Hunter Biden has joined meetings with President Joe Biden and his top aides since his father returned to the White House from Camp David, Maryland, on Monday evening, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The president’s son has also been talking to senior White House staff members, these people said.

While he is regularly at the White House residence and events, it is unusual for Hunter Biden to be in and around meetings his father is having with his team, these people said. They said the president’s aides were struck by his presence during their discussions.

A federal jury in Delaware found Hunter Biden guilty last month on gun-related charges.

He remains under indictment accused of tax-related felonies, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Shortly after the jury found him guilty, he returned to his home in California.

One of the people familiar with the matter said Hunter Biden has been closely advising his father since the family gathered over the weekend at Camp David after Thursday’s debate. This person said Hunter Biden has “popped into” a couple of meetings and phone calls the president has had with some of his advisers.

Another person familiar with the matter said the reaction from some senior White House staff members has been, “What the hell is happening?”

Asked to comment, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement, “Hunter came back with the President from their family weekend at Camp David and went with the President straight into speech prep,” referring to Biden’s preparation with aides for remarks about the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity.

Hunter Biden’s presence in and around his father’s meetings comes amid questions about whether Joe Biden should continue his re-election campaign.

NBC News has reported that Hunter Biden is among the immediate family members urging the president to stay in the race. He is at the White House this week to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday with the Biden family, two people familiar with his plans said.

Some White House staffers have been forced to tiptoe around President Biden when briefing him on certain topics because they want to avoid eliciting his wrath and are “scared s–tless” of him, a new report says.

“It’s like, ‘You can’t include that, that will set him off,’ or ‘Put that in, he likes that,’”a senior administration official told Politico, referring to how some of the 81-year-old president’s aides feel they have to walk through a minefield before briefings to avoid him getting angry with them.

“It’s a Rorschach test, not a briefing,” the source said. “Because he is not a pleasant person to be around when he’s being briefed. It’s very difficult, and people are scared s—less of him.”

Biden “doesn’t take advice from anyone other than those few top aides, and it becomes a perfect storm because he just gets more and more isolated from their efforts to control it,” the source said.

The White House vehemently rejected the characterizations of the president, with Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates stressing to The Post on Tuesday, “That’s simply not who he is.”

In the past, allegations have emerged about Biden having a hair-trigger temper and reaming out aides — sometimes with profane language — when vexed by certain developments.

The president’s temper has flared publicly on occasion, too, including when faced with tough questions from The Post.

Other aides have reportedly sought to bring a colleague with them to meetings for moral support.

Biden has leaned on a very tight-knit inner circle that has tried to provide cover for him from the media and other groups.

His protective go-to people include senior adviser Anita Dunn, former chief of staff Ron Klain, Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti and Bruce Reed.

The Post learned that Biden’s son Hunter also has been participating in West Wing meetings this week, after the president’s disastrous debate against GOP foe Donald Trump.

Since President Biden’s embarrassing showing, the White House has faced tough new questions about the protective bubble around him and his cognitive state.

“There’s definitely groupthink,” an adviser to a Democratic donor told Politico, referring to Biden’s inner circle, which has been shielding him.

“They’ve known each other a long time.”

“Any reasonable person watching the debate would have concerns, and dismissing them is, to a lot of people, patronizing,” the source said, referring to some Dem elite who have publicly claimed there’s nothing to see here when it comes to Biden’s mental awareness.

A Democratic operative added of the group, “They don’t take dissent.

“If you try, then you don’t get invited to the next call, the next meeting.”

A senior House Democrat described the Biden team as “pretty insular” and one that “doesn’t really care what anybody says.”

Biden’s debate performance has thrust Democrats into disarray, panicked over their chances of winning the presidency again come Nov. 5 while finger-pointing over the whole ordeal.

Exacerbating concerns is the fact that many prominent Democrats claim Biden hasn’t reached out after the debate to reassure them or give a sense of direction during the firestorm.

A senior Democratic aide told The Post that the president isn’t directly reaching out to any of his party’s lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“You can’t have the problem you’ve had — then go to a campaign rally and think the box is checked,” a Democratic strategist remarked, contending that Biden could have eased concerns by going on the Sunday TV talk shows.

But a White House official pushed back on the claims, telling The Post, “There has been meaningful outreach at a senior level.”

Staffers dispute characterizations of Biden’s briefing behavior

Some current and former staffers also publicly disputed the characterizations of Biden’s behind-the-scenes behavior during briefings.

“I personally helped brief President Biden many times and this was not my experience. In fact, it was the opposite — we were overinclusive about flagging downsides of any recommended course of action so he could fully evaluate costs and benefits,” wrote Bharat Ramamurti, former deputy director of the National Economic Council, on X.

I personally helped brief President Biden many times and this was not my experience. In fact, it was the opposite — we were overinclusive about flagging downsides of any recommended course of action so he could fully evaluate costs and benefits. https://t.co/qms1rrs67b

— Bharat Ramamurti (@BharatRamamurti) July 2, 2024

“Does he ask hard questions to make sure ideas hold up? Sure. If that makes you uncomfortable you shouldn’t be briefing the President of the United States.”

Bates also knocked the claims as “unfair distortions of processes that exist in every administration.

“In every administration, there are individuals who would prefer to spend more time with the president and senior officials,” Bates said in a statement.

“President Biden fights hard for families every day, working with a wide range of team members at what he is proud is the most diverse White House ever — and achieving historic results for the American people because of his determination, values, and experience.”

A White House official also told The Post that “the president actively seeks input from a wide range of staff who have had different experiences.

“On [Air Force 1], he’ll sometimes go seat to seat, checking in with folks on their portfolios, how they think a trip went, etc. He’s also very inquisitive to [National Security Council} and domestic policy subject matter experts who rotate in and out,” the official added.

“The group of people in briefings or prep meetings can be eight to 10 at times.”

The president’s campaign claims he will still participate in a Sept. 10 debate against Trump and hosted by ABC News.

Biden also has agreed to sit down for an interview with ABC that will get trickled out on air later this week.

The president has acknowledged his debate shortcomings but insisted, “I would not be running again if I did not believe with all of my heart and soul that I can do this job.”

Joe Biden will sit down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for his first interview since the fallout from his dismal debate performance.

Stephanopoulos will interview Biden on Friday, with the “extended” interview, as ABC News terms it, set to air on Sunday on This Week and Good Morning America on Monday. The first portions of the interview will air on World News Tonight on Friday evening, with more on the weekend editions of GMA.

Another interview coup for former Bill Clinton aide and longtime ABC anchor Stephanopoulos, news of the sit-down comes as calls have become louder and louder for the 81-year-old POTUS to either step aside from his rematch against Donald Trump or order a dramatic reset of his clearly faltering campaign. Having said that, Stephanopoulos has proven the go-to guy for Biden when the president has hit the political rocks.

Back in the summer of 2021, ABC News had an exclusive interview between Stephanopoulos and Biden as the administration’s tumultuous exit from Afghanistan turned into a tragic and humiliating retreat.

With silence from Biden’s Hollywood ringleader Jeffrey Katzenberg, dozens of deep pocket donors have expressed dismay and even outrage at the president’s rambling and disjointed appearance with Trump on CNN on June 27. Biden has since appeared at rallies and fundraisers and, after a stay at Camp David, returned to the White House on Monday, when he delivered a statement on the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity. He declined to take questions from reporters.

At the White House briefing today, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that will change next week, when Biden does a press conference during the NATO summit in Washington, D.C. The summit with 31 other members of NATO will take place from July 9-11, but Biden will be doing his press conference solo and will take questions from multiple reporters, Jean-Pierre said.

