Jill Biden says she's 'all in' on husband's reelection as he insists anew he won't leave the race

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jill Biden on Monday declared herself “all in” on President Joe Biden's bid to remain as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, despite calls by some Democrats for him to drop out after his damaging debate performance against Donald Trump shook their confidence in him.

The president himself has brushed aside those calls and insisted anew on Monday that he isn't leaving the race.

“For all the talk out there about this race, Joe has made it clear that he’s all in,” the first lady told a military crowd in Wilmington, North Carolina, the first of three battleground states she was visiting.

“That’s the decision that he’s made, and just as he has always supported my career, I am all in too,” said Jill Biden, who teaches English and writing as a community college professor.

Later Monday, in remarks at an American Legion post in Tampa, Florida, she said her husband considers support of the military and veterans a “sacred obligation” that she contended contrasts with Trump.

“As commander in chief, President Biden wakes up every morning ready to work for you,” Jill Biden said. "Donald Trump wakes up every morning thinking of one person and one person only: himself.”

Danny Fuqua, president of the Democratic Veterans Caucus of Florida, said Biden's ties to the military make him the clear choice in November.

“The Bidens are a military family. They are one of us. They not only see the uniform, they see the person in it," Fuqua said.

Jill Biden addressed another military audience later Monday in Columbus, Georgia, home of the Army’s sprawling Fort Moore.

Her daylong tour was part of the Biden campaign’s broader effort to rebound from the president’s halting performance against Trump in last month’s debate.

The debate led some congressional Democrats and others to call on him to let another candidate challenge Trump because they no longer believe the 81-year-old president is mentally and physically capable of defeating the former Republican president in November.

Jill Biden also announced the formation of an organizing group, Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris at her Tampa stop.

"We can’t take anything for granted. We have to meet this moment because our freedoms are at risk,” she said.

The president has insisted since the June 27 debate that he is staying in the race. He did so again on Monday in a letter to congressional Democrats and during an on-air telephone interview with MSNBC.

Jill Biden used her appearance to draw contrasts between her husband's and Trump's attitudes toward U.S. service members, veterans and their families.

The president's late son Beau served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard, and the first lady's father was a Navy signalman during World War II.

“This is personal to us,” she said, describing the waits to connect by phone with a service member stationed overseas or having to smile through a loved one's absence on holidays.

“Let me ask you this ... Does Donald Trump know what it's like?” she said.

The first lady mentioned reports that Trump, during a 2018 trip to France, referred to service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice as “suckers” and “losers.” Trump denies making the comments.

“It's disgraceful, but it's not surprising,” she said. And, noting that the Supreme Court has said presidents are immune from prosecution for acts committed while in office, the first lady said “our democracy cannot withstand a Trump president with virtually no limits.”

“Members of our military honor their oath to support and defend the Constitution. We cannot trust Donald Trump to do the same,” she said. “You deserve a commander in chief who serves with integrity and wisdom and character, and that’s my husband, Joe Biden.”

A spokesperson for Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

During the debate, Biden and Trump argued over who cares the most about veterans. Biden noted that he recently visited an American military cemetery in France, the final resting place for U.S. soldiers who fought in World War I, which Trump notably skipped on his 2018 trip.

Trump asserted during the debate that the Democratic president is coddling migrants while neglecting the needs of veterans and service members, and he faulted Biden for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Superville reported from Washington.

Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

First lady Jill Biden, center, speaks during an event at American Legion Post 111 as she campaigns for her husband, President Joe Biden, Monday, July 8, 2024, in Seminole Heights, Fla. (Dylan Townsend/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

First lady Jill Biden speaks during an event at The American Legion Post 111 as she campaigns for her husband, President Joe Biden, on Monday, July 8, 2024, in Seminole Heights, Fla. (Dylan Townsend/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

First lady Jill Biden makes a campaign stop, Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in Middleville, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

President Joe Biden, left, and first lady Jill Biden walk on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sunday, July 7, 2024, after returning from events in Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden listens as first lady Jill Biden speaks during a barbecue with active-duty military service members and their families on the South Lawn of the White House, Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday. Israeli planes also lit up the skyline across the southern suburbs of Beirut, striking what the military said were Hezbollah targets.

The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.

The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men, while another man was wounded.

In Beirut, the strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport and another formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest conflict, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Here is the latest:

BEIRUT — The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, the heaviest bombardment since Sept. 23, when Israel began a significant escalation in its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.

The targets included a gas station on the main highway leading to the Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the agency said.

Some of the overnight strikes set off a long series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition stores may have been hit.

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza,” saying it's urgent to avoid escalating tensions in the region, his office said.

Macron drew strong criticism from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by saying "the priority is … that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza.” He made the comments in an interview with France Inter radio, which was recorded on Tuesday and aired Saturday.

France doesn’t deliver any weapons to Israel, Macron said.

Netanyahu released a video statement in which he called out the French president by name and referred to such calls as a “disgrace.”

In a statement, Macron’s office said “France is Israel’s unfailing friend. Mr. Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant to the friendship between France and Israel.”

“We must return to diplomatic solutions,” it added.

The statement also said that Macron had demonstrated his commitment to Israel's security when France mobilized its military resources in response to the Iranian attack. French authorities did not provided details about France’s role.

Macron has called for an immediate cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.

The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead were all men. Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.

The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but many of the dead were women and children.

BEIRUT — Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

The strong explosions began near midnight after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Beirut’s Haret Hreik and Choueifat neighborhoods. AP video showed the blasts illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.

Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

A man checks the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Emergency workers inspect a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Israeli soldiers pray at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Israeli soldier prays at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)