Former President Obama has not yet endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, though allies in the Obama orbit indicate the 44th president is squarely behind Harris’ campaign. 

President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race Sunday afternoon in a letter posted to his X account, which was shortly followed by him endorsing Harris for president. Democrats nationwide soon united in their calls for Harris to become the party’s nominee as they square up for another election battle against former President Trump. 

Though Democratic leaders such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., as well as the Clintons and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have offered Harris their endorsements, Obama has remained mum. 

‘Michelle and I just want to express our love and gratitude to Joe and Jill for leading us so ably and courageously during these perilous times — and for their commitment to the ideals of freedom and equality that this country was founded on,’ Obama wrote in his statement following Biden bowing out, which did not including mentioning Harris. 

Since leaving the Oval Office, Obama has typically held his endorsement card close to his chest. He endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in June 2016, while his endorsement of Biden in 2020 was only made days ahead of the Democratic National Convention. 

Obama remained coy for a long while during the 2020 election about whom he would endorse, saying he would not back anyone during the primary. As Democratic contenders such as Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont dropped out of the primary race and cleared a path for Biden, however, Obama finally endorsed his former veep in August of that year. 

Harris was also a contender in the 2020 race, and had long had a friendship with Obama prior to her 2020 run, sparking media speculation that the 44th president could throw his support behind Harris instead of his VP. 

Harris was among the first elected Democrats in the nation to endorse Obama’s first run for president in the 2008 election, snubbing Hillary Clinton in favor of the then-Illinois senator. 

‘I’m told that I was the first elected person in California to endorse [Obama] when he decided to run for president,’ Harris said back in 2019 while she was campaigning for president. ‘I will remind you, and it is important to know, that early in those days Joe Biden was running against him.’

Harris was in attendance when Obama announced his candidacy for president in 2007, after first meeting him in 2004 when he was an Illinois state senator running for the U.S. Senate, the Washington Examiner previously reported. 

‘Barack Obama will be a president who finally ends the era of fear that has been used to divide and demoralize our country,’ Harris said during California’s Democratic convention in 2008. 

As Harris built her political career from San Francisco district attorney to California attorney general and then senator, Harris was even dubbed ‘the female Obama’ by some political analysts. 

Fast-forward to Harris’ 2020 campaign for the presidency — those in Obama’s orbit rallied around Harris’ campaign while the 44th president kept quiet. Public relations executive Michael Kempner and his wife held a fundraiser for Harris in the Hamptons that cycle, after they raised millions for Obama during his 2012 re-election campaign, Politico reported at the time. Eugene Duffy, who served as national finance committee member for Obama in 2008, helped fundraise for Harris that cycle, as did Obama donor and supporter Jeff Shell, the former CEO of NBCUniversal. 

Though Obama is again remaining coy with his endorsement in the 2024 cycle, powerful advisers and allies in his orbit have joined Harris’ campaign. Harris tapped Obama’s former attorney general Eric Holder to lead the vetting process of Harris’ potential running mates, while the campaign also reportedly contacted longtime Obama adviser David Plouffe for a leadership position on the team. Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, who worked as Obama’s 2012 deputy campaign manager and Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign chair, was announced as Harris’ campaign manager. 

Ahead of Biden dropping out of the race on Sunday afternoon, Obama allies notably helped lead the charge in calling for Biden to exit the race in favor of a candidate they believed was more suitable to take on Trump. 

Obama’s former chief campaign strategist David Axelrod declared earlier this month that Biden is ‘not winning this race.’ Actor George Clooney called on Biden to drop out of the race in a bombshell op-ed that was published just weeks after the Hollywood star co-hosted Biden, alongside Obama, for a ritzy campaign event in Los Angeles. Clooney has long had a personal friendship with Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, including vacationing with the first couple in previous years.

Another ally in Obama’s orbit, Jon Favreau, who served as former director of speech writing for Obama, also called on Biden to drop out of the race this month, saying he attended the fundraiser in L.A. with Clooney and Obama and witnessed firsthand Biden’s state of mental acuity. Favreau, alongside former Obama advisers Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor — known collectively as the ‘Obama Bros’ when they worked in the White House — also dedicated the majority of a podcast episode of ‘Pod Save America’ this month to trashing Biden. 

The ‘Obama Bros’ and other former advisers in Obama’s orbit have since taken to social media to celebrate Harris’ run. 

