Trump lashes out at George Clooney after he calls on Biden to step aside: Live

US consumer prices fell for the first time in four years in June amid lower gasoline costs and moderating rents, firmly putting disinflation back on track and drawing the Federal Reserve another step closer to cutting interest rates in September.

The second straight month of benign consumer price readings reported by the Labor Department on Thursday should help to bolster confidence among officials at the U.S. central bank that inflation is cooling after surging in the first half of the year.

The report also showed a measure of underlying inflation posting the smallest increase since August 2021 on a monthly basis. Financial markets saw a very high probability of the Fed starting its easing cycle in September.

The results of a recent survey from ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos reveals that two-thirds of American voters — and a majority of the president’s own supporters — now believe Joe Biden end his re-election campaign.

Here’s Ted Cruz, senator for Texas, plugging his podcast and spouting conspiracy theories:

Here’s Texas this week:

Ritchie Torres, Democratic congressman for the South Bronx in New York, has been one of the more vocal US representatives over the past 24 hours regarding the future of Joe Biden’s candidacy.

Yesterday he warned about the impact on down-ballot elections of the name at the top of the ticket, before giving a less-than-positive statement to CNN: “If we are going on a political suicide mission, then we should at least be honest about it.” ⁦

This morning he expanded on those thoughts. Here’s what he said on X just before 11am:

The narrative that the President simply had one bad debate performance reflects a continuing pattern of denial and self-delusion.

The President did not just have one “bad debate.” The reality we saw with our own lying eyes is evidence of a deeper challenge.

The notion that the President is going to be saved by this interview or that press conference misses the forest for trees.

I will respectfully listen to the President’s press conference tonight and the interview on Monday evening but the ability to survive a single public appearance is the bear minimum of what should be expected of a Democratic Nominee. Neither the press conference tonight nor the NBC interview on Monday evening will offer the President the political salvation he seems to be seeking.

If the President formally becomes the Democratic Nominee, we will have no choice but to make the best of a complicated situation. But there is no point in denying the complications.

The big show is now just days away – meaning Trump will soon officially become the party’s presidential nominee in the 2024 race.

The twice-impeached convicted felon breezed through the GOP primary races, beating out competitors and amassing far greater than the required number of delegates to secure the nomination.

Now, from July 15 to 18, Republican lawmakers, delegates and other party figures will descend on the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to officially crown Trump the nominee and see the former president declare his chosen running mate.

Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming convention – at which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will now be speaking, after previously saying he wouldn’t.

MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough — who had President Biden on his show just days ago — suggested on Thursday that the Biden campaign and Democratic officials believe that former president Barack Obama is “quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate” the push for the president to end his campaign.

“Joe Biden is deeply resentful of his treatment under not only the Obama staff but also the way he was pushed aside for Hillary Clinton,” he said on Thursday.

The White House has repeatedly refuted these kinds of claims and reports of tension between the former president and his former veep. But Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — prominent party leaders — have played some behind-the-scenes roles in navigatating the fallout from Biden’s debate performance and pressure to end his re-election campaign.

A growing number of Democratic members of Congress and prominent Democratic donors as well as an overwhelming number of voters have suggested Biden should hang up his campaign, a call that has been met with resistance from the Biden campaign.

President Joe Biden’s press conference scheduled for Thursday has been delayed to 6:30pm.

His remarks will come after several NATO working sessions, including a bilateral meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Biden’s press conference are rare. His last formal solo press event was in November 2023, after meeting with Chinese President Xi in California.

“The president will hold a press conference… a big boy press conference, we’re calling it,” national security communications adviser John Kirby said this week.

His tongue-in-cheek reference was actually a reference to an exchange last week between White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Bloomberg journalist Justin Sink, who asked her about an alleged strategy of shielding the president from “impromptu” settings in light of his disastrous presidential debate performance.

In an uncertain political moment, Democrats are pressing ahead and seizing what they see as an opportunity: Trump’s attempt to distance himself from a blueprint for a narrowing of the federal government that would eliminate major agencies like the Department of Education.

Here’s John Bowden on the campaign to expose Project 2025.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has reiterated her support for President Joe Biden staying in the race for the White House this November, despite concerns over his mental acuity.

Hochul tweeted: “Joe Biden is a fighter who has been counted out time and again, only to come back and beat the odds.

“Proud to stand with him through November and beyond.”

However, Antonio Delgado, the New York Lieutenant Governor, Hochul’s second in command and a former House Democrat, has added his voice to those who believe President Biden should drop out of his re-election campaign.

Saying Biden “deserves our eternal gratitude”, Delgado says the president can “add to his legacy” by making room for a new leader.

He writes in a statement: “I believe we should move forward with a nominee capable of re-invigorating and re-energizing Americans who are determined to protect our democracy, and who want to do so with a candidate they believe can win.”

Here’s his statement in full: