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Kamala Harris says Biden's choice to run for re-election was 'reckless' in new book excerpt
In an excerpt from her forthcoming book, 107 days, former vice-president Kamala Harris shares her struggles with the Biden administration on the rushed road to becoming the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
In the section of her book, published in the Atlantic, Harris recalls the back-and-forth about Joe Biden’s capability to run for a second term.
“During all those months of growing panic, should I have told Joe to consider not running? Perhaps. But the American people had chosen him before in the same matchup,” she writes. “And of all the people in the White House, I was in the worst position to make the case that he should drop out. I knew it would come off to him as incredibly self-serving if I advised him not to run.”
Ultimately, Harris concludes that the former president’s decision to run again was “reckless”.
“The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision,” she says.
Harris, from her vantage point, tries to debunk any conspiracy theories that there was an institutional cover-up of Biden’s mental acuity. “I don’t believe it was incapacity. If I believed that, I would have said so,” she says. “As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.”
Throughout the extract she lists her accomplishments both before her time at the White House and during her tenure as vice-president.
But, Harris notes that one of the biggest obstacles she faced was the unwillingness among the former president’s circle to stand up for her: “Getting anything positive said about my work or any defense against untrue attacks was almost impossible.”
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Unconfirmed reports of shooting at Utah Valley University
We are receiving unconfirmed reports of a shooting at the Utah Valley University, at an event where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was speaking.
The Guardian is seeking to independently confirm reports that Kirk has been shot. Utah senator Mike Lee, a Republican, said that he is “tracking the situation” closely. “Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there,” he added in his post on X.
John Bolton, the former ambassador and national security adviser during Donald Trump’s first term in office, has said that “Putin has acted like he has a free hand since the Alaska summit.”
Referring to the bilateral meeting last month, which didn’t yield a ceasefire deal, Bolton added that the Kremlin leader has “ignored any further conversation on a ceasefire, the Russian military is expanding its operations, and he’s received the political support of his friends Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, and Kim Jong-un.”
A reminder, Bolton’s home and office were raided by the FBI in August.
Ex-FBI officials claim they were fired for investigating Trump in new lawsuit
Sam Levine
Three former senior FBI officials sued its director, Kash Patel, and the federal government on Wednesday for wrongful termination, saying there had been widespread unlawful political influence at the bureau.
The three officials, Brian Driscoll Jr, Steven Jensen and Spencer Evans, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington DC, asking a judge to declare their firings were illegal, reinstate them, and award them backpay.
The complaint details an episode in which Patel allegedly told Driscoll he had been instructed by the White House to fire any agent who worked on an investigation of Donald Trump.
“Patel explained that he had to fire the people his superiors told him to fire, because his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of the agents who worked on cases involving the president,” the complaint says. Patel explained that there was nothing he or Driscoll could do to stop these or any other firings, because “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it”.
The complaint also alleges Emil Bove, a staunch Trump ally and former top justice department official, asked Driscoll to compile a list of agents who worked on the investigation into the January 6 attack on the US capitol. When Driscoll said that the mass firing of those agents would not comply with FBI protocol and endanger national security, Bove said they would be referred to the justice department for a misconduct review.
DNC launches billboard featuring Trump's alleged 'birthday note' to Epstein
The Democratic Committee (DNC) has launched a mobile billboard to circle the White House today. It features a picture of the president and Jeffrey Epstein alongside Trump’s alleged birthday note to the late sex-offender, as part of his 50th birthday scrapbook.
“Donald Trump is hiding something, and Republicans in Congress are covering for him. Trump originally clamored to release the Epstein Files, but now that he knows he’s named in them, he calls them a hoax,” said DNC chair Ken Martin.
A reminder that Trump has insisted that he didn’t sign the note, and called his reported contribution to the album a “dead issue” on Tuesday.
Labor department inspector general announces BLS investigation
The office of the labor department’s inspector general – an independent watchdog – said that it was launching a “review” of “the challenges that Bureau of Labor Statistics encounters collecting and reporting closely watched economic data”.
The letter announcing the investigation was sent to acting BLS commissioner William Wiatrowski by the assistant inspector general of the labor department, Laura Nicolosi. It comes after yesterday’s landmark revision from the BLS, which found that job growth was overestimated between April 2024 and March 2025. There were actually 911,000 fewer jobs, according to the latest report.
