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      Bernie Sanders condemns speech to Congress by ‘war criminal’ Netanyahu

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      The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has condemned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming address to the US Congress, calling him a “war criminal” presiding over a “rightwing extremist government”.Sanders delivered his remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday as Congress expects Netanyahu to give a speech to Congress on Wednesday afternoon. The speech comes after an underwhelming arrival to the US, just after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from November’s elections.“Tomorrow will be unique in bringing Prime Minister Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress,” said Sanders on Tuesday. “It will be the first time in American history that a war criminal has been given that honor.”Sanders said of Netanyahu: “He should not be welcome in the United States Congress.”Several Democratic lawmakers were planning to boycott the speech on Wednesday.Kamala Harris, the Democratic party’s presumptive presidential nominee, will not be attending because of a scheduling conflict, according to an aide.Netanyahu is slated to meet with the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, before the speech.Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland will oversee the event, according to the New York Times. Cardin, an orthodox Jew, has voiced support for Israel in the months since the attacks on 7 October and amid Israel’s war in Gaza.Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is among the lawmakers who plan to boycott Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday afternoon, reminding senators of the ongoing hunger, destruction to housing and damage done to Gaza’s health and educational system.Israel’s war on Gaza has “trampled on international law, on American law, and on basic human values”, Sanders said.The UN has reported a death toll of more than 36,000 Palestinians as of 31 May.“His [Netanyahu’s] policies in Gaza and the West Bank and his refusal to support a two-state solution should be roundly condemned,” Sanders said in a statement on Monday. “In my view, his rightwing, extremist government should not receive another nickel of US taxpayer support to continue the inhumane destruction of Gaza.”“Every university has been bombed, and 88% of all school buildings have been damaged,” said Sanders. “And now, because of the ongoing restrictions on humanitarian aid, some 495,000 people face catastrophic levels of food insecurity – in other words, they are starving.”Representative Jerry Nadler of New York said he would attend Wednesday’s speech, but still lashed out against the Israeli prime minister, calling him the “worst leader in Jewish history”.“Tomorrow’s address is the next step in a long line of manipulative bad-faith efforts by Republicans to further politicize the US-Israel relationship for partisan gain and is a cynical stunt by Netanyahu aimed at aiding his own desperate political standing at home,” said Nadler.The invitation was originally extended by the speaker Johnson, and endorsed by Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, and Schumer, despite the latter’s earlier denunciation of Netanyahu and call for fresh Israeli elections.Sanders had previously supported Israel’s right to defend itself after the 7 October attacks, also lashing out against Hamas.“Netanyahu’s extreme rightwing government has, since that attack, waged what amounts to total war against the entire Palestinian people,” Sanders said in the chamber on Tuesday.In January, Sanders sponsored an unsuccessful Senate bill to make US aid to Israel conditional on its observance of human rights and international law.“This invitation to Netanyahu is a disgrace and something that we will look back on with regret,” Sanders said. “With this invitation, it will be impossible, with a straight face, for the United States to lecture any country on Earth about human rights and human dignity.” More

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      Kamala Harris to visit Wisconsin in first rally since launching presidential campaign – live

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      Kamala Harris is travelling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, today where she will hold her first campaign rally since she launched her presidential campaign on Sunday with Joe Biden’s endorsement. Biden won Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes in the 2020 election, and recent polling had suggested a tight race between Biden and Donald Trump in the battleground state again.Tuesday’s visit was scheduled before Biden ended his campaign, but took on new resonance as Harris prepared to take up the mantle of her party against Trump, who is scrambling to pivot his campaign against the vice-president.According to Wisconsin Democratic party chair Ben Wikler, 89 of Wisconsin’s 95 delegates, including senator Tammy Baldwin and governor Tony Evers, had already pledged their support for Harris as of yesterday afternoon.After confirming the state Democratic Party had officially backed Harris for the nomination, Wikler was quoted by Wisconsin Public Radio as saying:
      And in hearing from elected officials across the state of Wisconsin, hearing from Democratic Party activists, hearing from donors, there is a surge of focus, of enthusiasm – a kind of flowering of the kind of unity that we’re going to need to defeat Donald Trump.
      During her visit to Wisconsin today (see post at 10.14), Kamala Harris is to be joined by major elected officials in the state, including governor Tony Evers, senator Tammy Baldwin, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, attorney general Josh Kaul, secretary of state Sarah Godlewski and Wisconsin Democratic party chair Ben Wikler, as well as state labor leaders.House Democrats and Republicans will meet separately today for the first time since the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on 13 July and Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race on Sunday, Chad Pergram, the senior congressional correspondent for Fox News, has posted on X. He said there will be a House hearing today on the shooting at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.Kamala Harris is travelling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, today where she will hold her first campaign rally since she launched her presidential campaign on Sunday with Joe Biden’s endorsement. Biden won Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes in the 2020 election, and recent polling had suggested a tight race between Biden and Donald Trump in the battleground state again.Tuesday’s visit was scheduled before Biden ended his campaign, but took on new resonance as Harris prepared to take up the mantle of her party against Trump, who is scrambling to pivot his campaign against the vice-president.According to Wisconsin Democratic party chair Ben Wikler, 89 of Wisconsin’s 95 delegates, including senator Tammy Baldwin and governor Tony Evers, had already pledged their support for Harris as of yesterday afternoon.After confirming the state Democratic Party had officially backed Harris for the nomination, Wikler was quoted by Wisconsin Public Radio as saying:
      And in hearing from elected officials across the state of Wisconsin, hearing from Democratic Party activists, hearing from donors, there is a surge of focus, of enthusiasm – a kind of flowering of the kind of unity that we’re going to need to defeat Donald Trump.
      As we have already reported, Kamala Harris has earned enough delegates to become the likely Democratic party nominee, after California delegates voted unanimously to endorse her.Several state delegations met on Monday evening to confirm their support for the vice president, including Texas and her home state of California. By Monday night, Harris had the support of more than the 1,976 delegates she needs to win on a first ballot, according to a tally by the Associated Press. No other candidate was named by a delegate contacted by the AP.California state Democratic chairman, Rusty Hicks, said 75% to 80% of the state’s delegation were on a call on Tuesday, all supporting Harris.“I’ve not heard anyone mentioning or calling for any other candidate,” Hicks said, adding “tonight’s vote was a momentous one”.Hicks had urged delegates to quickly line up behind Harris and had circulated an online form to submit endorsements.Daniel Boffey is the Guardian’s chief reporterThe spectacle of the Olympic Games opening ceremony could be overshadowed by the human drama in the White House after it was confirmed that Jill Biden will attend the event on the Seine.It will be a first appearance on the world stage for the president’s wife since her husband withdrew from his re-election campaign over concerns about his deteriorating health.Rumours had swirled in Paris that the first lady could pull out of the games at the last minute with some suggesting that she might even be replaced by vice president Kamala Harris whose husband, Douglas Emhoff, is leading the delegation at the closing ceremony.The White House, however, confirmed on Monday evening that Jill Biden would lead a delegation of seven other senior US figures at the opening ceremony, including the US ambassador to France, Denise Campbell Bauer, senators Chris Coons and Alex Padilla, and the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass.Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race on Sunday sets the stage to end a nearly five-decade run when either a Bush, Clinton or Biden was on the ballot for president or vice-president.USA today reports:
      Members of the Bush and Clinton families, along with Joe Biden, have been on every presidential election ticket since 1980, when Ronald Reagan and running mate George HW Bush won.
      Reagan and Bush easily won reelection in 1984 before Bush won the presidency himself in 1988.
      The next four elections would feature either a Bush or Clinton on the ballot, with Bill Clinton defeating George HW Bush in 1992, before defeating Bob Dole in 1996, and George W. Bush winning elections in 2000 and 2004.
      The following four elections (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020) all had Biden or Hillary Clinton on the ballot, with Barack Obama and Joe Biden winning election in the first two contests, Hillary Clinton losing to Donald Trump in 2016 and Biden defeating Trump in 2020.
