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Vulnerable Dem senator credited with recruiting Harris to Senate still hasn’t endorsed her for president

Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, who is involved in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country, is yet to endorse the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris despite recruiting her to the Senate and referring to her as a ‘friend.’

Several high profile Democrats have endorsed Harris for president after President Biden stepped down but when contacted by Fox News Digital this week about his endorsement, Tester’s office pointed to a Sunday press release from Tester thanking Biden for his public service and his support of an open nomination process. 

Tester’s office did not respond when asked if he would wait until the Democratic National Convention in August to endorse Harris given that talks of an open primary seem to have subsided and Harris has locked up the delegates necessary for the nomination.

Tester’s relationship with Harris goes back many years and the Montana senator was reportedly directly involved in recruiting Harris to the Senate in 2015 when he was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

‘It gets me in on leadership meetings and allows me to influence where the party is going, what the party’s going to do … to focus on things that are important,’ Tester said about his role at DSCC in 2014.

In 2020, Tester called Harris a ‘friend’ while touting her nomination as vice president in a social media post.

‘It’s surprising that Jon Tester is trying to distance himself from Kamala Harris after he recruited her to run for Senate, strongly endorsed her for Vice President, and voted with her 100% of the time on her tie-breaking Senate votes,’ NRSC Spokeswoman Maggie Abboud told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

‘It seems like Tester is trying to fool voters in an election year.’ 

Tester is widely viewed as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate as he runs for reelection in a state that former President Trump won by 16 points in 2020.

Tester, who has been attempting to frame his record as more moderate as he faces a tough reelection, called on Biden to step down last week after speaking with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Fox News Digital reported.

The Cook Political Report ranks Tester’s race as a ‘toss up.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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VP Harris faces backlash in crucial swing state after her ‘disastrous’ anti-fracking position resurfaces

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is facing renewed criticism for her past support of banning fracking, which she boldly proclaimed while running for president in 2019, particularly from critics pointing out the popularity of fracking in Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania.

‘There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,’ Harris said during a 2019 town hall on CNN as a presidential candidate. 

‘And starting with what we can do on day one around public lands, right? And then there has to be legislation, but, yes, that’s’ something I’ve taken on in California. I have a history of working on this issue and to your point we have to just acknowledge that the residual impact of fracking is enormous in terms of the health and safety of communities.’

In a statement to Fox News Digital, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella, said, ‘Kamala Harris is the most far left progressive presidential nominee in history, and extreme Democrats in the Rust Belt now own every single policy she supports.’

‘A fracking ban would be disastrous for workers and families, and extreme Democrats’ mission to force Biden to step aside and replace him with San Francisco radical Kamala Harris shows exactly how out of touch they are with their voters.’ 

‘Banning fracking would cause home electricity costs to skyrocket and devastate Western PA’s natural gas economy,’ Republican state Rep. Rob Mercuri, who is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 17th District, told Fox News Digital. 

‘Clean natural gas production is America’s best opportunity for reliable and affordable energy needs well into the future. Expanding America‘s energy economy will provide thousands of good union and non union jobs for hard-working Pennsylvanians. As your congressman, I will always support the production of clean natural gas.’

Harris also faced intense criticism from conservatives on social media after Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing his vice president.

‘Kamala Harris is even more extreme than Joe Biden – She wants to ban fracking and kill countless jobs in states like PA for American workers,’ Donald Trump Jr. posted on X. 

‘This is who Bob Casey just endorsed for the presidency,’ GOP Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick posted on X in response to Sen. Bob Casey’s endorsement of Harris.

‘Dear Pennsylvania… take it from this Californian, don’t let Kamala Harris anywhere near your energy sources,’ former acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Ric Grenell posted on X. 

‘She’s a radical environmentalist even for California. Even Obama eventually read the science and agreed to fracking. As Attorney General, Kamala worked overtime to make sure liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals were not built throughout the entire state of California.’

‘Fracking supports tens of thousands of jobs in swing states like Pennsylvania,’ Power The Future founder and Executive Director Daniel Turner posted on X. ‘There’s no question that energy is on the ballot in November.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign but did not receive a response.

