Dems Defend Biden, Fireworks Harbor Blaze, Beryl Blasts Jamaica
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Voters 50 and over have the power to decide elections. So candidates who want to win need to talk about the issues they care about. Learn more from our latest polling in Pennsylvania at aarp.org slash PA polling. Overnight, Duncan's pumpkin spice coffee has sent folks into a cozy craze. I'm Lauren LaTulip reporting live from home in my hand-knit turtleneck that my Nana made me. Mmm, cinnamony. The home with Duncan is where you want to be.

It's Thursday, July 4th. Happy 4th of July. Right now on CNN This Morning. The president has always had our backs. We're going to have his back as well. Democratic governors rush into the defense of the president. Plus, President Biden speaks out admitting that he made mistakes in last week's debate.

And then there's this, a dangerous display as fireworks set a New England harbor on fire. Bring you that. And the deadly hurricane barrel pounding Jamaica now on track to hit the Cayman Islands. All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington, a live look at the White House on this Independence Day. Morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

On this Independence Day, President Biden is weighing a decision that many in his party believe is critical to the future of the republic. The president meeting Wednesday with more than 20 Democratic governors to try and shore up their support. Politico reporting that he told them he had a medical checkup after the debate and that he's in good health, but that he knocked on wood for effect. Knock on wood. Afterwards, several governors insisted they are still behind him.

President Joe Biden is in it to win it. And all of us said we pledged our support to him because the stakes could not be higher. What we saw in there today was a guy who was the guy that all of us believed in the first time who could beat Donald Trump.

But behind the scenes, there are increasing concerns that Biden's faltering debate performance could put blue states in play for Republicans in a way that would be unimaginable otherwise, including potentially New Mexico, New Hampshire, Virginia, Maine. This comes as a New York Times-Siena College survey found Trump now leads 49 to 43 percent among likely voters nationally, picking up a three-point swing from a week earlier before the debate.

A Biden ally telling CNN that the president has privately acknowledged the reality that he may not be able to continue and that the next few days are critical. His ABC interview now set to air in prime time on Friday night. Here's what the president had to say in a radio interview Wednesday. I had a bad night. And the fact of the matter is that, you know, it was I screwed up. I made a mistake. That's 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I've done in 3.5 years.

Biden's spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, enduring another brutal day behind the podium trying to explain what happened. It's the jet lag and also the cold, right? It is the two things that occurred. And you all heard it in his voice when he did the debate, right? And it is not even something that we shared ahead of time. You heard it in his voice and we confirmed it.

And this morning, the White House waking up to the news that Reed Hastings, the Netflix co-founder and top Democratic donor, is calling for Biden to step aside. And I can tell you from my conversations with Democrats, the message that many are sending to President Biden is a tougher version of what Maryland Governor Wes Moore had to say after that meeting with governors.

I think that we always believe that when you love someone, you tell them the truth. And I think we came in and we were honest about the feedback that we were getting. We were honest about the concerns that we were hearing from people.

All right, our panel's here. Let's bring in Alex Thompson, national political reporter for Axios, Megan Hayes, former special assistant to President Biden, and Lance Trover, former spokesperson for North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum's 2024 presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here on this holiday that doesn't quite feel like a holiday here in Washington.

We're just rolling right along with this news. Alex, let me start with you because we've got a lot, you know, there's a lot of data points coming in, right, at this point. There was a statement from Seth Moulton. He didn't call him on the president to step aside, but he did say that we should have all viable options on the table. And he said that the status quo will likely deliver us President Trump. There's Reed Hastings. We kind of ticked through a whole bunch of these things that are happening. What is your latest reporting on what's going on inside the White House and what is mattering the most right now?

The vibes are bad. And the thing is that the White House has been slow to realize the severity of the crisis they are facing. Joe Biden, after appearing to many people to potentially have trouble with his senility, to be blunt about it, in debate, has still, yet six days later, a week later now, has not done an unscripted moment in front of cameras with reporters.

You know, he didn't appear at all in any extempore setting. Or voters, for that matter. Or voters. And, you know, they basically bunkered down over the weekend. They basically did nothing except for that North Carolina rally. I've harped on this a few times, but they did an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot with the family.

as the crisis within the party has grown. Now, yesterday was the very first day you saw them try to stop this bleeding. And so he's finally actually, he finally called Nancy Pelosi, finally called Hakeem Jeffries. The problem is that he should have done that in the first 24 hours. And so this is potentially snowballed beyond the fact that it's possible that it's actually really out of their reach now.

