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

What’s happening…

-House passes bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote

-Huge number of Democrats say Biden must step aside in new poll

-Obama silent on reports that he’s pushing Biden out of the race

Politicians’ Predictions

Congressional lawmakers departed Washington, D.C., around noon on Thursday, hours before President Biden’s pivotal press conference, where the 81-year-old leader is tasked with fighting off concerns that he is not fit for another four years in office.

Some Democrats were relatively muted in their responses to Fox News Digital on whether the president would do a good job at the press conference, while others insisted the president would pull it off.

Republicans, who have long argued Biden is not mentally fit for office, largely said Biden would show more of the same signs of aging he showed at last month’s CNN Presidential Debate against former President Trump…Read more

 U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at a post-debate campaign rally on June 28, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina.  (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

White House

LONG TIME COMING: Biden’s last solo presser was held 8 months ago …Read more

RARE REJECTION: Biden nominee blocked amid controversy over transgender inmate recommendation …Read more

DIAGNOSIS: DENIAL: White House continues to spurn media requests to talk to Biden’s doc …Read more

‘NOT SURPRISING’: ‘Obama bro’ breaks silence about Biden’s mental fitness at Hollywood fundraiser after damaging Clooney op-ed …Read more

‘THIS IS CONCERNING’: Biden admin grilled over countries refusing to take back migrants …Read more

Capitol Hill

‘SAFEGUARD’: House passes bill requiring voters prove citizenship in federal elections …Read more

‘BIG BOY PRESS CONFERENCE’: Dems quiet on Biden’s NATO speech ahead of solo press conference …Read more

FINE FAILS: House rejects bill to make Garland pay $10,000 per day for Biden-Hur audio tapes …Read more

‘REAL DISGRACE’: All but 5 Democrats undermined Democracy with just one vote last night: GOP Rep …Read more

‘CLOSER AND CLOSER’: Dem rep leaning towards urging Biden to drop out, would back Harris nomination or open convention …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

TIED TO BIDEN: Battleground Dem feels heat after Biden’s debate as party turmoil continues …Read more

‘VERY STRONG STANCE’: Trump says Burgum’s pro-life record is an ‘issue’ for VP possibilities …Read more

CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE: Huge majority of Democrats say Biden must step aside even as Biden-Trump horse race is tied: poll …Read more

‘NOTHING ELSE TO OFFER’: Trump campaign fires back at ‘fear-mongering’ Dem strategy in aftermath of disastrous Biden debate …Read more

‘SCHEDULING CONFLICT’: Battleground Dems skipping Biden adviser meeting as concerns over preisdent’s candidacy grow …Read more

‘GET OUT OF POLITICS’: Trump calls George Clooney a ‘rat’ for turning on President Biden …Read more

CASH DRYING UP: Biden fundraising takes a big hit amid rising chorus of calls from Democrats for president to end re-election campaign …Read more

‘LAST WEEK OF EMPLOYMENT’: Trump roasts Biden with clip from Clooney movie after actor calls for new Dem nominee …Read more

SAY IT AIN’T SO: Obama silent over reports he’s working ‘behind the scenes’ to force Biden out of the 2024 race …Read more

‘FESS UP’: Republican challenger calls on red state Dem to come clean on Biden …Read more

Michael Cohen makes his way to Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

Trials and Tribulations

‘FACELESS LEVIATHAN’: Major SCOTUS decision praised by Republicans strips power of ‘unelected bureaucrats’ …Read more

STRONG ARM OF THE LAW: Michael Cohen goes to the Supreme Court against Trump …Read more

Across America

‘BASICALLY A VEGETABLE’: Portnoy mocks Clooney for waiting to admit Biden’s ‘gone’ …Read more

HOME OR AWAY?: California gov hit for putting state’s woes on backburner while barnstorming for Biden …Read more

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The White House and the Biden campaign “unequivocally” denied a report claiming a handful of President Biden’s longtime aides are working on a plan to convince the president to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. 

“Unequivocally, this is not true. President Biden’s team is strongly behind him,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital. 

The New York Times reported Thursday afternoon that a handful of aides and advisers that have long worked with Biden are convinced he will need to bow out of the 2024 race as concerns mount surrounding his health and age, and are working on a plan to convince him to drop out. 

“A small group of Mr. Biden’s advisers in the administration and the campaign – at least two of whom have told allies that they do not believe he should keep trying to run for a second term – have said they would have to convince the president of several things,” the report states. 

BIDEN’S ‘BIG BOY’ NATO NEWS CONFERENCE CARRIES HIGH STAKES AS FIRST PRESSER SINCE DISASTROUS DEBATE

President Biden has insisted he has no intention of stepping aside. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The report added that the Biden insiders have to convince him to drop out as he “remains convinced of the strength of his campaign.”

The Biden campaign also denied the report in a comment to Fox Digital. 

“Patently false. This team stands with the president,” campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo told Fox News Digital. 

The New York Times report follows other media outlets claiming other Biden insiders are saying they don’t see a path forward for Biden following his botched debate performance against former President Trump late last month. 

NBC News, for example, reported Thursday: “Several of President Joe Biden’s closest allies, including three people who are directly involved in efforts to re-elect him, told NBC News they now see his chances of winning as zero – and the likelihood of him taking down fellow Democratic candidates growing.”

The New York Times also ran a story Thursday claiming the Biden campaign is testing the viability of Vice President Kamala Harris running in place of Biden. 

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally on June 28, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Getty Images)

“As President Biden faces mounting pressure over the future of his candidacy, his campaign is quietly testing the strength of Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald J. Trump in a survey of voters, according to three people informed about the effort,” the New York Times reported. 

Concerns surrounding Biden’s health and mental fitness are at a fever pitch this summer, as some Democrats call on him to quit the presidential race following his disastrous debate against Trump last month. Biden has bucked calls to drop out, vowing to remain in the race as his campaign and the White House ramp up his number of public events in an apparent effort to quell concerns the president isn’t up for another four-year term in the Oval Office. 

Biden is expected to hold a news conference on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. after hosting NATO leaders in Washington, D.C., this week. The press conference is highly-anticipated, with lawmakers sounding off that the presser will serve as an “ultimate test.” 

DEMOCRATS, MEDIA DEMAND BIDEN DO MORE INTERVIEWS, PRESS CONFERENCES AMID DEBATE FALLOUT

“Just as all of his public appearances go on, it will be very interesting to see him do what they themselves have called a big boy press conference. Look, it’s been the biggest political cover up, probably in the history of the country,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., previously told Fox News Digital when asked about the press conference. “I think the more public appearances and speeches he does, the more that will put that on vivid display. And I think there’s a lot to answer.”

The media have dubbed the press conference a “big boy press conference,” with the president fielding questions from the media solo. It marks Biden’s first solo press conference of the year and the first time he will speak to the media at a presser since the debate on June 27, Fox News found.

