Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump will face each other in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, after a divisive, closely fought contest. Several third-party hopefuls are also running.

Here is a list of the candidates:

REPUBLICAN PARTY

DONALD TRUMP

Trump, 78, became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime when a Manhattan jury in May found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to a porn star to silence her ahead of the 2016 election. He says he is innocent and will appeal the conviction.

Trump’s July 11 sentencing was postponed until Sept. 18 after he asked for a chance to argue he should have been immune from prosecution following a July Supreme Court ruling that presidents are entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.

On Monday, the Republicans National Convention convenes to formally nominate the former president to face Biden in what would be the first presidential rematch in nearly 70 years. The party mirrored Trump’s views in its new policy platform.

Trump, in office from 2017-2021, has leveraged his unprecedented legal challenges to solidify support among his base and has cast his third bid for the White House in part as “retribution” against perceived political enemies.

But after his felony conviction, 10% of Republican and 25% of independent registered voters said they were less likely to vote for him, Reuters/Ipsos polling found.

Trump faces 54 charges in three other criminal cases: a federal case involving efforts to subvert the 2020 election, a Georgia election interference case and a federal case in Florida over his handling of classified documents after leaving office. He denies any wrongdoing.

However, he is unlikely to face any other trials before the Nov. 5 election. July’s Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity makes it improbable that Trump will be tried on federal criminal charges regarding efforts to undo the 2020 election loss to Biden before voters cast their ballots.

Trump has refused to commit to accepting the 2024 election results or to rule out possible violence around the Nov. 5 contest or his sentencing and is already laying the groundwork to contest a potential election loss.

He calls his supporters jailed for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol “hostages” and “warriors,” and uses increasingly dystopian rhetoric, including calling his enemies “vermin.”

If elected, Trump has vowed “revenge” on his political enemies and said he would not be a dictator except “on day one,” later calling that “a joke.”

He also wants the power to replace federal civil service workers with loyalists, while a consortium of Trump-friendly think tanks touts a sweeping policy agenda known as “Project 2025” that takes aim at diversity programs and the Justice Department’s independence, among other reported plans. Trump has sought to distance himself from the plan.

On foreign policy, Trump sparked criticism from Western leaders for saying the U.S. would not defend NATO members that did not spend enough on defense and that he would encourage Russia to attack them. He has also questioned military aid for Ukraine.

Trump has made immigration a top domestic campaign issue, vowing to carry out mass deportations with the National Guard and possibly federal troops, end birthright citizenship, and expand a travel ban on people from certain countries.

He has referred to some migrants as “animals” who are “poisoning the blood of our country,” among other inflammatory remarks, and has not ruled out building detention camps on U.S. soil. But foreigners who graduate from a U.S. college would get a green card allowing them to stay, he said, which his campaign later said would only apply to the “most skilled” graduates who had been vetted.

On abortion, Trump takes credit for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and has said abortion should remain a state issue.

While he has criticized some Republican-led state actions such as those in Florida and Arizona, he said he would allow Republican-led states to track women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate their state bans. Trump has said he does not support a ban on access to birth control.

He promised to eliminate Obamacare health insurance before saying on April 11 that he would not “terminate” it. On education, he has pledged to halt federal funding to schools with vaccine mandates and to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. He has also vowed to undo much of the Biden administration’s work to fight climate change.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

JOE BIDEN

Biden has cast himself as the country’s best hope to defend American liberties and protect democracy, saying Trump is unhinged and threatens the future of the country.

While he faced no serious challenger in the Democratic primaries, his weak performance at the first presidential debate against Trump has prompted some Democrats to call for him to step aside as the party prepares to formally nominate him.

Already the oldest U.S. president ever at 81, Biden must now convince his own party as well as voters that he is more fit for office than Trump, who is just three years his junior.

One in three Democrats think Biden should end his reelection bid following the debate, but no prominent elected Democrat does any better than Biden in a hypothetical match-up against Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released in July.

The July Reuters/Ipsos poll puts both Biden and Trump on 40% among registered voters, suggesting that Biden had not lost ground since the debate. Trump leads Biden in many battleground states, several other polls have shown.