For context, Donald Trump claimed, baselessly, that job report numbers were being rigged, and fired commissioner Erika McEntarfer last month. The revision, known as “benchmarking” is a standard, annual process from BLS.
Anna Betts
Zohran Mamdani continues to hold a commanding lead in the race for New York City mayor, with a new poll released on Wednesday showing the Democratic nominee 15 points ahead of former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate.
The new poll, conducted by Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill, shows Mamdani with 43% support among New York City registered voters, compared with 28% for Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June.
In the Emerson poll, the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa, received 10% support, while the incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent, polled at 8%. Nine per cent of respondents said they were still undecided.
The new results mirror other polling by the New York Times/Siena University released this week, which found Mamdani leading Cuomo 46% to 24% among likely voters. In that poll, Sliwa received 15% support, and Adams 9%.
Chris Stein
A markup of 14 bills, intended to codify Donald Trump’s intervention into policing Washington DC, briefly went off the rails after a Democratic congressman accused his Republican colleagues of being “lapdogs of the president of the United States”.
The House oversight committee is considering the bills on the day that Trump’s 30-day takeover of the capital’s police department expires. Democrats generally oppose the Republican backed legislation, and the spat erupted as the lawmakers were discussing the Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Act, which includes among its provisions the creation of a commission to coordinate federal law enforcement in the district and neighboring states.
After Louisiana Republican Clay Higgins defended the bill, Florida Democrat Maxwell Frost asked if he would not support similar legislation for his state, given its relatively high rates of violent crimes.
“Where’s your bill for the occupation of the state of Louisiana to keep your people safe, if you’re at all sincere in this?” Frost asked. Higgins replied that he supported the state legislature, “which is doing everything it can to push back upon the crime rate of the Democrat-controlled cities”.
Frost then asked for his views on California, where Trump earlier this year ordered the national guard deployed in Los Angeles, alongside active duty Marines, but Higgins demurred.
Frost pressed on, accusing his Republican colleagues of being insincere: “You’re here because you’re lapdogs of the president of the United States,” he said.
The remark caused an uproar, and the Republican chair James Comer briefly suspended the hearing. When it reconveed, Frost asked to withdraw his comments.
The hearing is ongoing. Thus far there have been no signs that Democrats will support any of the bills aimed at deepening federal control of Washington DC, despite the GOP’s efforts to use the issue to accuse them of being soft on crime.
Here's a recap of the day so far
In an excerpt from her forthcoming book, 107 days, former vice-president Kamala Harris shares her struggles with the Biden administration on the rushed road to becoming the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election. The section of her book, published in the Atlantic, recalls the back-and-forth about Joe Biden’s capability to run for a second term. Ultimately, Harris concludes that the former president’s decision to run again was “reckless”.
The Senate banking committee approved Stephen Miran’s nomination to fill the vacant governor seat on the Federal Reserve board today. Donald Trump nominated Miran, who currently serves as a White House economic adviser. The committee voted along partisan lines, 13-11, with all Democrats voting against Miran’s confirmation, and claiming his independence is compromised. The vote now advances to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Miran is all but certain to be confirmed.
This comes after a federal judge ruled that Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook can stay in her post while suing Donald Trump over his unprecedented bid to fire her. Next week, Cook and her colleagues on the Fed board will take part in a two-day meeting, where chair Jerome Powell is facing relentless criticism from the president to cut interest rates.
Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social about Poland shooting down several Russian drones earlier today. “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!,” the president wrote. It’s not clear what actions, if any, the administration is taking in conjunction with Nato allies. A White House official told Reuters that Trump intends to speak with Poland’s president and his political ally, Karol Nawrocki, later today.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in DC have called Russia’s actions “an act of war”.
And today is the last day of Trump’s federal takeover of the DC police. On 11 August issued a “public safety emergency” and invoked section 740 of the Home Rule Act, which allows him to take control of the Metropolitan police department (MPD) for 30 days. To extend this period he would need congressional approval, something that lawmakers haven’t indicated is likely.
Fired CDC director to testify in front of Senate committee
Suzan Monarez, the recently fired director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is set to testify before the Senate committee for health, education, labor and pensions (HELP) on 17 September.
