washington — U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California on Wednesday became the highest-profile Democrat to call for President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid, as the party pushed ahead with plans to formally nominate Biden via a virtual vote in early August before the party’s convention two weeks later.

The move to schedule the vote comes after nearly 20 Democrats in Congress have called on Biden to exit the presidential race in the wake of his halting debate performance against Republican former President Donald Trump last month.

Among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should let his party nominate a different candidate, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Wednesday, sharply undercutting his post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him even if some “big names” are turning on him.

“While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,” Schiff  said in a statement, “and in doing so, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.”

Delay encouraged

The announcement from Schiff, who is running for the U.S. Senate this fall, came after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries encouraged the Democratic National Convention to delay for a week plans to hold the virtual vote to renominate Biden, which could have taken place as soon as Sunday, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Now, the Democratic National Convention’s rules committee will meet Friday to discuss the virtual vote plans and will finalize them next week, according to a letter sent to members obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The letter from co-chairs Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz states that the virtual roll call vote won’t take place before August 1, but that the party is still committed to holding a vote before August 7, which had been the filing deadline to get on Ohio’s presidential ballot.

“We will not be implementing a rushed virtual voting process,” Daughtry and Walz wrote, “though we will begin our important consideration of how a virtual voting process would work.”

The Democratic convention opens August 19 in Chicago, but the party announced in May that it would hold an early roll call to ensure Biden would qualify for the ballot in Ohio.

Ohio originally had an August 7 deadline but has since changed its rules. The Biden campaign insists that the party must operate under Ohio’s initial rules to ensure Republican lawmakers can’t mount legal challenges to keep the president off the ballot. 

Not a lock

Even if Democrats conduct a virtual roll call vote ahead of their convention, meanwhile, it wouldn’t necessarily lock Biden into the nomination.

The Democratic National Committee rule-making arm could vote to hold an in-person roll call in Chicago, said Elaine Kamarck, a longtime member of that committee and expert on the party’s nominating process. But since the Ohio law doesn’t go into effect until September 1, Biden appearing on the state’s ballot remains a real concern, Kamarck said.

“This is a fail safe for the Democrats,” Kamarck said, adding that “the convention is the highest authority” in the nominating process.

The AP-NORC poll also found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats were extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, down from 40% in an AP-NORC poll in February.

The letter from Daughtry and Walz came a day after a contingent of House Democrats wary of swiftly nominating Biden circulated another letter raising “serious concerns” about plans for a virtual roll call. Their letter to the DNC, which has not been sent, said it would be a “terrible idea” to stifle debate about the party’s nominee with the early roll call vote.

“It could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats,” said the letter obtained by the AP.

A spokesperson said that Representative Jared Huffman of California, who was among those leading the effort to rally signatures on the letter, was pleased with the decision to delay and would hold off sending the letter from House Democrats as they continue monitoring the situation.
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Milwaukee —  On the floor of the Republican National Convention Tuesday evening, vice presidential candidate JD Vance greeted and shook hands with excited delegates as he walked toward his seat.

It was a marked contrast from former President Donald Trump, who entered the hall a few minutes later and was separated from supporters by a column of Secret Service agents. His ear still bandaged after an attempted assassination, Trump closely hugged the wall. Instead of handshakes or hellos for those gathered, he offered fist pumps to the cameras.

The contrast underscores the new reality facing Trump after a gunman opened fire at his rally in Pennsylvania Saturday, raising serious questions about the agency that is tasked with protecting the president, former presidents and major-party candidates. Trump’s campaign must also adjust to a new reality after he came millimeters from death or serious injury — and as law enforcement warns of the potential for more political violence.

Trump campaign officials declined to comment on the stepped-up security and how it might impact his interactions going forward.

“We do not comment on President Trump’s security detail. All questions should be directed to the United States Secret Service,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency oversees the Secret Service, said Monday that he could not discuss “specifics of the protection or the enhancements made, as they involve sensitive tactics and procedures. I can say, however, that personnel and other protective resources, technology, and capabilities have been added.”