      Ed Pilkington is chief reporter for Guardian USWhen Joe Biden finally ends his self-imposed seclusion at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, this week he will emerge into a very different world than the one from which he isolated when diagnosed with Covid last Wednesday.He will still be president of the United States, and as such the most powerful person on Earth. But it may not feel like that to him. His hopes of carrying on in that office died at 1.46pm ET on Sunday when he announced that he was standing down from the 2024 race.Very little is known about Biden’s specific plans for the next six months. Given the speed at which the final demise of his campaign happened, he may not know much himself.What we do know is that attempts by Donald Trump and his inner circle to force him out of the Oval Office now, on grounds that “if he can’t run for office, he can’t run our country”, are as half-hearted as they sound. Barring surprises, Biden will remain in the White House until noon on 20 January 2025.You can read the full analysis piece here:Donald Trump is due to appear on professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau’s YouTube show on Tuesday for a “special episode”.In a post on X, DeChambeau said the Republican presidential nominee will appear on his Break 50 show.The golfer’s show will be donating $10,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project for every stroke they score under par, according to the X post.DeChambeau said Tuesday’s episode “is about golf and giving back to our nation’s veterans, not politics”.The post added:
      A few weeks ago I reached out to both parties’ presidential campaigns and @realDonaldTrump was down for the challenge. It is an incredible honor to be able to enjoy a round of golf with any sitting or former president, and all have an open invitation to join me for a round of Break 50 anytime.
      A new CBS News/YouGov poll found that 83% of Democratic registered voters surveyed approved of the US president, Joe Biden, withdrawing from the race while just 17% disapproved.Four in ten registered Democrats said Biden exiting makes them more motivated to vote now he is out of the race, with 79% thinking the party should nominate the US vice president, Kamala Harris, as a replacement, according to the poll.45% of those surveyed believe the party’s chances of beating Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, in November have improved since Biden’s announcement, though 10% say the electoral prospects have got worse for the Democrats, while 28% say it depends on who the nominee is and 17% say a change in candidate won’t make a difference.Democratic voters have long had doubts about Biden’s reelection bid. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in January, while the party’s nomination contest was still under way, 49% of Democrats said the 81-year-old should not run again in 2024.Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has told families of the estimated 116 hostages still held in Gaza that a deal that would secure their loved ones’ release could be nearing, his office has said.“The conditions are undoubtedly ripening. This is a good sign,” Netanyahu told the families on Monday in Washington, where he is expected to meet Joe Biden later this week after making an address to Congress.It will be Biden’s first meeting with a foreign leader since he opted not to run for reelection and endorsed vice president Kamala Harris as his successor as the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris is to meet Netanyahu, who is under increasing pressure from much of the Israeli public to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, this week separate from Biden’s meeting.Efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal, outlined by Biden in May and mediated by Egypt and Qatar, have gained momentum over the past month.Israeli protesters are calling for a deal with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, which would free the hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting. Negotiators from Israel’s the Mossad intelligence service are expected in Qatar later this week, continuing talks that have dragged since early this year.Democrats are urging Kamala Harris to consider choosing her potential running mate from the so-called battleground states, which this year are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.“That is the first presidential decision that vice president Harris has, so she’s got a lot of good choices ahead of her,” senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told reporters at the Capitol, according to the Hill.He listed a number of Democratic governors as possible choices – Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, alongside transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg (who has deep ties in Michigan) and senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. Here is a useful explainer on who else could be Harris’ running mate for the November election:Andrew Roth is in Washington for the Guardian, and has this analysis on how Kamala Harris will tread a careful path on Israel and Gaza while Benjamin Netanyahu is in the US:For much of Monday, no meetings between Benjamin Netanyahu and either Joe Biden or Kamala Harris had been confirmed, even though the Israeli PM had already departed for the US and was scheduled on Wednesday to address a joint session of Congress at the request of the House leader, Mike Johnson.Harris appears likely to skip that session, where she would have sat directly behind Netanyahu as the president of the Senate. She will be out of Washington for a public event at a college sorority in Indiana.Late on Monday, an aide to Harris said that both she and Biden would sit down with Netanyahu in separate meetings at the White House and denied that her travel to Indianapolis indicated any change in her position towards Israel.Harris backers and insiders say that she is more likely to engage in public criticism of Netanyahu than Biden and to focus attention on the civilian toll among Palestinians from the war in Gaza – even if she would maintain US military aid and other support for Israel that has been a mainstay of Biden’s foreign policy.“The generational difference between Biden and Harris is a meaningful difference in how one looks at these issues,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel lobbying group that has endorsed Harris’s presidential bid.Read more of Andrew Roth’s analysis here: As Netanyahu arrives in Washington, Kamala Harris treads a careful path on Israel and GazaThat’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. My colleague Yohannes Lowe will take it from here. More

