House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, in separate private meetings with President Biden last week, told him that his continued candidacy imperils the Democratic Party’s ability to control either chamber of Congress next year.

Jeffries (D-N.Y.) met with Biden on Thursday night at the White House, and Schumer (D-N.Y.) met with him on Saturday in Rehoboth Beach, Del. In the meetings, the congressional leaders discussed their members’ concerns that Biden could deprive them of majorities, giving Republicans a much easier path to push through legislation, according to four people briefed on the meetings who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks.

In a separate one-on-one conversation, a person close to Biden told the president directly that he should end his candidacy, saying that was the only way to preserve his legacy and save the country from another Trump term, the person said. The president responded that he adamantly disagreed with that opinion and that he is the best candidate to defeat Republican Donald Trump. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

The Democratic leaders released only short statements after the meetings acknowledging that they occurred but saying little or nothing about the substance. The Biden campaign and the White House also have not provided public summaries of the meetings.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden told Schumer and Jeffries in their private meetings that he would remain at the top of the ticket. “The President told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families,” Bates said in a statement.

Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in California and a close ally of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), on Wednesday became the latest and most prominent House member to call on Biden to leave the race. Adding to the president’s challenges, he was diagnosed with covid-19 on Wednesday, forcing him to curtail his campaign schedule.

Even before last month’s presidential debate, in which Biden repeatedly stumbled, Democrats’ internal polls showed his support trailing his 2020 levels by significant margins in key districts, according to people familiar with the data. Biden’s team had long hoped that the debate would boost those numbers, but it has not worked out that way.

“Democratic House polls have not shown any change in congressional candidate standing since the debate,” said one person familiar with the data, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

In the Senate, Democrats have a 51-49 majority, but Sen. Joe Manchin III, a longtime Democrat who recently switched to independent, is not seeking reelection, meaning the GOP will almost certainly recapture his seat. Even if Democrats win all the other contested seats, the result would be a 50-50 split — meaning the Senate would be controlled by whichever party wins the White House, because the vice president casts the tiebreaking vote in the chamber.

That has deeply worried many Senate Democrats, given that Biden is trailing Trump in numerous battleground state polls in which Democratic Senate candidates continue to lead — a sentiment Schumer expressed to Biden in their meeting. “Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus,” said an aide to the senator who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

In private meetings with larger groups of lawmakers, Biden has disputed the notion that he is losing to Trump or that he would hurt other Democrats and has cited polls as a defense, although he has not specified which ones prove his point, according to two of the people briefed on the matter.

The private warnings from Jeffries and Schumer are a striking message from the party’s leaders and reflect the dire outlook many Democrats see after Biden’s debate performance. Nearly two dozen members of Congress have publicly called on Biden to exit the presidential race, and many more elected officials privately share that sentiment.

Pelosi and former president Barack Obama, who have spoken out about the state of the race in recent days, have expressed concern privately about the president’s path forward, according to people familiar with their conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private. Obama spoke with Biden after his debate performance, offering his support as a sounding board and private counselor for his former vice president.

Biden has in recent days launched an energetic, sometimes combative, effort to hear out the concerns of fellow Democrats, meeting virtually with five groups of House lawmakers. He has also spoken privately with party leaders, including Pelosi and Rep. James E. Clyburn (S.C.).

Biden had a phone conversation on Friday with Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which coordinates the party’s House races, according to a person familiar with the call. A DCCC spokesman declined to comment on the private conversation.

Although their path to retaining their Senate majority has seemed shaky for some time, Democrats had seen a clear path to win back the House, which Republicans now control 220-213. With Trump leading Biden in the polls, Democrats fear that a failure to retake the House would give Trump and the far-right faction of the Republican Party a free hand to remake Washington.

The day after his meeting with Biden, Jeffries sent a letter to his Democratic House colleagues to inform them of his conversation, noting that he had requested the meeting.

“In my conversation with President Biden, I 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,” Jeffries wrote, referring to the full caucus of House Democrats.

After his meeting Saturday, Schumer said in a statement, “I sat with President Biden this afternoon in Delaware; we had a good meeting.”

In recent days, Democratic lawmakers and even top strategists working on Biden’s reelection effort have grown increasingly concerned that the president is not getting a full picture of the state of the race. In particular, they worry that Biden has not met with his campaign’s pollsters and, instead, has largely relied on the advice of a dwindling circle of longtime aides.

