President Joe Biden on Monday criticized the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity while avoiding a question shouted from the press on whether he will step down after his rocky debate performance last week.
Biden delivered prepared remarks from the White House regarding the High Court’s ruling on Donald Trump‘s presidential immunity claims. The former president has sought immunity protection from federal charges accusing him in efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss to Biden. The justices said in a 6-3 ruling that Trump is shielded from facing charges for actions he took within his constitutional powers. The case will now return to the lower courts to decide which of Trump’s actions listed in his indictment qualify as official acts or personal activities.
Biden denounced the Supreme Court’s decision during his address, arguing that American voters “deserve to have an answer in the courts” on Trump’s actions related to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol before casting a vote in November.
The president did not, however, react to a question shouted by a reporter as he wrapped up his brief remarks: “Will you drop out of the race?”
Newsweek sent a note to Biden’s campaign via email for comment on Monday.
Biden and Trump on Thursday took part in the first 2024 presidential debate on CNN, which proved devastating for Biden. The president spoke for most of the night with a low, raspy voice, and made several gaffes while answering questions from moderators.
Immediately after his performance, CNN anchor John King said that Biden’s appearance “was a game-changing debate in the sense that right now as we speak, there is a deep, a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party.” A CBS News and YouGov poll released on Monday showed that a growing number of voters fear that Biden does not have the “mental and cognitive health to serve as president,” rising from 65 percent of voters ahead of the debate to 72 percent this past weekend.
Several commentators have raised concerns over Biden’s chances against Trump in November after his rough debate performance. Some progressive members of the Democratic Party have also called for leaders to select a new presidential candidate. Biden campaign communications director, Michael Tyler, told reporters last week that there have been “no conversations … whatsoever” about choosing a different Democratic nominee.
While reacting to the news of Biden’s planned remarks Monday, CNN Political Director David Chalian said that “everyone’s going to assess how he seems, physically, mentally” during the president’s address.
“The White House says he’s coming out to make a statement about the Supreme Court ruling,” Chalian said during an appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room before Biden’s address. “While that’s an interesting news-of-the-day topic that I’m sure everyone would like to hear the president of the United States on, it’s not that first question on people’s minds right now about Joe Biden. It’s about the state of his candidacy for reelection that is top of mind.”
“They’ve set this up as a statement about the Supreme Court, which shows me they want to be on the contrast with Trump every day,” Chalian said. “They don’t want to be talking about Joe Biden—not about his debate performance, not about anything just about Joe Biden alone. They want the president to be on contrast with Trump day in and day out.”
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