August 5, 2024, presidential campaign news

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Vice President Kamala Harris has won the Democratic presidential nomination, the party announced Monday, making her the first Black woman and first Asian American to lead a major-party ticket.

The announcement came after the period for delegates to cast their digital ballots closed at 6 p.m. ET.?

Harris won 99% of the vote,?according to the Democratic National Committee.

It’s been clear since shortly after President Joe Biden?ended his reelection campaign?and endorsed Harris that the vice president would be the only serious candidate for the nomination.?She?was the only candidate who?had gathered enough delegate signatures to appear on the ballot, and the party?had already declared?on Friday that she had won enough votes to secure the nomination.?

Next, the results will be certified by the secretary of the convention, and Harris will officially accept the nomination.?

Harris can also now choose her running mate without the need for a separate vote.?She is expected to reveal her choice by Tuesday ahead of a planned campaign rally in Philadelphia.??

Dozens of top comedians teamed up to raise money for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in a virtual event on Monday night.

Ben Stiller, Jason Bateman, Tiffany Haddish, Phoebe Robinson, Patton Oswalt, Whoopi Goldberg, Keegan-Michael Key, Ed Helms, Kevin Nealon, Margaret Cho and more spoke as part of the “Comics for Kamala” event.

Upwards of 24,000 people were watching the live Zoom at its most populated moment, which has so far raised more than $530,000 directly for the Harris campaign.

Jon Hamm kicked off the gathering, which was hosted by comedian Paul Mercurio. Nick Offerman performed a comedic folk song on his guitar with references to former President Donald Trump; Kathy Griffin brought on the singer Sia via a FaceTime call; “SNL” alum Cecily Strong did a roast of Trump’s running mate,?JD Vance; and?Key reprised his impression of former President Obama.

“I don’t feel like there’s a lot to laugh about when it comes to the stakes of this election,” actress Kathryn Hahn, who stars in the upcoming Marvel series “Agatha All Along,” told gatherers.

Rep. Eric Swalwell of California,?who served as one of the organizers of the event, spoke to Harris’ comedic side, saying, “She’s tough, she’s real, she’s ready, but she’s also funny. It’s really refreshing to have someone right now who’s funny. She’s serious, but she doesn’t take herself too seriously.”

Progressive politicians, labor leaders and activists joined an organizing call on Monday to encourage progressive voters to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, saying they could achieve far more of their policy goals under a Harris administration than a second Trump term.

Harris and her campaign have?recently clarified?how some of her previous policy positions have shifted, including backing away from more progressive stances on fracking and healthcare.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal emphasized the progressive achievements under the Biden-Harris administration, including investments in combatting climate change, drug price negotiation rules, canceled student debt and strict enforcement of antitrust law.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive “squad” on Capitol Hill, asked:

Organizers for the “uncommitted” movement were also on the call, still not backing Harris but expressing hope that they may be able to work with the vice president to achieve their goals and defeat Trump.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, whose union recently formally backed Harris, said he’s “excited as hell” for the momentum behind the campaign and predicted a “massive crowd” at Harris’ rally in Detroit on Wednesday.

The Harris campaign is seeking to capitalize on the anticipation around the final hours of its search for a running mate, sending out yet another email tonight imploring supporters to sign up.

While the campaign has sent several similar messages in the past week, a closer look at the latest email could contain a clue to how Vice President Kamala Harris intends to record a video Tuesday morning with her new partner on the Democratic ticket.

Tonight, it remains unclear whether Harris has reached a final decision, although a senior Democratic adviser says she almost certainly has, given the hour. The campaign is intent on keeping the decision a secret as a display of loyalty to their new candidate and new boss, the adviser said.

The email includes a picture of the moment Joe Biden called her on Zoom and asked him to be her running mate.

“See this picture? That was the moment Joe Biden asked me to be his Vice President,” Harris wrote. “It was perhaps one of the most memorable days of my life.”

Tim Walz speaks during a press conference at the Bloomington City Hall in Bloomington, Minnesota on August 1.

As Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke Monday evening in Minneapolis, he gave no indication of whether he has been chosen as a running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We’ve?got an incredible candidate,” he said during his 11-minute speech at a fundraiser for Harris.

