Trump lashes out at George Clooney after he calls on Biden to step aside: Live

Ouch. Not exactly a vote of confidence there from New York representative Ritchie Torres.

Here’s CNN’s spreadsheet on what various Democrats have said publicly so far about the man currently still occupying their party’s presidential ticket.

The New York Post reports that the network’s news division head, Debra O’Connell, has had to remind George Stephanopoulos that “he is a newsman who is expected to be objective” after he was caught on camera telling a New York passerby that he did not believe  the president was fit to serve another term in the wake of his big interview with Biden last week.

Here’s James Liddell on the fallout from the incident in question.

Having comprehensively failed to produce any evidence to justify his “impeachment inquiry” into the president, Republican House Oversight Committee chair James Comer has now issued subpoenas to three Biden staffers requesting their depositions on their boss’s cognitive condition, insinuating a cover-up.

The subpoenas, first reported by Axios, are for first lady Dr Jill Biden’s senior adviser Anthony Bernal, White House deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and White House senior adviser Ashley Williams.

The letters accompanying them allege that the aides have “firsthand knowledge of the extent to which President Biden is personally carrying out the duties of his office and whether he is capable of doing so”.

Comer continues: “The committee seeks this information to explore whether the time has come for Congress to revisit potential legislation to address the oversight of presidents’ fitness to serve pursuant to its authority under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.”

The chairman said his grossly opportunistic panel is concerned the aides “may be running interference on behalf of the president and perhaps doing some of the president’s job for him”, concluding: “President Biden is clearly unfit for office, yet his staff are trying to hide the truth from the American people.”

Speaking to Abby Phillip on CNN last night, the Michigan governor, promoting her new memoir True Gretch, said “I don’t think that it would hurt” when asked whether she thought Biden should take a cognitive test to allay fears about his well-being in the wake of his debate nightmare, which she conceded was “not a great success” for the president.

Pushing back on calls for Biden to step aside from the 2024 campaign, Whitmer said: “He shows up every day and fights for the American public.

“He cares about other people more than he cares about himself, and that’s precisely why I think this moment where we have Donald Trump, who’s been convicted of 34 felonies, who cares only about Donald Trump, we can’t lose sight of how high these stakes are.

“We have a field, and unless one person, Joe Biden, makes an alternative decision, this is the field, and we’ve got to go.”

This dodge on The Late Show was rather nice too.

Here’s more from James Liddell.

Meanwhile, here’s a little more on the president’s day yesterday, where he met with Sir Keir and the two men agreed on the importance of maintaining the “special relationship” between the US and UK, supporting Ukraine and standing up to Russian aggression and finding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Biden later attended a White House dinner at which he made the following remarks:

“This is a big night at the White House, celebrating 75 years of the greatest alliance the world has ever known. Jill and I are honored to have so many close allies and close friends all in the same room.

“The allies in this room not only share a common language – don’t share a common language – we do not share a common border, but we are neighbors. We’re neighbors because we all share common beliefs in dignity, equality, democracy and freedom. And we’re all neighbors because we’re there for one another.

“In the neighborhood that I grew up in, that’s what you do. When a neighbor needed help, you pitched in. Bullies threatened to block, you stepped up. When a bad snowstorm hit, you shared supplies and made sure everyone was safe. When a new family moved into the neighborhood, you welcomed them with open arms.

“And why did we do this? Because we know we were in it together, that our own house was safer when the entire neighborhood was as well. This simple yet profound idea lies at the heart of our alliance.

“Over the last 75 years, it has allowed our people to reach for new possibilities. It’s allowed our nations to meet any threat with strength and resolves. And above all, it allowed women and men of generations to know the lives of freedom, security and democracy.”

Here’s the president raising a glass to Jens Stoltenberg…

…and here’s more from Andrew Feinberg and David Maddox on his sit-down with the newly-minted British PM.

Yikes. That’s 67 per cent of respondents and a majority of Biden supporters calling on the president to make way for a younger model in this latest survey of voting intentions from ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos.

The poll also sees Trump beating Biden by 47 per cent of the vote to 46 per cent if the election were held today, but that replacing the president on the Democratic ticket with Kamala Harris would tilt the vote 49 per cent to 46 per cent in her favour.

The appearance of the president’s youngest son at his Florida rally on Tuesday evening has seemingly whipped up a great deal of interest in the 18-year-old high school graduate’s immediate future.

Trump introduced Barron, his only child with Melania, to the MAGA faithful at his Doral golf resort by describing him as “a very young man who’s now going to college”.

The 78-year-old added that his son “got into every college he wanted to and he made his choice”, adding: “He’s a very good guy, I’ll tell you… He’s a very special guy, Barron Trump… This is the first time he’s ever done this.”

According to The Daily Mail, Barron is “widely believed to be choosing between New York University, Georgetown, or the University of Pennsylvania” as he looks ahead to his undergraduate years and possible political future thereafter.

Here’s Alex Woodward on the most junior of the Trumps.

Biden campaign officials will brief Senate Democrats this afternoon to try to reassure them about the commander-in-chief’s ability to serve a second term, after influential ex-House speaker Nancy Pelosi made non-commital remarks about his future yesterday.

Pelosi refused to say on Wednesday whether she believes the president should remain atop the Democratic ticket following his dismal debate performance in Atlanta last month and struggle to reassure the party that he’s able to do the job for another four years.

Appearing on MSNBC on Wednesday morning, Pelosi was asked if she still supported Biden to lead the Democratic ticket.

Gustaf Kilander reports on her decidedly cagey response.

As for President Biden himself, he is set to deliver his “big boy press conference” later today at the Walter E Washington Convention Center in DC as part of the Nato summit marking the alliance’s 75th anniversary.

Here’s Holly Baxter for Indy Voices on why his meeting with new British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer at the White House yesterday was difficult to watch.

Also on the former president’s social feed, he’s been busy trying, again, to put distance between himself and the Heritage Foundation’s disturbing blueprint for his next administration, despite its being co-authored by several former Trump 1.0 officials.

The conservative think-tank’s 900-page manual envisions a politicised civil service packed with Trump loyalists, the abolition of the Department of Education, greater presidential powers over the Department of Justice and further draconian federal restrictions on abortion, among other nasty things.

Here’s James Liddell on Seth Meyers calling out Trump’s “flagrant lie” on the matter.