Joe Biden faces make-or-break days with crucial interview and campaign events – live

Massachusetts’ governor, Maura Healey, has released a statement on Joe Biden, saying that she urges him to “listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump”.

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On Friday, Healey, one of Biden’s top surrogates, said:

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President Biden saved our democracy in 2020 and has done an outstanding job over the last four years. I am deeply grateful for his leadership. And I know he agrees this is the most important election of our lifetimes … The best way forward right now is a decision for the president to make. Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump.

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Whatever president Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump.

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NEW: Gov. @maura_healey breaks her silence on Biden. The surrogate for his reelection campaign urges him to “listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump.” #mapoli pic.twitter.com/wg1hodYVhT

— Lisa Kashinsky (@lisakashinsky) July 5, 2024

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Healey’s public statement follows previous reports of the governor strongly speaking out against Biden’s re-election bid.

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Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that although Healey did not speak during Wednesday’s meeting between Biden and several Democratic governors, Healey did say in a separate call with other governors that she had told White House chief of staff Jeff Zients that Biden’s political position was “irretrievable” following his poor debate performance.

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Biden was examined by his physician after last week’s debate with Trump and is fine, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.

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The Biden campaign said a cold was partially to blame for his poor performance. On a call with Democratic governors, the president said he will end work events before 8pm.

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This revelation contradicts what White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday said, that he “did not get checked out by the doctor” since February, adding: “It’s a cold, guys.”

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Joe Biden has cancelled his upcoming Sunday address to the National Education Association Staff Union after the country’s largest union announced a strike over unfair labor practice complaints including overtime nonpayments.

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A statement released by Biden’s campaign team said:

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President Biden is a fierce supporter of unions and he won’t cross a picket line. The president is still planning to travel to Pennsylvania this weekend, and we will have more details to share at a later point.

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His campaign team said Biden will still travel to Pennsylvania this weekend (where he was set to deliver the speech outside the NEA’s convention in Philadelphia).

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The National Education Association publicly endorsed Biden’s presidential bid in 2020 and 2024.

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Donald Trump is attempting to distance himself from Project 2025, a political roadmap created by conservatives for a potential second term of Trump.

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The project, which is led by the Heritage Foundation, seeks to crack down on various issues including immigration, reproductive rights, environmental protections and LGBTQ+ rights. It also aims to replace federal employees with Trump loyalists across the government.

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In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote:

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

n

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👀Trump distancing himself from the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.” pic.twitter.com/If9xbwiWDB

— bryan metzger (@metzgov) July 5, 2024

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In response to Trump’s post, several critics were quick to point out that it appears unlikely that Trump is unaware of Project 2025, given that many individuals involved in the project are close to Trump.

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“Many people involved in Project 2025 are close to Trump world & have served in his previous admin,” CNN’s Alayna Treene said.

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Meanwhile, economist Robert Reich wrote, “Don’t be fooled. The playbook is written by more than 20 officials Trump appointed in his first term. It is the clearest vision we have of a 2nd Trump presidency.”

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Last week, Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign launched a new website landing page in attempts to underscore the threat of Project 2025. The launch came in response to the blueprint of policy proposals that could dismantle and disrupt the US government.

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The page said:

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“Project 2025 is the plan by Donald Trump’s Maga Republican allies to give Trump more power over your daily life, gut democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office if he wins…

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

n

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Ronald Klain, Joe Biden’s former chief of staff, has pushed back against Democratic donors over reports that they are strategizing ways to pressure Biden into withdrawing his re-election bid.

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In a post on X that featured the New York Times headline “Major Democratic donors devise plans to pressure Biden to step aside”, Klain wrote:

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We are the Democratic party! These … people don’t get to decide to oust a pro-labor pro-people president.

n

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Joe Biden has had another slip-up in which he accidentally said that he is the “first Black woman” to serve as vice-president “with a Black president”.

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During an interview on Thursday with Philadelphia’s WURD radio station, Biden defended his competency following his poor debate performance last week.

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In the conversation, Biden at one point said, “By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice-president, first black woman, to serve with a black president,” referring to his vice-president, Kamala Harris, and former president Barack Obama.

