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Happening this Monday: It’s the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks… President Biden wraps up his visit to Vietnam and returns to U.S… VP Harris pushes back on GOP attacks on her ability to serve as president… Gov. Gavin Newsom rules out appointing Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., if Feinstein’s Senate seat becomes vacant… Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., says he might not vote for Donald Trump even if wins GOP presidential nomination… And Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are set to speak to Congress behind closed doors later this week.
But FIRST… President Joe Biden and his re-election team haven’t focused too much lately on Donald Trump — especially given the former president’s recent indictments.
Yet that’s going to change soon, at least on the fundraising front ahead of this month’s 3rd quarter deadline.
NBC’s Allie Raffa and Peter Nicholas report that Biden’s re-election campaign is set to ramp up its fundraising effort to energize donors, including “a stronger focus on the notion that former President Donald Trump and his allies are a threat to democracy, the campaign officials and other people familiar with the strategy said.”
These same sources said that the strategy will also include an aggressive fundraising schedule, as well as an effort to recruit 1,000 new fundraisers by January who will focus on contributions between $250 and $1,000.
Bottom line: The Biden campaign’s 2nd quarter fundraising was lackluster when it came to small-dollar donors.
Overall, it raised more than $19 million in the last quarter, but with more than 25% of those donations coming from maxed-out contributors — meaning they cannot donate again to Biden for the 2024 election.
(Team Biden raised an additional $52 million for Democratic Party groups.)
So they’re trying to wake up Democratic small-dollar donors, even if they realize that might not fully come until next year.
“Everyone remembers what the last six months of 2020 were like” when it comes to fundraising as Biden campaigned against Trump, a person close to the Biden campaign told Raffa and Nicholas.
“And it’s just not going to be like that for the next eight months or so. And then it will click into high gear in the summer and fall of next year.”
Headline of the day
The number of the day is … 4
That’s how many governors have endorsed former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, after South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem endorsed him at the state Monumental Leaders Rally in Rapid City, South Dakota, on Saturday.
“[Trump] is a man of significance. He is the leader, the fighter that our country needs. He has my full and complete endorsement for President of the United States of America,” Noem told the crowd at the packed event, NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard and Jake Traylor report.
The other GOP governors who have endorsed Trump are Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Jim Justice of West Virginia, who is also running for Senate, and Henry McMaster of South Carolina, per an NBC News analysis of endorsements.
The only two other Republican presidential candidates with gubernatorial endorsements are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been endorsed by Oklahoma GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt, and former Vice President Mike Pence, who touts the endorsement of Indiana GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb.
Other numbers to know
2: The number of people who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11 whose remains were identified last week.
At least 2,497: The latest estimate of the number of people who died in an earthquake in Morocco over the weekend, according to the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces.
21: The number of people, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former Georgia Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who a special grand jury recommended should be indicted alongside Trump and others in Georgia. Those 21 people did not end up being charged by a separate grand jury.
10: The number of charges on which Leo Brent Bozell IV, the son of a conservative political activist, was convicted on Friday for his actions on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
Nearly 5: The number of years in prison a man dubbed “zip tie guy” was sentenced to prison on Friday for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Nearly 3: The number of months New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil fraud trial against Trump and his family members could take, the presiding judge in the case said on Friday.
30: The number of days that people in and around Albuquerque are not allowed to carry firearms in public after a rise in gun violence, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced.
Eyes on 2024: Football is back (for politicians, too)
Republican presidential hopefuls tried to intercept some Iowa voters on Saturday at the state’s highly anticipated game between the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones (which the Hawkeyes won).
Former President Donald Trump, who is trying not to blow a big lead in the state, visited a fraternity house before watching some of the game from his box, per NBC News’ Jake Traylor. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy was also spotted at a pre-game tailgate, where he stressed that he expects to be his party’s nominee, adding that Trump “will end up as my advisor and mentor,” NBC’s Katherine Koretski reports.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped by the Iowa State wrestling club tailgate before kickoff, and weighed in on his campaign in the Hawkeye State as he tries to force Trump to fumble his lead.
“We’re actually putting in the work that you need to, to be able to win,” DeSantis said, per NBC News’ Alec Hernández. “And I’m actually starting to hear a lot of people saying, because you’re showing up, I’m supporting you, because that’s the way you got to do it.”
Iowa has become increasingly important for DeSantis if he hopes to stop Trump’s march toward the nomination. And Trump’s own ground game in Iowa is raising some concerns among his allies, per NBC’s Dasha Burns and Katherine Doyle.
“I know there’s an operation. I’m hearing that there’s something going on. But it’s hard to see it,” a former Trump adviser in Iowa told Burns and Doyle. “They have not settled on an approach that works. What will happen is somebody is going to get surprised.”
But there’s plenty of time left on the clock before the January caucuses.
In other campaign news…
Looking toward November: Recent polls have shown Biden and Trump locked in a close potential rematch, and NBC News’ Sahil Kapur reports that Democrats have mixed feelings about it. Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, has continued to hit the airwaves, making earlier ad investments than the last two presidents who ran for re-election, per the Washington Post.
California dreamin’: The California GOP’s convention this month is shaping up to be a fight between Trump and DeSantis allies over the new delegate rules, NBC News’ Allan Smith reports.
Pandemic politics: Trump and DeSantis’ handling of the Covid pandemic could become “ an important wedge issue” on the campaign trail as DeSantis continues to highlight his Covid response, per the New York Times.
Abortion politics: Democrats scoffed at a new push from Republicans to distance themselves from the term “pro-life” when discussing abortion, per NBC’s Julie Tsirkin, Liz Brown-Kaiser, Kate Santaliz and Brennan Leach. And the New York Times delves into former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s approach to abortion as she calls for “consensus” on the issue.
Deportation debate: Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy said Friday in Iowa that he would deport children of undocumented immigrants who were born in America, raising potential concerns about violating the 14th Amendment.
Hurd hits hard on Ramaswamy’s 9/11 comments: Former Texas GOP Rep. Will Hurd blasted Ramaswamy’s recent comments about 9/11, arguing it “spits in the face” of the victims.
Office space: NBC News’ Jonathan Allen, Katherine Doyle, Lisa Rubin, Ken Dilanian and Jake Traylor have a new deep dive into former President Trump’s post-presidential office that’s “so hush-hush that his spokesman, Steven Cheung, claimed no knowledge of its existence.”
An uncomfortable call: Former President Trump told Arizona Republican Blake Masters he couldn’t win a Senate GOP primary against fellow Republican Kari Lake, the New York Times reports.
Johnson volunteers for tough fight: Semafor caught up with Tennessee Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson to discuss how she’s leaning on abortion rights and gun violence prevention in her longshot bid against Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
She’s running: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday she’s running for re-election.
Battle lines: Politico reports on how the latest positive developments for Democrats in the redistricting fight could pay dividends as the party looks to take back control of the House.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world:
A federal appeals court ordered parts of the Biden administration to not “coerce or significantly encourage” social media companies to remove posts considered by the administration to be misinformation, but softened previous restrictions levied by a lower court judge
The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to maintain wide access to a medication abortion pill that is widely used but has been recently limited by lower courts.
Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ request to move his Georgia election interference case to federal court has been denied.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito refused to recuse himself from a case involving a lawyer who recently interviewed him for two articles in the Wall Street Journal.
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