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Biden's 'big boy' NATO news conference carries high stakes as first presser since disastrous debate

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Biden's 'big boy' NATO news conference carries high stakes as first presser since disastrous debate

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President Biden is slated to face the media late Thursday afternoon in his first solo press conference since his disastrous debate last month, and it’s anticipated that he’ll be grilled as the nation weighs his mental acuity amid heightening health concerns. 

Biden is expected to hold the news conference on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. after hosting NATO leaders in Washington, D.C., this week. The media has dubbed the press conference a “big boy press conference,” with the president fielding questions from the media solo. It marks Biden’s first solo press conference of the year and the first time he will speak to the media at a presser since his debate against former President Trump on June 27, Fox News found.

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Biden is facing heightened concerns over his health in the wake of his poor debate performance, which opened floodgates of concern in the Democratic Party that the president’s 81 years of age and alleged slipping mental acuity will cost the party as the Biden campaign squares up against Trump.

At least nine elected Democrats have called on Biden to drop out since the debate, and at least 23 Democrats, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin, have expressed concern over Biden’s performance and re-election effort.

DEMOCRATS, MEDIA DEMAND BIDEN DO MORE INTERVIEWS, PRESS CONFERENCES AMID DEBATE FALLOUT

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg listens as President Biden speaks during NATO’s 75th anniversary celebratory event in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 2024. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Biden has vowed to remain in the race despite rising concerns and calls for him to drop out and let another candidate take on Trump. 

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“There’s been a lot of speculation: What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What’s he going to do?” Biden said Friday in a speech in Madison, Wisconsin. “Well, here’s my answer: I am running and going to win again.”

On Wednesday, Pelosi suggested in an interview that Biden should reconsider his vow to remain in the race, adding fuel to the fire of the party’s disarray.

NATO SUMMIT IN DC IS ‘PIVOTAL’ MAKE-OR-BREAK MOMENT FOR BIDEN AS SCRUTINY OVER FITNESS FOR OFFICE INTENSIFIES

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” she said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.”

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with,” she added. 

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Pelosi said in the interview that she and other Democrats are waiting to see how the week goes for Biden, suggesting that she told fellow Democrats to not speak publicly about their thoughts on Biden until the week concludes.

“Let’s just hold off,” she said. “Whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week.”

Biden delivered a strong NATO speech on Tuesday afternoon, compared to his disastrous debate performance and repeated gaffes during public events in recent months, but praise for the speech from prominent allies has been few and far between.

The president earned praise on social media from liberal-leaning accounts that said the president delivered a “classic” and “strong speech.” Prominent Democrats, however, overwhelmingly remained silent from publicly remarking on the speech. Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Mark Warner and the White House for comment about whether they view the speech as a success but did not receive replies. 

“Today, NATO is more powerful than ever,” Biden said Tuesday evening during his speech. “It’s good that we’re stronger than ever because this moment in history calls for our collective strength. Autocrats want to overturn global order, which is, by and large, kept for nearly 80 years and counting. Terrorist groups continue to plot evil schemes, cause mayhem and chaos and suffering in Europe. Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, and Putin wants nothing less than Ukraine’s total subjugation to end Ukraine.”

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BIDEN DELIVERS STRONG SPEECH TOUTING NATO AMID HEALTH QUESTIONS, DEMOCRATS’ CONCERNS

In addition to the president’s NATO speech on Tuesday, Biden’s schedule is stacked with NATO meetings, dinners, a bilateral meeting with newly minted U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and a meeting with the nation’s largest federation of trade unions, the AFL-CIO, among other engagements this week. The press conference is the most highly anticipated event on his schedule for members of the media as well as the Democratic Party because it allows the president to directly speak with reporters as questions mount about his health.

NATO heads of state posing for group photo

Heads of state are shown during NATO’s 75th anniversary celebratory event in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Since Biden’s disastrous debate performance, Democrats and the media have repeatedly said that if Biden remains in the race, he needs to hold more interviews and press conferences.

“The only way for him and the campaign to respond is not by talking to senators or governors, because this is not a tell-me situation. It’s a show-me situation,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told CNN last Wednesday. “So he’d have to be out and about in the hurly-burly of a campaign, open-ended press conferences with folks like you, engagements with voters that are unscripted.”