The economy will also likely be a major factor in determining whether Biden returns to the White House amid low approval ratings.

While the U.S. escaped an anticipated recession and is growing faster than economists expected, voters have been disenchanted with rising food costs, higher fuel prices and elevated interest rates, even as more recent data shows consumer prices moderating and inflation cooling.

Biden pushed through massive economic stimulus and infrastructure spending packages to boost U.S. industrial output but has received next to no credit from voters so far.

His campaign has highlighted new semiconductor manufacturing plants, housing plans and other economic efforts. Two labor groups, the United Auto Workers Union and the North America’s Building Trade Union, have endorsed him while the Teamsters have yet to announce which candidate they are backing. Three groups representing older Americans have also endorsed Biden.

Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden has zeroed in on abortion as a top issue. They also created a new coalition to court Black voters, a critical voting bloc.

Biden’s handling of immigration policy has been criticized by Republicans and some Democrats as he has struggled with millions of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

In June, he signed an executive order to curb migration along the southern border. He also announced a new path for citizenship for certain immigrants in the country illegally who are married to U.S. citizens.

The president has led the response of Western governments to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persuading allies to punish Russia and support Kyiv, including at NATO’s summit in Washington. He also secured additional funding from Congress.

Biden has provided military aid to Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack while urging more humanitarian assistance for Palestinians as a May Reuters/Ipsos poll found Democrats remain divided over the issue.

He has faced criticism from many Democrats and younger voters for continuing to give weapons to Israel while largely failing to curb Israel’s deadly military offensive in Gaza. Biden has presented a new Israeli proposal for a fresh Gaza ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages while talks to end the conflict continue.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

Best-selling author and self-help guru Marianne Williamson, 72, relaunched her long-shot 2024 presidential bid earlier this year focusing on “justice and love” less than one month after dropping out.

In a February statement, she said she was getting back in to fight Trump’s “dark and authoritarian vision” after earlier suspending it because she was losing “the horse race.”

Williamson previously ran as a Democrat in the 2020 presidential primary but dropped out before voting began.

INDEPENDENTS

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

An anti-vaccine activist and environmental advocate, Kennedy, 70, is running as an independent after initially challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination but missed the deadline to qualify for the first presidential debate.

While he lags in overall polling, Kennedy could siphon votes from Trump and Biden, with a June Reuters/Ipsos poll showing he was backed by 10% of respondents.

The son of Democratic U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid, Kennedy has drawn rebukes from his famous family, which endorsed Biden.

Kennedy, who chose wealthy lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, supports Israel and questioned a six-week ceasefire backed by Biden.

He said he views the U.S. southern border situation as a humanitarian crisis and opposes Trump’s border wall. He has also vowed to repeal parts of Biden’s climate bill over tax breaks he says help the oil industry.

Kennedy has taken different positions on abortion rights, including restrictions on when a woman can access an abortion. He told Reuters he thought every abortion was a “tragedy” but that it should be a woman’s right “throughout the pregnancy.”

He has been criticized for making false medical claims over the years on vaccines but says he would still allow Americans to access them.

Asked about an alleged sexual assault, he said in July that he has “so many skeletons in my closet.” His campaign has also said Kennedy had a brain worm more than a decade ago but he has fully recovered.

Kennedy’s campaign has said he is officially on the ballot in a handful of states so far, including California, Michigan and Utah, although he faces a challenging, costly battle to be listed in all 50.

CORNEL WEST

The political activist, philosopher and academic is making a third-party bid for president that is most likely to appeal to progressive, Democratic-leaning voters.

West, 71, initially ran as a Green Party candidate but said in October that people “want good policies over partisan politics” and declared himself an independent. He has promised to end poverty and guarantee housing.

GREEN PARTY

JILL STEIN

Jill Stein, a physician who ran under the Green Party in 2016, is trying once again in 2024.

She launched her current campaign accusing Democrats of betraying their promises “for working people, youth and the climate again and again – while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place.”

Stein, 74, raised millions of dollars for recounts after Trump’s surprise 2016 victory. Her allegations yielded only one electoral review in Wisconsin that showed Trump had won.

