ut only a few of us go out and prove it. witness the greatness of anna hall on a connection worthy of gold: xfinity mobile. only xfinity gives you the most powerful mobile wifi network, with speeds up to a gig in millions of locations. and right now, get up to $800 off the new galaxy z flip6 and z fold6 when you trade in your current phone. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. just $7 at harrys.com slash smith i'm natasha bertrand at the pentagon. and this is cnn closed captioning brought to you by meso book.com if you or a loved one have mesothelial, will send you a free book to answer questions you may have called now we will come to you 800 a31, 3,700 i'm kaitlan collins, live in the nation's

capital well on what is a pivotal night, president biden just delivered his first solo news conference in eight months, one that came at a critical moment as he's seeking to shore up his reelection bid and regain the confidence of his party as more and more democrats have publicly called for him to drop out of the 2024 race that includes another one, jim himes, who is the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, minutes after biden finished saying this but i think i'm the most qualified person to run for president i beat him once and i will beat him again. >> i'm not in this for my legacy i'm in this to complete the job i started the president repeatedly argued that he does believe he is the most qualified to run, though of course, it's not his resume. that's under scrutiny tonight. it's his age and his ability to beat donald trump and also to finish a second term if elected at the end of which he would be 86 president biden called on ten reporters and

answered 19 questions during those 59 minutes of that press conference, he was defiant at times, scoffed at the premise of some questions that were posed to him and also gave no indication that he is reconsidering running i'm determined on running, but i think it's important that i real fears by seen let them see me out there. let me see you. my you know, for the longest time it was you know, why is not prepared to sit with those unscripted biden is not prepared to in any anyway. and so when i'm doing, as i've been doing that if you agree not over 20 major events from wisconsin to north carolina to anyway to demonstrate that, i'm going out there crews where you think we can win we can persuade people to move far away, where people are year. he had looked, at as he is, we have the most extensive campaign of anybody's hadn't on

long time we have well over 1,000 volunteers knocking on doors, making phone calls tens of thousands of phone calls. we have headquarters. i forget exactly how they want to cite a number? and then find out i'm off, but we have scored because of headquarters and all in all the toss-up states were organized, we're movie with the eyes of the world on him as he took questions, there were some blunders like in his first answer to jeff mason of borders on president biden mistook vice president kamala harris and mistakenly said it's president donald trump what concerns do you have about vice president harris? >> his ability to beat donald trump if she were at the top of the ticket look, i wouldn't have picked vice president trump to be vice president i think she's not qualified to be president. so let's start there that, was at the beginning of

that press conference. >> but as he went on, there were also lengthy answers where the president went in depth on complex foreign policy issues from gaza to ukraine the president also acknowledged at one point during that moment that he needed to adjust his schedule as he carries out what is arguably the most important and difficult job in the world what concerns do you have about vice president harris, his ability to beat donald trump if she were at the top of the ticket look i wouldn't have picked vice president trump to be vice president i think she's not qualified to be president. >> so let's start there the question of the hour, of course, it did those answers matter as he took them from reporters was style or substance more important to some and others to lawmakers, to donors. >> but most importantly to voters my sources tonight are a host of powerhouse political insiders, but i want to start with david axelrod, who is with us tonight. david axelrod, obviously you worked with

president biden when he was vice president biden and you as you watch that press conference and you listened him take those questions? from reporters. what was your assessment of how he did well, first of all, my assessment was that they made a smart move by having this at the nato conference, almost like the state of the union. >> he's so comfortable in that environment in the congress and at a nato conference, which is his strong student in the second half half of that press conference, you saw that he that's his comfort zone. he's very, very fluent on national security issues and that showed in those answers in some of the answers you played, you saw some of the problems that mean the miss spoken name, the stumbles. the other thing is once he says i need to allay people's concerns. and so i have to be out there more and i have to do more. and at the same time, he complained about the length of his schedule. instead, they're putting too many things on my schedule and that's why i didn't do well in the debate and that's really

the issue. the issue is isn't about his his record or history or it's about his ability to move forward. and when he was asked those questions, he really didn't have a great answer for what what people should expect in the future based on what they're, what they're seeing now. so i don't think that's changed much. i think that a lot badr tod's have now been kind of hardened. i don't think he's going to change them in one last thing, kaitlan, he said at the end that he might change his mind if the p of his team came to him and told him that he couldn't win. but they haven't done that or that someone else had a better chance of one when if that's the case, then they're not really leveling with him about where this race is and they really should. it's not fair to him if they're not telling him the truth, he isn't a very, very tough spot. i don't know