Yeah, I mean, Megan, I guess that is my question. Why? Why did it take them nearly a full week? I mean, we are now one week from the debate as of today, and he's just calling these people.

Look, I don't know. I'm not there anymore. I just, I think that they were waiting to see how this set in. I think that they had a full day of events on Friday and Saturday. And I think that they were not expecting sort of the outcome that were to happen when he did, you know, he did have some unscripted moments. He did go to some stuff directly after the debate. He went to that OTR at the debate watch party. He went to the Waffle House. So, and then he met with people, voters in the, when he landed in North Carolina. So he has had some, not to the severity that people would like to see, totally give you that

But I just think that they were waiting to see what was going to happen. And I think they had these things preplanned. And just knowing sort of how they work, everything is very methodical. And they think through things. So I think they are now taking through what they need to be doing. So they did that call with staff yesterday for the campaign staff and the White House staff. They are doing an interview. So they are getting to these things. The question is if it's

too late and we just won't know that until after these interviews and after the press conference next week yeah uh well one less just to add to that before bringing you in is like the other thing that's been really baffling is that they can't keep their message straight you know the the fact is that you know you just played that or

you know, mentioned that Politico mentioned that he told people he had a medical checkup. Well, Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters yesterday that he didn't have a medical checkup. She also then said that it was just the cold. Then Biden said, no, it was the jet lag. Biden is still not even, he had a sore throat, but he hasn't really mentioned the cold. They cannot keep their story straight. It is a shifting explanations for a debate performance that honestly really is,

probably unexplainable. Yeah, I mean, Lance Trevor, I will say the thing that stuck out to me, and Politico is reporting this, ABC has matched it, we're working on it here at CNN, but Politico reported that the president made a knock-on-wood motion. I think that stuck out to me just because it's like, oh man, the president's staying in good health, knock-on-wood? I mean, that is a very sort of, mm, on-the-nose statement.

demonstration of the moment we're in. Look, I think we also need to take a step back because the issue of credibility here is because they have spent the last three and a half years, there have been questions that have been raised for three and a half years, and this White House has said time and again, "Oh no, no, everything's fine," despite "don't believe what you see on TV when some of these things happen."

That's the issue we have right now is credibility. The Wall Street Journal had a story not one month ago, very well sourced, well documented story about the president's ability to serve and his fitness for office. And this White House enraged, went out and berated every reporter and anybody else who dared to ask about it. So the underpinnings of this, as we get into their shifting explanations, are that they don't have a lot of credibility going into this. And then last Thursday night happens, and lo and behold,

50 million people. Look, to the issue of credibility and where this has stood, we pulled together a couple examples of debate performances gone by from President Biden. Let's just watch what it was like. This is a VP debate followed by a presidential debate in 2020, followed by what we saw on Thursday. Watch.

It has never been done before. It's been done a couple of times. It has never been done before. Jack Kennedy lowered tax rates, increased growth. Ronald Reagan. Oh, now you're Jack Kennedy. Ronald Reagan. Republicans and Democrats. Well, it is what it is because you are who you are. That's why it is. The president has no plan. He hasn't laid out anything. He knew all the way back in February how serious this crisis was. Dealing with everything we have to do with, look,

if we finally beat Medicare. -I mean, Meghan Hayes, it's tough. And which of those presidents did you know when you were in the White House? -I did not know the one that showed up at the debate on Thursday. That was not the person that I worked for. And so that's -- you know, but, again, I left over a year and a half ago, so I don't know what he's like now to work for.

I was on the 20 campaign, so I definitely was there. I also did the re-elect, so I saw that person as well. It is hard to watch. These are hard to watch moments, but I think the issue here is, was that an anomaly like they say, or is that a less frequent person? And is he able to do what he's been doing? And is the person who showed up in North Carolina and the person who's been showing up since, is that the president that he needs to go out and the voters should decide? Pelosi said, is this an episode or a condition?

Yeah, well, and he hasn't answered that question conclusively. And I don't think a 15-minute or 20-minute or however long the interview with George Stephanopoulos is going to satisfy those questions. Now, he has now said that he is going to do the George Stephanopoulos interview. He is going to do the big press conference next week with reporters. The problem is, like, and...

