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Tag: Government and politics

  • Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tenders resignation, parliament speaker says

    Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tenders resignation, parliament speaker says

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    Dmytro Kuleba at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. 

    Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Ukraine’s wartime Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba tendered his resignation, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said Wednesday.

    “The application will be considered at one of the nearest plenary sessions meetings,” the Parliament speaker added in a Google-translated post on the Facebook social media platform.

    Kuleba, 43, took on the post of Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs in March 2020 and has been a stalwart figure at the forefront of Kyiv’s concerted campaign to curry international favor in its efforts to fight back Ukraine’s ongoing invasion at the hands of neighboring Russia since February 2022. He was previously appointed as permanent representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe over 2016-2019.

    CNBC has reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

    Kuleba’s potential resignation follows similar steps to stand down on Tuesday from a swathe of Ukrainian ministers reported by state news agency Ukrinform, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin and Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska.

    David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People faction in Parliament, had foreshadowed a wide-spread and “major reboot of the government” this week.

    “More than 50% of the staff of the [Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine] will undergo changes,” he said Tuesday in a Google-translated post on Telegram. “Tomorrow is the day of layoffs, and the day after tomorrow is the day of appointments.”

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled the tide was also set to change in Ukraine’s highest political echelons in his nightly address of Tuesday.

    “Autumn will be extremely important for Ukraine. And our state institutions must be set up in such a way that Ukraine will achieve all the results we need — for all of us. To do this, we need to strengthen some areas in the Government — and personnel decisions have been prepared, ” he said, adding that the anticipated changes in office will lead to “certain areas” of Kyiv’s foreign and domestic policies gaining a “slightly different emphasis.”

    “We need a new level of simultaneous information work, cultural and diplomatic. And a new level of relations with the global Ukrainian community. Now is the time to give new strength to Ukraine’s Governmental institutions, and I am grateful to everyone who will help,” he said.

    Zelenskyy did not disclose any of the names slated for dismissal or appointment at the time.

    Mirroring its battlefield efforts, Ukraine has been fighting a diplomatic war on multiple fronts, balancing a tenuous courtship of international financial and military backing, along with attempts to clean up its domestic record on corruption and pursue accession to the European Union.

    The potential change at the helm of Ukraine’s foreign affairs comes a mere two months ahead of the election of new leadership in key ally Washington. The U.S. administration of Joe Biden — including Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris — has so far staunchly backed Ukraine throughout its battle against Russia, but the long-term support of former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has previously pledged to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours, remains to be seen.

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  • Harris says Trump ‘disrespected sacred’ Arlington for ‘political stunt’

    Harris says Trump ‘disrespected sacred’ Arlington for ‘political stunt’

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    U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Brendan Mcdermid | Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

    Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday skewered former President Donald Trump for filming at the Arlington National Cemetery, accusing him of exploiting his visit for political purposes, which is prohibited.

    “Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt,” Harris wrote in a lengthy X post. “This is a man who is unable to comprehend anything other than service to himself.”

    A half-hour later, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, fired back at Harris in his own social media post: “President trump was there at the invitation of families whose loved ones died because of your incompetence.”

    “Why don’t you get off social media and go launch an investigation into their unnecessary deaths?” Vance added.

    The Trump campaign echoed that line of defense in its own social media post, responding to Harris: “You’ve never ONCE taken responsibility for the 13 heroes killed on your watch — while you bragged about being the last person in the room.”

    Over the past week, Trump has faced heat for his Monday visit to Arlington Cemetery, during which his campaign staffers “abruptly pushed aside” a cemetery worker trying to enforce federal laws that prohibit conducting “political activities” on military cemetery grounds, according to a U.S. Army spokesperson.

    Trump made the trip to the cemetery to commemorate the three-year anniversary of the killing of 13 U.S. service members in a bombing at Kabul Airport during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he has repeatedly blamed on President Joe Biden and Harris.

    While Trump met with families of the victims, his campaign staff took various photos and videos, several of which were posted to his social media platforms.

    The Arlington Cemetery issued a statement confirming the incident between the campaign and the cemetery staff member, which NPR was first to report.

    “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” the cemetery said.

    The Trump campaign has repeatedly denied any physical altercation and said it had approval to have a photographer and videographer on the premises. A Trump campaign spokesperson said the incident was the result of a cemetery staffer having a “mental health episode.”

    Trump on Friday said he only took pictures at the site because the victims’ families wanted to.

    “I stood with different people over different graves and took pictures. I didn’t want to take pictures, but I wanted to take them if they wanted to take them,” he said in a moderated conversation with Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice.

    The Harris campaign has pounced on the controversy, scorning Trump for disrespecting U.S. troops and pointing to several other incidents where the former president has faced backlash for reportedly making disparaging comments about veterans, which he has denied.

    “This is nothing new from Donald Trump,” Harris wrote in her Saturday post. “It is my belief that someone who cannot meet this simple, sacred duty should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States of America.”

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  • Trump rebukes Harris and Biden on anniversary of Afghanistan bombing that killed 13 service members

    Trump rebukes Harris and Biden on anniversary of Afghanistan bombing that killed 13 service members

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    DETROIT (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday tied Vice President Kamala Harris to the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members, calling the attack a “humiliation.”

    Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, laid wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, who were killed alongside more than 100 Afghans in the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport. He then traveled to Michigan to address the National Guard Association of the United States conference.

    “Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world,” Trump told an audience of about 4,000, including National Guard members and their families in Detroit.

    Taliban fighters carry rocket launchers as they celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, southwestern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaliq)

    President Joe Biden’s administration was following a withdrawal commitment and timeline that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban in 2020. A 2022 review by a government-appointed special investigator concluded decisions made by both Trump and Biden were the key factors leading to the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s military and the Taliban takeover.

    In his speech to the National Guard in Detroit, Trump said that leaving Afghanistan was the right thing to do but that the execution was poor. “We were going to do it with dignity and strength,” he said. He called the attack “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.”

    Since Biden ended his reelection bid, Trump has been zeroing in on Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, and her roles in foreign policy decisions. He has specifically highlighted the vice president’s statements that she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision on Afghanistan.

    “The voters are going to fire Kamala and Joe on Nov. 5, we hope, and when I take office we will ask for the resignations of every single official,” Trump said in Detroit. “We’ll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity, to be on my desk at noon on Inauguration Day. You know, you have to fire people. You have to fire people when they do a bad job.”

    In her own statement marking the anniversary of the Kabul airport attack, Harris said she mourns the 13 U.S. service members who were killed. “My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss,” she said.

    Harris said she honors and remembers all Americans who served in Afghanistan.

    Donald Trump campaigns in Michigan today, on the third anniversary of a deadly bombing during the US evacuation from Afghanistan. AP correspondent Jennifer King reports.

    Image

    Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

    “As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war. Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones,” she said. “I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people.”

    Biden said in a statement Monday that the 13 Americans who died were “patriots in the highest sense” who “embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    “Ever since I became Vice President, I carried a card with me every day that listed the exact number of American service members who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan—including Taylor, Johanny, Nicole, Hunter, Daegan, Humberto, David, Jared, Rylee, Dylan, Kareem, Maxton, and Ryan,” Biden said.

    The relatives of some of the American service members who were killed appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention last month and spoke on Monday in a media call along with Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. They said they are still trying to get answers on how their loved ones died.

    “For them to think that is OK and treat it as another page in a book that they’re just flipping over for the next chapter it saddens me and frightens me all at the same time,” said Alicia Lopez, the mother of Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, who added she has another son serving in the military. “I pray that I don’t get another knock on my door because of the lack of responsibilities this administration has for our military.”

    Asked Monday why Biden and Harris weren’t marking the anniversary of the Abbey Gate attack as Trump did at Arlington National Cemetery, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Trump had been personally invited by the family members and he called it one way to honor the fallen.

    “Another way is to continue to work,” Kirby said. “Maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with TV cameras, but to work with might and main every single day to make sure that the families of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded, not just at Abbey Gate, but over the course of the 20-some odd years that we were in Afghanistan, have the support that they need.”

    Also Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced that Congress will posthumously honor the 13 service members by presenting their families with the Congressional Gold Medal next month. It’s the highest civilian award that Congress can bestow.

    Under Trump, the United States signed a peace agreement with the Taliban that was aimed at ending America’s longest war and bringing U.S. troops home. Biden later pointed to that agreement as he sought to deflect blame for the Taliban overrunning Afghanistan, saying it bound him to withdraw troops and set the stage for the chaos that engulfed the country.

    A Biden administration review of the withdrawal acknowledged that the evacuation of Americans and allies from Afghanistan should have started sooner, but attributed the delays to the Afghan government and military, and to U.S. military and intelligence community assessments.