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He added, “I had a bad debate … But 90 minutes on stage does not erase what I have done in three and a half years.”

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You can listen to a clip of the interview here:

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CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, has written an op-ed in which he called for Joe Biden to “undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing and share his results.”

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He went on to write:

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“For me as a brain specialist, it was concerning to watch President Joe Biden, and it quickly became clear that I was not alone in my reaction. Over the past week, I received more than a dozen calls, texts and emails from medical colleagues who, like me, specialize in the brain. It wasn’t that what we noticed was necessarily new but that it was particularly pronounced, and right from the start of the debate.

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From a neurological standpoint, we were concerned with his confused rambling; sudden loss of concentration in the middle of a sentence; halting speech and absence of facial animation, resulting at times in a flat, open-mouthed expression. To be clear, these are only observations, not in any way diagnostic of something deeper, and none of these doctors wished to suggest that was the case.

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The consensus from the doctors reaching out to me, however, was that the president should be encouraged to undergo detailed cognitive and movement disorder testing, and those results should be made available to the public …

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The country is watching now, and that assessment gives cause for concern – and a need for transparent testing.”

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Good morning,

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Make-or-break days are ahead of Joe Biden as the president prepares for a crucial interview and several campaign events in swing states.

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Following the political fallout of Biden’s lackluster performance during last week’s presidential debate, the president and his team have been scrambling with damage control as major Democrat backers pause their donations. Meanwhile, at least two sitting House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to withdraw his re-election bid.

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In what will be seen as a crucial test of Biden’s competency, the president is expected to sit for his first televised interview on Friday following last week’s debate with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. ABC said the interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8pm ET.

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Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign team on Friday announced that the president will engage with an “aggressive travel schedule” this month that will span multiple swing states, CNN reports. His campaign team added that Biden “can also be expected to engage in frequent off-the-cuff moments over the course of the month, as he has consistently throughout this campaign”.

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Here are other developments in US politics:

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• Biden is set to return to Madison, Wisconsin, for a campaign rally this afternoon.

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• Donald Trump has challenged Biden to a “no holds barred” debate following a moderated debate last week by CNN which saw the speakers’ mics muted when they were not speaking.

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• Arizona’s former Republican governor Jan Brewer has condemned election denialism amid Republican politics in a new Guardian interview.

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Alice Herman

A crowd of anxious Democrats have packed into a middle school gym in Madison, Wisconsin, to see Joe Biden deliver remarks in part of a redemption tour that his campaign hopes will assuage fears about Biden’s age and cognition following a devastating debate performance last week.

In blue writing on wall of the gym is an apt quotation:

Other people may not have had high expectations for me … but I had high expectations for myself.

The quote, attributed to the decorated American gymnast Shannon Miller, and painted on the wall to motivate an audience of middle schoolers, could just as easily speak to the president today.

“I support him no matter what,” said Marcy Wynn, a Democratic party activist from Madison who had squeezed into the gym to see the president speak. For Wynn, the only acceptable scenario for Biden to step down would be if he made the choice himself. And above all, she is worried about a second Trump term. “On the worst day of my life, the last person I would vote for would be Donald Trump.”

Biden’s doctor says the president is ‘fine’

Biden was examined by his physician after last week’s debate with Trump and is fine, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.

The Biden campaign said a cold was partially to blame for his poor performance. On a call with Democratic governors, the president said he will end work events before 8pm.

This revelation contradicts what White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday said, that he “did not get checked out by the doctor” since February, adding: “It’s a cold, guys.”

More powerful donors publicly withdraw their support for Biden.

When asked by the Ankler’s Matthew Frank if he was “holding firm” with the Biden campaign, IAC chairman Barry Diller said “no.”

Diller, who is married to designer Diane Von Fürstenberg, previously donated the maximum amount to Biden’s campaign in 2023 and gave $100,000 to Biden and the Democratic party’s joint Super PAC.

Other wealthy Democratic donors are also rallying to pressure the president to step down.

Abigail Disney, heir to the Disney family fortune told CNBC: “This is realism, not disrespect. If Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose. Of that I am absolutely certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”

The White House said on Wednesday that Biden plans to stay in the race despite his poor debate performance.