As momentum builds behind Harris’ candidacy, with the DNC anticipated to certify her as the nominee on Aug. 1, Obama’s statement Sunday follows his history of not expeditiously tipping the political scales in favor of one candidate over another. 

​​’We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges,’ Obama said in his statement on Sunday. ‘I believe that Joe Biden’s vision of a generous, prosperous, and united America that provides opportunity for everyone will be on full display at the Democratic Convention in August. And I expect that every single one of us are prepared to carry that message of hope and progress forward into November and beyond.’

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre held a press briefing for the first time since President Biden announced he would not be pursuing a second term and emphasized that his decision was not due to his health. 

After sharing their condolences to the family and friends of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who passed away over the weekend, as well as condemning the killing of Sonya Massey, who was fatally shot by an Illinois sheriff’s deputy in her home, Jean-Pierre addressed Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race.

Reading from a letter Biden issued on Sunday, Jean-Pierre said, ‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. And 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 the remainder of my term.’

Jean-Pierre defended the president and denied any notion of him resigning from his current post and proceeded to highlight his accomplishments during his term.  

‘We believe and any suggestion of that note is ridiculous. I just laid out what the president has been able to do in almost four years, and it’s been successful,’ Jean-Pierre stated. ‘He’s been able to do more again than any president has been able to do in two terms. He’s been able to do that more in one term, and he wants to finish the job that he started and delivering more historic results for the American people.’

When asked why Biden stepped down and if it was related to his health, Jean-Pierre dodged the question again and deferred to the president’s address on Wednesday evening.

‘Again, the president’s going to speak to this directly to the American people tonight in prime time. I know many of you all will be watching it. There are specials going on tonight. He will, I promise you, he will speak to this directly to all of you tonight,’ she said. ‘But in his letter, he talked about the country. He talked about the party. He talked about the moment that we’re in right now. It is not about his health. I can say no, that’s not the reason. But hear him out tonight.’

When asked if Biden felt bullied to leave the race, Jean-Pierre again deferred to Biden’s Wednesday evening speech and said that his decision to step down was not an easy one to make. 

‘It’s obviously a historic moment, but a decision like this is very personal. It’s not easy to make. And I think there are very rare politicians who could look at the situation and make a decision. And I think it speaks to how honorable this president is, how selfless this president is, that he was able to make this decision and say, it is not about me, it is about the American people,’ Jean-Pierre said. 

‘This is about the country and making, again, a personal, difficult decision. And so I think that speaks for itself, I really do.’

Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, considered one of the most vulnerable senators facing re-election, was hit with a new ad from his opponent tying him to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

‘I love Sen. Kamala Harris for so many reasons,’ a clip of Brown says in the introduction to the new ad released Wednesday from Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. 

‘Sherrod Brown has found a new friend,’ the ad’s narrator states. ‘And just like his old friend, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris doesn’t care about the border crisis.’

The ad then plays a clip of Harris saying, ‘We have a secure border.’

‘Sherrod Brown agrees,’ the ad narrator says before a clip shows Brown saying, ‘The border is not an emergency.’

The ad goes on to highlight Brown voting with Harris and Biden 99% of the time.

‘Sherrod Brown and Kamala Harris, new friends, same old radical agenda,’ the ad says in closing.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Moreno Communications Director Reagan McCarthy said, ‘Kamala Harris would be even more radical than Joe Biden, and Sherrod Brown supports her 100%.’

‘As ‘border czar,’ Harris has overseen the worst border invasion in history, and Brown helped her implement the most liberal agenda in American history. In November, Ohioans will reject Harris and retire Brown.’

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Brown campaign spokesperson said, ‘While Bernie Moreno opposed the strongest border deal in decades, Sherrod voted for the deal and successfully worked with Republicans to pass legislation to stop fentanyl from coming over the Southern border by cracking down on the chemical suppliers in China and the drug cartels in Mexico.’

‘Bernie Moreno and his special interest allies are attacking Sherrod because they know he will always do what’s right for Ohio while Moreno only looks out for himself.’

The race between Moreno and Brown is expected to be a close one as Republicans view it as one of their strongest opportunities to take back control of the Senate in November in a state that Trump won by 8 points in 2020. 

The Cook Political report ranks the race as a ‘toss up.’

Brown endorsed Harris for president after he had called for President Biden to drop out of the presidential race and has joined the list of vulnerable Democratic senators who are facing ads from their opponents tying them to Harris’ policies.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania GOP Sen. candidate Dave McCormick released an ad highlighting the praise that Democratic Sen. Bob Casey gave Harris before it outlines a variety of her policies that the ad says makes her the ‘most liberal nominee in U.S. history.’

The White House communication team’s credibility surrounding knowledge of President Biden’s political future is in the national spotlight after telling the public for weeks that Biden would not drop out of the 2024 race while simultaneously battling questions from the press about mounting concerns over his health. 

‘All you can do is shake your head.  No one at the White House has any credibility when it comes to Joe Biden’s health. From Vice President Harris to the White House physician to everyone in the press office, they covered up the president’s frailties. They hid the truth. It’s a scandal,’ former George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told Fox News Digital. 

Voters and social media commenters across the nation have sounded off in recent days that the communications team was ‘out of the loop’ as concerns mounted surrounding Biden’s health and subsequent claims that the president would exit the 2024 presidential race. 

When Biden did announce his departure from the race, only a handful of White House and campaign officials – such as Vice President Kamala Harris, chief of staff Jeff Zients and campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon – were made aware ahead of the letter, while some senior officials learned of the decision in a Zoom call, and most others through Biden’s public announcement on X, media outlets reported. 

The White House communications shop, which is led by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, had for weeks shut down claims Biden would drop out, while describing Biden’s health as above board and no reason for concern. 

‘Absolutely not,’ Jean-Pierre declared in a press briefing on July 3 when asked if Biden had any plans to exit the 2024 race. 

Jean-Pierre’s messaging had been backed up by White House spokesman Andrew Bates, who frequently issued statements to the media that Biden was in the race to win while brushing off questions about the president’s health. 

‘The president told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100-days agenda to help working families,’ Bates said last week in a comment to the New York Times. 

‘That is not happening, period,’ Bates said Friday when asked if members of the Biden family were discussing the president’s exit plan. ‘The individuals making those claims are not speaking for his family or his team – and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.’

Soon after the June 27 CNN debate, worried party leaders mounted a pressure campaign on Biden to exit the race, as dozens of elected Democrats commended the president for his service in the White House, but called on him to pass the torch to another candidate better suited to take on former President Trump. Media reports cited sources who described top Democrats such as former President Barack Obama, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as working in the background on efforts encouraging Biden to drop out. 

Although the media reports mounted that Democratic leaders were working to galvanize the party without Biden ahead of the DNC, the White House communications team continued brushing off the reports as hogwash.

Bates, for example, went on a social media campaign shooting down media reports that Biden’s exit from the race was imminent. Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre continued touting the president’s record in office on her X account, including that Biden ‘will continue to defend reproductive freedom’ and that POTUS had ‘been hitting the road and meeting directly with the American people’ in the days following the debate. 

Despite the full-throated denial that there were even discussions that the president should bow out, Biden ultimately stepped aside in a tweet on Sunday afternoon. 

‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, 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 the remainder of my term,’ Biden said in his letter posted to X Sunday afternoon announcing his departure from the race. 

Media reports shortly following the announcement indicated White House staffers and members of the campaign were shocked by the news, learning of the decision via the X post and through a Zoom call on Sunday. 

Biden had been self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after a COVID-19 diagnosis last week. He returned to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and will address the nation in more depth regarding his exit from the race on Wednesday evening from the Oval Office. 

Following his exit from the race, social media commenters sounded off that key White House communications team staffers were ‘out of the loop’ on Biden’s plans to leave the race or mocked staffers such as Bates. 

The calls for Biden to drop out of the race were born out of his poor debate performance last month against Trump, where he stumbled over his words, lost his train of thought and appeared more subdued than his typical public demeanor. The June 27 debate opened the floodgates to traditional allies and legacy media outlets to call on him to drop out, though conservatives and critics had for years said Biden’s mental fitness was concerning. 

As questions surrounding the president’s health mounted, the White House communications team juggled an onslaught of questions regarding whether the president was suffering with an illness such as Parkinson’s disease. 

The media’s interactions with Jean-Pierre and the communications team became more heated, as reporters pressed the spokeswoman for answers on the president’s health, and called into question the team’s credibility.

Jean-Pierre was pressed by the media during a fiery exchange earlier this month to speak to whether a Parkinson’s disease expert’s eight visits to the White House were related specifically to Biden’s health. Jean-Pierre, instead, refused to confirm the doctor by name. She did confirm a neurologist had examined Biden three times for his three yearly physicals since taking office.

​​’They’re in the White House visitor logs. It’s public. I looked it up before I came out here. It is right there for anyone to see,’ CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe said during a presser early this month when questioning the press secretary about Dr. Kevin Cannard being listed eight times on White House visitor logs. 

‘I cannot from here confirm any of that because we have to keep their privacy. I think they would appreciate that too,’ Jean-Pierre said. 

‘The patient or the doctor?’ O’Keefe asked. 

‘We have to keep their privacy,’ Jean-Pierre replied. 

‘It is public,’ NBC News correspondent Kelly O’Donnell jumped in to say, while O’Keefe added, ‘you’re going to allow this to fester longer, Karine, unless the White House just answers the question.’ 

Jean-Pierre was grilled yet again in another press conference about Cannard’s visits, where she erroneously said one of the meetings this year was not related to Biden’s health. 

‘Can you say whether that one meeting [between Cannard and O’Connor] was related to care for the president himself?’ the Associated Press asked.

‘I can say that it was not,’ Jean-Pierre responded. 

The press secretary backtracked later that day, saying Cannard’s Jan. 17 meeting at the White House was in fact related to Biden’s health, specifically to the president’s yearly physical. 

Reporters also called on the White House to allow Biden’s White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, to speak to them directly about the president’s health. The administration, however, argued that his written updates on Biden’s health and reports on his check-ups were sufficiently transparent. 

‘The thorough summaries Dr. O’Connor puts online for the public are far more extensive than the presidential medical documentation released during the previous administration,’ Bates told Fox News Digital earlier this month when asked if O’Connor would speak directly to the media. ‘In fact, the American people heard from Dr. O’Connor through his daily written reports on President Biden’s COVID case for over two weeks straight – a condition he had the honesty to disclose right away, unlike Trump’s physicians in office.’

O’Connor has released repeated statements and updates on the president’s health since Biden took office, including when he was diagnosed with COVID, as well as updates on Biden’s annual physicals. He has, however, not joined a press briefing to field journalists’ questions. 

‘Dr. O’Connor teaches at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science, completed U.S. Army flight surgeon training, and was among the first American service members in Afghanistan and Iraq. His unique expertise is sought across the medical community, in which he is respected for his candor, attention to detail, and work ethic,’ Bates continued.  

The White House has said that Biden does not suffer from a disease such as Parkinson’s or dementia, or other types of degenerative illnesses. 

Following Biden’s exit from the race, members of the GOP are calling on Biden to resign from the White House altogether. 

 ‘If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement Sunday. 

‘If the Democrat party has deemed Joe Biden unfit to run for re-election, he’s certainly unfit to control our nuclear codes,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said Sunday. ‘Biden must step down from office immediately.’

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, had also called on Biden to resign in the lead-up to his bombshell announcement. 

‘If Joe Biden ends his reelection campaign, how can he justify remaining President?’ Vance posted on X hours before the announcement. ‘Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief. There is no middle ground.’

A top grassroots group that represents Jewish Republicans is taking aim at Vice President Kamala Harris for being absent from Wednesday’s speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in front of a joint meeting of Congress.

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), in an announcement shared first with Fox News, is launching a five-figure digital ad buy in key general election swing states that accuses the vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for ‘snubbing’ the Israeli leader’s address to Congress.

The speaker of the House and the vice president, in the constitutional role as president of the Senate, usually preside over joint meetings and sessions of Congress.

However, Harris will be notably absent while Netanyahu is addressing Congress. The vice president will instead be attending a previously scheduled luncheon with the Zeta Phi Beta sorority.

The vice president and President Biden will meet with Netanyahu separately on Thursday.

Harris, who is now the Democratic Party’s 2024 presumptive nominee after Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president on Sunday, is seen as slightly more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than her boss amid the nearly 10-month-long war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Additionally, while Haris is the most high-profile Democrat not to attend Nentayahu’s speech, she is far from alone. Many Democrats in Congress, including some top figures including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will also skip the address, as they protest the Israeli leader’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.