    The top two U.S. generals who oversaw the evacuation said the administration inadequately planned for the withdrawal. The nation’s top-ranking military officer at the time, then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, told lawmakers earlier this year he had urged Biden to keep a residual force of 2,500 forces to give backup. Instead, Biden decided to keep a much smaller force of 650 that would be limited to securing the U.S. embassy.

    ___

    Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report from Washington.

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  • Russian attacks on Ukraine injure at least 29, local authorities say

    Russian attacks on Ukraine injure at least 29, local authorities say

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    Ukrainian emergency services conduct a search and rescue operation among the rubble of a destroyed hotel following a Russian strike in the town of Kramatorsk early in the morning on August 25, 2024.

    Genya Savilov | Afp | Getty Images

    Russia launched several missiles and drones overnight targeting northern and eastern Ukraine, injuring at least 29 people, Ukrainian military and local authorities said on Sunday.

    The attack targeted Ukraine’s frontline regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, Ukraine’s air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

    Russia has been pummelling Ukrainian border regions with strikes, and Kyiv said its surprise incursion earlier this month into Russia’s Kursk region aimed to hinder Moscow’s ability to stage such attacks.

    “Most of the missiles did not reach their targets,” the air force said, adding that Russia launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile, an Iskander-K cruise missile and six guided air missiles. It did not specify how many missiles were destroyed.

    Russia struggles to respond to Ukraine’s incursion as advancing forces destroy key bridges and war potential

    A missile attack on the northern region of Sumy killed one person, injuring at least 16 more, including three children, local authorities said on Telegram.

    Oleh Sinehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region in the east, posted on Telegram that at least 13 people were injured in the Russian attacks, including a 4-year-old child.

    Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv city, said a gas pipeline was damaged in the city and at least two houses were destroyed and 10 damaged.

    The air force said Russia launched nine attack drones, with Ukraine’s air defence systems destroying eight of them over the Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region.

    Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

    Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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  • Fires observed on board Greek-flagged tanker in Red Sea, says maritime agency

    Fires observed on board Greek-flagged tanker in Red Sea, says maritime agency

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    Aerial view of a ship at sea.

    Suriyapong Thongsawang | Moment | Getty Images

    Three fires blazed on a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Friday, one day after rescuers evacuated its crew in the wake of an assault by Yemeni Houthi militants.

    The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said on Thursday that they had attacked the Sounion oil tanker as part of their 10-month campaign against commercial shipping to support Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

    The Houthis first damaged the tanker on Wednesday with repeated attacks that caused a fire and a loss of engine power. A European warship later rescued her crew of 25. The uncrewed vessel was anchored between Yemen and Eritrea, a maritime security source told Reuters on Thursday.

    Battle for the Red Sea expands with U.S. strikes, EU stepping up its efforts against Houthis

    On Friday, UKMTO said in an advisory that it had received reports of three fires on the vessel, which “appears to be drifting.” Later in the day, the Houthis posted a video on social media that purportedly showed them setting the tanker on fire.

    The damaged tanker, carrying 150,000 metric tons of crude oil, poses an environmental hazard, the EU’s Red Sea naval mission Aspides said.

    “A potential spill could lead to disastrous consequences for the region’s marine environment,” the Djibouti Ports & Free Zones Authority said in a post on the social media site X on Friday.

    The largest recorded ship-source spill was in 1979, when about 287,000 tonnes of oil escaped from the Atlantic Empress after it collided with another crude carrier in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Tobago during a storm, according to International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.

    The Sounion was the third vessel operated by Athens-based Delta Tankers to come under Houthi attack this month.

    The Houthis said it attacked the tanker in part because Delta Tankers’ violated its ban on “entry to the ports of occupied Palestine,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.

    “Delta Tankers is doing everything it can to move the vessel (and cargo). For security reasons, we are not in a position to comment further,” the company said in a statement on Friday. 

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  • Republican ex-Rep. Adam Kinzinger: Trump ‘suffocated the soul of’ the GOP

    Republican ex-Rep. Adam Kinzinger: Trump ‘suffocated the soul of’ the GOP

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    Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger in his Democratic National Convention speech that “Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party,” endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris for president.

    “His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness, sapping our strength, softening our spine, whipping us into a fever that has untethered us from our values,” he said.

    Kinzinger, who represented Illinois in Congress from 2011 to 2023, directed his speech not to the Democrats in Chicago’s United Center Thursday night, but to members of his own party.

    “I’ve learned something about the Democratic Party, and I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret,” he said. “The Democrats are as patriotic as us. They love this country just as much as we do. And they are as eager to defend American values at home and abroad as we conservatives have ever been.”

    “I’ve learned something about my party, too. Something I couldn’t ignore,” he continued. “The Republican Party is no longer conservative. It has switched its allegiance. From the principles that gave it purpose, to a man whose only purpose is himself.”

    Kinzinger, who in his speech said he “still hold[s] onto the label” of Republican, was a Trump critic before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    In the wake of the violent insurrection, Kinzinger was one of only ten Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in the former president’s second impeachment trial.

    Kinzinger also voted to create, and then sat on, the select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 riot. He and former Rep. Liz Cheney were the only Republicans on the committee.

    U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) speaks next to chairman U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS) during the fifth of eight planned public hearings of the U.S. House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 23, 2022. 

    Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

    “Our democracy was frayed by the events of January 6th, as Donald Trump’s deceit and dishonor led to a siege on the United States Capitol,” he said. “How can a party claim to be patriotic if it idolizes a man who tried to overthrow a free and fair election?”

    Kinzinger, who in June endorsed Democrat Joe Biden before the president dropped his bid for reelection, was not the first Republican to speak at this year’s Democratic convention.

    Several former Trump voters and staffers spoke at the DNC this week, endorsing Harris in an effort to convince their fellow Republicans to vote against their party and its leader.

    “Democracy knows no party,” Kinzinger said. “It is a living, breathing ideal that defines us as a nation. It is the bedrock that separates us from tyranny — and when that foundation is fractured, we must all stand united to strengthen it.”

    “If you think those principles are worth defending, I urge you: Make the right choice. Vote for our bedrock values. Vote for Kamala Harris.”

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  • Russia struggles to respond to Ukraine’s incursion as advancing forces destroy key bridges and war potential

    Russia struggles to respond to Ukraine’s incursion as advancing forces destroy key bridges and war potential

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    A soldier fixes a drone underground in a Ukrainian military position, and former Russian military position, in Ukrainian-controlled territory on August 18th 2024, in Kursk, Russia. Ukrainian forces operating in Russia’s Kursk Region have destroyed a second key bridge, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force said, as they attempt to push further into Russia. 

    The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images

    Ukrainian forces say they’ve blown up a second strategically-significant bridge in the Kursk region of Russia as Kyiv continues its incursion, while Moscow has yet to mount a robust response to the ambitious cross-border operation.

    As many as 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers are taking part in the incursion into Russian territory that began almost two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reports. Kyiv claims it has taken control of 82 settlements in the region over an area of 1,150 square kilometers (444 square miles) since the border raid began.

    Ukrainian forces have concentrated a number of their assaults on key transport and fuel infrastructure in Kursk, in a bid to make it harder for Russia to resource and resupply its troops fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine.

    Last Friday, Ukraine said its forces had destroyed a key bridge over the Seym river in Kursk, with the bridge reportedly used to transport equipment to the front line. Russian officials confirmed the attack took place and said the bridge’s destruction would hamper efforts to continue evacuating thousands of citizens out of Kursk.

    Citizens being evacuated from border settlements to safe areas as clashes between the Russian and Ukrainian armies continue in the Kursk region, Russia on August 17, 2024. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations is carrying out the evacuation with the help of Russian Railways and the volunteer organizations. 

    Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

    On Saturday night, Ukrainian forces struck a Russian oil depot in the Rostov region that supplies oil to the Russian military. Ukraine’s General Staff commented on the attack that “measures to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian Federation continue.”

    Ukraine’s air force on Sunday claimed it had destroyed a second bridge in Kursk, which Russia used to supply its troops. Aerial footage posted on social media purported to show the blast creating a large hole in the bridge in Zvannoe. CNBC could not independently verify the footage.

    “Minus one more bridge,” Ukrainian Air Force commander Lt Gen Mykola Oleschuk commented on Telegram.

    Ukraine’s air force “continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with precise strikes from the air, which significantly affects the course of hostilities,” he added, in comments translated by NBC News.

    Ukrainian servicemen operate a Soviet-made T-72 tank in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on August 12, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

    Roman Pilipey | Afp | Getty Images

    Russia has yet to mount a robust counter-offensive against the Ukrainian incursion, and even Russian military bloggers have criticized the military’s failure to anticipate the incursion, and the sluggish response to the operation.

