Former President Barack Obama has privately expressed concerns to Democrats about President Joe Biden’s candidacy, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Biden that Democrats could lose the ability to seize control in the House if he didn’t step away from the race.
The Republican National Convention culminates Thursday with former President Donald Trump expected to accept the party’s presidential nomination, achieving a comeback four years in the making and anticipated even more in the past week in light of Saturday’s assassination attempt.
He is expected to accept his third consecutive party nod in prime time before thousands of supporters at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. Trump’s running mate JD Vance addressed the same crowd on Wednesday.
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Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign insists it’s “not working through any scenarios” where he “is not the top of the ticket,” despite intensifying calls from congressional Democrats for him to abandon the race ahead of November’s election.
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Louisiana governor posits that the Ten Commandments could have stopped would-be Trump assassin
In an interview on Thursday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry suggested that if the Ten Commandments had been on display in the classroom or school of Thomas Matthew Crooks then the 20-year-old may not have tried to assassinate former President Trump.
“I would submit that maybe if the Ten Commandments were hanging on (Crooks’) wall in the school that he was in, then maybe he wouldn’t have taken a shot at the president. How about that?,” Landry said in a video interview with Nexstar Media at the Republican National Convention.
Landry stumbled over the shooter’s name in the interview, however, a spokesperson with his office later confirmed to The Associated Press that the governor was indeed referring to Crooks.
In Louisiana, Landry recently signed into law a requirement that there be a poster-size display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms by Jan. 1. Civil liberties groups have since filed a lawsuit and asked a federal court to block implementation of the mandate.
No charges for protestor involved in altercation with Rep. Derrick Van Orden
Prosecutors in Milwaukee say they won’t file charges against a protester who got into an altercation with Rep. Derrick Van Orden outside the Republican National Convention.
Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin in Congress, posted on Tuesday that a demonstrator from the feminist anti-war group CODEPINK assaulted him while he was waiting in line to get into a GOP luncheon at a hotel. CODEPINK supporters posted a video on X claiming that Van Orden shoved the female demonstrator as the group was trying to get into the luncheon.
The Milwaukee Police Department said in a statement that the demonstrator, a 24-year-old woman, was arrested. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office said in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday that she will not be charged. The office didn’t elaborate, saying it could share no further information.
The final night of the RNC is going to be ‘Rock-in’
Musician Kid Rock posted Thursday on the social platform X that he had just arrived in Milwaukee “to support our tried and true, red white and blue, 100% American bad—- president.”
Journalists inside the Fiserv Forum where the convention has been taking place posted video of the rocker practicing from the stage where house band Sixwire has been playing between speeches all week.
The Detroit musician has become an ally for Trump over the years. He’s been at the White House to support the Republican several times, including a 2017 visit with musician Ted Nugent and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Arizona congressman: Biden ‘needs to prove’ he’s up for the presidential campaign
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running for Senate in the swing state of Arizona, stopped short Thursday of calling on Biden to step aside but did not defend him either.
“I’ve been very clear with him and with Arizonans that he needs to prove to me and to Arizonans that he is up for the campaign,” Gallego told reporters at a campaign stop in Phoenix. “We deserve to see that and we’ll have to go from there.”
Gallego declined to say whether he would support Harris replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee, saying he’s not going to “deal in hypotheticals.”
US Rep. Adam Smith reiterates his belief that Biden should step down
U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., on Thursday reiterated that President Joe Biden should step down.
Appearing virtually at a press event during the RNC, Smith said that he has had frequent conversations with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi about Biden stepping aside, but wouldn’t disclose what she had said in response.
Asked about reports that Pelosi is working behind the scenes to convince Biden to step down, Smith said that no other Democrat has their thumb on the pulse of the party than her.
“We respect Nancy right up to the fact that she stepped aside,” he said. “She still was very capable but she passed the torch to the next generation.”Smith added, “So I think she’s a good person to listen to about where we’re at right now as a party.”
House Speaker repeats call for Biden to fire Secret Service director
House Speaker Mike Johnson reiterated his criticism Thursday of the U.S. Secret Service following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump over the weekend.
Johnson and many Republicans have called for the Secret Service director to resign and the Republican lawmaker took it further Thursday by calling the White House to demand that President Joe Biden fire her himself. He made similar remarks in an interview with Fox Business earlier in the day.
“We have a lot more questions than answers,” Johnson said at a Politico event at the RNC. He added that he received an “alarming” classified briefing about what went wrong Saturday and is scheduling a similar briefing for the full House next week.
VP says Republicans’ attempts to portray themselves as the party of ‘unity’ ring hollow
Vice President Kamala Harris says Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance told a “compelling” but incomplete story Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The vice president said Vance skipped over what’s known as Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a new Republican administration that was drafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation. It includes plans for dismantling aspects of the federal government and ousting thousands of civil servants. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has sought to distance himself from the plan.
But Harris, campaigning Thursday in Fayetteville, North Carolina, said, “You cannot claim you stand for unity if you are pushing an agenda that deprives whole groups of Americans of basic freedoms, opportunity and dignity.”
Trump campaign adviser: Heritage Foundation staff ‘do not speak for him’
Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita is calling the Heritage Foundation, the creator of Project 2025, “a pain in the a—.”
“The president’s made it clear these people do not speak for him,” he said at an event hosted by Politico and CNN on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention. “They do not speak for the campaign.”
Trump’s campaign has repeatedly tried to distance itself from the group’s controversial proposals, which have been the subject of numerous news stories and a top focus of the Biden campaign.
While the policy plan was written by many former Trump administration officials who are widely expected to return if he wins a second term, LaCivita said just because people used to work for Trump, doesn’t mean they will again.
“That’s pure speculation on your part,” he told the moderator. “That’s what the left wants but I’m not going to give into it.”
Former Trump official says Democrats already made Biden their choice for 2024
Former Trump administration official Ric Grenell says that Biden is Democrats’ choice for 2024 and that talk of dumping him is nothing new.
Grenell said during a briefing put on by CPAC on Thursday in Milwaukee that Democrats “went through a process of anointing” Biden and shouldn’t be supplanted because party elites might want to oust him.
Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, said that such political volatility “is what happens in other countries, not in America.”
CPAC chair slams Dems for insider conversations about possibly ousting Biden as nominee
The head of the Conservative Political Action Conference says that Democrats are being disingenuous when they critique Trump for being an alleged threat to democracy while engaging in insider conversations about possibly ousting their own nominee.
CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp said during a media briefing Thursday on the sidelines of the RNC, “You can’t both uphold democracy and then decide who the next nominee is in some smoke-filled room,” referencing a roiling conversation among Democrats about possibly replacing Biden at the top of their ticket.
Biden’s doctor: President is still experiencing mild symptoms from COVID-19 but vitals are normal
Biden still experiencing mild upper respiratory symptoms from COVID-19, the president’s doctor says.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor said in a statement Thursday that Biden does not have a fever and his vital signs remain normal. He’s being treated with the drug Paxlovid.
The White House announced Wednesday that Biden had tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling in Las Vegas. The president canceled an appearance in Nevada and kept prearranged plans to travel to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. He’s isolating there.
Ambassadors try to ease concerns over possible second Trump presidency
The British, German, Canadian and Swedish ambassadors to the U.S. sought to ease global concern Thursday about a second potential Trump presidency and what that would mean for the ongoing flow of American aid to Ukraine and the country’s standing in NATO.
The ambassadors spoke on a panel near the RNC in Milwaukee where they laid out the destructive consequences of any future American president turning their back on their European allies while avoiding any direct criticism of Trump and his new VP nominee U.S. Sen. JD Vance, who has been vocal about limiting foreign aid.
“I mean people say things when they’re in opposition, but when they’re actually in power, they have to weigh the responsibility of that,” British ambassador to the U.S. Karen Pierce said at a Politico event.
Delegate: ‘I hope he’s able to convince people that he’s got our best interests at heart’
Robert Millican said he had been an unaffiliated voter until the fall of 2023 and Donald Trump was not his first choice as a presidential candidate. That’s all changed for Millican, an alternate delegate from North Carolina, who believes Trump has more of his interests at heart than President Joe Biden.
He also thinks Trump wants to unify the country with his speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention.
“Will he be able to? Will people be willing to listen? That’s the biggest question,” Millican said Thursday at the convention. “Everyone here, myself included now, believes in him. You don’t need to tell us. But is someone who hasn’t been behind him willing to listen?”
“We all know he can be abrasive at times,” Millican added. “Will he be able to convey it? I know that’s where his heart is, but what comes out of his mouth sometimes doesn’t sound okay with some people. We’re so divided. We need to come together and be able to listen — both sides. I hope he’s able to convince people that he’s got our best interests at heart.”
Retired pro wrestler Hulk Hogan to speak at RNC, AP source says
Retired wrestling star Hulk Hogan is slated to speak Thursday night at the Republican National Convention ahead of President Donald Trump’s historic remarks accepting his party’s nomination for president after facing an assassination attempt.
He is just one of several members of the wrestling world expected to speak on the convention’s final day, including Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, according to a person familiar with the schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the schedule’s official release.
Earlier this week, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds compared Trump’s return to the RNC stage after the assassination attempt to “Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania.”
Hogan, whose legal name is Terry Gene Bollea, and Trump are both members of the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame with the former president being inducted in 2013.
The 1980s wrestling icon has occasionally tossed around political aspirations after he retired from wrestling in 2012, including telling X News last month that he’d consider entering politics.
“So, if you need a president or vice president, I’ll volunteer and take this country over, and I’ll rule with an iron
