By Paula Ramon with Danny Kemp in Washington LAS VEGAS, July 17, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden said he could drop his reelection bid if doctors found he had a medical condition, as a top Democrat on Wednesday urged the 81-year-old to step aside. Biden’s comments were the first time he has even slightly opened the door to abandoning the White House race, and came as Representative Adam Schiff, a key ally from […]
Tag: US
Biden isolates with Covid: implications for 2024 campaign
By Paula Ramon with Danny Kemp in Washington LAS VEGAS, July 18, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid with mild symptoms Wednesday, shortly after conceding he would consider dropping his reelection bid if doctors diagnosed him with a serious medical condition. The 81-year-old Democrat gave reporters the thumbs up and said “I feel good” as he cut short a campaign trip to Las Vegas and flew to his beach home […]
Biden defends ‘mental acuity’ in feisty new interview
By Danny KEMP WASHINGTON, July 16, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden defended both his “mental acuity” and his rhetoric about Donald Trump Monday, in a second TV interview aimed at ending calls for him to quit his reelection bid following a disastrous debate. The 81-year-old delivered an often combative defense of his mental and physical fitness for office during the one-on-one with broadcaster NBC, which nevertheless featured some of the word salads that […]
Trump appears at convention with bandaged ear after shooting
By Frankie TAGGART and Michael MATHES MILWAUKEE, July 16, 2024 (AFP) – Donald Trump received a hero’s welcome Monday as he entered the Republican National Convention arena with a bandaged right ear in his first public appearance since being wounded in a weekend assassination attempt. Hours after winning the formal nomination to be the Republican presidential candidate and announcing right-wing Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, Trump marched into Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum flanked by […]
J.D. Vance is Trump’s bold choice for VP, but can he win?
By Michael Mathes MILWAUKEE, July 16, 2024 (AFP) – Donald Trump has put a youthful, loyal gladiator for his Make America Great Again movement on the Republican ticket, hoping J.D. Vance’s transformation from blue-collar Rust Belter to senator can help him secure victory. A White House candidate often chooses a vice presidential running mate who can appeal to new categories of voters or compensate for acknowledged weaknesses in terms of image or policy. Trump, though, […]
Melania Trump says rally shooter a ‘monster’
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2024 (AFP) – Former first lady Melania Trump said Sunday that a gunman who opened fire at a Donald Trump rally was a “monster,” as she condemned the assassination attempt in which the Republican presidential candidate was injured. “A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion — his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration,” Melania Trump said in a statement shared on […]
‘Cool it down,’ Biden tells nation after Trump assassination bid
By Danny Kemp with Frankie Taggart in Milwaukee WASHINGTON, July 15, 2024 (AFP) – President Joe Biden sought to calm a divided nation after his rival Donald Trump survived an assassination bid, saying in a rare Oval Office address Sunday it was time to lower the temperature of America’s hostile politics. “You know, the political record in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down,” Biden said in the televised speech, […]
Republicans blame Biden for Trump shooting amid escalating rhetoric
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2024 (AFP) – Within hours of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, his Republican supporters in Congress claimed they knew exactly who was responsible: Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Biden’s campaign “rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” Senator J.D. Vance, on Trump’s shortlist for vice president, alleged shortly after Saturday’s shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania, in which the former US leader was wounded and one bystander killed. Vance’s […]
Trump rally shooting will impact security at events, may pause political rancor: Expert
Ramped up security, less partisan political rancor, a different media focus: political analyst Aaron Kall talks to AFP about the implications of the wounding of Donald Trump in an assassination attempt against the former US president at an election rally Saturday in Pennsylvania. “It’s hard to predict long-term,” Kall tells AFP during an online interview. “Any politician in a situation like this, you want to go on as business as normal and not allow this […]
Long history of shootings in US presidential politics
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2024 (AFP) – Shots were fired during a rally speech by Donald Trump, in an incident that investigators are treating as a possible assassination attempt on the former president. Including Abraham Lincoln and JFK, here are some notable examples of shootings involving US presidents or presidential candidates: – Ronald Reagan (1981) – President Reagan was shot and seriously wounded as he left an event at the Hilton hotel in Washington. The attacker […]
World leaders react to Trump rally shooting
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2024 (AFP) – World leaders and governments reacted with shock to the wounding of Donald Trump in an assassination attempt against the former US president at an election rally. Presidents and prime ministers globally spoke out against political violence and expressed their support for those affected by the Saturday shooting, which killed one bystander and left two other spectators critically wounded. – Europe – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said […]
Bloodied Trump survives assassination bid (UPDATES with shooter identified)
By Gregory WALTON BUTLER, United States, July 14, 2024 (AFP) -Donald Trump was hit in the ear in an assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally Saturday, in a chaotic and shocking incident set to supercharge political tensions ahead of the polarising US presidential election. The 78-year-old former president was rushed off stage with blood streaked across his face after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, while the shooter and a bystander were killed […]