Since Biden’s disastrous debate performance, Democrats and the media have repeatedly said that if Biden remains in the race, he needs to hold more interviews and press conferences.

NATO SUMMIT IN DC IS ‘PIVOTAL’ MAKE-OR-BREAK MOMENT FOR BIDEN AS SCRUTINY OVER FITNESS FOR OFFICE INTENSIFIES

Democrats and the media have repeatedly said that if Biden remains in the race, he needs to hold more interviews and press conferences. (Getty Images)

“The only way for him and the campaign to respond is not by talking to senators or governors, because this is not a tell-me situation. It’s a show-me situation,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told CNN last Wednesday. “So he’d have to be out and about in the hurly-burly of a campaign, open-ended press conferences with folks like you, engagements with voters that are unscripted.”

Biden did sit down for an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopolos that aired on July 5, but the interview did little to quell mounting concerns over the president’s mental acuity and age, most notably when Biden repeatedly dodged whether he would take a cognitive test.

BIDEN SAYS ‘WORLD’S LOOKING TO AMERICA’ AS HE FACES SCRUTINY BEFORE HOSTING NATO SUMMIT

“Have you had the specific cognitive tests, and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“No, no one said I had to.… They said I’m good,” Biden responded.

Stephanopoulos pressed Biden a third time on taking a cognitive or neurological test and whether he would release the results of such a test to the public. The president, however, brushed off the question again. 

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

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

“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden said. “Every day I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Sounds like hyperbole, but we are the central nation in the world.”

Biden did deliver a strong NATO speech on Tuesday, but praise from fellow Democrats was few and far between. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview the following day that Democrats are keeping their thoughts on Biden quiet “until we see how we go this week.”

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“Let’s just hold off,” she said on MSNBC. “Whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week.”

A growing list of close allies and former advisers to President Obama are looking to sink President Biden’s re-election bid.

The cascade began with former Obama adviser David Axelrod sounding the alarm following Biden’s dismal debate performance last month, and was followed by a group of former advisers known as the “Obama bros” during their time working at the White House, as well as actor George Clooney, who is close to the former president.

“Obama bro” Jon Favreau broke his silence concerning Biden’s mental fitness on Wednesday, just hours after the damaging op-ed by Clooney published in The New York Times calling on the president to quit the 2024 race.

OBAMA SILENT OVER REPORTS HE’S WORKING ‘BEHIND THE SCENES’ TO FORCE BIDEN OUT OF THE 2024 RACE

Former Obama adviser Jon Favreau, President Biden and actor George Clooney (Getty Images)

“It was not surprising to any of us who were at the fundraiser. I was there. Clooney was exactly right, and every single person I talked to at the fundraiser thought the same thing, except for the people working for Joe Biden, or at least they didn’t say that,” Jon Favreau said during an appearance on CNN, referencing a June fundraiser he attended in Los Angeles along with Clooney and Obama.

“I remember my wife, Emily, turned to me after the fundraiser and said, ‘What are we going to do?’ And I said, ‘Well, there is a debate in a week. Either he’ll do well in the debate, and we’ll think he was just tired because he flew all the way back from Europe, and that’ll be that, or he’ll be like this at the debate and then the whole country will be talking about it. So, here we are.”

Clooney wrote that Democratic Party leaders needed to stop trying to convince Americans they “didn’t see what we just saw,” and accused them of ignoring “warning signs” concerning Biden.

The actor claimed the Biden that showed up at the fundraiser was “not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

‘OBAMA BRO’ CONFIRMS CLAIMS IN CLOONEY’S DAMAGING OP-ED ON BIDEN’S MENTAL FITNESS

Former President Barack Obama (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Favreau, on Tuesday, joined his fellow “Obama bros” Tommy Vietor and Jon Lovett in dedicating the majority of their latest “Pod Save America” episode to ganging up on Biden following his poor performance in the first presidential debate, and in a subsequent interview.

“I thought it was bad, and, at times, very hard to watch,” Vietor said, referencing Biden’s sit-down interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week that came as part of an effort by the president to quell critics calling for him to exit the presidential race.

“In fairness to Biden, I don’t think that interview could have solved the political problem that stemmed from the debate,” he said, adding the interview made him “more concerned” because Biden “struggled to speak in a clear, coherent way.”

Vietor argued Biden didn’t articulate a compelling second-term agenda that would sway swing voters to support him over former President Trump, and that his explanations for his recent poor performance, such as travel and sickness, didn’t fully answer for “how bad the debate was.”

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

Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor at Politicon at Pasadena Convention Center on July 29, 2017, in California. (John Sciulli/Getty Images for Politicon)

Lovett agreed and said the interview “was a hard setting for him to succeed, even at his absolute best, because it’s hard to justify why it was more than a week after the debate, that it was so brief, and he was only doing one.”

“The debate was just a bad night. We all saw it,” he said. “The explanations are kind of vague… That doesn’t do enough to assuage our concerns about what we saw that night. Right? So, the explanations don’t offer anything.”

“If you’re going to raise the stakes on one interview, it can’t be another example of you being hard to understand, not because he’s soft, not because he’s mumbling, but because his train of thought doesn’t make sense,” he said. “The stakes are incredibly high. Trump is an incredible threat, but either he will prosecute that case, or someone else will, and right now, we get neither.”

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Favreau said that although Biden’s interview was “more coherent than the debate,” he was “worried” Biden’s lack of urgency and message meant he might not be able to make up for the debate going forward. He cited recent polling showing Biden trailing Trump in every key swing state.

“What are you going to do to win over voters who are undecided between Biden and Trump when you have that message with George Stephanopoulos?” he asked.

Vietor later said it “seems like a clear-cut choice that we’d have a better chance with someone else,” while Lovett argued Biden wasn’t “delivering the message effectively.”

“That George Stephanopoulos interview was painful to watch,” Lovett said. “It was a terrible interview. He did a terrible job articulating why he’s in the race, what happened at the debate, and why he’s the person to beat Trump. He’s doing a terrible job.”

Obama, despite initially defending Biden immediately following the debate, has stayed publicly silent on the increasing criticism.

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

For years, the White House has brushed off repeated requests from the media to hear directly from President Biden’s White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor. This posture continues even with a mounting number of traditional Democratic allies calling on the president to bow out of the 2024 race over serious concerns over his mental acuity and age. 

Concerns surrounding Biden’s health and mental fitness are at a fever pitch this summer, as Democrats call on him to quit the presidential race following his disastrous debate against former President Trump last month. Biden has bucked calls to drop out, vowing to remain in the race as his campaign and White House ramp up his number of public events in an apparent effort to quell concerns the president isn’t up for another four-year term in the Oval Office. 

Biden’s demeanor during the debate – which included him losing his train of thought, stumbling over his words, and delivering responses with a raspy voice and subdued tenor – was just the most recent example of concerning behavior from the president, following repeated gaffes and miscues during public events since 2021. As concerns mount surrounding Biden’s health, the media has called on the administration to make the president’s White House physician available for questions. 

