Biden’s struggle to remember key Cabinet official’s name left allies ‘shaken up’: report
A public moment last month when President Biden appeared temporarily unable to say the name of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly left allies alarmed and “shaken up.” The incident took place on June 18 at an event celebrating the anniversary of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protected some illegal immigrants from deportation. As he spoke, Biden introduced Mayorkas, who has served in a high-profile role since 2021 and has been the main official dealing with the ongoing crisis at the southern border. BIDEN APPEARS TO FREEZE UP, FORGET HOMELAND SECURITY SEC’S NAME DURING WHITE HOUSE EVENT: ‘ALL KIDDING ASIDE’ “Thanks to all the members of the Congress and Homeland Security Secretary,” he said, pausing. “I…I’m not sure I’m going to introduce you all the way.” He then added, “But all kidding aside, Secretary Mayorkas.” BIDEN BLAMES EUROPEAN TRIPS FOR DEBATE FLOP, DESPITE LONG HUDDLE AT CAMP DAVID: ‘ALMOST FELL ASLEEP ONSTAGE’ The New York Times reported this week that two people with a clear view of Biden, who has fought a stutter throughout his life, said that his soft-spoken mumbling and fumbling over words left some concerned. The Times reported that Biden’s tone and the struggle to name Mayorkas led to allies trading “alarmed looks” and later describing themselves as “shaken up.” However, another person said they hoped it was a “one-off” bad moment for Biden. The report comes amid broader concerns about Biden’s mental acuity that have been bubbling for years, but they boiled over at last week’s presidential debate, where Biden was widely seen to have performed poorly. It has sparked calls from some Democrats and some liberal media outlets that the president should drop out of the 2024 election. The Times’ Editorial Board penned an op-ed last week titled “To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race.” However, the White House and the Biden campaign have repeatedly dismissed those questions about his health. BIDEN TRIES TO FLIP THE SCRIPT ON NEGATIVE NARRATIVE COMING OUT OF DISASTROUS DEBATE WITH TRUMP “Does President Biden, at 81 years old, have Alzheimer’s, any form of dementia or degenerative illness that cause these sorts of lapses? And it’s a yes or no question,” a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday afternoon. “Are you ready for it? It’s a no. And I hope you’re asking the other guy the same exact question,” Jean-Pierre responded, referring to former President Trump. Biden himself addressed his poor debate performance last week at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Folks, I know I’m not a young man. But I know how to do this job. I know right from wrong. I know how to tell the truth,” Biden said. “And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up.” Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Biden campaign sends all-staff memo hoping to calm post-debate concerns
President Biden’s campaign on Wednesday sent out a fresh all-staff memo in an attempt to calm concerns about his chances of being re-elected following last week’s heavily criticized debate performance. The memo, obtained by Fox News, highlights internal campaign polling that shows a still-close race with former President Trump. “We are going to see a few polls come out today and we want you all to hear from us on what we know internally and what we expect to come externally,” the memo reads. “Polls are a snapshot in time and we should all expect them to continue to fluctuate – it will take a few weeks, not a few days, to get a full picture of the race.” CASH DASH: TRUMP TOPS BIDEN IN FUNDRAISING RACE The memo, which was signed by campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez, showcases internal battleground state polling before and after the debate, revealing that Biden dropped by half a percentage point over that period. The memo pointed to a potential upcoming The New York Times/Siena College poll, “which is likely to show a slightly larger swing in the race.” BIDEN BLAMES EUROPEAN TRIPS FOR DEBATE FLOP, DESPITE LENGTHY HUDDLE AT CAMP DAVID: ‘ALMOST FELL ASLEEP ONSTAGE’ “We should all keep in mind that, just last week, the NYT themselves acknowledged that they are often a polling outlier,” the memo reads. Biden, who at age 81 is the oldest president in the nation’s history, is facing the roughest stretch of his bid for a second term in the White House. This, after his halting delivery and stumbling answers at the debate, 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. Additionally, in the past 24 hours, a small but increasing number of House Democrats have also urged