Tuesday Briefing: Support builds for Kamala Harris

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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 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.

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.

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.

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

Sports

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

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.

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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.

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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