UN crisis looms as US readies demand for Iran sanctions

 

FILE - In this July 20, 2015, file photo, members of the Security Council vote at United Nations headquarters on the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. The United States is planning a new diplomatic line of attack on Iran after a resounding defeat in the U.N. Security Council. Having lost its long-shot bid to indefinitely extend an international arms embargo on Iran last week, the Trump administration is poised to call for the re-imposition of all U.N. sanctions that had been eased under the 2015 nuclear deal from which the U.S. withdrew two years ago.(AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — After a resounding defeat in the U.N. Security Council, the United States is poised to call for the United Nations to reimpose sanctions on Iran under a rarely used diplomatic maneuver — a move that is likely to further isolate the Trump administration and may set off a credibility crisis for the United Nations.

The sanctions had been eased under the 2015 nuclear deal that President Donald Trump withdrew from two years ago. But last week the U.S. lost its long-shot bid to indefinitely extend an international arms embargo on Iran and has now moved to a new diplomatic line of attack.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to travel to New York on Thursday to notify the Security Council president that the United States is invoking the “snapback” mechanism in the council’s resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal. It allows participants to demand the restoration of all U.N. sanctions in a complicated procedure that cannot be blocked by a veto.

The State Department is expected to announce Pompeo’s travel plans on Wednesday, but he and Trump have made no secret of their intention to invoke snapback, especially since their attempt to extend the arms embargo suffered an embarrassing defeat last Friday. The U.S. won just one other “yes” vote, with China and Russia opposed and the 11 other members abstaining.

Just like the arms embargo extension, the administration’s snapback plan is bitterly opposed by China and Russia as well as the other Security Council members, including U.S. allies Britain and France, and could set the stage for a battle over the legitimacy of the U.N.’s most powerful body.

Alone among the council’s 15 members, the U.S. argues that as an original participant in the nuclear deal it retains the right to demand restoration of sanctions. The others, which still support the deal, maintain the U.S. lost that standing when Trump pulled out of the accord in 2018, but it isn’t clear if they can stop the invocation of snapback through technical procedural means.

The U.S. argument is highly controversial. It has been ridiculed by the Chinese, Russians and Europeans, and not even the biggest Iran hawks in the United States all agree with it.

Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, no slouch when it comes to anti-Iran positions, has long said that the U.S. lost its snapback standing when it withdrew from the deal and that moving ahead is not worth the damage it could do to U.S. veto power in the council.

In a stunningly rare moment of agreement, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif praised Bolton this week. “At least he is consistent — a trait notably absent in this U.S. administration,” Zarif tweeted.

And, former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, a top Obama administration negotiator of the nuclear agreement, said: “It was never expected that someone who withdrew from the (deal) would have standing to in fact bring the snapback provision.”

Thus, the administration’s insistence on moving ahead has set the stage for a contentious dispute and the possibility that the U.S. call would simply be ignored by other U.N. members. That outcome would potentially call into question the Security Council’s ability to enforce its own legally binding decisions.

Under the terms of Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrined the nuclear deal and to which the U.S. remains a party, the invocation of snapback for significant Iranian noncompliance starts a 30-day clock during which the council must vote affirmatively to continue the sanctions relief that Iran was given in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

Pompeo is expected to present evidence of significant noncompliance, likely the latest reports of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Thursday. Iran does not deny violating some terms of the deal but says its actions have been forced by the U.S. withdrawal and the Trump administration’s reimposition of U.S. sanctions.

As envisioned by the Obama administration, which led the negotiations that culminated in the nuclear deal, the United States or any other permanent member of the council could use its veto to block the continuation of sanctions relief. In theory, that would result in the reimposition of sanctions.

But whether any other council member will respond to the U.S. move by introducing a resolution to extend sanctions relief is an open question. Some U.N. experts believe the others will just ignore the Americans, leaving the Trump administration in the possible position of having to introduce its own resolution to extend sanctions relief for the sole purpose of vetoing it.

