for staying up with me. if you if you were brave enough to open the new york times this morning and you turned to the opinion section, this is what you would've seen. thomas friedman, joe biden is a good man and a good president, he must bow out of the race. ■ç frank bruni, biden cannot go on like this. nicholas kristof, president biden, i've seen enough. this evening, the entire editorial board of the new york times published this op-ed, to serve his country, president biden should leave the race. mr. biden answered urgent question on thursday night, it was not the answer he and his supporters were hoping for. if the risk of a second from term is as great as he says it is, his dedication leaves him and his party only one choice, the clearest path for democrats to defeat a candidate defined by his life is to deal truthfully with the american public. acknowledge that mr. biden cannot continue his race and try to process to select someone more capable to stand in his place. is the best chance■ç to protect the soul of the nation and the best service mr. biden can provide to a country he has nobly served for so long. at least for now, at this hour, the leaders of the democratic party are standing by this president. here's what house speaker meredith nancy pelosi and house speaker hakeem jeffries and south carolina congressman jim clyburn had to say today. >> what you think of the democrats? >> i don't know who is doing that. >> reporter: after the debate performance last night, should he step aside? >> stay the course, we should focus on the biden record, focus on substance. we have a workhorse for the american people, trying to get them out ç of office. >> today, the president himself did his best to beat back the criticism at o'reilly -- rally in north carolina, speaking at a teleprompter he appeared more likely and coherent than he did in last night's debate. >> i don't walk as easily 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! folks, i give you my word as a biden, i would not be running again if i did not believe with all my heart and soul that i can do this job. quite frankly, the stakes are too high. the stakes are too high. >> whatever happens here,■ç president biden is certainly right about one thing, the stakes could not be higher. donald trump's authoritarian impulses and his radical right- wing agenda and rampant criminality make him the most dangerous presidential candidate in modern history. all of that was on display last night for anyone who cared to pay attention to it. >> what i did, i put three great supreme court justices on the court and they happen to vote in favor of killing roe v. wade and moving it back to the states. this is something everybody wanted. they talk about relatively small number of people that went to the capitol and in many cases, ushered in by the police. what they have done to some people that are so innocent, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. what you have done, ■çhow you destroy the lives of so many people. i did not have with a pornography star. >> donald trump is a figurehead, rollback of the last half- century of liberal democracy, making serious strides. we saw more stunning examples of that today when supreme court conservative majority handed down a ruling that experts say will dramatically affect the federal government's ability to enforce all kinds of laws and regulations. the supreme court is imposing maga vision of the law in america, giving unelected judges near unfathomable power to override the policy choices of the democratic branches. through rulings dressed up in legalese, it strips power from the citizens and their elected representatives establishing monarchial judiciary with no known limits on its own2 authority. at its core, the ruling effectively takes away power from the experts in our federal government, the environmental scientists, the food safety experts, air traffic control experts, it takes away power from all of those people to do their jobs and it hands that power to an unelected judiciary. it is a staggering win for conservatives and the conservative project. can biden and democrats do anything about it? on that front, there is even more distressing news. short of a strong opponent to give donald trump a serious run for his money, perhaps the greatest threat to a second trump presidency is bragg's federal criminal indictment for trying to overturn ■çthe result of the 2020 presidential election. today, that too suffered potentially significant setback . in the case brought by one of the january 6th rioters, court today issued a ruling significantly narrowing one of the key charges brought against trump and his mob. the charge of obstructing an official proceeding. that ruling could affect hundreds of cases brought by the justice department against january 6th rioters. what impact it will have on the case brought against trump himself by special counsel jack smith, that remains unclear. that is if the case can make it to trial. right now, that trial is effectively frozen as we await the court decision on trump's absolute presidential immunity case. today, the court signaled it will hand down that decision on monday, july 1st. right in time for the fourth of july holiday, happy independence day. the best case scenario here■ç i there will be no federal criminal trial for donald trump before the selection, that is a best case scenario. which means that anyone looking to stop donald trump and to secure the fate of american democracy and the gains made the last half-century on civil rights and social progress and to ensure a more equitable and stable future for this country and this planet, is now dependent on a democrat to stop donald trump. right now, that person remains president joe biden. joining us is julian castro, former secretary of housing and human development and former democratic presidential contender. should joe biden still be the nominee? >> in all likelihood, joe biden is going to be.■ç >> 2024, he >> 2024, he had a strong record as president, has done a lot of great things to be proud of, moving the country forward, he beat donald trump in 2020, 2024 is not 2020 and we saw that last night. the challenge in terms of changing course at this point is this did not happen overnight. democrats got walked into this at several junctures over the last two years, the democratic establishment cut off anybody that thought about running against joe biden, cut off potential for debate so that the public could have other options in front of them. vendors■ç or consultants that thought about working for another candidate, they got the message, look, your career will be blackballed. this is a situation not created by one debate performance, it was created by two years of turning a blind eye to what in polling, the public could clearly see and were telling people in the polling and focus groups, it was the result basically of forced ignorance. that is what that democrats are dealing with now. unfortunately, with only four months left in the cycle, joe biden would have to step aside, he would have to choose at the convention to allow his delegates to go a different direction. he is the only one that can make the decision to do that■ç, the alternative is a process so bloody, so messy, it would probably put us in a worse position than having joe biden just run and be the nominee. >> i do wonder, you know, if there is even any deliberations going on, what you think the potential cost is in terms of not just the election, but the biden presidency? republicans are now invoking the specter of the 24th amendment saying that joe biden is not fit to lead and marco rubio told me yesterday evening, it is harmful to us candidacy but potentially harmful to this country, do you think that is an overstatement? do you worry about the real-world implications of any of this right now? >> here's the irony, the republicans have a candidate who is a serial liar, who is a ç convicted felon, who is a danger to our democracy. on the other side can be of joe biden, who is a good man, strong record as president, who is honest. he is the one getting accused by these disingenuous republicans of being a threat to our democracy, it is the world turned upside down. democrats have become susceptible to this because of silence and turning a blind eye to what the public can see for a long time. i don't think senator rubio's push for the 24th a minute to be invoked will go anywhere. it is the same kind of hyperbole, the smear job that we see republicans doing president biden and democrats all the time, this is what they do. at, at this point as a party. more noise for voters and a lot of low propensity voters and folks that don't take in a lot of information, they know what they see on the screen and what they see on the screen, what they saw last night does not give them confidence in the president. >> secretary julian castro, thank you for your time and your thoughts, i know it is not easy question. joining me is former deputy national security adviser to president obama. this is complicated and i think anybody who watched what happened last night, who has a heart and understand what president biden has done for the country, was pained to watch the performance. i kind of wonder where you made it on this 24 hours since? >> it has been ■çdifficult 24 hours, i think two things we have to acknowledge up front, the first is, donald trump remains just as unfit and dishonest and dangerous as he was 24 hours ago. actually, he demonstrated that himself lying through the debate, stirring up serious division in this country, saying thing that would be unthinkable in presidential debate two election cycles ago. it remains true that joe biden has spent decades serving the country, has honorable intentions, has done a good job as president. we can't and see what we saw, which is a really meandering debate performance that not only failed to put to rest the doubts about his capacity to do four more years in office, also reinforced some of those doubts. to me, it is ■ça moment people need to take stock, candidly, precisely because the stakes are so high. because donald trump is so dangerous. >> in the movement he represents is so dangerous. >> we saw the supreme court, manifestation, four more years, two more judges may be, we don't know exactly. he got three last time. the question now is, some people say don't raise these questions because we have to focus on beating trump. it ends up joe biden is the nominee out of the convention, i think everybody who cares about this democracy, has to do everything they can to help him win the election to beat donald trump. now is the time, because the debate was so early, at the biden camp request in june, ■çi is wholly appropriate to take stock, conversations in the white house, do we think we can do this, is this the best way to defeat donald trump? they should have these conversations. you know that everybody in your life, i'm sure and mine, people who do not follow politics are asking these questions and that is okay. we all come together to try to save this democracy, we need to make sure we put our fat -- best foot forward. that is a process, as difficult as it is, that is playing out on opinion pages and text threads and living rooms across the country. >> yeah, i was struck though, i agree, it is time for gut check in profoundly existential fashion. i was struck by the reporting from gabe gutierrez who tweeted this evening, biden aides■ç defiant response to the new york times editorial calling for biden to step down. this stuff is like jet fuel in my veins, i love it. you know what it is like to be a staffer under siege, this is different. that bunker mentality feels like a disservice to the country, in my opinion. >> i agree with that, the question they have to answer, joe biden was out there today, he was great, that was a good answer to the question about age, frankly it was an answer he could have given last night. if he can do that, they think he can get out there every day, barack obama had a terrible debate in 2012. there was no doubt he could go out, he was doing five events a day, taking his kids cross country. the question they have to answer, for ■çthe next four months with anything on the line, can joe biden go out and make this case to people? the enemy is not the new york times. what they have to recognize is, people raising these questions, including the new york times, because they want to beat trump. it is not because they don't have concerns, they don't like joe biden, it is precisely, the times said this in the editorial, they care so much about defeating donald trump that they feel the need to raise these questions. the advice i give, i have been in the bunker, i think i've yelled to you from the bunker, we are still friends. i have done all of those things. this is not the right approach to scold people and dismiss people. >> you say you always underestimate joe biden. >> accuse people of not beating trump■ç, we all care about this frankly, what they need to be doing, if they're going to stick with this, wrap their arms around everybody, let's do this together instead of making enemy of the media or people, they don't like things that they see online. this is the coalition, the democracy coalition and attacking your own coalition is not the right way to go here. >> i have to ask you when you talk about the coalition, there was a headline in the new york times heading monday or tuesday about iran and their relief about what would unfold in november. to hear the six iranian presidential candidates tell it, former president donald trump victory in the 2024 white house race is a foregone conclusion. the urgent question facing iranian voters going to the polls on friday, is best suited to deal with trump? there is extensive article in the atlantic thing that most of western europe believes that trump wilí win in november. i'm sure that netanyahu believes certain things who will win in november as well, there are key points, the global community is watching this and the global community probably watching last night or looked at the headlines today. what are the implications? you understand the role in the world. >> i think it is overpriced that trump is winning, what people forget, i've been to europe and asia the last few months, it is widely believed that that is the case. i would make the case to them, it will come down to a few states, it will be close, it will matter how it ends, how strong each candidate closes. i think the challenge to your question is, mainly around people like you who and putin, the people that have tremendous amount of interest wanting donald trump to win and having a capacity to affect ■çglobal events in ways that is election interference in this country from russia, the nature of how the conflict goes in gaza, netanyahu is coming here in a month, what he says to congress. i do think one thing to watch that is worrying to me, particularly what these two leaders, netanyahu and putin, others as well that have some influence on how things look around the world and the election. what they can do to be spoilers here. that is another reality we have to contend with. >> it is going to be a long road to november. >> we can do this, that is the thing. we have to do it openly, candidly, honestly. that is the point i'm making, we can't pretend there are no problems, challenge of winning, ethics and trump will lose. run a ■çcampaign like you are afraid of losing, not sure you're going to win. we did that in the obama campaign even though he was up the whole time. that is the mentality i think we need to see, not a bunker mentality but inclusive momentum building mentality and a willingness to ask really hard questions including, what is the best way to put our best foot forward as a party? >> ben rhodes, always good to get your thoughts on this in moments of crisis otherwise. great to see you, my friend. more ahead this hour, what would a biden bounce back officially look like? one of the rising stars, maryland governor wes moore joins us to discuss crisis management in the democratic party. supreme court limits the power persecutors to pursue instruction charges against january 6th defendants including donald trump. what does it mean for special counsel jack smith? that is coming up, stay ■çwith . my name is brayden. i was five years old when i came to st. jude. i'll try and shorten down the story. so i've been having these headaches that wouldn't go away. my mom, she was just crying. what they said, your son has brain cancer. it was your worst fear coming to life. watching your child grow up is the dream of every parent. you can join the battle to save the lives of kids like brayden, by supporting st. jude children's research hospital . families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live . what they have done for me, my son, my family-- i'm sorry, yeah. life is a gift, especially for a child battling cancer. call or go online and help save another lives of children like brayden. now, i'm 11 years old. we were actually doing the checkup for my brain. and they saw something in my throat. it's thyroid cancer. it was heartbreaking to find out that he has cancer again. but we knew who we had behind us. it just gives me hope. you can make a difference. join with your credit or debit card for only $19 a month. and we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt. without st. jude or its donors, we would have been in a bad place. these kids, they've done nothing wrong in the world. finding a cure for childhood cancer, it means everything. help st. jude give kids with cancer a chance. 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