Trump brags about debate performance while New York Times calls for Biden to drop out: Live updates – The Independent

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Biden and Trump squared-off at a CNN-moderated debate this week
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Donald Trump’s potential vice presidential contenders are boosting his image by coming to his defense over lies he told during the presidential debate on Thursday.
Senator JD Vance and Governor Doug Burgum joined political news over the weekend to shift the blame off of Trump for spreading lies about abortion, his record in office, current statistics and more.
Meanwhile, Senators Marco Rubio and Tim Scott re-directed questions about Trump’s “Black jobs” comments when confronted with it on television programs.
It is a different tactic than the one the Biden campaign is taking to cool voter concerns about the president’s ability to serve in office. Over the weekend, Biden appeared strong and confident in front of potential voters in North Carolina and met with donors in New York.
The Biden campaign also said the president raised $33 million since the debate and pushed back on calls for him to drop out of the 2024 race.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham expressed faith that Donald Trump will accept the 2024 presidential election results after the former president refused to state he would not conduct a repeat of the 2020 election.
On CNN Sunday morning, Graham responded to a question about Trump accepting presidential results by diverting the question.
“Yeah,” he told Dana Bash. “I mean what are you supposed to say: ‘Yeah I’ll accept it no matter if I thought it was cheating’”.
“I’m not worried about him accepting the results of the election. I’m worried about between now and November does Iran get a nuclear weapon because they think Joe Biden is so comprised he’s not going to do anything about it.”
Voices: Behind the scenes at the first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the buzzy atmosphere of the spin room descended into horror-struck silence within the first few minutes of the president opening his mouth. While Trump told bombastic lies in front of us, Biden struggled to recall what were obviously canned responses.
At one point, a former prominent TV commentator got up from their seat and start pacing back and forth, worriedly. Biden aides and surrogates, who had been in constant communication with each of us throughout the day, fell silent, one by one.
Read more from Andrew Feinberg here
The editorial board of The Philadelphia Inquirer has called on Donald Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential race – one day after The New York Times called on President Joe Biden to drop out.
“President Joe Biden’s debate performance was a disaster. His disjointed responses and dazed look sparked calls for him to drop out of the presidential race,” the editorial board wrote.
“But lost in the hand wringing was Donald Trump’s usual bombastic litany of lies, hyperbole, bigotry, ignorance, and fear mongering. His performance demonstrated once again that he is a danger to democracy and unfit for office.”
The op-ed warned that four more years of Trump would be “more lies, grievance, narcissism, and hate.”
President Joe Biden sought to reassure donors that he is capable of winning the 2024 presidential election and holding office over the weekend after his poor performance in the first debate sent fears through the Democratic Party.
“I didn’t have a great night but neither did Trump,” Biden said on Saturday while meeting with supporters in New York.
“Donald Trump is a genuine threat,” Biden said. “[He] will destroy democracy. I will defend it.”
“I promise you we’re gonna win this election,” Biden said.
The Kremlin has refused to comment on Donald Trump’s claim he would “settle the war” in Ukraine if he was re-elected in November.
Trump made the claim during Thursday’s US presidential debate, where he and President Joe Biden competed to appear tougher on foreign policy.
“As far as Russia and Ukraine, if we had a real president, a president that knew – that was respected by Putin, he would have never – he would have never invaded Ukraine,” he said.
Biden called Putin a “war criminal” and warned that if Russia is allowed to succeed, the Russian president would not stop at Kyiv.
“He wants all of Ukraine. That’s what he wants,” Biden said. “He’s killed thousands and thousands of people,” the president added.
Putin was repeatedly referenced by both US presidential candidates during Thursday’s election debate as they vied to show who was tougher on foreign policy. “Go ahead, let Putin go in and control Ukraine, and then move on to Poland and other places. See what happens then. He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about,” Biden said of Trump.
Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that migrants threaten the availability of “Black jobs” during the first presidential debate has Black people, including members of Congress, asking: what is a Black job?
“They’re taking Black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs. And you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history,” Trump said on Thursday night.
Ariana Baio reports:
The latest breaking news, comment and features from The Independent.
Thursday’s debate in Atlanta, Georgia, was the president’s shot to bat away concerns about whether he can effectively serve a second term, one that would end well into his 80s.
Instead, battling a cold, Biden appeared raspy and hoarse onstage while appearing to forget words at times and at other points seemingly losing track of his point altogether.
Democratic sources who spoke to The Independent and a wide range of other media outlets after the debate were in panic mode.
Read more here
The Supreme Court’s decision to narrow how Jan. 6 defendants may be charged with “obstruction of an official proceeding” will likely only not impact Donald Trump’s federal election interference case.
On Friday, the majority of the Supreme Court justices agreed the government needs to establish that a defendant attempted to or “impaired the availability or integrity” of a record, document, object or thing used in an official proceeding to charge someone with obstruction of an official proceeding.
They argued that the criminal charge was intended to be used in white-collar crime cases and, without specificities, could be used broadly just to give prosecutions the ability to seek 20-year maximum sentences.
Trump is unlikely to see significant change in the charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith. He previously indicated the former president’s interference with fake electoral vote certificates would still fall under the new interpretation.
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Senator Marco Rubio (left) Governor Doug Burgum (middle) and Senator JD Vance (right) are all top contenders for Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick who have gone to bat for him after the first debate
AP, Getty Images
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