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.
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Here’s the Latest:
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.
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. Two people familiar with the former president’s deliberations said he believed it was important for Democrats to have a “legitimate process” where delegates select the new nominee.
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.”