I don't know if it's going to be enough. This is still a president that has done less interviews and less unscripted interactions with reporters than any in history. To Lance's point, there is a credibility problem. Reporters do not believe them anymore.

anymore. And that's part of the problem. But it's not up to reporters to believe him. It's up to the voters. Yeah, but the voters have been less willing. 100%. But I'm just saying that I don't know if it's a credibility problem with voters or if it's with reporters. And that's what it means. If he's staying in, then he needs to take his message to the voters. But don't you think part of the thing that's happening now is a lot of reporters are catching up to where voters have already been? Voters have said forever in every poll for over a year that they thought 70% of Americans can't agree on anything, except they think that Joe Biden's too old.

that that's that totally fair i'm just saying it's not up to reporters to know if he's credible night up to the voters those are the people who ultimately he is serving here and i understand the credibility issue i'm not arguing that way i'm just saying that if he stayed in this race he needs to take his argument to the voters and he needs to do more inscripted moments i thought that let joe be joe get out there i totally agree but this is up to the voters here now i i mean look the the

I take both of your points that the voters have been telling us this. Frankly, the media has come in for some criticism for being too credulous in believing what the White House has said. So here we are.

Coming up next here, Vice President Harris standing behind her boss. There is plenty going on behind the scenes that we're going to dig into. Plus, Israel and Hamas possibly inching closer to a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Plus, Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell joins us live to talk about President Biden's prospects in her swing state on this Independence Day.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. What are some of the social service agencies that have supported you and your family growing up? That's Dr. Robert Waldinger. He's a psychiatrist, a professor, and a Zen master. What kind of relationships actually help us maintain happiness? And what should we do in those moments where we have setbacks and things that don't work out? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, welcome back. Vice President Kamala Harris is standing behind her boss, but she's also waiting in the wings as Democrats grapple with who would replace Biden if he were to step aside. Harris was in the room Wednesday for that high-stakes White House meeting between Biden and Democratic governors. She also had lunch with the president. One senior campaign source tells CNN...

The message that President Biden's team is sending is, quote, he's with her. CNN's Jeff Zeleny reporting that should Biden step aside, several party officials and insiders, officials and advisers say plans are underway for Biden to immediately throw his support behind Harris. She is treading carefully. Here's what she said earlier this week.

Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we're going to beat him again, period. Are you ready to leave the country if necessary? I am proud to be Joe Biden's running mate.

So, of course, there's also this headline in The Washington Post, Democrats rallying around Harris as potential nominee. It's on the front page as President Biden continues to face questions. There are growing signs many in the Democratic Party are willing to accept the notion of Vice President Harris at the top of their presidential ticket, a potentially significant shift. And I have to say, I've been picking this up in my reporting, too. I mean, Alex, where do you think this sort of

i mean it's all very quiet it's all behind the scenes but man the elbows are being thrown the conversations are being had among the people that would would step up if biden stepped aside yeah kamala harris is the clear front runner and it's not clear who if anybody would actually challenge her for the nomination but the thing is that she you know we talked about credibility she's going to have to first of all answer the fact that she's been one of the main public validators

of his health. Remember after the Her report, she went out there and said, he is with it, he is commanding everything in the room. She's gonna have to sit down and answer tough questions. And we talked about Joe Biden hasn't really been out there with reporters. Kamala Harris, besides that initial CNN and MSNBC interview right after the debate, she hasn't really been out there answering questions. And she's gonna, they're gonna be, if Joe Biden drops out,

the first week that she is out there is going to be critical. Because if there's any signs of chinks in the armor, there are many, as you just said, there are many people in the wings that are ready to pounce as soon as she shows weakness. Yeah. I mean, Megan, this has been part of the difficult set of decisions that the president and his team have been facing, is that they do view her as having weaknesses, right? But that said, bypassing her is...

very, very difficult for a variety of reasons. What is your sense of where people are right now? I mean, are they kind of solidifying in terms of, OK, if we're going to do this, Kamala is going to be our person. The question is about the VP. How do you envision something playing out were the president to step aside? Yeah, I think that people look, people cast ballots for her. Her name was on the ticket. So people did cast ballots for her. She will have the she will get access to the money that they have raised together. She'll have an extreme money advantage. She also has a lot of name ID. So I just think it makes sense for her. It makes things a lot less messy. This is

already going to be extremely challenging and very messy if he is to step aside. So it makes sense to put behind her and then find a VP candidate for her to choose a VP candidate that may be one of these other people that are waiting in the wings. I don't see how the Democratic Party picks somebody else for a variety of other reasons as well. You can't overstep the first black woman who's on the ticket. That just doesn't seem like that's going to bode well for our base. But, you know, it just it's

