Rep. Nanette Barragán says she supports Biden ‘1,000 percent’
Rep. Nanette Barragán, one of Biden’s staunchest supporters, said that she spent the week with Biden in Nevada and that she’s “1,000 percent behind this President,” during an interview with MNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports.”
“I saw him on the go. I saw the reception. I saw what people were saying to him,” Barragán said. “They were telling him to stay in the fight.”
Barragán, a member of BOLD PAC, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Biden’s stance on immigration has led her caucus to support his re-election efforts as the group officially endorsed the Biden-Harris campaign on Friday.
Sen. Chris Coons says Biden is ‘weighing’ who would be best to win the election
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a Biden campaign co-chair and close confidant to the president, said Biden is weighing the situation when asked about the state of the race at the Aspen National Security Forum on Friday.
“I think our President is weighing what he should weigh, which is, who is the best candidate to win in November and to carry forward the democratic party’s values,” Coons said.
Coons declined to comment on whether he has personally spoken to the president about his standing in the race, but said he is confident Biden is “hearing what he needs to hear” from colleagues and the American public.
Echoing rhetoric from top Biden campaign aides, Coons said Democrat’s anxiety over Biden remaining the prospective nominee stems from the high stakes of the election and the need to defeat Trump.
Washington state’s largest labor union calls on Biden to drop out
The largest labor union in Washington urged the state congressional delegation to call on Biden to drop out of the race in a letter obtained by NBC News.
Washington’s chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers union represents 55,000 grocery, health care and retail employees.
The letter, signed by UFCW 3000 President Faye Guenther and Secretary-Treasurer Joe Mizrahi, states: “We call on President Biden to pass the torch to the next generation. He has much to celebrate over his career of accomplishments fighting alongside working people, but it is time for him to retire with dignity, and campaign as hard as we all will for an alternative candidate. The stakes are simply too high to do otherwise.”
Rep. Adam Smith, of Washington, is among the House Democrats calling on Biden to step aside.
GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan rips conservative Project 2025 plan for next Trump adminisration
Former Maryland governor and Republican Senate candidate Larry Hogan condemned condemned the conservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for another Trump administration, dubbed Project 2025, as a threat to “traditional American values” in an op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday.
“Toxic politics on both sides of the aisle are undermining faith in our system of government,” Hogan wrote. “But Project 2025 sends this disturbing trend into overdrive, casting aside the checks on presidential power that have protected our democracy for more than 200 years.”
Hogan pointed specifically to Project 2025’s goals of carrying out mass deportations, targeting the federal workforce, disbanding the Department of Education, and undermining the Justice Department by closely aligning it to the presidency, some of which he described as “absurd and dangerous.”
“Project 2025 opts for total war against the other side, making it impossible to find common ground,” Hogan wrote.
Urging a return to bipartisanship, Hogan argued the only defense against extremism is to elect leaders who will “do things differently, stand up for American values and hold both parties accountable.”
Trump has sought to distance himself from Project 2025, although he has ties to some of the people involved.
Buttigieg says he hasn’t discussed Biden’s re-election bid with other Cabinet members
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on CNBC today that he hasn’t discussed if Biden should end his re-election bid with other members of the president’s Cabinet.
Buttigieg, who ran against Biden for the 2020 Democratic Party nomination, did not directly answer when asked if the president was fit to serve another term but said he was proud to serve in the president’s administration.
“I have been so proud to serve under President Biden’s leadership,” Buttigieg said. “And every time I have needed him for a decision, for guidance to do the things that Cabinet secretaries need from their president, he has been there.”
When asked if he would consider entering the race if Biden steps aside, Buttigieg said that he could not discuss election issues while traveling in his official capacity due to campaign law.
Biden campaign official responds to 4 House Democrats’ calling on him to drop out
In response to four House Democrats calling on Biden today to drop out of the race, a campaign official pointed NBC News to a comment made by the campaign’s chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, during an MSNBC interview this morning.
“You have heard from the president directly time and again: He is in this race to win, and he is our nominee, and he’s going to be our president for a second term,” O’Malley Dillon said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
The campaign official also said there is “extensive support on Capitol Hill for the Biden-Harris campaign, including from swing state members, the Congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses, and voices all across the party.”
The four House Democrats — Reps. Jared Huffman of California, Marc Veasey of Texas, Chuy Garcia of Illinois and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin — said it is time for Biden “to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders” in a joint statement.
N.M.’s Martin Heinrich becomes third Senate Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw
Sen. Martin Heinrich, of New Mexico, today became the third Senate Democrat to call on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race.
While acknowledging that it’s Biden’s decision “alone,” he said in a statement, “I believe it is in the best interests of our country for him to step aside.”
“By passing the torch, he would secure his legacy as one of our nation’s greatest leaders and allow us to unite behind a candidate who can best defeat Donald Trump and safeguard the future of our democracy,” he added.
Sen. Jon Tester, of Montana, last night became the second Democrat in the Senate to issue the same call, joining Sen. Peter Welch, of Vermont.
Rep. Adam Smith says it’s not only ‘elite Democrats’ calling for Biden to withdraw
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., one of the congressional Democrats calling on Biden to step aside, said it’s not just “elite Democrats” calling on Biden to step aside, but also the people in his district.
“It is just not a viable campaign anymore, and we have better options. We need to take them,” Smith said in an interview on MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports.”
“After that debate performance, after the presentation since then, the country’s bringing it up,” he added. “My constituents are bringing it up.”
When asked about the campaign’s response following the debate, Smith said the White House needs to be more transparent and release a full assessment of Biden’s to the public.
Fact-checking Trump’s speech accepting the GOP nomination
Former President Donald Trump pitched a familiar worldview Thursday night: an administration that would stop wars, curb inflation and end illegal immigration.
But his third Republican National Convention speech — the longest nomination acceptance address in modern history, at 93 minutes — included a series of false claims on topics from taxes to crime to foreign policy.
Here’s what Trump said in Milwaukee and the facts behind his claims.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify before House Oversight on Monday
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will testify before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, the agency’s chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, said in a statement.
“The Secret Service is fully accountable for the safety of its protectees. We are committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure it never happens again,” Guglielmi said.
“That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI, and other relevant investigations,” he added.
The House Oversight panel subpoenaed Cheatle earlier this week to appear before the committee.
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