Biden's future in question as Dem governors meet with president behind closed doors

Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy was asked about the White House briefing by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre regarding President Biden’s debate performance in Atlanta last week.

Kennedy critiqued Jean-Pierre’s response pretty much as well Republicans have graded Biden’s creaky debate demeanor.

“She’s blamed the president’s performance on jet lag, a cold, staff. They blamed it on everything but murder hornets.”

Kennedy said he watched the debate like many people, saying he thought “Trump’s was one of his best” whereas the performance by Biden was similar to a “multiple vehicle pileup.”

“I don’t know if President Biden will quit,” Kennedy said Wednesday on Fox News. “I wouldn’t bet my house on it. And if I were betting your house it would be a maybe.”

Kennedy went on to say “President Biden is deeply unpopular” and that the “American people believe President Biden is older than the Adirondack Mountains.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said after Wednesday’s meeting with President Joe Biden and other fellow Democrat governors that the president still has what it takes for another four-year term.

“We came together tonight to listen to President Biden tell us in his own words what his plans were,” Hochul said. “I'm here to tell you tonight, President Joe Biden is in it to win it. And all of us said we pledged our support to him because the stakes could not be higher. 

“On the eve of the 4th of July celebration, we talk about how we transition under a monarchy and a tyranny that our founding fathers fought against, and we risk right now descending back into that very same place. We will stand with the president and fight that force, that force being Donald Trump.”

Hochul has previously dismissed rumors she’s aiming for a job in a potential second Biden administration.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom met with 23 other Democrat governors Wednesday at the White House during an apparent damage control act after President Biden’s gaffes at last week’s first debate against former President Donald Trump during this presidential election season.

“I heard three words from the President tonight -- he’s all in. And so am I," Newsom tweeted.

Newsom was in Washington, D.C. for a planned meeting between President Biden and Democrat governors from across the country. This came after Biden’s blunders in the presidential debate a week ago and rumors that top Democratic lawmakers were urging him to bow out of the race.

Newsom has been one of the top names emerging to take his place on the ballot, but the California governor has publicly said he’s stood by Biden.

Newsom wasn’t among the Democrat governors speaking to the press after meeting with Biden. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was the lead spokesperson along with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Former President Donald Trump apparently lambasted President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris during what appears to be a leaked video from a golf course.

The tweet posted by The Daily Beast shows Trump, the 78-year-old presumptive Republican presidential nominee, sitting in a golf cart with his son, Barron Trump, as the former president blasts the 81-year-old Biden.

Trump is seen at the beginning of the video holding a handful of cash and asking folks, “How did I do with the debate the other night?” 

“We kicked that old, broken down pile of crap,” Trump is heard saying to those surrounding his golf cart before handing out bills. “He’s a bad guy.

“He just quit, you know — he’s quitting the race,” Trump kept saying. “I got him out — and that means we have Kamala.”

“I think she’s going to be better. She’s so bad. She’s so pathetic. She’s so f--king bad.” 

Trump then redirected focus back to Biden's dealing with Russia and China.

“Can you imagine that guy dealing with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin? And the president of China — who’s a fierce person. He’s a fierce man, very tough guy,” Trump said of Xi Jinping. 

“They just announced he’s probably quitting. Just keep knocking him out, huh?” 

Trump then faced forward in his cart and drove away. It's unclear which golf course the video was taken.

Following a meeting with the nation’s Democrat governors with President Joe Biden on Wednesday at the White House, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Biden is still “fit for office” despite the president’s awkward performance at the initial presidential debate last week.

“None of us are denying Thursday night was a bad performance. It was a bad hit, if you will on that, but it doesn’t impact what I believe: He’s delivering,” said Walz, who leads the Democratic Governors Association.

Walz was asked whether he thought Biden looked or sounded abnormal during last week’s debate versus Donald Trump.

“Yeah, he did. He said, ‘Look,’ he didn’t listen to himself.”

“I think this idea that you get in your own head, you get a little bit cycled up on that,” Walz said. “What we saw in there today was a guy who was the guy that all of us believed in the first time who could beat Donald Trump and he did beat Donald Trump.”

Walz led the delegation that also included California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, among others.

After the leaders met with Biden, only Govs. Walz, Hochul, and Moore spoke to reporters.

“We always believe that when you love someone, you tell them the truth,” Moore said. “And I think we came in and we were honest about the feedback that we were getting. We were honest about the concerns that we are hearing from people.”

Amid a growing chorus of Democratic voices calling for President Biden to bow out of the presidential race after last week’s disastrous debate performance, the Washington Post editorial board on Wednesday published a bizarre hypothetical transcript of the Democratic frontrunner announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 campaign.

The lofty op-ed, titled “What if Biden spoke these words?” opens with an invocation of the founding fathers who “carried out a revolution at the edge of a wild frontier.”

“Over the past few days, I have been reflecting on all this. My season of service is nearing its close. This was a hard truth to face,” the op-ed reads. “But it is the natural course of things — as evident as the progression from spring to summer, from fall to winter. This is why I have decided to withdraw from the campaign for president of the United States.”

