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International

BIDEN OUT: President exits race, endorses VP Harris as his successor

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From The Center Square

President Joe Biden ended his bid for reelection Sunday, opening the door for Vice President Kamala Harris or another top Democrat to replace him atop the ticket.

In a statement posted to X, Biden said he is stepping aside “in the “best interest of my party and the country.”

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”

The historic withdrawal comes just weeks before the Democratic National Convention is set to take place Aug. 19 in Chicago, where Biden’s pledged delegates will face tough decisions on who to replace him with.

Concerns over Biden’s age, declining cognitive abilities and physical health led more and more elected Democrats in Congress to call for his exit, seemingly on a daily basis.

Biden’s support among Democrats began to freefall after his performance in the June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump, when Biden stumbled over his own words and often lost his train of thought.

At a NATO news conference a couple of weeks later, Biden referred to Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” when asked if he thought Harris was ready to be president if he were to step aside, one of many gaffes during the summit.

During the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week, where Trump officially accepted the GOP nomination for president just days after a failed assassination attempt on his life at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Biden was hunkered down at his Delaware home, recovering from his third bout with COVID-19.

Biden has not fared well in 12 major polls tracking the 2024 general election in recent weeks, leading down-ballot Democratic candidates for Congress to raise concerns that his declining support could help Republicans to retake the White House and the U.S. Senate and solidify their majority in the U.S. House.

Trump led by an overall average of 3 points in the 12 polls. Biden only led in one poll, where he had a 2-point edge in the NPR/PBS/Marist poll. Trump and Biden were tied in the ABC News/Washington Post poll. Trump led in the 10 other polls as of Thursday.

In The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll of nearly 2,300 likely voters, conducted after the June 27 debate but before the attempted assassination on Trump, Biden’s deficit grew to three full percentage points nationally. The poll has a margin of error of 2.1%.

Until Sunday, Biden defiantly opposed calls to step aside.

While his June debate performance seemed to seal Biden’s fate, his deteriorating cognitive abilities made news months earlier.

In February, the Report of the Special Counsel investigating Biden’s taking classified documents to his home revealed the president had issues with his memory.

“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the report stated.

The report also stated, “Mr. Biden’s memory also appeared to have significant limitations – both at the time he spoke to [Biden ghost writer Mark] Zwonitzer in 2017, as evidenced by their recorded conversations, and today, as evidenced by his recorded interview with our office. Mr. Biden’s recorded conversations with Zwonitzer from 2017 are often painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries. In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 – when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’). He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”

Crime

Suspected ambush leaves two firefighters dead in Idaho

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Quick Hit:

Two firefighters were killed and another wounded Sunday after a gunman opened fire on first responders tackling a blaze near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The shooter was later found dead, and authorities believe the fire may have been set to lure crews into an ambush.

Key Details:

  • The ambush began around 2 p.m. local time as fire crews arrived at a brush fire and were met with sniper-style gunfire from a wooded area.
  • SWAT teams located the deceased suspect roughly five hours later, with a weapon nearby. His identity has not yet been released.
  • The Kootenai County Sheriff said the ongoing fire could not be addressed during the gunfight, calling the attack a “heinous direct assault” on first responders.

Diving Deeper:

A deadly ambush on Sunday afternoon left two Idaho firefighters dead and a third injured after they were shot while attempting to contain a brush fire on Canfield Mountain. The surprise attack reportedly began around 2 p.m., when bullets suddenly rained down on emergency crews from hidden positions in the wooded terrain near Coeur d’Alene.

Authorities now believe the blaze may have been deliberately set as bait. Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris described the situation as “an active sniper attack,” saying the scene quickly escalated into chaos with gunfire coming from multiple directions.

“We don’t know if there’s one, two, three or four [shooters],” Norris said in an early evening press conference. “I’m hoping that someone has a clear shot and is able to neutralize [the suspect], because they’re not showing any signs of surrendering.”

Roughly five hours after the first shots were fired, SWAT officers found a body next to a firearm along the Canfield Mountain Trail. Authorities have not confirmed whether the individual was the sole assailant, nor have they publicly identified the person. The FBI, along with state and local agencies, had been deployed to the scene to assist with the operation.