“Given the fact that it’s more than a bad night when his political future is threatened, would he be willing to provide more medical information?  Would he be willing to have Dr. O’Connor provide more to answer these questions?” a reporter asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre last week. 

BIDEN’S ‘BIG BOY’ NATO NEWS CONFERENCE CARRIES HIGH STAKES AS FIRST PRESSER SINCE DISASTROUS DEBATE

President Biden walks along the Colonnade at the White House with his physician Kevin O’Connor, Aug. 28, 2023. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

“What we have provided has been very transparent,” Jean-Pierre responded. 

This week, as Jean-Pierre discussed a Parkinson’s disease expert’s repeated visits to the White House in the last year, another reporter asked: “So can [Dr. O’Connor] tell us?”

Jean-Pierre shot down that specific request, arguing O’Connor “will not confirm” details surrounding the Parkinson’s expert’s visit. O’Connor released a letter that same day clearing up and confirming that the Parkinson’s expert visited the White House as part of the president’s annual physical, and that other trips to the White House were unrelated to Biden’s health. There were no signs of neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ascending lateral sclerosis, stroke or cervical myelopathy, found during Biden’s physical in February, O’Connor said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House about any plans to host O’Connor during a press conference, and why he has not yet joined the media to discuss ongoing concerns on Biden’s health. The White House brushed off a potential O’Connor press conference, saying the physician’s public and detailed reports on the president’s health since 2021 are sufficient. 

DEMOCRATS, MEDIA DEMAND BIDEN DO MORE INTERVIEWS, PRESS CONFERENCES AMID DEBATE FALLOUT

“The thorough summaries Dr. O’Connor puts online for the public are far more extensive than the presidential medical documentation released during the previous administration,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. “In fact, the American people heard from Dr. O’Connor through his daily written reports on President Biden’s COVID case for over two weeks straight – a condition he had the honesty to disclose right away, unlike Trump’s physicians in office. 

The White House seen from Lafayette Park on May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

“Dr. O’Connor teaches at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science, completed U.S. Army flight surgeon training, and was among the first American service members in Afghanistan and Iraq. His unique expertise is sought across the medical community, in which he is respected for his candor, attention to detail, and work ethic,” he continued.   

NATO SUMMIT IN DC IS ‘PIVOTAL’ MAKE-OR-BREAK MOMENT FOR BIDEN AS SCRUTINY OVER FITNESS FOR OFFICE INTENSIFIES

O’Connor has released repeated statements and updates on the president’s health since Biden was sworn in as the president, including when he was diagnosed with COVID, as well as updates on Biden’s annual physicals. 

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House on July 9, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reviewed previous White House press briefings from across the Biden administration and found reporters have repeatedly asked to hear directly from the president’s doctor, going back to at least 2022, when Biden was diagnosed with COVID.

“I understand there’s been questions about Dr. O’Connor, but does the White House plan on making him available for questions, making him available to the public at any point?” a reporter asked Jean-Pierre on July 22, 2022. 

WHO IS WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN DR. KEVIN O’CONNOR AND WHAT ARE HIS CLOSE TIES TO THE BIDEN FAMILY?

“We feel that Dr. O’Connor’s statements and his detailed report – again, on a – on a – on a situation as the – as the doctor just said, is mild – very mild.  And he’s able to continue to do his work – is enough,” she responded. 

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

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

Special Counsel Robert Hur called Biden “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” (Getty Images)

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

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

COMER REVEALS WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN WAS INVOLVED IN BIDEN FAMILY BUSINESS DEALS, DEMANDS HE TESTIFY

Again, the media asked the White House to hear from the president’s doctor following the report’s findings. 

“When can we talk to the president’s doctor? And how come he hasn’t been – they haven’t been asked to come out here and talk with us, given the Hur report that challenges the president’s mental fitness?” another reporter asked Jean-Pierre on Feb. 12 of this year. 

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

“So, look, you know, just to speak to the Hur report really, really quickly. Special Counsel Hur is – as far as I remember, is a – is a – obviously, a R- – a Republican, a – a prosecutor.  He’s not a – he’s not a medical doctor. He’s just not. It’s not for him to speak to. It’s just not,” Jean-Pierre responded. 

She was pressed again that day: “But can we talk to his doctor, then?”

BIDEN’S PHYSICIAN SAYS NEUROLOGIST VISITED WHITE HOUSE AS PART OF ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS

“Well, look, I have said the pres- – the medical doctor, the president’s doctor is going to do a physical. He’s going to – and he has always put forth, in the last two years, a detailed – detailed memo on the president’s – on the president’s, obviously, medical physical,” she said. 

“And so, I’m just going to leave it there. I don’t have anything else to add.”

O’Connor was first appointed to the White House Medical Unit in 2006 for what was intended to be a three-year military assignment, according to his profile published by the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, from which he graduated in 1992. Instead, Biden requested O’Connor stay on as his physician in 2009, ultimately serving as his doctor when Biden was vice president, before serving as Biden’s doctor again when he was sworn in as president. 

O’Connor has a cozy relationship with the Biden family, Fox Digital previously reported, with the president’s sister-in-law describing him as a “friend” in 2018, media reports showing he allegedly had a business relationship with Biden’s younger brother Jim Biden, and the president repeatedly mentioning him in his 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad,” most notably in relation to Beau Biden’s brain cancer diagnosis. 

“‘Seriously, Doc. No matter what happens. Take care of Pop. For real. Promise me. For real,’” Beau Biden said to O’Connor before his death, according to the president’s memoir. 

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

Hallie Biden, right, is pictured with her late husband, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, as he celebrates his re-election in 2010. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The media’s request to hear directly from the president’s doctor isn’t unprecedented, as both of former President Trump’s White House physicians, Dr. Sean Conley and Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, delivered press conferences. Conley spoke to the media when Trump was diagnosed with COVID in 2020, while Jackson addressed the media in 2018 to tout the then-president’s “good genes” and how he passed a cognitive test. 

When asked about the Trump doctors speaking to the media and not Biden’s doctor, the White House told Fox News Digital that the media hearing from a White House physician is “unusual.” 

President Biden speaks with the White House physician, Kevin O’Connor, on August 28, 2023. (Getty Images)

“Historically, it is unusual for White House physicians to come to the Briefing Room unless a major medical event occurs. We do not look to an abusive, discredited, ultra-partisan or a doctor who concealed Trump’s COVID case from the nation as role models,” Bates told Fox Digital. 

PARKINSON’S DISEASE SPECIALIST MET WITH PRESIDENT BIDEN PHYSICIAN IN WHITE HOUSE

Following Biden’s disastrous debate, the president has engaged in a media, public event and campaign blitz, including hosting NATO leaders in Washington, D.C., this week, when the president delivered a strong speech commemorating NATO’s 75th anniversary. Praise from Democrats for the speech, however, was few and far between, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying in an interview the following day that Democrats are keeping their thoughts on Biden quiet “until we see how we go this week.”