“We don’t know if any country will do that,” said Richard Gowan, the U.N. director of the International Crisis Group. “If the general view of the council is that the U.S. doesn’t have standing, it’s quite possible that no council member will even engage at that level.”

“The U.S. could actually table a resolution of its own and then veto it, just to show that it is going through the procedural motions, although that would look a little bit farcical,” Gowan said.

___

Lee reported from Washington.

After years of big moments, Bill Clinton’s DNC role shrinks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Few people ever have logged more time on Democratic National Convention stages than Bill Clinton.

But when the former president delivered his 11th speech to his party’s faithful gathered virtually on Tuesday, it was like none in his four decades of convention moments.

Clinton’s remarks to the fully online gathering were pre-recorded at his home in Chappaqua, New York, like many of the speakers in a political year upended by the coronavirus. And they were brief at just under 5 minutes, which was all the former president was allotted by a party eager to show it is moving out of the politics of the past.

Clinton didn’t mince words. He tore into President Donald Trump repeatedly, making reference to his own understanding of the demands of the role.

“If you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social media, he’s your man,” Clinton said.

He added of the pandemic, “Denying, distracting and demeaning works great if you’re trying to entertain and inflame. But in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards.”

Even abbreviated, Clinton’s appearance was tricky for his party. Many Democrats are searching for new leaders, even as they nominate former Vice President Joe Biden, and pushing for a liberal agenda that leaves behind the centrist politics of the Clinton era. Further complicating the moment for Clinton is the #MeToo movement, which has forced some women to reevaluate Clinton’s history of sexual misconduct allegations.

The former president spoke early in the evening, shortly after former President Jimmy Carter. Clinton’s remarks went beyond the blistering speech he delivered during his 2016 convention address — when he helped the party formally choose his wife, Hillary, as its presidential nominee.

Clinton stressed what he described as Trump’s economic failures amid the coronavirus’ spread, arguing that the fallout on families and businesses wouldn’t be nearly as dire had Trump not so bungled the federal government’s response.

“At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it’s a storm center,” Clinton said. “There’s only chaos. Just one thing never changes — his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there.”

Clinton praised Biden, calling him a “go-to-work president. A down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy.” But he focused most of his energy on Trump, imploring the audience, “You know what Donald Trump will do with four more years: blame, bully and belittle.”

Clinton, who turns 74 on Wednesday, is three years younger than Biden and remains a force within the party — even though it has left behind many of the market-based reforms and centrism he popularized in the 1990s.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who unsuccessfully ran against Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 1992, said it’s impressive how the former president has continued to carve out a role for himself in Democratic politics. But nothing lasts forever.

“If you hang around long enough,” the 82-year-old Brown said, “you won’t fit.”

Clinton was a visible part of the 2016 convention and campaign, even as Trump repeatedly raised the former president’s past — and invited a group of the former president’s accusers to attend a debate. The move was an attempt to counter the criticism Trump received after video surfaced of Trump bragging about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women who weren’t his wife.

This time, Clinton’s role was limited in a way he hasn’t experienced since the conventions of 1980 and 1984, when he spoke but wasn’t among the keynote headliners. His debut for most of the country came in 1988 — before rising star New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born — when his speech was so long that he famously drew applause when he declared, “In conclusion.”

Four years later, Clinton was the nominee and delivered his acceptance speech. He addressed the convention as president in 1996 and 2000. But he may be best known for his convention speech in 2012, when he was widely credited for making a more passionate and crisp case for why Barack Obama deserved a second term than Obama did himself.

That address from eight years ago went well over Clinton’s allotted time and lasted nearly 50 minutes — or 10 times how long he spoke Tuesday.

___

Associated Press writer Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, Calif., contributed to this report.

Trumps vows to work with Kimberly Klacik to 'bring Baltimore back'

President Trump Tuesday praised the Republican woman running for the late Rep. Elijah Cummings’ former Baltimore seat as someone who will “bring Baltimore back.”
“Kimberly will work with the Trump Administration and we will bring Baltimore back, and fast,” the president said of Kimberly Klacik, 38, who is running against Rep. Kweisi Mfume, 71. Mfume defeated her in April's special election. They will now face each other again in November.
“Don’t blow it Baltimore, the Democrats have destroyed your city!” Trump added.
Klacik gained attention this week after a campaign ad she posted walking the streets of what she calls the “real” Baltimore: “crumbling infrastructure,” “abandoned homes” and “crime” went viral with hundreds of thousands of views.
“Do you care about Black lives? The people that run Baltimore don’t,” Klacik says in the video titled “Black Lives Don’t Matter To Democrats” as she walks through empty streets.
Her video also got attention from other prominent Republicans, including Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, Trump senior adviser Brad Parscale and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, who wrote, “Wow. Just wow.”
Trump has been sharply critical of Democrats’ leadership in Baltimore in the past, including Cummings, calling the city once a “rodent infested mess.”
"I really just want to get in office and show people that you [can] have a better quality of life," Klacik told Laura Ingraham Tuesday. "It is possible, especially if you vote Republican."
Klacik has excited Republicans over potentially flipping the seat, but political scientist Matthew Crenson called her bid for the deeply blue district “practically impossible," according to WJZ-TV.
Mfume held the 7th District seat for a decade until 1996 when he left to become president of the NAACP, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Trump campaign on Biden's formal nomination: ‘His supervisors from the radical left are now formally in charge'

The Trump campaign reacted to the second night of the Democratic National Convention by arguing that now that Joe Biden is officially the Democratic nominee for president, "his supervisors from the radical left are now formally in charge."
"Someone should have explained to Joe Biden that he is now the official nominee of the Democrat Party, meaning his supervisors from the radical left are now formally in charge," Trump 2020 communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.
Murtaugh said that while the Democratic Convention was counting delegates Tuesday night, "somebody should have been totaling the $4 trillion in new taxes Joe Biden would heap on Americans if elected."
Biden has proposed raising income taxes and Social Security taxes on those who make over $400,000.
"Another informative exercise would have been for each state delegation to announce how many jobs Biden’s failed policies have killed in their communities, through high taxes and regulations, disastrous trade deals, and coddling of economic rivals like China," Murtaugh said.
At the same time, former Secretary of State John Kerry accused President Trump in the convention's second night of "writing love letters to dictators."
"When this president goes overseas, it isn’t a goodwill mission, it’s a blooper reel. He breaks up with our allies and writes love letters to dictators," Kerry said.
"While television networks will never get that time back, someone should have explained that Biden will give taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal aliens and award them work permits so they can compete with Americans for jobs," Murtaugh continued.
Biden has proposed an expansion of the Affordable Care Act which would provide the 12 million immigrants who are here illegally with "a public option and they'd be able to buy in just like anyone else could."
The night featured speeches from prominent Democrats such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Caroline Kennedy and Sally Yates. Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell also delivered an adrdress. One of the nation's more controversial speakers was former President Bill Clinton.
The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee, ahead of their convention next week, hit right back at the night's speakers.
"Pres. Trump has spent his presidency righting the wrongs of Bill Clinton & Joe Biden’s record of failed policies," the RNC tweeted.
Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary, mocked the convention format as a metaphor, ripping "transitionless doldrums of unenthusiastic Biden surrogates, very emblematic of his base."
Republicans and Democrats seemed to agree that Biden's wife, Jill's, address, which concluded the night, was one of the more powerful moments.
"Tonight, Jill Biden did a very good job representing herself and Joe in the causes they believe in," tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "She’s an outstanding person who has led a consequential life."
"Jill Biden seems like an amazing person," wrote Trump's former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell. "I love that she taught at a community college."
"Honestly, this Jill Biden pitch is the best pitch for Biden. And perhaps the only pitch for Biden. She's doing a really good job with this," conservative commentator Ben Shapiro wrote on Twitter.

