‘We choose freedom’: Harris campaign releases first official video
Kamala Harris’s campaign has released its first official video titled “We choose freedom”.
In the video, Ms Harris asks: “What kind of country do we want to live in?”
She goes on to say there are “some who think we should be a country of chaos, fear and hate”, before adding: “We choose something different.”
During the clip, which features Beyonce’s song Freedom, Ms Harris says the country needs the freedom not just to get by, but “get ahead”.
“The freedom to be safe from gun violence,” she says.
“The freedom to make decisions about your own body. We choose a future where no child lives in poverty. Where we all can afford health care, where no one is above the law.
“We believe in the promise of America and we are ready to fight for it because when we fight, we win.”
Jennifer Aniston criticises JD Vance’s ‘childless cat ladies’ comment
Jennifer Aniston has condemned Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance for calling childless women “miserable” and “cat ladies”.
The 55-year-old actress posted a story on Instagram with a video of Mr Vance speaking to Tucker Carlson on Fox News.
In the video Mr Vance says: “We’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it.
“We’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats and via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies, who are miserable about their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.
“So they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
Aniston accompanied the video with a caption which said she “truly can’t believe” the comments came from a potential vice president of the US.
At the bottom of the post she criticised Mr Vance’s anti-IVF stance, and said she hoped his daughter “will not need to turn to IVF”.
In 2022, Aniston revealed to Allure magazine that she had undergone IVF to try to have children when she was in her 30s and 40s, but the attempts did not result in any pregnancies.
A brief timeline of Biden’s life and career
After five decades in politics, President Joe Biden’s political career is coming to a close as he exits the 2024 presidential race.
Here, we take a quick look at his life through the years…
1972: US senator
Mr Biden became one of the youngest senators in US history when he defeated Senator J. Caleb Boggs at the age of 29.
Shortly after being elected to the Senate, his wife Neilia and their one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident.
1973: Sworn in as senator
The US leader was sworn in as senator at his sons’ hospital bedsides in Wilmington. Beau and Hunter were injured in the car accident that killed their mother and sister.
Mr Biden would commute from Wilmington to Washington every day.
He was senator from Delaware for 36 years and played a leading role in addressing important domestic and international challenges, including writing the Violence Against Women Act.
He also played a significant role in passing the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.
1977: Marries Jill Biden
Mr Biden married Jill Jacobs in 1977 and in 1980 they welcomed the birth of their daughter Ashley.
1988: Runs for Democratic presidential nomination
The president ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and later in 2008 but did not win either.
2008: Vice presidency
Barack Obama chose Mr Biden as his running mate and he went on to become the 47th vice president of the US in 2009.
During his vice presidency, Mr Biden was tasked with helping rebuild the economy after the financial crisis and helped secure the Senate’s approval of the New START nuclear arms control treaty with Russia.
He also helped Mr Obama enact the Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as Obamacare).
2020: Presidency
Mr Biden ran for the White House and was sworn in as the 46th president on 20 January 2021.
Almost immediately after taking office, he signed two executive orders to reinstate the Affordable Care Act.
He described it as “undoing the damage Trump had done” after Mr Trump made failed attempts to repeal Obamacare.
He also presided over the American Rescue Plan, which spent $1.9tn (£1.5tn) on supporting US families and businesses during the pandemic.
And then in 2021, he decided to withdraw the final US troops from Afghanistan.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US has given more than $70bn (£54bn) in aid to Ukraine under Mr Biden’s leadership.
This is nearly three times the amount of its next-biggest backer, Germany on $14bn (£12bn).
Task force to investigate Trump shooting set up by US politicians
The US House of Representatives has voted to form a task force to investigate the security failures surrounding the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
The task force will comprise 13 members and is expected to include seven Republicans and six Democrats.
It will be tasked with determining what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination and will make recommendations to prevent future security lapses.
The group will issue a final report before 13 December.
The bill is sponsored by Republican Representative Mike Kelly, whose hometown of Butler was the site of the shooting. Mr Kelly was also at the rally with his wife and other family members.
He said he was concerned when the rally site was picked because he thought it would be “a difficult place to have a rally of that size”.
He called the task force a chance to build trust with Americans so lawmakers can work together to tackle a crisis.
“I can tell you that my community is grieving,” Mr Kelly said.
“They are shocked by what happened in our backyard. The people of Butler and the people of the United States deserve answers.”
On Tuesday, Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned – one day after she appeared before a congressional committee.
She called the attempt on Mr Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades, but she angered politicians by failing to answer specific questions about the investigation.
Harris commends Biden’s ‘profound compassion’
Kamala Harris has responded to Joe Biden’s speech and commended his “profound compassion for the people of our country”.
Ms Harris launched her campaign for president on Tuesday, framing the race with Donald Trump as a choice between freedom and chaos.
From an event hall in Milwaukee, Ms Harris told a cheering crowd: “This campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. This is about who we fight for.”
In pictures: Emotional moment for Biden family
Joe Biden had an emotional moment with his family after his speech last night.
He hugged his son Hunter and daughter Ashley, who was in tears.
First lady Jill Biden and granddaughter Finnegan were also in the Oval Office as he gave his address.
Later, Mr Biden, the oldest president in US history, was greeted with cheers, applause and music in the Rose Garden, as his staff had converged on the White House for a viewing party.
‘Soo bad’: Trump insults Biden’s speech
Donald Trump has been sharing his usual combative posts on his social media site Truth Social overnight after Joe Biden addressed the nation.
In one post he said the president’s speech was “barely understandable” and “soo bad!”
A little while earlier he said Mr Biden and Kamala Harris were an “embarrassment to America” and added: “There has never been a time like this.”
The insults strike the same tone of previous posts we are used to seeing from the former president.
Netanyahu to meet Biden and Harris today
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit President Joe Biden and likely Democratic nominee Kamala Harris today.
Mr Netanyahu’s White House visit, his first since before Donald Trump left office in 2020, comes at a time of growing pressure on him to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.
Mr Biden is pressing to get Israel and Hamas to seal his proposal to release remaining hostages in Gaza over three phases.
White House officials say that the negotiations are in the closing stages, but there are still issues that need to be resolved.
Following their midday talks, Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu will meet the families of American hostages.
And then a bit later, Ms Harris will separately meet with the Israeli leader.
Yesterday, Mr Netanyahu’s address before a joint session of Congress offered a robust defence of Israel’s conduct during the war.
He also spoke out against accusations by the International Criminal Court of Israeli war crimes.
He made the case that Israel, in its fight against Iran-backed Hamas, was effectively keeping “Americans boots off the ground while protecting our shared interests in the Middle East”.
What did Trump say ahead of Biden’s speech?
Ahead of Joe Biden’s speech last night, Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of attacks against his likely new opponent Kamala Harris, calling her his “new victim to defeat”.
He also accused her of deceiving the public about President Biden’s ability to run for a second term.
In his rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, which marked the former president’s first public campaign event since Mr Biden dropped out of the 2024 election, he said: “So now we have a new victim to defeat: lyin’ Kamala Harris.
He called her “the most incompetent and far left vice president in American history” and also said she was a “radical left lunatic”.
Speaking on her positions on abortion and immigration, he called her “crazy”.
Trump also accused Ms Harris of being just as responsible for Mr Biden’s policies at the US-Mexico border, which saw illegal crossing arrests reach record highs at the end of 2023 and repeated his pledge to conduct mass deportations with the help of local police.
“Kamala’s deadly destruction of America’s borders is completely and totally disqualifying. She shouldn’t be allowed to run for president with what she’s done,” Trump told supporters.
The former president’s stop in North Carolina shows he is concerned about keeping the state in his column this November.
Obama ‘plans to endorse Harris’
Barack Obama plans to endorse Kamala Harris as the Democratic 2024 presidential candidate soon, our US partner network NBC News reports.
The former president has been in contact with Ms Harris since she announced her presidential candidacy and has privately fully supported her nomination, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions.
One source said: “He has been in regular contact with her and thinks she’s been off to a great start.”
The precise time at which Mr Obama will endorse the vice president is still unclear.
“Aides to Obama and Harris also have discussed arranging for the two of them to appear together on the campaign trail, though no date has been set,” the report said.
Michelle Obama also supports Ms Harris’s candidacy, according to the sources.
After Mr Biden led the charge in endorsing Ms Harris, she gained an array of support from prominent figures.
Bill and Hillary Clinton were quick to follow, pledging their support for the vice president.
Other names once touted as potential substitutes for Mr Biden also rallied behind – Governors Gavin Newsom and Josh Shapiro.
But while the Obamas’ office lauded Mr Biden, no reference was made to Ms Harris.