July 19, 2024, presidential campaign news | CNN Politics (2024)

President Joe Biden posted a series of comments on X Friday night, writing, “I’m stuck at home with COVID, so I had the distinct misfortune of watching Donald Trump’s speech to the RNC.”

In eight subsequent posts (and counting), the president pilloried Trump’s Thursday remarks to the Republican National Convention, hitting his GOP rival for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, comments on Social Security and Medicare, contrasting economic visions, and comments demonizing immigrants.

New evidence from law enforcement sources reveal the ladder purchased by the gunman who sought to assassinate former President Donald Trump and a backpack that allegedly belonged to him, have both now been located and are in possession of federal authorities.

According to law enforcement sources from two separate agencies, a workmandriving by the shooter’s homediscovered the ladderand the backpacklying on the side of the roadnear the home. The worker reportedly observed the ladder in that location for several days before deciding to turn it into authorities.

The workman also found a backpack near the ladder, which authorities believe is connected to gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Additionally, investigators involved in the search of Crooks’ belongings, discovered a dronein his car. According to a source familiar with the investigation, they believe that Crooks may have deployed the drone on a reconnaissance trip to the farm grounds on the day of the Trump rally.

The working theory is that the drone would’ve given Crooks an overview of the rooftops of nearby buildings and how they connect. That could have helped Crooks choose the spot where he fired the shots towards the podium where Trump was wounded.

As the investigation continues, authorities are likely to scrutinize these newfound items for any clues that might help piece together the sequence of events and the suspect’s movements before Saturday’s shooting.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

Debris litters the empty rally site after shots were fired at former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

The House Homeland Security Committee has subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for documents and information “regarding the failed security efforts” around the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

The Republican-led committee said Friday that Chairman Mark Green issued the subpoena after DHS failed to meet today’s deadline for providing the requested documents and information.

According to the release, the committee has requested documents related to “the security plan to secure the perimeter of the event site” and “communications between or among personnel at DHS related to any potential increase or addition of protective resources” to Trump’s security detail, among other things.

CNN has reached out to DHS for comment.

Even as Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to reassure big donors, there is deep skepticism across the party’s most deep-pocketed fundraisers about how Joe Biden’s campaign can possibly continue its basic operations with so little coming in.

This donor mused that perhaps the campaign can get away with digging in for a few more weeks under the current circ*mstances, but that anything longer would become extraordinarily difficult.

They also noted that emails from the campaign for events and fundraisers have significantly slowed in recent weeks: “They seem far and few between,” the donor said.

Longtime California Rep. Zoe Lofgren told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that her letter calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race was not personal.

“This is not anything personal about the president. In fact, I praised him in the letter I sent to him,” she said on the “Situation Room.” “It’s about not him and not me. It’s about the American people and our future and the need to defeat Donald Trump. That’s all it is.”

Lofgren, a close ally to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was part of a chorus of Democratic lawmakers to issue public calls on Friday for the president to step aside from the race.

CNN reported earlier Friday that two House Democrats close to Pelosi, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity and rawness in the party right now, attributed Friday’s new statements – especially Lofgren’s letter to Biden – to the former speaker and her belief that it is critical for the president and his allies to understand the effort to push him aside is not going away.

\When asked about reporting that Biden is “seething” at Pelosi’s efforts, Lofgren said, “Well, I don’t know if it’s true, and if so, I’m sorry for that.”

“Democrats are united. Here’s how we’re united: We want to defeat Donald Trump, and you know, he is unfit to be president. He’s corrupt. He incited a riot to overturn the Constitution and the election,” she said.

Lofgren also noted that she is “very concerned that the data does not show a path to victory with President Biden” and said she would not be surprised if other Democratic lawmakers in Congress called for Biden to withdraw.

Jeremy Herb, John King and Dana Bash contributed to this report.

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio became the fourth Democratic senator to call on President Joe Biden to step aside from his 2024 reelection campaign.