anyone in politics who would tell you who looks at the numbers that we see would tell you? you that he has a very good chance to win this race and that perhaps others wouldn't have a better chance to win this race. he needs to know that and there needs to be some hard conversations yeah. >> he was asked that question there about whether or not if he saw polling that showed that the vice president would fare better in a matchup against donald trump. what he would do, and he made that that into there and earlier that sound bite supposed to be there at the end was of course where he was asked about remarks he made to governors in a meeting that he had with them following the debate he talked about curtailing his schedule. the reporting was that he would stop doing public events after 8:00. he defended that saying no, just instead of starting an event at 9:00 or 10:00? a o'clock, starting it a little bit earlier in the evening, talking about constraining a schedule that he described as going from 7:00 a.m. until midnight of course, a presidential schedule can be unwieldy as you, david axelrod

know, and congressman ro khanna, it is you're looking at this minutes after president biden got done speaking, jim himes, your colleague, who is the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, came out with a statement saying that he does believe president biden needs to step aside from the 2024 race. everybody very clear. he doesn't plan on doing so. what do you make of that call? >> i'm sure jim had that plan in. jim knows foreign policy, but let me just be blunt, president biden's command and grasp of foreign policy was better and more coherent. here at the 90% of the conversations on the capital and so in this case, he was on his comfort zone in this case he was talking about things that he really knew and i agree with david axelrod that they put him in a very good position to talk about foreign policy. >> what did you hear in that press conference? because it seems to be a situation coming out of it work yes. there was a moment that beginning where he said vice president trump, instead of vice president harris, but he did have lengthy answers on subject areas that he knows very well. he talked about obviously, his long history dating back with israel. it seemed like a

rorschach test that you could see what you wanted to see illusion so my answer i was going to say walsh i test, but i'll use confirmation bias i would just correct one thing that congress is that it's not just a matter that it was 99% president hill. >> it is 100% better than his opponent would do. and that really is all that matters to david's point yes. the president did give an inch tonight on if they came to him and said, you can't win but i think what that really means is, sir, if the election were tomorrow, you would lose. now thankfully for joe biden, the election is not tomorrow. so the question is can you recover from what happened, whatever you want to call? it? doesn't matter. can you recover? and joe biden believes he can i don't know that he's right or wrong, but he's the president and he's the nominee. i have all the faith and world and vice president harris have god forbid something happens and she became the president in the way the constitution meant. i

feel very, very comfortable. thank god that is not been the case. but right now, it just seems as a little bit of for neta cism and also to david's point about how tonight didn't change anything. you know what if the president had done something really adeline tonight, it absolutely would have changed everything. people would be like, you see, it happened again, happen again. he has to leave tomorrow so give some credit where credit is due. it was a solid performance except for one flub. it's not that he thinks his vice president is donald trump. that would be dementia. he just used the wrong word so look, i have been out of the country for a week. >> luckily i left two days after the debate fate and i use that opportunity to reflect and listen to what everybody on television and people that have been elected to office have said, they have said they want it. our president joe biden, the leader of the democratic party, to prove themselves and i think tonight he did what

they asked him to do so the question i have for i actually, if joe biden stays in the race, i'm going to do every single thing i can to defeat donald trump because as a black woman living in this country that has less constitutional rights, and i had it from the day that i was born 42 years ago. i've refused to live under donald trump's rain again, i refuse to risk our democracy and joe biden is the person right now who is able to defeat him and so when people were saying, do something to prove that you have the command of the knowledge and you stand up and you call on ten reporters and you answer 19 questions for 59 minutes. then i asked you if you go and say step down than what is the test that heat must prove over and over again because then it feels like you as a person who was calling from to step down as being disingenuous. now, i'm not saying it's not wrong because that debate that's terrible. and joe biden has acknowledged that. but as people who are living with the fear of a possible dictator to take over.

this country. i just ask you, as a democratic party and i'm not super excited about joe biden, but i am terrified of donald trump to get it together. for the people that you are asked to represent. there's too much at stake. and i just i don't understand what more people need after a night like tonight to say he is the leader of the free world that i am not held to the mistakes that make sometimes on television in the days of my life. and i'm just i'm a little annoyed and i'm furious because i talked to black people who have saved this country over and over, who helped elect joe biden, who saved? the democratic party, timeless, timeless time. again, and black paper saying, let it go, folks, and yet again when you look at the people who have called for him to step down, they are not the backbone of the democratic party and that to me is frustrating and i make a psychological observation i

don't know. people went to different ways after that debate. some people panicked and melted and they want to go 100 different ways. some people decided to fight. and they're not enough people who just said what you said they are curled up on the floor. even when they feel good for a night, they're worried about tomorrow as opposed to doing exactly what you said, which is tomorrow is to say donald trump cannot come back into office. joe biden is our nominee. here's our president. we have to parenths olympics, but it's like it's because the people who are fighting is because they have had to fight their whole life. >> david axelrod, go ahead and then we'll so do you, kristen? >> yeah. i just said just want to do a little reality check here. this wasn't just a reaction to a debate. okay. joe biden's numbers were not good going into that debate. they were not good coming out of that debate and you i've seen hundreds of focus group reports a lot of data. this issue has

hung over him throughout this issue of age and ability has hung over him throughout what happened in that debate was that on the biggest test of this, of this campaign, probably the biggest stage he'll have in his political life. he, he took an oral exam and he failed and that really, really concerned people because the question was not just whether not whether he can bring it sometimes, but when he has to bring it when when the when the crunches on because the presidency doesn't, you don't get to choose when you have to bring it, when you president of the united states, you also, by the way, don't get to set your hours because the challenges come 24/7 and many of them have mortal consequences so that's what's worrying people. and i think i am, i am all for i believe donald trump does present an existential threat to our democracy. so the real question is is joe biden the strongest

person at this point to beat him? the numbers suggests maybe not yeah, those are the numbers that he was talking about there it is a question. >> as you were saying, david, of what he's seeing versus what everyone else is saying. it's a christian when you look at that, that is when the prospects here when he's being asked about if the numbers are better for vice president harris, there have been polls that showed that she would do she would fare better against donald trump. now i think a lot of his advisers are skeptical of that because she has been tested on the national stage before the 2020 primary. but what are you seeing versus what he said there at the as a poll? we'll stay in very uncomfortable with the level of importance that is being placed on our industry, because frankly, what president biden decides to do should not just be about am i up or down in the latest poll my campaign did. it should be about do i really think that i'm fit to serve and the voters? disagree with the president's assessment on that question. they disagreed pretty vehemently and one good

press conference does not put that aside because those beliefs existed before the one bad night that the campaign tries to say, oh, let's not worry about that. the problem biden faces is it's not just about style, it is also concerns about substance. we've talked a lot tonight about he had this command of the issues in this press conference at nato. joe biden's job approval before the debate was lower than his overall job approval on the issue of foreign policy. so the problem that biden faces is that right now voters don't think he's up to the task, as long as he stays in the race, democrats are kind of stuck with no good, no low-risk out about him saying the campaign hasn't really gotten started. and i think everyone would agree the whole campaign has shifted now that we've had that debate, but he was saying until the fall, that's when the campaign really gets underway. is that still how wife for the early voting i think that is an outdated view of how politics works mean recall in 2012, mitt romney was defined very negatively in may and you could argue at that point, it was

kind of done right now. these are two candidates who are not unknown. it's not like joe biden's introducing himself to america at the democratic convention this year. so that's, that's where i think that assessments not quite right. yeah. i do want to go now to one of the latest democrats who today called on president biden to step aside. congressman brad schneider from illinois and congressman just when you listen to tonight's press conference, those questions that biden took for an hour, did it change your mind on your decision today no, i think the president did a fine job. >> he showed a command of the issues, both domestic and foreign showed a stark contrast to what we're dealing with with former president trump but the fact is and as was said earlier we can't have a situation where every day we're holding our breath, whether it's a press conference, debate or are rally. and i think we are historic moment where the president can pass the torch to the next generation not only united democratic party, but unite the country. rather than slogging

to a finish at the end of the election in november, we can run to the finish win with a strong mandate and continue this incredible experiment we've been working on for 248 years so what do you say to allies of the white house who watched that press conference here where you said just there and say, their argument would be a couple. >> there's nothing he can do to appease the critics who who want him to get out of this race even if he demonstrates one flub at the beginning of that press conference. but then also delivering complex answers to questions on foreign policy. what do you say to that? >> well i think we've got to look at what people are saying. i was at 8:00 parades last week celebrating the of july. i walked by probably 50,000 people. now, one said meme said to me, we need to keep president biden my outreach to my office is running almost 30 to one, saying we need to bring someone who can unite us and move us forward. it's not president biden and i talked to many of my colleagues. i love the president. i think he's