Today, President Biden made a short trip from the White House to the DC Emergency Operations Center HQ for a briefing on some of the extreme weather hitting the nation this 4th of July week. As has been the case with almost all of Biden’s public appearances since the debate debacle, the president took no questions from the media.

Biden will be attending a campaign fundraiser in nearby Virginia this evening. Whether or not the president will be using a Teleprompter with his remarks before contributors is not known right now. The president’s reliance on the Teleprompter in such private events as well as his policy speeches and campaign stops has emerged in recent days as a flashpoint for both critics and fans.

Demands for a reassuring response on Biden’s capacity to run a coherent campaign against much indicted Trump, who has a lead in the polls, have been met in the fallout from last week with conference calls and Zoom meet-ups from top staffers like Jennifer O’Malley Dillon. Offering platitudes and polling estimates, the plethora of calls have come in place of direct communication from Biden himself or his long term inner circle – a situation that has caused even more anxiety, top donors tell us.

Interestingly, despite the pleas from some of Biden’s most loyal supporters, the president’s network interview will not be live. Additionally, even with a scattering of events on the president’s schedule for the Independence Day holiday, there is no other interview or town hall on the calendar for Biden – yet.

At the briefing, Jean-Pierre said that “we want to turn the page on this.” She acknowledged voters’ concerns over Biden’s age, but gave a terse “no” when asked if the president was in the early stages of Alzheimers or any form of dementia. She also suggested that reporters should ask the same question of Donald Trump.

“I have an answer for you. Are you ready for it? It’s a no. And I hope you’re asking the other guy the same exact question,” Jean-Pierre said.

“Most incumbents, for their first debate, it doesn’t go well,” she said, calling Biden’s performance a “bad night” while noting that the president has also acknowledged his debating skills and speaking style are not what they used to be. “With age comes wisdom and experience,” she said.

But reporters peppered Jean-Pierre over just what happened on Thursday evening. It’s a question that Stephanopoulos likely will ask. She said that he had a cold and continues to have one, but said that he was not taking cold medication.

All the networks have standing offers to interview the president. The choice of ABC News follows Biden’s last major sit down interview, with the same network. He spoke with World News Tonight anchor David Muir at the Normandy anniversary celebration last month.

Scientists have identified a potential new target for treating Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The discovery promises to halt or even reverse the disease process.

Alzheimer’s disease affects roughly 5.8 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The progressive disease is the most common form of dementia and is associated with memory loss and cognitive decline in regions of the brain involved in thought, memory and language.

The disease is thought to be caused by the abnormal buildup of proteins in and around the brain cells.

Today, there is no known cure for Alzheimer’s, although recently approved treatments do exist that can slow the disease’s progression.

“Strategies to treat Alzheimer’s disease to date have largely focused on pathological changes prominent in the late stages of the disease,” Scott Selleck, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Penn State Eberly College of Science, said in a statement.

“Although recently [U.S. Food and Drug Administration]-approved drugs have shown the ability to modestly slow the disease by targeting one of these changes, amyloid accumulation, drugs that affect the earliest cellular deficits might provide important tools to stop or reverse the disease process.

“We are interested in understanding the earliest cellular changes that are found not only in Alzheimer’s, but shared across other neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).”

In a new study published in the journal iScience, Selleck and colleagues from Penn State have identified a key molecule during these early stages of disease progression that may act as a potential target for future Alzheimer’s treatments.

The discovery centers around a group of cell-signaling molecules called heparan sulfate-modified proteins, which have previously been implicated in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. However, their exact role has remained unclear.

Heparan sulfate-modified proteins can be found both on the surface and in between animal cells. Among their many roles, they seem to play a key role in regulating a cellular recycling process called autophagy.

This process is known to be compromised in the early stages of several neurodegenerative diseases. And when autophagy isn’t working properly, cells can’t get rid of their dysfunctional or damaged components as easily, reducing their ability to repair themselves.

“In this study, we determined that heparan sulfate-modified proteins suppress autophagy-dependent cell repair,” Selleck said.

The team found that disrupting the structure and function of these heparan sulfate-modified proteins increased levels of autophagy in their respective cells. What’s more, reducing the function of these proteins also appeared to improve the function of the cell’s mitochondria (which are responsible for energy production in the cell), and reduced the build-up of fatty compounds inside the cells—both of which are early signs of other neurodegenerative diseases.

“We demonstrate that reduced autophagy, mitochondrial defects and lipid build-up—all common changes in neurodegenerative disease—can be blocked by altering one class of proteins, those with heparan sulfate modifications,” Selleck said.

“These findings suggest a promising target for future treatments that could rescue the earliest abnormalities that occur in many neurodegenerative diseases.”

Donald Trump raised $331 million in the second quarter, a fundraising haul that leaves him with more cash on hand than President Joe Biden, a development likely to intensify Democratic anxiety about the incumbent’s campaign.

That amount, raised by Trump and the Republican National Committee, surpasses the $264 million Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised in the quarter. The campaign said it now has nearly $285 million cash on hand compared to the $240 million reported by Biden — a stunning reversal in a fundraising fight that saw the president’s war chest crush his rival’s for months.

“Winning this quarter brought us a cash on hand advantage,” said top Trump campaign officials Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles in a joint statement, jabbing at a “Biden burn rate that grows while yielding no tangible results for them.”

Trump outraised Biden in the months of April and May, the first time he won the monthly money race. But the presumptive Republican nominee fell short in June, with Biden raising $127 million to his $112 million.

Trump’s cash advantage, though, deals a blow to Biden at a time when his campaign is facing intense scrutiny from fellow Democrats in the wake of a calamitous debate that has spurred calls for him to step aside and let another candidate run.

Biden’s campaign has reacted angrily to calls from party members, lawmakers and media personalities calling for him to not seek reelection. Biden at fundraisers over the weekend sought to reassure donors that he is able to beat Trump and he plans to speak with Democratic governors on Wednesday.

His campaign on Monday released their June and quarterly fundraising totals in a bid to show strength and ease donor anxiety. Officials said that Biden had enjoyed his best fundraising month yet and that the reelection team managed to build up their cash even as they made investments in paid media and staffed offices in battleground states.

Biden’s campaign said it raised $38 million in the four days starting on June 27, the day of the debate. Trump’s campaign said it raised $8 million on the day of the event, but didn’t release updated totals.

Trump, for his part, has erased Biden’s fundraising advantage by ramping up appeals to deep-pocketed donors and harnessing Republican anger over his May 30 conviction in a Manhattan trial for hiding hush-money payments. The campaign said Trump raised $52.8 million online in the 24 hours after the verdict making him the first former US president in history found guilty of a felony.

Trump’s financial situation was weaker earlier in the campaign, when his coffers were drained by legal challenges and a contested primary that drew more than a dozen challengers.

Some of the party’s biggest donors have opened their checkbooks for Trump. Crypto billionaires Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss each made donations in Bitcoin worth $844,600 to the Trump 47 Committee, which raises money for his campaign and the Republican Party. Billionaire Miriam Adelson of Las Vegas Sands and Blackstone Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman both donated to it in May.

Images captured from space show the growth of Cuba’s electronic eavesdropping stations that are believed to be linked to China, including new construction at a previously unreported site about 70 miles from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, according to a new report.

The study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, follows reporting last year by The Wall Street Journal that China and Cuba were negotiating closer defense and intelligence ties, including establishing a new joint military training facility on the island and an eavesdropping facility.

