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Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., publicly supports President Biden as he faces calls to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election. But in private, she is reportedly encouraging lawmakers to continue to put pressure on Biden to reconsider his decision to run for re-election, according to reports. 

A number of House Democrats told The Hill that Pelosi is advising members in their conference against rallying to Biden before there is a broader discussion over whether he is the best candidate to defeat former President Trump. While she has not called on Biden to step aside, Pelosi is reportedly telling vulnerable lawmakers in swing districts to do so if they think that will help them win re-election.

“I did have a conversation with her, she is very concerned,” one House Democratic lawmaker told The Hill. “It’s not like she’s like, ‘We’re sticking with this guy.'”

Lawmakers quoted in the report were granted anonymity to speak frankly about sensitive discussions in their conference. 

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

Pelosi greets Biden in the Rotunda as he arrives to pay his respects to the late Rep. Don Young (R-Ark.) while lying in state in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol March 29, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“I’ve had my own conversations with her,” a second Democrat reportedly said. 

“It’s just an obvious concern. The stakes are so high. We can’t afford to do anything but have our best possible opportunity to win,” the lawmaker said, relaying Pelosi’s message to the conference, according to The Hill.

Pelosi is a longtime Biden ally. She led House Democrats for the entirety of Biden’s two terms as vice president and served as House speaker for the first two years of his presidency, ushering major pieces of Biden’s agenda through Congress, including the American Rescue Plan and bipartisan infrastructure law.

Even so, she likes to win. And Pelosi has repeatedly said that Trump represents an existential threat to democracy who must be defeated in November, a feat Democrats are not certain Biden can accomplish. 

MEDIA FIGURES SHOCKED AT BIDEN’S ‘BAD’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE: ‘TOTAL AND COMPLETE DISASTER’

Biden and Pelosi arrive for a signing ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 9, 2022.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The report said that Pelosi’s work behind-the-scenes is a response to how the Biden campaign and White House reacted to criticisms of the president’s disastrous debate performance on June 27—denying that there’s a problem with Biden’s age or mental acuity and stubbornly insisting that Democrats have no alternative to the status quo. 

Biden maintained that position during a roughly hour-long news conference on Thursday, where he took multiple questions from reporters to allay concerns that he is too old and too mentally deficient to carry Democrats through the election and keep the White House. 

“I’m determined on running,” Biden declared. 

“Am I getting the job done? Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in 3½ years? I created 2,000 jobs just last week,” the president said. “So, if I slow down, I can’t get the job done, that’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet. None.”

PROMINENT DEMS CAST DOUBT ON BIDEN’S CLAIM HE’S STAYING IN RACE

Biden at a news conference during the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, July 11, 2024. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The president on Monday sent a letter to congressional Democrats asserting that criticisms of his candidacy “only helps Trump and hurts us.” But his attempts to strong-arm Democratic lawmakers have not stifled dissent. On the contrary, they appear to have emboldened those who believe Biden is not taking his critics seriously. 

“Pelosi speaks for the sense that, if you’re going to circle the wagons, you need a lot more wagons in the circle,” a third Democratic lawmaker told The Hill. “You have to have a real conversation with people to decide it all together. And you can’t present people with a judgment.”

Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House and the Biden campaign also did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital inquiries. 

Pelosi spokesman Ian Krager told The Hill: “Speaker Pelosi fully supports whatever President Biden decides to do. We must turn our attention to why this race is so important: Donald Trump would be a disaster for our country and our democracy.” 

DEMS RUSH TO DEFEND BIDEN AMID HIGH-STAKES PRESS CONFERENCE: ‘VERY STRONG PERFORMANCE’

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

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

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

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“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.

Regardless of whatever private discussions that may be happening, Pelosi publicly contradicted the president and opened the door for other Democrats to do the same. At least 17 Democratic lawmakers have now openly called on Biden to step aside from the nomination. The discussion is far from over, and Biden’s future is uncertain. 

Fox News Digital’s Aubry Spady and Emma Colton contributed to this report.

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

Prominent Democrats being floated as replacements for President Biden as their party’s nominee are defending his candidacy despite other members of the party calling on him to step down.

Biden is facing calls from nearly a dozen Democratic lawmakers to step down as the 2024 nominee following his damaging performance at the first presidential debate.

While many Democrats are voicing concerns over his ability to serve, several lawmakers being named as potential Biden replacements should he step down are amplifying their support for the president.

Democrats Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg have all shown support for Biden’s re-election efforts since being named as potential candidates to replace Biden.

FETTERMAN DOUBLES DOWN ON SUPPORT FOR BIDEN AMID CALLS FOR HIM TO WITHDRAW: ‘HE’S BEEN A GREAT PRESIDENT’

“@JoeBiden is in it to win it, and I’m damn proud to support him,” Whitmer wrote in a post on X Wednesday.

(L-R) President of the United Auto Workers Ray Curry, President Biden, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow arrive to tour the 2022 North American International Auto Show in Detroit Sept, 14, 2022. (Mandel Ngan)

Whitmer defended the president several times after the debate and most recently suggested on CNN that it wouldn’t hurt for Biden to take a cognitive test to address concerns about his mental competency.

HUGE MAJORITY OF DEMOCRATS SAY BIDEN MUST STEP ASIDE EVEN AS BIDEN-TRUMP HORSE RACE IS TIED: POLL

Newsom hit the campaign trial for Biden after the debate, telling voters the president has the energy to serve another term as president.

