FBI director questions whether Trump was hit by bullet; Harris condemns ‘hate-fueled rhetoric’ at Netanyahu protests – live | US elections 2024
FBI director raises questions about whether Trump was hit by bullet during assassination attempt
Shortly after a gunman opened fire at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump said the projectile that hit his ear and caused it to bleed was a bullet.
But in testimony before the House judiciary committee yesterday, FBI director Christopher Wray said it was not clear if that was indeed the case, or if Trump was struck by shrapnel:
FBI director raises questions over whether a bullet or shrapnel hit Trump – video
Trump has been criticized for not being forthcoming about his health following the assassination attempt, which left one rally-goer dead and others wounded.
He released a memo about his recovery from the shooting from the former White House doctor and current Republican congressman Ronny Jackson, but has not allowed the medical professionals who treated him to talk publicly about his condition.
Key events
The day so far
Kamala Harris remains on the campaign trail, telling members of the American Federation of Teachers in Houston that Joe Biden “showed what true leadership looks like” in his Oval Office address last night, where he elaborated on his decision to end his campaign for a second term. The vice-president has already received the support from the delegates necessary to become the Democratic party’s presidential nominee, but is reportedly set to receive another big endorsement: that of former president Barack Obama. Back in Washington DC, the House passed a resolution condemning Harris’s handling of immigration in her role as “border czar” – even though she never really had that job. Later on today, Biden and Harris will separately meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who controversially addressed Congress yesterday.
Here’s what else happened today so far:
Donald Trump claims a bullet struck his ear when an assassin opened fire at his rally earlier this month, but the FBI director said he is not sure about that.
Protesters yesterday burned an American flag not far from the Capitol as Netanyahu visited, prompting condemnation from top lawmakers and the vice-president.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee’s members are much more enthusiastic about Harris’s candidacy than they were about Biden’s after his debate debacle, according to polling shared exclusively with the Guardian’s US politics live blog.
Progressive group reports surge in enthusiasm among members after Harris entered race
Kamala Harris’s ascension as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has caused enthusiasm among the party’s potential voters to surge, a top progressive group found in a survey shared exclusively with the Guardian’s US politics live blog.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) reported that in the period following Joe Biden’s disastrous debate against Donald Trump, which led to the president abandoning his re-election campaign, and Harris’s entry into the race, members saying that they were very enthusiastic about the nominee rose from 34% to 78%. Those saying they were not enthusiastic at all dipped from 33% to 5%.
“Our PCCC membership generally tracks with Democratic voter sentiment broadly. This spike in enthusiasm is a key indicator in a year when base turnout could be determinative to who wins the White House,” said Ethan Jasny, a quantitative analyst for the committee.
The poll also found that members considering supporting a third-party candidate fell by about half to 8% in that period, while those very worried Democrats would lose the White House plunged from 66% after the debate to 27% once Harris became the presumptive nominee.
The PCCC regularly surveys about 5,000 of its members for its internal use, but shared these results with the Guardian.
After paying homage to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris launched into a speech where she accused Republicans of pursuing extremist policies that will take the country backwards.
That message is not too different from what the president was telling voters in the months before his bid for a second term came to a sudden end. Harris, of course, is putting her own spin on it. Here’s what she said, in her now-concluded remarks to the American Federation of Teachers convention in Houston:
And while you teach students about our nation’s past, these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history, including book bans. Book bans in this year of our Lord 2024! And on these last two issues, on these last two issues, just think about it. So, we want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books. Can you imagine?
Harris said Biden 'showed what true leadership looks like' in Oval Office address
Kamala Harris just spoke before the convention of the American Federation of Teachers, which swiftly endorsed her after she entered the presidential race.
The vice-president began her remarks by commenting on Joe Biden’s speech to the nation last night from the Oval Office, in which he said he was dropping his bid for a second term so that younger generations will have a chance to lead.
“Last night, our president addressed the nation, and he showed once again what true leadership looks like. He really did. His words were poignant,” Harris told the crowd in Houston.
She continued:
He thinks and talks about his work and our country, understanding what it means in terms of what we do now and how that will impact the future. He thinks about our history in the context of the importance of the work we do now. And over the past three-and-a-half years, and over his entire career, Joe has led with grace and strength and bold vision and deep compassion.
And as he said, in the next six months, he will continue to fight for the American people, and I know we are all deeply, deeply grateful for his continued service to our nation.
Lauren Gambino
Though Kamala Harris was never named the Biden administration’s “border czar” that hasn’t stopped Republicans from attacking her.
