Biden campaign, DNC restart Republican convention counterprogramming after Trump assassination attempt
MILWAUKEE – President Biden’s re-election campaign is getting back to business. After pausing “all outbound communications” and pulling down its TV ads in the aftermath of Saturday’s attempted assassination of former President Trump at his rally in western Pennsylvania, Biden’s re-election team and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) began resuming campaign activities on Tuesday. As first reported by Fox News, the DNC launched billboards near the site of this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The messaging push by the national party committee highlights what they call President Biden’s “winning record.” FIRST ON FOX: DNC SPOTLIGHTS ‘DARK BRANDON’ AS IT LAUNCHES COUNTERPROGRAMMING BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE GOP CONVENTION The president is spending Tuesday in the crucial western swing state of Nevada – where he’ll address two key constituencies that are part of the Democratic Party base – Black voters at an NAACP conference and Latino voters at a UnidosUS conference. Meanwhile, Vice President Harris will also aim to counter-program the GOP convention, with campaign stops Wednesday and Thursday in the crucial swing states of Michigan and North Carolina. Biden campaign texts to supporters resumed on Monday, including two spotlighting Trump’s naming of Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate. TRUMP ANNOUNCES JD VANCE AS HIS 2024 RUNNING MATE “How does a guy who used to say that Donald Trump and his policies were ‘reprehensible’ become Donald Trump’s running mate?” one of the fundraising texts reads, as it pointed to critical comments Vance, a top Senate supporter of the former president, made about Trump years ago. TV ads by the Biden campaign could resume as early as Tuesday. And after holding off on Monday, the Biden campaign and the DNC on Tuesday started news conferences near the GOP convention. Tuesday’s news conference, which included Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, painted contrasts between Biden and Trump over the economy, abortion and protecting democracy. Both Biden and Trump and their campaigns have been trying to tone down the rhetoric and lower the temperature on the campaign trail, in the wake of the deadly shooting at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. But at the news conference, Biden principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said their message hasn’t been altered in the wake of the Trump assassination attempt. “It hasn’t changed. I would say that we’ve been focused on talking about the issues, reproductive freedom, workers rights, Social Security, Medicare, the economy, a fair tax code,” Fulks said in answer to a question from Fox News. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE GOP CONVENTION Fulks emphasized that Biden and Harris have been “very clear on their vision when it comes to the agenda that they want to put forward for Americans. Our campaign has been talking about that for months since the re-election was announced. And we’re going to continue to do so, as the president said. This is how democracy works. We’re going to continue to have a candid conversation about the stark contrast.” On Monday, the Biden campaign and the president quickly criticized Trump’s naming of Vance to the GOP national ticket. Vance is a disciple of Trump’s American First agenda and a MAGA world champion. Biden told reporters that Vance was “a clone of Trump on the issues.” And the president’s campaign argued that Vance was selected because he would “do what [former Vice President] Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6: bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm to the American people.” The Trump campaign pushed back. “I think that response, given the events that have transpired in this country where President Trump had an assassination attempt on his life, for the sitting U.S. president to be calling for anything other than unity, but instead using this opportunity to attack President Trump’s new vice presidential nominee, go after him on policy, it seems really out of touch, really in poor taste,” Deputy Communications Director Caroline Sunshine argued in an interview with Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Union leader’s provocative RNC speech draws ire from some in organized labor
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has kicked up controversy by breaking with tradition and speaking at the Republican National Convention, while his organization indicates it will endorse no presidential candidate during this campaign season. “No final decision has been made,” Kara Deniz, a spokesperson for the Teamsters told Reuters, adding that any reports to the contrary are purely speculative. The Teamsters in the past few decades have consistently endorsed Democrats, starting with former President Clinton in 1992 and remaining staunchly blue through the years and up till the 2020 election. The move to remain neutral underscores the trouble President Biden has faced following his poor debate performance. The organization did refrain from endorsing either candidate in the 1996 election, but the Biden campaign had reportedly viewed a Teamster endorsement as virtually assured. Last week, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain met with his union’s executive board to address fears that Biden might fail to beat former