The Secret Service had already stepped up Trump’s protection in the days before the attack following an unrelated threat from Iran, two U.S. officials said Tuesday. But that extra security didn’t stop the gunman, who fired from an adjacent roof, from killing one audience member and injuring two others along with Trump.

The FBI and Homeland Security officials remain “concerned about the potential for follow-on or retaliatory acts of violence following this attack,” according to a joint intelligence bulletin by Homeland Security and the FBI and obtained by The Associated Press. The bulletin warned that lone actors and small groups will “continue to see rallies and campaign events as attractive targets.”

Underscoring the security risks, a man armed with an AK-47 pistol, wearing a ski mask and carrying a tactical backpack was taken into custody Monday near the Fiserv Forum, where the convention is being held.

The attack has led to stepped-up security not only for Trump. President Joe Biden’s security has also been bolstered, with more agents surrounding him as he boarded Air Force One to Las Vegas on Monday night. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also received Secret Service protection in the shooting’s wake.

Trump’s campaign has also responded in other ways, including placing armed security at all hours outside their offices in Florida and Washington, D.C.

Trump has already scheduled his next rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday. That’s where he will appear with Vance for their first event as a presidential ticket.

But the new posture complicates, at least for now, the interactions Trump regularly has with supporters as he signs autographs, shakes hands and poses for selfies at events and on airplane tarmacs.
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The U.S. Republican Party put some of Donald Trump’s intra-party former foes briefly back in the spotlight on the second night of its nominating convention. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman was on the convention floor Tuesday and has details from Milwaukee.
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President Joe Biden addressed Black supporters in the battleground state of Nevada Tuesday, his first campaign appearance since the assassination attempt on his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. He linked the attack on Trump to racial and gun violence, imploring Americans to “condemn violence in any form.” White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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MILWAUKEE — Immigration took center stage as the Republican National Convention resumed Tuesday, with speakers spotlighting a key element of former President Donald Trump’s political brand that helped endear him to the GOP base when he began his first campaign in 2015.

Among speakers slated for Tuesday night were families who’ve been impacted by violent crime — part of a GOP strategy to link crime to border policies. They include the family of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman whom prosecutors say was killed and raped by a fugitive from El Salvador and whose story has been frequently highlighted by Trump on the campaign trail.

Immigration has long been one of Trump’s banner issues, as he has criticized the unprecedented number of migrants entering the country illegally through the U.S. border with Mexico. The numbers of unauthorized crossings have fallen abruptly after President Joe Biden issued a rule suspending many asylum claims at the border.

At rallies and other campaign events, Trump has pointed to examples of migrants who committed heinous crimes and has blamed migration for the trafficking of drugs like fentanyl, even though federal data suggests many people smuggling fentanyl across the border are U.S. citizens. He has vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has also strayed into talking points not backed by evidence, including unfounded claims that migrants are entering the country to vote in the 2024 election.

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House majority leader, made that statement in his remarks, declaring, “Biden and Harris want illegals to vote now that they’ve opened up the border.”

Senate candidates who were addressing the convention Tuesday not only blamed Biden for the number of migrants crossing the border, but just as often faulted Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Republicans have increasingly focused on amid speculation that she could replace Biden as the Democratic nominee after the president’s poor debate performance.

The GOP candidates, mindful of their own races, sought to blame their Democratic opponents as well. Pennsylvania candidate David McCormick, for example, tied in his challenger, Sen. Bob Casey, with the term “Biden-Harris-Casey wide open borders.”

Kari Lake, the party’s Senate candidate in Arizona, stuck to a message that appealed largely to the GOP base and her reputation as a former television news anchor turned conservative firebrand. She blasted the “fake news” for spending “the last eight years lying about President Donald Trump and his amazing patriotic supporters.” She also blamed Biden and Democrats for the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying they’re “full of bad ideas.”

