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The Latest: Biden decries 'extremism' on the Supreme Court, lays out plans for reforms

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FILE - Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., is pictured at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 13, 2023. Kelly will lead a House task force charged with investigating the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. Kelly was appointed leader of the effort on Monday, July 29, 2024. Kelly was present at the Trump rally and his congressional district includes the city of Butler, Pa., where the attack occurred. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

President Joe Biden decried “extremism” that he says has undermined public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court. He has called on Congress to quickly establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court’s nine justices. He also called on lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity.

The FBI says former President Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed as part of the investigation into the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

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Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign raised $200 million since she emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee last week, an eyepopping haul in her race against former President Trump.

Follow the AP’s Election-2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here's the Latest:

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion to campaign for Harris

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion will join Vice President Kamala Harris for a special performance during her campaign stop in Atlanta on Tuesday.

A Harris campaign spokesperson confirmed the hip-hop star’s performance alongside the vice president in a post on X on Monday night.

The Harris campaign is promising a large rally in Atlanta, on par with the large events that Republican former President Donald Trump has made his signature.

Kamala Harris has America focused on multiracial identity

If Vice President Kamala Harris were to ascend to the presidency, she would become the first female president, but also one who is also multiracial.

The daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both of whom immigrated to the U.S. during the Civil Rights Movement, Harris’ historic presidential bid has again put a spotlight on American identity politics and the growing number of people who say they are multiracial.

Different countries divide people into categories depending on different national traditions. The U.S., with its slavery-molded history, divides people into Black or white, and nine million people identified as multiracial in 2010.

When Harris ran for vice president in 2020, 33.8 million people in the U.S. identified as being more than one race, according to the census.

Biden decries ‘extremism’ on Supreme Court, details plan for term limits, ethics code for justices

In an address at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, President Joe Biden said Monday that “extremism” on the U.S. Supreme Court is undermining public confidence in the institution and called on Congress to quickly establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court’s nine justices. He also called on lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity.

Biden, who has less than six months left in his presidency, detailed the contours of his court proposal while marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. His calls for dramatic changes in the court have little chance of being approved by a closely divided Congress with 99 days to go before Election Day.

“Extremism is undermining the public confidence in the court’s decisions,” Biden said. He added, “We can and must prevent abuse of presidential power and restore faith in the Supreme Court.”

Biden pointed to the 2013 high court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and rolling back abortion rights, and a 2023 decision “eviscerating” affirmative action in college admission programs as three prime examples of what he saw as “outrageous” decisions that have shaken Americans’ faith in the high court.

‘White Dudes for Harris’ is the latest in a series of Zoom gatherings backing the vice president

A series of hastily organized Zoom calls to raise money and rev up supporters have been quickly stirred up over the past week in support of Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign for president — including one on Monday night billed as “White Dudes for Harris.”

In the past week, tens of thousands of people have joined virtual gatherings spun up by activists and outside organizations to rally support for the vice president among specific groups including Black women, Hispanic women, Black men, Asian Americans, Native Americans and the LGBTQ+ community.

The calls reflect how Democrats, including Biden, have frequently relied on voters from broad and disparate backgrounds to piece together a diverse coalition of support.

Organizers of Monday night’s “white dudes” Zoom expect 100,000 attendees to join a gathering featuring appearances from actors including Mark Ruffalo, Sean Astin, Mark Hamill and Bradley Whitford. Also set to participate: Democratic officials including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, all of whom have been mentioned as potential running mates for Harris.

Harris is endorsed by border mayors in swing-state Arizona as she faces GOP criticism on immigration

Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted endorsements from mayors of border towns in swing-state Arizona Monday as she looks to blunt the impact of Republican criticism of her handling of illegal border crossings.

Harris’ campaign said she was backed by the mayors of Bisbee, Nogales, Somerton, and San Luis, as well as by Yuma County Supervisors Martin Porchas and Tony Reyes. The mayors were elected without party affiliation but represent left-leaning communities. Porchas and Reyes are Democrats.

A week into her sudden promotion to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, Harris is getting her campaign off the ground and refining her pitch to voters with less than 100 days before Election Day. Republicans are trying to make the border a political liability for Harris just as it was for President Joe Biden before he ended his reelection campaign.

Pennsylvania congressman chosen to lead task force investigating Trump assassination attempt

Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania witnessed the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump firsthand and will now lead the House task force charged with investigating what went wrong and recommending solutions to help ensure such an attack doesn’t happen again.

Kelly represents the city of Butler, where the July 13 attack occurred. He attended Trump’s campaign rally and sponsored the legislation to create the task force, saying his community was grieving and that “the people of Butler and the people of the United States deserve answers.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York jointly announced on Monday that 13 lawmakers, seven Republicans and six Democrats with backgrounds in law enforcement, legal affairs and the military, had been appointed to the task force. It will issue a final report before Dec. 13.