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Biden is slated to hold a highly-anticipated press conference at 6:30 pm Thursday, dubbed his “big boy press conference” by the media, where he will take questions solo from the press. 

Does the president of the United States have the power to throw you in prison?

That is the test, says Michael Cohen, of the petition submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. 

“The Constitution is the bedrock of our democratic republic and is what makes America the beacon of the world,” Cohen says.

“To have a President weaponize the DOJ…is how autocracies are created.”

HOUSE JUDICIARY GOP CALLS ON APPELLATE COURTS TO ‘REVERSE THE VERDICT’ IN NY V. TRUMP IN NEW STAFF REPORT

Michael Cohen, former President Trump’s former personal attorney, walking in New York City. (Yana Paskova/Getty Images)

Cohen, former President Trump’s controversial long-time lawyer and fixer, is asking the court to hear his claim that he was sent back behind bars, shackled and placed in solitary confinement on the alleged orders of Trump and Justice Department officials in July 2020 in retaliation for his writing his first tell all book, “Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized The US Department of Justice Against His Critics.”

“Presidents are not kings,” says the petition. “This case represents the principle that presidents and their subordinates can lock away critics of the executive without consequence. That cannot be the law in the country the Founders thought they created when they threw off the yoke of the monarch.”

In 2020, U.S. Federal Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein found that the Trump administration violated Cohen’s First Amendment rights when it sent him back behind bars after he was released to home confinement.

“The purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory,” the judge said during a hearing on Cohen’s reimprisonment.

“It’s retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others.”

A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons denied that Cohen was retaliated against, calling the allegation “patently false.”

However, Cohen’s lawyer says the case goes far beyond the impact on his client, but on the legal protections for all American citizens against any constitutional violations by the executive branch.

NEW YORK V. TRUMP: MERCHAN DELAYS SENTENCING HEARING UNTIL SEPTEMBER

Michael Cohen was sworn in before giving testimony. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

“This case presents an important and unprecedented question – what remedy will this country provide a citizen who was incarcerated because of their criticism of government officials. No one, especially not the President, can use the prison system to silence their critics,” says Cohen’s attorney, Jon-Michael Dougherty.

“As it stands now, there is no consequence for officials who lock away their critics. That cannot be America. It must not be America. There is a clear and present danger to Americans’ rights. If speech can lead to a prison cell, many will choose to be silent.”

Two courts ruled against Cohen’s initial claim, based on a narrow reading of a Supreme Court ruling called “Bivens,” which provides citizens the limited legal right to sue federal officials who violate their constitutional rights.

The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the law does not seem to provide damages and cites the fact that Cohen was ultimately released from prison to home confinement was his legal relief. However, Cohen’s petition points out that the courts have not ruled on remedies or methods needed to prevent such violations in the future and is asking the Supreme Court to decide just that. 

“This case happens to involve Michael Cohen and Donald Trump, but it is not about Michael Cohen and Donald Trump. This case is not about politics. It is about freedom,” Dougherty told Fox News.

However, Trump lawyer Alina Habba, who successfully argued two of the previous cases, says Cohen will not get anywhere with this latest effort.

“Michael Cohen’s suit against the President was doomed from its very inception. Setting aside the fact that his allegations are meritless, the Supreme Court has already held, as recently as 2022, that Bivens suits in this context are not viable,” Habba told Fox News.

‘WARPED AND SENSELESS’ GAG ORDER RULING UNDERSCORES ‘UNFAIR TREATMENT’ OF TRUMP, SAYS LEGAL ANALYST

Former President Trump gives a speech at a rally in Racine, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

During his current campaign, former President Trump suggested he could prosecute his political opponents, establish “televised military tribunals,” and has named a variety of officials and prosecutors who have brought cases against him who should be “put in jail.” 

“I would have every right to go after them,” the former President told Fox News last month, but added he would not actually do that.

Cohen claims that Trump would, in fact, seek revenge, despite Trump’s and the government’s previous denials.

“Be warned…Donald will do it again and again if given the chance!”

Cohen’s petition echoes that prediction.

“A former President and his subordinates conspired to use the federal prison system to silence one of the President’s most vociferous and prominent public critics by revoking his approved release from prison to home confinement when the critic did not agree to waive his rights to speech,” it says.

“The possibility that the federal government has the power to retaliate against critics with imprisonment, without any consequence for or check against the officials engaged in such retaliation, is a chilling prospect. This Court should not turn its eyes away from this profound breach of the contract between a government of limited power and free citizenry.”

US V TRUMP: DEFENSE TO CLAIM DUE PROCESS VIOLATIONS MADE IN FBI’S MAR-A-LAGO RAID

Michael Cohen makes his way to Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

Dougherty says the petition is in front of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. In order for Cohen’s petition to be considered by the full court, four of the nine justices must agree to hear it during the court’s next term in the fall.

Habba believes that the court will likely decline to hear Cohen’s plea, and if it does, will find that the Justices’ recent ruling on establishing immunity for “official acts” of a president will apply to Cohen’s case. 

“In the unlikely event that the Supreme Court chooses to entertain Mr. Cohen’s petition, and in the even more unlikely scenario that it finds any merit to his Bivens claim, his suit still fails under the doctrine of presidential immunity. If this case proceeds forward, I look forward to a decisive victory,” she told Fox News.

In response to the petition, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in part that “Michael Cohen is a disgruntled disgrace and a total loser.”

“Nothing Mr. Cohen says can be trusted and now that his 15 minutes of fame have expired, he is more desperate than ever.”

Cohen was the star witness in the recent trial in Manhattan that convicted Trump of 34 felonies.

Cohen says, “No President should ever be permitted to weaponized the Department of Justice through a willing and complicit attorney general to have a citizen unconstitutionally remanded to prison (solitary confinement) because they refused to waive their first amendment rights. It’s a case ripe for SCOTUS.”

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Dougherty says the Court has a duty to accept the case because of the unique and compelling Constitutional arguments it presents.

“The Supreme Court has said that the kind of lawsuit Mr. Cohen has brought can be entertained in only ‘the most unusual circumstances.’ What could be more unusual than a claim, supported by the findings of a federal judge, that the President and his subordinates locked away a critic for refusing to be silent? This is that case.”

Two well-connected Democratic Party consultants who work closely with top party donors confirm to Fox News that there has been a major slowdown in President Biden’s fundraising over the past week.

The news comes as Biden continues to push back against a rising chorus of calls from within the Democratic Party for the president to step aside and end his 2024 re-election campaign following last month’s disastrous debate performance against former President Trump, his Republican challenger.

“People are starting to tap the brakes a bit. They want to see how it’s going to play out,” one of the bundlers, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News.

The other bundler – who also asked for anonymity – concurred, emphasizing that “major donors are pausing” until “things are settled.”