It's anyone's guess right now what's going to happen. Also, it's going to depend if the president does drop the timeline in which he drops. If he drops in the next week, that's going to be a different scenario than if he drops in a month. And I think that also should be taken into consideration here. There are rules with our conventions. So all these things matter, but I just don't see how we overstep

the vice president. Lance, Trevor, I mean, how do Republicans look at this? President Trump, there's a video that the Daily Beast has. No one's awake here yet to approve it, so I can't play it. But he calls Kamala Harris pathetic. He uses swear words. He basically says, you know, dismisses her out of hand. How do Republicans view running against a potential Harris candidate?

at the top of the ticket look i i think we've seen the polling and i mean the one thing republicans have going for them prior to this debate stuff is they were unified behind donald trump right it was joe biden who was still struggling with african-americans latinos some of his base and so if they're going to go into and he steps aside there's probably going to be a fight and i don't think that helps their unification on their side at all so i think if you're the trump campaign you just kind of keep doing what you're doing and take a step back if your opponent's tripping over themselves yeah

Those veepstakes, that veepstakes chatter that was so loud right before the debate suddenly disappeared. Where did that go? All right. Coming up next here, explanations or excuses how the Biden campaign is trying to move past the debate disaster. Plus, Hurricane Beryl's next target and your holiday weekend forecast ahead. And here's a live look at Nashville. They are setting up for their Fourth of July celebrations tonight on Broadway.

All right, welcome back. This morning, Hurricane Beryl is bearing down on the Cayman Islands after battering Jamaica as a Category 4 storm. Beryl has now weakened a little bit to a Category 3, but it's still packing a life-threatening storm surge and 120-mile-an-hour winds. At least one person died in Jamaica, bringing the storm death toll across the Caribbean to eight. Let's get to our meteorologist Elisa Rafa for the latest here. Elisa, we're now seeing storm watches and warnings in Mexico as well.

Yes, that's one of the next places that we're worried about. We have hurricane force conditions starting up pretty soon in the Cayman Islands. Conditions getting better in Jamaica. The warnings there were allowed to be dropped. But we still have a Category 3 120 mile per hour hurricane right now. We still have

major hurricane status as it gets towards the Cayman Islands. Winds right now are gusting up towards 50, one miles per hour for parts of the Cayman Islands and you can see where the conditions have gotten better back towards Kingston in Jamaica. So as we go through the day today, we're looking at the hurricane conditions in the Cayman Islands. Then by tomorrow we're looking at another landfall, likely somewhere

You know, in Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula, Cancun, Cozumel, we could be looking at storm surge up to four to six feet. Intense rain as well. Hurricane force conditions starting there going into tomorrow. Then it gets back into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and we can find it reintensify a little bit.

as it heads towards another landfall. Rain totals on the Yucatan Peninsula could be looking at four to six inches, maybe even up to 10 inches in some locations. That could cause some flash flooding. After that, we'll have to see what it does in the Gulf of Mexico before it heads possibly to South Texas. Kasey. - All right, Elisa Rafa for us this morning. Elisa, thank you very much.

Coming up next here, Team Biden facing criticism for their handling of the aftermath of the president's disastrous debate. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan is here to share her thoughts for the Biden campaign. Plus, President Biden honoring two Union soldiers from the Civil War on this Independence Day.

They've clearly fumbled this. And I think that we have to be honest about that. I think there are as many for me as many questions about President Biden's advisors, both those who did the debate prep and those who are continuing to give him advice, as there are for me about President Biden himself.

Not exactly. Ring an endorsement for Team Biden. That was Democrat Katie Porter of California. She is not the only one in the party who thinks that the president isn't being well served by his top advisors and that it may be too late. Sarah Fisher, senior media reporter for Axios, is joining our discussion now. Sarah, you've kind of...

