A moderate House Democrat said President Biden’s White House tenure must ‘come to an end’ on Thursday, the most significant voicing of opposition to his leadership from a member of his own party so far.

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., previously said she believed Biden would lose to Trump, but now she is the 15th congressional Democrat to call on the president to end his re-election bid.

‘I’ve spent the past two weeks listening to my constituents express their concerns about the President’s age and health,’ she said in a statement to local outlet KGW, an NBC affiliate.

‘Americans deserve to feel their president is fit enough to do the job. The crisis of confidence in the President’s leadership needs to come to an end. The President should do what he knows is right for the country and put the national interest first.’

Gluesenkamp Perez is one of the most vulnerable Democrats of this election cycle and has frequently broken from her own party on votes.

Biden, meanwhile, is fighting for his political life in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against former President Trump late last month.

Biden spoke with a hoarse voice, which he attributed to a cold, and stumbled over his answers several times during the primetime event. Viewers also observed him appearing tired and noticeably less sharp than he looked the last time he faced Trump in 2020.

It spurred concerns among members of his party that he would lose to Trump in November and may not be fit to serve another four years.

Gluesenkamp Perez told KATU after the debate, ‘About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate. I was one of them for about five very painful minutes. We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump.’

Biden, for his part, has maintained several times that he is not budging. 

Gluesenkamp Perez’s statement comes just a few hours before Biden’s 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time press conference. It’s a pivotal event for the president as he seeks to fight back doubts that he’s not physically or mentally fit for the White House.

House Democrats left Capitol Hill around noon on Thursday to return to their districts for a week-long break. 

Before that, left-wing lawmakers spent the week huddled as both a caucus and in smaller groups to discuss the path forward for Biden. 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who has said he is behind the presidential ticket, told reporters earlier Thursday that he did not believe Biden was a drag on vulnerable Democrats.

‘House Democrats are engaged in conversations with House Democrats at this moment in time. Those conversations have been candid, clear eyed and comprehensive, and that’s important for us to do as a House Democratic caucus family. And as long as those conversations are ongoing, I’m going to respect the sanctity of those conversations until we conclude that process,’ he said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says he’s still backing Joe Biden after reportedly signaling to Democrat donors that he is open to replacing the president at the top of the 2024 ticket.

Axios, citing three sources, reported that since Biden’s debate performance late last month, Schumer has been listening to donors’ ideas and suggestions that the best way for the party to move forward and debate former President Trump is removing Biden. 

In a statement on Wednesday to Fox News after the Axios report, Schumer reaffirmed his commitment to Biden.

‘As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November,’ he said.

The outlet revealed that both before and after Biden’s startling debate performance, Schumer’s iconic flip phone was lighted up with donors.

Despite Schumer’s 20 years of camaraderie with Biden, the top senator’s main concerns are about defeating former President Trump and retaining the Democrat majority in the Senate, the outlet said.

After the Senate Democrats’ regularly scheduled policy lunch on Tuesday, Schumer reportedly invited senior Biden campaign officials to brief members and directly address any concerns they might have.

Schumer’s hesitancy to support the Democrat presidential nominee comes after he has publicly voiced his support of Biden’s candidacy.

‘I’m with Joe Biden,’ he said at a New York press conference on July 2. ‘I’m for Joe,’ he reportedly reiterated while walking into the Senate on Monday. 

Schumer’s signal to donors comes as prominent Democrat leaders privately and publicly questioned Biden’s viability as the face of the party.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., insinuated that there is still a decision to be made about whether Biden will seek re-election despite the president already stating on several occasions that he is staying in the race.

‘It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We are all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short,’ Pelosi told MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ on Wednesday. ‘He’s beloved, he’s respected, and people want him to make that decision.’

Asked about Biden already making it clear that he intends to run, Pelosi again suggested that there is a still a decision to be made.

‘I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with,’ Pelosi said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., echoed Pelosi’s comments.

‘I think he will continue to make his case to the American people, and he is the one who will decide. There are advisers and supporters who may give him the kind of guidance that he is looking for. But I think, ultimately, it’s his decision to make. I think that this kind of internal debate will end at some point. The question is when,’ Blumenthal told reporters Thursday. 

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., also released a statement, saying Biden needs to ‘seriously consider’ his political future despite the president’s public declarations that he will continue seeking re-election.

‘At this critical time for our country, President Biden must seriously consider the best way to preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future,’ Murray wrote in a statement Monday.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also suggested that Biden still has a decision to make.

‘I think we’re having an important national conversation,’Hollensaid. ‘I’m confident that the president will make a decision that’s in the best interests of the country.’

Many other Democrats will not say whether they believe the president should remain the nominee, but they suggest – after Biden already said he is not dropping out – that there needs to be conversations about his continued candidacy.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said there are still conversations that need to be had surrounding Biden as the Democrat nominee, warning of a potential red wave in November.

‘Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with it the Senate and the House,’ Bennet told CNN on Tuesday. ‘We should be having a discussion about that. The White House, in the time since that disastrous debate, I think, has done nothing to really demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election.’

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., also encouraged conversations about Biden’s candidacy.

‘With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward,’ the Democrat posted on X. ‘As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House.’

Biden addressed members of Congress and skeptics of his re-election bid in a letter on Monday, stating that he is ‘firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.’

Despite Biden’s attempts to ease concerns within his party, eight House Democrats officially called on Biden to step down as the nominee.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, mocked actor George Clooney for waiting until three weeks after his star-studded fundraiser in which he raised millions of dollars for President Biden to acknowledge he’s ‘a vegetable.’

‘George Clooney, what a f—— hero this guy is, huh? Comes forward today — now, this guy threw a fundraiser, raised tens of millions, co-chair for Biden, three weeks ago. Today comes out, he’s like, ‘Guess what? The guy you saw in the debate, that vegetable, that’s f—— Biden, he’s a vegetable. He was a vegetable three weeks ago.’ Acting like he’s doing some heroic thing.’

Clooney called on Biden to leave the 2024 race in a New York Times guest essay on Wednesday, writing, ‘It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.’

He added that ‘party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw’ in the debate. ‘We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign.’

The actor joined a growing list of Hollywood elites and megadonors who’ve turned on Biden following the debate, where his halting, frail and at-times confused performance alarmed supporters. Members of Biden’s party, political allies and liberal media figures have also pressured the president to drop out of the race, warning he cannot beat former President Trump.

‘So what, George? If [Biden] didn’t do the debate… and wasn’t a vegetable, you were just going to keep your mouth shut?’ Portnoy continued. ‘And by the way, if you just found out Biden was a vegetable, where have you been for two years? Everyone knows he’s a vegetable.’

Portnoy claimed Biden can’t ‘get on and off a stage without getting lost, he talks about dead people like he had lunch with them yesterday. He can’t f—— ride his bike without falling down. He can’t get up and down f—— Air Force One without taking a tumble. No s— he’s a vegetable. He’s been a vegetable for two f—— years. Democrats don’t care.’

He continued, ‘If I know he’s a vegetable, if Miss Peaches knows he’s a vegetable [referring to his dog] if Clooney knows he’s a vegetable, if the Obamas know he’s a vegetable, if everyone in the world knows Joe Biden is a f—— vegetable, why did he do that debate? Because Democrats wanted to show the world that they have no choice but to f—— whack him,’ claiming Democrats want to replace him with Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom he referred to as the ‘good-looking guy from California.’

Newsom has said that he completely supports Biden and would not run against Vice President Kamala Harris if she replaced him at the top of the ticket. 

‘It’s all dirty politics,’ Portnoy said. 

He said Democrats ‘were fine’ for the last two years ‘putting a vegetable in our face. They’re fine with doing a fundraiser three weeks ago for a vegetable. So f— it, let’s just have Trump run versus a head of lettuce. Honestly? The votes will probably be the same.’

He said that people who voted for Biden didn’t actually like the president but rather hate Trump. 

‘So f— all these games and stuff. Everyone knows Biden’s a vegetable. So let’s just do the ballot,’ he joked. ‘Trump on one side, head of lettuce on the other.’

He added that he wanted to be spared Clooney’s op-ed ‘like ‘Oh my God, Biden’s a vegetable. We can’t.’ – you f—— Democrats have known for two years that this guy’s a vegetable, and you keep propping up the vegetable and putting the head of lettuce in our faces.’ 

He accused Democrats of wanting to choose their own candidate rather than having a ‘free f—— election of other candidates, so you had Biden go win it, and now the Democratic Party is trying to say who comes next. It’s a game.’

He concluded, ‘They knew he was a head of lettuce. Everybody with a brain knew that.’

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Portnoy and Clooney, but did not hear back.  

A former adviser to President Obama broke his silence concerning President Biden’s mental fitness on Wednesday, just hours after a damaging op-ed by actor George Clooney was published in The New York Times calling on the president to quit the 2024 race.

‘It was not surprising to any of us who were at the fundraiser. I was there. Clooney was exactly right, and every single person I talked to at the fundraiser thought the same thing, except for the people working for Joe Biden, or at least they didn’t say that,’ Jon Favreau, a member of the group often referred to as the ‘Obama bros’ during his tenure in the White House, said during an appearance on CNN.

Favreau was citing the same fundraiser as Clooney in his guest essay where the actor claimed the Biden that showed up there was ‘not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.’

Clooney wrote that Democratic Party leaders needed to stop trying to convince Americans they ‘didn’t see what we just saw,’ and accused them of ignoring ‘warning signs’ concerning Biden.

Favreau agreed, telling CNN, ‘I remember my wife, Emily, turned to me after the fundraiser and said, ‘What are we going to do?’ And I said, ‘Well, there is a debate in a week. Either he’ll do well in the debate, and we’ll think he was just tired because he flew all the way back from Europe, and that’ll be that, or he’ll be like this at the debate and then the whole country will be talking about it. So, here we are.’

Favreau’s blunt comments come just a day after he joined two of his fellow advisers and members of the ‘Obama bros’ in dedicating the majority of their latest ‘Pod Save America’ episode to ganging up on Biden following his poor performance in the first presidential debate and in a subsequent interview.

‘I thought it was bad, and, at times, very hard to watch,’ former Obama adviser Tommy Vietor said during the podcast, referencing Biden’s sit-down interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week that came as part of an effort by Biden to quell critics calling for him to exit the presidential race.

‘The debate was just a bad night. We all saw it,’ fellow former adviser Jon Lovett said. ‘The explanations are kind of vague… That doesn’t do enough to assuage our concerns about what we saw that night. Right? So, the explanations don’t offer anything.’

Biden has said he will not be leaving the 2024 race, and his campaign is continuing to go ‘full steam ahead,’ as one source put it to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Fox News’ Kristine Parks contributed to this report.

As former President Donald Trump narrows the field of his prospective running mates, a senior official from his previous administration says he may only ask two questions of each candidate before he makes his decision.

Former national security adviser John Bolton told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday that he thinks the questions that are most important to the presumptive GOP nominee are, ‘No. 1, do you think the 2020 election was stolen? And number 2, ‘If I told you to do what I told Mike Pence to do on Jan. 6, would you do it?”

It has been widely reported that three names remain in play for the Republican VP spot: Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Vance and Burgum are considered front-runners with Rubio more of a long shot.

The former cabinet member said the right answers may move any of those candidates up in Trump’s view, but said at a personal cost, ‘it would be a great loss of integrity for any of those people if they said ‘Yes’ to both those questions,’ Bolton said.

‘I think the highest priority is absolute personal loyalty to him,’ Bolton said of Trump, reminding viewers that although former Vice President Mike Pence was loyal to the former President, on January 6, 2021 when Trump supporters descended on the Capitol, Pence was the one person among senior members of the administration that stood up to Trump saying he did the ‘right thing even when the rest of them failed.’ 

He went on to say of the current VP hopefuls, ‘I don’t know whether these three are capable of doing that, honestly,’.

Trump has hinted that he will announce his choice for running mate at next week’s Republican National Convention. The former president even said he has a good idea who it will be.

Bolton thinks his former boss shouldn’t make the announcement at the RNC next week while Biden’s campaign is still dealing with the question of his mental fitness and ability to lead the country, let alone beat his predecessor in a general election.

‘There’s no news that is gonna come out of the Republican National Convention, other than the vice presidential nomination. Why waste it in a week when the Democrats may still be talking about whether Joe Biden is competent to be president,’ Bolton said.

While it’s widely believed that Vance or Burgum will be the former president’s choice, Bolton warned, ‘I think what we have to remember with Trump is, it’s never final ’til it’s final and then sometimes it’s still not final,’ 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign.

More than a dozen House Democrats locked in tough re-election battles this year have traveled to the White House more than 130 times collectively throughout the past three and a half years for various events.

Though specific explanations for each visit are not provided, the lawmakers’ trips range in date from February 2021 to March 2024, according to White House visitor logs reviewed by Fox News Digital.

The 16 Democratic lawmakers made a combined 133 visits to the White House on different occasions, with President Biden, whose mental acuity and age have been largely called into question ahead of the 2024 election. He was present for roughly 75% of the meetings or gatherings during each visit.

The vulnerable Democrats who have traveled to the White House are Reps. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut (18 times), Susan Wild of Pennsylvania (18 times), Emilia Sykes of Ohio (11 times), Mary Peltola of Alaska (10 times), Eric Sorensen of Illinois (nine times), Vicente Gonzalez of Texas (nine times), Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico (eight times), Yadira Caraveo of Colorado (seven times), Andrea Salinas of Oregon (seven times), Marcy Kaptur of Ohio (seven times), Frank Mrvan of Indiana (seven times), Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania (six times), Angie Craig of Minnesota (five times), Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania (five times), Don Davis of North Carolina (four times), and Jared Golden of Maine (two times).

The 16 vulnerable lawmakers – many of whom have sought to put distance between the Biden administration’s agenda and their district-specific congressional bids – are all seeking re-election to seats that are currently ranked by the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analyst, as either ‘Democrat Toss Up’ or ‘Lean Democrat.’

Though she has expressed opposition to parts of the Biden administration’s agenda in recent months, Peltola, for instance, has traveled to the White House roughly a dozen times since she joined Congress in September 2022 and previously claimed Biden’s ‘mental acuity is very, very on,’ describing him as one of the ‘smartest, sharpest’ people she met in D.C.

Asked recently whether she believes Biden is fit to serve as president, Peltola, who’s had a handful of small meetings with the president in recent years, told Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, ‘I don’t think there is any benefits to Alaskans weighing in on this issue.… My opinion is irrelevant.’

Peltola, who has endorsed Biden’s re-election bid and is seeking re-election in a state that heavily supported former President Trump in the 2020 presidential election, has faced criticism from her GOP challengers for refusing to take a stand against the Biden administration’s agenda. Earlier this year, she voted ‘present’ on the Alaska’s Right to Produce Act to roll back some of the 63 executive orders Biden has made against the state’s oil and gas economy.

A spokesperson for Peltola’s office, told Fox News Digital, ‘Since Rep. Peltola was elected, she’s attended and brought Alaskans to public events at the White House to share unique Alaskan perspectives with decision-makers, but her biggest motivation for going was her successful push for the Willow Project.’

‘She secured a meeting so she and Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan could advocate for the Willow Project. Because of Rep. Peltola’s advocacy, a project that’s been in limbo for decades will open hundreds of new oil wells and create good-paying Alaskan jobs. The last private conversation she had with the president was when he phoned to offer condolences shortly after her husband passed away last year in September,’ the spokesperson added.

Craig has also made several trips to the White House in recent years, attending events and meetings where Biden was in attendance. But in a split from several members of her party, Craig called for Biden to ‘step aside for the next generation of leadership’ in the 2024 race for the White House.

Craig’s comments, which referenced Biden’s performance at the debate, come as she seeks re-election to represent Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District in the House.

Like Craig, Golden, who attended a White House event with the president last December, has also looked to put some distance between himself and Biden in recent weeks.

‘Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise,’ Golden said in a Bangor Daily News op-ed. ‘It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.’

Perhaps one of the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election, Golden represents Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which supported Trump by a seven-point margin in the 2020 election.

Wild has also sought to put some distance between herself and Biden as she seeks re-election to represent Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, a seat considered a top pick-up opportunity for Republicans in the 2024 election cycle.

Though she hadn’t previously expressed concern about Biden’s fitness for office, Wild said this week that she shares Americans’ concerns ‘about President Biden’s electability at the top of the ticket,’ noting the ‘importance of this election.’

Like many of her colleagues, Wild has attended several meetings and events at the White House since 2021. In March, she attended a 12-person meeting with Biden at the White House.

Davis, who has attended at least one small meeting with the president at the White House, has also raised concerns about Biden’s electability, saying in a statement this month that if Biden ‘is going to stay in, he needs to step up.’

Other Democrats who have traveled to the White House in recent years to attend meetings and events with Biden, including Hayes, have been silent about the concerns that have been raised by members of their own party.

Hayes, who has traveled to the White House nearly two dozen times in the last three and half years and met with the president in several small gatherings, has been tight-lipped about concerns over whether Biden is fit for office.

Taking aim at Hayes, who previously said she was ‘not concerned about [Biden’s] age,’ the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) accused the congresswoman of locking ‘herself in her bunker’ and ‘refusing to outright answer’ whether Biden is fit for office.

‘Jahana Hayes thinks she can run and hide from Joe Biden but the truth is, she helped enable this massive cover up of Biden’s cognitive decline,’ NRCC spokesperson Savannah Viar said in a statement. ‘The question is simple: ‘Does Jahana Hayes think Joe Biden is fit to serve as President?”

Following his disastrous debate performance against Trump, Biden has repeatedly faced calls from members of his own party and the media to step aside from or withdraw from the 2024 presidential election.

The situation has plunged the party into crisis and continues to drive a wedge between Biden loyalists and elected officials in swing districts ahead of next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Biden’s top campaign aides have been working damage control with major donors, while the White House – and Biden himself – remain adamant he is the right man to lead the party against Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

The youngest son of former President Donald Trump made his debut on the campaign trail.

Barron Trump appeared at his father’s rally in Doral, Florida, on Tuesday night, where he stood for a sustained applause amid praise from Donald.

‘That’s the first time he’s done it. That’s the first time, right?’ Trump said as Barron accepted applause. ‘You’re pretty popular, he might be more popular than Don and Eric, we gotta talk about this. Hey Don, we gotta talk about this.’

‘So Barron, it’s good to have you. Welcome to the scene, Barron,’ Trump continued. ‘He had such a nice, easy life. Now it’s a little bit changed.’

The former president clarified that Barron is set to go to college in the coming semester and has ‘made his choice’ on school, but did not clarify where he would be attending.

Trump has previously praised his 18-year-old son as a ‘smart one,’ adding that the former first son likes to give his dad political advice. 

‘He’s seen it, he doesn’t have to hear it,’ the 2024 presumptive Republican nominee previously told Philadelphia’s Talk Radio 1210 WPHT after the host asked if he had advised Barron on ‘how nasty’ politics can be.

‘He’s a smart one,’ Trump continued. ‘He doesn’t have to hear much, but he’s a great guy. He’s a little on the tall side. I will tell you, he’s a tall one. But he’s a good-looking guy, and he’s really been a great student and he does like politics.’

At one point, the teenager was set to take an active part in Republician Party politics as a delegate for his father.

Republican Party of Florida chairman Evan Power said in May that Barron would serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering, where the GOP is set to officially nominate his father as its presidential candidate for the November general election.

However, this plan proved premature after Barron’s mother — Melania Trump — shut down such plans that same month.

‘While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments,’ Melania Trump’s office said in a statement following the announcement.

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimon contributed to this report.