Biden gets surprise boost before CNN debate with Trump despite mounting age concerns: Follow the US politics blog for the biggest stories of the day

The Secret Service destroyed a video that captured Joe Biden’s dog Commander chomping down on one of its agents – in an attack that forced the White House to shut down tours so blood could be wiped off the floor.

DailyMail.com filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Secret Service in March after a video was mentioned as part of an email that detailed a June 15, 2023 biting incident with the since-banished first dog.

The video purportedly showed Commander running at a high rate of speed and jumping toward the agent in the East Wing’s Kennedy Garden, leaving a ‘deep bite’ on the individual’s left arm ‘that reportedly needed stitches,’ the email said.

‘East Wing Tours were stopped for approximately 20 minutes due to blood from the incident being on the floors in the area of the Booksellers,’ the message continued, referencing the room that is just inside from the garden.

The Secret Service’s Freedom of Information Act Officer Kevin Tyrrell wrote to DailyMail.com in a letter Friday that ‘Due to Secret Service retention standards, the above mentioned file(s) has been destroyed.’

President Joe Biden and his rival Donald Trump are approaching the first presidential debate in Atlanta on even footing, with the pair tied in a new national poll just days before the encounter.

After months of sagging support, Biden and the former president are tied at 49 percent in a new NPR/PBS News/Marist in advance of the debate, to be carried on CNN in prime time next week.

Just 2 percent of registered voters say they are undecided.

Trump holds a slight edge, 50 to 49 percent, among those who say they definitely plan to vote in November, according to the poll.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted a clip of herself doing pull-ups along with her workout: a three-mile run, squats, pull-ups, sit-ups and bar dips.

Then she reminded voters to vote for John McGuire, running against Rep. Bob Good in Virginia, and Brian Jack in Georgia’s third district.

‘I need more heavy lifters in Congress, NOT Trump back stabbers and RINOs!!’ she said.

Good is facing a contentious primary after voting to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy and losing Trump’s support when he initially endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Conservative hardliner Bob Good is facing off against Trump-backed John McGuire in a contentious primary on Tuesday where the rift within the MAGA movement will be on full display.

The right-wing Freedom Caucus chair lost the support of the president when he initially endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over him. He also turned off a number of House colleagues when he voted to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.

This week, a fellow Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, even endorsed Good’s opponent. The caucus typically likes to put on a united front.

The race has attracted more spending by outside groups – $10.7 million – than any other Virginia races. By comparison, the candidates themselves only spent $1.7 million.

The House Ethics Committee in a rare public statement announced they would conduct ‘further review’ into Rep. Matt Gaetz on charges that include sex abuse and illicit drug use.

Gaetz on Monday had said the committee was opening ‘new frivolous investigations’ into him which he blamed on former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The allegations the committee said it is conducting further review on include whether Gaetz ‘engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.’

The obstruction probe is a new investigation – others have been ongoing.

Top Republicans on the Oversight and Judiciary Committees are demanding to know whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) kept a probe into Hunter Biden’s involvement in a tribal bond scheme under wraps due to his father’s high profile – and declined to charge him because of it.

In May 2016 the SEC put out a press release with the names of seven individuals involved in the probe, with no mention or charging of Hunter Biden.

Hunter’s counsel had one month earlier written to the SEC:

As a threshold matter, we request that you treat this matter with the highest degree of confidentiality, consistent with Commission policy and applicable law.

The confidential nature of this investigation is very important to our client and it would be unfair, not just to our client, but also to his father, the Vice President of the United States, if his involvement in an SEC investigation and parallel criminal probe were to become the subject of any media attention.

U.S. Capitol Police is investigating a ‘suspicious substance’ found at the Hart Senate Office Building at the Capitol, near the office of Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. They’ve asked staff and others to avoid the area and check back for updates.

New York’s top court has declined to hear Donald Trump’s gag order appeal in the hush money case.

The announcement comes two weeks after the former president was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the historic trial.

