a live shot of the white house, as joe biden has just announced, he will not run for re election after a disastrous here is what donald trump i posted just a short time ago on social media, and a long policy said it has been the greatest owner of my life to be your president, and while it has been my intention to seek re election, i believe it is in the best interest of my policy and the country to me to stand down into focus solely on feeling my duties as president for the remainder of my 10, i will speak to the nation later this week where we've got mike hannah standing by the house for us who is in washington, dc. mike, many, many people had asked a biden to sit down, but not until this moment would he do. so what, how much pressure can you, can you just give us an idea of how much pressure he was under to make this

decision finally? and it has to be done to a great deal of pressure. we've had more than such the democratic members of congress whose cold framed to step down privately. they had been several reports of senior democratic party. lead is briefing president binding and saying that the democrats will lose the election in november. shoddy insist on contesting it. a very important part of that statement that he has just released, and that is that he is going to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my to. what's important about this is that he is not standing down as president. he is standing down as democratic party candidates in the which will happen at the democratic national convention next month. so he will remain on his president until the end of his to and the question now is, who is going to be selected by the democratic party as it's not many to contest the

election? this is an issue that is going to be very messy indeed. and very difficult for the party to pull together and come up with the candidates who can be competitive against trump in the short pay period. uh that the, the candidates would have to prepare for that election. yeah, mike, as you mentioned, obviously under huge amounts of pressure of a recent weeks. do we have any idea what changed his mind? why he made the decision now too much? it's very difficult to say. perhaps he will reveal more of that when he addresses the nation. as he said with is the smoke senior democrats have been in touch with him for my president, brock, obama, a former president, bill clinton. we know that he's been in discussions with the minority lead the, the house and the majority lead to in the senate, but which particular event there is also the issue of him contracting cause would

be your health is problem because it may be one of the indicators to him that he should stand down as not many for the next election, but very difficult to isolate exactly at what point is that is something that only the president finding himself can answer. what we do know he is, he has been repeatedly insistent that he would not step down. he has said this on a number of occasions, the members of his campaign have said that on a number of occasions. so it is and comes as a bit of a surprise, and certainly a bit of a shock to the democratic party by the fact that by the end has now saying that he will step down off the weeks of insisting that he wouldn't. so it's going to be a re calibration of the party. now, the 1st issue that is have been to have to be the tenant is who is going to be the candidate to emerge from that convention next month. i mentioned to certainly be plenty of relief within the democratic party from those who have been cooling to

him, joe biden, to do just to this. in his statement that he has released, he thinks the vice president, cumberland harris but did not endorse a as a successor on the tickets. what do you make of that? how significant is that? or is he just simply stepping back and allowing the policy to decide who will become the next candidates? it's very difficult to read in into this what is what quite a detailed statement at present. and perhaps that is one of the issues that he will address in his when he addresses the nation in coming days. and the question is, so the issue is that the vice president does not automatically become the candidates and the election. there still is some kind of leadership race that will go on. it is very possible possible that the positive that the president biden may still nominate to, but that's what's to have to be determined by the party as

a whole. now the advantages of having come a lot higher as, as a presidential nominee, is that she is vice president. she has national stature, very important to you as well. she has access to the funds that president biden and have raised as part of the bye, didn't have his campaign ticket. so all of those issues are dealt with. it wouldn't make it much easier for the democratic party to come to an agreement on the vice president be coming these party, not many in the band, but this would also remove the threat of what could be some really destructive in fighting. should there be a full on leadership race? should there be an ongoing battle full the delegates, which will now have to be resumed given that 98 percent of the delegates had a really pitch themselves to president biden. you've now got a situation where all of those delegates are now going to have to reconsider. and that has going to have to be discussion about who will be the no money to get. the

majority of delegates behind him or, you know, obviously uh, plenty of complex maneuverings, no doubt will be happening behind the scenes in the democratic policy. i mean that part from couple of harris can done a number of other names have been throwing out there like a given you some uh the california cabinet who else uh, alongside him could potentially stay a pop into the role as democratic candidates for president as well. that's very difficult to say, as you mentioned, you do have kind of the potential candidates, like a new, some of the governor of california who incidentally has already ruled himself out till those circumstances now may change. you always have the govern of wyoming, who has also said she is not interested in running for president. there are a number of individuals whose names have been bandied about. one that has being bandied about quite a lot is ma kelly, the senate to from arizona 59 year old who is

a war hero. he takes all of the boxes in terms of attracting vote of support. but we are not only looking here at a who is going to stand as president. we're going to look at a ticket. the democrats have now got to come up with a ticket come up with the potential dominey who will then have to elect his or her vice president. so it's a whole package that is going to have to be created here, not just the simple fact of saying, all right, we're going to agree that x, y, or z is going to be um, nominated candidates. it's also a question of how is that to, candice? it to see going to look like, who is going to be the running made. all of these factors have now got to be put together. it's going to be very, very tough time for the democratic party and is going to be a lot of debate and discussion. the hopes about him, the democratic party, supporters, is that it doesn't get messy, that you do not get left in limbo, in terms of, in fighting between various functions of the party. so this in

