Kamala Harris to name her running mate in hours as top contender posts cryptic message

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate by Tuesday at the latest.

Harris and her pick will appear for the first time together at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

The race for Democratic VP appears to be down to three men – Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. All three met with Harris on Sunday.

Three others thought to be under consideration are Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

The closely-watched decision will immediately kick-off a five-day, seven-state campaign tour this week in battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

Lindsey Graham has told Donald Trump what he needs to do to beat Kamala Harris after polls showed the vice president was rapidly catching up with him.

Overall the race is a dead-heat, according to a new CBS News/YouGov poll. Nationally, Harris leads Trump by 50 percent to 49 percent among likely voters. In battleground states, the race is now tied at 50 percent each.

Graham, the South Carolina senator, said Trump needs to stick to the issues Harris is weak on, rather than causing controversy over her identity as a biracial woman.

‘The problem I have with Kamala Harris is not her heritage, it’s her judgment,’ Graham told Fox News Sunday.

‘She has been wrong about everything. When she tried to explain what she would do about inflation and an upcoming recession, it made no sense. It’s gibberish.’

Stock markets around the globe have continued to plunge on Monday amid fears the US economy may be on track for a recession as Japan suffered its worst sell-off since ‘Black Monday’ in 1987.

Experts at investment bank Goldman Sachs said they now believed there was a staggering 25 per cent chance of a recession in the US – up ten percent from their previous estimate of 15 per cent, while JP Morgan put the chances of a recession at 50 per cent.

US stock index futures tumbled on Monday, with those tied to the Nasdaq falling nearly 4 per cent, but traders are now ramping up bets that the Federal Reserve will announce an emergency interest rate cut in response to the global stock market crash and to avoid a huge recession.

Employers added just 114,000 jobs last month, according to Labor Department data released Friday, far below the Dow Jones estimate of 185,000.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi revealed what exactly her role was in Democrats’ efforts to get President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race the led to his dramatic exit and Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the nominee.

Pelosi shared her thoughts on the president, his fitness for the job and his decision to step aside in an interview with veteran journalist Lesley Stahl for CBS Sunday Morning ahead of the release of her new book ‘The Art of Power.’

Pelosi was asked what she told Biden to persuade him to step aside ahead of his dramatic exit from the 2024 presidential race on July 21.

‘Well I’ve never shared any conversations with the President of the United States publicly, no,’ Pelosi said with a smile.  Pelosi said that Biden knows that she loves him ‘very much.’

Stahl pressed Pelosi over reporting that she was in fact the leader of a pressure campaign for Biden to drop out.

‘No, I wasn’t the leader of any pressure…’ Pelosi said shaking her head.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly caused a stir by suggesting he was no longer in consideration for Kamala Harris’ running mate.

In a now-deleted social media post, Kelly wrote Sunday evening:

I spent my life in the Navy and at NASA , where the mission always comes first. Now, my mission is serving Arizonans.

By writing ‘serving Arizonans,’ many speculated the former astronaut meant he’d lost his chance to be the next Democratic vice president.

Just 30 minutes after the original X post, Kelly deleted and replaced it with:

Whether it was from my time in the Navy and at NASA, serving in the United States Senate , or visiting our troops overseas: I’ve learned that when your country asks you to serve, you always answer the call.

Kelly is considered among the top three men Harris is consideirng for the role, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with his national security team in the Situation Room later on Monday amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel.

The Islamic Republic could attack Israel in the next 24 to 48 hours following a major attack by Hezbollah that left two IDF soldiers injured, top western diplomats have warned.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told the G7 yesterday that an attack in response to Israel killing Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Fuad Shukr in Beirut, was imminent, as reported by Axios.

Meanwhile Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III reportedly spoke to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Sunday to assure the Jewish state of US support.

It would be the second time during the growing crisis in the Middle East that Iran has directly attacked Israel, the first being in April when it sent a salvo of missiles and drones overnight.