In the latest signal the party is solidifying to take on Biden in November, several of Trump’s fiercest GOP primary rivals will also speak Tuesday. They include former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump’s survival of an attempted assassination Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania was on the minds of many inside the hall. One of the delegates in the crowd could be seen with a folded white piece of paper over his ear — an apparent tribute to the bandage Trump wore when he entered the hall Monday to a roaring crowd.

Scalise, who was injured in a politically motivated shooting in 2017 while he was practicing for a charity baseball game, spoke of his own experience when he touched on Trump’s attack.

“While I was fighting for my life, Donald Trump was one of the first to come to console my family at the hospital. That’s the kind of leader he is. Courageous under fire, compassionate towards others,” Scalise said.

In the wake of Saturday’s attempt on Trump’s life, there was a heightened focus on security at the convention, which drew thousands of people to downtown Milwaukee, including a number of high-profile elected officials.

A man armed with an AK-47 pistol and wearing a ski mask was taken into custody Monday, the convention’s first day, near the Fiserv Forum where the convention is being held, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday.

The 21-year-old was arrested after being encountered by U.S. Capitol Police and Homeland Security Investigations agents who said he was acting suspicious, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Police found the weapon in his backpack, the official said.

On Tuesday, five Ohio police officers who were in Wisconsin for the convention shot a man who was in a knife fight near the convention, killing him, Milwaukee’s police chief said.

The man who police shot had a knife in each hand and refused police commands, Milwaukee Chief Jeffrey Norman said at a news conference. Two knives were recovered from the scene, the chief said.

Trump and Vance were expected to appear in the hall each of the last three nights of the convention. Vance will speak Wednesday and Trump will speak Thursday.

Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas said he hoped the assassination attempt on Trump would reset the tone nationally, beginning with Trump’s scheduled remarks Thursday.

“After a brush with death, I do believe — going through that — that his message will be better, and I think will appeal to our better emotions,” Tabas said in an interview after the Pennsylvania GOP’s delegation breakfast in suburban Milwaukee.

Trump, who has long decried rivals with harsh language and talked about prosecuting opponents if he wins a second term, seemed poised to deliver a more toned-down speech. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said in an Axios interview outside the RNC that he spent three or four hours going through his father’s convention speech with him, “trying to de-escalate some of that rhetoric.”

“I think it lasts,” the younger Trump said of the change in his father’s rhetoric. “There are events that change you for a couple minutes, and there are events that change you permanently.”
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Washington — In his short time in the U.S. Senate, J.D. Vance, the newly tapped Republican vice presidential nominee, has been a hawk on China.

He has introduced legislation to restrict Chinese access to U.S. financial markets and to protect U.S. higher education from Chinese influence.

In an interview with Fox News shortly after being named as former President Donald Trump’s running mate on Monday, Vance called China “the biggest threat” to the United States.

When asked about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Vance said Trump would negotiate with Moscow and Kyiv to “bring this thing to a rapid close so America can focus on the real issue, which is China.”

“That’s the biggest threat to our country and we are completely distracted from it,” said Vance, a staunch supporter of Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda.

The 39-year-old author and venture capitalist rose to fame with his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.” He advocates for a hands-off approach to foreign policy and is dubious about military intervention.

Tariffs and more tariffs

Both Trump and Vance have supported strong tariffs on China. In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” news program in May, Vance said the U.S. needs to apply across-the-board tariffs on imports.

“If you apply tariffs, really what it is you’re saying [is] that we’re going to penalize you for using slave labor in China and importing that stuff in the United States. What you end up doing is, you end up making more stuff in America, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio and in Michigan,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly accused China of stealing manufacturing jobs from the U.S., especially those jobs in the Midwestern part of the country.

“Vance has supported more economic restrictions and tariffs on Chinese imports and investments,” Dean Chen, a professor of political science at the Ramapo College of New Jersey, told VOA. “Hence, I expect his position on China to be in line with Trump nationalists in their potential new administration.”

