Biden will meet with a number of Democratic governors tomorrow. According to multiple sources, they sought the meeting to discuss their concerns in the wake of the debate, which he blamed tonight on fatigue from overseas travel. According to new report in the New York Times, this wasn't a one-off. The headline in the Times, Biden's Lapses are increasingly common, according to some of those in the room. Joining us now is David Sanger, who shares a byline on the New York Times piece. Also seen as Jamie Gangele with her own new reporting. Joining us as well is Michael Laroza, former Special Assistant to President Biden and press secretary to the first lady. Jamie, you heard congressman Dogget calling the President to step aside. What are you hearing from your Democratic sources about where others in the party stand?

Anderson, I think it's fair to say the dam is breaking. Top Democratic Party leaders, this includes former and present administration officials, as well as major party donors, are now saying out loud what we've been hearing privately for days, that after what was a disastrous debate performance, they want President Biden to step aside for the good of the party and the country. They do not think this was a one-off event or just a bad night, and they think the stakes are too high and that, frankly, he would lose to Donald Trump.

David, we mentioned that tonight, President Biden is blamed for performance in the debate on his busy travel schedule in the weeks leading up to it. You write about that in the Times, quote, A A senior European official who was present said that there had been a noticeable decline in Mr. Biden's physical state since the previous fall, and that the Europeans had been, quote, shocked by what they saw. The President at times appeared out of it, the official said, and it was difficult to engage him in conversation while he was walking, end quote. To be clear, they were saying it was more than someone who was simply tired. What else have you heard from people that are in your article?

It was a mixed picture, Anderson, and what we set out to do with just about the whole Times White House team and other reporters that we have around Europe is reconstruct these last three weeks and try to answer just that question, which is, could this just be from the fact that they had him, by the President's own description tonight, very unwisely, flying across the Atlantic twice, and then the last time from Italy to Los Angeles for a fun Razor and back to Washington. So he crossed a lot of time zones. He was certainly tired. Staff members who were younger than he was, were far younger than he is, were certainly complaining about it. But there may be something deeper going on here, because while the White House calls it a one-off event, in talking to staff members, others who've been dealing with the president, it's clear that there has been an increasing frequency of these moments where he's either frozen or lost the thread of his conversation. And that's made a lot of people worry and make them wonder that whether or not it was more than just the travel. The travel may have made it worse, but may not be the underlying cause.

Michael, all the reporting is that his family is telling him to stay in. What do you think their thought process is on this? What would be the view from the White House?

You have two very respected, very credible journalists, and I don't doubt a single reporting in their pieces. I would just say it's going to take a lot more than blind sources to push this family out. They're just not going to bend to... He's not going to step aside because of blind sources. It reminds me of Ed Randall when he used to say, A nation of wusses. This is almost like a party of wusses. If they think If they want the leader of the party to step aside, there's probably a lot of validity to what they're saying to their concerns. However, they have to be public about it. It's going to take Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to really be the ones, like Hugh Scott and Barry Goldwater and John Rose did in 1974, to go down and say, There is no support for you, Mr. President. I don't see that happening. This is not a damn breaking because there is one congressman from Texas, in all respect to congressman Doggett, there is one congressman who called for Bill Clinton to resign.

In the end, this decision would boil down to the first lady and the president. No.

The first lady, while she is his spouse, she is not his political advisor. Now, she is one of several. Valerie, his sister, Mark Gittenstein, the ambassador to European Union, Mike Donal and Ted Kaufman. Yes, they will discuss this thing together. It's usually the way Biden world works is like there's a consensus by committee, and then they will go to him. But she would never be the one to say, Joe, I want you to end your aspirations. They've not done that for each other throughout their 47-year marriage. She supported his three campaigns for President. He supported her getting three advanced degrees, teaching as first lady, teaching as second lady. They just have never lived in each other's shadows like that.

Jamie, is it clear to you who the alternative to President Biden would be? You heard Congressman Clibern saying, You can't pass over Vice President Harris, that she would be the person.

Right. She has rejected calls for President Biden to step aside, which would be very inappropriate as his vice president. Look, some of our sources think that Vice President Harris would have an edge. But Other party leaders we talk to are already floating the idea of opening it up to all contenders, having, let's call it a five-week speed dating primary, maybe having debates between now and the convention and then leaving it up to the convention. Their number one concern, who can beat Donald Trump, Anderson.

David, you also write in the Times, quote, Like many people his age, Mr. Biden, 81, has long experienced instances in which he mangled a sentence, forgot a name or mixed up a few facts, even though he could be sharp and engaged most of the time. But in interviews, people in the room with him more recently said the lapses seem to be growing more frequent, more pronounced, and more worrisome. Have those people raised concerns internally in the White House?

It's not clear to me if they have, and it's been a forbidden topic in the White House. In fact, you'll remember how sharply the White House responded, and the President did, when the special counsel, her, turned out a report in which they referred to the President as sounding like an elderly and forgetful man, and they really came down on that. I think part of what's going on here now is that these questions have been whispered about for some time. The White House has not wanted to engage in it. Then came the debate, and what was happening was evident for everybody to see. And now they've got to come up with an explanation. I did note that for the The first time that I can recall in recent times, his doctor, the White House, turned out a statement saying that his doctors have ruled out some other things, including Parkinson's and so forth, that he's not under any treatment for that. That was all reassuring news. I suspect what's going to have to happen, Anderson, is that they're going to have to get the President out in many different forums, interviews, public forums, and so forth, if they're going to really demonstrate that this was a one-off event.

Maybe they will do that. It's a little bit high risk if he has a bad day again, the way he did on Thursday night. But I don't see another way that they could get at this.

David Sanger, Jamie Gangeal, Michael Lerosa. Thank you very much.