Biden camp circles the wagons after spectacular debate performance – National and International News – Mon July 1, 2024 –

Biden's camp defies calls to quit after stellar debate performance.

The Supreme Court rules that Trump has limited immunity in the January 6 case.

Biden's camp is circling the wagons amid calls for him to leave after the spectacular debate performance

Experts and pollsters see the writing on the wall

President Biden's unfocused, rambling and obstructive performance in last Thursday's debate with former President Trump forced many in the political and media elite to confront the growing impression that Biden is in severe cognitive decline. Immediately after the debate, the media and prominent political figures of the democratic line admitted that they had received “Panic” calls. by party members just a few minutes after the debate. Many pundits and politicians expressed a sentiment along these lines: Biden had a job on Thursday, which was to assure voters that he would serve another four years as President — and he failed. A veteran Democratic campaign operative put it very simply to CNN:We are desperate“.

Over the weekend, the editorial boards of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and Atlanta Journal-Constitution all issued editorials calling for Biden to step down as the Democratic nominee for 2024 and to allow another candidate to take his place at the top of the ticket. Those concerns and calls were echoed by pundits on Democrat-friendly broadcast media, including MSNBC and CNN.

Perhaps most important of all, high-level Democratic donors and influential party insiders were angry that they had Concerns about Biden's mental acuity were ignored and stonewalled in a recent phone call with DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. Donors apparently are waiting for the vote to see how disastrous Biden's debate performance was before deciding what to do next. or CBS poll that came out today already seems to show how badly the debate hurt Biden's chances against Trump in November.

The Biden family and partly the leadership are close

Despite these growing calls for Biden to withdraw, leadership in the White House and the Democratic Party have closed ranks and insisted that Biden remain as the nominee. Citing a more energetic performance by Biden at a rally in North Carolina on Friday (where Biden had a friendly audience and a teleprompter), the Biden camp has tried to dismiss the debate as moot.

The spin on the reason for Biden's poor performance has been a moving target since Thursday. During the debate, several members of the press received texts from Biden's staff claiming this Biden had a cold. A replacement took to Twitter for him blame the lighting in the studio for Biden's fragile appearance. A former KGB officer even suggested that The Russians had targeted Biden with an energy weapon during the debate (a la “Havana Syndrome”). Now the Biden family is settled blaming Biden's aides for over-preparing him in the week he spent at Camp David before the debate.

On Sunday, the Biden family held what the press called “family summitTo discuss Biden's political future. Apparently, Biden's wife Jill Biden and the boy Hunter were convinced that he should remain in the race.

More reports on signs of mental decline in Biden

In February, Justice Department special counsel Robert Hur sparked controversy when his report on Biden's handling of classified documents noted Biden's apparent memory lapses. Since then, there have been reports and commentary drawing attention to Biden's apparent mental decline, which the White House and Democratic party leaders have brushed aside.

In early June, the Wall Street Journal published an article citing more than 40 sources, Democrats and Republicans, who have had recent contact with Biden and have seen sign that he was slipping. After that article came out, the White House and some media pundits came out to criticize the Gazette for biased reporting. Later reports in which foreign officials expressed concern about Biden's blunders during the last G7 summit in Italy they were similarly dismissed.

As of Thursday, it has become much more difficult to keep a lid on these stories. The WSJ ran another piece this weekend, highlighting concerns from foreign allies. The report also refers to frustrations among donors at recent fundraising events where they were unable to interact with Biden as he relied only on written remarks.

Another story on Axios reported that some White House insiders have observed behaviors from Biden that could potentially be indicative of “sunset,” often a symptom of dementia. While the Biden staff was “reliably engaged” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (when many of his important meetings and public events are scheduled), his mental acuity slips significantly later in the day. Unfortunately, the debate was scheduled for 9:00 p.m.

Some White House staffers were apparently shocked by Biden's poor debate performance. Axios revealed that Jill Biden's top aide, Anthony Bernal, and other close political aides carefully limit and control who has access to Biden and when. This restriction also extends to residence staff who typically serve the first family in the residential wing of the White House.

Further reading- Concerns about Biden's mental capacity are not new (opens in new tab).

The Supreme Court rules that Trump has limited immunity in the January 6 case

In a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, the Supreme Court has ruled that former President Donald Trump has “absolute immunity” from prosecution for “official acts” committed during his presidency. The ruling was a partial victory for Trump in a challenge he brought to the federal criminal case against him for his involvement in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

The court did not rule that Trump could not be prosecuted for his role on January 6. Instead, they left it to Washington, DC federal district judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which of Trump's actions were “official” and which were taken in the capacity of a private citizen. The court's decision provided that not all actions undertaken while serving as President are considered “official”.

The decision means a further delay in the prosecution of the case, which is being led by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith. Today's ruling could also complicate the related case against Trump and more than a dozen co-conspirators in Georgia.

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