Brown, who is a vulnerable Democrat running for reelection this year, said in a statement on Friday that he thought Biden should withdraw from the race.

“Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard from Ohioans on important issues, such as how to continue to grow jobs in our state, give law enforcement the resources to crack down on fentanyl, protect Social Security and Medicare from cuts, and prevent the ongoing efforts to impose a national abortion ban,” Brown said.

Former President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Former President Donald Trump said he “had a very good phone call earlier today” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday.

The two leaders had acomplicated relationshipwhile Trump was president, and the call –their first conversation since Trump left the White House–comes the day after Trump accepted the Republican Party’s presidential nomination andamidconcerns in Europeabout what Trump’s policy towards the Ukraine war would be if he were to win the election in November.

Trump added that the Ukrainian leader also “condemned the heinous assassination attempt last Saturday.”

Zelensky confirmed in a post on X Friday that he did congratulate Trump on the nomination and condemned the attack.

“I wished him strength and absolute safety in the future,” Zelensky said. “I noted the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence.”

Trump, in his post, continued on to say he appreciates Zelensky for reaching out to speak with him. And Zelensky expressed gratitude to the United States “for its help in strengthening our ability to resist Russian terror.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox participates in a discussion on bipartisanship in Washington, DC, on February 21.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Friday posted a letter he wrote to Donald Trump in which he said he pledged his support to the former president and that he believed Trump had the opportunity to “unify and save our country,”after telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last week he would not vote for Trump in November.

Cox said in the letter,which he posted on X, that he believed God “had a hand in saving you,” after the attempt on Trump’s life at his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.

Cox told Collins last week on “The Source” that he would not be votingfor either presidential candidate this year and that one of his concerns about Trump was his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He said he had not voted for the top of the GOP ticket since 2012.

But in his letter Cox wrote, “Mr. President, I know we have some differences and you probably don’t like me much. And that’s OK. I get it. I’m not writing this letter looking for a position in your Cabinet or a role on your team. But I have loved so many of your policies and firmly believe that our country has suffered over the last four years due to a lack of leadership and is in desperate need of change.”

“However, you have a chance to do something that people have said is impossible. You have a chance to build a coalition of support that our country has not seen since Ronald Reagan. And you don’t have to compromise on a single conservative policy in order to do it. By treating President Biden with basic human dignity and respect and by emphasizing unity rather than hate, you will win this election by an historic margin and become one of our nation’s most transformational leaders,” Cox said.

GOP vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance has been given his own private Boeing 737 outfitted with Trump-Vance decals now that he is officially Donald Trump’s vice-presidential nominee, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CNN.

Vance’s first trip on his new private plane, which is being paid for by the Trump campaign, was on Friday morning when he flew from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Cincinnati, Ohio.

The plane has been held in a secret airport hangar for the past several weeks while Trump continued to mull his vice presidential pick, one of the sources said. It was flown to Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention.

Vance will take his new plane to Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday for a joint rally withTrump.

National security advisor Jake Sullivan gave a forceful defense and description of President Joe Biden’s leadership as commander-in-chief, sharing behind the scenes details about what was happening in the Situation Room on April 13 when Iran attacked Israel with more than 300 drones and missiles.

Sullivan said Biden was surrounded by his top national security officials and “engaged in a multi-hour back and forth” with CENTCOM Commander Erik Kurilla who was “narrating an extraordinary set of events.”

Biden was “sitting there at the head of the table, running the show” as military and intelligence leaders walked the room through the projectiles’ flight path and shoot-downs.

The night culminated, Sullivan said, with a call between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Asked if Biden can continue for four more years, Sullivan said he believes Biden will continue to do a very good job as president “and that’s why he’s standing for office and that’s why he has laid out his case to the American people.”

Rep. Gabe Vasquez leaves the Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 15.

New Mexico Rep. Gabe Vasquez is the 33rdcongressional Democrat to call on President Joe Biden to withdraw his 2024 bid for the White House.

