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Here we go again.

For years, Democrats and the lefty media insisted that Joe Biden’s faculties are razor sharp and that conservatives have been manipulating public opinion, most recently with their fabulous lies about ‘cheap fakes.’ Kamala Harris is about to get the same treatment.

President Biden stands naked and defeated, alas it turned out the emperor had no clothes, but today, a whole new set of deceitful royal robes are being fabricated for Harris to go along with the crown she will be presented at the Democrat’s coronation next month in Chicago. 

Harris, who only polled 3 percent higher than you or I before limping out of the 2020 primary, will now be painted as some combination between FDR, JFK, and Maya Angelou all in one.

But there was a reason that Harris’ poll numbers barely reached the average combined score of an average soccer game; she has no actual accomplishments, just an impressive set of job titles.

Between 2004 and 2017 Harris was first District Attorney of San Francisco, then Attorney General of California. The former is now a den of crime and open-air drug use that in places looks more like Lagos than America, and people can’t get out of the latter fast enough, including, recently, Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Democrats will happily portray Kamala as Scottie Pippen to Joe’s Michael Jordan, when in fact they generally appeared less competent than Abbott and Costello.

After that, the would-be cackler-in-chief almost finished a senate term in which the only memorable moment was her yelling at now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh for liking beer and not raping anybody.

But Democrats think they have an ace up their sleeve, after all Harris has spent the last three years in the executive branch, her presidency would be shovel ready, and this is where the true gaslighting begins.

The Democrats will tell us that Joe Biden is the most effective and consequential president of our lifetime and Harris has been learning from the master. This is an obvious lie, as every approval rating of Biden shows, but it is irrelevant now, because the big guy isn’t running.

Democrats will happily portray Kamala as Scottie Pippen to Joe’s Michael Jordan, when in fact they generally appeared less competent than Abbott and Costello.

Kamala Harris has been our tireless Border Czar as tens of millions of illegal immigrants have poured over the Rio Grande, Czar Nicholas II did a better job holding off the Bolsheviks.

In some polls, 70 percent of Americans disapprove of the administration’s handling of the border, led by the vice president, and that is because every state has become a border state with Bidenville tent cities and hotels being used for criminal activity by illegals.

Harris had a chance to rise above the fray when border agents were wrongly and ridiculously accused of whipping Haitian migrants, but she just went along with the lie, throwing good, decent people serving their community right under the bus.

On foreign policy, there is no reason to believe that Harris would deviate at all from the disastrous judgments of the administration on the Afghanistan withdrawal, the boondoggle in Ukraine or the insane mixed messaging on the war on Gaza, which regularly chides Israel while coddling Hamas.

Kamala Harris is just a relief pitcher for the same stinking, awful baseball team that was in the field Saturday: Tony Blinken, first base, Jake Sullivan at shortstop, etc. They remain the Bad News Bears.

Notwithstanding this shabby record, make no mistake, right now in the tailor shops of the DNC glorious new robes of wisdom, experience, and intelligence are being spun for Kamala from the gold of newly released donor dollars, and they might look very pretty.

But the American people aren’t stupid. 

Maybe had Joe bowed out gracefully months ago there could have been time for Harris to start playing a more active role, to brush up her bona fides, but today they are just slapping some makeup on her and rushing her to her close up.

After all the obvious lies, many Americans feel they were duped, and the sting of such betrayal does not abate quickly, especially when one of the core crafters and enablers of the prevarications may now sit atop the ticket.

In Hans Christen Anderson’s fairy tale of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ it is the honest laughter of a child that finally breaks the pretense, that finally allows the Emperor’s subjects to acknowledge and express the truth. And once the spell is snapped, it is snapped forever.

We knew that the Biden administration was incompetent, now we also know they have been blatantly lying to us. Biden wasn’t running circles around young staffers, he was taking naps, and the would-be savior of 2024 knew it.

None of that can change now. Kamala could campaign in a Captain America costume and everyone would see right through it, exposing her lack of accomplishments and years of lying about Joe.

Even so, she might just be the best chance they have.

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Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently became the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president after President Biden stepped down on Sunday, is facing renewed criticism for dismissing concerns about Biden’s health in recent months.