“I was asked and tasked by President Biden, proudly, to fly from California to Georgia to represent the campaign right after that debate,” Newsom recently told supporters at a Van Buren Dems BBQ for Biden-Harris in Michigan. 

Newsom joined 20 Democratic governors in a private meeting with Biden at the White House just days after the debate, which he claims eased concerns over the president’s fitness.

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

“It could have gone two or three hours,” Newsom said of the meeting. “And I mean this with absolute conviction. That was the Joe Biden I remember from two weeks ago. That was the Joe Biden that I remember from two years ago. That’s the Joe Biden that I’m looking forward to re-electing as president of the United States.”

Pritzker also voiced support for Biden this week amid growing backlash over the debate.

“I’m not engaging in hypotheticals. You can see that I’m all in for Joe Biden,” he said. “Joe Biden is going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party. I’m gonna go out there and wholeheartedly campaign for him.”

Pritzker added that Biden is “of course” physically and mentally fit to serve. 

Sen Tina Smith, D-Minn., and J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois, during a news conference hosted by Biden-Harris 2024 National Advisory Board members in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 15, 2024. (Rachel Mummey)

Beshear told reporters that while the president did not perform well at the debate, he is still supporting his re-election bid.

“The debate performance was rough. It was a very bad night for the president, but he is still the candidate. Only he can make decisions about his future candidacy. So, as long as he continues to be in the race, I support him,” Beshear said.

Buttigieg told Spectrum News in an interview after the debate that, despite any concerns, Biden remains a “focused and disciplined leader.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at the Celebration of Freedom Ceremony during Wawa Welcome America July 4, 2023, in Philadelphia. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)

Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, another candidate mentioned as a potential replacement for Biden, played a slightly different tune and suggested Biden needs to make his case to the American people that he can win in November.

“The president has a responsibility to reassure the good people of Pennsylvania and the people of this country that he can defeat Donald Trump,” Shapiro told Axios in a statement.

Vice President Kamala Harris is considered the top candidate to step in and replace Biden should he be replaced as the nominee.

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Despite growing calls to drop out of the race, Biden has made several public declarations that he will not step aside.

EXCLUSIVE — As she aims to become the first Republican in New Mexico to win a Senate election in more than two decades, Nella Domenici is shattering records.

Domenici’s campaign reports that the candidate hauled in $2.9 million during the April-June second quarter of 2024 fundraising, which they said was “the largest fundraising quarter of any U.S. Senate candidate in New Mexico political history.”

The money was raised by both Domenici’s Senate campaign and its associated joint fundraising committees. The figures were shared first with Fox News on Friday.

It has been 22 years since a Republican has won in the one-time swing state that now leans blue. The last GOP politician to win was Sen. Pete Domenici, Nella’s father, who in 2002 was re-elected to a sixth six-year term.

DAUGHTER OF NEW MEXICO’S LAST REPUBLICAN SENATOR RUNNING FOR FATHER’S OLD SEAT

Republican Senate candidate Nella Domenici campaigns in Carlsbad, New Mexico, on May 14, 2024 (Domenici campaign)

Fast-forward to the present day, and his daughter aims to end the losing streak.

The momentum is growing, the movement is building, and our state is ready for new leadership,” the candidate said in a statement. “New Mexico is at a tipping point and I’m grateful to all of those who are rallying behind our campaign to demand more for our state and our nation.”

The candidate’s haul is more than double the $1.25 she brought in during the first quarter of 2024 fundraising. Domenici’s campaign said they entered July with more than $2 million in cash on hand.

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Domenici is using her powerful political brand and ample name recognition in New Mexico as she challenges Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is running in November for a third six-year term. 

Heinrich hauled in $1.5 million during the first three months of the year but has yet to announce his second-quarter fundraising.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File)

In her race against Heinrich, Domenici is also showcasing her resume. She has decades of experience in the finance industry at Bridgewater Associates, where she served as chief financial officer, Credit Suisse and Citadel Investment group.

In recent cycles, New Mexico, which was once a general election battleground, has shifted to the left and is no longer considered a crucial swing state.

Heinrich won re-election in 2018, which was a blue-wave cycle, by more than 30 points. President Biden carried the state by 10 points in 2020.

But with the turmoil surrounding Biden in the wake of his disastrous performance in his debate last month with former President Trump, which has fueled calls from within his own party for the president to end his re-election bid, the GOP sees an opportunity to expand the map in New Mexico and a couple of other states.

Internal Democrat polling conducted post-debate suggests a tightening political climate in New Mexico.

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

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Il., on Thursday joined a growing list of Democratic lawmakers publicly calling for President Biden to drop out of the presidential race after his debate performance late last month reignited doubts about his ability to serve as commander in chief.

In a statement, Schneider praised Biden for his accomplishments while in office but said the time had come for the president to “heroically pass the torch to a new generation of leadership to guide us to the future he has enabled and empowered us to pursue.”

Schneider invoked George Washington who, despite encouragement from his supporters, declined to run for a third term “for the good of the nation and the people.”

BIDEN RESISTS MOUNTING PRESSURE TO STEP ASIDE

Representative Brad Schneider, D-Il., is calling for President Biden to drop out of the presidential race, joining several other Democrats who have done the same.  (Getty Images)

“He knew when it was time to pass the torch,” Schneider said. “In passing the torch now, President Biden has a chance to live up to this standard and seal his place in history as one of the greatest leaders our nation, and history, has ever known. He can lead the transition of power to a new generation that can build a stronger party and a stronger nation. I fear if he fails to make the right choice, our democracy will hang in the balance.”