Trump has promised that, if elected, he would impose 10% across-the-board levies on imported goods and a tariff of 60% or higher on Chinese goods to protect American industries.

Joel Goldstein, professor emeritus of law at Saint Louis University and an expert on the vice presidency, said Vance was selected because he is “a very loyal supporter who has embraced Trump’s policies and style and who seems disposed to defend Trump’s words and conduct.”

“The choice seems designed to appeal to Trump’s MAGA base, not to unify the Republican Party or the nation,” he told VOA.

Taiwan

Experts say Vance might be more of an isolationist than Trump, as Vance was vehemently opposed to funding the war in Ukraine.

“He previously served as a U.S. Marine in Iraq and felt that the lessons from that war should prevent future entanglements,” Chen said.

Chen added that whether that attitude translates to lessened support for a Taiwan military contingency remains to be seen.

“We all know that Trump has been clear that he won’t announce whether he would send troops to help Taiwan should Beijing invade the island democracy, saying that a lucid explanation would undercut his negotiating position,” he said. “I expect Vance to toe the same line as President Trump.”

Attracting Rust Belt voters

Vance was born on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio. He served in the Marine Corps before attending The Ohio State University and Yale Law School.

His 2016 bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” detailed his family’s struggles with poverty, addiction and instability. The book focuses on the hardship faced by white working-class people in the Rust Belt — the manufacturing region in the U.S. that includes parts of the Northeast and Midwest and has experienced economic decline and population loss.

“Senator Vance’s life story and diverse accomplishments are impressive,” Karen Hult, a political science professor at Virginia Tech, told VOA.

“He not only is from a ‘red’ Republican state, but one that is near the battleground state of Pennsylvania and may be seen as appealing to many more rural and smaller town residents in much of the Middle West,” Hult said.

In the 2020 presidential election, Trump lost Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, three important swing states along the Rust Belt.

Hult said that in most presidential elections, the choice of running mates makes little difference in voting results.

“That, of course, may differ in 2024, given the age of the two major party candidates and in light of Saturday’s assassination attempt,” she added.
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U.S. voters are assessing the impact of Saturday’s attempted assassination of presidential candidate Donald Trump. As VOA correspondent Scott Stearns reports, they are considering what the shooting means for the country and this November’s election. VOA’s Russian, Spanish, Persian and Korean language services contributed to this report.
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Washington — All eyes will be on Joe Biden as he addresses Black supporters Tuesday in the battleground state of Nevada, his first campaign appearance since the assassination attempt on his Republican rival, former president Donald Trump.

The U.S. president is expected to sharpen the choice voters will face this November, while calling for unity amid concerns of escalating political violence in the country.

In Las Vegas, at a convention of an American civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, Biden will highlight his administration’s support for Black voters who have been part of the backbone of the Democratic party’s coalition.

He is set to unveil policies to rein in rising housing costs, a critical issue in Nevada. He’ll broadcast his message in an interview with Black Entertainment Television, BET, later the same day.

On Wednesday, he’ll address UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, attempting to win Latino voters, another key voting bloc for Democrats.

In both events, Biden is expected to repeat his calls to cool down the country’s political rhetoric, a message he has delivered in three remarks in less than 24 hours following the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign event that killed a rallygoer and wounded others, including the former president.

“Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy,” the president said in a rare Oval Office address Sunday. “But politics must never be a literal battlefield, and, God forbid, a killing field.”

Biden faces the challenge of navigating his unity message with his vows to stop Trump at all costs, as his campaign adjusts its strategy to move forward amid the president’s declining poll numbers. The Biden team had just begun to more sharply criticize Trump in an effort to stabilize Biden’s candidacy, following his rocky debate performance last month when the shooting occurred.

Via his social media platform, Trump urged the nation to “stand united.” He said in an interview with the Washington Examiner newspaper that he rewrote his speech for this week’s Republican National Convention to focus more on unity following the attempt on his life.

