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THE TOP
How Biden is losing Hill Dems
Happy Wednesday morning.
President Joe Biden lost Thursday’s debate. Now he’s losing the debate after the debate — in a resounding and embarrassing fashion.
Hill Democrats are growing increasingly wary of sticking with Biden following his disastrous performance in the Atlanta faceoff versus former President Donald Trump.
The underwhelming response since then from Biden, his campaign operation and the White House has angered scores of rank-and-file Democrats. They’ve been pressuring their own leadership for more insight into what’s happening with the party’s standard bearer just four months out from an election, according to more than a dozen lawmakers and aides.
“This can’t just be the Bidens talking among themselves,” a veteran House Democrat complained Tuesday night. “This is the presidency we’re talking about here.”
Although Hill Democrats have had practically no outreach since the Atlanta debate from the administration, Biden will meet this evening with Democratic governors at the White House.
Yet the crisis is much more immediate for Hill Democrats. Every House Democrat has Biden at the top of the ticket in November, while Senate Democrats running in red states where Trump will romp to victory face an even tougher challenge.
Biden called House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday night, according to a source familiar with the situation. There’s also been some calls by senior White House officials, including White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and Steve Ricchetti, a top aide.
Another senior House Democrat put it this way of Biden: “He needs to start showing and stop telling. Otherwise, he will lose more House Dems. It’s that acute.” This lawmaker said the “next wave” of Democrats that come out against Biden will be senior members and veteran senators whose opposition could prove fatal to the president’s reelection bid.
Democrats are also angry with White House and Biden campaign aides. A Democratic senator who was granted anonymity to candidly assess the situation told us that “we kind of just feel lied to” about the president’s condition.
“They’ve been shielding him from those types of settings for months and even after it became undeniable, they’re still lying to us,” the Democratic senator said. “There’s just a lot of frustration right now in the caucus.”
A common theme among our conversations with Democrats is that they believe more lawmakers will follow the lead of Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) in questioning whether Biden should stay on the ticket or openly declaring that he can’t beat Trump in November. MGP and Golden, both DCCC Frontline members, announced in local media that Trump will defeat Biden.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), appearing on MSNBC Tuesday night with Chris Hayes, was asked if he agreed with Doggett. Raskin said “there will be lots of discussion and lots of people weighing in and I know this is a moving target. It’s got to happen quickly.” Raskin added that there will be “massive unity and focus” once Democrats decide whether Biden should be the nominee.
Biden hasn’t done an interview since the debate, despite the public pleadings of many Democrats. Biden — who will head to Wisconsin on Friday — will sit down with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, but that’s days too late for many Democrats. When Biden addressed reporters after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump can’t be prosecuted for official acts, the president didn’t take any questions.
During a campaign event Tuesday night, Biden blamed his debate fumbles on too much international travel: “I decided to travel around the world a couple of times… I almost fell asleep on stage.”
We’ll note, however, that Biden spent six days at Camp David prepping for the debate and had been back stateside for nearly two weeks.
Frontliners and “national security Democrats” are getting a lot of attention from House Democratic leaders. They’re watching closely what these two factions say about the president.
When we reached out to Frontline Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) to get his thoughts on Doggett’s bombshell, he hardly delivered a ringing endorsement of Biden. Landsman said while he believes the president is a good man, “it’s a question of whether Biden can effectively make the case against Trump.”
The statements from Golden, Doggett and MGP got a lot of attention on Tuesday. Yet it was the comments from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) — two of Biden’s most important allies in the party — that really stood out.
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Pelosi said that it is “a legitimate question to say, is this an episode, or is this a condition” — referring to Biden’s inability to complete thoughts or speak lucidly at times during the debate.
Clyburn, also appearing with Mitchell, said he would “wait on the experts in medicine to give their opinion” on Biden’s condition. Clyburn said he would support Vice President Kamala Harris if Biden stepped down, although Clyburn noted that he wanted the ticket to remain as is.
— Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan, Andrew Desiderio and Max Cohen
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WASHINGTON X THE WORLD
Get ready for the NATO show in DC
World leaders will converge on Washington next week for the annual NATO summit as the U.S.-led coalition backing Ukraine is about to face its most serious test.
This year’s summit will have two key themes — a celebration of the alliance’s 75th anniversary and a rallying cry for Ukraine intended as a pushback to the rise of far-right political forces in Europe and, potentially, in the United States.
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who lead the congressional delegation to the summit every year, will have a much larger cohort of lawmakers joining them at the gathering given it’s occurring stateside while both chambers of Congress are in session.
The goal is to ensure that, no matter what happens over the next six months, the U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s security — and its path to NATO membership — remains intact.
If former President Donald Trump wins in November, Tillis told us, “You’re going to have to have people like me and others, the majority of our conference, saying we need to stand behind Ukraine.”
At the G7 summit last month, President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a 10-year security agreement. Of course, any deal like this is only as good as the Congress that’s funding it and the president who enforces it.
“We need to lay the groundwork to say that, fundamentally, what Biden has negotiated and committed to makes sense, but every president has a right to review and consider possible enhancements and modifications,” Tillis added.
Ukraine in NATO? The expectation is that the joint communiqué issued after the summit will once again affirm that Ukraine is on a path to full-fledged NATO membership once certain conditions are met — including that the war is over.
