Republican unity dominates the stage

Former President Donald Trump has often been a symbol of division. His shock takeover of the Republican Party wasn’t greeted with open arms by senior members of the GOP. The 2016 and 2024 primaries were a series of contentious fights that included name-calling and personal attacks. 

But as President Joe Biden falters and struggles to fight off a brewing revolution against him by Democrats and in the wake of nearly being assassinated, Trump and Republicans are trying on a new unity outfit. 

From Milwaukee, National Politics Correspondent Mabinty Quarshie and Congressional Reporter Cami Mondeaux took Day 2 of the Republican National Convention in and boiled it down. While the day is packed with speakers, events, meetings, and sideline bits of gossip, the new unity message dominated the day, with former Trump opponents Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley both addressing the crowd from the stage weeks after neither of them had been scheduled to make an appearance. 

“After a bitter primary against Trump, Haley officially folded back into the Trump-led GOP when she spoke to the convention Tuesday evening,” Mabinty and Cami write. 

“I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear: Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Period,” Haley said in throwing her support behind Trump. 

DeSantis, who gave Trump his endorsement after the former president became the presumptive nominee, used his time on the stage to attack Biden, poking fun at his age with a Weekend at Bernie’s jab. 

“We need a commander in chief who can lead 24 hours a day and seven days a week,” he said. “America cannot afford four more years of a weekend at Bernie’s presidency.”

Click here to read about the former foes, longtime allies, and family members who stood behind Trump. And click here for a preview of what to expect at the RNC today.

Known unknowns about Trump assassination attempt

It’s been more than 40 years since a current or former president has been shot. Saturday’s events in Butler, Pennsylvania, have sent the security world spinning and put the Secret Service in the hot seat with Congress and the White House. 

And every day that goes by with the biggest question everyone has unanswered, the more intense that scrutiny is going to become.

We don’t know why the gunman set up on a rooftop hundreds of feet away from the former president and tried to kill him, Justice Reporter Ashley Oliver writes this morning. And there are several other questions that have gone unanswered as the Secret Service and FBI scramble to patch over severe failures over the weekend.

“Days after a gunman shot at former President Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, questions persist about how the shocking incident could have occurred,” Ashley writes. 

“Authorities have not explained how or why Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old armed suspect, gained a clear line of sight of Trump from a rooftop about 400 feet away from the former president.” 

The Secret Service has oscillated between saying it is going to be cooperative with Congress and various committees asking Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for an interview and then explaining why the briefings can’t happen. 

The House Oversight Committee lost its patience with Cheatle and the agency on Tuesday when it learned she was not going to make the agreed-upon July 22 meeting. In order to make sure she does appear, the committee is planning to subpoena the director, according to a spokesperson. 

All this happened after Trump supposedly was under increased protection due to threats from Iranian actors with designs to kill the former president. There isn’t any indication the would-be assassin has any ties to foreign actors. But the failures amid increased security are adding another layer of intrigue to an already murky situation for security services.

Click here to read more about the questions the country is waiting to hear answers about in the Trump assassination attempt.

What Democrats do in the shadows

Democrats and Biden should be enjoying their time out of the spotlight. Two weeks of intense focus on the president’s age, physical fitness, and mental ability to keep going with the hardest job in the world put them in an uncomfortable position that had mostly been occupied by Republicans for the last year and a half. 

The circumstances for falling out of the limelight were dreadful. Not being the center of attention because your political opponent was the victim of an attempted assassination is not where any politician wants to be. However, the attention was going to trend toward Trump and the GOP regardless as the RNC was set to dominate headlines and set the tone for the home stretch of Trump’s campaign. 

Sitting on the sidelines of reporters’ attention hasn’t swayed Democrats critical of Biden or forced them to rethink their calls for him to step aside in favor of someone else at the top of the ticket, Congressional Reporter Rachel Schilke writes today. 

No news isn’t exactly good news for the president, as several representatives for critical Democrats told Rachel that just because they aren’t talking about it right now doesn’t mean they’ve changed their minds about Biden’s fitness. 

“Of the 19 Democrats who had previously called for Biden to step aside, it appears that none of them are looking to walk back their desire for a new nominee,” Rachel writes. “Spokespeople for Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), the last vulnerable New York Democrat, and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) told the Washington Examiner that their position on Biden’s candidacy has not changed.”

And some Democrats who haven’t outright called for Biden to step aside are voicing support for a letter instructing the Democratic National Committee not to move forward with a virtual roll-call vote nominating Biden weeks before the convention in Chicago next month. 