DNC 2020 Cartoons

Trump campaign adviser: First night of DNC painted America as 'dystopian, racist hellscape'

Democrats stoke division at virtual DNC

Will Americans respond to negative tone presented at first night of the Democratic National Convention? Reaction from Steve Cortes, Trump 2020 campaign senior adviser, and Ed Rendell, former DNC chair.

The speakers on the first night of the Democratic National Convention depicted America as a "dystopian, racist hellscape" rather than the shining city on a hill, Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes told "The Ingraham Angle."
"It was clear that this was for a crowd in Brooklyn, New York, rather than places like Beloit, Wisconsin," Cortes told host Laura Ingraham. "It was catering to Hollywood rather than the heartland. And it was not a celebration of America, it was an indictment of America.
"I will tell you as a proud American I did not even recognize the country that they were describing in this ridiculous long commercial that they put on tonight," he added. "They were describing some sort of dystopian racist hellscape."
Cortes went on to say that as a Hispanic man, there is no greater country in the world in which to exist as an ethnic minority and -- if the Democrats' 'indictment' of America is true -- he does not understand why millions of people from other countries continue to seek asylum in America or enter the U.S. illegally.
"They must be fools, according to the Democratic Party, to want to come to a country that is as systemically racist as the Democrats are trying to get us to believe," he said.
Referring to his fellow guest, former Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, Cortes said that the current Democratic Party does not resemble the party of Rendell's prominence in the 1990s and 2000s.
"This is not your parents' or your grandparents' Democratic Party ..." he said. "Effectively open borders -- they don't use the phrase, but if you decriminalize [illegal] border crossing and offer benefits to illegal aliens that do not belong in the country, and Joe Biden has promised even more than that -- full citizenship in the country to reward them for breaking and entering into our land. These kinds of policies are, within the Democratic Party, the norm. They are not mainstream policies within America,"

Dana Perino on first night of DNC: From 'fired up and ready to go' to 'cooled off and nearly ready for bed'

 

The first night of the Democratic National Convention set a tone of "trying to basically tap the brakes a little bit," Dana Perino judged Monday night.
"I have to say the mood change is deliberate by the Democrats," the former White House press secretary and "Daily Briefing" host said during Fox News' special coverage. "They want to talk about COVID-19 ... they are highlighting people who are the first responders, people who have lost their lives, and their grieving families.
"That [imagery] is deliberate but it is hard to imagine a sustaining a lot of attention on this for the next several days," she added.
Perino then contrasted the mood of the 2020 virtual Democratic convention with the party's 2008 gathering in Denver, where Barack Obama received his first nomination for president.
"What was the great slogan that President Obama had? 'Fired up and ready to go,'" Perino recalled. "This is more like 'Cooled off and nearly ready for bed.'
"I don't know if that will work, but I'm looking forward to seeing how they are going to try to showcase their team," she added. "They've been defined by the Republicans and President Trump for about four weeks, now they are going to have a chance to try to do that. Can they show that they can pull together this new coalition and hold it even after the election?"
"I think that's what I'm looking for the next couple days."

Pentagon investigates drone sighting near Air Force One

Reporters tweeted that multiple people aboard the plane saw “what appeared to be a drone just below the plane”

 

The Air Force is investigating whether a small drone flew close to Air Force One on Sunday before it landed safely at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D.C.
The White House referred queries to the Pentagon, which confirmed that the incident, which was described by reporters aboard the plane as Mr. Trump was returning from his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J. Sunday evening, was being examined.
“The 89th Airlift Wing is aware of the report. The matter is under review,” said a statement from the Air Force unit which oversees Air Force One operations at Joint Base Andrews, Md. “The 89th Airlift Wing’s C-32A aircraft landed safely without incident.”
Agence France-Presse’s Sebastian Smith tweeted that shortly before landing, Air Force One flew “right over a small object, remarkably close to the president’s plane. Resembled a drone though I’m no expert.” Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs tweeted that multiple people aboard the plane saw “what appeared to be a drone just below the plane.”

