Biden ramps up campaign spending ahead of make or break interview

House Republicans are already sharpening their attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris as public discussions swell over whether she will replace President Biden at the top of Democrats' 2024 ticket.

GOP lawmakers — in both safe red seats and swing districts being targeted by the left — dismissed Harris as a political threat to their chances in November, arguing she's still tied to the same progressive Biden policies they believe are unpopular with voters.

Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., who served as longtime chair of the New York Republican Party before coming to Congress, told Fox News Digital, "Kamala Harris is just as responsible for this administration's failures, but she's more incompetent."

"She will make no difference to the outcome. President Trump will be our 47th," he said.

A swing-seat Republican who asked not to be named told Fox News Digital they were skeptical Harris would do better on the debate stage than Biden.

"I would say she's the weakest part of the ticket right now, as bad as Biden is," that GOP lawmaker said.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., a Trump ally from a deep red district, told Fox News Digital that Biden and Harris "both own the same disastrous policies."

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

It's been 24 years since a Republican carried the swing state of New Hampshire in a presidential election.

You have to go back to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 2000. Four years later, as he won re-election, then-President Bush was narrowly edged in the Granite State, kicking off a losing streak that has extended to the present day.

But in the wake of two recent polls that indicated a margin-of-error race in New Hampshire and following President Biden's extremely rough debate performance nine days ago in his first primetime face-to-face showdown with former President Trump, Republicans are increasingly hopeful they can bring an end to the losing streak.

"I firmly believe that New Hampshire is very much in play," Steve Stepanek, the senior Trump adviser in the state, told Fox News.

Former longtime state party chair and former Democratic National Committee member Kathy Sullivan disagreed, spotlighting that "New Hampshire is not Trump-friendly territory" and that "there’s nothing changing the dynamic now in terms of Biden versus Trump in New Hampshire."

The debate was a major setback for Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president in the nation's history. His halting delivery and stumbling answers at the showdown in Atlanta sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and sparked a rising tide of calls from within his own party for him to step aside as its 2024 standard-bearer.

Fighting back, Biden is now aiming to show Americans that he still has the stamina and acuity to handle the toughest and most demanding job in the world and prove that he has the energy and fortitude to defeat Trump.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

President Biden maintained his disastrous debate performance last month against former President Trump was nothing more than a "bad episode" or a "bad night" rather than a sign of something more serious and suggested he alone was to blame for it.

He made the remarks Friday during his first major television interview since the debate debacle.

Amid mounting speculation about whether Biden is fit to be president — both for the remainder of his term and for the four-year term he's seeking — ABC News host George Stephanopoulos asked Biden if his performance was "a bad episode or the sign of a more serious condition?"

"It was a bad episode," Biden said. "No indication of a serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts in terms of preparing. It was a bad night."

The president's answer was not quite clear when he was asked what was going through his head during the debate, but he maintained his performance was his fault alone. He also accused Trump of lying "28 times" during the debate.

"The whole way I prepared – nobody's fault. Mine. Nobody's fault but mine," Biden said. "I prepared what I usually would do sitting down, as I did coming back with foreign leaders or the National Security Council, for explicit detail. "

"And I realized partway through that, you know, that —  I could quote it. The New York Times had me down at ten points before the debate. Nine now, or whatever the hell it is. The fact of the matter is, that when I looked at, is that, he also lied 28 times. I couldn't, I mean, the way the debate ran, not – my fault. No one else's fault. No one else's fault."

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden has begun facing calls from members of the international community who want him to quit the 2024 presidential race, with leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva even warning that "Biden has a problem."

"He’s moving more slowly, he is taking longer to answer questions," Lula said. "The U.S. elections are very important for all the world."

Biden’s first presidential debate against former President Trump last month proved to be a debacle, leading Biden to admit just days later that he "screwed up."

"I had a bad night," Biden, 81, said Thursday. "And the fact of the matter is that, you know, I screwed up."

While Republicans predictably criticized the performance, even Democrats have fallen into a panic, and the president has had to hold crisis talks with close allies to reassure them he’s still up to the job — and will be for another four years.

The debate, however, sent shock waves through the international community, with some allies refusing to stay quiet about an issue that they see as being too important to treat delicately.

Fox News' Peter Aitken contributed to this report.

President Biden repeatedly refused to reconsider his bid for re-election, time and again dismissing the concerns of those trying to pressure him to quit the 2024 White House race due to lagging poll numbers and concerns about his mental acuity during a high-stakes interview Friday.

Biden's 22-minute sit-down with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos was taped earlier in the day but aired unedited. It was the 81-year-old president's first televised sit-down since his debate against former President Trump last week.

At one point, Stephanopoulos informed Biden he was behind in the popular vote, and the president replied, "I don't buy that."

"I don't think anybody is more qualified to be president or win this race than me," Biden said when pressed about a race his opponent appears favored to win.

When asked if he had the mental acuity to be president another four years, Biden said, "I wouldn't be running if I didn't think I did."

Biden also brushed off concerns about his mental fitness for office. When asked if he was being "honest" with himself about his own cognitive abilities, the president replied, "Yes, I am, because, George, last thing I want to do is not be able to meet that."

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

President Biden said former President Trump distracted him by "shouting" during their debate last week, behavior Biden said only added to his troubles during a disastrous performance.

"How quickly did it come to you that you were having that bad night?" ABC News' George Stephanopoulos asked the president during an interview that aired Friday evening.

"Well, it came to me I was having a bad night when I realized that even when I was answering the question, even though they turned his mic off, he was still shouting. And I let it distract me," Biden said. "But I'm not blaming it on that, but I realized that I just wasn't in control."

The ABC News interview marked Biden's first sit-down interview since his widely panned debate performance, which included the president losing his train of thought, stumbling over his words and delivering responses in a raspy voice, something that the White House later blamed on a cold.