The fracking process, which involves injecting water into shale rock at high pressure to extract natural gas, has revolutionized the oil and gas industry by allowing producers to reach large quantities within shale rock that were previously unattainable and cost-prohibitive to drill.

As a result, oil and gas production in the U.S. has nearly tripled over the past decade. More than 95% of new wells use hydraulic fracking, accounting for about two-thirds of natural gas production and half of oil output in 2018, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

Proponents argue that fracking is critical for the U.S. becoming energy independent and is also the reason for a sharp drop in carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade.

Opponents, however, say fracking pollutes drinking water and air and releases greenhouse gases into the ozone, contributing to global warming.

Overall, the fossil fuel industry in Pennsylvania supports about 50,547 jobs, a 2021 report published by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection showed. 

Pennsylvania, believed to be one of the states the 2024 election will hinge on, is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. behind only Texas, according to the Energy Information Administration. Driven largely by its natural gas production and power plant generation, Pennsylvania is the largest electricity exporter in the country.

Fox News Digital’s Jonathan Garber and Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Have We Bottomed? Here Are 3 Charts To Watch

Tops and bottoms are so much fun to predict, but key signals are not always accurate. That’s where a healthy dose of skepticism comes in. At EarningsBeats.com, we try to put as many signals together as possible, looking for corroboration. That helps to build confidence in the signals. For example, I turned short-term cautious last week for a few reasons.

First, I’m a student of history and I know that the period from the July 17th close through the July 24th close is the 3rd worst week of the year historically. That covers all trading days since 1950 on the S&P 500 and since 1971 on the NASDAQ. The annualized returns for this July 17-24 period on the S&P 500 and NASDAQ are -16.37% and -32.12%, respectively. Also keep in mind that the worst period of the year is NOT May 1st through October 31st as the “go away in May” folks, who obviously do little research, would have you believe. Instead, it’s July 17th through September 26th. During this period, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ have produced annualized returns of -2.36% and -5.40%, respectively. That may not seem like much, but consider that the -2.36% annualized return on the S&P 500 covers 3,643 trading days since 1950. That’s the equivalent of 14+ years. How excited would you be about investing if I told you that the S&P 500 would go down an average of 2.36% per year through 2038? Probably not too excited. Well, that’s the equivalent of what has happened during this bearish period since 1950. The NASDAQ’s -5.40% annualized return for the same period covers 2622 trading days, or roughly 10 years. This is just a small sample of the quality research that we provide our members every day.

Second, last week was max pain week. That’s the week when monthly options expire. This is generally a very difficult period for U.S. equities and last week was no exception. Every month, we provide our members a list of approximately 135-140 stocks, showing their closing price as of the Friday before monthly options expiration Friday. We then provide each stock’s max pain price, which essentially is the price point at which market makers would pay out the least amount of options premium. Let me give you a few examples of how this worked so beautifully last week. Below I’m providing stock symbols, their closing price (CP), their max pain price (MP), and their low price (LP) last week:

NVDA: 129.24 CP, 100.89 MP, 116.56 LPAMZN: 194.49 CP, 172.48 MP, 180.11 LPAMD: 181.61 CP, 160.07 MP, 150.62 LPMSFT: 453.55 CP, 426.13 MP, 432.00 LPAMAT: 243.40 CP, 217.99 MP, 210.26 LP

Do you see the value in knowing about max pain? It literally saved many of our members thousands of dollars. I don’t use this information to guarantee me that a stock is going to drop to its max pain price. Instead, I use this information as a directional clue, no different than a positive or negative divergence, key price support or resistance, overbought and oversold territory, etc. It’s simply one more clue that max pain provides. And I’d say the clue was quite helpful for July.

Next, how about the reversal just as the 5-day SMA of the equity only put call ratio ($CPCE) hit a key complacency level that tends to mark tops?

The red circles highlight the two times that this signal didn’t work out well, but plenty of others worked just fine, especially last week’s, tipping us off to a reversal to the downside.

Finally, any time I see the correlation between the S&P 500 and the Volatility Index ($VIX) turn positive, the odds increase that we’ll see a reversal in the S&P 500 – either lower off an uptrend or higher off a downtrend. Check this latest positive correlation that once again sparked a reversal:

You can see that the VIX and SPX move opposite one another most of the time, resulting in a correlation that is almost always in the -0.50 to -1.00 range. Trips above zero, however, do offer a hint as to a possible market reversal and this latest signal also worked again. Remember, these are ALL short-term cautious signals, not long-term.

