AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Biden delivers solemn call to defend democracy as he lays out his reasons for quitting race

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country’s democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.

Insisting that “the defense of democracy is more important than any title,” Biden used his first public address since his announcement Sunday that he was stepping aside to deliver an implicit repudiation of former President Donald Trump. He did not directly call out Trump, whom he has called an existential threat to democracy. The 10-minute address also gave Biden a chance to try to shape how history will remember his one and only term in office.

“Nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy,” Biden said, in a somber coda to his 50 years spent in public office. “And that includes personal ambition.”

It was a moment for the history books — a U.S. president reflecting before the nation on why he was taking the rare step of voluntarily handing off power. It hasn’t been done since 1968, when Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection in the heat of the Vietnam War.

“I revere this office,” Biden said. “But I love my country more.”

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2024 Election Latest: Biden says democracy lies in the hands of voters during solemn address

President Joe Biden made his first address since his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is holding a rally in Charlotte and Vice President Kamala Harris asked for support from women of color during an address at a historically Black sorority.

Earlier today, thousands of protesters rallied to denounce Israel’s war in Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a scathing speech to Congress to defend Israel’s conduct in the war and vowed “total victory” against Hamas.

He condemned American opponents while thousands of protesters rallied within sight of the Capitol building.

Follow the AP’s Election-2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

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Trump turns his full focus on Harris at first rally since Biden’s exit from 2024 race

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of attack lines Wednesday against his likely new opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he called his “new victim to defeat” and accused of deceiving the public about President Joe Biden ‘s ability to run for a second term.

The rally in Charlotte, North Carolina marked his first public campaign event since Biden dropped out of the 2024 matchup and Harris became the Democrats’ likely nominee. The rally concluded minutes before Biden addressed the nation to explain he dropped his reelection bid to “pass the torch” to Harris, who is 22 years younger than him.

“So now we have a new victim to defeat: Lyin’ Kamala Harris,” Trump said, labeling her “the most incompetent and far-left vice president in American history.”

Trump called her a “radical left lunatic” and said she was “crazy” for her positions on abortion and on immigration. He also mispronounced her first name repeatedly, a denigrating approach to the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent likely to lead a major party’s presidential ticket.

Trump’s speech signaled the next stage for the campaign may be especially brutal and personal, even as some GOP leaders warned Republican allies not to use overtly racist and sexist attacks against Harris.

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In fiery speech to Congress, Netanyahu vows ‘total victory’ in Gaza and denounces US protesters

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged in a scathing speech to Congress on Wednesday to achieve “total victory” against Hamas and denounced American opponents of the war in Gaza as “idiots,” taking a combative stance in a visit the Biden administration has hoped will yield progress in negotiations to end the fighting.

Netanyahu used the high-profile address to a joint meeting of Congress to emphasize longstanding and close ties between the United States and Israel. But the speech put in sharp relief the divisions in American society stirred by the war, with dozens of Democratic lawmakers boycotting the address and thousands of protesters outside the Capitol condemning the war and the humanitarian crisis created by it.

Some of the protests near the Capitol turned chaotic. That included one within a few hundred yards of the tightly guarded Capitol grounds, at Union Station, where protesters spray-painted marble statuary and replaced American flags with Palestinian ones. Officers on streets surrounding the Capitol brawled with demonstrators, swinging batons and spraying tear gas.

Speaking for nearly an hour to frequent applause from U.S. lawmakers, as well as stony silence from many leading Democrats, Netanyahu said the U.S. has a shared interest in his country’s fight against Hamas and other Iran-backed armed groups.

“America and Israel must stand together. When we stand together something really simple happens: We win, they lose,” said Netanyahu, who wore a yellow pin expressing solidarity with the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

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Thousands fill Washington’s streets to protest Israel’s war in Gaza during Netanyahu visit

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of protesters against the war in Gaza converged on Washington on Wednesday to condemn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit, chanting “Free, free Palestine” as they marched toward the Capitol before police deployed pepper spray on some in the crowd.

Demonstrators calling for an end to the war that has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians filled several blocks as they weaved through the streets of the nation’s capital carrying Palestinian flags and signs with messages such as “arrest Netanyahu” and “end all U.S. aid to Israel.” Outside Washington’s Union Station, protesters removed American flags and hoisted Palestinian ones in their place to massive cheers in the crowd.

“Bibi, Bibi, We’re not done! The intifada has just begun!” protesters shouted, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. “Netanyahu, you can’t hide. You’re committing genocide,” other protesters shouted.

Throngs of demonstrators rallied near the Capitol before starting their march ahead of Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress, but police blocked them from getting close to the building. Police said they used pepper spray after some protesters became “violent” and “failed to obey” orders to move back from the police line.

Before Netanyahu’s speech, some protesters tried to block his route to the Capitol but were removed from the street by police. After being turned away by officers near the Capitol, protesters wound through the Capitol Hill neighborhood for several blocks before gathering in front of the nearby rail station.

