US election live updates: Obama makes huge move in US election
After days of speculation, former president Barack Obama has made a huge call on Kamala Harris.
The new match-up between Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris has re-energised the US presidential race.
Yesterday President Joe Biden addressed Americans from the Oval Office, speaking about his decision to step out of the race.
Mr Biden made it clear he intends to remain in his job until the end of his term in January. But he also, one might say belatedly, acknowledged it was time for “fresh” and “younger” voices to step forward.
The 81-year-old has endorsed Ms Harris, 59, to face Mr Trump, 78, in November.
Now fresh controversy has erupted over the second presidential debate, scheduled to take place in September. Mr Trump has indicated he’s no longer willing to go forward with it, citing uncertainty about Ms Harris’s status as the new Democratic candidate.
Of course, the first debate was the death knell for Mr Biden’s candidacy.
Follow our live coverage below.
Obama makes huge move in US election
After days of speculation, Barack Obama has endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for US president
The major move means the vice-president has now won the backing of all the party’s politically active high-profile figures.
The former president had noticeably withheld his endorsement in the immediate aftermath of Joe Biden’s call to step down from the race. It’s understood he wanted an open nominating contest at next month’s Democratic national convention in Chicago.
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
However, after Harris earned the backing of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, state governors and the most senior Democrats in Congress – as well as Biden– Obama has followed suit.
The move will likely been seen as major win for Mrs Harris given Mr Obama’s popularity.
Mr Obama was joined by wife Michelle, the former first lady, in a phone call with Harris that was filmed and released by her campaign on Friday. In the video, Harris is seen listening to the Obamas on an iPhone in her right hand.
“I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala: I am proud of you,” Michelle Obama says. “This is going to be historic.”
Barack Obama says: “We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office.”
Harris replies: “Oh my goodness. Michelle, Barack, this means so much to me, I am looking forward to doing this with the two of you, Doug and I both. And getting out there, being on the road.”
She adds: “But most of all, I just wanna tell you that the words you have spoken and the friendship that you have given over all these years mean more than I can express. So thank you both! It means so much. And, and we’re gonna have some fun with this too, aren’t we?”
Trump erupts at explosive FBI shooting probe
Donald Trump has slammed the FBI Director, Christopher Wray, after Mr Wray told Congress he was unsure whether the former president suffered a wound from a bullet or shrapnel in the attempt on his life.
“I think with respect to former president Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Mr Wray, who was appointed by Mr Trump when he was president, said yesterday.
Let us acknowledge, for the sake of common sense, that it doesn’t particularly matter whether Mr Trump was struck by a bullet or shrapnel. Either way, someone tried to kill him, which is quite obviously the most salient point here.
But Mr Trump has been talking about a bullet hitting him in the ear, and Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson, a former doctor, described it as a bullet wound in a public statement after the shooting.
Congressman Jackson, whose civilian medical licence has expired, does still have a licence to practise medicine in military facilities.
“FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday that he wasn’t sure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass, or a bullet (the FBI never even checked),” Mr Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“But he was sure that Crooked Joe Biden was physically and cognitively ‘uneventful’. Wrong! That’s why he knows nothing about the terrorists and other criminals pouring into our Country at record levels.
“His only focus is destroying J6 Patriots, Raiding Mar-a-Lago, and saving Radical Left Lunatics, like the ones now in D.C. burning American flags and spray painting over our great National Monuments, with zero retribution.
“No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel.
“The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear’, and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!”
Bit to unpack there. The “J6 patriots”, to use Mr Trump’s chosen descriptor, are the people who were arrested and charged over their role in the 2021 riot at the Capitol Building, where Mr Trump’s supporters tried to stop his election defeat to Joe Biden from being certified.
Mar-a-Lago was raided over Mr Trump’s alleged illegal retention of sensitive government documents after he left office. Prosecutors allege he stole the documents, stored them at his personal residence, initially refused to return them, and then lied to the government about having returned them when some remained in his possession.
That case was thrown out by a Trump-appointed judge in Florida recently. The government is appealing her decision.
Mr Trump’s remark about the “radical left lunatics” who were “burning American flags and spray painting” on monuments appears to be a reference to the pro-Palestinian protesters who did, indeed, burn flags and vandalise government property while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking to a joint session of Congress yesterday.
There were several arrests during the protest, and the culprits’ actions have been condemned by both Mr Trump and his opponent, Kamala Harris.
More awkward quotes from Trump’s VP pick emerge
Audio from another old, potentially problematic interview with Donald Trump’s pick for vice president, J.D. Vance, has emerged. This time he is on tape suggesting the federal government should stop women who live in Republican-run states, with strict abortion bans, from travelling interstate to get treatment.