the president to end his re-election bid. However, Biden’s campaign has repeatedly insisted that the president has no intention of dropping out of the race. “The president is in this race to win it,” principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Wednesday in a CNN interview. Two public opinion national polls conducted after the debate and released on Tuesday contained red flags for Biden. According to a CNN poll, 75% of voters and 56% of Democratic-aligned voters said the Democratic Party would have a better shot at keeping control of the presidency if Biden is replaced as the party’s standard-bearer. The survey suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris performs slightly better than Biden in a hypothetical matchup with Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee. BIDEN TO HUDDLE WITH DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS AS HE WORKS TO SHORE UP CAMPAIGN Trump holds a six-point – 49%-43% – lead over Biden among registered voters nationwide, which is unchanged from CNN’s previous poll in April. It is consistent with Trump’s lead in CNN polling dating back to last autumn. However, the vice president trails Trump by just two points – 47%-45% – in a hypothetical matchup, according to the poll. The CNN poll’s release came hours after a USA Today/Suffolk University survey also conducted Friday through Sunday indicated Trump at 41% support and Biden at 38% among registered voters nationwide. The Democratic incumbent in the White House and his Republican predecessor were tied at 37% in the previous USA Today/Suffolk University poll, which was conducted in May. While Trump’s advantage in the new survey was within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, there were other warning signs for Biden. Forty-one percent of Democrats questioned in the poll said they wanted Biden replaced at the top of the Democratic Party ticket. Only 14% of Republicans surveyed said they would like to see Trump replaced at the top of the GOP ticket. “There’s no question the debate sent out shock waves across the political landscape,” Suffolk Political Research Center Director David Paleologos said. “Democrats in the poll are offering tough love to President Biden by saying to him, ‘You’ve served us well, but try to see yourself last Thursday night through our eyes. Hold your head up high, it’s time to go.’” The release of the memo, which was first reported by Politico, comes hours before Biden is scheduled to huddle with Democratic governors and congressional leaders. The meeting comes after Democrat governors on Monday huddled on a conference call to discuss the fallout from the debate. Monday’s call was organized by Democratic Governors Association Chair Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. Sources told Fox News that the Biden campaign was aware of the call ahead of time. A number of the governors, including some who have been speculated as potential replacements on the extreme long-shot chance that Biden would step away from his re-election bid, have acknowledged the president’s debate performance was shaky but remained committed to supporting the president. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
‘Hathras stampede caused by…’: Godman Bhole Baba’s first reaction to tragedy after 121 deaths
The ‘godman’ has so far not been named in any police case. His aide and the event organisers have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and wrongful restraint. State police chief Prashant Kumar said that, “Action will be taken based on facts.”
WH responds to report Biden told ally he’s weighing dropping out of race
President Biden is seriously considering whether he can continue on as the Democratic presidential nominee, according to a report. The New York Times reported Wednesday that Biden has told a “key ally” that he knows he may not be able to win re-election if he cannot convince the American people he is fit to serve after his disastrous debate performance. “The president, who the ally emphasized is still deeply in the fight for re-election, understands that his next few appearances heading into the holiday weekend — including an interview scheduled for Friday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — must go well,” the report said. “He knows if he has two more events like that, we’re in a different place” by the end of the weekend, the unnamed source told the Times. White House Spokesman Andrew Bates disputed the report shortly after it was published. “That claim is absolutely false. If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment, we would have told them so,” he told Fox News Digital in a statement. This is a developing story and will be updated.
