White House is a 'mess' behind scenes after Biden mishaps as leadership tries to get handle on staff who are 'freaking the f*** out': Follow along for U.S. politics live updates

There's growing uproar within the White House over President Joe Biden's shockingly feeble debate.

It's now becoming a full-blown party revolt as two sitting Democrats are bucking Biden and saying they want another candidate on the top of the ticket.

The president will try and reassure Democratic governors at the White House Wednesday as an all-staff White House meeting is set to occur at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Aides told Axios: 'Everyone is freaking the f*** out.'

President Joe Biden blamed his globetrotting ahead of Thursday's disastrous debate for his poor performance.

The 81-year-old president made the concession during a fundraiser in the ritzy D.C. suburb of McLean, Virginia Tuesday night.

He told the crowd he 'wasn't very smart' for 'traveling around the world a couple times' before his showdown with presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.

'I decided to travel around the world a couple of times … shortly before the debate …I didn’t listen to my staff … and then I almost fell asleep on stage,' the president said

He added, 'It's not an excuse but an explanation.'

Biden had an entire week holed up at Camp David to prep for the debate after spending the Juneteenth holiday at Rehoboth Beach.

Before that he did back-to-back trips to France to mark the D-Day anniversary and then to Italy for the G7.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Biden was so drained from the jetsetting that advisers cut debate prep short by two days - in order to fit in the beach trip.

And then while at the presidential retreat, debate prep didn't start before 11 a.m. and Biden was given time each day in the afternoon to take a nap.

President Joe Biden's disastrous debate and the ensuing questions about his competence and elderliness are sending a 'message of incompetence' to the United States' most dangerous adversaries, top Republicans say.

Biden's mumbling and disjointed debate performance raised alarm bells for even Democrats and liberal pundits who rushed to say the president should consider not running again - something Republicans have long said.

Now, the top ranks of the GOP are raising the threat level further, saying Biden's mental state is so perilous that China and Russia could be looking to strike.

And they say his Cabinet should remove him from office through the 25th Amendment process - which has never been done in history - before World War III breaks out.

'[The] performance by the president sent a dangerous message of incompetence that will further embolden our adversaries,' House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul told DailyMail.com, adding 'The world is already on fire and [the debate] only made it worse.'

A top Republican is demanding the Pentagon explain why it tried to hide taxpayer dollars sent to China for risky virus research.

A new Defense Department report shockingly revealed the agency lost track of millions of taxpayer dollars sent to the adversary of the US.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is now demanding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin explain what exactly happened, according to correspondence exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com.

Paul says he's 'deeply concerned' over the Pentagon report finding the department couldn't determine whether it sent money to China for pathogen research.

'It is unacceptable that DoD cannot account for the full extent of taxpayer funding it has spent on pandemic pathogen research at Chinese research laboratories,' Paul wrote to Austin.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he was eating a goat in Patagonia - not a dog in South Korea - pushing back on claims made in a Vanity Fair piece published Tuesday.

The independent presidential candidate sent out a furious tweet Tuesday afternoon after the magazine made the wild allegations in a story about Kennedy's pattern of 'reckless' behavior.

Vanity Fair used a veterinarian to identify the animal as a dog and said that Kennedy had sent the image to a friend recommending a South Korean restaurant that served dog meat.

A dog-themed scandal already derailed one rising political star this year.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem seemed destined to be on former President Donald Trump's veepstakes shortlist - until she admitted to shooting a young dog in her memoir.

A second sitting Democrat has turned on President Joe Biden - saying he's actually 'OK' if Donald Trump wins in November.

In an op-ed published in a Main newspaper Tuesday, Rep. Jared Golden, 41, said that he expects Trump to win after Biden's terrible debate performance.

'After the first presidential debate, lots of Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should step down as the party’s nominee,' he wrote.

'Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise,' he continued.

Conservative hardliner Bob Good has officially lost his race against Trump-backed John McGuire in a contentious primary, according to Virginia election officials.

The race was so close that it took weeks for the results to come out.

McGuire officially beat Good in the primary on Tuesday after the final tally found him ahead by just 374 votes.

The right-wing Freedom Caucus chair lost the support of the president when he initially endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over him. He also turned off a number of House colleagues when he voted to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.

The Good campaign has said they will demand a recount.

Donald Trump's July 11 sentencing for a 34-count hush money conviction in Manhattan will be delayed from July until September.

The new date was set on Tuesday after the Manhattan DA's office said it will not oppose delaying sentencing as Trump's lawyers move to file a motion to overturn his hush money verdict following the Supreme Court decision on immunity.

The new sentencing date is set for September 18.

A New York jury unanimously found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records on May 30 for covering up a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet before the 2016 election.

But on Monday, Trump's attorney sent a letter asking to set aside his conviction and delay his sentencing following the blockbuster Supreme Court ruling.

Trump contended he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.

From Rob Crilly, Chief U.S. Political Correspondent at the White House

The White House set out its defense of President Joe Biden at the first briefing since his disastrous debate performance. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listed a busy week of engagements including travel, a TV interview and a press conference next week.

He knows how to do the job, and he knows how to do the job not because he says it ... because his record proves it, because for three and a half years, almost four years, president's record has been unprecedented.

She also admitted he had a 'bad night' and was suffering from a cold.

Donald Trump claimed his campaign raised $331 million in the second quarter of 2024.

This self-reported figure is $67 million more than President Joe Biden's canpaign says it raised in the same April through June timeframe.

Biden reportedly raised $264 million in the three months, including $38 million in the four days after his car crash debate performance with Trump in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, June 27.

Hunter Biden has joined White House meetings this week after spending the weekend at Camp David with his dad on the heels of President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance.

NBC News reported Tuesday on Hunter's presence on calls and in meetings on the White House campus as the 81-year-old president's political future is in question.

One source said Hunter - a convicted felon on gun charges and under indictment on tax charges - 'popped into' a couple of meetings.

'What the hell is happening?' has been the reaction of some senior staff, a source said.

Hunter's addiction to crack cocaine and his foreign business deals have been a years-long political headache for the president.

Yet Biden has kept him close, rushing to Delaware last month to hug Hunter on the tarmac hours after a jury decided he was guilty of lying about his sobriety when buying a gun.

President Joe Biden will sit down for an exclusive interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

It's the first time he's participating in an interview since his disastrous debate performance.

The interview will air over the holiday weekend, the network announced. But that calls into question how many people will see it given the summer and Fourth of July holiday.

A first look of the interview will air Friday, July 5, on World News Tonight with more airing on the weekend editions of GMA. The extended interview will air Sunday, July 7, on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Biden is facing pressure to drop out of the presidential race after his terrible debate performance with Donald Trump.

President Joe Biden, for the second day in a row, did not answer a question on whether or not he should drop out of the presidential race.

Biden, who was at DC's Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday, ignored a shouted question from reporters on the subject. He also ignored a similar question on Monday night, shouted at him at the White House after he spoke about a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.

The president was at the center to talk about extreme weather and the dangers of heat. He is facing a political heat of his own as many Democrats push for him to exit the presidential race after his disasterous debate performance with Donald Trump.

Texas Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett called for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race Tuesday.

Doggett is the first sitting Democrat to demand Biden step aside.

'I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson,' the Texan said in a statement. 'Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw.'

'President Biden should do the same,' he continued.

A CNN poll released on Tuesday shows Trump polling ahead of Biden by six points 49 percent to 43 percent, but the results are identical to polling of the presidential race among registered voters conducted in April.

The new polls come as some Democrats are calling for Biden to drop out of the 2024 race and allow for a replacement nominee after his stumbling debate performance.

The majority of Democrats now believe the party has a better chance of winning the presidency with someone other than Biden at the top of the ticket, the CNN poll found.

56 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters said someone other than Biden has a better shot. That's up slightly from January when 53 percent believed the party would have a better shot with someone other than Biden.

But polling found the presumptive Republican presidential nominee currently leads the entire Democratic field of names flloated to replace Biden in hypothetical matchups:

• Trump 47 percent - Vice President Kamala Harris 45 percent
• Trump 48 percent - California Gov. Gavin Newsom 43 percent
• Trump 47 percent - Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg 43 percent
• Trump 47 percent - Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer 42 percent

President Joe Biden is visiting DC's Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday to talk about extreme weather - a topic that comes as he faces his own political storm.

Clouds are rolling over Biden as he's under pressure to exit the presidential race after his disastrous debate last week.

He is standing firm but also hasn't addressed the issue. He spent the weekend at Camp David with his family.

When he returned to the White House on Monday he spoke for less than five minutes on the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity but did not take any questions from the press.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced additional funding for Ukraine's war with Russia during a meeting with Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Austin's pledge came during a meeting between the two at the Pentagon Tuesday.

The money will be used on anti-tank weapons, air defense systems, interceptors and other munitions.

The aid will come from President Joe Biden's drawdown authority, which allows the commander-in-chief to pull resources from US military stockpiles.

The U.S. has so far committed over $53 billion to the war in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden will meet with Democratic governors at the White House on Wednesday to reassure them after his terrible debate performance.

Some will attend in person, while others will attend virtually, CBS News reported.

Several governors held a conference call on Monday to discuss the situation. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz organized the call, CNN reported.

Talk continues about replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee.

It's unclear if some of the Democratic governors considered potential presidential replacements - Gavin Newsom of California; Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan or J.B. Pritzker of Illinois - will be at the meeting.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in that state after an appeals court found that he lied when arguing that former President Donald Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 race.

In a decision released Tuesday, the court found that Giuliani 'baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country's electoral process.'

Giuliani was serving as one of Trump's personal attorneys.

The former mayor also 'actively contributed to the national strife that has followed the 2020 presidential election, for which he is entirely unrepentant,' the ruling said.

His law license was already suspended in New York and in Washington, D.C.

Liberal Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski audibly sighed when a guest panelist floated Vice President Kamala Harris step in for Joe Biden as presidential candidate in 2024.

Sam Stein, Deputy Managing Editor for Politics at Politico, said Tuesday that Harris might be a good middle ground amid calls for Biden to step aside after his disasterous debate performance against Donald Trump.

Brzezinski was visibly annoyed with the suggestion:

Exactly then, what happens? Do we go with someone completely untested? Completely inexperienced because they seem cool? Because they’re younger? Because they have less experience? Like, what does that look like?

Stein replied:

Well, there is sort of a semi-middle ground here, right? Kamala Harris. She’s been vetted. She’s the vice president. She would inherit the campaign infrastructure. She’d inherit the money, whereas anyone else in this hypothetical universe could not. She would be the logical person to take on the mantle. On top of that, she has some experience debating Republicans at this level, including making the case against Donald Trump, right? That would be the logical extension here. I agree with you, the other ones, they’re untested.

Brzezinski exhaled loudly and Stein noted:

A big sigh there on air.

Former President Donald Trump's July 11 sentencing after 34-count conviction in Manhattan will be delayed.

The Manhattan DA's office just said it will not oppose delaying his sentencing date.

It's a move that makes his sentencing likely to be pushed back by at least two weeks.

Trump's attorney on Monday sent a letter asking to set aside his conviction and delay his sentencing.

Trump contended he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Donald Trump is in no rush to reveal his vice presidential pick after a dominating debate win last week because there is no need to shift the narrative away from a news cycle very critical of President Joe Biden.

Senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita said in response to a NBC News report on the former president slowing down his timeline for announcing who will join him on the 2024 ticket:

This is what you do when the prediction of a VP being picked last week ...doesnt happen

President Joe Biden terrible debate performance has altered Trump's unveiling of his No. 2 amid a flurry of speculation over who he will pick.

Donald Trump has taken a three-point lead over Joe Biden in the latest presidential poll.

The USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll shows the former president beating the current president 41 percent to 38 percent.

The previous survey from the pollsters in May showed the candidates tied at 37 percent.

Vice President Kamala Harris has changed her schedule for the week so she can have lunch with President Joe Biden and cozy up to him at this week's Fourth of July festivities.

The move comes as talking of removing Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee continues as part of the fallout from his disasterous debate with Donald Trump.

Harris and Biden will have lunch together at the White House on Wednesday, as they occassionally do.

Then she and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will join both President Biden and first lady Jill Biden at the White House on Thursday evening a Fourth of July celebration for military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors.

Former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) penned an op/ed Monday insisting Vice President Kamala Harris should step in as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.

The failed 2020 presidential candidate wrote on X: 'We have to rip the band aid off! Too much is at stake. VP⁩ has significantly grown into her job, she will destroy Trump in debate.'

It comes after President Joe Biden's car crash debate performance and a chorus of calls for the incumbent to step aside ahead of the nominating convention in August.

Ryan, who lost his seat to Republican Sen. J.D. Vance in 2022 midterms, wrote in his Newsweek op/ed:

I ran for President in 2020. I was the first Presidential candidate to endorse Joe Biden in 2020. I love America. I love our Party. I love Joe Biden.

The Democratic Nominee in 2024 should be Kamala Harris.

The House Oversight Committee wants to know how many tax-payer funded federal government employees are still working from home years after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many federal offices remain empty more than four years after the onset of the coronavirus crisis and there is nearly no structure for work schedules and no plans for the entire workforce to come back to the office.

Oversight Chairman James Comer told DailyMail.com:

Biden's main objective with the federal workforce, in my opinion is to to keep them happy at all costs so they'll go vote for him.

It's all crap. Every caseworker here whether they're Democrat or Republican, every office we have caseworkers, they will all tell you it is impossible to get someone on the phone now in any governance, push Social Security, whether it's the VA you know, trying to get passport, it doesn't matter.

Comer says the Biden administration is refusing to hand over figures on what percentages of the federal workforce are teleworking and who is coming to the office.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

President Richard Nixon wouldn't have resigned if Monday's Supreme Court ruling were in place when Watergate happened, claims former White House Counsel John Dean.

The Supreme Court ruled along the 6-3, liberal-conservative lines that presidents have ‘absolute’ immunity for clearly official acts – although they did say there is no immunity for unofficial acts.

The case was brought up to the highest court by former President Donald Trump amid multiple cases against him, including his actions on January 6, 2021 when he was still president.

Dean told CNN that 'Nixon would have survived' Watergate had it happened now.

He would have been immunized.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

President Joe Biden's reelection campaign claims it brought in $38 million in the four days following his car crash debate performance against Donald Trump.

In reporting its second quarter fundraising figures, the Biden-Harris campaign reports that it raised $264 million between April and June.

The haul, it says, includes the largest-yet fundraising month of the campaign with $127 million raised in June.

Biden campaign manager Juylie Chavez Rodriguez said:

This election will be close and the stakes couldn't be higher – which is why today's fundraising haul matters so much. It will ensure that we reach and mobilize the voters who will decide this election every single day.

According to reports, the Biden campaign has told donors that their stacks of cash would go to Kamala Harris if the president ends up dropping out of the race.

That would give a major boost to Kamala - who didn't clearly rise to the top of the pack to replace the president, despite being second in line.

She has struggled with low approval ratings for months and voters are not enthusiastic about her at the top of the ticket.

Growing Democratic uproar over President Joe Biden's shockingly feeble debate performance on Thursday night appears to be turning into a full-blown party revolt.

'For Biden's own good and the good of the country, he should step aside immediately,' major Democratic donor and former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson told DailyMail.com. 'The fact that it has now been three days and Biden has done nothing to reassure us confirms my worst fears.'

Tilson has given the party more than $300,000 in recent years.

Days after the President struggled to hold his train of thought and tailed off mid-answer into incomprehensible gibberish during the CNN debate, left-wing benefactors are still up in arms.