The back-and-forth is playing out alongside a related dispute over whether to proceed with a virtual roll call that would formally nominate Biden several weeks before the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19-22. Some Democrats say that is a necessary move to ensure that Republicans cannot challenge Biden’s nomination as coming too late; others complain that it is a ploy to cement Biden’s nomination before the delegates gather.

On Wednesday, the co-chairs of the convention’s rules committee issued a letter saying that the virtual roll call would take place, but they promised it would not be rushed and would not take place before Aug. 1. The announcement came after some Democratic lawmakers had started protesting the process and urging the party to abandon it.

Paul Kane, Marianna Sotomayor and Leigh Ann Caldwell contributed to this report.

LAS VEGAS — President Biden has tested positive for the coronavirus and is experiencing mild symptoms, including a cough, runny nose and “general malaise,” the White House said Wednesday.

Biden has canceled his planned events in Las Vegas and has departed en route to Delaware. He plans to isolate there while continuing to work, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

“He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” she said. “The White House will provide regular updates on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.”

Relaying a statement from Biden’s doctor, the White House said that the president’s symptoms began Wednesday afternoon.

“He felt okay for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for COVID-19 was conducted, and the results were positive for the COVID-19 virus,” the statement said, adding that Biden’s vitals appeared normal.

Biden has taken his first dose of Paxlovid, the doctor said.

“I feel good,” Biden told reporters before boarding Air Force One. He was not wearing a mask.

Biden had been scheduled to speak Wednesday at a conference for UnidosUS, a leading Hispanic civil rights group.

The speech was set to begin at 1:30 p.m. local time, but Biden had been running more than an hour late when the group’s president, Janet Murguía, told attendees he had called to say he would not be able to make it.

Biden also had to cancel a planned campaign stop scheduled for later Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Biden had visited a local restaurant to tape an interview with Univision.

Biden, who previously tested positive for covid in July 2022 and experienced mild symptoms, was seen taking selfies with patrons before the interview.

His illness Wednesday comes as a covid summer wave washes over much of the United States. Coronavirus levels in wastewater were considered high or very high in 26 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last Thursday.

The CDC no longer collects comprehensive covid hospital admissions data. But the virus is becoming more prevalent in emergency departments, with the percentage of visits involving covid cases rising in recent weeks to 1.5 percent, the highest since February.

The bulk of new cases are caused by new variants, known as FLiRT and LB.1. The new variants are more effective than their predecessors at infecting people who have some immunity from previous infections or vaccination.

The CDC now advises people with covid to isolate until their overall symptoms have improved and they have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication. The agency also advises precautions such as wearing masks and improving air circulation for an additional five days.

The Biden administration ended the public health emergency declaration for covid in May 2023 and has since rolled back efforts to contain transmission, including its free program of coronavirus tests by mail. Federal health authorities have prioritized vaccination as a way to prevent the worst outcomes of infections, now rolling out updated coronavirus vaccines in the fall alongside flu shots as part of a respiratory virus vaccination campaign.

But as Biden’s case shows, coronavirus is not a strictly seasonal pathogen and causes periodic upticks throughout the year. It no longer overwhelms hospitals, but can cause more strain in fall and winter months when hospitals also confront rising flu and RSV cases. Covid is still one of the leading causes of death by infectious diseases and can cause lasting complications known as long covid, even in people who had mild cases.

MILWAUKEE — Republicans have provided very little unwanted drama at their convention this week, and Donald Trump has enjoyed every adulatory minute of it. But away from this convention city, Democrats have provided some drama of their own, likely to the detriment of President Biden.

Democrats have unwittingly flipped the script of convention week, which traditionally has called for some modest counterprogramming by the opposing party or, long ago, simply going quiet for the entire week. Biden certainly tried to counter Trump, holding campaign events in the critical state of Nevada and conducting an interview with NBC anchor Lester Holt.

But his efforts have had to compete with the steady drip, drip, drip of the saga of whether he should continue his candidacy or bow out gracefully and a messy discussion about whether he should be nominated ahead of next month’s Democratic convention in Chicago.

And then on Wednesday, the White House announced that the president had tested positive for covid, forcing him off the campaign trail to isolation at his home in Delaware.

As befits convention week, Trump has been the dominant story, and it has been almost uniformly good. Republicans at this convention are as united as anyone can remember — united around Trump’s candidacy, his persona and his policies.

Since the assassination attempt on Saturday, Trump has been visible but not volatile. So far, he has been on good behavior, basking each night in the family box just above the convention floor. How long even-tempered behavior lasts is the question that even many Republicans are asking and with some urgency as he prepares to address the convention on Thursday night.

