Donors freeze $90 million of Joe Biden’s campaign cash
Donors are withholding $90 million in funding to the Democrat party unless Joe Biden pulls out of the presidential race.
The money was on hold at the biggest pro-Biden political action committee, Future Forward, sources told The New York Times.
Despite the latest opinion poll giving Mr Biden a two-point lead over Donald Trump in a head-to-head race, fears are growing among some major donors that the chances of retaining the White House are slim.
One party apparatchik referred to a “donor strike” among the party’s wealthy supporters which appears to have started after the president’s disastrous debate performance last month against Donald Trump.
A campaign strategist told the Telegraph that some donors had been in “wait and see” mode until the Nato summit.
Plans are under way by critics of Mr Biden to push him out of office amid renewed calls for him to step aside after a Nato press conference in which he referred to Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” and Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”.
The never-ending verbal slip-ups are ringing alarm bells among some of Mr Biden’s most loyal supporters.
Hollywood donors, who normally dig deep during presidential campaigns, have called on Mr Biden to step aside.
George Clooney wrote an op-ed in the New York Times pleading with Mr Biden to stand aside. Abigail Disney, the heiress to the family fortune, has called on the Democrats to bite the bullet and replace him as a candidate.
Philanthropist Gideon Stein said he was pausing a planned $3.5 million to the Biden campaign but would continue supporting the party’s candidates in November’s congressional races.
Reports in Washington suggest that other donors are following suit, or ready to do so.
“It’s not that surprising. Especially with the prospect of a second Trump term, Democrats are looking for any bulwark they can get,” Christopher Galdieri, professor of politics at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire told the Telegraph.
“If they can win back control of the House or retain control of the Senate you would get a very different scenario than if Trump gets back in with control of the House and the Senate, which would not have moderate Republicans like Mitt Romney, Jeff Flake and John McCain.”
Underpinning the strategy is a series of internal polls showing that Democratic congressional candidates are outpolling Mr Biden in battleground states including Pennsylvania, New York and California.
Mr Biden spent Friday campaigning in Michigan, the home of the US car industry and another swing state as he tries to hang onto the support of blue-collar union workers.
Alarmingly for Mr Biden, leaders of the 400,000–strong United Auto Workers Union are worried.
Shawn Fain, the union’s president who met with the union’s executive board, has voiced his “deep concerns” about the election, despite the union endorsing Mr Biden in January.
John Morgan, a Democratic fundraiser who still supports Joe Biden, has cancelled a fundraising event in Florida because of the uncertainty over whether Joe Biden will be the candidate.
“Some eople are holding back for their own reasons. It started after the debate and it’s all over the place,” he told the Telegraph.
He had been planning to hold a fundraiser at his home, but it now may not take place.
“I have already raisd a million dollars for an event may never happen. A lot of people write big cheques and get a picture.
We have to get down the road and every day it becomes more likely he is going to run. But until we have a date I am not going to raise more money for someone who may not be in the race.”
Some of Mr Biden’s closest allies from his long career, including Barack Obama, are also said to be concerned about him staying in the race. But Mr Biden’s team gave a robust defence of the president and appear to be digging in to keep his campaign alive.
Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, said he had met with Mr Biden on Thursday, as the number of members calling on the president to step aside rose to 20.
Mr Jeffries said he “expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward” to and Mr Biden but did not give further details.
07:37 PM BST
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Here is a look at the day’s big stories:
President Joe Biden got a boost on Friday from two prominent Democrats who said he should stay in the White House race.
The House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries met Joe Biden yesterday to share lawmakers’ ‘insight and heartfelt perspectives.’
A senior campaign official has called Joe Biden’s performance on Thursday the “worst of all worlds.”
Some Biden campaign aides reportedly celebrated the US president’s performance at Thursday’s Nato summit press conference.
Dozens of Democrat lawmakers are expected to soon call for Joe Biden to step out of the race for November’s US presidential election, according to CBS News.
06:24 PM BST
Biden gets boost from two Democrats
President Joe Biden got a boost on Friday from two prominent Democrats who said he should stay in the White House race, as other members of his party weighed whether to say the 81-year-old incumbent is still fit for reelection.
“I’m riding with Biden no matter which direction he goes,” Representative James Clyburn said on NBC’s “Today” program, the morning after Biden held a high-profile press conference to beat back doubts about his candidacy.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been floated as a possible successor, said he was sticking with Biden as well. “I’m all in. No daylight,” he said in an interview excerpt released by CBS.
