Image source, Getty Images

On Friday, Ashley Judd became the latest celebrity to make her personal concerns about Joe Biden public.

In an opinion piece in USA Today, external, she expressed her fears of a second Donald Trump presidency and why she feels Biden must step aside to prevent it.

"Because of the very real hurt millions of people would feel when he [Trump] is president again, the Democratic Party must not delay in thanking President Biden and supporting a talented, robust Democrat to be our party’s nominee.

"We do not have another day for distraction or division among ourselves."

"This is not something I wrote easily, quickly or for political convenience. My belief in what President Biden has done for our country runs deep.

"My hopes for the next term run high", she said, just not with Biden at the top of the ticket.

Her statement comes after actor - and Democratic fundraiser - George Clooney called on Biden to step aside in a New York Times op-ed this week.

Image source, Reuters

While questions swirl around whether Joe Biden can hang on as Democratic nominee for president, Donald Trump is due to be formally crowned as the Republican choice in a key battleground state on Monday.

The Republican National Convention - which will see state delegates select both the presidential and vice-presidential candidates - is being held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Trump is also expected to hold a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Brajesh Upadhyay
BBC News, Washington

Image source, Reuters

While some top donors are increasingly unwilling to pour cash into the presidential campaign with Biden at the top of the ticket, there are others who have chosen to go with the flow.

Shekar Narasimhan, who has been organising fundraisers for Democrats for more than two decades, says there has been no change in his fundraising plans.

“Our eyes can see what’s going on, our ears can hear what’s being talked about but we are keeping our heads down to get the work done,“ says Narsimhan, who is the founder of the AAPI Victory Fund, a Super-PAC focused exclusively on mobilising the political power of the Asian American Pacific Islander community.

“It’s the president’s decision to make whether he wants to run or not and we will go with whatever he decides,” he says. “But it’s better to end this discussion as soon as possible and I’m hoping by next Friday this will end one way or another.”

Narsimhan says his support for Biden comes from the belief that he will win.

“This election will be decided by no more than a total of 50,000 votes in three states—Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—and we have the ground game and infrastructure to win there,” he says.

Another megadonor Frank Islam, who is also on the National Finance Committee, has a fundraiser planned at his Maryland home later this month.

“I am absolutely going ahead with it because I know he will win,” he says.

A Colorado House Democrat has joined the list of representatives openly calling for Joe Biden to stand down as candidate for the presidency ahead of November's election.

In a statement on social media, external, Congresswoman Brittany Petterson says Biden is a "good man who has served this country faithfully and admirably over his decades of service".

But she says "my son and my constituents can't suffer the consequences of inaction at this critical moment".

Petterson says Biden "saved the country once" and that he can do it again, by standing aside:

Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images

Angst over the 2024 election is taking a toll – even outside the political arena.

That’s the takeaway from the latest University of Michigan consumer survey, external, which has been tracking economic sentiment since the 1950s.

Its consumer sentiment index for July fell to the lowest level since November, the fourth month in a row of decline.

In announcing the results, survey director Joanne Hsu said the fall was statistically insignificant and that there was “little evidence” that the first presidential debate had changed people's views about the economy.

But many analysts weren’t buying it – noting that the drop in sentiment was driven by sharp declines among Democrats. (Republicans have held darker views throughout the Biden administration.)

With inflation easing and the stock market strong, “it is difficult to see what else caused” the fall, wrote Thomas Ryan, North America economist for research firm Capital Economics.

President Joe Biden is due to head to Detroit, the largest city in the key battleground state of Michigan, to hold a campaign rally later.

He's due to arrive the midwestern state at around 15:30 EST (20:30 BST), and planning to stay in the city for a few hours before returning to Washington DC.

We'll bring you his remarks live from the rally on this page later.

Image source, Anadolu via Getty Images

Despite a relentless media buzz about the growing number of Democrats calling on Joe Biden to drop out of the race, most elected Democrats appear to still support the president and his re-election bid.

Several have made public comments in favour of Biden this week in a demonstration of loyalty.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sought to quiet rumours that he was privately dissenting.

"As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden," he said.

