More Democrats call for Biden to exit 2024 race as president vows to return to campaign trail – live

7.38pm BST

Two more House Democrats call on Biden to 'pass the torch' to Harris

Two more House Democrats have called on the president to “pass the torch” and “release his delegates” as the president signals a defiant return to the campaign trail next week.

The message is clear: the calls will not stop, despite Biden’s insistence he’s not going anywhere. Even if the president doesn’t believe he should step down, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see how he can continue without the support of so many in his own party.

Minnesota representative Betty McCollum, said Biden should “release his delegates and empower Vice President Harris to step forward to become the Democratic nominee for president,” in a statement provided to the Star Tribune.

Meanwhile, Kathy Castor, a Florida representative, told an NBC affiliate in Tampa that now was an “exciting time to possibly pass the torch”, during an interview with a Tampa-based news channel.

“Kamala Harris is a fighter and I have full confidence in her,” she said.

Updated at 7.48pm BST

7.20pm BST

Joe Biden’s coronavirus symptoms are easing. He’s taking the anti-viral drug Paxlovid, as he isolates in Delaware after flying back early from events in Nevada on Wednesday, when he tested positive for Covid-19.

He’s suffering from a non-productive cough and hoarseness, primarily, the White House said.

It issued a statement, which you can read here . The variant of the virus that the president caught has not yet been identified.

Updated at 7.24pm BST

7.15pm BST

There is someone important hanging out in Washington, DC today though – US vice-president Kamala Harris .

She didn’t have anything on her official White House schedule today but she’s materialized at the opening of a pop-up ice-cream shop owned by Tyra Banks.

According to the pool report, Harris ordered the “Cap Hill Crunch” flavor. She was accompanied by her grandnieces, one of whom ordered the Chocolate GooGoo cake flavor.

Not surprisingly, the vice president did not answer questions about Biden’s political future or her own.

Updated at 7.41pm BST

7.02pm BST

It comes to something when a president of the United States and commander-in-chief of the US armed forces makes news because someone said he asked pointed questions and “made decisions”, but, as Joe Biden would say, “Anyway…”

Here’s the latest from Reuters:

Joe Biden has been engaged and asked pointed questions, the top US general said on Friday, amid questions about the president’s health since he appeared frail and at times lost his train of thought in a recent debate against Republican Donald Trump.

On all the times I’ve engaged with the president, he’s been engaged. He’s asked very pointed questions, and made decisions,” said Gen CQ Brown , chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, to the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

Updated at 7.05pm BST

6.58pm BST

Interim summary

Hello US politics blog readers, it’s been another extraordinary morning in political news even if Washington DC is a bit of a ghost town, with Joe Biden bunkering in Delaware, Congress on recess and Republicans wandering home from their convention in Milwaukee.

But there couldn’t be more drama and the day feels young so stick with Guardian US and we’ll bring you the developments as they happen.

Incidentally, we hope you can read this because you dodged the global IT failure, and you can also read all the developments in that story, live, here .

Here’s where things stand in US politics:

• High profile Democratic congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California and Ohio freshman representative Greg Landsman brought the number of members of Congress who have called on Joe Biden to get out of his re-election race to 30.

• Joe Biden remained defiant, despite isolating out of the public eye in Rehoboth because he caught Covid, saying he’ll be back on the campaign trail next week. This despite pressure mounting for him to step aside from the top of the Democrats’ Biden-Harris 2024 ticket.

• Mark Heinrich of New Mexico became the third sitting US Senator to call for Biden to quit the race, urging the president to step aside for the good of the country and pass the torch, saying the party needs a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November, for the sake of US democracy.

• Biden also issued a statement condemning Russia for sentencing a Wall Street Journal reporter to 16 years for, as the US government and media continue to assert, simply doing his job. “Journalism is not a crime,” Biden said, as a Russian court found Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison. The trial was widely viewed as a sham. Biden is pushing for his release.

• Congressmen Jared Huffman of California, Marc Veasey of Texas, Chuy Garcia of Illinois, and Marc Pocan of Wisconsin wrote a letter addressed to the US president calling on him to step aside from the reelection race.