“Proceeding with the ‘virtual roll call’ in the absence of a valid legal rationale will be rightly perceived as a purely political maneuver, which we believe would be counterproductive and undermine party unity and cohesion,” the letter said. “Moreover, it would contradict what President Biden himself has repeatedly said to members of Congress in recent days, telling us that anyone who wants to challenge his nomination should do so ‘at the convention.’”

Biden was given a political reprieve this week. Now that Trump has announced his pick for vice president, the calm the president has experienced could end as soon as Friday. 

Trump is set to speak to the RNC Thursday night after days of silent appearances featuring the former president overseeing the political circus but holding his rhetorical fire for the closing event. 

Click here to read more about the brewing Democratic civil war.

New from us

Trump shows conviction with Vance VP pick

DeSantis, Haley, and what might have been

J.D. Vance has broken with GOP on key healthcare policies

GOP convention displays party shift toward populist economic policies

China and Russia challenge NATO at United Nations 

In case you missed it

Buzzy bits about the lighter side of the RNC

Biden signals he’s ready to take action on the Supreme Court

Biden had another bad night

Kevin McCarthy and Matt Gaetz really, really don’t like each other

For your radar

Biden will receive his daily brief in the morning before participating in a radio interview at 12:15 p.m. He will deliver remarks at an event in Las Vegas at 1:30 p.m. and participate in a community event at 3:15 p.m. before flying to Dover, Delaware, en route to Rehoboth Beach. 

Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling to Michigan to speak at an event and participate in a moderated conversation before traveling back to Washington, D.C.

Politics as normal?

A shooter coming within hundreds of feet of a former president flanked by some of the best security service in the world and shooting off a piece of his ear upended the 2024 presidential campaign over the weekend. The pall of political violence hovered over the first day of the Republican National Convention, but there was also a sense that things were beginning to fall back into place. 

Former President Donald Trump made his first public appearance since the shooting on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, entering the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee to roaring approval. He named his highly anticipated running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and used his Truth Social account to attack Democrats as well as praise Judge Aileen Cannon for handing him yet another legal win when she dismissed his classified documents case. 

As National Political Correspondent Mabinty Quarshie points out for us from the ground in Wisconsin, “speaker after speaker championed the former president as they denigrated President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. But it was Trump entering the building that electrified the crowd Monday night.” 

The event in Milwaukee is the first convention for Republicans since Trump took the reins of the party in 2016. Last time, in-person conventions, voting, and a bevy of other electoral events were put on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

With the world recovered from the worst effects of COVID-19, a sense of excitement among attendees took over on Monday. 

“Jubilant Republicans gathered in Milwaukee excited to hear national and local GOP lawmakers speak before Trump appeared onstage,” Mabinty writes. “A festive air filled the Fiserv Forum with attendees dressed in Americana outfits or in head-to-toe Trump ornaments. As the convention continued Monday night, the crowd continued to chant, ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’” 

Click here to get caught up on everything that happened on Day 1 of the RNC. And take a look ahead for what to expect on Day 2 here.

Cannon cuts classified documents case

Without making light of Trump surviving an attempt on his life, the days following the nightmare scene for the former president have gone well. As noted, he was received warmly by his supporters in Milwaukee. He was renominated to be the party’s standard-bearer in November. And polls show he is on track to do precisely what he failed to do in 2020 despite his continued insistence that he trounced Biden in that election. 

And on Monday, he picked up another legal victory when what might have been the most damning case against him was dismissed in Florida. The Supreme Court ruling that presidents have different levels of immunity for different actions they take while in office has been a boon for Trump. He successfully petitioned to have his sentencing in the New York hush money case delayed until September. And the ruling forced U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to revisit her entire case in Washington, D.C. 

Cannon’s decision on Monday echoed Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in the immunity case, which took direct aim at the appointments of special counsels. 

Trump has railed against special counsel Jack Smith for months and argued he was not legally qualified to bring any kind of charges or conduct an investigation into him. And though Thomas didn’t have any support from his colleagues on the court, Cannon appears to think he is correct. 

Supreme Court Reporter Kaelan Deese took a deep dive into what Monday’s decision will mean — not only for Trump but the knock-on effects for special counsels who investigated both Joe and Hunter Biden as well. 