At the time, the Journal reported that Cuba and China were already jointly operating eavesdropping stations on the island, according to U.S. officials, who didn’t disclose their locations. It couldn’t be determined which, if any, of those are included in the sites covered by the CSIS report.

The concern about the stations, former officials and analysts say, is that China is using Cuba’s geographical proximity to the southeastern U.S. to scoop up sensitive electronic communications from American military bases, space-launch facilities, and military and commercial shipping.

Chinese facilities on the island “could also bolster China’s use of telecommunications networks to spy on U.S. citizens,” said Leland Lazarus, an expert on China-Latin America relations at Florida International University.

Authors of the CSIS report, after analyzing years’ worth of satellite imagery, found that Cuba has significantly upgraded and expanded its electronic spying facilities in recent years and pinpointed four sites—at Bejucal, El Salao, Wajay and Calabazar.

While some of the sites described by CSIS, such as the one at Bejucal, have previously been identified as listening posts, the satellite imagery provides new details about their capabilities, growth over the years and likely links with China.

“These are active locations with an evolving mission set,” said Matthew Funaiole, a senior follow at CSIS and the report’s chief author.

The report comes amid growing concerns about Great Power competition in the Caribbean and elsewhere in Latin America, where Washington for decades has tried to prevent rivals from gaining military and economic advantage.

China is building a megaport on Peru’s Pacific coast. Russia, meanwhile, recently sent a nuclear-powered submarine, capable of firing Kalibr cruise missiles, and a frigate to Cuba’s Havana harbor.

In its annual threat assessment released in February, the U.S. intelligence community said publicly for the first time that China is pursuing military facilities in Cuba, without providing details.

Chinese officials stress that the U.S. has a vast global network of military bases and listening posts. “The U.S. is no doubt the leading power in terms of eavesdropping and does not even spare its Allies,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, wrote in a statement. “The U.S. side has repeatedly hyped up China’s establishment of spy bases or conducting surveillance activities in Cuba.”

The report says that two of the sites near Havana—Bejucal and Calabazar—contain large dish antennas that appear designed to monitor and communicate with satellites. The report notes that while Cuba doesn’t have any satellites, the antennas would be useful for China, which does have a substantial space program.

The newest dish antenna was installed at Bejucal in January, said the report, which found that and other infrastructure upgrades at the sites over the last decade.

The most recent of the four sites, still being built and not previously known publicly, is at El Salao, outside the city of Santiago de Cuba in the eastern part of the country and not far from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo.

Construction there began in 2021, and the site appears designed to hold a large formation of antennas known as a circularly disposed antenna array, which can be used to find and intercept electronic signals, the report said.

The site, when completed, could potentially monitor communications and other electronic signals coming from the Guantanamo base, said Funaiole.

The U.S. and Russia have largely abandoned this sort of antenna array in favor of newer technologies, but China has been building them at several militarized outposts in the South China Sea, he said.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union operated its largest overseas site for electronic spying, known as signals intelligence, at Lourdes, just outside Havana. The site, which reportedly hosted hundreds of Soviet, Cuban and other Eastern-bloc intelligence officers, closed down after 2001, and its current status isn’t clear.

China has played a larger role on the island in more recent years, and according to a White House statement last year, conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019.

Ivanka Trump has opened up for the first time about her father’s court battles during a podcast episode where she also shed a tear talking about her ‘impossibly glamorous’ late mother Ivana.

During an on-camera interview with Lex Fridman, the 42-year-old spoke about the Donald Trump’s long series of legal entanglements and reveals why she decided to step away from her father’s 2024 campaign.

‘On a human level, it’s my father and I love him very much, so it’s painful to experience, but ultimately, I wish it didn’t have to be this way,’ Ivanka revealed.

Donald Trump faces charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into election interference and the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, as well as charges for mishandling classified documents in Florida.

Separately, Trump, 78, faces charges for election interference in Georgia. He has pleaded not guilty on all charges.

Later on the podcast, Ivanka also grew visibly emotional as she was asked about her mother, who died July 2022 at the age of 73.

When asked about whether she missed her, Ivanka said: ‘So much. It’s unbelievable how dislocating the loss of a parent is.

‘And her mother lives with me still, my grandmother who helped raise us, so that’s very special.

Pausing to fight back tears, she added: ‘And I can ask her some of the questions that I would’ve… Sorry. I wanted to ask my own mom, but it’s hard.’

Ivana Trump was an Olympic skier and model who was married to Donald Trump from 1977 to 1990. Her daughter described her as ‘a remarkable, remarkable woman’.

‘She was a trailblazer in so many different ways, as an athlete and growing up in communist Czechoslovakia, as a fashion mogul, as a real estate executive and builder,’ Ivanka said.

‘Just this all-around trailblazing businesswoman. I also learned from her, aside from that element, how to really enjoy life. I look back and some of my happiest memories of her are in the ocean, just lying on our back, looking up at the sun and just so in the moment or dancing.

‘She loved to dance, so she really taught me a lot about living life to its fullest. And she had so much courage, so much conviction, so much energy, and a complete comfort with who she was.’

‘I have these vignettes in my mind, seeing her in action in different capacities, a lot of times in the context of things that I would later go on to do myself,’ Ivanka added.

‘So I would go almost every day after school, and I’d go to the Plaza Hotel and I’d follow her around as she’d walk the hallways and just observe her.

‘And she was so impossibly glamorous. She was doing everything in four-and-a-half-inch heels, with this bouffant. It’s almost an inaccessible visual.’

Ivanka was a senior advisor in Trump’s administration from 2017 until 2021, but she said she’s taking a step back from politics and has not been heavily involved in his second bid for the White House.

Along with her half-sister sister Tiffany, she recently celebrated her father’s 78th birthday by sharing a series of photos in sweet tributes on Instagram.

Trump’s eldest daughter first stated publicly that she would be absent from her father’s 2024 campaign back when Donald announced his third run for the White House in 2022.

She said at the time: ‘I love my father very much. This time around, I’m choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family,’ the former White House adviser said. ‘While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.’

Fridman asked Trump to elaborate on her statement now that Donald has again clinched the Republican nomination and now may be the favorite to win in November.

‘It was a decision rooted in me being a parent, really thinking about what they need from me now. Politics is a rough business and I think it’s one that you also can’t dabble in, I think you have to be either all in or all out.’

Ivanka referenced ‘the cost’ her children would pay from her absence were she to go all in on the campaign trail, adding ‘I’m not willing to make them bear that cost.’

‘As their mom, I think it’s really important that I do what’s right for them. I think there a lot of ways you can serve, the enormity, the scale of what can be accomplished in government service, but I think there’s something equally valuable in helping in your own community.’

She said there was ‘a lot of darkness, a lot of negativity’ in politics and says it’s the opposite of ‘what feels good for me as a human being.’

Earlier on, Fridman asked Trump more about her famous father, wondering how his run for office changed her own life.

‘Nothing about our lives had been constructed with politics in mind,’ she said of when Donald first told her she was running.

‘It was an extraordinary experience, there was so much intensity and so much scrutiny and so much noise. That took, for sure, a moment to acclimate to. I’m not sure I ever fully acclimated to it.’

Ivanka cited ‘the process’ of learning the day-to-day workings of the presidency while on the job as a senior advisor as ‘the most extraordinary’ part of the Washington years.’

She also discussed the pressure to help her father, a neophyte in politics suddenly the leader of the free world.

‘My father had never spent the night in Washington DC before staying in the White House,’ she said.

‘He trusted us and our ability to execute and there wasn’t a part of me that could imagine a 70 or 80 year old version of myself that would have been ok with saying no.’

She also got personal beyond just her mother’s passing and spoke about how she challenges herself.