looked at this from the perspective that you often do in terms of whether or not this is even recoverable from an optics perspective. What have you been hearing from people? I mean, yeah, there's been a lot of blaming of the staff. There's been a lot of questions about, okay, what is he doing now? Could he make a difference if he does it now? But the reality is the country can't unsee what happened last Thursday. That's exactly right. So one of the things that the

president is trying to argue is don't look at this ninety minute debate look at my three point five years will the challenge also works in the flip side 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 so the challenge that they now face is the abc news interview isn't gonna be enough

they're gonna have to show and demonstrate that he can do this repeatedly and by the way in unscripted format I can't stress that enough you know him doing rallies in Raleigh is not going to convince the American people that he's got a hold on this him doing press conferences where he has a teleprompter is not going to convince the American people he needs to be in an interview where he's being pressed live in an

spontaneous moment so people can see whether or not he can really be quick on his feet. Well, I mean, that's the ultimate question at hand. Megan Hayes, can you kind of take us inside the dynamics of the inner circle of

of Biden world because the closest is obviously his family. We're gonna talk about them in a second, but the next ring out of people, it's this sort of cadre of aides and advisors that have been with him a long time. And then there's Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer, Bob Bauer, his personal attorney, Anita, well known to those of us in Washington, she's been around this town a long time. There seems to be some blame for Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer going

going around town on this. But obviously, you know, the president himself, to his credit, actually, in my opinion, does not seem to be blaming the staff publicly. But there are some people talking behind the scenes blaming them.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, these people have been around him for many, many years, probably. I mean, I think Mike Donald's been around for 40 years with him. Anita worked in the Obama White House and knew him then. And she's also been around, you know, in his off time, the off years. And then on the campaign, she was very involved. I think that Bob has been his personal lawyer for a very long time, but it was also in the Obama White House. So these people have been around President Biden for an extremely long time. So they know him very, very well. It is to your what you were just saying is he would he would never blame staff. That is not how the president would ever blame.

conduct himself, he will always take the blame before he blames staff. That's just not how he conducts himself. He does not fire people. That's been reported many times. Very notorious. But these are people who don't fire people. And so I just, you know, these people have just been around him for a really long time, know him very well. But to that, there's also then you sort of get blinded by some of these other things that people are pointing out and that the media has

been pointing out. So it does have a little bit of a weird juxtaposition here that it's great to have all these people who know you so well, but then are they also the ones telling you the truth? That I don't know. When I was there, Anita and Steve and Ron was there and Mike and Mike.

um donald and bruce reid they do speak truth to power i've seen them speak truth to power you know there's other people also around secretary blinken jake sullivan there's a lot of people that have been around him for a long time that do speak a lot of truth to power here so if they're not naive to this but they are going to close ranks and you know this is something that's good to have loyal advisors he

very much values the loyalty of them. - Well, one thing really quick to add to that, I do find it really striking the fact that, you know, Anita and Bob, while their names are being out there and blamed, they are also the ones that have been around him for the shortest amount of time. 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. And even though I think Meghan says that she's seen them speak truth to power, there is a feeling among a lot of Biden worlds that they are much less willing to do that to Joe Biden than Anita and Bob and Ron Klain have been. And part of this is because there is a culture within parts of Biden world that if you raise problems, that it can be deemed as potentially disloyal.

And so I think the most important aides right now are Mike Donilon, Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti, Anthony Bernal, First Lady's top advisor, and Annie Tomasini. Those are the people that are really going to determine the next three weeks of this presidency. And of course, it's also really going to come down

to his family because this big decision to stay in the race or go is going to be very dependent on what the family thinks most of all and possibly exclusively. The White House is pushing back on reports that First Lady Jill Biden is hiding details of her husband's condition. Other Biden family members, though now suggesting the campaign needs to clean house, that's the staff,

NBC News is reporting that Jill Biden believes that now is the time for the president to keep fighting on. And this reasoning stuck out to me. They write, quote, she pointed to all they have endured since Biden decided to run for the White House, including attacks on Hunter Biden and criminal investigations into their son that have publicly exposed some of the family's darkest and most painful moments.

to make the point that now was the time to fight two people familiar with the conversation said. Megan, you're nodding. Expound. Look, I think that they are a family that's been through a lot from the time his first wife passed and when the car accident was killed with his wife and daughter. He has...

has endured a lot in his life and as a politician. I do think that they are fighters. I do think that that is Dr. Biden's general mode of operating here is to fight. She also is very supportive. I would push back a little bit on the hiding his condition. I'm not sure that he has a condition to push back on. He is old.

like he has an 81 year old man. So I'm not, that's not being hidden. So I just, I don't think that's a fair assessment for Dr. Biden, but she does have a lot of say here and she does have a lot of influence within the West wing and to the president. And so I just, I don't think that that should go unnoticed and or untalked about because it is important that the family and her have a lot of influence on this. Yeah. One thing I'll say on that influence, you got to be careful not to exert too much of it. We see after the debate, Jill Biden looks like she has to be his pep rally talk

person, right? Obama looks like he has to sort of hold the president's hand. You want to show that you're supporting the president, but not that you have to hold his hand throughout it, because that makes the age thing look worse. 100%. But President Obama and the first lady are two different people. The first lady is his wife.

