Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority gathering in Houston, July 31, 2024, in Houston.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris effectively secured the Democratic party’s presidential nomination on August 2, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November’s showdown against Republican Donald Trump.

Harris was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. She will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month.

“I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States,” Harris, 59, said on a phone-in to a party celebration after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon vote.

In the two weeks since President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Harris has gained full control of the party.

No other Democrats stepped forward to challenge her elevation to the top of the ticket, making her confirmation as the first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party’s nomination a formality.

The announcement came with Harris preparing to hit the campaign trail next week for a swing across seven crucial battleground states with her newly minted running mate — who is expected to be revealed within days.

The Democratic Party decided on a virtual nomination process — mirroring the pandemic-hit 2020 vote — because of Ohio’s August 7 deadline for major parties to submit the names of their certified candidates for the November election.

The virtual roll call marks the official beginning of the 2024 convention, although in practice the festivities really get going when thousands of party faithful descend on Chicago on August 19.

That will feature ceremonial votes for Harris and her running mate in what is expected to be a raucous celebration of her rise from state politics to the top of the ticket.

Trump’s White House bid was thrown into chaos on July 21 when Biden, 81, withdrew his candidacy, backing Harris as the Democratic nominee.

The vice president has already smashed fundraising records, packed arenas and wiped out Trump’s polling leads over Biden, creating momentum that she hopes she can ride through the convention to the White House.

She is set to make her first public appearance with her running mate Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — a crucial swing state whose Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, is among a handful candidates being vetted to potentially join the Harris ticket.

The swing will take Harris through all the “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where she will seek to rebuild the coalition that carried Biden to victory in 2020.

But she will extend the tour to the much more racially diverse Sun Belt and southern states of Georgia, North Carolina Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada as she seeks to shore up the Black and Hispanic vote that had been peeling away from the Democrats.

New Delhi:

The failed assassination attempt on former US President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and US President Joe Biden announcing not to seek re-election in the “best interest” of the Democratic Party while endorsing US Vice President Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party has increased the political tussle in the United States.

In the backdrop of such seachange happenings in the US, former India’s ambassador to the United States, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, said that whether it’s Democrats or Republicans, they both support the relationship with India.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Mr Shringla shed light on the presidential race and how it can impact India-US ties.

“We in India pile up over the fact that India-US relations are supported by both sides of the political aisle in the United States. Whether it’s Democrats or Republicans, they both support the relationship with India. Even with India, there is largely consensus that a good relationship with the United States is in our interest so I don’t see ourselves being affected by either candidate, whether it was President Biden, Vice President Kamla Harris or former President Trump,” he told ANI.

Mr Shringla added that India wouldn’t be affected by Republican or Democratic candidates, whether it was President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump.

The 2024 United States presidential elections are scheduled to be held in November. The presidential race in the US is likely to be between Vice President Kamla Harris, after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, and former President Donald Trump.

The former foreign secretary added that the India-US relationship will be stronger now and will continue to assume importance.

“Our relationship will become stronger, certainly, that part is content; the relationship will continue to assume importance, continue to be regarded as important in US policy and strategy.

These policies have been very well focused towards India. Biden was the first to invite India to the summit level and invited the minister to major conferences regarding climate change, sustainable development, democracy and so on,” he said.

Mr Shringla said, “So I think he has been very considerate of the fact that he cares, and I’m sure that policy will be continued by vice president Kamla Harris at the same time. Also, under President Trump, there were very notable successes and achievements.”
Referring to the upcoming US presidential polls, the former foreign secretary said that it will be a stronger contest now, stressing that Trump has some advantages from being the candidate from the beginning, while Kamala Harris, who served as the Attorney General of California and the vice president, was endorsed recently as the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party.

“It will be a stronger contest now, he remarked, adding, Trump has some advantages from being the candidate for much longer and being around on the scene,” he told ANI.

Talking about Biden withdrawing his name from the race, Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that there were some concerns that President Biden was not up to the task of running another election and becoming a successful democratic candidate.

“I think a lot of this came to the public attention when he didn’t perform very well in the last presidential debate that he had with former president Trump, so as a result of those pressures, President Biden has now dropped out, but he has endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris to be the democratic candidate,” he added.

Mr Shringla highlighted that the democratic convention is scheduled to be held on August 19, adding that there will be around 2000 delegates who will select the successor.

“There is a due process to be followed. The democratic convention is scheduled to be held on August 19. There are some 2000 delegates who, at the democratic convention, will select the successor, and while the vice president has the upper hand because the outgoing president has endorsed her, Harris expressed her preference that she should be the candidate,” he said.

“She has obviously been exposed nationally, whereas other contenders may not be very well known and with the very short time remaining, it is likely the Democrats will support around her but that process has to be gone through, and we cannot be sure until she is appointed as the democratic candidate at the convention on August 19,” Mr Shringla continued.

He further said that, according to him, Vice President Harris will become the nominee as she has a known face and she represents the continuity of President Biden’s policies.