Mr Vance’s previously stated view – albeit one that was quietly scrubbed from his website when he became the vice presidential nominee – is that abortion should be illegal nationally, even in cases of rape or incest.
That’s a political headache on its own. This newly surfaced audio, from a conversation with the podcast Very Fine People in 2022, doesn’t help.
“Let’s say Roe vs Wade is overruled,” Mr Vance said (that landmark Supreme Court decision, which underpinned US abortion rights for 50 years, was indeed overturned afterwards).
“Ohio bans abortion in, let’s say, 2024. And then, every day, George Soros sends a 747 to Columbus to load up disproportionately black women to get them to go have abortions in California. And of course, the left will celebrate this as a victory for diversity.
“If that happens, do you need some federal response to prevent it from happening? I’m pretty sympathetic to that, actually.
“So hopefully we get to a point where Ohio bans abortion, and California and the Soroses of the world respect it.”
Unearthed audio: JD Vance calls for a “federal response†to block women in red states from traveling to another state to get an abortion pic.twitter.com/t9YAbFuoPc
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 26, 2024
Another potentially damaging clip, of Mr Vance giving a speech in 2021, has been shared widely over the last 48 hours. In it, he suggests parents should have more power in America’s democracy than the childless.
“When you go to the polls in this country, as a parent, you should have more power. You should have more of an ability to speak your voice in a democratic republic than people who don’t have kids,” he said in the speech.
Speaking on CNN today, feminist writer Liz Plank joined the pile-on against that idea.
“You do not have to give birth to biological children in order to have value,” said Ms Plank.
“And if anyone’s unclear about that, we should just ask any president we’ve ever had. We don’t question the contribution of men in our society because they don’t give birth. And so we shouldn’t be doing that for women either.
“So for Vance to denigrate an entire group of women based on an arbitrary skill he doesn’t even have is really embarrassing. Not embarrassing for women. Embarrassing for him.”
She concluded by claiming the Republican presidential ticket was, at this point, “like a walking billboard for men who don’t go to therapy, or men who need therapy”.
‘He’s running scared’: Trump mocked over debate backflip
Donald Trump’s usual critics have responded quite gleefully to him backing away from the previously scheduled presidential debate in September.
Mr Trump agreed to that debate, to be hosted by ABC News, when Joe Biden was still his opponent. Now that Mr Biden has withdrawn from the race, to be replaced by Kamala Harris, he is not committing to go through with it.
“Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, general election debate details cannot be finalised until Democrats formally decide on their nominee,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung today.
“There is a strong sense by many in the Democratic Party – namely Barack Hussein Obama – that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone ‘better’.
“Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.”
Ms Harris, who’d earlier indicated her eagerness to go through with the September debate, responded on Twitter.
“What happened to ‘any time, any place’?” she asked.
Others on social media – mostly those predisposed towards mocking Mr Trump anyway, to be fair – were blunter.
“Let’s face it, Trump backed out of this debate because he is afraid of a powerful, intelligent woman of colour humiliating him in front of the whole world and laughing in his face while doing so. That’s why he won’t debate. Forget the BS,” wrote Ron Filipkowski, a former prosecutor who is now editor of Meidas News.
“Trump is chickening out of the debate because he’s scared of Kamala Harris,” said musician Mikel Jollett.
“Trump is backing out of the debates. He’s running scared,” said podcaster Allison Gill.
“Donald Trump is too old and weak to debate Kamala Harris,” wrote former Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer, alluding mockingly to previous criticism of Mr Biden.
And so forth. Most of these posts said much the same thing, in much the same tone.
‘I will not be silent’: Harris speaks out on Gaza
Moving on to a more substantive matter: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris both met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today and discussed a prospective ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“The President also raised the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the need to remove any obstacles to the flow of aid and restoring basic services for those in need, and the critical importance of protecting civilian lives during military operations,” the White House said in its readout of the meeting between Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu.
Ms Harris spoke on camera after her meeting, which she described as “frank” and “constructive”.
“I told him that I will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself,” she said. But there were also some pointed comments about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies,” the Vice President said.
“We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering.
“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters.
“I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there.
“I will not be silent.”
‘Old and weird’: Harris campaign gets snarky
The Harris campaign has adopted a sardonic, almost facetious tone, which marks an interesting break with the Biden campaign, given there’s a lot of overlap between the staff of each one.