‘Instead of supporting America’s strongest ally by attending Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, Kamala Harris decides to go a sorority luncheon,’ the narrator in the RJC’s ad says. ‘A sorority luncheon. She can’t be serious.’

‘Kamala Harris: Her priorities are not our priorities,’ the narrator concludes. 

RJC CEO Matt Brooks told Fox News that the ads will run ‘in key battleground states, targeting Jewish voters utilizing the best data operation in politics.’

Brooks argued that ‘Vice President Kamala Harris, as President of the US Senate, should be in attendance to preside over the chamber. Harris has totally failed her first test as a candidate for President of the United States – and the RJC will hold her accountable.’

Harris is not the only member of a national ticket in the 2024 election who will be missing Netanyahu’s speech.

Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the GOP vice presidential nominee, will also be absent. Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said that the former president’s running mate had ‘duties to fulfill’ on the campaign trail.

The RJC remained neutral in the GOP presidential nomination race. However, after Trump clinched the nomination, the RJC in May announced that it was committed to raising a minimum of $5 million — from its donors and from its RJC Victory Fund super PAC — to help elect Trump.

RJC national political director Sam Markstein highlighted at the time that this ‘will be the RJC’s largest effort ever to mobilize support in the Jewish community for President Trump.’

Former President Trump’s campaign says it is leaving ‘nothing to chance’ in the 2024 race but tells Fox News Digital it is ‘well-positioned to prosecute the case’ against presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and has been ‘wholly prepared’ to do so for months. 

Harris announced her presidential campaign Sunday afternoon, just after President Biden announced he was suspending his re-election bid amid pressure from within the Democratic Party. 

Biden’s drop-out came as Democratic lawmakers, donors and celebrities publicly called for him to step aside. The leadership of the Democratic Party was reportedly engaged in efforts to convince Biden, 81, that he could not win in November against former President Trump. 

Biden endorsed Harris moments after his announcement. She now seemingly has enough delegate support to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. 

However, the change at the top of the Democratic ticket does not concern the Trump campaign, according to sources familiar. Sources familiar told Fox News Digital that Trump and his campaign have been prepared for months for Biden to not be the Democratic nominee. 

‘The Trump team has been wholly prepared for every scenario, as evidenced by the memos and gameplanning done months in advance,’ a Trump campaign adviser told Fox News Digital. ‘The campaign leaves nothing to chance and is well-positioned to prosecute the case against a weak, failed, incompetent, and dangerously liberal in Kamala Harris.’ 

The former president will continue his packed schedule of criss-crossing the nation for rallies with supporters, speeches and more. Trump also, in recent weeks, has been meeting and speaking with world leaders. 

Trump is expected to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Friday after speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. 

However, campaign officials said Trump’s schedule, campaign plans and engagements with world leaders would be happening regardless of who is at the top of the Democratic ticket, and that Harris entering the race has not changed anything for their strategy. 

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has put out several memos since Harris got into the race, outlining how they plan to approach the new state of play. 

Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio put out a memo on Tuesday titled ‘The Harris Honeymoon.’ 

‘The honeymoon will be a manifestation of the wall-to-wall coverage Harris receives from the MSM. The coverage will be largely positive and will certainly energize Democrats and some other parts of their coalition at least in the short term,’ he wrote. 

Fabrizio warned that because of this ‘honeymoon,’ public polling could begin to show Harris ‘gaining or even leading President Trump,’ but he maintained that the campaign should not worry in the long term.  

‘The Democrats and the MSM will try and tout these polls as proof that the race has changed. But the fundamentals of the race stay the same,’ he wrote. ‘The Democrats deposing one Nominee for another does NOT change voters’ discontent over the economy, inflation, crime, the open border, housing costs, not to mention concern over two foreign wars.’ 

Fabrizio said ‘before long, Harris’ ‘honeymoon’ will end and voters will refocus on her role as Biden’s partner and co-pilot.’ 

‘As importantly, voters will also learn about Harris’ dangerously liberal record before becoming Biden’s partner in creating historic inflation (she cast the deciding vote on the IRA), flood of illegal immigrants at our southern border (she is Biden’s Border Czar), and migrant crime that is threatening our families and communities (she set illegals free who went on to commit violent crime as DA),’ he continued.  