Newsom heads east for meeting with Biden as president tries to keep his campaign from heading south
Two-term California Gov. Gavin Newsom travels on Wednesday to the nation’s capital, to take part in a meeting President Biden has called with the nation’s Democratic governors in the wake of Biden’s extremely rough performance during last Thursday’s debate with former President Trump. “Governor Newsom will head to the White House tomorrow to attend the Governors meeting and to stand with the President,” a spokesperson for the California governor said late Tuesday. Biden, who at age 81 is the oldest president in the nation’s history, is facing the roughest stretch of his bid for a second term in the White House. This, after his halting delivery and stumbling answers at the debate, sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers and in party donors for Biden to step aside as the party’s 2024 standard-bearer. In the past 24 hours, a small but growing number of elected Democrats have also urged the president to end his re-election bid. BIDEN TO HUDDLE WITH DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS AS HE WORKS TO SHORE UP CAMPAIGN Biden’s meeting Wednesday at the White House, which is also expected to include Democratic congressional leaders, comes after Democrat governors on Monday huddled on a conference call to discuss the fallout from the debate. Monday’s call was organized by Democratic Governors Association (DGA) Chair Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. Sources told Fox News that the Biden campaign was aware of the call ahead of time. CASH DASH: TRUMP TOPS BIDEN IN FUNDRAISING RACE A number of the governors, including some who’ve been speculated as potential replacements on the extreme long-shot chance that Biden would step away from his re-election bid, have acknowledged the president’s debate performance was shaky but remained committed to supporting the president. Newsom, who was in Atlanta, Georgia for last week’s debate, told reporters in the spin room after the showdown that “I will never turn my back on President Biden, and I don’t know a Democrat in my party that would do so. And especially after tonight, we have his back.” And Newsom, who’s a top Biden campaign surrogate, said “none” when asked if he had any concerns about Biden’s fitness for office: “I have no trepidation.” In the days since the debate, Newsom has continued to defend the president, and helped raise several hundred thousand dollars for Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee immediately after the debate. And the governor has also continued to push aside the intense speculation about whether he would replace Biden on the national ticket. Two other top Biden surrogates, Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and JB Pritzker of Illinois, who are also speculated as potential replacements, are also expected take part in Wednesday’s meeting. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Michelle Obama leads Biden, Harris in match-up against Trump in latest post-debate poll
Former first lady Michelle Obama is the leading candidate to take on former President Trump in 2024, according to a new poll conducted after last week’s presidential debate. A Reuters/Ipsos poll asked respondents who they would like to see take on Trump on the general election ballot amid calls to replace the current nominee, and President Biden was bested by both the former first lady and his own vice president. When asked who they would vote for in a race against Trump, the poll found that Obama was the only Democrat to secure enough votes to beat the former president on the general election ballot. In the hypothetical match-up, the former first lady led Trump by 11 percentage points, receiving 50% of the vote over the former president, who was the choice candidate of 39% of respondents. OBAMA CAUTIOUSLY ADVISES BIDEN AFTER SHAKY DEBATE PERFORMANCE, LOOMING REMATCH WITH TRUMP: REPORT The poll showing Obama leading the Democratic candidate pool comes after the Washington Post reported that her husband, former President Obama, recently told supporters that Biden’s road to re-election has become more difficult since Thursday. Vice President Kamala Harris has also risen on the list of potential Democratic nominee replacements, but she did not receive enough support to beat Trump in the latest survey. BIDEN BLAMES EUROPEAN TRIPS DEBATE FLOP, DESPITE LONG HUDDLE AT CAMP DAVID: ‘ALMOST FELL ASLEEP ONSTAGE’ According to the poll, about 42% of respondents said they would vote for Harris, while a slim majority of 43% of registered voters favored Trump. Despite being the party’s nominee, several post-debate polls have shown Biden dropping from the list of prospective candidates to represent the Democratic Party in 2024 amid concerns over his age and mental acuity. Biden tied with Trump in the survey, with both candidates receiving 40% of the vote. However, the difference in support is seen in that more voters said they would either choose a different candidate or would not vote if the nominee was Biden in any other match-up. Several other prospective Democratic nominee replacements were featured in the survey, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who received 39% support, against 42%, who favored Trump. The poll, conducted just days after the first presidential debate, reported that 56% of registered voters think Biden should drop out of the race. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted from July 1 to 2 with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points. Fox News Digital’s Scott McDonald contributed to this report.
