mj lee. thank you very much. and we'll be right back with more news saturday on the whole story, political violence has always threatened our democracy we're seeing after the attempt on trump's life, where does america go from here? >> the whole story with anderson cooper, political violence, american bloody history, saturday at 8:00 on cnn fabrice, have you tried these new fabrice carbon clips, the new intensity dog gives you total control. like it turned it up that's or turn it down. >> nice and light. >> enjoy 40 days of freshness your way around when you're a small business owner your to do list can be a lot that's why progressive makes it easy to see with a commercial auto quote online. >> so you can take on all your other to do already, see if you could say that progressive commercial.com you know what's brilliant, boring, think about it boring is the unsung catalyst for bhole what straps mold to a rocket? >> beryl's and into space. or boring makes vacations happened, early retirements possible, and startup

remainder of my term dramatic statement the day i want to bring in cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee. >> she's joining us from the white house right now. mj update our viewers on the latest information we're getting yeah, wolf, i am just learning that vice president kamala harris did not know about president biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 race? until earlier today. they of course spoke earlier today. we are told that they have spoken at least multiple times but the fact that the vice president didn't know until today, the day of the the day that the president decided to go public with the decision perhaps illustrates, best of all, that at the end of the day, this room will he was president joe biden's decision and his alone how closely was this decision held according to our colleagues, arlette, saenz, i'm phil mattingly's reporting the process of announcing this today was really set in motion last night when the president asked his closest advisers, mike donilon and steve richetti to begin the process of writing that letter that we of course saw this afternoon announcing h

top members about whether he is fit to serve another four years cnn's mj lee is at the white house, mj, you directly pressed the white house press secretary. this afternoon about the level of transparency they're having with americans yeah. >> jake, the white house just made clear for the second day in a row that they do not think if they should release more information about the president's health or his medical records. were using a lot of questions about transparency. take a listen to the white house has said no to releasing the results of that i said no to make a dr. o'connor available for questions from us know to releasing any other information that would shed some more light on the president i guess i'm just wondering if now is not the time for full transparency. when is so i would say mj to your question that what we have released for the past three years, every year since he's been in office has been transparent and it has been comprehensive. it has been one of the most transparent. we have been one of the most so transparent administration when it comes to medical records she

i want to bring in my colleague, mj lee from the white house. one more. we expecting from the president tonight any chance? i'll take questions. mj well, erika, i mean, first of all, on the issue of the supreme court's ruling on the presidential immunity topic. we actually have a pretty good idea of what the president is it's likely to say, given that we've heard from the biden adviser saying earlier today that the ruling today doesn't change the facts around january 6, that it showed that donald trump, the former president, sat idly by this adviser said as a mob violently storm the capitol. we also heard from the white house counsel's office which put out a short statement saying the president believes nobody is above the law. so i think it wouldn't be surprising if the president took this opportunity to make clear that he has no objections to this ruling that came out of this supreme court but of course, we are also watching to me, i'm gonna is any crime in a step, the president walking out to the podium. now let's listen it presidency is most powerful o

cnn's mj lee joins us now, live from the white house. mj, we should point out we're about to hear from press secretary karine john pier what are you hearing about where president biden stands in all of this now? >> boris, what we have learned is that president biden has privately acknowledged that he knows the next stretch of days are going to be absolutely critical to whether he can save his candidacy and that he knows what would eventually prompt and potential this lead to say, it's just not working. this is according to an ally who spoke directly with the president yesterday, and that ally tells me that he seize the moment and he is clear-eyed and that the president knows that there is a potential set up, a scenarios, things that could happen in the coming days and weeks where he would acknowledge essentially, but this simply cannot be fixed and they said that this looks like the pools are plummeting the fund raising is drying up at the interviews are going badly. he's not oblivious is what this ally told me and this person, interestin

mj lee, thanks so much. let's bring in our panel in on that note i want to share something with you all that a longtime biden adviser, just texted me. okay. it's his we seem to know a lot about each and every one of these groups that come together or might come together, or thinking about it. >> and it's almost like we're watching the permission the permission structure being erected in real time and it went from being kind of a ramshackle house with a few people in it to now being like a pretty big big building. and everybody talking about it. and you had a congressperson on earlier, i believe was at michigan or witnesses for western michigan, which in which democrats need to win. it was a fantastic conversation because she just said, look, i'm hearing from constituents. it's now a dereliction of my duty to not take their message and say it out loud. and i think that has changed so rapidly, like in the two weeks that you're talking about and jeff, the quote that i read earlier from longtime biden adviser an

