Principals

1. ‘White Dudes for Harris’
2. SCOTUS reforms
3. Running mate search
4. Ex-US ambassador to Russia on Trump
5. Israel-Hezbollah conflict
6. Harris’ media outreach
7. Maduro claims disputed win

PDB: The Business Roundtable’s tax meetings on Capitol Hill

Biden in Texas … California wildfire expands … FT: EU readies Trump trade strategy

‘White dudes’ rally for Harris

A group dubbed “White Dudes for Harris” will hold a Zoom call today to rally and fundraise for presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. A spokesperson said they’ve raised $200,000 and tens of thousands of men have signed up to attend this evening’s virtual rally. Among them are Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, running mate candidate North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Rep. Adam Schiff, singer Josh Groban, and activist David Hogg. Some criticized the group, arguing Democrats are embracing identity politics. “The fact is that white men have not been organizing themselves, especially white men who are not a part of the MAGA coalition,” lead organizer Ross Morales Rocketto told Semafor. “It’s long past time for us to organize on behalf of good causes.” Other coalitions have lined up to support the vice president. Last week, “Win with Black Women” organized a call with 40,000 participants, followed by “White Women: Answer the Call,” who reportedly raised $8.5 million by Friday afternoon and featured lawmakers and celebrities.

— Kadia Goba

Biden to back major Supreme Court reforms

President Biden plans to endorse reforms to the Supreme Court, including backing a binding code of ethics. Biden is speaking at the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library today where he will endorse a proposal that also includes 18-year term limits and a constitutional amendment that would curtail the immunity enjoyed by presidents following the recent ruling in Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 case, according to a White House official. “I have great respect for our institutions and separation of powers,” Biden writes in a Washington Post op-ed this morning. “What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach.” The court is under enormous scrutiny from Congress due to revelations about Justice Clarence Thomas receiving luxury trips from a GOP donor and flags flown outside the home of Justice Samuel Alito. The reforms won’t make it past the Senate, though, given the narrow margin and the filibuster. “Much of this is unconstitutional, and all of it is radical,” argued The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial page.

Who’s up in Harris’ running mate search

Vice President Harris has less than two weeks to select her running mate and the search is picking up. Sen. Mark Kelly is being pushed by Democrats on Capitol Hill who argue he would help shore up her weakness on border security issues due to his tougher stances. “He would add a lot of value,” one told Politico. The New York Times writes three of the contenders — governors Roy Cooper, Andy Beshear, and Josh Shapiro — may be advantaged by their common experience as state attorneys general. (Harris served at the same time as two of them.) Harris is expected to choose a running mate by Aug. 7, the date the Democratic Party aims to complete the virtual roll call. On the Sunday shows, rumored candidates governors Tim Walz and J.B. Pritzker each declined to say whether they received vetting materials.

Former US ambassador says Trump knows Putin is an ‘enemy’

John Sullivan, the former US ambassador to Russia who served under both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, says that the US is “asleep” when it comes to the threat posed by Russia and its allies. “I think the American public doesn’t understand it and it’s reflected in their elected members of Congress,” he told Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant in an interview ahead of the release of his new memoir “Midnight in Moscow.” Sullivan also insisted that Trump understands the threat posed by Moscow despite questions about what his Ukraine policy would look like. “I have heard him say to me personally as deputy secretary that he knows that Putin and the Russian Federation is an enemy of the United States,” he said, framing support for Ukraine as funding to “oppose Russia and defend ourselves and the West against Russia.”

US tries to lower temperature after Hezbollah rocket attack

The US scrambled to head off a broader war in the Middle East caused by heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah over a deadly rocket attack fired from Lebanon into the Israel-controlled Golan Heights. Saturday’s attack, which the US attributed to Hezbollah but reportedly believes was an accident, killed a dozen children aged between 10 and 16 near a soccer field. Israel responded on Sunday by striking Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon, and is now weighing a further response. Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized in Tokyo that the US would support Israel in its “ right to defend its citizens.” “But we also don’t want to see the conflict escalate. We don’t want to see it spread,” he added. Egypt’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, warned of the “dangers of opening a new war front in Lebanon” that could spiral into a larger regional conflict.

A more media-friendly Harris runs for president

Kamala Harris spent her last two years as vice president repairing a difficult relationship with the national media, an investment that paid off when she received a wave of positive press coverage after suddenly becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee last week, Semafor’s Max Tani writes. Since early 2022, she has worked to develop better and more personal relationships with parts of the news media that set the agenda for Washington. For Harris, that has meant being more accessible for on-the-record media interviews, inviting prominent television anchors and media executives to dine with her at the Naval Observatory, and giving personal tours of her garden to a diverse group of journalists.

Both sides claim Venezuela win

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition both claimed victory in Sunday’s presidential election. Despite polls before the election showing the opposition handily beating Maduro in a free vote, the country’s electoral body claimed the incumbent won more than 50% of ballots cast. María Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition, said its counts showed they had won almost three quarters of the vote, while international leaders including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken questioned the government’s results. Maduro had vowed to shore up his autocratic regime’s ties with the army, who have in the past taken his side. “A message to the military,” Machado wrote on X. “It is time to put yourselves on the right side of history.”

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: The Senate is on track to overwhelmingly approve a pair of bills regulating social media this week, but the measures face a difficult road in the House where more members like Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore are likely to voice First Amendment concerns..

Playbook: Vice President Harris’ campaign is moving on from the “sugar high” of her announcement into a new phase before the Democratic convention that will dictate whether she can translate her momentum into expanding the map for Democrats. “She is not blinded by the sugar,” one insider said. “She understands the gravity and excitement of the moment but also understands the work that needs to be done.”

Axios: Donald Trump is struggling to land attacks on Harris a week into her presidential campaign.

WaPo: Down-ballot Democrats are cautiously optimistic with Harris now at the top of the ticket. “I love Joe Biden, but I think it’s a fact that we were having a difficult time activating our base. We have that problem solved,” said Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich.

White House

• President Biden will stop in Houston today to pay respects to the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee following his speech in Austin.
• Biden was briefed yesterday on the Park Fire in northern California on Sunday and “directed his team to do everything possible to support ongoing fire suppression efforts,” the White House said.

Congress

• The House is out this week until September. The Senate is in with a judicial nomination teed up for Monday evening.
• A “coordinated campaign” established to flip five Republican seats and protect two competitive ones in New York plans to open 35 field offices throughout the state by mid-August. The $5 million effort will pay for 80 staffers including fellows, headquarters personnel, and field, college, and youth organizers. “The path to a Democratic majority runs straight through the 17th district,” Democratic candidate Rep. Mondaire Jones told Semafor’s Kadia Goba.
• Two dozen corporate tax directors from Business Roundtable member companies met with Congressional leadership on Thursday, a BRT spokesperson told Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig. They also met with lawmakers on tax-writing committees on both sides of the aisle. The group intends to host staff briefings in the months ahead, as lawmakers prepare to deal with expiring provisions of the GOP tax law next year.
• Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has COVID-19.

Economy

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rebuffed former President Donald Trump’s assertion that the American manufacturers are getting hurt by the strong US dollar, saying the greenback’s strength is due to the strong domestic economy. — Bloomberg

Courts

The Justice Department settled a lawsuit by former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page who accused the Trump administration of violating their privacy by releasing their text messages disparaging then-President Donald Trump to the media.

Polls

• A Wall Street Journal poll shows striking differences between men and women on a range of issues.
• Vice President Harris’ popularity rose in the week since she entered the race for president, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll. Her favorability rating rose to 43% in the poll released Sunday, up from 35% the week before. Her unfavorability slid to 42% from 46% last week.

On the Trail

• Vce President Harris raised $200 million in the first week of her campaign for president.
• The Harris campaign and Democratic lawmakers accused former President Donald Trump of saying he would end elections in the country if he wins the election.
• Trump has abandoned the appeal for unity in the country following the assassination attempt against him two weeks ago.
• Harris’ campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez hinted she would continue President Biden’s asylum crackdown, which has been credited for a sharp drop in migrant crossings at the southern border, if she is elected. — CBS
• A manipulated video of Harris mimicking her voice saying things she didn’t say is raising concerns over how artificial intelligence can mislead voters ahead of Election Day. The video gained attention after X owner Elon Musk shared it on the platform without noting it was released as a parody originally.
• Trump told a Bitcoin conference over the weekend he would fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler and select regulators friendly to the crypto industry if he retakes the White House.
• The Harris campaign is warning donors of “financial scams” from groups sending texts and emails claiming to be soliciting donations for the vice president.
• The Trump campaign can’t be happy about defending JD Vance’s remarks about women without children rather than focusing on Harris’ “many extreme views,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board says. Vance’s remarks don’t “play well with the millions of female voters, many of them Republican, who will decide the presidential race,” according to the WSJ board.
• Usha Vance disparaged Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 and was outraged by the attack on the Capitol, according to friends. — WaPo

National Security

The US and Japan made their most significant upgrades to their military alliance in some 60 years as China has become the Indo-Pacific region’s “greatest strategic challenge.”

Technology

• Apple’s new artificial intelligence features will miss the launch of its iOS 18 software for iPhones and iPads. — Bloomberg
• Elon Musk’s move to back Donald Trump can be traced to early 2021 when the Biden administration excluded Tesla as it planned to fulfill a campaign promise to bolster EV sales. — WSJ
• Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel appears to be warming to Donald Trump’s bid for reelection following the selection of running mate JD Vance. — NYT

Big Read

Vice President Harris was one of the first to find out President Biden decided to drop out on July 21. He endorsed her 27 minutes later. The Democratic Party machine was set to back him if he chose to stay in the race, but Harris would be the candidate if he dropped out, The Washington Post says. According to former party chair Donna Brazile, Harris wanted Biden and was “sticking” with him. The Association of State Democratic Committees decided July 19 it would back Harris to avoid the suspense if Biden did drop out. On a call of the executive committee, no one objected, Minnesota Democratic chief Ken Martin said. It took the AP 32 hours to declare Harris the new presumptive nominee after Biden dropped out.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: JD Vance responded to Vice President Harris’ accusation he would be only loyal to Donald Trump and not the US, saying: “What the hell have you done to question our loyalty to the United States of America?”

What the Right isn’t reading: Harris’ campaign has voters focused on multiracial identity.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Chuck Coughlin is a longtime Arizona political consultant and CEO of the firm HighGround, Inc.

• Harris said she would ‘not be silent’ on Palestinian suffering in Gaza after talks with Netanyahu.
• Dropping out may be the best thing Biden ever did on climate.
• Africa’s richest man scrambles to calm crisis around $20 billion refinery.