Top House Democrat Jeffries wants to hear from ‘every single’ lawmaker before ‘next step’ on Biden candidacy – report
The Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told Punchbowl News that he is aiming to speak with all 213 of his lawmakers about Joe Biden’s candidacy before “the next step” on supporting his re-election campaign:
🚨NEWS — just caught up with @RepJeffries
He said he’s looking forward to concluding his talks with “every single” House Democrat about Biden. And then ….
“We’ll convene as a leadership team and figure out the next step.”
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 11, 2024
While only a small number of Democrats in Congress have called for Biden to end his re-election campaign after he struggled to parry Donald Trump in their first debate, most of the objectors serve in the House.
Jeffries has generally kept mum about the possibility of Biden stepping aside in the days since, while convening meetings with Democrats to hear their thoughts.
Key events
Michigan congresswoman Hilary Scholten is the latest Democratic lawmaker representing a contentious district to call for Joe Biden to end his bid for re-election.
Swing district lawmakers Angie Craig of Minnesota and Pat Ryan of New York have also called for the president to pass the torch to another Democrat. Here’s our full rundown of the congressional Democrats who have broken with Biden thus far:
Another vulnerable House Democrat calls for Biden to step aside
Hillary Scholten, a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, a swing state crucial to winning the White House, has joined the ranks of those calling for Joe Biden to call off his re-election bid.
“With the challenges facing our country in 2025 and beyond, it is essential that we have the strongest possible candidate leading the top of the ticket – not just to win, but to govern,” said Scholten, who represents a narrowly Democratic western Michigan district, and is also the first freshman lawmaker to break with the president.
“Joe Biden has been that leader for so long; but this is not about the past, it’s about the future. It’s time to pass the torch.”
Here’s her full statement:
President Biden has served his country well, but for the sake of our democracy, he must pass the torch to a new candidate for the 2024 election. pic.twitter.com/derEO1kl3f
— Hillary Scholten (@HillaryScholten) July 11, 2024
Top House Democrat Jeffries wants to hear from ‘every single’ lawmaker before ‘next step’ on Biden candidacy – report
The Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told Punchbowl News that he is aiming to speak with all 213 of his lawmakers about Joe Biden’s candidacy before “the next step” on supporting his re-election campaign:
🚨NEWS — just caught up with @RepJeffries
He said he’s looking forward to concluding his talks with “every single” House Democrat about Biden. And then ….
“We’ll convene as a leadership team and figure out the next step.”
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 11, 2024
While only a small number of Democrats in Congress have called for Biden to end his re-election campaign after he struggled to parry Donald Trump in their first debate, most of the objectors serve in the House.
Jeffries has generally kept mum about the possibility of Biden stepping aside in the days since, while convening meetings with Democrats to hear their thoughts.
Late yesterday, another House Democrat said Joe Biden should step aside.
“While this is a decision for the president and the first lady, I hope they will come to the conclusion that I and others have: President Biden should not be the Democratic presidential nominee,” said Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, who has held office since 1996, and is not running for re-election.
Here’s more:
It is a painful and difficult conclusion but there is no question in my mind that we will all be better served if the president steps aside as the Democratic nominee and manages a transition under his terms. He has earned that right.
The next six months will be critical in the implementation of President Biden’s landmark accomplishments that will define his legacy for generations to come. He should devote his energy and undivided attention to issues of war and peace, the climate crisis, and rebuilding and renewing America. I stand willing to assist in any way possible on these critical efforts.
Clooney called Obama before publishing op-ed encouraging Biden to step aside – report
The actor and Democratic fundraiser George Clooney’s New York Times op-ed published yesterday saying Joe Biden is not able to win re-election and that the party should seek a new nominee represented a blow to the president’s standing.
But today, Politico reports that it may be even worse than it appears. Clooney is said to have called his friend Barack Obama to let him know the piece was coming, and the former president did not object to its publication, nor did he offer any thoughts or advice.
It’s something of a turnaround for the former president, who was quick to defend his one-time deputy Biden following his rough debate performance late last month. Here’s what he said then:
Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the…
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 28, 2024
Yesterday, Kamala Harris attacked Project 2025, connecting it with Donald Trump’s statement that he would be a “dictator” on his first day in office, and the supreme court’s recent decision saying he is immune from some charges related to trying to overturn the 2020 election.
“There is so much at stake in this moment, including last week, when the supreme court basically told this individual who has been convicted of fraud, that going forward, he will be immune for activity we know he is prepared to engage in if he gets back into the White House,” the vice-president said in an address to Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation’s oldest Black sorority.
