Biden addresses NYC’s LGBTQ community a day after poor debate performance
Under the dark cloud of a lackluster debate performance and panic among some Democrats, Biden spoke today at the opening of a visitor center for LGBTQ history in New York City.
Biden addressed several hundred LGBTQ attendees and allies, including singer Elton John, actor Neil Patrick Harris, fashion designer Michael Kors and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Courtney Act, at the opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center to commemorate Pride Month.
“Today, I’m proud to unveil a new visitor center for Stonewall National Monument, the first ever LGBTQ+ visitor center in the national parks of America,” Biden said. “It matters. We remain in a battle for the soul of America. But I look around at the pride, hope and light that all of you bring, and I know it’s a battle we are going to win and continue to make progress.”
'Lock him up' chants erupt after reference to Trump at Biden-Harris rally
Stumping for the president at a Biden-Harris campaign rally in Las Vegas, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly made a comment that prompted “lock him up” chants from the crowd.
“We have a choice between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who will continue to fight for you, or a convicted criminal who is only looking out for himself,” said the senator, who's a Navy veteran and former astronaut.
On came a series of “lock him up,” chants, a variation of the “lock her up” chants originated by Trump’s own supporters in reference to Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election.
Kelly responded to the chants, saying, “Folks, all you have to do is vote.”
The neighboring senator was part of a high-profile lineup of Biden-Harris surrogates to speak at the rally, including New Mexico Gov. Michelle Grisham and Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen. The keynote speaker was Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden’s facing pressure to drop out. Trump isn’t joining in.
Former President Donald Trump is not known for restrained commentary about his political opponents’ weaknesses.
But after a debate in which a number of Democrats felt President Joe Biden’s performance was so uneven and concerning that he should consider getting out of the presidential contest just weeks before the Democratic National Convention, Trump is holding back from the full pile-on.
Former HUD secretary says Biden 'less likely' to win now
Julián Castro, a former HUD Secretary in the Obama administration who then ran for president in 2020, said today that Biden had failed to clear a low bar in the first presidential debate last night.
"Biden had probably the lowest bar to clear of any presidential nominee coming into a — this time summer, usually it’s a fall debate — and he failed to clear that bar. That was obvious," Castro told host Ryan Nobles on NBC News' "Meet the Press NOW." "After last night, it became less likely that he will win. Now it’s up to him to rebuild that competence to make it more likely."
Castro said he was "never convinced" that Biden was the strongest candidate for the 2024 nomination, but he said that at each juncture over the past two years, the chance to consider an alternative to Biden was "shut down."
Castro added that the optics are also a concern, saying, "We’ve come to a point where this is a political liability that is is so difficult to overcome."
Supreme Court set to rule Monday on Trump presidential immunity claims in federal election interference case
The Supreme Court is set to rule Monday on whether former President Donald Trump has sweeping presidential immunity that would shield him from prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
The justices have left the high-profile case for their final decision day before summer break. It was the last one argued this term.
There are three other cases set to come up on Monday, two dealing with Republican-backed state laws seeking to regulate social media platforms and the other on when companies can challenge federal agency rule-making.
Bidenworld brushes off The New York Times' editorial board snub
There is no love lost between The New York Times and some staffers in Bidenworld after the newspaper's editorial board called on the president to drop out.
Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond responded tonight to the New York Times editorial board's op-ed urging Biden to step aside after last night's poor debate performance.
“The last time Joe Biden lost the New York Times editorial board’s endorsement it turned out pretty well for him," he said.
One Biden aide indicated to NBC News that the rebuke was actually energizing for some in Bidenworld.
“That s*** is like jet fuel in my veins,” the Biden aide said. “I love it.”
The paper's editorial board ultimately backed Biden in the general election in 2020 but had selected Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., during the Democratic primaries earlier that year.
Pennsylvania Republican suggests the 25th Amendment is 'worth consideration'
Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate nominee Dave McCormick thinks there is a “possibility our Commander-in-Chief is not up to the job” — and suggested the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president and Cabinet members to write a letter to Congress declaring the president is not fit to serve, is “worth consideration.”
McCormick, sitting next to former Attorney General Bill Barr at his "America’s Future Tour: Safer Communities for Pennsylvania" event just north of Pittsburgh, described this as a “sad and scary thing to say.”
The McCormick campaign later released a video titled “Bob Casey Said Over And Over That Biden Was Fit To Be President. He Was Lying.” The video shows McCormick’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, defending Biden and his record, as well as Biden complimenting Casey and calling him a “close friend.”
When asked for a response, the Casey campaign referred NBC News to a comment given to PoliticsPA.com that reads, “I’m fighting for Pennsylvania against an opponent who sells out working people to enrich himself, invested in Chinese military companies, and cheered when Roe v. Wade was overturned. Pennsylvanians deserve someone fighting for working families, not for billionaires.”
Nevada Democrat: I wish Kamala Harris was running for president
Julius Tolbert, an 84-year-old Democrat, wishes that Vice President Kamala Harris was running for president instead of Biden in light of his lackluster debate performance, he told NBC News in a Las Vegas supermarket parking lot.
“I wish the vice president, I wish she was running for president. I think she’d be a good president,” said Tolbert.
“I think she — the people can understand her better because she can get up there and talk,” Tolbert added.
Tolbert, an African American originally from Alabama born to sharecroppers, said he worries what Republicans retaking the White House will mean for Black people and people of color.
“If we get a Republican in ... it’s going to be bad for people of color,” Tolbert said.
Tolbert was also troubled by Trump.
“The lies that he was telling, what he had done when he was president of the United States, none of that was true. Everything he said,” Tolbert said.
Despite acknowledging Biden wasn’t an effective communicator last night, Tolbert was not panicking, even as he noted he was "worried" about Biden's health and his ability to make it through another four-year term.
“He knows what he is doing. He’s very quiet about what he does,” said Tolbert. “He was not trying to be a superstar."
New York Times editorial board calls on Biden to drop out
The New York Times editorial board published a bombshell op-ed today calling on Biden to leave the race, joining the rising chorus of concerned politicians and pundits.
"The clearest path for Democrats to defeat a candidate defined by his lies is to deal truthfully with the American public: acknowledge that Mr. Biden can’t continue his race, and create a process to select someone more capable to stand in his place to defeat Mr. Trump in November," the editorial board wrote.
The op-ed acknowledged that ending his campaign would "be against all of Mr. Biden’s personal and political instincts."
The piece highlighted that it was Biden himself who challenged Trump to the debate.
"The truth Mr. Biden needs to confront now is that he failed his own test," the board wrote.
During a conversation with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Aspen Ideas Festival, venture capitalist Peter Thiel said he would vote for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. A former backer of Trump, Thiel said he would do so begrudgingly. NBCUniversal News Group is the media partner of Aspen Ideas Festival.