cnn's mj lee is they're following all the breaking news on the fallout over the president's debate performance and what what may happen in the hours and days ahead, mj give us the latest pam we are seeing the biden white house and the biden campaign in full crisis mode with the president trying to reassure everybody that he can, that he is absolutely saying in the race, there is no scenario where he is not going to be the nominee. this includes campaign staff and white house staff and not just the president and the vice president calling into a campaign call today, but also we are seeing a senior staff at the white house. senior staff at the campaign are all holding calls to try to reassure folks that are working both at the white house and the campaign that despite all of the panic and all of the uncertainty that we have seen in the days since the democratic debate and the president's very poor performance. that the president isn't going anywhere but of course this reassurance, a lot of democrats have told cnn really need to come directly from president biden, and that is part of the reason,

that's where cnn's mj lee is mj. i know we are now hearing that we are going to hear from president biden in a few moments from now, he came out briefly last night. he had not yet gotten in touch with donald trump at that point. they have since had at least a brief phone call. what are we expecting to hear from the president in these remarks shortly? >> yeah, we'll be hearing from the president in the next hour or so. this will be the second time that he is speaking directly to cameras. since that assassination attempt on donald i'll trump. last night, he has been in the situation room, as you said, getting briefed by various law enforcement agencies, he's been in there with the heads of the justice department at the department of homeland security, the fbi, and notably as you just pointed out, the director of the u.s. secret service, which is going to be so key given what you were talking about just now with evan about the many outstanding questions about the secret service's role in everything that led to the tragi

mj lee is at the white house tracking this president biden. we just heard from mj, of course, after he didn't with his top advisers, then he said he was going to deliver a rare oval office address tonight. what are you hearing about what that could look like yeah. >> first of all, kaitlan we heard from the president again in the last hour and when he started speaking, he started out by talking about his brief conversation with the former president yesterday. he said that donald trump is doing well and is recovering and that it was a good conversation he also paid condolences to this rally go or that you were just talking about describing him as a father who died while trying to protect his family from the bullets that were flying by. he of course, was just coming out of a briefing in the situation room from by the heads of various law enforcement agencies, the heads of the doj, dhs fbi, and the u.s. secret service. and he said that the fbi is now taking the lead on this investigation and he expects this investigation to be fair and swift. he a

>> mj lee. thanks so much as former president trump's attack lines on vice president harris come into sharper view. cnn's kristen holmes lays out the road for trump's vice presidential pick j.d vance vice president kamala harris is hitting the campaign trail tonight, holding a rally in the critical battleground state of georgia seeking to keep the state joe biden flipped in 2020, blue in 2024. >> the harris campaign, also out with a new ad as they seek to educate voters on the vice president's record the one thing kamala harris has always been fearless as a prosecutor, focusing on her public service as california's attorney general. she went after the big banks, we believe in a future where every person has the opportunity but donald trump wants to take our country the backward, the ad is part of a $50 million blitz ahead of next month's democratic convention, green wild former president donald trump's campaign is up with their own ads today, zeroing in on harris's record on immigration under ha

i want to bring in our senior white house correspondent, mj lee. she's joining us from the whitehouse right now. i know you're constantly getting updates, more information. what else are you learning mj yeah, wolf. >> this has been a remarkable afternoon, just four months out from election day. president biden making public today, his decision to drop out of the 2024 race. he said that he had every intention of continuing to seek a second term, but in a letter released the public this afternoon, he wrote that i believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term wolf, this was an incredibly closely held decision that was made and we are told within the last 48 hours or so and almost everybody close to the president, including senior most advisors, were in the dark until basically moments before for that letter went public we are told that last night the president asked some of his closest aides, chief among them, mike donilon and st

cnn white house correspondent mj lee, joining it's now i'm doing what more you learning erica, what i'm learning and this is according to an ally of the president's who spoke with the president directly yesterday. is that the president has privately acknowledged that the next stretch of days are going to be so critical to the question of whether he can save his reelection campaign. he, the president made clear to this ally in this conversation yesterday that he understands what circumstances would prompt him to basically accept it's just not working. this person who spoke to the president telling me that he seize the moment, he is clear eyes. and they said that the president is very i'll clear on the series of potential events that could come in the coming days that would prompt him, again, to accept that what he's trying to do to turn the narrative, turn his campaign around, isn't working. this person it said, quote, the polls are plummeting, the fund fundraising is drying up and the interviews are going badly. he's not oblivious. this is, of course the person paraphrasing the conversa

