Biden Campaign Co-Chair Insists President’s Cognitive Capabilities “As Good as Ever”

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In the wake of President Joe Biden’s heavily scrutinized debate performance, Biden Campaign Co-Chair Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) appeared on CNN’s “Situation Room” to defend the president’s mental capabilities. Despite being pressed by host Wolf Blitzer, Coons dodged a direct answer about whether Biden’s debate performance reflects his daily cognitive state, instead maintaining that Biden remains “sharp and engaged.”

During the interview, Blitzer referenced Vice President Kamala Harris’s own evasive responses when questioned about Biden’s debate performance. “Senator, you mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris, she repeatedly, last night, dodged Anderson Cooper’s questions about whether the Biden we saw in the debate is who he is every day. What’s your answer to that? Because you know him well,” Blitzer asked.

Coons sidestepped the question, choosing instead to extol Biden’s general abilities. “I do. And I was just in Europe for a few days where the G7 Summit was held in Italy. Leaders from across Europe who’ve met with him and worked with him, say the same thing that I’ll tell you from working with him and meeting with him, he is sharp and engaged, his cognitive capabilities are as good as ever,” Coons responded.

Despite Coons’s defense, the president’s debate performance has intensified concerns about his cognitive health. Biden’s raspy voice, frequent pauses, and difficulty completing sentences have left many questioning his mental acuity. Polls reflect these worries: a CBS News/YouGov poll found that only 26% of voters believe Biden has the “mental and cognitive health” to serve a second term, and a WSJ poll showed that just 36% of registered voters think Biden is “mentally up for the job.”

Coons’s insistence on Biden’s sharpness comes after two Biden aides attributed his debate struggles to a cold, an excuse not mentioned before the debate. This strategy of deflection, combined with Harris’s and Coons’s evasions, only fuels skepticism about Biden’s fitness for office. Coons’s mention of Biden’s “shuffle” and “softly” spoken nature does little to alleviate these concerns.

Coons attempted to bolster his argument by praising Biden’s leadership and decision-making abilities. “His abilities for leadership, for surrounding himself with outstanding people, and making the right choice for the American people, that is undimmed. And, frankly, his record is one of the strongest of any president in my lifetime,” he claimed. However, this praise contrasts sharply with the visible struggles Biden displayed during the debate.

Bill Clinton Defends Biden After Disastrous Debate Performance

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Former President Bill Clinton defended President Joe Biden after his performance at the presidential debate on Thursday night against former President Donald Trump.

In a post on X, Clinton highlighted how Biden had “given us 3 years of solid leadership,” and created a “record number of new jobs,” and was “making real progress solving the climate crisis,” among other things.

“I’ll leave the debate rating to the pundits, but here’s what I know: fact and history matter,” Clinton wrote. “Joe Biden has given us 3 years of solid leadership, steadying us after the pandemic, creating a record number of new jobs, making real progress solving the climate crisis, and launching a successful effort in reducing inflation, all while pulling us out of the quagmire Donald Trump left us in. That’s what’s really at stake in November.”

Clinton’s words come after former President Barack Obama also came to Biden’s defense, noting that “bad debate nights happen.” (Read more from “Bill Clinton Defends Biden After Disastrous Debate Performance” HERE)

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Supreme Court Rejects Purdue Pharma’s $6 Billion Opioid Settlement

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The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Purdue Pharma’s proposed $6 billion bankruptcy settlement. A 5-4 majority opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch sided with the Biden administration‘s argument that Purdue’s settlement is an abuse of bankruptcy protections meant for debtors in financial distress, not for the owners of the multibillion-dollar opioid company, the Sackler family, who withdrew $11 billion from Purdue before agreeing to contribute $6 billion to its opioid settlement.

The Sackler family’s plan to settle lawsuits and transform Purdue Pharma into a nonprofit organization dedicated to addiction treatment was initially approved by a bankruptcy judge in 2011. The U.S. Trustee Program, a Justice Department watchdog, intervened and claimed settlement terms required unanimous consent by the roughly 60,000 people who have filed personal injury claims, despite the plan’s approval by over 95% of the voting claimants.

After years of litigation, the Supreme Court in August temporarily barred the pharmaceutical from moving forward with bankruptcy proceedings and agreed to hear Biden administration’s challenge to the plan on the merits.

Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

The Sackler family’s plan to settle lawsuits and transform Purdue Pharma into a nonprofit organization dedicated to addiction treatment was initially approved by a bankruptcy judge in 2011. (Read more from “Supreme Court Rejects Purdue Pharma’s $6 Billion Opioid Settlement” HERE)

Supreme Court Blows Up DOJ’s Biggest Charges Against Donald Trump

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The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the government cannot prosecute January 6 defendants under 1512(c)(2), the “Enron” statute, for generally obstructing “an official proceeding” unless they interfered with objects or documents.

The bombshell decision could result in hundreds of convictions against non-violent January 6 defendants being overturned — and could result in at least some charges being dropped against President Donald Trump as well.

1512(c)(2) was passed after the Enron scandal, when it was discovered that federal law had a loophole: it was illegal to instruct others to destroy evidence, but not illegal to destroy evidence oneself. Consequently, Congress passed a law prohibiting tampering with witnesses or evidence that is to be used in an “official proceeding.” The Department of Justice used that law to prosecute participants in the Capitol riot based on the idea that they had “obstructed” an official proceeding — i.e. the certification of the Electoral College vote in the 2020 presidential election. But critics said that 1512(c)(2) had never been intended to apply to protests or other First Amendment-connected activities.

In a 6-3 decision, with the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court overruled the (heavily anti-Trump) D.C. Circuit and said that 1512(c)(2) could not be used as broadly as the Department of Justice had done.

“To prove a violation of Section 1512(c)(2), the Government must establish that the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records, documents, objects, or as we earlier explained, other things used in the proceeding, or attempted to do so,” Roberts wrote. The term “otherwise” — as in “otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding” — could not be used so broadly as to include trespassing. (Read more from “Supreme Court Blows Up DOJ’s Biggest Charges Against Donald Trump” HERE)

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Reporters Say Biden Campaign Staff Tried to Stop Them From Interviewing Critical Voters

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Reporters claimed Friday that President Joe Biden’s campaign staffers tried to halt their interviews with voters once they started to turn critical of the president following a rough debate showing.

Biden faced off against former President Donald Trump in a rather unprecedented debate format, as the two appeared in the CNN studio on Thursday with no live audience and mics with the ability to be cut off on Friday. Panic set in among Democrats all but 30 minutes into the debate, as the president stumbled through answers, even once appearing to freeze before moderator Jake Tapper bailed him out. The panic became so full-fledged that Democrats even began to call on the president to bow out of the 2024 presidential race.

In the aftermath of the first presidential debate, several reporters claimed that while at campaign events with voters on Friday, Biden campaign staffers tried to cut off the conversation as they moved in a negative direction.

“As I spoke to voters at a Las Vegas rally for Vice President Harris, a Nevada Biden campaign staffer followed me and twice asked that voters end their interviews when their comments turned critical of President Biden,” Simon Levien, a New York Times reporter, wrote.

“You can’t tell me that there’s not anyone better —” a voter told Levien, expressing the desire for a different Democratic presidential candidate.

(Read more from “Reporters Say Biden Campaign Staff Tried to Stop Them From Interviewing Critical Voters” HERE)

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KJP Attempts to Clean Up Biden’s Remarks About U.S. Troops During Debate When Pressed by Reporter

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to clean up President Joe Biden’s false statement that no U.S. troops died under his watch.

Biden falsely said he is the first president in the past decade to not witness American troops’ deaths overseas, though thirteen service members died during the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 26, 2021.

“Three U.S. troops that died in Jordan this year and more in Afghanistan in 2021. How can the president say none have died during his administration?” a reporter asked during Friday’s press gaggle.

“So, uh, look, um — obviously the president, as you know, is the Commander-in-Chief and you hear him even when he ends all of these remarks, he talks about respecting our troops who are serving today. And he will always do that and continues to do that. And he obviously had his son was — was obviously served as well. So this is something that he respects. And so, look, I don’t think that’ll ever change. Obviously, our hearts and our thoughts go out to the families who are clearly still suffering and thinking about their loved ones. So we’ll continue to do that and I would refer you to the campaign about specifics about fact-checking and all of those pieces. But I can speak to a president that has been incredibly respectful of the military and what they do for us day in and day out and how they continue to serve our country.”

“Well, I understand that was said during the debate, so you can refer to the campaign. But he’s the president. These weren’t off the cuff remarks, they felt prepared. And it was clearly a mistake. Does he not consider these to be?” the reporter pressed.

(Read more from “KJP Attempts to Clean Up Biden’s Remarks About U.S. Troops During Debate When Pressed by Reporter” HERE)

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SCOTUS Hands Down Huge Decision Affecting J6 Defendants

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The Supreme Court has taken a judicial katana to a statute that federal prosecutors weaponized to go after those who participated in the January 6 incident. The question before the court was whether the “obstruction of an official proceeding” statute could be used in how the Justice Department weaponized it to go after hundreds of January 6 defendants. As SCOTUS Blog covered in April, the plaintiff, Joseph Fischer, a former police officer, argued that the statute only pertained to evidence tampering in a congressional investigation. During oral arguments, justices weren’t convinced by the government’s interpretation, arguing that it could cast too much of a net.

In a 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court handed down a massive blow to federal prosecutors, concluding, per SCOTUS Blog’s Amy Howe, that for the statute to be used in this way, there must be evidence to the fact that “the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records.” In a blow to the narrative that the Supreme Court is rogue and right-wing, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the majority. Justice Amy Coney Barrett dissented (via SCOTUS Blog):

The court holds that to prove a violation of the law, the government must show that the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records, documents, objects, or other things used in an official proceeding, or attempted to do so.

The court reverses the D.C. Circuit, which had adopted a broader reading of the law to allow the charges against Fischer to go forward. The case now goes back to the D.C. Circuit — which, the court says, can assess whether the indictment can still stand in light of this new and narrower interpretation.

Justice Jackson, who joined the majority opinion, also has a concurring opinion. She stresses that despite “the shocking circumstances involved in this case,” the “Court’s task is to determine what conduct is proscribed by the criminal statute that has been invoked as the basis for the obstruction charge at issue here.”

(Read more from “SCOTUS Hands Down Huge Decision Affecting J6 Defendants” HERE)

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Biden Just Put on the Most Disastrous Debate Performance in Presidential History

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Sure, it might sound like hyperbole, but I can’t think of a more devastating presidential debate performance than the one Joe Biden had in his first meeting with Donald Trump. Indeed, even with abnormally low expectations, Biden tripped over them as if they were sandbags. After watching post-debate reaction, it’s safe to say no presidential debate has ever rattled a political party quite like this one.

The scratchy and frail voice. The speedy mumbling — it was like watching a TV at 2x speed. The overall incoherence. The confused and angry stares. The jumbling of thoughts —“I was recently in, in, in, um, France for D-Day, and I spoke to — all about those heroes that died …” and so on — was relentless. It was difficult to watch.

Recall that Biden’s team, down in the polls, pushed for this debate. Remember that video the president cut mocking and challenging Trump to face him? The Biden team reportedly fought for the strict rules implemented by CNN. Then the president took an entire week off from his job just to prepare for the contest. Letting him debate was political malpractice. Letting him run for the presidency is a dereliction of basic decency.

You remember all that solemn talk about 25th Amendment during Trump’s presidency? Where are these patriots now?

Incidentally, CNN’s debate format was — whether the former president liked it or not — good for Trump. It reined in many of his worst inclinations, while leaving Biden to wander off into verbal dead ends. And though CNN’s Jake Tapper tried to save Biden once or twice, it’s fair to say, on balance, the questions weren’t terrible. (Read more from “Biden Just Put on the Most Disastrous Debate Performance in Presidential History” HERE)

MUST WATCH: Tucker Carlson Utterly Destroys Australian Mainstream Media

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Tucker Carlson asked how the media could have “people this stupid” after he tore into a reporter’s “absurd” and “disingenuous” questions at a speaking event on Tuesday in Canberra, Australia.

Australian Associated Press reporter Kat Wong questioned Carlson about his immigration views and said that he has “talked” about the “Great Replacement Theory” on his show regarding how “white Australians, Americans, and Europeans” are being replaced by “nonwhite immigrants.”

“Whites are being replaced? I don’t think I said that,” Carlson pushed back.

“Well, it’s been mentioned on your show 4,000 times,” she said. . .

“I’m pretty sure I haven’t said that. I said native-born Americans are being replaced, including blacks, native-born Americans,” the former Fox News host said. “Americans who, like black Americans, have been in the United States for many decades, their families over 400 years. Their concerns are every bit as real and valid and alive to me as the concerns of white people whose families have been there for 400 years. So I’ve never said that whites are being replaced, not one time. And you can’t cite it.” (Read more from “MUST WATCH: Tucker Carlson Utterly Destroy Australian Mainstream Media” HERE)

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Biden Peddles ‘Very Fine People’ Hoax After Even ‘Fact-Checkers’ Admitted It Was a Lie

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During Thursday’s presidential debate, Biden accused Trump of calling neo-Nazis “very fine people,” repeating a long-debunked claim regarding Trump’s remarks following a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

“[Trump] said, ‘I think there are fine people on both sides,’” Biden claimed at Thursday’s debate. “What American president would ever say Nazis coming out of fields carrying torches, saying the same antisemitic bile, carrying swastikas, are fine people?”

Biden’s claim centers on Trump’s remarks following a 2017 Charlottesville rally, which involved protests and counter-protests over the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue from a park. The protests ended violently when a self-proclaimed “white nationalist” drove his car into the crowd, killing one and injuring 19.

With the help of corporate media, the claim that Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people” spread shortly after the events, despite Trump condemning them outright.

“But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides,” Trump said of the Charlottesville protesters and counter-protesters in a news conference days after the events. “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.”

(Read more from “Biden Peddles ‘Very Fine People’ Hoax After Even ‘Fact-Checkers’ Admitted It Was a Lie” HERE)