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      Kamala Harris earns enough delegate support to become Democratic nominee

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      Kamala Harris has said she is looking forward to “formally accepting the [presidential] nomination” of the Democratic party after she earned enough support from delegates including hundreds from her native California.“When I announced my campaign for President, I said I intended to go out and earn this nomination,” she said in a statement late Monday.“Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top. I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.”Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi made the motion to endorse Harris for president at a virtual meeting of California’s DNC delegation on Monday evening, a spokesperson confirmed.Pelosi, who represents San Francisco in Congress, announced that with the endorsement of California’s delegation, Harris had earned enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president in August.Earlier on Monday, top Democrats rallied to support Harris in their bid to defeat Republican Donald Trump.Harris was headed to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Tuesday as her campaign for the White House kicks into high gear. The event in Milwaukee will be her first full-fledged campaign event since announcing her candidacy.She offered a sense of how she plans to attack Trump in a speech to campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware earlier on Monday, referring to her past of pursuing “predators” and “fraudsters” as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.“So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said of her rival, a convicted felon who was found liable for sexual assault in civil court. Other courts have found fraud was committed in his business, charitable foundation and private university.She also cast herself as a defender of economic opportunity and abortion access. “Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedoms,” she said. “The baton is in our hands.”Biden, who is recovering from Covid-19 at his house in Rehoboth, spoke by phone to the staff first, saying he would be out on the campaign trail for Harris and adding: “I’ll be doing whatever Kamala Harris wants me or needs me to do.”When Harris took the microphone to address staff, Biden said to her: “I love you, kid.” Harris put her hands on her heart and said: “I love you, Joe.”Joe Biden’s departure freed his delegates to vote for whomever they choose at next month’s convention. And Harris, whom Biden backed after ending his candidacy, worked quickly to secure support from a majority.Big-name endorsements on Monday, including from governors Wes Moore of Maryland, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, left a vanishing list of potential rivals.According to an Associated Press tally, Harris had 2,668 delegates, well beyond the simple majority of 1,976 needed to clinch the nomination on the first ballot.The survey is unofficial, the AP said, as Democratic delegates are free to vote for the candidate of their choice when the party formally chooses its candidate. Delegates could still change their minds before 7 August but nobody else received any votes in the AP survey, and 57 delegates said they were undecided.Pelosi, who had been one of the notable holdouts, initially encouraging a primary to strengthen the eventual nominee, said she was lending her “enthusiastic support” to Harris’s effort to lead the party.Pelosi said: “Politically, make no mistake: Kamala Harris as a woman in politics is brilliantly astute – and I have full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November.”A tweet late on Monday night announced that Pelosi’s office had confirmed Harris’s endorsement.Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison vowed that the party would deliver a presidential nominee by 7 August. A virtual nominating process before the national convention in Chicago, beginning on 19 August, is still needed.“I want to assure you that we are committed to an open and fair nominating process,” Harrison said on a conference call.The DNC had said earlier that a virtual vote would take place between 1 and 5 August, in order to have the nomination process completed by 7 August, the date by which Ohio law had required a nominee to be in place to make the state’s ballot.Ohio lawmakers subsequently pushed back the deadline to 1 September, but party officials said they hoped to beat the 7 August deadline to avoid any legal risk in the state.Winning the nomination is only the first item on a staggering political to-do list for Harris after Biden’s decision to exit the race, which she learned about on a Sunday morning call with the president.She must also pick a running mate and pivot a massive political operation to boost her candidacy instead of Biden’s with just over 100 days until election day.But Harris has also been raking in campaign contributions. Her campaign said on Monday she had raised $81m since Biden stepped aside on Sunday, nearly equalling the $95m that the Biden campaign had in the bank at the end of June.Hollywood donors ended their “Dembargo” on political donations, as fundraisers and celebrities from rapper Cardi B to Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis and TV producer Shonda Rhimes endorsed Harris.Wisconsin, where Harris will campaign on Tuesday, is among a trio of Rust-Belt states that include Michigan and Pennsylvania widely considered as must-wins for any candidate, and where Biden was lagging Trump.“There are independents and young people who did not like their choices, and Harris has a chance to win them,” said Paul Kendrick, executive director of the Democratic group Rust Belt Rising, which does routine polling in the battleground states where voting preferences can swing either way.Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report More

