Secret Service urging Trump to stop outdoor rallies after shooting – report

Move comes as director Kimberly Cheatle resigns after congressional grilling over assassination attempt

Secret Service officials are reported to be encouraging Donald Trump’s campaign to stop holding outdoor rallies in the wake of the 13 July assassination attempt on the former president at a fairground in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The move, reported by the Washington Post, comes as Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday following a combative grilling before a congressional committee by both Democrats and Republicans over apparent security failures before an attempt on Trump’s life by a 20-year-old gunman.

Continue reading...

Trump team makes formal complaint about Biden-Harris campaign funds; Sanders denounces Netanyahu visit – live

Ex-president’s campaign claims money going to Harris is ‘$91.5m heist’; senator makes impassioned speech on eve of Israeli leader’s visit

Harris will not preside over the chamber when when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.

According to an aide, she will meet with Netanyahu at the White House at some point this week. On Wednesday, Harris is scheduled to be in Indianapolis to moderate a conversation with the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, Inc, one of the nation’s oldest Black sororities.

Continue reading...

‘The baton is in our hands’: Harris closes in on nomination as Biden voices support

Vice-president receives backing from top figures and rakes in $81m in 24 hours, before giving rousing speech to staff

Kamala Harris was closing in on the Democratic party’s presidential nomination on Monday after the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, joined a slew of Democratic heavyweights endorsing her run for the White House – and the vice-president gave a rousing evening speech to campaign staff, with Joe Biden calling in by phone to support her.

Speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris acknowledged the “rollercoaster” of the last several weeks, but expressed confidence in her new campaign team.

Continue reading...

Ukraine targets bipartisan support to avoid being dragged into US election

Kyiv indicates it will keep reaching out to Republicans and Democrats, as Zelenskiy pays tribute to Biden

Ukraine will continue to reach out to Republicans and Democrats and avoid being sucked into US internal politics, and a bruising probable contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, officials in Kyiv indicated on Monday.

Its president, Volodymyr Zelenksiy, paid a warm tribute to the departing Joe Biden on Sunday, thanking him for his “unwavering support”. He praised the US president’s “bold steps” taken in response to “challenging times” and Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Continue reading...

‘A wise investment’: Trump’s $6,000 gift to Kamala Harris comes back to bite him

Records show Donald and Ivanka Trump made donations to vice-president’s California attorney general re-election bid

Donald Trump has moved swiftly to turn his attack machine on to the vice-president in the wake of Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race, dusting off his derisive nickname for her: “Laffin’ Kamala Harris”.

But as the Republican nominee refocuses his campaign to target Harris, there is one awkward truth that Trump will have to face. What about that check for $5,000 dated 26 September 2011, bearing Trump’s distinctive signature, and made payable to one “Attorney General Kamala D Harris”?

Continue reading...

The pros and cons of Kamala Harris: a progressive reformer forced to run on Biden’s record

As many Democrats echo Biden’s endorsement of Harris, others say she should not be nominated by default

After Joe Biden’s momentous decision on Sunday to step aside in the US presidential race, Democrats fell in line to describe him as a selfless American hero – and many of them echoed his endorsement of his vice-president, Kamala Harris.

One measure of the hope the decision to drop out and endorse Harris brought with it: stagnant donations immediately rocketed, and by Monday afternoon, Harris is likely to have raised more money in a 24-hour period than any other candidate in US history.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden withdraws from presidential race after weeks of pressure to quit

President endorses Kamala Harris to lead Democratic ticket just four months before November election

Joe Biden has withdrawn from his presidential re-election race and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of their party’s ticket, an extraordinary decision upending American politics that plunges the Democratic nomination into uncertainty just months before the November election against Donald Trump – a candidate Biden has warned is an existential threat to US democracy.

“While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in a letter announcing his decision.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

Trump leads Republican taunts of Biden after president drops out of 2024 race

Former president and other Republicans say Biden is ‘not fit to serve’, with some saying he should resign immediately

Donald Trump’s vicious attack on Joe Biden and his legacy led the Republican party’s reaction to the president’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 race.

“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for president, and is certainly not fit to serve – and never was!” Trump, the Republican nominee, said in a post to Truth Social, repeating his favored insult for the man who beat him in the 2020 election, and rehashing a familiar litany of unsubstantiated grievances.

Continue reading...

Donald Trump says Xi Jinping wrote him a ‘beautiful note’ after rally shooting

US presidential contender’s reference echoes the ‘love letters’ he received from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un as he calls authoritarian leaders ‘smart, tough’ people

Donald Trump has said China’s president wrote him a “beautiful note” after the assassination attempt a week ago, as he continued to court leaders whom Joe Biden has criticised as dictators.

In his first campaign rally since narrowly escaping the attempt on his life in Pennsylvania, Trump told a crowd in Michigan on Saturday: “[President Xi Jinping] wrote me a beautiful note the other day when he heard about what happened.”

Continue reading...