LIBERTARIAN PARTY

CHASE OLIVER

While the Libertarian Party invited both Trump and Kennedy to speak at their convention in late May, it ultimately selected Chase Oliver, 38. Oliver ran for a Georgia state Senate seat in 2022 and garnered 2% of the vote.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

President Joe Biden.
| Photo Credit: AP

The White House sparred with reporters on July 8 over a Parkinson’s specialist visiting the building eight times in eight months, as reflected in the visitors’ log.

Also Read: U.S. President Joe Biden says he was sick during debate, asserts only ‘Lord Almighty’ can drive him out of presidential race

“I am feeling a little miffed around here about how information has been shared with the press corps by him,” a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during her daily news conference.

The White House visitors’ log suggests that Parkinson’s specialist Dr. Kevin Cannard visited the building eight times in eight months.

The reporters wanted to know if President Joe Biden was seen by the Parkinson’s specialist.

“It does not matter how hard you push me, it does not matter how angry you get with me, I am not going to confirm a name. It does not matter if it is even in the log. I am not going to do that from here. What I can share with you is that the President has seen a neurologist for his physical three times,” Ms. Jean-Pierre told the reporters.

“It is more than what the last guy shared and it is in line with what George W. Bush did. It is in line with what (Barack) Obama did. And so it is comprehensive. It is out there….

“I am not going to devolve somebody’s name or confirm someone. I am not going to do that. That is— as a privacy for that person. I am not going to do that. It does not matter how hard you push me. It does not matter how angry you get with me from here. I am just not going to do that. It is inappropriate and it is not acceptable, so I am not going to do it,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.

Mr. Biden, she said, has seen a neurologist three times.

“No findings, which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorders such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis that is coming from February,” she added.

“That is what the medical unit, the President’s doctor shared and I shared, I said to you it has happened three times each time. There is a physical that occurs and we put out a comprehensive report, that is when he has been able to see— to see a specialist. So that is what I can share,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.

Washington:

Joe Biden is “absolutely not” pulling out of the White House race, his spokeswoman said Wednesday, as pressure mounted on the president following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

Panic has gripped Democrats in the wake of last week’s debate, and internal rumblings about finding a replacement candidate before November’s election have been amplified by polls showing Trump extending his lead.

The New York Times and CNN reported that Biden, 81, had acknowledged to a key ally that his reelection bid was on the line if he failed to quickly reassure the public that he was still up to the job.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre rejected those reports outright, and insisted Biden had “absolutely” no intention of withdrawing as the Democratic nominee.

“The president is clear-eyed and he is staying in the race,” she told reporters

Biden conceded in a call with campaign and party staffers that his incoherent, unfocused answers against Trump had damaged him, multiple media outlets reported — but he insisted he was in the race for the long haul.

“Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can — as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running… no one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win,” the veteran Democrat said, according to Politico.

– Aftermath –

The Biden campaign has been desperate to reassure Democratic donors and voters that the president’s performance against Trump was a one-off, and not a fatal blow to his hopes of a second term.

But party figures have voiced bafflement over what they see as deflection and excuses from the president and his aides.

In Congress, lawmakers see Democratic prospects of taking over the House of Representatives, hanging on to the Senate and returning to the White House slipping away.

The concern was compounded by a New York Times poll conducted after the debate that showed Trump with his biggest lead ever over Biden — 49 percent to 43 percent of likely voters.

It wasn’t until Wednesday — six days after the debate — that Biden completed a round of calls with Democratic congressional leaders, and staffers have been voicing consternation over the glacial pace of the outreach.

“We are getting to the point where it may not have been the debate that did him in, but the aftermath of how they’ve handled it,” a senior Democratic operative told Washington political outlet Axios.

Aware of growing alarm in the party’s grassroots, Biden hits the swing states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in the coming days.

He may be tested on his ability to think on his feet and articulate a coherent vision when he sits with ABC News on Friday for his first television interview since the debate.

– ‘More worrisome’ –

The president has cited fatigue as a new explanation for his poor debate showing, saying that he had been unwise to travel “around the world a couple times” before the debate.