Walz is among the final three potential candidates to be Harris’ vice presidential selection. She’s expected to make her decision ahead of a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

The Democratic governor referenced a new line of attack he helped coin for Democrats by labeling former President Donald Trump, vice presidential candidate JD Vance and some of their Republican allies “weird.”

Walz reiterated that he does not intend to call all Republicans weird, noting that some Republicans are “people that I love.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson is set to visit 20 states in August, aiming to buoy Republican candidates and hold onto the speaker’s gavel.?

Johnson will be stopping by Wisconsin, Arizona, Ohio, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Connecticut and other states, according to a source familiar with his plans.?

Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday where she is expected to deliver remarks at a campaign event at 5:30 p.m. ET before returning to Washington, DC.

CNN reported earlier that the campaign plans to officially announce Harris’ choice for a running mate through an online message to supporters before the rally, where she’s expected to make her first appearance with her pick.

Harris hopes to keep it under wraps “until as close to then as possible,” a person familiar with the search told CNN.

Nancy Pelosi is seen at a DNC meeting in Washington on July 9.

Former House Speaker?Nancy Pelosi told CNN Monday that she has not spoken to President Joe Biden since he dropped out of the presidential race last month.

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash whether she would like to speak with him in the future, Pelosi said, “Yes.”

“Is everything OK with your?relationship?” Bash asked.

“You’d have to ask him, but I hope so,” Pelosi said. “Look, I love Joe Biden, respected him for over 40 years.”

Last month, the president stepped down from the Democratic ticket and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. CNN previously reported that Pelosi privately told Biden that polling showed he could not beat former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, and his run could destroy Democrats’ chances of winning back the House in November.

Pelosi described Harris, who on Friday earned enough votes from Democratic delegates to win the party’s nomination for president, as “very politically astute,” pointing toward Harris’ experience winning a competitive primary for California attorney general.

“She pulled that off because of her astuteness,” Pelosi said, “and I can go more into that but the fact is, you’ve seen in the past three weeks how she has managed the opportunity that is there.”?

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Updated 12:21 AM EDT, Tue August 6, 2024

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Despite his campaign’s efforts to paint Kamala Harris as “dangerously liberal,” former President Donald Trump attacked Harris’ racial identity, saying she “happened to turn Black” during a panel interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention last week.

Republicans have urged Trump to focus on policy, not race or identity.

“Every day we’re talking about her heritage and not her terrible, dangerous liberal record throughout her entire political life, is a good day for her and a bad day for us,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and Trump ally, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“I would encourage President Trump to prosecute the case against Kamala Harris’ bad judgment.”

During a Saturday rally in Atlanta, where Harris had addressed supporters days earlier, Trump sought to blunt some of the momentum she has enjoyed since launching her campaign, while defending Vance, who’s faced scrutiny over past controversial comments.

“We have to work hard to define her,” Trump said. “I don’t even want to define her. I just want to say who she is. She’s a horror show.”

But he also took the opportunity to lash out at a fellow Republican in the key battleground state, disparaging Gov. Brian Kemp, who revealed last month that he did not support Trump in the state’s GOP primary. (The governor has said he’ll “support the ticket” in November.) Earlier in the day, Trump attacked Kemp and his wife on Truth Social.

The rally followed hours of the Trump and Harris campaigns engaging in?a public back-and-forth?over when they would meet on the debate stage after the former president said he would no longer attend a September 10 ABC News debate he agreed to when Biden was still the nominee.

After two weeks of sowing doubt over whether he would attend, Trump said Saturday he would instead meet Harris at a September 4 Fox News debate with a live audience or not at all.

Harris’ campaign has said she will attend the ABC News event, and taunted the former president for backing out of that event.

Read more about Harris’ VP search and Trump’s strategy against the Democratic ticket.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the press in Washington, DC, on July 25.

Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the campaign of Kamala Harris, said on social media that the vice president is yet to make a decision on a running mate.

Munoz was responding to a local report that said Harris had made her decision and that her running mate has accepted.