What To Look For Longer-Term

There’s a TON to watch, but let me give you 3 short-term technical clues I’ll be watching, in order of importance:

Technology (XLK)Semiconductors ($DJUSSC)NVIDIA Corp (NVDA)

It’s no secret that technology represents 32% of the S&P 500 and 50% of the NASDAQ 100. If this group breaks down, the odds of a further drop would increase significantly. Let’s look at the XLK:

Let me say that bearish patterns forming during secular bull markets MUST confirm. I give the benefit of the doubt to the bulls every single time during a secular bull market advance, which is exactly what we’ve had on our hands since the April low. But we have external factors like the Fed that could quickly change the technical picture, which is why I’m watching these other signals so closely.

This is an absolutely CLASSIC head & shoulders topping pattern. All of the markers are present. First, a negative divergence printed with a bearish engulfing candle at the top. The resulting low changed the character of the chart, at least temporarily, by printing a lower low. Note that the selling did stop at the 50-day SMA and also above both gap support and price support. Unfortunately, we’re left with a down-sloping neckline, which if violated, would be much more bearish. The bounce that we’re seeing could be the formation of an important right shoulder at the now-declining 20-day EMA and/or the bottom of gap resistance, or possibly slightly higher to rein in the last buyers before a much more significant decline. The measurement of this head & shoulders pattern, if executed, would be roughly 205, a far cry from the current 226 level.

We should also keep an eye on the RSI. The bounce off 40 was beautiful, but normal bull market pullbacks touch that level and then take off. A return trip to RSI 40, or below, would start to paint a more bearish picture.

Next, semiconductors:

Semiconductors will be the primary key for technology. This chart doesn’t look a whole lot better than the XLK chart itself. I circled 4 very bearish days in the past month that suggest significant distribution. Prior to mid-June, I don’t know if we had 4 similar days earlier in all of 2024. RSI support is teetering with one test already at 40. We have a double bottom on the AD line and a rapidly-deteriorating PPO, though, for now, it remains above centerline support. We don’t have a major breakdown just yet, but key warning signs are there. And the semis represent a huge chunk of the XLK. I’m not showing it here, but the DJUSSC has a negative divergence on its weekly chart, so short-term breakdowns could become much more severe.

Working our way down the totem pole, next up is NVIDIA Corp (NVDA), which has problems of its own. Because it’s the poster child of semiconductors, a breakdown in this critical stock would be very detrimental to both the semiconductor group and technology, as a whole. Check out NVDA and zero in on its key areas of support:

Listen, here’s your leader in semis. Everyone will be watching to make sure NVDA holds support. Make no mistake, I am BULLISH NVDA, the semis, and technology over the long-term, but could Q3 be a problem? Yes, it very well could.

To conclude, I’m worried about the market here. I see issues building not just on the charts above, but within our economic structure. The Fed may have a lot to say about how deep the current selling/downtrend goes. I’m not a fan of Fed Chief Powell and I’ve been quite vocal about the Fed’s delay in cutting the fed funds rate. This lack of rate cuts is just now beginning to show up in deteriorating economic conditions. This is important enough that I wanted to hold an event this Saturday for our EB.com members. I’ll be discussing the many warning signs that are now popping up, along with what it would take for me to turn much more bearish. If you’ve followed me, you know that I don’t get bearish every other week. I have not been bearish since I said to go long U.S. stocks on June 17th, 2022, during the depths of the 2022 cyclical bear market.

If you would like to join this event, “Why The S&P 500 May Tumble”, on Saturday, July 27th at 10:00am ET, simply CLICK HERE to learn more and to register. We are very likely to reach capacity, so please register TODAY. We’ll get your FREE 30-day trial started and you’ll be able to experience all the benefits of an EarningsBeats.com membership.

Be careful out there!

And, as always, happy trading!

Tom

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Bissell recalls 3.2 million handheld steam cleaners after scores of burn injury reports

Bissell is voluntarily recalling 3.2 million Steam Shot-style handheld steam cleaners after it received 183 reports of injuries, most of them minor burns.