That is a very different dynamic and relationship. And her goal and her responsibility as a wife and the first lady are different than the president or other members of this party. I don't know if the American people see it that way. I think they see a president who's being held by his closest people up because he's too old to do it. I just disagree. I think that the role of a wife and a spouse is so different than the role of your advisors and the role of President Obama. It's not even the same.

it's literally not the same that makes sense i do have some questions around like the vogue cover though right kind of the stepping out because i do think because that role is different the risk for jill biden is the perception that she's running the show right absolutely but i think that you know as everyone knows here how media does their timing this was probably planned a long time ago months in advance obviously that photo and the cover was put

put together weeks ago. I don't think that they were planning to have Thursday night happen the way that they were. Obviously, we're all sitting here talking about that they had a slow strategy to solve the problem. So they didn't have a plan B here, right? So I think that that's a little bit of an unfair criticism. It does give that perception now. Totally fair to have that now. But I don't think this would be an unnormal thing going into the convention to have her on the cover of Vogue. Really quick, though, on the Vogue thing. I asked them because it's the August cover. So and they

And I asked them point blank, did you call Vogue and just say, hey, do we have to drop the digital edition? Can you wait a week? And they just did not answer. If they've reached out to Vogue and asked, I thought it was very telling. They did not answer that. I think it also speaks a little bit to the bunker mentality that nobody thought that maybe this was a potentially bad idea in terms of timing. Now, it was months in the planning. The one thing I'd be curious to get your take on, though, Megan, is, you know, for so much of her career, Biden's career,

Jill Biden was an unenthusiastic political spouse, a reluctant political spouse. But then you've really seen, especially the last few years, but really the last several months, she has become an incredibly enthusiastic political spouse. And I'm curious if you do, I don't know,

Like, if you have an opinion, why? I mean, I think it's-- she did a lot of travel when we were in the vice president's office. She's done a lot of stuff on the campaign trail. I mean, she gave up teaching to be on the campaign trail with us in '20. So she's always been there and enthusiastic behind the scenes. Maybe the media wasn't covering her as much as they are now. I do think she's a very influential figure. I think when you step into the role of first lady,

You know, we saw with Michelle Obama, you become elevated. People expect you to do things. You know, it's a volunteer position. She does not like she's getting paid for doing this, but she's out all the time. She still is teaching. To my knowledge, I think she taught last semester. So I think, you know, I do think that the media is covering it more and paying attention more. But I also think that she wants to be there for him. She wants to be supportive. This is their family doing this. This isn't just President Biden. This is their family. And so I think, you know, she is being more supportive. She's being supportive in a way I think that is

is understandable, but I mean, I just think the media is covering it more. - All right, very interesting. Sarah Fisher, very grateful to have you on this holiday. Thank you so much for coming in. All right, ahead here, excuses or explanations how the White House is framing President Biden's debate performance. Plus Congresswoman Debbie Dingell joins us as the Democratic Party tries to bounce back from a very tough night.

All right, 47 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. A barge carrying fireworks in the New England water caught fire overnight ahead of July 4th festivities. Marbleheads, fireworks and harbor show that was scheduled for later tonight has now been canceled. Local officials are still investigating the cause.

Talks between Israel and Hamas reportedly heating up. An Israeli source tells CNN the two sides are on the brink of hammering out a framework agreement for a ceasefire and a hostage deal. The plan still awaiting the blessing of Prime Minister Netanyahu. President Biden honoring two Union soldiers for their heroics in 1862. Descendants of two of these privates, Philip Shadrach and George Wilson, receiving their Medals of Honor.

The two soldiers dressed as civilians, they hijacked a Confederate train in Georgia and they drove it north for nearly 90 miles, destroying enemy infrastructure along the way. - Until the very end, George and Philip believed in the United States of America. The only nation on earth founded on an idea

All right, let's get back to politics now. The inescapable fact is that time is not on President Biden's side. He knows it, and he has admitted privately the coming days and hours will make or break his reelection hopes after that disastrous debate performance. His closest allies know it, too.