The piece compared Biden to the first U.S. president, George Washington, who supposedly faced a similar moment “as he approached the end of his second term.”

The hypothetical Biden said he wanted to “stay in the fight” but “at this moment, the nation needs something I cannot provide: a leader with the energy to run a vigorous campaign and then to work for America, at all hours, for the next four years.”

The piece accused his predecessor and GOP rival, Donald Trump, of having “exploited and exacerbated” partisan divisions.

“Mr. Trump’s unique danger lies in his claim that only he can lead the nation. I will not make the same mistake,” the “president” said. “Nor will I do anything that would ease his return to power. Staying in the race could do just that.”

The piece added no context or additional commentary.

President Biden and his top officials say they have accepted an ultimatum from the Democratic Party that the president must demonstrate to the nation he is fit for office or face a concerted effort to have him bow out of the race.

Critics tell The Washington Post they are unnerved by the lack of urgency from within the Biden administration after his disastrous debate performance ignited calls from within his own party to step down.

One senior campaign adviser called Biden’s reticence “a deafening silence.”

“I think the onus is really on Biden right now to be very candid with all of us privately, not publicly, not that we’re going to tell reporters, but to be very candid with us privately about what happened, what is the larger issue? Can we get through this?” Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., told The Post. "We do need more than emails of polling briefs from White House legislative affairs directors right now to assuage those concerns.”

Earlier Wednesday, the Biden campaign sent out an email to supporters clarifying that the president had no plans to back out of the race.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., is the latest lawmaker to call on the president to drop out of the presidential race following last week’s botched debate performance.

Grijalva told The New York Times that he thinks its time for his party to select a new nominee but qualified that he will still support Biden if he makes it through November.

“If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” Grijalva said. “What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat – and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race.”

Grijalva is the second sitting Democratic House lawmaker to call on Biden to step down. On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said the president “failed” to defend his record and reassure voters that he’s the man for the job during last week’s debate.

President Biden’s campaign team sent out a fundraising email to supporters Wednesday in an ostensible effort to quell any lingering doubts about whether he will stay in the race after his widely criticized debate performance last week.

“I know the past few days been tough. I’m sure you’re getting a lot of questions. I’m sure many of you have questions as well,” a message to supporters reads. “So, let me say this as clear and simply as I can: I’m running.”

The message reminds recipients that Biden is still “the Democratic Party’s nominee.”

“No one is pushing me out. I’m not leaving, I’m in this race to the end, and WE are going to win this election,” the message says. “If that’s all you need to hear, pitch in a few bucks to help Kamala and me defeat Donald Trump in November.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is doubling down on her support for President Biden as more of her fellow Democrats are publicly and privately calling on him to step down after his botched debate performance.

The Democratic governor told MSNBC Sunday: “We have the best candidate running right now, and that is President Biden.”

She added that, “One bad night does not affect three and a half years of stellar accomplishment, and I’m really excited about the next four years ahead.”

Hochul is expected to meet with the president and other Democratic governors at the White House later Wednesday.

The governors will share feedback from voters in their state and discuss the Biden campaigns plans through November.

Hochul has dismissed rumors that she is vying for a job in a potential second administration for the Biden administration.

Meanwhile, a recent Siena College poll showed the Democratic governor hitting her lowest favorability and job approval so far. The poll, released late last month, showed the governor’s favorability rating at 38-49% and her job approval rating at 44-50%.

Biden showed similarly dismal approval figures in New York, with a favorability among New York voters at 42-53% and an overall approval rating at 45-53%. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday said Vice President Kamala Harris was the “future” of the Democratic Party.

The comments came in response to a reporter who questioned whether President Biden stood by his 2020 comments that he would be a “bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders.”

“I think his statement stands. I mean, one of the reasons why he picked Vice President Kamala Harris is because she is indeed the future of the [Democratic] Party,” Jean-Pierre said. “And he’s very proud to have partnered with her and continue to partner with her and deliver an unprecedented record for the American people.”

The White House has been in full-scale damage control following the president’s disastrous debate performance, which has fueled calls for him to step down and allow another candidate to take his place.

Another reporter asked Jean-Pierre if during the president’s lunch with the vice president earlier in the day there was any discussion of “Harris potentially taking over.”

Jean-Pierre reiterated the White House’s position that the president had no plans to drop out of the race.

“That’s something that the campaign has shared. So, I’m just repeating what the campaign has shared,” Jean-Pierre said.

Former President Trump's campaign team is blasting Democrats who are just now calling on President Biden to call it quits after his disastrous debate performance last week.

"Every Democrat who is calling on Crooked Joe Biden to quit was once a supporter of Biden and his failed policies that lead to extreme inflation, an open border, and chaos at home and abroad. Make no mistake that Democrats, the main stream media, and the swamp colluded to hide the truth from the American public -- Joe Biden is weak, failed, dishonest, and not fit for the White House," co-campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.

"Every one of them has lied about Joe Biden’s cognitive state and supported his disastrous policies over the past four years, especially Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris."

The Boston Globe editorial board is urging President Biden to bow out of the presidential race after his disastrous debate performance.