a way is absolute potential tipping point for the democratic party. if it can get together, if it can come to a very quick agreement, it would make it better for the parties chances because it would have more time to prepare for that campaign as it stands at present. some observers believe that even the content on convention next month would be too late to come to the agreement on a candidate, even though that is where the candidate will be formally nominated. a good many observe is absolutely insistent that that is too late. the party has to decide within coming days, who is going to agree on to back as candidates for the posts of president that thank you so much for all of that. that is mike hannah for us in washington dc. if you would just joining us, just want to bring you up to date. basically, joe biden, in the last few moments, has announced that he will not be running for re election. but from the on this developing story,

eric him is joining us. he has an older and political and list and he is in washington d. c. thanks very much for being with us here on out to 0. first of all, obviously i'm a minute to stay. can you just give us a little bit of context? how i'm president of this is in american politics. you know, i think the only time we can imagine something like this happening. not only in us american politics, but particularly with the democratic party, is going back to 1968 when lyndon b johnson decided not to run for re election. and of course, we saw what happened at the convention in 1968 in chicago with the turmoil that took place. and of course, we know, democrats lost that year. and so this is, this is going to be uh, this is shocking. and now the party, the nation is i think, wondering what comes next, what happens? we just saw the statement put out by the president,

and it says nothing about whether or not he's going to endorse his vice president or even what the process will look like at that in terms of who will now be the, the candidate. it's a trip to take over for the democratic party. it's, there's so much now up in the air, particularly in terms, not only of that, but where does that $300000000.00 that bite and already has in cash on hand? where does it go? can whoever is takes is place, can they get on the ballot in those t battleground states of wisconsin in nevada? now that even though not at the deadline, has closed and well, the republicans actually challenge whoever the democrats put up in the court of law . so there are so many issues that are still up in the air. it's a very fluid situation right now for the country as it looks to who it's next president will be so much uncertainty like you say, but it comes up to so much pressure on joe biden to do exactly this to step down after that debate performance, which was ridiculed,

and his basically saying his poll numbers plummet and many of his most driven support is up until this point basically changed their mind inside that he has to step down. what do you think changed jo, buttons, mind we have to be clear about something and, and we have to be correct. we're right about this. and we also have to be honest and people who are watching this was not the voters. this was not rank and file democrats who actually call for joe biden to actually step down. these were congressional democrats, elected law makers, and very influential donors. cool for nearly a month now have been calling for the president to step down. clearly he has it here. uh, to those conversations and to that pressure and is now stepping down. i think when he mentioned we lead president biden to this decision is he had to basically do what was best for the party and what he thought is best for the country. because what we know is, many of those influential donors had made clear that not only would they not

provide any more resources to the democratic ticket, to the bottom harris campaign, but they not what, but they would not actually provide any money to those down valid candidates those razors to those members who are trying to re take the house democrats or trying to re take the house and democrats were trying to hold onto the senate. so what we saw here is that influence and that money spoke very, very loud, and joe biden simply heated that call. like you say so much is uh, american politics comes down to cash. and that seems to have spoken extremely loudly here. do you think that you have met by made the right decision or will we only know the answer to this? uh, come november and we will not know the answer to that until november. i will say this, and this is what should be cheap. and what should i think? send shivers down the spine of many democrats right now. joe biden received more

votes than any other presidential candidate in history. 81000000 votes in 2020. there are those who voted for joe biden, because they want joe body to be the president of the united states. it is undeclared, what many of those voters will do? will they trust this democratic party going forward? will they trust whoever the nominee is going for 10, their democratic party work out all of these issues and be a viable party going forward. our many of these independent boulders go on to look at this party now that it's gone through so much turmoil. so there is still a very, very high bar that the democratic party is going to have to overcome. now that it is pushed out, it's, it's commander in chief and i think that is going to be an answer that we won't get until november 5th. it maybe to set some question a slightly different. why does this make it more likely, so that the democrats kenwood come november and i still don't believe that the

answer to that question is, is available to us right now. because going into this moment, in fact, if you just look in the immediate aftermath of that debate debacle. 5, president bided the poles that remain unchanged. what really started to change the tone, the tenor of this electorate was those influential donors, those high profile democrats who came out calling for joe biden to accept this race . that is what saw the ground underneath president biden begin to shift. and when you begin to see him lose ground, and many of these posts, but even with that, this was still a winnable race for joe biden, but now it's unclear what will happen and also this does not, it does not mean that this is a clear pathway for donald trump, i think donald trump is still a very polarizing figure, heading into november. but the democratic party, given that there is no,

nobody at the head, i think it's still in a very, very weak place right now and it makes it easier. not harder for donald trump in the fall. remarkable moments, a eric just to to reiterate exactly what is happens over the last 15 minutes or so is just going 15 minutes past the. we have reached a huge moment in american politics. you as president joe biden has announced that he will quit the 2024 presidential price, the decisions that throws the rice now into complete disarray. he was just pod all this time into a bite and released a short time ago. he said it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your presidents. and while it has been my intention to seek re election, i believe it is in the best interest of my policy and the country to me to stand down and just focus solely onto feeling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. we're going to go back to eric ham,