BIDEN ‘WORKING THE PHONES’ IN BATTLE TO SAVE RE-ELECTION BID, WITH DEMOCRATS STARTING TO RETURN TO HIS CAMP

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Joe Biden closing eyes in CNN debate shot

President Biden shocked the nation with his disastrous debate performance, sparking calls for him to leave the 2024 race. (Getty Images)

Biden did sit down for an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopolos that aired on July 5, but the interview did not quell mounting concerns over the president’s mental acuity and age, most notably when Biden repeatedly dodged whether he would take a cognitive test.

BIDEN SAYS ‘WORLD’S LOOKING TO AMERICA’ AS HE FACES SCRUTINY BEFORE HOSTING NATO SUMMIT

“Have you had the specific cognitive tests, and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“No, no one said I had to. … They said I’m good,” Biden responded.

Biden still from ABC interview

President Biden raised eyebrows when he expressed uncertainty about whether he had watched his debate performance in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. (Screenshot/ABC)

Stephanopoulos pressed Biden a third time on taking a cognitive or neurological test and whether he would release the results of such a test to the public. The president, however, brushed off the question by saying he is tested every day in his role as president.

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“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden said. “Every day I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Sounds like hyperbole, but we are the central nation in the world.”

Biden closeup shot from NATO summit speech

President Biden has insisted he has no intention of stepping aside. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden’s public events this week will be crucial for not only his campaign but also for how America is viewed on the world stage, experts previously told Fox News Digital, which might explain why Democrats were not eager to outright praise the president’s NATO speech on Tuesday.

“This week is pivotal for President Biden not only because of the intense interest in what he will be saying at his press events but also because this summit provides a clear example of restored American global leadership in support of our nation’s defense,” Joel Rubin, a former State Department official during the Obama administration, previously told Fox News Digital.

DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS MOSTLY RESIST CALLING FOR BIDEN TO DROP OUT DESPITE PRIVATE CONCERNS: REPORTS

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital this week that Biden “must show the American public that he has the ability to serve out the remainder of this term, let alone a future one” as the “eyes of the world” watch the NATO summit. 

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“It is on President Biden to show he’s capable and up to the task,” Lawler said. “What we’ve seen in recent weeks doesn’t cut it.”

Karine Jean-Pierre at WH briefing room podium

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (Andrew Thomas/NurPhoto via Getty Images/File)

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week that reporters can expect to ask the president questions during the presser at the end of the NATO summit.

“You can expect a solo press conference from this president at the end of … the NATO summit. He’s looking forward to it. And he will be taking your questions. So, that’ll be a good thing,” Jean-Pierre said on Monday.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken and Hanna Panreck contributed to this article.

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Trump replies to DA Bragg in case to get conviction tossed in light of Supreme Court immunity decision

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Trump replies to DA Bragg in case to get conviction tossed in light of Supreme Court immunity decision

Former President Donald Trump has filed a reply brief in his case to have his conviction in N.Y. v Trump overturned after the Supreme Court ruled presidents have some immunity for official acts in office. 

Trump was found guilty in an unprecedented criminal trial last month on all counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, following a six-week trial stemming from Bragg’s investigation. Trump has already requested Judge Juan Merchan overturn the verdict. 

TRUMP’S APPEAL TO LIFT REMAINING PARTS OF NY GAG ORDER DENIED

Donald Trump arrives to Trump Tower, Thursday, May 30, 2024, after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)

In the filing Thursday, lawyers for Trump argued that “The Supreme Court of the United States ruled conclusively and unequivocally that President Trump is protected by immunity for his official acts.”

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“In this case, a politically motivated district attorney violated that immunity by using official-acts evidence in grand jury proceedings and at trial. Therefore, the case must be dismissed, and the jury’s verdicts must be vacated.”

The Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office but not for unofficial acts. The high court said Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for “official acts” but left it to the lower court to determine exactly where the line between official and unofficial is.

Alvin Bragg

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 21: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 

“The President therefore may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts,” the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts states. “That immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office, regardless of politics, policy, or party.”

