Harris Has $404 Million to Spend as Strong August Fundraising Puts Her Ahead of Trump 

A lawn sign surrounded by American flags in support of US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Berkley, Michigan, US, September 5, 2024. (Reuters)
A lawn sign surrounded by American flags in support of US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Berkley, Michigan, US, September 5, 2024. (Reuters)
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Harris Has $404 Million to Spend as Strong August Fundraising Puts Her Ahead of Trump 

A lawn sign surrounded by American flags in support of US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Berkley, Michigan, US, September 5, 2024. (Reuters)
A lawn sign surrounded by American flags in support of US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Berkley, Michigan, US, September 5, 2024. (Reuters)

Kamala Harris's presidential campaign and the Democratic Party raised $361 million in August, leaving her with a clear cash advantage over Republican rival Donald Trump with two months to go before Election Day, the campaign said on Friday.

It said the August haul left Harris with $404 million in cash on hand at the beginning of September.

Trump's campaign team said on Wednesday that it and the Republican Party raised $130 million in August, leaving $295 million cash on hand at the end of the month.

The two candidates will spend more than $1 billion in this campaign, breaking records, according to regulatory filings. Trump and Harris are using the money to run advertisements and build get-out-the-vote operations in the closely contested states that will decide the election.

The fundraising totals, which are reported to US election regulators, are closely watched for signs of momentum ahead of the tightly contested Nov. 5 election.

The totals do not include the money raised by outside groups supporting each candidate.

A key test for both candidates will come at their televised debate on Tuesday, the first since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris as his successor on July 21.

Harris' candidacy has re-energized Democrats and donors, and she has had a surge in opinion polls.

Three-quarters of the 1.3 million new donors to Harris in August did not contribute in the last presidential election in 2020, her campaign said. It said more than six in 10 donors in August were women, and nearly one in five were registered Republicans or independents.

Nonetheless, polling averages show it is a tight race in the battleground states that will decide the election, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.



Zelenskyy Meets Top Military Leaders in Germany as US Announces Additional Aid to Ukraine 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday Sept. 2, 2024. (AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday Sept. 2, 2024. (AP)
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Zelenskyy Meets Top Military Leaders in Germany as US Announces Additional Aid to Ukraine 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday Sept. 2, 2024. (AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday Sept. 2, 2024. (AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Friday with top United States military leaders and more than 50 partner nations in Germany to press for more weapons support Friday as Washington announced it would provide another $250 million in security assistance to Kyiv.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the meeting of the leaders was taking place during a dynamic moment in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, as it conducts its first offensive operations of the war while facing a significant threat from Russian forces near a key hub in the Donbas.

So far the surprise assault inside Russia’s Kursk territory has not drawn away President Vladimir Putin’s focus from taking the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which provides critical rail and supply links for the Ukrainian army. Losing Pokrovsk could put additional Ukrainian cities at risk.

While Kursk has put Russia on the defensive, “we know Putin’s malice runs deep,” Austin cautioned in prepared remarks to the media before the Ukraine Defense Contact Group met. Moscow is pressing on, especially around Pokrovsk, Austin said.

Recent deadly airstrikes by Russia have renewed Zelenskyy’s calls for the US to further loosen restrictions and obtain even greater Western capabilities to strike deeper inside Russia. However, the meeting Friday was expected to focus on resourcing more air defense and artillery supplies and shoring up gains on expanding Ukraine’s own defense industrial base, to put it on more solid footing as the final days of Joe Biden's US presidency wind down.

Zelenskyy said he would continue to press for the long-range strike capability. “Strong long-range decisions by partners are needed to bring the just peace we seek closer,” Zelenskyy said Friday on Telegram.

Western partner nations were working with Ukraine to source a substitute missile for its Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems, Austin said.

The US is also focused on resourcing a variety of air-to-ground missiles that the newly delivered F-16 fighter jets can carry, including the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, which could give Ukraine a longer-range cruise missile option, said Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, who spoke to reporters traveling with Austin.

No decisions on the munition have been made, LaPlante said, noting that policymakers would still have to decide whether to give Ukraine the longer-range capability.

“I would just put JASSM in that category, it’s something that is always being looked at,” LaPlante said. “Anything that’s an air-to-ground weapon is always being looked at.”

For the past two years, members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group have met to resource Ukraine’s mammoth artillery and air defense needs, ranging from hundreds of millions of rounds of small arms ammunition to some of the West’s most sophisticated air defense systems, and now fighter jets.

The ask this month was more of the same — but different in that it was in person, and followed a similar in-person visit Thursday in Kyiv by Biden's Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer as Zelenskyy shores up US support before the administration changes.

Since 2022, the member nations together have provided about $106 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. The US has provided more than $56 billion of that total.

The German government said Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to meet Zelenskyy in Frankfurt on Friday afternoon.