Hour away from an incredibly high stakes news conference for
President Biden
comes as Coles grow for him to drop out of
the race for president from people in his own party.
Thanks so much for joining us from NEWS at SIX.
I'm Corey Chambers and I'm Grace Gomez sing for Charlie
Chan.
There is a small but growing number of Democrats calling
on President Biden to step back as a Democratic nominee.
Yeah, that list could be longer depending on what happens
in an hour.
Henry Rossoff joining us now,
UXML. Today. I'm talking to to New York lawmakers,
New York sort of Democrats to see what they think
think about all this.
But let's talk about this moment,
right? Because I'm thinking about historically,
what have we had as many
members of a, a president's party saying he shouldn't run
again?
Well, especially this late in the game,
especially a sitting incumbent. I mean,
this aspect of it's almost unprecedented.
This press conference tonight, we just got pushed to about
7/20 was supposed to be 530,
then 630 keeps getting pushed,
is exactly the type of event that President Biden's supporter
says he needs to do to try to turn things
around following that awful debate performance a few weeks ago.
His supporters, including Governor Kathy Hochul,
believe unscripted questions will show the sort of demand of
the issues,
the president's ability to focus.
She's seen behind the scenes and respond in swift conversation
form
to former President Trump. Democrats say Mr.
Biden must especially shift the conversation to Mr.
Trump, refocus on his opponent and what they call Mr.
Trump's extreme agenda and authoritarian tendencies.
I did press the governor about Mr.
Biden is even physically capable of making this case.
What in your private meetings lead you to believe you
can tell the public he is not in decline and
he can serve four more years?
The conversations I've had with him,
he's knows the issues affecting New York State.
We talked about Gateway Tunnel,
we talked about infrastructure. So I will just tell you
what I have seen myself.
I saw nothing to be concerned about in terms of
his ability to make sure that we are victorious against
Donald Trump in November.
And and she was steadfast when I and others peppered
her with questions,
insisting that the president she knows behind the scenes is
more focused than what we've observed publicly recently.
But Henry, not all Democrats feel this way.
In fact, Miss Hokel, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado
came out yesterday and said the president needs to step
aside from the good of the country.
Yeah, that's right, He did.
It didn't exactly catch the governor by surprise,
but she did only hear about it just a couple
of minutes before it happened.
There are growing number of Democratic supporters,
including the actor George Clooney.
You talk about an actor,
but he's a key fundraiser.
He raised millions of dollars for Biden,
Mr. Obama when he ran.
They're wondering Mr. Biden can prosecute the case against former
President Trump.
Notable local Democrats facing tough re election campaigns have said
this as well.
That includes New Jersey Congresswoman Mikey Cheryl and Congresswoman Pat
Ryan of the upper Hudson Valley.
And to his credit, Mr.
Ryan did come on TV.
He spoke with us first here at PIX 11 and
defended his criticism of Mr.
Biden, asking him to step down.
We have to stop Trump and we need the best
candidate to do it.
And unfortunately, because I respect President Biden deeply and personally,
unfortunately he is not the the person to do that
for us right now.
And, and it's bigger than any person.
It's it's just too essential.
I'll I'll tell you what you just heard from Congressman
Ryan on camera.
We're hearing even more off camera those of us that
are engaging with the political types every day.
There's been this drip, drip of defections from Mr.
Biden. Yeah. And you know,
what's interesting is, you know,
there's some people framing this news conference as make or
break,
but I have to wonder if maybe we're past that
point.
And and perhaps what we see tonight dictates how ugly
things get.
If if there is this increased drum beat,
it's entirely possible. Now there was a favorable poll to
Mr.
Biden today, a good high quality poll from ABC,
Washington Post and Ipsos that showed him within the margin
of error against Mr.
Trump. So, you know, a good press conference could maybe
move the the needle or,
or delay what you're talking about.
At least get him to the get him to the
nomination.
Get him it's maybe just build step by step by
step on the way back.
We'll be watching, that's for sure.
And we're going to have it for you.
Again, President Biden holding a news conference.
Now we're hearing about 7:20 when it happens from DC,
you will see. See it here live on picks 11.