TRUMP TOUTS SUPREME COURT’S PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY RULING AS ‘BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND FOR DEMOCRACY’

The question of presidential immunity stemmed from special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case against Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty to those charges. That trial was put on hold in a lower court pending the Supreme Court’s ruling, which wiped out any charges related to official presidential acts.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in the filing Thursday, argued that Bragg offered official acts evidence during the six-week-long unprecedented criminal trial. Blanche said that included official White House communications with staffers like Hope Hicks, Madeleine Westerhout, and more. 

Trump and Todd Blanche address the media after hush-money guilty verdict

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media alongside his attorney Todd Blanche after the conclusion of his hush money trial in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024.  (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Blanche also said Trump’s official public statements made via Twitter were used as evidence; his official acts in response to inquiries by the Federal Election Commission; official acts relating to inquiries by Congress and prosecutors; and more. 

“President Trump was subjected to fundamentally unfair proceedings that invited jurors to examine official-acts evidence based on ‘their views of the President’s policies and performance while in office,’” Blanche wrote. “This fundamental unfairness also harms the public because of the adverse impact of these violations on the work of future Presidents to serve the American people.” 

He added: “For the reasons set forth in the Defense Motion and herein, the Court should dismiss the Indictment and vacate the jury’s verdicts based on violations of the Presidential immunity doctrine and the Supremacy Clause.” 

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Judge Juan Merchan, last month, agreed to Trump’s request to delay his original sentencing date, July 11, and said that a hearing on Trump’s potential sentencing would take place Sept. 18. 

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Ali: What's so hard about mixed-race heritage for Trump to understand?

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Ali: What's so hard about mixed-race heritage for Trump to understand?

It wasn’t a debate. It was train wreck interview, and no one from Donald Trump’s party has called on him to step out of the presidential race — but they should.

The former president characterized Vice President Kamala Harris as a woman who can’t be trusted based on her mixed racial background during a livestreamed appearance in Chicago for the annual meeting of the National Assn. of Black Journalists.

“[Kamala] was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said of his likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election.

Harris’ mother is South Asian and her father is Black. It’s still a bit much for Trump to process, though he tried in real time to weaponize this information for his first big showing since Harris became his probable competition in the presidential race.

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“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” he asked. “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went … she became a Black person. I think somebody should look into that too.”

Look into what, exactly? And does this critical investigation require a DNA test, a lie detector test, or both? What is so hard about mixed heritage to understand here?

Trump stopped short of using terms like “half-breed” or “unpure,” but the message was clear: mixed-race folks and those of multiple ethnicities are oddball anomalies, flip-floppers who must pick one identity to be trusted. Even then, their birthplace, citizenship and religious beliefs will be dissected and scrutinized by the birther movement he spearheaded against Barack Obama nearly a decade ago.

Race baiting and hating is nothing new to MAGA, of course, but it was still stunning to hear it come out of a presidential candidate’s mouth on a national stage with such confidence and candor.

For those of us who grew up in “mixed” households, the demand that we stay in one lane is not new, but it’s still absurd. Personally, I’m moving between outrage and disappointment that we’re still having these sorts of midcentury conversations in 2024.

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Explaining who or what you are to hostile interrogators (i.e., teachers, school bullies) is exhausting, especially as a kid. It certainly was to me. I hoped the world would change in time for my son, who is Arab, Indian and white.

Portraying Harris as The Other in front of a room full of Black journalists Wednesday backfired big time. His attempt to sow doubt about Harris’ blackness, in front of a predominantly Black audience, didn’t appear to win hearts and minds.

There were groans from the audience when he proclaimed he was the best president for Black people since Abraham Lincoln, and when he accused Rachel Scott of ABC News (one of three female interviewers on stage) of giving him a “very rude introduction.” Her tough first questions about his criticisms of Black journalists, Black prosecutors and communities in general were apparently “nasty.”