“I fear that this moment of detente won’t last very long,” said Claire Finkelstein, director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. But it may bring greater awareness from each candidate to refrain from rhetoric that “can have an impact” especially on followers “who can be easily revved up into engaging in acts of violence,” she told VOA.

Biden continues to reject calls from at least 20 congressional Democrats and others within his party to step aside over concerns about his age and mental acuity, insisting that he is the best-positioned Democrat to beat Trump.

The latest polling data averages from various surveys compiled by FiveThirtyEight shows that Trump is leading by 4.7 percent in Nevada.

VOA’s Kim Lewis contributed to this story.
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After months of speculation, Donald Trump announced his vice presidential running mate. J.D. Vance joins the Republican presidential ticket as one of the youngest vice presidential candidates since Richard Nixon in 1952. The nomination puts his newcomer status and political inexperience to the test. Tina Trinh reports.
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Former President Donald Trump made a triumphant return to the public eye at the Republican National Convention late Monday, two days after he was wounded in an attempted assassination. Carolyn Presutti reports from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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The weekend assassination attempt on Donald Trump has silenced much of the chatter over President Joe Biden’s political future. But as Trump charged forward Monday, appearing at the Republican National Convention and naming his vice presidential pick, the Biden administration prepared for a Tuesday campaign stop in this uncertain stage in the presidential race. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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The United States Secret Service says it’s “confident” in its ability to safeguard this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This, after the party’s leader, Donald Trump, survived an assassination attempt over the weekend. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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MILWAUKEE — The top of Republicans’ presidential ticket came together suddenly Monday, as Donald Trump swept a majority of votes from national convention delegates and announced Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate.

After receiving the votes of enough delegates to clinch the nomination, former President Trump will lead the GOP in a third consecutive election. The winner in 2016, he lost to current President Joe Biden in 2020. He will face Biden again in November.

Trump has been the presumptive nominee for months. But it was the vote of RNC delegates in Milwaukee that made it official Monday afternoon.

He hit the necessary threshold with votes from his home state of Florida, announced by his son Eric.

Inside the convention hall, delegates flanked by “Make America Great Again” signs cheered wildly as state after state voted their support for Trump’s second term.

Trump’s campaign chiefs designed the Republican convention opening this week to feature a softer and more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader expand his appeal among moderate voters and people of color.

Then came the shooting that rattled the foundation of American politics.

Suddenly, the Democrats’ turmoil after the debate, the GOP’s potential governing agenda and even Trump’s criminal convictions became secondary to concerns about political violence and the country’s stability. The presumptive Republican nominee and his allies will face the nation during their four-day convention in Milwaukee unquestionably united and ready to “fight,” as the bloodied Trump cried out Saturday while Secret Service agents at his Pennsylvania rally rushed him to safety.

Anger and anxiety are coursing through the party, even as many top Republicans call for calm and a lowering of tensions.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran in the GOP presidential primary, has distinguished himself as one of the more aggressive voices on the right, saying often that the country is already at war with itself. So it was notable that in remarks at an event run by the conservative Heritage Institute at the RNC on Monday he was toning down his rhetoric and urging the country to come together.

“The enemy is not the Democrats, it is an ideology,” Ramaswamy told the crowd at Heritage’s “Policy Fest” event.

On Monday, hours before the first convention session, some well-timed good news for Trump got the day off to a positive start for him and his party. The federal judge presiding over Trump’s classified documents case dismissed the prosecution because of concerns over the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case, handing the former president a major court victory.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform to call for the dismissal of his other legal cases.

“As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts,” he wrote, listing several cases.

There are no changes yet to the convention program

In an interview Sunday, Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley said the convention’s programming wouldn’t be changed after the shooting. The agenda, he said, will feature more than 100 speakers overwhelmingly focused on kitchen table issues and Trump’s plans to lift everyday working Americans.

“We have to be able to lay out a vision for where we want to take this country,” he said.

Whatley said the central message would have little to do with President Biden’s political struggles, Trump’s grievances about the 2020 election or the ex-president’s promises to exact retribution against political enemies.

