Read Kamala Harris’s full statement: ‘My intention is to earn and win this nomination’

Vice-president posts statement thanking the president for his leadership and endorsement

Joe Biden announced he would not stay in the 2024 presidential race, throwing his supporting behind his vice-president, Kamala Harris.

In his letter, Biden called Harris an “extraordinary partner” and said choosing her to serve as vice-president was “the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.”

On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country. His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many Presidents who have served two terms in office.

It is a profound honor to serve as his Vice President, and I am deeply grateful to the President, Dr. Biden, and the entire Biden family. I first came to know President Biden through his son Beau. We were friends from our days working together as Attorneys General of our home states. As we worked together, Beau would tell me stories about his Dad. The kind of father—and the kind of man—he was. And the qualities Beau revered in his father are the same qualities, the same values, I have seen every single day in Joe’s leadership as President: His honesty and integrity. His big heart and commitment to his faith and his family. And his love of our country and the American people.

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Biden’s selfless decision to drop out sets stage for an entirely different election

The president will be remembered for steering the US to recovery and giving his party a chance to beat Trump again

Legend has it that when King George III heard that George Washington, the first US president, had decided to retire after his second term, he remarked: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

Joe Biden, 81, holed up at a Delaware beach house with a bad cough after a Covid-19 diagnosis, ended his presidential re-election campaign on Sunday. It was a selfless decision that put the country’s interests before his own – an act of grace that many see as vividly contrasting with the narcissism of his opponent Donald Trump.

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Kamala Harris spurs meme frenzy on social media as Biden endorses her

Vice-president is favorite to replace president as Democrats’ nominee and the prospect is inspiring creativity online

As President Joe Biden announced he would be ending his bid for re-election and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris as his successor, social media did what social media is best known to do.

Truth to be told, social media users had been enthusiastically imagining Harris’s ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket since Biden’s disastrous debate performance at the end of June. Harris dancing. Harris laughing. Endless clips of her comments about a coconut tree.

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‘Impactful and selfless’: Democrats heap praise on Biden after he quits race

Obama and party leaders highlight president’s lifetime of service as some begin to back Kamala Harris

Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race on Sunday after weeks of pressure from other Democrats to step down after his disastrous debate in late June.

Democratic leaders quickly heaped praise on the president for his lifetime of service.

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Pressure mounts on Biden as tally of Democrats urging withdrawal passes 30

US president reportedly feeling ‘angry and betrayed’ as speculation swirls that announcement could be imminent

A beleaguered Joe Biden entered potentially the most decisive weekend of his 50-year political career on Friday as the growing list of Democratic members of Congress calling on him to step aside surpassed 30, with the latest being the Ohio senator Sherrod Brown.

Biden is recovering from Covid-19 in self-isolation at his home in Delaware and reportedly feeling “angry and betrayed” by allies and speculation mounted that he might be preparing to announce his withdrawal from the race.

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Republicans ramp up attacks on Kamala Harris amid swirl over Biden future

Strength of criticism suggests Trump and allies see vice-president as powerful electoral asset for Democrats

With the state of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign in turmoil, Donald Trump and his Republican allies are stepping up attacks on a familiar and, some say, possibly more threatening, political foe: his vice-president, Kamala Harris.

In the weeks since Biden’s stumbling debate performance, Republicans have intensified what many call racist and misogynistic criticism. They have questioned Harris’s competency, mocked her demeanor, and accused her of concealing concerns about the president’s health. Trump unveiled a new, derisive nickname for the vice-president, “Laffin’ Kamala”, which he tested at a campaign rally in Florida this week.

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Trump airs list of false grievances at Florida rally: ‘We don’t eat bacon any more’

Ex-president returns to campaign trail in Doral and makes baseless accusations but doesn’t name running mate

Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail in Florida on Tuesday night, hurling insults at Joe Biden and airing a litany of familiar grievances, but declining to name a running mate for November’s general election.

The former president and presumptive Republican nominee was speaking to a crowd of several hundred supporters at his golf club in Doral, a western suburb of Miami, keeping them waiting in 90F heat for a freewheeling monologue that began more than an hour later than scheduled.

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Kamala Harris underscores support for Biden at Las Vegas rally: ‘He is a fighter’

Vice-president warns Trump would turn US to dictatorship if re-elected at event focused on AANHPI communities

Kamala Harris doubled down on her support of Joe Biden on Tuesday, describing the embattled president as a “fighter” as she warned Donald Trump would turn the country from a democracy into a dictatorship if he is re-elected to the White House in November.

The vice-president, speaking at a campaign event in Nevada, alluded to Biden’s struggles since his calamitous debate performance last month. “We always knew this election would be tough, and the past few days have been a reminder that running for president of the United States is never easy,” Harris said.

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Biden insists he can reunite US as high-profile Democrats reportedly want him to quit race

President hits trail in Pennsylvania as virtual lawmaker meeting with Hakeem Jeffries shows growing party doubt

Joe Biden insisted he was the person to reunite America in a second term in the White House and was “up for the job” as he hit the trail in Pennsylvania on Sunday – but the number of high-profile Democrats doubting his position as the presumptive party nominee only grew amid a campaign in crisis.

Pressure on the US president increased even further following his poor debate performance against Donald Trump last month and an underwhelming ABC interview last week, as a group of Democratic representatives met online with House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday.

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More House Democrats reportedly want Biden to quit race as he pledges to ‘unite America’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the US election, you can read our full coverage here.