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      Mehdi Hasan on Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump – podcast

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      It’s been a rollercoaster couple of weeks in the US election campaign. On Sunday Joe Biden announced he would not stand for re-election, before endorsing his vice-president, Kamala Harris, as the presidential candidate for the Democrats. On Monday endorsements – and money – rolled in from donors and political luminaries. Mehdi Hasan, a columnist for the Guardian US and a co-founder of the media organisation Zeteo, tells Michael Safi why despite criticising Kamala Harris in the past he is now an enthusiastic supporter of her campaign to be the next president. He explains how her entry will change the race for the White House, how Republican politicians might attack her, how her campaign may differ from Biden’s and, crucially, what he thinks of her chances of success against Donald Trump. More

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      Biden calls for justice after footage released of police killing Black woman

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      Joe Biden has called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, moments after shocking police video was released showing an Illinois officer fatally shooting Sonya Massey after she called police fearing a home intruder.In his first public statement since dropping his bid for re-election, Biden said the shooting of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, by white Sangamon county sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson, in her home in Springfield, after a dispute over a pot of boiling water, “reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not”.Biden, who is recovering from Covid at his home in Delaware, said Massey, “a beloved mother, friend, daughter and young Black woman … should be alive today”.“When we call for help, all of us as Americans – regardless of who we are or where we live – should be able to do so without fearing for our lives,” he said in the statement, adding: “Sonya’s family deserves justice.”“While we wait for the case to be prosecuted, let us pray to comfort the grieving,” he continued. “Congress must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act now. Our fundamental commitment to justice is at stake.”The act, known as HR-1280, addresses a range of issues in policing practices, including excessive force and racial bias and increases accountability for law enforcement misconduct. The bill was passed by the House in 2021 but stalled in the Senate.The statement came as a protest march is planned for Monday evening after police bodycam video released showed a rapidly escalating situation.Massey had been retrieving a pot of water from the stove after Grayson told her he did not want a house fire. Massey asked the officers – who visibly distanced themselves from her as she goes to handle the pot – why they moved away from her.“Where you going?” she asks them.“Away from your hot steaming water,” Grayson answers, with a laugh, before Massey responds: “Away from the hot steaming water? Oh, I’ll rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”“You better fucking not. I swear to God I’ll fucking shoot you right in your fucking face,” Grayson warns.Massey can be heard saying, “I’m sorry,” as Grayson continues to advance. “I’m sorry,” she says again as Grayson, with his gun drawn, fires three shots, killing her instantly. After the shooting another deputy said he was going to get his medical kit.“No, a head shot, dude, she’s done,” Grayson responds.Later on in the video, Grayson calls Massey “fucking crazy”.The prominent civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Massey’s family, previously said the video would “shock the conscience of America like the pictures of Emmett Till after he was lynched”, referring to the photograph released after Till was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.Crump also likened the video to the police killing of Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times in the back by police in Chicago in 2014, and to the police murder of George Floyd in 2020.“It is that senseless, that unnecessary, that unjustifiable, that unconstitutional,” Crump said at Massey’s funeral on Friday. “This video is tragic in every sense.”Grayson has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bond until his trial is set to begin. Springfield resident Tiara Standage told the Guardian that when she watched the George Floyd tape, “it pissed me off. When I watched this, it pissed me off even further.”Antwaun Readus Sr, a local community activist, criticized city officials for spending money on police equipment but neglecting basic community services.“They militarized the whole police department,” he said, predicting that when the police video of Massey’s death was released, “the whole country can go upside down.” More

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      If Kamala Harris wins the nomination, who could be her running mate?

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      A Democratic party ticket led by Kamala Harris seems increasingly likely as scores of high-profile elected Democrats line up to endorse her for president in the wake of Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.In Biden’s announcement that he would no longer pursue a second term, he thanked Harris “for being an extraordinary partner in all this work”, and later, in endorsing her, called his choice to run with her in 2020 “the best decision I’ve made”.In short order, a series of powerful endorsements rolled in, including from Democrats formerly viewed as possible presidential candidates themselves, some of whom are now being floated as potential vice-presidential candidates on a Harris ticket.If Harris takes up the mantle for the Democratic party, one of her first major decisions as a candidate will be choosing a running mate. Harris has not indicated who she would consider, but here are some of the names Democrats are floating, so far, as possible vice-presidential candidates.Andy BeshearBeshear’s unlikely position as the Democratic governor of Kentucky – a state that voted for Trump by a margin of 25 points in 2020 – makes him a compelling vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic ticket. In office, Beshear has vetoed Republican bills banning abortions and gender-affirming care for transgender minors, although the GOP-controlled state legislature was able to override his vetoes in both cases. Beshear would also offer a contrast to Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, the Ohio senator who in his popular 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy claimed Appalachian culture was to blame for the region’s impoverishment. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe show Monday, Beshear endorsed Harris and knocked Vance. “JD Vance ain’t from here,” Beshear said, nodding to Vance’s depictions of Kentuckians as lazy.Mark KellyArizona senator Mark Kelly would offer swing-state credibility and could be a favored choice among party elites, given his role as a moderate in the Democratic party. His record as a combat veteran and former astronaut could also be a draw for independent voters. Kelly has been an advocate for gun reform after a shooting left his wife – former US representative Gabby Giffords – partly paralyzed. “I couldn’t be more confident that Vice-President Kamala Harris is the right person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future,” Kelly wrote on X on Sunday.Josh ShapiroShapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, has been a strong supporter of Biden and a faithful surrogate for his campaign. Shapiro has a track record of winning races in the swing state, serving as Pennsylvania’s attorney general for six years before he was elected governor in 2022. An outspoken opponent of Trump for years, Shapiro has nonetheless built bipartisan support within Pennsylvania; a May Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College poll showed he enjoyed 42% approval from Republicans in the state – a rare showing of support in an age of hyper-partisanship. Shapiro endorsed Harris Sunday, saying she had “served the country honorably” and describing her as a unifying figure. Roy CooperThe 67-year-old governor of North Carolina touts a long record in the state as a representative, attorney general and governor. Cooper is approaching the end of his time in the office (North Carolina governors are term-limited), where he has fought for the passage of bipartisan legislation despite the Republican party controlling the state legislature. In 2023, Cooper signed into law Medicaid expansion, which some red states have declined despite the measure being guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act. Cooper also quickly endorsed Harris’s presidential campaign. “I appreciate people talking about me, but I think the focus right now needs to be on her this week,” he said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show on Monday.  Wes MooreMaryland governor Wes Moore has also been floated by some Democrats as a running mate alongside Harris. Moore, who is the only sitting Black governor in the US, is widely considered to be a rising star in the Democratic party. Sworn into office in January 2023, Moore’s record in office is short. He has said that he would not want to be tapped as a vice presidential candidate, saying: “I want to stay as the Governor of Maryland, I love the momentum we are seeing right now in the state of Maryland.”Gretchen WhitmerMichigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democratic star who some hoped would run for president this year, has been floated as a potential running mate, even if it’s highly unlikely that Harris would pick another woman. Whitmer endorsed Harris Monday morning – but quickly dispelled the notion that she would be joining Harris on the ticket. “I’m not leaving Michigan,” Whitmer said at a media event. “I’m proud to be the governor of Michigan.” Whitmer, who enjoys broad popularity within the Democratic party for helping to flip the swing state blue, emphatically backed Biden before he dropped out of the race.Pete ButtigiegUS transportation secretary and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg rocketed into political stardom during his 2020 presidential bid, which gained surprising momentum given his sparse political record. Buttigieg, who is a navy veteran, has spoken powerfully about coming out in 2015 and later marrying his husband, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg. Buttigieg has served during a tumultuous time for US transportation systems – from the devastating and high-profile derailment of a train in East Palestine, Ohio, to airline meltdowns, to the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. More

