A Crack in the Biden Firewall

This episode explores the mounting challenges President Joe Biden faces within his party concerning his re-election campaign.

1. There is a growing sentiment within the Democratic Party questioning Biden's suitability for a second term, driven by concerns about his age and performance.
2. Democratic leaders, while publicly supporting Biden, are privately anxious about the potential negative impacts on the party.
3. Nancy Pelosi's comments have signaled an openness within the party leadership to discuss alternatives to Biden’s candidacy.
4. The episode also highlights the influence of public figures like George Clooney, who has expressed doubts about Biden's capability following recent public appearances.
5. External pressures and internal divisions are intensifying as the Democratic National Convention approaches, making Biden's upcoming press conference particularly pivotal.

1: The Shifting Sands

Pelosi diverges from the party line, suggesting Biden reassess his run, sparking discussions on leadership and candidacy. Brad Milke: "This isn't over. Let's start the day with ABC's contributing political correspondent Rachel Baid."

2: Public Perceptions and Celebrity Influence

Analysis of public opinion and the unusual impact of celebrity opinions on political campaigns. George Clooney: "Joe Biden should step aside."

3: High Stakes Ahead

The setup for an upcoming crucial press conference by Biden that could define the future of his campaign. Brad Milke: "It's frankly sad if you're one of these Democrats."

1. Stay informed: Regularly check reliable news sources to keep up with political developments.
2. Engage in discussions: Join forums or local groups to discuss political issues and understand different viewpoints.
3. Exercise voting rights: Ensure you are registered to vote and participate in elections to have a say in leadership decisions.
4. Support transparency: Advocate for clear and open communication from political leaders regarding their plans and capabilities.
5. Foster community involvement: Encourage friends and family to engage in civic activities to strengthen democratic processes.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signals the debate over President Biden’s future isn’t over yet. Karen Read’s defense lawyers say a fourth juror has come forward to say that, despite a mistrial, the jury wanted to unanimously acquit her of murder. And NASA insists that two astronauts aren’t “stuck” in space, despite being in orbit for a month.

People

Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, George Clooney

Content Warnings:

None

Jen Tran
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Brad Milke
It's Thursday, July 11, and maybe the president shouldn't book his convention tickets just yet. We start here.

In the face of new polling, Nancy Pelosi suggests there's still room for argument.

Rachel Bade
The very pointed message to Biden himself, basically, that he needs to reconsider.

Brad Milke
The skeptics are getting louder, and President Biden is about to put it all on the line in a press conference. Was this a mistrial or a missed verdict?

Ariel Reshef
The defense wants those counts tossed.

Brad Milke
Why? Karen Reid could have been found not guilty after all. And talk about a high stakes press conference. This one was held 250 miles above our heads.

Trevor Alt
That NASA has to say our astronauts are not stuck is generally not a good sign.

Brad Milke
Why NASA says these astronauts are still waiting to come home.

From ABC News, this is start here. I'm Brad Milke.

As we post this this morning, ABC News, along with our partners Ipsos and the Washington Post, have just released a new poll. And if you were thinking, hey, you know what, in retrospect, maybe President Biden didn't do as badly in that debate as it first appeared, well, you got another thing coming.

So in our earlier poll a few months ago, 68% of Americans thought Joe Biden was just too old for a second term. That number has risen from 68% to 85%. Two thirds of Americans think he should abandon his reelection campaign. And that's not just Republicans that don't like him. Among Democrats and left leaning voters, six in ten think he should step aside. Now, there are caveats here. For one, when you ask people who they would actually vote for, the numbers between Trump and Biden are still a dead heat. Trump leads by a point. When you ask Americans if Biden did step aside, who do you think should replace him? The most popular answer by far was Kamala Harris. But when you stack her up against Trump, she leads nationwide by three points, still very much within the margin of error. So make of that what you will. But as polls like this come out, make no mistake, members of Congress are increasingly nervous in the last 24 hours. The first democratic senator has now voiced his opinion that Biden should step aside, though, crucially, so far, no party bigwigs have taken that step. However, yesterday, one of them did seem to open the door. This isn't over. Let's start the day with ABC's contributing political correspondent Rachel Baid, who authors Politico's playbook every morning she's at the Capitol. Rachel, we heard from top Democrats like Chuck Schumer yesterday saying, he's our guy. Like this looked done.

