Biden War Room Blog for CNN Presidential Debate
In-debate analysis from operatives and surrogates inside the Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee
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Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said on MSNBC's post-debate analysis that former President Donald Trump is "losing" his 2024 election campaign after Trump's reference to the Stormy Daniels allegations.
"When you use the words, 'I didn't have sex with a porn star,' you're not winning, you're losing," Newsom said of Trump.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Mo., on Thursday retweeted an interview clip where she tried to shift focus from President Biden and onto Donald Trump with a shot at his character.
"What we saw was someone who sat up there and acting like as if he was some used car salesman that wanted to tell us whatever and pretend as if it was fact," Crockett told reporters.
William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images, FILE
Jen Psaki, former White House press secretary for the Biden administration and current MSNBC pundit, had some harsh words for her former boss after his debate performance Thursday night.
"It was not a good night for Joe Biden," Psaki said. "I mean, he was great after he was good at the State of the Union. It wasn't a good debate performance."
Psaki bemoaned that the Biden who turned up tonight was not the Biden who gave a fiery State of the Union update, arguing that Biden "goes out and has a strong couple of weeks, it may not be, but it is incumbent upon the campaign to now dig out of this hole."
"We're all getting on texts on email about whether he should be replaced," Psaki revealed. "That chatter is happening. People are asking questions."
"I don't mean it's from the American public writ large and we don't know how they feel and we won't know for some time, and if you look at history, this may not impact them at all, but the chatter is very distracting and it's going to be very consuming for the campaign," she said.
Matt Barretto, the senior advisor to the President Joe Biden policy advocacy group Building Back Together, said in a post on X following the debate that "every single" undecided Latino voter will support Biden.
"If you haven't been watching the Univision FG of undecided Latino voters, nearly every single undecided voter said they now support Biden, not Trump! Latinos were watching and listening and Trump sounded like a crazy liar," Barretto said alongside a video clip from the Spanish-language channel Univision.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom
California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke with MSNBC in the spin room after the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday, urging the Democrats to back President Biden despite what many have called an unconvincing performance.
"We got to have the back of this president," Newsom insisted. "You don't turn your back because of one performance. What kind of party does that?"
Newsom touted Biden's performance, claiming he had won the debate "on the substance" while blasting Trump for taking "no accountability" for his "lies."
"Talking down the American economy. Talking down, our democracy. That was alarming," Newsom said. "This is a world we're living in now."
Newsom called criticism of Biden's performance and calls to replace him "unhelpful" and "unnecessary" as he discussed Biden's work on jobs and the economy, stressing that "President's deliver" and that the party now needs to "deliver for him at this moment."
"We need to raise money, and we need to understand what's at stake. If we don't, we need to understand what's at stake," Newsom said. "If we turn our back at this critical time, there's too much."
O'Malley/Biden
Former White House Chief of Staff during President Biden's first three years in office, Jen O'Malley Dillon, released a statement following the CNN Presidential Debate saying former President Donald Trump's performance "reminded the American people why they fired him four years ago, and reinforced just how high the stakes are this November for the future of our country.”
"Tonight, President Biden presented a positive and winning vision for the future of America – one in which every American has a fair shot at the American dream, where every one of our rights are protected, and where our president fights to strengthen our democracy – not to tear it down.
“On the other side of the stage was Donald Trump, who offered a dark and backwards window into what America will look like if he steps foot back in the White House: a country where women are forced to beg for the health care they need to stay alive. A country that puts the interests of billionaires over working people. And a former president who not once, not twice, but three times, failed to promise he would accept the results of a free and fair election this November," O'Malley Dillon said, according to a Team Biden-Harris campaign email Thursday night.
Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press
Geoff Garin, co-chief strategist for Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign, took to social media platform X to combat criticism of President Biden's debate performance on Thursday night.
"The freak out over the debate is way overwrought," Garin insisted. "Biden got off to a slow start but he had a strong finish."