done a great job. i think he has an opportunity to put a capstone on a remarkable career. finishing is one of the greatest presidents we've ever had in our nation's history. i think if he passes the torch and he does it successfully, he will go down as an historic figure in the pantheon of george washington, abraham lincoln, or franklin roosevelt there was some new polling that came out today from the washington post and abc. if you look at the breakdown and some of the numbers there were more hispanic voters, more white voters who were saying that they did believe president biden should step aside in this race, but there was a majority. i believe it was close to 56% of black voters who were saying that they did believe he should stay in this race would you say to those voters or south carolina or in other areas were saying, we do want him to stay in. we haven't called on him to step aside what i would expect to say is if president biden goes to the podium, talks about the future, talks about passing the torch and successfully transfers the

mantle and does it before the convention where we have a unified convention, i would go and share the love for the president and say he was a remark is a remarkable man he's done a remarkable job and he's given us the greatest gift to move forward and win in november. >> and i think most people, whether it's south carolina, illinois, or anywhere in the country would agree. >> what was your reaction when you heard him talking about why when he was asked by asma khalid of npr about being a bridge to the next generation. that is what he promised when he, when he ran in 2020, she was asking about that and he was saying it was because what's at stake here, all citing his experience essentially is a basis for staying and when it came to the economy, when it came to foreign policy. but also the stakes of democracy and what's at stake in this race. what was your reaction to that answer? was that sufficient for you i thought it was a great question and i was the first person in the illinois delegation to endorse president biden four years ago, i did so because i

knew he would be a good president and he it it's been a great president that said, i think part of the role of being able to be that bridge to pass the torch to a new generation, having created or helped create in the democratic party not just a deep but a wide bench from vice president harris. >> we've got governors across the country have demonstrated frederik records of significant accomplishments in their states as executives, we've got people in the cabinet, people in the senate, the house we've got a bench and he has, i believe the opportunity to show the way and opened the door of the next-generation in the way no one else has since george washington. and i hope he takes that chance. and again, unites not just the democratic party, but i think he'll unite the entire nation congressman brad schneider, you say your mind is unchanged. >> thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> and we do have more on the breaking news. cnn is also now reporting that former president barak obama and former house speaker nancy pelosi, have

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world's news network some breaking news for you tonight as we are now learning here at cnn, that former president barak obama and nancy pelosi have spoken privately really about joe biden and the future of the 2024 campaign for the former president. >> and that's x house speaker expressed concerns. we are told about how much harder they think it's going to be for the president to beat donald trump. but neither seems right now is a lot of democrats are in this position. quite sure what to do about it. joining me tonight here at the table, isaac dovere, cnn's senior reporter on that story, michael scherer, national political reporter at the washington post and mj lee, our senior white house correspondent, who also had some great in-depth reporting today, we'll talk about that and what it's like inside the west wing in a moment. but for someone who was in the west wing, president obama having this conversation with speaker pelosi is really remarkable. it also just speaks to the fact that every single person in america seems to be having this conversation right now. but certainly these two figures

that everyone's looking for guidance too. >> yeah. and look, i mean, i think you're right. if you have eyeballs and care at anyway politics, this is what you've been talking about the last two weeks for them, this is coming at it with deep personal relationships with joe biden. and of course, deep worries about what donald trump would be like if he were back in. also, if he were not checked by a house or senate that was under democratic control so there's a lot of concern about that. and it really speaks to also a lot of democrats who are saying we want this to end. many of them wanted to end with joe biden getting out of the race. but even if they are if it doesn't end that way, they just want this conversation to be over and they're looking desperately to who in the end it and it seems to them that nancy pelosi and barak obama are the two people who really outside of biden's family itself, can be that force. >> any indication that either of them i mean, we already we all saw in the white house is kind of shocked for the impact of what pelosi said about biden making a decision when he'd

already made a decision? is there any indication that they are going to actually get involved here will look part of the issue here for obama is that there is a very complex relationship. you go back to 2015, joe biden, the way he tells the story is that he feels like barak obama encouraged him not to run in the 2016 race, the way that obama understands that is different than he was trying to tell joe biden to focus on grieving after his son, beau died, and that he wasn't really up for what that campaign would be. importantly, though this is biden who has to make the decision and he comes at it. my reporting touch on a number of people, including people who have spoken with biden about this in the past, not in the context of this exact moment, but saying that what joe biden would likely say back to brock obama is, you told me not to run in 2016 and that's how we got donald trump. so it's all of that mixed in with all of the larger political concerns. yeah, there's a sense of not telling them what to do. >> now that he is the president