“We are going to have the convention that we have been planning for the last 18 months,” he said. “We are a combination of relieved and grateful that the president is going to be here and is going to accept the nomination.”

Beyond voting to formally give Trump the nomination, elected delegates from across the nation will update the GOP’s policy platform for the first time since 2016. The scaled-down platform proposal — just 16 pages with limited specifics on key issues, including abortion — reflects a desire by the Trump campaign to avoid giving Democrats more material on a key campaign issue.

The platform approved by a committee last week doesn’t include an explicit call for a national abortion ban, two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a federally guaranteed right to abortion.

“More divisiveness would not be healthy,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

People connected to January 6 will be involved

There will be reminders of Trump’s record in a speaking program that includes a handful of Republicans charged with crimes related to other political violence — the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who’s in jail on contempt of Congress charges, is expected to speak at the convention just hours after his release. He was found guilty in September after refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Capitol attack.

Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald, who was indicted of criminal charges related to his involvement in a scheme to present fake electors who would overturn Biden’s victory over Trump, plans to present the former president with the party nomination at the convention. A judge dismissed the case against McDonald last month over a venue dispute.

Trump has repeatedly cast the people involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including his many supporters who stormed the Capitol, as political prisoners.

For now, Democrats have scaled back their plans to offer a competing message during the Republican convention.

The Biden campaign over the weekend pulled down its campaign ads. Vice President Kamala Harris postponed a Tuesday appearance in Florida set to focus on Trump’s opposition to abortion rights. And the pro-Democratic group American Bridge is delaying the scheduled Monday release of faux trading cards designed to highlight controversial policy positions of Trump and other leading Republicans.

There are expected to be protesters in Milwaukee

The convention, coming less than four months before Election Day, is taking place in heavily Democratic Milwaukee, the largest city in a pivotal swing state Trump lost by less than 1 percentage point four years ago.

Even before the assassination attempt, major protests were expected, although movement will be severely restricted as part of enhanced security precautions established by the Secret Service.

Still, the risk of violent confrontation exists.

Security officials previously announced that people just outside the Secret Service perimeter would be allowed to carry guns openly or concealed as permitted by state law. Wisconsin statutes outlaw only machine guns, short-barreled shotguns and silencers.
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Washington — President Joe Biden has directed the U.S. Secret Service to protect independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the Homeland Security secretary said Monday.

Kennedy is a longshot to win Electoral College votes, much less the presidency. But his campaign events have drawn large crowds of supporters and people interested in his message.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Biden had directed the protection for Kennedy “both prior to and after the events of this past weekend.”

The Secret Service is legally required to protect major party presidential and vice-presidential candidates and their families 120 days out from a general election, but third-party candidates are on an as-needed basis.

The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged in its 2024 budget overview that recent requests for candidate protection were coming in earlier than in the past.

Threats to political candidates are common, but law enforcement officials have said that there has been an uptick in violent rhetoric since the weekend attack at the Trump rally. Mayorkas said both Biden and Trump are “constantly the subject of threats.”

“We are in a heightened and very dynamic threat environment,” he said. 

With a famous name and a loyal base, Kennedy has the potential to do better than any third-party presidential candidate since Ross Perot in the 1990s. But he didn’t participate in the first presidential debate on June 27. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns, who fear he could be a spoiler, bypassed the nonpartisan debate commission and agreed to a schedule that essentially left out Kennedy.

Kennedy, who last year challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination before launching an independent bid, has argued that his relatively strong showing in a few national polls gives his candidacy heft. Polls during the 2016 presidential campaign regularly put libertarian Gary Johnson’s support in the high single or low double digits, but he ultimately received only about 3% of the vote nationwide.

Trump became the official Republican presidential nominee Monday after receiving the votes of enough delegates at the Republican National Convention. He was not seriously injured in the shooting over the weekend in Pennsylvania. There is an independent review of the attack underway.