TRUMP’S STAGGERING SECOND QUARTER HAUL TOPS BIDEN’S MASSIVE FUNDRAISING IN 2024 REMATCH CASH DASH

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

The development was first reported yesterday by NBC News, with stories soon after from a handful of other news organizations, including CNN and Politico, 

Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt, responding to the stories, said that they were “not accurate.”

“On grassroots fundraising, the first seven days of July were the best start to the month on the campaign — and many of those were first-time donors. On the high-dollar side, we’ve had folks max out since the debate, as well,” Hitt said in a statement.

THE DEMOCRATIC LT. GOVERNOR OF THIS BLUE STATE CALLS ON BIDEN TO END HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

The president, in a call earlier this week with top donors, tried to reassure them and argued that he is still the best candidate to defeat Trump in November.

However, actor George Clooney, who is among Biden’s biggest supporters and donors in Hollywood, and who was one of the hosts of a mega-fundraiser last month in Los Angeles with Biden and former President Obama that hauled in $28 million for the president’s campaign, urged Biden to step aside on Wednesday.

President Biden, right, and former President Trump participate in a presidential debate on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta. ( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Biden campaign touted that they hauled in a staggering $38 million in fundraising in the immediate aftermath of the June 27 debate in Atlanta.

Biden is scheduled to appear at several high-dollar fundraisers this month, Fox News has confirmed, including one in Austin, Texas, early next week, and a West Coast swing at the end of the month.

However, organizers for at least one Chicago-area fundraiser scheduled during next month’s Democratic National Convention have decided not to proceed with their event, a Democratic source confirmed to Fox News. A spokesperson for the Biden campaign says the event was not affiliated with their official fundraising schedule.

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

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

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

President Biden speaks at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 5, 2024. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Since the debate, 10 House Democrats and one in the Senate have publicly called on Biden to end his re-election bid and a growing number of both House and Senate Democrats have publicly and privately warned that the president will lose to Trump in November.

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

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

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

Former President Trump lashed out at actor George Clooney on Wednesday night, calling the Democratic Party ally a “rat” for calling on the president to cease reelection efforts.

Clooney published an op-ed in The New York Times earlier in the day, expressing his belief that President Biden “saved our democracy” by beating Trump in 2020 but acknowledging that Democrats “are not going to win in November with this president.”

Trump responded to the op-ed later that night via Truth Social, his proprietary social media platform, saying, “So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act. He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are.”

PRESSURE ON BIDEN BUILDS AS GEORGE CLOONEY SAYS HE’S UNFIT AND POLITICIANS PRIVATELY AGREE

Biden, right, greets Clooney during the Kennedy Center honoree reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.  (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“What does Clooney know about anything? He uses the Democrat ‘talking point’ that Biden, the WORST President in the history of the United States, has ‘saved our Democracy,'” Trump stated.

Clooney did take an apologetic tone in his op-ed — outright stating “I love Joe Biden” and that he believes in his “character” and “morals” — but claimed to have witnessed his decline firsthand at a fundraiser last month.

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

DAVE PORTNOY MOCKS GEORGE CLOONEY FOR WAITING 3 WEEKS AFTER FUNDRAISER TO ACKNOWLEDGE BIDEN IS A ‘VEGETABLE’

Trump is pictured during a campaign event at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami, Florida.  (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The actor joined a growing list of Hollywood elites and megadonors who’ve turned on Biden following the debate, where his halting, frail and at-times confused performance alarmed supporters. 

“Crooked Joe Biden didn’t save our Democracy, he brought our Democracy to its knees. Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television. Movies never really worked for him!!!” Trump concluded.

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

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Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, speaks during a radio broadcast in Miami Beach, Florida.  (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

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

Besides Clooney, members of Biden’s party, political allies and liberal media figures have also pressured the president to drop out of the race, warning he cannot beat former President Trump.

Despite mounting pressure to step aside, Biden has insisted to supporters and media outlets this week that he will stay in the race and remains the best candidate to beat his GOP rival. 

Fox News Digital’s Kristine Parks and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney of New York is reacting to the House passage of the SAVE Act that she co-sponsored, which aims to prevent illegal immigrants from voting in U.S. elections.

“I think what it does is it just puts an exclamation point on the fact that the states are the ones that have been in power to control the laws and that the states need to ensure that we have citizens only voting in elections so that we’re we’re solidifying the concept of one citizen, one vote,” Tenney told Fox News Digital after the House passed the SAVE Act by a final vote of 221-198.

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

“There’s nothing more sacred and more profound than the right to vote and especially to preserve our self-governing constitutional republic and to preserve our democracy. And the Democrats can keep talking about democracy, but nothing undermines the values of the right of each individual to have their vote cast and allowing non-citizens to vote,” Tenney, the chair of the House Election Integrity Caucus, told Fox News Digital.

LAWMAKERS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM TOP MICHIGAN OFFICIAL OVER SUSPECTED PRO-DEMOCRAT ELECTIONEERING
 

Rep. Claudia Tenney and fellow Republicans passed the SAVE Act on Wednesday (Getty Images)

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. 

“This will be one of the most important votes that members of this chamber will ever take in their entire careers,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a press release before the vote. 

“And it’s an issue we never thought we would have to actually address, but that moment has come to us now. Should Americans and Americans alone determine the outcome of American elections? Or should we allow foreigners and illegal aliens to decide who sits in the White House and in the People’s House and in the Senate?”

Democratic leadership urged its members to vote against the bill arguing that it would place “an extreme burden [on] countless Americans.”

“It’s pretty incredible to me that this is what they [Democrats] continue to do is to really undermine our sacred right to vote, undermine the right of citizens and no one feels more aggrieved by this than people who are new citizens, people who are excited about their ability to vote in an election that’s private and free and that’s fair,” Tenney told Fox News Digital. “And so I think that that really sends a terrible message, if that’s what the Democrats plan on running on, as they remain in disarray and chaos over their leading nominee right now for president.”

Tenney told Fox News Digital she does not know what the future holds for the legislation in the Senate but is fairly confident Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will “reject it.”

NEW TRUMP VOTER FRAUD SQUADS BEGIN GEARING UP FOR ‘ELECTION INTEGRITY’ FIGHT

Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney,R-N.Y.  (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“It really is a shame on Schumer and a real disgrace that Schumer as a lawyer and a person that takes an oath to uphold the Constitution of New York and the Constitution of the United States if he would blatantly just undermine our own constitutional principles and not bringing something like this to the floor and recognizing that only citizens should be voting in elections,” Tenney said.

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

The passage of the SAVE Act drew praise from conservatives across the nation including Heritage Action for America Executive Vice President Ryan Walker who told Fox News Digital in a statement that the vote is a “victory for the integrity of our elections and every single American.” 

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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a press conference following the weekly Senate democratic caucus luncheons on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2024. (REUTERS/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/File Photo)

“Heritage Action was proud to include today’s vote on our legislative scorecard because all voters deserve to see which lawmakers sat idly by and let Joe Biden’s illegal alien invasion dilute the power of our votes,” Walker said. “Speaker Johnson was right to ask earlier today in a floor speech if Democrats will support any measure to prevent voter fraud. Unfortunately, the answer is no. The Left wants open borders and open ballot boxes for illegal aliens, while conservatives want security for our communities and elections.”

Fox News Digital’s Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and Greg Wehner contributed to this report

A huge majority of Americans want President Biden to drop out of the race, including a majority of his own supporters, according to a Thursday poll from ABC News and the Washington Post.

A full 67% of respondents say Biden should drop out of the race, and 85% say he is too old to serve out a second term. Meanwhile, 60% of respondents also said former President Trump is too old for a second term, up from 44% in the spring of 2023.

Among Democrats and voters who said they lean Democratic, 62% say Biden needs to drop out of the race. Even among self-professed Biden supporters, 54% say he needs to drop out.

Despite this, the poll found that Biden and Trump are virtually tied, despite voters’ lack of confidence in Biden, with 46% saying they would vote for the current president and 47% saying they support Trump.

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

A huge majority of Americans want President Biden to drop out of the race, including a majority of his own supporters, according to a Thursday poll from ABC News and the Washington Post. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The poll found better outcomes for Democrats if Vice President Kamala Harris were to replace Biden as the party’s nominee. That poll found 49% support for Harris and 46% support for Trump.

BIDEN DELIVERS STRONG SPEECH TOUTING NATO AMID HEALTH QUESTIONS, DEMOCRATS’ CONCERNS

The Thursday poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel from July 5-9. The poll was conducted in both English and Spanish and sampled 2,431 U.S. adults. The poll advertises a margin of error of 2%.

Former President Trump, pictured here, and President Biden are tied in the presidential race, according to a new poll from ABC News and the Washington Post. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

The poll comes as Biden faces a growing number of defections from Democratic lawmakers and his donor class. A number of House lawmakers have called on him to step aside, and the first Democratic senator, Peter Welch of Vermont, did the same on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, celebrity actor George Clooney led an exodus of top donors and influences on Wednesday, publishing a New York Times op-ed saying he had no confidence in Biden’s ability to serve a second term.

NATO SUMMIT IN DC IS ‘PIVOTAL’ MAKE-OR-BREAK MOMENT FOR BIDEN AS SCRUTINY OVER FITNESS FOR OFFICE INTENSIFIES

Celebrity actor George Clooney, left, led an exodus of top donors and influences on Wednesday, publishing an op-ed saying he had no confidence in President Biden’s ability to serve a second term. (Getty Images)

Biden will host his first news conference since the debate later Thursday amid the NATO summit in Washington D.C.

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Biden has vowed to remain in the race despite rising concerns and calls for him to drop out and let another candidate take on Trump. 

“There’s been a lot of speculation: What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What’s he going to do?” Biden said Friday in a speech in Madison, Wisconsin. “Well, here’s my answer: I am running and going to win again.”

The Trump presidential campaign is firing back at what appears to be coordinated attacks from the White House, the Biden campaign and Democrats relating to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 platform, calling it a “distraction” following President Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

“Agenda 47 and President Trump’s RNC Platform are the only policies endorsed by President Trump for a second term,” Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez told Fox News Digital. 

“Team Biden and the DNC are LYING and fear-mongering because they have NOTHING else to offer the American people. Remember this is the same group that lied to Americans and hid Joe Biden’s cognitive decline all these years.” 

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 directly associated with Trump’s campaign.

BIDEN CHANGES TUNE ON TRUMP GOLF CHALLENGE HE WAS ONCE ‘HAPPY TO PLAY’

President Biden, left, and former President Trump. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson | Evan Vucci)

“The actions of liberal politicians in Washington have created a desperate need and unique opportunity for conservatives to start undoing the damage the Left has wrought and build a better country for all Americans in 2025,” Project 2025’s website reads. “It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration.”

“This is the goal of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. The project will build on four pillars that will, collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative administration: a policy agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook.”

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.

Democrats have relentlessly attacked Trump’s alleged connection to the project in the days following Biden’s disastrous debate, accusing it of attempting to make radical changes to government staffing, abortion, taxes, drug prices and other issues, despite Trump’s denial. The Biden campaign X account alone has posted about Project 2025 over 100 times, including clips of Democrats and media personalities attacking it, since June 27, the date of the debate.

President Biden and former President Trump, right. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

President Biden’s personal X account has posted about it multiple times in the last week, including a Wednesday video post of Biden saying, “Project 2025 will destroy America” and then instructing his social media followers to visit a section of his campaign website to read about Project 2025. Another post called the policies “extreme and dangerous.”

“Trump doesn’t need a GOP platform when he has a 1,000-page extremist agenda detailed out in Project 2025,” the Biden campaign posted two days after the debate.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said on Tuesday that Project 2025 is a “creepy document written by Trump’s closest confidants.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. took a shot at House Republicans and said they “are determined to hide their extreme agenda” and “will eliminate reproductive freedom and jam Project 2025 down the throats of the American people.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Biden-Harris 2024 Rapid Response Director Ammar Moussa said, “Project 2025 was written for Donald Trump by the people who know him best. These are the same extremists who wrote the RNC’s policy platform, led Trump’s debate prep, and regularly tout their connections to Trump’s team. Oh, and Trump’s own SuperPAC has run ads promoting Project 2025.”

“Trump’s Supreme Court and Project 2025 have designed the playbook for Trump to serve as a dictator on day one with unchecked power to rip away freedoms and raise costs for working families so billionaires get richer. This November, voters must stop Trump from turning the Oval Office into his throne room.”

The campaign also pointed to the Heritage Foundation previously stating in 2018 that the Trump administration “embraced nearly two-thirds of the policy recommendations from The Heritage Foundation’s ‘Mandate for Leadership.'”

Project 2025’s website says, “the Trump administration relied heavily on Heritage’s “Mandate” for policy guidance, embracing nearly two-thirds of Heritage’s proposals within just one year in office.

NEW WHITE HOUSE DIGITAL STAFFER CHEERED SOCIAL MEDIA BAN ON TRUMP: ‘WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG?’

President Biden’s disastrous debate performance “changed people’s calculations about how candid they would be” about his cognitive issues, according to Olivia Nuzzi. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Additionally, the Biden campaign points to internet analytics numbers showing interest in the project has spiked in recent weeks, even surging past Taylor Swift in search trends.

“As we’ve been saying for more than two years now, Project 2025 does not speak for any candidate or campaign,” Project 2025 told Fox News Digital in a statement.  “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.

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

In a lengthy X thread, Project 2025 outlined the various attacks on its agenda, giving the criticisms a ranking of “true” or “false.”

Trump disavowed the effort in a post on Truth Social, saying he did not 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.”