who's the author and after that to go and listen has been talking to us from washington d. c. of course that you've got the republican party watching all of this on fold. many people what actually hoping and the republican party that i drove by and would hang in there for as long as possible because they thought that he was basically the best option for the republicans to when a so we're just getting a new line. and sorry eric, that's a joy. pardon has now not a part of that statement that i just read out. but that he now says that he is supporting a vice president harris to be the democratic and it contained for the presidential election. what do you make of that was that it wasn't included in his initial statement and now in the last 15 or so minutes he's since turned around and basically endorsed to yeah, that's pretty surprising because when i read the initial, the initial statement by the team, i bought a bite in a campaign,

i just assumed that they would have made clear that they were putting their support behind her. and when it was not there, i didn't really know what the make of it. now they're coming out saying that they are supporting her and i think that just speaks to how flu with this situation is. and perhaps how this decision was, was perhaps only made in a matter of minutes that they're, that they're doing this. but you know, over the weekend and quite frankly, when we learn that present invite in pet contracting. colby, that was, i was surprised by the optics of the president actually going to his home in delaware and not returning to the white house given the crisis that was unfolding and engulfing. not only his presidency, but his campaign that he would not try to deal with this from the white house, to at least to assure the american people and show those donors and those congressional democrats. that he was still up to doing the job that he could still

do the job and he was prepared to do so. and now we get this statement. and so perhaps there was a lot of soul searching going on with him back at home. and now what we're, we're seeing with this latest statement by the president that he's going to win support. he supports endorses as vice president. i think that gives sense, a strong strong message to those donors to those congressional democrats to get behind cala harris, which i think is perhaps where this is going to all end up. as we already know. both a governor is gretchen whitmore, of michigan and gavin newsom of california have made clear that they will not be participating in any type of open primary or do not want to be served on a bike on a presidential ticket. this late in the game right now, and so i think what we're seeing here is, not only are you going to have a number of people who are simply not wanting to be a part of this. but at the same time, i think it least,

it closes the door to too many options that perhaps many of those donors and congressional democrats would like to sleep on the ticket. and so now i think the question becomes, you know, how is the party going to actually move through this process? and will, those delegates now simply stay with pamela harris. if in fact she decides to stay at the top of the ticket now, or would they go somewhere else just to go back to a point you were making really about how fluid the situation is. we understand that dr. button is obsessed as a nice as last night in america. a plan to continue to run for president and only told, says senior staff at 1 45 pm eastern standard time. that's only a little over an hour ago that he was planning to drop out and he made that announcement about half a. now, after telling the stuff we've getting some lines in about donald trump's reaction, obviously the republican candidate who,

who was preparing to try and defeats the joe barton, he says he sold cnn that he thinks vice president harris will be easier to defeat and bought enough to buttons stepped aside, what do you make of that statement? well, i think, i think he, the, i mean that sounds about i would expect to hear that from him. i mean one thing. the g o p. now many does not want to do is show any sign a week best and also continue to assure his supporters that they are prepared for any direction that the democrats decide to go in and that they are prepared to continue to run their race and that they are still focused on winning in november. okay, eric, thank you so much for your insights. uh, we really do appreciate it as this story rapidly develops here. thanks so much for joining us. you bet. happy to be here. thanks for having me. what your advising has and for endorsed his vice president campbell harris around to president in 2020 for

mike. hannah has more to this. both light is now shining brightly on cumberland harris. she'll be the 1st female president of the united states, and she was to be the 1st black woman, an asian american woman to hold the country's highest office. she broke one gender ceiling when joe biden us to be as vice president, taking the 2020 election. they went on to win the election. we did it, so you're getting a really nice president of the united states. i was pointed proudly to the historic nature of their election, but while i may be the 1st woman in this office, i will not be the last the because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. bone in oakland,

california to jamaica and an indian immigrant parents. she has a long background of politics and public service. she began her career as a prosecutor and the san francisco bay area in 1990 a democrats in 2004. she wanted elected office as san francisco district attorney, paris under reputation as a tough on crime prosecutor. and what's the link to the attorney general of california in 2010? because the time in that office was marked by effort, some criminal justice reform and fighting civil rights violations by local police departments. she spoke often favor of same sex marriage and prosecuted online prostitution rings, and violent criminal games are. iris was elected to the us senate in 2016 with 60 percent of the boat, while serving in the senate. she opposed many of president donald trump's immigration policies. paris voted for trumps removal from office during both of his

impeachment trials. a few bound to the own run for the white house in 2020, but dropped out of the race early of the disappointing results. doing enough, though, for bite and to make his vice president in this position, harris was tossed with chuckling the pony issue of immigration. during the trip to guatemala, she was criticized for some liberals. so as a harsh message do not come. do not come under relentless attacks, stroke opposition, republicans and the right wing news media, part of the struggle to and wanting to be public approval. all those you made up to the with young poses and people of color i do want to actually invite and ran for reelection, part of sold to really focus around issues of civil rights have access to abortion, and gun violence. we will not be defeated. we will not be deterred,