Cannon’s ruling isn’t final — Kaelan’s piece outlines more about that process — but we can tease out some of the implications this could have for the Biden family here: 

“The decision by Cannon prompted questions about the future of past and current special prosecutors and the mechanisms by which they are appointed and funded in the United States. Legal experts say Cannon did not totally overturn the practice of appointing special counsels,” Kaelan writes.

“‘Even though she says it’s limited to this case, her ruling casts doubt upon the appointment of special counsels in other cases, most notably Hunter Biden,’” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said, referencing U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s position as special counsel to the Hunter Biden criminal investigation in Delaware.”

“Rahmani expressed the viewpoint that even the appointment of Weiss could be challenged by the first son, who was recently convicted of three felony counts for lying on a federal firearms form. However, there likely isn’t a one-to-one comparison between Smith and Weiss because of one key distinction: Congress’s role in appointments and appropriations.”

“Weiss was already the sitting Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney,” said James Burnham, president of Vallecito Capital and a former clerk to Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Click here to read more about how Trump’s classified documents saga will play out.

Rent-seeking 

Amid all the politicking happening, Biden hasn’t abandoned using policy proposals to try to win over support before voting begins. 

Homing in on one of the issues that voters consistently say worries them, Biden focused on a subject that is difficult to simplify or deliver a punchy proposal for, leaning in to addressing concerns about housing availability and affordability, Economic and Business Reporter Zachary Halaschak writes this morning. 

“President Joe Biden is pushing for Congress to make it so corporate landlords have to cap rent increases on existing units at 5% or lose prized tax breaks,” Zachary writes.

“The push, which would almost certainly not happen given Republican control of the House, comes in a fierce election year in which housing affordability has rankled consumers. The policy would apply only to corporate landlords, those with over 50 units in their portfolios, and would cover more than 50 million units across the country, according to the White House.” 

Biden is unveiling his plan at an event in Nevada later today. Nevada has been a standout in terms of concern about affordable housing, with skyrocketing housing costs and an influx of new residents fleeing California.

Capping rent increases isn’t a guarantee of success. As Zachary points out, “economists generally oppose controls on rent on the grounds that they discourage investment in maintenance and new construction.” 

The plan is paired with an initiative for the government to assess plots of excess land that can be repurposed to boost the supply of new housing. 

Click here to read more about Biden’s latest policy proposal. 

New from us

Biden campaign whipsaws messaging after Trump assassination attempt and amid RNC

Secret Service DEI policies under scrutiny after Trump assassination attempt

Trump and some allies aim to shift tone with message of unity

Netanyahu says he could be targeted for Trump-style assassination attempt

In case you missed it

Biden didn’t appreciate getting asked again about his debate performance

The Secret Service director doesn’t plan on going anywhere

Kamala Harris couldn’t get a hold of J.D. Vance, but she challenged him to a debate anyway

Congress is keeping the heat on the Secret Service

For your radar

Biden will receive his daily brief — 10 a.m.

Biden will do an interview with BET’s Ed Gordon in Las Vegas — 12 p.m.

Biden will speak at the NAACP’s 115th National Convention — 1 p.m. 

Biden will meet with Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) — 3:45 p.m. 

A failed attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday sent shockwaves through a presidential contest that, until last month, appeared to be little more than a rerun of what the country experienced in 2020. 

Trump was rushed off a stage in Pennsylvania on Saturday with a bloodied ear and a charge to his supporters to continue fighting. The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the would-be assassin who climbed to the top of a building hundreds of feet away from the president’s rally and opened fire, wounding the president and killing a bystander before he was killed by Secret Service agents. 

As information about what happened Saturday trickled out, it’s unclear what much of it means for the next four and a half months of campaigning. 

Here are four of the biggest things to know about what happened this weekend. 

Trump changed his mind

Trump told the Washington Examiner in a world-first exclusive interview he ripped up the “humdinger” of a speech he had planned to give at the Republican National Convention on Thursday in light of the attempt on his life. 

The former president said his new speech is going to be a message of unity for the country.  

“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” he said. “The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago.” 

When he turned his head to look at a screen on Saturday, the movement saved his life. The move was a rare one for Trump, who almost never turns away from his audiences. But the motion to look at the data he was showing the crowd was a crucial one. 

“I rarely look away from the crowd,” he said. “Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?”  

The RNC is getting a shakeup

Trump’s message of unity was previewed with the RNC extending an invitation to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to speak at the event. The former Trump foe, who refused to bow out of the contest with her former boss until March, was previously not scheduled to attend the event at all. 