On the other hand, Fox News Digital previously reported that the Biden administration has worked behind the scenes with Governing for Impact, a shadowy group backed by millions of dollars from liberal billionaire George Soros, to shape administration policy. A Harvard advert said the group was established to prepare the Biden administration for a “transformative governance” and that it had produced “more than 60 in-depth, shovel-ready regulatory recommendations” for dozens of federal agencies. 

Billionaire George Soros, left, and President Biden. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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The Biden White House has also worked closely with The Center for American Progress (CAP), a leading progressive think tank, which has a strong influence on federal policymaking with many of its former employees flocking to high-level administration roles. Two of the most notable CAP hires are CAP founder John Podesta, who has received scrutiny for his ties to the CCP, and former CAP President Neera Tanden, whose nomination was derailed in 2021 after several controversial posts were unearthed and hundreds were deleted. She is currently President Biden’s domestic policy advisor.

Several individuals on the White House visitor logs have advocated for defunding the police; critical race theory; diversity, equity, and inclusion; praising antisemite Louis Farrakhan; eliminating cash bail; and packing the Supreme Court, among other radical positions, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

A recent report revealed that the president of the National Education Association, who vowed that she would “fight” school vouchers and wants to transform public schools into a racially “equitable system,” has visited the Biden White House 24 times.

Fox News’ Kyle Morris, Tom Catenacci and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.

President Biden’s fundraising pool is quickly drying up as more major donors and top Democratic officials continue to call on him to drop out of the race.

Top Democratic officials and operatives who work with the party’s major donors say fundraising efforts for Biden are “cratering,” according to Politico. Some donors have outright canceled fundraising events, while others have said they will not donate until Biden drops out of the race, the outlet reported.

“This is a massive, massive problem,” one of the sources told Politico. “Right now, we should be scaling up, doubling and tripling our goals as we head into the fall. But we’re cratering.”

The sources said grassroots fundraising is also being affected by Biden’s disastrous debate performance against former President Trump. One person told the outlet they expect small-dollar donations to drop by up to 25% by the end of July.

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

President Biden’s fundraising pool is quickly drying up as more major donors and top Democratic officials continue to call on him to drop out of the race on Thursday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Unrest in the donor class echoes Biden’s wavering support among Democratic lawmakers. Several Democrats in the House have called on Biden to step aside, and the first Democratic Senator, Peter Welch of Vermont, did the same on Wednesday.

Celebrity actor George Clooney, who held a fundraiser for Biden three weeks ago that brought in over $30 million, also broke with Biden on Wednesday. He said the Biden he saw at the fundraiser was the “same man” that Americans saw at the debate against Trump.

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

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

Celebrity actor George Clooney, who held a fundraiser for Biden three weeks ago that brought in over $30 million, also broke with Biden on Wednesday. He said the Biden he saw at the fundraiser was the “same man” that Americans saw at the debate against Trump. (Getty Images)

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

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

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., was the first Democratic Senator to call on Preisdent Biden to withdraw from the race. (Getty Images)

Liberal celebrities in Hollywood were quick to follow Clooney’s defection on Wednesday.

“I think it’s a valid point,” Michael Douglas reacted to Clooney’s essay on Wednesday’s installment of “The View.” 

“I’m deeply, deeply concerned. I mean, especially – it’s difficult because the Democrats have a big bench. They’ve got a lot of heavy hitters,” Douglas said before suggesting Biden was ill-advised ahead of last month’s presidential debate. 

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Actress Mia Farrow similarly warned in a post on X that it’s “time to pass the torch” or “we will lose the Senate, the House and our Democracy.”

“Ill [sic] vote for Joe if he declines to step down. Of course. But he is losing,” Farrow said. “We cannot EVER give our country to Trump.”

Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is being slammed for his political similarity to President Biden as the president’s poor June debate performance continues to pose concerns to Democrats in down-ballot races and on Capitol Hill.

“Joe Biden’s politics now are not much different from mine,” Brown says in the ad from Republican candidate Bernie Moreno’s campaign. His quote comes from a 2021 interview. 

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

Senate candidate Bernie Moreno released a new ad likening Sherrod Brown to Joe Biden as the president’s poll numbers go down. (Getty Images)

The ad notes the vulnerable Democrat’s proclivity to vote in line with Biden, with a narrator saying, “Extreme liberal Sherrod Brown voted with Biden 99% of the time.” 

The campaign cited an analysis of Senate votes during the 117th Congress in 2021 and 2022, which showed Brown siding with Biden 98.5% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight. 

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

Bernie Moreno, left, and Sherrod Brown (Getty Images)

In 2023, during the first half of the 118th Congress, Brown voted with the president 97.9% of the time, per a separate FiveThirtyEight aggregation. 

“Sherrod Brown votes with Biden 99% of the time for his disastrous agenda that has destroyed our economy, created a wide open southern border, waged war on American energy, and sold out Ohio workers,” said Moreno spokesperson Reagan McCarthy in a statement. “Brown can try to run from his record of voting in lockstep with his longtime friend Joe Biden, but Ohioans know that he has rubber-stamped this administration’s agenda every step of the way.”

DEMOCRATS SAY CALLS TO REPLACE BIDEN AFTER PRIMARIES AREN’T ‘THREAT TO DEMOCRACY,’ A CHARGE LOBBED AT TRUMP

Moreno is endorsed by former President Trump. (Getty Images)

The ad is part of a seven-figure statewide ad buy that will run on digital and streaming as well as through the mail. 

In the video, an additional clip of Brown is played from 2019, during which he says, “We have a president who is a racist,” in reference to former President Trump.

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

Biden has referred to Brown as his “buddy.” (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The ad further includes footage of Biden calling Brown his “buddy” and links to a website named JustLikeBiden.com. 

Brown spokesperson Matt Keyes said in a statement to Fox News Digital: “Sherrod works for Ohio, which is why he’s stood up to presidents of both parties to block bad trade deals, worked with Republicans to make sure border patrol agents and law enforcement officers have the resources they need, and demanded the Biden Administration crack down on Chinese solar products that undercut Ohio manufacturers.”

“Meanwhile, Bernie Moreno can’t be trusted and only looks out for himself.”

The Ohio Senate race is rated a “Toss Up” by nonpartisan political handicapper Cook Political Report, alongside only two other Senate races. 

Brown is in a competitive race. (Joshua A. Bickel/Bloomberg)

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Moreno’s latest ad against Brown tying his record to the president’s comes as Biden continues to see a downturn in critical polls of the national electorate going into the November election. With split-ticket voting on the decline, candidates for Senate are much more likely to be elected if the presidential nominee at the top of their ticket also carries their state.

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

President Biden is slated to face the media late Thursday afternoon in his first solo press conference since his disastrous debate last month, and it’s anticipated that he’ll be grilled as the nation weighs his mental acuity amid heightening health concerns. 