CNN reported earlier that Harris is focusing on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, although the process, these sources cautioned, is still fluid and none of the finalists can be ruled out until Harris makes her decision.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly remained in the running as of Monday afternoon, a source told CNN.

The Republicans for Harris coalition kicked off its North Carolina campaign Monday with a virtual news conference featuring four elected Republicans and former Republicans explaining their support for the Democratic ticket this election.?

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, former Mecklenburg County GOP board member Michael Tucker and US Army veteran Scott Peoples addressed their personal reasons for endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, and what role the newly formed coalition of Republicans and former Republicans will have in the plan to turn the battleground state blue in November.

“I am proudly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the next president of the United States, for a number of reasons. And not many of those are because of all the policies, but because of the person. Because of the adherence to the Constitution and because it’s going to be a stable hand in a time when this country needs a stable hand to get us to the next step,” he added.

Orr, a Republican for 45 years before switching his registration to unaffiliated “after January 6 and the events that followed,” told the press on the call that “the stakes are simply too high not to take action.”

The Harris campaign has said the coalition will “play a pivotal role in engaging Trump-skeptical Republican voters across North Carolina, facilitating Republican-to-Republican voter contact, including by hosting Republican-featured events, door knocking, phone banking, spearheading letter-to-the-editor campaigns, and building local networks with Republican organizations, businesses, and community groups.”

Tucker said he cast one of the more than 250,000 votes for Nikki Haley in the North Carolina’s Republican primary back in March, and now, he is “actively working to protect America to identify other Republicans who have also been alienated by Donald Trump.”?

Tucker, Peoples and Orr all acknowledged that many Republicans or Republican-leaning voters in North Carolina likely do not feel comfortable with casting a ballot for a Democrat- or at least, admitting that are doing that.?

“You’re not alone if you feel this way and you are hearing this, there are other Republicans who feel the same way you do,” said Tucker.

“They don’t have to step forward like we are. All they have to do is go in that voting booth, in the privacy of that spot, and do the right thing for America. And that is vote for Vice President Harris,” said Orr.

Kamala Harris and?her soon-to-be announced running mate?will have company on the campaign trail this week as they tour key battleground states: Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance.

The Ohio senator mate is bracketing the launch of the Democratic ticket with a series of events in the same cities and states as his opponents.?

Vance will make a campaign stop in Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon, hours before Harris and her running mate hold their first in-person rally in the city that evening. On Wednesday, both Vance and the Harris campaign will hold events in the Detroit area and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. And on Thursday, Vance will appear in North Carolina, making stops in Raleigh – where the Democratic ticket is also campaigning – as well as in Oakboro, located east of Charlotte.

Vance’s tour comes as he?seeks to reintroduce himself?to the American public after his initial rollout as Donald Trump’s running mate was bogged down by his past comments disparaging women and elected officials who don’t have children. It also offers him a chance to divert attention away from Harris, who is embarking on a new phase of her two-week-old campaign and seeking to maintain momentum.?

The campaign stops headlined by Vance, however, won’t include Trump or match the scale of the events held by Harris and her running mate. The vice president’s campaign said this week her battleground tour would include a mix of intimate gatherings at family-owned restaurants and union halls, but also large rallies in arenas and college campuses.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the administration’s national security team in the White House Situation Room Monday afternoon.

The meeting comes as Harris prepares to announce her pick for vice president.

Washington is bracing for an expected Iranian retaliation for the killing of?a top Hamas leader?in Tehran last week, even as deep uncertainty swirled around when Iran would act —?and how far it might go.

The meeting in the Situation Room included an intelligence update as well as a discussion on the latest efforts to calm tensions in the region, an official told CNN.

Multiple US officials across the region and in Washington told CNN that the US expects Iran to retaliate in the coming days – perhaps even within the next 24 hours – against Israel for?Ismail?Haniyeh’s killing.

But the US has struggled to gauge when the response will come and what form it will take,?in part because Iran already moved some of the military assets necessary to carry out a major attack on Israel in April, making it more difficult for US intelligence to predict its actions now, according to two US officials.

Officials are relying on multiple streams of intelligence, and there are divisions among national security officials on how and when Iran’s response might unfold.

