Top congressional Democrats endorse Harris
Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, has begun speaking at the joint press conference with the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries.
The Democratic party and the country are “brimming with excitement, enthusiasm, unity”, Schumer says.
He says Kamala Harris has done a “truly impressive job” securing the majority of delegates needed to win the Democratic party’s nomination, and that the vast majority of his senators “quickly and enthusiastically” endorsed her.
We are here today to throw our support behind Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Key events
The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, praised Kamala Harris on Tuesday in Washington, describing the vice-president as a “leading voice for American foreign policy”.
What I’ve observed is someone who asks, time and again, the penetrating questions, who cuts to the chase, and is intensely focused on the interests of the American people.
My observation is she’s a very strong, very effective and deeply respected voice for our country around the world. When she speaks, she speaks on behalf of the United States.
Blinken also stated that Joe Biden, who endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee for president over the weekend, remained engaged on issues such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.
Joan E Greve
Reporters are backed to the gills here at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s headquarters ahead of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries’ remarks.
Despite the last-minute alert about the press conference, reporters rushed from Capitol Hill to the DSCC to cover the expected endorsement of Kamala Harris, which would be crucial in helping her consolidate congressional supporters.
Schumer and Jeffries expected to endorse Harris in press conference
Joan E Greve
I’m here at the Washington headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, where the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, are scheduled to speak in just a few minutes.
Schumer and Jeffries are expected to endorse Kamala Harris after the vice-president earned the support of enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee.
A number of congressional Democrats have already endorsed Harris.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries will soon address reporters here at the DSCC headquarters, with an endorsement of Kamala Harris expected. pic.twitter.com/65zIVz9VCU
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) July 23, 2024
Robert Tait
Two Democratic state governors, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and the Arizona senator Mark Kelly have emerged as early favourites to be Kamala Harris’s running mate after being asked to submit personal information in a vice-presidential vetting process.
The trio are understood to be among 10 Democrats – nearly all of them elected officials – identified by a vetting team led by the former attorney general Eric Holder. Holder’s law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, has been charged with the responsibility of scrutinising the personal finances, public statements and family histories of likely candidates.
Shapiro, Cooper and Kelly have endorsed Harris to replace Joe Biden as the presidential nominee in November.
The vetting process, which normally takes months, will be accelerated to conclude before the start of the Democratic national convention, which opens in Chicago on 19 August.
While Shapiro, Cooper and Kelly are the only three to be publicly identified, speculation has also surrounded several others, including Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, and the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer.
Gavin Newsom reportedly not interest in vice-presidential post
The California governor, Gavin Newsom, who has endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, is reportedly not interested in being Harris’s running mate.
“From his perspective, he has the best job in the world,” Newsom’s adviser Nathan Click told NBC News, adding:
He looks forward to supporting VP Harris and whomever she picks as her running mate.
Deputy Secret Service director appointed acting director after Cheatle resignation
The deputy director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, has been appointed to serve as acting director of the agency after Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation earlier today.
A statement from the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, reads:
A 24-year veteran of the Secret Service, [Rowe] previously served as the agency’s Assistant Director for the Office of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs, Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Protective Operations, and in other leadership positions.
I appreciate his willingness to lead the Secret Service at this incredibly challenging moment, as the agency works to get to the bottom of exactly what happened on July 13 and cooperate with ongoing investigations and Congressional oversight.
Cheatle’s resignation on Tuesday came a day after a contentious House hearing in the wake of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
Cheatle, who had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, had called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades.
The White House has dismissed claims that Joe Biden is unfit to continue as president and that he should resign from office.
JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, said on Saturday that Biden should “resign now” and that “if you can’t run, you can’t serve”.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House’s press secretary, said Vance’s claim was “ridiculous” and that Biden was “ready to continue to lead this country”. Speaking on The View, she said:
The president decided to not run for re-election. That’s it. That’s all he decided on. He wants to continue to do the work – three and a half years of unprecedented, historic work.
