2024 Election Latest: Harris decries suffering in Gaza, calls for cease-fire to free hostages

By The Associated Press

Likely Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters that she is “ready” to debate Donald Trump and accused her Republican rival of “backpedaling” on their faceoff.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a long-awaited White House visit to meet with President Joe Biden and Harris at an important moment for all three politicians.

On Wednesday, Biden made his first address since his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. And at a campaign rally in North Carolina, Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of attack lines against Harris, whom he called his “new victim to defeat” and accused of deceiving the public about Biden’s ability to run for a second term.

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

Here’s the Latest:

Harris says she ‘will not be silent’ about suffering in Gaza, stresses complexity of the war

Harris said after her meeting with Netanyahu that Israel’s war with Hamas is complicated and that “too often, the conversation is binary when the reality is anything but.”

The vice president said she supports Israel’s right to defend itself but also described widespread suffering among Gaza’s civilian population as fighting continues.

“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies,” she said. “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent.”

Harris says ‘we cannot look away’ from ‘dire’ humanitarian situation in Gaza, calls for cease-fire deal to free hostages

Vice President Harris says she had a “frank and constructive meeting” with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Emphasizing that she and President Biden are “working every day” to bring home U.S. hostages being held in Gaza, she also expressed concerns about civilians being killed and displaced in Gaza, saying, “I will not be silent.”

The vice president recalled planting trees for Israel as a child and said that as a senator from California and as vice president she’s had an “unwavering commitment to the existence of the state of Israel” and its people. She said Israel has “a right to defend itself and how it does so matters.”

Harris said both sides are working toward a cease-fire and that she remains committed to a two-state solution.

Leading contenders to be Harris’s running mate are getting into the money game

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly penned a fundraising email on behalf of her presidential campaign on Thursday, telling supporters, “I couldn’t be more confident that Vice President Kamala Harris is the right person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future.”

Kelly is known as a prodigious fundraiser; in his 2022 bid to win a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate, he raked in more than $89 million, according to OpenSecrets. That was just two years after Kelly won a special election in 2020, a cycle in which he raised nearly $100 million.

Harris and Netanyahu meet

Harris met with Netanyahu in her ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. She is expected to press him on securing a deal to release the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that launched the war.

“We have a lot to talk about,” she said as the two shook hands. “We do indeed,” he replied.

Gaza war protesters hold a ‘die-in’ near the White House as Netanyahu meets with Biden, Harris

Protesters against the Gaza war held a “die-in” across from Lafayette Park and the White House on Thursday as President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The protesters poured red liquid onto the street, saying it symbolized the blood of those killed in Gaza. They chanted, “Arrest Netanyahu,” and brought in an effigy of Netanyahu with blood on its hands and wearing an orange jumpsuit. The jumpsuit reads, “Wanted for crimes against humanity.”

Relatives of US hostages call Biden-Netanyahu meeting ‘productive and honest’

Relatives of U.S hostages being held in Gaza have met with President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House, calling the discussions “productive and honest.”

Speaking to reporters afterward, the family members said they “came today with a sense of urgency” and emphasized the need to complete a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that could result in the release of their loved ones.

“We got absolute commitment from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment,” the relatives said. They added that they are more optimistic about a deal than they have been in months.

Protests in DC come to a close

An argument between a protestor and counter-protestor became somewhat violent and a fight nearly broke out. The protestor hit the camera of a freelance journalist before quickly escaping. The metropolitan police came in between them with about 10 officers. The altercation was brief, roughly 30 seconds.

After a protest leader decided to call the event, the crowd slowly dissipated.

Gabby Giffords stumps for Harris

Gabby Giffords, the former Democratic representative who was grievously wounded in a 2011 shooting, has taken to the campaign trail for Vice President Harris.

Speaking at Salt & Light church in Pennsylvania, Giffords met with community activists in a predominantly Black section of Philadelphia, recently hit by a series of mass shootings.

While Giffords’ husband Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro are being considered for Harris’ running mate, aides say the event had been planned long before.

Giffords and Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton — a Shapiro ally who has rooted for the governor to join Harris’ ticket — batted away questions about the race to become Harris’ VP.

Harris is beginning to vet about a dozen people for the vice presidential nomination, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential process.

On Monday, Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, another potential pick, are scheduled to headline a campaign rally for Harris in suburban Philadelphia.

Harris to appear on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’

Vice President Harris will appear on Friday’s season finale of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” according to a spokesperson for Paramount Media Networks, which owns MTV.

Her appearance, in which she advocates for voting, was recorded before Biden departed the race and Harris became the expected Democratic nominee.

LGBTQ+ rights issues are a major dividing line between Republicans and Democrats. At the state level, most Republican-controlled states have imposed bans in recent years on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. There have also been restrictions on transgender girls and women in girls and women’s sports and on which school bathrooms transgender people can use.

A federal regulation that takes effect next week is intended to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ students in schools. Most Republican states have sued to try to prevent enforcement, and courts have put the regulation on hold in 21 states.

Republican leaders warned members not to be racist or sexist to VP Harris. The White House suggests it ‘says a lot’

House Republican leaders have warned their colleagues not to comment on Vice President Harris’ race, sex and ethnic background. The White House suggests it “says a lot.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says that setting “up a meeting to tell Republican leaders to stop being racist, to stop being sexist, to stop being misogynist, I think that says a lot that they have to be told to not do that.”

She added, “More broadly, I think it’s desperate, I think it’s disgusting and I think it’s a dog whistle.”

Trump the Republican party leader, in particular, has a history of leveling racist and misogynistic attacks.

Harris says she’s ‘ready’ to debate Trump

Vice President Harris has accused Trump of “backpedaling” away from a previously scheduled debate on Sept. 10.

“I’m ready. Let’s go,” she told reporters at Joint Base Andrews after returning from her trip to Indiana and Texas.

Trump has said he’s willing to debate Harris more than once, but he has sought to shift the event from ABC News to Fox News following Biden’s endorsement of the vice president.

Now out of the race, Biden’s dance card has opened up

Now that he’s no longer seeking reelection, President Biden has more time for travel — but where he’ll go during the final months of his presidency remains to be seen.

“We still have a lot more to do,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her briefing with reporters.

She said she couldn’t preview upcoming travel or other plans Biden might have now that he’s not seeking a second term, but said, “We will certainly have more to share.”

National Security spokesman John Kirby was asked about foreign travel, including a trip to Africa that Biden once pledged to take but hasn’t come to fruition.

“Now that he’s not running for reelection, certainly, you can expect that there will be opportunities on the calendar that may not have been there before,” Kirby said.

He said that full details are still being assessed.

Illinois governor won’t say whether he’s being considered for Harris’ running mate

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker isn’t commenting on reports that he is among the candidates in consideration for Vice President Harris’ running mate.

“I don’t want to talk about any private conversations I’ve had,” the second-term Democratic governor said Thursday. “I will say that I have said directly to the vice president that I’m going to do everything and anything necessary to make sure that we defeat Donald Trump and JD Vance.”

Pritzker declined to comment on whether he would want the vice president job.

“I really have been honored to have been elected twice as governor of the state of Illinois. I really enjoy the work,” he said. “There’s not much that would pull me away from the job.”

‘Freedom’ has a long history in presidential campaign songs

In Vice President Kamala Harris’ first 2024 presidential campaign video, a familiar rhythm rings out. The clip, which touches on issues of gun violence, health care and abortion, is soundtracked by Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” a cut from her 2016 landmark album, “Lemonade.”

“Freedom” has become a campaign song for Harris, evoking a long history of presidential campaign songs using a title or hook highlighting freedom or liberty: In 1800, John Adams used the song “Adams and Liberty” and Thomas Jefferson used “The Son of Liberty.” In 1860, Abraham Lincoln used “Lincoln and Liberty.” As recent as 2012, Mitt Romney used Kid Rock’s “Born Free.”

Kinitra D. Brooks, an academic and author of “The Lemonade Reader,” says the Beyoncé song centers on “the idea that you must fight for freedom, and that it is winnable,” referencing some of the lyrics in the chorus: “I break chains all by myself / Won’t let my freedom rot in hell / Hey! I’ma keep running / ’Cause a winner don’t quit on themselves.”

Netanyahu praises Biden’s ‘support for the state of Israel’

Netanyahu and Biden have had ups and downs over the years. Netanyahu, in what could be his last White House meeting with Biden, reflected on the roughly 40 years they’ve known each other.

“From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” Netanyahu told Biden at the start of their meeting.

The president thanked Netanyahu and noted that his first meeting with an Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, was in 1973 soon after he was elected to the Senate. Biden joked that he was only 12 years old at the time.

Netanyahu arrives at the White House

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made his long-awaited White House visit to meet with President Joe Biden at an important moment for both politicians.

Netanyahu’s first White House visit since before President Donald Trump left office in 2020, comes at a time of growing pressure on all three to find an endgame to the nine-month war that’s left more than 39,000 dead in Gaza. Dozens of Israeli hostages are still languishing in Hamas captivity.

Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris later today.

Protesters return to Capitol Hill, turn their attention to the White House

After a mass demonstration Wednesday outside the Capitol, Gaza war protesters turned their focus to the White House, where President Joe Biden planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later in the day Thursday.

The protesters chanted, “Arrest Netanyahu,” and brought in an effigy of Netanyahu with blood on its hands and wearing an orange jumpsuit.

The jumpsuit reads, “Wanted for crimes against humanity.”

A small number of counter-protesters wore Israeli flags around their shoulders.

Defense secretary praises Harris as a ‘key player’

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says Vice President Kamala Harris has been a “key player” on many critical national security decisions, including the administration’s decisions on Ukraine and strikes to defend U.S. troops in the Middle East.

“She’s represented this country in the international arena on the international stage a number of times and done so in a very, very professional and effective manner,” Austin said at a Pentagon press conference Tuesday.

PAC run by George Conway targets Trump himself with new ad

One of Donald Trump’s most aggressive Republican critics is trying to get into the former president’s head with mockery of what’s already in it.

“Anti-Psychopath PAC,” a group run by George Conway, is launching a 60-second spot with footage of Trump’s most infamous verbal missteps and odd-ball claims, superimposed over an image of his brain in a cartoonish profile of his head.

In a statement, the PAC explains the ad has one target: Trump himself.

It will run for two weeks only on Fox News, ESPN and the Golf Channel in cable markets surrounding Trump’s Bedminster resort in New Jersey and Mar-a-Lago resort in south Florida.

The reel includes Trump:

— praising the fictional cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

— declaring that windmill “noise causes cancer.”

— saying “the kidney has a very special place in the heart.”

— addressing Apple CEO Tim Cook as “Tim Apple.”

— stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought in various meetings and speeches.

Trump spent much of the 2024 campaign mocking 81-year-old President Joe Biden as too old and mentally incompetent for the job.

Now Biden has dropped out and the 78-year-old Trump becomes the oldest major party nominee in history — a fact Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans want to highlight in contrast to 59-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris.

Gov. Cooper declines to say if he’s been asked to submit vetting documents to Harris’ campaign

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday “there are a lot of good people” that Vice President Kamala Harris could choose as her running mate, but he wouldn’t address directly his prospects to join her ticket.

At a Harris for President news conference in downtown Raleigh, Cooper declined to respond to a question about whether he’s received a request for vetting documents.

“I trust her to make the right decision. But I also respect her process. And I’m not going to comment on any of those types of things,” he said.

“There are a lot of people that she can choose. She’s going to make the right choice,” Cooper said after listing why he backed Harris for president.

Cooper’s brief speech for Harris talked about her many visits as vice president to North Carolina, a swing state where Donald Trump won electoral votes in both 2016 and 2020. Cooper and Harris also knew each other when they were attorneys general for North Carolina and California.

Cooper meanwhile took a swipe at Trump’s vice presidential pick in Ohio Sen. JD Vance, saying “it’s pretty clear that Donald Trump chose someone in his own image — sort of a ‘Mini Me’,” — a reference to a smaller clone of “Dr. Evil” in the “Austin Powers” film franchise.

‘Her entry into this race has electrified this race’

HOUSTON — The American Federation of Teachers welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris to its convention in Houston on Thursday.

“Her entry into this race has electrified this race,” said Randi Weingarten, the union’s president.

Harris told teachers that they “shape the future of our nation” and she warned that Donald Trump has “a plan to return America to a dark past.”

She also targeted Republicans’ views on gun control and public education.

“We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books,” Harris said.

Hulk Hogan says speaking at the RNC made him feel ‘like I was on the right path’

Hulk Hogan says all of the feedback he received from speaking at the Republican National Convention has been positive.

“Real Americans want this country not to be like it used to be but to be like it should be, and be one unit where we come together and we can agree to disagree,” Hogan said Thursday while watching the Detroit Lions practice in Allen Park, Michigan. “The Republic National Convention actually gave me a shot in the arm to make me feel like I was on the right path.”

Hogan, a wrestling icon, said he accepted Donald Trump’s invitation to address the crowd last week in Milwaukee because he’s no longer shy about saying what’s on his mind about politics.

“I actually started to call myself a coward because there’s so many people that are like me that don’t speak up,” he said. ”… All the sudden, when they tried to assassinate Donald Trump, I said, ‘That’s it. I can’t be silent any longer. This is not correct, this is not correct on any level.’ If it was Trump, or Biden, or Clinton, or anybody, that is not right. Something has to change in this country.”

Obama plans to formall

y endorse Harris soon, AP source says

Former President Barack Obama plans to soon formally endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a person familiar with the former president’s deliberations.

Harris and Obama have been in regular touch since President Joe Biden announced that he was ending his 2024 campaign, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

Obama had privately shared doubts about Biden’s reelection chances ahead of the president’s Sunday announcement but held back on endorsing Harris even as former President Bill Clinton and Democratic leaders announced they were backing her.

Instead, Obama said in a statement that he had “extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”

The person familiar with Obama’s thinking said he believed it was important for Democrats to have a “legitimate process” where delegates select the new nominee.

Harris by Monday evening secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s likely nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey.

Obama and Harris have had a close relationship over the past 20 years and she’s often used him as a sounding board.

House Republicans try to tie Harris to Biden administration’s handling of US-Mexico border

House Republicans are trying to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, voting to pass a resolution Thursday that labeled her as the “border czar” and condemned her handling of the job.

The resolution, which doesn’t enact any actual law, echoes an attack line that Donald Trump has taken against Harris since she rose to become the likely Democratic presidential nominee. All Republicans and six Democrats in tough reelection races voted for the resolution.

“As border czar, Vice President Harris has overseen the most catastrophic border crisis in our nation’s history,” said Rep. Nathaniel Moran, a Texas Republican.

Biden never officially designated Harris as “border czar,” but did task her early in his administration with addressing the root causes of migration.

Border crossings eventually became a major political liability for Biden when they reached historic levels — though it is unclear whether voters will also associate Harris with that.

Most Democrats sought to defend how Harris handled the job.

“She was narrowly tasked with developing agreements that could help bring government and private sector investments to those countries that are sending migrants to the United States,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

DeSantis calls protests stemming from Netanyahu’s visit ‘disgraceful and unacceptable’

At a press conference in Aventura, Florida on Thursday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about protests stemming from Netanyahu’s visit to the United States.

He said he has never seen this “outburst of antisemitism” in his lifetime, and that protests and antisemitic messages are “disgraceful and unacceptable. He also criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for not being there when Netanyahu arrived to Congress.

“Kamala can’t go there and greet him? That’s not a way to treat an ally,” DeSantis said. “She has not condemned what happened at Union Station.”

Harris issued a statement on Thursday morning condemning what she called the “despicable acts” by some protesters who displayed pro-Hamas graffiti and burned an American flag.

She was absent from Netanyahu’s address due to a trip to Indianapolis that was scheduled before Biden withdrew his reelection bid and she became the likely Democratic presidential candidate.

Harris condemns ‘despicable acts’ by protesters who displayed pro-Hamas graffiti in Washington

Vice President Kamala Harris is forcefully condemning “despicable acts” by some protesters opposing Israel’s war in Gaza, who displayed pro-Hamas graffiti and burned an American flag in Washington on Wednesday.

Railing against “unpatriotic protesters and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric,” Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee after President Joe Biden quit the 2024 race, issued her statement before the incumbent as she seeks to navigate the complicated domestic politics over the war.

She is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House later Thursday, as she and Biden have criticized Israel for not doing more to protect civilians in the nine-month conflict.

Harris said she also condemns “any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas.”

She said: “Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation.”

Harris said she supports the right to peacefully protest, but “I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way.”

GOP group launches ad campaign, hopes to persuade swing state voters to back Harris

A GOP group hoping to drain votes from Trump is again targeting swing state voters, this time hoping to showcase why they should back Harris.

Republican Voters Against Trump on Thursday said it is launching a $500,000 campaign featuring former Trump voters who now say they will back the Democratic vice president’s general election campaign.

The group says it’s up with 76 billboards this week in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all considered battlegrounds in this year’s election. There’s also a 60-second digital ad with the voices of voters explaining why they won’t back Trump again.

Last week, the group went up with more than a dozen billboards around the Milwaukee arena that hosted the Republican National Convention, with similar testimonials from GOP voters. The group also aired two different TV ads across those same three states, plus Arizona.

Democratic PAC targets abortion rights in new ad on behalf of Harris’ campaign

A major Democratic political action committee has launched its first digital ad effort on behalf of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

The topic: abortion rights.

The Priorities USA Action ad features an Arizona woman, identified in the ad as “Chloe,” recounting how she was denied abortion access after former President Donald Trump’s three Supreme Court appointees helped overturn Roe v. Wade.

“I was told that my baby was not compatible with life, and it was in my best option to terminate,” she says into the camera. “The Friday that Roe vs. Wade was overturned, my doctor calls me almost in tears telling me that the hospital board would not approve it.”

Another Trump term, she says, “scares me” and would be “detrimental to women’s health.”

Harris, she says, would be “another woman up there fighting for women’s rights.”

The $250,000 YouTube ad buy will circulate the spot to voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona.

Democrats and the Harris campaign believe the contrast with Trump on abortion rights will help the likely Democratic nominee, especially among women in metropolitan areas and younger voters who were ambivalent about President Joe Biden before he ended his reelection bid.

Man who was shot, critically injured at Trump rally released from hospital

A man who was shot and critically wounded in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump has been released from the hospital.

David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, was released from Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, a hospital spokesperson said Thursday.

The other Trump rally spectator who was shot and wounded, James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, remains in serious but stable condition.

Demand for Vance’s memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ surges

Former President Donald Trump’s selection of Sen. JD Vance as his running mate has led to a surge in sales for “Hillbilly Elegy,” his best-selling memoir that came out in 2016.

A spokesperson for HarperCollins told The Associated Press that more than 600,000 copies have been sold since Trump’s announcement on July 15. The total includes physical books, audiobooks and e-books.

“We are printing hundreds of thousands of copies to fill the demand at our retail partners,” the publisher announced Thursday.

“Hillbilly Elegy,” which Ron Howard adapted into a feature film released in 2020, tells of Vance’s childhood in Ohio and his family’s roots in rural Kentucky.

After Trump’s stunning victory in 2016, the book was widely cited as essential reading for opponents trying to understand his appeal to working class whites — even as some critics faulted it as a narrow and misleading portrait of Appalachia and poverty in the U.S.

Harris has support on the basketball court — even in Paris

PARIS — Vice President Kamala Harris is a fan of the Golden State Warriors and has a friendship with Warriors coach — and U.S. Olympic men’s basketball coach — Steve Kerr.

That friendship may change a bit in November.

“I’ve met her a few times, so I call her Kamala,” Kerr said in Paris on Thursday, as the Olympic team was going through final preparations before its opening game Sunday against Serbia. “But if she wins, I need to adjust that. I can’t call her by her first name.”

Much has changed since Harris visited with the U.S. team and delivered a pep talk in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, including the decision by President Joe Biden to not seek reelection. He endorsed Harris as the Democratic candidate.

“She represents the Bay Area and is a big supporter of us,” U.S. guard and Warriors star Stephen Curry said. “And so, I want to give that energy right back to her.”

Trump on whether Biden should stay in office: ‘I guess that’s up to him’

Trump, calling into “Fox & Friends” this morning, was asked if Biden should have used his speech last night to resign.

Many of his Republican allies have been making the case that if Biden isn’t fit to run again, he isn’t fit to serve and should step down.

But Trump seemed to disagree.

“Should he stay? I guess that’s up to him and it’s up to the people. And I don’t think they should use the 25th Amendment,” Trump told the hosts.

Trump went on to say that there’s “not long to go” on Biden’s term.

“You know, we have four months now and then he’s got another month-and-a-half,” he said, arguing the alternative — Vice President Kamala Harris taking over — would be worse. “I will say this: The world is at a very dangerous place. I think if he goes, she then takes over. And she’s worse than he is.”

Trump revives his call for jail time for flag burners

Former President Donald Trump is again calling for jail time for flag burners following protests in Washington, D.C.

Responding to demonstrators who took to the streets on Wednesday to condemn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit, Trump, in a call-in interview with “Fox and Friends,” said that those who “do anything to desecrate the American flag” should be sentenced to one year in jail.

“Now, people will say, ‘Oh, it’s unconstitutional.’ Those are stupid people,” he said. “Those are stupid people that say that. We have to work in Congress to get a one-year jail sentence.”

The Supreme Court has held that flag burning is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment.

Thousands of protesters chanting “Free, free Palestine” marched toward the Capitol Wednesday.

Outside Washington’s Union Station, protesters removed American flags and hoisted Palestinian ones in their place.

Trump made a similar call after being elected in 2016, saying anyone who burns an American flag should face “consequences,” such as jail or a loss of citizenship.

Harris’ campaign rolls out its first video — with a little bit of flair

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is rolling out its first video — and it has a pop culture flair.

Titled “We Choose Freedom,” it underscores a core message of the campaign: freedom on abortion rights, freedom from gun violence and freedom “not just to get by, but to get ahead.” It is set to a soundtrack of Beyoncé’s “Freedom.”

▶ Watch the video, which will be promoted on social media, here.

These lawmakers boycotted Netanyahu’s fiery speech to Congress

Overall, more than 60 Democrats boycotted the speech. Here’s a look at some of them, and other no-shows.

1. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called Netanyahu’s speech “the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress.” 2. Political independent Bernie Sanders. 3. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington declined to attend, so Sen. Ben Cardin, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, served as “senator pro tempore” in place of her. 4. The most notable absence: Vice President Kamala Harris, who serves as president of the Senate, was away on an Indianapolis trip scheduled before Biden withdrew his reelection bid and she became the likely Democratic presidential candidate over the weekend. 5. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, who said campaigning would also make him a no-show for the Israeli leader’s speech.

Netanyahu’s meeting with Biden and Harris comes at a crucial moment

Netanyahu’s White House visit, his first since before former President Donald Trump left office in 2020, comes at a time of growing pressure on all three to find an endgame to the nine-month war that’s left more than 39,000 dead in Gaza. What’s more, dozens of Israeli hostages — and the remains of others who have died in captivity — are still languishing in Hamas captivity

.Biden is pressing to get Israel and Hamas to seal his proposal to release remaining hostages in Gaza over three phases — something that would be a legacy-affirming achievement for the 81-year-old Democrat who abandoned his reelection bid earlier this week and endorsed Harris. It could also be a boon for Harris in her bid to succeed him.

White House officials say that the negotiations are in the closing stages, but there are still issues that need to be resolved.

▶ Read more on the upcoming meeting here.

