Biden defends candidacy in lengthy news conference amid more calls to drop out: Highlights

Democrats' reviews of Biden's performance at the news conference were a mixed bag this evening, a notable departure from the reaction to last month's debate.

A Democratic strategist who thought tonight went well said the president "sort of sounded like Biden of 2022.”

However, the source added that "this boat has taken on so much water. This still is really up in the air, honestly.”

NBC News’ Peter Alexander recalls Biden’s mistakenly calling Vice President Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” at the start of his news conference and breaks down his responses to questions on various important topics.

Rep. Eric Sorensen, a vulnerable Democrat in Illinois, said after Biden's news conference tonight that he thinks the president should abandon his re-election bid.

“In 2020, Joe Biden ran for President with the purpose of putting country over party. Today, I am asking him to do that again,” Sorensen wrote in a statement. He went on to say that he's “hopeful President Biden will step aside in his campaign for President.”

Sorensen expressed uncertainty yesterday over Biden's presidential bid. Asked whether Biden was the best person to lead, he told NBC News, "Well, I think it remains to be seen. Well, we’ll have to wait and see, and I think that we’ll know that here soon."

Sorensen won the seat of former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Cheri Bustos in 2022.

Several Democrats tonight vouched their support for Biden after his news conference, even as some of their colleagues called on him to step aside following tonight's remarks.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., praised Biden on X, saying he was "demonstrating how a world leader with his hand firmly on the tiller of our ship of state, manages the country, U.S. national security interests and the naysayers."

Asked in a CNN interview about whether Biden's news conference had convinced Democrats and American voters that he should remain in the race, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said, “I think convinced a lot of people that he should stay in the race," adding that Biden had spoken "so knowledgeably" about foreign policy.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a longtime Biden ally and campaign co-chair, said on X, "No one is more prepared to lead our nation forward than Joe Biden."

More than a dozen House Democrats have now publicly asked Biden to drop out of the presidential race, and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont became the first senator to do so. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said conversations within his caucus continue. NBC News’ Ryan Nobles reports.

Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., tonight urged Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, saying his debate performance raised concerns that Biden "will not be able to wage a winning campaign."

"This was not a blip," Peters said in a statement. “Today I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign. The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course. My conscience requires me to speak up and put loyalty to the country and to democracy ahead of my great affection for, and loyalty to, the President and those around him."

Peters is the second congressional Democrat to call for Biden to drop out after his news conference this evening.

Biden responded to a social media post from Trump that mocked a flub during tonight's news conference in which Biden mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump."

"By the way: Yes, I know the difference. One’s a prosecutor, and the other’s a felon," Biden wrote on X, referring to Harris' former role as California attorney general and Trump's recent conviction in his New York hush money case.

Referring to the gaffe in a post on Truth Social, Trump had teased, "Great job, Joe!"

As the news conference was concluding, Biden responded to a shouted question from NBC News about how to he would combat Trump's criticism about his referring to Harris as "Vice President Trump."

"Listen to him," Biden said, before walking away.

Campaign officials said on X that Biden was referring to Project 2025.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., called on Biden to "step away" from the presidential race in a statement tonight after his news conference.

“The 2024 election will define the future of American democracy, and we must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism," Himes wrote. "I no longer believe that is Joe Biden, and I hope that, as he has through a lifetime of public service, he will continue to put our nation first and, as he promised, make way for a new generation of leaders."

Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, is the first member of the Connecticut delegation to call for Biden to drop out.

Biden wrapped up his high-stakes news conference, which lasted just under an hour.

It was in line with two of his longer news conferences: 53 minutes after the 2022 midterms and 62 minutes at one in 2021.

Biden was asked whether he would allow delegates to vote with their consciences if they have second thoughts about his candidacy.

"They're free to do whatever they want," Biden said.

Moments later he expressed confidence that the situation would not happen.

Asked whether he should take another neurological exam, Biden told reporters: "I’ve taken three significant and intense neurological exams ... as recently as February, and they say I’m in good shape."

Biden also defended his neurological health, saying the decisions he makes every day are evidence that he's healthy. "I’m tested every single day on my neurological capacity. Decisions I make every day," he said.

Biden also seemed to joke about the overwhelming number of anonymous remarks emerging from his campaign and his administration in recent weeks, telling reporters: "You talk to my staff. All of you talk to my staff. Sometimes my staff talks a lot."

