Trump shooting live updates: Eric says his father lost ‘half his ear’ in assassination attempt

President Joe Biden is on the brink of failing to win a key labor endorsement as leaders of the 1.3 million-member Teamsters union consider backing no candidate at all in the U.S. presidential race, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters decision has not been finalized and is expected to be made in the coming weeks.

Not backing Biden, who the union endorsed in 2020, would compound political damage to the Democratic president’s reelection bid.

A Teamsters endorsement for Republican candidate Donald Trump appears unlikely, sources say, but deep internal divisions mean the union may not back any candidate at all. That would mark the first time since 1996, according to news reports.

Since his halting performance in a presidential debate on June 27, Biden has already seen a number of lawmakers and donors ask him to stand aside, worried about his ability to get reelected and to serve another four-year term. Some allies say they believe Saturday’s Trump assassination attempt could quiet those calls, but other Democrats doubt that.

Biden’s team once viewed the Teamsters endorsement as all but inevitable, and still counts a number of senior leaders there as supporters. But months of deteriorating relations and rising concerns about Biden’s political endurance have soured sentiment among some of the leaders at the union, which represents workers in fields ranging from trucking to manufacturing and office work.

“No final decision has been made,” said Kara Deniz, a spokesperson for the Teamsters, adding that any reporting that suggests an outcome is speculative.

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr were there on the floor of the Republican National Convention with sister Tiffany Trump, RNC co-chair Lara Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, to deliver the Florida delegation votes to their father, thereby putting him over the top and sealing the party’s nomination for him.

Speaking to media on the floor, Don Jr said he wasn’t able to speak to Trump for 90 minutes after the shooting because he was on lockdown at the hospital.

He noted his father’s “resolve”, calling him “the biggest bad ass I know” and said Trump was joking about the shooting soon after and said he had scrapped his planned RNC speech.

“He’s moving forward, he’s a fighter,” the eldest Trump son said.

Eric added: “We are going to win this thing.”

The younger Trump son also said that “somebody took off his half his ear” in the shooting, but that “he has got incredible fighting spirit”.

He added: “I’ve never been more proud of him as his son.”

For months, Trump has effectively been holding open auditions for the chance to succeed Mike Pence as his deputy, with Ohio Senator Vance, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik all believed to have been in the running at various points.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has praised Donald Trump for calling for Secret Service protection for him.

At the beginning of today’s White House press briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that such protection would indeed be extended to Kennedy.

Speaking at the White House press briefing this afternoon, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was asked about conspiracy theories and claims that the attack on Donald Trump was an “inside job”.

He told reporters: “Preposterous and dangerous to propagate rumors that are so unequivocally false and provocative.”

Mayorkas added: “The rhetoric itself creates a threat environment that really is quite dynamic and evolving.”

Two new polls from The New York Times and Siena College show that President Joe Biden underperforms Vice President Kamala Harris against former president Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The surveys contradict Biden’s own claims. During his first “big boy” press conference in months last week during the conclusion of the NATO summit, Biden was asked whether he would step down if data showed Harris polled better against Trump than he did. Biden responded: “No one’s saying that.”

But the polls show that Harris outperforms Biden among young voters and non-white voters specifically.