    Defense analysts say that the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk continues to force Russia to redeploy forces from elsewhere in the theater of war, and analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank noted that it’s likely that “subsequent phases of fighting within Russia will require more Russian manpower and materiel commitments to the area.”

    ISW analysts further said Sunday that Russian redeployments to Kursk have allowed their forces to slow the initially rapid Ukrainian gains in the region and to start containing the extent of the Ukrainian offensive.

    However, they stressed, “containment is only the first and likely least resource-intensive phase of the Russian response in Kursk.”

    A Ukrainian military vehicle drives from the direction of the border with Russia carrying blindfolded men in Russian military uniforms, in the Sumy region, on August 13, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

    Roman Pilipey | Afp | Getty Images

    “Russian forces will likely launch a concerted counteroffensive effort to retake territory in Kursk Oblast [region] that Ukrainian forces have seized, although it is too early to assess when Russian forces will stop Ukrainian advances in Kursk Oblast completely and seize the battlefield initiative to launch such an effort,” the ISW said.

    “This likely future Russian counteroffensive effort will very likely require Russia to commit even more manpower, equipment, and materiel to Kursk,” the ISW added, outlining that the exact extent of the elements needed for sustained counteroffensives to push Ukrainian forces back across the border will depend on how heavily Kyiv’s military defends occupied positions in Russia.

    ‘War potential’

    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukraine’s primary aim was to destroy “Russian war potential” and to create a “buffer zone” to prevent Russian attacks on its border regions.

    “It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall: to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory – our operation in the Kursk region,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.

    “Everything that inflicts losses on the Russian army, Russian state, their military-industrial complex, and their economy helps prevent the war from expanding and brings us closer to a just end to this aggression – a just peace for Ukraine,” he added.

    A pickup truck with Ukrainian soldiers in the back moves towards the border with Russia on August 16, 2024 in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. The fighting in the Kursk Oblast began on August 6, 2024, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border near the city of Sudzha and began to advance deep into Russian territory, and in a few days took control of dozens of settlements in Kursk region. 

    Global Images Ukraine | Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images

    The Ukrainian president said he had been briefed on the situation in Kursk by the military’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and implied that arming of Ukrainian units operating in the Russian region was proving challenging.

    He also called on Western allies to transfer weapons and ammunition pledged in military aid packages as quickly as possible to Ukraine.

    “Our guys are doing great on all fronts. However, there is a need for faster delivery of supplies from our partners. We strongly ask for this. There are no vacations in war. Decisions are needed, as is timely logistics for the announced aid packages,” Zelenskyy said.

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  • Trump zigzags between economic remarks and personal insults at rally in critical Pennsylvania

    Trump zigzags between economic remarks and personal insults at rally in critical Pennsylvania

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    WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday repeatedly swerved from a message focused on the economy into non sequiturs and personal attacks, including thrice declaring that he was better looking than Vice President Kamala Harris.

    Trump wound back and forth between hitting his points on economic policy and delivering a smattering of insults and impressions of President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron as he held a rally in northeastern Pennsylvania.

    The former president has seemed to struggle to adjust to his new opponent after Democrats replaced their nominee. Over the past week, he has diverged during campaign appearances away from the policies he was billed to speak about and instead diverted to a rotation of familiar attack lines and insults.

    As he attacked Democrats for inflation at the top of his speech, Trump asked his crowd of supporters, “You don’t mind if I go off teleprompter for a second, do you? Joe Biden hates her.”

    Joseph Costello, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, responded to Trump in a statement by saying, “Another rally, same old show” and that Trump “ resorts to lies, name-calling, and confused rants,” because he can’t sell his agenda.

    “The more Americans hear Trump speak, the clearer the choice this November: Vice President Harris is unifying voters with her positive vision to protect our freedoms, build up the middle class, and move America forward — and Donald Trump is trying to take us backwards,” Costello said.

    Trump’s rally in Wilkes-Barre was in a swath of a pivotal battleground state where he hopes conservative, white working-class voters near Biden’s hometown of Scranton will boost the Republican’s chances of winning back the White House.

    His remarks Saturday came as Democrats prepare for their four-day national convention that kicks off Monday in Chicago and will mark the party’s welcoming of Harris as their nominee. Her replacement of Biden less than four months before the November election has reinvigorated Democrats and their coalition. It has also presented a new challenge for Trump.

    Trump hammered Harris on the economy, associating her with the Biden administration’s inflation woes and likening her latest proposal against price gouging to measures in communist nations. Trump has said a federal ban on price gouging for groceries would lead to food shortages, rationing and hunger. On Saturday asked why she hadn’t worked to solve prices when she and Biden were sworn into office in 2021.

    “Day one for Kamala was three and a half years ago. So why didn’t she do it then? So this is day 1,305,” Trump said.

    To address high prices, Trump said he would sign an executive order on his first day sworn in as president “directing every cabinet secretary and agency head to use every power we have to drive prices down, but we’re going to drive them down in a capitalist way, not in a communist way,” he said.

    He predicted financial ruin for the country, and Pennsylvania in particular, if Harris wins, citing her past opposition to fracking, an oil and gas extraction process commonly used in the state. Her campaign has tried to soften her stance on fracking, saying she would not ban it, even though that was her position when she was seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.

    “Your state’s going to be ruined anyway. She’s totally anti-fracking,” Trump said.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    But he also meandered, going from ripping the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 to doing impressions of Macron’s French accent.

    Trump laced in attacks on Harris’ laugh and said she was “not a very good wordsmith” and mocked the names of the CNN anchors who moderated the debate he had with Biden in June.

    When he began musing on Harris’ recent image on the cover of Time magazine, he commented on the picture’s resemblance to classic Hollywood icons Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor and then took issue with a Wall Street Journal columnist remarking earlier this month on Harris’ beauty.

    “I am much better looking than her,” Trump said, drawing laughs from the crowd. “I’m a better looking person than Kamala.”

    He also took issue with the way his style is typically portrayed in news reports.

    “They will say he’s rambling. I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy,” he said.

    Trump’s Saturday rally was his fifth at the arena in Wilkes-Barre, the largest city in Luzerne County, where he has had victories in the past two elections. Biden bested Trump in neighboring Lackawanna County, where the Democrat has long promoted his working-class roots in Scranton.

    On Sunday, Harris plans a bus tour starting in Pittsburgh, with a stop in Rochester, a small town to the north. Trump has scheduled a visit Monday to a plant that manufactures nuclear fuel containers in York. Trump’s running mate JD Vance is expected to be in Philadelphia that day.

    Some of Biden’s loyal supporters in Scranton, a former industrial city of 76,000, were upset to see party leaders put pressure on the president to step aside.

    Diane Munley, 63, says she called dozens of members of Congress to vouch for Biden. Munley eventually came to terms with Biden’s decision and is now very supportive of Harris.

    “I can’t deny the enthusiasm that’s been going on with this ticket right now. I am so into it,” Munley said. “It just wasn’t happening with Joe, and I couldn’t see it at the time because I was so connected to him.”

    Robert A. Bridy, 64, a laborer from Shamokin, Pennsylvania, traveled on Saturday to the rally to show support for Trump. He said the election feels tight in this state and added that his union and a close friend are trying to convince him to vote for Harris and other Democrats, but he has voted for Trump since 2016.

    Bridy called Trump a “working class guy like us.” Trump is a billionaire who built his fortune in real estate.

    “He’s a fighter,” Bridy said. “I’d like to see the closed borders. He doesn’t mess around. He goes at it right away and takes care of business the way it should be.” ___

    Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Darlene Superville in Arlington, Virginia contributed to this report.

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  • Biden to make a forceful case for Harris and Walz in convention speech

    Biden to make a forceful case for Harris and Walz in convention speech

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    U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks next to U.S. President Joe Biden at an event in Prince George’s County, Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2024.

    Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

    President Joe Biden’s role at the Democratic National Convention next week may have been dramatically reshaped by his decision to end his bid for a second term, but his message about the stakes of this election will sound familiar, according to multiple Biden officials.

    The outgoing president will make the case for Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him when he delivers Monday’s keynote address, in part by touting their accomplishments during the last four years.

    But Biden will also make clear that he still believes Republican nominee Donald Trump poses a grave threat to American democracy and urge delegates in Chicago and voters watching across the country to do their part to defeat him again in November, aides say.

    “After saving democracy in 2020, President Biden is determined to defeat the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump,” one official said.

    The first day of the convention in Chicago will include a series of tributes to Biden as he prepares to end a half-century career of public service. Just weeks ago, of course, the entire convention was centered around helping make the case for extending that service by four more years. But now it will offer the president another opportunity to try and shape his legacy.

    The president will spend the weekend at Camp David fine-tuning his remarks with the help of senior advisers, including lead speechwriters Mike Donilon and Vinay Reddy. The remarks will build on the message he delivered in the Oval Office shortly after dropping out of the race and make a forceful case for Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

    The speech, officials say, will be a reminder of the importance of Biden immediately endorsing Harris after announcing he would end his candidacy, helping to quickly unite a party in crisis behind her historic candidacy. Although Biden fought hard to remain in the race after his poor debate performance, his addressing the convention on the first night allows him to pass the torch to her and Walz, Biden officials told NBC News.

    “The President is pleased at the momentum behind the campaign and looks forward to making his case,” an official said.

    Biden aides, though, believe the convention will continue to highlight the Biden-Harris record after he leaves in order to make a contrast with the Republican ticket.

    “Four years ago, America was reeling from a once-in-a-century pandemic, isolated on the world stage, crime was up, the middle class sidelined,” an official said. “Today: We are the global engine of growth, our Alliances are strong, violent crime rate is at a 50-year low, border crossings are lower than when the previous administration left office, and we are making progress on the issues Americans care about most.”

    Members of the Biden family will join the president and first lady, who will speak ahead of her husband. Longtime friends and supporters of Biden will also be traveling together on a chartered plane from Delaware to attend the speech, and several aides have organized a celebration for them and other current and former staff in Chicago Monday night. 

    Other elements of the convention that had been intended to boost Biden’s candidacy will remain as tributes, starting with a convention logo that borrows from his 2020 campaign design. All convention delegates will also receive “Cup of Joe”-branded coffee, and signage around the United Center on Monday will invoke words from Biden’s Oval Office address, such as “History is in your hands,” as well as a family mantra: “Spread the faith.”  

    Biden will leave Chicago after his address Monday to spend the rest of the week in Southern California. There, he will huddle with top advisers who have been working for the past month to firm up plans for his remaining months in office.

    A Biden official said the president “will have an extensive domestic schedule — traveling across the country to keep reminding Americans that they are going to have to choose between his vision and the Vice President’s vision to move the country forward, not backward.”

    “And the President will fight to make every day of his term count to build on these historic achievements,” the official added. “Expect aggressive implementation of historic legislation, actions to lower costs, and a packed foreign policy agenda.”

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  • Harris outlines an ‘opportunity economy’ centered on cutting food, housing, family costs

    Harris outlines an ‘opportunity economy’ centered on cutting food, housing, family costs

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    U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at an event at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., August 16, 2024. 

    Jonathan Drake | Reuters

    Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday delivered an economic policy pitch aimed to appeal to middle-class voters by focusing on lowering the costs of food, housing, health care and childcare.

    In a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Democratic presidential nominee sketched a vision of what she described as an “opportunity economy,” with basic financial security at its core.

    Her plan would impose a federal ban on price gouging on groceries, enact a new $6,000 child tax credit for families with newborn children and give first-time home buyers $25,000 in down-payment support, among a slew of other proposals.

    Harris framed it in stark contrast to the proposals put forward by her rival, former President Donald Trump.

    She blasted the Republican nominee’s support for sweeping tariffs on imported goods as a “Trump tax,” while accusing him of seeking to cut taxes on billionaires and corporations.

    “I think that if you want to know who someone cares about, look who they fight for,” Harris said.

    While still light on specific details, her plans have already garnered fierce criticism from Republicans and economic analysts who have warned that they veer toward government price fixing.

    “Having the government set prices is a really, really big mistake,” said Kevin Hassett, a top economic advisor in the Trump White House, during a press call earlier Friday.

    The nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, meanwhile, estimated that the policies in Harris’ economic plan would raise deficits by $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years.

    Friday’s address was Harris’ first policy speech since she took over from President Joe Biden following his withdrawal from the race last month.

    With less than 90 days until Election Day, Harris is working to take credit for the Biden administration’s economic accomplishments, while trying to flip the script on a key issue where her predecessor got consistently low marks.

    Here’s what else her economic plan includes, according to her campaign.

    Groceries and food

    In an effort to tackle the stubbornly high price of groceries, Harris will work with Congress to advance the first-ever federal ban on “corporate price-gouging” on food and groceries.

    This would include setting “clear rules of the road” so that corporations “can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits” on grocery staples, according to the fact sheet.

    To investigate and penalize alleged violations, Harris would empower the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.

    A Harris administration would also take an aggressive regulatory approach to proposed mergers and consolidation among the biggest food producers.

    Affordable housing and rent

    Harris’ plan would help cash-strapped renters by blocking data firms from hiking lease rates, and by preventing Wall Street investors from buying homes in bulk to resell at a premium.

    U.S. President Joe Biden raises the hand of Vice President Kamala Harris, during an event on Medicare drug price negotiations, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2024.

    Ken Cedeno | Reuters

    Harris will also call for the U.S. to construct 3 million new housing units over the next four years. In order to facilitate that, she will call for new tax incentives for builders who construct “starter homes.”

    Any changes to the tax code require congressional approval, and depend heavily on which party controls the House and Senate.

    As the supply of entry-level homes expanded, the Harris plan would “provide working families who have paid their rent on time for two years and are buying their first home up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners,” according to the fact sheet.

    Read more CNBC politics coverage

    Health-care costs

    Harris would seek to expand the Biden administration’s landmark $35 price cap on insulin for Medicare recipients to cover insulin for all Americans, not just the elderly.

    US President Joe Biden along with vice president Kamala Harris (not seen) and North Carolina governor Roy Cooper (not seen) delivers remarks about healthcare in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States on March 26, 2024. 

    Peter Zay | Anadolu | Getty Images

    Similar to her cost-cutting plans for the food industry, Harris’ health-care policy relies in part on stiffer regulations and strict antitrust enforcement.

    The plan calls for “cracking down on pharmaceutical companies who block competition and abusive practices by pharmaceutical middlemen,” according to the Harris campaign.

    Tax cuts

    Restoring the expanded child tax credits that were first introduced during the Covid pandemic is a longstanding goal of the Biden administration, and one that Harris will take up if she is elected president.

    She will also go one step further, and propose expanded tax relief of up to $6,000 for families with a newborn.

    The Harris campaign calls this a “year when many family’s expenses are highest—with cribs, diapers, car seats and more.” It also notes that many parents who do not have access to paid leave are forced to choose between spending time with their baby and working enough hours to make ends meet.

    The stakes

    After just three weeks on the campaign trail, Harris has erased the polling advantage that Trump held over Biden.

    But the vice president has largely steered clear of policy specifics, choosing instead to draw contrasts with Trump.

    With her Tar Heel State address, Harris began to articulate a vision for the economy that builds on — and in some ways pivots away from — the Biden’s administration’s economic record.

    On Thursday, Harris and Biden appeared together in Maryland to tout an agreement with pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of the 10 priciest prescription drugs under Medicare.

    U.S. President Joe Biden embraces Vice President Kamala Harris at an event on Medicare drug price negotiations, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2024. 

    Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

    The landmark negotiations — enabled through Biden’s centerpiece spending legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act — will lead to around $6 billion in net savings for Medicare when they officially go into effect in 2026, according to the government.

    The vice president’s speech came just two days after Trump gave his own economy-focused speech in North Carolina.

    Speaking in Asheville, Trump fired off personal attacks at Harris while blaming her for the high consumer prices that Biden has spent much of his presidency working to reverse.

    Recent polls suggest the state that Trump won in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections is now within reach for Harris in 2024.

    A new round of battleground state poll results released Wednesday by the Cook Political Report showed Harris leading Trump in North Carolina by 1 percentage point, 48 – 47, still well within the survey’s margin of error.

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  • FACT FOCUS: Trump, in Republican convention video, alludes to false claim 2020 election was stolen

    FACT FOCUS: Trump, in Republican convention video, alludes to false claim 2020 election was stolen

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    DONALD TRUMP, alluding that the 2020 vote was stolen: “Whether you vote early, absentee, by mail or in person, we are going to protect the vote. That’s the most important thing we have to do is protect the vote. Keep your eyes open because these people want to cheat and they do cheat. And frankly, it’s the only thing they do well.”

    THE FACTS: In a prerecorded video at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump referenced baseless claims he made repeatedly after he lost the 2020 presidential race — that the election was “rigged” and that Democrats cheated to put President Joe Biden in the White House.

    The election was not stolen.

    Biden earned 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, the same margin that Trump had when he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, which he repeatedly described as a “landslide.” (Trump ended up with 304 electoral votes because two electors defected.) Biden achieved victory by prevailing in key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.