let's get the latest from the white house with cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee and mj, you have some new reporting about what we should expect to come from this meeting yeah, i'm boris, i should note that just seconds ago we saw the car that is carrying israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu roll through into the white house where of course he is now expected to have this bilateral meeting with president biden. >> what sources telling me is that we do expect that president biden might be as forceful as he has ever been in a private setting with the prime minister and urging him to accept the ceasefire deal that is currently on the table that would put an end to this war that has been ongoing, of course, since last october as one senior official put it to me, boris, that we're closer than we've ever been. and it is up to the israelis to accepted. and it's not only just this bilateral meeting where the president will have the occasion to exert some pressure on the prime minister as soon is that meeting has wrapped up, the two leaders are going to go into another private me

let's go to cnn's mj lee, because mj vice president kamala harris made a speech yesterday after her netanyahu meeting. and it seemed to stir things up a bit. this had to do with an israeli official traveling if netanyahu telling israeli media that they believe that her comments might have hurt the potential for a deal for a ceasefire and hostage released by hamas help us understand how the vice president is now responding yeah, boris definitely stir things up and remember, it's not typical for the vice president to make separate remarks after a bilateral meeting like that. >> and when you listened to those remarks yesterday, they were some of the most forceful comments about the war that we have seen thus far coming out of the white house. she said that she he told the prime minister that she had serious concerns about the civilian casualties, the humanitarian suffering in gaza. she said, we cannot look away. i will not be silent and that prompted israeli officials, including one, as you said, that was traveling with the prime minister saying that those comments could could end up being inter

also addressing a country that is still reeling from a national trauma and national shock for sure, mj leeank you very much. of course, mj will lee at the white house. so after that oval address and next, are now democratic congressman dean phillips of minnesota joins me. he was the only elected official who ran against joe biden for the 2024 democratic nomination. and this is his first national interview since cnn's debate between biden and trump and congressman. i've really really appreciate your time and i remember our conversations when you were running and your reasons for doing that. and now here we are in this tense and sad moment for this country and obviously awaiting an oval office address from the president, the united states, talking about an assassination attempt on his rival what should the president's message be tonight in this moment? >> well, erin, i think the president's great superpower is compassion and empathy. and i expect both of those to be shown loud and clear tonight. i think this is a magnificent opportunity for him for our country even for for former president t

the president's very strong endorsement, want to get right to our senior white house correspondent, mj lee, mj, the transition from biden to harris, moving very quickly, very strongly tonight that's absolutely right. wolf. and this was the vice president's first visit to the wilmington headquarters as a presidential candidate. this of course, had been just a little over for 24 hours ago. the headquarters of the biden-harris campaign, it has now been fully transformed into the harris campaign headquarters but before we discussed the vice prime president's remarks, we should really let our viewers know that we did hear president joe biden's voice for the first time in a number of days since he went into isolation after testing positive for covid last wednesday, and since he dropped out, importantly, yesterday, the president had been isolating for a number of days now and he called into that meeting at wilmington, delaware a headquarters and he said to the staff that was listening there. i know yesterday's news was surprising and hard to hear for a lot of them. but he said, this was the right

let's bring in our cnn senior white house correspondent, mj lee, mj, the president's every word is under heightened scrutiny right now, but give us the bottom line of his message. i wrote down to two sentences. he said, very significant russia will not prevail the u.s the ukraine will prevail. russia will not prevail. ukraine will prevail and he also said that ukraine can and will stop putin strong words from the president of the united states, mj. >> yeah, very strong words from the president and certainly remarks that were centered on ukraine. we are seeing the president here trying to project, of course the image of the statesman. this was the first time that the president has really taken the global stage since his halting debate performance last month. and we saw there how the president tried to use it's the 75th nato anniversary summit to send a forceful message about the importance of protecting democracy all across the world. and more importantly, america's role in leading those efforts. we saw the president there announcing the u.s and its nato allies providing for ukraine addit