His nightly arrivals at the Fiserv Forum have provided the emotional highlights of the week. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas said when she saw video of Trump walking in for the first time on Monday night, she rushed from a nearby holding room to the convention to witness it firsthand, such is the draw he holds on those who count among his most loyal supporters.

But if Trump has been the obvious big story of the week, Biden has been a story of a different sort. It has now been three weeks since the CNN debate in Atlanta, and the Democrats seem no closer to answering the question of will he stay or will he go.

The calls for him to withdraw began in the hours after that debate and have persisted. But he remains in the race, resistant to all the public and private advice that he threatens to take the party to a defeat that could cost the House and Senate as well as the White House.

The latest turn in that story is the revelation that Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) separately have told Biden that his continued candidacy would imperil the party in the fall, putting at risk Democrats’ hopes of taking control of the House and handing Republicans control of the Senate.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), his party’s nominee for Senate, became one of the most prominent Democratic elected officials to urge Biden to step aside when he did so on Wednesday. Schiff’s words carry weight, given his prominence in the party, but the fact that he is extremely close to former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) has given those words even more meaning.

Midweek, the party found itself in a messy internal squabble over the issue of formally nominating Biden and Vice President Harris weeks before the convention. Party officials say the move is necessary to ensure that Biden and Harris are on all state ballots and avoid litigation over access. Other officials say that’s folly and that an early vote isn’t necessary.

Part of the debate this week was over when to schedule the roll call, and when it looked like those in control were preparing to set the date at the end of this month or earlier, congressional Democrats and Democratic governors pushed back. Now party officials say the virtual roll call will not be held before Aug. 1, perhaps even a bit later.

That almost assures that the Democrats’ drama will continue until then, unless Biden suddenly announces a change of heart. He has rebuffed all calls for him to step aside, has retreated to what is described as a shrinking inner circle of advisers and remains confident in his ability to win the election even if two-thirds of Democrats nationally say he should pass the torch, according to a new AP/NORC poll.

The covid diagnosis adds to Biden’s string of bad luck, possibly drawing more attention to his age and physical strength. Since the debate, he has stepped up his schedule and his travels, holding rallies, doing interviews and conducting Zoom conversations with different groups from his party.

At times, he has been vigorous and energetic. At other times, not so. Even at his best, he has not put to rest concerns about his capacity to win the election and serve another four years.

Veteran Democrats are in a dour mood but want to believe there are more turns of the wheel to come, something unexpected that could move the race away from Trump and back toward them.

Wiser Republicans, trying to temper their optimism, recognize that the election is still almost four months away. But the Democrats’ travails that have played out this week have only added to the confident mood that has marked the first days of the Republican convention.

MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, recounted his hardscrabble Ohio upbringing and his post-Sept. 11 military service as he introduced himself and his young family to the nation at the Republican National Convention here Wednesday night.

Unfurling the tale of a boy who grew up in poverty in southwest Ohio with an absent father and a drug-addicted mother — a boy who is now a 39-year-old man nominated to become the next vice president — Vance offered an up-from-the-bootstraps story that the Trump-Vance ticket hopes will resonate with working-class and rural America.

Vance spoke of being raised in Middletown, Ohio, midway between Cincinnati and Dayton — “a small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands, and loved their God, their family, their community and their country with their whole hearts” — but also a town “cast aside” by the ruling class in Washington.

There, while his own mother struggled with addiction, Vance said he was raised by “Mamaw” — “the name we hillbillies gave to our grandmothers” — who he described as “an old woman who could barely walk but she was tough as nails.” The account was familiar to readers of Vance’s 2016 best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Taking the stage to the twangy strains of Merle Haggard’s “America First,” Vance offered voters a narrative through-line about how the lessons he learned with Mamaw in greater Appalachia shaped his populist and isolationist worldview, from his and Trump’s restrictionist trade policies and skepticism of overseas entanglements to their shared hard-line immigration stance and concerns about the scourge of fentanyl in communities across America.

“President Trump represents America’s last best hope to restore what — if lost — may never be found again,” Vance said, saying he and Trump were fighting for people like “the autoworker in Michigan, wondering why out-of-touch politicians are destroying their jobs” and “the factory worker in Wisconsin who makes things with their hands and is proud of American craftsmanship.”

“And our movement is about single moms like mine, who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up,” Vance said, gesturing to his mom who raised both hands to her lips before holding them back out to her son.