Mayorkas said Trump’s protection has been enhanced based on the “evolving nature of the threats to the former president” and his shift from presumptive nominee to nominee. 
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Taipei, Taiwan — The shooting at a rally for former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday quickly became a trending topic on China’s social media platforms Sunday.

The Chinese foreign ministry released a statement on its website Sunday, indicating that the country is closely following the incident involving Trump.

“President Xi Jinping has expressed sympathies to former President Trump,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in its statement.

The FBI said Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was the suspect in the attempted assassination of Trump.

As of noon, Beijing time Sunday, the Weibo entry “Trump was shot” had garnered more than 300 million views, making it the top trending topic on the platform. Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to X, formerly Twitter, mirrors trends seen on international platforms like X, which is banned in China.

Not only did the entry “Trump was shot” dominate Weibo’s trending topics, but at one point, half of the top 20 searches were related to the shooting. Updates such as “Trump’s right ear was shot through by a bullet,” “One person died at the scene,” and “The shooting suspect was killed,” along with U.S. President Joe Biden’s responses, also garnered significant attention.

Fast reaction came also from Chinese businesses: By noon Sunday in Beijing, shopping websites like Taobao and Pinduoduo listed T-shirts featuring images of Trump raising his arms after being injured. Some internet commenters jokingly remarked, “This is the speed of Chinese e-commerce.”

Major state media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency and CCTV, extensively covered the shooting.

Many Chinese experts interviewed said they believed that the assassination attempt was genuine and speculated that it could positively influence Trump’s campaign.

Chinese social media was also rife with speculation that the shooting was “self-directed and self-staged.”

Notably, Jin Hao, former executive editor of Xinhua News Agency’s “World Military,” commented on Weibo, saying that, after looking at the clips from the scene and observing Trump’s “remarkably swift” reaction, “he [knew he] was shot as soon as he touched his ears and immediately crouched down.” Jin remarked, “This isn’t something that ordinary people can react to.”

Some Weibo users also echoed that “it has been practiced hundreds of times.”

However, this conspiracy theory faced criticism from many bloggers, and others who argued that Trump’s ear injury was just a few centimeters away from the brain.

Even Jin Canrong, a professor at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China, known for his strong anti-American stance, bluntly stated in an interview with the Shanghai-based media Observer Net that this incident was “an assassination.”

Jin noted that in the photos from the scene, the injured Trump raised his hands in a fighting gesture, surrounded by Secret Service agents and the American flag, effectively creating a heroic image for himself.

Currently based in California, Albert Chiu, a political science professor at Taiwan’s Tunghai University, said in an interview with VOA that Trump was shot during a live broadcast, and the shooter was killed on the scene, making it hard for any “conspiracy theory” to take hold. He emphasized that the ongoing culture of political assassination in the United States warrants more attention.

According to He Yue, a member of the National Union of Journalists in the United Kingdom, the enthusiasm of Chinese netizens for discussing the shooting reflects daily restrictions on free speech, where “domestic politics is off-limits.” They can only engage openly when negative topics related to American democracy arise, He Yue said.

Because “Chinese netizens really cannot discuss Chinese politics, when it comes to other countries’ political events, like the shooting, it feels like they’ve found an outlet to vent,” he told VOA. “The most heated discussions revolve around whether this is a ploy and who orchestrated it. Chinese people have lived in a world of falsehoods for too long; everything feels fake, so they use this mindset to judge foreigners.”

Taiwan’s reaction

On Sunday, Chen Shui-bian, former Taiwanese president who was shot while campaigning for reelection two decades ago, pointed out in interviews with several Taiwanese media outlets that the locations of both shootings — his in Tainan, in southern Taiwan, and Trump’s in Butler, Pennsylvania — can be seen as “sacred places of democracy” for both countries. Each attack resulted in minor injuries to presidential candidates, which he characterized as “a striking coincidence.”

One day before the 2004 Taiwan presidential election, the “319 shooting incident” occurred. President Chen was shot while campaigning in a jeep in Tainan. The bullet only caused a minor abdominal injury after penetrating his clothing.

