International
Biden faces donor pressure in his re-election bid

Biden faces donor pressure in his re-election bid
President Joe Biden is facing pressure from some major Democratic donors as he faces a critical few days in his campaign for re-election.
A number of donors are publicly warning they will withhold funds unless Mr Biden is replaced as the party’s candidate following his disastrous debate performance last week.
They include Abigail Disney, an heiress to the Disney family fortune, Hollywood producer Damon Lindelof, Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, and philanthropist and entrepreneur Gideon Stein.
Mr Biden is seeking to shore up his candidacy this weekend, including with a rare primetime TV interview on Friday and a rally in Wisconsin.
Pressure on Mr Biden, 81, to step aside has grown following a debate marked by several instances where he lost his train of thought and was incomprehensible.
While he admitted that he “screwed up” that night, he has vowed to stay on as his party’s standard-bearer taking on Donald Trump in the November presidential election.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said on Thursday at a White House gathering marking 4 July Independence Day in the US.
Ms Disney told the US business news channel CNBC that she did not believe that Mr Biden could win against Trump in November.
She said her intent to pull support was rooted in “realism, not disrespect”.
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“Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high,” Ms Disney, who has supported a number of Democrats and Democratic causes over the years, said.
“If Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose. Of that I am absolutely certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”
With her warning, she joined a handful of other wealthy donors.
Mr Stein told the New York Times that his family was withholding $3.5m (£2.8m) to non-profit and political organisations active in the presidential race unless Mr Biden steps aside.
Mr Lindelof, who has donated more than $100,000 to Democrats this election cycle, wrote a public essay urging other donors to withhold their funds in what he dubbed a “DEMbargo”.
“When they text you asking for cash, text back that you’re not giving them a penny and you won’t change your mind until there’s change at the top of the ticket,” Mr Lindelof wrote in Deadline.
Mr Emanuel – the brother of Rahm Emanuel, a former Barack Obama chief of staff – told a conference in Colorado that withholding funding was the key to ensuring Mr Biden’s exit from the race, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
“The lifeblood to a campaign is money, and maybe the only way . . . is if the money starts drying up,” he said, according to the newspaper.
“You’ll see in the next couple weeks, if the money comes in . . . I talked to a bunch of big donors, and they’re moving all their money to Congress and the Senate.”
Some other major donors have not threatened to cut funding but are putting public pressure on the president to withdraw.
Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix and one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party, told US media that Mr Biden “needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous”.
Others have expressed concerns about the possibility of a damaging and chaotic race to replace Mr Biden if he does leave.
Ramesh Kapur, a Massachusetts-based Indian-American industrialist, has organised fundraisers for Democrats since 1988.
“I think it’s time for him to pass the torch,” Mr Kapur told the BBC this week. “I know he has the drive, but you can’t fight Mother Nature.”
“What I know of him, he will decide what’s good for the country,” he added.
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There are some who are worried there’s not enough time left for a new candidate to join the race, and they have decided to back Biden if he stays on.
A mega-donor the BBC spoke to this week, who declined to be named, said he planned to go ahead with a fundraiser for the president scheduled for later this month at his Virginia home.
“We all want to keep Donald Trump out of the White House, and probably that will keep us together,” he said.
The Biden campaign has said it raised $38m from debate day through to the weekend, mainly through small donations – and a total of $127m in June alone.
The Biden team and the president have conceded he had a difficult debate but have said he is ready to show the public he has the stamina for the campaign.
On Friday, he is scheduled to sit down with ABC – the first television interview after the debate – to help quell concerns about his age and mental faculties.
He will also travel to Madison, Wisconsin to campaign with Governor Tony Evers.
But the president is facing a series of negative polls which suggest his Republican rival’s lead has widened in the wake of the Atlanta debate.
A New York Times poll published on Wednesday suggested Trump was now holding his biggest lead yet at six points.
And a separate poll published by the BBC’s US partner CBS News suggested a slight shift towards Trump, who had a three-point lead over Mr Biden in the crucial battleground states.
Brajesh Upadhyay contributed to this report
Biden faces donor pressure in his re-election bid
BBC
International
Over 330 dead as Israel unleashes ‘hell fire’ on Gaza