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      RFK Jr reportedly held Trump talks about endorsement and possible job

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      The independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr reportedly held recent talks with Donald Trump about endorsing his campaign for a second presidency and – if successful – taking a job in his administration.The talks, first reported Monday by the Washington Post, come days after Kennedy publicly apologized for a video posted online that showed part of a private phone call between him and Trump. The clip included Trump sharing his thoughts about childhood vaccines and being in broad agreement with Kennedy, a noted vaccine sceptic. In the video, Trump seemingly invited Kennedy to endorse his campaign.But the Post reported that it was Kennedy – a Democratic candidate who became independent in October last year – who later sought a post overseeing health and medical issues under any new Trump administration in exchange for his support.At a meeting in Milwaukee early last week, the outlet said, discussions between the two included possible jobs that Kennedy could be given at the cabinet level – or posts that do not require Senate confirmation. The talks also explored the possibility of Kennedy dropping out and endorsing the former president.Trump advisers were reportedly concerned that such an agreement could be problematic – but they did not rule out the idea.The idea surfaced after Kennedy, with about 9% voter approval in the presidential race and both major parties fearing he could win vital independent votes, was denied the opportunity to debate Joe Biden and Trump in June.That encounter between Trump and the president – who performed poorly – set the stage for the latter man to announce Sunday that he would not seek re-election.Kennedy told the Post on Monday that Trump campaign had been more open to him than the Democratic party apparatus. His uncle, President John F Kennedy Jr, was assassinated in 1963 and his and father, Senator Robert F Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968.“I am willing to talk to anybody from either political party who wants to talk about children’s health and how to end the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy Jr said, adding that he had “a lot of respect for president Trump for reaching out”.Kennedy added: “Nobody from the DNC, high or low, has ever reached out to me in 18 months. Instead, they have allocated millions to try to disrupt my campaign.”The reported exchange comes despite Trump’s comments in April when he said Kennedy is “far more LIBERAL than anyone running as a Democrat”. Trump also said Kennedy had been pushed out of the Democratic party “because he was taking primary votes away” from Biden, among other things.Kennedy, in turn, called Trump’s vice-presidential pick JD Vance – a US senator and retired marine – “a salute to the CIA, to the intelligence community and to the military industrial complex”. Kennedy said on CNN in April that “there are many things President Trump has done that are appalling” – and that the former president had overseen “the greatest restriction on individual liberties this country has ever known”.Trump campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez told the Post: “President Trump met with RFK and they had a conversation about the issues just as he does regularly with important figures in business and politics because they all recognize he will be the next president of the United States.” More