The decision from the appeals court is a blow to Trump, who frequently slammed the gag order during his speeches in the courtroom hallway.

He railed against being silenced and barred from criticizing anyone, including the prosecutors and star witness Michael Cohen.

The gag order prevented him from commenting on witnesses, jurors and others involved in the hush money case.

Democrats are staging a public display of resistance against Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he is set to address Congress on July 24.

‘Prime Minister Netanyahu has created a humanitarian catastrophe,’ Warren told CNN.

‘He has also made clear that he does not support U.S. policy for a two-state solution that will let the people of Israel and the Palestinians develop their own nation self-determination live with dignity,’ the Democrat added.

When asked about whether Biden should also boycott the speech she replied: ‘That’s up to the president, but I’m not going.’

Dr. Steven C. Quay, CEO of Atossa Genetics, warned a Senate panel Tuesday that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is working on a virus far deadlier than COVID-19.

He said they are working on a virus that kills three out of four people.

Quay added that the virus if it infected humans in a COVID-style pandemic, would set the world back 250 years.

His concerning remarks came during a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs hearing on COVID’s origins.

Sen. Rand Paul, the top Republican on the committee, opened the session by alleging top U.S. federal health agencies have delayed and deceived the committee on COVID’s origins.

The Democrat California governor announced he wants to stop use of smartphones in class in America’s most populous state.

Newsom told Politico:

As the surgeon general affirmed, social media is harming the mental health of our youth. Building on legislation I signed in 2019, I look forward to working with the Legislature to restrict the use of smartphones during the school day. When children and teens are in school, they should be focused on their studies – not their screens.

It comes after Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called on Congress to make social media apps carry warnings like those attached to cigarettes and alcohol.

A member of the U.S. Secret Service was robbed at gunpoint Saturday night in California during President Joe Biden‘s high-profile fundraising swing.

Officers from the Tustin Police Department responded to a call and found that the victim was a member of the Secret Service who had fired off his own gun during the robbery.

It is unclear if the perpetrator was injured and by Monday afternoon the Tustin, California Police Department said it was still investigating the incident.

The incident was first reported by Scripps News and later confirmed by DailyMail.com.

Some 300 members of Congress took part in a new congressional reimbursement program that doesn’t require receipts for food and housing costs last year. Dozens topped off their $174,000-a-year salary with an extra $30,000 or more.

The change in House rules was designed to aid members who have long had to maintain housing in both their home districts and the high-priced D.C. housing market out of their own pocket.

Members have since 2009 opted not to give themselves a pay boost due to the political implications.

But the bipartisan House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress in 2022 suggested the expense program as a work-around – but its lack of receipt requirement could lead to abuse.

Melania Trump will make a rare political appearance by headlining a second fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans.

The former first lady will host the event for the largest GOP group representing LGBTQ conservatives at Trump Tower in New York on July 8, POLITICO reported.

It is the second time this year she is spearheading an event with the group.

In April, she held a fundraising extravaganza for them at Mar-a-Lago.

Melania has mainly stayed behind the scenes during her husband’s campaign.

President Joe Biden is planning to announce a sweeping new policy Tuesday that would lift the threat of deportation for hundreds of thousands of people married to U.S. citizens, an aggressive election-year action on immigration that had been sought by many Democrats.

The policy will allow roughly 490,000 spouses of U.S. citizens an opportunity to apply for a ‘parole in place’ program, which would shield them from deportations and offer them work permits if they have lived in the country for at least 10 years, according to two of the people briefed.

They all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the announcement publicly.

The White House on Monday declined to comment on the announcement.

Welcome to DailyMail.com’s U.S. politics blog with the biggest stories of the day from the campaign trail and in the corridors of power.

With just nine days until the first presidential debate on CNN, President Joe Biden has received a surprise boost in the polls after months of sagging support.

Biden is also set to announce a new immigration policy that will protect thousands from deportation, sparking fury from the right and celebration from the left.

In Virginia, a MAGA civil war will reach its conclusion with the state’s Republican primary tonight.