Plans for the RNC were already trending toward highlighting the unity of the party after cracks appeared last year when Trump fended off several challengers for the nomination. Two of those challengers — Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) — have been floated as finalists to be his running mate, a decision he is expected to make as soon as Monday. 

The party has also invited Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), once Trump’s chief rival in the contest, to speak in Milwaukee after initially keeping him locked out of an appearance with a microphone. 

Trump said on Sunday he was planning to delay traveling to the RNC that is set to begin on Monday in Milwaukee, but he decided he couldn’t “allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin to force change to scheduling, or anything else.” 

Universal calls to turn the temperature down

President Joe Biden spoke from the Oval Office to address the nation and echo the calls that had been ringing out all weekend that the country needs to “lower the temperature in politics.” 

“We cannot, we must not go down this road in America,” Biden said in a speech from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. “We’ve traveled before throughout our history. Violence has never been the answer. There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”

The demands to change the national conversation came thick and fast in the hours after the shooting. 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who was in the area on Saturday warned that, unchecked, more political violence could continue. 

“We can’t assume that these kind of things can’t happen again,” Fetterman said. “We just have to turn down … the temperature on this. And this election is going to be the biggest kind of election in our lifetime, and we have months ahead of us.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) warned that “we cannot go on like this as a society.”

Doubts linger about the Secret Service 

Questions about the effectiveness of the Secret Service were flying around Saturday night into Sunday morning. There were reports the agency denied Trump additional protection days before he was nominated as his party’s candidate — accusations the agency denied. 

But whether there were enough agents surrounding the president or not was a secondary concern for Johnson and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), both of whom put pressure on the agency to answer for the apparent failures on Saturday. 

“We need to know how an individual could be at that elevation that was seen by, apparently, bystanders on the ground,” Johnson said on Sunday. “How could not that not be noticed by Secret Service? Lots more questions than answers this morning.”

The speaker’s TV appearance came after he vowed the night before Congress would investigate the agency. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Comer also asked Kimberly Cheatle, the agency’s director, to appear before his committee to answer questions about the assassination attempt. 

Biden also announced there will be an independent review of the agency and its response. 

The Secret Service is under the microscope for a series of security failures that resulted in former President Donald Trump being shot in the ear during a failed assassination attempt. 

Tasked with protecting federal officials, particularly providing security for politicians and candidates for office, the agency was caught on the back foot Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a shooter scaled a building hundreds of feet away from a stage where Trump was standing. Everything from the agency’s protocols in setting up a perimeter to how agents responded to the shooter is now under strict scrutiny. 

In the latest blow to the agency, the Associated Press reported one agent spotted and confronted Thomas Matthew Crooks, who the FBI identified as the shooter, before he began firing. The unidentified agent walked up on Crooks, who was camped out on the roof of the American Glass Research building, and backed away down a ladder when the shooter aimed his rifle at the agent. Crooks then turned around and opened fire on the former president. 

President Joe Biden announced on Sunday he is demanding an independent investigation and comprehensive review of the Secret Service after speaking with Trump following the attempt on his life. 

“I’ve directed an independent review of the security at yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened,” Biden said. “We’ll share the results of that independent review with the American people.”

Secret Service rejects reports about denying more protection for Trump

There were early reports that the agency had denied a request from Trump’s campaign team to increase the number of agents attached to him as his designation as the nomination to become the Republican presidential candidate approached. 

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi denied those reports on Sunday morning, before the criticism of the agency ramped up. 

“Theres an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,” Guglielmi wrote on X. “This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”

The FBI also rejected the rumors.

“There was no additional request for security that was ever denied by the FBI,” Kevin Rojek, the FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office said during a news conference.

Congress demands answers about security protocols and breaches

Congressional Republicans weighed in in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, with many demanding answers about how the shooter got in such close range to the stage.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) vowed Congress would open an investigation into the security breach and questioned what kind of technology was used to establish the perimeter at Trump’s event. In particular, Johnson asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas if drones were used to scope out the roofs of the surrounding buildings — a question he said Mayorkas didn’t have an answer to. 

“We need to know how an individual could be at that elevation that was seen by, apparently, bystanders on the ground,” Johnson said. “How could not that not be noticed by Secret Service? Lots more questions than answers this morning.”

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) also sent a letter to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Saturday requesting she make an appearance before Congress to answer questions lawmakers have about the breakdown. 

Comer was careful not to place blame on any agents, who he said showed “tremendous bravery” and “possibly averted more loss of life.” 