In a release on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website, Bissell said the affected products ‘can expel hot water or steam onto users while heating or during use, posing a burn hazard.’

The products are sold throughout the U.S. and in Canada in Target and Walmart stores, as well as by Amazon and other retailers.

The units are sold in the model series 39N7 and 2994, with “STEAM SHOT” or “POWER STEAMER” printed on the side. The model numbers are printed on the product rating label on the bottom of the unit.

Consumers should stop using the recalled steam cleaners and reach out to Bissell to receive either $60 credits to be used toward Bissell.com purchases or $40 refunds for each of the recalled steam cleaners.

Consumers should also visit www.bissell.com/steamshotrecall to register for the recall and for instructions on how to cut the cord and take and upload a photo of the steam cleaner showing the model number and the severed cord.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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For new USWNT coach Emma Hayes, learning and joy are key to success

Emma Hayes says there’s been a lack of development of younger players over the years.
She also thinks the team was overthinking things and robotic at the last World Cup.
Under Hayes, learning and finding joy again are key to success.

HARRISON, New Jersey — Emma Hayes is one of the most successful coaches in the game, with the titles, player endorsements and hefty paycheck to prove it.

That doesn’t mean the new coach of the U.S. women’s national team has stopped learning and trying to get better, however.

“I have an executive coach that works with me while I’m in camp. So I’m being coached the whole time. That same coach is coaching (U.S. captain Lindsey Horan), too,” Hayes said before the USWNT’s first send-off game ahead of the Paris Olympics, where the women begin play Thursday.

“For me, leadership — you’re not just born with it. It has to be learned,” Hayes said. “There’s skills you have to develop to be able to bring the best out in people, and that is a job in and of itself.”

That openness to learning, and commitment to ensuring she’s passing on her knowledge, is what several players mentioned when asked what’s struck them about Hayes in her short time so far with the USWNT.

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“We have a coach who is willing to coach. There’s no reluctancy in having players learn,” Horan said. “We just want to be coached. We want to keep growing and grow as a team, as well. That’s the biggest thing right now, is we’re getting information. We want that.

“Every single day, you’re learning something new,” Horan added. “That’s the most important thing for this team right now.”

For the better part of three decades, the USWNT was the standard by which all programs measured themselves. The Americans won four World Cup titles, second only to Brazil’s men, and four Olympic gold medals. They spent year after year atop the FIFA rankings, and would often go months without losing a game.

For most of that time, the Americans had a built-in advantage thanks largely to Title IX. They had the best players and a college system that kept the pipeline pumping, as well as legal protections that allowed the game to flourish when it was still being stymied in most other countries.

As the world caught up, however, athleticism and depth weren’t enough. Running and gunning wouldn’t cut it against teams like Spain, whose fluid and effortless-looking style of play was the result of a club and country development system in perfect alignment. The pay-to-play system that produces most of the top talent in the United States is more geared toward winning than perfecting skills and tactics.

First at the Tokyo Olympics, where they were bronze medalists, and then at last year’s World Cup, where they were dumped out in the round of 16, their earliest exit ever at a major international tournament, it was clear the rest of the world was passing the USWNT by. The entire USWNT program needed a reboot, one that went beyond simply bringing in new players or tweaking things here and there.

And Hayes’ background made her perhaps the ideal coach for the job.

She has experience at every level of the American soccer ecosystem, coaching in the youth system, college and at the professional level, major and minor leagues both. She also had a stint running Arsenal’s academy program, giving her an up-close look at how differently — some would say superiorly — young players are taught and developed in many other countries.

Hayes returned to England after the demise of the Women’s Professional Soccer league, the precursor to the NWSL, and was hired at Chelsea in 2012. In her dozen years at Chelsea, she won seven Women’s Super League titles, including the last five. She also won the FA Cup five times and took Chelsea to the Champions League final three years ago.

She’s known as a great tactician but also someone who gets the most out of her players, in part because she cares about them as people as much as she does players.