McCarthy says Dems pushing Postal Service 'conspiracy theories' as Pelosi calls members back to town

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy accused Democrats of "pushing conspiracy theories" in accusing President Trump of trying to undermine the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls members back from their August recess to work on legislation to address Trump's alleged threats against the institution.
McCarthy, R-Calif., leveled the allegation against Democrats in a tweet Monday afternoon after Pelosi, D-Calif., charged House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., with setting up a schedule for the legislation.
"Democrats have no shame," McCarthy said. "They are pushing conspiracy theories about the USPS to undermine faith in the election and distract from their own failures. Whether Americans choose to vote in person or vote absentee, I have full confidence in the integrity of our electoral process."
Pelosi Sunday said that she is "calling upon the House to return to session later this week to vote on Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman [Carolyn] Maloney’s 'Delivering for America Act,'" a bill that would mandate no cuts to USPS' level of operations compared to what it had at the beginning of the year.
The brewing legislative battle comes as Trump spars with Democrats over efforts in many states to implement universal mail-in voting – the practice of mailing actual mail-in ballots, rather than requests for ballots, to every registered voter. Not every state is setting up universal mail-in voting, and some states have used universal mail-in voting successfully in the past. But some on the right, including the president, have warned that quickly changing states' electoral systems and sending ballots to the addresses of all registered voters – who in many cases have moved or died – could make the election ripe for fraud.
Democrats have cited studies showing that there has been very little mail-in vote fraud in the past, while Republicans have pointed to examples of trouble with universal mail-in voting during the pandemic, including issues in elections in Paterson, N.J., and elsewhere.
Further unnerving Democrats have been actions by the newly-minted Postmaster General Louis Dejoy that critics say have slowed down mail delivery, ostensibly in an effort to save money for the perpetually-in-the-red Post Office, ahead of the November election.
Other comments Trump made in an interview on FOX Business last week – regarding funding provisions for the Post Office that Democrats asked for in negotiations over the latest coronavirus relief package – also alarmed left-leaning legislators.
"If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money," Trump said. "That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting; they just can’t have it."
Pelosi responded in a joint statement with Senate Minority Leader Chuch Schumer, D-N.Y., Rep. Maloney, D-N.Y., and Sen. Gary Peters D-Mich.: "The president has explicitly stated his intention to manipulate the Postal Service to deny eligible voters access to the ballot in pursuit of his own reelection. Alarmingly, the postmaster general – a Trump mega-donor – has acted as an accomplice in the president’s campaign to cheat in the election, as he launches sweeping new operational changes that degrade delivery standards and delay the mail."
The Post Office, of course, handles vast amounts of mail per day and would likely be able to handle an election-related surge of mail-in ballots without the specific funding provisions Democrats were asking for. And Trump, prone to bluster and off-the-cuff comments that land him in hot water, later walked back his position to an extent, saying that he does not oppose additional funding for USPS but rather has problems with Democrats' other demands related to the coronavirus legislation.
But USPS has warned 46 states and Washington, D.C., that it may not be able to get all mail-in ballots delivered in time to be counted according to those jurisdictions' election laws. In those letters, reported by the Washington Post, USPS recommends that states move up their deadlines for voters to send their mail-in ballots to ensure they are received by Election Day. And a July experiment conducted by CBS with mock ballots resulted in about 3% of those ballots not reaching their destination.
The conflicting statements and anecdotes, and the resulting confusion, are part of the reason why Pelosi and the other Democratic congressional headers are planning a hearing Monday, in which why hope to have DeJoy testify.
"House Democrats ... are ramping up their ongoing investigation by requesting that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Chairman of the USPS Board of Governors Robert Duncan testify at an urgent hearing before the committee on Aug. 24," the Democrats' statement read. "The hearing will examine the sweeping operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service that experts warn could degrade delivery standards, slow the mail and potentially impair the rights of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming November elections."
The Republicans of the House Oversight Committee, however, responded in a Monday statement saying they aimed to "put this conspiracy theory to bed," seemingly meaning in next Monday's hearing.
"The Democrats’ wild and baseless conspiracy theory about the U.S. Postal Service is irresponsible and only undermines the American people’s faith in the integrity of the election and our institutions," House Oversight Committee Ranking Member James Comer, R-Ky., said. "The Committee on Oversight and Reform has a tremendous opportunity to put this conspiracy theory to bed and I hope my Democratic colleagues will join me in reviewing the facts and identifying areas of reform so that USPS works best for the American people."
Fox News' Morgan Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Trump campaign slams first night of Democratic convention as a 'Hollywood-produced infomercial'