‘So, while the public polls may change in the short run, and she may consolidate a bit more of the Democrat base, Harris can’t change who she is or what she’s done,’ Fabrizio added. ‘Stay tuned.’ 

However, Trump was steadily ahead of Biden, and he currently sits ahead of Harris in polls, with Fabrizio pointing to ‘the events of the past two weeks including our highly successful Convention.’ 

Additionally, this week, campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita put out a memo claiming Biden ‘was fired’ after being ‘thoroughly decimated by President Trump three weeks ago at the debate in Atlanta.’ 

‘Just as Donald Trump fired Joe Biden, he will demonstrate to the world he can fire Dangerously liberal Kamala as well,’ they wrote. ‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to defeat not just one Democrat nominee for president, but two — in the same year!’ 

The campaign cites recent polling, showing Trump leading Harris in a head-to-head match-up in national polling and in battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin. 

‘This ‘War on Democracy’ — will be stopped by the man who took a bullet for Democracy,’ they wrote. 

Trump survived an assassination attempt earlier this month after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Crooks’ bullet hit Trump in his upper right ear, less than a quarter of an inch from his head. 

Trump, less than 48 hours later, arrived in Milwaukee for the GOP convention and announced Sen. JD Vance as his running mate. 

Trump, days later, accepted the GOP nomination and pleaded for national unity. 

‘I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,’ Trump emphasized as he addressed the thousands of delegates, party officials, activists packed into Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum and to the national audience of Americans watching the convention from home.

‘The discord and division in our society must be healed. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart,’ Trump noted.

Meanwhile, just as the campaign touted Trump’s debate performance against Biden, the former president and GOP nominee told reporters Tuesday that he ‘absolutely’ wants to debate Harris. 

‘Absolutely. I’d want to,’ Trump said. ‘I think it’s important. I would be willing to do more than one debate, actually.’ 

However, Trump added, ‘I haven’t agreed to anything. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden.’ 

Trump had agreed to debate Biden a second time on Sept. 10, but the Democratic nominee will not officially be selected until Aug. 22 — the final day of the Democratic National Convention. 

It is unclear when the next presidential debate will be held. 

Vice President Kamala Harris has expressed mixed views on Israel over the last several years, an issue that is sure to be highlighted as she takes over at the top of the Democratic ticket at the same time as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington.

Harris has often been an advocate for Jewish causes and frequently supported the U.S. alliance with Israel since joining the Senate in 2017, but cracks in the now-vice president’s support for the Jewish state have started to show amid the country’s monthslong invasion of neighboring Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.

Shortly after taking office in 2017, Harris and husband Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, traveled to Israel. The trip was the third for Harris, according to a report from the Times of Israel, but the first for her husband, highlighting the importance of the country to a senator who had spent much of her upbringing around the Jewish community.

That same year, Harris made one of her first speeches as a senator to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the report notes, where the freshman senator boasted that she had introduced a resolution condemning the United Nations Security Council’s resolution that condemned Israel.

‘I believe that a resolution to this conflict cannot be imposed. It must be agreed upon by the parties themselves. Peace can only come through a reconciliation of differences and that can only happen at the negotiating table,’ Harris said during the speech. ‘I believe that when any organization delegitimizes Israel, we must stand up and speak out for Israel to be treated equally.’

Harris’ friendly relationship with Israel and the Jewish community continued after the election of President Biden, with the vice president encouraging her husband to be the first to install mezuzahs, which are inscribed with verses from the Torah, at the vice presidential residence.

Emhoff has since gone on to chair the Biden administration’s task force to combat antisemitism, a cause those close to Harris say the vice president has been deeply involved in.

However, supporters of Israel worry that the now-Democratic nominee’s support for the Jewish state has started to wane, arguing that Harris has seemingly distanced herself slightly from Biden since the conflict in Gaza began.

In March, Harris became the first administration official to call for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in the conflict. Later that month, during an interview with ABC News, Harris became the first administration official to warn that there could be ‘consequences’ if the country went ahead with a planned invasion of Rafah.

‘We have been clear in multiple conversations and in every way that any major military operation in Rafah would be a huge mistake,’ she told the outlet.

That interview also highlighted a potentially fraying relationship between Harris and Netanyahu, with the vice president dodging questions about whether the Israeli prime minister was an ‘obstacle to peace.’

