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Thousands of activists expected at Democratic convention to call for Gaza cease-fire

CHICAGO — Thousands of activists are expected to converge on Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention, hoping to call attention to abortion rights, economic injustice and the war in Gaza.

While Vice President Kamala Harris has energized crowds of supporters as she prepares to accept the Democratic nomination, progressive activists maintain their mission remains the same.

Activists say they learned lessons from last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and are predicting bigger crowds and more robust demonstrations in Chicago, a city with deep social activism roots.

Who is protesting?

Demonstrations are expected every day of the convention and, while their agendas vary, many activists agree an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war is the priority.

Things are set to kick off Sunday on the convention’s eve with an abortion rights march along Michigan Avenue.

Organizer Linda Loew said even though Democrats have pushed to safeguard reproductive rights at home, the issue is international. They will march in solidarity with people everywhere who struggle for the right to control what happens to their bodies, as well as to protest the money the U.S. spends to back wars that could be used for health care, she said.

“We believe that the billions of dollars that continue to flow to the state of Israel and the flow of weapons are having an inordinate and horrific impact, but in particular on women, children and the unborn,” she said. “All of these things are tied together.”

The largest group, the Coalition to March on the DNC, has planned demonstrations on the first and last days of the convention.

Organizers say they expect at least 20,000 activists, including students who protested the war on college campuses.

“The people with power are going to be there,” said Liz Rathburn, a University of Illinois Chicago student organizer. “People inside the United Center are the people who are going to be deciding our foreign policy in one way or another.”

Where are they protesting?

Activists sued the city earlier this year, saying restrictions over where they can demonstrate violate their constitutional rights.

Chicago leaders rejected their requests for permits to protest near United Center on the city’s West Side, where the convention is taking place, offering instead a lakefront park more than 5 kilometers away.

Later, the city agreed to allow demonstrations at a park and a march route closer to the United Center. A federal judge recently signed off on the group’s roughly 1.6-kilometer route.

Coalition to March on the DNC spokesman Hatem Abudayyeh said the group is pleased it won the right to protest closer to the convention, but he believes its preferred 3-kilometer march would be safer for larger crowds. The group is chartering buses for activists from about half a dozen states.

“We’re going forward, full speed ahead,” he said.

The city has designated a park about a block from United Center for a speakers’ stage. Those who sign up get 45 minutes.

The Philadelphia-based Poor People’s Army, which advocates for economic justice, plans to set up at Humboldt Park on the city’s Northwest Side and will feature events with third-party candidates Jill Stein and Cornel West, plus a march Monday to the United Center.

Some group members have spent the last few weeks marching the more than 130 kilometers from Milwaukee, where they protested during the Republican convention.

“Poor and homeless people are being brutalized, with tents and encampments destroyed and bulldozed away, from San Francisco to Philadelphia to Gaza and the West Bank,” spokesperson Cheri Honkala said in a statement as the group reached Illinois. “These preventable human rights violations are being committed by Democratic and Republican leaders alike.”

How does a new nominee change things?

Many activists believe nothing much will change because Harris is part of the Biden administration.

“The demands haven’t changed. I haven’t seen any policy changes,” said Erica Bentley, an activist with Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity. “If you’re going to be here, you’re going to have to listen to what’s important to us.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters in Chicago have been highly visible, shutting down roads to the airport and staging sit-ins at congressional offices. Some are planning their own one-day convention Sunday with third-party candidates.

“Regardless of who the nominee is, we’re marching against the Democrats and their vicious policies that have allowed Israel to kill over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza,” said Fayaani Aboma Mijana, an organizer with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

It’s unclear if the convention will draw far-right extremists who ardently support former President Donald Trump.

Secret Service Deputy Special Agent in Charge Derek Mayer said last week there are no known specific security threats against the convention.

Is Chicago ready?

The convention will draw an estimated 50,000 people to the nation’s third-largest city, including delegates, activists and journalists.