Karine Jean-Pierre dismisses claims that President Biden is not fit to finish his term:
“I think that’s ridiculous. … The president decided to not run for reelection. That’s it. … He wants to continue to do the work, three and a half years of unprecedented, historic work.” pic.twitter.com/KDkeseK8Xu
— The Recount (@therecount) July 23, 2024
The day so far
Kamala Harris continues to consolidate the support of Democrats, and will reportedly soon gain the endorsements of two of the biggest names out there: the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries. They have a joint press conference scheduled for 1pm, where they are said to plan to announce their backing of the vice-president, who yesterday gained the delegates necessary to win the Democratic nomination. But for all the enthusiasm among Democratic leaders in Washington DC for Harris, polls indicate voters aren’t on board quite yet. Two new surveys indicate Harris is tied or slightly behind Donald Trump among voters nationally – though it is a closer race than it was with Joe Biden. Meanwhile, the Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned following a widely criticized appearance before a congressional committee, and Biden said he would appoint a replacement “soon”.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
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The House will vote on setting up a bipartisan panel to investigate the Trump assassination attempt, its Republican and Democratic leaders said in a joint statement.
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Biden condemned an Ohio state senator who warned of “a civil war to save the country” as he introduced Trump’s running mate JD Vance yesterday. The state senator apologized.
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Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, joined Republicans in approving of Cheatle’s decision to resign, while also saying the Trump rally shooting proves assault weapons must be banned.
Top congressional Democrats to endorse Harris – report
The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, and his counterpart in the House, the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, will endorse Kamala Harris at a press conference at 1pm, Politico reports.
While many Democratic lawmakers have jumped on board with Harris’s bid for the presidency following Joe Biden’s decision to step down, Schumer and Jeffries have yet to do so. Three people familiar with their plans say they will make the announcement at a rare joint appearance at the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington DC this afternoon.
Top Democrats are meanwhile digesting the historic upheaval on the presidential ticket, after Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and Kamala Harris swiftly took his place.
The decision has left in an awkward spot lawmakers who stridently defended Biden, even after his disastrous performance at his debate against Donald Trump last month. Among that group is the senator Chris Coons of Biden’s home state Delaware, who told ABC Biden was the “only” Democrat able to beat Trump.
In an interview with CNN today, Coons walked back that comment, and announced his support for Harris: “I would welcome a chance to revise and extend those remarks, because underlying that was my confidence that the record that President Biden and Vice-President Harris have built over the last three and a half years is the strongest legislative record of any first-term presidency in my lifetime.”
He continued:
And Kamala Harris was right beside Joe Biden every step of the way as they strengthened Nato, as they came up with creative and powerful combinations of allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, as they got to the president’s desk legislative accomplishments that reduce the price of prescription drugs, that invested in the fight against climate change, that made our communities safer with strong gun safety legislation.
I will say that on every one of those core points, Vice-President Harris will continue, will get the job done, and, Donald Trump, the former president, will roll it back.
Jamie Raskin is the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, and yesterday joined the Republican committee chair, James Comer – with whom he seldom agrees – in calling for Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation as director of the Secret Service.
But Raskin also said the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, underscored the continued danger of assault weapons in America, and called on Congress to pass legislation banning them. In a statement after Cheatle stepped down from her role, Raskin reiterated that position. Here’s more:
Yesterday’s Oversight Committee hearing identified two urgent priorities in the wake of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and the accompanying mass shooting. The first was the need for Director Cheatle to step down and give new leadership at the Secret Service the opportunity to swiftly address this crisis, rebuild the trust of Congress and the American people, and guarantee security to protectees. We accomplished that today.
The other urgent need was to ban assault weapons to protect the rest of us from mass shootings like the one that took place in Butler. As I made clear during yesterday’s hearing, a weapon that can be used to commit a mass shooting at an event under the full protection of the Secret Service and state and local police is a danger to schoolchildren, Walmart shoppers and congregants in church, synagogue and mosque services. As a weapon of war, the AR-15 has no legitimate place in our society. Congress must act now.
Biden to address nation from Oval Office on Wednesday evening
Joe Biden will make his first speech since ending his bid for re-election from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening, Reuters reports.
The speech, scheduled for 8pm ET, will detail “what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people”, the president said, according to Reuters.
The president is scheduled to return to the White House today from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he has been recovering after coming down with Covid-19 last week.
Republican House speaker Johnson says Secret Service director’s resignation ‘overdue’
In reaction to Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation, the Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said it was overdue, and promised to continue investigating the security failures that allowed the assassination attempt on Donald Trump:
Director Cheatle answered our calls to resign. Good. ⁰⁰Now our task force will quickly and thoroughly investigate the assassination attempt on President Trump and hold those responsible accountable. pic.twitter.com/s1tAVm35DQ
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 23, 2024