That sort of speak is ear-candy in the MAGA-verse, where elected officials resurrect Jim Crow-era descriptors like “colored” and use terms like “DEI hire” to discredit Harris. The latter smear suggests that she was picked for VP not because of her accomplishments as California’s attorney general or as a U.S. senator, but because she checks a few demographic boxes. But the GOP’s desperate scramble for a winning screed against Harris is not taking hold yet, at least not in the same way the age card was used against President Biden when he was in the race.

Still, Trump doubled down on his “You can’t trust her” banter via his Truth Social platform. “Crazy Kamala is saying she’s Indian, not Black,” he wrote. “This is a big deal. Stone cold phony.” Or perhaps it’s that she’s a threat to Trump’s world order.

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Harris is the daughter of, wait for it, immigrants! Her father is Jamaican and her mother is Indian. She attended Howard University, a historically Black university and she pledged to the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a U.S. senator representing California, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Harris addressed Trump’s attacks from where she was speaking on Wednesday — the historically African American sorority Sigma Gamma Rho’s 60th International Biennial Boule.

“It was the same old show: the divisiveness, and the disrespect,” Harris said. “We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us — they are an essential source of our strength.”

Harris is right. Those of us from mixed parentage already know this, even if Trump wants to portray that truth as a weakness.

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Democrats start virtual roll call to nominate Harris to be the party's nominee against Trump

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Democrats start virtual roll call to nominate Harris to be the party's nominee against Trump

A virtual roll call to formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee kicked off on Thursday.

The Democratic National Committee’s electronic voting for their party’s 2024 standard-bearer comes less than two weeks after President Biden, in a blockbuster announcement, ended his re-election campaign and endorsed his vice president to succeed him at the top of the ticket.

Unlike the Republicans, who held their roll call in-person during their convention in Milwaukee last month, the DNC is using a virtual roll call which will conclude on Monday, two weeks ahead of the Aug. 19 start of the party’s convention at the United Center in Chicago.

HARRIS LEANS IN ON BORDER SECURITY AND TRUMP RELISHES THE FIGHT

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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But similar to the GOP nomination of former President Trump, there is no drama, as the vice president is the only candidate who qualified by a Tuesday night deadline to have her name placed on the roll call.

2024 AD WARS: TRUMP, HARRIS RACE TO DEFINE VICE PRESIDENT

Biden’s disastrous performance against Trump at a late June debate that was held in Atlanta fueled questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House.

It also spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the 81-year-old president to end his bid for a second term in the White House. 

Biden speaks from Oval Office

President Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, about his decision to drop his re-election bid. (Evan Vucci, Pool via AP)

Biden’s immediate backing of Harris ignited a surge of endorsements for the vice president by Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders and elders. Within 36 hours, Harris announced that she had locked up her party’s nomination by landing the verbal backing of a majority of the nearly 4,700 convention delegates.

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The DNC decided to hold a virtual roll call – which is similar to the one they held four years ago to nominate Biden amid the coronavirus pandemic – in order to formally have a nominee topping their ticket ahead of an Aug. 7 ballot access deadline in Ohio.

“Our delegates have an important responsibility – and opportunity – in the days ahead to cast their history-making ballots for Vice President Harris, ensuring that she will be on the ballot in every state this November,” DNC chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement earlier this week.

1 OF THESE 5 DEMOCRATS COULD BE HARRIS’ RUNNING MATE

The DNC reported that 3,923 delegates petitioned to put Harris on the ballot for the Democratic nomination, and that no other candidate met the party’s threshold of 300 delegate signatures to qualify for the ballot. 

While the official nomination vote by the delegates is being held remotely, the DNC says a ceremonial roll call will be held at the convention in Chicago. 

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Donald Trump speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention

Former President Trump, speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

With the nomination of Harris not in doubt, speculation has soared in the past week over whom the vice president will choose as her running mate. The Harris campaign announced that the vice president and her soon-to-be-named running mate will embark on a swing through all seven key battleground states starting Tuesday in Pennsylvania.

The running mate announcement could potentially come as early as Monday evening.

That’s when it’s expected Harris will be announced as the nominee, following the 6 p.m. ET conclusion of the virtual roll call. DNC rules then allow for Harris to place the name of her running mate into nomination. 

According to the DNC, the convention chair would then declare that candidate to be the party’s vice presidential nominee.

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Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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