In talking about threats to democracy, Biden made his first reference of the night to Project 2025, a sprawling conservative policy proposal aimed at Trump's potential second term. It has been an increasingly common talking point for Democrats who are seeking to paint Trump's policies as extremist. Trump has disavowed it, although some of his top allies are involved with it.

Biden raised his voice and became animated when he talked about guns.

He pointed to the death toll of children killed by guns each year and lashed out at the National Rifle Association and the Supreme Court.

Asked whether his travel next week will affect his decision to stay in the race, Biden said, "I’m determined on running."

Biden also acknowledged that it's important for him to assuage fears about his fitness for office "by seeing — letting them see me out there."

"I’m going out in the areas where you think we can win, where we can persuade people to move our way," Biden added.

He also briefly mentioned the campaign infrastructure for a presidential campaign and added that it's “awful hard to replace in the near term" for another candidate.

A reporter told Biden that he referred to himself as a bridge candidate to a younger generation of Democratic leaders in 2020 and asked what changed now that he's running for a second term.

"What changed was the gravity of the situation I inherited, in terms of the economy, our foreign policy and domestic division," Biden said.

"What I realized was my long time in the Senate had equipped me to have the wisdom on how to deal with the Congress to get things done. We got more major legislation passed no one thought would happen. And I want to finish it, to get that finished."

Asked whether there is anything he wishes he had done differently during the Israel-Hamas war, Biden first pointed to his visit to Israel right after the Oct. 7 attack.

He also said that in conversations about getting aid into Gaza, Israel was "occasionally ... less than cooperative."

Biden also said that when the war ends, there must be no Israeli occupation of Gaza.

He continued to emphasize his support for a cease-fire.

During a lengthy answer about China's involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, Biden said he has "no good reason to talk to Putin right now."

"I’m not ready to talk to Putin unless Putin’s ready to change his behavior," he said.

Later, Biden added that he's prepared to talk to any world leader but that he doesn't expect Putin has changed his position on the war.

"I think that I’m prepared to talk to any leader who wants to talk, including if Putin called me and wanted to talk," he said. "My point is I’m prepared to talk to anybody, but I don’t see any inclination."

Biden said he thinks Chinese President Xi Jinping believes China can leverage its economy with foreign countries when he was asked about Beijing's involvement with Russia in the Ukraine war.

Biden said Xi must understand that "there's a price to pay" for "undercutting" countries in its relationship with Russia and the war in Ukraine.

He Biden said it was concerning that adversaries are looking to figure out how to "have impact."

He was also asked about his ability to negotiate with foreign adversaries.

Biden faced a strange interruption in the middle of one of his answers.

He wasn't interrupted by a reporter following up on a question but rather by a reporter who had opened a laptop. It started loudly playing an earlier question from the reporter.

In remarks about his schedule following the debate, Biden said, "I love my staff, but to add things all the time, I’m catching hell from my wife."

The answer is notable, and it speaks to some of the disconnect that might be happening between Biden's family and his staff about the rigor of his campaign schedule.

Answering another question, Biden denied reports that he goes to bed early and limits his schedule.

"That’s not true," he said, adding, "Look, what I said was, instead of my every day starting at 7 and going to bed at midnight, it’d be smarter for me to pace myself a little more."

Biden also called the debate "a mistake" and said his schedule has been "full-bore" since the debate.

Asked about Harris and whether she's qualified to take over as president, Biden described her as a "first-rate person."

"First of all, the way she’s handled the issue of freedom of women’s bodies, to have control over their bodies. Secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board, this was a hell of a prosecutor, a first-rate person, and in the Senate, she was really good," he said.

"I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president. From the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her."

Asked about how he would view his legacy, Biden said he is not in the race for his legacy.

Instead, he said, he is in to complete the job he started.

Biden is trying to answer questions about his fitness for office by pointing to policy and his track record. He’s not answering the questions directly. On the U.S. standing in the world, he pointed to NATO success. On a question about allies calling for him to step aside, he talked about the economy.

Biden gave a lengthy answer about his administration’s record boosting the economy and boosting union labor in response to a question about whether he’s fit to serve a second term.

“Under my plans so far, and what’s going to happen in the future, things are going to get much better,” Biden said.

He also said that he has been “the most pro-union labor president in history, not a joke. And guess what? We had the Treasury Department do a study that when unions do better, everybody does better.”

Asked about mixing up President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s name, calling him “Putin," Biden focused on the overall NATO summit.