“And I am proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober,” Vance said in an emotional moment that prompted a standing ovation. “I love you, Mom.”

“J.D.’s mom! J.D.’s mom! J.D.’s mom!” the crowd chanted.

Vance was introduced by his wife, Usha Vance, who was met with a polite but somewhat subdued response, including audible gasps when she described how her husband, a “meat and potatoes” guy, came to embrace her vegetarianism.

President Biden, meanwhile, tested positive for the coronavirus following a campaign event in Las Vegas and planned to return to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., to self-isolate, a White House spokesperson said in a statement.

On a night when the theme was “Make America Strong Once Again,” Vance headlined the convention along with several other hard-right firebrands, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), former acting national intelligence director Ric Grenell, former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro and Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

Extolling Trump’s bearded No. 2 pick Wednesday, Gaetz said that “J.D. looks like a young Abraham Lincoln” but noted that, like former president Ulysses S. Grant, Vance also hails from Ohio “and like General Grant, J.D. Vance knows how to fight.”

“So they can run Biden from the nursing home,” Gaetz said, finishing his speech and building to his crescendo: “We are on a mission to rescue and save this country. And we ride or die with Donald John Trump to the end.”

Trump Jr. and his cadre of loyalists were instrumental in pushing Vance as Trump’s No. 2, a decision that the former president did not finalize until the final 24 hours before the announcement Monday. Navarro, meanwhile, traveled to Wisconsin on Wednesday from Florida, where he was released from federal prison in Miami after serving a four-month sentence for ignoring a congressional subpoena.

Taking the stage, Navarro immediately referred to his prison time, faulting “Joe Biden and his Department of Injustice,” before recounting a favored Trump message: that the former president is merely a martyr, fighting against nefarious forces on behalf of his flock.

“If they can come for me, and if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful,” Navarro said. “They will come for you.”

Parts of the evening, especially those focused on undocumented immigrants — who Trump Jr.’s fiancé, Kimberly Guilfoyle, described as “violent criminal aliens” — were laced with dark imagery.

Thomas Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accused Biden and Vice President Harris of unraveling Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.

“Biden is the first president in American history to come into office and unsecure a border. Who the hell does that?” Homan said, later adding that Biden and Harris were making a deliberate choice that he described as “national suicide.”

Arizona ranchers Jim and Sue Chilton took the stage moments later, with Jim Chilton offering his “beautiful wife” a kiss on the side of her head. But he quickly turned ominous as well, alleging that since Biden has been president, the hidden cameras on their ranch have recorded more than 3,500 “drug packers” and other undocumented immigrants crossing through their stead.

“These are not asylum seekers,” he said. “It looks like and it feels like an invasion, because it is.”

Illegal crossings at the southern border have soared to record highs under Biden, though in recent months, his administration has launched a broad crackdown that has pushed the numbers back down to Trump-era levels. The Trump administration also faced spikes and record numbers of families crossing the border in 2019. Trump also helped kill a $118 billion border security bill spearheaded by Democrats because he said he didn’t want Biden to have an election-year policy win.

The heated rhetoric onstage could also be found offstage as well, at least in moments. A group of Republican senators followed Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, through the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday evening, shouting questions at her about the assassination attempt against Trump.

“This was an assassination attempt!” yelled Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), who was accompanied by Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.). “You owe the people answers! You owe President Trump answers!”

The confrontation lasted at least 30 seconds, according to onlookers, as the senators chased her and she moved away from them without speaking.

In another one of the evening’s most emotional moments, several Gold Star family members spoke movingly of the family members they lost in combat, blaming Biden for the “disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan” in 2021 and accusing him of not sufficiently remembering their loved ones.

One couple, Herman and Alicia Lopez, spoke of their 22-year-old son, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, who died during the Afghanistan withdrawal. Biden, they said, met the plane carrying the 13 U.S. service members killed in a single day when an explosion went off during the chaotic withdrawal but turned the focus to his late son, Beau, who died of cancer.

“Worse than that, he has never said their names out loud,” Herman Lopez continued, before reading the names of the 13 service members who died that day in August.

The tableau offered a marked departure from eight years ago, when Trump in 2016 found himself feuding with Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan, who spoke on the final day of the Democratic convention. And Trump has not been without his own controversies involving the military; the Atlantic magazine reported that the former president described Americans who have died in war as “suckers” and “losers.”

“President Biden cares deeply about our service members, their families, and the immense sacrifices they have made,” National Security spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “That’s why the president attended the dignified transfer of the 13 brave service members who lost their lives in Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021; as well as, of the three who lost their lives in Jordan earlier this year. As he said then and continues to believe now: Our country owes them a great deal of gratitude and a debt that we can never repay, and we will continue to honor their ultimate sacrifice.”

In many ways, Vance is the most ideologically and stylistically similar to Trump of the three men ultimately considered for vice president, and it is unclear whether he will help Trump dramatically expand the electoral map.

He could, however, arguably help the former president fortify his support in Pennsylvania, one of the three “Blue Wall” states — which includes Michigan and Wisconsin — that Democrats now largely believe are Biden’s only path to keeping the White House.

In 2020, Biden lost White men by between 17 and 23 percentage points, according to national exit polls and comparable surveys. But the Trump campaign is still working to increase Trump’s support among this demographic; in a July Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, 54 percent of White men supported Trump to 38 percent for Biden, a 16-point margin.

Trump aides hope Vance could help shore up support from White men, and are expected to deploy him across the country in working-class and rural areas similar to where he grew up.

Marc Short, the chief of staff to former vice president Mike Pence, said Trump’s choice of Vance as his No. 2 reflects the former president’s confidence in the electoral map.

“There’s no added math there — it’s more of a mini-me,” Short said. “But I also think the selection of Vance clearly shows the party has fully embraced the populist approach now.”

Vance was not always a Trump supporter. In 2016, he described Trump as either a “cynical asshole” or “America’s Hitler” in a text message to a former law school classmate, and in an essay for the Atlantic magazine the same year, he called Trump “cultural heroin.” In an updated 2018 version of his memoir, he revealed that he did not vote for Trump in 2016, instead opting for a third-party candidate.

But he has said he voted for Trump in 2020, and as he sought the Senate seat, Vance quickly modulated his public and private comments about Trump, seeking out his oldest son as an ally and becoming one of the former president’s staunchest defenders.

Keynoting the Republican convention Wednesday night, Vance made clear he knew who had selected him — and to whom he owed his fealty. He began his remarks focused on Trump, describing him as a man who “chose to endure abuse, slander, and persecution” while running for return to the White House, all “because he loves this country.”

Vance reminded the crowd of the “would-be assassin coming a quarter of an inch from taking his life,” stressing that just two days later, “Trump flew to Milwaukee and got back to work.”

“Our once and future president of the United States of America,” Vance extolled, before only then turning to his personal story.

Leigh Ann Caldwell, Josh Dawsey and Maeve Reston in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

MILWAUKEE — Welcome to The Campaign Moment. This week, we’ll be with you every night through Thursday, running through the big moments and trends from the Republican National Convention.

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The big moment

Night 3 of the 2024 GOP convention introduced the nation to perhaps the least-well-known presidential running mate since Sarah Palin in 2008, first-term Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who delivered the keynote address.

Vance’s big entree came even as the Democratic ticket remained unsettled, with increasing pressure on President Biden to bow out and Biden’s sudden disclosure of a coronavirus diagnosis Wednesday afternoon.

Here’s what we took away.

1. Vance’s speech sent a signal to the GOP of old

There were two big questions with Vance’s speech.

One was how would a guy whose 2022 Ohio Senate campaign wasn’t exactly a popular success play, in his big introduction?

And the second was how would he address tensions between his own politics and where his party has stood for years — specifically his isolationist foreign policy and anti-corporate populism? Some traditional conservatives blanched at his selection, which seemed to signal a real shift in where the party is headed.

On the first count, Vance delivered a capable if not exactly rousing speech. At moments, he betrayed his youth at just 39 years old, and he seemed overeager. His references to his humble beginnings played well. An especially strong moment came when he introduced his mother, whose drug problems featured significantly in his book, “Hillbilly Elegy.” Vance said she was about 10 years sober now.

As for the tensions between his policies and others in his party: Vance tried to play it off as healthy disagreement, but he also sent a subtly defiant signal to those he disagrees with.

“We have a big tent in this party on everything from national security to economic policy,” he said. “But my message to you, my fellow Republicans, is we love this country and we are united to win.”

Vance then preceded to highlight two conspicuous issues: opposition to NAFTA and the Iraq War.

“Somehow a real estate developer from New York City by the name of Donald J. Trump was right on all of these issues,” Vance said, “while Biden was wrong.”

Trump actually seemed to initially support the Iraq War, despite his frequent claims.