The relative uncertainty has left the Biden administration in a defensive crouch as it tries to rally allies and pressure Iran not to escalate tensions.

The killing of Haniyeh – who served as a top Hamas political figure whose job included a role as one of the group’s chief hostage and ceasefire negotiators – along with?the killing of Hezbollah leader Fu’ad Shukr?in Lebanon last week have thrown the war into?its most uncertain phase.

Read more about today’s meeting and tensions in the Middle East.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally on July 30, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Vice President Kamala Harris?is focused on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the final hours of her process to select a running mate, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The selection process, these sources cautioned, is still fluid, and none of the finalists could be ruled out until Harris makes her decision.?Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly remained in the running as of Monday afternoon, a source told CNN.

Here are key things to know about the possible contenders:

Josh Shapiro: Shapiro, who was previously the state’s attorney general, was elected in a landslide victory in 2022, defeating a 2020 election-denying?far-right state senator to become the third Jewish governor elected in the crucial swing state. During a stop in Philadelphia last month, Harris called Shapiro a?“great partner to the president and me.” The assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, placed the governor in the spotlight. His response to the death of Corey Comperatore, the Trump supporter who was killed while shielding his wife and daughter, has especially been lauded.

Tim Walz: Walz spent more than two decades in the Army National Guard, which included a deployment overseas after the 9/11 attacks, working as an educator and coach, before?shockingly defeating?a six-term Republican incumbent?congressman?in 2006, a wave year for Democrats. Walz remained when the tide rolled out, reelected to the typically red district?repeatedly?until he left to run for his current job in 2018. (The seat quickly returned to GOP control?after his departure.) Walz’s six years in charge of Minnesota have seen a remarkable series of political and social upheaval. First came the Covid-19 pandemic and then, in its midst, the murder of George Floyd by a White police officer, which set off global anti-racist demonstrations. Walz navigated it all – alongside more usual complaints over wasteful spending – well enough that, by the beginning of 2023, he was leading a Democratic trifecta in the state government.

Mark Kelly: Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly represents a state that Biden won by only 10,457 votes in 2020 and has?national name recognition?both as a former astronaut and the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords. He has been a reliable supporter of Democratic Party priorities while in office but has occasionally bucked his party, such as in 2023, when he?flatly called?the influx of undocumented migrants across the US southern border a “crisis.” If Kelly was elected to higher office, his seat?would remain?in Democratic hands as Gov. Katie Hobbs would be able to appoint his successor.

A campaign official says Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Savannah, Georgia, has been postponed due to the impacts from Tropical Storm Debby.?

Harris is set to campaign in several key battleground states this week alongside her running mate, who is expected to be announced before a rally tomorrow in Philadelphia.

Former President Donald Trump on Monday criticized Google and said people should “not use it” over what he claimed was censorship by the search engine over his assassination attempt last month.?

“The market speaks. Everybody should maybe just go off Google, not use it. There are so many other things,” Trump said in a streamed conversation with Internet personality Adin Ross.?

Trump claimed, “When you put up the name, the word assassination, it went to Lincoln, it went to many other people, many of whom I didn’t even know there was an attempted assassination. The only one it didn’t have was Trump. Think of it. And when you put up the word assassination it also sent you to Kamala, and people were really angry.”

Trump said Google was “really crooked” and horrible.”?

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally on August 3, in Atlanta, Georgia.

A few weeks after promising to?eliminate taxes on tips, former President Donald Trump has unveiled a second proposal for targeted tax relief. The beneficiaries this time would be senior citizens, an influential voting bloc.

While lifting the levy would benefit many older Americans for a little while, the proposal would harm the popular entitlement program, as well as Medicare and the federal budget, if Trump and Congress don’t come up with a way to replace the lost revenue, said Marc Goldwein, senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. What’s more, many seniors could ultimately be hurt if?Social Security and Medicare’s trust funds run dry sooner?and benefits have to be cut.

In an interview that aired Sunday, Trump reiterated his promise to?eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits?but did not specify how he would pay for the proposal. When Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo asked how he would offset the lost revenue, Trump said he would focus on eliminating “waste” and “fat” in the federal government – but did not say what he would cut.