and he's the one inside the west wing, mj. and you have reporting on just what the dynamic is like inside the west wing today and how it's been for months including the fact that this was the first solo press conference we've seen in eight months, but also, he hasn't had a cabin nick meeting in months as well. and just what that dynamic looks like is how the white house is feeling, but held tonight would yeah. and it's a lot of things that we have seen play out in public and we had a sense of, over the course of the last year, it is the ways in which the president daily, on an everyday basis is but hidden from the public and there's an operation that is in place and it is really intricate of the choreography and the stage managing to essentially democrats believe prevent the president from being in these unscripted extended settings. >> and every democrat that we have spoken to dozens and dozens of democrats, i think to a person would say that they were really shocked when they saw the president's debate performance like, sure, he has

aged like that is not a surprise. of course, he's not the same person that he was a year ago, two years ago. but when they saw those 90 minutes of the president looking days and faltering, they were really surprised. and then i think that anger really came in and the anger is really being directed at the president's inner circle of advisers. some of his family members, and the fact that these were the only people, a very small group that would have known the full picture of the president's decline and his condition, and that there such an operation in place to really hide that from the public and they just feel like we wouldn't be in this place if that debate hadn't happened and if we had known that this is the place that the president is in, and obviously has made people look towards the vice president, vice president kamala harris, and you saw president biden got multiple questions about her tonight about whether or not he blue he is qualified to take on the role of president. he said, obviously he did give it, he picked her to be sticking in line for the presidency versus in line for the presidency. but

what did you make of what he said tonight about her and her position and herb numbers versus what you've been hearing about, what her allies are doing by this well, i think he was very gracious tonight and i think he'll get credit for that. he said there's no question she could do the job. he didn't seem to be feeling any sort of threat from her. but i think the threat is very real. i think the threat is we know it's on the hill. we know it's within his inner circle. we know it's within his campaign team. real doubts about whether he can do this. and we know it's definitely in the donor community and the donor community has sort of been coming alive in recent weeks. they've put together plans to start spending money on influencers, start spending money on tv ads start building up the vice president on the premise that either she is going to be the vice president and she's going to be in the spotlight in this campaign because he's so old or she's going to be elevated to the nomination to be president and they'll have to defend her reputation for that. >> yeah. well, she's been out defending him on the campaign trail. great reporting from all

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the bosley guarantee close captioning brought to you by meso book book.com if you or a loved one have mesothelial not we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have called now and we'll come to you 800 a31, 3,700 breaking news is the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, jim himes called on president biden to step aside moments after he finished that news conference earlier tonight, he is now among 15 house democrats to do so. >> and congressman himes is joining us now, as it was a moment, of course congressman, where we were just watching the president speak and give that press conference. and then as soon as he was done, your statement dropped, obviously, that means you had it ready. was they're not anything that he said that could have changed your mind on calling him to get out of the race? >> you know, that's precisely

the problem, right? this is not about one press conference, one debate one speech. this is about the presidency of the united states it's about an apocalyptically powerful individual. and whether the trajectory to the election and the outcome of the election and beyond in the event that joe biden were reelected into a job that requires you to deal with the most hideous stuff on the planet. the president doesn't i'm going to answer any easy questions. a debate with donald trump is a walk in the park compared to what happens at 4:00 a.m. in the white house. so this has nothing to do with one particular debate. i didn't put out my statement because i, you know, there's an old there's an old tradition that politics and partisanship stops at the water's edge. water's edge. and i wasn't going to do that with but with the important nato things happening but, but i mean that was, that was the timing well, you heard him get a question

from david sanger about the ability to deal with president putin president xi. >> and he said, i can deal with them now and i'll be able to deal with them three years from now. do you not agree with that? >> look excruciatingly hard to answer that question, right? because, you know, a huge part of politics is loyalty and love and emotion. and nobody understands that better or attracts that better than joe biden a storytelling irish man, lives in an emotional world and those are critical values for politics. that's why rallies are so exciting. that's why people tear up when they hear the name bobby kennedy or jack kennedy or john mccain or whatever but the problem is that can go way too far. when, when there's an excess of love and loyalty, you get seven 70 million americans who will not budge from their support for a felon. for him criminal, from an adjudicated rapist, who has promised to turn this country into an authoritarian country