“God knew Biden needs some love,” said J Louis Felton, the church’s senior pastor, who noted that the president had been due to speak today at a National Education Association conference in Philadelphia.

When the NEA’s union announced a strike on Friday, the president cancelled his speech.

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What would a Harris candidacy mean for the elusive independent woman voter?

Polling shows critical group unenthused about Biden and Trump – and moved by economy over abortion

The independent voter is the elusive prize in any election. This year, Democrats are hoping that widespread support for abortion rights will draw in women who might have previously shied away from the party.

But polling shows that independent female voters, a critical group for any candidate, are particularly unenthused about the prospect of choosing between the same two guys who ran for election last time. Now, with some Democrats publicly mulling replacing Joe Biden in the wake of his catastrophic debate performance and Kamala Harris emerging as a possible heir apparent, a key question is whether a Harris-topped ticket would provide them with some much-needed excitement.

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Biden wins crucial support of Democratic governors to continue campaign: ‘We’re going to have his back’ – as it happened

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House Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington said that Joe Biden “is going to lose to Trump” following the president’s poor debate performance last week.

In a new interview with KATU News, Gluesenkamp Perez said: “About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate. I was one of them for about five very painful minutes. We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump.”

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Governors admit worries but rally behind Biden after meeting: ‘We have his back’

President meets with Democratic governors for ‘candid’ talks as he seeks to reassure his party and the public

A group of leading Democratic governors offered words of support for Joe Biden on Wednesday as pressure mounted on the president to leave the race.

The governors, including Tim Walz of Minnesota, Wes Moore of Maryland, Gavin Newsom of California and Kathy Hochul of New York, held a closed-door meeting with Biden in Washington as he sought to reassure his party – and the public – that he is up to the job after a shaky debate performance.

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Kamala Harris: insiders rally behind VP to replace Biden if he bows out

After president’s poor debate performance, pundits point to polls saying Harris would do better in a race against Trump

As Joe Biden faces increasing pressure to withdraw his candidacy following last week’s poor debate performance, Kamala Harris has emerged as the frontrunner to replace him.

The president forcefully rejected calls to end his campaign on Wednesday, telling his staffers: “No one is pushing me out … I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.” His defiant remarks came after the New York Times reported that Biden had privately told allies he understood he might not be able to salvage his candidacy if he could not convince voters of his viability.

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Could Kamala Harris be a winner for the Democrats if Biden steps aside?

The vice-president would be a logical choice if Biden does opt out, but some are already looking to other contenders

Joe Biden’s stumbling debate performance left Democrats so panicked some are searching for an alternative to replace the 81-year-old president as the party’s standard-bearer.

Biden has given no indication that he intends to exit the race, and his campaign has flatly dismissed the suggestion. But that has done little to silence critics who are openly questioning whether Biden is the right person to take on Donald Trump, a figure the president – and his party – view as a grave threat to American democracy.

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‘A healthcare crisis’: Harris takes aim at Trump on anniversary of Roe’s fall

Biden and Harris give forceful campaign statements blaming Trump for ending right to abortion access

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris marked the second anniversary of the US supreme court ruling that overturned Roe v Wade with forceful campaign statements that laid the blame squarely on Donald Trump for ending the national right to abortion.

In a video released on Monday, Biden pledged to restore the right to an abortion and “protect American freedom” if he is re-elected.

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US vice-president Kamala Harris announces $1.5bn in Ukraine aid

Money will go towards repairing country’s energy infrastructure as well as providing humanitarian assistance

US vice-president, Kamala Harris, has pledged more than $1.5bn in aid for Ukraine’s energy sector and its humanitarian situation amid its ongoing war with Russia.

Harris made the announcement at a peace summit in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she met Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. She is expected to address the summit later.

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World leaders to gather in Swiss resort in attempt to forge Ukraine peace plan

More than 100 leaders at two-day conference to discuss Kyiv’s proposals to end war – but Russia and China absent

More than 100 leaders, including the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the presidents or heads of the EU, South American, Middle East and Asian countries, will gather in Switzerland on Saturday for one of the most ambitious attempts yet to forge a peace plan for Ukraine.

The summit comes as G7 leaders gathering in Italy clinch a new deal for a €50bn loan for Ukraine, securitised through use of the windfall profits from the interest on Russian central bank assets frozen by the EU and other western nations after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

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‘I need you’: Biden-Harris campaign launches initiative to court Black voters

President and vice-president gear up for 2024 election with ‘Black Voters for Biden-Harris’ rally at majority Black Philadelphia school

Gearing up for the 2024 election, the Biden-Harris campaign launched its Black voters initiative on Wednesday at Philadelphia’s Girard College, a majority Black boarding school.

Around 2pm in an auditorium filled with hundreds of Black Philly residents, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris approached the podium to applause and an audience shouting “four more years”.

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Joe Biden tells Black voters ‘I need you’ to beat Trump in campaign rally in Philadelphia – as it happened

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What if the jury convicts Donald Trump? It would present an unprecedented test of America’s political system, and also the bureaucracy that deals with convicts in New York state, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

If a Manhattan jury convicts Donald Trump on any of the 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush-money case, the immediate next question will be what punishment the former president should receive.

Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial in New York inched towards its conclusion on Wednesday with jury deliberations starting just before 11.30am local time.

Before the start of deliberations, Judge Juan Merchan instructed jurors . Merchan’s directives on the law were intended to guide jurors about how they are supposed to weigh the case.

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