Questions about future problems

Cheatle, the Secret Service director, wasn’t in Pennsylvania on Saturday. She was in Milwaukee, helping coordinate security for the Republican National Convention that is slated to begin Monday. 

As questions swirled about how effective Saturday’s security was, Cheatle was also being pressed to make sure future failures don’t result in a worse outcome. 

“I’ve directed the head of the Secret Service to review all security measures for — all security measures — for the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to start tomorrow,” Biden said in his brief remarks Sunday afternoon. 

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey B. Norman expressed confidence in the security measures his office has in place before the crucial event.

“We have workings with our community members in regards to ensuring the safety of this event,” Norman said at a press briefing about RNC security on Sunday. “While we cannot talk about the operational plans, I can say from the CEO of the market Police Department, this local police department here, I’m very comfortable in regards to the plans that we have made together, not in silos.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Security plans for the RNC have been in the works for 18 months and Secret Service RNC coordinator Audrey Gibson-Cicchino said there are no plans to expand the security perimeter or make any other changes following the attempted assassination.

“This is a national special security event, that designation is the highest level of security designation that the federal government can determine,” Gibson-Cicchino said. “So we are confident in these security plans that are in place for this event, and we’re ready to go. It’s been an 18-month process. It’s the, we’ve worked together over the 18 months to develop operational security plans for any and all aspects of security related to this event.”

“We’re not anticipating any changes to our operational security plans for this event.”

‘Big boy’ conference for the big guy

President Joe Biden has a chance to show Democrats calling for him to step aside in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris or another candidate to be named later at the top of the party’s ticket in November. Biden has tried to soothe his detractors and whip them into line. He’s sent strongly worded letters and appealed to TV hosts. He’s talked with radio hosts and rubbed shoulders with voters — who he insists are the voice of the party and who are telling him they don’t want him to go anywhere. 

The problem, as White House Reporter Naomi Lim writes this morning, is that no matter how successful the president’s “big boy” press conference this evening at the close of the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., the effects will be fleeting. Or they could be damning if it comes anywhere near as bad as his abysmal debate performance with former President Donald Trump last month that set off the Democratic firestorm calling for his head. 

“Even if Biden performs well during Thursday evening’s press conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, it is ‘unlikely’ to counter completely ‘the underlying issue of ‘is he too old?’ per another Democratic strategist, Stefan Hankin,” Naomi writes this morning.

“If he does poorly, then it is likely the end of his campaign,” Hankin told the Washington Examiner. “It is hard to imagine that there will be one event that will erase all of the issues that the debate created, but Biden needs to start gaining the trust back and quickly.”

Biden finds himself in a near-impossible position of having to prove a negative — convincing the most powerful people in the most powerful city in the world that he isn’t going to succumb to the forces of age that prevail against everyone eventually. The 81-year-old president has one avenue available to him. But if he trips and falls, literally or figuratively, then it will be difficult to get back up. 

The president has made few media appearances compared to his predecessors. Thursday evening’s press conference, which White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said is going to be more than a “two plus two,” will be a rare moment. 

In what appeared to be unscripted moments with radio hosts last weekend, Biden had awkward moments — referring to himself as the first black female vice president. The blunder appeared worse when the hosts admitted they had used questions fed to them by Biden’s campaign team. If the president was fumbling appearances when he, ostensibly, knew which questions were coming, how will he perform in his first head-to-head moment with reporters who are frustrated at feeling like they’ve been boxed out by his handlers? 

A forceful showing this evening could tamp down criticism for the time being. But, like Middlebury College politics professor Bert Johnson told Naomi, there are few things Biden is going to be able to do to convince the growing list of doubters that he is primed for another four years in the White House. 

“Short of beating Gary Kasparov at chess or Caitlin Clark at basketball,” Johnson said, “there’s not a whole lot he can do to dispel the questions people have about his mental and physical fitness.” 

Click here to read more about what’s at stake for Biden this evening.

The lady first

When it comes to public appearances, Biden is often on his own. He can’t pass questions to others when he’s trying to convince the world he’s fit for another term. He has to be the one to show up at events and make the case for his future. 

But he’s not alone. And the famously familial Biden is relying heavily on the first lady to help him make his case — and help him decide what he should do next, White House Reporter Christian Datoc writes. 

“Jill Biden is helping the president shoulder the burden of reviving his floundering presidential campaign following a disastrous debate performance that has sparked calls for him to drop out,” he writes. “This week alone, the first lady has traveled to three states, launched a new military outreach program, and phoned into a press call to defend the president’s viability against former President Donald Trump.”

The first lady has been a fiery campaigner for her husband in the last week, swinging through several battleground states on a frenzied tour to launch the Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris outreach program.

“For all the talk out there about this race, Joe has made it clear that he’s all in. That’s the decision he’s made. And just as he has always supported my career, I am all in, too. I know you are, too, or you wouldn’t be here today,” the first lady said onstage in Wilmington, North Carolina. “I want you to remember what it felt like on the morning after the 2016 election when we fell short. Remember that feeling, how you woke up and you said to yourself, ‘Oh my God, what just happened?’ We can’t let that happen again. I don’t want to wake up with that feeling.”

Jill Biden’s time on the trail hasn’t been all positive. She has frustrated reporters by dodging questions or simply not sticking around for the Q&A portions to even hear them. 

But, Christian writes, her steady hand on the tiller has provided the Biden camp a useful opportunity to paint the Bidens in contrast to the Trumps. 

“Asked for comment on this story, the Biden campaign simply referenced the first lady’s remarks from earlier this week, while Democratic operatives inside Joe Biden’s orbit previously told the Washington Examiner that Jill Biden’s presence and counsel on the campaign trail are an asset to the president, especially when compared with former first lady Melania Trump’s relative absence from Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign stops.”

“Where’s Melania? Not out supporting her husband, who she clearly hates,” a veteran Democratic strategist said. “Jill Biden’s presence is an asset to the campaign but also a rock on which President Biden can rely for both personal and political advice. She’s the exact type of partner this nation needs in the White House.”

Click here to read more about the first lady’s efforts to keep her husband in the White House.

Trump tiptoes aside

“Never interfere with an enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself.” — Napoleon (probably)

Trump appears to be taking the infamous Frenchman’s advice to heart, White House Reporter Haisten Willis writes this morning. 

“Trump has largely avoided the spotlight since the now-infamous June 27 presidential debate, letting his opponent soak up most of the media attention and criticism in Washington,” Haisten writes. “The question now is how long he can, and should, try to keep it up.”

The bombastic former president started showing how disciplined he could be during the debate with Biden. He was partially constrained by the rules of the contest — his microphone was muted while Biden was speaking — but he generally refrained from trying to interject when his opponent was stumbling through his talking points. 

When Trump did have a moment to twist the knife, he took advantage but then stepped back to let Biden deal with the wound on his own rather than presenting an opportunity to counterpunch. 

Biden’s team has been frustrated with the increased focus on the president rather than his opponent, who, it is trying to remind everyone, has plenty of baggage himself. 

“Donald Trump hasn’t been seen in public for 12 days, now he’s inviting fictional serial killers to dinner, teasing lil’ Marco Rubio, praising Project 2025 architect Tom Homan, and challenging the President of the United States to golf,” Biden campaign spokesman James Singer said.

“We’d challenge Donald Trump to create jobs, but he lost 3 million,” Singer continued. “We’d challenge Donald Trump to stand up to Putin, but he bent the knee to him. We’d challenge Donald Trump to follow the law, but he breaks it. We’d challenge Donald Trump to not destroy our country, but that’s all his Project 2025 aims to do.”

But as on message as Trump has been, Haisten points out, the tide is going to turn eventually. 

Trump hosted a rally on Tuesday in Florida and called into Fox News’s Hannity to take jabs at Biden. 

He’ll have another rally this weekend in Pennsylvania, and next week, all eyes will be on him and his party when the Republican National Convention rolls into town in Milwaukee. 

Depending on how events unfold this weekend, the spotlight illuminating Trump might not be a problem and could provide a stage for him to hammer home what is looking like a historic run to retake the presidency after losing it four years ago. 

Click here to read more about Trump’s uncharacteristic willingness to step out of the limelight. 

New from us

Saving democracy from the Biden border crisis

Democrats escalate against Biden but hand GOP ammunition

White House doubles down on electric vehicles as Trump derides them

GOP looks to quash Democrats’ advantage on abortion in new party platform

In case you missed it

Biden defections have jumped across the Capitol into the Senate

Democrats are adopting a positively Trumpian mode of communication

NATO stepped up its criticism of China

For your radar

Biden will participate in a working session at the NATO summit — 10 a.m.

Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — 1:30 p.m. 

Biden will participate in a working session at the NATO summit — 2 p.m.

Biden holds a press conference — 5:30 p.m. 