"Find me a world leader who didn't think it was" successful, he said, referring to the summit.

Challenged about how foreign leaders perceive him, Biden pointed to leaders who have thanked him and praised his work.

Biden said "Vice President Trump" in referring to Kamala Harris in his answer to the first question of the night, which asked whether the vice president could beat Trump in a general election.

"Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president to — think she was not qualified to be president, so let's start there," Biden said.

The president did not correct himself like he did earlier in the day when he mistakenly called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy "President Putin."

Biden’s opening statement was meant to turn the page back to Trump after two weeks in which the political discourse has been dominated by Biden’s poor debate performance. The White House and Biden campaign are keenly aware of that, and this is their attempt to talk about some issues that would be major in any other news cycle.

Biden did not make this key point on immigration — that Trump killed the border deal — at all during the debate. Many Dems said it was among his biggest missed opportunities.

Biden touted the latest inflation report later in his opening remarks, saying the figures showed that prices slowed more than expected last month.

He also criticized Trump's approach to the economy, including his approach to tariffs.

Early in his news conference, Biden took a jab at Trump, saying he "has made it clear he has no commitment to NATO."

"He’s made it clear that he would feel no obligation to honor Article 5," which is an agreement that an attack on one NATO nation is considered an attack on all members of the alliance.

Biden continued, attacking Trump for his remarks in February that he would let Russia "do whatever the hell they want."

"In fact, the day after Putin invaded Ukraine, here’s what [Trump] said, 'It was genius. It was wonderful.' Some of you forgot that, but that’s exactly what he said," Biden added.

Biden began his solo news conference using a teleprompter for opening remarks about NATO.

Today's news conference comes on the heels of a series of NATO meetings in Washington.

Biden walked through how the U.S. supported Ukraine in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion and jabbed his "predecessor" for criticizing the alliance.

"A strong NATO is essential to American security," Biden said, going on to call NATO's Article 5 "sacred."

Biden's solo news conference today is the first in eight months.

His last was on Nov. 16 in Woodside, California, after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He has only held four solo news conferences since the 2022 midterms.

Biden's highly anticipated solo news conference is underway.

Hours before a high-stakes news conference aimed at dispelling concerns about his cognitive health, Biden appeared to confuse the leaders of Ukraine and Russia.

“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said as he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO event in Washington today.

After he took a step away from the podium, Biden turned back around and corrected himself. “President Putin? He’s going to beat President Putin! President Zelenskyy.”

Read the full story here.

Democrats running in competitive congressional races are trying to keep the focus on their own campaigns as Biden, confronted with questions about his future as the party’s nominee, defiantly declares he isn’t going anywhere.

Vulnerable Democrats were already preparing to distance themselves from the top of the ticket, with Biden having struggled in battleground states and districts before his disastrous debate performance last month. But his performance has made that task more urgent — and potentially more difficult.

A number of House Democrats in competitive races avoided reporters in the Capitol this week, ignoring questions about Biden’s future with phones glued to their ears or staff members rushing them away.

Read the full story here.

A group of Democrats who banded to form the group Pass the Torch criticized Biden for mistakenly referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin" at a NATO event today.

"It’s concerning that the President can’t seem to get through a single event without making a mistake that could provide grist to the Trump attack machine," the group said in a statement. "Now we’re all waiting on the edge of our seats to see if the President can do a press conference — the most basic bread and butter of politics."

"Donald Trump threatens our rights, our freedoms, our democracy," the statement added. "To beat him, we need a candidate for whom one press conference is not a Herculean task.”

All eyes are on Biden ahead of his first solo news conference at the White House in two years in what could be his last chance to quiet critics after his recent debate performance. NBC News’ Hallie Jackson provides analysis for "TODAY."

Senate Democrats fighting for re-election in battleground states aren’t expressing much confidence in Biden as he faces calls to withdraw from the race.

Some have said they doubt he will win if he remains on the ballot. Others have stayed silent or not appeared alongside him at campaign events.

Bob Casey of Pennsylvania has been an exception.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., appeared to suggest in a statement today that Biden should resign as president.

Gluesenkamp Perez, who represents a district Trump won in 2020, said she has "spent the past two weeks listening to my constituents express their concerns about the President’s age and health. Like most people I represent in Southwest Washington, I doubt the President’s judgement about his health, his fitness to do the job, and whether he is the one making important decisions about our country, rather than unelected advisors."