we will not know, she will have the opportunity to leave the country on her own. she will have to deal with the polarized political climate crises abroad, economic uncertainty, and the residential campaign all at once. well, this is a want to joe biden has to have just a short time ago. he said, my fellow democrats, i have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as president for the remainder of my time. my very 1st decision, as the posse nominate in 2020, was to pick some of the harris as my vice president. and it's been the best decision i've made to day. i want to offer my full support and endorsement for coming to be the know many about policy this year. democrats, it is time to come together and beach trump. let's do this. that was joe button

a short time ago, posting on twitter. well, for more we're going to go now to mike hannah, who is in washington. d. c. a joy by them. they're saying come a lot is the only person that can take this potty foot. does she have it in her to the fate donald trump in november a well, this was a critical announcement by president biden's, surprising that it doesn't come often is initial statement, but the fact that he has now endorsed to that makes the pasta. the nomination is candidates much, much easier. it's now going to be a question of the democratic body, deciding on unity following what president biden as thoughtful to stop any in fighting and all to come together behind. cumberland harris, now the onset as to whether she has got what it takes to defeat donald trump. many of the supporters would argue very strongly that yes, she does. she is not at carrying the problems of age. she is a carrying the benefits of the administration. they have been some successes in the

by the iris ad campaign. there's also being a issue where she would have access to the funds that have already been raised because the funds go to the bite and harris campaign. as part of that campaign, she will have access to the war chest that has to be an accumulated on the president biden. so the issue is of whether or not she's up to contesting with donald trump. will donald trump himself is now on the record as saying that she would be easier to defeat then joe biden. so from donald trump's point of view, he's now got an easy a candidate to stand against. but this goes country to what have been some speculation within the trunk camp where they have been some leaks at bob's. they wanted to fight against joe biden because of the age factor, because of the fact that by didn't would not have put type a strongly performance, as a young good candidate might have. now they've got to recalibrate. fab obviously preparing for the possibility of they've come on that harris would be the candidate that

donald trump will be fighting against. but once again, there's a lot of bridges before that becomes a reality. the democratic party has got to agree full. the 7 full size and delegates set up to agree and she's got to be for many nominated at the convention before sheet officially become is the candidate but go biden's, endorsement of the as his replacement is very significant indeed and makes it pause to getting that to endorse with the nomination. much much easier. and take mike as a jump button said in the 70s, the democrats, it is time to come to give that to you. not as a posse will say, or the next few weeks going to be mind by inside thing is different fractions within the democratic party find to have the candidates become the next democratic candidate for president or there is that danger,

and this is why president biden has formerly endorsed in a bid to avoid that. what are we all going to have as well, though is a lot of debate, if not argument over who would be coming to harris's running mate. now that of course, is a very important as honest as well, because it's going to be of interest to the running may to will be with the on the campaign against donald trump and j d events. so this is going to be another issue that the democrats will have to decide upon in coming weeks, although should come on that harris get the nomination. obviously it is the choice as to who is going to run with this. but obviously, poc you members have massive inputs into that particular decision, but there is a lot ahead for democrats to deal with say, i've got to 1st of all, to come to agreement to avoid the kind of inviting that could be possible at a time like this i must just go back in history here because there is a president pull this back in 1968,

when lyndon johnson decided not to stand for re election. he was the last sitting president who decided not to stand for re election. now the subsequent convention in chicago was utterly chaotic because of the lack of method in fighting within the delegates them within the democratic party as a whole. and it resulted in a failure in the subsequent election. so people and democrats with a sense of history have look back at that. they know what the possibilities are, what the dangers on. certainly, president biden would be well aware of those particular dangers should then not be a united the party behind a single candidate that all agree on an old support. so this is what is going to be the crucial factor in the days ahead is whether the party can afford that kind of avoid that kind of political infighting, and come to an agreement on a single candidate in accordance with the wishes of president biden. that that

would be comma, that harris would be fascinating to see exactly how this all plays out. thank you so much, mike. my kind of for us there in washington dc as well. here's the process of that norman action going forward for the democratic party. the presidential nominate will be elected by thousands of delegates at the democratic national convention on august the 19th, the vice president coming to harris has the most likely candidate, as we mentioned to replace biden. but who normally notion is not guaranteed. although, as we have seen, dr. barton has endorsed to now to win a kansas. it needs the support of the majority of the pledge delegates, the more than $3900.00 democrats replace the support during the primaries. now if not, the vote goes to a 2nd round and the stupid delegates take part by our group. with about 700 senior posse leaders and elected officials who are automatically delegates based on the positions abiding an harris share. a campaign committee that raised $250000000.00