Exhibit A: the campaign’s response to Donald Trump’s aforementioned interview on Fox and Friends this morning. It’s a media release entitled: “Statement on 78-year-old criminal’s Fox News appearance.”
“After watching Fox News this morning we only have one question: is Donald Trump OK?” the campaign says.
It then flows into a bullet point list of “main takeaways” from the interview, including “Trump is flustered and lashing out”, “praised dictators because he wants to be one”, and perhaps most strikingly, “Trump is old and quite weird?”.
“If anyone wants an alternative, Kamala Harris is offering one,” it concludes.
The tone is younger and much snarkier than the equivalent media releases from Joe Biden.
Polls show razor-thin race, improvement for Harris
There hasn’t been a heck of a lot of fresh polling today. The little data available, though, is quite encouraging for the Harris campaign.
A New York Times/Siena survey shows Donald Trump leading a two-way race with 48 per cent to Ms Harris’s 47. Add in third-party candidates, such as independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and it’s Ms Harris who’s narrowly in the lead, with 44 per cent to Mr Trump’s 43. Mr Kennedy has 5 per cent, and Greens candidate Jill Stein is one 1 per cent.
These numbers are a clear improvement on what Joe Biden was managing before he dropped out of the race.
We also have two new polls looking specifically at New Hampshire, a swing state that usually leans a touch towards the Democrats. Mr Biden was struggling there. But one survey, from St Anselm, has Ms Harris leading 50-44, while another, from the University of New Hampshire, has her up 53-46.
A separate UNH poll shows Ms Harris leading 54-45 in Maine.
Trump taunted over debate
When Joe Biden was still his opponent, Donald Trump agreed to two televised presidential debates. The first of them, which happened on June 27, went so poorly for Mr Biden that it became the catalyst to force him out of the race.
The second, to be hosted by America’s ABC News, was scheduled for September 10. Mr Trump is now demanding that it be moved to Fox News.
Speaking to reporters today, Kamala Harris said Mr Trump had “agreed to” the terms of the debate and should go through with it.
“Now it appears he is backpedaling, but I’m ready,” said Ms Harris.
“I think the voters deserve to see this split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage.”
“And so, I’m ready. Let’s go.”
A few hours later, the Trump campaign released a statement saying it would not commit to a debate against Ms Harris before she is formally made the nominee (which will happen before the Democratic convention next month).
“Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, general election debate details cannot be finalised until Democrats formally decide on their nominee,” said spokesman Steven Cheung.
“There is a strong sense by many in the Democratic Party – namely Barack Hussein Obama – that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone ‘better’.
“Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.”
‘How?’: Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter hits back
Kamala Harris’s family, specifically her stepdaughter and her husband’s ex-wife, have rallied to her defence over claims from Republicans that she is “childless”, and therefore unsuited to the presidency.
The Vice President’s husband, Doug Emhoff, had two children during his previous relationship with Kerstin Emhoff, to whom he was married from 1992 until their divorce in 2008.
Ms Harris is a stepmother and co-parent to the kids, Cole and Ella.
An old interview with Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance, has been doing the rounds this week. In the clip, he slams Ms Harris and other rising Democrats for being childless.
“We’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, 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,” said Mr Vance.
“It’s just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC. The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.
“How does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”
Again, to be clear, Ms Harris is a stepmother to two children. Mr Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, has two adopted children with his husband, Chasten.
Ms Emhoff, a film producer and businesswoman, has been a vocal supporter of Ms Harris’s political career. She was the first family member to speak out about the controversy.
“These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” Ms Emhoff told The New York Times.
“She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and I’m grateful to have her in it.”
Now her daughter Ella has joined in, posting on Instagram in support of Ms Emhoff’s remarks and urging her to “say it louder for the people in the back”.
“How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I?” she quipped.
“I love my three parents.”
This could become a political problem for the Trump campaign, as pointed out by conservative commentator Meghan McCain, whose late father John McCain was the Republican presidential nominee in 2008.
“I have been trying to warn every conservative man I know. These J.D. comments are activating women across all sides, including my most conservative Trump supporting friends,” Ms McCain said.
“These comments have caused real pain and are just innately unchristian.”
‘Stupid people’: Trump lashes out
Donald Trump was interviewed on Fox News’ morning show, Fox and Friends, today.
Addressing the protesters who clashed with police and burned American flags while Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking in Washington D.C., he called for tough measures to be taken.
“I think you should get a one-year jail sentence if you do anything to desecrate the American flag,” said Mr Trump.
“Now people will say, ‘Oh, it’s unconstitutional.’ Those are stupid people. Those are stupid people that say that.”