‘I was the child of two extraordinarily successful people and that could have been debilitating and I saw that in a lot of my friends who grew up in circumstances similar to that,’ she said.

‘They were afraid to try for fear of not measuring up and early on I learned to harness the fear of not being good enough, not being competent enough and I harnessed it to make me better.’

Ivanka was noticeably on the night her father announced his campaign launch in November of 2022. Trump called attention to the other family members in the room including wife, former First Lady Melania Trump and his middle son Eric.

Youngest son Barron, as well as Eric’s wife Lara and Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle were also front-and-center at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago ballroom announcement.

Donald Trump Jr. missed the speech due to a flight hiccup as he was returning to Florida from a hunting trip.

Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner have worked to distance themselves from the tumultuous world of politics amid Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and his various legal woes.

They relocated to Florida with children Arabella, 12, Joseph, 9, and Theodore, 8, after Trump left office in January 2021.

It was a change of pace for the 42-year-old, who was heavily involved in her father’s presidency.

She was handed a prominent role in meetings with the G20 and Kim Jong-un, for which she was met with accusations of nepotism.

However, Ivanka has no desire to return to Washington, according to those close to her and her husband.

Ivanka herself voiced her desire for a quieter life in 2022.

‘This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family,’ she said in a statement.

‘I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena.’

Kushner, meanwhile, was present at Trump’s re-election announcement. He served as Senior Advisor to his father-in-law until Trump left office.

That same year, Kushner launched his Miami-based investment firm, Affinity Partners.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that the U.S. will soon announce an additional $2.3 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, to include anti-tank weapons, interceptors and munitions for Patriot and other air defense systems.

Austin’s remarks came as Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with him at the Pentagon. And they mark a strong response to pleas from Kyiv for help in battling Russian forces in the Donetsk region.

Of that total, $150 million of the aid will come from presidential drawdown authority (PDA) and the remainder will be provided by Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). PDA allows the Pentagon to take the weapons from its stocks and send them more quickly to Ukraine; USAI puts weapons on longer-term contracts.

“Make no mistake, Ukraine is not alone, and the United States will never waver in our support,” Austin said as he opened the meeting with Umerov.

“Alongside some 50 allies and partners, we’ll continue to provide critical capabilities that Ukraine needs to push back Russian aggression today and to deter Russian aggression tomorrow.”

The announcement comes just days before the U.S. hosts the NATO summit in Washington and as Ukraine has continued to lobby for military support and acceptance into the alliance.

“We’ll take steps to build a bridge to NATO membership for Ukraine,” Austin told Umerov.

“Hopefully soon Ukraine will receive its invitation,” the Ukrainian minister responded.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia had dropped more than 800 powerful glide bombs in Ukraine in the last week alone. And he urged national leaders to relax restrictions on the use of Western weapons to strike military targets inside Russia. In particular, he said, Ukraine needs the “necessary means to destroy the carriers of these bombs, including Russian combat aircraft, wherever they are.”

Austin did not refer to the restrictions in his opening comments, but he told Umerov that they would discuss “more ways to meet Ukraine’s immediate security needs and to build a future force to ward off more Russian aggression.”

Including the latest $2.3 billion, the U.S. has committed more than $53.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Rudy Giuliani – the former New York City mayor, mob prosecutor and Donald Trump ally — lost his license to practice law in his home state Tuesday.

The state appeals court’s decision immediately disbarring Giuliani and ordering “his name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law” furthers the fall from grace for the 80-year-old once hailed as “America’s Mayor” in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.

The ruling found that Giuliani — who had his New York law license suspended in 2021 — repeatedly made false claims about the 2020 presidential election when he represented Trump and his campaign.

Giuliani “flagrantly misused” his post to make false statements “some of which were perjurious” when he “baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process,” the First Department decision reads.

He “actively contributed to the national strife that has followed the 2020 Presidential election, for which he is entirely unrepentant.”

Giuliani — who served as mayor from 1994 until 2001 and was beloved for his response to 9/11 — also faces two criminal indictments for allegedly interfering in the election. He filed for bankruptcy in December after being hit with a multi-million dollar judgement in a Georgia defamation case.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

New York’s Attorney Grievance Committee mounted 22 charges against Giuliani in February 2023, accusing him of lying or misleading “courts, lawmakers, and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection to Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020,” Tuesday’s ruling explains.

The disciplinary probe looked at 16 false statements made by Giuliani, including extraordinary claims he made under oath, like when he falsely told the Missouri state legislature in December 2020 that there were over 2,000 court affidavits attesting to first-hand knowledge of election fraud.

Giuliani also made claims that thousands of votes were cast by people who were either dead, felons, non-citizens or underage, that Camden, NJ residents were bussed to Philadelphia to vote illegally and that an imaginary truck from Bethpage smuggled ballots to Pennsylvania.

At his infamous Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference days after the election, Giuliani also claimed that a vote was cast in the name of late heavyweight champ Joe Frazier, who died nine years before the 2020 election.

Giuliani repeated parts of this statement four times months later in radio interviews, according to the court.

Investigators discovered he may have picked up the story from a 2018 blog post he found on the internet, the decision says.

The First Department said 16 of Giuliani’s lies were “deliberate.” The court also didn’t buy that Giuliani was unaware the statements were false when he made them.

Giuliani’s political advisor Ted Goodman said the decision was “politically and ideologically corrupted.”

“We will be appealing this objectively flawed decision in hopes that the appellate process will restore integrity into our system of justice,” Goodman said.

Giuliani also faces being disbarred in Washington DC, where his law license has been suspended.

He was admitted to the New York bar in 1969 and served as Manhattan US Attorney from 1983 through 1989, where he gained a reputation for successfully prosecuting mobsters.

Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to an election fraud case in Arizona and to the criminal charges in Georgia, in a case also accusing Trump of election fraud.

He also faces serious civil legal problems, including the $148 million judgment for defaming Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss by falsely claiming they carried out election fraud in 2020 in the Peach State.

Giuliani’s creditors in his bankruptcy case are asking a judge to appoint a trustee to oversee his financial affairs claiming the former mayor has been misusing his money that should be going to paying off his debts.

His lawyer recently disclosed that Giuliani is suffering from “possible” 9/11-related lung disease and says his age and health will make it hard for him to get work.

Giuliani lost his job on WABC, where he hosted a radio show, in May for continuing to spout on air that the 2020 election was “stolen,” breaking with company policy, according to station owner John Catsimatidis.

Judge Juan Merchan delayed former President Donald Trump’s sentencing to September.

Originally scheduled for July 11 — just days before the Republican National Convention — Trump’s sentencing will now take place on September 18. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office agreed Tuesday to delay Trump’s sentencing in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling finding presidents are immune from prosecution for “official acts” taken in office.

“The Court’s decision will be tendered off-calendar on September 6, 2024 and the matter is adjourned to September 18, 2024, at 10:00 AM for the imposition of sentence, if such is still necessary, or other proceedings,” Merchan wrote in the order.

Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts for falsifying business records.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday on Trump’s presidential immunity appeal in his federal Jan. 6 case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. The majority held that presidents are entitled to “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority” and “presumptive immunity” for all official acts.

Trump’s attorneys argued that the ruling means certain evidence introduced during the Manhattan trial involving “official-acts” should have “never been put before the jury.” This evidence included Trump’s tweets and public addresses, his attorneys wrote.

NEW: Justice Merchan delays Trump’s NY sentencing until September. pic.twitter.com/CRg6nnE0qN

— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) July 2, 2024

“Although we believe defendant’s arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file and his putative request to adjourn sentencing pending determination of his motion,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the judge in a filing Tuesday.

Trump’s attorneys will file their motion to set aside the verdict in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling by July 10, according to Merchan’s order. Prosecutors will file their response by July 24.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, became the first elected Democrat to call on President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, saying the president “failed” to defend his record and reassure voters that he’s the man for the job during last week’s debate.

Acknowledging Biden’s accomplishments for his party, Doggett said in a Tuesday statement that “many Americans have indicated dissatisfaction with their choices in this election.”

“President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies,” Doggett said.

“Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang,” he continued. “Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory — too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now.”

“President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024,” he added.

Amid his call for Biden to withdraw, Doggett reflected on the “painful” decision made by former President Lyndon Johnson not to seek re-election to the White House in 1968.

“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same,” the Texas lawmaker said. “While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional.”

Doggett claimed the president “has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process.”

“My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved. Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so,” he concluded.

Doggett’s remarks come less than a week after Biden’s disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election.

Speaking with a raspy voice and delivering rambling answers, Biden struggled during many portions of the debate. Several political analysts noted, however, that the president sharpened his answers as the debate progressed.

Biden’s uneven and, at times, halting performance grabbed the vast majority of headlines from the debate and sparked a new round of calls from political pundits, publications and some Democrats for the president to step aside as the party’s standard-bearer. Top Biden allies have pushed back against such talk as they defended the president and targeted Trump for “lying” throughout the debate.

Biden, on the day after his debate performance, aimed to address Democratic Party panic.

“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden, at 81 the oldest president in the nation’s history, told cheering supporters at a Friday afternoon rally in the crucial battleground state of North Carolina.

“Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden acknowledged. “But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down you get back up.”

In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Communications Director Jack Pandol said, “The cowards in the Democratic Caucus have spent every day after the debate in witness protection, too afraid to say what they’re all thinking.”

“Americans remember House Democrats were complicit in covering up and gaslighting the public about the president’s condition, and voters are primed to punish them in November,” Pandol added.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s former babysitter Eliza Cooney accused him of multiple instances of sexual assault during her employment with the Kennedy family, according to a Vanity Fair expose.

Cooney’s allegations, which occur at points through 1998 and 1999, show a few instances in which Kennedy made unwanted advances toward her.

In a November 1998 diary entry, she said, “From everything everybody says about the Kennedys + their Babysitters, they had me worried. Like I have to watch out, be careful. And the other night in the kitchen w/ Murray I could have sworn he was touching my leg + hand. It seemed like he thought I was somebody else or wasn’t paying attention. Like he would come to every once in a while and snap out of it or I would move away. It was like he was on something or really tired or was missing Mary or was testing me.”

She later said she discovered Kennedy reading her personal diary, which contained the entry. She said she stopped recording her experiences for fear he would read them. A few months later, after Cooney had taken part in a yoga class with a sports bra and leggings, “Kennedy came up behind her, blocked her inside the room, and began groping her, putting his hands on her hips and sliding them up along her rib cage and breasts.”

Kennedy was interrupted by another worker who said something to the effect of, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do” or “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your wife to know about.”

“Cooney stayed on the job for a few more months but says the experience damaged her confidence and diverted her from environmental work,” the article says. “At the end of her diary, Cooney wrote a list of things ‘to leave behind in 1999,’ with ‘bad men’ at the top.”

Cooney decided to share her story now because Kennedy is a candidate for president.

In an interview on the YouTube channel Breaking Points, Kennedy responded to the sexual assault allegations by saying, “I’m not a church boy; I am not running like that. … I had a very rambunctious youth. I said in my announcement speech that I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world.”

“Vanity Fair is recycling 30-year-old stories, and I am not gonna comment on the details of any of them but I am who I am,” Kennedy continued.

When pressed by the host of the show whether he is denying the allegation or not, Kennedy said, “I’m not gonna comment on it.”

The independent presidential candidate is also facing criticism for a picture in the story that appeared to show him eating what is reported to be a barbecued dog.

Kennedy laughed when asked about the picture, saying, “The article is a lot of garbage. The picture that they said is of me eating a dog is actually me eating a goat in Patagonia. … They said they have an expert who has identified that as a dog carcass; it’s just not true.”

Democrats quickly seized the opportunity to attack Kennedy as Democratic National Committee spokesman Matt Corridoni posted the photo of Kennedy with the animal, which Vanity Fair said it had a veterinarian examine and subsequently determine that the animal is a canine.

The photo has horrified social media users, with some comparing Kennedy to Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), who received a considerable amount of backlash for reporting that she shot her hunting dog and a goat in her newest book.

Decision Desk HQ’s running polling average has Kennedy polling nationally between about 7% and 9% since April.

The sexual assault allegation against Kennedy makes it so the three top polling presidential candidates, all men, all have at least one sexual assault accusation. Trump was found liable for the sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll, and President Joe Biden was accused by Tara Reade of assaulting her while he was a senator.

Three-quarters of US voters say the Democratic Party would have a better shot at holding the presidency in 2024 with someone other than President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. His approval rating also has hit a new low following a shaky performance in the first debate of this year’s presidential campaign.

In a matchup between the presumptive major-party nominees, voters nationwide favor former President Donald Trump over Biden by 6 points, 49% to 43%, identical to the results of CNN’s national poll on the presidential race in April, and consistent with the lead Trump has held in CNN polling back to last fall.

There are some signs in the poll that each candidate has consolidated support among their own partisans in recent months, a period that has seen both Trump’s conviction on felony charges in a New York court and the first general election debate of the contest, though independents appear increasingly reluctant to support either man.

The poll also finds Vice President Kamala Harris within striking distance of Trump in a hypothetical matchup: 47% of registered voters support Trump, 45% Harris, a result within the margin of error that suggests there is no clear leader under such a scenario. Harris’ slightly stronger showing against Trump rests at least in part on broader support from women (50% of female voters back Harris over Trump vs. 44% for Biden against Trump) and independents (43% Harris vs. 34% Biden).

Several other Democrats have been mentioned as potential Biden replacements in recent days, and each trails Trump among registered voters, with their levels of support similar to Biden’s, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom (48% Trump to 43% Newsom), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (47% Trump to 43% Buttigieg), and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (47% Trump to 42% Whitmer).

Biden’s campaign has insisted he will not drop out of the race, and while some Democratic insiders have privately discussed the possibility of replacing him as the nominee, any path forward would be both logistically difficult and politically risky.

Biden’s support among Democratic voters has inched up to 91% from 85% in April, while 93% of Republicans back Trump (about even since April). Trump maintains a roughly 10-point advantage among independents (44% to 34% in the new poll), while the share of independents who choose neither candidate or say they do not plan to vote has climbed from 15% to 21%.

Both Biden and Trump supporters have grown likelier to say their choice is an affirmative vote of support rather than one against the opposing party’s candidate, but the election continues to be driven more by feelings about Trump than about Biden. Two-thirds (66%) of Trump backers say they’re voting mainly for him rather than against Biden (up from 60% in January) while 37% of Biden’s supporters say their vote is more for the president than against his predecessor (up from 32% earlier this year).

However, most Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters (56%) say the party has a better shot at the presidency with someone other than Biden, while 43% say the party stands a better chance with him. Democratic confidence in Biden’s chances has not increased since he locked up the party’s nomination in the primaries: In January, 53% felt the party would have a better shot with someone other than Biden at the top of the ticket and 46% felt more confident with Biden.

At the same time, Republican-aligned voters have grown considerably more positive about their chances to win with Trump than without him: 83% now say that the GOP has a better shot to win with Trump, compared with 72% who felt that way in January.