The city says it has made necessary preparations with police and the Secret Service. Security will be tight, with street closures around the convention center.

To combat traffic concerns, city leaders are touting a new $80 million train station steps from the United Center. They also have tried to beautify the city with freshly planted flowers and new signs. City leaders also cleared a nearby homeless encampment.

Police have undergone training on constitutional policing, county courts say they are opening more space in anticipation of mass arrests and hospitals near the security zone are beefing up emergency preparedness.

Authorities and leaders in the state have said people who vandalize the city or are violent will be arrested.

“We’re going to make sure that people have their First Amendment rights protected, that they can do that in a safe way,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

But some have lingering safety concerns, worried that protests could become unpredictable or devolve into chaos.

Activist Hy Thurman protested and was arrested at the infamous 1968 convention. The 74-year-old now lives in Alabama but plans to come to Chicago to protest the war in Gaza.

“It’s extremely personal for me,” he said. “I see parallels.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has said that he expects peaceful protests.

“We intend to protect the protesters’ First Amendment rights, and also the residents of the city of Chicago and the visitors to Chicago at the same time,” Pritzker told the AP in a recent interview.
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Democratic Party delegates gather in Chicago amid Harris momentum

In the U.S. presidential election, thousands of Democratic Party delegates this week will celebrate Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as their presidential ticket for 2024. They are gathering in the Midwest city of Chicago. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti takes a look at some volatile confrontations from past conventions and how support for the party’s candidate has grown since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
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Harris and Walz make phone calls, rally volunteers on Pennsylvania bus tour before DNC in Chicago

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz embarked on a bus tour in southwestern Pennsylvania on Sunday, hoping to ride a wave of enthusiasm for her candidacy to their party’s nominating convention in Chicago this week. 

Vice President Harris and Walz, the governor of Minnesota, were joined by their spouses, Doug Emhoff and Gwen Walz, as they made their first stop visiting local volunteers making phone calls at a campaign office in the borough of Rochester, in Beaver County. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, won the county in 2020. But the Democrats are riding on renewed enthusiasm after President Joe Biden exactly four weeks ago dropped his reelection bid and endorsed Harris to replace him on the ticket. 

Harris, while speaking to a group of supporters and volunteers outside the campaign office, spoke about strength and leadership. She appeared to make a veiled reference to Trump, who is known for his pugilistic style and projection of a strongman image, when she said the “real and true measure of a strength of a leader is based on who you lift up,” rather than who they beat down. 

“Anybody who is about beating down other people is a coward,” she yelled, drawing cheers and applause. “This is what strength looks like.” 

Walz in his remarks seemed to assume the role of his former job coaching high school football and told the volunteers: “Let’s leave it all on the field. Let’s get this thing done.” 

Southwestern Pennsylvania is a critical part of a key battleground state that has long commanded the attention of presidential candidates. The state voted for Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020. Both Harris and Trump are vying to see who can put Pennsylvania in their column on Nov. 5. 

Most polls, including from The New York Times/Siena College and Fox News, find Harris and Trump locked in a tight race statewide. 

Trump held a rally Saturday in Wilkes-Barre in the northeastern part of the state, following his earlier rallies in July in Harrisburg and Butler, where he survived an assassination attempt. 

The bus tour marks Harris’ eighth trip to Pennsylvania this year, and her second this month. The vice president chose to make her first joint appearance with Walz on the ticket in Philadelphia on Aug. 6. 

On Sunday, they arrived with their spouses earlier at Pittsburgh International Airport and greeted supporters. The foursome held hands and raised their arms together before cheering supporters who held campaign signs. 

They then boarded a bright blue bus that says “Harris Walz” in big white letters as they set off to make stops in the Pittsburgh area to glad-hand with voters. 

In Rochester, Harris, Walz and their spouses spent a few minutes sitting at tables with volunteers and making phone calls to line up support. 

“Seventy-nine days to go, Hannah,” Harris said while on the phone. 