Biden prepares for private huddle with Dem governors as candidacy under threat
President Biden will meet with Democratic governors later Wednesday as concerns over his health and mental well-being reach a critical point. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who heads the Democratic Governors Association, is already in Washington, D.C., and will be at the White House in-person. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker are also confirmed to be in Washington. “I think the governors just want a direct and candid conversation with the president. We want to make sure he’s doing okay. We all know him. He has formed a personal relationship with us,” Beshear told Fox News Digital. “And he says he is [doing okay]. And we take him at his word. But it’s always good to see somebody in person.” Pritzker echoed the wellness check language of Beshear, arguing that he would support any decision Biden makes regarding his campaign. BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE SILENT AS PARTY REELS FOLLOWING ‘EMBARRASSING’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE “I honor my commitments. Joe Biden is going to be our nominee, unless he decides otherwise. And so I think that there’s a healthy conversation that will happen with the president, I hope, expressing, you know, what he intends to do going forward in the campaign and reassuring everybody that this is the right course,” Prtizker said. BIDEN DEBATE DEBACLE: 10 EYE-OPENING MEDIA RESPONSES, FROM MSNBC PANIC TO ‘THE VIEW’ CALLING FOR REPLACEMENT The meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, comes less than a day after the first elected Democratic lawmaker called for Biden to withdraw from the race. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, cited Biden’s disastrous performance in last week’s debate against former President Trump. The White House has attempted to dismiss Biden’s gaffes, miscues and mental acuity concerns as little more than the product of “cheap fakes” and misinformation, but one of Biden’s current political rivals – who previously served alongside him – says unequivocally that the Biden seen during a disastrous national debate is “not the same man” he once knew. AFTER BIDEN’S DISASTROUS DEBATE, CAMPAIGN EMAILS SUPPORTERS ON HOW TO DEFEND HIM: ‘BEDWETTING BRIGADE’ Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, served as physician to the president during both the Obama and Trump administrations and previously worked in the White House Medical Unit during the George W. Bush administration. It was during his time spent serving under former President Obama that he was able to most closely observe Biden, then the vice president. “I was in the White House when Joe Biden was VP, and the man we’ve seen since announcing his candidacy is not the same man who was VP for 8 years,” Jackson said. Last week’s debate had a cascading effect within the media and some members of the Democratic Party, too, as even traditional left-wing allies slammed the president’s performance as disastrous – with some calling on the president to step aside before the election. As legacy media outlets such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune call on Biden to map out an exit plan – with the Times describing Biden as a “shadow of a great public servant” – Biden allies such as Obama and first lady Jill Biden have reiterated their full-throated support for the 46th president’s re-election. Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Hemant Soren to return as Jharkhand CM for third time, Champai Soren may quit soon
Hemant Soren was released from jail on June 28 after nearly five months, after the high court granted him bail in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren resigns, says ‘Our alliance took…’
JMM Executive President Hemant Soren has staked a claim to form the government.
FBI whistleblower alleges bureau improperly suspended security clearance for agents with ‘conservative views’
An FBI whistleblower is alleging that the bureau improperly suspended security clearance for agents with “conservative views.” Fox News obtained a complaint sent last week to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DOJ Inspector General from a whistleblower – a supervisor and a registered Democrat – alleging that the “FBI’s Security Division improperly suspended or revoked employees’ security clearances whose political views, medical views, or even ethnicity were questioned by Security Division leadership.” The whistleblower’s representation, Tristan Leavitt, the president of right-leaning public integrity group Empower Oversight, also notified the House and Senate Judiciary Committees of the complaint. “The outcomes of clearance investigations and adjudications were often pre-determined by the Division’s acting Deputy Assistant Director and the acting Section Chief responsible for security clearance investigations and adjudications, who often overruled line staff and even dictated the wording of documents in the clearance process,” the complaint stated. “Over the last few years, the FBI has used the clearance process as a means to force employees out of the FBI by inflicting severe financial distress: suspending their clearance, suspending them from duty without pay, requiring them to obtain