"Trump was increasing incoherent and deranged as the debate went on, and Trump's extremism was on full display," Garin wrote.
The Democratic National Commitee (DNC) claimed a victory for President Joe Biden in a post on X following the CNN Presidential Debate.
"The winner of tonight’s debate," the DNC account posted with a photo of the president.
Quoting President Biden, the Biden-Harris HQ social media team posted on social media platform X: "You’re such a whiner. No courts said your claims had any merit when you lost the first time. Not one."
"Yet you continue to provoke this lie," Biden said. "You can’t stand the loss. Something snapped in you when you lost last time."
A Biden-Harris 2024 campaign spokesperson said in a post on X that Trump "was asked THREE times and refused to say yes" about whether he would accept the 2024 General Election results.
"Donald Trump was a threat to democracy in 2020. He's even more of one today," spokesperson Ammar Moussa wrote on X.
Biden for America Senior Spokesperson Lauren Hitt in a post on social media platform X quoted Factcheck.org, which said, "Trump has a history of lying about his record on bringing American hostages home."
She then cited The Washington Post, which wrote, “Trump Stays Silent On Detained U.S. Reporter As He Avoids Criticizing Putin.”
"Listening to Donald Trump lie about the pandemic which killed two of my parents is f---ing insane," Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia wrote in a post on X.
"Over a million Americans died while he was telling people to drink bleach and attacking vaccines. Totally crazy."
President Joe Biden's campaign wrote in a post on X that Trump "once called veterans losers and suckers," after Trump denied that he did so during the CNN Presidential Debate.
"Here’s the truth, Donald: You’re the sucker. You’re the loser," the campaign posted to Biden's official X account.
Team Biden in a post on social media platform X quoted Donald Trump's claim at the CNN Presidential Debate that he "never had sex with a porn star."
In response, Team Biden wrote: "(Yes... he did)"
AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took to social media platform X to blast Trump over Roe v Wade, especially his claim that "everyone wanted" Roe overturned.
"Tell that to the 171,000 women who traveled out-of-state for reproductive care last year," Whitmer wrote.
In a separate post, she wrote, "Donald Trump openly brags about how he’s responsible for overturning Roe."
"He’s said that women should face “punishment” for having an abortion," she continued. "Recently, he talked about “looking at” policies to restrict access to contraception. This is what’s at stake in November."
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California claimed in a post on X Thursday night that the "scare tactics being deployed by the GOP to steal women’s freedom is disgusting."
Newsom's post was in an X response to a PolitiFact fact check of former President Donald Trump's claim during the CNN Presidential Debate that there are Democrat-led states that support late-term abortions and "take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth."
"False. Willfully terminating a newborn’s life is illegal in every state," the PolitiFact post claimed.
Team Biden claimed in a fact-check email that "Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans killed the toughest and fairest bipartisan border deal in decades."
The campaign claims that, instead, Biden "took tough but fair action" to secure the border as they hit Trump over his immigration policy, insisting that Trump "did not secure the border as President."
White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz slammed former President Donald Trump and 'MAGA Republicans' for his disapproval of Congress's bipartisan border bill in a post on X, formerly Twitter, during Thursday night's CNN Presidential Debate.
"Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans killed the toughest and fairest bipartisan border deal in decades," Munoz wrote. "Border crossings are at their lowest level since 2020. President Biden’s actions to secure the border have lowered border crossings."
Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that "The end of Roe has led to cruel abortion bans across our country and Donald Trump is bragging about it. If given a second term, he will take it even further. #Debates2024"
The Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign claimed in an email Thursday night that former President Donald Trump wants to "sell out the middle class for billionaire tax cuts" and cited Trump's 2017 tax cuts for high earners.
"Trump has doubled down on his promise to make permanent and extend his disastrous MAGAnomics tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy," Team Biden-Harris claimed.