At another point while making calls, she said, “We’re all in this together.” 

Walz hung up his phone and said of the caller, “He’s all in,” and gave a thumbs up. He made another call and asked the person on the line, “How are you feeling? What are you hearing from folks?” 

Kristin Kanthak, associate professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh, said Pennsylvania “is a state that traditionally has been super important, but southwestern Pennsylvania has been really kind of the battleground part of the battleground state.” 

Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, is a diverse county with urban, suburban and rural areas, and a lot of people there haven’t decided how they will vote, she said. 

“It makes sense to come here and ask for votes because there are votes up for grabs here,” Kanthak said of Harris. “It’s not just about turning out your base. It’s about having an opportunity to speak to truly undecided voters.” 

In the 2020 race, Biden won Allegheny County with 60% of the vote, while Trump won neighboring Beaver County, which includes Rochester, with about 58% of the vote. 

After Trump’s surprise win in the state in 2016, Biden flipped Pennsylvania in 2020 — and, in so doing, won the White House — in part by running up his vote totals in heavily Democratic Pittsburgh, the state’s second-largest city and the county seat of Allegheny County. 

Biden assiduously courted the area’s blue-collar labor unions, kicking off his 2020 presidential campaign at a Teamsters hall in Pittsburgh by declaring, “I am a union man.” As president, he opposed the acquisition of Pittsburgh’s storied U.S. Steel by a Japanese company, saying it “should remain totally American,” and enacted steeper tariffs on Chinese steel. 

Trump, who is counting on strong turnout from his base of white, working-class voters, is not conceding the area. The counties around Pittsburgh have shifted from Democrat to Republican in recent presidential contests, delivering for Trump in both of his earlier runs. 

Trump has also embraced protectionist trade policies and insists he is pro-worker. His vow to increase U.S. energy production and “drill, baby, drill” has resonated in southwestern Pennsylvania blue-collar counties like Washington, where a natural gas drilling boom has helped make Pennsylvania the nation’s No. 2 producer after Texas. Harris once wanted to ban fracking, an oil and gas extraction process, before recently disavowing her earlier position. 

Dana Brown, director of Chatham University’s Pennsylvania Center for Women & Politics, said in an interview that Harris will use the bus trip to spin up local media coverage as well as reach out to voters in the state’s southwestern region “while she still has a great deal of momentum at her back.” 

“She is going to garner a lot of that free media attention,” Brown said. “I believe their hope … is to keep that momentum up and focused on her and less so on her opponent.” 

Bus tours have become a staple of political campaigns partly because of the free media coverage they generate. Such trips get the candidates out of their power suits and out of Washington so they can travel the country and score face time with voters in small venues like diners and mom-and-pop shops. 

Biden rolled across Iowa on an eight-day bus tour he dubbed “No Malarkey” in December 2019. 

During his 2012 reelection campaign, President Barack Obama traveled though small-town Ohio on his “Betting on America” bus tour. 

“It’s always fun just being out of Washington, and for me to be able to interact with folks is wonderful,” Obama said at one stop. 

Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also traveled by bus when they campaigned for a second term. 

The Democratic National Convention opens Monday.
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County in US state of Pennsylvania boasts uncanny ability to choose presidents   

bethlehem, pennsylvania — The voters of Northampton County, in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, have chosen the victor of all but three U.S. presidential elections since 1920.

The only misses: picking Democrat Hubert Humphrey over Republican Richard Nixon in 1968; preferring Democrat Al Gore, who won the popular vote nationwide in 2000 but narrowly lost the electoral vote — which determines the winner — to Republican George W. Bush; and four years later, selecting Democrat John Kerry over incumbent Bush.

That is one of the reasons that the county is a focus of this year’s presidential campaigns by Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican vying to become only the second candidate to successfully return to the presidency for a nonconsecutive second term.

Northampton County has seen it all, predating the American Revolution. It was established in 1752 when Pennsylvania was a colonial-era province.

