FORMER PRESIDENT BIDEN and former Vice President Kamala Harris will make separate public appearances Thursday evening, stepping back into the spotlight as Democrats wrestle with their legacy and seek new leaders during President Trump’s second term.

Harris, who announced this week she will not run for governor of California in 2026, is launching a tour to promote her new book “107 Days” — a reference to the amount of time she had to run for president in 2024 after Biden dropped out.

“Just over a year ago, I launched my campaign for president of the United States,” Harris said an announcement video. “107 days traveling the country, fighting for our future — the shortest presidential campaign in modern history.”

This evening, Harris will sit for her first post-election interview on “Late Night with Stephen Colbert.” Colbert, who has been seething at Trump since it was announced his show will end next year, has been a friendly platform for Democrats in the Trump era.

Harris has not signaled her own next steps, saying for now she wants time to discuss her book and to try to help elect Democrats in the 2026 midterms.

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod said on CNN he believes Harris passed on a gubernatorial bid because “she is setting herself up to run” for president again in 2028.

Biden, who is battling prostate cancer, will give a speech in Chicago at the National Bar Association’s Centennial Convention.

Biden’s memoir reportedly sold last week for $10 million, far less than former President Obama’s reported $65 million.

This comes as Biden’s closest aides are summoned to Capitol Hill to testify for the GOP’s investigation into allegations they conspired to conceal his mental and physical decline from the public.

So far, three of Biden’s aides have pleaded their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Biden’s former senior adviser Mike Donilon testified behind closed doors Thursday.

Potential future Democratic presidential candidates are being pressed on what they knew about Biden’s mental acuity while he was in the White House.

“I told the truth, which was that he was old,” Biden’s former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview with NPR. “You could see that he was old.”

“There were moments where I thought he’s looking tired today or where I noticed he was aging, but there was never a moment where I thought this decision, this policy or this process is going worse or is wrong because of the fact that he’s old.”

That question is becoming a campaign issue amid the broader debate within the Democratic Party over age, seniority and the generational divide.

Nonprofit CEO and activist Liam Elkind, 26, launched a primary challenge this week against longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), 78, citing his age. 

Elkind told CNN he agreed with Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), who said Democrats “weren’t honest” about Biden’s condition.

“I think that’s one of the reasons why we lost,” Elkind said. “I think it’s one of the reasons why our poll numbers are where they are.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Liberal Patriot: Democrats should give up on Resistance 2.0.

• Slow Boring: The power of a single-issue group.

• The New Republic: Could Obama really be indicted?

• Washington Examiner: Heading into midterms, Dems are still down.

Read more: 

• Nadler’s Gen Z primary challenger raises more than $340K on first day

• Danny Davis won’t seek reelection after 30 years in House

• Brennan, Clapper: Trump administration seeks to ‘rewrite history.’

• President Trump hosted several professional athletes at the White House on Thursday, including golfer Bryson DeChambeau, for an executive order signing to reestablish the Presidential Fitness Test.

   

• Brown University announced a deal with the Trump administration that ends three investigations into the institution and restores research funding that was withheld from the school. 

   

• The family of Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, said it was taken aback by President Trump’s comments about her when claiming that Epstein “stole” women who worked at his Mar-a-Lago resort years ago.

• Construction is set to begin in September on a new $200 million ballroom inside the White House.

©  AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

The Trump administration on Thursday announced new trade deals with South Korea, Thailand and Cambodia, as nations scramble to beat the Aug. 1 deadline for new tariffs to go into effect.

President Trump said he would allow another 90 days of trade talks with Mexico, delaying a 30 percent tariff that was set to go into effect Friday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC “we have the makings of a deal” with China.

“There’s still a few technical details to be worked out on the Chinese side between us,” Bessent said. “I’m confident that it will be done, but it’s not 100% done.”

The U.S. moved further away from a deal with Canada after Trump slammed their plan to recognize a Palestinian state.

“That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Oh’ Canada!!!”

Trump also signed an order increasing tariffs on Brazil to 50 percent, citing Brazil’s “unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming U.S. companies, the free speech rights of U.S. persons, U.S. foreign policy, and the U.S. economy.”

MEANWHILE…

The Trump administration Thursday defended Trump’s tariffs in an appeals court after a Democratic states and business groups sued to stop the levies, arguing that the president circumvented Congress.

Oral arguments took place on whether Trump can use emergency powers to justify the tariffs.

The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee write:

“To justify the sweeping moves, Trump cites the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law authorizing the president to issue certain economic sanctions in an emergency to counter an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat.’…Presidents have invoked other statutes to impose tariffs, but Trump in February became the first president to attempt to do so by invoking the emergency law.”

Some of the judges sounded skeptical of the legal underpinnings the Trump administration has used to justify the tariffs.

“It’s just hard for me to see that Congress intended to give the president in IEEPA the wholesale authority to throw out the tariff schedule that Congress has adopted after years of careful work and revise every one of these tariff rates,” said Judge Timothy Dyk, an appointee of former President Clinton.

“It’s really kind of asking for an extraordinary change to the whole approach,” he added.

ELSEWHERE…

Inflation ticked up in June, a sign the tariffs may be making their way into the economy.

The Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures price index rose to 2.6 percent from 2.3 percent, higher than expectations of 2.5 percent.

“Core goods … should reflect substantial growth due to tariffs, especially on sensitive categories like household furnishings and equipment, recreational goods, apparel, and motor vehicle parts,” analysts for Vanguard wrote in a commentary.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has cited inflation for refusing Trump’s demands to cut interest rates.