Schneider is the 11th Democratic House lawmaker who has publicly called for Biden to step down following his catastrophic performance at the recent presidential debate.

Biden’s top campaign aides have been working damage control with major donors, while the White House – and Biden himself – remain adamant that he is the right man to lead the party against former President Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee.

Despite calls even from within his own party to drop out, Biden, 81, has refused to step aside. 

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

Twenty-three Democratic governors from across the nation descended on the White House last Wednesday evening to meet with the embattled president, but after the gathering, only Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who leads the Democratic Governors Association, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore spoke to reporters to express their support. 

Moore described the meeting with Biden as “honest” and “candid” and said the governors were “going to have his back.”

Despite the concerns from Democrats, others within the party are still standing behind the president. 

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Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., recently said, “I don’t care what anybody says, it ain’t going to be no other Democratic candidate.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has said, “I’ll do my best to get him elected.”

Rep. Al Green of Texas has said, “I think that we need to move forward with Biden.”

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan, Danielle Wallace and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report. 

A former Democrat lawmaker in South Carolina, who has donated thousands of dollars to President Biden’s re-election campaign, warned about Biden’s age in 2019 while supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed presidential campaign.

“Joe Biden has been running for president since before I was born,” Bakari Sellers told Politico in 2019 while serving as a surrogate for the Harris campaign.

“Joe Biden is nearly 80 years old and he’s running to be president of the United States,” Sellers said. “My dad was president of an HBCU and will be 75 this year and his doctors told him he couldn’t do it anymore.”

Sellers, a CNN political analyst who formerly served in South Carolina’s House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014, said his dad, who served for 7 years as the president of Voorhees College, a South Carolina historically black college, “didn’t have the energy and strength to lead that campus anymore.” He went on to say it “doesn’t mean he wasn’t a great man and a great leader and a great visionary.”

“It is a justifiable conversation,” he continued.

BIDEN’S AGE MUCH MORE OF A LIABILITY THAN TRUMP’S, POLL FINDS AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

CNN contributor Bakari Sellers warned about Biden’s age in 2019 (Getty Images)

Sellers also took aim at presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over age concerns during the Democratic presidential primary in 2019.

“The three front-runners are all older than Ronald Reagan was when he took over,” Sellers said. “Democrats are afraid of criticism, which is silly to me. But we are going to have a contentious primary on vigor and issues about fitness to be president.”

AXIOS REPORTER SAYS WHITE HOUSE DID ‘NOT TELL THE TRUTH’ FOR YEARS TO MEDIA, THEMSELVES ABOUT BIDEN’S AGE

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

Sellers, who donated $10,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and $6,600 to Biden’s re-election campaign last year, making him a maxed-out donor, has repeatedly defended Biden against criticisms about his age in recent weeks, including this week when he said it was “patently absurd” to be having a discussion about a Parkinsons specialist visiting the White House.

On Thursday night, Sellers responded to Biden’s hour-long press conference by posting on X that Biden was “doing well” and reposted a post from NBC analyst Vin Gupta, a doctor, defending Biden’s press conference.

“[Biden] demonstrated tonight that he continues to function at a high-level for his age,” Gupta said. “Yes, he had gaffes, which he’s been prone to throughout his career. Yet the substance was there after a series of tough questions, ably demonstrating breadth of experience. Strong performance.”

“Biden would not only have to not run but he’d have to resign. Neither of which is happening,” Sellers said last week. “Any article about his age that is absent the fact he’s accomplished bipartisan, put black woman on Supreme Court, brought economy back from brink after COVID is an emotional play. Because it’s clear even in his age he can do the job of POTUS.”

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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally on June 28, 2024, in Las Vegas.  (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

One of Sellers’ most notable defenses of Biden occurred less than an hour after the CNN debate between Biden and former President Trump.

“Biden ain’t going nowhere. It’s June. Let go of your pearls and dry your bed. He lost a debate. Bad. But it’s June. You’re not replacing him,” Sellers posted on June 27 on X. “So leave your random combinations in your chats. You’re not nominating Gretch or Gavin or Wes over Kamala. Stop it. Organize. Vote. We are winning every swing state senate race and gubernatorial race (NC). Relax.”

“Choice is Trump, Biden or couch. I choose Joe. Night. Night,” he continued.

Fox News Digital reached out to Sellers for comment but did not receive a response..

The narrative aggressively pushed by the Biden campaign and White House in recent weeks about President Biden, which included trying to quash concerns about his mental fitness by calling videos of him struggling “cheap fakes,” took a significant hit on Wednesday after a top Hollywood actor and a former Obama aide spoke out.

On Wednesday, actor George Clooney called on Biden to leave the 2024 race, citing what he witnessed at a Hollywood fundraiser in late June where the president was criticized for seemingly needing to be led off the stage by former President Obama.

“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, a longtime friend of Obama, wrote. 

That conclusion was backed by former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, who also attended the Hollywood fundraiser.

WHAT IS VP HARRIS’ ROLE IN 25TH AMENDMENT AND HOW WOULD IT WORK TO REMOVE BIDEN?: EXPERTS

President Biden and actor George Clooney. (AP | Getty)

“It was not surprising to any of us who were at the fundraiser,” said Favreau, a member of the group of staffers often referred to as the “Obama bros” during their tenure in the White House. 