He obviously has a very heavy decision to make, but he won the delegates and so he's in a situation where he gets to make that decision. But I do think that we don't have a lot of time for him to make that decision and we wish him Godspeed in his deliberations.

And joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. Congresswoman, very grateful to have you on the show this morning. Really appreciate you starting off your Fourth of July with us. I just kind of want to start with where do we stand? I mean, Jamie Raskin there seemed to be saying,

Let's let's decide this quickly. He didn't say it out loud, but it seemed to be like, let's make a decision to get off the ticket relatively quickly. Is that how you heard it? Where do you stand on the timeline that you think that the president has here? Well, good morning, Casey. Happy for us. And I hope you go to lots of parades today.

I want to be, first of all, I want to say, I guess I'm getting in this mood of why is everybody not talking about Donald Trump and the lapses that he has made too, just as an aside. But the fact of the matter is, I think a lot of people, most, everybody loves Joe Biden, not most people in the Democratic Party. He's done a good job. He's done incredible. The leadership he has shown for three and a half years,

People love him, they respect him. Anything that's done, they want to show that respect and that love.

And there's a lot of fear. And there is, quite frankly, fear all over the place. There is panic by some that are running for reelection. But quite frankly, there are a very real number of people that understand the delegate process, the nominating process, the convention process, how complicated it would be to replace, and are worried about other untested candidates.

And people that really believe Joe Biden can still do the job. I have talked to everybody all over the place. I think that the one clear thing this week is that there's only one person that can show he is up to the job, has the stamina to do the job, that he will do the job, and that is Joe Biden. And he needs to get out there on a sustained basis.

basis and do things spontaneously. One interview is not going to reassure folks.

We got to be realistic because you know what? I make mistakes all the time. And now he's got a thousand cameras on him, a microscope waiting for a mistake to happen any minute. What he does have to do is show he is strong. He has the ability to do the job and reassure people. But I also want to ask people to start. Why are we only focused on Joe Biden?

Donald Trump didn't have a great night. Nobody's talking about that. And he, too, is only three years younger than Joe Biden. And I would argue at times has really shown some signs in some of his rants. So we're at a we're at an interesting time. Is that a good way to put it? I mean, it's an understatement, but yes, fair enough. I mean, look, I think that we're adjective.

Go ahead. More objectifs? No. No, I'm going to behave. It's Independence Day. This is the day we celebrate our democracy and think about the importance of having to protect it. And I am going to say that, you know, when I was in grade school, we learned about freedom of speech, freedom of religion, due process, freedom of press, what Roe, we take that for granted in the United States of America. On the 4th of July, it's a good time to remember what is at stake.

With the ruling by the Supreme Court on Monday, things we all think we just have, we take for granted that other countries don't, that we have seen happen in other countries in history. Maybe today's a good day to take stock of our freedoms and that we can't take them for granted and what we have to do to protect them.

So I'm glad that you framed it this way because I had actually pulled up something from the speech that Joe Biden gave near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where he talked about many of the themes that we celebrate on the Fourth of July. Let me just play a little bit of it to remind people and then I'll ask you about it on the other side. Watch. Is democracy still America's sacred cause? I mean it.

This is not rhetorical, academic, or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still America's sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time. -So if this is the most urgent question of our time and you say you want to talk about Donald Trump, it seems to me that the main challenge facing President Biden is that the debate showed many Democrats that he simply cannot beat President Trump. Is the threat of President Trump so great that the imperative is that Joe Biden should step aside?

So I don't think the debate showed Thursday night that Joe Biden can't beat Donald Trump. I think what President Biden has to show the people of this country, and it's the American people. I'm tired of people saying, oh, he's got to talk to the donors. He's got to talk to the members. You know, we...

He's got to talk to the American people and he's got to show them what is at stake. And I do think democracy is, you know, I do think the economy is a very critical issue right now too, Casey. And we cannot not talk about the economy from now until November. That's, I've been home, I've like been trying to do my day job in between all the drama of the last few weeks.

We really, the ruling by the Supreme Court on Monday has scared a lot of people, but Joe Biden has to show people

why he can take Donald Trump on because he's the only person that can. In the end, I've had more than one person say to me, and I've given a lot of speeches and talked to a lot of people, and by the way, when you're out in the real world, some people really care. The engaged voter in educated communities has one opinion.

