“Withdraw”, the letter of 168 donors –

The interview with the ABC network on the evening of Friday, July 5 is perhaps the last chance for Joe Biden. Recorded in the followingnoon, it will be broadcast in prime time at 8 pm (2 am on Saturday in Italy). The interview was decided by the Biden campaign to try to dispel doubts regarding the physical and mental health of the elderly president, following the Atlanta debacle in the TV duel with Donald Trump. The tycoon’s campaign in recent days has attacked both ABC and George Stephanopoulos, the anchor who will conduct the interview with Biden, complaining regarding their alleged lack of objectivity. We will see how the president, now abandoned by large parts of the Democratic galaxy, will cope.

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The latest blow? A major group of donors, civil society leaders and entrepreneurs gathered in the “Leadership Now Project” wrote a letter to Joe Biden, in which they ask the president to “consolidate his legacy” by giving up the race. “With respect – reads the text that has collected 168 signatures and continues to be signed even following being delivered to White House officials – we ask you to withdraw your candidacy for re-election for the sake of democracy and the future of our nation.” This was revealed by the Washington Post, which cites a person close to the group, founded in 2018 with the aim of defending democracy. Among the signatories are Christy Walton, daughter-in-law of the founder of Walmart, the billionaire, Paul J. Tagliabue, former commissioner of the National Football League, the former Google manager Ning Mosberger-Tang. Daniella Ballou-Aares, CEO of the Leadership Now Project who worked in the Obama administration, declined to comment on the letter, which follows an unsigned statement released Wednesday calling on Biden to step down.

There is also turmoil in the Potus’s inner circle. Biden’s staff is “unhappy,” says Axios describing the mood in the White House, while a source calls the president’s inner circle “a total black hole… even if you try to focus on the work, there’s nothing that can break through or get recognition” from the bosses. Speaking to the site, a senior Democratic National Committee official said: “The only thing that can really calm the concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he can run this campaign.”