Donald Trump warns of WWIII if Kamala Harris wins 2024 US election
Joe Biden’s swift endorsement of Kamala Harris was a revenge move against Barack Obama, sources say, as the US presidential election nears a milestone with Trump and Harris in a ‘dead heat’.
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Whispers have escaped the Biden camp that the outgoing president’s lightning move to endorse Kamala Harris was revenge against Barack Obama and other prominent Democratic Party leaders who pressured him to bow out of the race against his will.
Before dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, Joe Biden was told by former president Barack Obama to allow delegates at next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago to decide a new candidate.
The claim was made by a source close to the Biden family, the New York Post reported.
“It was Joe’s big f–k you,” the source said. “Joe said, ‘If I’m out, then I am endorsing her’.”
Biden camp insiders are saying the swift endorsement of Ms Harris was a parting chance for Mr Biden to assert some control over his ouster.
Another source reportedly well-placed within the Democratic Party source said they had heard similar talk, telling The Post that Mr Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Senator Chuck Schumer wanted to hold “a mini primary” which Mr Obama believed Harris would not win.
Multiple sources claim Mr Obama wanted Arizona Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly “at the top of the ticket” at the convention.
Mr Biden resigned from the presidential campaign in a statement posted to X and swiftly followed up with a social-media endorsement of Vice-President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Mr Biden’s endorsement of Harris was “Joe truly knifing Obama and Pelosi in the back for making him stand down,” the Democratic Party source told The Post.
Another longtime Washington insider revealed that Mr Biden plans on taking an active role in Harris’s campaign.
“It allows Mr Biden to retain leverage as a much more experienced hand at national politics, which will be good for her,” the Washington insider said. “It means her campaign won’t be run by a bunch of insular advisors.”
Meanwhile, Ms Harris will launch a weekend blitz of campaign events in competitive battleground states to mark the 100-day countdown to the election day.
It comes as the endorsement of Barack Obama energised Democrats behind Ms Harris after she came under fire over her first major meeting with a world leader as the presumptive nominee.
The Harris campaign released video of the moment former president Barack Obama endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
Ms Harris has effectively sewn up the nomination with the endorsement of Mr Obama, who was one of the last remaining holdout among the party’s leadership.
Earlier this week, Michelle and I called our friend @KamalaHarris. We told her we think she’ll make a fantastic President of the United States, and that she has our full support. At this critical moment for our country, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure she wins in… pic.twitter.com/0UIS0doIbA
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 26, 2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly upset after Ms Harris vowed to speak out on “dead children” in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu was “irked” by Ms Harris’ public criticism, which Israeli officials feared could disrupt hostage negotiations with Hamas.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, embraced Mr Netanyahu like old friends as the two sought to heal a long-simmering feud.
Mr Trump warned Mr Netanyahu that World War III could break out if Ms Harris is elected president in November.
“If we win, it’ll be very simple. It’s all going to work out and very quickly,” Trump told reporters at the start of the meeting. ”If we don’t, you’re going to end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war.”
HARRIS ‘IRKED’ ISRAEL PM
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly upset when he saw Kamala Harris’ public statement after their meeting.
In one of her first major appearances on the world stage as the presumptive presidential nominee, Ms Harris highlighted the “images of dead children” in Gaza over the past nine months as “devastating”.
Mr Netanyahu was “irked” by Ms Harris’ public criticism while not being as direct in their private meeting.
“Harris’ statement after the meeting was much more critical than what she told Netanyahu in the meeting,” one Israeli official told Axios.
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FBI SEEKS TO INTERVIEW TRUMP
The FBI is seeking to interview Donald Trump after the former president slammed the bureau for questioning whether he was shot in the failed assassination attempt.
Trump railed against FBI Director Christopher Wray after testimony to Congress that it was unclear if the injury was the result of a bullet, glass, or shrapnel.
“The FBI never even checked!”, Trump said. “But he was sure that Crooked Joe Biden was physically and cognitively “uneventful” – Wrong!”
Wray, who was also grilled over the mental acuity of President Joe Biden, told Congress there was still “some question” about whether Trump was shot given the lack of an official report from the hospital. “No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,” Trump said.