But that aside, it is also important to note that both of these policies initially got more Republican support than Democratic support. It was almost as if it was a concerted — if seemingly magnanimous — attempt to shove aside the GOP of old.

Later in the speech, Vance was more direct.

“We need a leader who is not in the pocket of big business but answers to the working man, union and nonunion alike,” he said, “a leader who won’t sell out to multinational corporations but will stand up for American companies and American industry.”

He added: “We’re done, ladies and gentlemen, catering to Wall Street. We’ll commit to the working man.”

Those comments weren’t specifically about his party. But they might as well have been. (The message was also at odds with how Trump often pitches his own policies to wealthy donors.)

These were the kind of comments that Republicans of the past might have seen at Democratic conventions and viewed as demagogic. Including them despite the pushback on Vance from the right was certainly a choice.

(To listen to the latest Campaign Moment podcast, click here.)

2. Gold Star families emotionally went to bat for Trump on Afghanistan

A big focal point Wednesday night was the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, as Republicans sought to highlight a low point of Biden’s presidency.

The convention played a video of family members of 6 of the 13 U.S. soldiers killed, and some of them spoke afterward as others stood onstage.

“Joe Biden said the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an extraordinary success,” said Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee. “Look at our faces. Look at our pain and our heartbreak. And look at our rage. That was not an extraordinary success. The humiliation of our nation was not an extraordinary success.”

It was an emotional moment. And this is a significant liability for Biden. His approval rating was declining somewhat before the withdrawal, but it went underwater almost immediately afterward and has never recovered. The period marked the most precipitous decline in his image ratings to date.

The featuring of the Gold Star families was also a notable reversal from the 2016 campaign season, when Trump actually attacked Gold Star parents who appeared onstage at the Democratic National Convention. Trump questioned whether the mother remained silent beside her husband because she was a Muslim. He also suggested the father was controlled by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. A number of Gold Star parents strongly criticized him.

Some Gold Star families have also criticized Trump for his reported comments dismissive of the sacrifice of slain soldiers.

3. Vice President Harris was a big focal point

With major questions about whether Biden will continue to lead his ticket, Republicans proceeded to focus more on the potential Democratic nominee-in-waiting, Vice President Harris.

She was invoked repeatedly early in Wednesday’s program — often alongside Biden, but perhaps tellingly, often in her own right.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.) claimed the “greatest blame” for obscuring Biden’s condition lies with Harris: “She has put party above country, and she is as unfit in character as Joe Biden is in body and mind.”

Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) linked Harris to the Afghanistan withdrawal, saying neither Biden nor she “deserves to be saluted as commander in chief or to sit in the Oval Office.”

The mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, blamed Harris for not reaching out after a major train derailment there.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) cited Harris as being the face of Biden’s border policy, saying, “Kamala Harris isn’t able to do any job.”

Gaetz added: “So they can run Biden from the nursing home, Harris, George Clooney, Robert De Niro, whoever they want to run. We are on a mission to rescue and save this country.”

4. ‘Law and order,’ meet Trump’s convicted allies

A big theme Tuesday night was the rule of law and “law and order.” But for the second straight night Wednesday, we got a taste for how selective that emphasis is.

Among those present were four convicted criminals aligned with Trump: former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, Trump-endorsing former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D) and former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro. Manafort, Stone and Blagojevich, each granted clemency by Trump in 2020, were sentenced to a combined quarter-century’s worth of prison; Navarro got out of prison earlier Wednesday after serving four months for contempt of Congress.

Navarro was given the stage for a surprisingly long speech, in which he told the crowd, “In Trump’s America, you didn’t have to worry about being locked up for disagreeing with the government. I went to prison so you won’t have to.”

Navarro was convicted after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. While the subtext of his speech was that he was politically targeted, the judge in the case assured him earlier this year, “Let’s make clear, Dr. Navarro: You are not a victim of a political prosecution. … These are circumstances of your own making.”

Navarro claimed in his trial that Trump had asserted executive privilege over his testimony while he was president, but Navarro never provided direct evidence of that. And Trump advisers and attorneys didn’t vouch for that claim.

On Thursday, of course, a felon named Donald Trump will accept the GOP nomination.