so let's get more now from cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee. mj biden, campaign aides are vehemently dismissing the possibility that he will drop out. of course, we don't really have that temperature check of polls to see he, where the american electorate is on a biden candidacy. what are you learning today yeah, briana, that's absolutely right. >> the campaign for now is digging in white house officials at senior campaign aides. they're all saying that there is no world where they are currently contemplating the idea of president biden dropping out of the 2024 race. really emphasizing that he is staying in and also the family making clear that they are fully behind the president as he run continues to run for reelection as well. but it is really hard to overstate the widespread and deep panic within the democratic party biden aides. of course, they have been fielding phone calls, messages are all weekend long from surrogates and donors and others within the party that we're very concerned about. the president's debate performance. and i think a

all that as a backdrop, that meeting at the white house, which is where we begin tonight with cnn's mj lee, mj, the meeting just wrapped up. and from at least those three governors that we heard from there sounded like full throated support. do we know if that was a unanimous view among the governor's? >> it's really hard to know, jim right now, because as you say, just a small group of governors came out after a meeting that probably lasted well over an hour. they began the meeting around 630 with the one line that at least towards the end of the scrotum from that the governor has kept repeating was in it to win it these governors made clear that they felt like they needed to have this meeting in-person with the president because they are unified in feeling that they are terrified about the possibility of a second donald trump presidency. and they said, you know, we saw first-hand in the work that we do in our individual states, the threat that donald trump poses to all of our constituents, to the places that we live in and that they don't want a trump presidency to come back but this dis

delaware home after testing positive for covid i want to bring in cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee, mj, obviously, the timing here as his aides had added events schedule, seemingly the contrast with the idea that he was in a diminished physical state. some of those events obviously or having it be rescheduled yeah. >> and boris, we've actually just moments ago gotten the first update from his doctor since he was diagnosed with covid, the doctor says that he does still have mild upper for respiratory symptoms that he is taking paxlovid as we know, but he doesn't have a fever and his vitals are normal according to his doctor. but he is going to be isolating, as you said, at his home in rehoboth for the foreseeable future until he feels better remember last night he had to suddenly cut his trip to vegas short by a couple of hours and fly directly back to delaware and what his covid diagnosis has done is shined a brighter spotlight on all of the questions that had already been out there about his age and his fitness the last 24 hours, there have been a couple of notable moments where t

cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee is working the story for us mj give us the latest well, wolf, the public pressure on president biden to drop out of the 2024 campaign appears to be growing by the hour as of right now, we know of more than 30 congressional democrats who have publicly come out and said that the president needs to drop out and are colleague john king reports tonight that according to two house democrats, the fresh round of statements that we saw coming out today have had a lot to do with former house speaker nancy pelosi, who believes that is so important that the president really understand how serious the concerns are inside of her caucus. and according to john's reporting, the president is set to be seething at the former house speaker. of course, you know, that that's cnn previously reported that pelosi recently in a private conversation also told the president that she believes that polling shows that he simply cannot win in november, but wolf, despite all of this, the biden campaign remains defiant and has said today, over and over again that the president

assassination of his political opponent, the former president donald trump let's go straight to cnn's mj lee over at the white house, mj, what are you expecting to hear from the president later tonight in the oval office well, wolf biden, campaign official previewing the president's remarks says that this is going to be a forceful speech that gives an update to the nation on the horrifying attack on donald trump yesterday and that it will be about the need for americans to come together and to condemn political violence of any kind the choice of the oval office address yes, of course tells us so much these kinds of addresses are quite rare the last time that the president spoke in this setting and prime time was back in october we're just days after hamas's attack on israel. >> and we got a preview of the tone that we expect to hear from president biden when he spoke earlier in the roosevelt take a listen assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for. >> as a nation, everything it's not who we are as a nation. it's not american we cannot allow this to happen unity is the most

let's go now to senior white house correspondent for cnn, mj lee and mj, you have some new details on what president biden is doing right now. tell us yes. jake, i'm told by a senior white house official that the president is currently in the situation room. he is being briefed by various law enforcement agencies, and i should note this is precisely the reason that president biden returned to washington, dc overnight last night. instead of staying through the weekend in rehoboth as was the original plan? so that he can continue getting briefed and keep a close eye on this federal investigation into yesterday's incident that is now unfolding last night when we did here so the president speaking briefly in front of cameras we heard him condemning political violence in this country, saying it is sick. we cannot be like this. we also heard for him saying that he wanted to get a hold of president trump and speak with them directly while we now know that they did briefly connect last night and sources have told us, including one white house officials, that this was a short and respectful ca