Monarez will be joined by Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer who resigned in late August. Houry left the agency with alongside several other top public health officials, citing the alleged spread of misinformation under the Trump administration and political interference in her work.
Last week, health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr addressed the Senate finance committee, where he was grilled by Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike about new Covid-19 vaccine policies, and the ongoing turmoil at the CDC – which included a shooting at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters and Monarez’s contentious ousting.
At the hearing, Kennedy said Monarez was “lying” about her claims that she was fired for refusing to sign off on the secretary’s new vaccine policies. Instead, Kennedy said that she was removed after admitting to being untrustworthy.
Monarez’s lawyers responded in a statement to Kennedy’s comments, calling them “false” and “at times, patently ridiculous”. They added that Monarez would repeat her published claims “under oath”.
Her appearance on Capitol Hill next week will be in front of the committee chaired by Republican senator Bill Cassidy, a former physician who has been skeptical of Kennedy’s stance on science and public health. Cassidy also serves on the finance committee and sparred with the health secretary on Thursday, accusing him of “effectively denying” people the Covid-19 vaccine.
'Here we go': Trump weighs in Poland shooting down Russian drones
Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to weigh in on Poland shooting down several Russian drones earlier today.
“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!,” the president wrote.
It’s not clear what actions, if any, the administration is taking in conjunction with Nato allies.
Senate committee confirms Trump nomination for Federal Reserve vacancy
The Senate banking committee approved Stephen Miran’s nomination to fill the vacant governor seat on the Federal Reserve board today. Donald Trump nominated Miran, who currently serves as a White House economic adviser.
The committee voted along partisan lines, 13-11, with all Democrats voting against Miran’s confirmation.
“President Trump is trying to seize personal control of the Fed in an attempt to escape accountability for his own economic failures,” said the committee’s ranking member Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts. “[Miran] knows that every vote he takes determines whether he can go back to his White House job. That is not independence – that is servitude.”
The vote now advances to the Republican-controlled Senate, where Miran is all but certain to be confirmed. It’s unclear whether this process will move quickly enough for Miran to attend the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week – where Trump is pressuring chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates.
We’re now hearing from Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate who was detained by the Trump administration for over three months.
“Not only is the US government sending money and weapons to Israel to kill Palestinians, but the Trump administration is saying you must be silent about watching your people, your community, be massacred with US tax dollars or else they will make you disappear,” Khalil said.
“The American people want their tax money to fund their communities, their education, their housing, not bombs and war planes that are killing Palestinians every single day and turning Gaza into rubble.”
My colleague, Oliver Laughland, recently sat down with Khalil and his family, to learn more about his time in immigration detention. You can read more below.
On Capitol Hill today, several lawmakers are speaking about the “Block the Bombs Act” – a piece of proposed legislation that would block the sale of US arms to Israel, as well as demanding the Israel’s compliance with US and international law.
“We know that ‘Block the Bombs’ bill is a first step towards real oversight and accountability for the consequences of a military campaign that in the last year and a half has leveled Gaza, displaced millions, and killed a reported over 62,000 Palestinians,” said Democratic congresswoman Delia C Ramirez, of Illinois, who introduced the bill.
The legislation now has 45 co-sponsors, all Democratic representatives.
Trump to speak with Poland’s Nawrocki later today
Jakub Krupa
Donald Trump intends to speak with Poland’s president and his political ally, Karol Nawrocki, later today, a White House official told Reuters.
This comes after Poland shot down several drones that entered its airspace earlier on Wednesday, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine spread to Nato territory – in the most significant way since the full-scale invasion more than three years ago.
Follow along with our latest developments in the region
Following on from my last post, Harris also called out the Biden White House for not pushing back on the frequent attacks by Republicans, who, she writes “mischaracterized my role as ‘border czar’”.
“No one in the White House comms team helped me to effectively push back and explain what I had really been tasked to do, nor to highlight any of the progress I had achieved,” she writes of her role to develop foreign investment in Central America.
And when it came to the war in Gaza, Harris notes that the administration’s frustration came from the former vice-president delivering her message “too well”, after she gave in speech in Selma, Alabama that highlighted the worsening humanitarian crisis in the region, and called on Israel to release more aid.
“Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well,” Harris writes of the president’s inner circle.