Rachel Bade
What has changed one name for you, Brad? Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, went on MSNBC yesterday morning and parted from what Democrats were doing, saying, I'm with Joe Biden. I'm with Joe Biden. Instead, what she said was, look, it's up to him if he wants to be the nominee. He's got to decide fast.

Brad Milke
We're all encouraging him to, to make that decision because time is running short.

Rachel Bade
He needs to decide. Maybe not now, maybe just tell someone privately what you're gonna do, but tell us right after this NATO summit ends. And very much this goes against what Biden has been saying.

Trevor Alt
I'm running again because I think I understand best what has to be done.

Rachel Bade
Biden has been saying over and over again, I'm going nowhere. I'm in this race.

Brad Milke
Wait. Whatever he wants to do, we know what he wants to do. Can you translate this for me?

Rachel Bade
What Pelosi was doing was two things. Number one, she was sending a signal to her rank and file members that it's okay to come out and say that this is not a closed conversation. There have been a lot of Democrats behind the scenes who have been saying they want Biden to step aside, that they don't think he can win the White House, that he's gonna bring down Democrats and help Republicans take the majority in Congress. It's okay to talk about this. And the other thing she did was send a very pointed message to Biden himself, basically that he needs to reconsider, that he's staying in the race.

Brad Milke
This is like saying it without saying it. You think?

Rachel Bade
Absolutely. Very carefully crafted. And look, the timing of this, I think, was particularly interesting because the whole narrative by yesterday morning was sort of that Biden's firewall was holding.

Butch Wilmore
We are riding with Biden.

Brad Milke
Was there a conversation about vice president?

Butch Wilmore
We are riding with Biden.

Rachel Bade
There was this sort of behind the scenes campaign from Biden allies to come out publicly, have lawmakers who support him come out very publicly and put pressure on those who do want him to step aside to just keep quiet. I am not distracted by a 90 minutes debate. And it actually was working. And so Pelosi all of a sudden decides that she's gonna speak up. And, you know, it's funny, because yesterday I had heard from one longtime, very high ranking House democratic staffer who said, Nancy Pelosi has more of a spine than any members in our caucus. And so people were already looking at her, hoping that she would sort of step forward to give them cover to do what they want to do.

Brad Milke
Rachel, the other thing that happened yesterday was, so there's Nancy Pelosi. She's a bigger political deal than the next person I'm going to mention. But in a New York Times op ed, George Clooney comes forward to say he thinks Biden should step away from the nominating process. Does stuff like that matter? Like, I'm trying to figure out, like, we put so much importance on these members of Congress sort of defecting. How much do outside voices move the needle?

Rachel Bade
Obviously, the initial gut reaction is sort of to roll your eyes, right? High profile celebrity coming out and saying, you know, Joe Biden should step aside. Who cares, right? But the fact of the matter is he was at a fundraiser with Biden just a few weeks ago and helped raise, you know, millions of dollars for the party. And what he did in that op ed was detail specifically that he's known Biden for a really long time. And the Biden he saw in that fundraiser was the same Joe Biden that the american public saw during that debate. That was, you know, two weeks ago. Now.

Jen Tran
Well, what I can tell you is that he had a cold and a bad night.

Rachel Bade
And that goes against what the White House has been saying, which was, that was one bad night. Clooney's coming out and saying, no, I've been with him.

I've been raising money for the Democratic Party, giving money myself. I know him. And the guy I saw at this fundraiser was not the Joe Biden I've known for a long time. So, of course, it matters in that regard.

Huge difference in terms of hill lawmakers coming out. I think that folks are looking for cover. And this is where we get back to Pelosi. I don't know that Clooney gives that sort of COVID up here on Capitol Hill, but Pelosi sure as heck does because of her influence. A lot of people respect her.

