Tuesday Briefing: Support builds for Kamala Harris

July 23, 2024

	By Daniel E. Slotnik

Good morning. We’re covering Kamala Harris’s presidential bid and testimony from the U.S. Secret Service chief about the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

Plus, from Olympic dreams to Ukraine’s trenches.

Kamala Harris speaking at a podium surrounded by people.

Kamala Harris made her first public appearance since President Biden’s exit from the race. Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Key Democrats lined up to endorse Harris

Many prominent figures in the Democratic Party said yesterday that they backed Vice President Kamala Harris as their new nominee to be president, just a day after President Biden announced that he was ending his campaign.

The biggest endorsement came from Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, who wields considerable influence in the party.

But Congress’s two top Democrats, Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, have chosen to remain neutral, for now. The decision was driven in part by their belief that their endorsement would make Harris’s nomination look like a coronation, according to people briefed on their thinking. Barack Obama has also so far declined to endorse her.

No one has come forward yet to challenge Harris. Some of the people who endorsed her yesterday were seen as potential rivals, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois. Here’s a list of Democrats who have announced their support for Harris.

A wave of donations: Less than 24 hours after entering the race, Harris has raised more than $81 million. Several celebrities have also announced their support.

A key choice: Harris needs a running mate. Here are some of her options.

The director of the Secret Service sitting at a table in front of a microphone during a hearing in Congress.

Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, testified in Congress. Kenny Holston/The New York Times

U.S. lawmakers called for the Secret Service chief to resign

During testimony in Congress yesterday, the Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, called the assassination attempt against Donald Trump her agency’s “most significant operational failure” in decades. But she refused to answer specific questions, citing the continuing investigation into the shooting.

Both the Republican and the Democratic leaders of the House committee that heard her testimony said they wanted her to resign.

Cheatle said that she had apologized to Trump. But she declined to specify why no Secret Service agents were stationed on the warehouse roof from which the shooter opened fire, how he brought a gun to the event and why Trump was allowed onstage despite warnings about a suspicious person.

Here’s what we know about the assassination attempt.

A large smoke cloud over damaged buildings.

Smoke rising above the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated Press

Israel bombed Khan Younis and ordered an evacuation

Israel yesterday ordered residents of part of a safe zone in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, to evacuate and bombarded the area with strikes that killed or wounded scores of people, according to medical officials.

Israel said that it was targeting part of the safe zone because Hamas was using it to regroup and fire rockets at Israel. It was not possible to determine whether the evacuation orders had preceded the strikes.

The Gazan health ministry said 70 people had been killed, while the Palestine Red Crescent said its teams in the area had dealt with at least 12 people who had been killed.

Diplomacy: Mediators hope that a truce in Gaza would encourage a drawdown between Israel and Hezbollah.

MORE TOP NEWS

People in plain and police clothing standing behind a car with an open trunk. They hold large pieces of white cloth on a residential street with a police vehicle in the foreground.

Police officers responded to a shooting at a nursing home in Daruvar, Croatia, yesterday. Damir Spehar/Pixsell, via Reuters

Croatia: A gunman killed at least six people and wounded six others at a home for older and infirm people in Daruvar, a spa town in central Croatia.
Egypt: Daily power blackouts have plagued the country during an extraordinarily hot summer.
Ukraine: The prime minister said that a preliminary deal had been reached with private creditors to restructure more than $20 billion of debt.
Canada: Two sailors who planned to sail across the Atlantic Ocean using green energy were found dead in a lifeboat.
Greenland: Paul Watson, a prominent anti-whaling activist, was arrested in Greenland and may be extradited to Japan.
China: Beijing is hosting talks between the leaders of Fatah and Hamas, two Palestinian factions, but expectations for any substantial progress are low.
Tech: Masayoshi Son, the leader of SoftBank, is trying to convince rival automakers to work together to develop self-driving cars.

Sports

Xander Schauffele, dressed in black, holds a trophy on a golf course.

Xander Schauffele, the Champion golfer of the year. Paul Ellis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Golf: Xander Schauffele won the British Open Championship at Royal Troon. Here are 10 things to know about his victory.
Baseball: Shohei Ohtani hit a 473-foot home run on Sunday, the longest hit at Dodger Stadium in nearly a decade.
Olympics: Katie Ledecky’s former swimming coach talked about Ledecky’s evolution from a shy teenager to “the star of the show.”

MORNING READ

A soldier wearing fatigues and a helmet and carrying a rifle stands in front of an armored personnel carrier. Tall, thin trees are in the background.

Volodymyr Androshchuk in the Donetsk region in 2022. via Volodymyr Dziubynsky

Volodymyr Androshchuk hoped to compete for Ukraine in the Olympic decathlon this year or in 2028, but injuries sidelined him. So, like roughly 3,000 high-level Ukrainian athletes and coaches, he represented his country on the battlefield wearing camouflage, not the blue and yellow of a national sports uniform.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Big Truck Energy: The Tesla Cybertruck, with its hard-edged shape, has proved to be a love-it-or-hate-it proposition.
Servers on their toes: The winner of the annual waiters’ footrace in London had a strategy: Start fast and stay fast.
Slow travel: Taking the night train from Berlin to Paris is an experience unto itself.
Cold cases: A growing number of crime survivors are sharing their stories on TikTok.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

Sports video games can feel like casinos

The price on the cover of most sports video games is only the beginning of what players are being asked to pay. In-game purchases let players buy star athletes in “card packs” that can cost nearly as much as the games.

A soccer fan who wants Kylian Mbappé on their team in FC 24’s Ultimate Team mode has to either play hundreds of hours in order to earn virtual currency, or spend a lot of real money. Game studios insist that players don’t need to buy the ultrarare cards, but critics argue that it is essentially impossible to compete online without them.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Two servings of roasted salmon with peas and radishes on white plates.

Julia Gartland for The New York Times (Photography and Styling)

Cook: Salmon and sweet peas are the perfect pairing for a quick and satisfying supper.

Read: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are middle-aged. A new comic series honors their 40th anniversary.

Strengthen: Your bones weaken as you age, but prioritizing certain foods can help slow the process.

Scrub: Cleaning a purse is harder than it seems. Here are some tips.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Dan

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