What A Day Crooked Media

The Paris Summer Olympics holds opening ceremonies today, officially kicking off 16 days of elite athletic competition. USA gymnastics legend Simone Biles will return to the mat, while fans will return to the stadiums, after COVID restrictions kept them away at the last Summer and Winter Games. There's a political context at this year's contests, too, and demonstrations have already begun in Paris to rally support for several causes. We spoke Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, about the protests happening ahead of the games.

And in headlines: Vice President Kamala Harris presses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a ceasefire deal in Gaza, California Governor Gavin Newsom instructs cities to remove homeless encampments, and the Ohio Supreme Court delivers a controversial boneless chicken wing ruling.

On Wednesday, President Biden addressed the nation in an Oval Office speech — three days after he announced his decision to end his re-election bid and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. Since the president announced he was stepping aside, the Harris campaign has reported a major influx of donations. As of Wednesday, it had received more than 126 million dollars. But with the election quickly approaching, one of the biggest challenges Vice President Harris will face is winning support from voters outside the committed Democratic base. Craig Snyder, the director of the political action committee Haley Voters for Harris, explains how his PAC is trying to convince people who voted for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries to now vote for Vice President Harris instead of Donald Trump. And Abbas Alawieh, director of the Uncommitted National Movement, discusses whether voters who oppose President Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza could still be convinced to support the Vice President.

And in headlines: dozens of Democrats boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress, the planet's two hottest days in recorded history happened this week, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a ban on "LGBTQ+ panic" as a legal defense.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington, D.C., today to address a joint session of Congress. On Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators opposed to the war in Gaza staged a sit-in at a congressional office building. Thousands more are expected to demonstrate today during Netanyahu’s speech. Inside the Capitol, nearly two dozen Democratic lawmakers say they will not attend the joint session. At the same time, both Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington declined to preside over Netanyahu’s address. The Israeli prime minister is expected to meet with Harris and President Biden separately on Thursday. As Harris begins her presidential campaign in earnest, Politico national security reporter Eric Bazail-Eimil explains what a Harris foreign policy might look like.

And in headlines: The head of the U.S. Secret Service resigned, convicted New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez announced he’d resign next month, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer endorsed Harris’s campaign for president.

With Vice President Kamala Harris in position to receive the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Republicans like House Speaker Mike Johnson are raising the possibility of legal challenges to keep a new nominee off the ballot. Experts say these challenges will go nowhere. Republicans have also suggested they will try to block Harris from accessing the 96 million dollars Biden’s campaign raised before he dropped out. But it’s unlikely they’ll succeed there, either. We discuss the details with political reporter Abigail Tracy.

And in headlines: lawmakers call for the head of the Secret Service to resign her post, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills at least 70 Palestinians, and Delta is still getting back on track after last week’s CrowdStrike outage

President Joe Biden announced Sunday he is ending his re-election bid and is throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s nominee in November. It’s the latest bombshell shakeup to this year’s presidential race. Biden said in a statement, “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.” In her own statement, Harris said she intends to “earn and win the nomination.” Within hours, a number of big-name Democrats endorsed Harris, though party leadership remained notably quiet on her candidacy as of late Sunday. California Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee talks about why she thinks it’s time for the party to unite around Harris, while Axios National Political Correspondent Alex Thompson explains what’s next for Harris to successfully campaign.

Since the moment someone shot Donald Trump last weekend, we’ve been hearing the same thing: this election’s over, and it’s going to Trump. But the course of this race—and American politics more broadly—will probably change less than you think. Tre’vell and Max take a look at past assassination attempts in the U.S. and abroad to explain why surviving violent attacks does not guarantee an election victory. Has any politician successfully leveraged these assaults for political gain? Which US president survived two assassination attempts in one month? How would this have played out if Trump were in office? Listen to this week’s How We Got Here to find out.