But you go to my down rivers, they're really focused on the economy. They like, why is everybody only talking about the debate? Why aren't they talking about the issues that like I'm really scared about, like my groceries, my job isn't safe, what's happening with trade. They're worried about new viruses that they're hearing.

It's a complicated time out in our country. But there's only one person who can show the American people, and he has to do it now, urgently, and on a sustained basis. Yes, I will take Donald Trump on. I can take Donald Trump on. I will take Donald Trump on, and I will win. Do you think he's waited too long? President Biden, is it too far gone?

I don't think anything's too far gone. You know, and by the way, you're like the only person that hasn't asked me about polls in the last 24 hours. I'm going to remind everybody. You talk about the voters. I mean, the voters are telling you that Joe Biden is losing to Donald Trump and that it's worse now than it was before the debate. Some are, but some aren't.

I've had people I had an African American male who was I can't vote for Joe Biden. I just can't. He told me that six months ago. He said to me this week that debate made me realize why I have to vote for Joe Biden. So we have to do that. And the early polls are exactly that case. The early polls. You remember.

the polls showed Hillary Clinton was going to win. You all told me I was crazy. I said she's going to by the end, when we got to November, I said Donald Trump is going to win. Every one of you said to me, no, polls show how strong she is. Well, not me, to be clear. I did not say that. I came in for a lot of heat from Hillary's people for that.

You saw how many people rolled their eyes at me. You told everybody. They rolled their eyes, yes. They did. They were like, oh, there's Debbie. Well, it's just way too early. It's just. Well, you know, there's a lot more Debbie Dingles out there this time for Biden. I mean, some of those governors went in there and they said like New Mexico, New Hampshire, Maine, Virginia. I mean, there are a lot more warning signs at a lot more states right now for Biden even than there was during that time you're referencing.

Okay, that's what I'm trying to tell you. He's got to go out there and show it this week. That is where time's not on his side. The White House staff can't wrap him in bubble. They got to put him out there quick. I mean, I'm blunt. He should have been on the phone Friday. Took too long to get on the phone. Took too long to talk to people.

I'm glad that the governors and the importance, can you imagine what it was like for the number of governors that flew in yesterday, the Wednesday before the 4th of July? 4th of July is a big deal for politicians like me. I have four parades this morning.

But they all flew in. A lot of the critical governors flew in. You know, well, Westmore didn't have that long a way to go. I think he probably hopped in a car. No, it's a good point. It shows the importance of it. They are not bullshitters. You know, like some of those, excuse my language on morning cable. That's where we are. The governor...

Many of those governors are not. I know them. I know all of them. They're not they're going to tell the truth and they're not going to go out and put their reputations on the line. But Joe Biden's got to show people. I think I haven't talked to anybody in the meeting yet. I probably will this morning. But they wouldn't have come out of there if they didn't see something that made them say they have his back. He can do the job. Now he's got to show the American people the same thing. He has to talk directly to the American people.

All right. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, very grateful to have you on this holiday. Thank you so much.

uh panels back alex your reaction what she said well so i think there are two conversations happening here which is one can joe biden still beat trump but i think that has obscured what is potentially even a more important conversation which is can he do the job he is running for four and a half years from now is he mentally fit to actually do that job and i think that's the question a lot of democrats are asking it's like well it's not just about can he win it's like what happens if he does win

a year from now, two years from now? And will he start missing stuff? Will he have to step down? And there's more to being president than not being Donald Trump. All right. Unfortunately, Megan, you have been on the Hot Seat All Show. I'm going to give you a break because I'm going to talk about Joey Chestnut. Lance, thank you. I'm sorry that you were more part of the furniture. Come back for Veep Stakes.

Like I said, when your opponents like volleys, don't get in the way. Thank you for that. All right, I do want to leave you with this today. Reigning champion, hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut may have lost his seat at the Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on New York's Coney Island, but it appears to have only fed the competitive eater's appetite. Chestnut still planning to down hot dogs. He's just going to be doing it against soldiers at the Fort Bliss Army Base in Texas.

Despite the change of venue, there is still a gastrointestinal challenge. Chestnut says he is hoping to out-eat the winner of the Nathan's contest in half the time. I guess we'll see who cuts the mustard. All right. Thanks very much to our panel. Thanks to all of you for joining us on this Fourth of July holiday. I am Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. Santa News Central starts right now.

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