Vasquez serves as the Vice Chair of Diversity and Inclusion on the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose political arm – the BOLD PAC – just issued their endorsem*nt of Biden Friday.

Vasquez joins four other members of the caucus who previously called on Biden’s withdrawal: Reps. Mike Levin, Raul Grijalva, Jim Costa and Chuy Garcia.

And Vasquez is the 11thcongressional Democrat to join the growing chorus of lawmakers calling on Biden to step aside on Friday.

Rep. Morgan McGarvey became the 32nd Democrat on Capitol Hill to call for President Joe Biden to withdraw his candidacy.

Though he praised Biden’s leadership, the freshman Kentucky Democrat said “there is no joy in the recognition that he should not be our nominee in November.”

McGarvey is the 10th congressional Democrat to call for Biden to step aside today.

Vice President Kamala Harris was just on a call with Wisconsin campaign staff, a source familiar told CNN.

It wasan all hands call with state staff, following the call with all campaign staff earlier in the day.

Harris praised the Wisconsin team for the work they had been doing and spoke about the stakes of the election.

The campaign announced Friday morning that Harris will hold a campaign event in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

A growing collection of congressional Democrats are calling on Joe Biden to end his reelection bid, following the president’s disastrous debate performance last month and his failure since toconvince members of his own partythat he can defeat former President Donald Trump in the fall.

It would not be an easy process since Biden isalready the Democrats’ presumptive nomineeand the overwhelming choice of primary voters. He faced little opposition during the primary season, and the fact that he won nearly all of the party’s delegates means it’s very unlikely he’d be forced out of the race against his will.

That current primary system, which empowers primary voters over party bigwigs, essentially sprang from discontent after Democrats selected Vice PresidentHubert Humphreyas their nominee in 1968. Even after President Lyndon Johnson bowed out of the presidential race that year, recognizing his fading popularity and opposition to the war in Vietnam, Humphrey represented a continuation of Johnson’s Vietnam policy at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Violence broke out when protesters clashed with police as Humphrey accepted the nomination.

Things would be very different in 2024 if Biden decided to leave the race, although Democrats’ convention will return to Chicago in August.

Rep. Seth Moulton speaks during a TV interview at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on April 17, 2023.

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, who previously called for Biden to withdraw from the race, alleged in anop-ed Fridaythat President Joe Biden failed to recognize him in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, despite a years-long relationship with the commander in chief.

Moulton detailed his long-standing relationship with the president wherein Biden would campaign for Moulton, invite him over for breakfast and served as a mentor to the newly elected member of Congress. “Every time we crossed paths and I caught his eye, he would break into that big, wide Joe Biden grin and say how glad he was to see me,” Moulton wrote.

“It was a crushing realization, and not because a person I care about had a rough night but because everything is riding on Biden’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November,” Moulton wrote, reiterating the stakes of the upcoming election.

Moulton ended with a plea to Biden: “This is bigger than one president or one party. It’s about America. Let’s win this election, Mr. President, and in the process, ensure you have the legacy you deserve from a lifetime of service to our country.”

Rep. Betty McCollum, a veteran Minnesota Democrat, called on Joe Biden to step aside and for Kamala Harris to become the new Democratic standard bearer. She urged Harris to choose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

McCollum joins the growing list ofcongressional Democrats publicly urging Biden on Friday to drop out.

A Democratic lawmakertells CNN that HouseDemocratic LeaderHakeem Jeffries and his team are not discouraging members from continuing to speak out against President Joe Biden’s candidacy.

This source said it was their impression thatmembers were privately being encouraged to make such statements if they felt that way.

For some of those who want Biden to step down, this source said that there is a fear that the public piling on today — which is expected to grow — is overkill, and that it may be making Biden angry and potentially even more dug in.

