International
Biden urges Democrats to end the internal drama and focus on beating Trump
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, on Monday urged Democrats to put an end to the internal “drama” and focus on defeating former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) in next November’s elections, instead of questioning his candidacy.
Biden made these statements in a two-page letter addressed to members of his party in Congress and in which he argued that “the question of how to move forward has been raised publicly for more than a week” and it is time for “this to end.”
The president stressed that the party has “a single task”: to defeat Trump at the polls.
“Any weakness in our resolution or lack of clarity about the task ahead of us only helps Trump and harms us. It’s time to unite, move forward as a unified party and defeat Donald Trump,” he said in the letter, distributed by his campaign.
Biden’s team proposed to hold the electoral debate on June 27 in advance, months earlier than usual in presidential campaigns, with the aim of reassuring voters concerned about the age of the president, who at 81 years old is the longest-lived in the history of the United States.
However, the meeting, in which Biden spoke in a hoarse voice and showed difficulty concluding some sentences, had the opposite effect, with television commentators, influential columnists and the editorial board of The New York Times asking him to end his campaign to make way for another candidate to face Trump in November.
So far, a total of nine congressmen have asked Biden to leave the contest. Four of them, Democrats who occupy important positions on committees of the Lower House, did so privately on Sunday in a call with the leader of the minority in that hemicycle, Hakeem Jeffries, local media such as CNN and CBS reported.
One of those four high-level congressmen, Adam Smith, made his position public on Monday in an interview on CNN, becoming the highest-ranking Democrat to do so publicly.
“I think I should retire. I think it has become clear that he is not the best person to convey the Democratic message,” he said.
After the dissemination of the letter, Biden gave a telephone interview to the MSNBC network’s ‘Morning Joe’ program, where he insisted that the “average Democrats” want him to continue and expressed his frustration with the calls of members of his party to withdraw.
“They are important names, but I don’t care what those big names think,” Biden said.
Currently, according to a survey by The New York Times and Siena College, after the debate against Trump, the Democrats are divided on whether Biden should continue to be the party’s candidate for the presidency, with 48% in favor and 47% supporters of another candidate.
Biden has made it clear that he does not plan to withdraw from the campaign and influential figures of the Democratic Party, such as former President Barack Obama (2009-2017), have closed ranks around him.
Meanwhile, Trump has maintained a low profile with fewer public statements than usual since the debate. This week, however, it will break its silence with two campaign rallies, one on Tuesday in Doral (Florida) and another on Saturday in Butler, in the key state of Pennsylvania.
These two great acts occur just as expectations grow that you will announce your running mate. According to The Washington Post, Trump’s campaign plans to announce the vice presidential candidate before July 15, the first day of the Republican national convention.
According to the Post, the campaign has focused its attention on two senators: J.D. Vance, from Ohio, and Marco Rubio, from Florida.
International
Trump to build $200M ballroom at the White House by 2028
The U.S. government under President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that it will begin construction in September on a new 8,000-square-meter ballroom at the White House.
The announcement was made by Karoline Leavitt, the administration’s press secretary, during a briefing in which she explained that the expansion responds to the need for a larger venue to host “major events.”
“Other presidents have long wished for a space capable of accommodating large gatherings within the White House complex… President Trump has committed to solving this issue,” Leavitt told reporters.
The project is estimated to cost $200 million, fully funded through donations from Trump himself and other “patriots,” according to a government statement. Construction is scheduled to begin in September and is expected to be completed before Trump’s term ends in 2028.
The Clark Construction Group, a Virginia-based company known for projects such as the Capital One Arena and L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C., has been selected to lead the project.
The new ballroom will be built on the East Wing of the White House, expanding the iconic residence with a space designed for state dinners, official ceremonies, and large-scale events.
International
Three salvadorans in Florida sentenced in $146 million construction tax fraud scheme
Three Salvadoran residents living in Orlando, Florida, were sentenced for conspiracy to commit tax fraud and wire fraud involving a scheme exceeding $146 million in the construction industry, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. The sentence was handed down by federal judge Timothy J. Corrigan on Tuesday, July 29.
Eduardo Aníbal Escobar (45) was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison, Carlos Alberto Rodríguez (36) to 3 years and 4 months, and Adelmy Tejada (57) to 18 months in prison, followed by 6 months of house arrest. All three pled guilty on April 3, 2025.
In addition to the prison terms, the court ordered restitution payments totaling $36,957,616 to the IRS for unpaid payroll taxes, and $397,895 to two insurers for workers’ compensation claims related to the scheme.
Escobar and Rodríguez are permanent legal residents originally from El Salvador, while Tejada is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Salvadoran origin.
International
Kremlin hails preparedness after Kamchatka quakes leave no casualties
The Kremlin expressed relief that the earthquakes that struck Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula today —the first being the strongest since 1952— resulted in no casualties, and emphasized that the region is well prepared to face such natural disasters.
“Thank God, there were no victims,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov during his daily press briefing.
The presidential representative stated that “all alert systems were activated in time, and evacuations were organized for residents in areas requiring it in response to tsunami threats.”
“Overall, the seismic resilience of the buildings proved effective (…) Therefore, we can say that the technological preparedness demonstrated a high level,” Peskov added.
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