“Consider: Donald Trump has openly vowed, if re-elected, he will be a dictator on day one, that he will weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies, round up peaceful protesters and throw them out of our country and even, and I quote, terminate the United States constitution. What’s more, Trump advisers have created a 900-page blueprint of their agenda for the second term. They call it project 2025.”
She told the audience that the plan calls for cutting social security, eliminating the education department, and repealing a $35 price cap on insulin that was a hard-fought achievement of the Biden administration.
“Let us be clear, this represents an outright attack on our children, our families and our future,” Harris said.
“And all of this is to say, I do believe this is the most existential, consequential and important election of our lifetimes.”
Just what is Project 2025? Joe Biden would like you to read the 900-plus pages of the plan to undo much of his administration’s policies, and remake the US government in the image of conservative groups. But if you do not have time for that, the Guardian’s Rachel Leingang has complied some if its most notable proposals:
Heavyweight conservatives joined together to create a roadmap for a potential second Trump presidency, and they are working to recruit and train the people who would work in an incoming conservative administration.
Project 2025 details across more than 900 pages how Trump and his allies could dismantle and disrupt the US government. It suggests ridding the federal ranks of many appointed roles and stacking agencies instead with more political appointees aligned with and more beholden to Trump’s policy prescriptions.
Led by the rightwing Heritage Foundation, the project showcases a federal government that cracks down intensely on immigration, vanquishes LGBTQ+ and abortion rights, diminishes environmental protections, overhauls financial policy and takes aggressive action against China.
Trump recently attempted to distance himself from the project after the Heritage president, Kevin Roberts, commented that the US is “in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be”. But, as many in both parties have noted, Trump’s policies align heavily with Project 2025, which includes a host of former Trump officials and allies as authors and promoters.
His attempt at disavowal also came as Democrats and the Biden campaign have brought more attention to Project 2025 and its aims as a way to inform voters of what could come with a second Trump term.
As Republicans hold convention, Democrats to focus voter attention on Project 2025
The Republican national convention will begin on Monday, where the GOP is expected to formally nominate Donald Trump as their presidential standard bearer.
But the Democrats wants to make the four-day gathering in Milwaukee about something else: the former president’s ties to Project 2025.
“The GOP is descending on Milwaukee next week to showcase the best that they have to offer the American people: a coup-attempting convicted felon,” said Rosemary Boeglin, communications director for the Democratic National Committee.
“If Trump thought Milwaukee was ‘horrible’ before, he won’t be happy when he’s met by a counter-convention from Democrats on the ground who will expose his extreme Project 2025 agenda and hold him accountable for shilling for the rich at the expense of working families, attacking reproductive freedom, and threatening to be a dictator on ‘day one.’”
The DNC and Biden campaign plan daily press conferences and a barrage of advertising in the city, aimed at informing voters about the wide-ranging plan to remake the US government. The counteroffensive will take place in a city that is the largest in Wisconsin, a swing state crucial to both Trump and Joe Biden’s paths to victory.
Biden opens fire on Trump over ties to Project 2025 as he fights for political survival
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Joe Biden’s battle to prove to voters and to Democratic lawmakers that he can serve another four years in the White House continues today. The president will be spending most of Thursday at the Nato summit he is hosting in Washington DC, meeting with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy at 1.30pm, and then holding a closely watched press conference at 5.30pm. Meanwhile, a team of his top advisers is heading to the Capitol to meet with Democratic senators and quell the nascent rebellion against his candidacy. Vermont’s Peter Welch late yesterday became the first senator to say Biden should end his run, after his stumbling performance in his debate against Donald Trump heightened concerns about whether he is too old for the job.
Through all this, the Biden campaign has been busy trying to undercut Trump’s insistence that he knows nothing about Project 2025, a blueprint for remaking America’s government written by conservative groups, and which sounds quite a lot like the former president’s own platform. Kamala Harris decried the plan as “an outright attack on our children, our families and our future” yesterday, while Biden is inviting everyone to read the document.
Here’s what else is going on today:
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A majority of Democrats believe Biden should end his campaign, a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found. It also reported the president was tied with Trump in popular support.
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The GOP-led House of Representatives will vote on whether to hold attorney general Merrick Garland in “inherent contempt” for not turning over recordings of Biden’s interviews with the special counsel investigating his possession of classified documents.
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Inflation came in lower than expected in June, according to just-released government data, a positive sign for the economic trend that has bedeviled Biden’s presidency, and potentially for the Federal Reserve’s intention to eventually lower interest rates.