“My own sense is that Vice President Harris will become the nominee because of the lack of time. She is a known face because she has been vice president, so she’s known nationally. She represents continuity of President Biden’s policies so Democrats can be reassured in that count as well. She has an age advantage. She is 59 years old compared to Trump’s 78 and in many senses, she can appeal to constituencies like the African-American community, or on abortion law,” he said.

He added that there is a certain momentum in her favour so she will be the democratic candidate and competition will now be between former president Trump and most likely vice president Kamala Harris.
Highlighting the assassination attempt made on Trump, he said, President Trump was not only shot but nearly escaped losing his life. And soon after getting up, after the attempt, he got up onto space to the air. He said with a fist and Americans think that is a sign of a strong personality.

“Someone who is not willing to allow circumstances to get the better of him. Despite the near death experience, you have been very very resilient and as the Americans say, you can fall down, but it matters how you get up. On the other hand, biden was seen, age catching up with him, being slow, speech being slurred, forgetting names, mistaken personality, so all that didn’t go down well and so Kamala Harris entering the race is going to change the dynamics because it is going to inverse the age order,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Adam Schiff
| Photo Credit: AFP

Representative Adam Schiff on July 17 became the most heavyweight Democrat so far to publicly urge U.S. President Joe Biden to step aside for another candidate to face Donald Trump.

He called on his ally to “pass the torch.”

Mr. Schiff, a key congressional powerbroker, praised Mr. Biden but told the Los Angeles Times that he doubts that the 81-year-old incumbent can defeat Trump – a threat to “the very foundation of our democracy.”

The Californian, who is expected to win a Senate seat this November, is one of the party’s most influential members and a key ally in the legislature for the White House.

He served as chairman of the House intelligence panel when Democrats had the majority in 2019 and shot to nationwide prominence as lead prosecutor during then-president Trump’s first impeachment trial.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Schiff aired the worry gripping the party, although often in private, that questions over Biden’s age and health will doom him in the November election.

Those concerns rocketed after Mr. Biden performed badly in a televised debate with Trump last month, often looking confused or unable to articulate.

Since then, Mr. Biden has repeatedly said he intends to stay in the race, arguing that he remains the best person to defeat Trump. Polls show a tight overall contest, but with Trump pulling ahead in key swing states.

Mr. Schiff called Mr. Biden “one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history.”

However, “a second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November.”

Mr. Biden should “secure his legacy” by stepping aside, he said.

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, is now one of Trump’s fiercest allies and defenders and among those short-listed to be Trump’s vice presidential pick.
| Photo Credit: AP

J.D. Vance appeared on the scene of American public life with his 2016 best-seller memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. President Barack Obama cited it while explaining the cultural and economic reasons that made the disruptive politics championed by Donald Trump appealing to the white working class. Mr. Vance, then 32, was a strong critic of Mr. Trump, who he said was unfit to be the President of the U.S. Two weeks shy of 40, Mr. Vance — now a U.S. Senator from Ohio — will be among the star speakers at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and has become the running mate of Mr. Trump. Today, Mr. Vance has emerged as a frontrunner to inherit the former’s America First politics.

Mr. Vance’s book portrayed the crisis of the white working class from his personal vantage point, and in the years that followed, he presented himself as someone who overcame that crisis through faith and hard work. He was once an atheist but gradually moved towards faith and in 2019, he baptised and became a Catholic. He told an interviewer that he “spent a lot of his life buying into the lie that you had to be stupid to be a Christian.”

Also read | Trump rally shooting: Focus to shift on shooter and security lapses

Defining politics

Speaking at a conservative conference in Detroit, Michigan, on June 16, he called for defining politics in terms of what it stands for, not merely what it stands against. “We stand for an American nation built by American people, American workers,” he said. “We have to see the problem and find the solution. Make more of the stuff that we need in our own country. That is the solution. Twenty million people who have no business to be here, are here, because of Joe Biden. The solution is to deport each one of them.”

“America is not an idea as Democrats say. Seven generations of my family, from the Civil War to the 21st century are connected to this land. We are not just an idea, this is our home. That is the single principle at stake in this election.”

In an interview with Steve Bannon, a fellow traveller, during his Senate campaign in 2022, he said: ‘I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.’

As a strong votary of America First politics Mr. Vance is preferred by the nationalist base of the Republican Party. In a straw poll at the Turning Point convention in Detroit, 43% preferred him as Vice President on Mr. Trump’s ticket, which was three times the support for the next popular candidate.

From being a strong critic of Mr. Trump, Mr. Vance transformed himself into an ardent supporter and moved to the centre stage of U.S. politics as a highly visible and articulate lawmaker. “When Donald Trump was President, there was peace around the world. Now, there is a conflict in every corner of the world,” he told the Detroit gathering. Young, sharp and articulate, Mr. Vance presents himself as someone who is more structured, coherent and methodical than his leader.

Mr. Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri, his former Yale Law School classmate. “Like Mr. Obama, he is also a writer and a story teller,” a Democrat who served in the Obama administration said. “He’s a leader to watch.”

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally.
| Photo Credit: AP

A Florida judge appointed by Donald Trump has dismissed the criminal case against the former president on charges of mishandling top secret documents, saying the way that Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed was improper.