And look, people know that she is super careful with her word choice, and she certainly thought out exactly what she was going to do before she went on that MSNBC interview and sort of threw this whole story upside down once again.

Brad Milke
I was going to say her staff, like, reiterated her exact wording. Like, this wasn't an accident. Hey, lastly, Rachel, today Biden is holding a press conference, right? I mean, how high stakes is that? What are you going to be watching for?

Rachel Bade
It's extremely high stakes. I mean, everybody's going to be watching. And I got to say, democratic lawmakers, just as much as the, as the press is going to be glued to and parsing every single word, every single movement that Joe Biden makes. Look, I have heard from Democrats up here on the hill again, not using their names, refusing to use their names, who have told me that they hope he flubs, they hope that there is a huge disaster tonight because the party is so divided right now, they feel like they need another moment.

Kind of like the debate disaster a couple weeks ago.

Brad Milke
Like a wake up call.

Rachel Bade
Yeah. To unify people, say it wasn't a one time thing. It's time for him to go. And I gotta say, Democrats are acutely aware that time is running out right now. Right. I mean, there's only a few more legislative weeks before the Democratic National Convention when Biden is set to be, you know, officially coordinated, officially become the nominee. So time is of the essence here. And people who want him to go understand that. And so a lot of them are, you know, hoping that frankly, he doesn't do well, which is just totally striking given the stakes of this election right now.

Brad Milke
And it's frankly sad if you're one of these Democrats. All right, Rachel Bade, they're at the Capitol right now. Thank you so much.

Rachel Bade
Happy to do it. Bradley.

Brad Milke
Next up on start here, if a jury is unanimous on a murder charge, it seems like something a judge would want to know why lawyers in Boston are furious. After the break.

Jen Tran
Hey, it's me, Jen Tran, the new bachelorette. Watch me on a groundbreaking season like you've never seen. Monday nights at eight on ABC.

Brad Milke
And don't miss our weekly bachelor podcast playing the field, hosted by me, Ryan Field. As we, we break down each episode, the case of Karen Reid has divided a community in Massachusetts and has sparked fierce debates about the Boston police Department.

Rachel Bade
I could not sit there and let.

Brad Milke
An innocent woman be framed.

Ariel Reshef
They have glamorized Karen Reid. They have made this a sensationalized story. That is disgusting. She murdered him.

Brad Milke
This is the story of a woman accused of killing her boyfriend, who is a BPD officer, while she claims she's the victim of a wider conspiracy by his cop friends.

Rachel Bade
Karen, anything to say?

Brad Milke
The trial spanned several weeks that resulted in a hung jury. Well, this week there have been some really bizarre developments. ABC's Ariel Reshef has been covering it all. And, Ariel, first off, can you just back up and refresh us on who Karen Reid is and why this case became such a lightning rod?

Ariel Reshef
Yeah, absolutely, Brad. So this has been an explosive, months long case in the Boston area. And we thought that it had divided a community. And a jury come to find out that may not be the case. Well, prosecutors allege Karen Reid intentionally backed her Lexus suv into her police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, after a night of drinking in 2022, leaving him for dead in the snow outside of a party at another officer's home.

Brad Milke
I hit him. I hit him.

Jen Tran
I hit him.

Brad Milke
I hit him.

Those are the words of the defendant. Four times you heard testimony from four different witnesses.

Ariel Reshef
Her team claims that she's actually the victim of a cover up by police after her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, died at that party and was then dumped in the snow.

Brad Milke
John went into that house. That suv was not damaged by hitting John, and John's injuries did not come from being hit by a car.

Ariel Reshef
And they claim that the evidence in this case, some of it was planted after the fact by corrupt investigators.

Brad Milke
And because they had close connections to the investigators in this case, Karen Reid was framed for a murder she did not commit.

Ariel Reshef
Clearly a very convoluted case. The jurors listened to mountains of evidence. They heard from dozens of witnesses and in the end told the judge repeatedly that they were hopelessly deadlocked, resulting in that mistrial.