• Before Joe Biden said he’s be back on the campaign trail next week, yet another media report bubbled up saying that members of Biden’s family has begun discussing an “exit” plan, citing “two people familiar” with the situation. The report suggests Biden has yet to make a final decision, but that his closest allies believe he is likely to step aside.

• Jenn O’Malley Dillon , Biden’s reelection campaign chair, said he is the “leader of our campaign and the country” during an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the president’s favorite show. “He is the best person to take on Donald Trump and prosecute that case,” she said.

• Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave an interview in which he declined to make an endorsement in the 2024 election, but called Donald Trump’s reaction – raising a fist and mouthing fight, after his ear was bloodied by a bullet during an assassination attempt at one of his rallies, in Pennsylvania last weekend, “one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life”.

Updated at 7.07pm BST

6.38pm BST

Ohio representative Greg Landsman is a freshmen congressman, representing the state’s first district, which includes Cincinnati.

He took office in January 2023 after being elected in the midterms and previously serving as a city councillor for almost five years until December 2022, so spanning the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement this afternoon he followed, in what is becoming almost protocol, showering Joe Biden with praise: “It is time for President Biden to step aside and allow us to nominate a new leader who can reliably and consistently make the case against Donald Trump and make the case for the future of America.”

Updated at 7.07pm BST

6.23pm BST

Zoe Lofgren is up there with Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin in terms of the highest-profile and highly-experienced US representatives who have so far publicly either called on Joe Biden to think about his future at the top of the Democratic ticket for this election or actually make way for someone else.

None of the three, or any of the Democrats pressuring Biden, have said publicly exactly who that someone else should be. But they have made themselves plain that they don’t think Biden can win against Donald Trump again even though he’s a successful president.

Lofgren’s statement says in what is essentially an open letter to Biden: “Your lifetime of public service has inspired many and is something I respect greatly.” She calls Trump “unprincipled and corrupt,” a view cemented by sitting on the bipartisan January 6 congressional committee.

She asks Biden to step aside and let another fight for a Democratic return to the White House for consecutive terms, saying: “I make this request…in hopes that your legacy of accomplishments will be preserved” and adding that if Biden formally becomes the party’s nominee next month she will campaign for him but says “I greatly doubt that the outcome will be positive and our country will pay a dreadful price for that.”

6.07pm BST

Lofgren joins highest profile Democrats urging Biden to quit race

In the last few moments, two more Democratic members of Congress have called on Joe Biden to step aside from his reelection campaign, even as the US president issued a defiant statement.

Zoe Lofgren wrote a statement, posted by CNN’s Jake Tapper just now, saying to Biden: “Your candidacy is on a trajectory to lose the White House and potentially impact crucial House and Senate races down ballot….I urge you to step aside from our Party’s nomination to allow another Democratic candidate to compete.”

Ohio congressman Greg Landsman also made the call.

Lofgren sat on the January 6 committee hearing evidence into the attack on the Capitol by extremist supporters of Donald Trump in 2021 as they aimed to overturn his defeat by Biden.

She was also an impeachment manager on the House team that prosecuted Trump as president first for trying, essentially, politically to extort Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy . Trump was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate in this and his second impeachment for the Capitol attack.

Updated at 6.23pm BST

5.51pm BST

Joe Biden criticized Republican rival Donald Trump as having a “dark vision” for America and said he looked forward to returning to the campaign trail next week and winning at the ballot box in November.

Donald Trump’s dark vision for the future is not who we are as Americans. Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box,” the US president said, as reported by Reuters.

Biden is under mounting pressure to quit his re-election race, with the nadir being the 81-year-old’s dire debate performance against Trump last month. A total of 25 US representatives and three US Senators have now publicly called for him to step aside and that number is creeping up every few hours or sometimes every few minutes, even.

But Biden, who is isolating at one of his residences in Delaware after contracting Covid earlier this week, insisted he’s staying in the race.

I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda,” he said.

Project 2025 is a far right framework for government think-tanked up for Trump to use as a blueprint if he wins the election. My colleague Rachel Leingang has all the details on Project 2025 and Trump’s ties to it (despite some attempts by him to distance himself lately).

Updated at 5.56pm BST

5.27pm BST

Biden 'looks forward to getting back on campaign trail'

Joe Biden has issued a statement in which he says he’ll be back on his re-election campaign trail next week.

This is despite pressure mounting for him to step aside from the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket.

The US president also said of Donald Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention last night when accepting the party’s nomination for the presidency that Trump’s “dark vision is not who we are as Americans”, Reuters reports.

More details shortly.

Updated at 5.31pm BST

5.18pm BST

It’s unfortunate for Joe Biden’s esteem that so much of the buzz around his future at the top of the 2024 Democratic ticket is anonymous, or anonymously sourced, even as more lawmakers put their names to public statements asking him to quit his re-election campaign.

There are schools of thought being discussed by media pols watchers that, just as after the last congressional recess, there could be a torrent of lawmakers joining the chorus when business resumes on Capitol Hill next week, or that may not happen because with the word out there that Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are prodding Biden towards the election plank , others don’t need to come forward.

Those three congressional musketeers have yet to call publicly for Biden to step aside, however, and the anonymous chatter goes on.

Such as CNN reporting an unnamed Democratic governor telling the cable network “the next 72 hours are big … this can’t go on much longer”, while “one senior Democrat” said “people see and feel the walls closing in.”

Updated at 6.02pm BST

4.50pm BST

Third sitting Democratic US Senator publicly calls on Biden to quit race

Mark Heinrich, the senior US Senator from New Mexico, has just put out a statement adding his voice to the growing chorus of national Democratic lawmakers calling on Joe Biden to step aside from his reelection campaign for the White House.

Heinrich urges Biden to step aside for the good of the country and pass the torch, saying the party needs a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November, for the sake of US democracy.

Here’s his statement posted to X:

4.20pm BST

Four more House Democrats call on Biden to step aside

Another group of House Democrats called on Biden to step aside on Friday, after Jon Tester of Montana became the second sitting senator to publicly urge Biden to reconsider his re-election bid.

We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing you can do in this moment is to step aside as our nominee while continuing to lead our party from the White House. Democrats have a deep and talented bench of younger leaders, led by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who you have lifted up, empowered, and prepared for this moment, wrote Democratic congressmen Jared Huffman of California, Marc Veasey of Texas, Chuy Garcia of Illinois, and Marc Pocan of Wisconsin wrote in a letter addressed to the president.

Though the congressmen do not explicitly endorse Harris, the letter strongly suggests she should be at the top of the ticket.

Emphasizing their “great admiration” and “sincere respect” for the president’s decades of service, they write: “ Mr President, you have always put our country and our values first. We call on you to do it once again, so that we can come together and save the country we love.”

Updated at 6.05pm BST

4.06pm BST

Bold Pac, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, announced on Friday that it was endorsing Biden, which is no surprise given the group’s opposition to Trump but noteworthy at this moment, as the president fights for his political life.

“Another Trump presidency would be disastrous to the Latino community across the country. Make no mistake, Latinos nationwide will bear the brunt of the consequences of a second Trump presidency and Bold Pac will remain laser focused on doing what it takes to ensure that he remains a one-term president,” the group’s chairwoman, Linda Sánchez, said in a statement announcing the endorsement.

The Biden campaign said it was “honored” to have its support, and that the endorsement shows just how much the Biden-Harris administration has delivered for Latino communities.

“If this week’s Republican National Convention didn’t make it clear enough, let me make it abundantly clear: Trump’s Project 2025 is anti-worker and anti-Latino, and Trump himself has consistently demonized and vilified our community,” said Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, granddaughter of Chicano rights leader Cesar Chavez.

Updated at 6.05pm BST

3.37pm BST

Biden on Russia sentencing of WSJ reporter: 'Journalism is not a crime'

Earlier on Friday, a Russian court found Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison, after a trial widely viewed as a sham.

In a statement, Biden denounced the sentencing decision, saying Gershkovich had “committed no crime”. The US president said the reporter was “targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American” and that his administration was “pushing hard” for his release.

As I have long said and as the UN also concluded, there is no question that Russia is wrongfully detaining Evan. Journalism is not a crime. We will continue to stand strong for press freedom in Russia and worldwide, and stand against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists. Additionally, since the very first day of my administration, I have had no higher priority than seeking the release and safe return of Evan, Paul Whelan and all Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad. Evan has endured his ordeal with remarkable strength. We will not cease in our efforts to bring him home. And Jill and I are holding Evan and his family in our prayers.

Related: Russian court sentences US journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison

Updated at 6.06pm BST

3.32pm BST

Despite the torrent of calls for Biden to step aside, it is also true that he has many supporters who want to see him remain the nominee. Interestingly, some of his staunchest support has come from progressives, the group of people he had clashed with the hardest as pivoted to the center in preparation for a re-election bid.

Speaking on a live Instagram video last night, New York congressman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said Biden should remain in the race.

She warned that removing Biden would create chaos, including a campaign to also remove his vice president, Kamala Harris.

For a fuller breakdown of AOC’s 50-minute Instagram live, here’s Allie Peck, a spokesperson at the US Department of Energy.

Updated at 4.29pm BST

3.19pm BST

The report is consequential because Biden relies heavily on his family to make major political decisions. They are his inner circle and his brain trust and include his wife, Jill Biden , his only living son, Hunter Biden, and his sister, Valerie Biden .

Behind the scenes, those close to Biden, his family and top allies, are reportedly seething over the way he is being treated. They believe the effort to dislodge him from the campaign has been “ backhanded and disrespectful ” according to the NBC report, which says the family is “distraught and moving through the stages of anger and grief over how people they perceived to be friends have treated the president”.

“There was a much more dignified way to do this if this is what they wanted,” a Biden ally told NBC News. “This is no way to treat a public servant who has done a lot for this country.”

But a note of caution, embedded in the NBC report, is that some of the speculation may be just that: speculation. The outlet interviewed historian Jon Meacham who was reportedly penning Biden’s exit remarks.

“The report is totally false,” Meacham told NBC.

Updated at 3.45pm BST

2.59pm BST

Biden's family has begun discussing possible 'exit' plan - report

No sooner had Biden’s campaign chair finished an interview insisting the president would “absolutely” remain the party’s nominee than NBC news hit publish on a report suggesting Biden’s family has begun discussing an “exit” plan, citing “two people familiar” with the situation.

The report suggests Biden has yet to make a final decision, but that his closest allies believe he is likely to step aside.

According to NBC News, the family members want a plan that would both “put the party in the best position” to defeat Trump while “also being worthy of the more than five decades he has served the country in elected office”.

“The prospect of Biden’s considering stepping aside, much less that his family is gaming out a possible exit plan, is an extraordinary development that comes after he has repeatedly said he would not relinquish his position as the presumptive nominee of the party,” the report states.

The White House denied the report. “That is not happening, period,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

Updated at 4.00pm BST

2.45pm BST

As speculation swirls around Biden’s political future, he continues to carry forth with his duties as president.

According to a White House official: “The president has been briefed on the CrowdStrike outage and his team is in touch with CrowdStrike and impacted entities. His team is engaged across the interagency to get sector by sector updates throughout the day and is standing by to provide assistance as needed.

The president was also briefed on the drone attack overnight in Tel Aviv. ”

Updated at 3.46pm BST

2.37pm BST

At the end of the interview, O’Malley Dillon is asked directly if there was “any chance” Biden exits the race at “any point.”

“You have heard from the president directly time and again,” she said, with her boss likely tuning in. “He is in this race to win and he is our nominee and he’s going to be our president for a second-term.”

To borrow a line from Dumb and Dumber’s Lloyd Christmas : “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.”

2.33pm BST

O’Malley Dillon is attempting to knock down the flurry of reporting over the last 36 hours by several outlets that says the president is not only considering dropping out of the race, but is planning to do so possibly as soon as this weekend. In the interview, she suggests the reporting is based on ill-informed sources.

For every bad story and leak and someone that thinks they know about something that happened with the president in some conversation that he’s not having , there is a person a senator, a governor, a real person that is out there in Milwaukee making the case, that is in an a battleground state holding an event, mayors from all across the country, labor, that are standing with him that have members in every single state. So there is no doubt we need to move forward. There is no doubt we have to go back to focusing on taking on Donald Trump because there’s too much at stake.

Transcripts have been shared of the president’s combative exchanges with lawmakers during conversations with a group of moderate House Democrats as well as with a group of Hispanic Democrats. There are also anonymously-sourced reports that House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries , Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as former president Barack Obama, have all weighed in to suggest Biden should not continue as the party’s nominee.

Updated at 2.42pm BST

2.24pm BST

Campaign chair says Team Biden doesn't have its 'head in the sand'

O’Malley Dillon continues to stress that Biden has “work to do” but said the campaign doesn’t have its “head in the sand.” They know what needs to be done – and are doing it.

“For every person that has said that they are concerned, we’ve had another person that’s seen him and they’ve said you are our guy and we want to be with you,” she said, emphasizing that Biden’s campaign trail appearances have been re-assuring to the campaign.

She added: “The more and more people that see Joe Biden out there post-debate they are reassured.”

The appearance seems to be a last-ditch effort to quiet speculation that the president is preparing to withdraw.

“This is definitely a hard period for the campaign,” O’Malley Dillon she said, adding that she was sure the people calling on Biden to leave the race wanted the same thing – to beat Trump – but reiterated that Biden was the Democrat best-suited to do so.

Updated at 4.00pm BST

2.17pm BST

Willie Geist, another host, asked O’Malley Dillon how the campaign is confronting concerns among Democrats worried about the downstream effect of running behind an unpopular president who nearly two-thirds of Democrats want to see replaced. He also notes that many Democratic senators are running well ahead of Biden in key battleground states.

O’Malley Dillon acknowledges that the campaign has faced some “tough weeks” but said it was built for a close race against Trump.

“ There is work to do, no doubt, ” she said. “We know that we’ve slipped a bit from the debate and we know that the president has to prove to the American people exactly what he believes: that he’s in it to win it.”

Updated at 3.00pm BST

2.13pm BST

The host, Mika Brzezinski , pressed O’Malley Dillion on how the campaign is contending by the pressure campaign led by Democratic heavyweights, the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who are increasingly pessimistic that Biden can win the White House in November.

“We also have to take seriously the concerns that people are expressing but the way to get past them is to get back to the business of beating Donald Trump and setting up that clear choice,” she said.

She also teased an endorsement from a “very significant national organization,” later this afternoon.

2.09pm BST

Biden is 'best person to take on Trump', says campaign chair

Biden campaign chair, Jenn O’Malley Dillon, said Joe Biden is the “ leader of our campaign and the country ” during an interview right now on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the president’s favorite show,

“He is the best person to take on Donald Trump and prosecute that case,” she said.

The segment opened with a long rehashing of all the news reports suggesting Biden is open to stepping aside, amid dismal polling and growing calls for him to not be the nominee, including Montana senator Jon Tester, one of the chamber’s most vulnerable Democrats.

Updated at 4.00pm BST

1.50pm BST

Facebook founder says Trump's fist pump after shooting 'one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen'

Good morning and welcome to our liveblog coverage. The 2024 Republican national convention in Milwaukee ended last night with a meandering 90 plus-minute speech by Donald Trump , after he formally accepted the Republican nomination for a third time.

Self-isolating in Delaware after testing positive for Covid, the US president is facing an all-out rebellion from his party. Joe Biden ’s team insists he is not considering ending his re-election bid, but the walls appear to be closing in on the embattled 81-year-old.

Meanwhile, Republicans have never been more optimistic of their chances in November. The party left Milwaukee united, with a new heir apparent, the Ohio senator JD Vance , chosen to be Trump’s running mate. Donations have swelled, with a significant boost of support from the thanks will do tech world, including Elon Musk.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Mark Zuckerberg declined to make an endorsement, but called Trump’s reaction – raising a fist and mouthing fight, after his ear was bloodied by a bullet during the rally – “one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“It’s like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy,” he told Bloomberg.

• Read more about Trump’s acceptance speech, which Joan Greve reports included harrowing recounting of the moment a would-be assassin fired at the former president onstage during a rally in Pennsylvania. Despite being billed as a unity speech, Trump often returned to the dark themes that have animated his election campaign.

Related: Trump speech mixes unity and hate as he caps off Republican convention

• And don’t miss this colorful dispatch from Milwaukee about how the assassination attempt turned Trump into a “messiah” figure among his fervent followers.

Related: ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’: Trump emerges as an American messiah with swagger

Updated at 4.01pm BST