This source, who is in touch with the White House, saidthat while Biden is now more open to the conversation about potentially stepping aside, he “could go either way” and that the people he is listening to aren’t talking publicly.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Greensboro, North Carolina, on July 11.

Vice President Kamala Harris will join a call with donors this afternoon, according to a source familiar, amid ongoing party panic about President Joe Biden’s candidacy.

The vice president was asked to do the call by the West Wing, according to campaign officials. Harris aides have repeatedly stressed that there’s no daylight between the vice president and the president.

On the campaign trail, Harris has staunchly defended the president and tried to show unity at a time when lawmakers are urging Biden to step aside and while some float her name as a replacement to lead the party’s ticket. She is likely to express that same defense in her call with donors Friday.

Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon gave a pep talk to campaign staff moments ago, described by one campaign official as a “ra ra” speech.

Marty Walsh was one of the speakers. The call touched on, in part, the importance of voter contact.

A source familiar with the call confirms that O’Malley Dillon told campaign staff: “When you give me polls, I’m going to give you direct voter contact.”

Two sources described the call as another “pep talk.” O’Malley Dillon was “talking about the work ahead” as campaign staff continues to move forward.

This post has been updated with additional developments.

During an interview on local radio station WNYC on Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries skirted repeated questions about whether President Joe Biden is the best candidate to defeat former President Donald Trump in November.

“I’ve made clear that President Joe Biden, Vice President Harris, the Biden-Harris ticket, along with Democrats in the House and the Senate have an incredible track record of support throughout the country,” he said when asked whether Biden can beat Trump. Jeffries went on to highlight Biden’s accomplishments, which he said are “making a difference in the lives of everyday Americans.”

He declined to discuss private conversations he’s had with Biden, but CNNpreviously reportedthat Jeffries had offered “the full breadth of insight” into the views of the Democratic caucus and stopped well short of offering the president his endorsem*nt.

When asked if Jeffries owed his Brooklyn constituents a clearer stance on Biden’s candidacy, the minority leader once again answered indirectly, saying “the decision is one that can be made by only a single individual: the president of the United States of America.”

President Joe Biden departs an event at the NATO Summit on July 11, in Washington, DC.

Democratic members of Congress continue to publicly call on President Joe Biden to step aside in the presidential race, many of them expressing concerns about Biden’s chances of reelection.

The Democrats who have called on Biden to withdraw from the race so far today include:

Casten called for Biden “to pass the torch to a new generation” in the Chicago Tribune, while Heinrich said withdrawing from the campaign “would secure his legacy as one of our nation’s greatest leaders” in a statement.

Huffman, Pocan, Garcia and Veasey released a joint statement saying, “At this point … we must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign.”

Landsman said on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that the country and voters are ready for “new leadership,” while Lofgren warned in aletterof the dangers of another Donald Trump presidency.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren speaks during a hearing in Washington, DC in July 2023.

Longtime Rep. Zoe Lofgren joined a growing chorus of congressional Democrats when she called on President Joe Biden to bow out of the 2024 race.

The California Democrat, who has been in Congress since 1995 and served on the House January 6 committee, warned in a letter of the dangers of another Donald Trump presidency.

She concluded: “I want to be clear that should you formally become the Democratic nominee for President I will do everything I can to promote your candidacy and to work for your success. Unfortunately, I greatly doubt that the outcome will be positive and our country will pay a dreadful price for that.”

Sen. Chris Coons speaks during a hearing in Washington, DC, on June 4.

Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, a close ally of President Joe Biden, said Friday he believes the president is “weighing what he should weigh, which is, who is the best candidate to win in November.” Coons declined to delve into his personal conversations with the president but said, “I am confident he is hearing what he needs to hear from colleagues, from the public.”

Coons highlighted the string of recent events Biden has participated in over the past week, including a NATO summit and campaign events, as indications that he is a strong candidate.

“There are folks still saying he is not strong enough or capable enough to be our next president,” Coons said. “I disagree.”

Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio said on Friday that President Joe Biden should step aside from the 2024 race and that “Americans want a new leader.”

Landsman, who flipped a seat long held by a Republican in 2022, also said “the vice president would be an incredible leader in terms of this matchup,” when asked who the nominee should be.

President Joe Biden takes the stage at a campaign rally on May 29, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

President Joe Biden said Friday that he looks forward to getting back on the campaign trail “next week” as more Democrats are publicly calling for the president to step aside in the 2024 race.

“I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision that I have for America: one where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for everyone,” Biden said in a statement issued by his campaign Friday.“The stakes are high, and the choice is clear. Together, we will win.”

The president remains in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Friday as he continues self-isolate and recover from Covid.

Democratic officials shared few details on when a virtual roll call to renominate President Joe Biden will take place during a convention rules committee meeting Friday.

During the meeting, party leaders reiterated that voting wouldn’t start before August 1, but didn’t set a specific date. Instead, under the proposed plan, it will be up to party leadership to pick a date at a later time.

Under the plan, delegates would get 24 hours’ notice before voting begins, and voting would take place via digital ballots emailed to delegates, similarly to how the party conducted its virtual voting before the 2020 convention.

The rules committee didn’t take any steps to approve the plan Friday, but will meet again next week.

Sen. Martin Heinrich attends a roundtable on January 24, in Washington, DC.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat who is up for reelection, on Friday became the third Democratic senator to publicly call on President Joe Biden to leave the presidential race.

Heinrich joins fellow Democratic Sens. Peter Welch of Vermont and Jon Tester of Montana in publicly calling on Biden to step aside. More than two dozen House Democrats have also said the same.

Polling conducted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and GOP nominee NellaDomenici’s campaign last month showed her in a margin-of-error race with Heinrich, though Democrats have expressed confidence about their chances for the seat.

Four more House Democrats are calling on President Joe Biden to step aside in the 2024 presidential race, making it more than two dozen sitting members of Congress who have publicly called on their party’s standard-bearer to leave the race.

Reps. Jared Huffman of California and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin are members of the progressive caucus. Rep. Chuy Garcia of Illinois is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Marc Veasey of Texas is a memeber of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosiprivatelytold Biden in a recent conversation that polling shows the president cannot defeat Trump and that Biden could destroy Democrats’ chances of winning the House in November if he continues seeking a second term, four sources briefed on the call previously told CNN.

Sen. Bernie Sanders and President Joe Biden walk on the South Lawn of the White House on April 22, in Washington, DC.

Sen. Bernie Sanders believes that President Joe Biden can win reelection if “we start focusing on his record, start focusing on what he is trying to do.”

“If he runs, he is going to be reelected,” Sanders said during an interview Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “He has an agenda,” the Vermont senator added, touching on Biden’s pledge to eliminate medical debt, raise the minimum wage, increase taxes on wealthy Americans and more.

During an interview with the New Yorker magazine published this week, Sanders acknowledged, “sometimes [Biden] doesn’t put three sentences together. It is true. But the reality of the moment is, in my view, he is the best candidate the Democrats have for a variety of reasons, and trying, in an unprecedented way, to take him off the ticket would do a lot more harm than good.”

He also skirted around several questions about whether he has any concern about Biden serving another four years if reelected.

On MSNBC, Sanders brushed off concerns of his Senate colleagues, including Sens. Jon Tester and Peter Welch, both of whom have called on Biden to withdraw his candidacy. He said Senate Democrats should spend “less time criticizing Biden” and “more time bringing up legislation.”

President Joe Biden speaks to supporters at a campaign event on July 12, in Detroit, Michigan.

President Joe Biden’s campaign released a new memo Friday saying that there “is no plan for an alternative nominee” despite many senior White House and campaign officials believing that the president must abandon his campaign for a second term.