Senator Chris Coons applauded Biden's post-Nato summit speech, writing on X, formerly Twitter: "No one is more prepared to lead our nation forward than Joe Biden."

The president has also largely maintained support among his young and diverse ranks in Congress, including the influential Congressional Black Caucus and progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

When asked about the growing discontent, a spokesperson from the Biden campaign reiterated the president's message that he is "firmly committed to staying in this race".

Sarah Smith
North America editor

Joe Biden performed well enough at the crucial Nato press conference - but not so well that he has put an end to the speculation about his candidacy, or to silence the calls for him to drop out of the presidential race.

That’s going to be the problem for him going forward. He is going to be under constant and intense scrutiny at every event. Any slip or mistake will be seized on as evidence that he is not fit or capable enough to be running for a second term.

I texted one of the party insiders who is working hard behind the scenes to pressure Biden into stepping aside.

He said the conversation in all chat groups made up of like-minded Biden sceptics was that whilst the president had done OK it wasn’t enough to change anyone’s mind. He noted that Biden had been mostly been talking about foreign policy on Thursday – something that will make very little difference for the average voter.

There are far more people who want him to step aside than the list of those who have already said so in public. And clearly he has not settled the doubts of those who believe he is on course to lose the election to Donald Trump.

Biden probably did not lose any support but he has not won over his internal critics either. So he will limp on, running a campaign that is aimed at trying to convince his own party to support him.

Not a great place to be in, less than four months before the election.

Image source, Christy Jared

A longtime Democratic donor, Christy Jared is among those who once enthusiastically supported Joe Biden but whose view of his re-election chances have since dimmed.

On multiple occasions, Jared has donated to Biden’s election campaign and can list off multiple reasons why she thinks he’s a better candidate than Donald Trump (like having her student loans reduced under the president's student loan forgiveness programme).

There's just one problem.

"I am just not sure how Biden can beat Trump," she says.

“Biden has done an excellent job as a president and as a public servant. [But] we need someone now who is vigorous and strong.

"If there is a way for him to step down and let Vice-President Kamala Harris takeover, I would be supportive of that."

Image source, Getty Images

Hakeem Jeffries - the second-highest ranking member of the House and the top House Democrat - has met privately with Joe Biden.

In a letter to caucus, Jeffries said on Friday that he "directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together".

Many within the party, including 16 from within his chamber, have publicly asked the president to abandon his re-election bid.

Jeffries and Biden met on Thursday evening.

Earlier this week, Nancy Pelosi, one of the most powerful Democrats on the Hill, made comments in a TV interview that many viewed as a subtle plea for Biden to exit.

Welcome back to our live coverage, as pressure on US President Joe Biden to stand down from his re-election bid is growing from his own ranks.

A disastrous debate performance has raised concerns about his age and his ability to beat Republican rival Donald Trump at the upcoming election in November, or even to serve another four-year term as US leader.

In a Thursday evening press conference, Biden said he had no intention to step aside.

But he had a couple of gaffes as he took questions for an hour, including referring to Vice-President Kamala Harris as "Vice-President Trump".

Biden will continue to campaign on Friday with a rally in Michigan.

Stick with us and we'll bring you all the key developments here, as well as analysis of events in Washington DC and beyond.

Image source, EPA

We are pausing our live page coverage of Joe Biden's press conference after the Nato summit in Washington DC.

You can read our latest news story on how his performance on Thursday has failed to silence the president's critics here.

The editors of this page have been Brandon Livesay, Caitlin Wilson, Phil McCausland, Gareth Evans and Christal Hayes.

Our writers have been Kayla Epstein, Max Matza, Ana Faguy and Bernd Debusmann.

Our colleagues in Singapore, Joel Guinto and Annabelle Liang also contributed to this page.

We are pausing our live coverage shortly. Here is what you need to know about how Biden handled a press conference in Washington DC that is crucial to his re-election campaign.