The two firefighters who died have not yet been named. The third, who sustained a gunshot wound, was transported to Kootenai Health and remains hospitalized. His current condition is unknown.

The firefight effectively halted efforts to contain the brush fire, which remained active late into Sunday. “It’s going to keep burning. We can’t put any resources on it right now,” Norris said during the standoff. Shelter-in-place orders were issued for the surrounding area, including the popular Canfield Mountain Trailhead, but those restrictions were lifted after the suspect was found dead.

Idaho Governor Brad Little reacted to the tragedy on social media, calling the ambush “a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters.” He added, “Teresa and I are heartbroken. I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more.”

Federal and local officials are continuing to investigate the incident, including the origins of the fire and whether additional suspects may have been involved.

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Business

Trump on Canada tariff deadline: ‘We can do whatever we want’

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From The Center Square

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President Donald Trump appears unconcerned about an upcoming tariff deal deadline after abruptly ending all trade talks with Canada as his bid to overhaul world trade continues.

Trump is nearing the end of a self-imposed 90-day deadline to strike deals with nearly every U.S. trading partner as he works to reorder global trade by giving America a competitive advantage through tariffs on foreign goods.

Trump now says that the deadline could be extended past July 9 or even accelerated.

“We can do whatever we want. We could extend it, we could make it shorter. I’d like to make it shorter,” Trump said Friday at the Oval Office. “I’d like to just send letters out to everyone ‘Congratulations, you’re paying 25%.'”

On April 2, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on nearly every nation that trades with the U.S. Seven days later, he paused those higher tariff rates for 90 days to give his trade team time to cut deals with key trading partners. That 90-day deadline ends July 9 and thus far Trump has brought home two deals: A limited trade pact with the United Kingdom and a trade truce with China.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg that new deals are on the way, and those could serve as models for others. 

“We’re going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind,” Lutnick said.

He said the U.S. was “close to the finish line” with India. Lutnick also said he had made an offer to the European Union. 

Trump’s decision to suspend trade talks with Canada with just days left before the deadline underscored the flexibility of the president’s trade deadline.

“These are very complex negotiations and we are going to continue them in the best interests of Canadians,” Candian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday while leaving his office, according to local reports.

Canada has invariably been one of the top two trading partners for the United States for years. In 2024, Canada was the top destination for U.S. exports and the third-largest source of U.S. imports. On the other side, Canada exported 75% of its goods to the United States and imported almost half of its goods from the United States.

U.S. total goods trade with Canada was an estimated $762.1 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. U.S. goods exports to Canada in 2024 were $349.4 billion. U.S. imports from Canada in 2024 totaled $412.7 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Canada was $63.3 billion in 2024.

Services trade with Canada, exports and imports, totaled an estimated $140.3 billion in 2023. Services exports were $86.0 billion, and services imports were $54.3 billion. The U.S. services trade surplus with Canada was $31.7 billion in 2023, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Shortly after taking office in January, Trump hit Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs for allowing fentanyl and migrants to cross their borders into the U.S. Trump later applied those 25% tariffs only to goods that fall outside the free-trade agreement between the three nations, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Trump put a stop to the talks on Friday.

“We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump said the digital services tax was a copy of a European Union proposal.

“Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately,” the president said. “We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period.”

Earlier this month, the two nations seemed close to striking a deal.

Trump said he and Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney had different trade concepts between the two neighboring countries during a meeting at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, in the Canadian Rockies. 

Asked what was holding up a trade deal between the two nations at that time, Trump said they had different concepts for what that would look like.

“It’s not so much holding up, I think we have different concepts, I have a tariff concept, Mark has a different concept, which is something that some people like, but we’re going to see if we can get to the bottom of it today.”

Trump put a 10% tariff on non-USMCA compliant potash and energy products. A 50% tariff on aluminum and steel imports from all countries into the U.S. has been in effect since June 4. Trump also put a 25% tariff on all cars and trucks not built in the U.S.

The tariffs have frustrated Canadian leaders and residents. Tensions between the two neighboring countries have been high. And cities on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border have been affected.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada join the U.S. as its 51st state. He previously called former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “governor” regularly.

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