‘We have a very bold and vibrant president in Joe Biden,’ Harris told ‘Good Morning America’ in February amid concerns about Biden’s health.

Also in February, Harris insisted, ‘Our president is in good shape, in good health, and is ready to lead in our second term.’

‘It is important we not be seduced into one of the only arguments that that side of the aisle has right now on [Biden’s cognitive decline] in a way that is intended to distract!’ Harris said in November 2023. That same month, Harris said, ‘Age is more than a chronological fact … Not only is he absolutely authoritative in rooms around the globe, but in the Oval Office.’

‘Joe Biden is gonna be fine,’ the vice president assured the public in September 2023.

‘I’m ready, if necessary, but it’s not gonna be necessary,’ Harris said in March.

The clips of Harris defending Biden resurfaced this week after the president announced roughly a month after his widely panned debate performance that he would in fact drop out of the race.

‘She lied,’ conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X on Sunday. ‘Kamala is complicit in a coverup.’

‘Make no mistake – Kamala Harris wanted the nomination without a primary,’ former acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Ric Grenell posted on X. ‘She lied to the public about Joe’s actual health up until the last minute when a primary would be too late. She knew all along.’

Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, wrote on X that Harris ‘lied for nearly four years about Biden’s mental capacity–saddling the nation with a president who can’t do the job.’

‘Kamala Harris lied to Americans for four years that Joe Biden was able to serve, sharp as a tack, fit as a fiddle,’ GOP Sen. Tom Cotton posted on X. ‘Now, she has to answer: if Joe Biden isn’t fit to run for president, do you believe that he’s fit to continue serving as president?’

‘The cover up of Biden’s condition by Democrats and the media will go down as one of the biggest scandals in American history,’ GOP Congressman Darrell Issa posted on X. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’s office for comment but did not receive a response.

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Days ahead of officially dropping out of the 2024 race, President Biden declared in a media interview that a medical diagnosis from a doctor would likely sway him to reconsider running for a second term. 

‘If I had some medical condition that emerged,’ Biden said, when asked in a BET interview this month if there was a reason that would make him reconsider running in 2024. ‘If doctors came to me and said, ‘You got this problem, that problem.’’

Following weeks of adamant declarations from Biden and his campaign that he was staying in the race, the president dropped out on Sunday afternoon, and shortly after endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president. 

‘My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term,’ Biden posted on X Sunday afternoon announcing his support for Harris.

‘My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to 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. Let’s do this,’ he continued. 

Biden is self-isolating in his home Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after a COVID-19 diagnosis last week. He said he would address the nation with more information about his departure ‘later this week.’ 

‘Our president, Joe Biden wanted to be here today. He is feeling much better and recovering fast, and he looks forward to getting back on the road,’ Harris said Monday in her first public remarks since Biden’s departure from the race. 

For years, Biden’s health has been of concern to conservatives, including former White House doctor Ronny Jackson, before the concerns snowballed following Biden’s disastrous debate against former President Trump last month. The debate performance – which included Biden stumbling over his words, trailing off on his thoughts and answering questions in a much more subdued manner than during previous public events – opened the floodgates to legacy media outlets and Democratic allies calling on Biden to drop out over concerns about his mental fitness and age. 

Biden and the administration have hit back that Biden’s mental fitness is sound and that he does not have dementia, Parkinson’s or other diseases. Biden’s brother, however, said following Sunday’s announcement that the president’s health ‘absolutely’ played a role in his decision not to seek re-election just weeks ahead of the Democratic National Convention. 

‘I’m incredibly proud of my brother. Selfishly, I will have him back to enjoy whatever time we have left. He is a genuine hero. Country over self. Sounds corny in our cynical political environment, but he nor I are cynical. The goal remains the same, defeat Trump and continue the work that Joe has done. My hope is that our party rallies around this heroic act,’ Frank Biden told CBS News on Sunday. 

‘In my humble opinion, absolutely,’ he said when asked if his brother’s health played a role in him bowing out. 

Following Frank Biden’s comment, a source close to the Biden family told CBS that the president’s brother is an alcoholic and his claims were ‘completely untrue.’ 

‘Frank Biden suffers from alcoholism and hasn’t spoken to his brother, the president, in weeks. What he said about President Biden’s health being a factor in his decision is completely untrue,’ the source told the outlet. 

White House spokesman Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital when asked about the president’s health that it did not play a role in his decision to drop out of the race. 

‘No. Health was not a factor,’ Bates said Monday morning. 

Concerns surrounding Biden’s mental acuity stretch back to the 2020 election, when White House doctor under the Obama and Trump administrations, Ronny Jackson, sounded the alarm that he didn’t believe Biden was mentally fit for office. 

‘As a citizen, not as a candidate running for Congress, but as a citizen of this country, I’ve watched Joe Biden on the campaign trail and I am concerned and convinced that he does not have the mental capacity, the cognitive ability, to serve as our commander in chief and our head of state,’ Jackson, who is now a Republican congressman representing Texas, said in 2020. 

The concerns have mounted since, most notably in February of this year when Special Counsel Robert Hur published his report investigating the president’s handling of classified documents after his departure as vice president in the Obama administration. 

The report stated Hur would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, calling Biden ‘a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’

His mental fitness again came under scrutiny when the Wall Street Journal published a piece earlier this year based on dozens of interviews with lawmakers and administration officials who characterized Biden as losing his mental edge and showing his age in meetings. The White House slammed the article as a partisan hit piece. 

In addition to concerns over Biden’s mental acuity, he previously ​​suffered two brain aneurysms in 1988 that nearly claimed his life. 

‘If he did survive, there was a chance that the part of his brain that governed his speech would be damaged,’ newly-released book ‘American Woman,’ authored by New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers, reported of the 1988 health scare.

Amid mounting concerns over his mental fitness, Biden was mocked and criticized on social media for a handful of gaffes and miscues during public events in recent months. Those include: former President Obama taking Biden’s wrist to seemingly lead him offstage at a fundraiser in Los Angeles in June; Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni directing Biden back to a gaggle of world leaders in Italy this summer after he took a few steps away from the group to give a thumbs up to a parachutist; and viral video showing the president standing relatively motionless during a Juneteenth concert event at the White House. 

The floodgates for criticizing the president’s age and mental acuity opened on June 27, when he delivered his botched debate performance, with Democratic elected officials and traditional allies in political and media orbits calling on Biden to bow out of the race out of concern he could not defeat Trump. 

Biden and his campaign, however, repeatedly denied he would bow out of the race and hit back against claims his mental fitness had slipped. 

‘Joe Biden has made it more than clear: he’s in this race and he’s in it to win it. Moreover, he’s the presumptive nominee, there is no plan for an alternative nominee,’ a campaign memo released just two days before Biden dropped out read. 

Harris appears to be the likely replacement for Biden as she gains additional endorsements from heavy-hitting Democrats such as former President Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

Trump responded to the news of Biden dropping out by lambasting him as the ‘worst president’ and remarking that Harris would be an easier Democratic nominee to defeat. 

‘He is the worst president in the history of our country,’ Trump told Fox News Digital in a phone interview on Sunday afternoon. ‘There has never been a president so bad.’

‘He is not fit to serve,’ Trump continued. ‘And I ask: Who is going to be running the country for the next five months?’ 

The Democratic Party will officially nominate its candidate for president next month. 

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Vice President Kamala Harris racked up a key endorsement on Monday morning from Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md., who is considered a rising star within the Democratic Party. 

‘I had lengthy conversations with both the President and the Vice President yesterday, and I offered my full support for Kamala Harris’ candidacy to both of them directly,’ Moore said in a statement. ‘Vice President Harris has the experience, record, vision, and wisdom to unify the country.’

‘President Biden selected her to serve by his side because he knew she could lead the nation. She will have the unique ability to energize the Democratic Party base and mobilize a unique coalition, and we must rally around her and elect her to serve as the next President of the United States.’

President Biden announced his decision to suspend his re-election campaign on Sunday amid mounting pressure from Democrats for him to do so. He subsequently endorsed Harris as his successor, and she quickly accepted the opportunity. 

‘I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,’ she said in a statement announcing her hope to be the Democratic nominee. 

While some lawmakers and prominent Democrats followed Biden’s lead and endorsed Harris, there were many who held off. Several Democrats issued statements on Biden’s decision without even mentioning Harris. 

However, on Monday morning, backers for Harris began pouring in. 

Moore, who was elected governor in 2022, was speculated as a potential contender for the Democratic nomination with Biden’s withdrawal, but he put any discussions to rest with his choice to support Harris. 

He is now likely to be considered as a running mate for her, given his popularity. 

After Biden stepped aside, Harris’s campaign said it pulled in nearly $50 million in donations. ‘Since the President endorsed Vice President Harris yesterday afternoon, everyday Americans have given $49.6 million in grassroots donations to her campaign,’ a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Another who could be considered as a vice presidential nominee for Harris is Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., who also endorsed her. He was asked on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ on Monday whether he would consider it, and he confirmed he would ‘listen’ and did not shut the door. 

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President Biden’s decision to stand down from re-election offers Democrats an unprecedented opportunity to reset this election.

At this hour, Vice President Kamala Harris is the most likely nominee.

Many party leaders have endorsed her candidacy, and no other candidate with an appreciable chance of winning the nomination is running.

Harris is known for asking voters to ‘see what is possible, unburdened by what has been.’ Her probable elevation to the top of the ticket allows her party to do that. But it is too early to tell whether she would perform better against former President Trump in the general election than Biden or any other candidate.

That means Biden’s decision to drop out may have been guided more by his own weakness than Harris’ strength. In the meantime, while Harris is unburdened by age, polls show she is burdened by the administration’s unpopularity.

Expect Harris to hold on to issues Democrats are winning and reposition the party on issues they are losing. The race restarts today.

Wait for new polls before drawing conclusions about Harris or any other Democratic candidate

Some recent polls have asked voters whether they would support a Democratic candidate other than Biden.

So far, however, poll respondents are being asked to evaluate a hypothetical scenario.

Voters are about to hear a lot more about the new candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.

Other voters will just be getting to know them.

These factors will all impact their standing with the electorate.

Harris is likely to have the least impact on the Democratic ticket’s standing, since her position as vice president means voters are more familiar with her than any other possible candidate.

However, polls cannot yet show whether her elevation changes the race.

We will know more in a couple of weeks

Even after voters are aware that someone new is the nominee, it will take time to conduct polls and gather enough of them to understand how the race has changed.

Think of this as a three-step process:

Polls must be conducted fully after the news broke; the further from that date they are conducted the more likely they are to capture voters’ informed views of Harris or another candidate.
Pollsters must ‘get into the field’ by designing reliable surveys and collecting responses from their sample of voters over several days. Then they must process and release the results.
Multiple pollsters must release their surveys so analysts can account for outliers. An ideal mix would include national and battleground state polls.

A good rule of thumb is to wait a couple of weeks.

The race was still competitive, with early signs that Biden was struggling in battleground states

Polls conducted after Biden’s fatal debate performance show he was running a close race in national polls.

However, he was beginning to struggle in the most competitive states, narrowing his path to victory.

Biden had support from 46% of registered voters in an average of five post-debate polls, including the Fox News Poll, with Trump at 47%. The margin between them is statistically insignificant. (The polls tested both Biden and Harris against Trump.)

In the battleground states, a somewhat clearer picture was emerging.

Biden was locked in a tight battle in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two crucial rust belt states on his pathway to 270 electoral college votes (NYT/Siena, AARP).

He was also within the margin of error in Georgia, where Black voters held the key to Biden’s 2020 election victory (AJC).

In Michigan though, another Rust Belt state crucial to his bid, a poll released yesterday showed Trump leading Biden 49% to 42% in a head-to-head matchup; a seven point difference between the two (Detroit Free Press).

Democrats would have been anxious about a recent poll in Virginia that had Biden at 46% to Trump’s 44%, a two point difference that is well within the poll’s margin of sampling error (NYT/Siena). Biden won the state by 10 points in 2020.

Polls are snapshots in time. They do not account for the challenges that Biden would have faced in the final 100 days of the campaign, including another presidential debate and a rigorous campaign schedule, all while serving as leader of the free world.

Polling and these factors all likely played a role in Democrats’ thinking about his re-election odds and Biden’s decision.

Harris polls about the same as Biden, including among key groups, but she is viewed more favorably

On the surface, Harris’ odds look about the same.

In the same five post-debate national polls, the vice president ties Trump at 47% apiece among registered voters.

That is two points higher than Biden’s number in the same polls.

Her position is similar across three competitive state polls that tested both Biden and Harris.

In Georgia, Trump is ahead of Harris, 51% to 46%; Harris adds a point on Biden’s number, but overall the gap between the two candidates is wider (AJC).
In Pennsylvania, Trump edges Harris 48% to 46%, a two-point improvement on Biden and within the margin of error (NYT/Siena).
In Virginia, Harris gets 48% versus Trump’s 44%, another two-point improvement on Biden and within the margin of error (NYT/Siena).

These numbers suggest that today, a polarized electorate views Harris similarly to Biden. His values are hers; so are his accomplishments and failures.

There is also no meaningful difference between Biden and Harris’ support with key voter groups in a matchup against Trump. From last week’s Fox News Poll:

Black voters (Biden 69%, Harris 69%)
Women voters (Biden 51%, Harris 52%)
Voters under 30 (Biden 47%, Harris 51%)
Independents (Biden 47%, Harris 48%)
Moderates (Biden 53%, Harris 55%)

(Fox News Poll, July 7-10; MOE: Black ±9, Women ±4, Under 30 ±7.5, Independents ±7, Moderates ±6)

That means, so far, her pathway to 270 electoral college votes looks about the same as Biden’s.

Voters view Harris more favorably than Biden.

As the same Fox News Poll revealed, 44% of voters have a favorable opinion of Harris, while 54% view her unfavorably. 

Those numbers are similar to Trump’s (-12) and better than Biden’s (-20).

Harris, 59 years old, does not have Biden’s age issue. Voters were already concerned about it before the debate; those concerns exploded after it.

That is likely helping her ratings.

Many unknowns, but new signs of life among Democratic strategists and continuing enthusiasm in the GOP

Again, these results reflect Harris’ current standing, with voters knowing her as the vice president on Biden’s ticket. Her polling, path to 270 and favorability could all change in the weeks ahead.

It is possible, for example, that Democrats will become more enthusiastic about their nominee.

The Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue said yesterday was their ‘biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle,’ with Harris raising $47 million since her campaign launch.

Democratic strategists are also much more enthusiastic about the race than before, though Republicans have been for over a year, and they also seem energized by the news.

Other Democrats poll similarly to Harris

July’s Fox News survey also asked about California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, two candidates who the media floated as possible Biden replacements.

(Newsom has endorsed Harris for president, and Whitmer will reportedly do the same).

For both candidates, the race is a dead heat against Trump.

Democrats had not yet formally nominated Biden, so the existing process allows for a different candidate to compete in the general

No presidential candidate has ever announced that they were not seeking another term this close to Election Day.

However, Democrats have not yet formally nominated Biden, which means they can support a new candidate who will appear on general election ballots in all 50 states.

This week, the party is likely to affirm that their existing nominating process will continue as planned.

Under that process, delegates were awarded to candidates after the primaries earlier this year; almost all of them were pledged to Biden. The only step left is for delegates to formally nominate a candidate in the party’s ‘roll call vote.’

This is just like the roll call vote that Republicans held at their convention last week.

The candidate who gets a majority of votes from delegates becomes the nominee. Again, it is most likely, but not guaranteed, to be Harris.

The most pressing question is who she will choose as her running mate. Possible contenders include moderate Govs. Andy Beshear, Roy Cooper and Josh Shapiro.

Democrats must also decide when to hold that roll call vote.

Most recently, the party committee in charge of that process said it would happen in the first seven days of August.

A historic election cycle continues

The Power Rankings forecast was already on hold after Biden’s fatal debate performance and the attempted assassination of former President Trump, another two political earthquakes in this historic election cycle.

Now, Democrats will get to know a new presidential candidate.

Once the party finalizes its nominating process, it is on to the Democratic National Convention, which begins August 19 in Chicago.

(Convention chair Minyon Moore reaffirmed that date yesterday.)

Democrats must also soon decide what to do about further presidential debates.

The Biden and Trump campaigns previously agreed to a presidential debate on ABC in September, which, after Biden’s decision, Trump is calling to be held on Fox News. Harris had also agreed to an August vice presidential debate on CBS and Trump to one on Fox News, possibly at an HBCU. Trump also previously agreed to a presidential debate with Fox News in October.

Whatever happens, Fox News has Democracy ’24 covered.

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Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will testify Monday before the House Oversight Committee in a hearing on the circumstances surrounding the attempted assassination of former President Trump – amid intense criticism of her leadership and calls for her to step down.

The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Cheatle to appear last week as part of an open investigation into the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the ear, while one attendee was killed and two others injured. 

In a statement, Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, confirmed her attendance on Friday, and ABC News has since reported excerpts of testimony Cheatle is expected to deliver.

‘The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed,’ Cheatle is expected to tell the committee on Monday. ‘As the Director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse. As an agency, we are fully cooperating with the FBI’s investigation, the oversight you have initiated here, and conducting our own internal mission assurance review at my direction. Likewise, we will cooperate with the pending external review and the DHS Office of the Inspector General.’

In the wake of the shooting, Republicans and some Democrats immediately raised questions about the performance of the agency, including about how a gunman was able to get so close to the former president and fire multiple shots. In his letter to Cheatle, Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., had accused the Secret Service of a lack of transparency in issuing the subpoena.

Comer is expected to tell Cheatle Monday that she should resign.

‘Americans demand answers from Director Kimberly Cheatle about the Secret Service’s historic security failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd. We look forward to Director Cheatle’s testimony on Monday, July 22 to deliver the transparency and accountability that Americans deserve,’ Comer said in response to Cheatle confirming she would testify.

In addition to the Oversight Committee hearing, the House Homeland Security committee has called for a hearing and subpoenaed documents from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. In the Senate, both Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., and ranking member Rand Paul, R-Ky., have launched an investigation. The DHS Office of Inspector General is also reviewing the Secret Service’s handling of the rally.

In a preview of the pressure Cheatle may face, she was confronted by multiple Republican senators at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

‘This was an assassination attempt, you owe the people answers, you owe President Trump answers,’ Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said.

Cheatle, meanwhile, has called the shooting ‘unacceptable’ and ‘something that shouldn’t happen again.’ She is expected to tell the committee Monday that she will move ‘heaven and earth’ to make sure what happened on July 13 never does again, according to the excerpts obtained by ABC News. 

‘Our mission is not political. It is literally a matter of life and death, as the tragic events on July 13th remind us. I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service,’ she is expected to tell the committee. ‘They are worthy of our support in executing our protective mission.’

However, in response to the intense criticism from lawmakers, the Secret Service says she does not intend to resign.

‘Continuity of operations is paramount during a critical incident and U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no intentions to step down,’ Guglielmi said. ‘She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews.’

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Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign has raised nearly $50 million in grassroots donations since President Biden suspended his re-election bid and endorsed her, Fox News Digital has learned. 

‘Since the President endorsed Vice President Harris yesterday afternoon, everyday Americans have given $49.6 million in grassroots donations to her campaign,’ the Harris campaign told Fox News Digital. 

The campaign told Fox News Digital that the figure represents grassroots donations raised across ‘all entities, including ActBlue.’ 

Harris announced her presidential campaign Sunday afternoon just after Biden announced he would drop out of the 2024 race, amid pressure from within the Democratic Party. 

The unprecedented announcement came as an increasing number of Democrat lawmakers had begun to publicly call for Biden to step aside and the party’s leadership reportedly was engaged in efforts to convince Biden, 81, he could not win in November’s general election against former President Trump, the 2024 GOP nominee who Biden defeated four years ago to win the White House.

Biden quickly offered his ‘full support and endorsement’ for Harris to take over as the party’s presidential nominee.

‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president,’ Biden wrote in a public letter. ‘While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.’

Biden said he will formally address the nation later this week about his decision. 

In a social media post, Biden backed Harris to take over as the party’s standard-bearer.

‘My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to 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. Let’s do this,’ Biden wrote.

The president’s endorsement could dissuade any serious completion from other Democrats who may have mulled a bid for the presidential nomination and could clear a path for the vice president to succeed Biden as the party’s nominee.

Harris has already gained endorsements from more than half a dozen governors, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul; along with more than 178 Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate. 

Harris, in a statement about two hours after Biden’s announcement, said she is ‘honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.’

‘Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead,’ she added. ‘I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.’

The vice president praised her boss, thanking Biden ‘for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country. His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many Presidents who have served two terms in office.’

A source familiar told Fox News that Biden and Harris spoke multiple times on Sunday ahead of the president’s stunning announcement.

Biden’s endorsement of Harris was quickly followed by two top party elders, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State and former Sen. Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

‘We are honored to join the President in endorsing Vice President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her.’

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, one of the Biden campaign’s biggest donors, also quickly endorsed Harris.

Former President Obama, however, has not yet endorsed her, and is instead backing a process where an ‘outstanding’ nominee can emerge. 

‘We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,’ the former president wrote in a letter.

Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were among the scores of top Democrats praising Biden for putting the nation and the party over personal ambitions.

‘Joe Biden has been one of America’s most consequential presidents, as well as a dear friend and partner to me. Today, we’ve also been reminded — again — that he’s a patriot of the highest order.’ the Obamas wrote.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have not yet endorsed Harris. 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

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Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will testify Monday before the House Oversight Committee in a hearing on the circumstances surrounding the attempted assassination of former President Trump – amid intense criticism of her leadership and calls for her to step down.

The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Cheatle to appear last week as part of an open investigation into the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the ear, while one attendee was killed and two others injured. 

In a statement, Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, confirmed her attendance on Friday.

‘The Secret Service is fully accountable for the safety of its protectees. We are committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure it never happens again. That includes cooperation with Congress, the FBI and other relevant investigations.’

In the wake of the shooting, Republicans and some Democrats immediately raised questions about the performance of the agency, including about how a gunman was able to get so close to the former president and fire multiple shots. In his letter to Cheatle, Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., had accused the Secret Service of a lack of transparency in issuing the subpoena.

‘Americans demand answers from Director Kimberly Cheatle about the Secret Service’s historic security failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump, murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd. We look forward to Director Cheatle’s testimony on Monday, July 22 to deliver the transparency and accountability that Americans deserve,’ Comer said in response to Cheatle confirming she would testify.

In addition to the Oversight Committee hearing, the House Homeland Security committee has called for a hearing and has subpoenaed documents from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. In the Senate, both Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., and ranking member Rand Paul, R-Ky., have launched an investigation. The DHS Office of Inspector General is also reviewing the Secret Service’s handling of the rally

In a preview of the pressure Cheatle may face, she was confronted by multiple Republican senators at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

‘This was an assassination attempt, you owe the people answers, you owe President Trump answers,’ Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said.

Cheatle, meanwhile, has called the shooting ‘unacceptable’ and ‘something that shouldn’t happen again.’

‘The buck stops with me,’ she told ABC News last week. ‘I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.’

However, in response to the intense criticism from lawmakers, the Secret Service says she does not intend to resign.

‘Continuity of operations is paramount during a critical incident and U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no intentions to step down,’ Guglielmi said. ‘She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews.’

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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the contest for the White House is a ‘two-man race’ and that only he can beat Donald Trump after President Biden’s shocking withdrawal from a second-term bid.

Speaking Sunday at a hastily called press conference from his family’s storied compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, Kennedy praised Biden while simultaneously blaming Democratic Party leaders for ‘hiding’ his mental decline.

‘I want to begin by commending President Biden for a career in public service: a long, long career and representing and serving our country and for his handling of the many difficulties and challenges, personal challenges and tragedies that he suffered during his life with so much admirable conduct and the empathy that he derives from those experiences,’ Kennedy said.

Kennedy, who left the party his family once ruled after it blocked his bid to challenge Biden in primaries, said the Democratic National Committee created a mess by covering for Biden.

‘The reaction of the DNC to that obvious condition was to hide it from the American public and to use their power over the Democratic Party nomination process to make sure that nobody could compete with President Biden in a way that would expose his deficiencies,’ Kennedy argued.

Kennedy continued his campaign as an independent, and he has reached double-digits in some polls on a platform that decries ‘corporate capture,’ the affordability crisis, and ‘forever wars,’ according to his campaign website.

Kennedy also called out former President Trump as well as Vice President Harris, who appears poised to head the Democrat ticket. 

‘President Trump has a connection to the American people, a populist connection,’ said Kennedy. ‘But in many ways, it’s the same fraudulent connection that we saw with the DNC over the past year, concealing a real purpose of their objective, which was to give us a president that … represents corporate interests rather than the interests of the American public.’

‘If the Democrats do what I suspect they’re going to do, which is to anoint Kamala Harris, a vice president who is monumentally unpopular within her own party … they’re doing it because it’s the easiest way to hold on to the money,’ Kennedy said.

Kennedy said he would consider accepting the Democrat nomination if were it offered to him.

‘I would certainly listen to the party elders if they came to me, I would discuss something with them,’ said Kennedy. ‘I’m the only presidential candidate who can beat Donald Trump, and if I were them, I would do that, and I would certainly listen to their proposals.’

‘I wouldn’t be the front-runner, because by the time I left the Democratic Party, it was really clear that, and this is the only reason I left that day, that the rules have been rigged to prevent me from winning,’ Kennedy said. ‘So, I would be in the same position as [presidential candidates] Dean Phillips today or Marianne Williamson, which is, you know, sidelined.’

Kennedy added, ‘I am very content running where I am, and I believe I can win this election. I believe at this point it’s a two-man race or two-person race. Let me put it that way. And, you know, and that I’m in the best position to win.’

A Fox News Poll from July showed Kennedy receiving 10% of the general electoral vote in a three-way race with Trump and Biden.

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Former President Donald Trump said the next presidential debate should be moderated by Fox News, not ‘on Fake News ABC,’ after President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. 

‘My debate with Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the history of the United States, was slated to be broadcast on Fake News ABC, the home of George Slopadopolus, sometime in September. Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, has quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC. Thank you!,’ Trump posted to Truth Social late Sunday afternoon. 

Trump’s statement comes after Biden officially dropped out of the 2024 presidential race following weeks of mounting pressure from Democratic allies that he should bow out and pass the mantle to someone better suited to defeat Trump come November. The calls for him to drop out stem from concerns over his mental fitness and 81 years of age, which came under heightened scrutiny after his disastrous debate performance last month. 

‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. 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,’ Biden said in his letter posted to X Sunday afternoon. 

The president endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president shortly following his announcement. Harris is the most likely candidate to run in Biden’s place, but still needs to become the official nominee at the Democratic National Convention next month. 

‘My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to 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. Let’s do this,’ Biden said. 

CNN moderated the first presidential debate in June, with ABC News slated to host the second debate in September. Due to Biden now out of the race, Trump is calling for the debate schedule to be modified and have Fox News host the debate. It is unclear who Trump will debate until the DNC certifies its nominee. 

Trump and his campaign previously accepted two Fox News debates this election cycle, including a presidential debate for Oct. 2, and a vice presidential debate for a date that had not yet been determined. 

Trump said shortly following Biden’s announcement that ‘Crooked Joe Biden is the Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation.’

‘He has done everything possible to destroy our Country, from our Southern Border, to Energy Dominance, National Security, International Standing, and so much more. He was annihilated in an Earth Shattering Debate, and now the Corrupt and Radical Democrats are throwing him overboard. He was not fit to serve from the very beginning, but the people around him lied to America about his Complete and Total Mental, Physical, and Cognitive Demise. Whoever the Left puts up now will just be more of the same. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’ Trump posted. 

The 45th president added in a phone call with CNN that Harris would be an easier candidate to defeat than Biden. 

Trump posted in a follow-up Truth Social post Sunday evening that his campaign was ‘forced to spend time and money on fighting Crooked Joe Biden’ before he quit the race. 

‘Shouldn’t the Republican Party be reimbursed for fraud in that everybody around Joe, including his doctors and the Fake News Media, knew he was not capable of running for, or being, President? Just askin’?’ Trump wrote. 

The ABC News debate is scheduled for Sept. 10. 

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