The highest-income households would be the biggest winners in dollar terms, but middle class and upper-middle income taxpayers would get the largest boost in their after-tax income, according to a?Tax Policy Center analysis. Lower-income households would get little to no benefit.

Social Security benefits began being taxed in 1984 as part of the last major federal overhaul to shore up the program’s finances. Any changes to tax law would need to go through Congress.

Read more about Trump’s proposal here.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (L) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Vice President Kamala Harris?is staying focused on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the final hours of her process to select a running mate, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

Harris met with Shapiro and Walz in separate meetings on Sunday. She also met with Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.?

CNN previously reported that Harris has not decided on her vice presidential running mate as of Monday morning.

The selection process, these sources cautioned, is still fluid, and none of the finalists could be ruled out until Harris makes her decision.?

All three – Shapiro, Walz and Kelly — remain in the running as of Monday afternoon, a source told CNN.??

Casa Grande, Arizona —It is 101 degrees, the desert sun in full force. Yet Pablo Correa and Jacob Dials are smiling as they go door to door, foot soldiers in a progressive army that suddenly has a bouncy spring in its step.

Correa said canvassers who were loyal to?President Joe Biden?are now excited by?Vice President Kamala Harris, seeing her as a candidate with more vigor, more diversity and, critically, more support.

However, not all voters feel that Harris represents any real change on the issues plaguing many Democrats.

Read more here.

Justin Vernon of Bon Iver performs at the All Points East Festival in Victoria Park on June 2, 2019, in London, England.

Vice President Kamala Harris is continuing to employ high-profile musical acts to help boost her campaign, with the indie group Bon Iver planning a performance at a rally in Wisconsin this week.

Billboard first reported on the band’s plans to perform at Wednesday’s event, which is part of a larger swing through battleground states. Harris will be joined at each stop by her still-to-be-named running mate.

The group was founded in Eau Claire, where the rally will take place.

Last week, Harris was joined at a rally in Atlanta by hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion and rapper Quavo — acts that would have been difficult to imagine appearing at a rally with President Joe Biden when he was the party’s presumed nominee.

Harris also sought permission from Beyoncé to use her song “Freedom” as part of her campaign.?

It’s all part of a more concerted push to use popular culture and entertainment figures to help galvanize support behind Harris ahead of November’s election.

Elon Musk attends the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024??on June 19, 2024 in Cannes, France.

A bipartisan group of secretaries of state blasted Elon Musk and his X platform Monday for providing “false information” about Vice President Kamala Harris’ supposed ineligibility to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot in several battleground states.?

The group flagged issues that emerged last month with the?AI-powered Grok chatbot?on X, formerly known as Twitter. Soon after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign, Grok provided information to some users inaccurately, stating: “The ballot deadline has passed for several states for the 2024 election,” in nine states including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas and Ohio, according to the letter.?

The letter urged Musk to “immediately implement changes” on the X platform. They want him to direct users to a?nonpartisan website?from the National Association of Secretaries of State where voters can look up reliable information about their registration status and polling-place locations.?

Election officials from five of the nine affected states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Washington state – signed onto the letter. Four of the five officials are Democrats. Pennsylvania’s top election official,?Al Schmidt, is a Republican who famously refused to support former President Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere with the 2020 election results in Philadelphia.??

CNN has reached out to X for comment.?

According to the letter, the false information about Harris’ eligibility to appear on the ballot reached “millions of people” before it was apparently corrected, after 10 days.?

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.'s 60th International Biennial Boule in Houston, Texas, on July 31.

Vice President Kamala Harris had not made a decision on her vice-presidential running mate as of Monday morning, a source familiar with the process tells CNN, as the Harris campaign is getting ready to unveil that choice in a matter of hours.?

The decision is expected to be made later today, and once it is made, the vice president would inform a small team of top advisers – and of course, her chosen running mate.

While that is the general expectation on timing, sources cautioned that the decision is ultimately Harris’ to make and Harris’ alone – and if she needed more time, the final decision could slide into tomorrow.?

?Harris and her new running mate will appear at a joint rally together in Philadelphia tomorrow evening, before hitting a series of additional cities in battleground states the rest of the week.