‘I believe that we have got to continue to enforce what we know to be and should be the priorities in terms of what is happening in Gaza,’ Harris said in response. ‘We’ve been very clear that far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. We have been very clear that Israel and the Israeli people and Palestinians are entitled to an equal amount of security and dignity.’

The ABC News interview came after the vice president raised eyebrows earlier in the month for meeting with Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s wartime cabinet and a longtime rival of Netanyahu. According to a White House readout of the meeting, Harris ‘expressed her deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.’

According to a report from The Associated Press, Gantz made the trip despite objections from Netanyahu.

Harris has also seemingly showed sympathy for the anti-Israel student protests that broke out across the country earlier this year, despite many Jewish students complaining that the demonstrations were antisemitic.

‘They are showing exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza,’ Harris said in an interview with The Nation earlier this month. ‘There are things some of the protesters are saying that I absolutely reject, so I don’t mean to wholesale endorse their points. But we have to navigate it. I understand the emotion behind it.’

Critics have taken note of the subtle shift, arguing that Harris has staked out a stance less supportive of Israel than Biden.

‘Biden made many mistakes regarding Israel, but he is miles ahead of Harris in terms of support for Israel,’ former Trump administration Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said during an interview with the Jerusalem Post. ‘She is on the fringe of the progressive wing of the party, which sympathizes more with the Palestinian cause.’

The evolution of Harris’ position on Israel comes amid a backdrop of Netanyahu’s visit and the vice president’s sudden ascent to the Democratic nominee for president. On Tuesday, it was revealed that Harris would not preside over Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress on Wednesday, instead opting to honor a longstanding commitment to attend the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Grand Boule in Indianapolis.

The vice president would typically reside over a joint address, but Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin has been tapped to fill the role in the absence of Harris.

An aide to Harris stressed that the vice president’s decision not to preside over the address should not be taken as a change of her stance on Israel, according to a Fox News Digital report Tuesday, with the aide noting that the vice president plans to meet with Netanyahu at the White House this week in a separate meeting from Biden’s.

The aide added Harris is expected to reiterate her stance that Israel has a right to defend itself and once again condemn the Oct. 7, 2023 attack against Israeli civilians, but will also stress the need for Israel to help improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Nevertheless, Harris’ decision to skip the event elicited immediate backlash, with one Israeli official telling the Telegraph that the vice president is ‘unable to distinguish between good and evil’ and that declining to preside over the address is ‘not a way to treat an ally.’

The decision was also condemned by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to a report in the New York Post, who accused the vice president of abandoning an American ally.

‘It is outrageous to me and inexcusable that Kamala Harris is boycotting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech,’ Johnson, who will preside over the address with Cardin, said. ‘The idea that Democrats are making political calculations when our ally is in such dire straits, fighting for its very survival… is unconscionable to us.’

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

President Biden’s son Hunter was spotted arriving at the Reagan National Airport right outside Washington, D.C.  on Tuesday night where he briefly answered questions about his father’s health.

‘Great,’ the president’s son said when asked to comment on his health just days after bowing out of the presidential race amid concerns from members of his own party about his ability to serve out another term.

‘How are you feeling now that he has stepped down,’ Biden is asked as he walks into the airport parking garage.

‘It’s all good, man,’ Hunter responds.

Hunter’s arrival in the nation’s capital from Santa Monica around 9 p.m. on Tuesday comes after Fox News Digital reported he was out and about in Los Angeles last week while his father remained hunkered down on the other side of the country, battling to save his legacy and fending off reports that he would soon step down.

Hunter Biden started sitting in on meetings between his father and close staff at the White House just a week after the debate, with one White House source telling NBC at the time that the sudden presence caused confusion and prompted many to ask, ‘What the hell is happening?’ 

Biden appeared to rely on his son not only in those meetings, but on phone calls as well, sources had reported. 

The White House told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the president stands by his previous pledge not to pardon Hunter who was convicted last month on federal gun charges. 

Critics aren’t so sure and several Republicans have speculated the president will indeed pardon his son now that re-election is off the table. 

‘I’m going to place the odds that Joe Biden pardons Hunter Biden at 100%. Hunter Biden will get a pardon as a result of this decision,’ Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said during his podcast, ‘Verdict with Ted Cruz,’ on Monday.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken contributed to this report