Harris urges voting as 2024 campaign heats up, Trump meets Netanyahu

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris in her White House bid, giving the vice president the expected but still crucial backing of the nation’s two most popular Democrats.

The endorsement comes a day after Harris and President Joe Biden each met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is meeting with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. It’s the first time in nearly four years that Trump and Netanyahu have met.

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Beshear gets a warm embrace in flood-stricken parts of Kentucky where he and Trump are both popular

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is one of several Democrats who is said to be in consideration as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. Beshear has proven his small-town political appeal in a region that doesn’t hide its allegiance to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Beshear is making several stops in eastern Kentucky on Friday to discuss progress in the recovery from a massive flood from two years ago.

While Beshear narrowly carried those Appalachian counties, Trump won them in landslide fashion four years ago despite losing to Joe Biden, and the Republican leader remains popular there.

▶Read more about Beshear, who is under consideration to be Harris’ running mate

Biden administrati

on pushing forward with efforts to seal a cease-fire deal

While former President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, the Biden administration continued efforts to seal a cease-fire deal that will bring home hostages in Gaza.

President Joe Biden is dispatching CIA Director Bill Burns to Rome on Sunday to meet with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials about the ongoing hostage and cease-fire negotiations, according to a U.S. official familiar with his travel plans.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss the CIA director’s travel plans and requested anonymity, said Burns would be meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, Mossad director David Barnea and Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel.

Separately, Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, is expected to head back to the Mideast next week for talks with regional leaders about the effort to reach a hostage agreement.

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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report from Washington.

Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro to headline two campaign events

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, under consideration to become Kamala Harris’ running mate, will headline two campaign events for the vice president in the coming days in the premier battleground state.

On Saturday, Shapiro will kick off a volunteer canvassing drive in Carlisle, about 25 miles west of the state capital of Harrisburg. Then on Monday, he will headline a rally with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in Montgomery County, near Shapiro’s home in a heavily populated and heavily Democratic suburb of Philadelphia.

Shapiro — who, like Harris, was attorney general of his state — has known Harris since both were selected in 2006 to become Aspen Institute fellows, his office said.

Rep. Jackson takes issue with suggestion Trump was hit by something other than a bullet

Former White House doctor Ronny Jackson is taking issue with suggestions that former President Donald Trump may have been hit with something other than a bullet when he was injured in this month’s assassination attempt.

In a new letter, Jackson, a Trump ally who now represents Texas in Congress, says the GOP nominee was “initially evaluated and treated for a ‘Gunshot Wound to the Right Ear’” at Butler Memorial Hospital, where he was rushed after the shooting.

“Having served as an Emergency Medicine physician for over 20 years in the United States Navy, including as a combat physician on the battlefield in Iraq,” he wrote, “I have treated many gunshot wounds in my career. Based on my direct observations of the injury, my relevant clinical background, and my significant experience evaluating and treating patients with similar wounds, I completely concur with the initial assessment and treatment provided by the doctors at nurses at Butler Memorial Hospital on the day of the shooting.”

No records from the hospital have been publicly released.

Testifying before Congress Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said there was “some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear.”

But Jackson said, that “There is absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet” and said Wray was “wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”

Netanyahu and his wife arrive at Mar-a-Lago

Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu have arrived at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump stood outside to greet them.

“Come on in,” Trump said as the prime minister walked up the steps, according to a video posted online by a Trump aide.

Trump shook his hand and the three posed for pictures.

As Harris considers a running mate, what are states’ succession rules for VP candidates?

The 2024 White House campaign has thrust a handful of governors and senators into the mix for vice president. That has drawn attention to rules of succession in the contenders’ home states should they win.

Each state has its own rules for naming replacements when elected officials leave office. Those rules carry significant political stakes in a year when former President Donald Trump has already selected Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate and Vice President Kamala Harris is considering her own choice for the No. 2 spot on the ticket.

In all cases, the candidates can remain in office while campaigning. But the replacement process differs by state if they’re elected.

▶Read more about Harris’ potential running mates

Blinken to celebrate Biden legacy, reassure allies in Asia after president drops out of 2024 race

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make the case for the Biden administration’s expanded commitment to Asia and the Indo-Pacific as he visits Laos, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia this week and next.

The trip comes as the 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign heats up after a series of bombshell developments upended the race.

Blinken, who has already modified his travel schedule twice since the trip was announced just hours after President Joe Biden made his decision not to seek re-election, arrives in Vientiane, Laos, on Saturday for the annual ASEAN Regional Forum.

The security conference gathers the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and regional powers like China, Australia, Japan, Russia, South Korea and India.

▶Read more about the secretary of state’s plans after Biden dropped out of the race

Soda Pop Wars: Kentucky governor apologizes for barb — but not to Sen. JD Vance

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, one of the leading contenders to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket, apologized this week for something he said in lambasting Ohio Sen. JD Vance as inauthentically Appalachian — but the apology wasn’t to Vance.