But he had been back in the United States for nearly two weeks and spent two days relaxing and six preparing for the debate.

The Times said people who have interacted with the president had found that his mental fogginess was “growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome.”

Democratic lawmakers have begun to go public with their doubts, with two saying Tuesday they expected Biden to lose to Trump in November and another pair calling for him to quit the White House race.

Arizona congressman Raul Grijalva became the second sitting Democrat to call on Biden to drop out.

“If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” Grijalva said, according to the Times.

In the street where the president grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, there was sympathy for Biden — but no campaign signs for either candidate.

“I was embarrassed for him. I felt he didn’t feel well and he probably shouldn’t have gone on the stage,” said grandmother Jamie Hayes, 73.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.S. White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

As the world’s two oldest and largest democracies, the United States and India share a unique bond of friendship and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit will further deepen the partnership to create a safer and more prosperous Indo-Pacific, the White House has said.

Mr. Sullivan is visiting New Delhi from June 17 to 18, in the first trip to India by a senior Biden administration official after the Modi government came to power for the third term.

Mr. Sullivan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Monday.

“As the world’s two oldest and largest democracies, the United States and India share a unique bond of friendship, and Mr. Sullivan’s trip will further deepen the already strong U.S.-India partnership to create a safer and more prosperous Indo-Pacific,” John Kirby, White House National Security Communications Advisor told reporters at his daily news conference on Monday.

In New Delhi, Mr. Kirby said, Mr. Sullivan will co-chair the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, also known as iCET, a landmark partnership to expand strategic cooperation across key technology sectors including space, semiconductors, advanced telecommunications, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biotechnology and clean energy.

Mr. Kirby did not respond to questions on Indian national Nikhil Gupta who has been accused of being involved in a murder-for-hire plot against Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and has been extradited to the U.S. from the Czech Republic.

“I don’t have more to add on the conversations that Jake’s having. He’s still over there having these conversations. But the main focus of his visit, as I said, was to look for ways to deepen the U.S.-India bilateral relationship, particularly when it comes to emerging technology,” he said.

Nikhil Gupta was produced before a federal court in New York on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty.

India has publicly said a high-level inquiry is looking into the evidence shared by the U.S. in the alleged plot to kill Mr. Pannun.

Washington:

As the world’s two oldest and largest democracies, the United States and India share a unique bond of friendship and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit will further deepen the partnership to create a safer and more prosperous Indo-Pacific, the White House has said.

Sullivan is visiting New Delhi from June 17 to 18, in the first trip to India by a senior Biden administration official after the Modi government came to power for the third term.

Sullivan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Monday.

“As the world’s two oldest and largest democracies, the United States and India share a unique bond of friendship, and Mr Sullivan’s trip will further deepen the already strong US-India partnership to create a safer and more prosperous Indo-Pacific,” John Kirby, White House National Security Communications Advisor told reporters at his daily news conference on Monday.

In New Delhi, Kirby said, Sullivan will co-chair the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, also known as iCET, a landmark partnership to expand strategic cooperation across key technology sectors including space, semiconductors, advanced telecommunications, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biotechnology and clean energy.

Kirby did not respond to questions on Indian national Nikhil Gupta who has been accused of being involved in a murder-for-hire plot against Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and has been extradited to the US from the Czech Republic.

“I don’t have more to add on the conversations that Jake’s having. He’s still over there having these conversations. But the main focus of his visit, as I said, was to look for ways to deepen the US-India bilateral relationship, particularly when it comes to emerging technology,” he said.

Gupta was produced before a federal court in New York on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty.

India has publicly said a high-level inquiry is looking into the evidence shared by the US in the alleged plot to kill Pannun. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Former United States President Donald Trump is considering offering billionaire Elon Musk an advisory role in the White House if he is re-elected as the President after the 2024 election, as per a report in the Wall Street Journal.

According to the outlet, both billionaires have discussed a role that would allow the Tesla CEO to provide formal input and influence over border security and economic policies, areas on which he speaks widely on his social media platform X, (formerly Twitter). Notably, Mr Trump and Mr Musk’s tense relationship has improved as they speak on the phone “several times a month.” Mr Musk and billionaire investor Nelson Peltz have also discussed an initiative with Mr Trump to avoid voter fraud and to encourage elites not to support President Biden’s re-election campaign.

