US election looms over US-South Korea-Japan security cooperation

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washington — Experts in Washington are split on their perspectives of the durability of the recently elevated U.S.-South Korea-Japan security cooperation in the event of former President Donald Trump winning the November U.S. presidential election, given his critical stance toward U.S. alliances in the past. Last month, the U.S., South Korea and Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation on the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework (TSCF), which is aimed at institutionalizing the countries’ security partnership against threats from China and North Korea. While not legally binding, the memorandum is expected to facilitate trilateral security cooperation regardless of any leadership changes in theirmore

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US presidential campaign: The view from Ukraine

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The U.S. presidential campaign is being closely followed in Ukraine as its outcome could significantly impact regional security, U.S. foreign policy, NATO support, aid to Ukraine, and relations with Russia. VOA Eastern Europe Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports. Camera: Daniil Batushchak, Vladyslav Smilianets …

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Biden set to share a legacy with LBJ  

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U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to pass the Democratic Party’s torch to Vice President Kamala Harris makes him a lame-duck president – one who remains in office without any hope of an additional term. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman at the White House looks at how Biden’s legacy may eventually compare to the previous one-term president who did not run for reelection. …

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Foreign policy differences with fellow Republicans could complicate second Trump presidency

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Congressional Republicans closely align with presidential nominee Donald Trump on a number of key foreign policy issues, including U.S. support for Israel. But as VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, lawmakers still have significant differences on China, tariff policy and aid to Ukraine that could complicate a second Trump term. Videographer: Saqib Ui Islam …

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Biden ‘not confident’ of peaceful power transition if Trump loses election

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washington — President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was not confident about a peaceful transfer of power in the United States if Republican Donald Trump loses the Nov. 5 presidential election. “If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News when asked whether he thought there would be a peaceful transfer of power after the vote. “He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it. All this stuff about if we lose there’d be a bloodbath,” Biden added. During a March campaign appearance in Ohio, Trump warned of amore

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Are vice presidential picks game changers for US elections?

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Now that both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have selected their running mates, the question is whether those picks will actually help boost the campaigns’ chances of winning the November election. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at the historical relevance of vice presidential candidates and what Tim Walz and JD Vance bring to their respective tickets. …

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Dueling political rallies in one of US oldest cities

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The two U.S. presidential tickets are set. Vice President Kamala Harris named her running mate Tuesday. But the presumed Democratic Party nominee wasn’t alone making news in one of America’s oldest cities, Philadelphia, in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania. That’s where we find VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti. …

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Harris selects Tim Walz as her running mate

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Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday, capping off a whirlwind sequence of events since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the top of the Democratic party’s presidential nominee less than three weeks ago. Harris and Walz will kick off a seven-state trip to some of the biggest battleground states in the election. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. …

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Kamala Harris is now Democratic presidential nominee

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WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris, a daughter of immigrants who rose through the California political and law enforcement ranks to become the first female vice president in U.S. history, formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday — becoming the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket. More than four years after her first attempt at the presidency collapsed, Harris’ coronation as her party’s standard-bearer caps a tumultuous and frenetic period for Democrats prompted by President Joe Biden’s disastrous June debate performance that shattered his own supporters’ confidence in his reelection prospects and spurred extraordinary intraparty warfaremore

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Senior economic aide Sperling leaving White House to work on Harris campaign

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washington — White House senior adviser Gene Sperling is leaving his administration position to work with Vice President Kamala Harris’ election campaign as the Democrats step up efforts to challenge Donald Trump on policy issues in November’s election. Sperling will be a senior economic adviser to Harris’ policy team. The shift was revealed by White House officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Sperling served both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as director of the White House National Economic Council. President Joe Biden tasked Sperling with managing his $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package, a role in whichmore

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Who is Usha Vance, wife of Republican vice presidential nominee?

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In the U.S. presidential election, likely Democratic candidate Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate Tuesday. Republican candidate Donald Trump last month chose Ohio Senator JD Vance. Vance went to law school at Yale, where he met his wife, Usha. She is a first-generation daughter of Indian immigrants who recently left her job at a top Washington, D.C., and California law firm. VOA’s Dora Mekouar has more about her. VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum. …

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Harris to announce VP pick soon; Trump wants different debate venue

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is reportedly narrowing down her choices for a running mate in the 2024 presidential race. Her new vice presidential pick will join her at a campaign event Tuesday in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump took to social media to make his case on why there should be a change in venue and date for the next presidential debate. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details. (Produced by Henry Hernandez) …

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Trump again tears into Georgia’s Republican governor as he campaigns in state

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ATLANTA — Donald Trump picked a new fight Saturday with the Republican governor of the state of Georgia as he campaigned in the key swing state where he’s looking to avenge his narrow 2020 loss — a defeat he continues to blame on GOP officials for not giving into his false theories of election fraud. Trump railed at Gov. Brian Kemp on his social media site before his rally and said Kemp should be “fighting Crime, not fighting Unity and the Republican Party.” He also criticized Kemp’s wife, Marty, for saying she would write in her husband’s name for president thismore

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Harris campaign staffs up in battleground states, ‘Sun Belt’

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WILMINGTON, Delaware — Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is staffing up in battleground states over the next two weeks including in the ‘Sun Belt’ that increasingly looked out of reach for President Joe Biden, citing momentum for her White House bid as grassroots engagement and fundraising soar.  “Our grassroots engagement is proving that Kamala Harris is strong in both the Sun Belt and the Blue Wall — with multiple pathways to 270 (electoral votes),” wrote Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s battleground states director in a memo on Saturday.  The Sun Belt refers to states including Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, and themore

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