Biden cancels address to teachers’ union gathering amid strike

Joe Biden has cancelled his upcoming Sunday address to the National Education Association Staff Union after the country’s largest union announced a strike over unfair labor practice complaints including overtime nonpayments.

A statement released by Biden’s campaign team said:

President Biden is a fierce supporter of unions and he won’t cross a picket line. The president is still planning to travel to Pennsylvania this weekend, and we will have more details to share at a later point.

His campaign team said Biden will still travel to Pennsylvania this weekend (where he was set to deliver the speech outside the NEA’s convention in Philadelphia).

The National Education Association publicly endorsed Biden’s presidential bid in 2020 and 2024.

Trump attempts to distance himself from Project 2025

Donald Trump is attempting to distance himself from Project 2025, a political roadmap created by conservatives for a potential second term of Trump.

The project, which is led by the Heritage Foundation, seeks to crack down on various issues including immigration, reproductive rights, environmental protections and LGBTQ+ rights. It also aims to replace federal employees with Trump loyalists across the government.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote:

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

👀Trump distancing himself from the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.” pic.twitter.com/If9xbwiWDB

— bryan metzger (@metzgov) July 5, 2024

“}}”>

In response to Trump’s post, several critics were quick to point out that it appears unlikely that Trump is unaware of Project 2025, given that many individuals involved in the project are close to Trump.

“Many people involved in Project 2025 are close to Trump world & have served in his previous admin,” CNN’s Alayna Treene said.

Meanwhile, economist Robert Reich wrote, “Don’t be fooled. The playbook is written by more than 20 officials Trump appointed in his first term. It is the clearest vision we have of a 2nd Trump presidency.”

Last week, Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign launched a new website landing page in attempts to underscore the threat of Project 2025. The launch came in response to the blueprint of policy proposals that could dismantle and disrupt the US government.

The page said:

“Project 2025 is the plan by Donald Trump’s Maga Republican allies to give Trump more power over your daily life, gut democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office if he wins…

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

Biden’s ex-chief of staff: donors ‘don’t get to decide to oust’ president

Ronald Klain, Joe Biden’s former chief of staff, has pushed back against Democratic donors over reports that they are strategizing ways to pressure Biden into withdrawing his re-election bid.

In a post on X that featured the New York Times headline “Major Democratic donors devise plans to pressure Biden to step aside”, Klain wrote:

We are the Democratic party! These … people don’t get to decide to oust a pro-labor pro-people president.

Biden has verbal slip-up in radio interview

Joe Biden has had another slip-up in which he accidentally said that he is the “first Black woman” to serve as vice-president “with a Black president”.

During an interview on Thursday with Philadelphia’s WURD radio station, Biden defended his competency following his poor debate performance last week.

In the conversation, Biden at one point said, “By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice-president, first black woman, to serve with a black president,” referring to his vice-president, Kamala Harris, and former president Barack Obama.

He added, “I had a bad debate … But 90 minutes on stage does not erase what I have done in three and a half years.”

You can listen to a clip of the interview here:

Joe Biden’s staff are “miserable”, according to a White House official who spoke to Axios.

“Senior advisers are a total black hole … Even if you’re trying to focus on work, nothing is going to break through or get any acknowledgment” from bosses, the official went to add.

The reported comments come amid the political fallout faced by Biden and his campaign team following a disappointing debate performance last week which sent Democrats scrambling.

Speaking to Axios, a high-ranking Democratic National Committee official said: “The only thing that can really allay concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he’s capable of running this campaign.”

The official went on to add: “Everything else feels like Weekend at Bernie’s by his inner circle to prop him up.”

Sanjay Gupta: Biden should ‘undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing’

CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, has written an op-ed in which he called for Joe Biden to “undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing and share his results.”

He went on to write:

“For me as a brain specialist, it was concerning to watch President Joe Biden, and it quickly became clear that I was not alone in my reaction. Over the past week, I received more than a dozen calls, texts and emails from medical colleagues who, like me, specialize in the brain. It wasn’t that what we noticed was necessarily new but that it was particularly pronounced, and right from the start of the debate.