Trump attacks Biden and Harris in first rally since assassination attempt

In first rally with running mate JD Vance, ex-president jibes at leadership chaos within Democratic party

Donald Trump launched a full-throated attack on Democratic rivals Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday as he returned to the campaign trail a week after surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

In his first rally since the shocking shooting, and his first with new running mate Ohio senator JD Vance, Trump appeared on stage with the conspicuous white ear bandage he wore during the Republican national convention replaced by a smaller covering. He referred to the assassination attempt as a “horrific event” and said he stood before supporters “by the grace of God. I shouldn’t be here, but let’s face it, something very special happened.”

Continue reading...

Trump to hold first public campaign event since assassination attempt

The former president and his running mate, JD Vance, will hold a joint rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Republican nominee Donald Trump will hold his first public campaign rally since a shocking assassination attempt a week ago by appearing in a crucial rust belt battleground state alongside his new running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance.

The return to the campaign trail by Trump comes after the attempted killing of the former US president at a Pennsylvania rally last Saturday when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire, injuring Trump and others and killing one rally-goer.

Continue reading...

Gunman at Trump rally flew drone over fairgrounds earlier on day of shootings

Latest disclosure about security lapses comes as larger picture of Thomas Matthew Crooks’ preparations emerges

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump a week ago, was able to fly a camera-equipped drone over the fairgrounds near Butler, Pennsylvania, shortly before the former president was set to speak there, according to news reports.

The latest disclosure about security lapses that preceded the shooting comes as a more complete picture of Crooks’ preparations is emerging, though it still lacks any definitive motive for the 20-year-old’s actions that led to Trump being grazed by a bullet, the shooting death of former fire chief Corey Comperatore and the critical wounding of two rally-goers.

Continue reading...

Pro-Trump multimillionaire and election denier boosts funds to far-right voter-conspiracy groups

Ex-Overstock chief Patrick Byrne using Maga-allied America Project to steer large amounts to groups pushing fringe theories

The multimillionaire and prominent election denier Patrick Byrne has been boosting his funding to the Maga-allied America Project and using it to steer six-figure checks to far-right groups that push voting conspiracies in Arizona, Michigan and elsewhere, according to tax records and voting experts.

Byrne, the former CEO of online retailer Overstock.com, said last fall that only $3m of the $30m the Florida-based project had raised at that point came from “the public”, with the rest coming from him.

Continue reading...

European divisions risk incoherent response to any second Trump term

Optimists say administration would be open to persuasion while sceptics say it is beyond time to Trump-proof Europe

To be a foreign diplomat serving in the US, charged with interpreting the country’s politics so it appears predictable and explicable to your political masters in Europe, is currently no easy job.

In a week where Donald Trump purported to address the nation as a self-aware, reflective and thoughtful Christian, before reverting to type with a slew of diatribes, and where he announced a vice-presidential pick who has openly stated he does not care about the future of Ukraine one way or the other, events have moved at a pace that even the most tapped-in of ambassadors and their staff would struggle to keep up with.

Continue reading...

Republican convention featured felons despite party’s ‘law and order’ pledge

Trump and Peter Navarro – fresh out of Florida jail – both addressed convention with Paul Manafort in attendance

The Republican party that promised in its 2024 policy platform to restore “law and order” as a “pillar” of “American civilisation” packed up and left Milwaukee on Friday after a convention featuring numerous felons.

The most prominent was the keynote speaker: Donald Trump, the former president turned nominee who in May was convicted in New York on 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records arising from hush-money payments to an adult film star.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

More Democrats call for Biden to exit 2024 race as president vows to return to campaign trail – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Biden’s campaign, you can read:

The report is consequential because Biden relies heavily on his family to make major political decisions. They are his inner circle and his brain trust and include his wife, Jill Biden, his only living son, Hunter Biden, and his sister, Valerie Biden.

Behind the scenes, those close to Biden, his family and top allies, are reportedly seething over the way he is being treated. They believe the effort to dislodge him from the campaign has been “backhanded and disrespectful” according to the NBC report, which says the family is “distraught and moving through the stages of anger and grief over how people they perceived to be friends have treated the president”.

Continue reading...

When is Trump’s RNC speech? How to watch and what’s at stake

The former president will speak from the Republican national convention in Milwaukee on Thursday night

The biggest event of the Republican convention kicks off Thursday night, with Donald Trump’s address to thousands of party loyalists in attendance.

Trump appeared at the opening night of the Republican national convention on Monday, when he was greeted with thunderous applause, marking his first public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt at his campaign rally. Earlier in the day, Trump announced JD Vance, the Ohio senator and once vocal critic of Trump, as his running mate.

Continue reading...

Lou Dobbs, renowned conservative cable news anchor, dies aged 78

Fox News host recently had his show canceled after joining in the false narrative of 2020 election being stolen

Lou Dobbs, a longtime cable news anchor known in recent years for supporting Donald Trump and for spreading misinformation, has died at age 78, according to statements posted on his social media accounts.

Trump paid tribute to Dobbs as “a friend, and truly incredible Journalist, Reporter, and Talent” in a post on his social media site, writing: “He understood the World, and what was ‘happening,’ better than others.”

Continue reading...