"Americans deserve to feel their president is fit enough to do the job," she added. "The crisis of confidence in the President’s leadership needs to come to an end. The President should do what he knows is right for the country and put the national interest first."

Her office and campaign did not respond to questions about whether she's calling for Biden to withdraw his re-election bid.

Gluesenkamp Perez represents a district in southwest Washington that Trump won by more than 4 percentage points in 2020. She won her race in 2022, flipping the seat to the Democrats, by less than a percentage point. Republicans have targeted her this year as a top seat to flip in November.

NBC affiliate KGW of Portland, Oregon, first reported Gluesenkamp Perez's statement.

Trump has asked a state court judge to toss out his criminal conviction in New York, pointing to the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision that outlines when a former president must be shielded from prosecution.  

While the effort to toss out the jury’s verdict most likely faces an uphill battle with Judge Juan Merchan, the last-ditch bid has already succeeded in getting Trump’s sentencing date postponed.

Sentencing had been scheduled for today, but Merchan delayed it last week to give himself more time to consider legal briefings from both sides on the immunity question. Prosecutors are expected to respond to the latest filing by July 24, and sentencing is currently set for Sept. 18.

Read the full story here.

At the end of brief remarks about the U.S.'s and NATO's support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, Biden invited "President Putin" to speak instead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was in attendance.

"And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin," Biden said before he walked away from the podium.

Immediately after he stepped away, he returned to the podium to say, "President Putin? We’re going to beat President Putin — President Zelenskyy. I’m so focused on beating Putin; we've got to worry about him. Anyway, Mr. President.”

Zelenskky chuckled before he approached the podium, telling Biden "I’m better" than Putin, to which Biden answered, "You're a hell of a lot better."

As Biden’s campaign seeks to rebound from his rough debate performance two weeks ago, it has increasingly tried to turn the attention to Trump about Project 2025, an expansive conservative plan backed by more than 100 groups for Trump’s potential second administration.

Over the last week, Trump has tried to put some distance between himself and Project 2025.

“I know nothing about Project 2025,” he said in a Truth Social post Friday. “I have no idea who is behind it.”

Read the full story here.

Ahead of Biden’s news conference at the NATO summit, NBC News’ Monica Alba, Ryan Nobles and Jonathan Allen discuss challenges facing the Biden campaign and calls for the president to end his re-election bid.

Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC, plans to launch digital ads next week to counter GOP convention themes.

The ads, part of a five-figure buy, will target Black, Latino and young voters on YouTube across four battleground states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan.

In the past hour, Democratic Reps. Greg Stanton of Arizona and Ed Case of Hawaii called on Biden to step aside in the presidential race, bringing the tally of congressional Democrats to more than a dozen.

In a post on X, Stanton said that "for the sake of American democracy, and to continue to make progress on our shared priorities, I believe it is time for the president to step aside as our nominee."

Case said in a separate statement that Democrats' decision on who should be the presidential nominee should be made "with no questions as to basic capacity to discharge responsibilities over another term."

He added that the upcoming election "is our most consequential in generations," and that voters "should be presented with another Democratic candidate."

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., today said that he would back Vice President Kamala Harris if President Biden opted to step aside in the presidential race.

"VP Harris is on fire. She’s vetted, tested, and has been Democrats’ strongest messenger throughout this campaign," Huffman wrote on X, alongside video of her remarks. "She’s next up if we need her, and we might. Let me be very clear: if/when President Biden passes the torch, I’m all-in for Kamala Harris!"

Radio network Civic Media admitted in a statement this afternoon that its program, "The Earl Ingram Show," edited out two parts of the interview that it conducted with Biden last week.

The network said that it was reported to management on Monday of this week "that immediately after the phone interview was recorded, the Biden campaign called and asked for two edits to the recording before it aired."

"Civic Media management immediately undertook an investigation and determined that the production team at the time viewed the edits as non-substantive and broadcast and published the interview with two short segments removed," the network said.

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., just became the 11th House Democrat and 12th Democrat in Congress to publicly call on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.

"We are faced with a stark choice: be resigned to slog through this election praying we can successfully defend our democracy, or enthusiastically embrace a vibrant vision for our future, building on the extraordinary foundation President Biden has created for our nation over the past four years," Schneider said in a statement. "I choose the latter."

Schneider said he will be forever grateful for Biden's leadership and service, but "the time has come" for him to "heroically pass the torch to a new generation of leadership."

Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said today that the group is “not a monolith” in response to a question about whether there were members of the CBC that disagreed with the group’s public statement in support of Biden.

“Like every other member of the House of Representatives, each individual member can speak for themselves,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “But let me be absolutely clear, we have always expressed repeatedly and directly, including to the president of the United States himself, the need to make change, structural change in the campaign, change around strategy, change around who we make investments in spending, to do what? To win in November.”

He reiterated for a second time that there should be structural and strategy changes to Biden’s campaign.

The Biden campaign is quietly assessing the viability of Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy against Trump in a new head-to-head poll, a source familiar with the decision tells NBC News.

It’s being done in the context of the presumptive Republican nominee “stepping up” his attacks against her, the source said, like Trump recently did at his Florida rally. The survey will take place this week and was commissioned by the Biden campaign’s analytics team, as The New York Times first reported.

Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the NATO summit and discussed additional aid the U.S. would be providing as the conflict with Russia continues.

Democrats eager to turn the spotlight back on Trump are planning a show of force in Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention, with an attack that’s as much about the party’s potential governing agenda as its nominee.

It’s not unusual for the opposition party to seek a foothold in the city hosting the rival convention, but Democrats are eager to go on offense against the GOP after weeks of internal hand-wringing over Biden’s poor debate performance.

The Democratic National Committee and the Biden campaign say they are planning a six-figure paid visibility effort in Milwaukee during the Republican convention, with daily news conferences featuring Democratic surrogates and advertising around the city blasting Trump and the governing blueprint put forward by conservative allies.

Read the full story here.

NBC News’ Ali Vitali spoke to Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., about his statement calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.

WASHINGTON — Several of President Joe Biden’s closest allies, including three people who are directly involved in efforts to re-elect him, told NBC News they now see his chances of winning as zero — and the likelihood of him taking down fellow Democratic candidates growing.

“He needs to drop out,” one Biden campaign official said. “He will never recover from this.”

For two weeks, Biden has struggled to stabilize his campaign following a late-June debate debacle. His ongoing cleanup effort, which is scheduled to include top aides meeting privately with Democratic senators and a presidential press conference Thursday, has done little to reassure lawmakers and party officials.

Instead, the reverse is happening.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing in September on whether legislation is needed to limit the impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling that said former President Donald Trump had some immunity for his conduct in seeking to overturn the 2020 election.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the committee, announced that the hearing would look into the legal and policy ramifications of the decision. An exact date for the hearing has not yet been set.

Former Biden White House chief of staff Ron Klain said the president is still the party’s best shot at defeating Trump, dismissing calls to replace him on the ticket.

“When [I] hear people talk about him getting out, I mean, the only precedent for that is 1968. And I’ll remind people how 1968 ended. It did not end with the Democrats’ substitute candidate holding on to the White House. It ended with Richard Nixon being our president. So I don’t see why 1968 is anyone’s role model for how the presidential campaign should go,” Klain told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent on a podcast, according to a transcript provided to NBC News.

Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat representing a congressional district in the key battleground state of Michigan, has called on Biden to pull out of the presidential race.

In a statement shared on X, Scholten, 42, praised Biden for his lifetime of public service and his achievements on “infrastructure, healthcare costs, climate change, and gun safety.”

“For the good of our democracy, I believe it is time for him to step aside from the presidential race and allow a new leader to step up,” she said.

Top Biden campaign adviser Mike Donilon and campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon will be among the campaign officials meeting with Senate Democrats today, according to a Senate Democratic leadership source.

The meeting will take place during a caucus lunch at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the source said.

A closely watched inflation measure came in cooler than expected Thursday morning, boosting hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate in September. That would bring some relief to voters who are weary of high credit card and mortgage rates.

The Consumer Price Index rose 3% in June from the year before, the smallest increase in a year. On a monthly basis, it declined 0.1% — the first meaningful drop since May 2020, when much of the U.S. economy was in the grips of Covid restrictions.

Biden took the data as an opportunity to tout his administration's economic record as he faces mounting pressure to drop out of the race. "Thanks to my economic plan, wages are rising faster than prices, we’ve created 15.7 million jobs, and communities that were left behind by my predecessor are making a remarkable comeback," he said in a statement released by the White House.

But Biden added that the fight against inflation isn't over, saying that things are still too expensive while pressuring corporations to do more to reduce prices. Notably, PepsiCo and Delta Air Lines said this morning their price-conscious customers were still hunting for value. Delta, in fact, had lowered prices on seats for several routes due to an increase in supply.

Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced today in the New York hush money case, in which he was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records.

Judge Juan Merchan, however, granted Trump's request to delay the sentencing in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity.

Trump's sentencing won't happen until Sept. 18 at the earliest.

Biden will hold his first solo news conference in eight months this evening, with the last one being in mid-November in Woodside, California.

Tonight's news conference will be at 6:30 p.m. ET at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown Washington.

Most of the press conferences Biden has participated in since the 2022 midterm elections have been with other world leaders, when he was either abroad or at a conference hosting world leaders. Biden last participated in a press conference in mid-June with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Biden's first post-debate press conference is now scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET, following his participation in working sessions at the NATO summit and a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., yesterday became the first Democratic senator to call on Biden to bow out of the race.

Nine House Democrats have publicly called for Biden to step aside:

• Lloyd Doggett of Texas
• Raúl Grijalva of Arizona
• Seth Moulton of Massachusetts
• Mike Quigley of Illinois
• Angie Craig of Minnesota
• Adam Smith of Washington
• Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey
• Pat Ryan of New York
• Earl Blumenauer of Oregon

NBC News has previously reported that Reps. Mark Takano, D-Calif., and Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., privately told colleagues that they believe Biden should not pursue a second term.

The Biden campaign is pushing back against George Clooney's op-ed in The New York Times yesterday in which the actor called on Democratic Party officials to choose someone else to be their presidential nominee.

A campaign source familiar with the planning for the fundraiser said that part of the reason why Biden had to fly from the G7 summit in Europe directly to the fundraiser in Southern California was that it was the only day Clooney could make work.

Clooney's decision to go after Biden for what the campaign source characterized as the president being tired from the trip “is a little rich," the source said, adding that Clooney left the fundraiser well before Biden did.

The Biden campaign is launching an ad today slamming Trump for “cozying up to Putin” and “undermining democracies across the globe,” according to a Biden campaign official who first shared the details with NBC News.

The 60-second spot, titled “Lap Dog,” is meant to coincide with the final day of the NATO summit in Washington as the defense alliance celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.

The ad highlights Trump’s pledge to “walk away from NATO,” and the narrator says Trump “sides with Putin instead because this is who Donald Trump is.”

Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, a co-chair of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, said he would not vote for Biden unless he is reassured that the president is “physically or mentally equipped” to take on a second presidential term.

In an interview with a public radio station in Maine, Golden said he won’t vote for Trump but cast doubt on Biden’s “physical and mental state of health” after his poor debate performance last month.

“I will not vote for someone if I don’t think they are physically or mentally equipped to lead this nation,” he said, adding, “I do not know the answer to that question at this time.”

Golden, however, did not indicate that he agrees with calls from some of his Democratic colleagues demanding Biden step aside in the aftermath of the debate.

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison dismissed calls from some Democrats for Biden to step aside after his poor debate performance last month.

During an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” host Willie Geist asked Harrison whether he has any doubts that Biden should be the Democratic nominee for president.

“No doubt whatsoever,” Harrison said, noting that 14 million voters backed Biden for the presidential nominee in the primary elections — an argument the president also has made in defending his vow to stay in the race.

“It’s time to lock your knees and stiffen your spines and get on board to support this president,” Harrison exhorted the president's doubters.

After his dismal debate performance, Biden set out to prove to voters and Democratic leaders alike that he’s not the befuddled politician they may have seen onstage that night.

He has given a few interviews, spoken at rallies and mixed with union members and Black churchgoers. Today, he’ll hold a news conference, and Monday he is to be interviewed by NBC News’ Lester Holt.

Yet, his grip on his party’s nomination remains precarious, even as the tide of lawmakers calling for him to step aside seems to have slackened for now. Many Democratic lawmakers, donors and strategists say he still hasn’t displayed the vigor Americans expect of a president. They’d like him to quit the race, an invitation Biden has refused.

Read the full story here.

Biden will take questions from reporters today in another attempt to tamp down Democratic concerns about his re-election prospects.

The news conference, his first since the June 27 presidential debate, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. It comes less than a week after his interview with ABC News did little to calm Democrats' fears that he is the best candidate to face Trump in November.

Biden will take part in several events related to the NATO summit before the news conference, including working sessions and a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also will host an event centering on NATO allies' support for Ukraine during the war.