Brad Milke
Well, and so the judge, I guess, like in any mistrial, you send the jurors home, you say, hey, prosecutors, if you want to do this again, you can set another date for a trial. But now the defense is saying what actually, on the murder charge itself, this actually wasn't a hung jury.

Ariel Reshef
Right. The defense has filed a motion to dismiss two of the charges, two of the three charges against Karen Reid, the most severe second degree murder charge, and the lesser charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death. Now, her attorneys claim that the very day after the judge declared a mistrial, jurors started reaching out to them, jurors themselves and sources close to other jurors reaching out to them, telling them that they had, in fact, reached unanimity, that they were unanimously in agreement that Karen Reid was innocent on the counts one and three, which were those two charges of second degree murder and of leaving the scene of the accident. So why does this all matter? Well, now the defense has filed a supplement to that motion, saying yet another juror has come forward corroborating the notion that all twelve jurors were in agreement that Karen Read should be acquitted on counts one and three. So the defense wants those counts tossed.

They say that trying her again on those two charges would violate double jeopardy protections. The defense says the judge could have allowed more questioning of the jury foreman when they had come back with that deadlocked situation and tried to figure out the breakdown of each charge. And by not doing so, it's deprived Reid of those not guilty verdicts in her favor. Legal analysts that I've spoken to say that the judge was not required to actually pull the jury or to talk to the jury foreman about each individual charge. But that may have avoided a complicated situation like the one that everyone finds themselves in now. It's really now up to the judge how this unfolds.

Brad Milke
Wait, that seems wild that the judge would not ask, are you guys actually deadlocked on all the charges or just one of the charges? What happens now, Arielle? Cause I guess I'd imagine if you're the defense for Karen Reid, you're like, we don't want to go to trial again. We just got twelve jurors to agree on the most important stuff.

Ariel Reshef
Exactly. So they want those counts one and three, the second degree murder and the lesser charge tossed out entirely. They say that retrying her on this would constitute double jeopardy, which obviously is illegal.

And they haven't really mentioned what to do with that middle charge of manslaughter. But right now they're really contesting the fact that she should essentially not be retried at all because there was unanimity among the jury in two very substantial charges here and that it was mishandled.

Brad Milke
And again, this is just the defense saying that jurors are reaching out to them and that they're, which is legal, like after the case. Apparently you're allowed to be in contact like this, but it hasn't been proven that this is what jurors were thinking.

How are the prosecutors responding exactly at this point?

Ariel Reshef
Analysts say this is hearsay until or unless the judge decides to bring the jury back in for questioning.

We heard from the DA this week saying that they're reviewing this motion and they do plan to respond, but they also plan to press on with a new trial. And all of these parties are due back in court on July 22. So we could learn a lot more then.

One other major twist in this case is that the defense has really honed in on state trooper Michael Proctor, who was the lead investigator in this case. And he, during this trial admitted to sending unprofessional text messages to his friends, to some of his colleagues about Reid and about the outcome or the eventual outcome of this case.

Brad Milke
No nudes so far.

No nudes so far, correct? Correct. And you said that to your bosses?

Yes, sir.

Ariel Reshef
This week he was officially suspended without pay. So you can imagine that the defense will bring this up in whatever happens.

Brad Milke
Next, right, whether there's a new trial or not. Okay. Ariel Reshef covering every twist and turn here. Thank you.

Ariel Reshef
No doubt. Sure, Brad.

Brad Milke
When Boeing decided to create a competitor to private space groups like SpaceX, they were already pretty familiar with the rules of aviation safety. Lives come first. That's not just a moral imperative for Boeing. It's a business decision, too, because they know whether in plane flights or space flights, one death can completely derail how the public sees your product. That is why Boeing's Starliner space program seemed to develop so slowly. Lots of test flights, delayed test flights, delayed crew flights. You really want to make sure everything is good?

Trevor Alt
One ignition.

Brad Milke
Well, now, of course, they have launched their very first crewed space mission to the International Space Station. And that space capsule they sent up still hasn't been cleared to return to Earth. Yesterday, for the first time, we heard from the astronauts who are somehow still in orbit. ABC's Trevor Alt was watching all this. Trevor, these astronauts were supposed to come back on June 14, so on Sunday they'll be a month late.

