Biden wins Michigan primary despite Gaza protest vote as Trump underperforms: Live – The Independent

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President undergoing annual physical amid concerns over age as oldest person ever to serve as America’s chief executive
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Joe Biden responds to Dark Brandon conspiracies
Amid campaign concerns about his age, Joe Biden is currently undergoing his annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
The president is a lifelong teetotaler and nonsmoker who exercises regularly but aged 81 he is the oldest person ever to occupy the Oval Office and is running for another four years in office.
Donald Trump, his likely opponent in November’s presidential election, is only slightly younger at 77.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden will testify today behind closed doors in the flailingRepublican impeachment inquiry into his father.
For months, the president’s son said he would only testify in public to avoid Republicans taking his words out of context when presenting them to the public. His attorney negotiated several conditions allowing today’s deposition to take place, and a transcript, with sensitive information redacted, will be published.
Finally, last night the president and his predecessor both won their respective Michigan primaries further cementing the likelihood of an unpopular 2020 rematch in November.
Mr Biden faced a protest vote over his response to the war in Gaza, while Mr Trump underperformed against opponent Nikki Haley who has vowed to stay in the race for Super Tuesday.
Hunter Biden is testifying behind closed doors in the Republican impeachment probe into his father President Joe Biden, saying in his opening statement that “I did not involve my father in my business” and that the House GOP has “built your entire partisan house of cards on lies”.
Gustaf Kilander and Andrew Feinberg are following developments in Washington, DC:
Hunter Biden is testifying behind closed doors in the Republican impeachment probe into his father President Joe Biden, saying in his opening statement that “I did not involve my father in my business” and that the House GOP has “built your entire partisan house of cards on lies”.
Political advocacy group Our Revolution, which helped push for Democrat primary voters to vote “uncommitted” in Michigan in protest over the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, has released a statement after more than 100,000 people did so.
As final results are tallied, Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, said of last night’s election:
“Last night, progressive voters across the state of Michigan made their voices heard. By showing up and voting UNCOMMITTED in the Democratic primary, they sent a resounding message to President Biden: Change course now on Gaza or risk alienating key voter blocs needed to defeat Trump in November.
“We’ve all watched as nearly 30,000 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza. Despite unprecedented global outrage and poll after poll showing that Democratic voters overwhelmingly support a ceasefire, the Biden administration continues to provide unconditional support to Israel’s right-wing government to enable its brutal military campaign.
“Enough is enough. As tonight’s results in Michigan make plainly clear, in order for Democrats to defeat Donald Trump in November, Biden must realign with his voter base and listen to the diverse, progressive voices urging him to change course in Gaza.
“And until he does, we will continue showing up, speaking out, and activating Our Revolution’s eight million grassroots members across the country to use their ballot to demand change.”
Here’s our coverage of the protest vote:
Organisers say their movement is a response to what they see as the president’s lack of action to resolve the ongoing conflict in the Middle East
Ever since Israel began its campaign in Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attacks, there has been much speculation around how President Joe Biden’s support for Israel will affect his prospects in Michigan – a state with a sizeable Muslim population.
Some Muslim-Americans – including congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American lawmaker in Congress – chose to vote “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s primary as a mark of protest over his handling of the conflict.
And this has left some Democrats fearing that a poor showing in February might hurt him in the November general election in a state that Trump won in 2016, before Biden turned it blue again in 2020.
Eric Garcia has more.
President Joe Biden’s bigger problem in Michigan will be with two demographics that could be overlooked: younger and African-American voters. Meanwhile, for Republicans, Donald Trump could continue to show weaknesses in the suburbs. Eric Garcia reports
Joe Biden walks out of the White House to board Marine One for a short trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Members of the media try to block themselves from wind, rain and rotor wash as Marine One with President Joe Biden aboard lifts off from the South Lawn of the White House
President Biden arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland
Hunter Biden is set to testify today behind closed doors in the flailing Republican impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden.
For months, Hunter Biden said he would only testify in public in the probe, in order to avoid Republicans taking his words out of context in the way they then present it to the public.
The president’s son has only agreed after his attorneys negotiated several conditions that Republicans accepted.
Gustaf Kilander and Andrew Feinberg will be keeping an eye on proceedings and filed this report:
For months, Hunter Biden said he would only testify in public in the probe, in order to avoid Republicans taking his words out of context
President Joe Biden is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his annual physical, the White House has said.
Mr Biden travelled to the Navy-operated facility in Bethesda, Maryland on Wednesday, departing the White House by helicopter at 9.06 am and landing at the hospital’s helipad nine minutes later.
A White House official said Mr Biden’s visit to the hospital was “for his routine annual physical” and promised that his physician would release a written summary of the findings afterwards.
Mr Biden, 81, is the oldest person to ever serve as America’s chief executive.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC:
President Joe Biden is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his annual physical, the White House has said.
In advance of Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Michigan, organisers mounted a campaign to urge local residents to consider entering an “uncommitted” vote, rather than simply backing Joe Biden, in order to register their opposition to the White House’s handling of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The movement, co-ordinated by a number of groups including Listen To Michigan, said that its pleas for the Biden administration to do more to end the devastation in Gaza has “fallen on deaf ears”.
“Frustrated with the lack of response, we are now turning to a more traditional method of democratic expression: our voting power,” the group’s website reads.
Their efforts yielded an extraordinary response.
As of Wednesday morning, with 98 per cent of the vote counted, President Biden had won the primary with 617,728 votes, accounting for 81.1 per cent of the total, but 100,960 people had marked their papers “uncommitted”, meaning 13.3 per cent of Michigan Democrats had entered a powerful protest vote.
Organisers say that the movement is a response to the Biden adminstration’s lack of action in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East
Long-shot Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson announced on Wednesday she is unsuspending her campaign and throwing her hat back into the ring in the race for the White House.
In a video posted on X, Ms Williamson said she was re-joining the presidential race to take down President Joe Biden – who she referred to as a “fascist”.
“I had suspended it because I was losing the horse race but something so much more important than the horse race is at stake here and we must respond,” Ms Williamson said.
“Right now we have a fascist standing at the door and everybody’s all upset about it.”
Ariana Baio has the latest.
Williamson, a self-help author, initally suspended her earlier this month
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has said her rival and current GOP front-runner Donald Trump is to blame for recent Republican losses in Michigan, a key battleground state.
“Ever since Donald Trump became president, they’ve lost the governor’s mansion. They’ve lost the state House. They’ve lost the state Senate,” she told CNN.
The former UN ambassador has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that Trump won’t be able to win the general election.
“You’re seeing the same thing, whether you look at all the early states — Donald Trump didn’t get 40 per cent of any of the Republican primary vote. It is a problem,” Haley said.
“He’s not bringing people into the party, he’s pushing people out of the party.”
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Joe Biden walks out of the White House to board Marine One for a short trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
AP
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