“I will not sugarcoat the state of the race: We have our work cut out for us to win this November. We also have immense opportunity and a clear path to victory if we listen to what the voters on the ground are truly paying attention to, if we focus on the issues that matter most to the electorate in the battleground states and offer a clear choice between Joe Biden’s positive vision and Donald Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda,” Kanninen concludes.

A group of Democrats who want to see President Joe Biden step down from the top of the Democratic ticket are launching a TV ad campaign urging him to drop out.

Pass The Torch, a newly-formed super PAC calling on Biden to step aside, announced on Friday a new TV ad running on MSNBC during “Morning Joe” and the network’s daytime hours in the Washington, DC, and the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, media markets. Biden is currently at his residence in Rehoboth Beach to self-isolate after testing positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

The ad features several people speaking directly to camera thanking Biden for defeating former President Donald Trump in 2020 and asking Biden to make room for a nominee “who can bring new energy” to the party.

Pass The Torch co-founder Aaron Regunberg told CNN the group is planning to make ad reservations on MSNBC on a rolling basis “with the hope we can stop soon” if Biden decides to step aside. Regunberg declined to share how much money the group is spending to air the ads.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. JD Vance.

Vice President KamalaHarrishas spentmuchof the year traveling around the country, tackling the Republican Party and its leader, former President Donald Trump.But now she’s throwing her political punches at anotheropponent: Sen.JD Vance.

Mounting concerns over President Joe Biden and his viability as a candidate have put an even brighter spotlight onHarrisin recent weeks, as some allies and lawmakers float her name as apossiblereplacement to lead the party’s ticket.As panic and speculation spread across the Democratic Party following the June 27 debate, the vice president and her aides continued to keep an eye on who mightbe selected to serve as Trump’s vice president.

In the weeks leading up to Trump unveiling his running mate in Milwaukee,there wereseveral men widely believed to be on the former president’s short list.

They monitored with great interest each of their Sunday show appearances, public remarks and other media interviews, with the expectation that one of them would likely face off againstHarrison the debate stage this summer.

Harris’ team agreed: Vancewould clearly be a tough debate opponent.The Ohioanappeared particularly skilled at deflecting questions about Trump’s past statements and policy positions. That ability is likely to be one of several key factors that will shapeHarris’debate preparations.

Democrats hope thatHarris – who debated Biden during the 2020 Democratic primary and landed some of the most memorable punches on the now-president – will far outperform Vance. Biden’s disastrous showing against Trump last month has set off panic across the Democratic Party, and the president’s allies are scrambling to try to turn the page on the saga.

Read more here on Harris’ political punches toward Vance.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a rally in New York, on June 22.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has backed President Joe Biden since his disastrous debate performance last month, took to Instagram Live on Thursday night following former President Donald Trump’s Republican National Convention speech to dissuade talk of replacing President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris atop the Democratic ticket.

The New York congresswoman warned, “mind you, if you have an open convention, the convention could then go on for days, if you have a bunch of nominees” and that “the legal problems start to mount” in that scenario. She continued, “I am concerned about the lack of thought that I have seen from the individuals that would be responsible for executing on this.”

“I’m not here to tell you, like, (the) polling is amazing,” Ocasio-Cortez conceded, adding, “there is no safe option.”

Earlier, she acknowledged, “I’m not here to tell you if Joe Biden is the nominee, he’s definitely going to win.”

President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally on July 5, in Madison, Wisconsin.

President Joe Biden is “absolutely” staying in the 2024 presidential race, campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said Friday, despite the president being moreisolated than he has ever been from his own party,with many senior White House and campaign officials believing that he must abandonhis campaign for a second term — and soon.

When pressed on what the campaign’s response is to some high-profile Democrats calling on the president to step down, O’Malley Dillon sidestepped and pointed to Trump’s speech.

“Yes, of course, we have a lot of work to do to make sure that we are reassuring the American people that, yes, he’s old, but he can do the job and he can win,” O’Malley Dillon also said.

President Joe Biden speaks during the presidential debate in Atlanta on June 27.