Are they stuck, like, what's going on up there?

Trevor Alt
Well, according to NASA and according to these astronauts, Brad, no, they're not stuck. But the fact that NASA has to say our astronauts are not stuck is generally not a good sign. So this was expected to be, you know, about a week up at the International Space station. We're now at the month stage, and it's going to be several weeks more before they can come home. At this point, the optimistic estimate, if everything goes well, is that they get to come home at the end of July, which is about six weeks after they were originally supposed to return. Now, they still insist this is not a crisis. No one is panicking. There's no rescue mission. That is in the cards here. In fact, they insist that if they had to leave right now, they could do it.

Butch Wilmore
I feel confident that if we had to, if there was a problem with the International Space Station, we can get in our spacecraft and we can undock, talk to our team and figure out the best way to come home.

Trevor Alt
But you have these two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams. We heard from them from the ISS yesterday for the first time they say they're in good spirits.

Butch Wilmore
It feels good to float around. It feels good to be in space and work up here with the International Space Station team. So, yeah, it's great to be up here. So I'm not going complaining. Butch isn't complaining that we're here for a couple weeks, extra weeks, but they've.

Trevor Alt
Been stuck now here, Brad, for several weeks longer than it was first anticipated. We don't even yet know when they're going to be allowed to come back to Earth.

Brad Milke
So if they say they could leave whenever they like, if an asteroid was on the way, they could leave if they wanted to, what are they waiting for? Like, what does it take to get them back down?

Trevor Alt
So they did successfully dock with the International Space Station, Brad. But the issues and what's causing this long delay is in that docking process. There were several errors. First, there were, there were five helium leaks, which is the smaller of the issues. They say that's not really a problem. They still have ten times the amount of helium that they would need to get back. The larger issue is that during the docking process, five of their engine thrusters shut down as the Starliner was docking with the ISS. Now, for those thrusters, they've come back online, but they want to figure out why exactly this happened and figure out how they could stop it from happening in the future. And truth be told, Brad, what they keep hammering is the fact that this was a test mission from the beginning. This is the world of test. This is a tough business that we're in. Human space flight is not easy in any regime. And there have been multiple issues with every spacecraft that's ever been designed, and that's the nature of what we do. So they are now running tests. In fact, they're doing that here on Earth, too. They have replicated it in New Mexico with these thrusters. They're running all kinds of simulations. They basically want to figure out what is everything that went wrong here, how do we fix it, and in the interim, you have these two astronauts up in the international space station kind of waiting it out. They're helping with the testing process, too, but they don't want to leave until they've run absolutely every test necessary.

But they do insist that if there was an emergency, this thing would be ready to go, and they're confident it would work. And actually, Brad, just a little bit ago, a couple weeks ago, they thought they might have to do it and make an emergency departure from the ISS because there was an old russian satellite that's not in use anymore that exploded. And so they were like, we have to be ready to go just in case. Now it ended up not being necessary. They say that they're confident whenever they do take off, it's going to be just fine. But they're not doing it just yet. They're still running these tests.

Brad Milke
What are the, I'm just curious, what does an astronaut do in the meantime? Like, if I knew I was going to be a month longer in space, I would have packed an extra book or something, you know?

Trevor Alt
Yeah. There would be a lot of tv series that you would finally want to watch. And listen, if you're going to spend several extra weeks up in space, the International Space Station is the best place in the galaxy to do it. Like, they are fully equipped for them. They have more than enough food. They've got enough supplies. They've got fresh clothes.

