What now?
Can President Biden's inner circle reassure worried Democrats to stay the course after his debate performance?
Also, did the Supreme Court hand former President Trump a victory concerning the January 6th riots?
TMJ4's Chief Political Reporter Charles Benson talked on Friday about the week's big stories with NBC's Kristen Welker moderator of Meet the Press.
How worried are Democrats the White House and Biden's campaign with the President's performance Thursday night?
"There's outright panic throughout the Democratic Party," said Welker, who successfully moderated a presidential debate between Biden and Trump in 2020.
The veteran political journalist says she has been getting calls and texts from Democrats saying Thursday night was a "disaster".
"The buzz is building about President Biden potentially dropping out of this race," said Welker.
"At this point, the President is defiant he has absolutely no plans to go anywhere saying that he pledged to participate in the second debate that is coming up."
Biden's former boss, Barack Obama tried to reassure anxious Democrats not to panic with a social media post on X the next day. The former president said it's Donald Trump voters should be worried about.
"Bad debate nights happen, trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself."
Former president Trump could benefit from a US Supreme Court ruling Friday in favor of one of the January 6th defendants and it could have broad implications for Trump.
The Supreme Court ruled that the obstruction charges against January 6th Joseph Fisher were too broad and that effectively they needed to be narrowed on one of the statutes.
"What does this mean? The bottom line, this is a victory for him," Welker said. "We don't know how it's going to impact the cases that former President Donald Trump is facing just yet. He is facing similar charges so are the other January six defendants."
"Trump has vowed to pardon January 6th rioters which plays well with his base but could be an issue with winning over independent or moderate voters," said Welker. "Polls show an overwhelming majority of Americans think that those who participated in the riot should be prosecuted."
Kristen Welker is on Meet the Press Sunday Mornings at 8 on TMJ4.
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