we are going to win wolf, mj lee reporting for us, mj. thank you very much. now to the trump campaign, the former president is heading to michigan tomorrow with his new running mate, senator j.d. vance it's their first joint campaign appearance since vance made his debut at the republican national convention. cnn's kristen holmes is in grand rapids, michigan for us, just ahead of that trump rally kristen, what's expected at the rally tomorrow? >> one of the things we're looking for, obviously is what the messaging is going to be coming from both of them, but also what the chemistry between the two looks like. we actually they don't know what a trump fans campaign looks like for basically the last two years, donald trump has been running alone. now we are told he is bringing on j.d. vance and that he had as a lot of chemistry that's why he chose j.d. vance or at least one of the reasons why he brought him onto the ticket. now we will see what an actual campaign with the two of them top of the ticket looks like now the other thing we are looking at is what the

cnn's mj lee reports president joe biden trying to save his teetering reelection campaign after keeping a limited public schedule for days following his disastrous debate performance last week, the president emerging to try to reassure panicked supporters, biden rallying his campaign staff on a call telling them, quote, i'm running, i'm the nominee of the democratic party. no one's pushing me out. i'm not leaving. i'm in this race to the end, but this a cnn is learning that the president has privately acknowledged this week that the next stretch of days will be critical to whether he can save his candidacy, an ally who spoke with biden on tuesday telling cnn that the president was chastened and blamed himself, not his staff, for his poor debate performance. >> the covid excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with the allies saying biden is clear-eyed about what it would look like if his efforts to save his campaign were to fail. >> the polls are plummeting. the fundraising is drying up, and the interviews are going bad. lee meanwhile, the white house struggling to answer

cnn's mj lee has more now on how the vice president has hit the ground running i'm ready. >> let's go. we're going to have some fun with this too, aren't we are not playing around a whirlwind five days for kamala harris with swiftly marching towards the democratic nomination for president since president joe biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 race harris, working at breakneck speed to raise a stunning amount of cash lock in major democratic endorsements like this one on friday, when you call to say michelle i couldn't be prouder to endorse you and hitting the road to court voters who will determine the outcome of the 2024 election. >> you helped elect joe biden, president of the united states and me as the first woman vice president of the united states harris also turning to weighty matters of foreign policy this week in her first days as a presidential candidate the vice president meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu at the white house as us officials are pushing to try to finalize a ceasefire agreement afterwards, harris issuing the white house is most force

let's bring in cnn's mj lee you have new reporting mj about what the vice president justice said on a call with donors. >> that's right, pam, one thing that vice president kamala harris did this afternoon was called into a meeting of her national finance committee, really taking the opportunity to thank major donors for showing their support over the last couple of days. you just got off the phone with a major donor who was on that call and they said that there was just palpable enthusiasm on this fall as the vice president and top officials took questions as well. it was described as really top officials laying out what needs to happen in the next hundred plus days leading up to election shan day. campaign officials really made clear that of course, a top priority for the vice president is going to be traveling to these key battleground states. but really it's clear that they're doing a really quick reshuffling for calendar of events and travels as she is now embracing this new role. i'm also told by this donor that i spoke with that she took one question, took multiple questions, bu

on the campaign trail next week after he recovers from covid cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee joins us now, mj, we're getting too vastly different messages from those close to the president. what do you make of it? >> i mean, there is a real divide right now. there is a sense within the democratic party that it feels like the end is near people who are completely freaked out about the fact that the president needs to go in their minds. and as you said, this includes senior people who privately think this inside the white house and the campaign as well. and then there is the campaigns public position as of today, which is that the president is not stepping aside and they've really been on full blast today. we saw the campaign chair going on television earlier saying the president is absent it's slowly staying in the race. the president himself put out a statement saying he's going to hit the campaign trail later next week, and then this campaign memo that they put out which said, quote, there is no plan for an alternative nominee in a few short weeks, joe biden will be the offi

let's go to cnn's mj lee at the white house, mj, the stakes for president biden are pretty a big that's right, jake, this is of course one of many engagements that president biden is having this week with foreign leaders as the u.s. is hosting the nato summit just across town. he is going to be meeting in the oval office with the prime minister of the uk just days after a landslide victory for the labour party over there but jake, you can easily imagine if this nato summit had taken place, even two weeks ago at the vibes and the mood would have been completely different. you can very easily leah, imagine this would have been a week when the president would have felt entirely in his comfort zone really embracing and relishing the role that he has played and have enjoyed playing. being that this american leader on the global stage and trying to draw that contrast of everything that he has done to restore american leadership on the global stage and saying that donald trump well, i would have done very much the opposite and instead he is just confronted with a barrage of criticism and quest