Take a moment to read:

“Jeffries, Schumer privately warned Biden he could imperil Democrats” (Washington Post)“Secret Service was told police could not watch building used by Trump rally shooter” (Washington Post)“Vance urged DOJ to enforce Comstock Act, crack down on abortion pills” (Washington Post)“Where J.D. Vance stands on key issues: Abortion, guns, Ukraine and more” (Washington Post)“DNC sticks with Biden virtual roll call, despite doubts that it’s necessary” (Washington Post)“How has Trump transformed the Republican Party? Look at the platforms.” (Politico)

GOP vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance was the headliner on the third night of the GOP convention, which featured a number of misleading or inaccurate statements. Here are nine claims that caught our attention, in the order in which they were made. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios for a roundup of statements made during convention events.

“Your favorite Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, created your favorite committee, the sham January 6th committee, Which demanded that I violate executive privilege. What did I do? I refused.”

— Peter Navarro, former White House director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy

Navarro spoke at the convention on the same day he completed a four-month prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena. The Jan. 6 committee had issued him a subpoena to testify about his involvement in efforts to delay the certification of the electoral college vote in the 2020 election. But Navarro never showed up to testify or produce documents. The House, controlled by Democrats, voted to recommend he be charged with contempt of Congress.

Navarro claimed that his testimony was protected by executive privilege, but a federal judge ruled that there was no evidence that former president Donald Trump had formally invoked the privilege. (Executive privilege is meant to protect the confidentiality of discussions between the president and his close aides.) Navarro produced nothing in writing from Trump, nor did Trump publicly corroborate his account. Even if executive privilege did apply, Navarro was prosecuted for refusing to appear, not for refusing to answer questions.

By contrast, the U.S. attorney’s office opted not to take legal action against two other Trump officials who were referred for contempt prosecutions — former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and communications chief Dan Scavino. Both had received letters from a lawyer for the former president directing them not to respond to subpoenas from the committee, citing executive privilege. The judge in the case said the record would look different if Navarro could produce a similar letter.

“Jack Smith indicted and prosecuted me for criminal contempt of Congress.”

— Navarro

Special counsel Jack Smith, who has filed two criminal cases against Trump, did not prosecute Navarro. The case was filed by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves of D.C.

“President Trump handed Biden a booming economy and a strong nation. All Joe had to do was leave it alone and take a nap.”

— Kimberly Guilfoyle, fiancée of Donald Trump Jr.

The economy was not booming in January 2021. When Biden became president, the United States was in an economic crisis because of the coronavirus pandemic. The unemployment rate was 6.4 percent, and the administration pushed through an economic recovery plan in its first months in office.

While the Trump administration helped foster the creation of the coronavirus vaccine, it had not left behind much of a national strategy beyond vaccinating health-care workers and people living in long-term care facilities, all of whom were at fixed sites where they could receive vaccines. Trump more than 20 times promised that 100 million doses of vaccine would be delivered by the end of 2020 — a goal his administration badly failed to meet.

The Biden administration came up with ways to provide states with resources to deliver vaccines — which Trump had resisted — and to prevent states from hoarding doses.

Biden’s job record in his first three years also tops Trump’s performance. In the first three years of Trump’s term, about 6.5 million jobs were created — less than half the number created under Biden in the same time period. The number of jobs is now 6.2 million higher than the peak under Trump in February 2020, before the pandemic struck the economy.

“He deterred Russia. You know what he told Putin? You try anything and I’ll take the tops off the Kremlin.”

— Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.)

Waltz is repeating an unconfirmed report — which came from Trump himself, in a conversation recorded on speaker phone with golf pro John Daly in March 2022.

Trump told Daly that Russian President Vladimir Putin “was a friend of mine” and “I got along great with him.”

But he insisted that he said that if Putin invaded Ukraine, “we’re going to hit Moscow.” Trump said: “He sort of believed me, like 5 percent, 10 percent,” adding, “That’s all you need. He never did it during my time, John, you know … He didn’t do this during the last four years because he knew he couldn’t.”

Trump has a long history of inaccurately recounting conversations. The day before Putin’s invasion in February 2022, he called Putin a “genius” and “very savvy.”

“You got to say, that’s pretty savvy,” Trump said on a conservative talk radio show of Putin’s decision to declare certain breakaway regions in Ukraine as independent. “And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn’t have one for that. No, it’s very sad. Very sad.” “This is genius,” Trump said. “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine … Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”

Trump also sided with Putin over the U.S. intelligence community in a news conference in Helsinki in 2018, saying he did not believe Russia tried to intervene in the 2016 election. Trump often resisted congressional efforts to sanction Russia and led a charge to weaken NATO and the European Union — two important goals of Putin’s. He has suggested that he might pull the United States out of NATO if he’s elected to a second term.