permission to take any other job while stuck in this unpaid limbo, and delaying their final clearance adjudication indefinitely – even years,” Leavitt wrote. “As I have written before, the FBI is not a private club for FBI executives to make in their own image,” Leavitt said in the letters to Congress. FBI DIRECTOR WRAY WARNED OF TERROR THREAT POSED BY OPEN BORDER DAYS BEFORE 8 ISIS SUSPECTS ARRESTED ACROSS US He requested that the committees “work swiftly to independently corroborate the information in the attached disclosure with other witnesses, publicly document your findings, hold Director Wray and any responsible FBI officials accountable, and pass legislation to fix the abusive security clearance process and successfully protect future whistleblowers.” Another letter addressed to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz and counsel Jeffrey Ragsdale requests an investigation into whether the FBI improperly transferred Empower Oversight’s client, later suspended him indefinitely without pay, and suspended his security clearance “in reprisal for protected whistleblower disclosures,” in violation with federal statute and presidential policy directive 19. The supervisory special agent’s security clearance was suspended “because he disclosed the improper suspension and revocation of other employees’ security clearances,” the letters say. “In light of SecD’s [FBI’s Security Division’s] pattern of abuse of the security clearance process and retaliation against SecD employees who try to stop that abuse, I also request that the OIG conduct a full review of the FBI’s security clearance process, how it has been abused — particularly by Dena Perkins and Jeffrey Veltri – and the role of FBI leadership in allowing these abuses to multiply,” Leavitt wrote. “SSA Client participated in many discussions in which it became clear that Veltri’s and Perkins’s perspective was that if an FBI employee fit a certain profile as a political conservative, they were viewed as security concerns and unworthy to work at the FBI,” the complaint says. “Despite issues like support for former President Trump or vaccine hesitancy being a common theme in discussions regarding suitability for classified information, those issues were almost never mentioned in the written clearance suspension and revocation notices SecD issued to FBI employees.” READ THE WHISTLEBLOWER’S LAWYER LETTER TO DOJ – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: “Sadly, from my perspective as a former FBI special agent, these ‘bombshell’ allegations coming out regarding the purging of conservative employees at the FBI aren’t bombshells at all,” former FBI special agent Nicole Parker told Fox News Digital. “For many, this became the standard way of life and culture of the FBI. I didn’t like it and neither do thousands of others-both current and former FBI employees. I walked away from the career I once loved as special agent. Myself and countless other FBI agents and support staff felt that if you disagreed with certain matters and you voiced your concerns, then you’d have a target on your back.” “Thus, only a tiny percentage of those who feel the same way ever speak up,” Parker, a Fox News contributor, said. “From my perspective, the FBI became politically weaponized starting at the top with executive management in Washington, DC and trickled down to the various field offices. The political weaponization wasn’t just directed towards those the FBI investigated externally, but also how they treated employees internally.” FBI WHISTLEBLOWER CALLS HOUSE GOP ‘SOULLESS DEMONS’ AFTER VOTING TO GIVE THE AGENCY A NEW $300 MILLION HQ The complaint cites how FBI Staff Operations Specialist Marcus Allen questioned whether FBI Director Chris Wray “had testified falsely to Congress and indicated he would not follow the FBI’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements.” Though Security Division staff found this was not sufficient basis to suspend security clearance, division leadership “suspended SOS Allen’s clearance anyway, claiming these issues indicated he was not loyal to the United States – even though SOS Allen had served honorably as a U.S. Marine in Iraq,” the letter says. Leavitt states that Security Division leadership “later rushed to revoke SOS Allen’s and Special Agent Steve Friend’s clearances in advance of their May 18, 2023, testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” and those revocations were “apparently the basis for the FBI sharing details about their cases – some of which have since proven false – in a letter to Congress that was swiftly leaked to the press.” Empower Oversight assisted Allen in filing a retaliation complaint with the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General and having his security clearance reinstated on May 31, 2024. Allen was suspended without pay for over two years before those proceedings were resolved, the complaint says. The new whistleblower “disclosed to Security Division leadership that the revocation of SOS Allen’s clearance violated regulations – and also suffered retaliation for that disclosure,” and is “also aware that at least two other Security Division employees also suffered reprisal at the hands of Division leadership because they disclosed the impropriety of suspending or failing to