• His appearance was marred by gaffes, including an early reference to Kamala Harris as "Vice-President Trump".
• This came after he introduced Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky at an earlier Nato event as "President Putin", before quickly correcting himself.
• Biden took questions from reporters for around an hour about calls for him to step aside. He stood firm, saying: "I've got to finish the job," he said.
• Three Democrats have called for him to stand aside since the presser, joining a chorus of at least a dozen other lawmakers in his party.
• However, some Democrats expressed their support for Biden, citing his replies to questions on foreign policy.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Biden showed no signs of stepping downpublished at 03:39 British Summer Time 12 July

03:39 BST 12 July

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Joe Biden took to the stage tonight with everything on the line – his presidency, his re-election hopes, his political life.

For a full hour, he repeatedly dismissed the concerns about his campaign that were posed by a room full of reporters, and promised that he was fighting not for his legacy, but to finish the job he started when he took office in 2021.

Several more Democrats have since publicly called on Mr Biden to step down, joining at least a dozen other lawmakers in the Democratic party who have done so.

The question for Joe Biden's campaign is whether the floodgates will now open, or if the tide will hold.

Read the full story here.

A senior Democrat has come out to defend Biden on his gaffes, which have been dominating the headlines.

"Sometimes, I can't even remember my kid's names because I'm so tired," Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison told MSNBC.

"We've got to stop the nitpicking and then focus on the work ahead. This guy has done it, he's done it in the past," Harrison said.

Image source, Getty Images

Over the past weeks, a growing number of Democrats have called on Biden to end his re-election bid and step aside for a younger contender.

It began five days after his disastrous debate performance when Lloyd Doggett, a 15-term Texas congressman, said Biden must "make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw".

And more have followed after Biden's twin gaffes at the Nato meeting tonight in the US.

Here is a list.

Image source, Getty Images

Illinois Rep Eric Sorensen has added his name to Democrats calling for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.

Sorensen said in a statement on X that Biden was "a good man who has spent the bulk of his life in service to our country".

"I am hopeful President Biden will step aside in his campaign for president," he said.

Without naming any replacements, Sorensen said Biden needed to "demonstrate the strength and wisdom needed to lead us through the worst storms," among other priorities.

Some Democrats are coming out to note that there was substance to Biden's address, despite the gaffes.

One senior Democratic figure, who has previously called on him to withdraw, has posted his verdict on X.

Former housing secretary Julian Castro said that the president "spoke well about his success in marshaling allies and protecting NATO" in a "major media moment".

However, he added that Biden "didn't offer a clear articulation of his core message against Trump. Or his path of victory to defeat".

President Biden continued to lose support from Democrats on Thursday, even as the vast majority have still not called for him to suspend his campaign for re-election.

After days of speaking about concerns over Biden's abilities, California Congressman Scott Peters appears to have made his position official.

"Today I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign,” he said in a statement that has been shared by reporters. “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course."

Earlier, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat from Washington state, took her concerns about Biden's mental fitness one step further and implied he should resign from office.

Gluesenkamp Perez told local media that she doubted the president's "judgement about his health, his fitness to do the job, and whether he is the one making important decisions about our country, rather than unelected advisors".

Meanwhile, several Democrats have praised Biden following his highly-anticipated Nato press conference.

“I think he convinced a lot of people he should stay in the race,” Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen told CNN after Biden concluded.

Former President Donald Trump was back on Truth Social to poke fun at Joe Biden's performance at the Nato press conference, referring to a moment when the president mistakenly identified Trump as his vice-president - rather than Kamala Harris.

"Crooked Joe begins his 'Big Boy' Press Conference with, 'I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, though I think she was not qualified to be president,'" Trump wrote on Truth Social mocking the president's gaffe.

"Great job, Joe!" he added.

Biden responded on his X account: "Yes I know the difference. One's a prosecutor, and the other's a felon."

Harris started her career in the 1990s as a prosecutor in California before being elected the state's attorney general.

Trump was found guilty business fraud at his hush-money trial in May and is awaiting sentencing - though his lawyers asked the judge to toss out the verdict after the US Supreme Court's immunity ruling.

In a separate Truth Social post, Trump made fun of Biden mistakenly saying commander-in-chief instead of chief-of-staff and posted a clip of the moment with the caption "Crooked Joe".