Biden announces he will not seek reelection
President Joe Biden announced he will not seek reelection amid continued pressure following a disastrous debate performance last month that left many in his party questioning whether he should continue to seek reelection. He will serve out the remainder of his term.
He added: “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote.
This post has been updated with additional updates on Biden’s announcement.
Biden’s top brass signals intent to press forward, even as calls grow for the president to step aside
President Joe Biden’s high command is projecting a determination to press forward with the president’s reelection campaign, even as Democrats’ public calls on Biden to drop out of the race grow by the day.
Those calls were joined Sunday by independent Sen. Joe Manchin, who echoed other lawmakers in encouraging Biden to “pass the torch” to a new generation of leadership.
But when the co-chairs of the president’s campaign held a call Saturday, there was no discussion at all of the president leaving the race, sources said. Among those on the call was Rep. Jim Clyburn, who on Sunday told CNN that Democrats need to look for ways to “coalesce” around Biden.
Some background: CNN reported Thursday night that senior-most West Wing advisers have not discussed — among themselves or with the president — the possibility of Biden abandoning his candidacy. A senior adviser told CNN that still remained true as of Sunday afternoon.
But in interviews with CNN, more than two dozen sources familiar with the dynamics inside the West Wing and campaign said there is now privately widespread acceptance that Biden remaining in the 2024 race is wholly untenable.
The president has been isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach as he recovers from Covid-19. His longtime aide Steve Ricchetti is among the advisers in Delaware this weekend, per a White House official.
More from Biden’s team: Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond reiterated Sunday that the president intends to accept the Democratic nomination and see his reelection bid through.
CNN’s Ebony Davis contributed reporting to this post.
House speaker echoes right-wing suggestion that diversity is to blame for Trump security failings
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday said the Secret Service’s job is “protection, not diversity,” echoing recent right-wing criticism of female Secret Service agents following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last weekend.
Following the shooting, CNN reported some right-wing media figures focused their attention on female agents on stage with Trump, claiming they couldn’t properly protect someone bigger and taller than themselves, or that they didn’t act in a professional manner.
At odds with Trump’s messaging: Johnson’s remarks come even as the Trump campaign has denounced the sentiment.
Top Trump adviser Chris LaCivita, who attended Trump’s Saturday rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, told CNN:
“I saw two women — one of them with a gun in her hand and the other with her body around him — that’s pretty f***ing badass where I come from,” LaCivita added.
Forceful rejection: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a joint statement with DHS senior officials Saturday condemning the attacks.
“These assertions are baseless and insulting,” the officials said in a joint statement. “They are highly trained and skilled professionals, who risk their lives on the front lines for the safety and security of others. They are brave and selfless patriots who deserve our gratitude and respect.”
Sen. Manchin calls on Biden to “pass the torch to a new generation”
Independent Sen. Joe Manchin has said it is time for President Joe Biden to “pass the torch,” joining the growing calls from members of Biden’s own party to step aside in the 2024 presidential race.
Manchin said he hoped the transfer of power could be done “in the most respectful way.”
The independent senator said campaigning is an “unbelievable” mental and physical challenge “to anybody,” and said he wanted the president to instead focus his energy on seeing out the last five months of his term. Manchin said Biden can use that time to “unite our country, to calm down the rhetoric and be able focus his attention to peace in the world.”
On potential replacements: Manchin said he hoped there would be an “open process” to pick a new nominee if Biden stepped down. He said he favored governors as potential replacements, because they “can’t afford” to be partisan as the leaders of a state.
Manchin floated Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as potential options. The two governors are on a long list of names considered in Democratic circles.
About Biden’s mental capacity: When asked by Tapper if he had noticed any changes to President Biden’s mental cognition, Manchin responded: “I have not.” He disputed any suggestion he had noticed a difference with how the president was behaving in recent months, saying, “I’ve not had that problem whatsoever.”
Some background: Manchin and Biden’s relationship has frayed over the course of the Biden presidency, during which the centrist Manchin has served as a key roadblock on some of the president’s legislative priorities, and switched his party affiliation from Democrat to independent.
This post has been updated with more of Manchin’s comments from the interview.
Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips supports a secret “vote of confidence” on Biden
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, who mounted a primary bid against President Joe Biden earlier this year, called for members of his party in Congress to hold a secret ballot to see whether a majority of them still support the president continuing his bid for reelection.
Phillips said he believes the majority of the Congress does not support Biden staying in the race.
He also wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal pushing for the confidence vote idea, which was published Sunday morning.
“If ‘confidence’ wins, we must immediately and aggressively mobilize behind Mr. Biden and redouble efforts to secure a majority in at least one chamber of Congress. But if “no confidence” is the consensus, the president must end his candidacy,” he argues in the piece.
Eric Trump calls for Secret Service director to resign over assassination attempt
Eric Trump on Sunday called for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign following last weekend’s assassination attempt of Donald Trump, as she faces a flurry of questions about how a gunman was able to get a clear line of sight to the former president at a rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“The fact that the Biden administration could allow a former president, and very likely a future president, to take a bullet through the ear and there is no accountability and a person still in their job just shows how disgraceful and inept the administration is,” Eric Trump said.
Some background: Cheatle will face Congress in hearings about the shooting this week. She has said the Secret Service was “solely responsible” for security at the rally, and that both internal and external reviews are underway.
CNN previously reported that Trump’s security detail had complained they were not being given enough resources and personnel by the Secret Service over the past two years, and the agency acknowledged Saturday it denied some requests.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service said in a statement that the agency has not provided certain resources in the past but has instead provided other security measures, including from local partners.
Rep. Clyburn offers Biden support at critical time, as pressure builds for the president to step aside
Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, a close friend of President Joe Biden and co-chair of his reelection bid, offered him support at a critical time Sunday.
Clyburn urged his party to coalesce around the president, even as more congressional Democrats and independent Sen. Joe Manchin publicly call on Biden to end his campaign.
Clyburn alluded to Biden’s success in the party’s primary as the legitimate process for selecting a nominee. The president ran largely unopposed.
Pressed on whether it’s in the best interest of the party for Biden to remain in the race, Clyburn slammed the idea of an open party convention, where candidates would compete for the nomination. He warned that previous elections in modern history with a contested convention have led to Democrats losing in November.
Asked if Biden is the best person that Democrats can put forward, Clyburn said again that he will stand with the incumbent as long as he stays in the race.
Democratic delegate says skipping over Harris if Biden steps down would be “political malpractice”
Democratic delegate and Biden-Harris National Finance Committee member Lindy Li on Sunday said it’s not her place to tell President Joe Biden to step aside, but Vice President Kamala Harris would be an “excellent candidate.”
Skipping over the vice president as a replacement option would be “political malpractice,” Li said on “Fox News Sunday.”
The delegate, who was on a donor call Friday with Harris, described some people on the call as “antsy” amid ongoing concerns about Biden’s candidacy.
“She didn’t take any questions and I think she spoke for about four or five minutes. I think people were expecting more of an interactive conversation, but I understand that she’s busy. She just raised $2 million just yesterday,” Li said, alluding to a Massachusetts fundraiser Harris headlined.
Potential replacement: If Biden did pull out of the race, many Democrats say the party is coming to a consensus that Harris should be the nominee.
When Harris took the stage in Massachusetts yesterday, she was greeted with notable excitement from the crowd, who clearly believed they might be looking at a replacement nominee, CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere reports.
Anxious donors: Li said campaign contributions are starting to dry up due to the turmoil.
House Oversight chair promises detailed and extensive hearing with Secret Service director
House Oversight Chairman James Comer previewed his committee’s hearing with United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Monday, promising a thorough questioning in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
The Kentucky Republican lawmaker said one of the subjects that will be top of mind is recent reporting that Trump’s security team was denied extra resources when requested, despite previous statements from the Secret Service to the contrary.
“There aren’t that many people that require Secret Service protection. There aren’t that many events that the Secret Service have to secure. So, the budget is more than enough to provide adequate protection for the presidential candidates,” Comer claimed.
The hearing with Cheatle is scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. ET.
Trump’s conviction in the hush money case drove June donations to a new high
Although US President Joe Biden outraised his Republican rival former President Donald Trump last month, filings in recent days underscore how much Trump has seized on his legal troubles as a fundraising tool.
Contributions to his political operation soared on the day of his conviction in the New York hush money case on May 30 – when three joint fundraising committees reported receiving $19 million in donations above $200, according to a CNN analysis of filings in recent days with the Federal Election Commission.
Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to an adult film star. He and his allies have sought to characterize the conviction as politically motivated.
May 30 marked the strongest fundraising day of the year for Trump through June 30, the analysis shows.
Here’s what that looks like compared to other days in the year:
On Saturday, Trump held his first rally since the assassination attempt: Here’s what happened
Donald Trump was joined by his newly minted running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, on Saturday at the former president’s first campaign rally since the attempt to assassinate him last weekend.
The two were greeted by an amped up crowd at an indoor arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Here’s what happened:
New running mate: Vance, who fired up the crowd ahead of Trump’s remarks, said, “I gotta be honest, it’s still a little bit weird seeing my name on those signs,” referring to the Trump-Vance campaign material waving behind him in the audience.
Vance defended his loyalty to the US, after Vice President Kamala Harris said he “will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country.”
Before the vice presidency, Harris was the district attorney of San Francisco, California’s attorney general, and then the state’s junior senator.
Vance later came back out to introduce Trump for a roaring crowd.
On the rally shooting: Trump, who wore a smaller, beige-colored bandage on his ear, said he “took a bullet for democracy.”
The former president, who spoke for nearly two hours, thanked the staff at Butler Memorial Hospital, where he was taken minutes after the shooting at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Rep. Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician, said Saturday that Trump is “recovering as expected” from a gunshot wound to his ear. Investigations into the rally shooter and handling of security at the event continue.
Trump noted in his first joint interview with Vance that people at his rally last weekend noticed there was someone on the roof before the assassination attempt.
Support from Musk: Trump said he spoke to tech billionaire Elon Musk before coming to the Grand Rapids rally. The former president said Musk didn’t mention reporting from The Wall Street Journal that he will be committing around $45 million a month to a pro-Trump super PAC.
About world leaders: Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders wrote to him after the assassination attempt. He said he “got along very well with President Xi, who’s a great guy,” and claimed that he worked well with other world leaders, too, even though they understood during his presidency that the “jig was up” in terms of taking advantage of the US on a world stage.
Biden campaign’s response: President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign blasted Trump’s remarks at the rally, saying Trump is “focused only on himself.”
“He’s peddling the same lies, running the same campaign of revenge and retribution, touting the same failed policies, and – as usual – focused only on himself. The only unity we saw today was between Donald Trump, JD Vance, and their Project 2025 agenda,” Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement.
Project 2025 refers to the policy blueprint created by a conservative think tank. Democrats have latched on to some of the document’s controversial right-wing proposals, while Trump has tried to distance himself from the platform, despite dozens of people from his former administration having a hand in its creation.
Secret Service says it denied Trump additional resources in recent years even as his team complained
Former President Donald Trump’s security detail had complained they were not being given enough resources and personnel by the Secret Service over the past two years, and the agency acknowledged Saturday it denied some requests.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service said in a statement that the agency has not provided certain resources in the past, but has instead provided other security measures, including from local partners.
The news comes amid widespread concerns about how a sniper was able to obtain rooftop access roughly 150 meters from Trump’s position at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend.
The Washington Post and The New York Times reported earlier Saturday that the Secret Service denied previous request from Trump’s security team over the past two years.
Some close to the former president felt the decisions, which they believed were personal to Trump, came from the top ranks of the agency.
While Trump holds close relationships with members of his Secret Service detail, the relationship between those agents and the upper ranks of the agency has been tense for some time, according to multiple sources familiar with the dynamic.
Read more on what Trump’s team has said about his security situation here.
Sources from: CNN.COM
SVE NEWS is the leader in world news liberal sharing.
(Comments on this news are welcome)
2024 CWMALLS: Standard, Sharing,Ecology, Value;
2024 CWMALLS COMMODITY: Patent, Technology, Art, Intelligence;
2024 CWMALLS NEW SPECIES: Keen, Aggressive, Personality, Value;
2024 MWE FUND: Charity, Public Welfare, Responsibility
2024 CWS is with the world and Mars!
Tips: In order to explore more planet species diversity and ecosystem of Mars and earth’s biosphere of cohesion, from now on in the chosen experts and scholars of Mars and planets, especially the astrophysicist, astrobiologists, astrochemists, and so on all over the world’s elite, contribute to the existence and development of simulation of Mars landing. Thank you very much! CWS (Mars) Asia-Pacific Preparatory Committee 0086-57189877088/89877099, E-mail: mars@cws-mars.com, Twitter: CWS, October 3, 2021