that's what happens when you won't set aside loyalty and love and emotion so the stakes are so high that right now the question is, not that, not how loyal are you, but can we avert, forget about and we can talk more if you like, about the event that joe biden were reelected. but can you avert a second trump presidency? and there is not a single number out there. not one cook report telling us that we may lose the house that says that joe biden is going to win the answer to that, which is a fair answer, is that yes, there's still time. there's four or five months to the election. so then you need to ask yourself, what's the trajectory look like here? are things getting better? if you believe that the problem the democrats have is that we haven't gotten our message across the message of the bipartisan infrastructure law, the message of capping out-of-pocket expenses and medicare at $2,000 at capping insulin costs at $35, and standing up for veterans. and if you believe that our problem is that we haven't gotten that message across. well if you also believe that the president

has the biggest megaphone, you have to drop the emotion and the loyalty. and levin say in the next four or five months, is that story going to be told with such precision? and poetry and beauty that you will turn around all the numbers that say we are going to lose and i didn't this painful thing tonight because for me, the answer to that is i just don't see that trajectory. i don't see the numbers. >> and you think he'll lose to donald trump if joe biden goes up against him. >> look, i you know, like yogi berra said, predictions are hard, especially about the future. all i can do is look at the numbers right now no president has ever won with a 37% approval rating look at the swing states because this isn't a racist that is decided in five or six states yeah, the president, you can look at lots of different polls with the president, isn't really up in any of them. and then you can ask yourself and again, this is future, this is we don't know the future. what is the trajectory look like? and imagine that three months from now, we get another performance

like there was in the debate right before the election do you want to take that risk i now i don't presume to understand the president's calculus. yeah. but he's top ten president's, right. why would you gamble that? legacy, the legacy of being a top ten american president, transformative lyndon b. johnson, transformative and you're going to gamble that on possibly being the guy that handed the country over years to congressman you said that you you waited to put your statement out until after because of it was nato summit here in washington, you believe you wanted to wait until he was done meeting with world leaders, done with all of that. do you expect that there are other democrats in the house more that are going to come out. and if so, how many more do you think go nairobi? >> you know, i don't know the answer to that question. what i can tell you is that i circulate amongst my colleagues and i would tell you that there

is a very small percentage of my colleagues who are ride or die? who say this is the only way to go my colleagues and i are worried about two things. one, what is plan b? that's a totally fair question. i actually think plan b looks pretty good. i don't know what it looks like, but i think we have an a remarkable bench of democrats and they're also worried about something very legitimate which tortured me and continues to torture me, which is we cannot be here anymore. this needs to be resolved. i don't know in the next five to seven days because we just went ten days where the story was not donald trump promising totalitarianism. it was, how is joe biden going to do in the big boy press conference wherever you are on this stuff, this needs to stop sun and look at joe biden, you know, if the end of the day he's our candidate, no one will work harder than i will to elect him. but this is the moment. and in the next 96 hours, perhaps his, the moment

to set aside the poetry, the loyalty and the love and ask yourself a hard question, which is, are you sure he's going to win? and are you sure that we don't have people who might articulate the incredible backward looking successes. now remember that and i say backward-looking because politics is about the future. the president, dmz today on his record behind us important, but politics is always about the future. ask yourself that question. are you sure? because you're not just gambling your own political reputation you are gambling the future of the united states of america cars and jim himes, i'll just say you were on cnn pretty frequently. you are here to weigh in on foreign policy issues until issues a rarely seen you, this fired up as you are talking about this issue tonight in your call on the president to step aside, jim himes. thank you for joining us to explain your reasoning. >> thanks i want to go now to cnn's danny freeman. >> we were talking about what this news conference means, not just for lawmakers and donors, but also for voters. and danny

freeman was just with voters in and so vga, of course that is going to be absolutely pivotal in the 2024 election. danny, what are you hearing from voters? what did they think of how the president did tonight? >> kaitlan perhaps i have the opposite end of the coin of what just heard from the congressman there and listen, i spent most of the evening at a bar here in southwest philadelphia among predominantly democratic voters and well, don't get me wrong. there were definitely some groans during some of those gaff-prone moments that president biden had, especially towards the top. for the most part, the president was able to alleviate some fears in this room earlier tonight, maybe not but enough to silence his critics, but certainly enough to make them calm or about voting for him come november. but listen, we're in philadelphia and we're in a particular part of philadelphia where he he won big in 2020 were very much among his base, but kaitlan, to your point, that means that he cannot lose any of this support here in these areas if he has a hope of