When she arrived for her first USWNT camp — she was hired by U.S. Soccer in November but didn’t take over until Chelsea’s season was finished in May — Hayes set up 30-minute meetings with every player on the roster so she could get to know them beyond what she saw on game film. When she called Lynn Williams in to tell her she was being elevated from alternate to the Olympic roster, they spent 30 minutes talking before Hayes told her the reason for their meeting. They then spent another 30 minutes chatting.

“What’s really cool about her is she’s trying to get to know people on an individual level, on a personal level. Like what makes people tick, why do people want to be here,” Williams said.

Anyone who has studied business or personnel management will recognize what Hayes is doing. If your employees feel you’re interested in them as people, if you learn who they are and what drives them, you’ll get far more out of them. Make them more receptive to instruction, too.

Hayes is well aware of the lofty expectations on the USWNT and knows there won’t be much appetite among fans for a rebuild. But she does not style herself as a miracle worker, emphasizing process and the necessity of not skipping steps. If the U.S. women are again going to be among the best teams in the world, these changes need to be done right.

Which will take as much time as it takes.

“The reality is, it’s going to take a lot of work for us to get to that top level again,” Hayes said after the Olympic roster was announced. “There’s been a lack of development of putting players, some of the less-experienced players, in positions where they can develop that experience. We have to do that to take the next step.

“I’m not looking backwards. We have to look forward with a group of players that have put that World Cup behind them,” she added. “This is an opportunity for us to show (the work we’re doing) will take us much further than it did last time. But there’s no guarantee of anything in life.”

While teaching is the cornerstone of Hayes’ remake of the USWNT, she isn’t throwing all her knowledge at her players at once. She talks of layering, of working on one concept and then adding elements to it until you are comfortable with it all.

The idea is in keeping with something else she talks of often: playing with joy. A player can be the most astute tactician in the game but if she’s not enjoying it, if she’s running through a catalog of instructions in her head with every step she takes, she won’t be joyful.

Won’t be effective, either.

“Sometimes we overcomplicate it. She’s kind of gone back to the basics, which I think is something some coaches skip over because they assume that we have those nailed down,” Sophia Smith said. “She’s come in and just reminded us of the basics and, from there, to trust in our abilities to be creative and do what we need to do on the field.

“At the World Cup, it was a lot of overthinking and felt robotic at times,” Smith added. “With Emma, I feel really free to be myself and I feel like she believes in me and believes in every player on this team to bring what they have to this team.”

Hayes wasn’t the coach she is now when she started, but she was open to new ideas along the way and learned from her all experiences. The USWNT won’t be the team in Paris that it will be at the next World Cup, in 2027, or at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

But they’ll get there. If you’ve learned anything about Hayes, it’s that her teams always do.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Bryson DeChambeau hosting former President Trump on podcast

Bryson DeChambeau announced he will have former President Donald Trump on his Break 50 podcast on Tuesday for a special episode.

DeChambeau posted on X that Trump, the Republican presidential nominee for the 2024 election, will appear on his Break 50 show.

In addition to Trump’s appearance, the golfer’s show will be donating $10,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project for every stroke they score under par.

In a follow-up post, DeChambeau clarified that this ‘is about golf and giving back to our nation’s veterans, not politics.’

‘A few weeks ago I reached out to both parties’ presidential campaigns and @realDonaldTrump was down for the challenge,’ the golfer’s post said. ‘It is an incredible honor to be able to enjoy a round of golf with any sitting or former president, and all have an open invitation to join me for a round of Break 50 anytime.’

DeChambeau posts episodes of his Break 50 podcast to his YouTube channel, which has more than 850,000 subscribers. Previous episodes feature 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia, model Paige Spiranac and golf YouTuber Garrett Clark.

After the assassination attempt on Trump on July 13 during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, DeChambeau voiced his support for the former president on X.

‘Violence deserves no place in this world. Praying for President Trump and his family,’ the golfer said in an X post. ‘Wishing for a speedy recovery.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Harris campaign breaking fundraising records in race against Trump since Biden bowed out

Vice President Kamala Harris raised $100 million from Sunday afternoon – when President Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president to succeed him as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee – through Monday night, her campaign announced on Tuesday morning.

And the Harris campaign also touted that the fundraising in the wake of the president’s blockbuster news came from more than 1.1 million unique donors, with 62% of them first-time contributors.

