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Joe Biden drops out of US election and endorses Kamala Harris

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Joe Biden drops out of US election and endorses Kamala Harris

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US President Joe Biden has abandoned his re-election bid following overwhelming pressure from fellow Democrats and endorsed his vice-president Kamala Harris to succeed him, saying it was “in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down”.

The president announced his decision to quit the race in a letter published to social media on Sunday, throwing this year’s White House contest into turmoil with less than four months to go until voters in the world’s biggest economy elect their new leader on November 5.

“It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as your president,” Biden said. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”

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The president added that he would speak to the country “later this week in more detail about my decision”. Biden has not been seen in public since Wednesday, when he was diagnosed with Covid-19.

He said in a second social media post that he would “offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year”.

“Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump,” Biden added. “Let’s do this.”

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Harris later issued her own statement saying she was “honoured” to have Biden’s endorsement, adding: “My intention is to earn and win this nomination.

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“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump,” she added.

Harris, who would become the country’s first female president should she win, quickly picked up the backing of several influential Democrats.

Former president Bill Clinton and the party’s 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton issued a joint statement saying they were “honoured to join the president in endorsing vice-president Harris”, adding they would “do whatever we can to support her”.

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, and Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer — both considered possible presidential candidates themselves — were also expected to endorse Harris, said three prominent Democratic party donors and operatives with direct knowledge of the matter. Representatives for Newsom and Whitmer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Barack Obama, who selected Biden as his own vice-president in 2008, issued a statement calling him “one of America’s most consequential presidents, as well as a dear friend and partner”. Obama stopped short of endorsing a successor, but said he had “extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges”.

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Democrats will need to rally behind a new presidential candidate in the weeks before the party’s official nominating convention on August 19. Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison on Sunday said the party would “in short order” lay out the “next steps and the path forward for the nomination process”.

Biden’s unprecedented decision will reverberate across the globe, injecting new uncertainty into US policy at a moment of acute geopolitical tension, from the Indo-Pacific to Ukraine to the Middle East.

Biden’s announcement follows more than three weeks of wrenching debate among Democrats about his candidacy after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump reignited concerns about the 81-year-old’s mental acuity and damaged his standing among American voters. An Associated Press poll out last week found nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters said Biden should drop out of the race.

Trump had opened up a significant polling lead over Biden in national and swing state surveys in recent weeks. In a statement posted to his Truth Social platform on Sunday he said Biden was “not fit to run for president” and “certainly not fit to serve”.

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson issued a statement calling for Biden’s immediate resignation from the presidency.

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“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president,” Johnson said.

But Biden’s decision earned him immediate praise from several top Democrats, including Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who described him as a “great president . . . a great legislative leader” and “a truly amazing human being”.

“His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first.”

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader, said the country would be “forever grateful” to Biden for his leadership.

The decision by the 46th American president not to seek a second term marks the beginning of the end of one of Washington’s most storied political careers. Biden entered the Senate in 1973, became vice-president to Obama in 2009, and gained the Oval Office in 2020 in an era marked by a global pandemic, economic recovery, inflation and war.

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

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Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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