Secret Service advises Trump not to hold large outdoor rallies – report Hi, this is Helen Sullivan taking over the Guardian’s live US politics coverage. The Washington Post is reporting that the Secret Service has “encouraged” Trump to stop holding large outdoor rallies or other large events outdoors. Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Washington Post said: “For upcoming events, Trump’s team is scouting indoor venues, such as basketball arenas and other large spaces where thousands of people can fit, people familiar with the request said. The campaign is not currently planning any large outdoor events, a person close to Trump said.” Black Lives Matter demanded on Tuesday that the Democratic National Committee immediately host an informal, virtual snap primary across the country prior to the DNC convention in August, just hours after Vice President Kamala Harris secured enough delegates for the nomination, Reuters reports. In a statement, Black Lives Matter (BLM) called on Democratic party leaders to allow public participation in the nomination of the presidential candidate, instead of leaving it to the party delegates. “The current political landscape is unprecedented, with President Biden stepping aside in a manner never seen before. This moment calls for decisive action to protect the integrity of our democracy and the voices of Black voters,” BLM said. The statement by Black Lives Matter, a decentralized political and racial justice movement that helped lead the global protests over police violence in 2020, interrupted a steady drumbeat of left-leaning voices and groups that have vowed to support Harris after Biden endorsed her on Sunday. Here is more from our report at the time on how the gunman was able to fly a drone over the event site the day Trump was due to speak: Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump a week ago, was able to fly a camera-equipped drone over the fairgrounds near Butler, Pennsylvania, shortly before the former president was set to speak there, according to news reports. The latest disclosure about security lapses that preceded the shooting comes as a more complete picture of Crooks’ preparations is emerging, though it still lacks any definitive motive for the 20-year-old’s actions that led to Trump being grazed by a bullet, the shooting death of former fire chief Corey Comperatore and the critical wounding of two rally-goers. The Wall Street Journal, which cited law enforcement officials, said Crooks flew the drone on a programmed flight path earlier on the day of the shootings – 13 July – on a predetermined path over the event site. Later in the day, the would-be assassin fired at least six rounds from a semi-automatic rifle from the roof of the American Glass Research building roughly 150 yards from where Trump was speaking. Soon after, Crooks was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper with a single bullet to the head. Back to that report that the Trump campaign has been advised not to hold large outdoor rallies – and has none planned, according to unnamed sources who spoke to the Washington Post. Large outdoor rallies have been a defining feature of Trump’s campaigns. They have been held in parking lots, football stadiums, airports and fairgrounds. “They usually include large rosters of speakers before Trump takes the stage, with crowds sometimes enduring the heat or the cold for many hours. The crowd sometimes departs before Trump, who is regularly late, finishes speaking,” the report says. Part of the reason behind the advice may be that outdoor venues are easier to access prior to an event. 2021 clip of Vance criticising Harris for being "childless" resurfaces online Comments Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance made in 2021 questioning Harris’s leadership because she did not have biological children have resurfaced, testing the young conservative senator in his early days campaigning as part of the Republicans’ presidential ticket. During Vance’s bid for the Senate from Ohio, he said in a Fox News interview that “we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats,” and referred to them as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” He said that included Harris, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat. “How does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?” Vance asked. Harris became stepmother to two teenagers when she married entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff in 2014. And Buttigieg announced he and his husband adopted infant twins in September 2021, more than a month before Vance made those comments. The clip has started to spread online, with Hillary Clinton sharing it in a Tuesday post on X and adding sarcastically “what a normal, relatable guy who certainly doesn’t hate women having freedoms.” Secret Service advises Trump not to hold large outdoor rallies – report Hi, this is Helen Sullivan taking over the Guardian’s live US politics coverage. The Washington Post is reporting that the Secret Service has “encouraged” Trump to stop holding large outdoor rallies or other large events outdoors. Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Washington Post said: “For upcoming events, Trump’s team is scouting indoor venues, such as basketball arenas and other large spaces where thousands of people can fit, people familiar with the request said. The campaign is not currently planning any large outdoor events, a person close to Trump said.” Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission to stop the rolling Biden’s of campaign funds to Harris. The New York Times first reported the news. The complaint had been anticipated – but is unlikely to work. Daniel Weiner, former FEC counsel and head of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Elections & Government program, told Forbes that it was “perfectly legal for [Harris] to use the campaign funds” and that the law was clear on the matter. Two local law enforcement officers went to look for the shooter who targeted Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally before the assassination attempt, raising questions about whether a key post was left unattended. The AP reports: Two local law enforcement officers stationed in the complex of buildings where a gunman opened fire at former President Donald Trump left to go search for the man before the shooting, the head of Pennsylvania State Police said Tuesday, raising questions about whether a key post was left unattended as the shooter climbed onto a roof. Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris told a congressional committee that two Butler County Emergency Services Unit officers were stationed at a second-floor window in the complex of buildings that form AGR International Inc. They spotted Thomas Matthew Crooks acting suspiciously on the ground and left their post to go look for him along with other law enforcement officers, he said. Paris said he didn’t know whether officers would have been able to see Crooks climbing onto the roof of an adjacent building had they remained at the window. A video taken by a lawmaker who visited the shooting site on Monday shows a second-story window of the building had a clear view of the roof where Crooks opened fire; it was unclear if the video showed the window where the officers had been stationed. The Pennsylvania State Police commissioner’s testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee provides new insight into security preparations for the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, but raises further questions about law enforcement’s decisions before Crooks opened fire. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund has also endorsed Harris. This comes as no surprise – Harris has been an effective messenger on reproductive rights for the Biden campaign and was the first sitting vice-president to visit an abortion clinic. Other major abortion rights groups have also endorsed the vice-president. A coalition of gun safety groups has endorsed Harris for president. Gun safety advocacy groups including Brady and Team Enough, Community Justice Action Fund, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and its grassroots networks Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, Giffords, Newtown Action Alliance and Jr Newtown Action Alliance are now backing Harris. “Vice President Kamala Harris has helped lead the strongest gun safety administration in American history and will continue to build upon that transformative progress as the first-ever Black and Asian American woman president of the United States,” Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement. . “Throughout her career in public service, vice president Harris has been a powerful force in the fight for our freedoms — including the freedom to live free from the threat of gun violence. Gun extremists have a dream ticket with Trump and Vance, and our volunteers stand ready to do everything in our power to elect vice president Harris back into the White House.” It is noteworthy that many the top contenders for Harris’s running mate also have significant, personal experience with gun violence. Arizona senator Mark Kelly, who has been asked to submit personal information in a vice-presidential vetting process, is married to Gabby Giffords, a prominent gun control activist who founded a namesake advocacy group after she survived an assassination attempt. Kentucky’s governor, Andy Beshear, whose name has also been circulating as a possible vice-presidential candidate, lost a close friend in an April 2023 mass shooting in Louisville. Spirits were sky-high at the vice-president’s first rally At Kamala Harris’s first rally as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee – a campaign stop at a suburban Milwaukee high school – spirits in the crowded auditorium were high. “Oh my God, I think this is something long overdue – and she will do great,” said Pat Bridges, a 65-year-old retiree who attended the event on Tuesday. The timing and location of the rally, which drew enthusiastic Harris supporters from across Wisconsin, was significant. Last week, thousands of Republicans from across the country descended on the Fiserv Forum, just eight miles away, for the Republican national convention, a week in which Republicans also appeared unified around their candidate, although they presented a vastly different vision for the country. “We needed to reinvigorate the ticket,” said Mary Beth Driscoll, who attended the event with a friend. “And we have done that.” The rally took on special significance for many in the crowd, given Harris’s already historic position as a Black woman and a presumptive nominee for president from either party. “Seeing Kamala here … my granddaughter will know she can be whatever she wants, and do whatever she wants,” said Bridges, who is Black, and attended the rally with her young granddaughter. Janette Braverman, who served as the first Black county supervisor from Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, before stepping down in 2022, said the excitement in the room was palpable – and stronger than past Biden events. “It was time” for Harris to take over the Democratic presidential ticket, said Braverman. “I was concerned for Biden’s health. And [Kamala] has been ready.” “I’m extremely excited – I’m thrilled,” said Phoebe Williams, an attorney who arrived early at the rally to find seating up close. “As an African American lawyer, to see another woman African American lawyer ascend to the top is just thrilling.” Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, a Democratic party megadonor who had called for Joe Biden to step down from the presidential campaign, is backing Kamala Harris. Hastings has given $7m to a super Pac supporting Harris’s candidacy, according to the Information – which he has said is his largest donation ever to a single candidate. This month, Hastings was one of the first major Democratic donors to call for Biden to end his 2024 campaign, following the president’s disastrous debate performance. Back then, he told the New York Times Biden “needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous”. As Kamala Harris begins her campaign for president, she is already facing many questions over the administration’s continued support for Israel. Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed more than 39,000, according to the Gaza health ministry. Harris, who some perceive as more empathetic than Biden toward the plight of people in Gaza, will face mounting pressure to break with Biden in his policies toward Israel. In an opinion piece for the Guardian, Lily Greenberg Call, a former special assistant to the chief of staff at the Department of Interior, implored the vice-president to chart a new path: I resigned because of Joe Biden’s disastrous policy on Gaza, providing the financial and diplomatic support for the Israeli military to massacre, starve and forcibly expel countless Palestinians in Gaza. As a staffer in the administration, I heard reports that Harris and her staff pushed the US president to adopt a policy on Gaza that was both more humane and in alignment with international law, but were rebuffed. I saw the Harris … [become] the first senior administration official calling for a ceasefire, even as I was disappointed that it was only for six weeks. This was reportedly an effort by Biden’s team to water down her speech. It is shameful that Biden refused to listen to Harris – or the majority of Americans for that matter. Now that Biden has stepped aside, she has the opportunity to chart her own path on Israel and Palestine. Harris will not attend Netanyahu’s address to Congress, but is planning to meet with him privately at the White House, according to multiple reports. At the Capitol, hundreds of protestors led by Jewish Voice for Peace are demonstrating against US support for Israel among its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. According to the organization, arrests are being made. Hundreds of protestors gathered today at the Capitol Hill Cannon Rotunda, to coincide with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to DC. He is scheduled to addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.