The Harris campaign has been spotlighting the surge in fundraising, and in an email release on Monday afternoon highlighted that the money raised was the ‘largest 24-hour raise in presidential history.’

But the Harris campaign hasn’t offered a breakdown of what percentage of the cash haul was raised online by small-dollar donations and what share came from top-dollar donors. The haul includes money raised by the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees.

‘The historic outpouring of support for Vice President Harris represents exactly the kind of grassroots energy and enthusiasm that wins elections,’ campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement. ‘Already, we are seeing a broad and diverse coalition come together to support our critical work of talking to the voters that will decide this election.’

On Monday, the Harris campaign spotlighted that they hauled in $81 million in the 24 hours following Biden’s announcement.

The one-day haul easily topped the nearly $53 million former President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced that they brought in nearly two months ago through their online digital fundraising platform in the first 24 hours after Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in his criminal trial in New York City.

The surge in fundraising comes as the party started to quickly coalesce behind the vice president after Biden ended his bid. The president endorsed Harris immediately after suspending his own campaign, which ignited a surge of endorsements by Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders in backing her to succeed Biden as the party’s 2024 standard-bearer.

Harris on Monday night announced that she’d locked up the nomination by landing commitments of backing from a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Aug. 19 in Chicago. 

Biden on Sunday suspended his campaign amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out after a disastrous debate performance last month.

The 81-year-old president’s uneven delivery and awkward answers during the first 20 minutes of the debate in front of a national audience quickly prompted questions about his mental and physical ability to serve another four years in the White House.

The money brought in over the past two days by Harris will help rebuild a once-massive Biden campaign war chest that was partially depleted as fundraising started to dry up amid the increasing chorus of calls for the president to drop out of the race.

Munoz said in a statement that ‘there is a groundswell behind Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump is terrified because he knows his divisive, unpopular agenda can’t stand up to the Vice President’s record and vision for the American people.’

The Biden campaign and the DNC enjoyed a fundraising lead over Trump and the RNC this year. But Trump and the RNC topped Biden and the DNC, $331 million to $264 million, during the April-June second quarter of 2024 fundraising.

The Trump campaign tells Fox News that they ‘continue to have robust fundraising’ and that they’ve ‘demonstrated a level of fundraising that we’re satisfied with.’

The Trump campaign highlights that their fundraising efforts are ‘doing what we need to do.’

As of the end of last month, the Biden campaign had nearly $100 million in its coffers.

And on Sunday, the campaign filed new paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) naming Harris as the principal candidate, in a move to give the vice president complete control over the funds.

On Monday, the Harris campaign sent out a slew of fundraising emails and text messages.

‘Now is our chance to make history,’ the vice president emphasized in one text as she asked donors for a $20 contribution.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Harris says Biden is currently capable of serving as president amid growing concerns over his fitness

Vice President Kamala Harris’ office told Fox News Digital Tuesday morning that she believes President Biden is currently capable of serving as president – after the sudden suspension of his campaign heightened concerns over his ability to complete his term.

Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday after more than 30 Democratic lawmakers called on him to withdraw. Pressure mounted following his catastrophic performance at the first presidential debate in June, where he was seen speaking with a raspy voice and jumbling up his words.

Lawmakers immediately began to question Biden’s ability to serve the remainder of his term if he is unable to seek re-election, but the vice president remains confident in Biden’s ability to serve.

Asked if Harris believes Biden is currently capable of serving as president, the vice president’s office told Fox News Digital, ‘Yes.’

‘As the Vice President has said many times before, the nation is lucky to have President Biden leading our nation,’ Ernesto Apreza, press secretary to the vice president, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

The president has been isolated in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for nearly a week since testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. The White House physician released several updates on the president’s health since his diagnosis, writing Monday that he ‘continues to perform all of his presidential duties.’

The president said in his withdrawal announcement that he will spend the remainder of his term ‘solely on fulfilling my duties as President,’ but some lawmakers are calling on his Cabinet to take action and remove him immediately.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., sent a letter to Harris and every member of Biden’s Cabinet on Monday demanding they invoke the 25th Amendment, which states that a vice president and Cabinet majority can vote to oust the president in the case that he is unfit to serve.