Senior Trump adviser Brian Hughes told the New York Post, “President Trump will be the only voice of what role an individual plays in his presidency. But it has been widely reported and is demonstrated in a number of ways, that many of the nation’s most important leaders in technology and innovation are concerned with the damage done to their industry by Biden’s failures to handle our economy and his moves to overburden innovators with government bureaucracy and unrelenting regulation.”

In recent years, Mr Musk has become vocal about political matters and has criticised several legislations, claiming that they are the product of the “woke mind virus.” He has also been critical of the Biden administration’s handling of border security, citing the record number of immigrants who have entered the United States illegally via the southern border in recent years.

Notably, Elon Musk met with Mr Trump in March in Palm Beach, Florida, along with unnamed wealthy Republican donors, the New York Times said. Although the subject of the meeting remained unclear, it was stated that the meeting happened as Mr Trump was looking for campaign contributors to run for the 2024 US Elections.

However, Mr Musk told the Washington Post that he had “never been to Mar-a-Lago,” which is Mr Trump’s estate in Palm Beach. Donald Trump, in an interview with CNBC, confirmed the meeting but said he doesn’t know whether the billionaire would endorse him. “I don’t know. I’ve been friendly with him over the years. I’ve helped him; when I was president I, helped him. I’ve liked him. We obviously have opposing views on a minor subject called electric cars,” he said.

The second-richest man also wrote on his microblogging platform that he would not donate money to any candidate for the elections. “Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President,” Mr Musk wrote on March 6.

Washington:

The White House on Tuesday condemned a video posted by Donald Trump’s social media account showing fake headlines about a “unified reich” if he wins the 2024 presidential election.

President Joe Biden’s election campaign accused Trump of echoing anti-Semitic ideas, while the White House said any content that promoted Nazi Germany was “sickening”.

The video was eventually taken down from Trump’s account on his Truth Social site on Tuesday, the day after it was posted.

“What happens after Donald Trump wins? What’s next for America?” a voiceover asks in the 30-second clip, which flashes a series of fictitious news stories painting a picture of American prosperity.

Amid headlines including “Economy booms!” and “Border is closed,” one mentions “the creation of a unified reich.”

No direct reference to Nazis is made in the clip, but the word “reich” is commonly used in reference to the Third Reich of Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler.

Other references in the video, which appeared to have multiple copy-and-pasted chunks of text to fill out the “newspaper” background, mention World War I. The “unified reich” headline appears to reference the 1871 unification of Germany.

In a statement, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the post had no official backing and that the “reich” reference was unintentional.

“This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word,” she said.

Trump didn’t respond to shouted questions about the video as he attended his historic criminal hush money trial in New York.

– ‘Abhorrent’ –

The post comes as Trump has repeatedly sought to portray Biden as failing to curb anti-Semitism in the United States during a period of rising tensions fueled by the war in Gaza.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was expected to comment himself on the video later during a campaign event in New Hampshire.

“It is abhorrent, sickening and disgraceful for anyone to promote content associated with Germany’s Nazi government under Adolf Hitler,” Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with Biden aboard Air Force One.

“Any anti-Semitism, dog whistling, is dangerous and offensive and profoundly un-American,” Jean-Pierre said.

Trump has repeatedly used rhetoric that carries clear echoes of Nazi ideology, including describing domestic opponents as “vermin” and immigrants as “poisoning the blood” of the United States.

While president, Trump in 2017 described some neo-Nazi marchers during violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia — who had chanted “Jews will not replace us” — as “very fine people,” and he has dined with white nationalists at his Florida estate.

Trump has a “long history” of anti-Semitic behavior, the Biden campaign said.

“Donald Trump is not playing games. He is telling America exactly what he intends to do if he regains power: rule as a dictator over a ‘unified reich’,’ Biden-Harris spokesperson James Singer said.

The video was “part of a pattern of his praise for dictators and echoing anti-Semitic tropes,” Singer added.