of competing in pennsylvania. so i want you to take a listen to what some of these voters told me earlier this evening i saw you and your friend, react when he said, for example, vice president trump it hadn't you know, okay. he's at why they want joe biden to move around like he's on a had a and that's not realistic be let's be realistic. >> american people. joe biden is 81-year-old man. he's 81-years-old. let it rock and you don't think he should drop out? no, he should drop out keep pushing to late. what do we in july, you re going to august from the switch to a new candidate i think it'd be i think it'd be foolish now kaitlan i will say there was one other voter that we spoke with who said that he was fine with president biden's performance tonight, but he felt this was really just the first step of what he hopes are many da ultimately proved to him that president biden has the strength and stamina to

make it through this campaign. >> and for another four years. >> okay. >> danny freeman, it's great to hear from voters and how, how they're taking it in. thank you for that report. and of course, those sentiments from those voters, there in pennsylvania. meanwhile, tonight you saw president biden pushing back against polls that showed trump having the edge over him. here's what he told reporters oh, accurate as anybody think the polls are these days i can give you serious polls where you have likely voters reverse, trump, right. when all the time and what likely voters have vote, he wins sometimes. so bottom line is all the polling data right now i think it's, premature because the campaign really hasn't even started while speaking of polls, we two veteran pollster is here with us, kristen soltis his back, and also anna greenberg. >> i do want to note, while we have been talking to more house democrats have come out and called on president biden to step aside. that's erik sorenson of illinois and scott peters of california, who have now joined the congressman, jim

himes that we just heard there. i saw you shaking your head when jim himes was talking about the polling and i want to know what your view is of what he said about lines, chance at what i was thinking is that is absolutely insane to say right now, for months out with the polls where they are, which is basically tied, that there's no possible way that joe biden can win. and if we just think back to october 2016, i kind of think people in the republican party thought there's no possible way that donald trump can win this election now i can say a lot more about what i see underneath the polling and what strengths are there for biden and which tanks are off the democratic party and what strengths that are in terms of infrastructure and campaign resources relative to trump in the republican party. but i cannot get my head around anyone thinking that they know right now what's actually going to have president biden's good point? it is maybe a little too early to be able to differently. >> it's absolutely too early. what we know about what we know about presidential polling and federal and pulling in federal

races. is that over time? voters consolidate, but we see right now, is that trump has actually done a pretty good job of consolidating his base. and there's not much more for him. there's a ceiling right now. he's getting about five points or less in every battleground poll than he got in 2020. now, obviously, biden's doing less well, but he has a lot more upside. allow more unconsolidated dead democrats. a lot of democrats were voting for kennedy or now i'd rather be us than them. that's for sure. in 2016, the best thing going for donald trump was the fact that he wasn't hillary clinton. people had very strong negative views about her. and frankly, it was the view was that republicans can kind of run anybody and they might have had a chance to succeed. and donald trump, with all of his flaws, was able to pull together that coalition right now, joe biden's got the benefit but i'm not being donald trump. and there are a lot of voters out there that are said, i simply cannot vote for donald trump. you put joe biden up there with all his flaws. i would still vote for him so that's why you are not going to see and i think and i talked about this week, we agree the polls are not going to fall apart for either of these candidates because we are so locked in it's people

having such strong views about them that these candidates really, the narrow, narrow, narrow band of voters who are truly undecided is very small when it's remarkable how after two weeks of fully nonstop negative coverage of president biden's performance. i mean, a lot of it because his own party is saying he should get out of the race in that poll, washington post poll, it's a 46, 46%. donald trump and joe biden and trump is way less favorable in that poll than biden is. >> and i hear that and focus group after focus group, absolutely. people have concerns about biden and his age, but they cannot stand donald trump. >> yeah, great to have your son. i wanted everyone at home to know that you were shaking your head because i can see it there though at arena is great. kristen soltis-anderson and a greenberg. thank you both for being here to look at the numbers. of course, there are people who do want president biden to stay in this race. one of them maybe an unusual name, donald trump, is certainly so what we have someone who can take us inside that mindset. why trump and his allies are pushing for president biden to stay in the race. donald trump's former national security adviser, john bolton is here i got it.