The county seat of Easton was one of the three places where the Declaration of Independence was first read to the public. The city was a major commercial and transportation hub in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Steel legacy

Sixteen kilometers (10 miles) to the southwest, Bethlehem was synonymous with industrial might from the days of the blacksmith to the era of mass production, which ended here when Bethlehem Steel went bankrupt, the company dissolved, and its assets were sold in the early 21st century.

That legacy remains fresh and bitter for tens of thousands of voters in the Lehigh Valley with direct links to Bethlehem Steel.

“China’s in the steel business now, and they want to know: What are these candidates going to do to bring those jobs back or to rebuild America?” said Samuel Chen, a Republican strategist with the Liddell Group.

What is on the minds of the county’s voters has ramifications beyond the Lehigh Valley.

Northampton County “has incredible predictive power,” according to Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. “What really makes it magical in its ability to predict what happens in the state and nationally is its mix.”

That mix includes farmers fretting about agricultural policies and suburbanites focused on social issues, education and taxes. And the demographics of the county are in flux — with additional new residents from New York and Philadelphia seeking more-affordable housing and better neighborhoods. There is also a growing Hispanic population in Bethlehem and neighboring Allentown.

“We also have large groups of white working-class individuals that have been pivotal in politics during the ascension of Trump’s populism,” Borick told VOA. “That mix has made it particularly competitive, and one of the reasons why it’s one of the few counties in Pennsylvania that went from Barack Obama to Donald Trump to Joe Biden.”

More tolerance

The county’s diversity is one of its strengths and a reason there is more tolerance and moderation here than other places in a nation now deeply divided politically, according to Chen, who is also an assistant professor of political science at Northampton Community College.

“In Northampton County, it is very difficult to travel this county, live in this county, and not meet people that are different than you — the way you look, the way you think, the way you believe. I think that softens them to some of that more hard-core ‘us versus them’ rhetoric that we see in today’s politics,” Chen explained in a VOA interview at the WBPH-TV studio, where he hosts a weekly public affairs talk show.

While Democrats have a slight edge among registered voters in the county, the numbers are practically even between what Chen described as hard-core Republicans and hard-core Democrats.

“That small percentage of people who are willing to swing are going to decide that election time and time and time again,” said Chen.

And that is why Northampton County is known as Swing County USA, where there is still a significant percentage of voters who split their ballots between parties and prioritize issues over personalities.

“Being the president is a job. And so, we care more about, ‘Is the job going to get done?’ ” said Rachel Lowell, a new mother concerned about women’s rights and environmental policies, who spoke to VOA on Bethlehem’s Main Street.

Another passerby on Main Street predicted the majority of his fellow county voters would support the Democrats for a second consecutive presidential election, as they are increasingly turned off by what they regard as Trump’s bombast and antics.

“From talking to people who I know voted for Trump in the last election, they’re not going to vote for him this time around because they’re saying that they’re kind of tired of it,” said Mick O’Hearn.

In Easton, Harris is not going to get Wayne Jones’ vote because, he said, Trump is tougher on stopping illegal immigration.

“If I had to choose right now — Trump, hands down. I mean, [the Democrats] letting all these people cross the border?” said an exasperated Jones, a house painter, as he stood on the spot where the Declaration of Independence was read aloud on July 8, 1776.

‘Overwhelming’ attention

The county’s voters take seriously their pivotal role in picking presidents, but that blessing can be a curse, according to Borick, who is also director of the Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College.

“I live in Northampton County. The mailings I get, or when I turn on the TV, the amount of ads is omnipresent. It’s beautiful to be wanted, but sometimes the attention can be overwhelming,” he said.

Pennsylvania is worth 19 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to capture the presidency, making it practically a must-win state for both campaigns.

Two polls released Thursday showed Harris now leading Trump in the state, erasing Biden’s deficit in surveys there before he was pressured out of the race by leading Democrats.

Rendy Wicaksana of VOA’s Indonesian Service contributed to this report.
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Pro-Palestinian ‘uncommitted’ movement hits impasse with top Democrats as DNC begins

DEARBORN, Michigan — Of the thousands of delegates expected to gather Monday at the Democratic National Convention, only 36 will belong to the “uncommitted” movement sparked by dissatisfaction with U.S. President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

But that small core has an outsized influence.

Anger over U.S. backing for Israel’s offensive in Gaza could generate unwelcome images for convention organizers, with raucous protests expected outside and potentially inside the Chicago arena where Vice President Kamala Harris will accept the nomination Thursday.

Top Democrats have spent weeks meeting with “uncommitted” voters and their allies — including a previously unreported sit-down between Harris and the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan — in an effort to respond to criticism in key swing states such as Michigan, which has a significant Arab American population.

Months of meetings and phone calls between pro-Palestinian activists and the Harris campaign have fallen into an effective impasse. The activists want Harris to endorse an arms embargo to Israel and a permanent cease-fire. Harris has supported Biden’s negotiations for a cease-fire but rejected an arms embargo.

Rima Mohammad, one of Michigan’s two “uncommitted” delegates, said she sees the convention as a chance to share their movement’s concerns with the party leadership.

“It is a way for protesters outside to be able to share their frustration with the party,” she said.

Harris meets key Arab American mayor

Questions remain about the leverage “uncommitted” voters hold now that Biden has stepped aside and Harris has taken his place. Democrats have seen a significant surge in enthusiasm for Harris’ campaign, and concerns about voter apathy in key areas, such as Detroit’s large Black population, appear to have diminished.

But Harris and her team have still made communication with Arab American leaders a priority.

During a campaign trip to Michigan last week, Harris met with Abdullah Hammoud, the 34-year-old mayor of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb that has the largest number of Arab Americans of any city in the United States. The meeting was disclosed by a person who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The person familiar with the meeting did not provide specific details but said the focus was on Harris’ potential policy, if elected, on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Hammoud declined to comment.

“Vice President Harris supports the deals currently on the table for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and for the release of hostages,” her campaign said in a statement. “She will continue to meet with leaders from Palestinian, Muslim, Israeli and Jewish communities, as she has throughout her vice presidency.”

Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez on Thursday held separate one-on-one meetings with leaders in the Arab American community and “uncommitted” movement in metro Detroit.

“They are listening, and we are talking,” said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, who met with Chavez Rodriguez. “But none of us can garner votes in the community without public statements from Harris. She doesn’t need us; she can win over votes by saying and doing the right thing.”

According to Siblani, Chavez Rodriguez agreed that “the killing has to stop.” In response, Siblani said he pressed: “How? There is no plan.”

Lavora Barnes, the Democratic chair in Michigan, said the party would “continue working toward our goal of coming together to defeat Donald Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot.”

“We are committed to continuing these conversations with community leaders, activists and organizations because we want to ensure that everyone in the Michigan Democratic Party has a seat at the table,” Barnes said in a statement.

No agreement on an arms embargo

Some on the Democratic Party’s left have called for including a moratorium on the use of U.S.-made weapons by Israel in the platform of policy goals that will be approved during next week’s convention. But such language isn’t included in a draft platform party officials released earlier this summer, and it’s unlikely that those close to Harris’ campaign would endorse including it.

The Uncommitted National Movement has also requested a speaking slot at the convention for a doctor who has worked on the frontlines in Gaza, along with a leader of the movement. And they have asked for a meeting with Harris “to discuss updating the Gaza policy in hopes of stopping the flow of unconditional weapons and bombs” to Israel, said Abbas Alawieh, another “uncommitted” delegate from Michigan and one of the founders of the movement.

Before a Harris rally just outside Detroit last week, Alawieh and Layla Elabed, co-founders of the movement, briefly met with the vice president. They requested a formal meeting with Harris and urged her to support an embargo on weapons shipments to Israel. According to them, Harris seemed open to the idea of meeting.

