Wednesday morning news: July 3, 2024

JEAN-PIERRE: Hi, everybody. Good afternoon.

Biden meets with governors » The White House on Tuesday held its first press briefing since President Biden’s troubling debate performance last week. And it was not an easy day at the office for Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

REPORTER: Is anyone in the White House hiding information about the president’s health or his ability to do that job day to day?

PIERRE: Absolutely not.

REPORTER: After the debate, did the president get examined by a doctor, or did he get a neurological scan?

PIERRE: A neurological scan? Look, uh … It was a bad night. We understand that it was a bad night.

That has been the standard White House response in recent days, that the president had a cold and he had a bad night. But after Biden showed signs of severe cognitive decline at the debate, the tough questions kept coming.

REPORTER: Does President Biden, at 81 years old, have Alzheimer's, any form of dementia or degenerative illness?

PIERRE: It’s a No. And I hope you’re asking the other guy the same exact question.

She said the president was given a clean bill of health in February. She said no further exams or further release of Biden’s medical information was warranted.

And she repeatedly downplayed concerns about the president’s incoherent moments during the debate …

PIERRE: It is not unusual. Most incumbents for their first debate, you know, it doesn’t go well.

But Pierre also looked to convey a message of understanding: We hear you. We get it, and we know the American people have concerns. But one reporter pushed back:

REPORTER: Well, if you get it, why not release more about his medical — his physical and mental health.

PIERRE: What we have released has been very comprehensive.

In a new CBS poll, 72 percent of respondents said they do not feel President Biden has the mental acuity needed to do the job.

Biden campaign damage control » As reporters grilled the press secretary in the press briefing room, President Biden was trying to calm the fears of fellow Democrats.

He met with Democratic governors worried about what the president’s political crisis could mean for down ballot candidates at the state and national level.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz:

WALZ:  Talk turned a little bit to what was obviously a poor performance in last Thursday's debate, and governors asking questions about what is the plan, how are we going to do this, how are we going to message this.

Biden is also meeting with party leaders on Capitol Hill.

Congresswoman, and longtime former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Tuesday:

PELOSI:  I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition? And so when people ask that question, it's completely legitimate of both candidates.

The New York Times is out with a new report on the president’s health concerns. It stated that, “People who have spent time with President Biden over the last few months or so said [his mental lapses] appear to have grown more frequent” and more pronounced.

Hurricane » Jamaica is bracing for impact as Hurricane Beryl roars toward the island today. It spent the night spinning over the Caribbean Sea as a powerful Category 4 storm.

Michael Brennan with the National Hurricane Center:

BRENNAN:  We have a hurricane warning in effect for Jamaica. We are expecting a storm surge of five to eight feet above normal tide levels, uh, on the coast of Jamaica, especially concerned in the areas around Kingston, those harbors and on the south side of the island.

Beryl is already blamed for at least six deaths after the storm slammed the southeast Caribbean.

While Beryl has lost some intensity, it became the earliest Category 5 storm in modern history to form in the Atlantic.

Trump sentencing delayed » The judge in Donald Trump’s New York business fraud case has postponed next week’s scheduled sentencing hearing for at least two more months. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The judge agreed to delay the hearing until at least mid-September.

He has to determine how this week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling might impact the case. The High court found that a president is largely immune from prosecution for official actions taken as president.

The former president is appealing the guilty verdict in the New York case. And while the core of the case deals with Trump’s actions before he became president, some evidence was presented from his time as president that may no longer be admissible.

Trump's lawyers argue that the conviction should be tossed out in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Vaughn case » A pro-life demonstrator who says he did nothing more than engage in peaceful protest will not face jail time.

A federal judge sentenced Paul Vaughn Tuesday to three years of supervised release. The husband and father of eleven had faced a maximum sentence of more than a decade in federal prison.

A jury convicted him in January of conspiring with other pro-life demonstrators to block the entrance of an abortion center near Nashville, which is prohibited under a federal law known as the FACE Act.

But Vaughn told WORLD earlier this year…

VAUGHN: I in no way sat at a door or risked anything that I thought would be illegal, and had police guidance on that subject.

Vaughn’s attorneys are appealing his conviction.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Big developments in the presidential campaign on Washington Wednesday. Plus, World Tour.

This is The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.