Biden’s approval rating in the poll has fallen to a new low among all Americans (36%), with 45% now saying they strongly disapprove of his performance, a new high in CNN’s polling.

Among the full US public, Biden’s favorability rating stands at just 34%, with 58% viewing him unfavorably. And while many of the Democratic names bandied about as possible replacements for Biden are less widely disliked, none would start with more public goodwill – instead, they are less well known. Harris has the widest recognition – and is also deeply underwater, with a 29% favorability rating, 49% rating her unfavorably, and 22% saying they have no opinion or haven’t heard of her. Roughly half of the public has no opinion on Buttigieg (50%) and Newsom (48%), with about two-thirds (69%) offering no opinion of Whitmer.

The events of the past several months have done little to shift Trump’s image either way. Since April, Trump has been found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records at his New York hush money trial and had a debate performance widely viewed as a win (76% of voters who watched or followed news about it say he did the better job in last week’s debate, while only 23% say Biden did). But his favorability rating remains deeply negative: 39% have a favorable view of Trump and 54% an unfavorable one, about the same as it has been since last fall. The pool of double-hater voters – those with unfavorable views of both Biden and Trump – remains about the same: 18% fall into that category, and they break in Trump’s favor, 41% to 31%.

And a generic congressional matchup in the poll suggests a near-even contest for the House of Representatives: 47% of registered voters nationwide would choose the Republican candidate in their district, 45% the Democrat.

Perceptions of Biden and Trump post-debate

About 9 in 10 registered voters in the poll (91%) say there are important differences between Trump and Biden, and when asked to name those key differences, voters most frequently mention honesty, ability to handle the job and service to the country above self as distinguishing factors. Among Biden’s backers, 31% say the most important difference is around honesty and integrity, while the top response among Trump’s supporters is fitness for the job (24% say that).

The poll also reveals how voters see the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate.

Voters appear to have significant questions about Biden’s handling of key issues and his physical and mental abilities. They trust Trump over Biden on two of the three issues they consider most important to their choice for president (Trump leads on the economy and immigration by roughly 20 points, with Biden holding a slight 5-point edge on protecting democracy). When asked about whether certain attributes were reasons to vote for or against each candidate, 72% of voters say Biden’s physical and mental abilities are a reason to vote against him rather than for him. For Trump, views are narrowly positive: 43% see his physical and mental abilities as a plus and 39% as a minus.

Beyond Trump’s advantages on the economy and immigration, the former president is more trusted than Biden on foreign policy (46% to 36%) and handling the role of commander in chief (43% Trump to 35% Biden).

Biden’s strengths are on abortion and reproductive rights (44% trust Biden, 32% Trump) and health care (44% Biden to 34% Trump). A plurality say they trust neither Biden nor Trump to unite the country (39% feel that way), while 31% say they trust Biden more to do so and 30% Trump.

Biden’s demeanor and temperament – a strong point for him in the 2020 presidential election – is a net neutral for him, though a clear negative for Trump (41% see it as a reason to vote against Biden and 39% a reason to vote for him, compared with 57% describing demeanor and temperament as a reason to vote against Trump).

Convincing movable voters

The president’s central challenge in his reelection bid remains winning over skeptical and persuadable voters, and the poll suggests neither Biden nor Trump have won them over yet.

Among all registered voters, 31% either say they could change their minds between now and Election Day or do not support a specific candidate. The almost 7 in 10 voters who have made up their minds break heavily for Trump – 53% to 45%. In order to overtake Trump, Biden would have to bring a significant share of these movable voters to his side, though they currently split 39% for Trump to 37% for Biden in a two-way matchup; 8% say they’d back someone else and 14% that they don’t plan to vote.

These persuadable voters are more likely to dislike both Trump and Biden (38% have an unfavorable view of both candidates, compared with 9% among voters who have made a choice), and are less likely to see important differences between Biden and Trump (18% say they are pretty much the same, compared with 5% of those who have made a choice).

These voters are also more likely to support an alternative Democrat against Trump than they are to choose Biden. In hypothetical matchups, they break 47% for Harris to 34% for Trump, 42% for Newsom to 36% for Trump, and 42% for Buttigieg to 35% for Trump.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS from June 28-30 among a random national sample of 1,274 adults drawn from a probability-based panel, including 1,045 registered voters. Surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. Results among the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. For results among registered voters, it is plus or minus 3.7 points.

A Dane County Circuit Court judge who once said people who steal from big-box stores shouldn’t be prosecuted ruled that disabled Wisconsin voters can request and download electronic ballots, a change that could cause election-administration problems in the battleground state this November.

Judge Everett Mitchell, who also serves as a pastor in Madison and ran for state Supreme Court last year — losing in a four-way primary — issued a temporary injunction last week covering the Nov. 5 election, effectively modifying a portion of the election-administration landscape in a state that struggled with absentee-ballot tabulation in the last presidential election.

Voters with print disabilities who self-certify they cannot read or complete a ballot without assistance can request electronic ballots from their election clerks, which they can complete with the use of assistive technology and mail back, thanks to the injunction.

The ruling leaves clerks in almost 2,000 municipalities with little time to make the adjustment.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul’s deputy attorneys argued that the change in law could cause confusion and create security risks.

Wisconsin’s election administration is somewhat decentralized, with 72 county clerks and more than 1,800 municipal clerks responsible.

Current state law allows military and overseas voters to request absentee ballots and mail the paper ballots back.

Before the injunction, disabled voters would have used the same process as any absentee voter: request an absentee ballot from a local election clerk, receive and complete the paper ballot sent via mail, and drop off the ballot at the clerk’s office or mail it back.

Republican state legislators filed an appeal in conservative Waukesha County, arguing, among other things, Judge Mitchell is disrupting the status quo months before a major election.

Unless or until the appeal is upheld, clerks will be scrambling to adjust to the new absentee-ballot law in Wisconsin, with the specter of the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump’s Wisconsin lawsuit hanging in the background.

HBO host Bill Maher called on President Joe Biden to bow out of the election after his debate debacle — and backed California Gov. Gavin Newsom to run against Donald Trump.

The “Real Time with Bill Maher” host compared the choice between Trump and Biden to the episode of “Happy Days” in which the Fonz jumps over a shark while water-skiing in his signature leather jacket – the pop-culture inspiration for the phrase “jumping the shark,” or running out of fresh material and turning to crazy ideas.

“If our presidential politics were a TV show, it would be a series past its prime in desperate need of new characters,” Maher wrote in a New York Times guest essay published Monday.

The op-ed comes after the 81-year-old Biden appeared to freeze at times while struggling to answer questions from CNN moderators during last Thursday’s debate.

The disastrous performance led to hand-wringing from many top Democrats and also led the left-leaning Times to run an editorial calling on Biden to drop out of the race.

“There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr. Trump’s deficiencies and those of Mr. Biden,” the Times’ editorial board said. “It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.”

Maher said when it comes to Biden’s age, he “can’t ignore the obvious; none of us can.”

He argued that Biden’s stumbling effort was not a “tragedy,” but “a blessing in disguise,” as it gives him the opportunity to drop out of the race and the Democratic Party the chance to introduce a fresh face.

Maher called on the Democratic Party to hold an open convention – a move that he said might spark excitement across Dem voters and give the party a better chance of securing the presidency.

“Democrats could not buy, with all of George Soros’s money, the enthusiasm, engagement and interest they would get from having an open convention,” Maher said, referring to the liberal billionaire who is a frequent supporter of progressive lawmakers.