Over the weekend, she interviewed in-person Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.?

The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

The Biden-Harris administration couldn’t shake the “vibecession” even when the economy was on a tear. It may be even harder now that cracks are forming in the labor market.

Americans have been grumpy about the economy for the better part of three years because prices have gone up, and — fairly or unfairly — many consumers have blamed the White House. Now, inflation is more or less under control, but that’s also come at a cost: The job market, while still historically strong, is starting to weaken.

Last month,?the economy gained just 114,000 jobs,?and?unemployment rose to 4.3%?from 4.1%, largely because of an influx of job seekers re-entering the workforce. It was hardly a disastrous jobs report, but it was a surprisingly abrupt shift from June, when the economy added 179,000, and May, when it added 216,000.

One month isn’t enough to declare a trend, but it’s enough to seriously complicate Harris’ economic pitch as the new presumptive Democratic nominee.

Earlier Monday, the Biden administration announced that White House economic aide?Gene Sperling would leave after serving as the president’s implementation coordinator for the $1.9 trillion Covid relief law, known as the American Rescue Plan,?to help fill out Vice President Kamala Harris’ policy team.?

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks during an on camera interview on the North Lawn of the White House on July 23, in Washington, DC.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to travel to Maine on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Department of Transportation announced Monday. He’s expected to tour bridge construction sites and a port location as the 50th state stop on his national tour promoting the Biden administration’s infrastructure investments.

Buttigieg has been on the shortlist of potential running mates for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris and her VP pick are expected to make stops in seven swing states this week, including Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening and Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday.

Gene Sperling ?speaks during the National Association of Counties 2023 Legislative Conference?on February 13, 2023.

White House economic aide Gene Sperling is leaving the White House after serving as President Joe Biden’s implementation coordinator for the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief law, known as the American Rescue Plan,?to help fill out Vice President Kamala Harris’ policy team.?

Sperling will be a senior economic advisor to the policy team on the campaign, according to a White House official. His departure comes after Brian Nelson, a top Treasury official, left the administration last week to join the campaign.?

Sperling has over a decade of experience in senior roles in government having served in previous Democratic administration under Clinton and Obama. Under both president’s he led the federal government’s response during moments of economic crisis.?

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made light of a decade-old incident in which he drove a dead bear cub carcass from upstate New York to New York City and placed it in Central Park, joking “maybe that’s where I got my brain worm,” referring to a past medical abnormality he has said was caused by a parasitic worm in his brain.

Kennedy made the comment in an interview with The New Yorker as part of an expansive profile of his life and presidential campaign published on Monday. Kennedy revealed he drove the dead bear cub to Central Park approximately 10 years ago in a video on social media on Sunday as part of an effort to get ahead of the magazine’s story.

The New Yorker article includes an image of Kennedy sticking his hand in the dead bear’s mouth, pantomiming as if the bear is biting his hand. The image echoes a photo published by Vanity Fair last month of Kennedy pretending to eat a cooked animal carcass. Vanity Fair reported Kennedy sent the photo to a friend while suggesting they try eating dog. The publication consulted with a veterinarian who said the carcass in the photo appeared to be a dog.

When asked about the bear incident, he told the magazine, “maybe that’s where I got my brain worm,” referencing a 2010 incident in which Kennedy experienced short-term memory loss and “brain fog” that he said was caused by a parasitic worm that entered his brain and died.

Kennedy has often referenced the brain worm episode for comedic effect at campaign events and in interviews since it was first reported by the New York Times in May. He has previously said he believes he contracted the parasite from eating undercooked meat.

The wide-ranging article details Kennedy’s history with drug addiction, his previous marriages and infidelity and his relationship to his family.

If?Donald Trump?is reelected, he’ll take office having learned the lessons of four years of legal battles in his first term, during which inexperienced personnel, slapdash policymaking and his own indifference to how the federal government worked made his agenda especially vulnerable to legal challenges.

The 2024 Republican nominee already has a clear idea of how he’d jumpstart a second term, with plans to?immediately enact hardline immigration policies?and to dismantle civil service protections for thousands of federal employees.