Biden is expected to hold the news conference on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. after hosting NATO leaders in Washington, D.C., this week. The media has dubbed the press conference a “big boy press conference,” with the president fielding questions from the media solo. It marks Biden’s first solo press conference of the year and the first time he will speak to the media at a presser since his debate against former President Trump on June 27, Fox News found.

Biden is facing heightened concerns over his health in the wake of his poor debate performance, which opened floodgates of concern in the Democratic Party that the president’s 81 years of age and alleged slipping mental acuity will cost the party as the Biden campaign squares up against Trump.

At least nine elected Democrats have called on Biden to drop out since the debate, and at least 23 Democrats, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin, have expressed concern over Biden’s performance and re-election effort.

DEMOCRATS, MEDIA DEMAND BIDEN DO MORE INTERVIEWS, PRESS CONFERENCES AMID DEBATE FALLOUT

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg listens as President Biden speaks during NATO’s 75th anniversary celebratory event in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 2024. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Biden has vowed to remain in the race despite rising concerns and calls for him to drop out and let another candidate take on Trump. 

“There’s been a lot of speculation: What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What’s he going to do?” Biden said Friday in a speech in Madison, Wisconsin. “Well, here’s my answer: I am running and going to win again.”

On Wednesday, Pelosi suggested in an interview that Biden should reconsider his vow to remain in the race, adding fuel to the fire of the party’s disarray.

NATO SUMMIT IN DC IS ‘PIVOTAL’ MAKE-OR-BREAK MOMENT FOR BIDEN AS SCRUTINY OVER FITNESS FOR OFFICE INTENSIFIES

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

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

Pelosi said in the interview that she and other Democrats are waiting to see how the week goes for Biden, suggesting that she told fellow Democrats to not speak publicly about their thoughts on Biden until the week concludes.

“Let’s just hold off,” she said. “Whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week.”

Biden delivered a strong NATO speech on Tuesday afternoon, compared to his disastrous debate performance and repeated gaffes during public events in recent months, but praise for the speech from prominent allies has been few and far between.

The president earned praise on social media from liberal-leaning accounts that said the president delivered a “classic” and “strong speech.” Prominent Democrats, however, overwhelmingly remained silent from publicly remarking on the speech. Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Mark Warner and the White House for comment about whether they view the speech as a success but did not receive replies. 

“Today, NATO is more powerful than ever,” Biden said Tuesday evening during his speech. “It’s good that we’re stronger than ever because this moment in history calls for our collective strength. Autocrats want to overturn global order, which is, by and large, kept for nearly 80 years and counting. Terrorist groups continue to plot evil schemes, cause mayhem and chaos and suffering in Europe. Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, and Putin wants nothing less than Ukraine’s total subjugation to end Ukraine.”

BIDEN DELIVERS STRONG SPEECH TOUTING NATO AMID HEALTH QUESTIONS, DEMOCRATS’ CONCERNS

In addition to the president’s NATO speech on Tuesday, Biden’s schedule is stacked with NATO meetings, dinners, a bilateral meeting with newly minted U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and a meeting with the nation’s largest federation of trade unions, the AFL-CIO, among other engagements this week. The press conference is the most highly anticipated event on his schedule for members of the media as well as the Democratic Party because it allows the president to directly speak with reporters as questions mount about his health.

Heads of state are shown during NATO’s 75th anniversary celebratory event in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Since Biden’s disastrous debate performance, Democrats and the media have repeatedly said that if Biden remains in the race, he needs to hold more interviews and press conferences.

“The only way for him and the campaign to respond is not by talking to senators or governors, because this is not a tell-me situation. It’s a show-me situation,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told CNN last Wednesday. “So he’d have to be out and about in the hurly-burly of a campaign, open-ended press conferences with folks like you, engagements with voters that are unscripted.”

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

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

Biden did sit down for an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopolos that aired on July 5, but the interview did not quell mounting concerns over the president’s mental acuity and age, most notably when Biden repeatedly dodged whether he would take a cognitive test.

BIDEN SAYS ‘WORLD’S LOOKING TO AMERICA’ AS HE FACES SCRUTINY BEFORE HOSTING NATO SUMMIT

“Have you had the specific cognitive tests, and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“No, no one said I had to. … They said I’m good,” Biden responded.

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)

Stephanopoulos pressed Biden a third time on taking a cognitive or neurological test and whether he would release the results of such a test to the public. The president, however, brushed off the question by saying he is tested every day in his role as president.

“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden said. “Every day I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Sounds like hyperbole, but we are the central nation in the world.”

President Biden has insisted he has no intention of stepping aside. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden’s public events this week will be crucial for not only his campaign but also for how America is viewed on the world stage, experts previously told Fox News Digital, which might explain why Democrats were not eager to outright praise the president’s NATO speech on Tuesday.

“This week is pivotal for President Biden not only because of the intense interest in what he will be saying at his press events but also because this summit provides a clear example of restored American global leadership in support of our nation’s defense,” Joel Rubin, a former State Department official during the Obama administration, previously told Fox News Digital.

DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS MOSTLY RESIST CALLING FOR BIDEN TO DROP OUT DESPITE PRIVATE CONCERNS: REPORTS

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital this week that Biden “must show the American public that he has the ability to serve out the remainder of this term, let alone a future one” as the “eyes of the world” watch the NATO summit. 

“It is on President Biden to show he’s capable and up to the task,” Lawler said. “What we’ve seen in recent weeks doesn’t cut it.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (Andrew Thomas/NurPhoto via Getty Images/File)

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week that reporters can expect to ask the president questions during the presser at the end of the NATO summit.

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“You can expect a solo press conference from this president at the end of … the NATO summit. He’s looking forward to it. And he will be taking your questions. So, that’ll be a good thing,” Jean-Pierre said on Monday.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken and Hanna Panreck contributed to this article.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THIS TOP NONPARTISAN POLITICAL HANDICAPPER SHIFTS FIVE KEY STATES TOWARDS TRUMP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign.

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

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

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

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

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

SCHUMER PLANS TO STRIP TRUMP OF IMMUNITY FOLLOWING SCOTUS RULING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My colleague corrected me.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: BACKLASH IN THE HALLS OF CONGRESS

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

I changed the copy.

No journalist is clairvoyant.

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

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

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

Often, silence can be louder than the soundbites.

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

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

The President’s cheerleaders were easy to find.

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

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

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

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

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

Call it “bleedin’ with Biden.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Good morning. Good morning,” said Pelosi.

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

There was silence from Pelosi.

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

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

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

Warren and an aide hurriedly slid past the press assemblage.

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

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

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

At least nothing – in the open.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“My statement speaks for itself,” said Wild.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, Aguilar left open wiggle room.

MULTIPLE RANKING DEMOCRATS ON HOUSE COMMITTEES WANT BIDEN TO STEP ASIDE

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

Right now.

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

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

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

Meantime, Jeffries gave his members some breathing room.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clooney called on Biden to leave the 2024 race in a New York Times guest essay on Wednesday, writing, “It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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