Clyburn, 83, is a respected voice among Black Americans whose support is essential to Biden’s 2024 campaign, while Newsom, 56, is one of several younger governors who are widely seen as the future of the party.
05:48 PM BST
Biden hits campaign trail as calls to quit pile up
Joe Biden returns to the campaign trail on Friday, pushing ahead with his reelection bid after a mixed performance at a major news conference failed to silence calls for him to quit.
The 81-year-old will give a speech bashing rival Donald Trump in Detroit in the rust-belt state of Michigan, a crucial battleground state that the Democrat must win in November’s election.
A defiant Biden insisted in a pivotal appearance at a Nato summit on Thursday that he would run again, and win - despite concerns about his age and health following a disastrous debate performance two weeks ago.
05:30 PM BST
Branson calls on Biden to ‘make the right decision’ and ‘step aside’
Richard Branson said Joe Biden’s wish to carry on in the presidential race has created ‘a dangerous distaction’ from the more important political issues that need to be discussed.
Wrting on his Virgin website, Mr Branson said he was watching the discussion over Mr Biden’s political future ‘with growing unease’.
While Mr Biden has been an extraordinary president, said the businessman, he should now step aside.
“For him, standing down now wouldn’t have to mean the end of a lifetime in public service, either. He could still do enormous good in the world. But his desire to carry on has created a dangerous distraction from the issues this presidential race should really focus on. It’s not too late to make the right decision now and step aside – for America, and for the free world,” he said.
Thoughts on the debate over Joe Biden: https://t.co/fZ7LbqwCyL pic.twitter.com/0CRF2GmtEH
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 12, 2024
05:02 PM BST
‘Donors moving their money to congressional races’
Major Democrat donors are reportedly moving money away from Joe Biden’s presidential campaign to congressional races in November.
Despite the latest opinion poll giving Mr Biden a two-point lead over Donald Trump in a head-to-head race, fears are growing among some major donors that the chances of retaining the White House are slim.
One party apparatchik referred to a “donor strike” among the party’s wealthy supporters which appears to have started after the president’s disastrous debate performance last month against Donald Trump.
A campaign strategist told the Telegraph that some donors had been in “wait and see” mode until the Nato summit.
04:49 PM BST
Democrats plot to push Biden out of White House
A coalition of top Democrats is plotting behind the scenes to push Joe Biden out of the US presidential election after another string of gaffes overshadowed a set-piece Nato press conference.
Veteran Democrats are lobbying former presidents, soliciting lawmakers, organising donors, and arranging polls to make the case for ending Mr Biden’s run for re-election, according to Axios.
The highly influential US news site has labelled the plotters as the ‘Committee to Unelect the President’ who are now working full-steam on ‘Mission Push Biden out of the presidential race’.
The journal said that the group is growing by the day and is commissioning polls showing that the Democrats would be the likely election winners with a candidate other than Mr Biden.
This comes as Barack Obama, the former US president, and Nancy Pelosi, one of the most senior Democrats in Congress, were reported to have spoken about their “concerns” over Biden in private.
James Carville, a top US political consultant, said that both Mr Obama and Bill Clinton, who was the 42nd US president, were signalling that Biden should go.
Neither former commander-in-chief has publicly voiced support for the 81-year-old Mr Biden in over two weeks. “Silence is a very loud form of speech,” Carville said.
04:33 PM BST
How the White House hid the truth about Biden’s decline from the world
Smoke and mirrors covered his many gaffes, but now a growing number of Democrats fear the 81-year-old President has made one slip too many, write Ben Wright, Rozina Sabur and Tom Teodorczuk.
Following Joe Biden’s disastrous performance against Donald Trump in their debate on June 27, White House reporters started poring through the visitors log at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. One name kept cropping up again and again: Dr Kevin Cannard.
The neurologist and specialist in movement disorders works at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which serves the President. Eagled-eyed journalists spotted that he visited the White House no fewer than eight times between last July and this March.
The revelation forced a statement from the White House which suggested Dr Cannard had only seen Biden for his three annual physicals and the other visits were related to military personnel. Dr Kevin O’Connor, the White House doctor, added: “President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical.”
But even taken at face value, the statement prompts some additional questions. Firstly, why has the White House press corps taken this long to start investigating the medical comings-and-goings taking place under their noses? And, secondly, if the President really isn’t seeing specialist doctors, why not?
04:08 PM BST
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries met Joe Biden on Thursday evening
The House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries met Joe Biden yesterday to share lawmakers’ ‘insight and heartfelt perspectives.’
In a letter to lawmakers, he said he was granted a private meeting with the president yesterday evening.
“Over the past several days, House Democrats have engaged in a thoughtful and extensive discussion about the future of our country, during a time when freedom, democracy and the economic well-being of everyday Americans are on the line. Our discourse has been candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive.
“In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together.
“As House Democrats have done throughout this Congress, we will continue to work in the best interests of everyday Americans. Thank you for your continued leadership in service of the communities we are privileged to represent.”
03:52 PM BST
What do the polls say?
An NPR/PBS poll released on Friday found Biden leading Trump 50 per cent to 48 per cent, a slight increase from his position before the debate. Mr Biden fared slightly worse than Trump when third-party candidates were included in the questioning.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found Mr Biden and Trump tied at 40 per cent each. But some nonpartisan analysts have warned that Mr Biden is losing ground in the handful of competitive states that will determine the outcome of the election.
03:34 PM BST
Biden’s performance was ‘worst of all worlds’, says campaign official
A senior campaign official has called Joe Biden’s performance on Thursday the “worst of all worlds.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was “Not good.”
“But not bad enough to make him change his mind ... It’ll give some enough cover to back him publicly, only to say he’s not up for it privately.”
Fundraiser Dmitri Mehlhorn said other donors told him they saw a strong performance from the president. “This is the person who can beat Trump. The mistakes are baked in and the upside is strong,” he told Reuters.
02:50 PM BST
Top Biden ally defends president after press conference debacle
James Clyburn, a South Carolina congressman, defended Joe Biden in an interview with NBC News on Friday after the president’s verbal slip-ups overshadowed a set-piece Nato summit conference.
“I am all in. I’m riding with Biden no matter which direction he goes,” Mr Clyburn told the channel’s ‘Today’ programme.
He also downplayed Mr Biden’s gaffes, attributing them to a stutter that the US president has suffered from since childhood.
“He sometimes mangles words and phrases but all of that is almost natural for people who grew up stuttering and they do focus a little more and when you focus a little more you tend to lose the flow,” Mr Clyburn said.
“He is still working to overcome this ... he has one of the best minds that I have ever been around,” he added.
02:02 PM BST
Your views: Telegraph readers respond to the Democrat plot to oust Biden
With top Democrats reportedly plotting to oust Joe Biden from the US election race, Telegraph readers have been getting in touch with their views on the situation in Washington.
01:57 PM BST
US ‘deep state’ hid Biden’s true condition from the public, Kremlin says
The US media and the so-called “deep state” have long hidden Joe Biden’s condition from the public, according to the Kremlin.
Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry press spokeswoman, told reporters that those who wanted to depict Biden as fit for office had only “worsened the situation”.
In an earlier post on her Telegram channel, Ms Zakharova joked that “Russian interference” could no longer be hidden after Mr Biden introduced Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” during a Nato press conference on Thursday.
“There is a pro-Russian candidate being run by the ‘hand of the Kremlin’,” she said, referring to Mr Biden’s slip of the tongue.
‘Deep state’ is a term popularised by Donald Trump. It refers to influential networks within US media, industry and federal agencies allegedly exercising power within or against the elected United States government.
01:38 PM BST
Biden’s gaffe has ruined months of our hard work, say European officials
In Washington DC
Joe Biden’s gaffes have ruined months of hard work and undermined the Nato summit, diplomatic sources told The Telegraph.
On stage, Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz defended the president over a slip of the tongue in which he called Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin”.
The US leader went on to call Kamala Harris “vice-president Trump”.
But roaming the corridors of the summit, aides were more frank in their verdict of the president’s performance.
You can read the full story here.
01:27 PM BST
Obama and Pelosi ‘concerned’ over Biden’s future
CNN is reporting that Barack Obama and Democrat grandee Nancy Pelosi have been talking about the future of the ticket.
The former president has not called on Mr Biden to drop out. But, according to the news station, he has said he will campaign energetically for the Democratic candidate.
Mr Obama leapt to Mr Biden’s defence after the debate fiasco, posting on X “Bad debate nights happen, I know”.
CNN believes Ms Pelosi in particular could be pivotal in the drive to persuade Mr Biden to step aside.