His allies, including the influential conservative organizations that have participated in the endeavor known as?Project 2025, have crafted policy papers and vetted potential Trump-aligned staff that could swiftly be hired to the federal government, so that his vision could be quickly and effectively implemented. (Trump himself has tried to distance himself from Project 2025 but?many of his policies and goals overlap.)

Ferguson said his office was “building the airplane as we were flying it” at the time. Now, the Washington Democrat – who is running for governor – has spent the last year pulling together a legal playbook so that his successor will be ready to hit the ground running in the event Trump wins again.

Those kind of preparations – researching case law, writing memos, shifting around staff – are being done across the country by liberal advocacy groups, blue states and other organizations that fought Trump in court. They’re thinking through the kinds of plaintiffs they’d recruit, where in the country they’d file their lawsuits, how they’d shape their legal arguments to adjust for how the judicial landscape has changed in the last several years and bulking up on litigative staff.

Read more here.

Usha Vance, wife of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, speaks?at the 2024 Republican National Convention?in Milwaukee, on July 17.

Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, defended her husband’s?previous comments deriding childless adults?and downplayed his labeling of some Democratic politicians as “childless cat ladies,” calling it a “quip.”

In a sit-down interview with Fox News that aired Monday, Usha Vance, a trial lawyer,?argued her husband’s past comments, which have received renewed scrutiny since he joined former President Donald Trump’s presidential ticket, were in service of an argument about the challenges facing parents and the role government plays in parents’ lives.

“The reality is, JD made a quote – I mean, he made a quip, and he made a quip in service of making a point that he wanted to make that was substantive,” she said.

The first solo interview from Usha Vance comes alongside fresh urgency for the Republican senator to?quickly change the conversation?around his candidacy. Trump allies have been eager to see Usha Vance defend her husband and the Republican ticket publicly as the campaign continues its defense of different resurfaced clips of JD Vance.

Read more here.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain speaks to reporters during a UAW strike at the General Motors Lansing Delta Assembly Plant in Lansing, Michigan, on September 29, 2023.

As Vice President Kamala Harris draws closer to?selecting her running mate, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain on Sunday reiterated his support for?Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, while expressing reservations about Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

“I believe a Harris-Beshear ticket would be unbeatable. I believe both of them would just be such dynamic candidates,” Fain said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Fain added, “But we really like Tim Walz from Minnesota. Also think he’s an awesome guy for labor, 100% behind labor, and those would be our top two if we had to pick any.”

In contrast, Fain expressed concerns about Shapiro’s support for school vouchers and Kelly’s position on the union-friendly?PRO Act. Kelly?told HuffPost?last month that he would vote in favor of the legislation if it came to the floor; he had previously cited reservations about a provision that would extend collective-bargaining rights to independent contractors.

Fain has criticized former President Donald?Trump’s lack of?support for union workers and his courting of big donors instead of blue-collar workers. The United Auto Workers formally endorsed Harris last week, and the union remains a political force in the critical battleground state of Michigan.

Vice President Kamala Harris is making the biggest decision of her two-week-old presidential campaign as she chooses a running mate and prepares to introduce the new Democratic ticket to voters in several key battleground states this week.

It was unclear late Sunday after a day of interviews with finalists whether she had made a final decision, people familiar with the search said. The campaign plans to officially announce the choice through an online message to supporters before a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, where she’s expected to make her first appearance with her pick.

Harris hopes to keep it under wraps “until as close to then as possible,” a person familiar with the search told CNN.

The selection will kick off a new phase of the campaign, as Harris seeks to maintain the momentum that has propelled her bid and former President Donald Trump?struggles to adapt?to running against an entirely new candidate.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance speaks at a campaign event in Glendale, Arizona, on July 31.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Sunday brushed off recent criticism of his selection as Donald Trump’s running mate, calling it a “badge of honor.”

Vance also responded to being called “weird” by supporters of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, calling the put-down “a lot of projection.”?

Asked about Harris’ potential running mate, Vance replied “I think whoever she chooses, the problem is going to be Kamala Harris’ record and Kamala Harris’ policies,” adding: “I don’t really care who she chooses as a running mate.”?