From a neurological standpoint, we were concerned with his confused rambling; sudden loss of concentration in the middle of a sentence; halting speech and absence of facial animation, resulting at times in a flat, open-mouthed expression. To be clear, these are only observations, not in any way diagnostic of something deeper, and none of these doctors wished to suggest that was the case.

The consensus from the doctors reaching out to me, however, was that the president should be encouraged to undergo detailed cognitive and movement disorder testing, and those results should be made available to the public …

The country is watching now, and that assessment gives cause for concern – and a need for transparent testing.”

In a fiery post on Truth Social, Donald Trump attacked ABC host George Stephanopoulos ahead of his interview with Joe Biden on Friday, saying:

The meanest and most vicious Interviewer out there is George Slopadopoulos of FAKE NEWS ABC, one of the worst and most vile Broadcasters in the business – In fact, the home of disgraced ‘reporter’ Brian Ross whose reporting on the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax was so outlandish that ABC, after defending him at levels not seen before, was forced to put him, and their reputation, out to pasture.

Now ABC, and Liddle’ George, a tiny, angry man, can make up for their past indiscretions and journalistic failures by doing a real interview with Crooked Joe, not a cut up promotion with only his few coherent answers released to the public.

Joe Biden has released a campaign video on X in which he condemned the supreme court’s decision on Donald Trump’s immunity case.

Accompanying the video – which featured a montage of January 6 insurrection videos and clips of Trump’s speeches, Biden wrote:

Donald Trump attempted to overthrow an election, wants to be a dictator on day one, and has promised revenge and retribution if he wins – and the supreme court he appointed just gave him virtually unlimited immunity to do it.

Ask yourself: What will happen next?

Donald Trump attempted to overthrow an election, wants to be a dictator on day one, and has promised revenge and retribution if he wins—and the Supreme Court he appointed just gave him virtually unlimited immunity to do it.

Ask yourself: What will happen next? pic.twitter.com/uEtCdCJ1i7

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 4, 2024

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Donald Trump attempted to overthrow an election, wants to be a dictator on day one, and has promised revenge and retribution if he wins—and the Supreme Court he appointed just gave him virtually unlimited immunity to do it.

Ask yourself: What will happen next? pic.twitter.com/uEtCdCJ1i7

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 4, 2024

Joe Biden has reportedly admitted that he needs more sleep during a call with Democratic governors.

The Guardian’s Chris Michael and agencies report:

The US president told the Democratic governors that he had been feeling fatigued, needed to get more sleep and was aiming to reduce overwork, particularly by planning fewer engagements after 8pm, the New York Times reported.

The topic came up at a crucial meeting on Wednesday aimed at shoring up the support of key senior Democratic figures after the US president’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last week.

Governors, including California’s Gavin Newsom and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, who are increasingly tipped as rivals to Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, emerged from the meeting enthusiastically pledging their ongoing support for the president as the presumptive party nominee for this November’s election.

For the full story, click here:

Make-or-break days ahead for Biden and presidential campaign

Good morning,

Make-or-break days are ahead of Joe Biden as the president prepares for a crucial interview and several campaign events in swing states.

Following the political fallout of Biden’s lackluster performance during last week’s presidential debate, the president and his team have been scrambling with damage control as major Democrat backers pause their donations. Meanwhile, at least two sitting House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to withdraw his re-election bid.

In what will be seen as a crucial test of Biden’s competency, the president is expected to sit for his first televised interview on Friday following last week’s debate with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. ABC said the interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8pm ET.

Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign team on Friday announced that the president will engage with an “aggressive travel schedule” this month that will span multiple swing states, CNN reports. His campaign team added that Biden “can also be expected to engage in frequent off-the-cuff moments over the course of the month, as he has consistently throughout this campaign”.

Here are other developments in US politics:

• Biden is set to return to Madison, Wisconsin, for a campaign rally this afternoon.

• Donald Trump has challenged Biden to a “no holds barred” debate following a moderated debate last week by CNN which saw the speakers’ mics muted when they were not speaking.

• Arizona’s former Republican governor Jan Brewer has condemned election denialism amid Republican politics in a new Guardian interview.