US election: Joe Biden’s family urge president to stay in White House race as donors discuss alternative scenarios in Trump battle
Joe Biden’s family has urged the US president not to quit the election campaign, even as donors discussed the alternatives if he pulled out following his disastrous performance in last week’s first presidential debate with Donald Trump.
Mr Biden’s family discussed the future of his campaign when they met for a long-planned photo shoot at Camp David in Maryland on Sunday, and told him he should “keep fighting”, NBC, Sky News’ US partner said, quoting two sources familiar with the discussions.
His wife Jill Biden and Mr Biden’s son, Hunter, the people whose opinions he values most, both insisted he should stay in the race as he’s the best-placed candidate to defeat Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Biden, you are fired’
It was a view echoed by the rest of the family, who instead blamed the president’s advisers for failing to prepare him properly.
Around 40 of Biden’s top financial backers were briefed by campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who told them most of the campaign’s significant war chest would fall to Vice President Kamala Harris, with a smaller pool of money kept by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
It was one of several meetings in recent days in which campaign managers have tried to shore up support for Mr Biden, whom, they insist, can still win November’s election.
But a Biden victory appeared a long way away as the 81-year-old Democrat candidate paused and stumbled his way through a gruelling TV debate on Thursday in Atlanta, his performance dismissed as an “unmitigated disaster” by some in his own party.
A poll of polls maintained by analysts FiveThirtyEight had the pair roughly neck and neck until the debate, but Donald Trump has since pulled ahead, if only by one percentage point. RealClearPolitics put Trump 1.9 percentage points in front.
Watched by an estimated 51 million people, Mr Biden, whose age was already seen as a liability by voters, sounded raspy, trailed off, and at times gave convoluted answers during the debate.
The president’s showing sparked alarm among supporters, donors and campaign surrogates, worried that Mr Biden’s age, already targeted by Trump, 78, had caught up with him, and this was one campaign too far.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Vice President: Biden had ‘slow start’
Mr Biden’s campaign has been working hard to persuade them that is not the case ever since.
Prominent Democrats made a public show of support for him on Sunday, among them congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina, who said: “I do not believe that Joe Biden has a problem leading for the next four years.”
Read more from Sky News:
New York Times tells Biden to quit
Joe Biden: Could the Democrats replace him?
Who is Gavin Newsom? Democrat who could replace Joe Biden
Biden performance among worst in presidential history
? Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts ?
But former senator Tom Harkin called the debate “a disaster from which Biden cannot recover” and Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin said there were “serious and rigorous conversations taking place” over replacing Biden, according to NBC.
Democratic National Convention (DNC) chairman Jaime Harrison and Mr Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, spoke to some of the most influential members of the party on Saturday, presenting a rosy outlook and taking no questions.
Multiple Democrat officials on the call, most speaking on condition of anonymity, said it felt like they were being asked to ignore a serious predicament.
Joe Salazar, an elected DNC member from Colorado, said they were being “gaslit”.
It comes as a YouGov poll for CBS News found that the percentage of respondents who felt that Mr Biden did not have the mental and cognitive health required to be president was now 72%, up from 65% in the previous poll carried out in early June, before the debate.
There are 161 people still missing in Texas in the aftermath of last weekend’s deadly flash floods, the state’s governor has said.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, governor Gregg Abbot said the number of missing had risen markedly.
He said among the missing were five children and one counsellor from Camp Mystic – where at least 27 people were killed in the flash flooding.
At least 109 people are confirmed to have died in the floods, which took place on the 4 July weekend, but this figure has been steadily climbing ever since.
People comforted each other in Kerville. Pic: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP
The bulk of deaths, and the main search for additional bodies, have been concentrated in Kerr County and the city of Kerrville.
The area was transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, unleashing deadly flooding along the Guadalupe River.
Travis County, Kendall County, Burnett County, Williamson County, and Tom Green County were also hit.
Mr Abbot said many of those who were unaccounted for were in the Texas Hill Country area, but had not registered at a camp or hotel, posing further challenges for authorities.
Camp Mystic
Mr Abbot planned to make another visit to Camp Mystic.
The century-old all-girls Christian summer camp was badly hit by the flash floods, with at least 27 campers and counsellors dying.
Hanna Lawrence, left, and Rebecca Lawrence, right. Pic: John Lawrence/AP
Lila Bonner (L) and Eloise Peck both died in the flash floods at Camp Mystic, Texas. Pic: Family handout
Chloe Childress. Pic: Debra Alexander Photography via AP
Some of the victims include Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, both eight, Chloe Childress, 19, who was among the counsellors at Camp Mystic when the flood hit, and Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, both nine.
There were scenes of devastation at the camp as the flood water receded.
Outside the cabins where the girls had slept, mud-splattered blankets and pillows were scattered.
Also in the debris were pink, purple and light blue luggage, decorated with stickers.
A view inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after the flooding. Pic: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
Camper’s belongings lie on the ground following flooding on the Guadalupe River, at Camp Mystic.
Pic: Reuters
‘Everything looked flooded and broken’
One of the campers, 10-year-old Lucy Kennedy, told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that she woke up to the sound of thunder at around midnight before the floods struck.
“I couldn’t go back to sleep,” she said. “I just had a feeling that something really bad was about to happen.”
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
She said the girls at the camp were told to grab blankets, pillows and water bottles and line up single file as the floodwater rose, before getting airlifted to safety.
Wynne Kennedy, Lucy’s mother, added: “When I saw her, she was wrapped up in a blanket, had a teddy bear.
“We just held each other tight, and I held her all night.”
Their home in Kerrville was also destroyed by the flash floods.
Lucy Kennedy, 10 who was rescued from Camp Mystic, and her mother Wynne. Pic: NBC
Political row
Meanwhile, a political row has unfolded parallel to the recovery efforts, with some questioning whether local authorities sent out warnings and alerts early enough.
Similarly, Democrats have criticised Donald Trump over cuts his Elon Musk-launched Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made to the National Weather Service – but it isn’t clear whether these actually made any difference.
Read more:
Sisters killed in Texas flooding found holding hands
Why did deadly Texas floods catch people by surprise?
Wall of water
The flash floods erupted before daybreak on Friday, after massive amounts of rainfall caused the Guadalupe River to rise by eight metres in less than an hour.
The wall of water overwhelmed cabins, tents and trails along the river’s edge.
Some survivors were found clinging to trees.
Some of the campers had to swim out of their cabin windows to get to safety, while others clung to rope to make it to higher ground.
The date for Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sentencing hearing has been confirmed.
Following his high-profile trial, the hip-hop mogul was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution by jurors in Manhattan, New York, last week – but was cleared of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Defence lawyers argued Combs, who has been in prison in Brooklyn since his arrest in September last year, should be bailed ahead of sentencing given the not guilty verdicts for the more serious charges, but Judge Arun Subramanian denied this – citing, among other things, the rapper’s own admissions of previous violent behaviour.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in court after the verdict was delivered. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
The charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy carried a potential life sentence. Combs still faces up to 20 years in prison for the prostitution-related offences, but is not expected to receive the maximum punishment.
After the verdict was delivered, the judge scheduled the sentencing hearing for 3 October. At a remote follow-up conference on Tuesday, with agreement from the defence and prosecution, the judge approved the date.
Combs joined the call but did not make any comment.
Any sentence will include credit for time already served – which will be just over a year by the time the hearing takes place.
During his trial, Combs was accused by prosecutors of abusing and coercing three alleged victims, including his former long-term partner, singer and model Cassie Ventura.
Jurors found the allegations did not amount to sex-trafficking or racketeering, or running a criminal enterprise – but they did find him guilty of transporting Cassie and another former girlfriend “Jane” for prostitution offences around the US, and paying male escorts to engage in sexual encounters.
Despite the guilty verdict on those charges, the 55-year-old’s team described it as “the victory of all victories”.
Read more:
How the trial unfolded
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
In an interview over the weekend, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said Combs had received a standing ovation from fellow inmates when he returned to jail after being acquitted of the more serious charges.
“They all said, ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government’,” he said.
Ahead of sentencing, Combs’s lawyers will file their recommendations by 19 September, with prosecutors likely to follow a week later.
Prosecutors previously said the rapper could face about four to five years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, while the defence has suggested a two-year sentence.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike