State Dept: World has 'questions about our democracy' after Trump shooting, US must 'respond as a nation'

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday that people around the world have "questions about our democracy" following the attempted assassination of former President Trump over the weekend at a rally in Pennsylvania, and that it is now up to the U.S. to "respond as a nation." 

Miller, speaking to reporters at a briefing, began by saying that "what happens inside the United States is essential to the work that we do outside our borders," and that "one of our responsibilities as America's diplomats is to promote our core values around the world."

"We know today that people around the world, governments around the world, have questions about what happened on Saturday, just as Americans do. And our message to them is simple," Miller said. "As President Biden has made clear, there is no place for violence in our democracy, period. We condemn this attack and all political violence strongly and unequivocally, just as we condemn political violence in any country." 

Miller continued by saying that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken about the "effect of dehumanization and the cost to society when people lose sight of the core humanity they share with others, even those with whom they strongly disagree."

BIDEN SAYS POLITICS MUST NEVER BE A ‘LITERAL BATTLEFIELD’ OR ‘KILLING FIELD’ IN POST-TRUMP SHOOTING ADDRESS 

He added: "So at this time, when people around the world have questions about our democracy, a big part of what we must do is show them how we respond as a nation."

TRUMP BREAKS SILENCE ON ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: ‘I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE’ 

Miller also revealed that Blinken this morning "convened the senior leadership team here at the department to remind them that one of America's great strengths throughout our history has been our ability to reclaim our humanity, our fundamental decency after acts of tremendous violence and inhumanity."

"And he asked them to deliver that message around the world, to remind our allies and partners that America has faced trying times before, but that we have emerged from them stronger because of our core values that we share as a nation: a commitment to democracy, a respect for the rule of law and a common aspiration not to let the things that divide us overwhelm those that bind us together," Miller concluded. 

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Dawn Staley says Angel Reese is the WNBA's Rookie of the Year so far over Caitlin Clark: 'Not a doubt'

The future of the WNBA is in good hands.

Caitlin Clark has lived up to the hype of being the No. 1 overall pick, but Angel Reese has been dominant.

While Clark received the most votes for the All-Star Game next week, Reese has a record streak of 15 consecutive double-doubles.

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Before the season, Clark was the overwhelming favorite to be the Rookie of the Year, but South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley says, at this moment, it belongs to Reese.

"They both are having great years. Don’t get me wrong," Staley told TMZ Sports. "If I had to pick a Rookie of the Year at this time … today, it’s Angel. Not a doubt. What she’s been able to do with the double-doubles.

"But listen, the season is halfway through, and Caitlin is coming."

CAITLIN CLARK RECORDS FIFTH STRAIGHT DOUBLE-DOUBLE AS FEVER STAVE OFF MERCURY COMEBACK

Clark has her own streak going. She recorded 20 points and 13 assists for her fifth-consecutive double-double, and she's registered 13 assists in each of her last three games.

Reese is averaging 13.8 points and 11.8 rebounds per game on 41.1% from the floor, while Clark is posting 16.8 points, 7.8 assists and 5.9 boards on 40.3% shooting and 34% from 3-point range.

Reese is one of four players averaging a double-double, while her 11.8 boards per game lead the WNBA. Clark's 7.8 assists per contest rank second. Clark and Reese rank first and second in points per game among rookies.

Staley later added that it may come down to their respective team's success. Both teams would qualify for the playoffs. Clark's Indiana Fever are seventh, and the Chicago Sky are eighth.

It's been quite a run for the Fever, though. Indiana has won seven of its last 11 contests after starting the season 3-10.

Both teams will play two more games before the extended Olympic break. The All-Star Game is scheduled for July 20.

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Ohio Democrat 'closer' to calling on Biden to withdraw: 'Too high of a hill for him to climb'

Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio is one of several members of the Democratic Party who are signaling that President Biden should withdraw from the race or risk allowing former President Trump to win in November. 

"It's becoming increasingly likely that this may be just too high of a hill for him to climb," Landsman said of Biden Thursday in an interview on CNN. 

Nine House Democrats and one Democratic senator have already called on Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race since his disastrous performance at the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta.

CNN'S JAKE TAPPER STUNNED BY BIDEN CAMPAIGN'S KNOCK AT GEORGE CLOONEY: 'WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?'

"We could lose a lot, if not everything, if Trump is re-elected and he has control of all three branches of government," Landsman said. 

"I'm getting closer and closer to – appreciating that as much as I respect Joe Biden and what he's done – that, what Clooney said yesterday was really powerful and that he saved democracy in 2020. He's got to do it again in 2024," Landsman said, referencing Hollywood actor George Clooney's New York Times guest essay that called on Biden to withdraw.

"I had hoped, and still do to some extent, that he can go out and make the case that Donald Trump is unfit to be president, that he is going to undermine, if not destroy our democracy. But that's becoming more and more less likely," Landsman said.