President Trump. IMMIGRATION HAWKS DELIGHTED AT TRUMP PICK JD VANCE: ‘ONE HELL OF A CO-PILOT’ O’Brien’s keynote speech, while not an explicit endorsement, showed strong and surprising support from the otherwise left-leaning organization, but he highlighted the support Teamsters used to provide the GOP. “Now, when I won the presidency of the Teamsters in a national election two and a half years ago, we started reaching across the aisle,” O’Brien said during his speech at the convention on Monday night. “In the past, the Teamsters have endorsed GOP candidates, including Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.” “But over the last 40 years, the Republican Party has really pursued strong relationships with organized labor,” O’Brien said. “There are some in the party who stand in active opposition to labor unions. This, too, must change.” DEMOCRATS SPOTLIGHT BIDEN ALTER-EGO ‘DARK BRANDON’ AS THEY LAUNCH BILLBOARDS NEAR GOP CONVENTION Despite these strong claims, O’Brien is the first Teamster in the organization’s 121-year history to speak at the RNC, something he noted when he insisted that “Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party.” O’Brien made headlines on Tuesday for labeling Trump “one tough SOB” for surviving the assassination attempt on his life over the weekend, and he unloaded on big business in what some have called one of the strongest speeches denouncing corporations in recent memory. “We need to call the Chamber of Commerce and the business roundtables what they are: They are unions for big business,” O’Brien said during his speech. “And here’s another fact against a gigantic multinational corporation: an individual worker has zero power,” he continued. “It’s only when Americans band together and democratic unions that we win rail improvements on wages, benefits and working conditions … Remember, elites have no party. Elites have no nation. Their loyalty is to the balance sheet and the stock price at the expense of the American worker.” KAMALA HARRIS CONGRATULATES JD VANCE, HOPES ‘THAT THE TWO CAN MEET’ AT VP DEBATE O’Brien’s decision to speak at the convention has deeply upset some members of the Teamsters, who earlier this year criticized the union president for trying to court both the Democrats and Republicans and made $45,000 donations to both parties, Axios reported. Teamster Vice President At-Large John Palmer, a member of the union since 1987, lambasted O’Brien’s decision, calling it “unconscionable for any Labor leader to lend an air of legitimacy to a candidate and a political party, neither of which can be said to have done or can be expected to do anything to improve the lives of the workers we are pledged to represent.” Anti-union groups also took aim at O’Brien ahead of his speech, accusing O’Brien of being “two-faced” and noting that “one speaking engagement doesn’t change the facts” that Teamsters by and large donate to “left-wing causes.” The Republican Party and International Brotherhood of Teamsters did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by press time.
Calcutta HC restrains West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee from making defamatory remarks against Governor
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and three others from making any defamatory or incorrect statement against Governor CV Ananda Bose in an interim order till August 14.
Kedarnath priests opposing construction of temple replica in Delhi put stir on hold after…
The issue was discussed with the CM on Tuesday and a consensus was reached on changing the name of the temple and the trust building it in Delhi’s Burari.
Schumer calls for Democrat Menendez’s resignation after guilty verdict
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for the resignation of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., on Tuesday after he was found guilty on all charges in his New York corruption trial. “In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Schumer said in a statement shortly after the verdict. The majority leader had previously held off on calling for Menendez to step down, despite acknowledging the seriousness of the charges. However, with a conviction being handed to the New Jersey senator by a jury of his peers, Schumer appears to be comfortable making the request. Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., who is running for Menendez’s Senate seat in November with the Democratic Party’s nomination, also called for him to resign. “This is a sad and somber day for New Jersey and our country,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Our public servants should work for the people, and today we saw the people judge Senator Menendez as guilty and unfit to serve,” Kim said. “I called on Senator Menendez to step down when these charges were first made public, and now that he has been found guilty, I believe the only course of action for him is to resign his seat immediately. The people of New Jersey deserve better.” Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., pointed to the verdict as evidence that everyone “is accountable to our laws.” “I reiterate my call for Senator Menendez to resign immediately after being found guilty of endangering national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system,” he said in a statement. In the case that Menendez does not resign, Murphy asked that the Senate “vote to expel him.” “In the event of a vacancy, I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve,” he promised.
GOP lawsuit targets alleged Biden ‘weaponizing’ of voter registration: ‘Democratic turnout machine’
State and federal Republicans are joining a lawsuit challenging an executive order from President Biden aimed at registering up to 3.5 million new voters before Election Day. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose joined with Reps. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and Beth Van Dune, R-Texas, in accusing Biden of “weaponizing” federal institutions. The lawsuit, filed with the America First Policy Institute, argues the Biden administration is attempting to turn federal election agencies into a “Democratic turnout machine.” “The Biden Administration is once again weaponizing federal agencies, this time to steer taxpayer resources to liberal activist groups who want to sway the election” LaRose told Fox News Digital in a statement Tuesday. “This is a cynical attempt to turn government agencies into a Democratic turnout machine, and it’s wrong. That’s why I’m joining this lawsuit and working to hold the administration accountable,” he added. DEMOCRAT PUSH TO REPLACE BIDEN IS ‘OVER’ AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, PRESIDENT’S ALLIES SAY: REPORT The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the northern district of Texas, relates to an executive order Biden signed in March 2021 that sought to register 3.5 million additional voters before the 2024 election, and also mobilize them to vote. The administration justified the move through the National Voter Registration Act, but the lawsuit argues that the law has never been interpreted to authorize such an action. The lawsuit further highlights the outside groups the White House has worked with to implement the order, many of which are left wing. “Instead of instilling policies that Americans want and need, they turn to the well-oiled DC swamp filled to the brim with deep state loyalists to illegally register voters in an attempt to help them win,” Jackson said in a statement to AFPI. DEMOCRATS’ NOMINATION OF BIDEN IN VIRTUAL ROLL CALL COULD COME AS EARLY AS MID-JULY “To facilitate the EO’s implementation, the White House has held listening sessions with far-left groups including the Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU, Demos, and Black Lives Matter, which strongly suggests that the EO is intended to provide a partisan advantage to liberal Democrats,” AFPI said. The White House dismissed the lawsuit in comments to Fox News Digital, arguing Republicans are only trying to limit the voting pool. “These are baseless claims brought by the very people who spread debunked lies about the 2020 elections and have used those same debunked lies to advance laws across the nation that make it harder to vote and easier to undermine the will of the people,” White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said. “The Biden-Harris Administration will continue working to protect the voting rights of every eligible American regardless of their political affiliation,” Patterson added. BIDEN TRIES TO FLIP THE SCRIPT ON THE NEGATIVE NARRATIVE COMING OUT OF THE DEBATE AFPI is seeking a preliminary injunction to block the Biden administration from further implementation of the order until litigation is complete.
JD Vance on 2024 ticket could help Republicans in ‘vulnerable Rust Belt states’ this election cycle: experts
Sen. JD Vance, running on the GOP ticket alongside former President Trump, could help Republicans in “vulnerable Rust Belt states” this cycle, but he might not play as big a role in his home state of Ohio, according to strategists familiar with campaigns. Vance currently serves as the junior senator from Ohio, a state where vulnerable Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is defending his congressional seat in one of the Republicans’ best pickup opportunities of the cycle. “I think Trump looked at the map and realized JD Vance could be of help in the vulnerable Rust Belt states though word was he has been trending this way for a few weeks,” Mark Penn, Democrat strategist and CEO of Stagwell Inc., told Fox News Digital of the vice presidential pick. Penn added that “Rubio might have helped in the southwest, but Vance will be much more useful in the Midwest.” WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT JD VANCE: FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR TO TRUMP’S VP PICK Charlie Cook, political analyst and founder of the Cook Political Report, an independent nonpartisan elections handicapper, said that historically, vice presidential picks do not make a big difference in their home state races. “People vote for president, not for vice president. Vice presidential running mates don’t make much difference in or out of their home states,” Cook told Fox News Digital when asked about whether Vance’s vice presidential nomination could play a role in the Ohio Senate race. TRUMP CAMP RIPS BIDEN CAMPAIGN’S IMMEDIATE ATTACKS ON VANCE AFTER VP SELECTION: ‘POOR TASTE’ “I don’t think that having Vance on the ticket will make that much difference in Ohio. If Brown loses, he was probably already going to lose,” he added. Cook added that he believes Trump chose Vance as his running mate to reinforce the MAGA base. “I don’t think Vance was a bad pick at all, but it was a reinforcement pick as opposed to an expansionary pick, it does not bring new support in, just reinforces what Trump already had,” he added. “I think it was more of a future MAGA leader pick more than a ‘I need this guy to get me over the finish line first’ choice.” “I do think that the Trump-Vance campaign will pretty much park him in a string for states from Pennsylvania through Wisconsin – maybe Minnesota. But I doubt that it will have that great of an impact, running mates usually don’t,” Cook said. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that Vance could help “win working class voters” in states such as Montana, where Republicans are looking to oust Democrat Sen. Jon Tester. “Republicans want JD Vance campaigning with our Senate candidates, Democrats cannot say the same of [Vice President] Kamala Harris. JD knows how to win working class voters, and importantly, will help Republicans appeal to lunch-bucket Democrats who believe Democrat policies have gotten far too radical,” Daines said in a statement. Trump revealed Vance was his pick for vice president on Monday, and the two were officially named to the 2024 GOP ticket during night one of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Video shows moment Secret Service agents tossed Trump’s shoes offstage
New video from the assassination attempt on former President Trump’s life shows the moment his shoes came off as Secret Service agents rushed to protect the president. In an interview with the New York Post, Trump said his protective detail rushed at him like “linebackers” after shots rang out during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. “They did a fantastic job,” he told the Post. “It’s surreal for all of us.” OFFICER REPORTED MAN AT TRUMP RALLY WITH RANGE-FINDER 30 MINS BEFORE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: SOURCE As Secret Service agents rushed Trump off the stage, he was heard saying he wanted to get his shoes. “Let me get my shoes,” Trump repeatedly told the Secret Service surrounding him. The video shows one of the agents who surrounded Trump scooping up his shoes and tossing them off-stage before the former president was carried to safety. DEMOCRAT PUSH TO REPLACE BIDEN IS ‘OVER’ AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, PRESIDENT’S ALLIES SAY: REPORT Trump told the outlet that the Secret Service barreled into him hard enough to knock him out of his shoes. “The agents hit me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight,” he explained to the Post. Trump was rushed to a hospital after he appeared to suffer an injury to his ear and was pictured with blood on the right side of his face and head as Secret Service agents escorted him off the rally stage. Trump appeared at the end of the Republican National Convention’s first day on Monday. He was sporting a large bandage on the side of his head, covering the ear that was reportedly shot at the rally. Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this update.
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez guilty on all charges in federal corruption trial
The jury in the federal corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and two of his business associates, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, found Menendez guilty on all charges after a grueling nine-week complex trial in Manhattan. Menendez pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he accepted an array of bribes in exchange for helping foreign governments. Jurors deliberated for three days. The conviction on all 16 counts against him exposes Menendez to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The judge scheduled the senator’s sentencing date for October 29. “Prosecutors have not come close to meeting their burden to show you that any of the gold or cash was given to Senator Menendez as a bribe,” Menendez’s defense attorney, Adam Fee, said in his closing statements, which began concluded last Wednesday. “The absence of evidence should be held against the prosecution,” he said. He added the prosecution’s evidence “is overwhelmingly clear that this story is shaky and rotten to its core.” JURY PICKED, OPENING STATEMENTS BEGIN IN US V. MENENDEZ: ‘USE YOUR GOOD JUDGMENT’ In his five-hour closing argument on Tuesday, federal prosecutor Paul Monteleoni urged jurors to hold the New Jersey Democrat accountable for his alleged misconduct. “This is a big case,” Monteleoni said. “But it all boils down to a classic case of corruption on a massive scale.” During the trial, prosecutors used cited emails and text messages from Menendez – as well as FBI testimony – to present evidence they argued shows the senator accepted extravagant gifts from foreign governments. The gifts totaled more than $100,000 worth of gold bars, in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash stuffed throughout Menendez’s New Jersey home. DEMOCRAT SEN BOB MENENDEZ FACING INDICTMENT ON BRIBERY CHARGES Menendez was charged by federal prosecutors with 18 counts since he pleaded innocent last year, all relating to a multiyear alleged bribery scheme involving the Egypt and Qatar governments. In March, an 18-page indictment was wrapped into Menendez’s existing charges already against him and his co-defendants — including his wife, Nadine — for allegedly acting as a foreign agent and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to benefit the Egyptian government through his power and influence as a senator. The indictment came after co-defendant Jose Uribe – who allegedly gifted Nadine a Mercedes convertible – accepted a plea deal and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The charges also alleged Menendez committed conspiracy, bribery, acting as a foreign agent, extortion and wire fraud. US V. MENENDEZ: DEM SENATOR’S CORRUPTION TRIAL KICKS OFF WITH SURPRISING DELAY Menendez and his associates were first charged on Sept. 23, 2023. This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
‘My brothers, my brothers!’: Survivors recall chaos after al-Mawasi attacks
