Important Takeaways:
- Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin will preside over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress on Wednesday as he faces calls to boycott the speech.
- The Maryland office of Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, urged the Maryland senator to boycott what the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization referred to as Netanyahu’s “war criminal” address to Congress.
- “It is deeply troubling that Sen. Cardin would choose to lend legitimacy and support to a war criminal who is responsible for egregious violations of human rights and international law,” said CAIR’s Maryland Director Zainab Chaudhry.
- Netanyahu arrived Monday in Washington, D.C., where he will hold meetings with the Biden administration and will address the joint session of the House and Senate on Wednesday, as he seeks bipartisan support for Israel just days after President Joe Biden announced he would end his re-election bid.
- As Netanyahu addresses the joint Congress on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson has warned lawmakers that there will be a “zero-tolerance” policy for anyone who disrupts the speech and that law enforcement “will remove … offending visitors from the gallery and subject them to arrest.”
- On Tuesday, hundreds of members of the group Jewish Voice for Peace were arrested during a demonstration inside the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., according to the group.
- “Arrests are beginning as over 400 American Jews refuse to leave Congress, but we won’t leave until our government stops arming Israel and ends the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza!” the group wrote Tuesday in a post on X.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in the United States on Monday, with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both absent to greet him upon arrival.
- Biden’s absence comes as he tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. The president’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, released a letter saying Biden had “completed his tenth dose of PAXLOVID” and that his symptoms were “almost resolved completely.”
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also notably not present to greet Netanyahu upon his arrival in the U.S.
- Netanyahu’s arrival comes ahead of his speech before Congress on Wednesday. In June, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) released a letter inviting Netanyahu to speak before a joint meeting of members of the United States House and Senate.
- Harris and the Senate President Pro-Tempore Patty Murray (D-WA) have reportedly refused to preside over Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) previously stated that he would “not attend” the speech given by Netanyahu, whom he described as a “war criminal.”
- Several sources told Axios in June that House Democrats had been discussing holding counter-programing to Netanyahu’s speech.
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Important Takeaways:
- President Biden announced Sunday that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
- “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for my term,” Mr. Biden posted in a statement on social media.
- Biden said he would address the nation later this week. Mr. Biden is currently at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as he recovers from COVID-19.
- Shortly after the announcement, he endorsed Harris for the Democratic nomination, although Mr. Biden cannot appoint a nominee himself. A source familiar said Mr. Biden and Harris spoke multiple times earlier Sunday ahead of his announcement. There was an emergency meeting of senior Democratic National Committee members happening Sunday.
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Important Takeaways:
- The chaos in Washington, could sway Hamas to harden its stance in the hostage talks and give Iran that impression that now is the moment to increase military activity against Israel.
- Now, he is suddenly a lame duck president with only six months left in office, and there are calls for him to step down immediately in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.
- This means that the issue of retrieving the hostages and forming a military coalition against Iran could almost immediately fall into her hands.
- The leadership chaos will be most acute in the next month, given that the question of Harris replacing Biden on the ticket can only be officially decided by the Democratic National Convention on August 19-22.
- This sudden potential shift in leadership comes as Biden and his administration are in the final phase of potentially closing a hostage deal.
- The problem is not just that Harris is untested on these issues, but more that Biden is now at his weakest point during a month when Israel most needs Washington to be in a strong leadership position.
- That will create difficulties with closing the hostage deal and make Israel seem more vulnerable to Iran.
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Important Takeaways:
- Well-connected Democratic Party insiders say that congressional leaders expect Vice President Harris will become their nominee for president if Biden drops his reelection bid.
- Congressional leaders are “lukewarm” on Harris as the nominee but recognize her favorable rating is higher than Biden’s and believe the president can help boost her numbers by campaigning for her, according to a person familiar with the leadership-level discussions.
- Alums of former President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 winning presidential campaigns are prepared to help Harris get her own presidential campaign operation up and running if Biden agrees to step aside, according to a source familiar with the transition plan.