in the 2nd quarter of this year. now she remains on the ticket as either of the presidential candidates, she would retain her access to those on spend funds, which actually map the majority leader who had privately asked joe biden to step aside, as said on the platform x. and i quote, joe biden has not only been a great president and the grades at legislative later, but he's a truly amazing human being. his decision, of course, was not easy, but he once again this country, his policy and the future 1st job today shows you are a true patriot and the great american or. okay, well for more on this, we're joined now by jennifer victor who is a professor of political science at george mason's university's scholar, school policy and government. she's joining us live adviser from washington, d. c. a telling woods then, from chuck schumer, which is a little really about the legacy, the joe biden will leave behind and no doubt much if that will depend on what

happens on november the 5th. and if the democrats can win against donald trump, but this take it back a step. do you think that today job i'd make the right decision and stooping down you know, we are truly in an uncharted territory just to over use a phrase at this point. it seems quite clear that joe biden has become, or had become a very vulnerable incumbent candidate. typically, we think of incumbent president as being a very robust position for re election. incumbency is a great advantage, particularly when a presidential candidate is running for their 1st 3 election and enjoy biden's case . it had the common liability because of his age and very visible symptoms of a series of physical and perhaps mental decline on his part. and that vulnerability turned into a political liability, the likes of which we haven't seen. one of the things i think that is important for

particularly in american options. but others also to keep in mind is there are 2 aspects to this that make it very different for americans to understand or to try to grapple with the moment. and one is that what we are really observing here is the outcome of the process of political parties. we, we tend very much in united states, particularly to think of politics as about individuals as about individual candidates, individual politicians following their particular goals and trying to maximize their own sense of power or policy goals or whatever they might be after. but uh, no politician does anything on their own, no one gets re elected on their own. these are all collective actions. and political parties are the most fundamental organization that we have in democracies for organizing the collected actions for winning elections. and then what we have seen here, although joe, by his decision to step aside, has been an individual. he was the only person who could make that decision very

much an individual thing. but the, the build up to it, the consequences of it everything surrounding it is very much a political party decision. and so what we are seeing now are the consequences of a democratic party in action. do you think that the dmc is now going to have an open convention in the next couple of weeks? and i think that's a little bit unclear at this point on buying has come out and endorsed his vice president, pamela harris. he has said he will not resign the presidency and he has endorsed her, which is an interesting move. he didn't put that endorsement in his initial letter . but the endorsement came just moments after that initial letter came out. all of this happened on twitter by the way, which is also a little bit remarkable to me. a political twitter has been different in the last couple of years since the must take over. but, but it's been reinvigorated today to some extent and, and maybe surprising way, but also a very effective way for communication. and the fact that he has endorsed his vice

president the fact that, as you mentioned in your intro, that she is on the ticket and already has access to the hundreds of millions of dollars of campaign funds as the biden harris tickets all there is. there's a lot of legal, so sort of convenience for her to become the nominee, but there is no necessarily and have that ability about it. her name did not appear on the ballot literally in the primaries, and although she was presumed to be the running mates when biden's name appeared on the ballot during those primaries, the last of which just ended weeks ago. and i think what we're gonna look for now is whether the various other potential candidates who could have stick a claim on this nomination, whether they kind of fall in line behind harris candidacy with joe biden, sending that strong signal that that is who she'd like to see, take the nomination or whether there's going to be a competition. so if we see one or 2 of those folks falling in line,

but find behind harris, that it may be that this winds up not being particularly competitive. oh, who are you talking about? in particular, who should we would, who should we be looking out for to potentially stage of run of their own now, of some of the names that i've seen floated about are gretchen whitmore, the governor of michigan. josh shapiro, the governor of pennsylvania. and this year, the governor of kentucky, some people's talks about gavin, knew some of california. and there are few other names. the democrats have a fairly deep bench of, of political talent. and, and it's, you know, it's, it's been 4 years since they had a competitive primary that resulted in jo biden's nomination back in 20, the 20192020 series. and, and there was a fair amount of competition during that period. but we've got such a truncated time period here, and the pressure is on democrats to maintain their position in the white house and, and defeat donald trump. that i think that intense time schedule and pressure is

going to create some intense political pressure for people to get behind vitamins a vice presidential candidate who, who could now become the, the presidential harmony of the party. if we could go back to coming to harris for a bit because she hasn't exactly been the most popular vice president donald trump has in the last few minutes come out and see that he thinks that vp, harris will be easy. it is a fate enjoyed by the end of the jump button stepped aside. what do you make of it? not any. donald trump's comments on all of this, which probably wouldn't be surprising to many people, but whose viability as a candidate, do you think that you can beat donald trump? oh, i think she absolutely possibly can. she was, she ran a fairly robust campaign for the presidency, although it was fairly brief. she dropped out before the 1st primary back in january of 2020. but when she dropped out of that primary, just thinking about her candidacy and viability, 4 years ago, a lot of people saw that almost as