Still, Powell is facing some internal pressure after two members of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) broke with him this week and voted to lower rates.

“People thought carefully about this and put their positions out there,” Powell said. “The majority of the committee was of the view that inflation is a bit above target. Maximum employment is at target. That calls for modestly restrictive [interest rates] in my way of thinking.”

The White House said Thursday the economy is humming along, despite forecasts from experts of tariff-driven inflation. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt cited Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which rose 3 percent in the second quarter, better than estimates.

“What we are watching is President Trump rebuilding the greatest economy in the history of the world and proving the economic experts wrong at every turn,” Leavitt said.

“The so-called economic experts repeatedly said the American economy would be in a recession this summer,” she added. “Well, the summer is here, in fact it’s almost over, and that recession does not exists.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Wall Street Journal: The weirdest GDP report ever.

• The Free Press: The U.S.-EU trade deal is an embarrassment.

• The Economist: What opponents of the EU-US trade deal get wrong.

• Washington Monthly: Has Trump ended free trade?

• New York Post: Trump proves everyone wrong again on trade.

Read more: 

• Ford posts first loss in two years after $800 million tariff hit.

• Trump suspends exemption for low-value imports under $800.

• Powell downplays Fed board dissents: ‘Quite a good meeting’.

• Democrats blast Bessent over ‘privatizing Social Security’ remarks.

©  AP Photo/Ariel Schalit

U.S. officials met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about delivering aid to Gaza, as public pressure grows on Israel to address the humanitarian and hunger crisis.

President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee had a “very productive” meeting with Netanyahu in Israel, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Witkoff and Huckabee will travel into Gaza on Friday to “inspect the current distribution sites” and to “come up with a plan to deliver more food,” Leavitt said.

They’ll also “meet with local Gazans to hear first hand about this dire situation on the ground.”

Witkoff and Huckabee will brief Trump after the visit to approve a food distribution plan.

Peace talks have stalled and Israel is facing a growing public pressure campaign to ensure food and aid is getting into Gaza.

Trump said this week the U.S. would work to set up “food centers” in Gaza to address the “real starvation” that is taking place. 

Netanyahu says there is no hunger crisis, but both he and Trump have blamed Hamas for disrupting aid distribution in the region.

Netanyahu is nearing a political inflection point as some Republicans from the MAGA wing of the party speak out against U.S. support for Israel.

“Are innocent Israeli lives more valuable than innocent Palestinian and Christian lives? And why should America continue funding this?” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted on X.

“The secular government of nuclear armed Israel has proven that they are beyond capable of dealing with their enemies and are capable of and are in the process of systematically cleansing them from the land.”

On Wednesday, a record number of Senate Democrats — more than half the caucus — voted in favor of two resolutions to block U.S. military sales to Israel.

The resolutions ultimately failed but it was another warning shot at Netanyahu that his once-firm support in the U.S. is crumbling.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.), who is among the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection in 2026, voted in favor of the resolutions.

“I do not believe the United States Senate should acquiesce without objection to the extreme mass deprivation of civilians in Gaza, including the intolerable starvation of children, that have resulted from the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government,” Ossoff said.

“Despite my opposition to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza, I believe the United States must continue to support the Israeli people…Hamas, a despicable terrorist organization, started this horrific round of conflict with the brutal massacre of October 7th, 2023. Their abhorrent tactics, their refusal to release hostages, and their refusal to lay down their arms continue to deepen and prolong civilian suffering in Gaza.”

• Trump is ramping up his attacks against GOP senators, who he believes aren’t doing enough to stand up for him.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said he had a “good chat” with Trump after the president unloaded on him for supporting a bill that would prohibit lawmakers, future presidents and vice presidents from trading stocks.

Hawley, who sponsored the bill, was the only Republican to join all Democrats in passing it out of committee.

The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky writes:

“Hawley’s bill was originally called the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act — a nod to the criticism former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has faced amid scrutiny over her husband’s stock trading. The Missouri Republican changed the name in exchange for Democrats’ support.”

Pelosi signaled her support for the legislation, while pushing back on claims she’s ever traded on insider information.

“If legislation is advanced to help restore trust in government and ensure that those in power are held to the highest ethical standards, then I am proud to support it — no matter what they decide to name it,” she said in a statement.

The dust-up between Trump and Hawley comes a day after Trump targeted Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for honoring a longstanding agreement with Democrats over an obscure procedural rule.

Trump’s attacks on Grassley, 91, irked GOP senators.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports:

“Republican senators were appalled by President Trump’s rough treatment of 91-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the Senate’s most senior Republican, on social media and are pushing back on Trump’s attempts to squeeze the senator into abolishing an arcane procedure known as the Senate blue slip.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Russia and Iran are on a collision course with Trump.

• Vox: How Gaza’s hunger crisis reached its “worst-case scenario”.

• Wall Street Journal: Gaza starvation photos tell a thousand lies.

• After Babel: The neighborhood next door.

• The Bulwark: Schumer’s moment of truth.

Read more: 

• Thune: Recess appointments on table as Senate faces backlog.

• GOP bullish on dismantling Voting Rights Act.

• Senate panel advances funding bill with $1 billion for Ukraine.

• Republican infighting expands to an unusual place: Israel.

• These Texas Democrats are at risk under proposed GOP maps.

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