The Biden campaign meanwhile asked “why the hell was it posted in the first place?” and “why did it take so long to take it down?”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

White House national security communications advisor John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington on May 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Applauding the people of India for exercising their right to vote, the White House on May 17 said there are not too many more vibrant democracies in the world than India.

“Not too many more vibrant democracies in the world than India. And we applaud the Indian people for exercising, you know, their ability to vote, and to have a voice in their future government. And we wish them well throughout the process, of course,” White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters at a news conference in Washington.

Mr. Kirby was responding to a question on the ongoing Indian elections, wherein over 969 million people are exercising their right to franchise at one million polling stations to elect 545 members of Parliament from thousands of candidates representing as many as 2,660 registered political parties.

Responding to another question, Mr. Kirby said the India-U.S. relationship has strengthened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular during the last three years of the Biden administration. “Our relationship with India is extremely close and getting closer,” he said.

“You saw it on a State visit [last visit]. We launched all kinds of new initiatives, working on critical emerging technologies together, and bolstering and expanding the relevance of the Indo-Pacific quad, of course, which India is a part of. And then, just the people to people exchanges, and the military that we share with India,” Mr. Kirby said.

“It’s a very vibrant, very active partnership. We are grateful for Prime Minister Modi’s leadership,” said the White House official.

When asked if President Joe Biden believes that India and Japan are xenophobic countries, he replied in the negative and said the President was recently making a broader point.

“I mean, the President was making a broader point here about the vibrancy of our own democracy, here in the United States, and how inclusive and participatory it is,” Mr. Kirby said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during the 36th Annual Candlelight Vigil to honor the law enforcement officers who lost their lives in 2023, in Washington, on May 13, 2024. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The White House has blocked the release of audio from President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents, arguing on May 16 that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings “to chop them up” and use them for political purposes.

The dispute over access to the recordings is at the center of a Republican effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress and more broadly to hinder the Democratic president’s reelection effort in the final months of the closely contested campaign.

“The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal — to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes,” White House counsel Ed Siskel wrote in a scathing letter to House Republicans ahead of scheduled votes by two House committees to refer Mr. Garland to the Justice Department for the contempt charges over the department’s refusal to hand over the audio.

“Demanding such sensitive and constitutionally-protected law enforcement materials from the Executive Branch because you want to manipulate them for potential political gain is inappropriate,” Mr. Siskel added.

Mr. Garland separately advised Mr. Biden in a letter made public Thursday that the audio falls within the scope of executive privilege, which protects a president’s ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure and to protect confidential communications relating to official responsibilities.

“There have been a series of unprecedented and frankly unfounded attacks on the Justice Department,” Mr. Garland told reporters. “This request, this effort to use contempt as a method of obtaining our sensitive law enforcement files is just most recent.”

Mr. Garland said in his letter to Mr. Biden that lawmakers’ efforts “are plainly insufficient to outweigh the deleterious effects that the production of the recordings would have on the integrity and effectiveness of similar law enforcement investigations in the future.”

The Justice Department also warned Congress that a contempt effort would create “unnecessary and unwarranted conflict,” with Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte saying: “It is the longstanding position of the executive branch held by administrations of both parties that an official who asserts the president’s claim of executive privilege cannot be held in contempt of Congress.

Mr. Siskel’s letter to lawmakers comes after the uproar from Mr. Biden’s aides and allies over special counsel Robert Hur’s comments about Mr. Biden’s age and mental acuity, and it highlights concerns in a difficult election year over how potentially embarrassing moments from the lengthy interview could be exacerbated by the release, or selective release, of the audio.

The transcript of the Hur interview showed Mr. Biden struggling to recall some dates and occasionally confusing some details — something longtime aides says he’s done for years in both public and private — but otherwise showing deep recall in other areas. Mr. Biden and his aides are particularly sensitive to questions about his age. At 81, he’s the oldest ever president, and he’s seeking another four-year term.

Hur, a former senior official in the Trump administration Justice Department, was appointed as a special counsel in January 2023 following the discovery of classified documents in multiple locations tied to Mr. Biden.

