July 3, 2024: White House Offers Update On Biden's Campaign After Debate, NYT Poll Shows Trump Leading, and American Pride in 2024 Increased Since 2022. Plus Fourth of July History and Fun Facts. 10:23

Welcome back to unbiased your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to unbiased today is Wednesday, July 3, and this is your daily news rundown. As a reminder, there will be no episode tomorrow because of the holiday, and I don't release episodes on Friday. So this will be the final episode of the week.

On another note, many of you have asked me for a presidential debate fact check, and I hear you. I did decide to do the fact check on social media rather than the podcast, so just make sure you're following me on either Instagram or TikTok, at JordanIsMyLawyer. That is where I'll be posting the series, and you'll see all of the videos there. By the time you're listening to this episode, I will have already posted one fact check specifically about abortion, but I'll be posting more over the next few days by topic.

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And without further ado, we can get into today's stories. Today was a little bit slower. There wasn't really much happening. So I just have a few short stories and then we'll finish with some Independence Day fun, if you will. So first, we'll give a little President Biden update. The White House held a press briefing in light of President Biden's debate performance and

And White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is, quote, absolutely not stepping down and described him as, quote, sharp as he's ever been, end quote. Asked later whether there had been a discussion about Vice President Harris taking over for Biden, Jean-Pierre replied, quote, I just stated that the president is not dropping out, end quote.

In light of a recent New York Times report that said Biden takes naps during the day, a member of the press asked Jean-Pierre if this was true. She answered, quote, This is a president that wakes up every morning and puts the American people first. That is what he does. He does that every single day. That is his focus. End quote.

As far as whether Biden is still going to run, we're seeing a lot of storylines. A member of Biden's campaign staff told CNN that he issued an all staff memo today in which he told everyone, quote, Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can and as simply and straightforward as I can. I am running. I am the nominee of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out. I am not leaving. End quote.

Another source then told CNN, CNN calls them an ally, that Biden has said privately that the past few days have been rough. He knows the next few days are critical for whether he can save his reelection bid and that he's open minded when it comes to a path forward. So this is obviously a conflicting statement from what the campaign staffer said about the memo. So as I said, things are kind of all over the place right now.

Biden is also expected to meet with more than 20 Democratic governors this evening at 6.30 p.m. That'll take place at the White House in the Roosevelt Room, and it is closed to the press.

Polling wise, in the latest New York Times Siena College poll, and this is actually a poll cited to in Biden's memo to his staff, it was conducted in the days after the debate, specifically between June 29th and July 2nd of roughly 1500 random voters. Trump is leading Biden 48 percent to 42 percent as per that poll. Notably, 47 percent of Democrats said that there should be a different Democratic nominee, which is only two two percentage points higher than the pre-debate

Now, the reason that Biden referenced that poll in his memo to his campaign staff was because he was basically just saying the New York Times is an outlier as far as polls are concerned and to not worry about it. Remember that Biden is sitting for an interview with ABC News on Friday to discuss his debate performance and the future of his run. So stay tuned for that from ABC.

In some other news, Missouri's attorney general has stepped into the ring of the fight over Trump's recent New York hush money conviction, taking it all the way to the Supreme Court. So earlier today, Missouri's attorney general petitioned the Supreme Court to be able to file a complaint over Trump's gag order and pending sentencing stemming from that New York hush money trial.

As we know, just recently, Judge Marchand upheld portions of the gag order that was originally issued months ago and decided just yesterday that Trump's sentencing would be rescheduled to July 18th. Missouri's attorney general says that these decisions to uphold portions of the gag order, as well as going forward with sentencing, interfere with Trump's ability to travel and campaign and interfere with the right of Americans everywhere to hear Trump's political speech.

The attorney general writes in his motion, quote,

Any gag order and sentence should be stayed until after the election, end quote. Also, as we know, as we've discussed, the Supreme Court is currently on break, but even when they're on break, they're never really not working. So they do still make decisions on matters like these during their time off, quote unquote. So we'll see what they decide to do with this request to file a complaint. And I will, of course, update you when that happens.

In a new Gallup poll published yesterday asking respondents about their pride in being American, 41% of people in the United States said that they are extremely proud to be an American. This number is up from 38% in 2022. And the new poll also shows that 26% are very proud, 18% are moderately proud, and 5% aren't proud at all. Out

Out of the last 22 years that Gallup has conducted this poll, extreme pride was at a high in 2002 and 2003. Not a coincidence, of course, that those were the years in the wake of 9-11. In 2002 specifically, 68% of respondents expressed extreme pride, and in 2003 that number went up to 70%. Since then, it's been on a gradual decline, hitting the low of 38% in 2022.

Staying on the topic of love for America, and with tomorrow being the holiday that it is, I figured we would end this episode with some fun facts, a little bit of history about Independence Day, also known as the 4th of July. So let's start with why we celebrate the 4th of July.

We celebrate Independence Day on July 4th because that is the date in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was approved and signed by the Second Continental Congress. This marked the colony's independence from England.

However, there is a little bit of an argument that Independence Day should actually be July 2nd because some of the founding fathers, like John Adams, said that we should celebrate the day when the Declaration was voted on, which was July 2nd. It was approved and signed on the 4th, but it was voted on on the 2nd.

And despite the United States claiming our independence in 1776, it wasn't until 1783 that the American Revolution came to an end with the Treaty of Paris and the United States was formally recognized as an independent nation.

On July 2nd, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress first approved the Declaration, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that July 2nd would be, quote, "...celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival." He noted that the celebration should include "...pomp and parade, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other."

Of the 56 men that signed the Declaration on July 4th, 1776, Benjamin Franklin was the oldest to do so at 70 years old. The youngest was Edward Rutledge at 26. It's believed that there were 200 original copies of the Declaration of Independence printed by American printer John Dunlap, though today there are only 26 known copies floating around.

At the time the declaration was signed, there were an estimated two and a half million people living in the United States. And, you know, even back then, people had political disagreements. When the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, it said that there actually were not many colonists that wanted complete independence from Great Britain. In fact, those who did want complete independence were seen as radicals.

By the middle of 1776, though, many colonists had changed their mind, and this was in part because of the growing hostility against Britain, as well as Thomas Paine's famous pamphlet, Common Sense, which advocated for independence.

Between the years 1777 and 1960, there have been 27 different versions of our flag. Of these 27 changes, 25 of them were made only to the stars. The last change was made in 1979 when Hawaii's star was added.

And while Massachusetts was the first state to make July 4th an official state holiday in 1781, it wasn't for another 89 years in 1870 that July 4th was recognized as a federal holiday. Then in 1941, the day was granted as a paid holiday for federal employees.

We also have a flag code here in the United States cited to us Title IV, Chapter 1 of the U.S. Code. And while it's not binding law, it sets guidance on how the flag is to be designed, treated, displayed, used in advertising, and much, much more. As an example, Section 8 discusses respect for the flag. It says the flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free. It says the flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, or water.

And it says the flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling or be worn as an article of clothing used as bedding or drapery. I do have that flag code linked for you in the sources section if you're interested in reading through it. It is a pretty interesting read. And as I said, there's 10 sections to it. So it sounds like it would be long, but it's really not. And it

There's some fascinating things in there. So that's what I have for you today. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July celebrating with the people you love. Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you on Monday.