The Presidential Office of Taiwan stated Sunday, “President (Lai Ching-te) extends sincere concerns to former President Trump and prays for his speedy recovery.” Lai strongly condemned any form of political violence and expressed his deepest condolences to all victims.

Eric Chu, chairman of the China-friendly opposition Kuomintang party, also stated in an interview that he promptly expressed condolences to the U.S. side, hoping for former President Trump’s swift recovery, and emphasizing the party’s condemnation of political violence.
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A defiant former President Donald Trump will attend the full Republican National Convention, just days after he survived an assassination attempt. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and tells us how his supporters, after Saturday’s shock, are now energized.
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President Joe Biden on Sunday summoned the gravitas of the Oval Office to entreat Americans to unify and shun political violence after a stunning attempt on the life of rival Donald Trump a day earlier. Trump, en route to the political convention where he is expected to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, made similar calls – in a sign both men fear trouble ahead as the November election looms. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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White House — President Joe Biden on Sunday condemned political violence and called for national unity after an assassination attempt on his rival and presidential challenger, former President Donald Trump.

Biden also urged Americans to not jump to conclusions as law enforcement investigates the Saturday shooting at a rally in the swing state of Pennsylvania. 

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence – or any violence for that matter,” Biden said, flanked by his vice president and attorney general. “An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for, as a nation, everything. It’s not who we are as a nation, it’s not American, and we cannot allow this to happen. 

“Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is (more) important than that right now: unity. We’ll debate and will disagree – that’s not going to change. But we’re going to not lose sight of the fact of who we are as Americans,” the president said.

He added that Trump is “doing well and recovering” and that he had taken steps to direct the Secret Service to provide Trump with “every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure his continued safety.” 

Biden said that he instructed the elite law enforcement agency to review all security measures – “all security measures,” he repeated for emphasis – as Republicans, including Trump, prepare to arrive Monday in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention. There, Trump is expected to be officially named as the party’s presidential nominee.

President Biden added that although the shooter has been identified, Americans should not rush to form conclusions until the investigation is complete.

“I urge everyone – everyone – please don’t make assumptions about his motive or his affiliations,” Biden said. 

And finally, he said he would address the nation late Sunday from the Oval Office – widely seen as the most sober and consequential venue for presidential addresses. 

Biden had abruptly returned to Washington early Sunday to receive briefings on the event and its aftermath. He and Vice President Kamala Harris spent much of the morning in the White House Situation Room with homeland security and law enforcement officials, according to a White House photo.

Also Sunday, the White House announced that Biden would not travel Monday to Texas, as planned, for a campaign event. The campaign had said Saturday that they were working to temporarily suspend campaign messaging and take down ads. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation into what they are describing as an assassination attempt. Trump was wounded in the ear Saturday evening at a rally in Pennsylvania after a gunman aimed at him. His campaign said he was “fine” and he appeared later that evening, walking off his plane in New Jersey. 

An attendee at the rally was killed, as was the gunman, and two other attendees were wounded, law enforcement said. 

On Sunday, former first lady Melania Trump issued a plea for Americans to “ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence.”

Also Sunday, Devin Nunes, a Republican former congressman who is the CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., called for a thorough investigation.

“The situation demands a fast, thorough federal investigation to determine all the circumstances of this cowardly attack and to identify if any additional persons were involved. I also call for the federal government to provide any security resources requested by President Trump to guarantee his safety. America will overcome this despicable shooting and together, our nation will endure.”
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The FBI has named a suspect in what it called an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s campaign says Trump is “fine” after the shooting. An investigation into the incident is underway. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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The U.S. Republican Party is expected to formally nominate Donald Trump for president this week, days after he survived an assassination attempt at a political rally. Already tight security is expected to be heightened in Milwaukee, which is hosting the Republican National Convention. VOA’s Jorge Agobian and William Gallo spoke with convention delegates and Milwaukee residents, who are concerned about the possibility of more unrest.
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