Biden's bad debate slows Trump's rush to reveal his choice for vice president

Donald Trump’s timeline to announce his vice presidential running mate has paused following a shaky debate performance last week by President Joe Biden, sources familiar with the deliberations told NBC News.

The former president had weighed whether to rush into an announcement last week to either distract Biden ahead of the first debate in Atlanta or quickly change the narrative had the debate gone poorly for Trump.

But it was Biden who had a bad night, raising alarm among Democrats with his raspy and halting delivery, his slack-jawed facial expressions and his occasionally absent train of thought. The political news cycle that ensued — and was still going Monday with speculation about the sustainability of Biden’s candidacy — is not one that Trump is eager to promptly flush out by introducing his running mate.

“What’s the old adage? Never get in the way of your enemy while they are destroying themselves,” a Republican familiar with the discussions said. “I think that applies here. It’s been Biden’s week for all the wrong reasons; let them keep it.”

Trump has said he knows who his running mate will be, while sources close to the process continue to describe a search focused on three finalists: Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

The window for a decision and an announcement is narrowing. Trump has publicly expressed a preference to reveal his pick closer to, or at, the Republican National Convention, which begins July 15 in Milwaukee. Previous high-level discussions about the rollout had focused on the days around his sentencing next week, July 11, on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

It’s not clear whether an announcement this week is off the table —