The president's performance during the debate sparked concern and panic within the Democratic Party. Traditional allies and media pundits quickly noted Biden appeared to be showing his age – 81 – during the showdown. The concern soon cascaded into media outlets, such as The New York Times, and elected Democratic officials calling on Biden to step out of the race.

Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.

The ABC News panel had some choice words for President Biden following his primetime interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos Friday.

"Look, Biden looked better and certainly more coherent than he looked during the debate, but there's nothing in this interview that is calming nerves of jittery Democrats who fear that Joe Biden is on a trajectory to lose this race, to lose to Donald Trump," ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl told Stephanopoulos after the interview.

"In fact, for some of those people, the interview is raising new concerns, particularly the fact that he is unwilling or unaware of the fact that he is in a dire situation here regarding the campaign, that he is losing, in the view of many Democrats and frankly in the polls you cited, that he is losing to Donald Trump," he said.

ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz said those Democrats she had texted insisted the interview "wasn't as bad as they expected," but added, "That's a pretty low bar."

The network's congressional correspondent Rachel Scott told Stephanopoulos after hearing from Democratic lawmakers, they're concerned that while the "dam hasn't broken tonight," "the bleeding has not stopped, either."

"Another Democrat telling me, ‘Better, but not sure that is enough,' that they need more than one interview, more than 22 minutes to prove that the president has the stamina to continue in this race and defeat Donald Trump," Scott said before adding that the "movement" trying to remove Biden as the Democratic nominee "is growing."

Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

President Biden was roasted on social media after expressing uncertainty over whether he had watched his performance at last week's presidential debate during his ABC News interview.

In a preview clip that aired on Friday's "World News Tonight," ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos pressed Biden on if he had comprehended how poorly he did in his face-off against former President Trump.

"Did you ever watch the debate afterwards?" Stephanopoulos asked.

After a brief pause, Biden replied, "I don't think I did, no."

Click here to read more.

Fox News Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., will hold a virtual meeting this weekend with top Democrats on House committees to discuss President Biden.

Fox News confirmed the meeting, which is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

For months, Democratic Party members shielded Biden from any kind of significant primary challenge. But after Biden’s poor performance during last week’s debate, the party has seen a seismic shift in terms of its outlook of the president serving a second term.

On Friday, several Democrats publicly called on the President to bow out, or seriously consider, exiting the presidential race, including Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey.

In a statement, Healey urged the President to carefully evaluate whether he remains the best hope to defeat former President Trump.

The Washington Post also reported that Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is assembling a group of Democratic lawmakers to visit with Biden at the White House on Monday and to encourage him to step aside.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

President Biden dodged questions from ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos about taking a neurological test, saying he has a cognitive test “every single day.”

Stephanopoulos asked Biden about his conversation with the doctor after last week’s debate.

Biden said the doctor looked at him and said he was “exhausted.”

“I said, ‘I am,’” Biden said, adding that medical doctors travel with him everywhere and assess what he is doing all the time.

“They don’t hesitate to tell me they think there’s something wrong,” he said.

Stephanopoulos acknowledged Biden said he has an ongoing assessment, but then asked the president if he has had a full neurological and cognitive evaluation.

Biden dodged the question, saying he has a full neurological test every day. He also said he’s had a full physical.

“I know your doctor said he consulted with a neurologist. I guess I'm asking a slightly different question,” Stephanopoulos said. “Have you had the specific cognitive tests and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?”

Biden answered nobody told him he had to take a neurological test because they said he was good.

The host then asked if he would be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation that included neurological and cognitive tests to be revealed to the American people.

“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I have a test,” Biden said.

Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill.,  joined a growing list of Democratic lawmakers who are calling for President Biden to exit the presidential race.

“Mr. President, your legacy is set. We owe you the greatest debt of gratitude,” Quigley told MSNBC. “The only thing that you can do now to cement that for all time and prevent utter catastrophe is to step down and let someone else do this.”

The representative’s comments come days after he suggested the President take into account the down ballot effects of his debate fiasco.

On Tuesday, Quigley responded to concerns about Biden’s leadership as a growing number of media voices called on the president to withdraw after his poor debate with former President Trump.

“I think [Biden’s] four years are one of the great presidencies of our lifetime,” Quigley said on CNN. “But, I think he has to be honest with himself.”

Fox News Digital's Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.

Ahead of President Biden’s taped interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., called on the Commander in Chief to participate in an extended live interview as soon as possible.

“I look forward to seeing President Biden’s taped interview with George Stephanopoulos,” Sherman posted on X. “It’s important that the President also have an extended LIVE interview as soon as possible.”

The lawmaker continued by saying despite popular belief, Democratic Party rules do not require pledged delegates to vote for Biden at the Democratic National Convention, scheduled to take place from Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, Illinois.

“Party rules require delegates’ votes, ‘reflect the sentiments of those who elected them,’ at the time the delegates cast their ballots,” Sherman wrote. “Democratic Primary voters have on overarching sentiment: We need a candidate who will beat Donald Trump.”

Sherman joins a growing list of Democratic lawmakers who are beginning to doubt Biden can beat Trump in the upcoming presidential election, after last week's poor debate performance.

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked President Biden if he watched last week’s debate, to which he replied, “I don’t think I did.”

Stephanopoulos sat down with Biden for an interview which will air on ABC at 8 p.m.

A part of the interview was aired on “World News,” in which the president was asked about the debate.

Stephanopoulos asked Biden if the night of the debate was a bad episode or a sign of a more serious condition.

“It’s a bad episode,” Biden said. “No indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing. It was a bad night.”

The ABC host asked Biden why there was not enough time to prepare, given the fact that the President returned from Europe 11 to 12 days before the debate and spent six days at Camp David.

“Because I was sick, I was feeling terrible,” Biden said, explaining that he was tested for COVID and other infections, but it was determined he had a “really bad cold.”

After Biden acknowledged he was sick and had a bad night, Stephanopoulos asked him if he watched the debate afterwards.

“I don’t think I did, no,” Biden replied.

Still, Biden accused President Trump of lying 28 times. But in terms of how the debate ran, Biden said it was “no one else’s fault but mine”

The full interview is scheduled to air on ABC at 8 p.m. on Friday.

President Biden said Friday he was completely ruling out the option of dropping out of the race and that he had spoken to at least 20 members of Congress who told him to continue with his campaign.

The president spoke at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin on Friday, and before leaving on Air Force One, he answered a few questions from reporters.

One reporter asked Biden if he was going to drop out of the presidential race or if he was ruling that out.

Biden told the reporter he was “completely ruling that out,” and when asked if he had spoke to members of Congress, he confirmed that he had.

But the President would not say who he had spoken to, only saying he had spoken to at least 20.

When asked what the members of Congress told him to do, Biden said, “They’re telling me to stay in the race.”

Adding onto that, Biden fielded a question about Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who is reportedly pooling together a group of Democratic lawmakers to go over to the White House on Monday and try to convince the president to bow out.

“Mark Warner, in my understanding, is the only one considering that,” Biden said

Andy Sabin said he and other major Republican donors want President Biden to remain in the race, adding they see a “landslide victory” if that remains to be the case.

Fox News host Neil Cavuto interviewed Sabin during “Your World” on Friday afternoon, and during the show, Cavuto said donors typically begin to pull back when they feel there is little chance the candidate they are backing has a shot.

Sabin, Cavuto said, was backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis early in the Republican race, but when donors started to back off, the governor bowed out of the race. The host then asked if the same type of thing, in terms of donors backing out, was happening with Democrats, but on a larger scale.

“We, the Republican donors, would like to see Joe Biden stay in the race,” Sabin said. “We see a landslide victory. We see him bringing in the down ticket, the Senate and the House.”

Sabin also said he has already posted Trump signs in his yard, in the left-leaning town of East Hampton, on the East End of Long Island.

He also said the Vice Presidential pick is “extremely important,” expressing his desire to have Tim Scott on the ticket with Trump in November.

A man held a sign reading, “Pass the Torch, Joe,” as President Biden spoke at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin on Friday.

The president was met by a crowd that held Biden-Harris campaign signs when he took to the stage on Friday afternoon.

But mixed into the background was a guy holding a hand-written white sign, reading, “ Pass the Torch, Joe.”

This came as some members of the Democratic Party are looking for the president to step out of the race, fearing he will not be able to beat former President Trump in November.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is working to gather a group of Democratic senators and ask President Biden to step out of the presidential race, according to reports.

The Washington Post reported that two people familiar with Warner’s effort claim he is saying to other Democratic senators that Biden cannot remain in the election after his poor debate performance last week.

Warner also reportedly told lawmakers he is concerned Biden will not be able to beat former President Trump.

The senator’s spokesperson told the Washington Post, “Like many other people in Washington and across the country, Senator Warner believes these are critical days for the president’s campaign, and he has made that clear to the White House.”

Still, the spokesperson did not deny or confirm if Warner thinks the president needs to drop out.

President Biden, while speaking at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, answered critics who are calling on him to bow out of the race, saying he is running and will “win again in 2020,” moments after blasting former President Trump for misspeaking five years ago.

Biden acknowledged his performance in a debate against former President Donald Trump last week was not his best performance, adding since then, there has been a lot of speculation about what he plans to do.

“What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What are you going to do?” Biden told the crowd. “Well, here’s my answer: I am running and I’m going to win again.”

He continued, saying some are trying to “push” him out of the race.

“Let me say this as clearly as I can: I’m staying in the race,” Biden firmly said. “I’ll beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020. By the way, we’re going to do it again in 2024. Yeah, I learned long ago, when you get knocked down, you get back up.”

Moments before misspeaking, Biden slammed Trump for a statement he made in 2019 about the Revolutionary War.

Biden brought up a speech Trump made where he claimed George Washington won the Revolution by "taking control of the airports from the British."

"Talk about me misspeaking, airports and the British, in 1776," Biden said. "It's true. He is a stable genius."

The Trump camp did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Biden also said he was not going to let a 90-minute debate wipe out three and a half years of work, before boasting about changes he made.

The president also spoke to critics who say he is too old to be president.

“You probably also noticed a lot of discussion about my age,” Biden said. “I know I look 40. I keep seeing all those stories about I’m being too old. Let me say something…I wasn’t too old to create over 15 million new jobs.”

The comments come as members of the Democratic Party have called on the president to step out of the presidential race after a poor debate performance between he and former President Trump.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, publicly urged President Biden to listen to the American people and look into whether he is the best person for the party to defeat former President Trump in the November election.

“President Biden saved our democracy in 2020 and has done an outstanding job over the last four years,” Healey said in a statement distributed by her political committee. “I am deeply grateful for his leadership. And I know he agrees this is the most important election of our lifetimes."

The governor acknowledged the President has to decide what the best way forward is for the Democratic Party.

“Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump,” she said. “Whatever President Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump.”

Healey is the first governor to make a public statement suggesting Biden exit the race, and her comments come after she and other Democratic governors met with the president at the White House.

While she is the first governor to publicly make such statements, several members of the Democratic Party have begun calling for the president to take a bow and let another candidate take on Trump in November.

This week, three House Democrats publicly called on Biden to step aside from his re-election bid, while more than a dozen Democratic members of Congress and governors publicly raised serious concerns about whether Biden could continue as the party's standard-bearer.

Facing a slew of red flags in post-debate public opinion polls and a growing chorus of prominent Democrats urging the president to quickly decide whether he can successfully continue his campaign, the next few days could potentially make or break Biden.

White House aides and staffers involved with President Biden's debate preparations now claim that the president's "cold" was worse than previously known.

