Beltway Insider: Biden Interview, Trump/SCOTUS Decisions, France/UK Voters, Jon Landau

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 07 July 2024 10:02; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden, to silence the growing swarm of party detractors, sat down with ABC News political correspondent George Stephanopoulos, in a primetime interview to discuss his poor performance and other issues, during the recent presidential debate.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com for the period ending July 7, 2024, decreased by 0.7% to 37.1% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.8% to 57.2% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

Beltway Insider: Biden/Trump Debate, Issues, SCOTUS Decisions, Apple Suppliers, Uvalde, Guns

Biden Interview

President Biden's lackluster and uninspiring debate performance against convicted felon and former President Donald J. Trump has left many political pundits, donors, and media leaders, wondering if he has reached the endpoint in his honorable public service career and should pass the torch to the next generation of democratic leaders.

President Biden, in his first post-debate interview, sat down with correspondent George Stephanopoulos, for a compelling and candid interview on his debate performance, age and health, and his chances for reelection.

As the debate was more about visuals, this interview presented a well-rested, clearly healthier, less pale, and ghostly, appearance and while his voice was less gravelly, it still sounded horse, which may be the result of overuse, but consistent with his grandfatherly advice position.

Age and health were central to the interview. The interviewer continued to push Biden on his age and health, as if his opponent, at 76, was a much younger man than the actual five years that separate the two.

Stephanopoulos continued to request if the president would be willing to submit to an "independent" battery of cognitive and neurological tests, "and submit the result to the American people," implying that the president may be in early stage dementia or experiencing age-related cognitive decline. Fortunately, the American people understand in politics there is no such thing as an independent opinion, and every opinion and decision is politically motivated.

Stephanopoulos, who served as the former Senior Advisor to President Bill Clinton, was kind but combative, pressing Biden with hypothetical reiterations of what would it take for him to "stand down?"

Attempting to measure Biden's determination Stephanopoulos began pressing the president first with a single democrat, Senator Mark Warner, (D-VA), then to a coalition of democrats, "And if Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi come down and say, "We're worried that if you stay in the race, we're going to lose the House and the Senate," how will you respond?," reported The New York Times.

Biden finally admitted that if the "Lord Almighty" told him to step down he would. Stephanopoulos acknowledged that the Lord Almighty isn't going to tell him to relinquish his pursuits.

Beltway Insider Special: Biden-Trump 2024 Election Debate - It is Issues or Visuals

Trump Sentencing Delayed

The sentencing of convicted felon and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, which was scheduled for July 11, 2024, has been postponed until September 18, as Trump's lawyers seek to have the verdict vacated on the grounds of presidential immunity.

Even as the convictions stem from hush money payments arranged by Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to buy the silence of his sexual encounter with adult film star Stormy Daniels, which occurred before the former president took office, the former president's legal is attempting to circumvent the use of the evidence.

"Trump's legal team is poised to use the new ruling to attack the trial evidence, because the Supreme Court said evidence related to official acts of a president may not be presented to a jury to prove alleged private criminal activity," The Washington Post reported.

Judge Juan Merchan has announced he will rule on the motions on September 6, 2024.

Former Trump Attorney, and NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Disbarred

Former Trump attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who has a long and storied history with the New York Bar Association, serving as a prosecutor, and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, has been disbarred and his name stricken from all records.

Giuliani, who also served the people of New York City as the Mayor, "has faced a storm of legal problems over his leading role in Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 reelection defeat. He has been indicted on criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona over alleged schemes to subvert the 2020 election in each state," The Washington Post reported.

Giuliani recently filed for bankruptcy after a Georgia court found him liable for defaming Georgia poll workers. He was ordered to pay $148 million.

Trump's Former Advisor Reports to Prison

Stephen K. Bannon, an advisor to former president and now convicted felon Donald Trump, reported to prison this week to begin a four-month sentence for defying a federal subpoena compelling him to testify in the January 6 Capital riots.

Former President Donald J. Trump Found Guilty on All Counts

Supreme Court Decisions – Presidential Immunity

The United States Supreme Court shocked the nation again this week by granting carte blanche freedom and immunity from prosecution to the president, with limited constraints and boundaries. The 6-3 decision, which fell along ideological lines, shattered the belief that no man is above the law.

"The court found Trump cannot be prosecuted for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as president, but can be for private acts, in a landmark ruling recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution," Reuters reported.

The decision sent shock waves through the population, court watchers, and the legal community with dissenters, including Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote, "With fear for our democracy, I dissent."

The decision clarified for the American people, that the conservative court of five, three of whom were appointed by former President, and now convicted felon, Donald Trump has a clear, set agenda, and it has nothing to do with the advancement of society, freedom or the American people.

World News: National Assembly Suffers Defeat, Macron Counters to Block Extremists

France/UK Voters Send Clear Message

The British voters are fed up and they went to the polls in mass, this week, to show the current government just how determined they were to usher in change. Not since Tony Blair, has there been such a clear, resounding, unequivocal victory for Britain's Labour Party as leader Keir Starmer won a decisive victory ousting Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Party.