The Hill, meanwhile, says she is already “working furiously behind the scenes” to put pressure on Mr Biden not to run, even though she has not publicly called on the party to ditch him as its candidate in November.
01:15 PM BST
Pictured: How the US media downplayed Biden’s press conference debacle
America’s biggest news outlets were relatively kind to Joe Biden in their website splashes on Friday morning.
While the Washington Post acknowledged Mr Biden’s “stumbles”, it chose to focus its splash headline on the president’s response to foreign policy questions and not his mistaking Volodymyr Zelensky for his Russian enemy Vladimir Putin.
The New York Times took a similar approach, leading with Mr Biden’s attempt to overcome previous gaffes with “policy talk”.
The Wall Street Journal, however, led with an article on an upcoming Biden campaign rally in Detroit.
01:09 PM BST
Poll: Which Democrat could beat Donald Trump in the presidential election?
Top Democrats are reportedly planning to oust Joe Biden after a gaffe-strewn Nato press conference performance. Choose which figure you think could beat Donald Trump in November’s election here:
12:46 PM BST
Biden-supporting union has ‘deep concerns’ over election chances
Alarm about Joe Biden’s prospects has spread to the United Auto Workers, according to reports in the US.
The 400,000-strong union endorsed Mr Biden in January and its support is critical in Michigan, one of the pivotal states the president has to win if he is to win a second term.
Shawn Fain, the union’s president, is understood to have met with the UAW’s executive board on Thursday night to discuss his “deep concerns” over Mr Biden’s chances of beating Donald Trump.
Mr Biden, who described himself as the most pro-union president in US history, met with the leadership of the AFL-CIO - the US equivalent of the TUC - to shore up support from organised labour.
12:07 PM BST
Pictured: World leaders react to Biden’s ‘President Putin’ gaffe
Nato and Nato partner leaders including Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada; Kishida Fumio, the prime minister of Japan and Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, look on as Joe Biden introduces Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”.
11:46 AM BST
Biden aides ‘celebrated’ president’s gaffe-strewn press conference
Some Biden campaign aides reportedly celebrated the US president’s performance at Thursday’s Nato summit press conference, where Mr Biden introduced Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” and referred to Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump”.
The Biden staffers were said to have been encouraged by the US president’s handling of questions relating to foreign policy.
“He exceeded expectations. He answered really f----g hard foreign policy questions beyond my personal capacity to answer. And he also had a couple of great lines that we’re going to be able to use in the campaign,” one aide told US newspaper Politico.
“He’s got a core group of folks who have always believed!! And everyone is going to thank us when he wins!” another Biden staffer added.
11:26 AM BST
Watch: US officials react to Biden’s ‘Vice President Trump’ gaffe
US secretaries Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, as well as national security adviser Jake Austin, react to Joe Biden calling Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump”.
11:23 AM BST
The Kremlin: ‘Like the whole world, we noticed the Biden mix-up’
Russia has said that the whole world saw Joe Biden’s slips of the tongue at the Washington Nato summit on Thursday, but added that it was a matter for US voters.
“It’s not our topic. It’s a topic for the US. Let American voters determine the chances of the [presidential] candidates,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin press secretary, said.
Mr Peskov however said that the Russian government had taken note of what it called disrespectful comments that Biden allegedly made about Vladimir Putin.
“For us this was unacceptable. It does not make an American head of state look good,” Peskov said.
Mr Peskov did not say what those comments were, but Mr Biden referred to Putin at the Nato summit as “a murderous madman”.
10:34 AM BST
‘Biden is a danger to the free world — he should resign now’
With the West’s security at stake, Assistant Comment Editor Poppy Coburn argues that Joe Biden should be replaced long before November’s US presidential election.
Forget the candidacy, it is now increasingly doubtful whether Biden should even remain in his position as elected president now. If there were ever a time to invoke the 25th Amendment, this is it.
You can read the full article here.
10:21 AM BST
Pictured: Kamala Harris on the campaign trail
Amid calls from numerous Democrats for Joe Biden to step aside, Kamala Harris, the US vice president, is seen as the most likely candidate to take over the top ticket for November’s US presidential election.
The Biden campaign is understood to have run a test of Ms Harris’s popularity against Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, in a head-to-head survey of voters this week.
10:02 AM BST
‘The best of both worlds’ - how the Trump campaign viewed Biden’s Nato gaffes
Donald Trump’s allies and advisers are said to have viewed Joe Biden’s Nato press conference performance as “the best of both worlds”.
A Trump adviser told US newspaper Politico that Mr Biden had been “bad, but not bad enough to be forced out”.
“He gave us enough new material and may stave off his insurrection,” the adviser added.
Trump’s campaign prefers that Mr Biden remains in the race for the US presidential election in November, believing him to be the weakest candidate that Trump, the Republican nominee, could face.
At the Nato summit press conference on Thursday, Mr Biden introduced Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” and referred to Kamala Harris, the US vice president, as “Vice President Trump”.
09:14 AM BST
Poll: Should Joe Biden stand aside?
09:10 AM BST
Pictured: Biden during Thursday’s Nato summit press conference
Joe Biden, the US president, introduced Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, as “President Putin” during a press conference at the close of the 75th Nato summit in Washington.
08:56 AM BST
Democrats test Harris’ popularity with voter survey
Democrats are testing the popularity of Kamala Harris, the US vice president, against Donald Trump in a head-to-head voter survey, according to the New York Times.
The Biden campaign’s analytics team commissioned the poll, the newspaper said, citing anonymous sources.
It is believed to be the first since Mr Biden’s June 27 debate with Donald Trump that the US president’s aides have sought to measure how Ms Harris would fare running against the Republican nominee.
The move comes after Mr Biden, 81, made a string of prominent gaffes, the latest of which came on Thursday when he referred to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, as “President Putin” at the Nato summit in Washington.
08:30 AM BST
Trump responds to Biden’s ‘Vice President Trump’ gaffe
In a post on social media, Donald Trump quipped “Great job, Joe!” after Mr Biden referred to Kamala Harris, the US vice president, as “Vice President Trump” at the Nato summit in Washington.
08:20 AM BST
The Democrats who have already called for Biden to quit
Lloyd Doggett, a representative from Texas, said after the June 27 debate with Donald Trump that it was time for Mr Biden to “make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw”.
Seth Moulton, the representative for Massachusetts’ Sixth District, said that he no longer had confidence that Mr Biden could defeat Trump.
Mike Quigley, an Illinois congressman, said that it was time to “let someone else do this”.
Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House armed services committee, said Mr Biden could no longer “strongly make his case to the American people”.
Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, warned that there is only a “small window left” to choose a replacement for Joe Biden.
Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey congresswoman, said that the stakes were too high to “stay silent” and that Trump could not be allowed to return to the White House
Earl Blumenauer said he hoped Mr Biden would end his bid because the election campaign was about “not just about extending his presidency but protecting democracy”.
Hillary Scholten, from Michigan, said: “We just have too much at stake in this election to sit on the sidelines and be silent while we still have time to do something.”
Brad Schneider, from Illinois, said Mr Biden should “heroically pass the torch to a new generation... to guide us to the future he has enabled”.
Ed Case, from Hawaii, issued a statement calling for Biden to end his candidacy.
Greg Stanton, from Arizona, said it was time for Mr Biden to drop out of the race.
Jim Himes, a Connecticut congressman, said on social media that Mr Biden was no longer the strongest candidate to confront Trump.
Scott Peters, a California congressman, called for Mr Biden to withdraw in an official statement.
Eric Sorensen, an Illinois congressman, said on X: “I am hopeful President Biden will step aside in his campaign for President.”
Peter Welch, of Vermont, told the Washington Post that Mr Biden should step aside.
Pat Ryan, a New York Democrat, said Mr Biden needed to step aside due to the threat of a second Trump term.
Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona congressman, told the New York Times that Mr Biden needed to reconsider his candidacy.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Washington congresswoman, called for Mr Biden to end his re-election bid.
08:02 AM BST
Dozens more Democrats ‘expected to call on Biden to step aside’
Dozens of Democrat lawmakers are expected to soon call for Joe Biden to step out of the race for November’s US presidential election, according to CBS News.
Citing four Democrat sources, the broadcaster said that statements have been prepared and that planning for their release is being coordinated.
The next three to four days could be “brutal” for Mr Biden, one unnamed source said, adding that by next week it may be untenable for the US president to continue his reelection campaign.
Kamala Harris, the US vice president, would be the most likely candidate to take over from Mr Biden, another source added.
07:51 AM BST
Hello and welcome to our live coverage
We’re bringing you the latest updates from the United States after Joe Biden introduced Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” at the Nato summit in Washington on Thursday night.