let's go back to cnn's mj lee. she's at the white house and mj walk us through what president biden is expected to say to nato leaders at the summit. and what's at stake here? >> yeah, this speech is going to be the president really shoring up nato support for ukraine. we expect that the president is going to announce this and its nato allies will provide ukraine with patriot batteries and additional air defense systems. as ukraine of course, continuous fighting back, russia offensive this is going to be a really important opportunity for president biden to take the global stage and make it important statement for the first time really, since that disaster stores debate performance, not only are the eyes of so many americans, including a lot of nervous democrats, are on this speech. but i mean, you look at the image of that auditorium. there are world leaders diplomats in that space closely scrutinizing the president's speech and listening in some of whom have concerns, real concerns that are shared by americans is

let's get the white house perspective now, with cnn's mj lee, who's there for us mj, you and your colleagues have some reporting on the mood behind the scenes. what are you hearing from your sources? >> well, boris, there's certainly been a lot of confusion and anger and sadness inside the white house across the administration, the campaign. >> and across the democratic party, more broadly, since the president's really halting the shocking debate performance my colleagues and i have spoken over the course of the last two weeks, two dozens of democratic sources, including, i should note, senior deputy macron who have spent real time with the president and then some cases have known the president for years. and what has been striking is that none of them had ever seen this version of president biden that we all all saw on the debate stage. that was so faltering and days and plenty of officials that we spoke with said, look, of course, we've known that the president has age. he is certainly not the same person that we know from sega year ago but the what they had said that was so noteworthy is

cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee is following this story for us. mj walk us through what the president is doing to galvanize support from his conference well, boris, he is clearly trying to flood the zone right now, which i have to say is pretty different from what we saw initially after that disastrous debate where he wasn't seen very much, we didn't hear very much from him in the immediate days after the debate in the last 24 hours, if you take a look a key has called into msnbc. >> he is supposed to be calling into a donors call that the campaign is having. and he wrote this letter that you mentioned two democratic lawmakers. and the objective here overall appears to be two project defiance and confidence and send the message loud and clear. that i am not going anywhere this is a little more sound from when he called into morning joe earlier this morning, and how the president specifically defended the questions about his health. take a listen i think it is significant significant, ron and that's how i'd measurement you measure me what i've done

for prime time here in just a couple of hours let's get to cnn senior white house correspondent, mj lee with more on what biden has a head here, mj, the campaign navigating, of course, a sensitive and complicated politically we'll dynamic that's right, brianna, what happened on saturday is certainly up upended so much on both sides of the political aisle. >> we saw the biden campaign immediately pulling down at tv ads. they stopped all political communications for awhile. the white house had to cancel the president's trip to texas today, one of the stops was meant to be a fund and razor and something else that we saw come to a halt after saturday the public democratic dissent against president biden and questions about whether he should seek a second term, which questions about that had been really growing by the day until saturday? a remember, even, in the hours leading up to that, donald trump rally in pennsylvania, the president was having some tough at times tense conversations with democratic lawmakers that were really pressing him on whether he was a viable candidate to seek a sec

i believe from this beginning, mj lee is outside the white house right now and mj as the president prepares to have this press conference prince live in primetime in front of the country in the world, you're reporting that some top democrats are furious with biden's inner circle. how come? >> yeah, there is a lot of anger that is being directed at the president's inner circle of advisers and also his family members from so many democrats across the party who believe that these people have created this operation and a system that is in place to have the president be highly choreographed out really stage, manage that every point of the day and they believe that that is exactly why that's so many democrats, even the people who interact with him on a regular basis not to mention members of the public. did not have a full picture of how much the president had declined, which so many democrats felt like they saw on full display for the first time on debate night whether it is these cabinet meetings that are were described to us as being so meticulously scripted ahead of time whether it is these a

mj lee. thanks so much. anderson. >> jake, i'm joined now by eva mckend with more on vice president harris has efforts to secure the nomination. so what do you view learned so far about harrison's current level of support within the aucredit border, you know, anderson, there is fear support for her among key democratic coalitions and this really comes at a time when democrats need this boost. these are the voices i have been listening to most closely the last couple of weeks, groups like black voters matter higher heights other organizers, because they are so core to the get out the vote strategy and have a true pulse of how voters are feeling on the ground. they've been quietly organizing for weeks to ensure that if president biden stepped aside, harris would be well positioned to lead the ticket and they've been doing this without appearing as if they are by extension, her for were angling to force biden out tonight. they tell me they expect the full democratic apparatus to get behind her or democrats will