Hur’s report said many of the documents recovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, in parts of Mr. Biden’s Delaware home and in his Senate papers at the University of Delaware were retained by “mistake.”

But investigators did find evidence of willful retention and disclosure related a subset of records found in Mr. Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, house, including in a garage, an office and a basement den.

The files pertain to a troop surge in Afghanistan during the Obama administration that Mr. Biden had vigorously opposed. Mr. Biden kept records that documented his position, including a classified letter to Obama during the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday. Some of that information was shared with a ghostwriter with whom he published memoirs in 2007 and 2017.

Washington, United States:

The United States is hiking tariffs on $18 billion worth of imports from China, targeting strategic sectors like electric vehicles, batteries, steel and critical minerals, the White House said Tuesday.

The decision comes as President Joe Biden gears up for a re-run of his 2020 contest with Republican rival Donald Trump in November’s election, with officials criticizing Trump’s record on trade as they made the announcement.

The tariff rate on EVs is set to quadruple to 100 percent this year while the one for semiconductors will surge from 25 percent to 50 percent by next year, said the White House.

The action is aimed at encouraging China to “eliminate its unfair trade practices regarding technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation,” it added in a statement.

This follows a review of tariffs imposed during a trade war between Washington and Beijing, during which then president Trump introduced levies on some $300 billion in goods from China.

The so-called Section 301 investigation was the primary tool the Trump administration used to justify tariffs, and the US Trade Representative is required to look into the impact of the levies after four years.

Tuesday’s actions were also taken under Section 301 of the Trade Act.

Beyond EVs and semiconductors, Washington is roughly tripling tariffs on some steel and aluminum products, and on lithium-ion EV batteries and battery parts.

The tariff rate on natural graphite and some other critical minerals will surge from zero to 25 percent, and that on solar cells doubles as well from 25 percent to 50 percent.

But some tariff hikes, such as on non-EV lithium-ion batteries, take effect later to allow for a transitional period as the country builds up its domestic battery production, a senior US official said on condition of anonymity.

Beijing’s foreign ministry said it “opposes unilateral tariff hikes in violation of WTO rules” when asked about reports of the new measures. 

China “will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests”, spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday. 

Excess capacity

The latest moves impact both products already targeted by Trump tariffs, alongside additional ones.

The levies will ensure that investments in jobs, spurred by Biden’s policies, are not undercut by “underpriced exports from China,” National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard said.

The Biden administration has pumped massive funding into areas like semiconductor manufacturing and research, alongside efforts to boost green investments.

But Brainard accused Beijing of powering its growth “at the expense of others.”

“As a result of unfair practices, China’s anticipated manufacturing capacity in solar is more than double the forecasts of near term global demand,” she said.

Brainard also took aim at the Trump administration, saying it “failed to follow through” with investments, and to ensure China complied with a deal marking a truce in the trade war.

The so-called Phase One agreement “did not deliver on its promises to increase exports to China from the US, to create manufacturing jobs here in America, or to end China’s unfair practices,” she said.

‘Pre-emptive strike’

Hiking tariffs on Chinese EVs would be “a pre-emptive strike” given that few such cars are imported, said Paul Triolo, partner for China at Albright Stonebridge Group.

The impact from EV tariffs alone is expected to be minimal.

“It is really a signal to US automakers that the Biden administration is protecting the industry from Chinese EVs,” he told AFP.

But tariffs covering EV batteries and supply chains would be “a much bigger issue, because of the dominance of Chinese companies in the finished battery space and for critical mineral across the battery supply space,” he said.

Beijing is likely to retaliate with tariff increases of its own, Triolo said.

But he does not expect US levies alone to upset current stability in US-China ties.

Beijing is likelier to retaliate strongly if Washington takes measures seen as suppressing Chinese companies, like imposing more trade restrictions on semiconductor firms.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters Monday, when asked about possible tariffs: “I’m hopeful that they will see that the actions that we’re taking are targeted.”

She added in a statement that issues like overcapacity “will not be solved in a day,” and that she would continue to directly address concerns with Chinese counterparts.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)