2024 election live updates: Biden defends his candidacy as some Democrats raise doubts (2024)

Montana Sen. Jon Tester says Biden must 'prove' he's fit for four more years

White House spokesman Andrew Bates says that Biden’s physical examinations have “found no sign of Parkinson’s, and he is not being treated for it.”

This came after NBC News confirmed reporting from the New York Post that said a Parkinson’s expert from Walter Reed visited the White House at least eight times in an eight-month period, according to public visitor logs. One of those included a January meeting with President Biden’s personal physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor.The nature of and reason for these meetings is unknown at this time.

"As each report has stated, that examination has found no sign of Parkinson’s, and he is not being treated for it," Bates said. "We do not provide the dates on which the President is seen by the range of specialists who participate in his physical, nor their names. But there have been no neurologist visits besides the one for his physical per year, three in total.”

The White House also confirmed that Walter Reed specialists regularly visit the White House “to treat the thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds.”

The Parkinson’s expert is Dr. Kevin Cannard, a neurologist who has published at least one paper recently on Parkinson’s. NBC News has reached out to him for comment.

The Trump campaign made its first official announcement about programming for the "Make America Great Once Again" Convention which takes place in Milwaukee next week.

In a campaign email sent out to supporters this morning, the Trump team laid out daily themes including "Make America Wealthy Once Again" and "Make America Strong Once Again."

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, of Texas, on July 2 became the first congressional Democrat to call on the president to withdraw, but more have followed since then, including ranking members of House committees. Still, other lawmakers have defended the president, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., voiced his support for Biden, saying that the president remains the "best messenger" to deliver messages to the American people.

During an interview on MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” Meeks — the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — said that Democrats are "on the same page" when it comes to ensuring that Trump can't be re-elected.

First lady Jill Biden reaffirmed the president’s commitment to staying in the presidential race.

“Joe has made it clear he is all in,” she said, drawing chants of “four more years” during a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“That’s the decision he’s made. And just as he has always supported my career, I am all in, too,” she continued.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said in a statement posted to his account on X, that the discussions within the Democratic Party are "deeply self-destructive."

"Weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy for a presidential election," he said.

He added, "The piling-on is not so much solving a problem as much as it is creating and compounding one."

NBC News has learned that House Republicans have postponed a hearing scheduled Friday with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and his senior adviser Matthew Colangelo, according to a source familiar. A new hearing date will be determined later.

This move comes after Trump’s July 11 sentencing in the New York hush money trial was postponed. Bragg had agreed to testify after the case was fully completed, and with the delay in sentencing that is no longer the case.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said yesterday that Trump has not spoken to him about joining his campaign as his vice presidential pick.

“Have you gotten the call from Donald Trump? Has he asked you to be his running mate?” moderator Kristen Welker asked Vance in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Vance, who is onTrump’s shortlistof potential running mates, said he has “not gotten the call” but would alert the media if that happens.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, released a statement today showing his support for Biden as the presidential nominee. His statement is an indication that support for Biden is holding among a key power center within the Democratic Party, even as others call on him to step aside from the 2024 race.

Trump will call into "Hannity" on Fox News for an interview tonight, his campaign confirmed to NBC News.

The call will be taped sometime today and will focus on the June presidential debate, as well as news of the day.

The Biden campaign is doing outreach to congressional offices amid calls from some Democrats for the president to step aside after his debate performance last month, according to a copy of a memo obtained by NBC News.

The memo largely highlights events the president participated in last weekend in Michigan and Pennsylvania, new polling that the campaign touts as Biden having a stronger performance over Trump in several key swing states, and recent remarks on news programs from some congressional Democrats who continue to express their support for the president.

Biden said in a phone interview this morning that he's frustrated by "the elites in the party" who want him to withdraw as the nominee.

"Run against me. Go ahead. Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention," Biden told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Biden said he's been on the road and all over the country since the debate to "make sure my instinct was right about the party still wanting me to be the nominee."

In a new letter to congressional Democrats, Biden emphatically vowed to stay in the race amid demands from some Democrats to step aside in the aftermath of his poor debate performance last month.

Biden stressed that Democratic voters paved the way for him to be the presidential nominee for the party, arguing that it would be undemocratic to bow out of the race at this point.

“I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic Party have placed in me to run this year,” Biden wrote in the letter to congressional Democrats. “It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well-intentioned.”

“The voters — and the voters alone — decide the nominee of the Democratic Party,” he added. “How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore our own party.”

Biden heads into the NATO summit he’s hosting in Washington this week with two distinct challenges, neither of them easy.

On the international stage, he wants to make a case for preserving global alliances in an era when many populist and nationalist leaders are looking inward, his advisers say.

But the tougher task will be on the domestic front, where he’ll need to plow through three days of meetings, speeches and dinners — capped by a news conference Thursday — with the vigor and focus that were noticeably absent during his debate with former President Donald Trump.

Read the full story here.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that she is "100% with the president."

“We are standing up with the Biden-Harris team because they have delivered for protecting our freedom and our democracy," the Ohio Democrat said, referring to the group of CBC members who joined Harris at an event this weekend.

Two sources told NBC News yesterday that the Congressional Black Caucus is largely behind the president, with "little cracks" in the influential group.

Reps. Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, both California Democrats, “forcefully” defended Biden on a call with fellow Democrats yesterday, according to two sources familiar with their comments.

Biden is expected to call more Democratic lawmakers this week after touching base with 20 last week to reassure Democrats that their concerns are being heard by him, according to a campaign official. Among those he spoke to last week were some of his closest allies: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, and Reps. Nancy Pelosi of California and James E. Clyburn of South Carolina.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., will no longer meet with a group of Democrats today to discuss Biden's political situation, according to a source directly familiar with discussions.

Warner previously had conversations with Democratic colleagues about meeting privately upon their return to the Capitol.NBC News had reported that Warner was organizing Democrats to meet this week to discuss Biden's prospects.

But after news of Warner's discussions were reported, the meeting was not formally set. Ultimately,Warnerand others decided it was best to wait until tomorrow, during the regularly scheduled closed-door Democratic lunch, to discuss Biden's 2024 prospects.

Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to several states this week for campaign events.

Harris will be in Las Vegas tomorrow for two campaign events.

On Wednesday, she will deliver a keynote speech at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s 71st Boulé in Dallas. (Harris was a member of the historically Black sorority when she attended Howard University.)

She will also travel to a campaign event in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said yesterday that Vice President Kamala Harris could“overwhelmingly” win against Trump but that Biden must decide whether he will remain in the race as the Democratic Party’s nominee amid backlash over his disastrous debate performance.

Asked about polling that found Harris outperforming Trump if she replaced Biden, Schiff said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he thought she would be a “phenomenal president.”

Over the next two weeks, Biden will travel to a handful of states to promote his agenda as fallout continues among Democrats over his poor performance during last month's debate with Trump.

The president will stop by an AFL-CIO union meeting in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and hold a campaign event in Detroit on Friday, according to the campaign.

Next week, Biden will commemorate the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act in Austin, Texas. Then he will travel to Las Vegas to deliver remarks at the NAACP Convention and the UnidosUS Annual Conference, according to the White House.

First lady Jill Biden will deliver remarks at three campaign events today across three states in the South.

Her first event takes place in North Carolina. She will then travel to an event in Florida, followed by an event in Georgia.

Reporting from Washington

The Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee yesterday requested that Biden’s physician appear for a transcribed interview about the president’s medical evaluation.

Chairman James Comer of Kentucky said in a letter to Dr. Kevin O’Connor that he also sought to tie O’Connor to a series of inquiries he has made about Biden’s relatives’ businesses. Comer, aprominent criticof the president’s, for months has helped lead efforts for the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into Biden that has fizzled into nothing. Republicans did not provide evidence that Biden was engaged in anycriminal actions, despite repeated claims otherwise.

In the letter, Comer pointed to Biden’s response to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos’ question Friday about whether he would be willing to take a cognitive test.

Read the full story here.

Reporting from Washington

Fouradditional Democrats in Congresstold their lawmaker colleagues during a phone call yesterday that they believe Bidenshould step aside to allow someone else to be the party’s nominee for president, according tomultiple people on the call and familiar with the discussion.

The House Democrats who said Biden should drop out of the race were Adam Smith of Washington, Jerry Nadler of New York, Mark Takano of California and Joe Morelle of New York.

All four lawmakers hold top positions on key committees and bring the number of Democrats in Congress who have called for Biden to reconsider his bid for president to nearly a dozen.

Read the full story here.