Maher said his pick to replace Biden on the ticket is Newsom, since he presents a stark contrast to the incumbent:

“He is forceful, is never at a loss for words or stats, never stumbles, is never intimidated. He’s unbullyable, and that’s important against Mr. Trump,” the political satirist said.

If Newsom made it on the ticket, then current Vice President Kamala Harris would either be booted from the ticket or forced to change her residence to allow California’s 54 electors to vote for both its candidates for president and vice president, Maher said.

Harris shares similarly poor ratings to Biden. She has a 52% unfavorable rating, according to a Politico poll from June.

Maher said Biden not stepping aside has become “an act of supreme selfishness.”

He pointed to Barack Obama’s presidential run in 2007 as a successful example, when the “new kid on the block” persona helped catapult him to the White House.

Republican Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz was charged with a weapons violation Friday at Virginia’s Washington Dulles International Airport, a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) spokesperson told NBC News.

The MWAA spokesperson told the outlet Spartz had been charged under Virginian law that prohibits the possession or transportation of any dangerous weapons “into any air carrier airport terminal.”

Crystal L. Nosal, a spokesperson for the MWAA, confirmed the weapons violations charge to the Daily Caller and wrote that Congresswoman was charged under “18.2-287.01 of the Virginia code.” Violation of the statute is a misdemeanor.

A Transportation Security Agency (TSA) spokesperson told Axios that their officers found an unloaded “.380 caliber firearm” during screening in a carry-on bag.

A spokesperson for Spartz told NBC News that the citation was given prior to her international flight for a gathering by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Romania.

“Last Friday, Rep. Spartz accidentally carried an empty handgun in her suitcase with no magazine or bullets, which she did not realize was in the pocket of her suitcase, while going through security at Dulles airport,” the spokesperson alleged to the outlet.

Rep. Spartz, first elected to Congress in 2020, is currently seeking re-election to a third term in the office.

Spartz is the first and so far only Ukrainian-born citizen to serve in Congress, according to WISH-TV.

The TSA can issue a fine as high as $15,000 and revoke PreCheck eligibility for as much as five years for such a violation, Axios reported.

Typically one “can very likely reduce the total amount of the civil penalty” for such a charge, Robert Herron Law, P.C. wrote on their website.

The United States was eliminated from the Copa America with a 1-0 loss to Uruguay on Mathías Olivera’s questionable second-half goal Monday night, a defeat that will increase pressure on the U.S. Soccer Federation to remove coach Gregg Berhalter before the 2026 World Cup.

Uruguay scored in the 66th minute when Nicolas De La Cruz swung a free kick in front of the U.S. goal. Matt Turner parried a header by Ronald Araújo, who out-jumped defender Tim Ream, but the rebound went right to Olivera and he tapped the ball in with his left foot.

Olivera appeared to be offside on the initial header, but the goal stood after a video review.

Using a lineup of players entirely from European clubs, Berhalter and the U.S. hoped to show the team had advanced since its round-of-16 elimination against the Netherlands at the 2026 World Cup. Instead, the U.S. opened with a 2-0 win over lowly Bolivia before being upset 2-1 by Panama.

Three minutes before Uruguay scored, the U.S. was in position to advance when Bruno Miranda tied the score for Bolivia against Panama in a game that started simultaneously in Orlando, Florida. But Panama went on to earn a 3-1 victory and claimed the second spot in Group C behind Uruguay.

Berhalter was rehired in June 2023 and given a contract through the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. will co-host with Canada and Mexico. But despite a lineup that included Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams, the U.S. failed to even match its last Copa America appearance, when it lost to Argentina in the 2016 quarterfinals.

The U.S. next plays September friendlies against Canada and New Zealand.

Uruguay played without coach Marcelo Bielsa, suspended for sending his team out late for the second half of its first two games. Diego Reyes and Pablo Quiroga were in charge on a mild but humid night in Kansas City.

Berhalter and the Americans knew their situation was dire — Pulisic at one point said they would need to play “the best game of our lives” to advance — and they looked like a team with nothing to lose for most of the first half.

It was one marked by physical play and questionable calls.

Folarin Balogun, who had two goals already in the tournament, bore the brunt of several challenges. He was left calling for help after a collision with Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet, then was left rolling on the field after Araújo’s challenge later in the half. Balogun eventually had to leave with a hip pointer and Ricardo Pepi took his place.

Uruguay lost Maximiliano Araújo earlier in the half after a scary collision with Ream near the U.S. goal. He had to be taken off the field on a stretcher, though he was able to move his arms before heading up the tunnel.

In the middle of the chaos was 32-year-old Peruvian referee Kevin Ortega, who made several questionable calls that hurt the U.S.

The first came when Ortega began to pull a yellow card and stop play, then allowed it to continue — while still holding the card — as Uruguay nearly scored on an attack. The second came when the U.S. had a clear advantage after a hand ball by Uruguay, but the Peruvian referee blew his whistle and called the play back for a free kick.

Uruguay started to apply more pressure midway through the second half, then had the Americans in desperation mode after Olivera found the back of the net. And while the U.S. had a few good runs, and a couple of good opportunities in the box, a team that had such big expectations was unable to find the two goals it needed — or even one.

A Palm Beach County prosecutor painted two girls molested by Jeffrey Epstein as prostitutes, drug addicts, thieves and liars in front of a grand jury empaneled in 2006 to review the state’s criminal case against sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, newly released court documents show.

Palm Beach County Judge Luis Delgado unsealed the controversial grand jury records on Monday after years of legal action by the Palm Beach Post and other media, including the Miami Herald, CNN and the New York Times. Grand jury records are normally kept under seal to protect witnesses as well as the integrity of the case. But in the years since the Epstein case was closed in 2008, the Miami Herald uncovered evidence suggesting that Epstein and his battery of high-priced attorneys may have exerted undue influence over the state attorney.

The records have remained under seal for 16 years. Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, prodded by state lawmakers and Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Joe Abruzzo, signed a bill to release the files by July 1. The new bill provides for the records to be unsealed if the subject of a grand jury inquiry is dead or the investigation involves sexual activity with a minor.

DeSantis noted that making the records public might explain how the wealthy Epstein managed to “engineer an outcome that the average citizen would likely never have been able” to accomplish.

The records contain nearly 200 pages, including the testimony of two girls who were molested by Epstein, the New York financier who abused hundreds of underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion between 1996 and 2008. Epstein managed to escape serious charges, in part because the Palm Beach prosecutor at the time, Barry Krischer, elected to charge him with minor prostitution and solicitation rather than bringing a felony sexual assault case.

The Herald reported in 2018 that both Krischer and the lead prosecutor in the case, Lanna Belohlavek, told Palm Beach police that they didn’t intend to prosecute Epstein because they believed the girls were prostitutes and a jury would never believe them. But Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter and the lead detective, Joe Recarey, both protested the decision, noting that there were multiple victims, some as young as 14, who were lured to his home under false pretenses. Reiter and Recarey went over Krischer’s head and took the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, arguing that Epstein, who was in his 50s, was a serial sex predator who wouldn’t stop until he was put in prison.

“There was no reason to take this case to a grand jury in the first place,” said Spencer Kuvin, the attorney representing one of the girls who testified before the grand jury. “They had evidence of numerous victims to show that he was a serial sex predator. The only reason they gave it to the grand jury was to taint their own case and have an excuse not to prosecute.”

The grand jury and the girls

The actual audio recordings of the daylong proceeding were not released to the public Monday. The Herald requested the recordings, but was told that they were not available. The transcripts also seem to be missing key elements that would normally be part of a grand jury proceeding. For example, there is no record that Belohlavek introduced herself to the panel, explained what the case was about or told the jury what they were supposed to do. There’s no closing statement summarizing the case or any documentation of what the grand jury ultimately decided.