The decision is a huge victory for Trump, who had been accused of endangering national security by holding onto top secret documents after leaving the White House.

Also read | Prosecutors in Trump’s classified documents case sharply rebuke judge’s unusual and ‘flawed’ order

Judge Aileen Cannon made her ruling after lawyers for the 78-year-old argued for a partial stay of proceedings to allow for an assessment of a Supreme Court ruling that a former president has broad immunity from prosecution.

“Former President Trump’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment Based on the Unlawful Appointment and Funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith is GRANTED,” Judge Aileen wrote in her order.

“The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.”

It comes as Trump is set to be annointed as his party’s champion at the Republican National Convention, days after surviving an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

In the Florida case, Trump was facing 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information,” each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

He also faced charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.

Trump allegedly kept classified documents – which included records from the Pentagon and CIA – unsecured at his Mar-a-Lago home and thwarted efforts to retrieve them.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Trump National Doral Miami, Tuesday, July 9, 2024, in Doral, Florida.
| Photo Credit: AP

Donald Trump, the former U.S. president and presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party, has attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, raising questions on her competence and describing her as an “insurance policy” for incumbent President Joe Biden.

His attack against Ms. Harris, who is of Indian and African heritage, came amid chatter in the Democratic Party about whether President Biden should remain the nominee in the November 5 presidential election.

Mr. Biden, 81, has faced calls from some Democrats to step aside as the nominee following his disastrous performance during a June 27 debate with Mr. Trump in which he struggled to complete sentences or land any significant blows against his opponent.

“Whatever else can be said about crooked Joe Biden, you have to give him credit for one brilliant decision, probably the smartest decision he ever made. He picked Kamala Harris as his vice president. No, it was brilliant. Because it was an insurance policy. Maybe the best insurance policy I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Trump, 78, told his supporters in Florida.

“If Joe had picked someone even halfway competent, they would have bounced him from office years ago, but they can’t because she’s gotta be their second choice,” he said as he repeatedly mispronounced her name.

Mr. Trump said as Vice President, Ms. Harris was given two very important tasks – border security and to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine.

“First, she was put in charge of the U.S. border security. She never showed up. She’s never gone. She never went there once. And the border is the worst border in the history of the world,” he alleged.

“We have the best border in history because she has the worst border in the history of the world. Then, she was sent to Europe to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine. How did that work out? Not too good. Both times, the result was a deadly failure. Since Kamala was made border czar, the Biden-Harris administration has lost track of an estimated 150,000 children, many of whom have undoubtedly been raped, trafficked, killed, or horribly abused,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump accused Ms. Harris, 59, of being a socialist.

“I don’t think Kamala Harris’ California socialism is going to go down well with the people of Doral, the people of Miami, or the people of Florida. Because in Florida, we don’t like socialism. We want our freedom, right? We want our freedom,” he said.

“Joe, Kamala and the entire Democrat establishment have been caught red-handed in the thick of the biggest scandal and the biggest coverup…it’s a cover-up. It’s the biggest cover-up in political history. As you know, they are all co-conspirators in the sinister plot to defraud the American public about the cognitive abilities of the man in the Oval Office,” alleged Mr. Trump.

Former US President Donald Trump recently slammed the anti-Israel protests erupting across college campuses as a “radical revolution” and vowed to deport foreign student protesters if he wins the upcoming presidential election. According to the Washington Post, Mr Trump, while speaking at a donor event in New York, called the demonstrators part of a “radical revolution” and promised to crush pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses. He also praised the New York Police Department for clearing the campuses at Columbia University and said other cities needed to follow suit, saying “It (anti-Israel protests) has to be stopped now”. 

“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Donald Trump said on May 14, the outlet reported citing donors at the event. 

“If you get me elected, and you should really be doing this, if you get me reelected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years,” he added. 

Washington Post cited donors who were present at the event. Speaking behind closed doors, the former president also said that he supports Israel’s right to continue “its war on terror” and boasted of his White House policies toward Israel. 

Meanwhile, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt blamed US President Joe Biden for empowering the protesters. “Joe Biden has sided with radical leftist Democrats like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib and empowered antisemitic protestors destroying our college campuses and threatening to undermine our democracy,” Ms Leavitt said.

“President Trump will side with Jewish Americans and American citizens, period, and he will not tolerate terrorist sympathizers on our college campuses,” she added. 

Also Read | Millions Share ‘All Eyes On Rafah’ On Instagram: What The Image Means

Previously, Mr Trump had publicly vowed to clamp down on anti-Israel protesters. Weeks after the October 7 Hamas attack, Mr Trump pledged to deport the “Resident aliens” who joined “pro-jihadists protest”. “If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you sympathize with jihadists, then we don’t want you in our country, and you’re not going to be getting into our country,” Mr Trump said, as per New York Post. 

“I will cancel the student visas of Hamas sympathizers on college campuses and all resident aliens who join in pro-Jihadists protests,” he went on. “Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” he said. 

In the recent meeting, Mr Trump again supported Israel’s right to continue its attack on Gaza. “But I’m one of the only people that says that now. And a lot of people don’t even know what October 7th is,” he said.