“The hospital called it a “bullet wound to the ear,” and that is what it was. No wonder the once storeyed FBI has lost the confidence of America!” The FBI has requested an interview with Trump as part of their broader investigation to provide a more complete record of his injury, according to an anonymous bureau official quoted in The New York Times.
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HARRIS TAKES CENTRE STAGE
Ms Harris took centre stage over the President by using her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn the suffering in Gaza and demand a ceasefire.
Mr Biden did not speak publicly after holding separate talks with Mr Netanyahu in Washington DC, with Ms Harris instead seizing the chance to assert her views on an issue that had damaged the President’s standing among younger and Arab American voters.
She expressed “unwavering” support for Israel but forcefully warned she would “not be silent” about the civilian death toll.
“We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering,” the Vice President said.
“There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement … and as I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done. So to everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire, and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you.”
HARRIS, TRUMP IN CLOSE RACE
Vice President Kamala Harris is neck-and-neck with Donald Trump in the race for the White House, according to new polling, and says she is “ready to go” to debate the Republican.
With just over three months until the election, a poll conducted by the New York Times after Mr Biden dropped out found Mr Trump was leading Ms Harris, 48 per cent to 47 per cent.
Her ascension wiped away the Republican’s six-point lead he held over Mr Biden, with only 14 per cent of Democrats saying they wanted another candidate.
OBAMA ENDORSES HARRIS
Ms Harris – who is set be confirmed as the Democratic nominee in the first week of August – received the endorsement of Barack Obama on Friday evening (AEST) after the former president remained notably silent during her swift coronation.
He reportedly wanted to avoid appearing to ignore the wishes of the Democratic Party, and had instead been serving as a private sounding board to her as she launched her campaign.
“Earlier this week, Michelle and I called our friend Kamala Harris. We told her we think she’ll make a fantastic President of the United States, and that she has our full support,” Mr Obama said on social media platform X.
“At this critical moment for our country, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure she wins in November. We hope you’ll join us.”
TRUMP, HARRIS DEBATE IN LIMBO
She said she was keen to debate Mr Trump on September 10, accusing him of “back-pedalling” from a previous agreement to square off with Mr Biden on ABC News.
The former president said he no longer wanted the broadcaster to host the debate, accusing it of being “fake news”, but said he “absolutely” wanted to debate his new opponent.
In an interview on Fox News, Mr Trump disagreed with his running mate JD Vance’s call to immediately remove Mr Biden from the presidency, saying it would be more “dangerous” to put Ms Harris in the Oval Office because she was “real garbage” and “worse than he is”.
BIDEN COGNITION ‘EXCELLENT’, DOCTOR CLAIMS
A day after the President addressed the nation about his decision to abandon his re-election bid, his doctor Kevin O’Connor said the 81 year old’s mental cognition was “excellent” in a brief interview with the New York Post, having previously refused to answer questions.
VANCE ATTACKED OVER ‘CAT LADY’ COMMENTS
It came as Senator Vance was widely condemned for newly resurfaced comments he made in 2021, in which he complained Ms Harris and other Democratic leaders did not “have a direct stake” in America’s future because they did not have biological children.
He said the US was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too”.
Ms Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife Kerstin defended the Vice President as “loving, nurturing, fiercely protective and always present” for their blended family, with daughter Ella Ella adding: “I love my three parents.”
Friends star Jennifer Aniston – who has spoken about her own fertility struggles – said of Senator Vance’s comments: “I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States.”
TRUMP TEAM SLAMS FBI
Donald Trump’s team has furiously rubbished the FBI director’s suggestion that the former president may have been hit in the ear by shrapnel rather than a bullet when a sniper tried to kill him.
At a congressional inquiry into the assassination attempt, Christopher Wray said it was not clear exactly how Mr Trump – the Republican nominee for November’s US election – was injured at the campaign rally earlier this month.
“With respect to former president Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” he said.
Mr Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung hit back by telling the New York Post: “Anyone who believes this conspiracy bulls*** is either mentally deficient or wilfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons.”
Originally published as Donald Trump warns of WWIII if Kamala Harris wins 2024 US election
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