What is clear is that Belohlavek painted an unsympathetic portrait of the two girls, both of whom came from broken families. One of the girls and her sister had been passed back and forth between parents and were taken to a school for troubled juveniles. The girl ran away several times before meeting a group of older kids, one of whom brought her to Epstein’s mansion.

She described for the jury how she was ushered into a large bedroom and instructed to strip down to her underwear. Alone in the room with Epstein, and confused about what was happening, she reluctantly complied. After he molested her, he gave her $200.

In front of the jury, Belohlavek asked the girl: “You’re aware that you committed a crime?”

“Now I am. I didn’t know it was a crime when I was doing it,” said the girl, who was 14 at the time. “Like, I — I don’t know. I guess it was prostitution or something like that.”

Belohlavek also asked the girls questions about their parents, and allowed members of the jury to make statements to the victims.

“Did you have any idea that deep inside of you that you — what you’re doing is wrong?” asked one juror.

“Yea, I did,” the girl replied.

“Oh do you?” the juror said, pointing out that the girl should have known better.

Asked another juror “Did it ever occur to you that he could have hacked you up?”

“Yes,” she stammered. “I thought about it a lot.”

Said the juror: “[You] should give it a little further thought.”

David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, was astonished at the way the case was presented to the jury. He pointed out that the girls were under the age of consent, yet they were the ones treated like criminals.

“How is that not statutory rape?” he said of Epstein’s crime. “I can see how people think that a wealthy powerful man got away with abusing all these girls.”

Recarey, the lead investigator on the case, testified in detail at the proceeding about how Epstein and his assistants would recruit girls from local high schools, telling them initially that they were being hired to give him massages. While they were instructed to lie about their ages, many of them told Epstein their real ages and spoke to them about high school.

Recarey, who passed away in 2018, told the Herald in an interview prior to his death that he was frustrated by the state attorney’s handling of the case, claiming that Krischer and Belohlavek went to great lengths to discredit the girls — and failed to present to the jury the corroborating evidence that backed up the girls’ stories, including phone records.

Neither Krischer nor Belohlavek has ever commented on the case. The Herald was unsuccessful in reaching them on Monday. Both have since retired.

The years that followed

Epstein’s case came under fresh scrutiny in 2018, following an investigation by the Herald into the secret negotiations that led Alex Acosta, the federal prosecutor who later oversaw a federal probe into the case, to approve a light jail sentence for Epstein.

Epstein would serve just 13 months in the Palm Beach County jail, where he was given liberal privileges to work in his outside office and at his Palm Beach mansion. After his release from jail, he continued to assault and abuse women at his homes in New York, New Mexico, Paris and on his isolated island off the coast of St. Thomas.

Epstein befriended a host of famous and powerful people, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, Nobel-Prize winners, actresses, actors, hedge fund moguls and bankers. Some of his victims allege that he and some of his friends had sex parties with girls on his private island.

The Herald’s series led the FBI and US Attorney in New York to take another look at the case. He was re-arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and jailed in Manhattan pending trial. He was found dead in his cell a month after his arrest. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging. He was 66.

His accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, was subsequently charged in the case and convicted of sex trafficking charges in 2021. Maxwell, a British socialite who had a long relationship with Epstein, was accused of helping him recruit girls. She is appealing her sentence.

Kuvin, who came to represent nine Epstein victims, wasn’t surprised by how the jurors shamed his 14-year-old client.

“Think about this in the time frame this was happening,” he said. “That was the mindset back then. This is pre ‘Me Too’ movement. We have a come a long way as a society because of cases like this. We have matured as a society and hopefully look at this differently than we did back then.”

President Joe Biden made his first major appearance since his panic-inspiring debate performance Monday to give brief remarks on the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision that was released earlier in the day.

Biden spoke for five minutes, from a teleprompter, on the court finding that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts” taken in office. After Biden criticized the decision, calling it a “dangerous precedent,” he quickly left without taking a single question as reporters shouted inquiries his way.

“Mr. President, will you drop out of the race?” one reporter can be heard shouting. Another seemingly asked how he can assure Democrats that he is the best man to defeat former President Donald Trump.

“There are no kings in America. Each, each of us is equal before the law,” Biden said. “No one, no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States.”

“With today’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed, for all, for all practical purposes, today’s decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what the president can do,” he continued. “This is a fundamentally new principle, and it’s a dangerous precedent, because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the Supreme Court of the United States — the only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone.”

Biden’s Monday speech was his first major appearance since scores of Democrats began calling for him to drop out of the presidential race. The calls began just thirty minutes after Biden took the debate stage last Thursday night and began stumbling over answers and sounding confused.

Biden malfunctions, Jake Tapper saves him pic.twitter.com/oUkv5vqKeR

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 28, 2024

As the Biden campaign did damage control, the president appeared at campaign events over the weekend and briefly addressed his debate performance to donors.

“I know I’m not a young man. I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know — I know how to tell the truth,” Biden said at a North Carolina rally on Friday.

The president later admitted at a Saturday rally that he knew it wasn’t his best debate and understood the “concern.”

Biden and his family gathered at Camp David over the weekend to reportedly discuss his presidential bid. After the weekend, “the entire family is united” and the president’s son, Hunter Biden, is pushing the hardest for his dad to stay in the race, sources close to the situation told the New York Times.

“I know I will respect the limits of the presidential powers I have for three and a half years, but any president including Donald Trump, will now be free to ignore the law. I concur with Justice Sotomayor’s dissent today. Here’s what she said: she said ‘in every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law. With fear for our democracy, I dissent.’ End of quote. So should the American people dissent — I dissent,” Biden concluded.

BIDEN: “I know I will respect the limits of the presidential power as I have for 3.5 years.”

ALSO BIDEN: “The Supreme Court blocked it (student loan scheme) but that didn’t stop me.”

If he’s breathing he’s lying. pic.twitter.com/zJv7LW9ny1

— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) July 2, 2024

Critics rushed to point out that Biden himself usurped the Supreme Court by erasing billions of dollars in student loan debt during his term despite the court ruling that he lacked the power to do so.

“The Supreme Court blocked it, but that didn’t stop me,” he once said of his loan forgiveness plans.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., threatened to bring articles of impeachment against the Supreme Court after Monday’s immunity ruling regarding former President Trump.

“The Supreme Court has become consumed by a corruption crisis beyond its control,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X.

“Today’s ruling represents an assault on American democracy. It is up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture. I intend on filing articles of impeachment upon our return.”

The ruling in question said a president has absolute immunity from prosecution for “actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,” and “presumptive immunity” for official acts in general. The court said there is no immunity for unofficial acts.

Ocasio-Cortez was not the only congressional Democrat to blast the Supreme Court’s ruling.

In a statement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., vowed that “House Democrats will engage in aggressive oversight and legislative activity with respect to the Supreme Court to ensure that the extreme, far-right justices in the majority are brought into compliance with the Constitution.”

“Today’s Supreme Court decision to grant legal immunity to a former President for crimes committed using his official power sets a dangerous precedent for the future of our nation,” Jeffries said.

“This is a sad day for America and a sad day for our democracy,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on X.

“The very basis of our judicial system is that no one is above the law. Treason or incitement of an insurrection should not be considered a core constitutional power afforded to a president.”

The court’s ruling did not say whether any of Trump’s alleged actions fell under his constitutional powers, leaving such matters to be sorted out by a lower court.