Month: July 2024

President Biden fielded questions at a solo news conference on Thursday evening, which concluded the NATO summit in Washington, D.C. The high-stakes news conference — his first since November — comes shortly after his poorly-received, unsteady performance two weeks ago at the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump.

Biden’s performance at the debate sparked concern among Democrats on Capitol Hill and raised concerns about whether he should be the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, and reignited questions about Biden’s age and fitness to carry out his campaign and serve another four years. Multiple democratic have publicly called for the President to exit the 2024 race, however Biden has defiantly insisted he is staying the course, telling lawmakers repeatedly he is not going anywhere.

At Thursday night’s conference, Biden stated: “I think I am the best qualified to win. But there are other people who could beat Trump, too. But it would be hard to start from scratch. We talk about money raised. We are not doing bad. We’ve got about $220 million in the bank. We are doing well.”

When asked by reporters whether he should take another neurological exam, Biden said: “I’ve taken three significant and intense neurological exams … as recently as February, and they say I’m in good shape.” Biden defended his neurological health, saying the decisions he makes every day are evidence that he’s healthy. “I’m tested every single day on my neurological capacity. Decisions I make every day.”

However, Biden’s latest statements at Thursday’s conference still did little to persuade fellow Democrats that he is the right candidate to face Donald Trump in November. In a statement after his news conference, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., called on Biden to “step away” from the presidential race. Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, is the first member of the Connecticut delegation to call for Biden to drop out: “The 2024 election will define the future of American democracy, and we must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no longer believe that is Joe Biden, and I hope that, as he has through a lifetime of public service, he will continue to put our nation first and, as he promised, make way for a new generation of leaders.”

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The fifth Americana arrested and charged with bringing ammunition in their bag to Turks and Caicos Islands avoided jail time and instead was fined $1,500 and given a 23 week suspended sentence on Thursday. Sharitta Grier, a grandmother from Florida, has remained on the islands since her arrest in May.

Grier, who lives in Orlando, was visiting Turks and Caicos with her daughter during a surprise Mother’s Day vacation when during a routine search at the Howard Hamilton International Airport, police said officials found two rounds of ammunition in her carry-on bag as she was trying to go home. After her mid-May arrest, she told CBS News: “they chained me to a chair by my leg. It’s cold, scared, it was awful, it was so awful, I couldn’t sleep. You have good days, bad days — mentally draining, like not knowing what’s going to happen or when it’s going to happen, if a court date’s going to be pushed back. It’s a lot, it’s a lot mentally.”

Grier pleaded guilty to one count of possession of ammunition; she had been released on $15,000 bail following her arrest and ordered to remain in the Caribbean territory until the completion of her case. Following her sentencing, Grier told ABC News that she was “very happy” to be going home, adding: “It’s been a long time coming.” She said she had been optimistic about her case after other Americans who were also arrested over ammunition found in their bags avoided prison time, but had to pay fines before they could return to the U.S.

Grier was the fifth American to be charged under Turks and Caicos’ gun laws in recent months and faced a mandatory 12-year prison sentence unless the court found “exceptional circumstances.”  Three other American tourists who were similarly charged and detained on the islands after inadvertently traveling with ammunition have since been able to return home with the court citing “exceptional circumstances” to avoid the mandatory sentence. Amid pressure from U.S. lawmakers to show the Americans leniency, elected officials on the islands changed the law to give judges more discretion for sentences in firearms cases. Under the amended law, the court has the “widest possible breadth of discretion” and can impose either a fine, custodial sentence or both, the attorney general said in a statement.

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The Biden administration on Wednesday announced new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from all nations (with certain exceptions for Canada and Mexico) in a bid to keep cheaply produced Chinese metals out of U.S. markets and protect domestic production. The new tariffs will focus on steel and aluminum imports from Mexico, which has become a conduit for many products of Chinese origin as the U.S. has reworked some direct supply chains away from China in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The White House said in a statement that the secretary of commerce has reported that “steel articles are being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States.” Biden said in a statement: “In my judgment, these measures will provide an effective, long-term alternative means to address any contribution by Mexican aluminum articles imports to the threatened impairment of the national security by restraining aluminum articles imports to the United States from Mexico, limiting transshipment, and discouraging excess aluminum capacity and production.” 

Lael Brainard, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said that the White House cited national security interests as the basis for these tariffs: “Chinese steel and aluminum entering the U.S. market through Mexico evades tariffs, undermines our investments, and harms American workers in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.”

Biden said he had decided to impose 25% tariff on steel arriving from Mexico that was not poured in Mexico, Canada or the United States. A 10% tariff will be imposed on aluminum from Mexico if it includes smelting or casting done in China, Russia, Belarus or Iran.  The President added that the United States and Mexico have agreed on a range of measures to allow imports of steel and aluminum that are products of Mexico “to remain stable at historical levels without meaningful increases.” For Russian aluminum, Biden said he determined in February 2023 that “it was necessary and appropriate to impose a 200% ad valorem tariff on aluminum articles where any amount of primary aluminum used in the manufacture of the aluminum articles” is melted or cast in Russia.

The new tariffs are being coordinated with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who released a joint statement Wednesday with President Biden: “To improve transparency of the origins of its imports, Mexico is requiring importers to provide more information about the country of origin of steel products. This action adds to Mexico’s recent tariff increases on steel from non-free trade agreement countries.”

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Health officials in Colorado are investigating a human case of the bubonic plague confirmed in a person in Pueblo County.

The Department of Public Health and Environment said in a news release that the infection — which occurred in Pueblo County, in the southern part of the state — was first reported Friday based on preliminary test results, while the source of the infection is still being tracked down. Alicia Solis, program manager of the Office of Communicable Disease and Emergency Preparedness at the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment, said in a news release announcing the case: “Plague can be treated successfully with antibiotics, but an infected person must be treated promptly to avoid serious complications or death. We advise all individuals to protect themselves and their pets from plague.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, and is described as an infectious disease typically spread by fleas. Once known as “The Black Death” (which killed millions in Europee, the Middle East and northern Africa during the Middle Ages), the plague circulates naturally among wild rodents – and in rare cases infects humans and their pets. The last urban plague epidemic in the United States occurred in Los Angeles from 1924 through 1925, but since then the plague has occurred only as scattered cases in rural areas.  Per the CDC, most human cases in the United States have occurred in outbreaks in California, New Mexico, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma.  In the United States as a whole, an average of seven human plague cases are reported each year.

The CDC noted that “a plague vaccine is no longer available in the United States .. New plague vaccines are in development, but are not expected to be commercially available in the immediate future.” They added that typical symptoms include sudden fever and chills, severe headache, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting and, commonly, swollen lymph nodes with pain, and urged that anyone who develops symptoms of plague should see their doctor immediately.

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