The day before Biden announced his withdrawal, he had met with his two closest advisers, who said that a path to victory was “basically nonexistent”, CNN writes, citing a source familiar with the matter.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Kamala Harris’ second presidential campaign to fail - just like her first?

With Joe Biden endorsing Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee after his decision to exit the presidential race on Sunday, the first female US vice president “will likely have to answer questions” about her last botched campaign for the top job, the Washington Post has reported. 

Harris, who has said that she intends to “earn and win” the nomination, is now facing “an abrupt launch” of her surprise second presidential campaign, the success of which will depend on how she resolves the problems that hampered the first campaign, according to the newspaper. 

In this vein, the Washington Post cited an unnamed Democratic strategist as saying that Harris previously failed to live up to Democrats’ expectations because “she ran a terrible campaign (which kicked off in January 2019).”

 
Her efforts, which notably collapsed before a single ballot was cast, were disrupted by "declining cash, an inability to articulate a cohesive campaign message, and a steady patter of departing staffers", the newspaper pointed out. 

The report comes after Harris’ approval numbers dropped, following Biden’s “catastrophic” debate against former US President Donald Trump on June 27. According to FiveThirtyEight's average, the vice president’s disapproval rating stood at 51.2 % on July 5, compared to 49.4 % on June 27.

Last year's polls showed that Harris had the lowest approval rating of any first-term US vice president since Dan Quayle in the early 1990s. The surveys indicated that the 49th vice president’s approval rating dropped from 41.7% to 36.3% in early 2023. 

Previous polls revealed that Harris, who has been repeatedly criticized for turning a blind eye to the US migration crisis, and keeping mum on America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, is "not qualified" or "not at all qualified" to be US president.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

😳Trump sponsored Kamala Harris' bid for political office? 

Donald Trump's check for $5,000 in support of the re-election of California Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2011 has gone viral on social media. 

According to Newsweek, Trump has donated twice to Harris' campaigns: he donated $5,000 to Harris's campaign on September 26, 2011, and $1,000 on February 20, 2013, when she was running for California attorney general.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Netanyahu plans to meet with Trump during visit to US - adviser to Prime Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to meet with Republican nominee and former US President Donald Trump during his visit to the United States, but there is no confirmation yet that the meeting will take place, Dmitry Gendelman, an adviser to the prime minister, told Sputnik.

"A meeting with former US President Donald Trump is also planned, but there is no confirmation yet that this meeting will take place," Gendelman said.

Work on organizing the visit is ongoing without changes after the announcement of US President Joe Biden about withdrawing his candidacy from the presidential race, the official said, adding that Netanyahu will meet with Biden.

"The prime minister's schedule includes a speech in the Congress, as well as meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, congressmen and several interviews with US media," Gendelman said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Respect for journalists' rights an empty phrase for Macron - Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on France's refusal of Russian journalists to cover the Olympics

The organizing committee of the Olympic Games in Paris have refused accreditation for some Russian journalists, referencing the decision of the French authorities.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that his organization has refused entry to many journalists, citing threats of espionage and cyberattacks. The International Olympic Committee has declined to comment on the matter.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Kremlin was not surprised by Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the election race: events in the United States taught us not to be surprised by anything, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He emphasized that this topic is “not our internal matter” and cannot be a priority for Russia. Peskov also noted that it is not Moscow’s place to evaluate Biden’s decisions; this should concern American voters.

As for Kamala Harris, who Biden tapped to run, Peskov said that he could not remember a single contact between Vladimir Putin and her, and the Kremlin cannot currently evaluate her potential candidacy.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Biden's electoral exit headlining Western media:

🔹The New York Times: [Biden] made what may be the most difficult political decision of his career... He decided to announce the end of his candidacy on X because it gave him the ability to do it “his way", avoiding the intrigue and leaks that have plagued his campaign in recent weeks.

🔹The Guardian: Biden’s decision to step aside, but remain as president, caps an unusually tumultuous electoral season as a singular stunning episode.

🔹The Wall Street Journal: Biden’s decision to withdraw will also reverberate across the Republican Party. Some senior GOP officials privately held out hope that Biden would stay in the race because they figured he would be easy to defeat due to aging concerns.

🔹The Telegraph: The president’s desperate attempt to postpone the inevitable may deny his party an electoral victory.

🔹Financial Times: [Biden's decision to leave the race is] the outcome of nearly a month of bitter and damaging debate within the Democratic Party about his mental and physical capacity to defeat Trump.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid announced the need to call up 10,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews for military service.

On Sunday, the army sent out its first 1,000 summons to connoscripts from the ultra-Orthodox community. The announcement of the connoscription sparked riots in Tel Aviv last week.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Ukrainian losses amounted to 520 militants and a Leopard tank in Russia's Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:  

▪️ Russian air defenses struck down 163 Ukrainian drones;

▪️ Ukrainian losses amounted to 335 militants in the Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone;

▪️ The Dnepr Battlegroup hit three Ukrainian brigades, resulting in the loss of over 115 militants;

▪️ The Russian Vostok Battlegroup improved its tactical position, repelling one Ukrainian counterattack;

▪️ The Sever Battlegroup struck four enemy brigades, resulting in the loss of up to 270 militants.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin arrived in Algeria on a working visit, Sputnik correspondent reports.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

What is Joe Biden's legacy?

In a statement on his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, US President Joe Biden reflected on the results of his four years in office, claiming that the US has built the “strongest economy in the world.” He also touted efforts in healthcare and gun safety, omitting some curious facts on US domestic and foreign policy.

🔺The US economic meltdown shows no signs of abating, with 36% of Americans recently surveyed by the Pew Research rating the national economy as “poor.” Add to this the fact that the state debt, which now stands at nearly $34.4 trillion, is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days.

🔺The US migration crisis persists as new data by the CBP reveals a surge in illegal border crossings, with more than 205,000 apprehensions in June alone, pushing the total for fiscal year 2024 to 2.5 million.

🔺Drug overdose remains one of the leading causes of injury or death in adults in the US and has risen over the past several years. Overdoses specifically pertain to synthetic opioids (fentanyl) and stimulants (cocaine and methamphetamine), according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Biden’s foreign policy track record:

🔻The Ukraine crisis is in full swing, as the US continues to add fuel to the fire by providing the Kiev regime with military supplies despite Russia’s repeated warnings that such an assistance would only prolong the standoff.

🔻The Gaza war is still in place despite Biden’s much-hyped plan to help clinch a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Last month, the US president said that the Gaza war must end now and Israel must not occupy the Palestinian enclave after the end of hostilities – another statement that apparently fell on the Jewish state’s deaf ears.

🔻As a cherry on the top, Biden failed to deliver on his promise to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with the Vienna talks on the matter finally coming to a standstill.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt