President Biden and first lady to make ‘strong case’ to elect Harris at DNC on Monday night
(CHICAGO) — President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday night, a senior DNCC spokesperson confirmed.
Their speeches will “make a strong case to elect Harris,” the spokesperson said.
“We are so excited to honor and celebrate the President’s lifetime of service and unmatched legacy,” the statement added.
Aides say Biden will address “how in the battle for the soul of America, we’ve ensured democracy prevailed, democracy delivered, and now with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, we must ensure democracy is preserved.”
Harris, who is on a campaign swing this weekend, will arrive in Chicago from Pennsylvania on Sunday night, and is expected to join the “tributes to Biden” on Monday. She’ll then go up to Milwaukee for a rally on Tuesday.
The Democratic National Convention is set to begin Monday in Chicago — during which Democratic Party delegates are set to support Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, after their unconventional path to the party’s nomination.
During the four-day convention, Democratic heavyweights are set to rally behind Harris, who was officially certified as the Democratic presidential nominee earlier this month after getting the vast majority of delegate votes in a virtual roll call.
Harris’ path to the DNC has been an unorthodox and truncated one after President Joe Biden announced he was leaving the 2024 race and endorsed Harris for the job on July 21.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump’s advisers may have publicly insisted he doesn’t need any debate prep, but the former president is preparing more than he’s letting on, sources tell ABC News.
Trump is holding informal policy sessions with a small team of advisers, including GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who once challenged Vice President Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2019, the sources said.
Gaetz has been firing questions at Trump around some of the more challenging issues, such as his legal troubles, including his federal indictments on election interference and retaining classified documents, criminal conviction in the New York hush-money case and stance on abortion, according to the sources.
Two people familiar with Trump’s preparation also told ABC News that Trump has been briefed on Harris’ past debates, including the headline-making moment when she hit back at former Vice President Mike Pence with the words, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.” That exchange went viral then, and Trump has privately told his allies he won’t let that happen to him.
Sources told ABC News that Trump’s recent press address on Friday has left some on the GOP side with pre-debate concerns.
While Trump has continued with his campaign schedule, his movements on Friday puzzled some Republicans. Trump, following his appeal of the $5 million a federal jury awarded writer E. Jean Carroll after finding him liable for sexually assaulting and defaming her, came before the cameras rattling off — in often vivid detail — the accusations of sexual misconduct from multiple women over the years. All of which he has denied.
Meanwhile, as ABC News previously reported, Harris has been engaged in traditional debate prep in Pittsburgh.
The cameras caught her in the city on Sunday on a walk with second gentleman, Doug Emhoff. But, she ignored two shouted questions on Trump’s claims that he’ll jail his political opponents and how she plans to respond to personal attacks from Trump on the debate stage.
On Saturday, Trump posted on TruthSocial, writing, “… the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.”
Trump’s false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election have continually been disproven.
Harris, on Sunday, did respond to a third question shouted at her by the media about whether she was ready by echoing, “ready,” and giving a thumbs up before disappearing around the side of a building.
In related news, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, will appear in the spin room following the debate, ABC News has confirmed.
The ABC News presidential debate will take place on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET and air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, as he returned to the White House on Monday to meet with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure an agreement.
Ahead of the Situation Room meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris and the negotiating team, Biden was asked if by a reporter, “Do you think it’s time Prime Minister Netanyahu to do more on this issue, do you think he’s doing enough?”
“No,” Biden replied, emphatically.
The president was also asked if he was planning to present a “final” proposed hostage deal to Israel and Hamas this week after months of tense negotiations have failed to reach to reach an agreement.
“We’re very close to that,” he said.
According to senior administration officials, President Biden is considering presenting Israel and Hamas a final proposal for a cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza but nothing is definitive.
If the deal falls apart, there is a chance it could lead to the end of the U.S.-led negotiations, according to one of the officials.
Another senior official said that they all have a “sense of urgency and believe this negotiation needs to come to a close.”
Biden is deliberating whether the parties should continue hashing out the deal and its technical details, or if the U.S. should present a new proposal that bridges the gaps.
“President Biden expressed his devastation and outrage at the murder, and reaffirmed the importance of holding Hamas’s leaders accountable,” the White House said in a statement after the meeting.
“During the meeting, President Biden and Vice President Harris received an update from the U.S. negotiation team on the status of the bridging proposal outlined by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt,” the White House said. “They discussed next steps in the ongoing effort to secure the release of hostages, including continuing consultations with co-mediators Qatar and Egypt.”
As Biden returned to Washington to speak with his team, protests were unfolding in Tel Aviv calling for Prime Minister Netanyahu to accept a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas after six Israeli hostages were found dead in Gaza.
Netanyahu on Sunday said efforts to free hostages are ongoing and blamed Hamas for refusing “to conduct real negotiations.”
“He who murders hostages does not want a deal,” Netanyahu said in a recorded statement as he faced pressure to address Israelis.
Hamas, meanwhile, said it was Israel who “evading reaching a ceasefire agreement.”
Ninety-seven Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, including seven Americans, three of whom are confirmed to be dead.
On Monday, the funeral procession is being held for Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Jerusalem. The 23-year-old was at a music festival in south Israel celebrating his birthday on Oct. 7 when he was taken hostage by Hamas.
President Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” after Israel Defense Forces recovered the six killed hostages, including Goldberg-Polin.
“I have gotten to know his parents, Jon and Rachel. They have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable,” Biden said. “They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions. I admire them and grieve with them more deeply than words can express.”
ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is joining Georgia Democrats’ efforts against the Republican-controlled Georgia state election board after it implemented a series of changes to give local officials more powers, which Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said would cause “11th-hour chaos” due to concerns about delays in certification.
The Democratic Party of Georgia, the Democratic National Committee and the Harris-Walz campaign are asking a state court to intervene, alleging the state election board created an “uncertain legal regime” due to the changes.
“Indeed, county officials across Georgia have already sought to block or delay certification after recent elections, and the amended rules give them new tools to try again,” the petitioners wrote in their suit.
The petitioners are asking the court to make election certification mandatory by 5 p.m. on Nov. 12, “absent a valid judicial order to the contrary,” to ensure certification isn’t delayed by what they call rogue officials. It also asks the court to clearly state that it is the venue for resolving election disputes and not local election boards.
The Republican-controlled election board passed a rule earlier this month authorizing local boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certification.
Advocates of the rule change say it will bring more transparency to the election process; but critics say because there is not a clear definition of “reasonable inquiry,” local officials could make their own interpretation that could potentially postpone or prevent results from being certified due to challenges — especially as former President Donald Trump continues to push unfounded claims of potential election fraud in the upcoming election.
Then, in its most recent meeting, the board passed a rule requiring investigations into ballot discrepancies before county certification, instructing local election board members to “compare the total number of ballots cast to the total number of unique voter ID numbers” in each precinct.
Should there be a discrepancy between the number of ballots cast and the number of unique voters, local board members are now in charge of investigating them. While the investigation is ongoing, “no votes shall be counted from that precinct” until the results are presented to the board.
“For months, MAGA Republicans in Georgia and across the country have been trying to lay the groundwork to challenge the election results when they lose again in November,” said Quentin Fulks, Harris-Walz principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks in a statement about the lawsuit. “But Democrats are prepared, and we will stop them. Certifying an election is not a choice, it’s the law. A few unelected extremists can’t just decide not to count your vote.”
The Georgia Republican Party defended the board’s changes and slammed state Democrats’ actions, calling their rhetoric “dangerous.”
“In no way, do these rule changes interfere with anyone’s right to vote or cause undue burdens on election workers, but these steps will ensure transparency, accountability, accurate reporting and reconciliation, and preservation of the right for both parties to observe the processing of ballots,” Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon wrote in a statement.
Other Republicans in the state have also raised concerns about the new election changes. Raffensperger has been attempting to quell concerns about the rule change, doubling down on Georgia’s certification deadline.
“Georgia’s Election Integrity Act requires counties to certify the election results by November 12th and we fully anticipate that counties will follow the law,” Raffensperger posted on X.
At the same time, he has also advocated against the last-minute changes by arguing about the strength of Georgia’s election integrity laws, which were passed after the 2020 election.
“Activists seeking to impose last-minute changes in election procedures outside of the legislative process undermine voter confidence and burden election workers,” Raffensperger said.
“The General Assembly knew that quick reporting of results and certification is paramount to voter confidence and passed S.B. 202, but misguided attempts by the State Election Board will delay election results and undermine chain of custody safeguards. Georgia voters reject this 11th hour chaos, and so should the unelected members of the State Election Board,” he said.
The three Republican board members — Janelle King, Rick Jeffares and Janice Johnston — have been pivotal in securing the election changes as they comprise a majority voting bloc on the five-person board. At his most recent rally in Atlanta, Trump called the three members “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
The former president has zeroed in on Georgia’s election process after narrowly losing the state to President Joe Biden in 2020.
It was a loss that Trump attempted to overturn by pressuring Republican officials, such as Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, to persuade the state legislature to overturn the state’s results.
Those actions were the center of a sweeping racketeering indictment in Fulton County, which charged Trump and 18 others for the alleged plot to subvert the will of Georgia voters.
Three defendants in that case, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Scott Hall, took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify in the case.
Last month, however, the Georgia Court of Appeals halted the criminal case pending resolution of an appeal of a disqualification ruling that allowed District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on the case.