However, shortly after news of the meeting became public, Harris’ national security adviser, Phil Gordon, reaffirmed that she does not support an arms embargo. Alawieh mentioned Wednesday that the group has not received any further response from Harris’ team or the DNC regarding their requests ahead of the convention.

“I hope she doesn’t miss the opportunity to unite the party,” said Alawieh.

Trump campaign continues its outreach

Elsewhere in metro Detroit this week, Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s youngest daughter and now a leader in his Arab American outreach, was holding meetings with various community groups. Boulos has come to Michigan often for the outreach, along with Arab Americans for Trump chair Bishara Bahbah.

According to Bahbah, their pitch highlights the situation in Gaza under Biden’s administration and a promise from Trump’s team to give the community a seat at the table if he wins.

“We have been told by the Trump circle, which is not part of the campaign, that in return for our votes, there would be a seat at the table and a voice to be heard,” said Bahbah.

But any apparent political opportunity for Trump in the Arab American community or the “uncommitted” movement may be limited by his past remarks and policies.

Many Arabs remain offended by Trump’s ban, while in office, on immigration from several majority Muslim countries, as well as remarks they consider insulting. Trump also has criticized Biden for not being a strong enough supporter of Israel.

Speaking to an audience of Jewish supporters Thursday, Trump painted the protesters expected in Chicago as antisemitic and invoked an Arabic term that is sometimes used by Muslims to mean war or struggle.

“There will be no jihad coming to America under Trump,” he said.

But Bahbah acknowledges that his and Boulos’ strategy isn’t necessarily aimed at converting voters to support Trump — but to stop them from voting for Harris.

“If I can’t convince people to vote for Trump, having them sit at home is better,” said Bahbah.
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County in US state of Pennsylvania has uncanny ability to choose presidents

The voters of Northampton County in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania have chosen the victor of all but three U.S. presidential elections since 1920. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman looks at how things are shaping up for Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump in this bellwether county.
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US economy presents complicated picture as election nears 

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New Jersey governor’s ex-chief of staff will replace Menendez until election

NEWARK, New jersey — New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy tapped his former chief of staff Friday to temporarily replace convicted U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and said he would appoint whoever wins the post in November as soon as election results were certified.

Democratic Representative Andy Kim and Republican hotelier Curtis Bashaw are competing in the race. Murphy said that he spoke to both about his plans.

“I expressed to them that this approach will allow the democratically chosen winner of this year’s election to embark on the smallest possible transition into office,” Murphy said at a news conference.

Former chief of staff George Helmy promised during Friday’s announcement to resign after the election.

Helmy’s appointment underscored Murphy’s decision to not appoint Kim, who is in a strong position in the November election. Kim and first lady Tammy Murphy were locked in a primary struggle for the Senate seat earlier this year before Tammy Murphy dropped out, citing the prospects for a negative, divisive campaign.

The stakes in the Senate election are high, with Democrats holding on to a narrow majority. Republicans have not won a Senate election in Democratic-leaning New Jersey in over five decades.

Helmy’s appointment won’t take effect until after Menendez’s resignation on August 20. The governor said he picked Helmy because he understands the role after serving as an aide to New Jersey U.S. Senator Cory Booker and former New Jersey U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Murphy also praised Helmy’s work as his top aide, and the two embraced briefly after Helmy spoke.

Helmy, 44, served as Murphy’s chief of staff from 2019 until 2023 and currently serves as an executive at one of the state’s largest health care providers, RWJBarnabas Health. He previously served as Booker’s state director in the Senate. The son of Egyptian parents who immigrated to New Jersey, Helmy attended public schools in New Jersey and then Rutgers University.

“New Jersey deserves its full voice and representation in the whole of the United States Senate,” he said.