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign has been steadily advertising since his disastrous debate performance last month, even amid growing pressure from his party to step aside as the nominee.

According to AdImpact data, the Biden campaign has spent $37.7 million on advertising between June 28, the day after the debate, and Friday. That’s contributed to a significant advertising gap between Democrats and Republicans over that time – including campaigns and all allied outside groups, Democrats have spent $64.3 million on advertising since the debate, while Republicans have spent $19.3 million.

Since the start of the 2024 cycle, the Biden campaign has poured resources into an aggressive early advertising campaign, spending more than $151.7 million total on ads so far, including TV, digital and radio.

Notably, Biden’s campaign has not committed substantial ad dollars to future reservations in the months ahead – the campaign currently has no ad bookings beyond the month of July – which could require cancellation if Biden is replaced as the nominee.

While steadfastly pouring millions into advertising over the last month, Biden’s campaign has also continued producing new ads. On Friday, the campaign launchedits latest spot, focused on abortion rights, warning voters that “overturning Roe was just the beginning.”

In contrast to the Biden network’s operation, former President Donald Trump’s campaign has left most of the paid advertising to allied outside groups, spending just $19 million on ads since he launched his campaign, with most of that coming during the GOP presidential primary earlier this year.

But picking up that slack, a leading pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., has spent $121.5 million on ads so far, including more than $45 million in future ad bookings still to air through November. And Trump allies are marshaling several other well-funded outside groups that are pledging to spend tens of millions more supporting his bid, including megadonors such as Miriam Adelson and Elon Musk.

Rep. Sean Casten attends a news conference in Washington, DC, on March 6.

Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois on Friday became the latest Democrat to call on Biden to drop out of the presidential race.

He joins a growing list of Democratic lawmakers who are calling for the president to end his reelection bid following a disastrous debate performance last month and amid increased questioning of his viability to win in November.

The Trump rally shooter searched online for information on the arrest of a Michigan mass shooter and his parents, who wereprosecuted in a 2021 high school shooting. He visited websites for how to build explosives. And in the minutes before he fired shots in an attempted assassination of Donald Trump, he screenshotted a picture from a livestream of the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally.

A week before the shooting,Thomas Matthew Crookssearched online for the date of the Democratic National Convention and where Trump planned to speak, as well as other searches for Trump and President Joe Biden.

These details were among those shared by FBI and US Secret Service officials in a Wednesday briefing with lawmakers and by additional people familiar with the investigation. The previously unreportedreadout documents the scope of the investigation, including an expanded timeline of the would-be assassin’s actions leading to up his assault andlaw enforcement’s failure to prevent it.

Investigators remain puzzled about possible motives for Saturday’s attempted assassination of the former president, finding little to point to political or ideological intentions for the attack.

But the would-be assassin’s recent trail on the internet has provided investigators with a detailed picture of his possible mindset before the attack. FBI behavioral experts are building a profile of Crooks based on the findings, the FBI told lawmakers.

Read more here on the Trump rally shooter’s online searches.

Trump and former first lady Melania Trump were joined on stage by vice presidential nominee JD Vance and his wife, Usha.

The final night of the Republican National Convention included incendiary figures like Tucker Carlson, lots of jabs at Democrats, and a long, wide-ranging speech by former President Donald Trump, featuring off-script political attacks and rare moments of vulnerability.

Here are five takeaways:

Trump details shooting: Trump appeared solemn are he narrated the “painful” events of his Saturday rally in minute detail. He insisted, despite chants from the audience, that he wasn’t supposed to be at the convention. “I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God,” he told the crowd.

Little mention of Biden (by name): Trump said he would use President Joe Biden’s name only once. But he used it twice: once to describe Biden as the worst president in history, and again to say it would be the only time it was used.

It was, in part, because Trump’s campaign wanted to showcase a unified and forward-looking Republican Party. But it’s also because Trump might not face Biden again, after all.