In a column published Wednesday, the editorial board criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to assuage the nation of its concerns.

“President Biden’s team has said little that adequately explains why his performance was historically bad, beyond that he had a cold,” the board wrote. “What we mostly heard instead was the closing of ranks around the beleaguered and wounded candidate.”

As many Democrats have publicly defended the president as the best candidate to beat Trump, the board warned there was a greater risk Biden continuing “as the party’s standard-bearer.”

“The nation’s confidence has been shaken,” the board wrote.

The writers noted there was a “bevy of potential candidates … waiting in the wings to take on Trump.”

All Biden had to do, the board wrote, was “graciously bow out of the race and free his delegates to cast their votes for someone else at the Democratic National Convention.”

President Biden is facing growing calls from members of the media, editorial boards, pundits and more to drop out of the race following a debate performance that caused anxiety among members of the Democratic Party.

The Boston Globe's editorial column comes days after The New York Times editorial board called on President Biden to “leave the race” after his widely panned debate. 

A new national poll indicates that former President Trump's lead over President Biden in their 2024 election rematch is widening in the wake of last week's heavily criticized debate performance by Biden.

And the survey, released Wednesday by the New York Times and Siena College, spotlights a surge in concerns that the 81-year-old Biden, the oldest president in the nation's history, is unable to govern the nation effectively.

Biden is facing the roughest stretch of his more than year-long campaign for a second term in the White House. This, after his halting delivery and stumbling answers at the debate with Trump in Atlanta, Georgia, sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers and some party donors for Biden to step aside as the party's 2024 standard-bearer.

This is an excerpt of a report by Fox News' Paul Steinhauser. Click here to read the full story.

President Biden is "absolutely not" considering dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday. 

The White House has maintained Biden will continue running for a second term, even amid pressure from Democrats and former staffers and allies to step aside. 

A New York Times report was published Wednesday morning suggesting that Biden had spoken privately with confidants about the possibility of dropping out of the race.  

But when asked during the briefing if Biden would drop out of the race, Jean-Pierre was defiant. 

"Absolutely not," she said. "And you heard, I think, I believe directly from the campaign as well." 

This is an excerpt of a report by Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman. Click here to read the full story.

There are multiple letters circulating among House Democrats that would call for President Biden to step aside in the 2024 White House race, two sources familiar with those discussions told Fox News Digital.

Efforts have included both vulnerable Democrats in swing districts and left-wing lawmakers in safe seats, one of the sources said.

The letters are mainly being circulated at the member level right now, both sources said, with lawmakers closely guarding the monumental decision they are weighing.

"Everyone is guarded now," one senior House Democratic member told Fox News. "People may be just doing what they believe is best for them."

This is an excerpt of a report by Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind and Chad Pergram. Click here to read the full story.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday was pressed on President Biden blaming his poor debate performance last week on jetlag.

A reporter noted that despite Biden’s insistence at a campaign fundraiser that international travel had taken a toll on his health, the president actually had at least a week to recover in the U.S. before the debate.

Jean-Pierre repeated the president’s talking points about that being not an excuse but an “explanation.”

“In addition to the two major trips he was also continuing to do his presidential duties, he worked late in doing that. And he also prepared for the debate,” Jean-Pierre said. “And on top of that, there was obviously the jetlag … and also he had a cold … he had a hoarse voice.”

A reporter said the White House appeared to be coming up with new excuses, as Biden had previously blamed his debate performance on having a cold.

Jean-Pierre again pointed to the president’s hectic schedule, having traveled six zone times – despite this occurring in the first half of June and the debate being 12 days after Biden arrived back in the U.S.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich pushed Jean-Pierre to clarify the earlier reporter’s question, noting that Biden held a rally in North Carolina the day after the debate and dined at a Waffle House.

“He pushed through. That’s what this president does. He is going to continue to fight for the American people,” Jean-Pierre said. “So, he pushed through.”

Former President Trump has significantly widened his lead over President Biden after Biden's disastrous performance at last week's debate, according to a new poll from the New York Times.

Trump now leads Biden by six points among likely voters, his largest lead in the race so far. A further 74% of voters say Biden is too old to serve effectively as president, with the number spiking after the debate, according to the Times.

Biden is facing growing calls to drop out of the race from both current and former Democratic officials. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, was the first elected Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw, issuing a public statement on Tuesday.

While top Democratic Party officials remain publicly supportive of the president, rumors of growing panic continue to leak out from party insiders.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients urged aides to focus and tune out the "noise" during an all-staff meeting on Wednesday

The meeting came as President Biden's candidacy threatens to collapse under the weight of his disastrous performance at last week's debate against former President Trump. Zients encouraged White House staff to focus on the victories the administration has had over the past three years.

Zients also argued that Biden has a “strong campaign team” in place and argued that the current concern over his cognitive abilities is just "noise."

Multiple prominent groups and even some current and former Democratic lawmakers, have called on Biden to step aside in recent days. Top officials in the Democratic Party remain publicly supportive of the president, though rumors of panic continue to leak out from the party machine.

The Associated Press contributed to this report