Biden and Harris make first campaign appearance as running mates – live
Earlier, Joe Biden, who introduced Harris has his vice president praised her “seriousness of purpose and of mind”.
The November elections is “a life-changing election for this nation”, Biden said. “The choice we make this November is going to determine the future of America for a very, very long time to come.”
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica is not only a historic choice, “she’s ready to do this job on day one” Biden said.
Harris has begun by discussing her friendship with Beau Biden, Joe Biden’s late son who served as attorney general of Delaware while Harris was the attorney general of California.
Both Harris and Biden have talked today about how they got to know each other through Beau.
Handing over to my colleague Maanvi Singh on the West Coast, here’s what we covered today:
We’ve mostly about the latest as California senator Kamala Harris makes history, from her opening remarks, and other historic firsts, to the Trump administration’s response and amped up attacks.
Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar won her primary, despite an avalanche of money poured into her opponent
A QAnon supporter denounced for racism won her primary and Trump congratulated her
US state Secretary Mike Pompeo defends arms sales to Saudi Arabia
A Florida sheriff banned masks for personnel and visitors
Kanye West apparently met with Jared Kushner in Colorado
Harris wasn’t Tuesday’s only historic first VP staff announcement
Anthony Fauci on Russian coronavirus vaccine? Doubt it.
That’s all from Washington, DC. Stay tuned for more.
Why Howard University, HBCUs were key to Harris’ climb
And finally, as a fellow Howard University alumna, check out a bit of background on HBCUs and their significance in the evolution of the US’s first Black- and Indian-American, as well as female, vice presidential candidate like California senator Kamala Harris.
From an earlier profile with Essence Magazine:
There’s something special about the investment that an HBCU places in its students. It’s about the nurturing. It’s about refining. It’s about all that goes into making someone transition from being a child into an adult. And in that way, it’s very tough love.”
Howard University (@HowardU)
From the Hilltop to Capitol Hill, congratulations to our alumna, Senator @KamalaHarris. pic.twitter.com/4SwNtNiNci
August 12, 2020
Stay tuned for my latest: a look at how Harris’ candidacy shines a light on these historically Black educational institutions – especially as some fight for their survival amid a pandemic and recession.
At a White House event Wednesday to promote a return to full-time schooling, Donald Trump interrupted a presentation on the difficulties of online education to chastise rival Joe Biden for running a virtual campaign:
So, if you’re a presidential candidate and you’re sitting in a basement and you’re looking at a computer, that’s not a good thing?
The remark only garnered nervous laughter and applause from attendees who were there in support Trump’s calls to reopen schools despite a worsening coronavirus pandemic that is estimated to have been contracted by more than 97,000 children in a two-week span.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s top infectious disease expert is doubtful the Covid-19 vaccine touted by Russian president Vladamir Putin is effective.
“Having a vaccine and proving that a vaccine is safe and effective are two different things,” he told ABC News during a National Geographic special. The panel is set to air Thursday.
ABC News (@ABC)
Dr. Anthony Fauci tells @DebRobertsABC in @NatGeo panel that he seriously doubts the Russian-made COVID-19 vaccine has been proven safe and effective. t.co/CZI8rsO4wWpic.twitter.com/BsXiVXesTw
August 12, 2020
Earlier this week, Putin announced that Russia had registered the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine, claiming his own daughter to be the country’s first recipient. Experts are skeptical, however.
Air force crew member injured after helicopter shot at in Virginia
The air force has confirmed that a helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in Manassas, Virginia, after being shot at from the ground.
Steve Herman (@W7VOA)
Confirmed by @Andrews_JBA that a @usairforce helicopter over #Virginia was struck by a bullet. pic.twitter.com/EerBj9XblB
August 12, 2020
The pilot, one of two, was taken to a hospital and since released. The FBI is investigating the incident.
The Trump campaign shares its thoughts on the Biden-Harris ticket:
Kamala Harris was rated the most liberal US senator in 2019 and completes the radical, leftist takeover of Joe Biden and the entire Democrat party. She pushes [the former vice president] even farther to the left than he had already moved.
The campaign went on the chide Harris as “a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders’ socialist takeover,” noting her support for progressive healthcare policies, backing of the “job-killing” Green New Deal, and record as a prosecutor.
Although her policies have evolved to be more progressive over time, many analysts see Biden’s selection as a pragmatic one with a moderate senator from a liberal state. Despite that, from the Trump campaign:
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris together make up the most extreme, leftist ticket in American major party history.
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, will make his first joint appearance Wednesday with his newly announced running mate, Kamala Harris, the senator from California.
According to the campaign, the former rivals will appear together in Wilmington, Delaware at about 4.20pm ET. The AP also reports Biden and Harris will speak at a high school near the former vice-president’s home.
From Biden via the campaign’s email release:
“I need someone working alongside me who is smart, tough and ready to lead. Kamala is that person. I need someone who understands the pain that so many people in our nation are suffering. Whether they’ve lost their job, their business, a loved one to this virus.”
US representative Elise Stefanik: Senator Harris is a ‘radical’
The attacks from the right have begun for vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris, this time from the Trump campaign surrogate and congresswoman Elise Stefanik:
“[Harris] is a far-left California radical” and her selection as Joe Biden’s running mate creates the “most far-left ticket in the history of the Democratic party”, Representative Elise Stefanik said on a call held by the Trump-Pence campaign officials Wednesday.
Stefanik added that Harris’s record on healthcare, gun control and social justice place her far out of the mainstream. The Republican from New York was once promoted as a moderate voice in the party before evolving to become a Trump supporter.
Last decade was Earth’s hottest on record
Guardian US is counting down the days until 4 November, when the Trump administration has put in motion the formal exit of the US out of the Paris climate agreement.
That is of course, coincidentally, one day after the US elections (no country was allowed to pull out sooner than this date after agreeing to the agreement in late 2015).
Today there are 84 days to go before the pullout – and there is news of another alarming study on how temperatures have been rising. Oliver Milman reports:
The past decade was the hottest ever recorded globally, with 2019 either the second or third warmest year on record, as the climate crisis accelerated temperatures upwards worldwide, scientists have confirmed.
Every decade since 1980 has been warmer than the preceding decade, with the period between 2010 and 2019 the hottest yet since worldwide temperature records began in the 19th century.