“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.”

JAMES CARVILLE DECLARES THAT BIDEN STILL RUNNING IS AN ‘IDIOTIC CHOICE’ FOR THE COUNTRY

President Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., to board Marine One on Dec. 8, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Favreau’s blunt comments come just a day after he joined two of his fellow advisers and members of the “Obama bros” 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.

Immediately following the June 18 fundraiser where videos circulated of Biden being led off the stage by Obama, the Democratic Party along with the media launched a coordinated effort to dispel any questions about Biden’s age.

“CLAIM: Biden froze onstage during his fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday night and had to be led away by Obama,” The Associated Press wrote. “THE FACTS: Biden paused amid cheers and applause as he exited the stage with his predecessor following an interview moderated by late-night host [Jimmy] Kimmel.”

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates described the moment as “the President taking in an applauding crowd for a few seconds.”

Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer attributed the negative characterizations as a distraction tactic from those who “are so scared of losing to Joe Biden, they’ll make anything up to distract from the fact that their candidate for president, Donald Trump, has been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, committed financial fraud, and only cares about himself.”

In response to a question at a press briefing the following Monday about videos that have been edited to make Biden appear frail or confused, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called such footage “cheap fakes video” that are “done in bad faith.” She added that they demonstrate “everything that we need to know about how desperate, how desperate Republicans are here.”

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

A source who helped organize, and attended, the fundraiser told the AP that there was nothing noteworthy about this moment and that Obama wanted to be “chummy” by walking offstage with Biden.

Lewis Kay, a spokesperson for Jimmy Kimmel, who was also at the event, called the claims spreading online “nonsense.”

“Attendees in the front were shouting at him, and President Biden was trying to hear them,” he wrote in an email to the AP. “It’s as simple as that.”

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

Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said some of his concerns were “deepened” on Thursday, and he needs to see more from President Biden and his campaign to address the concerns about his candidacy in the November election against former President Trump. 

“I need to see more analytics and data that show a path to victory,” he told reporters after the special meeting with top Biden campaign advisers on Thursday. 

According to Blumenthal, “Some of my concerns are allayed. Some others have been deepened,” after the discussion at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) with senior Biden advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon. 

DEM SENATOR HELPS BLOCK BIDEN JUDICIAL NOMINEE AMID CONTROVERSY OVER TRANSGENDER INMATE

Sen. Blumenthal said he still has concerns after the meeting with Biden’s advisers, and some of them had “deepened.” (Getty Images)

He explained that Biden’s solo press conference on Thursday evening at the conclusion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit will be “important” and “potentially a turning point.”

“But it has to be more than one, more than just one press conference in a week,” he added. 

BATTLEGROUND DEMS TESTER, KAINE SKIP BIDEN CAMPAIGN MEETING AS 2024 FEARS GROW

President Biden has said he is staying in the race. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The event will notably be Biden’s first such solo news conference of 2024. 

“Joe Biden has to continue effectively and aggressively meeting the concerns of the American people,” Blumenthal said. 

The senator emphasized that Biden must do press conferences and interviews, similar to those he is “doing right now.”

BATTLEGROUND DEM FEELS HEAT AFTER BIDEN’S DEBATE AS PARTY TURMOIL CONTINUES

Blumenthal wants to see more data about Biden’s path to victory. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images)

While he noted the concerns he still has, Blumenthal said, “as of now, he is the Democratic nominee. He has my support.”

The Democratic senator also made a point to note that Biden must revive his campaign himself. “It can’t be done for him, his advisers or staff can’t do it for him,” he said of the changes the president needs to make. 

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

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

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who became the first Democratic senator to call on Biden to exit the race on Wednesday, attended the meeting at the DSCC as well. “This was an opportunity for the campaign to come and tell us where they’re at and for senators to ask questions [and] make comments,” he said afterward. 

When reporters asked if he now felt differently about Biden’s candidacy after hearing from the advisers, he said, “I’m where I’m at, you know.” He said in a Washington Post op-ed on Wednesday that he didn’t believe Biden was the best Democratic candidate to beat Trump. 

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Sen. Bernie Sanders said the Biden campaign needs to be “stronger.” (Getty Images)

Also following the discussion, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said, “The Biden campaign has got to be stronger and clear, not only in defending their own record, but in creating an agenda for the future, especially for the needs of the working class of this country.”

A smiling Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was asked by Fox News Digital if he was happy after the meeting. He responded that he is a “happy person” in general.

Fox News’ Anne Marie Riha contributed to this report. 

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

Former President Trump on Thursday evening formally requested Judge Merchan overturn his guilty verdict in New York v. Trump after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity for official acts. 

Trump was found guilty in an unprecedented criminal trial last month on all counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, following a six-week trial stemming from Bragg’s investigation. 

The formal motion was filed Thursday evening. 

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

“The Court should dismiss the indictment and vacate the jury’s verdicts based on violations of the Presidential immunity doctrine and the Supremacy Clause,” Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche wrote in the motion. 

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

Trump signaled last week that he would move to overturn his criminal conviction in the Manhattan case after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a former president has substantial immunity for official acts committed while in office. 

In the formal motion Thursday evening, Blanche pointed to the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, and argued that certain evidence of “official acts” should not have been admitted during the trial. 

Specifically, Blanche argued that testimony from former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks; former Special Assistant to the President Madeleine Westerhout; testimony regarding The Special Counsel’s Office and Congressional Investigations and the pardon power; testimony regarding President Trump’s response to FEC Inquiries; his presidential Twitter posts and other related testimony was impermissably admitted during trial. 

Trump attorneys also pointed to Trump’s disclosures to the Office of Government Ethics as president. 

Blanche said that “official-acts evidence” that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg presented to the grand jury “contravened the holding in Trump because Presidents ‘cannot be indicted based on conduct for which they are immune from prosecution,'” the motion reads. “The Presidential immunity doctrine recognized in Trump pertains to all ‘criminal proceedings,’ including grand jury proceedings when a prosecutor ‘seeks to charge’ a former President using evidence of official acts.”

Blanche argued that Bragg “violated the Presidential immunity doctrine by using similar official-acts evidence in the grand jury proceedings that gave rise to the politically motivated charges in this case.” 

Image of Judge Juan Merchan imposed over Donald Trump (AP)

“Because an Indictment so tainted cannot stand, the charges must be dismissed,” Blanche argued. 

Blanche also explained that the Supreme Court’s decision does not allow for an “overwhelming evidence” or “harmless error” exception to “the profound institutional interests at stake.” 

“Indeed, Trump contemplates a pretrial interlocutory appeal of an adverse Presidential immunity determination precisely because even the prospect of such a trial is constitutionally unacceptable,” Blanche wrote. “It necessarily follows that the results of a trial conducted in breach of these holdings is invalid.” 

Trump was set to be sentenced Thursday, just days before the Republican National Convention where he is set to be formally nominated the 2024 GOP presidential nominee. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks after the guilty verdict in former U.S. President Donald Trump’s criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, at a press conference in New York, U.S., May 30, 2024. (REUTERS)

But Merchan, last week, granted Trump’s request to delay that sentencing. Merchan moved the sentencing hearing to September 18, “if such is still necessary.” 

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The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on presidential immunity came from a question that stemmed from charges brought against Trump in a separate, federal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith related to the events of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach and any alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in that case. 

President Biden held a roughly hour-long press conference and took multiple questions from reporters Thursday evening as he works to quell concerns over his mental fitness and age ahead of the presidential election in November. 

“I’m determined on running,” Biden declared Thursday evening in his solo press conference that lasted roughly 58 minutes. 

Biden’s press conference, dubbed by the media and repeated by the White House as the president’s “big boy press conference,” was a high-stakes public event as voters and traditional Democratic allies increasingly spoke out this week that Biden’s mental acuity and age could or should prevent him from seeking re-election. The press conference follows Biden hosting NATO leaders in Washington, D.C., for the 75th anniversary of NATO. 

“Am I getting the job done? Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in three and a half years? I created 2,000 jobs just last week. So if I slow down, I can’t get the job done,” Biden told the media of him remaining in the race. “That’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet. None.”

PRESIDENT BIDEN: EUROPEAN ALLIES TELL ME I’VE ‘GOT TO WIN’ IN NOVEMBER

US President Joe Biden at a news conference during the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 11, 2024.  (Getty Images)

The press conference included a handful of gaffes from the president, including appearing to confuse Vice President Kamala Harris with former President Donald Trump, holding up a list of reporters he was instructed to call on, and repeatedly saying “anyway” while trailing off from a specific thought. 

“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [if I thought] she’s not qualified to be president,” Biden said, not appearing to catch his mistake.

Conservatives panned the press conference as “another disaster” under the president’s belt, while some Democrats and allies of the administration defended the press event as a “very strong performance.”

“This is a very strong performance. Quite frankly. ⁦@POTUS⁩ is putting on a master class in how foreign policy and domestic policy intersect, explaining how crucial American global leadership is to our people here at home. Well done, Mr. President,” Democratic strategist Joel Rubin posted on X. 

BIDEN STUMBLES OVER ZELENSKYY INTRODUCTION, CALLS UKRAINIAN LEADER ‘PRESIDENT PUTIN’

Rubin was echoed by other Democrats, who argued Biden responded with strength as he fielded a bevy of questions from the media surrounding his foreign policy related to NATO and his mental acuity. 

Conservatives, meanwhile, overwhelmingly panned the press conference, citing the president’s handful of gaffes. 

HOUSE DEMOCRAT SUGGESTS BIDEN SHOULD RESIGN, SAYS PRESIDENCY ‘MUST COME TO AN END’

Biden said during the press conference that Harris could fulfill the role of president, despite pushing against calls for him to bow out of the race and pass the mantle to his veep. 

BATTLEGROUND DEMS TESTER, KAINE TO SKIP BIDEN CAMPAIGN MEETING AS 2024 FEARS GROW

“First of all, the way she’s handled the issue of freedom of women’s bodies to have control over their bodies. Secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board. This was a hell of a prosecutor. She was a first-rate person, and in the Senate, she was really good,” Biden said.

“I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president. From the very beginning. I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her,” Biden said.

BIDEN’S HIGH-STAKES SOLO PRESS CONFERENCE SLAMMED FROM THE RIGHT AS ‘ANOTHER DISASTER’

US President Joe Biden at a news conference during the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 11, 2024.  (Getty Images)

Biden’s press conference followed another gaffe earlier in the day, when he confused Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

BIDEN CAMP ADDRESSES RUMORS ADVISERS ARE HATCHING PLAN TO PUSH PRESIDENT ASIDE

“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination,” Biden said. “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.” 

