Trump Takes Fight Against Harris to North Carolina Rally 

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks, as he holds a campaign rally for the first time with his running mate, Republican vice presidential nominee US Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US July 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks, as he holds a campaign rally for the first time with his running mate, Republican vice presidential nominee US Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US July 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Trump Takes Fight Against Harris to North Carolina Rally 

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks, as he holds a campaign rally for the first time with his running mate, Republican vice presidential nominee US Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US July 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump speaks, as he holds a campaign rally for the first time with his running mate, Republican vice presidential nominee US Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US July 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Donald Trump has so far watched from the sidelines as Vice President Kamala Harris galvanized and re-energized Democrats by stepping in as their likely presidential nominee. On Wednesday, Trump gets back in the game.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, will hold his first campaign rally since Harris emerged as his near-certain Democratic foe in the 2024 election. The former president will appear at an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, a state that will be an important battleground in the Nov. 5 election.

The Trump campaign has insisted that it is prepared for Harris' candidacy, arguing that she serves as a proxy for President Joe Biden on the economic and immigration policies that contributed to his sinking popularity with voters.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed the newly re-jiggered race to be in a statistical dead heat.

The poll, taken in the two days since Biden decided to stand down from reelection, showed Harris with a two-percentage-point lead over Trump, 44% to 42%. Other recent national polls have shown Trump with an advantage.

Biden, who came back to Washington after isolating at his home in Delaware with COVID, will address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday night to explain his reasons for dropping out of the race on Sunday after intense pressure from his party.

A person familiar with the matter said the legacy-defining speech was still being crafted on Tuesday night when Biden returned to the White House after his convalescence in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he ended his reelection bid with a letter posted to social media.

On Tuesday, Trump took the unusual step of speaking to reporters on a conference call to underscore his campaign’s line of attack on the border, saying Harris was partially responsible for a record flow of migrants.

Biden put Harris in charge of working with countries in Central America to help stem the tide of migration, but she was not made responsible for border security.

"She's a radical left person, and this country doesn't want a radical left person to destroy it," Trump said on the call. "She wants open borders. She wants things that nobody wants."

Harris has not called for the removal of border controls.

HARRIS ADDRESSES BLACK SORORITY

Harris on Wednesday will head to Indianapolis to speak at an event hosted by the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, which was founded at Howard University, the historically Black college that Harris attended. She hopes to tap sororities' multi-generational network of Black women to deliver strong voter turnout for Democrats in November.

Harris held an energetic first rally as the likely nominee on Tuesday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which hosted the Republican National Convention last week. She assailed Trump and said he would take the nation "backward."

"Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear and hate?" she asked the crowd.

Harris ticked through a list of liberal priorities, saying that if elected she would act to expand abortion access, make it easier for workers to join unions and address gun violence, drawing a sharp contrast with Trump.

Democrats will formally nominate their new ticket at next month’s convention in Chicago after an Aug. 7 virtual vote. Roy Cooper, North Carolina's Democratic governor, is considered to be on the short list to serve as Harris’ running mate.

Harris and her campaign have worked at a breakneck pace to consolidate support among Democrats in Congress and delegates across the country. Candidates who could have been potential rivals for the nomination have fallen in line and endorsed her.

Trump, coming off a triumphant week in which his party unified around his presidential bid after a failed assassination attempt two weekends ago, has had to watch as Biden's sudden departure from the race dramatically shifted the narrative and sparked a surge of attention toward Harris at his expense.

The Harris campaign said it has raised over $100 million since Sunday.



Russia’s Top Diplomat Praises Trump’s Views on Ukraine Conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Russia’s Top Diplomat Praises Trump’s Views on Ukraine Conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)

Russia’s top diplomat said Tuesday that Moscow is open for talks with President-elect Donald Trump and praised him for pointing to NATO's plan to embrace Ukraine as a root cause of the nearly 3-year-old conflict.

Any prospective peace talks should involve broader arrangements for security in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at his annual news conference, while adding that Moscow is open to discussing security guarantees for Kyiv.

Lavrov specifically praised Trump's comments earlier this month in which he said that NATO’s plans to open its doors to Ukraine had led to the hostilities.

Trump said Russia had it "written in stone" that Ukraine's membership in NATO should never be allowed, but the Biden administration had sought to expand the military alliance to Russia's doorstep. Trump added that, "I could understand their feelings about that."

Trump's comments echoed Moscow’s rhetoric which has described its "special military operation" in Ukraine launched in February 2022 as a response to planned NATO membership for Kyiv and an effort to protect Russian speakers. Ukraine and its allies have denounced Russia's action as an unprovoked act of aggression.

"NATO did exactly what it had promised not to do, and Trump said that," Lavrov said. "It marked the first such candid acknowledgement not only from a US but any Western leader that NATO had lied when they signed numerous documents. They were used as a cover while NATO has expanded to our borders in violation of the agreements."

The West has dismissed that assessment. Before the conflict, Russia had demanded a legal guarantee that Ukraine be denied NATO entry, knowing the alliance has never excluded potential membership for any European country but had no immediate plan to start Ukraine down that road. Russia said NATO expansion would undermine its security, but Washington and its allies argued the alliance didn’t threaten Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged his Western allies to invite Kyiv to join NATO, or, at the very least, offer comprehensive security guarantees that would prevent any future Russian attacks. The alliance’s 32 member countries say Ukraine will join one day, but not until the fighting ends.

Trump has reaffirmed his intention to broker peace in Ukraine, declaring earlier this month that "Putin wants to meet" and that such a meeting is being set up. In the past, he has criticized US military aid for Ukraine and even vowed to end the conflict in a single day if elected.

Lavrov emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared his openness for talks with Trump, adding that Moscow looks forward to hearing Trump’s view on Ukraine after he takes office.

Lavrov also praised comments by Trump's pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who said Sunday it's unrealistic to expect that Ukraine could drive Russian forces "from every inch of Ukrainian soil."

"The very fact that people have increasingly started to mention the realities on the ground deserves welcome," Lavrov said during his annual news conference un Moscow.

In its final days, the Biden administration is providing Kyiv with as much military support as it can, aiming to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations. The US also introduced new sanctions on Russia's oil industry.

Lavrov described those efforts as an attempt by the Biden administration to "slam the door" and leave a difficult legacy for Trump. "The Democrats have a way of screwing things up for the incoming administration," he said.

He emphasized that any prospective peace talks must address Russia's security concerns and reflect a broad European security environment.

"Threats on the western flank, on our western borders, must be eliminated as one of the main reasons (of the conflict)," he said. "They can probably be eliminated only in the context of some broader agreements."

He added that Moscow is also open to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv, "for the country, which is now called Ukraine."

Lavrov was asked about Trump's comments in which he wouldn't rule out using force or economic pressure to make Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of Denmark — a part of the United States.

Lavrov emphasized that the people of Greenland must be asked what they want.

"For a start, it's necessary to listen to the Greenlanders," Lavrov said, noting that they have the right for self-determination if they believe that their interests aren't duly represented by Denmark.