In the immediate aftermath of Biden's widely-panned debate performance , the Biden communications team told reporters that a cold was to blame for the president's raspy voice and difficulty stringing sentences together versus former President Trump. 

Now, with mounting concerns over the 81-year-old president's age and Democratic officials calling on Biden to step aside, Politico reports that Biden's illness "was more physically uncomfortable and disruptive to debate preparations" than the White House had said.

"Biden woke up with a bad cold two days before the debate and could barely speak, according to five people with knowledge of the prep sessions at Camp David," Politico reported. "He did a short mock debate with a small group of aides before going back to his room to rest, canceling the additional prep sessions that day."

The lost day forced Biden's team to cram another prep session in on Thursday, before the president flew to Atlanta for the debate. But aides had no idea at the time how Biden's performance would cause a political earthquake. 

“Watching his first answer, I thought: He’s visibly nervous. It was the combination of nerves, the cramming in of all the prep at the end and then the cold,” said one of the people familiar with the preparations, according to Politico. “That’s how we got where we are.”

Despite the purported severity of Biden's illness, White House staff made no public mention of the cold until midway through the debate, and by then it was too late to prepare the American people for what they saw. 

Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., slammed the Biden campaign for its response to criticism of President Biden’s debate performance last week.

Peters called Biden’s re-election team "arrogant" following last Thursday’s debate, which has led to calls from many within the party and liberal media for Biden to suspend his 2024 presidential campaign. 

"We needed a boost from Thursday. We didn’t get it. And the campaign has been very, I think, arrogant in their response," Peters said during a Wednesday interview with CBS 8 San Diego.

In the face of mounting pressure to drop out, the president and his allies have insisted that Biden will stay the course and beat former President Trump in November. During the White House July 4th celebrations, Biden said, "I’m not going anywhere."

When asked whether the president would drop out of the race, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently replied, "absolutely not." 

Peters, who refused to say whether he wants Biden to step down, told the CBS affiliate, "As much as I love Joe Biden, in those swing states, he’s having a hard time."

A New England Democrat has said that President Biden should "step aside" and do as former President Washington did to make way for new leaders. 

Rep. Seth Moulton, D–Mass., joined the growing list of liberals calling for Biden to end his re-election bid after the recent presidential debate in Atlanta. 

Concerns over Biden's cognitive health following his performance at the debate sparked growing calls among Democrats for the president to drop out of the race.

"President Biden has done enormous service to our country, but now is the time for him to follow in one of our founding father, George Washington's footsteps, and step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump," Moulton told WBUR Thursday.

Moulton was referring to when President Washington voluntarily stepped down from the role in 1797 after eight years, setting the precedent that a president should only serve two terms in office.

The congressman joins at least two other Democratic representatives in officially calling for the president to step down as the nominee. 

Anonymous Democratic lawmakers admitted that President Biden has long shown signs of cognitive decline in their interactions with him, as Biden faces increasing pressure to drop out of the race following his shaky debate performance.

"The country saw [at the debate] what those of us who have had personal interactions with him have all known for the last 2½ years," one Democratic senator told NBC News.

Biden's halting performance at the debate last week reinforced concerns about his age and fitness for office that have been growing for months. The Biden campaign has been working damage control with major donors this past week, as political allies, high-profile donors, media pundits and editorial boards demand he step down.

Another Democratic lawmaker told NBC News that as many as 40 Democratic lawmakers have been texting one another since the debate, each one believing it's time for the president to bow out.

Biden has resisted these calls thus far, telling a supporter at the White House July 4 celebration on Thursday that he's "not going anywhere."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also faced an onslaught of questions about Biden's fitness for office at Wednesday's press briefing. She said the administration has been "transparent" about Biden's health and dismissed the debate as a "bad night."

However, anonymous Democratic lawmakers in the NBC report said the president's debate performance wasn't a one-off and was consistent with concerning behavior they've seen throughout his term.

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos landed President Biden's first interview since his disastrous debate performance, putting a spotlight on the longtime host's partisan past and recent on-air editorials.

Stephanopoulos’ ties to Democrats run deep; he rose to political prominence decades ago as a top aide in Bill Clinton’s White House. 

In 1994, a New Republic feature headlined, "The Kids Are Alright: Well, sort of. In Praise of the Stephanopoulites," detailed Stephanopoulos’ close friendship with Ron Klain, who went on to be a longtime ally of Biden's.

His relationship with the Clintons became a sore spot during the 2016 presidential cycle, when Stephanopoulos was caught giving money to the Clinton Foundation and had to recuse himself from hosting primary debates.

Stephanopoulos joined ABC after resigning from the Clinton White House shortly after the president's 1996 re-election. He swiftly rose through the ranks as an analyst and correspondent and now hosts "This Week" and "Good Morning America."

In 2018, Stephanpoulous' high-profile interview with former FBI Director James Comey, the first interview Comey gave since his abrupt firing by then-President Trump a year earlier, was heavily criticized for a massive editing job. The full transcript released by ABC News revealed it chose not to air several key moments during its Sunday night special, such as when Comey ripped former President Barack Obama. 

In 2020, Stephanopoulos failed to ask then-candidate Biden about his son Hunter’s scandalous laptop during an ABC town hall in the days leading up to the presidential election.

Earlier that year, Stephanopoulos was caught on camera making a throat-slash gesture as ABC cut away from then-President Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow taking questions from the press during coverage of Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial.

During the 2024 election cycle, Stephanopoulos ratcheted up his hostility towards Trump, sparring with several Republicans for vowing to support their party's presumptive nominee. 

Trump is currently suing Stephanopoulos for defamation after he said several times on air that the former president was "found liable for rape" when Trump was actually found civilly liable for sexual abuse in the Carroll case. ABC has stood by Stephanopoulos.

Fox News Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Brian Flood contributed to this update.