Biden quickly corrected himself, saying: “President Putin? We’re going to beat President Putin – President Zelenskyy. I’m so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it.”

“I’m better,” Zelenskyy quipped back. 

“You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden responded.

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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 rejected 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. 

Several Democrats and progressives rushed to the defense of President Biden as he fielded questions from reporters at the NATO summit about his mental acuity and whether he has what it takes to be successful in the 2024 race for the White House.

“To answer the question on everyone’s minds: No, Joe Biden does not have a doctorate in foreign affairs. He’s just that f—ing good,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates wrote in a post to X.

Amid growing calls from members of his own party for him to step aside in the presidential election, Biden dismissed the notion he’s “slowing down” and insisted at a press conference Wednesday evening he was “determined on running” in this year’s election.

“Am I getting the job done? Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in 3½ years? I created 2,000 jobs just last week. So, if I slow down, I can’t get the job done,” Biden said. “That’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet. None.”

BIDEN’S HIGH-STAKES SOLO PRESS CONFERENCE SLAMMED FROM THE RIGHT AS ‘ANOTHER DISASTER’

President Biden at a news conference during the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., July 11, 2024. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Despite a press conference that conservative commentators are slamming as filled with multiple gaffes, several other Democrats took to social media to defend the president’s performance.

Kate Bedingfield, a former communications director for Biden, also weighed in on the president’s performance, claiming he “needed to show up big tonight and he did.”

“Tonight Joe Biden offered a lengthy, detailed dive on the major national security issues he’s juggling combined with a comfortable but forceful defense of his view of where this race stands. 50 minutes of Qs. He needed to show up big tonight and he did,” she wrote in a post to X.

Ex-Obama adviser David Axelrod also commended the president’s performance, saying in a post on X that Biden is “very comfortable on national security issues.”

“The wisdom of doing this press conference at NATO is clear. Shaky on other stuff, the @POTUS is very comfortable on national security issues,” Axelrod wrote.

Joel Rubin, a former State Department official during the Obama administration, considered Biden’s performance to be “very strong.”

BIDEN CAMP ADDRESSES RUMORS ADVISERS ARE HATCHING PLAN TO PUSH PRESIDENT ASIDE

“This is a very strong performance. Quite frankly. ⁦@POTUS⁩ is putting on a master class in how foreign policy and domestic policy intersect, explaining how crucial American global leadership is to our people here at home. Well done, Mr. President,” Rubin wrote in a post on X.

One Democratic activist went so far as to state he believes there are “people who owe President Biden an apology” after the president’s press conference.

During the press conference, Biden’s first since his debate against former President Trump June 27, the president seemed to lose his train of thought and misspoke on a number of issues.

At the start of his remarks, Biden mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” after he was asked by an AP reporter whether he had any concerns about Harris’ ability to beat Trump if she were the top of the ticket.

President Biden answers questions from reporters at a news conference during the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., July 11, 2024. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president,” Biden said, not appearing to catch his mistake. “So, I think she is not qualified to be president [if I thought] she’s not qualified to be president.”

The flub came just a few hours after Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden did immediately correct his flub on that occasion.

Axelrod admitted in a separate post on X that Biden’s mix-up between Harris and Trump was “unsettling.”

Some Democrats, however, still have reservations about whether Biden is fit for office.

One Democratic source told Fox News the president’s performance at the press conference was the “worst possible outcome, unless you are Hunter [Biden] and need a pardon.”

Axelrod also highlighted concern about the issue on social media, writing, “If what he said at the end of his presser is true, it sounds like Biden’s team has not been very candid with him about what the data is showing: the age issue is a huge and potentially insurmountable concern and his odds of victory are very, very slim.”

President Biden speaks at a campaign rally in Madison, Wis. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

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With calls for Biden to drop out, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week the Democrats are keeping their thoughts on Biden quiet “until we see how we go this week.”

“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.”

President Biden held a high-stakes solo press conference Thursday evening where he doubled down on his earlier pledge to remain in the presidential race while suffering a few gaffes, including trailing off on his thoughts and using the phrase “anyway” at least nine times. 

“I just got to just pace myself a lot more, pace myself. And the next debate, I’m not going to be traveling in 15 time zones a week before. Anyway. That’s what it was about,” Biden said after the media asked him about reports he needs to go to bed earlier in the day.

“That’s what it was about. And by the way, even with that, I love my staff. But they add things they add things all the time… I’m catching hell from my wife for that. Anyway,” he continued, again using the phrase, “anyway.”

Biden said “anyway” at least nine times throughout the roughly 58-minute press conference, according to a transcript of the press event, sparking some on social media to joke about an “anyway drinking game.”

DEMS RUSH TO DEFEND BIDEN AMID HIGH STAKES PRESS CONFERENCE: ‘VERY STRONG PERFORMANCE’

Biden’s press conference comes as concerns mount that he is not mentally fit to serve another four years in the Oval Office, including 17 elected Democrats calling on the president to bow out of the race as he prepares to square off against former President Donald Trump in November. 

TOP DEMOCRAT ON HOUSE INTEL COMMITTEE CALLS ON BIDEN TO SUSPEND CAMPAIGN AFTER NATO PRESS CONFERENCE

President Joe Biden at a news conference during the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 11, 2024.  (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Joe Biden’s record of public service is unrivaled,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on X following the press conference. “His accomplishments are immense. His legacy as a great president is secure.” 