“We have the utmost confidence in this bipartisan group of steady, highly qualified, and capable members of Congress to move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and help make certain such failures never happen again,” Johnson and Jeffries said in their statement.

Parody ad shared by Elon Musk clones Kamala Harris’ voice, raising concerns about AI in politics

A video that uses an artificial intelligence voice-cloning tool to mimic the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris saying things she did not say is raising concerns about the power of AI to mislead with Election Day about three months away.

The video gained attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk shared it on his social media platform X on Friday without explicitly noting it was originally released as parody.

By late Sunday, Musk had clarified the video was intended as satire, pinning the original creator’s post to his profile and using a pun to make the point that parody is not a crime.

The video uses many of the same visuals as a real ad that Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, released launching her campaign. But the fake ad swaps out Harris’ voice-over audio with an AI-generated voice that convincingly impersonates her.

Judge rejects man’s bid to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off New Jersey’s ballot

A New Jersey judge on Monday denied an effort to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from running for president under the state’s sore loser law.

Judge Robert Lougy denied a request by attorney Scott Salmon, who sought to keep Kennedy from appearing on the Nov. 5 presidential ballot as an independent. He said the law compelled him to dismiss the case but that Salmon could still raise complaints to the state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Tahesha Way.

Kennedy’s famous name and a loyal base have buoyed his bid for the White House, and he could do better than any independent presidential candidate in decades. Strategists from both major parties worry he might negatively affect their candidate’s chances.

Biden unveils plan for Supreme Court changes

President Joe Biden has unveiled a long-awaited proposal for changes at the U.S. Supreme Court, calling on Congress to establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court’s nine justices. He’s also pressing lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity.

The White House on Monday detailed the contours of Biden’s court proposal, one that appears to have little chance of being approved by a closely divided Congress with just 99 days to go before Election Day.

Still, Democrats hope it’ll help focus voters as they consider their choices in a tight election. The likely Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has sought to frame her race against Republican ex-President Donald Trump as “a choice between freedom and chaos,” said the court’s fairness had been called into question following recent decisions.

FBI: Gunman in Trump assassination attempt looked up mass shootings, power plants, explosive devices

The FBI says the gunman in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump looked online for details about mass shootings, power plants and improvised explosive devices.

Thomas Matthew Crooks also searched for information about the attempted assassination earlier this year of Slovakia’s prime minister. That’s according to Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office.

The FBI has also says Crooks looked for information about how far away Lee Harvey Oswald was from President John F. Kennedy during the November 1963 assassination.

FBI: Trump agrees to be interviewed as part of investigation into assassination attempt

The FBI says former President Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed as part of the investigation into the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

It's customary for federal agents to seek to interview victims of crimes during the course of their investigation.

Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, says investigators want to get Trump’s perspective on what happened July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The FBI said Friday that Trump was struck by a bullet or a fragment of one during the assassination attempt.

DNC says it's investing at $8.3 million in state parties around the country

The Democratic National Committee says it's investing at least $8.3 million in state parties around the country this cycle, which it says is 25% more since 2020.

In a memo released Monday detailing its strategy with Election Day now less than 100 days away, the DNC said those investments include nearly $2 million being sent to state party officials in Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and elsewhere with an eye toward boosting down ballot races.

The party is also concentrating on a program to boost Democrats in traditionally Republican states, and said it has spent $4.5 million-plus on the initiative, which included key 2023 races -- like Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection in Kentucky.

Beshear is now being mentioned as a possible running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris, who's poised to formally clinch the Democratic presidential nomination in a matter of days.

Harris raised $200 million in first week of White House campaign and signed up 170,000 volunteers

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has raised $200 million since she emerged as the likely Democratic presidential nominee last week, an eyepopping haul in her race against the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.

The campaign, which announced its latest fundraising total Sunday, said the bulk of the donations — 66% — comes from first-time contributors in the 2024 election cycle and were made after President Joe Biden announced his exit from the race and endorsed Harris.

Over 170,000 volunteers have also signed up to help the Harris campaign with phone banking, canvassing and other get-out-the-vote efforts.

Harris quickly pivots to convincing Arab American voters of her leadership

Osama Siblani’s phone won’t stop ringing.

Just days after President Joe Biden withdrew his bid for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination, top officials from both major political parties have been asking the publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News if Harris can regain the support of the nation’s largest Muslim population located in metro Detroit.

His response: “We are in listening mode.”

Harris, who is moving to seize the Democratic nomination after Biden stepped down, appears to be pivoting quickly to the task of convincing Arab American voters in Michigan, a state Democrats believe she can’t afford to lose in November, that she's a leader they can unite behind.

Community leaders have expressed a willingness to listen, and some have had initial conversations with Harris’ team. Many had grown exasperated with Biden after they felt months of outreach had not yielded many results.


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