NBC NEWS' CHUCK TODD REVEALS 'SENIOR' CABINET SECRETARY TOLD HIM IN 2022 BIDEN 'CAN'T RUN AGAIN LIKE THIS'

"It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate," Clooney wrote in a New York Times guest essay on Wednesday, just weeks after raising millions for the Democratic candidate.

"Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe. But our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign," he continued.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News' Kristine Parks contributed to this report. 

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Alec Baldwin ‘Rust' shooting trial: Wife with baby in tow a ‘strategic’ move, expert says

SANTA FE, N.M. — Her husband is the actor, but some legal experts believe Hilaria Baldwin staged some theatrics of her own Tuesday morning at a press-swarmed New Mexico courthouse.

With her spouse, Alec Baldwin, facing a felony manslaughter charge, the polarizing yogi showed up to the sun-baked Santa Fe building in a black SUV with the couple's baby in tow shortly before jury selection got underway.

The toddler, one of the couple’s seven children, was taken out of the car. Hilaria held the baby girl in view of the cameras before quickly handing her off to a caretaker. The baby and the caretaker departed in the same SUV moments later.

ALEC BALDWIN 'RUST' SHOOTING TRIAL LIVE UPDATES 

Legal observers speculated the Baldwins wanted to humanize the churlish actor in the eyes of the public and perhaps even potential jurors.

"The bringing of the child is unusual because it's not really a great place for a child," divorce attorney Christopher C. Melcher told Fox News Digital. "And you've got to think, if they have care with a nanny, why bring the child other than for show?"

ALEC BALDWIN ‘RUST' TRIAL: JUDGE MAKES MAJOR RULING IN ACTOR'S FAVOR

The Baldwins, he said, knew images of the mother and child arriving at the courthouse would quickly cascade online.

"There's many people who have to go to court, and they have no child care, and they're stuck bringing their kid to court," Melcher said. "That happens quite often. But, you know, this is not the situation with the Baldwins. They could have afforded child care. A courthouse is not really a place for a child. So, it does seem to be strategic."

WATCH: Alec Baldwin leaves court after jury is selected for actor's 'Rust' shooting trial

Known for his volcanic temper and confrontations with both the press and public, Baldwin's reputation, some have theorized, could hurt his case.

"As a defense attorney, you always want to humanize someone that’s on trial, to show that they’re more than this incident that’s under a microscope," said New Mexico-based attorney Elizabeth Bunker. "Having family support can show the jury that a lot of people care about the outcome of this case and can subtly encourage them to really dig deep and pay attention to the facts."

Bunker cautioned, however, that Hilaria and company's appearance could also induce eye rolls among Santa Fe residents.

"On the flip side, doing too much empathy-garnering can backfire," she said. "If there’s any sense of desperation, my experience is that, naturally, jurors will reject anything inauthentic and too performance-like."

ALEC BALDWIN 'RUST' SHOOTING TRIAL: FATAL TIMELINE THAT LED TO ACTOR'S INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE

While the artsy New Mexico town has attracted its share of chic residents over the years, one lawyer warned that many locals, including potential jurors, are likely less fixated on celebrity and may even harbor a distaste for the rich and famous.

"The risk is it could backfire if people think you have a nanny 24 hours a day," said New York-based lawyer Mark Bederow. "Why would you have the baby come out of the SUV just to hand the baby off as though it’s a prop. It could be perceived as a contrived way to garner public support and positive coverage."

The actor recently announced plans to star in the TLC reality show "The Baldwins," alongside his wife and kids, which he wrote would showcase his family's "ups and downs, the good, the bad, the wild and the crazy."

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But the embattled actor, Melcher added, was faced with a largely unwinnable public relations quandary. Hilaria's absence, he noted, would have spawned questions about her lack of support for her man.

"With the stakes being so high, you would expect that you would have supporters there, close family would be there," he said. "I think the absence of her would have hurt." 

PHOTOS: Alec Baldwin and his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, leave courthouse after jury selection

Baldwin's brother, Stephen Baldwin, also showed up to court Tuesday and sat with Hilaria in the back row of the courtroom. 

After a two-hour delay in the morning, jury selection began around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. A jury of 16, including four alternates, was chosen to hear arguments in the involuntary manslaughter case. Eleven of the chosen jurors are women, and five are men.
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Baldwin accidentally fired a gun on the set of the film "Rust" in October 2021, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Facing up to 18 months in jail if convicted, he has pleaded not guilty.

The "30 Rock" actor has insisted that he cocked the gun's hammer but never pulled the trigger. Prosecutors have countered that the pistol could not have discharged absent Baldwin squeezing off a round.

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Trump and his allies turn up the volume on Biden amid Democratic turmoil following disastrous debate

Former President Trump's week and a half of keeping a relatively more restrained profile following his debate with President Biden appears to be coming to an end.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is expected at a rally Tuesday evening near Miami, Florida, to take aim at Biden's extremely uneven debate performance. 

And the Trump campaign says the former president will "lay out an indictment" on what he claims is an attempt by the Biden campaign, the Democratic Party, and the mainstream media to cover up what he argues is the 81-year-old president's cognitive decline.

A campaign aide, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely, said Trump will "press the case that Biden and the Democrats, with the collusion of mainstream media, have perpetrated a fraud and cover-up on the nation by claiming that Biden is fit to serve."

BIDEN SURROGATE NEWSOM SAYS CALLS BY FELLOW DEMOCRATS FOR BIDEN TO DROP OUT ‘NOT HELPFUL'

The debate was a major setback for Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president in the nation's history. His halting delivery and stumbling answers at the showdown in Atlanta sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and a rising tide of public and private calls from within his own party for him to step aside as its 2024 standard-bearer.

BIDEN TELLS CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS CALLS FOR HIM TO DROP OUT ‘ONLY HELPS TRUMP AND HURTS US’

Over the past week, six House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to end his re-election bid. And on Sunday, Fox News and other news organizations reported that four House Democrats who hold top positions on key committees said on a private conference call that the president needed to step aside.

But the president and his campaign have strongly pushed back against the calls to step aside.

Biden, in a letter sent to congressional Democrats on Monday as they returned from the July 4th holiday recess, reiterated that he's "firmly committed to staying in this race" and argued that "the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it is time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump."

"Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us," the president added. "It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump."

Biden allies and other Democrats often point to the scores of times the former president - during his tenure in the White House and in the ensuing years - has slurred or confused his own words, which has raised concerns about Trump's mental acuity.

"Donald Trump must be confused. The only candidate who has been indicted, charged, impeached, and criminally convicted is Donald Trump," Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika told Fox News in a statement, as she pointed to his 34 felony convictions in his criminal trial in New York City.

WHY TRUMP'S STAYED RELATIVELY QUIET THE PAST WEEK AND A HALF

Over the past week, Trump has kept an uncharacteristically low profile, as his rival for the White House has worked to shore up his campaign.

A source in Trump's political orbit told Fox News a week ago, "How much do we need to do while they are busy committing suicide?" when asked about the campaign's small footprint in the days after the debate.

But Trump is starting to turn up the volume.

Trump called into Fox News' "Hannity" on Monday night for his first TV interview since the debate.

The former president told host Sean Hannity that Biden "may very well stay in" the 2024 presidential race, but said he is prepared if the Democratic incumbent withdraws.

"He's got an ego and he doesn't want to quit," Trump claimed. And If Biden does withdraw, Trump said he would expect to face off against Vice President Kamala Harris.

"I don't think he wants to get out," Trump told Hannity. "But, if he does get out, it will be her."

As Trump heads back out onto the campaign trail – in Florida on Tuesday and in battleground Pennsylvania on Saturday ahead of the Republican convention – a top allied group is also getting into the game.

A super PAC funded in large part by Republican mega-donor Miriam Adelson is set to spend $61 million on TV and digital ads attacking Biden, a source with knowledge confirmed to Fox News.

The commercials from the Preserve America super PAC will begin airing later this month, and are timed to coincide with the start of the Summer Olympics, which is expected to draw massive ratings. The ads will run through Labor Day in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the three key battleground states known as the Democrats’ blue wall.

The commercials will spotlight the issues of immigration, national security and the economy.

"Joe Biden and his hard-left allies have raised the cost of living, let terrorists cross our border, and crushed our veterans," veteran Republican consultant Dave Carney, a senior adviser for Preserve America, told Fox News. 

"We’re going to put a boot on their necks so he can’t continue ruining our country over the next four years," Carney said.

The Preserve America ad blitz was first reported by Politico.

Fox News' Bryan Llenas contributed to this report

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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Bernie Sanders urges people to focus on policy, not age when discussing Biden re-election

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Sunday that while President Biden had a "terrible" debate against former President Trump, he recently spoke to Biden and continues to support him in his quest for re-election.

Sanders – who at 82 is older than Biden – said people should look beyond age, despite increasing concerns from both parties over the president's mental fitness.

"Biden is old," Sanders told host Robert Costa of the 81-year-old president. "He's not as articulate as he once was. I wish he could jump up the steps on Air Force One. He can't. What we have got to focus on is policy, whose policies have and will benefit the vast majority of the people in this country."

The senator said he believes the American people want a president with the "guts to take on corporate America." Someone who will expand Medicare, raise and extend the life of Social Security benefits, and talk about a "permanent child tax credit to cut childhood poverty in America by 50%." 

SECOND LOCAL RADIO HOST ADMITS TO GETTING QUESTIONS FROM BIDEN TEAM AHEAD OF INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT

Sanders said 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and that 25% of "elderly people" are trying to live off $15,000 a year or less.

"The American people want an agenda for the next four years that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country," Sanders said. "He has got to say, ‘I am prepared to take on corporate greed, massive income and wealth inequality and stand with the working class in this country.’ He does that, he's going to win and win big."

BIDEN TAKES BLAME FOR ‘BAD NIGHT’ IN DEBATE AGAINST TRUMP: ‘MY FAULT, NO ONE ELSE’S FAULT'

Sanders wrapped up the interview by saying he is running for re-election as senator from Vermont. 

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