Comment on The US will pay Moderna $176 million to develop an mRNA pandemic flu vaccine - The Associated Press

Legal experts tell CBS News that are skeptical that Donald Trump’s 11th-hour effort to overturn his conviction in Manhattan on 34 felony counts will be successful.

“Reed Hastings, the Netflix co-founder who in recent years has become one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party, called on Wednesday for President Biden to relinquish his place atop of the Democratic presidential ticket,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Hastings became one of the first to say publicly what many Democratic megadonors are saying privately.”

“There are multiple drafts of letters circulating among House Democrats and at least one would call on Biden to end his campaign,” Politico reports. “Even for Congress, where rumors constantly fly around the Capitol, this week has been remarkably chaotic, exacerbated by the fact that members are not in session and have been scrambling to connect with each other remotely.” Said one senior Democratic lawmaker: “Everybody’s in panic mode, and I don’t even know what to say.” Said another: “Everybody wants him to quit.

A new Daily Mail/J. L. Partners poll finds 52% of voters think dementia was the cause of President Biden’s poor debate performance.

Playbook: “For years, Joe Biden’s team has responded to a storm of bad news with a tried and true approach: hunker down, ignore the chattering class and weather the storm.” “It’s worked many times — during the pre-South Carolina Democratic primaries in 2020; during the general election; during negotiations over the infrastructure bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, the gun safety bill; during the 2022 midterms.

Philip Bump: “Democrats are more proud of the U. S. Republicans are more likely to view it as the greatest country on Earth.”