These astronauts insist they're not struggling. There's plenty of tests that they can do to help out with the starliner. They can also just kind of run routine maintenance on the ISS. You have this international community there. And also both of these astronauts, Brett, they've been to the International Space Station before on previous missions, so they're very familiar with it. They don't seem to be totally out of their comfort zone, but certainly it has to be at least a little bit frustrating that you go up there, think it's going to be about a week, and you don't have that departure date. You also have looming over this whole thing. Brad, it hasn't been tremendous headlines for Boeing for, in any capacity, really one of what's been several recurring issues with the Starliner. And they're basically entering into this field where they're a commercial company along with SpaceX, that want to shuttle astronauts up to the ISS and back down. The Starliner was already delayed five years to get to this moment because in the past they had dozens of engineering issues and setbacks in 2019. The first time they went up to space to go to the ISS, they never made it. It's got to space and then came back down. So this is still another in a long line of these engineering issues. They are still testing it. They still feel very confident in the system, but it's not exactly how they wanted it to go.

Brad Milke
Yeah, I'll say. And in the meantime, I guess you're checking out these, like, zero gravity press conferences, which are cool, but like you wish the circumstances were different. Trevor alt, thank you so much.

Trevor Alt
Thanks, Brad.

Brad Milke
Okay, one more quick break when we come back, until the casino comes crashing down. It's never too late to place your bets. One last thing is next.

Rachel Bade
Robert Pickton, one of the worst serial killers. A new true crime series from freeform.

Jen Tran
A lot of victims are people who are in the margins. When all else fails, there's possibly many more victims.

Rachel Bade
Nobody cared. Sasha Reid and her team take the case.

Trevor Alt
We're coming for you.

Rachel Bade
I just want answers.

Jen Tran
We're gonna do absolutely everything to get closure to these cases.

Trevor Alt
The whole thing is a cover up.

Ariel Reshef
There's so much more here.

Rachel Bade
Freeform's Sasha Reid in the midnight new episodes. Wednesday's stream on who coming for you.

Brad Milke
And one last thing. It could be your lucky day. Heck, it could be your lucky day every day, every hour this week. So you might have heard in Las Vegas, the Mirage, the famous hotel and casino, is closing its doors forever. Next week, the resort that was home to a volcano. Prize fights. And of course, at one time, white tigers will shudder on July 17. But until then, it still has money to give away. No, this is not a mirage. Over the next week, the casino has to find ways to disperse 1.6 million extra dollars in winnings.

The reason has to do with progressive slot machines. You know, the slots with the huge screens over them, with dollar figures that just keep growing astronomically. Well, what those are actually doing is taking a slice of the money. Players are losing hundreds of spins around the casino per hour, and they're putting that loose change into this huge jackpot until one lucky player cashes in.

Well, according to Nevada state law, the casino has really signed on to a promise with its customers saying that money will be paid out somehow. As a casino, you're not allowed to walk away with it just because you're changing ownership or you're calling it quits. Now, if you own several casinos, you are allowed to move that money into a new slot machine network. But the Mirage is now owned by Hardrock International. That company is planning on developing the site into Hardrock Las Vegas. But at the moment, they don't have any other Vegas casinos, so it's giveaway time.

The Mirage is set to close on.

Jen Tran
July 17, but before that happens, it.

Brad Milke
Must give away $1.6 million every day this week, starting at 03:00 p.m. the casino is holding a raffle for $40,000 at a time. At 04:00 p.m. they do another one and so on every hour until seven. Anyone who has used their loyalty card to play a slot machine during that time is automatically entered. And when their name is called, they got five minutes to cash in $40,000. After that, they draw someone else. Theyre doing a similar giveaway for table games like blackjack and pai gow. And by closing day, 1.6 mil has to be out the door. Vegas, as always, is changing. This is actually the second casino to close this year. The tropicana is being demolished to make way for a major league ballpark. But you think maybe one last time, all eyes on the strip will be on the world famous mirage in the desert.

I did not know this. Apparently, when Steve Wynn started the mirage, he was tired of all the resorts that were desert themed. Like, no one could tell the dunes apart from the Sahara from the sands. So he was like, dude, let's go South Pacific with this. Let's go jungle. Now, though, thank goodness, we will have the unique experience that is the hard rock cafe. Right? You really gotta change it up with something we haven't seen before. More on all these stories@abcnews.com. or the ABC News app. I'm Brad Milke. See you tomorrow.