"A mandate like this comes with a great responsibility," Starmer acknowledged in a speech to supporters, saying that the fight to regain people's trust after years of disillusionment "is the battle that defines our age," CBSnews.com reported.

Even as the voter turnout was the lowest in recent years, the Labour Party secured 412 seats in Parliament, a significant victory, and proved also, the despondency of the people.

The new PM Keir Starmer has outlined his specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals including 1) Kick-start economic growth; 2) Make Britain a clean energy superpower; 3) Take back our streets; 4) Break down barriers to opportunity, and 5) Build an NHS fit for the future.

"Delivering the change Britain needs will require perseverance. The starting point for delivering these missions is to ensure the foundations of good government are right. Labour will make sure we have strong national security, secure borders, and economic stability. Building on these secure foundations, we have already set out the first steps for change," stated Labour Organization.com.

French Voters Lean Right

In the highest voter turnout in decades, which at 5:00 pm local time has recorded nearly 60% of the population turned out to cast ballots in the second of two snap elections. The fate of the current French President Emmanuel Macron's effectiveness will be sorely tested if the far-right National Assembly gains power. It would be the first right-leaning government since World War II.

"The populist, anti-immigration National Rally party is hoping to expand its lead in this second-round vote, claim a majority in the National Assembly and insert 28-year-old leader Jordan Bardella as prime minister," reported The Washington Post.

Coronavirus Totals

The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens, should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

For the 7 days ending July 7, 2024, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization increased to 775,678,432 confirmed cases, adding 62,696 confirmed cases. The total worldwide death toll increased by 596 to 7,052,472 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated June 23, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

Avatar and Titanic Producer Jon Landau Dies

Producer Jon Landau, known for his longtime collaboration with "Avatar" and "Titanic" Director James Cameron, died Friday. He was 63.

"Cameron remembered his longtime friend in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, writing, "A great producer and a great human being has left us. Jon Landau believed in the dream of cinema. He believed that film is the ultimate human art form, and to make films you have to first be human yourself. He will be remembered as much for his vast generosity of spirit as for the movies themselves."

Landau was an Executive Vice-President with FOX Studios when he was assigned to work with Cameron in "True Lies," after the success of the film, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Leigh Curtis, Cameron explains that he lured Landau away from FOX and the pair began a 31-year collaboration that resulted in three of the highest grossing films in box office history.

After the release of "Titanic," which earned 14 Academy Award nominations and received 11 wins, the pair continued to enlarge the boundaries of cinema and moviemaking with the ambitious Avatar, which Cameron has often said, "was the film he was born to make."

Jon Landau, AVATAR Producer, Hosts Blu-Ray Release Screening

Having the opportunity to interview Landau, during the Avatar Home Entertainment release junket, I asked him about the less-than-enthusiastic response by the Academy voters. He explained, "Well, number one, I just want to be clear my disappointment with the Academy is not about Best Picture, is not about Best Director. It's about our technical people in sound and in editing that did not win. Because when I look at what they accomplished, they had to create a world of sound. They didn't just have to take world sounds and make them work in a movie, they had to create a world of sound and make it live up to the visuals that were up there. That to me was the most disappointing. James Horner who write this incredible score. The people responding emotionally to the movie you don't do that without a score. Not taking anything away from any of the other movies but just the complexity and the level of detail it is really remarkable. So that's my disappointment."

The global success of "Avatar" spawned a franchise, more than a decade in the making, that again put a long-awaited sequel that introduced the stunning cinematography to a new generation of filmgoers, and once again, the producer-director team achieved box office success.

Those who knew him are devastated by the loss, and have posted tributes on social media, including Cameron, "Lord of the Rings" Director Peter Jackson, and screenwriter Fran Walsh whose visual effects company, WETA worked with Landau on the "Avatar" films, Academy Award winner Special Effects Joe Leterri, Alan Bergman, CEO of Disney Entertainment, and actress Zoe Saldana, have taken to social media praising Landau as a "visionary," someone with "unparalleled passion," and one whose legacy "will last for generations" and "will continue to inspire and guide."

Cameron ended his heartfelt tribute by stating, "Together, we thought we could solve anything. But you can't solve the fragility of life itself. I am grateful for every year, every day, every minute we had together. I am grateful for the belief he had in me and what his partnership allowed us to accomplish together. A part of myself has been torn away. But the amazing team he assembled and led still remains, and we will dedicate ourselves to fulfilling Jon's legacy."

Landau is survived by his wife, two children, and siblings. Although no immediate cause of death has been announced by the Landau family, media reports stated cancer as the cause.

Janet Walker, Award-Winning Screenwriter, Director, Producer, and Publisher, Unveils Slate at EFM

For more information on the Biden-Harris Administration: Whitehouse.gov.

Janet Walker is the publisher and founder of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the Online Writer's Association, and the International Federation of Journalists.