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Opinion | Careful, Democrats. Cast Harris aside at your peril.

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Opinion | Careful, Democrats. Cast Harris aside at your peril.


It’s been more than a little clear, during the long weeks of hand-wringing about President Biden’s age and his ability to win, that there was another concern: The ability of Vice President Harris to step into his shoes.

Sometimes, it was said out loud. Sometimes, it was left unsaid. But it was always obvious in the ways some folks were promoting a makeshift August primary with little or no mention of the vice president. That scenario would mean that the person specifically who had been chosen to stand in for Biden in case of emergency could be knocked out to create an entirely new ticket.

Let me point out something that should be obvious: The Democratic Party, which relies on Black women as its most reliable voters, would be underestimating how they will react if such disregard is shown to the first Black female vice president.

I don’t know how Democrats will try to explain that leapfrog move, but it will take some high-level, hat-in-hand, verbal voodoo to ease the pain and anger that a lot of Black voters will justifiably feel. “The party elites would be committing suicide,” said Cornell Belcher, a pollster political analyst who worked for both Obama campaigns.

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This question should have been a settled years ago, when Biden picked Harris as his running mate — and a majority of Americans voted to elect them as a team. Yes, Harris had a tough first year finding her voice, her footing and a team that best supports her leadership. But it is evident that Harris has found her stride, especially since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022, as she has traversed the country trumpeting the long-term effects of that ruling. She has been steadfast in the weeks since Biden’s troubling debate performance last month. She knows she has been in the spotlight, quietly auditioning for a job that her boss was, until Sunday, determined to hold on to. Let’s just concede that walking that tightrope was not easy.

The pundit class and cable-news armies are salivating over the prospect of an open primary that would now drive ratings. Democrats pushing for an open primary claim the contest would boost voter engagement and also avoid the appearance of a coronation after Biden’s endorsement of Harris on Sunday. Plus, there simply isn’t time for that exercise.

But it is long past time to stop underestimating what Harris can do for a party that is in a ditch, thanks to this overlong Shakespearean drama about Biden’s acuity. She has strong support among Democrats, has muscled up on foreign and domestic issues in a manner few can because of her unique perch, not to mention daily access to classified briefings and her experience serving on key Senate committees.

And many of the things that were once points of criticism move into the plus column. Some progressives have called Harris a “cop” because of her background as a prosecutor. She was attorney general of the most-populous state, and, in this presidential match up, a litigator could bring special skills running against a felon who is still facing a mountain of legal charges and is backed by an army of conservatives who want to erode or erase our constitutional rights.

The criticism of her easy laugh — even her smile — are the stuff of high school taunts, and yet a youthful candidate who brings joy and light to the campaign trail while taking on heavy issues will appeal to voters who are yearning for optimism after a long period of turbulence. Her multicultural background and marriage allow her to build a narrative around change while facing opponents whose retrograde MAGA political messaging would take America backward.

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I know some people will say I am arguing that the Black vice president should automatically get the job to avoid upsetting voters of color. Let me set that straight: The perceived insult is but one factor. A vice president who has performed admirably should get top consideration for the post because stepping up in case of emergency is the central part of the job. And many of the people who would likely be offended if she is passed over have a deep gut hunch that a White man would not be so easily dismissed.

At a time when reproductive rights are such a linchpin issue for female voters, the potential for treating Harris with disregard seems particularly reckless. Doubts about the vice president’s ability to ascend to the top jabs at a deep-tissue wound that throbs inside so many American women who have to work twice as hard and be over-credentialed before being even considered for a role they can clearly handle.

It’s one reason women over-index in measures of achievement in college and yet are grossly underrepresented in top corporate leadership. Women CEOs run barely 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies. It’s why people so often look past gleaming résumés and oodles of experience to float questions about whether a woman is really the right fit. It’s why so many people mask their own stubborn consternation about female authority by asking whether others will accept a woman in a top job.

Will voters accept her? Don’t forget that people (including a lot of Black voters) initially asked the same question about Barack Obama. And yes, voters asked that question about Hillary Clinton, as well. But let’s also remember that, not long ago, people questioned whether women could handle their own credit card or be trusted to vote.

If the Democrats opt for an open primary, I hope they have some muscular messaging to explain why they swerved from succession protocol. Otherwise, they are not just underestimating Harris, they are also underestimating a voting bloc that holds the key to their victory.

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What do you think President Biden should do with the rest of his time in office? Share your responses with us, and they may be published in The Post.



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More police drones will take flight in the skies above Montgomery County

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More police drones will take flight in the skies above Montgomery County


On a typical night just north of Washington, a dozen drone flights quietly take off as part of a major police trend spreading across the country. And the agency behind them — the Montgomery County Police Department — plans to double its program over the next few months.

“They really have made a difference for us,” County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said Wednesday night, speaking at a community meeting in Bethesda, the latest area for coverage. “We’re happy to be expanding.”