In an email from Team Biden, the campaign claims, "Donald Trump makes a lot of wild claims about inflation, but here’s the truth: His plans will jack up taxes and send prices through the roof. Middle-class families simply can’t afford four more years of Trump."
The campaign further claimed that Trump wants to raise taxes on the middle class by "over $8,000" while giving "tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy."
"Trump will send inflation skyrocketing and make life unaffordable for working families," the campaign wrote, while adding that Biden "is lowering costs for middle-class families."
The Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign posted a clip from the CNN Presidential Debate on X, formerly Twitter, a "fact check" of former President Donald's Trump claim that his administration held the best economy "in the history of our country."
"FACT CHECK: This is a lie. Trump left office with the worst jobs record since the Great Depression. More Americans now have jobs under President Biden than they ever did under Trump," the campaign posted Thursday night.
The Biden Campaign posted on X, formerly Twitter, a clip from the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday, which President Biden said: "Donald Trump left me an economy in free fall."
"The pandemic was so badly handled, people died," Biden continued. "All he said was it's not that serious, just inject a little bleach in your arm."
Rep. Jasmine Crockett
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Mo., elected in 2023, currently serves in the House of Representatives on behalf of Texas’ 30th Congressional District, covering most of Dallas.
Originally from Missouri, Crockett earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Houston Law Center before becoming a public defender and eventually forming her own law firm.
She gained notoriety for providing pro-bono services representing Black Lives Matters activists.
President Joe Biden posted on X, formerly Twitter, ahead of the CNN Presidential Debate, "I don't know what they've got in these performance enhancers, but I'm feeling pretty jacked up," referring to his campaign's water brand.
"Try it yourselves, folks," he added.
Keisha Lance-Bottoms
Keisha Lance-Bottoms is an attorney who served as mayor of Atlanta before joining President Joe Biden’s administration as senior advisor and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
In July of 2023, she was appointed to the President’s Export Council. During the 2020 election she was rumored to be on a shortlist for Biden’s vice president pick.
AP Photo/John Bazemore
Ahead of the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., slammed Donald Trump and called his campaign 'insulting.'
"Joe Biden is running against a man who is an existential threat," Warnock said, speaking from the debate spin room.
"Donald Trump is a plague on the American conscience and the American nation," Warnock continued. "Trump is literally running on his criminal record, as if that's a reason for Black voters to vote for him. Nothing could be more insulting."
The senator's remarks came ahead of Trump's first debate of the 2024 election cycle against President Biden in Atlanta, Georgia.
Fox News Digital's Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
Representative Robert Garcia D-CA, elected in 2023, currently serves in the House of Representatives on behalf of California’s 42nd district, centered around Long Beach.
Originally a newspaper manager, Garcia was elected Mayor of Long Beach before running for office. He served as the California Co-Chair for Kamala Harris’ campaign and later served on the Latino Leadership Committee for President Joe Biden’s campaign.
In 2020 he gave a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Robert Garcia headshot
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., posted on X, formerly Twitter, ahead of the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday night: "LIVE from Atlanta and the debate spin room. I’m ready to call out every single Donald Trump lie after the debate. See you all then!"
Sen. Raphael Warnock
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., has served as Democratic junior senator since his election in 2021.
A native Georgian, Warnock served as a pastor for most of his life before getting involved in politics in 2013, staging protests and sit-ins on a range of issues.
In 2017 he chaired the New Georgia Project, a nonprofit focusing on voter registration before announcing his Senate campaign in 2020.
Warnock is considered a progressive but, paradoxically, is the second most bipartisan democrat senator and GovTracked named him the “most politically right” of the 117th Senate Democrats.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will be present in President Joe Biden’s spin room, is seen as a top Democratic contender for the 2028 presidential election.
Originally the Mayor of San Francisco and Lt. Governor of California, Newsom faced criticism for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and survived a 2021 recall effort.
During the early Democratic Primary, there were common rumors that Newsom was going to challenge Biden for the nomination. Newsom denied these rumors.
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