Biden remains obstinate as waves of Democrats call for him to withdraw

Former President Donald Trump's running mate in the 2024 election, JD Vance, doubled down that President Biden should resign from the White House is he bows out of the presidential race.

"If Joe Biden ends his reelection campaign, how can he justify remaining President? Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief," Vance posted on X Sunday morning.

"There is no middle ground."

The Ohio Republican senator was announced as Trump's vice presidential pick last week, and had previously called on Biden to resign as president if he bows out of the race.

"Everyone calling on Joe Biden to *stop running* without also calling on him to resign the presidency is engaged in an absurd level of cynicism. If you can't run, you can't serve," he wrote on Saturday.

Calls have mounted since June 27 for Biden to end his re-election run, following his disastrous debate performance that put his mental fitness and age under further scrutiny as the Democratic Party squares up for a rematch against Trump.

President Biden took to X Sunday and vowed to keep speaking out for Democracy as calls for him to step down have intensified.

"I’ll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, and call for action at the ballot box, not violence on our streets," Biden said. "That’s how democracy should work."

Biden has continued to face calls from fellow Democrats to drop out of the race, with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WVa., arguing during an appearance on ABC News Sunday that it is time for Biden to “pass the torch to a new generation" of Democrats.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi joined a North Carolina Unity Dinner to galvanize Democrats ahead of the election , while bypassing mentioning President Biden and calls for him to drop out of the race.

"No wasted time, no underutilized resources, and no regrets the day after the election that we could have done more, are you ready for a great Democratic victory? I thought so!" she said at the dinner.

Pelosi was in North Carolina to rally support for the Democrats' hopeful successor for Gov. Roy Cooper, Josh Stein.

The appearance comes as calls mount for Biden to drop out of the presidential race over mental fitness concerns, and worries the president could not defeat Trump in the November election.

The Republican National Committee raised more than $66 million in June, far more than the Democratic National Committee's $39 million in funds raised last month.

All in, the RNC reported a war chest of $102 million at the end of June, compared to the DNC's $78 million, the Washington Post reported.

At the end of June, President Biden and former President Donald Trump held a debate that opened the floodgates to calls for Biden to drop out of the race due to his disastrous performance. Democrats said the Biden campaign pulled in millions following the debate despite the president's performance and concerns he could defeat Trump in November.

Republicans, however, are anticipated to continue outraising Democrats in July, touting a three-month fundraising winning streak, pulling in a staggering $331 million during the April through June.

Biden has remained adamant he is remaining in the race despite a wave of Democrat allies increasingly calling on him to drop out of the race and speculation that Biden is considering his allies' demands ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

President Biden is expressing new interest in whether Vice President Kamala Harris could defeat former President Trump in the 2024 election, according to a report from the New York Times.

While Biden and his staff have publicly insisted that he is staying in the race, the 81-year-old is reportedly now asking whether Harris could win. Several polls show Harris matching or even exceeding Biden's performance against Trump as waves of Democrats call on Biden to withdraw.

“To some degree, the vice president is auditioning now for the job and they should help her lean in and I think her leaning in could be beneficial to bolstering Biden” whether he steps aside or not, former Harris aid Ashley Etienne told the Times.

Harris stands as the most obvious candidate to replace Biden thanks in large part to her presumed access to the Biden-Harris war chest should the president withdraw. Any other candidate would face an uncertain path to accessing the tens of millions of dollars donated throughout the race.

Family-owned auto parts manufacturer Husco is preparing for the worst if President Biden is re-elected in 2024.

Company President and CEO Austin Ramirez recently testified before Congress ahead of their plan to allow Trump-era tax cuts to expire, touting the importance of the nearly terminated policy. 

"Only by preserving the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act can Congress ensure that uniquely American stories like Husco remain possible," Ramirez said during congressional testimony this past April. 

The matter is likely to be a source of contention during the general election, particularly with Trump pledging to make the tax cuts permanent if he is elected in November. 

The expiration of the tax law on December 31, 2025 will mean many Americans will be forced to pay more in taxes unless certain provisions are extended or made permanent. While President Biden has not yet released a blueprint for how to address the upcoming tax cliff, he called for a number of tax hikes in his fiscal 2025 budget proposal. 

"Taxes are a huge part. We've got to have competitive taxes. In the U.S., we've got the most regressive tax regime in the world relative to R&D," Ramirez told Fox News' Pete Hegseth. 

The Husco CEO gave Hegseth a behind-the-scenes look into the company's manufacturing headquarters in Waukesha, Wisconsin, as the Republican National Convention got underway in nearby Milwaukee.

The U.S.'s federal research and development (R&D) tax credit grants companies a reduction in tax liability for select domestic expenses.

"R&D and innovation is how we grow this economy, how we grow Husco. Today in the U.S., we get to expense 20% of our R&D expenses in China. They get to expense 200% of their R&D expenses. That creates a huge barrier to innovation and growth in a thriving American economy."

Ramirez continued, arguing that renewing the tax cut policy would "absolutely" be beneficial to his business.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Kayla Bailey

California Senate candidate Steve Garvey called the about-face by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on President Biden's re-election bid an act of "selfish desperation" after Schiff realized his Senate campaign had been outraised by more than $1 million.

"Adam Schiff’s recent act of selfish desperation to abandon his presidential nominee has caused a clear reaction from his supporters on his social media," Garvey, the Republican candidate vying to fill the late Dianne Feinstein's seat, told Fox News Digital. "It’s now clear to his supporters what has been clear to millions of Americans for years, that Adam Schiff only cares about Adam Schiff, and Californians deserve a senator that puts them above politics."

Schiff called on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race earlier this week, saying in a statement to Fox News Digital that a "second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November."

Garvey remarked in a social media post this week that it was "not surprising" Schiff called on Biden to step aside "less than 24 hours after it was reported that our campaign out-raised Adam Schiff's campaign by $1.2 million."

Garvey said this is the first time in 14 years a Republican statewide candidate in California has surpassed the fundraising of a Democratic candidate.

"It’s understandable that they felt they had to take dramatic action when this news came out," he added. "When Adam Schiff announced that he believes President Biden shouldn’t seek re-election, it dominated the news cycle for the day, helping in part to bury our fundraising success story."

Between April 1 and June 30, Garvey reportedly raised $5.4 million to Schiff's $4.1 million.

FIRST ON FOX: A Democrat staffer, who recently announced on social media that he has joined the Biden-Harris campaign as a deputy press secretary, works as a "drag queen" on weekends, according to his social media bio and social media posts reviewed by Fox News Digital

Eric Lipka, who most recently worked in Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-Mass., office before joining the Biden campaign, said he was "thrilled to share" that he has "joined the Biden-Harris campaign as deputy press secretary for Pennsylvania!" in a X post on Wednesday.

The post, which is now private, racked up hundreds of thousands of views over the last few days with several replies congratulating him, while others mocked him for joining the Biden campaign’s "sinking ship" and pointed out his bio that reads, "on weekends: drag queen." The popular Libs of TikTok social media account amplified Lipka's draq queen gig with a follow-up post that has garnered 1.5 million views over the last few days. 

Lipka, who goes by the drag queen names "Erotica," "Erica Lipka," and "Erotica the Drag Queen" on social media, has several social media accounts on X, Facebook, and Instagram, but most of them were private as of Friday and then all of them were locked down shortly after Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign for comment on Saturday afternoon. 

However, a Fox News Digital review found Lipka's name tagged in dozens of public Facebook posts dating back to 2021 when he was still a college student at Georgetown University. The public Facebook posts were often promotions for upcoming drag brunches, drag shows, and other events featuring drag queens, including Lipka.

Earlier this year, he performed at Hampden Sydney College, a private Virginia liberal arts school for men, for their Unity Alliance Lavender Ball, an event that featured several drag queens. Another post from April 2024 lists Lipka as one of the drag queens participating in an "Elevate your brunch" drag event the following month.

In January 2024, Lipka was listed as one of the drag queens participating in an event called "Saint Saturday" in Richmond, Virginia.

Dozens of other posts over the last few years show him participating in drag shows in Reheboth Beach, multiple Maryland venues, Connecticut, and various LGBTQ-friendly venues across Washington, D.C. In an April 2023 Facebook post, Lipka is listed on a promotion flyer for an event called "Looney's Pub presents Brunch Tunes" in College Park, Maryland.

"The girls that drag together, [eggplant emoji] bottoms down together," drag queen Nubia Love-Jackson said in a 2022 Facebook post accompanied by a photo of Jackson and Lipka. Lipka replied, "babyyyyy u already know." 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller

A truck with a billboard that urged those closest to President Biden to help him step down from the presidential race was seen driving near his Reboboth Beach house in Delaware on Saturday.

The billboard’s message, written like an email on the back of the truck, said it was an “urgent memo.”

“To: Biden family, friends, allies, staff,” it continued with the “Subject: It’s your responsibility.”

“In this moment, as he considers his future, President Biden should hear the truth from the people who have always had his back,” it said.

The side of the truck had the same message along with a black and white photo of the president.

Biden is recuperating from the coronavirus at the beach house.

Fox News' Brie Stimson contributed to this report