Beshear, at his regularly scheduled news conference at the Kentucky State Capitol on Thursday, pulled out a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew and apologized to the makers of the soft drink. Earlier in the week, the Republican vice-presidential nominee had said at a rally in Ohio that he’d had a Diet Mountain Dew that day and fully expected to be called a “racist” because of it.

Beshear, in a CNN interview, called the comment “weird” and added: “Who drinks Diet Mountain Dew?”

On Thursday he retreated — but only a little bit.

▶Read more about who — or what — Beshear apologized to here

What’s in a name? Republican VP nominee JD Vance has had many of them

When it comes to Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s name, it’s complicated.

The senator from Ohio introduced himself to the world in 2016, when he published his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” under the name J.D. Vance, with periods between the initials for James David. Vance explained it wasn’t the first iteration of his name. Over the course of his 39 years, Vance’s first, middle and last names have all been altered.

As Vance is being introduced to voters across the country as Donald Trump’s running mate, his name has been the source of questions, including why he no longer uses periods in JD.

▶Read more about the different versions of the Republican vice presidential candidate’s name

Harris makes pre-taped ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ appearance

Vice President Kamala Harris crashed the season finale of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” urging Americans to vote in an appearance that was taped before President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid.

The episode caps the series’ ninth season and is streaming Friday on Paramount+.

It opens with an announcer saying that programming is being interrupted for an “extra special ‘Drag Race’ viewing party.”

“Hi, everyone. It’s Kamala Harris. Each day, we’re seeing our rights and freedoms under attack, including the right of everyone to be who they are, love who they love — openly and with pride,” the vice president says.

She’s seated with actor Cheyenne Jackson and surrounded by other celebrities and stars from the show, Harris continues: “So, as we fight back against these attacks, no one is alone.”

“We are all in this together, and your vote is your power, so please make sure your voice is heard this November and register to vote,” the vice president concludes.

That prompts Jackson to proclaim, “Can I get an amen?” and Harris and others happily cry, “Amen!”

Harris will carry Biden’s economic record into the election. She hopes to turn it into an asset

A key question is looming for Vice President Kamala Harris as she edges closer to gaining the Democratic presidential nomination: Can she turn the Biden-Harris economic record into a political advantage in a way that President Joe Biden failed to do?

In some ways, her task would seem straightforward: The administration oversaw a vigorous rebound from the pandemic recession, one that shrank the U.S. unemployment rate to a half-century low of 3.4% in early 2023.

Yet the cumulative jump in average prices over the past three years — roughly 20%, only partly offset by higher paychecks — has contributed to a general unease about the country’s direction.

▶Read more about how Biden’s economic record could impact Harris’ campaign

Kamala Harris: A Baptist with a Jewish husband and a faith that traces back to MLK and Gandhi

Black clergy who know Vice President Kamala Harris, now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, marvel at the fusion of traditions and teachings that have molded her religious faith and social justice values.

A Baptist married to a Jewish man, she’s inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother’s native India as well as the Black Church.

Religious leaders and theologians say Harris’ candidacy has special symbolic significance following President Joe Biden’s departure from the presidential race. Not only because she would be the nation’s first woman president, but she’s a Black American with South Asian roots and her two cultures are intrinsically linked.

▶Read more about the religious significance of Harris’ candidacy

How might Netanyahu’s visit to the US affect cease-fire efforts?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United States comes as negotiations to end the Israel-Hamas war and recover hostages held in Gaza inch forward — with no immediate deal in sight.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States continue to push Israel and Hamas toward a phased cease-fire agreement that would stop the fighting and free the hostages. The negotiations have repeatedly hit obstacles over disputes about the governance of post-war Gaza and how enduring the cease-fire will be.

Netanyahu’s vowing “total victory” in Gaza to thunderous congressional applause Wednesday risks inflaming tensions with Hamas at a time when talks are delicate. But he also came under increased U.S. pressure to engage sincerely in cease-fire efforts. Critics say Netanyahu is stalling during negotiations so that he can draw out the war for his own political gain.

A team of Israeli negotiators that was meant to travel to Qatar for another round of talks was held back Thursday and may be dispatched next week.

▶Read more about how Netanyahu’s visit might impact the talks

Harris says she’s ready to debate Trump and accuses him of ‘backpedaling’ from Sept. 10 faceoff

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters on Thursday that she’s “ready to debate Donald Trump.” She accused Trump of “backpedaling” away from a previous agreement for a debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10.

“I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage,” she said after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a trip to Indiana and Texas.

The Sept. 10 debate was one of two debates that President Joe Biden and Trump had agreed on. The first one was hosted by CNN on June 27, but Biden has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris as his successor.

Trump has said he would prefer to shift the debate to Fox News, but he would be willing to face off with Harris more than once.

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