mj lee is at the white house. manu, i want to start with you though, because as i mentioned, you just spoke with the democratic leader hakeem jeffries. that was an extremely significant news that he just gave you. what more did he tell you? >> yeah. show a show of support after he's been relatively quiet in the aftermath of that biden's debate performance that spawned all of this internal democratic concern, just consulting they've been voicing privately for the past week because members of congress have been on a recess the past week. and this will be the first time that they will actually meet behind closed doors to talk about their concerns about joe biden staying and the top of the ticket that meeting scheduled to take place tomorrow morning. a significant moment about whether joe biden can maintain his support among democrats on capitol hill, then there's the senate democratic meeting that will happen in the afternoon tomorrow as well. another pivotal moment as chuck schumer, the senate majority leader, only

cnn's mj lee and more from the white house tonight, the democratic firewall around president joe biden is beginning to fracture. texas congressman lloyd dog it, becoming the first democratic lawmaker to publicly called on biden to withdraw from the 2024 election following think last week's poor debate performance, the congressman saying in a statement, president biden's first commitment has always been to our country, not himself. i'm hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw today. the white house facing a barrage of questions about the president's debate performance. it was a bad night because he was not taking any cold medications. that is what i can speak to. i've asked the dog has doctor and that's what he stated to us and urge to release more medical records. we have released. there are reports from his medical team every year since he's been in office white house press secretary digging in and saying biden's accomplishments speak volumes with age comes wisdom and experience. other democrats beginning to publicly express concern that the president c

let's go now to cnn's mj lee at the white house who attended today's the press briefing and mj, you had reporting this morning that democrats view today as a make-or-break day for biden's candidacy, both because of the congressional meetings, but and also this nato speech what's the sense over, over at the white house? did they do they really think this is in the rearview mirror? >> well, jake, as you said, so many democrats, we have been talking to really point it to today as being such a pivotal day for prime president biden and his political future and the sense was that today would really give us the answer of will there be a full revolt within the democratic party or is the dam that has been holding so far going to continue to hold? but as manu just reported, we saw these lawmakers coming out of these meetings and saying, look, we aired our grievances. we talked about our concerns. we are going to continue talking. there are divisions i cannot stress this enough, jake, as far as the president it's concerned, the conversation is over. they're not talking about this anymore. we saw t

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but first, this report from cnn's senior white house correspondent mj lee tonight, a defiant president biden going on offense. >> we're not going anywhere. i am not knowing anywhere. >> the president increasingly under siege after his disastrous debate performance last month calling in life to msnbc amid the furious speculation and criticism about his age and fitness for office, i wouldn't be running if i didn't. absolutely believe that i'm the best can make to be down someone 2024. we had a democratic nominating process for the voter spoke clearly biden asked about one particular statement he made last week that alarmed an angered many democrats. >> and if you stay in and trump is elected, and everything, your warning about comes to pass how will you feel in january i'll feel as long as i gave it my all take, you could just jobs i know i can do that's what this is about. >> the president playing clean up, making clear, losing is not an option. >> what would you say to those who are concerned by that answer? >> yes. not an option. i'm not lost. i haven't lost i've been in last mile bea

cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee has more from washington president biden is soliciting more direct feedback from worried democratic lawmakers on thursday night, he hosted house democratic leader hakeem jeffries here at the white house you know that he is said to have offered honest feedback from members of his own caucus to the president, though sources tell us that he didn't offer a direct endorsement of the president himself. >> in this afternoon. the president calling into meeting things with hispanic lawmakers in asian american lawmakers. and in that first meeting, we are learning that congressman mike levin directly told the president that he believes he needs to step down a stop running for a second term. and the president responded by defending his record and then saying this. he said that's why i think it's important got to get out and show people everything from how well i move to how much i know that i'm still in good charge while the president did try to do some of that with some retail politics in michigan again, take a look around again to finish this job. there