Across the country, thousands of public safety agencies are using drones in some form, according to drone industry officials. Many do so after an incident is well underway. Montgomery’s program is designed to get its drones to the scene ahead of responding ground units by launching them during the opening seconds of a 911 call.

Now nine months old, the program has become a national leader among some 50 programs using drones as “first responders” that are either in development or operating in the United States, according to the officials. Montgomery’s two responder drones are equipped with video cameras that can zoom in on what someone is holding in their hand and can track their movements. Drone operators can also send the video feed to the ground officers’ laptops, tablets or cellphones.

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The department surpassed 1,000 flights this month, and says the technology has enabled it to not just catch criminals but also to quickly determine which calls do not require a police response, so that cruiser units can be sent elsewhere and officers’ time isn’t wasted. “The name of the game is speed,” said Capt. Jason Cokinos, supervisor of Montgomery’s drone responder operations.

Here is a look at the program, the expansion plans and civil liberties concerns.



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Israel intercepts missile from Yemen after airstrikes on Houthi port

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Israel intercepts missile from Yemen after airstrikes on Houthi port


Israeli forces intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired from Yemen, the Israel Defense Forces said in a short statement posted on social media Sunday.

The missile did not cross into Israeli territory, but “warnings of rocket and missile fire” were issued out of concern over shrapnel that could fall on Israeli citizens, the IDF said.

Although it was not immediately clear who had launched the missile, a Houthi military spokesman had vowed retaliation for Israel’s airstrikes Saturday on Hodeida, a port city in Yemen controlled by the Houthis. Spokesman Yahya Saree said the Israeli raids had struck the port, a power station and fuel tank.

Those Israeli strikes were a direct response to a rare drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday for which the Houthis claimed responsibility. The attack killed one person and struck just yards from a U.S. Embassy branch office.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli response to the drone attack made “it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of the State of Israel will not reach.”

Since the war in Gaza began in October last year, the Houthis have been attacking ships sailing near the Yemeni coast. Those attacks are aimed at convincing Israel to end its military operations in Gaza, the group has said. A U.S.-led naval task force has been responding to those assaults but has failed to halt them.





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Secret Service said to have denied requests for more security at Trump events

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Secret Service said to have denied requests for more security at Trump events


Top officials at the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday, according to four people familiar with the requests.

Agents charged with protecting the former president requested magnetometers and more agents to screen attendees at sporting events and other large public gatherings Trump attended, as well as additional snipers and specialty teams at other outdoor events, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive security discussions. The requests, which have not been previously reported, were sometimes denied by senior officials at the agency, who cited various reasons, including a lack of resources at an agency that has long struggled with staffing shortages, they said.

Those rejections — in response to requests that were several times made in writing — led to long-standing tensions that pitted Trump, his top aides and his security detail against Secret Service leadership, as Trump advisers privately fretted that the vaunted security agency was not doing enough to protect the former president.

The Secret Service, after initially denying turning down requests for additional security, is now acknowledging some may have been rejected. The revelation comes as agency veterans say the organization has been forced to make difficult decisions amid competing demands, a growing list of protectees and limited funding.

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A gunman was able to fire off rounds from an AR-15 style rifle from a rooftop about 150 yards of the former president at the rally last Saturday. Trump was injured as were two others; a man in the crowd was killed. The agency has been under scrutiny over security lapses at the rally.

Trump advisers’ anger deepened after an agency spokesman publicly denied that any request for additional security lodged by Trump or his detail had ever been rejected. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who has been under pressure to resign over security lapses at the rally, repeated that denial in a meeting with Trump campaign leadership in Wisconsin on Monday, people familiar with the discussions said.

“The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false,” said Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, in a statement on the day after the shooting.

After receiving detailed questions from The Washington Post, Guglielmi said the agency had learned new information indicating the agency’s headquarters may have in fact denied some requests for additional security from Trump’s detail and was reviewing documentation to understand the specific interactions better.

“The Secret Service has a vast, challenging, and intricate mission,” he said in a statement. “Every day we work in a dynamic threat environment to ensure our protectees are safe and secure across multiple events, travel, and other difficult environments. We execute a comprehensive and layered strategy to balance personnel, technology, and specialized operational needs.”

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In response to a request for comment, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign referred to a statement Trump posted on Truth Social praising his own Secret Service detail.

The extended tussle over safeguarding a former president who holds regular public events that draw large crowds raises new questions for the Secret Service, a long admired protection force that guards American presidents, their families and other senior officials. But it has been plagued by staffing shortages and hiring limits since 2010 and suffered a series of embarrassing security lapses during the Obama and Trump administrations.

A Secret Service official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe sensitive internal discussions, said the agency has finite resources and has to juggle competing demands, especially for its countersnipers, counterassault teams and the teams of uniformed division officers who help screen attendees for weapons at events using magnetometers.

The agency is currently responsible for security details for more than two dozen people, most of them requiring full-time security and a few others receiving what is informally called “door-to-door” protection from the moment they leave their homes. Protectees include the president and vice president and their families, as well as former presidents, candidates and a growing number of senior administration officials. After the Butler shooting, the agency added a protective detail to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, and is now protecting GOP vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance as well.

Bill Gage, a former Secret Service agent who served on presidential protection and counterassault teams during the Bush and Obama administrations, said the agency is always drowning in far more requests and events than it can possibly handle with its hiring limits, and that leads to headquarters denying requests even more frequently during the busy campaign season.

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“I hate to dumb it down this much but it is a simple case of supply and demand. The requests get turned down routinely,” Gage said. “A director has to finally come forward to say we are way understaffed and we cannot possibly continue with this zero fail mission without a significantly bigger budget.”

The Service’s Office of Protective Operations reviews security requests for events, and as part of a regular push-and-pull, it sometimes reconsiders initial denials after being persuaded the risk justifies the expense, officials have said. But it must balance the reality that each agent, countersniper or magnetometer assigned to cover one event reduces what is available for other people the Service protects.

The weekend of the Butler shooting, the Secret Service had sent multiple countersniper teams and hundreds of agents to the Republican National Convention and was also securing an event by Jill Biden and a scheduled trip by President Biden to Austin the day after the shooting.

“It’s just true — we don’t have the resources to secure him [Trump] like we did when he was president,” the official said.

None of the denied requests that The Post reviewed related to the Pennsylvania rally. But one of the denials that most concerned Trump officials came as he held a rally in South Carolina in July 2023, one of the first large-scale events of his current campaign. Trump was speaking in a downtown square in Pickens, a small town 20 miles west of Greenville, at a site surrounded by commercial and residential buildings. People familiar with the request said that Trump’s security team asked for more countersnipers to be stationed on rooftops to guard against potential shooters or other attacks.

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The people said the Pickens event was one of several in which Trump’s team was denied more tactical support. Trump’s detail was told Secret Service headquarters had determined they could not provide the resources after the detail made an extensive argument for why the teams were needed, they said.

Guglielmi said the Service is still reviewing the planning for the Pickens event but said local countersnipers rather than Secret Service teams were on hand to help address the threats of potential shooters.

On multiple other occasions, Trump’s team asked for magnetometers and additional help to screen attendees for Trump to attend sporting events, particularly wrestling matches and college football games, people familiar with those requests said. They were told no because the events were not campaign events.

In one instance, the Secret Service argued the screening was unnecessary because Trump would be entering a stadium to watch a football game via a secure elevator and then be guided through a secure area to a private suite with controlled access, according to a Secret Service official who reviewed some of the security requests.

“He was not going through the general population,” the official said. “You don’t need to mag the entire stadium” in those circumstances.

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But Trump advisers said he often moved through open-air concourses at the games, interacting with large swaths of the public. Some Trump advisers were repeatedly concerned about his safety at the sporting events as he moved through the areas, people familiar with the matter said.

People around Trump were also concerned by what they feared was an insufficient number of magnetometers and security personnel at rallies, they said, including one in 2023 in Macomb, Michigan, where some attendees jumped over bike racks to get past security and were restrained by local police, according to people close to Trump who witnessed the episode.

Several Trump advisers said the denials had been a frustration for more than a year.

The Secret Service extends the highest level of protection to current presidents and officials. Former presidents receive a significantly lesser degree of Secret Service protection, but Trump’s high profile and daily routines make him a different kind of security challenge than most former presidents, according to former Secret Service agents.

Trump is also the first former president in modern times to run for reelection, which carries additional security burdens, though candidates are not provided the same level of security as sitting presidents.

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Other former presidents only rarely make large, public appearances, living more private lives. Trump, on the other hand, is almost always around crowds, at his clubs and golf courses, and holds frequent campaign events attended by thousands, if not tens of thousands, particularly since he announced a new run for the presidency in November 2022.

Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service agent, has called the security failure at the rally on July 13 unacceptable, as a gunman was allowed to fire from an unsecured roof around 150 yards from where Trump addressed the crowd. The gunman spotted acting suspiciously before Trump began speaking but the Secret Service did not intervene or prevent Trump from taking the stage.

The Secret Service and Trump’s orbit also argued over planning for the Republican National Convention, particularly over how large of a security perimeter the agency would impose. The relationship grew so acrimonious that senior Republicans repeatedly sought meetings with Secret Service leadership in Washington after battling with agents on the ground over security and logistics.

On Thursday, Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita called for Cheatle to resign, as has a number of lawmakers in both parties. During the convention, several Republican senators chased Cheatle through the arena in Milwaukee, where she had traveled to brief them on the investigation. The senators screamed at her after she declined to answer questions about the attempted assassination.



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