- The talk among high-level Democratic strategists and donors has now turned to who is best positioned to serve has Harris’s running mate, and the short list has boiled down to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D).
- Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday after holding events in Las Vegas and returned to Delaware to “self-isolate,” which could postpone any announcement on his future until Monday.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state, reflecting the deepening decline in support for a two-state solution among wider Israeli society.
- The vote could signal that Israeli lawmakers have confidence that “the next president is going to be Donald Trump,” one analyst said.
- The vote came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to the United States to address a joint session of Congress and meet with President Joe Biden
- Israel has faced growing pressure to present a clear plan for what happens when the war comes to an end, with Israeli opposition to a two-state solution complicating paths to a viable diplomatic resolution.
- Addressing the Knesset on Wednesday, Netanyahu defended his handling of the war in Gaza, saying Israeli forces had been effective in putting Hamas “under pressure” amid negotiations for a cease-fire deal that would bring an end to fighting in Gaza and see hostages who remain held by Hamas in the enclave released.
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Important Takeaways:
- Some supporters of Joe Biden have been accused of being “Blue MAGA” for their staunch defense of the president in the wake of the CNN debate.
- While there is no official definition for the term, Blue MAGA has been used to describe those who are fierce advocates of the so-called “vote blue no matter who” initiative and are not willing to criticize Democrats in any way.
- The “Blue MAGA” accusations have been aimed at those who have suggested they will still vote for Biden despite accusations he is too old or lacking cognitive ability to remain in office for a second term.
- The Blue MAGA accusation has also been attached to those who have pushed false claims about Biden and his popularity, while urging the president to remain in the White House race.
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States on Thursday announced a new security package for Ukraine worth $225 million, which includes a Patriot missile battery, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems and missiles, among other items.
- Washington, Ukraine’s biggest supporter, has provided more than $50 billion in military aid since 2022 when the Russian invasion began.
- U.S. legislation was approved in April that provided $61 billion in funding to Ukraine.
- “We will stay with you, period,” U.S. President Joe Biden told Zelenskiy ahead of a bilateral meeting at the NATO summit in Washington.
- Ukraine has repeatedly called on partners to provide more help with air defense as it faces attacks from Russia on cities and energy infrastructure.
- Zelenskiy said last week he wanted to double Ukraine’s air defense capacity over the summer.
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden spoke forcefully and fluently about foreign policy, one of his favorite subjects.
- He gave detailed responses about his work to preserve NATO and his plans for a second term.
- Perhaps Biden’s biggest slip-up in the press conference came early on when he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump,” in saying he picked her because he believed she could beat Trump.
- The press conference ended with Biden being asked directly whether he’d step down for Harris if he saw polling showing she had a better chance of beating Trump. “No, unless they come back and said there’s no way you can win,” Biden responded. Then he added, in a stage whisper, “No poll’s saying that.”
- Overall, his presentation was a reminder that people are focused on him now with an almost clinical eye toward possible slip-ups and mistakes, the kind of pressure that is unlikely to go away for as long as Biden insists he’ll stay in the race.
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Important Takeaways:
- White House reporters on Tuesday continued to pepper Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with questions about Biden’s cognitive decline.
- Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked KJP who the Pentagon contacts if they detect an incoming nuke late at night past Joe Biden’s “8 pm window.”
- According to The New York Times, Biden recently told Democrat governors that his ‘health is fine,’ “it’s just my brain.”
- Biden is also reported to have told the governors that he needs to get more sleep, work fewer hours and not do events after 8 p.m.
- Peter Doocy asked Karine Jean-Pierre about Biden’s early bedtime and the ‘3 am phone call.’
- “Well, [Biden] also said he’s the sharpest before 8 pm, so say that the Pentagon at some point picks up an incoming nuke – it’s 11 pm – who do you call? The First Lady?” Doocy asked KJP.
- Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that Joe Biden is not the first person contacted in the event of a nuclear war emergency.
- “He has a team that lets him know of any news that is pertinent and important to the American people. He has someone – that is decided obviously with his national security team on who gets to tell him that news,” Karine Jean-Pierre said.
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