BIDEN’S HIGH-STAKES SOLO PRESS CONFERENCE SLAMMED FROM THE RIGHT AS ‘ANOTHER DISASTER’

“He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump,” Himes continued. 

Conservatives slammed Biden on social media throughout the public event for his handful of gaffes, including holding up a list of reporters he planned to call on, appearing to confuse Vice President Kamala Harris with former President Donald Trump, in addition to repeatedly saying “anyway.”

“This NATO press conference with Biden is another disaster. It is inexplicable the people advising this man continue to think that somehow he’s not going to humiliate himself and this country. Why do they continue to allow this to happen?” Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce posted to X during the press conference. 

Allies of the president, however, championed the press event as a success, remarking on social media that Biden’s delivery to the bevy of press questions was “strong.”

BIDEN STAGES HOUR-LONG PRESS CONFERENCE, TAKES MULTIPLE QUESTIONS IN BID TO ALLAY FEARS OVER MENTAL DECLINE

US President Joe Biden at a news conference during the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 11, 2024. President Joe Biden and NATO’s 31 other leaders had hoped their summit would celebrate fresh unity against Russia’s Vladimir Putin, send a warning to China and prove the alliance is as strong as ever in its 75th year, but the three days of pageantry will be overshadowed by domestic turmoil across the alliance. Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)

“This is a very strong performance. Quite frankly. ⁦@POTUS⁩ is putting on a master class in how foreign policy and domestic policy intersect, explaining how crucial American global leadership is to our people here at home. Well done, Mr. President,” Democratic strategist Joel Rubin posted on X. 

“Tonight Joe Biden offered a lengthy, detailed dive on the major national security issues he’s juggling combined with a comfortable but forceful defense of his view of where this race stands. 50 minutes of Qs. He needed to show up big tonight and he did,” former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield posted to X. 

The president again addressed concerns over his mental acuity during the presser, defiantly defending his record in office. 

PRESIDENT BIDEN: EUROPEAN ALLIES TELL ME I’VE ‘GOT TO WIN’ IN NOVEMBER

“Am I getting the job done? Can you name me somebody who’s got more major pieces of legislation passed in three and a half years ago, created 2000 jobs just last week. So if I slow down, I can’t get the job done. That’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet… none,” he said. 

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally on June 28, 2024, in Las Vegas.  (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Biden also addressed whether Harris could serve as president, elaborating that he would not have chosen her as his running mate in 2020 if he thought otherwise. 

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“First of all, the way she’s handled the issue of freedom of women’s bodies to have control over their bodies. Secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board. This was a hell of a prosecutor. She was a first-rate person, and in the Senate, she was really good. I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president. From the very beginning. I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her,” he said. 

Biden’s press conference comes as he hosted NATO world leaders for the 75th anniversary of the defensive military alliance this week. 

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Jim Himes, called on President Biden to suspend his 2024 re-election campaign, just moments after the president finished his highly anticipated press conference. 

Biden participated in a press conference with reporters at the end of the NATO summit in Washington D.C. on Thursday night. 

BIDEN’S HIGH-STAKES SOLO PRESS CONFERENCE SLAMMED FROM THE RIGHT AS ‘ANOTHER DISASTER’

Biden, during the press conference, was peppered with questions from reporters who pressed him on whether he would step aside amid mounting pressure from members within his own party following his disastrous debate performance last month.

US President Joe Biden at a news conference during the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 11, 2024. (Getty Images)

Biden said he is “determined” to stay in the race and maintained that he is fit to serve as president now and for the next four years. 

But Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., sounded the alarm moments after the press conference concluded. 

“Joe Biden’s record of public service is unrivaled,” Himes posted on X. “His accomplishments are immense. His legacy as a great president is secure.” 

“He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump,” Himes posted on X.  

BIDEN CAMP ADDRESSES RUMORS ADVISERS ARE HATCHING PLAN TO PUSH PRESIDENT ASIDE

In a statement, Himes continued that it has been “the honor” of his career to work with Biden on “achievements that secured his remarkable legacy in American history.” 

“It is because of those traits, and in consideration of that legacy, that I hope President Biden will step away from the presidential campaign,” Himes said. 

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Himes is the 15th Democrat in the House of Representatives to call on the president to step aside. 

Biden, though, currently has the support of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. 

President Biden’s highly anticipated solo press conference Thursday evening was panned as a “disaster” on social media as the president stumbled through answering questions from the media regarding him remaining in the presidential race. 

“This NATO press conference with Biden is another disaster. It is inexplicable the people advising this man continue to think that somehow he’s not going to humiliate himself and this country. Why do they continue to allow this to happen?” Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce posted on X during the press conference. 

Biden joined the media Thursday afternoon while wrapping up a NATO summit in the nation’s capital, where the president made a series of gaffes, including confusing Vice President Kamala Harris with former President Donald Trump, trailing off while answering a question, and announcing to the room that he had a list of reporters he would call on. 

“This press conference is a disaster. Joe Biden is not answering the questions,” Fox News contributor Leo Terrell posted on X during the press conference. 

BIDEN CAMP ADDRESSES RUMORS ADVISERS ARE HATCHING PLAN TO PUSH PRESIDENT ASIDE

President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participate in the launching of the Ukraine Compact at the 2024 NATO Summit on July 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Crooked Joe begins his ‘Big Boy’ Press Conference with, “I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, though I think she was not qualified to be president.” Great job, Joe!” Trump added on Truth Social. 

Conservatives and critics of the president unleashed on Biden’s press conference.