Daily Caller columnist Will Pierce, a former Biden supporter and Democratic campaign fundraiser, told "Fox & Friends" Friday that the DNC is facing a potential election disaster as prominent party donors declare their checkbooks are closed until the president is replaced on the 2024 ticket.

"I would be in a panic mode, because this is the thing – you know, as we're going into Q3, this is make or break when it comes to fundraising for political fundraising. And now that you have these donors that are leaving, where's this money coming from? If you're Democratic staff or the Democratic committee overall, how are you going to fund not only the top of the race, but your down ticket races?" Pierce said. 

"It's just a very disastrous thing. And right now, the Democratic Party, instead of stepping up and saying, 'Hey, what's good for the party and for the country,' they're looking to say, 'Oh, no, let's just have Biden serve.' It's a very ridiculous moment right now."

Fox News Staff contributed to this update.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom dodged the question when a reporter asked if he would support Vice President Kamala Harris should President Biden drop out of the 2024 race. 

"Yeah, I don't even like playing in the hypothetical, because last night was about sort of locking down any doubt or ambiguity. And then we start running in different directions, zig zag, you know, all that kind of speculation and that gets in the way of progress," Newsom said Thursday while in South Haven, Michigan, for an appearance at the Van Buren County Democratic Party's Fourth of July reception.

Pundits have floated Newsom as a potential alternative to Biden, should the 81-year-old president decide against continuing his re-election campaign after his disastrous performance at the CNN Presidential Debate. But first he would have to upset Harris, who is Biden's heir apparent. 

Rather than affirm his support for the vice president, Newsom called the question a distraction. 

"It's a legitimate question that I respect and appreciate it. But if you can appreciate my point of view that it's very unhelpful and it's exactly the question and answer that the Republican Party right now wants us to have in that kind of two way conversation, give and take. I'm not going to play into that. Joe Biden's our president, he said he's all in. I double down, saying I'm all in. And not only that, I'm here with you to prove it." 

Liberal magazine The Economist stunned social media users on July 4th with an eye-popping new cover story that slammed President Biden over his age and fitness for office.

Most notably, the cover story featured an image of an elderly person’s walker with a presidential seal on it next to the words: "No way to run a country."

"Oh my, The Economist goes for the jugular," BBC journalist Julia Macfarlane posted to X on Thursday.

Shared on X, the outlet’s new cover gained significant attention on the platform, getting over 1 million views in just a few hours. In addition to the provocative cover image, The Economist’s corresponding piece — a column from the editorial board — took Biden to task for his debate performance, stating it proved he is "unfit" to be president. 

The board began by stating, "It was agony to watch a befuddled old man struggling to recall words and facts. His inability to land an argument against a weak opponent was dispiriting. But the operation by his campaign to deny what tens of millions of Americans saw with their own eyes is more toxic than either, because its dishonesty provokes contempt."

It continued, "Democrats argue, rightly, that Mr Trump is unfit to be president. But the debate and its aftermath have proved Mr Biden unfit, too. First, because of his mental decline. Mr Biden can still appear dynamic during short, scripted appearances. But you cannot run a superpower by autocue. And you cannot put an international crisis on hold because the president is having a bad night."

"Should someone who cannot finish a sentence about Medicare be trusted with the nuclear codes?" the outlet also asked.

The editorial followed several others published by The New York Times, The Boston Globe and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution urging Biden to drop his re-election bid following the CNN Presidential Debate against former President Trump on June 27. 

Fox News Digital's Gabriel Hays contributed to this update.

An Axios reporter said Thursday that that one of the keys to remaining a longtime member of President Biden’s staff is not delivering bad news.

Axios reporter Alex Thompson suggested that there was something conspicuous about how some specific aides were reportedly blamed for the president's debate debacle that has prompted calls for him to drop out of the 2024 race.

President Biden's family reportedly blamed certain members of his staff for his rocky debate performance last week. "The family's criticism was directed specifically toward Anita Dunn, the senior adviser who frequently has the president’s ear; her husband, Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney who played Donald Trump in rehearsals at Camp David; and Ron Klain, the former chief of staff who ran point on the debate prep and previous cycles’ sessions," Politico reported, citing sources briefed on the family's conversations.

"I do find it really striking the fact that, you know, Anita and Bob, while their names are being out there and blamed, they're also the ones that have been around him for the shortest amount of time," Thompson said on CNN. "And I mean, they've been with him since 2015, but you know, Steve Ricchetti, Bruce Reed, Mike Donilon have been with them for decades and are not being blamed in this conversation, which is really striking."

While the reporter said that the latter set of aides have been credited for being able to "speak truth to power" there is a "feeling among a lot of Biden world that they are much less willing to do that to Joe Biden than Anita and Bob and Ron Klain have been."

He argued that "part of this is because there's a culture within parts of Biden world that if you raise problems, that it can be deemed as potentially disloyal."

Fox News Digital's Alexander Hall contributed to this update.

President Biden told a crowd of supporters on the Fourth of July that he has no plans to drop out of the election, despite continued struggles and gaffes during unscripted events.

The president delivered his July 4th remarks on Thursday from the White House's South Lawn. He spoke with the aid of a teleprompter largely without incident — with the notable exception of one moment he went off-script.

"I was in that World War I cemetery in France — the one that one of our colleagues, the former president, didn’t want to go and be up there. I probably shouldn’t say," Biden said to the White House audience. "At any rate, we got to just remember who the hell we are. We’re the United States of America."

But the Biden campaign is unbothered by the president's gaffes and has doubled-down on its assertion that he will stay in the race.

At one point, a South Lawn attendee called out in support of Biden from the crowd, saying, "Keep up the fight. We need you!"

Biden responded, "You got me, man. I'm not going anywhere."

Fox News Digital's Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this update.

Former President Trump on Thursday challenged President Biden to another debate, this time with no moderators. 