Over 330 dead as Israel unleashes ‘hell fire’ on Gaza
Israel vowed on Tuesday to continue fighting in Gaza until the return of all hostages as it unleashed its most intense strikes since a ceasefire, with the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory reporting more than 330 people killed.
Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deciding to “resume war” after an impasse in truce negotiations, and warned that the return to fighting could be a “death sentence” for hostages still alive in Gaza.
The strikes were by far the biggest and deadliest since a truce took effect on January 19. Hamas has not responded to the strikes so far.
Netanyahu warned Hamas this month of consequences it “cannot imagine” if it does not free hostages still in Gaza, and Israeli media said Israel had drafted plans to ramp up pressure on Hamas under a scheme dubbed the “Hell Plan”.
The White House said Israel consulted US President Donald Trump’s administration before launching the wave of strikes, which the health ministry in Gaza said killed mostly women and children.
Netanyahu’s office said the operation was ordered after “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators”.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” the statement said.
“We will not stop fighting as long as the hostages are not returned home and all our war aims are not achieved,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Apart from the release of the remaining hostages, Israel’s other main war aim is to crush Hamas.
In a statement, Hamas said: “Netanyahu and his extremist government have decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement.
Over 330 dead as Israel unleashes ‘hell fire’ on Gaza
International
Trump revokes security details for Biden’s children

Trump revokes security details for Biden’s children
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is withdrawing Hunter Biden’s government bodyguards, extending his campaign of political retribution to Joe Biden’s son.
Trump announced the same measure against Ashley Biden, the former president’s daughter with former first lady Jill.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump asserted that Hunter Biden’s security detail is composed of as many as 18 people, calling it “ridiculous.”
He said Hunter Biden was currently on vacation in South Africa and noted he had recently suspended US aid to the country over alleged rights violations.
“Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list,” Trump wrote.
Federal law grants Secret Service protection to former presidents and their spouses, but only to their children if they are under age 16.
Nonetheless, protection is often extended for a period of time to adult children.
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A Secret Service spokesperson, when queried about Trump’s action, told AFP: “We are aware of the President’s decision to terminate protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden.”
“The Secret Service will comply and is actively working with the protective details and the White House to ensure compliance as soon as possible.”
Hunter Biden has been a target of Republican ire for years, with the animosity intensifying after his father pardoned his gun and tax crime convictions shortly before leaving office in January.
On Monday, Trump declared that the pardon and others issued by Biden were void, an unprecedented move with unclear legal founding.
Trump revokes security details for Biden’s children
International
Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act, deports over 200 gang members

Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act, deports over 200 gang members
US President Donald Trump issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, accusing Tren de Aragua of “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion of predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.”
He announced that members of the gang will be deported for engaging in “irregular warfare” against the United States. The Alien Enemies Act was last used during WWII to imprison Japanese-American civilians.
On Saturday evening, US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, DC, issued a 14-day freeze to deportations covered by Trump’s proclamation, pending more legal arguments.
After lawyers informed him that planes carrying deportees had already taken off, Judge Boasberg issued a verbal order for the planes to return, according to US media, though this command was not included in his written ruling.
According to Reuters, the written notice was filed in the court docket at 19:25 EDT on Saturday (00:25 GMT on Sunday), but it is unknown when the flights carrying the alleged gang members left the United States.
In a court filing on Sunday, Department of Justice lawyers stated that the order did not apply since the deportees “had already been removed from United States territory”.
The Justice Department has appealed the judge’s decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which was participating in the case against the Trump administration, stated that the court order may have been breached.
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The case presents constitutional issues because, under the US system of checks and balances, government entities are expected to follow a federal judge’s decision.
Venezuela denounced Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, claiming it “unjustly criminalises Venezuelan migration” and “evokes the darkest episodes in the history of humanity, from slavery to the horror of Nazi concentration camps.”
Rights organisations blasted Trump, accusing him of utilising a 227-year-old legislation to sidestep due process.
Amnesty International USA commented on X that the deportations were “yet another example of the Trump administration’s racist targeting” of Venezuelans “based on sweeping claims of gang affiliation”.
Bukele, a Trump ally, stated that the detainees were promptly taken to El Salvador’s renowned mega-jail, the Terrorism Confinement Centre (Cecot).
The Salvadoran president stated that they will be imprisoned there “for a period of one year,” which might be “renewable.”
El Salvador’s Cecot jail is part of Bukele’s efforts to combat organised crime in the country.
Human rights groups have accused the newly built maximum-security institution, which can accommodate up to 40,000 people, of mistreating inmates.
The agreement between the United States and El Salvador is an indication of improved diplomatic relations.
El Salvador was the second country Rubio visited as the US’s top diplomat.
During that trip in February, Bukele made an initial offer to accept US deportees, claiming it would help finance the enormous Cecot facility.
The newest deportations during Trump’s second term are part of the president’s long-standing campaign against illegal immigration in the United States.
In January, Trump signed an executive order designating Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organisations.
He won over voters during the campaign, in part, by threatening to carry out the greatest deportation operation in US history.
While illegal border crossings have dropped to their lowest levels in decades since Trump took office, the Republican president has allegedly been upset by the slow pace of deportations thus far.
Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act, deports over 200 gang members
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