A rare Melania sighting: Melania Trump has kept a low profile since the Trump administration ended, choosing not to attend Trump’s hush money trial or the CNN debate.

She appeared at the RNC for the first time on Thursday night, though, unlike in previous election years, she did not give a speech.

“Trumpamania” running wild: The theme of Thursday night’s lineup in the lead-up to Trump’s speech was testosterone — culminating in Hulk Hogan ripping off his T-shirt and declaring Trump “a real American hero.”

A nearly policy-free convention: Political conventions rarely include wonky policy chatter. But even by the usual standards, which typically involve acknowledging a problem and then short-handing a solution, the 2024 RNC was perplexing. And especially so on its final night, when the politicians mostly gave way to right-leaning celebrities.

Read more takeaways.

President Joe Biden holds a news conference on July 11, in Washington, DC.

Two sources tell CNN that furious donors are now telling House and Senate Democratic campaign committees they would freeze contributions unless —and until — party leaders took stronger steps to get President Joe Biden to step aside.

“They believe if Joe is at the top of the ticket, the House and Senate are gone, too,” said a Democratic strategist intimately involved in big-dollar fund-raising. “They don’t want to throw good money after bad.”

Former President Donald Trump recalls the assassination attempt on his life during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. during his speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, on July 18, 2024.

Thousands of supporters chanted“fight, fight, fight”and pumped their fists Thursday night asDonald Trumpbasked in the love of the new Republican Party he built and that hails him as a superhero touched by God.

States away, Joe Biden sat isolated and sick in his Delaware beach house as the party he led to victory just four years ago turned on the 81-year-old president, and the possibility grew that a humiliating final chapter may be opening in his storied political life.

Trump and Biden have been locked in a bitter political clash ever since Biden vowed to launch a battle for the soul of the nation when White supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Virginia, seven years ago.

Their fates diverged sharply Thursday.

Trump accepted the nomination of a united party convinced it’s cruising to victory in November, while Democrats splintered, with some fearing that their president could lead them to a landslide defeat after a cataclysmic debate performance sent his reelection campaign into freefall three weeks ago.

Many senior-ranking White House and campaign officials have come to believe the president must abandon his campaign for a second term.

“People see and feel the walls closing in,” one senior Democrat said, CNN also reported.

Read the full analysis.

Balloons fall around former President Donald Trump and his family after his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, on Thursday, July 18.

Former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday with the most dishonest speech in the four-day Republican National Convention, making more than 20 false claims by CNN’s count.

Trump has made many of these false claims before, some of them for years. They spanned topics including the economy, immigration, crime, foreign policy and elections.

Some of them were wild lies, others smaller exaggerations. Some were in his prepared text (like the claim that he left the Biden administration a world at peace), while he ad-libbed others (such as his lies that Democrats cheated in the 2020 election and that the US is experiencing the worst inflation it has ever had).

Here are some of the claims CNN fact-checked Thursday:

Trump’s misleading claim about North Korean missile launches during his presidency

Trump’s claims of defeating ISIS in a “couple of months”

Trump on the impact of immigration on Medicare and Social Security

Trump’s exaggeration about gas prices

Trump’s claims about military equipment left in Afghanistan

Trump’s false claim that the ‘world was at peace’ during his administration

Read all the fact checks.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event on July 11, in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Allies of Vice President Kamala Harris are making calls to assess the political environment “just in case,” according to a Democrat close to her, who emphasized that at the present moment, “there is no ‘in case.’”

This Democrat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the calls from Harris allies include quiet conversations with Democratic convention delegates.

This source said the Harris calls are being made with the full knowledge of President Joe Biden’s inner circle and that her allies are making clear from the start of every conversation that she expects the president to stay in the race.

This and several other Democrats described increasing tensions within the party over what is seen as maneuvering by competing interests.

Reached for comment, Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon told CNN, “No one actually connected to the vice president is making such calls.”