This is CNN breaking news.

Welcome to the lead. I'm Jake Tapper and we start today with of course our 2024 lead.

In this hour we're going to hear directly from President Biden at an event at the White House,

this while numerous Democratic officials are

privately expressing panic, and many are starting

to say out loud that if President Biden stays

on the top of the ticket, the

ticket will assuredly lose and bring many other Democrats with it. This evening

President Biden will meet with Democratic governors, both in person and some will

join on Zoom. This is after sources told me many

of those Democratic governors were shocked at. Five days after the disastrous debate

performance they had yet to hear directly from President Biden. one of the governors attending that meeting

is going to join us live later in the show. Before that meeting President Biden and

Vice President Kamala Harris joined a call with their campaign staff a source described it as a quote pep talk by the Can he? That's one of the very real fears I've heard from House Democrats and background

conversations I held today. One Democratic member of Congress told me that their phones

hadn't stopped ringing. They say there's a clear split in the House Democratic

Caucus. Those who seem to have a close relationship with President Biden want to stay the

course. Others are all too ready to back Vice President Harris as the nominee.

Polling of House members is cratering,

this House Democrat says about the congressional races,

they're all running, they're all running for re-election, of course.

Quote, we are all outperforming the president,

...