‘Joe Biden has decided he isn’t capable of being a candidate; in so doing his admission also means he cannot serve as President,’ Schmitt said. 

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said she would be introducing a similar resolution to call on Harris to invoke the measure.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Biden will address nation from Oval Office on decision to exit 2024 race

President Biden will address the nation on Wednesday after his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election. 

Biden will speak to the American people about why he decided to exit the race and what he plans to focus on for the remaining six months of his first term. His address will be delivered from the Oval Office, the White House said. 

The president is expected to be seen in public for the first time in six days on Tuesday as he returns to the nation’s capital from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Biden has not appeared publicly since reportedly testing positive for COVID-19 last week. His only public remarks on his stunning decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election came Monday during a brief phone call into the campaign headquarters of Vice Presidential Kamala Harris, who is now the presumptive Democratic nominee. 

According to the president’s public schedule, Biden will depart from Delaware at 12:30 p.m. He will then fly from Dover Air Force Base to Joint Base Andrews to return to the White House at around 2:30 p.m. The president will receive his daily briefing at 3 p.m. There are no public events on his schedule. 

In a letter released on X Sunday, Biden said he believes it is in the ‘best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.’ 

‘I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision,’ he added, though he gave no details on the time, place or manner in which he would speak. 

Last week, Biden began to self-isolate after reportedly testing positive for COVID-19. He was last seen publicly deplaning in Delaware on July 17.

In a letter updating the status of 81-year-old Biden’s medical condition on Friday, the physician to the president, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, wrote that Biden ‘completed his sixth dose of PAXLOVID this morning.’

Biden ‘is still experiencing a loose, non-productive cough and hoarseness, but his symptoms continue to improve steadily,’ O’Connor wrote in the letter released by the White House. 

‘His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal,’ the doctor said. ‘His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.’ 

The doctor said Biden has the KP .2.3 variant, which accounts for approximately 33.3% of new infections in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

‘The President continues to tolerate treatment well and will continue PAXLOVID as planned,’ the letter says. ‘He continues to perform all his presidential duties.’ 

Biden will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday at the White House, according to a U.S. official. Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. a little more than 24 hours after Biden announced that he would no longer seek re-election. 

On Wednesday, Netanyahu will give a speech in front of Congress, though Harris reportedly declined to preside over the address, according to the Washington Post. Before departing Israel for D.C., Netanyahu told reporters that his country would stand by the U.S. ‘regardless [of] who the American people choose as their next president.’

‘In this time of war and uncertainty, it’s important that Israel’s enemies know that America and Israel stand together,’ the leader said.

Netanyahu also requested a meeting with former President Trump this week, according to Politico. It is unclear if Trump agreed to the meeting.

Fox News’ Kaitlin Sprague and Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.

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Secret meeting between US, Israel, UAE held to discuss postwar plans for Gaza

A secret meeting between the U.S., Israel and the United Arab Emirates has been held to discuss a potential strategy on how the Gaza Strip will be governed once there is an end to the months-long war, Fox News confirmed Tuesday.

The meeting, held in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be looking to establish a plan for Gaza once the war is over, following repeated calls for a cease-fire.

But details on the Thursday meeting – first reported by Axios – remain scarce, and it is unclear if options for ending the war were also discussed. 

The assault by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, was met with swift retaliation by Jerusalem in the Gaza Strip and eventually drew international condemnation amid high levels of civilian casualties. 

Despite international pressure for a cease-fire, Netanyahu has previously vowed not to end the offensive until Hamas is eradicated. 

In December, Netanyahu had suggested that Israel must take full control of Gaza in order to ensure ‘demilitarization’ of Hamas – a move that would reverse Israel’s 2005 agreement to withdraw from Gaza. 

The Abu Dhabi meeting was reportedly hosted by the UAE’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed and attended by Brett McGurk, White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and Tom Sullivan, the State Department’s senior policy adviser to the secretary of state.

Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and two senior Israeli defense officials also attended the meeting. 

The meeting was held one day after UAE special envoy Lana Nusseibeh laid out a ‘day-after’ proposal in an op-ed for the Financial Times. 

Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Biden and Congress during his trip to Washington this week, where the war in Gaza is expected to be a chief topic of discussion.

Fox News’ Bret Baier contributed to this report. 

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