    Trump’s allegations of massive voting fraud have been refuted by a variety of judges, state election officials and an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department.

    In 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr told the AP that no proof of widespread voter fraud had been uncovered. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” he said at the time.

    ___

    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made at the Republican National Convention as Trump accepts nomination

    FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made at the Republican National Convention as Trump accepts nomination

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    As former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday he laid out his vision for running the country. He painted a dire picture of the state of the U.S. and outlined a range of actions he planned to take. But his comments were marked with a myriad of false and misleading information that distorted the facts around immigration, the U.S. economy and his previous accomplishments.

    Here are the facts.

    IMMIGRATION

    TRUMP: “The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country — they are coming in from every corner of the earth, not just from South America, but from Africa, Asia and the Middle East — they’re coming from everywhere, and this administration does nothing to stop them. They are coming from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums, and terrorists at levels never seen before.”

    THE FACTS: Trump spent much of his address discussing immigration and the mass influx of migrants into the U.S., repeating several false and misleading claims, including that it has caused a crime surge. He cited recent high-profile and heinous crimes allegedly committed by people in the country illegally as proof.

    But the suggestion there has been a spike in violent crime nationally as a result of the influx is not supported by facts. FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, nor is there any evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants, either along the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities seeing the greatest influx of migrants, like New York. In fact, national statistics show violent crime is on the way down.

    Studies have found that people living in the country illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes. A 2020 study published by the National Academy of Sciences found “considerably lower felony arrest rates” among people in the United States illegally than legal immigrants or native-born citizens.

    There is also no evidence to support that other countries are sending their murderers, drug dealers and other criminals to the U.S.

    ECONOMY

    TRUMP: “We had the greatest economy in the history of the world.”

    THE FACTS: That’s far from accurate. The pandemic triggered a massive recession during his presidency. The government borrowed $3.1 trillion in 2020 to stabilize the economy and Trump left the White House with fewer jobs than when he entered.

    But even if you take out issues caused by the pandemic, economic growth averaged 2.67% during Trump’s first three years, which is pretty solid. But it’s nowhere near the 4% averaged during Bill Clinton’s two terms from 1993 to 2001, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In fact, growth has been stronger so far under Biden than under Trump.

    Trump did have the unemployment rate get as low as 3.5% before the pandemic, but the labor force participation rate for people 25 to 54 — the core of the U.S. working population — was higher under Clinton. The participation rate has also been higher under Biden than Trump.

    AFGHANISTAN

    TRUMP, on the U.S. troops from Afghanistan: “We also left behind $85 billion worth of military equipment.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    THE FACTS: Those numbers are significantly inflated, according to reports from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, which oversees American taxpayer money spent on the conflict.

    The $85 billion figure resembles a number from a July 30 quarterly report from SIGAR, which outlined that the U.S. has invested about $83 billion to build, train and equip Afghan security forces since 2001.

    Yet that funding included troop pay, training, operations and infrastructure along with equipment and transportation over two decades, according to SIGAR reports and Dan Grazier, a defense policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight.

    “We did spend well over $80 billion in assistance to the Afghan security forces,” Grazier told the AP in August 2021. “But that’s not all equipment costs.”

    In fact, only about $18 billion of that sum went toward equipping Afghan forces between 2002 and 2018, a June 2019 SIGAR report showed.

    Another estimate from a 2017 Government Accountability Office report found that about 29% of dollars spent on Afghan security forces between 2005 and 2016 funded equipment and transportation. The transportation funding included gear as well as contracted pilots and airplanes for transporting officials to meetings.

    If that percentage held for the entire two-decade period, it would mean the U.S. has spent about $24 billion on equipment and transportation for Afghan forces since 2001.

    But even if that were true, much of the military equipment would be obsolete after years of use, according to Grazier. Plus, American troops have previously scrapped unwanted gear and, prior to the withdrawal, disabled dozens of Humvees and aircraft so they couldn’t be used again, according to Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command.

    Though no one knows the exact value of the U.S.-supplied Afghan equipment the Taliban have secured, defense officials have confirmed it is significant.

    HAMAS

    MIKE POMPEO, secretary of state under Trump, on Americans held hostage in the Gaza Strip by Hamas: “President Biden won’t even talk about the fact that Americans are still being held there by the Iranian regime.”

    THE FACTS: President Joe Biden has spoken multiple times about the Americans who were among the 240 people taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Eight Americans are reportedly still in captivity, including three who were killed.

    For example, three days after the attack that started the Israel-Hamas war, Biden said, “we now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas.”

    Soon after, on Oct. 20, 2023, he said, “as I told the families of Americans being held captive by Hamas, we’re pursuing every avenue to bring their loved ones home.”

    Biden released a statement on Jan. 14, 2024, that described the day as “a devastating and tragic milestone — 100 days of captivity for the more than 100 innocent people, including as many as 6 Americans, who are still held being hostage by Hamas in Gaza.”

    More recently, on April 27, he wrote in a post on his official Facebook page: “I will not rest until every hostage, like Abigail, ripped from their families and held by Hamas is back in the arms of their loved ones. They have my word. Their families have my word.”

    ___ Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • What we know about suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in the US presidential race

    What we know about suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in the US presidential race

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Details emerged over the weekend of a suspected Iranian cyber intrusion into the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, potentially resulting in the theft of internal campaign documents.

    The FBI is investigating the matter as well as attempts to infiltrate President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, which became Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign after Biden dropped out of the race.

    Here’s what we know:

    What happened?

    Trump’s presidential campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and that sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed. It declared that Iranian actors were to blame.

    The same day, Politico revealed it had received leaked internal Trump campaign documents by email, from a person only identified as “Robert.” The outlet said the documents included vetting materials on Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio, who also was considered as a potential vice president.

    Two other news outlets, The New York Times and The Washington Post, also said they received leaked materials. None of them revealed details about what they had, instead describing the documents in broad terms.

    It’s still unclear whether the materials the news outlets received were related to Trump’s alleged campaign hack. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung indicated they were connected, saying the documents “were obtained illegally” and warning that “any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”

    The FBI on Monday confirmed that it’s investigating the intrusion of the Trump campaign. Two people familiar with the matter said the FBI also is investigating attempts to gain access to the Biden-Harris campaign.

    Why is Trump blaming Iran?

    Trump’s campaign didn’t provide specific evidence showing Iran was behind the hack. But it pointed to a Microsoft report released Friday that detailed an Iranian attempt to infiltrate a presidential campaign in June.

    Microsoft’s report said an Iranian military intelligence unit had sent “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.” Spear-phishing is a form of cyberattack in which an attacker poses as a known or trusted sender, often to install malware or gather sensitive information.

    The tech company wouldn’t disclose which campaign or adviser was targeted, but said it had notified them. Since then, both Trump and a longtime friend and adviser of the former president, Roger Stone, have said they were contacted by Microsoft related to suspected cyber intrusions.

    “We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government – Never a nice thing to do!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

    Grant Smith, an attorney for Stone, said his client “was contacted by Microsoft and the FBI regarding this matter and continues to cooperate with these organizations.” He declined further comment.

    What does the government say?

    U.S. State Department officials declined to speculate on allegations that Iran was behind the hack, but a spokesperson said it would be in keeping with Tehran’s past use of cyberattacks and deception.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    “These latest attempts to interfere in U.S. elections are nothing new for the Iranian regime,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday.

    U.S. intelligence officials declined to comment on the incident and referred questions to the FBI, which has said only that it’s investigating.

    Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved.

    “We do not accord any credence to such reports,” the mission told The Associated Press. “The Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

    However, Iran long has been suspected of running hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and beyond. Tehran also has threatened to retaliate against Trump over the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

    Was Harris targeted too?

    Harris’ campaign has declined to say whether it has identified any state-based intrusion attempts, only saying it vigilantly monitors cyber threats and wasn’t aware of any security breaches of its systems.

    But two people familiar with the matter said the Biden-Harris campaign also was targeted in the suspected Iranian cyber intrusion. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the investigation.

    At least three staffers in the Biden-Harris campaign were targeted with phishing emails, but investigators have uncovered no evidence the attempt was successful, one of the people said. The attempts came before Biden dropped out of the race.

    The FBI began investigating that cyber incident in June, and intelligence officials believe Iran was behind the attempts, that person said.

    Where have I heard this before?

    A suspected foreign hack-and-leak of campaign materials might sound familiar because it’s happened before — notably in 2016.

    That year, a Russian hack exposed emails to and from Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta. The website Wikileaks published a trove of the messages, which were reported on extensively by news outlets.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday noted the repeated use of the tactic against the U.S. and said it shows foreign adversaries are “intent on sowing chaos and undermining our democratic process.”

    “So we have to stand firm to ensure our cybersecurity can withstand such intrusions as we head into November,” he said in a statement.

    Experts say that the recent apparent hack of the Trump campaign is not likely to be the last such attempt to influence the U.S. election, either through cyberattacks or online disinformation. Both Iran and Russia, for example, have begun targeting Americans with fake news websites and other social media content that appears intended to sway voters, Microsoft and U.S. intelligence officials have said.

    The nation’s former top election security official, Chris Krebs, warned on the social platform X that Americans should take this threat seriously.

    “You might not like the victim here, but the adversary gives zero Fs who you like or don’t like,” he said of the Trump campaign hack. “American voters decide American elections. Let’s keep it that way.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, David Klepper and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • They look like — and link to — real news articles. But they’re actually ads from the Harris campaign

    They look like — and link to — real news articles. But they’re actually ads from the Harris campaign

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    If you’re not looking too closely, some recent Kamala Harris ads may give the false impression that some leading news organizations are taking sides in the campaign for president.

    The advertisements, which have turned up in some Google search feeds, include links to legitimate news stories but feature — in words that appear to be headlines from the originating news organizations — pro-Harris messages written by the Democrat’s campaign. They were revealed in an article by Axios this week.

    Google and the campaign defend the practice as legitimate and legal, used in the past by both Democrats and Republicans. But it has raised concern from some of the outlets and others.

    Said Jane Kirtley, a media ethics professor at the University of Minnesota: “What it’s about is confusion and deception.”

    Assorted methods of advertising

    While television remains the dominant form of political advertising, the under-the-radar Google ads also indicate there will be many different ways political campaigns try to reach voters this fall.

    The Google ads have popped up for consumers making searches, usually in targeted geographic regions. One ad, for example, has the headline, “VP Harris’s Economic Vision — Lower Costs and Higher Wages.” Copy underneath reads, “a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead. We won’t go back to the failed trickle-down policies that hurt working families.”

    The ad includes a link to a story on The Associated Press’ website, where those messages do not appear. Similarly, an ad that links to a story by The Guardian says Harris “is a champion for reproductive freedom and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.”

    A spokesman for the Guardian said that “while we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure that it is being used appropriately and with our permission. We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.”

    The AP also said it was unaware that one of its articles was being used for this purpose. “AP’s journalism is independent, fact-based and non partisan and must not be misrepresented in any way,” spokesman Patrick Maks said.

    Other Google search ads have run using material from CBS News, CNN, Time, PBS and USA Today, according to the Google Ads Transparency Center.

    There is no indication that any of the linked articles were altered in any way. But Kirtley said she questioned how many people who see the advertisement will click on those links, and instead mistakenly think the ads were quoting from the articles. For news organizations, that’s crucially important at a time they’re fighting against perceptions of bias by some in the public.

    “Their brand is being co-opted for political advertising without permission or prior knowledge,” she said. “It’s fine if they chose to endorse someone, but you don’t want your reporting to be turned into an endorsement.”

    News content used outside of news spaces

    It’s not the only instance of news outlets needing to be cognizant of their work being used in a political context in an unauthorized way. The AP would not discuss on Thursday whether it has needed to take action to prevent unauthorized uses of its now-iconic photograph of former President Donald Trump following an assassination attempt this summer; it will reportedly be on the cover of Trump’s upcoming book.

    Google notes that the Harris ads are clearly labeled as “sponsored” so they are distinguishable from regular search results, and reveal that they are paid for by the Harris campaign. “It’s fairly common for advertisers to link out to or cite external websites, including news sites, in their ads,” Google said in a statement.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Indeed, the campaigns of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn used similar Google ads during Republican primary campaigns. But in 2017, Facebook decided to ban a similar practice in its advertising after the Wall Street Journal raised questions about it.

    The Harris Google ad campaign seems limited in scope. The ads linking to Guardian and AP articles both appeared only in searches by users in the swing state of Pennsylvania, and both have appeared less than 2,000 times, according to the Ads Transparency Center. The Harris campaign said it had no plans to discontinue the ads.

    “I just don’t think it’s a big deal,” said Robert Shrum, a veteran Democratic political strategist and director of the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California.

    Harris’ Google effort is an indication that campaigns will be searching for new and creative ways to reach voters in the next few months, said Steve Caplan, who is teaching a class in political advertising at USC this fall. One expected trend: an explosion of commercials on streaming services like Netflix that never used to accept advertising.

    “You’re trying to find new and innovative ways to break through in a media environment that’s very cluttered, and that takes strategy and creativity,” Caplan said.

    Still, television ads — especially in swing states — are expected to dominate.

    ___

    Associated Press correspondent Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.

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  • Google confirms an Iranian group is trying to access emails linked to both US presidential campaigns

    Google confirms an Iranian group is trying to access emails linked to both US presidential campaigns

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Google said Wednesday that an Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard has tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump since May.

    The tech company’s threat intelligence arm said the group is still actively targeting people associated with Biden, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden as the Democratic candidate last month when he dropped out. It said those targeted have included current and former government officials, as well as presidential campaign affiliates.

    The new report from Google’s Threat Analysis Group affirms and expands on a Microsoft report released Friday that revealed suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in this year’s U.S. presidential election. It sheds light on how foreign adversaries are ramping up their efforts to disrupt the election that is now less than three months away.

    Google’s report said its threat researchers detected and disrupted a “small but steady cadence” of the Iranian attackers using email credential phishing, a type of cyberattack where the attacker poses as a trusted sender to try to get an email recipient to share their login details. John Hultquist, chief analyst for the company’s threat intelligence arm, said the company sends suspected targets of these attacks a Gmail popup that warns them that a government-backed attacker might be trying to steal their password.

    The report said Google observed the group gaining access to one high-profile political consultant’s personal Gmail account. Google reported the incident to the FBI in July. Microsoft’s Friday report had shared similar information, noting that the email account of a former senior adviser to a presidential campaign had been compromised and weaponized to send a phishing email to a high-ranking campaign official.

    The group is familiar to Google’s threat intelligence arm and other researchers, and this isn’t the first time it has tried to interfere in U.S. elections, Hultquist said. The report noted that the same Iranian group targeted both the Biden and Trump campaigns with phishing attacks during the 2020 cycle, as early as June of that year.

    The group also has been prolific in other cyber espionage activity, particularly in the Middle East, the report said. In recent months, as the Israel-Hamas War has aggravated tensions in the region, that activity has included email phishing campaigns targeted at Israeli diplomats, academics, non-governmental organizations and military affiliates.

    Trump’s campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and that sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed. It declared that Iranian actors were to blame.

    The same day, Politico revealed it had received leaked internal Trump campaign documents by email, though it wasn’t clear whether the leaked documents were related to the suspected Iranian cyber activity. The Washington Post and The New York Times also received the documents.

    While the Trump campaign hasn’t provided specific evidence linking Iran to the hack, both Trump and his longtime friend and former adviser Roger Stone have said they were contacted by Microsoft related to suspected cyber intrusions. Stone’s email was compromised by hackers targeting Trump’s campaign, a person familiar with the matter said.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Google and Microsoft wouldn’t identify the people targeted in the Iranian intrusion attempts or confirm that Stone was among them. Google did confirm that the Iranian group in its report, which it calls APT42, is the same as the one in Microsoft’s research. Microsoft refers to the group as Mint Sandstorm.

    Harris’ campaign has declined to say whether it has identified any state-based intrusion attempts, but has said it vigilantly monitors cyber threats and isn’t aware of any security breaches of its systems.

    The FBI on Monday confirmed that it’s investigating the intrusion of the Trump campaign. Two people familiar with the matter said the FBI also is investigating attempts to gain access to the Biden-Harris campaign.

    The reports of Iranian hacking come as U.S. intelligence officials have warned of persistent and mounting efforts from both Russia and Iran to influence the U.S. election through their online activity. Beyond these hacking incidents, groups linked to the countries have used fake news websites and social media accounts to churn out content that appears intended to sway voters’ opinions.

    While neither Microsoft nor Google specified Iran’s intentions in the U.S. presidential race, U.S. officials have previously hinted that Iran particularly opposes Trump. U.S. officials also have expressed alarm about Tehran’s efforts to seek retaliation for a 2020 strike on an Iranian general that was ordered by Trump.

    Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved.

    “We do not accord any credence to such reports,” the mission told The Associated Press. “The Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

    The mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about Google’s report.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • France’s ‘Olympics truce’ ends, returning political tensions to the fore

    France’s ‘Olympics truce’ ends, returning political tensions to the fore

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    Emmanuel Macron, president of France, arrives at the Stade de France prior to the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at the Stade de France on August 11, 2024 in Paris, France.

    Tom Weller/voigt | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

    Time is running out on the so-called “Olympic political truce” declared by French President Emmanuel Macron in late July, pushing the country’s rocky political landscape back into focus.

    The snap legislative election called by Macron for early July — just before Paris hosted the world’s biggest sporting event — resulted in a hung parliament, with no party or alliance securing a majority. The left-wing New Popular Front alliance won the highest number of seats and prevented a much-discussed victory for the far-right National Rally.

    For the past few weeks, however, the nation has been largely united by sporting spirit.

    The usual stream of squabbling from politicians across the spectrum has dried up, and a “caretaker” government has remained nominally in place. The National Assembly’s next nine-month session is not due to begin until Oct. 1.

    Macron is set to remain president until his term runs out in 2027, although much of his domestic political capital has been expended after his Renaissance party’s electoral battering.

    Prime minister tussles

    One of the key questions back on the agenda now is who Macron will appoint as the new prime minister — who leads the French government, nominates ministers and instigates legislation — after the resignation of his ally Gabriel Attal.

    Macron is keeping his cards close to his chest, and has not commented on Lucie Castets, the little-known candidate nominated for the role by New Popular Front after much debate.

    While theoretically free to appoint anyone to the role, and with no obligation to choose a candidate from the party with the most seats, an unpopular choice could be ousted by a vote of no confidence in parliament. Macron cannot dissolve the National Assembly and call another election for another year.

    Elsa Clara Massoc, assistant professor of International Political Economy at the University of St. Gallen, said the situation was “unprecedented” and looked to be a potential “dead-end” because of the extent of division in the new parliament.

    “Under the previous legislature, Macron didn’t have an absolute majority but still more than the Left today and could count on the support of Conservatives to not endure a censor motion,” she told CNBC by email.

    She highlighted issues including the fact that New Popular Front’s 178 seats are well short of the 289 needed for a majority and its candidate Castets is likely to be rejected by other parties.

    Meanwhile, Macron’s own politics and allied government have been “widely rejected by the French,” Massoc added, and no party will form an alliance with far-right National Rally. Even within the leftist grouping, parties are divided and some will refuse any sort of alliance with centrists, she said.

    One outcome could see the right-wing Les Republicains willing to form a “passive majority” with the center, but the former appears reluctant to lose “what remains of its specificity,” Massoc added, and opposition in parliament would still be high.

    There are further questions over how such a divided parliament will agree on any legislation, with approval of the 2025 budget looming. Even in 2022, Macron resorted to using a special constitutional power to pass the next year’s spending bill.

    There is also likely to be fierce debate over how — or whether — to take action to tackle France’s huge debt pile, and whether flagship Macronist policies such as raising the national retirement age can or should be unwound.

    Under the French political system, the parliament has relatively little power and between 2017 and 2022, 65% of texts adopted were laws proposed by the government rather than parliament, Massoc noted.

    From a markets perspective, the French CAC 40 index has fallen over 4.5% since the result of the election on July 7. But analysts say a divided parliament could actually lead to more stability in stocks and bonds as it will likely prevent the implementation of some parties’ more populist policies.

    Political parties have their sights set firmly on the 2027 presidential race — which Macron cannot run in — and very few will want to be responsible for cutting public spending in order to tackle the public deficit, Renaud Foucart, senior lecturer in economics at Lancaster University, told CNBC by phone.

    Former Bank of France President Trichet: Reasonably confident France will find political solution, no current party can rule alone

    For now, uncertainty reigns and Macron’s strategy appears to be to drag things out for as long as possible, he continued.

    From a personal perspective, even if he is a “lame duck” leader on the home front, Macron will likely be happy taking a more international focus and continue to try to influence European politics, Foucart said.

    “His project that included transforming the labor market and deregulating the economy is basically over — he did what he wanted to do,” he continued.

    Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at Eurasia Group, said in a Monday note that Macron has had both failures and successes but gained little credit for his domestic wins, including reducing high unemployment.

    The left wing focuses on his lowering of taxes for the rich and “assaults on the French welfare state,” while the right wing points to high immigration numbers and the violent crime rate, he said.

    Macron has also ultimately “failed to sell his vision of a stronger France in a stronger Europe to a majority of French voters,” Rahman said.

    “Seven years ago, Macron pledged to lead France to a promised land beyond the sterile alternation of left and right. Instead, he has taken France into a political quicksand with no secure government, a record budget deficit, and 3 trillion [euros, or $3.28 billion] in accumulated debt,” Rahman said.

    Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.

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  • Harris responds to Trump Fed comments, will release economic plan in coming days

    Harris responds to Trump Fed comments, will release economic plan in coming days

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    U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks with members of the media before boarding Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, U.S., August 7, 2024.

    Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

    Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday fiercely disagreed with former President Donald Trump‘s suggestion this week that U.S. presidents should have a say in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions.

    “I couldn’t … disagree more strongly,” Harris told reporters in Arizona, referring to the Republican presidential nominee’s comments. “The Fed is an independent entity, and as president, I would never interfere in the decisions that the Fed makes.”

    With just 87 days until the election, the vice president also told reporters that she is preparing to unveil an official economic policy platform in the coming days.

    “It’ll be focused on the economy and what we need to do to bring down costs and also strengthen the economy,” said Harris.

    Harris’ comments drew a stark contrast between her and Trump, who said this week that the president should “have at least [a] say” in Fed policy.

    “I think that in my case, I made a lot of money, I was very successful, and I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman,” Trump said Thursday during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

    Read more CNBC politics coverage

    Harris also said Saturday that she is watching to see where the Fed moves next on interest rates.

    “As we know we’ve there was some turbulence this week [in global markets], but it seems to have settled itself, and we’ll see what [decisions] they make next,” she told reporters. Harris added that she learns about Fed decisions “about the same time you do.”

    At his Florida press conference, Trump also reminisced about the very public disagreements he used to have with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, a fellow Republican, while he was president. Especially when the board decided to raise interest rates.

    “I used to have it out with him,” Trump said.

    Powell has repeatedly emphasized how important it is for the Fed to be completely independent, in order for the central bank to fulfill its mission.

    Free from political pressure, the Fed board can make its decisions based solely on whether they further the U.S. economy’s long-term interests — not whether voters approve of them.

    And while President Joe Biden has not tried to wield influence over the Federal Reserve Board one way or another, Powell occasionally faces pressure from the general public.

    After this past week’s tumult in the stock markets, many investors called on Powell to move more quickly to lower interest rates, ahead of the bank’s widely expected cuts coming in September.

    For his part, Powell says he wants to know that the economy is going to hit the bank’s traditional 2% inflation target before he and the board move to cut interest rates.

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  • Tim Walz vs. JD Vance: What the 2024 presidential running mates could mean for your wallet

    Tim Walz vs. JD Vance: What the 2024 presidential running mates could mean for your wallet

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    Democratic vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (L), and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH).

    Getty Images

    Housing

    Affordable housing is an important topic for many Americans and both Walz and Vance have addressed the issue.

    In May 2023, Walz signed housing legislation that included $200 million in down payment assistance. The bill also had $200 million for housing infrastructure and $40 million for workforce housing.

    “We expect Walz to be an advocate for demand-side approaches to housing,” Jaret Seiberg, analyst at TD Cowen wrote in a July statement. “These are the type of housing ideas we would expect in a Harris administration,” she wrote.

    Demand-side approaches to housing aim to help individual households by improving housing quality or reducing monthly housing costs.

    Meanwhile, Vance, who is also a proponent of affordable housing, highlighted the issue in his Republican National Convention acceptance speech and along the campaign trail.

    “Prior to running for Senate, Vance argued that one key to tackling poverty is to address affordable housing,” and he has opposed institutional ownership of rental homes and Chinese buyers for U.S. real estate, Seiberg wrote.

    Child tax credit

    Without action from Congress, trillions of tax breaks enacted by Trump are scheduled to expire after 2025, including the child tax credit, which will drop from $2,000 to $1,000 per child. 

    Congress in 2021 approved a temporary expansion of the child tax credit, including upfront monthly payments, which reduced the child poverty rate to a historic low of 5.2% for 2021, according to a Columbia University analysis.

    Following the federal policy, Minnesota enacted a refundable state-level child tax credit in 2023, which Walz described as “signature accomplishment.”    

    Minnesota’s new child tax credit is unusual in its narrowness, but it is the most generous in the nation for low-income households.

    Jared Walczak

    Vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation

    “Minnesota’s new child tax credit is unusual in its narrowness,” said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation. “But it is the most generous in the nation for low-income households.” 

    However, a permanent federal child tax credit expansion could be difficult, particularly amid a divided Congress and increasing concerns over the federal budget deficit.

    Walz’s campaign did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

    Senate Republicans blocked a federal child tax credit expansion last week, and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, described the vote as a “blatant attempt to score political points.”

    Despite the failed procedural vote, Crapo voiced openness to negotiating a “child tax credit solution that a majority of Republicans can support.”

    Democrats scheduled the vote partially in response to Vance, who has positioned himself as a pro-family candidate. Vance was not present for the Senate vote, but has expressed support for the child tax credit.

    Vance’s campaign did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment. 

    Student loans

    Vance has spoken out against student loan forgiveness policies.

    “Forgiving student debt is a massive windfall to the rich, to the college educated, and most of all to the corrupt university administrators of America,” Vance, a Yale Law School graduate wrote on X in April 2022. “Republicans must fight this with every ounce of our energy and power.”

    Outstanding education debt in the U.S. stands at around $1.6 trillion. Nearly 43 million people — or 1 in 6 adult Americans — carry student loans. Women and people of color are most burdened by the debt.

    Vance does seem to approve of loan forgiveness in extreme cases. In May, he helped introduce legislation that would excuse parents from student loans they took on for a child who became permanently disabled.

    Jane Fox, chapter chair of the Legal Aid Society Attorneys union, UAW local 2325, said it was hypocritical and incorrect of Vance to frame debt relief as a benefit to those who are well off.

    “Student debt forgiveness is a working-class issue,” Fox said. “Those in the 1% who went to elite institutions and then worked in private equity as Senator Vance did rarely need debt relief.”

    Vance’s campaign did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.   

    Meanwhile, Walz, a former school teacher, has supported programs to alleviate the burden of student debt on people, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

    He signed a student loan forgiveness program for nurses into law in Minnesota, Kantrowitz said, as well as a free tuition initiative for low-income students.

    “As my daughter prepares to head off to college next year, affordability and student loan debt are at the front of our minds,” Walz wrote on Facebook in 2018. “Every Minnesotan deserves a shot at a great education without being held back by soaring costs and student loan debt.”

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  • Harris erases Trump’s lead on economy among younger Americans, CNBC/Generation Lab survey finds

    Harris erases Trump’s lead on economy among younger Americans, CNBC/Generation Lab survey finds

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    U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Brendan Mcdermid | Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

    Younger Americans do not appear to hold Vice President Kamala Harris responsible for what many of them believe is a worsening U.S. economy under the Biden-Harris administration, according to a new survey from CNBC and Generation Lab.

    The latest quarterly Youth & Money Survey, taken after Biden dropped out of the race in July, reveals that 69% of Americans between 18 and 34 years old believe the economy is getting worse under President Joe Biden.

    But they also think the candidate best able to improve the economy is the de facto Democratic nominee Harris, not Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.

    Harris was viewed as the best candidate for the economy by 41% of poll respondents, while 40% chose Trump, while 19% said the economy would do better under someone else, like third party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    The results amount to a seven-point swing in Democrats’ favor on the economy since CNBC asked the same question in May’s Youth & Money Survey. At that time, only 34% of respondents believed Biden, then the likely Democratic nominee, was the best candidate to boost the economy, with 40% choosing Trump and 25% saying Kennedy.

    The shift in voting support for Harris is even wider among respondents overall. If the presidential election were held today, the latest poll found Harris holding a 12-point lead over Trump among younger Americans, 46% to 34%, while 21% said they would vote for either Kennedy or another candidate.

    Three months ago, the same survey found Trump and Biden effectively tied, with 36% for Biden and 35% for Trump, and 29% planning to vote for Kennedy.

    This jump in support for Harris today is all the more notable because of how significant the economy is to the voting choices of younger Americans.

    Read more CNBC politics coverage

    According to the new CNBC survey data, the “economy and cost of living” was cited more than any other issue when respondents were asked what will impact their decisions about who to vote for, with 66% of respondents naming it among their top three. Running second with 34% was “access to abortion and reproductive rights,” followed by “gun violence/control” at 26%.

    Nonetheless, these results also contain warning signs for Harris and the Democratic Party.

    To win the White House, Harris will likely need to do even better among young people in November than her current 12-point lead in the CNBC and Generation Lab’s survey.

    ‘Bidenomics’ may not be a drag on Harris

    With fewer than 90 days to go before Election Day on Nov. 5, these new results could have significant implications for a presidential contest that was altered by Biden’s decision to drop out.

    As pollsters race to gather data on how Harris’ candidacy is — or is not — changing the race, one of the biggest unanswered questions for both parties is whether Americans will transfer their well-documented frustration with Biden, after years of high inflation and high interest rates, directly over to Harris.

    These findings suggest that the political drag of “Bidenomics” has so far not rubbed off on Harris — at least not among younger people.

    In 2020 for example, Biden won voters age 18 to 29 by a margin of 24 percentage points, with 59% of the vote to Trump’s 35%.

    And while young people have long made up a crucial constituency for Democratic candidates, this year, depending upon which states Kennedy appears on the ballot, the embattled anti-vaccine independent might still be able to peel away enough votes from Harris to cut into her overall margins.

    Turnout is also a potential trouble spot for Democrats. The 18- to 34-year-old cohort makes up roughly a quarter of the total U.S. population, or around 76 million people, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. During the last presidential election in 2020, 57% of this age group turned out to vote.

    In this survey, 77% of respondents said they either definitely or probably will vote. But in past elections, the number of people who say they plan to vote is typically much higher than those who actually do.

    Economy is still a wild card

    Lastly, as is always the case in an election, the economy itself could either hurt or help Harris, depending upon where it goes.

    For example, this poll was taken between July 22 and July 29, before the latest jobs report showed a contraction, spurring new fears of an economic recession.

    It was also taken before the market sell-off on Aug. 5, which was triggered in part by fears stemming from the rocky jobs report.

    Meanwhile, most polls that sample all adults, and not just younger people, still show Trump holding on to his advantage when it comes to which candidate voters trust more to improve the economy.

    Any more bad economic news between now and November could see voters blame Harris — who has yet to fully articulate an economic agenda distinct from Biden’s — and pivot back to the perceived safety of Trump’s familiar economic agenda.

    The survey interviewed 1,043 adults between the ages of 18 and 34, with a margin of error of 3.0%.

    Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

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  • 1 of last GOP congressmen who voted to impeach Trump advances in Washington’s US House race

    1 of last GOP congressmen who voted to impeach Trump advances in Washington’s US House race

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    SEATTLE (AP) — One of the last remaining U.S. House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump and a candidate endorsed by the former president have advanced in Tuesday’s primary to the general election in Washington state’s 4th Congressional District.

    U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse is seeking a sixth term in the conservative Washington district that runs from the Canadian border to the Columbia River. He will face Republican Jerrod Sessler, a Navy veteran and former NASCAR driver, in November.

    This was a rematch for the pair from 2022, when Sessler earned a distant fourth in the primary. This time, Sessler said things have gone his way. He was endorsed by the Washington State Republican Party and nabbed Trump’s backing early on, which he called a “game changer.” He said he communicates regularly with Trump’s team, referencing a text he said he received from the GOP presidential candidate this year saying, “The country is counting on you.”

    “In ninety days, this district is going to vote overwhelmingly for President Trump,” Sessler said in a statement. “I will work hard to make sure we also elect a member of Congress who will be his greatest ally in our fight to enact a pro-Constitution, pro-MAGA agenda and heal our nation from the disaster of the Biden-Harris administration.”

    Newhouse has mostly steered clear of the subject of Trump. The third-generation farmer has instead focused on agriculture and border security in a state with millions of acres of pastures, orchards and cereal grain lands where immigrant labor is extremely important.

    In the lead-up to the primary, Newhouse’s opponents repeatedly touted his vote to impeach Trump as a huge liability. But political experts have cautioned that it’s difficult to say whether the endorsement will sway voters who already stuck with Newhouse two years ago.

    Newhouse and U.S. Rep. David Valadao, of California, are the only Republican Congressional lawmakers left among the 10 who voted to impeach Trump in 2021. Others retired or were defeated by Trump-endorsed primary challengers.

    As of July 17, Newhouse, who was endorsed by the NRA and the National Right to Life, had raised $1.6 million – far more than the $409,000 raised by Sessler.

    They prevailed over Tiffany Smiley, a former nurse who entered the race after losing to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray two years ago. She received a backing from Trump just three days before the primary, marking a unique, though not unprecedented, dual endorsement by the former president. But the backing for Smiley likely came too late to impact many voters in the vote-by-mail state.

    Under the state’s primary system, the top two vote-getters in each of the contests advance to the November election, regardless of party.

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