The problem for him there is the first amendment to America’s constitution, which includes the right to freedom of speech. Courts have adjudicated that burning a flag, for example, is an instance of political speech.
Harris condemns protesters’ ‘despicable acts’
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have both slammed pro-Palestinian protesters who clashed with law enforcement and burned American flags in Washington D.C. yesterday, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was addressing a joint session of Congress.
The worst of it happened outside the American capital’s main train station.
“Yesterday, at Union Station in Washington, D.C., we saw despicable acts by unpatriotic protesters and dangerous hate-fuelled rhetoric,” Ms Harris said in a statement.
“I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organisation Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the state of Israel and kill Jews.
“Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation.
“I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way.
“I support the right to peacefully protest, but let’s be clear: antisemitism, hate and violence of any kind have no place in our nation.”
In a post on Truth Social, former president Trump took issue with law enforcement’s handling of the demonstrators.
“If those people rioting in Washington yesterday were Republicans/conservatives, they would all be in jail right now, facing 10 to 20 year sentences,” he wrote.
“Under this Crooked Administration, nothing will happen to them!”
Biden’s doctor gives unprecedented interview
Joe Biden’s physician Dr Kevin O’Connor has confirmed the President’s health is “excellent” after being stopped by a New York Post reporter on the White House driveway.
The 81-year-old’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race came after huge speculation and heightened concerns about his health following a disastrous debate with Mr Trump, 78.
Republicans have claimed Mr Biden must be unfit for office if he is not running, calling for him to resign immediately. However, the President has made clear he intends to remain in his job until the end of his term in January.
To both questions inquiring how Mr Biden’s health and mental cognition was, Dr O’Connor replied: “It’s excellent.”
“Is there a reason you didn’t perform a cognitive test on him?” the reporter asked.
“We don’t need to. He’s here every day,” Dr O’Connor said.
The doctor was then asked specifically about speculation the President has health concerns related to Parkinson’s, which were first prompted by the revelation that a Parkinson’s expert visited the White House eight times in eight months.
In response, Dr O’Connor said: “No, he’s good.”
The Post reported Dr O’Connor not briefing the press during Mr Biden’s more than three years in office was a break from historical norms.
The publication said this may be the doctor’s first interview since Mr Biden took office.
Trump does not support invoking the 25th amendment
Donald Trump is not throwing his support behind calls to invoke the 25th amendment to force Mr Biden out of office immediately.
“I don’t think they should use the 25th Amendment. Not long to go, you know, we have four months now and then he’s got another month and a half,” Mr Trump told Fox & Friends.
“But I will say this, the world is in a very dangerous place. I think if he [Mr Biden] goes, she [Ms Harris] then takes over and she’s worse than he is. I believe she’s a San Francisco radical. She’s actually I think in a way a much worse candidate than he is.”
Earlier this week Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace claimed she would be introducing a resolution calling on Ms Harris to invoke the 25th amendment and assume the duties of Mr Biden.
“If Joe Biden does not have the cognitive ability to seek re-election, he does not have the cognitive ability to serve the remainder of his term,” she wrote on social media, alongside a copy of the resolution.
The resolution claims “the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office” and Ms Harris should immediately become acting President.
The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution sets out the procedures for replacing a president or vice president if they die, resign or are unfit for office.
Under Section 4 of the amendment, Ms Harris and a majority of the Cabinet would have to declare Mr Biden unfit for office for him to be ousted, and there are ways for the president to dispute the move and have it voted on by Congress.
This section has never been invoked but there were calls for it to be used on Trump in 2021 after the January 6 Capitol riot.
The US House of Representatives passed a resolution to formally call on vice president Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office before Mr Biden was sworn in on January 20. But Mr Pence rejected the call.
Obama expected to endorse Harris soon
Barack Obama, who was 44th president of the US and served with Mr Biden by his side as vice president, notably did not endorse Ms Harris in his statement about Mr Biden stepping off the ticket on Sunday, local time.
But Mr Obama is expected to endorse Ms Harris soon, sources have told American TV networks CNN and NBC.
The former president and current vice president have been in close touch since this week, people familiar with their discussions told NBC.
They said Mr Obama plans to endorse Ms Harris soon.
“He has been in regular contact with her and thinks she’s been off to a great start,” one of the sources said.
An adviser told CNN that with his statement on Sunday, Mr Obama was taking the same approach he did in the 2020 Democratic primary and would unify the party when a nominee was chosen, whether it is Ms Harris or someone else.
Ms Harris confirmed on Tuesday she has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to win her party’s nomination for president and looks forward to “formally accepting the nomination soon”.
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