This week, Donald Trump held a call with reporters to slam Harris’s record on immigration and label her as a far-left liberal on border policy, and congressional Republicans have joined in.
“While Democrats and their allies in the media rush to excuse vice-president Harris’ catastrophic failure to end the crisis she and president Biden created, Congress has shown with this resolution that we want the American people to know the truth,” said House homeland security chair Mark Green.
The just-passed House resolution is pure politics and has no chance of being taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
House passes factually wobbly Republican resolution condemning Harris's immigration policies
The House just approved a Republican-backed resolution condemning Kamala Harris for her handling of immigration, and specifically her actions as the Biden administration’s “border czar” – despite the fact that she never really held that job.
In the days since Joe Biden stepped aside and Harris announced her bid for the presidency, Republicans have sought to steer the ire of voters uncomfortable with undocumented migrants towards the vice-president, by saying she was given the job of securing the southern border.
But as PolitiFact notes, the president in fact tasked Harris with addressing root causes of migration in Central American nations, not stopping migrants from entering the United States. From their fact check:
The Republican National Committee said Biden appointed Harris “to be his border czar to deal with illegal immigration ... Harris was put in charge of stopping illegal immigration.”
Biden tasked Harris with addressing the root causes that drive migration to the United States. He did not task her with controlling who and how many people enter the southern US border. That’s the Homeland Security secretary’s responsibility.
Experts say that seeing the results of addressing root causes driving people out of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras – violence, economic insecurity and corruption – takes time.
The statement contains an element of truth, but it ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.
The resolution passed with 220 votes in favor and 196 opposed. Six Democrats voted for it, all of whom represent swing districts.
Harris condemns flag burning, 'dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric' at protests against Netanyahu speech
Kamala Harris has condemned the protesters who burned an American flag and sprayed pro-Hamas graffiti outside Union Station in Washington DC, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress at the Capitol nearby:
Yesterday, at Union Station in Washington DC we saw despicable acts by unpatriotic protesters and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric.
I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization 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.
The House has put together a bipartisan taskforce to investigate the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the Associated Press reports. Perhaps that will get to the bottom of what hit his ear:
The House voted on Wednesday to form a taskforce to investigate the security failures surrounding the assassination attempt against Donald Trump earlier this month.
The vote underscores the bipartisan outrage over the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump came within inches of losing his life. One rally-goer was killed and two others were severely injured. Lawmakers have responded quickly with hearings and widespread calls for accountability.
The legislation passed by a vote of 416-0.
The taskforce will be composed of 13 members and is expected to include seven Republicans and six Democrats. It will be tasked with determining what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination and will make recommendations to prevent future security lapses. It will issue a final report before 13 December and has the authority to issue subpoenas.
The bill is sponsored by Republican congressman Mike Kelly, whose home town of Butler was the site of the shooting. Kelly was at the rally with his wife and other family members.
“I can tell you that my community is grieving,” Kelly said. “They are shocked by what happened in our backyard. The people of Butler and the people of the United States deserve answers.”
With Kamala Harris now all but certain to become the Democratic presidential nominee, the party is looking ahead to its convention set to begin on 19 August in Chicago.
While the Democrats plan to nominate Harris virtually sometime in early August, they plan to use the convention to rally voters around the vice-president’s candidacy.
For those who know their history, the fact that Chicago is playing host to the convention is an eyebrow-raising coincidence. The city was in the same position in 1968, when the Democratic president, Lyndon B Johnson, declined to seek re-election, leading to a contested convention that attracted massive anti-Vietnam war protests – and police violence – outside, and failed to prevent the Republican Richard Nixon from winning the presidency.
Much has changed in the past 56 years, but the fact is, Democrats will once again convene in Chicago in the wake of an incumbent president ending his re-election bid, in this instance Joe Biden. Axios heard from the influential South Carolina congressman Jim Clyburn about how he thinks the convention should go; he said Democrats “need to go into Chicago together. Go there, have a lovefest, hold ourselves out to the American people as someone who knows how to get along with each other.”
Clyburn warned that the party would lose momentum, if it held “a big argument on the [convention] floor, do that for four days ... and then go out to the American people and say, ‘I’m ready to bring the country together, though I couldn’t get together at my convention.’”
FBI director raises questions about whether Trump was hit by bullet during assassination attempt
Shortly after a gunman opened fire at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump said the projectile that hit his ear and caused it to bleed was a bullet.
But in testimony before the House judiciary committee yesterday, FBI director Christopher Wray said it was not clear if that was indeed the case, or if Trump was struck by shrapnel:
FBI director raises questions over whether a bullet or shrapnel hit Trump – video
Trump has been criticized for not being forthcoming about his health following the assassination attempt, which left one rally-goer dead and others wounded.
