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.

Officials with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) have warned that Russia has launched a plan to interfere in the 2024 election to bolster the chances of former President Trump being re-elected. 

In a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, ODNI officials said that Russia is the ‘preeminent threat’ to the election and that while China doesn’t plan to influence the outcome of the presidential race, the communist nation is being carefully monitored to see if it mingles in down-ballot races. 

‘It’s all the tactics we’ve seen before, primarily through social media, efforts using influential U.S. voices to amplify their narratives and other tactics,’ an official said. ‘And as far as who they’re targeting, what we can say today is, Russia is sophisticated enough to know that, targeting swing state voters is, particularly valuable to them.’

Officials said that the intelligence community expects Russia will increase its underhanded activities as U.S. election day gets closer in order to manipulate public opinion, underscoring the threat to America’s political landscape.

Although former President Trump was not named specifically, ODNI officials said that the Russian interference is mimicking what it says were similar preferences for U.S. presidential candidates seen in previous election cycles.

Russia is ‘undertaking a whole-of-government approach to influence the election, including the presidential race, Congress and public opinion,’ the official said, noting that Russia has grown ‘more sophisticated’ over the years in election interference. 

The Kremlin, officials said, is seeking to influence specific voting groups in swing states, as well as looking to promote divisive narratives and denigrate specific politicians, although no specifics were provided. 

An official said that artificial intelligence (A.I.) is making it easier for Russia – and other actors – to interfere in the U.S. political syatem, since the technology allows Kremlin operatives to mimic American Southern or Midwestern accents.

The Trump campaign and the Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital requests for comment. 

‘Foreign adversaries continue to experiment with and have adopted at least some generative AI tools to more quickly and cheaply generate authentic looking content tailored primarily for social media platforms that can target specific audiences including in the U.S.,’ an ODNI official said during the briefing, noting a heavy focus on its use by Russia and China.

The official added, China would be interested in down-ballot races down to the state and potentially local level. But to be clear, this is something we’re watching at this time, rather than, actively seeing it as we did in the 2022 cycle. Right now, our assessment is focused that China doesn’t perceive a benefit in supporting either candidate, or either party.’

The official said that China is pulling data from TikTok and other social media platforms used in the U.S. in order to spread their influence narratives, as well as to collect publicly available data on users and public opinion. 

Meanwhile, the ODNI official said that Iran is seeking to stoke social divisions among the U.S. population and ‘undermine confidence in the US democratic institutions around the elections.’

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Tuesday that Iran is attempting through social media to covertly stoke protests in the U.S. against the war in Gaza. 

‘We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters,’ Haines said, adding that Americans protesting in good faith may not know they are being influenced by the Iranian regime. 

‘We urge all Americans to remain vigilant as they engage online with accounts and actors they do not personally know.’

Tuesday’s briefing came on the same day that the Justice Department nabbed an alleged social media ‘bot farm’ run by the Russian government that was being used to spread disinformation in the U.S. and other countries. 

The Justice Department said it seized two domain names and identified 968 social media profiles used by Russian actors in the Netherlands to create AI-enhanced social media profiles to promote messages in support of Russian government objectives. 

One of the fake messages posted on X, formerly Twitter, in 2023 included a video of Russian President Vladimir Putin justifying the country’s actions in Ukraine, although the video only had a handful of views. 

Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report. 

Former President Donald Trump published a screed on Tuesday warning Republican lawmakers that they have no choice but to pass the SAVE Act, warning ‘our whole voting system is under siege.’ 

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act, requiring states to obtain proof of citizenship from voters for federal elections, and purging non-citizens from voter rolls. 

‘Republicans must pass the Save Act, or go home and cry yourself to sleep,’ Trump wrote on his proprietary social media platform Truth Social. 

He continued, ‘Non citizen Illegal Migrants are getting the right to vote, being pushed by crooked Democrat Politicians who are not being stopped by an equally dishonest Justice Department.’

Under the legislation, voters would be required to provide proof of citizenship via IDs and documentation such as a passport, a government-issued photo ID showing proof the individual was born in the U.S., military IDs, or a valid photo ID as well as documentation showing proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, the legislation states. 

The Democratic leadership is urging its House members to vote against the bill in the lead-up to the vote, saying it would place ‘an extreme burden [on] countless Americans’ in order to vote. 

‘The Dems can’t win on their policies, the only way they can win is to CHEAT. They do it at every level of government, and they do it well. That’s how they get an incapacitated moron like Joe Biden elected,’ the former president said in his Truth Social post. ‘The Justice Department is CORRUPT and won’t do a thing to help. They have no shame!’

If the SAVE Act is successfully passed through the House, it faces an uphill battle in the Democrat-controlled Senate. 

Even if the bill overcame the upper chamber of Congress, President Biden has vowed to kill the legislation if asked to sign.

Trump ended his message with a threat to ‘pursue Election Fraudsters at levels never seen before’ if elected in November, saying such individuals would be ‘sent to prison for long periods of time.’

The former president seemed to specifically call out Facebook creator and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying, ‘We already know who you are. DON’T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!’

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor, President Biden’s physician, has been mostly out of the public’s view despite first overseeing Biden’s health care in 2009 and building what has been described as a cozy relationship with the Biden family over the last 15 years. 

‘I have never had a better commander than Joe Biden,’ O’Connor said in a rare profile interview with his alma mater, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, when Biden served as vice president. ‘All politics aside, he approaches his craft with such honor. He’s 100 percent ‘family first.’ He’s ‘genuinely genuine.’’

O’Connor’s name, however, has recently become common in news reports, as speculation mounts that Biden’s mental acuity has slipped and concerns grow that the White House’s credibility regarding information on the president’s health is dwindling amid repeated gaffes, miscues and disjointed remarks Biden has made during public events. 

The White House physician is affectionately known to Biden and his family simply as ‘Doc,’ and was specifically requested by Biden in 2009 to stay on as his physician after serving on the White House Medical Unit under the George W. Bush administration. 

O’Connor was first appointed to the White House Medical Unit in 2006 for what was intended to be a three-year military assignment, according to his profile published by the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, from which he graduated in 1992. Instead, ‘Vice President Biden asked O’Connor to stay on,’ the profile continues. O’Connor complied, marking the beginning of their doctor-patient relationship that has reportedly evolved into a cozy relationship with the president’s large family. 

Biden’s 2017 memoir ‘Promise Me, Dad,’ which was re-examined recently by Fox News Digital, features the president reflecting on his close relationship with ‘Doc,’ including O’Connor joining the family on their annual vacation to Nantucket, balking at the family’s ‘browsing extravaganza’ on the tony island. 

The physician’s relationship with the family seemingly grew closer, according to the memoir, when the president’s son, Beau Biden, was diagnosed with brain cancer – which ultimately claimed his life in 2015. 

‘Doc was good with Beau, who was still trying to get his bearings in those first few days. Real fear was starting to creep in. Sometimes Beau would grab him when everybody else was out of earshot to get his honest assessment,’ Biden wrote in the memoir. 

‘‘Whatever it is, this is bad,’ he told Beau, ‘but we’re gonna find out what it is. And once we find out what it is, we will have a plan.’’ 

‘‘Promise?’ Beau asked.’

‘‘Promise.’’ 

In another excerpt, Beau Biden requested O’Connor ‘promise’ to take care of his father if he should die. 

‘‘Seriously, Doc. No matter what happens. Take care of Pop. For real. Promise me. For real,’’ Beau Biden said to O’Connor, according to the book. 

Back in 2018, Biden’s sister-in-law, Sara Biden, described O’Connor as a ‘friend’ who provided medical advice to members of the Biden family beyond the eventual commander in chief. 

‘Colonel O’Connor was actually a friend and he — we would frequently ask for his recommendations if any of us had a medical issue, so it was not uncommon to ask him if he had a recommendation,’ she said in a deposition related to a New York state medical malpractice case involving her daughter.

Republican Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson, who served as former President Obama’s White House physician before also overseeing former President Trump’s health, told the New York Post this month that Jill Biden has a cozy and familial relationship with O’Connor. 

‘Kevin O’Connor is like a son to Jill Biden — she loves him. It’s crazy. Kevin O’Connor was in that job on day one of the Biden administration because they knew they could trust Kevin to say and do anything that needed to be said or done and cover up whatever needed to be covered up. He is part of the Biden family,’ Jackson told the outlet. 

O’Connor, who retired as an Army colonel in 2017, also had a business relationship with the Biden family, Politico reported. He introduced Jim Biden, the president’s younger brother, to military health officials and met with another hospital president as the younger Biden pursued healthcare ventures through the hospital chain Americore in 2017, according to the outlet. 

‘I truly enjoyed our time together the other day,’ O’Connor wrote to a Pennsylvania hospital president after a meeting he shared with Jim Biden, according to Politico. ‘You and your team clearly share our vision, and I look forward to seeing you again in coming months.’ 

Concern over Biden’s mental sharpness hit a fever pitch late last month, when he delivered a botched debate performance that included losing his train of thought at times and giving garbled answers in a subdued and raspy voice. The debate unleashed panic among Democratic allies and members of the media, as they remarked his debate performance was a failure that added fuel to the fire surrounding concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and age. 

Amid the fallout from the debate, as well as his first sit-down interview with the media last week that did not help quell concerns, Biden has vowed to stay in the race. 

‘I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,’ Biden wrote in a letter Monday to congressional Democrats, calling on them to end their questions on whether he should end his re-election bid.

‘I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024,’ he added.

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment when asked about O’Connor’s close relationship with the president and the first family or whether the president would be evaluated by an outside doctor. Fox Digital also reached out to O’Connor through George Washington University, where he serves as associate professor of health, human function and rehabilitation sciences, but did not receive a response. 

As the White House and Biden campaign try to dismiss concerns over Biden’s debate performance, repeated gaffes and miscues while in public, the White House press corps has grilled the administration about the president’s health in increasingly fiery exchanges with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. On Monday, one White House reporter noted during the press briefing that the administration’s ‘credibility’ regarding the president’s health has been called into question, while another reporter asked Jean-Pierre if the media could hear directly from O’Connor regarding Biden’s health. 

O’Connor has never taken the podium at the White House to speak with the media, Fox News Digital found, including back in 2022, when Biden was diagnosed with COVID-19. 

Former White House doctor under the Trump administration, Sean Conley, spoke to the media when Trump was diagnosed with COVID in 2020, as did Trump’s previous physician Jackson in 2018 to tout the then-president’s ‘good genes’ and how he passed a cognitive test. 

O’Connor has released a handful of statements and updates on the president’s health since Biden was sworn into the nation’s highest office in 2021, including when he was diagnosed with COVID, as well as updates on Biden’s annual physicals. 

His interviews with the media and public events, however, are few and far between. O’Connor did have a sit-down, recorded conversation with the Federation of State Medical Boards in 2022, when he discussed his work in the White House and medical background, as well as another recorded interview with his alma mater last year. 

O’Connor has overwhelmingly brushed off media requests for interviews and comments in recent weeks, various media reports show, including when contacted by Fox News Digital since Biden’s disastrous debate performance on June 27. 

The physician released his latest letter on Monday to address mounting concerns over reports showing a Parkinson’s expert visited the White House eight times across eight months. 

O’Connor said Parkinson’s specialist Dr. Kevin Cannard was chosen for Biden’s annual physicals ‘not because he is a movement disorder specialist, but because he is a highly trained and highly regarded neurologist here at Walter Reed and across the Military Health System, with a very wide expertise which makes him flexible to see a variety of patients and problems.’

The letter added that Biden did not see ​​a neurologist outside his annual physicals. 

No signs of neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ascending lateral sclerosis, stroke or cervical myelopathy, were found during Biden’s physical in February, O’Connor said. 

The Parkinson’s expert’s visits to the White House have fanned the flames surrounding the media’s concern that the White House has reportedly not been forthright with the public about the president’s concern. 

On Monday, during the White House press briefing, Jean-Pierre had a fiery exchange with CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe after brushing off questions regarding confirmation of Cannard’s White House visits. 

‘It’s a very basic, direct question,’ O’Keefe shouted at Jean-Pierre. ‘That’s what you should be able to answer by this point.’

‘No, no, no, no, no,’ Jean-Pierre immediately pushed back. ‘Ed, please. A little respect here. Please.’

‘So every year around the president’s physical examination, he sees a neurologist. That’s three times, right? So I am telling you that he has seen a neurologist three times while he has been in this presidency. That’s what I’m saying,’ Jean-Pierre continued. 

O’Keefe continued to press the matter, with O’Connor’s letter confirming Cannard’s White House visits later Monday. 

President Biden was pressed in an interview with George Stephanopoulos last week on whether he would take a cognitive test and release the results to the public, which Biden repeatedly dodged. 

‘Have you had the specific cognitive tests, and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?’ Stephanopoulos asked.

‘No, no one said I had to. … They said I’m good,’ Biden responded.

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report. 

Democrats in Congress mostly resisted calling for President Biden to drop out of the race despite raising private concerns during an all-caucus, closed-door meeting Tuesday, according to reports. 

Lawmakers returned to Washington, D.C., this week after the Fourth of July recess, offering Democrats the first time to get together in person and discuss Biden’s disastrous debate performance two weeks ago. 

However, in a sharply worded letter sent Monday, Biden insisted that he would stay in the race and urged party leaders to refocus their criticisms on former President Trump. The letter seemed to at least temporarily slow the momentum of Democrats who are publicly calling for the president to step aside. Most members instead are towing the party line on Biden publicly, at least for now. 

At least 20 Democratic lawmakers stood up to speak during the nearly two-hour all-caucus meeting Tuesday, in what for many is an existential moment for their country considering a second Trump presidency, The Associated Press reported. Most of those who spoke wanted Biden to end his candidacy, a person granted anonymity to discuss the meeting told the outlet.

However, speaking publicly afterward, most Democrats who had urged against Biden continuing his re-election campaign have recanted, according to Axios. They acknowledged it would be too difficult to replace him as their nominee at this stage, just weeks before Democrats will convene at their convention in Chicago. Conversations between House and Senate Democrats were ‘dour’ and ‘sad,’ lawmakers in the meeting told the AP. 

‘He said he’s going to remain in, he’s our candidate, and we’re going to support him,’ Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said on CNN. 

Over the weekend, Nadler was among those privately saying Biden should not run, explicitly telling colleagues on a call Sunday that the president needed to drop out of the race, the New York Times reported. Nadler backtracked after Tuesday’s meeting, instead stating that his reservations were ‘beside the point’ and that Biden was ‘going to be our nominee.’ 

‘He has the delegates. I keep telling them that,’ Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., told Politico of Biden. ‘He got 14 million votes. Nobody else has any.’

‘I’m staying with Papa,’ Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., said, according to the AP. He said his constituents understand what the country went through during the COVID-19 pandemic and how Biden led through the crisis. ‘He was fit then, and he’s fit now.’

Democrats on Sunday had described this week as critical for Biden to prove that his campaign is viable. 

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who briefly ran for president himself, stated Sunday that Biden needs to ‘reassure the American people that he can run a vigorous campaign to defeat Donald Trump.’ 

Bennett confirmed to CNN on Tuesday that he told lawmakers during the closed-door session he does not believe Biden can defeat Trump in November. 

‘I think we could lose the whole thing,’ he said, referring to the White House and both chambers of Congress. 

While the all-hands meeting resolved most Democrats to inaction, late in the day Tuesday a seventh House Democrat, Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, publicly called on Biden not to run for re-election. With Trump seeking to return to the White House, ‘the stakes are too high – and the threat is too real – to stay silent,’ Sherrill said. 

Among the seven who have stuck their necks out publicly by calling for Biden to step aside is Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. 

‘The idea that we are going to slow-walk into fascism because we don’t want to hurt somebody that we respect’s feelings – I cannot even begin to tell you how angry that makes me,’ Smith said, according to the Times.

Before the all-caucus gathering on Tuesday, a smaller group of Democrats facing competitive House races in November were ‘pretty much unanimous’ in a separate meeting of their own that Biden has ‘got to step down,’ Axios reported, citing lawmakers involved. ‘There were actual tears from people, and not for Biden,’ one lawmaker told the outlet. 

The majority of Democratic senators who spoke during the lunch meeting expressed deep concerns about whether Biden can beat Trump in November, though they stopped short of saying he should step down from the race, a person familiar with the conversation and granted anonymity to discuss it told the AP. There were also a handful of senators who defended Biden. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York repeated, ‘I’ve said before, I’m with Joe.’

Some are turning more serious attention to Vice President Kamala Harris as an alternative, the AP reported.

Biden spent part of his Tuesday evening speaking on a virtual call with more than 200 Democratic mayors, saying he will win re-election with ‘basic block-and-tackling’ and boasting of the thousands of calls being made to voters, doors being knocked and signs being posted in support of his candidacy, according to a readout from his campaign.

That came after the president met virtually late Monday with the Congressional Black Caucus, whose members are core to Biden’s coalition, thanking them for having his back, and assuring them he would have theirs in a second term. He was also to meet with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose leadership – along with that of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – has said publicly they are sticking with the president.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a freshman Democrat, said there is too much at stake to turn away from Biden at this point in the campaign, saying a second Trump presidency would be extremely harmful to Black Americans across the country. ‘We are not willing to risk our freedoms for somebody feeling good because there’s a different name on the ballot,’ she said.

Having been on the campaign trail with Biden, Crockett told the AP, ‘That is why I can feel so confident, because I have seen more than the 90 minutes that everybody is so concerned about.’

Additionally, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., who ended his long-shot 2024 Democratic presidential bid months ago, was asked by reporters if he felt vindicated by Democrats calling on Biden to step aside. 

‘If this is vindication, vindication has never been so unfulfilling,’ he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

So with each passing day, it becomes clear that we’re living in a country run by a demented royal family. You got the mad King, a senile dude who can barely hold onto the presidency, much less his own bowels. You got the evil Queen, an ego-mad status seeker who demands to be called a doctor even though she’s not. It’s a doctorate in education. That’s like demanding to be called a pilot, because a flight attendant once pinned some wings on your shirt when you were 12. True, getting a doctorate in education is about as hard to acquire as a horse burger at my slaughterhouse. And of course, there’s the entitled Prince, a cut rate Caligula, whose idea of a family outing is an orgy. It feels like they need their own theme song. 

Let’s start at the top. The guy’s hanging by a thread and that thread is hanging by a hair plug. On Monday, Joe sent a letter saying he’s staying in. I’m told we have a copy of it. It reads in part, quote, ‘’The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party. Do we now just say this process didn’t matter, that the voters don’t have a say?’

Well, in truth, Democrat voters have less choice than the orphans I hire to shave my back. In short, the letter says we successfully lied to you. It’s too late, —- off. It’s defiant. He is raging not just against the Democrats, but against the dying of the light. He’s saying to the Dems, come and get me. Will they? Not if the evil Queen can help it. During a solo campaign stop in North Carolina yesterday, Jill claimed Joe is all in. If she means entombed, she’s right. 

He supported your career? What exactly did he do for your career other than marry you? He didn’t stop being a senator so you could go to fake doctor school. You were a substitute teacher. You weren’t separating conjoined twins. So, like one of those sign language interpreters, you see her now at every event, front and center, waving her arms like she’s warning people away from a bathroom that Jerry Nadler just left. The signal is a vote for Joe is a vote for me. She’s like Leonard Skynyrd. Yeah, they still tour, even though everyone’s dead. And yet the media is terrified to call her out because she’d do anything to stay where she is. She doesn’t want to go back to Delaware. No one does. The only thing in Delaware worth seeing are the signs to New Jersey. But her compassion is as phony as her degree. She should be teaching summer school to the slow kids but instead masquerades as the good wife as she pushes her confused husband into traffic. And how will that play out? Joe can’t resign. She’ll be seen as the villain. It’ll be humiliating. No more parties. No more expensive dresses. No more spots on ‘The View’, gagging on the persistent, pungent blasts of Whoopi’s farts. So she’s forcing him to do this? Not for his health. He’s dying. This is for her. And she knew these days were coming. 

Don’t scream, just talk. That’s exactly what I say to Judge Jeanine. But they let her talk and she doesn’t. Maybe she really is the acting president. Pretty obvious that Jill is the one out there campaigning because Joe can’t. If you wanted to prove that the debate was a one-off disaster, he’d be out there proving it. Instead, all he did yesterday was call in with morning breath and yell. But to his credit, at least he didn’t try to order a pizza. And for once, people saying he’s lost his mind weren’t talking about Scarborough. Yeah, but what about the Prince? Joe’s fun-loving son, Hunter, is now the commander-in-chief’s de facto gatekeeper. More like de facto crypt keeper. But this job is right up Hunter’s alley. Hunter is used to holing up in hotel rooms for weeks at a time, planning and plotting. And who better to give Joe something to keep him awake? We already know how he can get cocaine delivered right to the White House. It’s weird that after all of this, Hunter is in the Oval Office. Can you believe that? From a halfway house to the White House. From crackhead to Lincoln’s bed, from meth pipes to stars and stripes. 

All of this is insane. You know, they told you that if you didn’t vote for Joe, the White House would be occupied by a power-hungry tyrant who refuses to leave office even when everyone knows he’s unfit and that a convicted felon would be running the country. Guess they were right.

President Biden delivered a strong opening address to welcome foreign leaders to NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington D.C. Tuesday evening — a highly-anticipated speech as members of his own party and foreign leaders expressed concerns over his fitness for the presidency and continued re-election campaign. 

Biden spoke Tuesday evening to welcome foreign leaders to the summit, touting the strength of NATO, looking ahead to the future, and seeking to show strength amid chaos within the Democratic Party over his plans to continue running for re-election. 

Biden seemingly bounced back Tuesday evening, delivering a strong address without any major stumbles or setbacks. 

‘Today, NATO is more powerful than ever,’ Biden said Tuesday evening. ‘It’s good that we’re stronger than ever because this moment in history calls for our collective strength. Autocrats want to overturn global order, which is by and large, kept for nearly 80 years and counting. Terrorist groups continue to plot evil schemes, cause mayhem and chaos and suffering in Europe. Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues and Putin wants nothing less than Ukraine’s total subjugation to end Ukraine.’ 

The Russia-Ukraine war began under the Biden administration.

‘Ukraine can and will stop Putin,’ Biden said. ‘Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail.’ 

Biden, during the address, announced a historic donation of air defense equipment to Ukraine. The U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and Italy are coming together to provide Ukraine with equipment for five additional strategic air defense systems. 

Biden also gave NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg the Presidential Medal of Freedom Tuesday night as he opened the summit in Washington D.C. 

‘So much of the progress we made in the Alliance is thanks to the secretary,’ Biden said, adding that Stoltenberg has guided NATO through ‘one of the most consequential periods in its history.’ 

‘The whole world will reap the rewards of your labor for years to come in the form of security, opportunity and greater freedom,’ Biden said. ‘For these reasons, I am pleased to award you the highest civilian honor the United States can bestow—a Presidential Medal of Freedom.’ 

The three-day summit, which began Tuesday, will focus on ways to reassure Ukraine of NATO’s enduring support and offer some hope to its war-weary citizens that their country might survive the biggest land conflict in Europe in decades. NATO’s day-to-day work is led by Stoltenberg, the former prime minister of Norway, until he is replaced as secretary-general on Oct. 1 by outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Biden’s address Tuesday night came at a consequential time for the future of his presidency and a potential second term. 

Biden and the White House have maintained that he will continue running his 2024 re-election campaign. 

Sources told Fox News Digital that Biden has been personally working the phones to call Democratic colleagues, supporters and donors to quell concerns — and the strategy appears to be working. 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., came out in support of the president, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. 

Rank-and-file Democrats in the House also rallied behind the president, as well as a number of top Democratic senators. 

Biden also saw support from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Monday night. 

However, Democratic sources told Fox News Digital that ‘the reality’ is that Election Day is just four months away, and the Democratic Party ‘can’t just parachute a replacement in that can beat Trump this late in the game.’

‘The reality is, it is too late in the game to replace the guy if we want to win — that’s it,’ the source told Fox News Digital.

Additionally, despite reports of top donors considering pulling their support, the source told Fox News Digital that those donors ‘have a multi-decade personal relationship’ with Biden.

‘There is loyalty there, and he has delivered on many pieces of the Democrat agenda,’ the source told Fox News Digital. ‘Kamala has not proven that she is a viable replacement — even though Biden has given her years of world leader meetings and more.’