Harris will attend a campaign event in North Carolina — 2:30 p.m.

President Joe Biden lost the confidence of a handful more representatives on Sunday while he was campaigning in Pennsylvania. 

During a conference call with top House Democrats, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-WA), Mark Takano (D-CA), and Joe Morelle (D-NY) said the president needs to step aside in favor of another candidate, according to multiple reports. Most of the critics suggested Vice President Kamala Harris should take the mantle from her boss. 

Biden hit the campaign trail over the weekend, attending several events on Sunday, beginning with a church service in Philadelphia. Speaking from notes during the service, Biden thanked the congregation for welcoming him home and invoked scripture in his speech, reminding the crowd, “Faith without works is dead.”

Later in the day, Biden cut his notecards loose, rubbing elbows with supporters and volunteers at the Roxborough Democratic Coordinated Campaign Office in Philadelphia. He was joined by Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). 

“This election is going to be about block and tackle and simple, basic politics,” Biden said, according to the pool report. “We’ve been drawing big crowds. Ever since the debate, not joking, even that night we had big crowds afterwards.” 

House Democrats eyeing reelection in November have been quicker to say it’s time for Biden to call it quits than senators have. While roughly nine House members have made the demand of the president, fewer senators have suggested it’s time to hand the reins of the party to someone else. 

“There’s only one person in this country who has kicked Trump’s a** in an election, and that is your president,” Fetterman said. “I know what it’s like to have a rough debate and I’m standing here as your senator.”

Biden was joined by Fetterman, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), and Democratic Lt. Gov. Austin Davis at another event in Harrisburg later in the afternoon.

Once again speaking without notes, Biden avoided talking about the calls for him to step down or his disastrous debate performance with former President Donald Trump last month that sparked the recent criticism. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Despite Biden delivering clear stump speeches without the use of notecards or a teleprompter on Sunday, the events were small. Biden has long thrived in the world of glad-handing and back-slapping, but as the 81-year-old continues to shuffle through events on the world stage or in prime time, alarm bells are going off for Democrats who are worried the president is acting like an anchor around the necks of House members in must-win contests. 

Nadler became the highest-profile member to break ranks with the president publicly. His seniority in the House, which he has worked in since 1992, could be the beginning of a string of more well-known Democrats putting pressure on the president. 

Judge Aileen Cannon granted a temporary delay in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents trial in Florida to consider the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s sweeping immunity ruling earlier this week. 

The Trump appointee agreed to the former president’s legal team’s request Saturday afternoon, imposing a two-week delay for three pending deadlines in the case. Trump’s team made the request Friday, arguing that the Supreme Court’s immunity decision had to be considered and they should be allowed to argue the merits before the trial moves forward. 

Cannon imposed a July 18 deadline for special counsel Jack Smith’s team to respond to the motion to stay and a July 21 deadline for any other reply.

Saturday’s order was only a partial victory for Trump, whose team requested the entire case, except for a pending dispute over a gag order, be put on pause in order to brief Cannon on the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision. 

Cannon moved the July 8 deadline for Trump’s teams Rule 16 expert disclosures; a discovery deadline of July 10; and the July 10 deadline for Smith’s teams CIPA §§ 5-6 submission.

“Resolution of these threshold questions is necessary to minimize the adverse consequences to the institution of the Presidency arising from this unconstitutional investigation and prosecution,” Trump’s attorneys wrote on Friday. 

Trump’s attorneys argued the stay was necessary to ensure the Department of Justice would follow the “general admonition that politics should play no role in investigative decisions.” 

They also pointed to President Joe Biden’s public comments about the Supreme Court’s decision as evidence the DOJ was trying to speed up the case so it would be resolved before Election Day. 

“President Biden’s public comments following the Trump decision on July 1, 2024, confirmed the ongoing violations of DOJ policy and practice arising from Jack Smith’s efforts to rush this deeply flawed case—and the similarly flawed and politically-motivated Trump case in the District of Columbia—to trial,” they wrote. “Referring to Smith’s prosecution in the District of Columbia, President Biden argued that ‘the American people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election.’ The remark explicitly connected the Special Counsel’s Office with President Biden’s misuse of the criminal justice system to communicate with voters prior to the election.”

It’s not clear how the court’s ruling will affect Trump’s case in Florida, as the search of his Mar-a-Lago home by the FBI to recover the documents in question was made after he left the White House.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER 

But Trump has had some success already arguing the immunity ruling should be weighed in cases that involve his actions when he wasn’t the president.

Trump’s team won a delay in his sentencing in New York following his guilty conviction in the hush money case involving porn actress Stormy Daniels when he was a candidate. 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s runoff presidential election Saturday, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic.

Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. But even Pezeshkian’s modest aims will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and Western fears over Tehran enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels.

A vote count offered by authorities put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili’s 13.5 million in Friday’s election. Overall, Iran’s Interior Ministry said 30 million people voted in an election held without internationally recognized monitors.

A vote count offered by authorities put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili’s 13.5 million in Friday’s election. Overall, Iran’s Interior Ministry said 30 million people voted in an election held without internationally recognized monitors.

“Dear people of Iran, the elections are over and this is just the beginning of our cooperation,” Pezeshkian wrote on the social platform X, still banned in Iran. “The difficult path ahead will not be smooth except with your companionship, empathy and trust. I extend my hand to you and I swear on my honor that I will not leave you alone on this path. Do not leave me alone.”

Pezeshkian’s win still sees Iran at a delicate moment, with tensions high in the Mideast over the Israel-Hamas war, Iran’s advancing nuclear program, and a looming election in the United States that could put any chance of a detente between Tehran and Washington at risk. Pezeshkian’s victory also wasn’t a rout of Jalili, meaning he’ll have to carefully navigate Iran’s internal politics as the doctor has never held a sensitive, high-level security post.

The first round of voting June 28 saw the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian officials have long pointed to turnout as a sign of support for the country’s Shiite theocracy, which has been under strain after years of sanctions crushing Iran’s economy, mass demonstrations and intense crackdowns on all dissent.

Government officials up to Khameni, the supreme leader, predicted higher turnout as voting got underway, with state television airing images of modest lines at some polling centers. However, online videos purported to show some polls empty while a survey of several dozen sites in Tehran saw light traffic and a heavy security presence on the streets.

Authorities put turnout in Friday’s vote at 49.6%, still historically low for an Iranian presidential election. They counted 607,575 voided votes — which often are a sign of protest by those who feel obligated to cast a ballot but reject both candidates.

“I don’t expect anything from him — I am happy that the vote put the brake on hard-liners,” said bank employee Fatemeh Babaei, who voted for Pezeshkian. “I hope Pezeshkian can return administration to a way in which all people can feel there is a tomorrow.”

Taher Khalili, a Kurdish-origin Iranian who runs a small tailor shop in Tehran, offered another reason to be hopeful while handing out candy to passersby.

“In the end, someone from my hometown and the west of Iran came to power,” Khalili said. “I hope he will make economy better for small businesses.”

Pezeshkian, who speaks Azeri, Farsi and Kurdish, campaigned on outreach to Iran’s many ethnicities. He represents the first president from western Iran in decades — something people hope will aid the county as those in the western part are considered more tolerant because of the ethnic and religious diversity in their area.

The election came amid heightened regional tensions. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups armed by Tehran — such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels — are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks.

Iran is also enriching uranium at near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile large enough to build several nuclear weapons, should it choose to do so. And while Khamenei remains the final decision-maker on matters of state, whichever man ends up winning the presidency could bend the country’s foreign policy toward either confrontation or collaboration with the West.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, which has reached a detente with Iran, sent his congratulations to Pezeshkian that stressed his “keenness to develop and deepen the relations that bring our two countries and peoples together.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has relied on Iranian-made drones in his war on Ukraine, similarly congratulated Pezeshkian.

There was no immediate response from the U.S.

The campaign also repeatedly touched on what would happen if former President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, won the November election. Iran has held indirect talks with President Joe Biden’s administration, though there’s been no clear movement back toward constraining Tehran’s nuclear program for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Though identifying with reformists and relative moderates within Iran’s theocracy during the campaign, Pezeshkian at the same time honored Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, on one occasion wearing its uniform to parliament. He repeatedly criticized the United States and praised the Guard for shooting down an American drone in 2019, saying it “delivered a strong punch in the mouth of the Americans and proved to them that our country will not surrender.”

More than 61 million Iranians over the age of 18 were eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 and 30. Voting was to end at 6 p.m. but was extended until midnight to boost participation.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a May helicopter crash, was seen as a protégé of Khamenei and a potential successor as supreme leader.

Still, many knew him for his involvement in the mass executions that Iran conducted in 1988, and for his role in the bloody crackdowns on dissent that followed protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police over allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab.