FISA Court Cartoons

Trump administration facing challenge as FISA comes up for renewal

Attorney General William Barr lunched with Senate Republicans at the Capitol last week. According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., there was nary a syllable of conversation about a cloud of issues hovering over the Department of Justice.
McConnell said there was nothing about perceived duress inside the Justice Department. No questions about how prosecutors handled high-profile cases. Silence regarding alleged pressure from President Trump. Whether or not the president’s Twitter feed undercut Barr’s independence. Pardons. Reticence about if Barr would resign.
“He enjoys overwhelming support in our conference,” boasted McConnell of Barr. “We all think he’s doing an outstanding job.”
Instead, Barr and Senate Republicans discussed FISA – the Foreign Intelligence Intelligence Surveillance Act. The program dates back to the mid-1970s. The measure allows the government to wiretap and electronically skim information between foreign entities and those inside the U.S. in order to combat terrorism. Congress approved the Patriot Act after 9/11, substantially amending the FISA program.
But now, FISA is up for renewal on March 15. Republicans and the Trump administration have a challenge in front of them. They routinely express concern about FISA and domestic intelligence after the process ran amuck during the 2016 presidential campaign. Yet many lawmakers from both parties are worried about renewing the program to protect the nation. Civil libertarians and privacy advocates contend FISA awards too much power to the government. A report late last year by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz bore that out. Horowitz explored how a broad FISA warrant focused on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray argue the FISA program wasn’t designed to target someone like Page – but did.
That’s why Barr faces the unenviable task of selling the merits of the program when he met with some skeptical Senate GOPers.
“His reason for coming up today was that we have these expiring intelligence provisions. Some of them have generated some degree of bipartisan controversy in the past. The attorney general just wanted to underscore, again, the importance of these provisions that were enacted in the wake of the 9/11 attack,” said McConnell.
Many in the intelligence community argue the nation is vulnerable to a 9/11-style terrorist attack if the program ends. Yet there are reservations about FISA. A coalition of libertarian-minded Democrats and Republicans nearly killed the USA Freedom Act in 2015. There were concerns about bulk collection of data, phone records and “mass surveillance” authorized under both FISA and the Patriot Act. That made it tough to assemble the right cocktail of Democrats and Republicans to re-up those programs five years ago.
The Trump administration could have a tough task selling the merits of FISA to skeptical lawmakers, especially with the lack of a permanent, Senate-confirmed Director of National Intelligence to make the case. Trump just announced he was again tapping Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, to become DNI. But the Senate certainly won’t confirm Ratcliffe that quickly. And, administration officials may find the hardest sell of all isn’t to members of Congress. It’s to President Trump himself.
This comes as Congress is preparing a $7.5-8 billion supplemental spending bill to combat the coronavirus. The plan is to advance the package through the House and Senate this week. But there was chatter last week about the urgency to approve the FISA renewal – and perhaps latch it to the emergency spending package. After all, that’s the train leaving the station. In fact, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., notes that the true deadline for FISA is March 12 – a Thursday. March 15 is a Sunday. Congress would disappear for the weekend on the 12th.
A senior Republican leadership source suggested that mixing the two was not tenable.
When asked about hooking an interim FISA extension to the coronavirus measure, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations panel, exclaimed “Oh, God, no!” Leahy noted he wanted a “clean” coronavirus bill.
“The people who want to do FISA could have finished it last year,” added Leahy.
But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., on Monday didn’t close the door on the idea of attaching a FISA renewal to the coronavirus spending bill, saying it wouldn’t be a poison pill.
“It’s not a poison pill if it moves,” he said.
As Leahy spoke just outside the doors leading to the Senate chamber, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the most libertarian-minded lawmakers on either side of the Capitol, passed by a clutch of reporters and briefly chanted “Kill FISA! Kill FISA!”
A Republican source with ties to the White House dismissed the concept of linking a must-pass piece of legislation, the coronavirus supplemental bill, with FISA.
“If they do that, we’ll blow it up,” said the source.
When asked if he was in favor of attaching a FISA extension to the coronavirus measure, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., replied, “We shouldn’t.”
Nadler’s panel canceled a markup session to prepare a new FISA bill last week over disagreements about amendments. Nadler wouldn’t commit to when he would reschedule the markup, but added, “It’s got to be soon.”
Nadler was still confident that Congress could tackle an overall FISA reauthorization plan – and not just a stopgap – before the mid-March deadline.
“I do not want to do an extension,” said Nadler. “We need major reforms”
Nadler says they shouldn’t be “trying to tie anything to the coronavirus” supplemental spending bill, such as an interim extension of FISA.
When asked if he was concerned that the House could be jammed by the Senate with a FISA reform bill, Nadler replied “yep.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he would speak to Trump about FISA this weekend.
“I don’t see us being able to do it before March 15,” said Graham.
Republicans and some Democrats on both sides of the Capitol advocate major reforms to FISA after alleged abuses of the program in the 2016 campaign for warrants and, generally, other surveillance concerns.
“Metadata will be out,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., referring to the practice which sweeps up the records of virtually every phone call ever made.
Hoyer is working with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to forge a FISA reform package palatable to both sides. But some Republicans believe Democrats simply want to renew FISA the way it is.
“They want a cover-up,” said one senior House Republican who asked they not be identified. “They don’t want any changes.”
Republicans, disturbed by how the government used FISA in the 2016 campaign, are seeking three main reforms:
1)     A mandate that the government generate a transcript of all super-secret FISA court hearings.
2)     Criminal penalties for those who are convicted of abusing the FISA process for political reasons.
3)     The authorization of an “advocate” who would work alongside those facing surveillance in a FISA court.
In short, this is why Senate Republicans didn’t discuss anything except FISA with Barr last week.
“That's what dominated the discussion of the lengthy discussion,” said McConnell, “Because there are some of our members who have a different point of view about this.”
And there may be so many different points of view that could stymie Congress from meeting the mid-month deadline.

LA County judge rejects Bernie Sanders emergency motion to keep polls open in California

A Los Angeles County judge Tuesday evening denied an emergency motion filed by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign to keep polling locations open an extra two hours in the county, in a state he is projected to easily win.
LA County Registrar Dean Logan said any voters in line when polls close at 8 p.m. would get to vote, FOX LA reported.
"My commitment is we will serve you tonight and make sure you have the opportunity to cast your ballot and that ballot will be included in the final returns for this election," he said.
Sanders’ motion stated they wanted to ensure Los Angeles County voters “can exercise their constitutional right to vote,” citing the county is using a new voting system this year and some of the technology used in the primary has resulted in “problems because of check-in stations not working and machine failures, with insufficient or overwhelmed tech support.”
The motion added that a denial of the extra two hours would “immediately and irreparably” harm “County voters' right to participate in our democracy.”
It was filed after several complaints came in over hours-long wait times at several polling locations in the county, reports of errors in the new electronic voting system, voting machines not working and paper shortages, FOX LA reported.
Any voter in Califonria may vote by mail instead of going to a polling location.
By Tuesday night, Sanders' had a roughly 10 point lead over former Vice Presient Joe Biden in the state as votes continue to be counted.

Tight Alabama GOP Senate race set for overtime as Sessions, Tuberville head to runoff

No one won the GOP nomination outright for the Alabama Senate, which means voters will head back to the polls for a runoff election later this month to determine whether former Sen. Jeff Sessions can mount a political comeback.
With 80 percent of the votes counted, Sessions had 32 percent of the vote to reclaim his old senate seat, just behind Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach, who had 33 percent of the Republican primary votes on Super Tuesday.
“Tonight, it looks like a great night for us and a bad night for the swamp," Tuberville told cheering supporters. "We’re going to overtime and I know somebody that knows how to win in overtime."

Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville, right, watches election returns and works on his speech in the main house at Auburn Oaks Farm, the site of his election party, Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Tuberville is in a tight race with seven competitors for the Senate seat. (Joe Songer/The Birmingham News via AP)

As the top two finishers, Sessions and Tuberville will face off again in the March 31 runoff election. The winner will become Republicans' best bet to pick off an accidental blue seat held by Democrat Sen. Doug Jones.
Coming up short was Bradley Byrne, a Republican congressman, who had 25 percent of the vote and failed to advance to the runoff. Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, was a distant fourth place with 7 percent of the vote.
Sessions is seeking to reclaim the Senate seat he had for 20 years and gave up to become President Trump's attorney general. He's been running on his record of being close to Trump, despite the president repeatedly knocking him.
The state's Democrat senator, Doug Jones, squeaked out a victory in the red state in the 2017 special election over Moore, who was widely disavowed for allegations of past sexual misconduct with minors but had retained Trump’s endorsement.
In his election night speech, Sessions accused Tuberville of being a  "tourist" from Florida unfamiliar with the people of Alabama and unequipped to execute Trump's agenda in Washington.
"Where was he when President Trump needed him," Sessions said. "What did he do for Trump? Never said a kind word about him that I can find. Never gave a single penny of his millions to the Trump campaign. So one thing is clear. There is no doubt where I stand on the issues [and] no doubt of my support for Donald Trump and his agenda."
Sessions was the first senator to endorse Trump for his 2016 presidential bid and was rewarded with the attorney general position, a job he called the most meaningful of his life.
But Trump soured on Sessions when he recused himself from the FBI Russia probe that gave way to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller; Trump called Sessions the “biggest mistake” of his presidency.

Jeff Sessions talks with the media after voting in Alabama's primary election, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Mobile, Ala. The former Attorney General is part of a seven person field in the state's Republican Senate primary, along with former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, jockeying for the GOP nomination and the right to challenge Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in November. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Sessions resigned at Trump’s request in November 2018. He launched his political comeback a year later in a campaign ad that was mocked as a hostage video as Sessions stressed he didn’t write a “tell-all book” or say a “cross word” about Trump since he was ousted.
Meanwhile, Tuberville put Trump's name on the back of his campaign bus and said “God sent us Donald Trump” in his television ad. He's campaigned as an outsider who will stand with Trump on building a border wall, cracking down on illegal immigration and draining the Washington swamp.
Tuberville accused Sessions of abandoning Trump when times got tough in the Russia probe. In his Super Tuesday speech, he ripped Sessions for his untimely exit from Trump's cabinet.
“We’re going to finish what President Trump started when he looked at Jeff Sessions from across the table and said, ‘You’re fired," Tuberville said.
Byrne came out with a tough ad in the final days of the campaign mocking both Sessions and Tuberville for getting "fired" from their past jobs.
Tuberville was asked to resign as coach of Auburn after a rough 2008 season.
"And Hillary [Clinton] still ain't in jail," the ad says of Sessions.
Tuberville also coached at the University of Mississippi, Texas Tech and the University of Cincinnati. He won SEC coach of the year twice -- at Auburn and Ole Miss.
The big wildcard will be whether Trump endorses in the head-to-head matchup between Sessions and Tuberville. The winner will face Jones in November.
Fox News' Jayla Whitfield contributed to this report.

Marianne Williamson deletes tweet calling Biden’s surge the result of a ‘coup’

Marianne Williamson, the spiritual guru and bestselling author who ended her campaign for president earlier this year, deleted a tweet late Tuesday calling Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday success the result of a "coup."
FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS: BIDEN, SANDERS EMERGE FROM PACK
Williamson, a Sanders supporter, called out Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar a day earlier for consolidating their support behind Biden. She suggested that there must have been something in it for them and tweeted that they probably read President Trump’s book, "The Art of the Deal."
But on Tuesday, her criticism was more pointed. Screengrabs circulated online that showed a deleted tweet that downplayed Biden's post-South Carolina surge and Super Tuesday success.
"This was not a resurrection; it was a coup. Russiagate was not a coup. Mueller was not a coup. Impeachment was not a coup. What happened yesterday was a coup. And we will push back," she tweeted.  The tweet was later deleted.
Biden carried contests across the South and beyond, while Sanders, I-Vt., won in delegate-prize California. The second-biggest contest, in Texas with 228 pledged delegates, is currently too close to call as election officials continue to report results.
Williamson is not the only Sanders supporter who’s framed 2020 as Sanders against the Democrat Machine. These supporters also say that Sanders is also taking on the Mainstream Media.
Juan Gonzalez, a Democracy Now! co-host, said any mention of Sanders has been "about the movement to stop" him and not "what he stands for."
[It's] far different in terms of Sanders' surge than from the way the media dealt with Donald Trump, which was just to turn on the cameras and let him speak at his rallies and let him talk directly to the American people in 2016," Gonzalez said.
Fox News' Gregg Re and Joseph A. Wulfshon contributed to this report

Democrats Super Tuesday Cartoons

Trump bullish on re-election, thanks ex-NFL player for encouragement

President Donald Trump appeared bullish on his re-election chances Monday night and took to Twitter to thank ex-NFL safety Jack Brewer for calling out his administration's support for black Americans.
Brewster, who appeared on "The Ingraham Angle," talked about how the administration gave HCBU (historically black colleges and universities) long-term funding and compared Trump to past presidencies.
"They made those black schools continue to come back and beg and beg for money," Brewer said.
The bill signed by Trump last December will provide over $250 million in annual funding for HBCU's -- after Congress had failed to renew it a few months earlier.
“Funding for HBCUs was in jeopardy. But the White House and Congress came together and reached a historic agreement," Trump said.
Brewer also attacked the criminal justice reform system during the Obama years, saying it "locked up and mass incarcerated millions and millions of black men" during his eight years as president and questioned, "how that could not upset Black America?"
"Donald Trump has passed more policies for black folks than any president since Lincoln," Brewer said.
Brewer played in the NFL from 2002 to 2006, serving mainly as a special teams player. He became a wealth manager with Merrill Lynch in 2007 after a short stint in the NFL.
He started the Jack Brewer Foundation in 2006 that "has helped populations around the world combat extreme poverty and human rights challenges," according to its website.

Trump attacks Federal Reserve’s Powell over coronavirus response

President Trump took aim early Tuesday at the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell over the central bank's refusal to cut interest rates similar to other countries to defend against any looming financial downturns threatening the global economy due to the coronavirus.
"Jerome Powell led Federal Reserve has called it wrong from day one," Trump tweeted. "SAD."
The president has been a vocal critic of Powell in the past and once asked who was a bigger enemy, the central bank leader or China's President Xi.
Powell recently said the U.S. economy is on sure footing, but stressed that the central bank stands ready to act if the coronavirus outbreak takes a turn.
"The fundamentals of the US economy remain strong," Powell said in a statement last week. "However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity. The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook. We will use our tools and act as appropriate to support the economy."
Goldman Sachs predicted that the Fed will likely cut rates by its next policy meeting later this month, MarketWatch reported. Economists from the company said they expect easing over the next several weeks and in a "coordinated fashion" with other countries.
Trump used the Reserve Bank of Australia in his tweet to illustrate the ways other countries are preparing to soften the financial blow of a global slowdown. The Wall Street Journal reported that Australia reduced interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 0.05%, a record low in the country.
Philip Lowe, the RBA’s governor, told the paper that the virus clouded the near-term outlook for the global economy, which means that growth will be lower than expected.
Christine Lagarde, the European Central Bank president, also reportedly warned about growth and said it stands ready to “take appropriate and targeted measures as necessary.”
The Dow Jones took a thrashing last week, but soared nearly 1,300 points on Monday.
Bill Nelson, chief economist at the Bank Policy Institute and a former Fed economist, said the Fed and other major central banks, possibly including China's, could announce coordinated rate cuts by Wednesday morning. The cut would at least be a half-point and perhaps even three-quarters, he said.
"The only way to get a positive market reaction is to deliver more than expected," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

Trump deems Buttigieg, Klobuchar endorsing Biden a 'quid pro quo' deal

President Trump categorized former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar dropping out of the Democratic presidential race to subsequently endorse former Vice President Joe Biden a matter of “quid pro quo.” He then called for their impeachment.
“It’s being rigged now against Crazy Bernie,” Trump said. “I think Crazy Bernie is going to be even more crazy when he sees what they’re doing. I could have called it a long time ago.”
On Monday, Buttigieg, Klobuchar and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who dropped his bid for the presidency months ago, all formally endorsed Biden for the party’s nomination in Dallas.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., endorses Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden at a campaign rally Monday, March 2, 2020 in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

“Mayor Pete … he cut out last night,” Trump said, addressing the crowd at Charlotte’s Bojangles Coliseum. “And then I hear a senator from that state we’re going to win. She dropped out,” he said, referencing Klobuchar, D-Minn., without mentioning her by name.

“They both supported “Sleepy Joe.” You know why? They made a deal!” he said.
“You know. Quid pro quo. That’s why,” Trump continued. “Quid quo pro. Impeach them! They should be impeached!”
Trump’s decree garnered laughter and applause from the crowd of Charlotte supporters.
He also mocked Biden for referring to Super Tuesday as “Super Thursday” in his most recent gaffe earlier this week before then dismissing former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg as “what a mess he is.”
“The Democratic Party has gone crazy,” Trump said. “They’ve embraced an extreme left-wing agenda. Their plans would massively raise our taxes, destroy our liberty, muzzle our faith and erase our sovereignty. You know that.”
Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that "They are staging a coup against Bernie." He later accused Democrats of rigging the system against Sanders, the Democratic candidate currently with the highest number of delegates.
About 10,000 people attended the rally Monday night, according to the Charlotte Observer.

North Carolina, a perennial swing state, is among the 14 states, along with one territory and voters abroad, that will cast their ballots Tuesday, races that represent about a third of all Democratic delegates.

During the rally, Trump predicted Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who he referred to as “Pocahontas,” would lose her home state to Sanders on Super Tuesday. He also threw his support behind Sen. Tom Tillis, R-N.C., for another six-year term.
According to Trump, Tillis introduced a bill that would allow the families of those killed by illegal immigrants to sue sanctuary cities and states for failing to honor ICE detainer requests.
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report

O'Rourke endorses Biden at Dallas rally on eve of Super Tuesday, as ex-VP appears to offer gun-control role

In a surprise moment at the end of his Dallas rally on the eve of Super Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden called former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke up to the stage -- and vowed to put O'Rourke, who has said the government should forcibly seize assault rifles from Americans, in charge of gun-control efforts.
Also at the rally, Biden accepted the endorsements of onetime rivals Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, as the Democratic party's moderate wing rallied behind Biden to challenge anti-establishment frontrunner and self-described "democratic socialist" Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
"Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow, March 3, 2020, I will be casting my ballot for Joe Biden," O'Rourke announced to applause at the rally's conclusion.
O'Rourke called President Trump an "existential threat" to "free and fair elections," and urged rallygoers to view Biden as the "antithesis of Donald Trump," someone who is "decent, kind, caring, and empathetic."
Biden, taking the microphone after O'Rourke spoke, then announced, "I want to make something clear -- I'm gonna guarantee you, this is not the last you're seeing of this guy -- you're gonna take care of the gun problem with me, you're gonna be the one who leads this effort. I'm counting on you, I'm counting on you, we need you badly."
O'Rourke has previously said he would like to seize all Americans' AR-15 assault rifles, promising: "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47," at a Democratic primary debate last year, shortly before his campaign collapsed.
"Yikes," remarked Trump campaign spokesman Andrew Clark.
"Joe Biden promises Beto O'Rourke, who pushed for gun confiscation for legal gun owners, will 'be the one who leads' his gun control effort," observed GOP Rapid Response Director Steve Guest. "2020 Democrats are unambiguous about their anti-Second Amendment agenda."
Wrote NBC News' Benjy Sarlin: "Biden hugging Beto going 'You’re going to take care of the gun problem for me!' is a thing you will see in a Republican ad someday."
The moment was yet another headache for Biden as he struggles to appeal to gun owners. Last week, he bizarrely declared that "150 million" Americans -- approximately half the country -- had died due to gun violence since 2007.
Separately, Biden spent most of his time attacking President Trump, rather than his remaining rivals Elizabeth Warren, Sanders and Mike Bloomberg.
After Sen. Klobuchar, D-Minn., spoke earlier in the rally, Biden immediately sought to draw a contrast between her and Trump, saying the White House entirely lacks "empathy and decency."

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks after former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke endorsed him at a campaign rally Monday, March 2, 2020 in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

"Folks, I knew -- I believed that he wasn't going to be a very good president," Biden said. "But I have to admit to you that Donald Trump, well, I didn't have any idea how much it was always going to be about Donald Trump. It's having a corrosive impact. It's having a corrosive impact on our children."
Biden continued: "The days of Donald Trump's divisiveness will soon be over. Folks, there's two ways people get inspired. They get inspired by great leaders like Lincoln and Roosevelt and Kennedy and Obama, but they also get inspired by very bad leaders. No, I really mean it. This president has sort of ripped the band-aid off, exposed just how venal he's become, and how he has literally strangled the life out of the Republican Party."

"You're gonna take care of the gun problem with me."
— Joe Biden to Beto O'Rourke

At the same time, in Minnesota, Sanders and top surrogate Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar were rallying a boisterous crowd at a competing rally. Within hours, 14 states and one U.S. territory will head to the polls in contests that will award a whopping one-third of total delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
"It looks like St. Paul is ready for a political revolution," Sanders said to cheers.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., endorses Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden at a campaign rally Monday, March 2, 2020 in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)

At the rally in delegate-rich Texas, however, Biden and his new supporters argued that most voters want "evolution" and not a drastic change. Buoyed by his emphatic victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary, Biden has argued he's the only candidate who can realistically win over minority support and defeat Trump.
Klobuchar, who formally suspended her campaign earlier Monday, declared that Biden was the only sensible choice for voters who feel "tired of the noise and the nonsense" of today's politics.
"How great is it to be here in Dallas, Texas?" Klobuchar asked. "And how great it is to be here with my family. ... And with Vice President Biden! And how wonderful it is to be standing next to him on a stage when it isn't the debate stage?" (Biden later joked that Klobuchar had "won all the debates.")
It's time, Klobuchar said, for Americans to "join hands instead of pointing fingers."
"We need to unite our party and our country, and to do it not just with our words but with our actions," Klobuchar continued. "It is up to us, all of us, to put our country back together, to heal this country, and then to build something even greater. I believe we can do this together. And that is why, today, I am ending my campaign and endorsing Joe Biden for president."
Klobuchar and Biden then hugged as cheers of "Let's go, Joe!" broke out. Later, Klobuchar noted that Minnesota was also voting on Tuesday, and urged voters there to support Biden as well, amid concerns that her sudden withdrawal might actually help Sanders win the state.
Biden went on to thank Buttigieg for his endorsement earlier in the day as well. Speaking to supporters, Biden said Pete reminded him of his late son Beau during the debates -- a compliment Biden then falsely said he had not made before about any other politician.
"I’m looking for a leader, I’m looking for a president, who will draw out what’s best in each of us,” Buttigieg, who ended his campaign Sunday, told reporters prior to the rally. “We have found that leader in vice president, soon-to-be president, Joe Biden.”
In Minnesota, Sanders praised both Buttigieg and Klobuchar even as the two were in Texas to boost Biden.
"Tonight, I want to open the door to Amy's supporters, to Pete's supporters," he said. "I know there are political differences, but I also know that virtually all of Amy's supporters and Pete's supporters understand that we've got to move toward a government that believes in justice, not greed."
"I’ve known Amy for a very long time, and she is one of the hardest workers I know," Sanders said of Klobuchar before going on to call Buttigieg's campaign "historic" and "brave," noting that Buttigieg would have been the first openly gay president.
Biden currently trails Sanders by just eight pledged delegates (56 to 48) in the race to get the 1,991 necessary to secure the Democratic party's nomination at this summer's convention in Milwaukee. Party leaders had feared that the splintering moderate vote would allow Sanders to rack up victories in a series of high-stakes Super Tuesday contests and possibly gain an insurmountable advantage in the delegate count.
However, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has resisted calls to clear the path for Biden, predicting Monday that Democrats would have a contested convention.
"The most likely scenario for the Democratic Party is no one has a majority -- it goes to a convention where there's horse-trading; there's compromise," Bloomberg said at a Fox News town hall in Manassas, Va., one of the states where voters will head to the polls Tuesday. "It doesn't even have to be the leading candidate; it could be the one with a smaller number of delegates."
Despite his endorsements and win by a massive margin in South Carolina's primary on Saturday, Biden remains vulnerable on a variety of fronts, including his repeated gaffes. On Monday, he slipped up twice during an earlier rally -- at one point, badly garbling the Declaration of Independence before giving up, and at another, saying "Super Thursday" was coming up.
And, although the Biden campaign reported back-to-back days of $5 million fundraising hauls following his South Carolina win, the former vice president has struggled to raise money more broadly.
In Silicon Valley, which dominated by the tech sector, many wealthy donors prioritize executing a data-driven plan -- and Biden’s rocky campaign pushed many toward Buttigieg or Bloomberg in recent months, financiers say.
Biden's team is waging a quiet campaign to win them over, yet many are taking a wait-and-see approach.
At Monday's gaffe-riddled rally, Biden notably didn't take any shots at Bloomberg and instead aimed his barbs at Sanders -- in an apparent sign that Bloomberg isn't viewed as a significant threat.
For his part, as midnight approached, Trump weighed in on Twitter to make clear he felt Biden's misstatements were very much a liability.
"WOW!" Trump wrote. "Sleepy Joe doesn’t know where he is, or what he’s doing. Honestly, I don’t think he even knows what office he's running for!"

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.