Menendez, 70, used his influence to meddle in three different state and federal criminal investigations to protect the businessmen, prosecutors said. They said he helped one bribe-paying friend get a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat bound for Egypt.

He was also convicted of taking actions that benefited Egypt’s government in exchange for bribes, including providing details on personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators regarding lifting a hold on military aid to Egypt. FBI agents found stacks of gold bars and $480,000 hidden in Menendez’s house.

Menendez denied all the allegations.

“I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country,” he said after his conviction.

Menendez said in a letter to Murphy last month that he was planning to appeal the conviction but would step down on August 20, just over a month after the jury’s verdict.
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Harris, Trump duel on inflation, taxes

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump laid out their economic visions for the country this week, promising to rein in inflation and slash federal taxes on workers’ tips. While both ideas are popular with voters ahead of the November presidential election, experts say they are not so easy to implement. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Harris to roll out populist proposals in first economic speech

WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris is set to unveil plans for a federal ban on food and grocery “price gouging” and assistance of up to $25,000 in down payment support for first-time homeowners – populist proposals the vice president has embraced since becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.

Harris is scheduled to outline her proposals Friday, in her first speech on the economy focusing on dealing with rising grocery and housing prices – key concerns for voters. She is set to speak in front of supporters at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, a battleground state that she and former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, are vying to win in the November presidential election.

“In her first 100 days, Vice President Harris will work to enact a plan to bring down Americans’ grocery costs and keep inflation in check,” her campaign said in a memo to reporters Wednesday.

Harris aims to ensure “big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits,” her campaign said, and will specifically call out the “highly consolidated” meat processing industry. “The lack of competition gives these middlemen the power to drive down earnings for farmers while driving up prices for consumers.”

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Trump called Harris’ proposal “communist price controls.”

“They don’t work, they actually have the exact opposite impact and effect,” he said. But it leads to food shortages, rationing, hunger, dramatically more inflation.”

In the U.S., the Federal Reserve sets interest rates independently, and presidential policies do not have much influence on lowering prices, at least in the short term.

“It is highly unlikely that any single policy introduced by a president could have a significant enough impact to bring inflation down from its current level to the Federal Reserve’s long-term target for the economy, which is 2%,” said Andrew Lautz, associate director for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Economic Policy Program.

Trump has said he will fight rising prices by boosting oil and gas production. While increasing energy supply could have a downward pressure on prices, and in turn on inflation, it won’t happen quickly, Lautz told VOA.

Lower inflation

While Americans are still feeling the pain, last month U.S. year-over-year inflation dipped under 3% for the first time since March 2021. Unemployment remains low, retail sales figures are upbeat, and most economists no longer warn of recession.

Still the overall health of the economy remains a key concern for voters, and a point of attack on the campaign trail.

“The only thing Kamala Harris can deliver is horrific inflation, massive crime and the death of the American dream,” Trump said.

Both candidates have also promised to slash federal taxes on tips received by workers in the service and hospitality industry.

Critics say that proposal won’t help fast food servers or other low-income workers who don’t get tips and is vulnerable to abuse.

“How can we be sure that it’s deserving working people, as opposed to opening the door to a whole bunch of other people who might treat their bonuses and performance fees like tips and exempt themselves?” said Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

Such proposals are common during presidential campaigns, Rosenthal said. “We often see a race to the bottom, with the candidates trying to outbid themselves for how many tax cuts they can promise.”

If enacted, those promises will be costly at a time when the country needs to seriously think about fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction, said Lautz.

“We are at nearly $28 trillion in federal debt held by the public,” he said. “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that’s going to increase by another $20 trillion or so over the next decade.”

Trump previously held a commanding lead among voters on key economic issues, with various polls showing Americans think they will be better off financially under Trump than President Joe Biden.

However, a survey conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business published this week found that 41% trust Trump to be better at handling the economy, while 42% believe Harris would be better – a figure up seven points from Biden’s numbers in July. 
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Trump to hold another news conference while Harris touts drug price cuts

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