Biden’s speech: Warnings about Trump without naming him, a hefty to-do list, and a power hand-off

President Joe Biden delivered a solemn Oval Office address Wednesday that laid out in the clearest terms yet why he abandoned his reelection campaign.

He wanted to send an unmistakable warning about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump while anointing Vice President Kamala Harris as his natural successor, without invoking an overtly political tone that would have been out of step in the official setting of the White House.

He was determined to show that he would not act like a lame-duck president, outlining an ambitious agenda that underscored his resolve to continue building on his legacy.

The fight to define Harris is on. And for now, Republicans are dominating Democrats on the airwaves

Just days into her new role as the Democratic Party’s likely presidential nominee, Kamala Harris is already facing a wave of Republican-backed attack ads questioning her personality, her progressive record and what she knew about President Joe Biden’s decline.

But for now, at least, Democrats have yet to engage in the summertime advertising fight. And in a sharp reversal from much of the year, Republicans are suddenly dominating the airways.

▶ Read more on the fight over airwaves.

Biden delivers solemn call to defend democracy as he lays out his reasons for quitting race

Insisting that “the defense of democracy is more important than any title,” Biden used his first public address on Wednesday to deliver an implicit repudiation of former President Donald Trump.

“Nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy,” Biden said, in a somber coda to his 50 years spent in public office. “And that includes personal ambition.”

It was a moment for the history books — a U.S. president reflecting before the nation on why he was taking the rare step of voluntarily handing off power. It hasn’t been done since 1968 when Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection in the heat of the Vietnam War.

Biden’s Oval Office address was a family affair

Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office surrounded by family and close advisers.

As he spoke, seated off to the side and along the curved wall, were mostly relatives. They included the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and his granddaughter Finnegan Biden, as well as his daughter Ashley Biden.

First lady Jill Biden was also there, as were other family members and the president’s longtime adviser, Mike Donilon.

Biden’s voice was very soft and sometimes barely audible, though he got a bit louder occasionally. Toward the end of remarks, Ashley Biden reached for the hand of her mother, the first lady, who was seated next to her.

Standing in the back were White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and other staff.

When Biden concluded, those assembled applauded. Jill Biden then walked to the Resolute Desk and stood next to her husband. “This has been the honor of a lifetime,” the president said.

In 1968, Lyndon Johnson turned down a second term of his own

No American incumbent president has dropped out of the race so late in the process. The last president to do so was Lyndon Johnson in March of 1968. When Johnson addressed the nation from the Oval Office, he spent the majority of his remarks talking about the Vietnam War, and his duty to focus on it.

He tried to make the case that American forces were making great progress in the war, and said, “One day, my fellow citizens, there will be peace in Southeast Asia.” That portrait was at odds with the politics in the Democratic Party, riven by division over the war, prompting several prominent Democrats, including Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy.

Johnson also acknowledged how the war was tearing the country apart. “In these times as in times before, it is true that a house divided against itself by the spirit of faction, of party, of region, of religion, of race, is a house that cannot stand. There is division in the American house now.”

He then made the stunning announcement that he would not seek reelection.

“I shall not be a candidate for reelection. I have served my country long, and I think efficiently and honestly. I shall not accept a renomination. I do not feel that it is my duty to spend another 4 years in the White House.”

Trump calls Biden’s Oval Office address ‘sooo bad’

Trump posted on his social media website that the president “was barely understandable, and sooo bad!”

During the speech, Biden called Vice President Harris “tough” and “capable.”

In a separate post, Trump slammed Biden and Harris as embarrassments, noting, “THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A TIME LIKE THIS!”

The view from Trump’s campaign plane

As President Biden addressed the nation, his former opponent was among those watching.

Trump watched Biden’s 10-minute address from his campaign plane as he flew out of North Carolina following a rally.

Photographs showed Trump watching Biden speak intently, his head tilted sideways.

Trump adviser Chris LaCivita subsequently posted on X a different picture showing the former president turned sideways and frowning, intently not watching as Biden spoke.

“On Trump Force One …Hey Joe …You’re Fired!” LaCivita wrote over the picture.