden’s reelection campaign limped into the US Independence Day holiday, exhausted by a week of the incumbent clawing to maintain his hold on his party’s nomination. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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’

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, left, and President Biden, right. (Getty Images)

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 raised eyebrows when he expressed uncertainty about whether he had watched his debate performance in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.  (Screenshot/ABC)

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.”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. (Photographer: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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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.

The federal judge presiding over former President Trump’s Florida case has paused several court deadlines to consider presidential immunity. 

Trump’s legal team presented a motion Friday seeking “a partial stay of further proceedings” in the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith “until President Trump’s motions based on Presidential immunity and the Appointments and Appropriations Clauses are resolved.”

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Saturday agreed to hear arguments, allowing two weeks for both camps to prepare briefs regarding the relevance of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

TRUMP ASKS FLORIDA COURT TO PAUSE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE AFTER SUPREME COURT IMMUNITY DECISION

Former President Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign rally at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump faces charges 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 IMMUNITY CASE: SUPREME COURT RULES EX-PRESIDENTS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL PROTECTION FROM PROSECUTION

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.

The Alto Lee Adams, Sr. United States Courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., where U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is presiding over the case of former President Trump.  (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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

In a 6-3 decision, the court sent the matter back to a lower court when the justices did not apply the ruling to whether former President Trump is immune from prosecution regarding actions related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

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Walt Nauta, left, an aide to former President Trump, walks with his lawyer, Stanley Woodward, right, as they leave the Alto Lee Adams, Sr. United States Courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla.  (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“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. 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.

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’

President Joe Biden. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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.

Former President Donald Trump. (.Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

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.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images.)

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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.

A top neurologist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center met with President Biden’s physician at the White House earlier this year, White House records show.

Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease expert, met with Dr. Kevin O’Connor and two others at the White House residence clinic on Jan. 17, records first reported by the New York Post show. 

The report comes as the 81-year-old president faces increased scrutiny over his age and mental acuity in the wake of a halting and stumbling debate performance on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia.

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

President Joe Biden speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, D.C. Records show that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease expert, met with White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor at the residence clinic in January.  (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

Dr. John E. Atwood, a cardiologist at Walter Reed, also attended the 5 p.m. meeting, according to White House visitor logs. 

The fourth person in attendance has not been identified. 

The meeting happened on the same day Biden was at the White House and hosted House and Senate leaders to discuss Ukraine funding, the president’s schedule shows. 

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

Biden speaks with White House Physician Kevin O’Connor as he arrives back at the White House in Washington, D.C. O’Connor has repeatedly affirmed that Biden is of sound mind and good bodily health in the run-up to the November election. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

O’Connor said Biden was “fit to serve” as president after performing a physical examination in February. 

“President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency,” the physician said at the time. 

Biden’s physical included a neurological exam which specifically ruled out Parkinson’s disease, O’Connor said. 

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Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, with “VOTE” printed on her dress, gesture to supporters at a post-debate campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters following the debate that Biden has not had any recent medical exams. 

After Biden alluded to speaking with his physician following the debate, the press secretary clarified that it was just a “verbal check-in” about a recent, minor illness.

“He did have a short verbal check-in in the recent days about his cold, it wasn’t a medical exam or a physical,” Jean-Pierre said.

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

Gov. Maura Healey, D-Mass., publicly urged President Biden to consider dropping out of the presidential race, suggesting the president listen to the American people and considering if he is the best person to beat former President Donald Trump. (Photographer: Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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.

Wes Moore, governor of Maryland, from left, Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, and Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, speak to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.  (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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.

President Joe Biden (R) and Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump participate in the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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’

President Joe Biden gives remarks during a meeting in the South Court Auditorium of the White House in Washington, D.C.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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’

Polling expert Nate Silver claimed Friday night that President Biden’s “incoherent” answer during his interview with ABC convinced him that Vice President Kamala Harris must transition into the presidential candidate. (Krista Kennell/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

“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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 President Joe Biden, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris on the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, DC. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, on June 24. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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.”

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are seen on the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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 2020 presidential campaign, Harris 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. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

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.”

President Biden arrives for a news conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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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

Democratic senators in competitive re-election races have avoided sounding off on Biden’s debate performance. (Getty Images)

“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.

Baldwin is running for re-election in Wisconsin. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for The Democratic Party of Wisconsin)

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

Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy. (Kevin Dietsch/Louise Johns)

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

L – Bernie Moreno R – Sherrod Brown (Getty Images)

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.