trail he's isolated in delaware at the coming down with covid, cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee joins us now, mj give, us the details on this conversation between the former house speaker, nancy pelosi, and the president yeah, are understanding boris, is that nancy pelosi and president biden spoke again within the last week or so and nancy pelosi, in this phone call, told the president that polling shows that he cannot defeat donald trump in november and that he could really bring down the house with him if he continues seeking a second term. >> now, what our sources have said is that the president responded by being defensive and by pushing back and saying, look, i have seen polls that show that i can win and that at one point in the conversation, and i think that this sort of capture the tenth nature of the conversation up pelosi, ask that mike donilon, the president's senior adviser, also get on the phone so that they can discuss the data. now, this would mark the second known conversation in between nancy pelosi and the president ever since the debate, we know that they spok

erica. >> they are mj lee, appreciate it. thank you. i want to bring in democratic congresswoman mikie sherrill of new jersey, joining me now congressman nice to have you with us. as we look at where things go and it's been a very eventful five days which feels perhaps a little bit more like five years for a lot of people, there are still questions about what's going to happen in the next two weeks so the vice president has promised to choose her running mate, her vp, in that window. who do you think should be on the ticket with her well, you know, i think it's almost a travesty of riches. >> we have the strongest democratic bench that i've seen in my lifetime so there are a lot of great choices out there, she has so far runs such an incredible campaign. i mean, taking over in such a quick time raising so much money, but even more importantly, getting so much support out, having the zooms that are as some of the some of my kids are saying, breaking the zoom because she is getting so many people on board to come forward and supporters. s

but first let's actually go to the white house with cnn senior white house correspondent mj lee.mj strong pushback today by biden and his camp campaign. what more are you hearing from sources? >> yeah. boris, the biden campaign is telecasting and every which way that the president is not going anywhere. you played the sound of the biden campaign chair saying he is absolutely staying in the race. the biden campaign also sent out a memo earlier saying not only is he the presumptive nominee, but it said there there's no plan for an alternative nominee. cnn also reported last night that senior-most west wing aides have had no discussions either amongst themselves or with the president himself about plans for him to drop out. and just moments ago, we got a statement from the president himself. this is a part of what he wrote. he said, i look forward to getting back on the campaign in trial next week to continue exposing the threat of donald trump's project 2025 agenda, while making the case for my own record and the vision that i have for america. one where we save our democracy, prot

mj lee at the white house. thanks so much in my our panel's here in moe, you're a delegate for the dnc and not only that, you're on the rules and bylaws committee, how would you describe as candidly and as honestly as possible the mood among the dnc, right now, it's night and day, right? i took a bunch of college students last week to milwaukee to observe the republican convention and their number one takeaway was that that was a convention that was party that seemed energized and excited and unified behind their candidate if you're a democrat, the last couple of weeks have been brutal, regardless of what side of the should biden's stay in or get out, divide you're on like it was demoralizing not today today democrats feel energized. it's a whole new day, it's a turning of the page. people seem excited to get behind a candidate it seems like that candidates likely to be the vice president but they are just excited and you feel an energy that i just haven't felt in the party for quite some time in terms of the r

mj lee, cnn at the white house quite a different backdrop to that interview.ning me now from england is metazoa lindstaedt, professor of government at the university of essex. natasha, it's good to have you this is a deeply, deeply difficult time in this country and assassination attempt, quite, quite close to taking the life of a former president tonight a candidate for office once again and you, you are hearing certainly from president biden it and it seems a change in message from trump as well. do you see this as at least potentially an inflection point in what has been a deeply, deeply divided and heated period in american politics. >> definitely, this is probably one of the craziest, most traumatic just weeks that's on the back of many different weeks in the past in us politics that were there been really huge moment so right after the assassination attempt took place, there was a lot of heated rhetoric coming from republicans, particularly from donald trump, junior, and from potential vice president nominee jd vance blaming biden also, congresswoman mar

ham, alright, and mj lee. thank you so much. and now let's turn to the surprise trump campaign rally that is apparently in the works and the same city where the former president was targeted by a would-be assassin. cnn's kristen holmes is in florida covering the trump campaign. kristen, what do we know about this butler rally? >> yeah, that's right, pamela, we still don't have any details as to what this is actually going to look like just moments ago, he posted on truth social that it was going to hold another rally honoring both the firefight who lost his life as well as several of the victims in butler, pennsylvania. still unclear if it will be at the same location just a reminder that we do know secret service has urged donald trump it's team not to do outdoor rallies. they've also been reconsidering the entire security apparatus around donald trump, but this is something that now the former president has put in motion. but i do and it goes through just overall what is happening on the trump side when it comes to this campai