At a recent meeting with senators in France for the D-Day anniversary, Zelensky acknowledged this reality, according to Shaheen.
“As long as the war is active and unresolved, Ukraine is not going to be a member of NATO,” Shaheen said. “But having a path to membership is really critical, just as they’re looking at a path to EU membership.”
NATO membership requires signoff from all member nations. So even if Ukraine eventually meets the conditions to join, all it takes is one country to block it — either to extract concessions or to prevent Ukraine’s accession. Finland and Sweden know this all too well.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who leads the U.S. delegation to NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly, told us he’s especially looking forward to leveraging those new members’ contributions to the alliance.
“This upcoming summit is already a success because Sweden and Finland will be joining NATO as full members,” Turner said. “They bring not only highly capable militaries, incredibly important geography, but already fully integrated militaries into the alliance.”
It’s not just Russia. The 2022 NATO summit in Madrid yielded a joint statement that, for the first time, named China as an emerging threat to the West. And NATO leaders have sought to underscore the interconnectedness of Russian and Chinese aggression.
Leaders of Indo-Pacific countries have participated in NATO functions below the membership level, and they’re expected to be in D.C. for this year’s summit.
Many European nations have woken up to the threat that China poses, but there’s still work to do.
“This is an ongoing public education effort because, while leaders in Europe are recognizing this, [people] in Europe still are doing trade with China,” Shaheen said. “They’re doing a number of things in the relationship that [haven’t] caught up with the potential threat in the future.”
— Andrew Desiderio
Weekday mornings, The Daily Punch brings you inside Capitol Hill, the White House, and Washington.
Listen NowHill staffers cast doubt on chances of online safety, social media regulation bills
Almost half of top Capitol Hill staffers are doubtful Congress will pass legislation to address online safety or social media regulation this year, our latest survey of congressional staffers found.
There’s been some movement on children’s online safety with the bipartisan Kids’ Online Safety Act, which would establish new federal safeguards for children online. But there’s opposition from Big Tech and House GOP leaders aren’t rushing to move on the measure.
Last week, Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) abruptly canceled the markup of the American Privacy Rights Act just before it was set to begin. The Washington Republican has been at odds with her party’s leaders over the legislation.
Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats were angry about the cancellation despite some of them having issues with that particular legislation.
House staffers are more pessimistic about passing online safety regulations than the Senate, with 48% saying it’s unlikely; only 39% of Senate staffers said it was unlikely. The survey was conducted June 3-21 in partnership with independent public affairs firm, LSG.
Want to take part in The Canvass? Our survey provides anonymous monthly insights from top Capitol Hill staffers and K Street leaders on key issues Washington is dealing with. Sign up here if you work on K Street. Click here to sign up if you’re a senior congressional staffer.
— Robert O’Shaughnessy
PUNCHBOWL NEWS IS EXPANDING COVERAGE INTO THE TECH SPACE
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THE CAMPAIGN
Democratic leadership backs Cori Bush, plus new ads
Here are some campaign updates this week:
Bush gets leadership nod: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar endorsed Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) on Tuesday. The endorsement is keeping with Jeffries’ stated goal of backing all House Democratic incumbents. Bush is staring down a stiff primary challenge from Wesley Bell, a local elected official who is receiving outside support from AIPAC’s super PAC.
Hovde calls for unity: Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde released a new Fourth of July-themed ad where he calls on Americans to come together and leave partisan politics behind on the holiday. Hovde, who’s running against Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), lights up fireworks to close the ad. Creative!
A Trump endorsement that wasn’t: It’s fascinating to see the lengths to which GOP down-ballot candidates tie themselves to former President Donald Trump, especially in primaries. In Arizona’s 8th District, Blake Masters is airing an ad about how Trump endorsed him during the 2022 Senate campaign. It’s true, but conveniently leaves out the fact that this cycle, Trump has backed Masters’ opponent Abe Hamadeh.
— Max Cohen
DOWNTOWN DOWNLOAD
Patriotic Millionaires, which was formed to lobby against the Bush tax cuts, has signed up Sarah Christopherson to lobby on “[c]orporate tax cuts, expiring provisions of PL 115-97, investment income taxes.”
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has signed up the Klein/Johnson Group to lobby “on issues related to air travel, airport safety, and operations.”
— Jake Sherman
MOMENTS
ALL TIMES EASTERN
11:30 a.m.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will get their daily intelligence briefing.
12:15 p.m.
Biden and Harris will have lunch.
1:30 p.m.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief.
4:45 p.m.
Biden will deliver remarks at a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room.
6:30 p.m.
Biden will meet with Democratic governors in the Roosevelt Room.
CLIPS
NYT
“Biden’s Lapses Are Said to Be Increasingly Common and Worrisome”
– Peter Baker, David E. Sanger, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Katie Rogers
NYT
“Big Donors Turn on Biden. Quietly.”
– Teddy Schleifer, Ken Vogel, Shane Goldmacher and Kate Kelly
WaPo
“Obama shares concerns after shaky debate, offers Biden his advice”
– Tyler Pager and Michael Scherer
AP
“Biden plans public events blitz as White House pushes back on pressure to leave the race”
– Colleen Long
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. Political ads courtesy of AdImpact.
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