“Joe Biden advised against the mission that killed Osama bin Laden.”

— former congressman Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.)

The main piece of evidence for this claim is a newspaper headline that The Fact Checker concluded was based on a misinterpretation of what Barack Obama said. The headline, over a brief article in USA Today in 2012, said: “Obama notes that Biden opposed Bin Laden raid.”

The article was about the 2012 debate between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The article says Obama was discussing the 2011 raid on bin Laden’s compound. But the transcript makes clear that Obama talking about criticism he received during his 2008 run, from both Romney and Biden (both presidential candidates at the time), for saying he would go after bin Laden even if the Pakistani government was unwilling to help.

It is certainly correct that memories of other participants in the White House debate over the bin Laden raid placed Biden in the skeptical camp. Most accounts say that Biden believed more work needed to be done before a raid was launched, such as one more pass with a drone to make certain. That’s different from being against the mission.

Biden has given various accounts of a private conversation he claims he had with Obama after advisers met on the raid — saying he told Obama “go with your gut” or “follow your instincts.”

Obama’s memoir describes the Situation Room debate as others have, saying he appreciated Biden’s willingness to offer a contrary viewpoint, but he makes no mention of this supposed conversation with Biden afterward.

“Pro-crime district attorneys have turned our cities into giant crime zones.”

— Donald Trump Jr.

Violent crime rates, especially for homicide in large cities, have fallen sharply during Biden’s presidency, after a surge during the pandemic. The violent crime rate is believed to be near its lowest level in 50 years.

“A career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported NAFTA, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to Mexico.”

— GOP vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service in 2017 concluded that the “net overall effect of the North American Free Trade Agreement on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modest, primarily because trade with Canada and Mexico accounts for a small percentage of U.S. GDP,” though it noted that “there were worker and firm adjustment costs as the three countries adjusted to more open trade and investment among their economies.”

Vance attacks Biden for supporting NAFTA but it was negotiated by President George H.W. Bush and supported more by Republican lawmakers than Democrats.

“When I was a senior in high school, that same Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq. … Somehow a real estate developer from New York City by the name of Donald J. Trump was right [on the war].”

— Vance

Biden supported the Iraq War, but Vance — who served in Iraq as a Marine — repeats a signature Trump lie that Trump did not. We searched high and low, as did other reporters, and there is no evidence Trump was an opponent of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, let alone a vocal one. In fact, he offered lukewarm support. When Howard Stern asked if he supported invading Iraq, Trump replied, “Yeah, I guess so. You know, I wish the first time it was done correctly.” In another interview on Fox News, two months before the invasion, he said Bush had to make a decision: “Either you attack or you don’t attack.” Shortly after the invasion, he again told Fox News: “It looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint.” Not until August 2004, in an interview with Esquire, did Trump publicly express opposition to the war. By then — 17 months after the invasion — many Americans had turned against the war, making Trump’s position not particularly surprising.

“We will make sure our allies share in the burden of securing world peace. No more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the American taxpayer.”

— Vance

This is a broad statement but it appears to refer to burden sharing in the war in Ukraine as well as NATO funding, two issues that Trump has complained about.

As of April 30, European aid to Ukraine far exceeded U.S. aid, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. European nations have allocated $111 billion, compared to $81 billion for the United States. Europe has also pledged an additional $83 billion, which has not been allocated, compared to $27 billion for the United States. As a percentage of the economy, the U.S. percentage ranks much lower than 21 other countries, Kiel estimates.

It’s also important to remember that military aid to foreign countries benefits Americans. The package of aid that passed Congress this year — not included in the numbers above — was estimated to cost $95.25 billion, including $60 billion for Ukraine. But information provided by the White House budget office and a detailed review of the bill showed that nearly 80 percent went either to weapons manufacturers in the United States to replenish stocks or supply weapons or to fund Defense Department operations in the United States and overseas (including the training of Ukrainian soldiers). Nearly $57 billion — about 60 percent — is never leaving the United States. Instead, these funds are being invested with weapons manufacturers located in dozens of states. Only about $8 billion of this amount is reserved to assist the Ukrainian government, including $50 million to address food shortages.

So far, according to the Pentagon, manufacturers in all but 11 states have received Ukraine-related weapons contracts.

As for NATO, since 2014, members have committed to spend at least two percent of their gross domestic product on defense. In 2024, 23 members are expected to meet or exceed the target, compared to only three members in 2014, NATO says.

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