He released a memo about his recovery from the shooting from the former White House doctor and current Republican congressman Ronny Jackson, but has not allowed the medical professionals who treated him to talk publicly about his condition.
From the Guardian’s Andrew Roth and Robert Tait, here’s a look back at Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of the US Congress yesterday, which drew criticism for his bellicose statements and boycotts from many lawmakers:
Benjamin Netanyahu lauded US support for Israel’s war in Gaza but offered few details on ceasefire negotiations as he addressed a raucous joint session of US Congress that was boycotted by dozens of Democratic lawmakers and protested by thousands outside the US Capitol.
In a fiery speech in the House chamber, Netanyahu called for “total victory” in the nine-month-old war, dashing hopes among some that he would announce progress toward a ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages before his meetings with Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday.
“We’re not only protecting ourselves. We’re protecting you … Our enemies are your enemy, our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory,” Netanyahu shouted, as House and Senate Republicans rose to their feet to applaud the Israeli prime minister.
House leaders condemn American flag burning during Netanyahu protests in Washington
During yesterday’s protests in Washington DC as Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress, a group lit an American flag on fire outside Union Station, the main passenger rail hub in the city:
The flag burning on Wednesday, outside Union Station in Washington DC. Photograph: Matthew Hatcher/AFP/Getty Images
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives who led the push to have Netanyahu speak, later that evening went to the station, which is right across from the Capitol, to restore the flags:
Earlier today, pro-Hamas protesters took down the American flags at Union Station, burned them and raised Palestinian flags.
Tonight, we righted their wrong.
American flags are once again flying over Union Station. We will not let the terrorist mob win. https://t.co/lDo43k13Ya
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 25, 2024
This morning, Democratic House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, also condemned the flag burning in a statement:
Defacing public property, desecrating the American flag, threatening Jews with violence and promoting terrorist groups like Hamas is not acceptable under any circumstance.
There is a difference between lawful expression and disorderly conduct. Anyone who violates the law must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Kamala Harris to meet Benjamin Netanyahu in separate meeting from Biden
Kamala Harris will meet Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Washington today in a separate get together from his rendezvous with Joe Biden in the Oval Office.
The US vice-president and Democratic presidential candidate is flying to Houston, Texas, to address the second largest teachers union at their conference and then returning to DC for a meeting the Netanyahu.
The Israeli leader is due at the White House to see the US president at midday and will see Harris later.
He controversially was invited to address a joint session of the US Congress yesterday and spoke to defend Israel’s war in Gaza. He drew protests outside and inside the Capitol, and many lawmakers boycotted the event, while others gave him a standing ovation.
Our live blog from London has more on the Washington meetings today and all the news from Gaza and Israel, here.
Nina Lakhani
Kamala Harris heads to Houston, Texas, this morning to give the keynote speech at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) national convention.
Delegates for the AFT, the second largest US teachers union with 1.7 million members, voted on Monday to endorse Harris’s bid to become the first woman and second African American to serve as president of the United States. Harris has received a flurry of endorsements from many of the country’s largest labor unions since she announced her candidacy for president.
With less than a 100 days to the presidential election, high-profile endorsements could prove pivotal in helping maintain the momentum that Harris campaign has enjoyed among Democrats since she entered the race less than a week ago.
She is due to speak at the AFT event at 11am ET and then will fly back to Washington, DC to meet with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Soon to be Air Force One? US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris walks to board Air Force Two at Indianapolis international airport on 24 July 2024. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Obama to endorse Harris nomination soon – report
The former US president Barack Obama is expected to add his endorsement soon for the vice-president, Kamala Harris, to become the Democratic nominee for president in the 2024 election, according to the latest report.
Obama was America’s first Black president when he was elected to office in 2008 in a historic victory for the Democrats, and his endorsement is crucial for the US vice-president who is now attempting to become America’s first female president and first woman of color to occupy the White House.
Obama privately has fully supported Harris’s candidacy and has been in regular contact with her, a report by NBC said, citing people familiar with the discussions.
Aides to Obama and Harris also have discussed arranging for the two of them to appear together on the campaign trail, though no date has been set,” the report said and Reuters has reported.
With no one stepping up to challenge Harris for the nomination, she won the backing of party delegates on Monday, a day after Joe Biden announced that he was dropping his re-election bid, following which he gave a speech to the nation on Monday night from the Oval Office.
The Obama Foundation, the former president’s charitable organization, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, the news wire further reported.