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Trump rally gunman looked online for information about Kennedy assassination, FBI director says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is believed to have done a Google search one week before the shooting of “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday, revealing new details about a suspect he said had taken a keen interest in public figures but had otherwise not left behind clear clues of an ideological motive.

The July 6 online search, recovered from a laptop the FBI says is tied to 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, is a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed President John F. Kennedy from a sniper’s perch in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

“That’s a search obviously that is significant in terms of his state of mind. That is the same day that it appears that he registered” for the Trump rally scheduled for July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, Wray told the House Judiciary Committee.

The FBI is investigating the shooting, which killed one rallygoer and seriously injured two others, as an act of domestic terrorism. The investigation has thrust the bureau into a political maelstrom months before the presidential election, with lawmakers and the public pressing for details about what may have motivated Crooks in the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.

The agency has built out a detailed timeline of Crooks’ movements and online activity, but the precise motive — or why Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was singled out — remains elusive, Wray said. The FBI’s assessment continues to be that Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service counter sniper, acted alone.

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Harris asks for 2024 support from women of color during an address at a historically Black sorority

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris told members of the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta on Wednesday that “we are not playing around” and asked for their help in electing her president in November.

“In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation, one focused on the future, the other focused on the past,” she said in a speech three days after launching her bid for the White House. “And with your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future.”

Voters in Indiana haven’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate in nearly 16 years. But Harris, a woman of Black and South Asian descent, was speaking to a group already excited by her historic status as the likely Democratic nominee and one that her campaign hopes can expand its coalition.

On Wednesday, she thanked the room full of women for their work electing her vice president, and Joe Biden president. “And now, in this moment, our nation needs your leadership once again,” she said.

In a memo released Wednesday, campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon pointed to support among female, nonwhite and younger voters as critical to success.

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Oregon fire is the largest burning in the US. Thunderstorms and high winds are exacerbating it

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Powerful winds and hundreds of lightning strikes from thunderstorms rattled eastern Oregon and Idaho Wednesday afternoon, cutting power and stoking fires, including one in Oregon that is already the largest active blaze in the nation.

The Durkee Fire, burning near the Oregon-Idaho border about 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of Boise, Idaho, caused the closure of a stretch of Interstate 84 again Wednesday. Amid rapidly forming storms in the afternoon, the blaze crossed the interstate near the town of Huntington, home to about 500 people. It also merged with the Cow Valley Fire, another large blaze that had been burning nearby, Gov. Tina Kotek said.

“The wildfires in Eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said in a news release Wednesday evening, calling it a dynamic situation. “We are facing strong erratic winds over the region that could impact all fires. Rain is not getting through. Some communities do not have power.”

She said she had deployed the National Guard to the region.

The nearly 420-square-mile (1,088-square-kilometer) blaze had prompted the evacuation of Huntington on Sunday, and on Wednesday city officials posted on Facebook that people remaining in town, especially those with “major health issues,” needed to leave their homes because of wildfire smoke and the lack of power. City officials also said Wednesday that gas service to residents had been shut off until the evacuation orders are lifted.

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Body camera video focused national attention on an Illinois deputy’s fatal shooting of Sonya Massey

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A riveted nation watched video released this week of a sheriff’s deputy fatally shooting Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who called 911 for assistance, in her Illinois home.

Sean Grayson, 14 months into his career as a deputy sheriff for Sangamon County in the center of the state, is charged with murder in Massey’s death, the latest example of law enforcement officers shooting Black people in their homes across the country.

Here’s what we know about the shooting and the former deputy now facing years in prison if convicted.

At 12:50 a.m. on July 6, Massey called 911 with her fears about a prowler around her home in an unincorporated neighborhood of Springfield, 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Chicago.

Video from body cameras worn by Grayson and another deputy show a search around Massey’s house and in surrounding yards. They found a black SUV with broken windows in an adjacent driveway before Massey came to the front door. When Massey opened the door, she said, “Don’t hurt me,” seemed confused and repeated, “Please God” and said, “I don’t know what to do.”

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US files details of Boeing’s plea deal related to plane crashes. It’s in the hands of a judge now

The Justice Department submitted an agreement with Boeing on Wednesday in which the aerospace giant will plead guilty to a fraud charge for misleading U.S. regulators who approved the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed, killing 346 people.

The detailed plea agreement was filed in federal district court in Texas. The American company and the Justice Department reached a deal on the guilty plea and the agreement’s broad terms earlier this month.

The final version states Boeing admitted that through its employees, it made an agreement “by dishonest means” to defraud a Federal Aviation Administration group that evaluated the 737 Max. Because of Boeing’s deception, the FAA had “incomplete and inaccurate information” about the plane’s flight-control software and how much training pilots would need for it, the plea agreement says.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor can accept the agreement and the sentence worked out between Boeing and prosecutors, or he could reject it, which likely would lead to new negotiations between the company and the Justice Department.

The deal calls for the appointment of an independent compliance monitor, three years of probation and a fine of at least $243.6 million. It also requires Boeing to invest at least $455 million “in its compliance, quality, and safety programs.”

The Associated Press