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to presser vision, i feel better that i'm doing something about it, like millions of others preservation. >> i'm sara murray in washington. and this is cnn tonight, president biden sought to make the case about what he believes is at stake in the upcoming election and why he is not giving in to those demands even from members of his own party, to get out do you think our democracies under siege based on this court, do you think democracy literacies based on project 2025? >> do you think he means what he says when he says he's going to do whether civil service eliminates department of education makes you i mean, we've never ben year before back here on the source tonight to weigh in ambassador john bolton, who served as donald trump's former national security adviser of asador i wonder what you make of what you heard from president biden there on what he does believe is at stake, which is something you've also warned about. >> if trump does return to

power well, there's a substantive question about what's wrong with donald trump at, but there are questions about each, each candidates capacity to do the job. in my view, has been for some time, neither one of them has the capacity to do the job. so why does trump want biden to be his opponent? because he's got him right in his sights. and this press conference tonight is proof of his case that biden is not up to it. look, he was asked a question about russia, china relations, and how that affects the united states went on and on and on. it was incoherent. he was asked a question about american military aid to ukraine restrictions placed on that aid. in terms of targeting russia was incoherent he talked about hold corporate ran increases at 5%. i don't even know what that subject was. he was asked why he picked kamala harris to be his vice president. was she qualified in his answer was, i would licht her if she wasn't qualified he was asked if he could still speak with fusion jinping and

vladimir putin. and three years and he said, i can speak with him now and i can speak with those aren't answers. those are the questions without question marks. this goes on and on and on are we just kind of his style in the sense of saying, yeah, i can still i can deal with them now. i can deal with the answers to the questions in a pretty lengthy answer. there are two about israel and gaza to the kind of making the case in a real way that i haven't seen it makes it far for this earnest of away for a two-state solution. but on this incident was almost totally critical of israel that's his that's his prerogative. that doesn't mean he didn't he couldn't give a coherent answer just because that's his view of is that is that reflective of his iron clad support of israel? well, i think he is that's that's a question on his policy when it comes to israel, we've seen now that's changed as, as netanyahu has waged, it's not a balanced dancing. >> it was due to agree with president biden by its foreign policy at any way, shape, or form. but on that sense of donald trump and his allies were, i was watching that re-posting things on twitter saying he would bide was doing a great job, that it's proof

he can stay in this race. it's kind of remarkable to see them praising him so much saying that because they are worried about biden getting out and maybe having a more formidable opponent they are absolutely worried about that and they should be look, i think biden's presidency ended a few hours ago. i don't know whether he's going to be the democratic nominee or not but that performance is the kind of thing that now for two weeks since the debate, the constant subject has been, does biden have the mental acuity to do the job? should we talk about but that for the next four months, is that conducive to his campaign? are these democrats who have come out publicly worried about their election prospects because of biden completely off base. forget the polling politics is a bad instinct to their instincts. are there very nervous, but even beyond all that, with all we'll due respect to the media the presidency is not about press conferences the presidency is about making life and death decisions for this country under conditions of high

stress, which inadequate, inconsistent, constantly changing information trying to steer a course through it. i don't think biden can do that let's be clear. i don't think trump can do it either. that's why the country is in trouble with this choice of candidates, but you're writing some way in. but do you believe with a democrat who has been talked about as a potential replacement if he got other race, what she said tonight, he's not. do you think another democrat could be donald trump? >> i think the change in the dynamic of the political environment of having somebody who's not in the plus 70 age category, which i can say because i am too having a younger candidate would throw the dynamics of this campaign completely up in the air how do you think trump would handle that? i don't think you'd handle it very well because i don't think he has been planning for somebody other than joe biden in 1960 dwight eisenhower is leaving the presidency, had to heart attacks at the ripe old age of 70 and the democratic response in john kennedy was a candidate

with vigor now they're presenting joe biden. so if that's the way they want to go, it's up to the democratic party lord knows they're not going to take my advice, but i think shifting candidates now it will be difficult. there will be problems, but it will completely change the nature of the race because warning about project 2025, this this plan that trump allies, even though trump has distanced himself from it, have been crafting look, i haven't read 2025. >> i don't plan to if they want to attack trump stands on issues that's fine. that's what politics is all about as nothing to do with joe biden's competence. >> that was an interesting kennedy impression from bolted. thank you for being here tonight. thank you all for being here on this very busy evening here on the source, cnn news night with abby phillip starts right now if you're shopping for a home realtor dot com's real choice financing now gives you more ways to afford a home like downpayment assistance program he's in

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