a move of maintaining her political position. and that early dropping out in some ways positions her well for getting that vice presidential nod from biden. and, and in a lot of ways, she's been a very typical vice president. not a lot of press um, kind of a behind the scenes player. her popularity numbers haven't been to 5, but she also hasn't had a lot of press coverage. she, she has not been in the big spotlight of the various political discourses over the last few years. and so i don't see it as particularly unusual, a position for vice presidential candidate to be. and i think what we're going to see here now is a massive ramping up of attention towards her last i checked right before we went on to air. she hadn't yet herself tweeted anything yet today. we still haven't heard anything from us yet. yeah. so i expect that will be coming coming soon and and things are going to come fast and furious at this point. yeah. indeed. and uh and i, i must, uh, if the democrats can,

can really and behind do i just wanna go back to, to joe abided in the legacy that he is going to leave behind you. if we heard from chuck schumer, he said his decision of course was not easy, but he wants to get in for this country, his policy and future. this is that how he will be remembered here. or i just, i mean, we'll have to get the perspective of time to reflect on his presidency, but i suspect the historians are going to be quite find to joe biden, from a policy standpoint, some of the domestic policy standpoint. um, he, uh, accomplished quite a bit policy was uh, tackled the number of challenges having to do with coded and economics and inflation and so forth in ways that some people will review it as mixed. of course, donald trump is very fond of attacking joe biden, for a high grocery prices in gas prices and so forth. it's unclear of how fair that is in terms of the presidential responsibility for such things. but i suspect that overall, with perhaps the exception of the complications of the as really war,

which i think is the most new ones are complicated, difficult part of his legacy from a domestic policy standpoint and from other foreign policy standpoint. i suspect that she will have a very kind review from history and become a vice president and very good standing as to donald trump has just posted on who's on social media platform. basically saying that control the button was not fit to run for president and certainly not fit to serve. and if it was, quote, he only attend the position of president by lies fake news and not leaving his basement. he at donald trump went on to say all those around him, including his don't the end, the media knew that he wasn't capable of being presidents. and he wasn't this donald trump the posting a short time ago. i mean, is that how, i guess the republican half of america will, will see job. i didn't know that he simply wasn't up to the job and

i think we'll have to wait and see how that shakes out. you know, donald trump's modus operandi in politics is to insult his political opponents in any way possible. i mentioned nothing in that statement is out of character or particularly surprising, but i don't take donald trump is the historian of a job. right? this presidency. okay. jennifer, thank you so much. we really do appreciate your time and your insight into this quite remarkable, di, in american politics. that's jennifer victor, a professor of political science at george mason university. thank you. thanks, john. okay, well joe biden is age and cognitive decline have taken soon to stage and recent weeks with many fairing it could cost as positive the election. a white house correspondent, kimberly healthcare has more even before

he was sworn to office, most pools showed americans thought joe biden was too old to be president after a phonetic 4 years of donald trump. americans were exhausted and eager to slow things down. joseph robin advised you to solve an elderly bite and seemed like the solution at age 78. i've made history becoming the oldest us president within hours 5 and sign 17 executive orders to begin reversing trumps policies on everything from immigration to rejoining the paris climate accord. the age of president had early legislative success working with congress to give americans still struggling to recover from the corona virus pandemic, billions and financial release. a one trillion dollar infrastructure bill to improve roads, airports and bridges was also passed. but as time passed,

the lot, the prison access, highly controlled presidential press conferences compared to other presidents, was notable that lack of accountability magnified as biden's foreign policy crises mounted the us withdrawal from afghanistan in 2021. the russian invasion of ukraine in 2022. the 2023 october 7th, tomas attack and israel's months long war on gaza. still whitehouse tried to portray biden's age and experience as his strength phases. i'm a president from until it became impossible to hide at a white house event in 2022 wide in search for a dead congress woman in the crowd. jackie here was jack to make sure she was

on the corner and his struggles to put together even simple sentences became frequent. and austin overshadowed his message and so our military is worked on following the advice of my commander in chief my, my life. the chief of staff of military his physical decline in public falls occurred austin at the g 7 in italy for leaders were seeing directing as even assisting the president as he became confused and began to wander off. but it was this june presidential debate against former us president donald trump, the finally expose the true extent of president biden's decline. it was a bad night. we understand that it was a bad night. and the president has spoken to this. the president struggled to maintain focus, the white house said he had

a cold democratic supporters were buying it. it was tragic. i've had my hopes that bite and would make a good showing, and i support biden. and now, i don't know what to think. 3 weeks later, a successful post nato press conference gave biden's campaign. the oxygen needed to bounce back. i didn't score and suggestions, his mental acuity was slipping. i'm a terminal and running for it. i think it's important and i real, i am a fears. i see. let them see me out here. take a look. what happens to do this? as the nation of the former president, trump offered another opportunity to let the dog bite in efforts the battle president addressed the nation from the oval office appearing strong and presidential or so. then i then got sick. he just tested positive for cove it

and senior democratic leaders made it public. it was time for biden to end his bid for another presidential term polls showed 65 percent of democratic supporters wanted by then dropped from the ticket. a cobit stricken by then finally abandoned, his campaign joke, lied, and entered the white house at a turbulent time. the united states was in the midst of a deadly pandemic. but it was also deeply divided after an attempt to stop him from becoming president. now, by the leaves almost the same way he came in. kimberly hell get out 0. washington. if you just joining us, the us present job button has announced that he will step down as the democratic nominate of president. and it basically a decision best of rows, this rice and to complete disarray. ellen fisher is with us now in washington dc.

and i know that you have been following this presidential rice, very, very costly of a, some very dramatic last few weeks. first with it to by default of performance by button against trump, and then the assassination attempt on donald trump's life is american prepared though, for the disruption that this decision by joe biden is going to cause are both tied to it goes over it in the past of course, back in 1968, it was march 1968. so from the, from the election that we're seeing now that lyndon b johnson, the knights that he would neither seek nor with the except the nomination of the democratic party. and part of the reason was because of the ongoing war in vietnam, he said that there was a division in america's house, and he believed that by stepping down he'd be able to heal it. so now what we're seeing is joe biden effectively saying there's a division in the democratic house and, and assessment as well. and by stepping down and he hopes to be able to bring both

sites together. and they might be able to pull it together. but look from the debate just over 3 weeks ago. this was always going to happen. people argue about whether or not debates have been consequential and many of them have no, we haven't move the needle very much. you back to 196. they don't have kennedy against richard nixon, john f. kennedy looked much better on the screen and that perhaps we'd some of the vote. but the reality is this was the most consequential debate in modern political history that joe biden completely blew it. he looked awful. he didn't look in control of the facts, he'll look cause if he was flickering to use a phrase involved with people who are losing their faculties, nothing he could have done after that would convince people that things were going to get better and he did nothing to convince people afterwards that he was going to get better by calling presidents the landscape pipe. the president put in that was a mistake now has a press conference that nato has news conference that need to maybe help repair

some of the damage. but it was clear to many people that they were not going to vote for joe biden. i'm the read this polls one hour just in the last few hours. in the key swing state of michigan showed that joe biden had gone from 3 points behind donald trump to 7 points behind donald trump that put a chill through the entire democratic party. here's the other thing to remember. for the last couple of weeks. big ticket democrats have been saying do what i don't know, want to contribute or the we're not going to raise money for joe biden. to run a presidential campaign, you need hundreds of millions of dollars. if the funds dried up, then your campaign is effectively dead in the water. joe biden has been around in politics long enough to know that, and that is why he made this decision to step aside to endorse campbell of how this is ellen. we're also getting more reaction from many of the political leaders in america. how speaking mike johnson is already asking joe biden to resign as president immediately. he sits on

a platform x. in this unprecedented junction in american history, we must be clear about what just happened. the democratic party forced the democratic nominee off the ballast just over 100 days before the election, having and validated the votes of more than 14000000 americans were selected to a button to be the democratic nominee for president, the self proclaimed positive democracy has proven exactly the opposite, the parties, prospects and or been now with vice president cumberland harris, who co owns the disaster as policy 5 years of dividing ministration. he also, we don't save job button is not fit to run for president. he's not fit to serve as president. he must resign the office immediately november 5 cannot arrive soon enough. that was the house speaking. mike johnson, a republican of course, who posted moments ago on the social media platform. it's ellen. do you believe that those calls that he is not fit to run for prison? he therefore, should not be president. now we should step down immediately. we'll raise a night,

you know, though with democrats certainly not. i mean, i remember that effectively both parties have a 3 weeks to line up the tax and their defense on this issue. and the republicans last week in milwaukee. we were there, we were talking about how to if joe biden, a notice that he wasn't going to run the line of attack would inevitably be while, if he can't run for president, he can be president. no. but of course, that negates the fact that he's looking for years ahead. that's the democratic answer. he's looking for years ahead. i'd things that as he moves through that process, he would not be able to do the job as effectively as you want. but there's nothing to say that over the next 6 months, he couldn't do the job effectively. and they will point to the fact that he has to be one of the most consequential presidents in modern times. whether or not you agree with that is a relevant that is the argument that they are going to make. but the republicans, we knew we're going to attack it on if he can't run that he must resign. and that's

exactly what's happening with hearing it from at least the findings were hearing it from mike johnson. we are hearing it from them. i go, well, we're here to get from donald trump himself, who has put out a statement in the last couple of minutes saying that joe biden is the worst president in history, and that we knew he shouldn't have run. he essentially spent all his time in the basement. he was never equipped to be president donald trump. we were told after what happened last saturday, there was going to be a different tone in american politics. and that clearly hasn't lasted very long. indeed, i know that the, the, the republicans can turn the attack on joe biden, but it's really kind of the hottest note that they need to worry about. okay, thank you so much uh, elements. ellen fisher, for us there in washington dc. we'll come back to you shortly. we're going to go now though to jennifer victor, who's back with us as well as dave clements, who is the host of l just airs weekly show the bottom line both are in washington,

d. c. thanks for joining us again. steve, as we heard a democrats, it has to come together that it is time for them to come together. do you think that they will be able to and does the election hinge on their ability to come in behind? a couple of harris right now. i see it is logically something to do to come together after a finding his step down. this has been a, a moment, a full little read for many people in english and complexity. but the truth is this party is not uh right now, wholly united behind cala harris president, buying has certainly endorsed, are good things about her for now or any kind of new territory. and what is his ability to actually deliver delegates that he one and that she did not. and there are other visits out there who see this is their opportunity to come into the race

and to challenge the political equation of the bible harris ticket right now. so i don't think it's going to be an easy process in the coming weeks. jennifer, can this all really be put down to jo biden's debate performance? i think that's a large part of it. you know, we're pretty fond and political science of saying that typically debates don't matter in terms of election outcomes, but by golly, the fisher one debate that turned out to have pretty massive consequences. it really said, i'm fairly as well. i'm going to be honest with you, i was actually out of the country at the time and didn't watch the date. and so i just read the reporting about it. and so, so i don't have a hot take on the actual performance. what does that mean to me again, coherent not being able to to complete sentences is really bad. i think though that even if that debate had not happened, or if that debate had come much later, as is more typical and these election cycles through the campaign process, it would have the call of parents that,

that joe biden wasn't up to his full speed. but he is not operating at the same level of veracity that he was when he was 1st elected back in 2020. and then this became a political liability for democrats, that it looks like a decisive members of the party were simply not willing to accept it. as we have said, this was a last minute decision that after weeks and weeks of precious instead to bite for joy button to step down that it seems like he only made the decision i was before because we're getting reports that uh, as of saturday nights and america, he had planned to continue his run any and he told stuff an hour before his senior stuff and he told him an hour before he step down. steve, what do you think changed his mind? was it just the money that we've heard that the donors were going to withhold, or is that something more than that is, was trusted advisor has actually set him down and told him joy button this time to step aside. as you know, joe biden is a very,

very obstinate person who believes that she is the person to be able to beat donald trump. this is a who's saying in the race was an act of deep patriotism that he would give his life for that decision. so for him to go the other way is very, very hard to understand. you know, it might be that i knew he would be option it through this process. my sense is that the money, the leaders in the cloud, probably round around him, finally began to resonate with him the holy that they did to show the impact that he was having on other democrats that are down and take it from him. i think it made a big impact splendid mentally, and i'm guessing here because i was with senator cruz who is the closest center to him this past weekend and you're right. he had not decided to withdraw his tunes would have indicated, but we knew there was english,

but my sense is those closest to him. former senator, tech councilman mike donald law. his wife joe biden, probably said, we can't keep running up this hill when the hill is blowing down. jennifer? oh, how the next couple of weeks going to play out? and what should the people outside of the us that might not have such an intimate knowledge of how american politics actually works? what should we will be looking for to? so if you don't mind those, i wanted to respond to the prior question just a little bit as well. place on i think it's important to remember here that joe biden is an extremely skilled politician. he is a, a strategic maneuver who knows how to get things done and the narrative that it has been circulating in, in some aspects of political discourse lately. that this has been pressure from the donor class or from the media or the leads. and that this has sort of pushed him out in a way that he was very resistant to that as one meredith,

but it is not at all clear to me that that's the, that is exactly what happened here. i'm more of a to say the media, the, the donor class, the, the party leads and, and the electrodes and so forth. those people are part of the party as well. and so if we think of this as a party decision where the party is motivated to win the election, and then it's not necessarily sort of a bad thing, that the decision has come about the way that it is. the fact that joe biden is such as skilled politician to me, it is not at all surprising that he was saying, i'm running, i'm running, i'm running right up until the minute that he announced that he wasn't. could you imagine if there had been kind of a oh, well, and wavering, i'm considering maybe i'll drop out if that had gone on, we've would have see much greater chaos. i think it's entirely possible that in his own mind, he has decided some time ago or in some private circles. we just don't know. and i think it's not fair to assume. i think there will be some, probably several doesn't tell all books about this remarkable sequence of events

written some some years or or so from now. so to answer you the question that you asked me though, going forward, the democrats have their nominating convention just under 4 weeks from now in chicago. and they now are going to run a very short campaign to try to figure out who that nominee is going to be. what we're going to be looking for over those 4 weeks is whether the other potential candidates who might be contenders it seem like there's ready to set up the campaign and buying for that nod from the party or if they fall in line behind, complet harris job i me is still the president, he is still the leader of the party. his endorsement of his vice president is any norm, if the political move and for somebody to challenge that or go against that or try to buy themselves for winning over those delegates will be what will create some competition. and it may happen. but ultimately this will come down to the rounds of

voting that happened in chicago in august. well, it'll be 1st thing to see how the next few weeks applies out. thank you so much, jennifer victor and steve clemens for talking us through this. so no doubt to be coming back to you in the near future. thanks so much or us president joe biden has made a decision that has thrown the 2024 presidential rice into disarray. the democratic contender is stepping aside buttons, age and cognitive decline have taken since this stage and recent weeks with many fearing it could cost as positive the election. a white house correspondent, kimberly healthcare has more even before he just wanted to office most pools showed americans thought joe biden was too old to be president after a phonetic for you.