The Trump campaign blasted the first night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention as a “Hollywood-produced infomercial,” while warning that the “radical socialist leftist takeover of Joe Biden is complete.”
“Perhaps it was just an oversight, but the first night of the Democrat convention left out the fact that Joe Biden would raise taxes on more than 80 percent of Americans by at least $4 trillion,” Trump campaign national press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement Monday night.
“Also missing was his open borders policy, with amnesty and work permits for 11 million illegal aliens. There was no mention of Joe Biden’s desire to cut police funding, kill ten million energy jobs with a green new deal, or give free healthcare to illegal aliens, but in fairness, it was only the first night,” Gidley said.
Gidley added: “Democrats can try to conceal the dangerous truth with a Hollywood-produced infomercial, but they can’t hide the fact that the radical socialist leftist takeover of Joe Biden is complete.”
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also accused convention speakers of failing to highlight any Biden policies.
“During this underwhelming DNC, there’s been a whole lot of singing but ZERO explaining of how Joe will create jobs, end riots, stop innocent loss of life in our streets,” McEnany tweeted. “Joe will DESTROY our economy, DEFUND our police, SURRENDER our communities to the anarchists!”
Monday’s event included brief remarks from lawmakers like Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and governors like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo—those speeches, though, were weaved in between pre-recorded musical performances from from artists including Leon Bridges and Maggie Rogers, and a video featuring Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising.”
Trump campaign strategist Brad Parscale tweeted during the program: "Is this the Democratic National Convention or a Hollywood award show?”
Meanwhile, when the events wrapped on Monday night, the Trump campaign hosted its first night of “The Real Joe Biden,” a nightly recap of the Democrats’ nightly events at the convention, as part of their rapid response efforts and counter-programming.
The rebuttal was hosted Monday night by Trump campaign senior adviser Mercedes Schlapp and 2020 Strategic Adviser Boris Epshteyn, and will featured guests, including GOP National Spokeswoman Liz Harrington and Citizens United President David Bossie.
Those on Team Trump on Monday night highlighted the fact that the majority of Monday night's events were not focused on Biden and his potential presidency, but on criticizing the Trump administration--an effort which Trump campaign senior adviser Steve Cortes called an "indictment" of the United States.
“They only have an agenda of hating Donald Trump,” Bossie said during the campaign's recap program.  “The American people are smarter than that.”
He added: “They’re going to see that this is an election about big issues and where America is going to be for their children. This is the most important election of our lifetime—this one is consequential.”
In previewing night two of the Democratic Convention, Bossie predicted “more Trump derangement syndrome.”
“They don’t have an agenda. That’s all they have,” he said.
Schlapp weighed in, saying that the Democrats’ “agenda is to transform America as we know it.”
The comments from Team Trump come after night one of the 2020 Democratic Convention, which featured lawmakers, governors, and even former first lady Michelle Obama slamming President Trump and his administration, and making the case for a Joe Biden presidency.
Monday’s event was hosted by actress Eva Longoria, and included brief remarks from lawmakers like Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; and a headliner speech from former first lady Michelle Obama, who warned that Trump is “the wrong president for our country.”
“He has had more than enough time…He is clearly in over his head,” Obama said. “He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.”
She added: “it is what it is.”
Obama went on to warn: “If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can, and they will if we don’t make a change in this election.”
“If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it,” she said. “I know Joe. He is a profoundly decent man guided by faith.”