In a Truth Social post, Trump requested a "no holds barred" and "all on" discussion with Biden about the future of the country. 

"Let Joe explain why he wants Open Borders, with millions of people, and many violent criminals from parts unknown, pouring into our once great Nation, or why he wants Men Playing in Women’s Sports, or demand ALL ELECTRIC VEHICLES within five years, or why he allowed INFLATION TO RUN RAMPANT, destroying the people of our Country, and so much more. It would also, under great pressure, prove his 'competence,' or lack thereof. Likewise it would be yet another test for me. What a great evening it would be, just the two of us, one on one, in a good, old fashioned Debate, the way they used to be. ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!!!" 

ABC News is scheduled to host the second debate between Biden and Trump on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET. The network has not yet announced the moderators for that debate.  

A Democratic senator who discussed the party's movement toward Vice President Kamala Harris as the best alternative candidate to President Biden explained their reasoning with an extended football metaphor.

The unnamed lawmaker told CNN that Biden is like a star quarterback who needs to be taken off the field and Harris his backup. 

“We start talking in the huddle: ‘Do we put in the backup QB?’ The backup knows our team, the backup knows the plays, the backup has played in the NFL,” the senator said. “The crowd in the stands full of passionate fans starts chanting: ‘Put in the kid from Alabama!’ ‘Put in the QB from Wisconsin!’ All just because the backup threw an interception earlier. But we know the backup and have confidence in them.”

The senator said some fans, i.e. Democratic donors and party strategists, want to draft unproven talents, like Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, to run a national campaign without the experience Harris has already having done so.

“I just want to say to all the fans: ‘Do you not get that they’ve only played college, they’ve never played a single play in the NFL? They don’t know our team or the plays?’” the senator said. “The players are like, ‘That’s nuts. Let’s see if our star quarterback is coming back.’ But if he doesn’t, the idea of our suddenly drafting someone from a school with a different playbook who hasn’t played a single game in the NFL is a huge risk.”

A New York Magazine article published Thursday described multiple instances indicating President Biden’s decline has been treated like a "dark family secret for many elite supporters," such as him not remembering the names of longtime friends.

President Biden’s widely criticized performance in last week's debate has opened the floodgates of commentators questioning his ability to serve. New York Magazine’s Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi added to the pile-on in a grim piece headlined, "The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden", based on months of interviews that caused a major stir on social media.

Among numerous accounts of her work covering Biden in the past few years, Nuzzi wrote that those "who encountered the president in social settings sometimes left their interactions disturbed. Longtime friends of the Biden family, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, were shocked to find that the president did not remember their names."

She wrote one account of a guest who had attended a White House event last year, who allegedly realized Biden would not be able to make it through the entire reception, making the guest suddenly "open to an idea that they had previously dismissed as right-wing propaganda: The president may not really be the acting president after all."

As he frantically fights to salvage his campaign following last week's disastrous debate performance, the next couple of days may determine if President Biden can survive or fall victim to a rising tide of calls from within his own party to end his re-election bid.

The tests for the 81-year-old president begin on Friday, as he aims to prove that he has the fortitude to defeat former President Trump in their 2024 election rematch.

First up is a rally Friday afternoon in battleground Wisconsin, which will be followed by a sit-down interview with ABC News that will run in prime time on network television. On Sunday, the president and First Lady Jill Biden appear in Pennsylvania, another key swing state he needs to carry to win re-election.

Through it all, the oldest president in the nation's history will need to show Americans that he still has the stamina and acuity to handle the toughest and most demanding job in the world.

It's a test Biden decidedly failed last week in Atlanta, Georgia, after his halting delivery and stumbling answers during the debate with Trump sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers and some party donors for Biden to step aside as the party's 2024 standard-bearer.

This week, three House Democrats publicly called on Biden to step aside from his re-election bid, while more than a dozen Democratic members of Congress and governors publicly raised serious concerns about whether Biden could continue as the party's standard-bearer.

Facing a slew of red flags in post-debate public opinion polls and a growing chorus of prominent Democrats urging the president to quickly decide whether he can successfully continue his campaign, the next few days could potentially make or break Biden.

Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this update.

An Axios report that details how White House aides are "miserable" as Democratic Party influencers call on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race revealed new details into the protective cocoon around the 81-year-old chief executive.

Officials quoted in the report said Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, the first lady's close adviser Anthony Bernal, and longtime aide Ashley Williams have been assisting Biden when he has a mental lapse. 

Once dismissed as normal lapses for any president, now longtime aides wonder if the president's staff has been hiding the severity of his mental decline from voters.

"Annie, Ashley and Anthony create a protective bubble around POTUS. He's staffed so closely that he's lost all independence," a former Biden aide told Axios. "POTUS relies on staff to nudge him with reminders of who he's meeting, including former staffers and advisers who Biden should easily remember without a reminder from Annie."

In a statement, White House spokesman Andrew Bates pushed back on the claims.

"These are standard processes for any White House, regardless of president or party. The claims about these individuals — whose professionalism and character are respected across the administration — are inaccurate," Bates said. 

Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports that while many Democrats are afraid President Biden could hurt the party down ballot, many still believe it would be too messy to abandon Biden.

So far, just two House Democrats have officially called on Biden to exit the race. They are Reps. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, and Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz.

"I’m going to support [Biden], but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere … What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility of keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race," Grijalva said Wednesday. 

There are multiple letters circulating among Democratic lawmakers that would call for Biden to step aside in favor of another, likely younger candidate.

Efforts have included both vulnerable Democrats in swing districts and left-wing lawmakers in safe seats, sources told Fox News Digital.

"Everyone is guarded now," one senior House Democratic member told Fox News. "People may be just doing what they believe is best for them."

Axios senior media reporter Sara Fischer, a CNN senior media analyst, argued on the network Thursday that President Biden’s upcoming ABC interview won't be enough to fix his reputation with the American people following last week's debate.

Biden's performance in the CNN Presidential Debate has sent some in the Democratic Party into a panic about his chances in November against former President Trump. The president’s appearance and gaffes fueled continued national furor about his ability to serve, leading many of his staunchest supporters to ask him to either step down or prove he has the ability to lead.

While Biden will be giving a post-debate interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Friday, Fischer argued that much more must be done if he wants to reassure voters.

"So one of the things that the president is trying to argue is ‘Don‘t look at this 90 minute debate. Look at my 3.5 years,'" Fischer said. "Well, the challenge also works on the flipside, if you don‘t want us to believe what we saw, then give us multiple examples of you being able to do a live, unscripted interview, so we can see that this was just a one-off, if that‘s what you claim."

The reporter then argued specifically why Biden’s widely anticipated interview with Stephanopoulos won’t satisfy the American public.

"So, the challenge that they now face is the ABC News interview isn‘t gonna be enough. They‘re going to have to show and demonstrate that he can do this, repeatedly, and by the way, in an unscripted format," Fischer said. "I can‘t stress that enough." 

Fox News Digital's Alexander Hall contributed to this update.

"All-Star" panelists Juan Williams, Steve Hilton and Daniel Lippman discussed how many Democrats are concerned about President Biden’s re-election chances Thursday on "Special Report."

Williams, a Fox News senior political analyst, said anxiety in the Democratic Party is "out the roof" after Biden's bad debate and the attempt by White House aides to run damage control ahead of Biden's meeting with Democratic governors on Wednesday. 

"The notes that came out of there and the headlines in the papers today about, you know, Biden joking about he's in good health except for his brain, and he's going to take more naps—it has fed the critics, and it has created an even new level of anxiety among the Democrats," Williams said. 

"These meetings that he's got tomorrow in Madison, Wisconsin, a rally, he's got an interview with ABC. And, you know, these are now and even going forward towards next week, just critical events for Biden. He can't fail. There's no there's no room, no margin for any slippage." 

Dozens of voters in four battleground states told the New York Times that they no longer believe he can defeat former President Trump in the 2024 election.

In 80 interviews at Independence Day celebrations, pie-eating contests and political events across Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, more than half of voters who backed Biden in 2020 said he should now drop out of the race following his disastrous debate performance against Trump.

About a quarter of those interviewed said he should stay in, and the rest were unsure, according to the Times.

"He should exit the race," said Gerry Ford, a 72-year-old engineer from Wauwatosa, Wisc. "The sooner the better." 

He said the Biden campaign has not been transparent since the debate. 

“It fulfills all of our suspicions about politicians that they can’t be straight with voters,” he said. “It’s embarrassing for the country.”

Michigan voter Greg Holmes, 71, a retired psychologist, said he went to a campaign event featuring first lady Jill Biden and held a sign that said, "Step Aside Joe!" 

"If Biden says and does what I call the right thing, or courageous thing, and passes the baton, I will be ecstatic and fired up for the next person,” Holmes said. "Because I think Trump really represents a terrible, terrible threat to our democracy.”

Emma Due, 18, said she was not excited about casting her first ballot for Biden but likely would because he is not Trump. 

“Kamala Harris would carry the torch, and she’s better than Trump,” she told the Times. “There’s a lot of new ideas that younger people express, but it’s not reflected in our candidates.”

"Fox & Friends" co-host Lawrence Jones discussed the pressure on President Biden to step down amid concerns over his age and mental acuity on Wednesday during the The Big Independence Day Special celebration on Fox News.

"Typically we would be talking about the president and just a celebration with his family, seeing the fireworks, him inviting service members to the white House. It would be a pretty calm day. Everybody is in barbecue. No one wants to hear about politics, but it's different now," Jones said. 

"I mean, the president's campaign is in trouble right now. Look, I've said it very clearly. I don't think the president is going to get out, because the only person that can decide and force him out is himself, right? And he doesn't look like he wants to leave this. Also, Kamala Harris is still on the table. And so when you look at the polling number, do Democrats do better with Kamala Harris? Not really. And so all roads lead to Joe. But the fact that we're having this conversation on the 4th of July, I know a lot of Democrats would prefer to be talking about barbecue." 

An Associated Press article from Wednesday set off X users for what they considered to be an effort to protect President Biden.

The article titled "Biden at 81: Often sharp and focused but sometimes confused and forgetful" focused on comments from reportedly two dozen people within the president’s social circle who described a conflicting private and public image.

"He is often sharp and focused. But he also has moments, particularly later in the evening, when his thoughts seem jumbled and he trails off mid-sentence or seems confused. Sometimes he doesn’t grasp the finer points of policy details. He occasionally forgets people’s names, stares blankly and moves slowly around the room," AP reported.

It continued, "But sometimes, Biden speaks so softly that it is difficult to make out his words even with a microphone. He’ll stop mid-sentence and trail off during speeches. At other times he runs the room, leading the audience, joking and shaking hands with thrilled supporters, in clear command of the moment. His gait is often stiff, but sometimes he jogs."

The story and its headline spurred intense mockery along with comparisons to CNN’s infamous "fiery but mostly peaceful protest" graphic outside a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin.

"’Senile but mostly sharp’ is the new ‘fiery but mostly peaceful,’" Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik remarked.

"’I don't understand why people are blaming the media,’" RedState senior editor Joe Cunningham wrote sarcastically.

"The AP is really doing this…" Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lamented.

Fox News Digital's Lindsay Kornick contributed to this update.

Amid growing calls from some Democrats and liberals for President Biden to step aside after his disastrous debate performance last week, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been touted as a possible replacement, raising questions about how she would handle the border crisis.

Whitmer, as a governor of a swing state, has been named as someone who could step into the role of the 2024 presidential nominee for Democrats if Biden were to step down. Previous polling has suggested she would fare the best out of a number of candidates against former President Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Should she receive the nomination and win in November, she would step into a federal leadership role at a time when immigration policy and the ongoing crisis at the southern border are top issues for voters and for the country.

Whitmer has been largely supportive of what President Biden has done in terms of immigration policy. When Biden announced additional restrictions on asylum last month, she issued a glowing statement approving of the move and saying that he is "delivering."

"President Biden’s executive action will help secure our country’s border by making it easier for immigration officers to remove those who are here unlawfully, reducing the burden on our Border Patrol agents. Today’s announcement builds on the president’s work to deploy a record number of border agents and officers to the southern border," she said. "The American people want real solutions, and President Biden is delivering today."

Like other Democrats, she also backed Biden’s broader calls for a comprehensive immigration bill to fix what the administration has called a "broken" immigration system.

That plan included sweeping reforms, additional visa pathways, extra funding and a pathway to U.S. citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. It was rejected by Republicans in part due to the inclusion of an amnesty. Whitmer wants it passed.

"President Biden sent Congress a comprehensive immigration reform plan on day 1 and repeatedly requested more border resources from Congress, only to be blocked by Republicans," she said last month. "They should stop playing political games and work with the administration on a coordinated, bipartisan federal solution to fix our broken system."

But in Michigan itself, she has given some indications that she may take a harder line on illegal immigration, certainly tougher than some activists would want.

She has provided multiple National Guard deployments to the border, both during the Trump administration and the Biden administration in support of Texas.

According to her office, she sent 175 personnel between 2020 and 2021, and 37 have been stationed since 2020. She also visited Michigan soldiers at the border in 2022.

Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this update.

Aides from the Biden administration revealed to Axios that the president can only be "dependably engaged" between 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and "is more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued" outside his standard operating hours.

These reports have led the presidents critics to suggest he experiences a phenomena observed in some elderly people called "sundowning." 

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat explained on "Outnumbered" that sundowning can occur in the late afternoon or early evening. 

"You see behavior of confusion, of agitation, of aggression, pacing, wandering, sometimes even hallucinations," Nesheiwat said, cautioning that she is not Biden's doctor and has not examined or evaluated him. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, sundowning is not a disease. Factors that may worsen late-day confusion include fatigue, spending time in an unfamiliar place, low lighting, increased shadows, hunger or thirst, boredom or pain and depression. 

Health experts advise that those who experience sundowning keep a regular routine for bedtime, waking, meals and activities to reduce symptoms. 

Abigail Disney, an heiress to the Disney family fortune, says she is planning to stop giving donations to Democrats until President Biden drops out of the presidential race, CNBC reported.

The Disney heiress told CNBC on Thursday that she plans to withhold donations to the party she has funded for years until Biden drops out.

“I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket.  This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high,” Abigail Disney said in a lengthy statement to CNBC. “If Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose. Of that I am absolutely certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”

This comes as Biden has vowed to stay in the race and even telling a crowd of military service members and their families at a 4th of July barbecue that "he wasn't going anywhere."

Fox News Digital reached out to Abigail Disney for comment.

Hours after the White House told reporters that President Biden had not had any recent medical exams, the president reportedly contradicted his press secretary by telling governors that he had a recent medical checkup.

When pressed about the president's health during a press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explicitly told reporters that Biden has not had any medical exams since his last annual physical.

"Has the president had any medical exams since his last annual physical in February?" CNN's Min Jung "MJ" Lee asked.

"And got – and we were able to talk to the – to his doctor about that, and that is a no," Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre reiterated that the 81-year-old president had not received any kind of medical exam.

"He hasn’t had any kind of medical exam?" Jung said.

"No," Jean-Pierre replied.

Jean-Pierre's comments came just hours before Biden met with Democrat governors at the White House on Wednesday night. 

According to the New York Times, Biden told governors that had seen the White House physician to check on the cold his campaign said that he had during the presidential debate against Trump.

Biden also reportedly told governors that he would no longer schedule events after 8 p.m. so he could "get more sleep," the outlet reported.

When questioned about the seemingly contradictory comments, the White House sent the following statement to Fox News Digital:

"Several days later, the President was seen to check on his cold and was recovering well," the White House press office clarified.

Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this update.

White House aides and Biden campaign staff are reportedly "miserable" as fear mounts that President Biden will be unable to continue his re-election campaign or serve for a second term.

All eyes are on Biden, 81, to prove that he is up to the task of campaigning against former President Trump as major Democratic Party donors pressure him to drop out in favor of a younger candidate.

"Everyone is miserable, and senior advisers are a total black hole," an unnamed White House official told Axios. "Even if you're trying to focus on work, nothing is going to break through or get any acknowledgment" from superiors. 

Axios reported comments from a "high-ranking Democratic National Committee official" who said, "The only thing that can really allay concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he's capable of running this campaign."

"Everything else feels like 'Weekend at Bernie's' by his inner circle to prop him up." 

Amid mounting pressure on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race, his campaign announced a massive media blitz to the tune of $50 million that will target battleground state voters.

The media blitz will target Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the campaign said.

Additionally, the campaign said it will be executing an "aggressive, targeted campaign" to appeal to young and diverse voters, which also includes an "aggressive travel schedule" for the president.

He will travel to every battleground state along with Vice President Kamala Harris, the first lady and the second gentleman.

The announcement of the "aggressive" campaign comes after Biden told a group of Democratic governors that he plans to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. so he can "get more sleep," according to a report from The New York Times.  

The 81-year-old president is the oldest in the nation's history. His disastrous debate performance against former President Trump reportedly left Democrats in a "panic," with many donors refusing to give money to the party unless Biden drops out.

Despite this, Biden's campaign boasted about its "record-breaking" $127 million fundraising haul in June, saying they are leveraging "a substantial infrastructure advantage over the Trump campaign and RNC with new efforts on the ground."

Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this update.