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

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

Biden’s press conference comes as he faces heightened concerns over his health in the wake of his poor debate performance late last month, 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.

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. 

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

“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.”

As speculation and calls for Biden to drop out, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said earlier this week 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.”

Thursday marks the first time Biden has held a solo press conference since November of last year. 

A moderate House Democrat said President Biden’s White House tenure must “come to an end” on Thursday, the most significant voicing of opposition to his leadership from a member of his own party so far.

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., previously said she believed Biden would lose to Trump, but now she is the 15th congressional Democrat to call on the president to end his re-election bid.

“I’ve spent the past two weeks listening to my constituents express their concerns about the President’s age and health,” she said in a statement to local outlet KGW, an NBC affiliate.

“Americans deserve to feel their president is fit enough to do the job. The crisis of confidence in the President’s leadership needs to come to an end. The President should do what he knows is right for the country and put the national interest first.”

BATTLEGROUND DEMS TESTER, KAINE TO SKIP BIDEN CAMPAIGN MEETING AS 2024 FEARS GROW

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez issued a strong statement against President Biden’s continued leadership on Thursday. (Getty Images)

Gluesenkamp Perez is one of the most vulnerable Democrats of this election cycle and has frequently broken from her own party on votes.

Biden, meanwhile, is fighting for his political life in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against former President Trump late last month.

Biden spoke with a hoarse voice, which he attributed to a cold, and stumbled over his answers several times during the primetime event. Viewers also observed him appearing tired and noticeably less sharp than he looked the last time he faced Trump in 2020.

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

It spurred concerns among members of his party that he would lose to Trump in November and may not be fit to serve another four years.

Gluesenkamp Perez told KATU after the debate, “About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate. I was one of them for about five very painful minutes. We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump.”

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is the latest Biden critic to come out publicly. (Bill Clark)

Biden, for his part, has maintained several times that he is not budging. 

Gluesenkamp Perez’s statement comes just a few hours before Biden’s 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time press conference. It’s a pivotal event for the president as he seeks to fight back doubts that he’s not physically or mentally fit for the White House.

House Democrats left Capitol Hill around noon on Thursday to return to their districts for a week-long break. 

Before that, left-wing lawmakers spent the week huddled as both a caucus and in smaller groups to discuss the path forward for Biden. 

BIDEN’S CANDIDACY REMAINS UNDER THREAT AS TOP DEMOCRATIC DONORS GET COLD FEET

President Biden and former President Trump debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who has said he is behind the presidential ticket, told reporters earlier Thursday that he did not believe Biden was a drag on vulnerable Democrats.

“House Democrats are engaged in conversations with House Democrats at this moment in time. Those conversations have been candid, clear eyed and comprehensive, and that’s important for us to do as a House Democratic caucus family. And as long as those conversations are ongoing, I’m going to respect the sanctity of those conversations until we conclude that process,” he said.

The Senate race in Michigan was moved to a “Toss Up” on Thursday by a top nonpartisan political handicapper, who cited the continued concerns surrounding President Biden and his candidacy as a potential “drag” on Democrats. 

The Cook Political Report changed the Senate race from “Lean Democratic” to “Toss Up,” putting Senate Democrats at greater risk of losing the majority in the next Congress. 

The seat is currently occupied by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who is retiring after her term ends. 

BLUMENTHAL SAYS SOME CONCERNS ‘DEEPENED’ AFTER MEETING WITH BIDEN CAMP ADVISERS

Biden continues to receive calls to exit the race from Democrats. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The race was already more competitive due to the loss of the Democrats’ incumbent advantage and only made more so by former President Trump’s performance in the swing state. 

The state’s Senate primaries will be held on Aug. 6, leaving just months for the general election campaigns. 

DEM SENATOR HELPS BLOCK BIDEN JUDICIAL NOMINEE AMID CONTROVERSY OVER TRANSGENDER INMATE

Rep. Elissa Slotkin is running for the Democratic nomination for Senate. (Getty Images)

For the Democrats, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., is considered the frontrunner for the nomination. She notably flipped a Republican district in the state when she was elected to the House. She will face actor Hill Harper in the primary, who is currently considered an underdog but has made significant efforts to appeal to the large Arab population in Michigan and contrast himself with Slotkin, particularly on the war in Gaza between Israel and terrorist group Hamas. 

BATTLEGROUND DEMS TESTER, KAINE SKIP BIDEN CAMPAIGN MEETING AS 2024 FEARS GROW

Harper is challenging Slotkin in the primary race. (Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP)

Republicans also have several choices. Former Rep. Mike Rogers is the frontrunner and enjoys the endorsement of Trump. However, he still has to beat two challengers, businessman Sandy Pensler and former Rep. Justin Amash. 

BATTLEGROUND DEM FEELS HEAT AFTER BIDEN’S DEBATE AS PARTY TURMOIL CONTINUES

Rogers was endorsed by Trump.  (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

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In Cook’s rationale for changing the race’s rating, analyst Jessica Taylor wrote, “Following Joe Biden’s debate performance two weeks ago, many Democrats’ concerns turned to not whether the president would win reelection — a diminishing prospect — but if he would drag down-ballot Democrats down with him.”

A Fox News Poll from April, several months prior to Biden’s poor debate showing, showed Trump defeating the president, 49% to 46%. In April 2020, before Biden flipped the swing state, he polled ahead of Trump, 49%-41%. 

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

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

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

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

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.”