Deir el-Balah, Gaza – On Saturday morning, Waad Abu Zaher was standing on a crowded street in al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip trying to find a donkey cart, minibus or some other transport so she could go to work. The 30-year-old journalist works out of a media tent at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis and commutes east from a tent camp in al-Mawasi. She lives there with her parents and four brothers, who have been displaced eight times since Israel first issued an evacuation order soon after the war on Gaza began on October 7. That morning she watched as her father left for work and her brothers went off to collect water and buy groceries. It was around 10am as she stood in a lively part of the camp for displaced people, with vendors, water filling points and a community kitchen distributing food to children who had lined up to collect free meals. “Suddenly, the first missile hit, then the second. I found myself flying and landing a short distance away. The sky turned white with dust. The third missile. I started running and screaming, ‘My brothers, my brothers!’” she recounted, choking up as she spoke over WhatsApp. “Israel not only forced us to live in tents unsuitable for human life, but also pursued us here with bombs and missiles,” she said. A child walks amid damage following an Israeli strike on displaced Palestinians’ tent homes in al-Mawasi [Hatem Khaled/Reuters] ‘I checked my body as I ran’ Waad says she started running, searching for her brothers. “I checked my body as I ran — ‘Are my eyes in place? Is my head OK? My legs, my hands, my face?’” she recalled thinking. “I was running around, surrounded by corpses, blood, [scattered] pots of [the] children who had lined up at the food kitchen, and gallons of water,” she said. “I saw people carrying a young man with a shattered leg, and another young man running behind them with an amputated leg, screaming, ‘I found his leg,’” she said quietly, at some points crying as she recalled the attack. “I saw a pregnant woman lying on the ground, bleeding from between her legs, next to an injured child whose arm was gone.” Around her, people had started running towards the area that had been struck to help. She recalls the mothers arriving, screaming and searching for their children. “Every mother knows her child will be here because it’s where we fill water, receive food, or charge internet cards,” she said. “This area is the heart of life in Mawasi Khan Younis.” Amidst the chaos, Waad found her brothers, and ran to them, hugging them. They were covered in dust but unharmed. Israel’s attack on Saturday — in an area designated a “safe zone” by the Israeli military and where thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering — killed at least 90 people and wounded 300 others, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Israeli warplanes struck tents and a water distillation area. Waad says she may have survived the attack, but she is in shock. “Every time I think about what happened, I burst into tears.” Waad says she still cannot believe that their homes were attacked and says that many in the camp are thinking about moving elsewhere. “[But] here the question remains: ‘Where can we go?’” she asked. The July 13 attack killed at least 90 people and injured hundreds more [Mohammed Salem/Reuters] ‘Surviving here is a matter of luck’ Badee’ Daaour, 36, lives with his wife and four children in al-Mawasi. “We had just finished breakfast and were preparing for the day,” he recalled of the morning of the July 13 attack. Suddenly, huge explosions hit the area. “I didn’t comprehend what was going on. My wife and I were screaming and shouting for our children. We couldn’t see anything through the dust.” “The plumes of fire were only 50 metres (165 feet) away,” he recalled. “My tent was destroyed, and several nearby tents were set on fire.” Badee’ remembers dragging his youngest child from the tent and running with his wife past other tents, seeking safety. “Everyone was screaming. The sounds of bombing were horrific.” As they arrived near an area that had been hit, Badee’ was shocked by what he saw. “Blood was everywhere, shreds of dead bodies were on the ground, kids covered in blood,” he recalled in a quiet voice. “I saw people who were buried alive under the sand due to the intensity of the bombing. People gathered to pull them out. Some were alive, some were killed or injured.” He frantically searched for his three other children who had been outside when the attacks happened. “I saw many mothers and fathers running and screaming desperately for their lost children. Many of them found their kids shattered into pieces in the attack. They were about to lose their minds,” he added. He was relieved to find his remaining children were safe and then, when he was a bit calmer, Badee’ noticed his leg had been slightly injured and so he headed to the hospital for treatment. Badee’ arrived at Nasser Medical Complex, Gaza’s second-largest hospital, which has barely returned to service after ground and air assaults by the Israeli military rendered it nonoperational. “My neighbour in the next tent was injured in the back, then he found his little daughter was killed and the other one was severally injured in her spine,” he said. Badee’ has been trying to comfort and help his neighbour. “He was sitting inside his tent, two metres away from me, but the shrapnel pierced into his tent, not mine,” he explained while sitting in his family’s tent that was brought down in the attacks and has now been put up again. “Surviving here is a matter of luck. Every one of us waits for his turn in this ongoing genocide,” Badee’ said. “Bombing tents in which thousands of displaced people were crowded with several heavy missiles? How does