The Latest: Day 2 of the DNC features Obamas, second gentleman Doug Emhoff

Chicago, Illinois — The Democratic National Convention heads into its second day Tuesday.

Former President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will speak at the DNC, a day after the unofficial farewell for President Joe Biden, who served eight years as Obama’s vice president. Biden won’t be in the hall to see his former running mate speak, as he departed Chicago after delivering his own speech.

With President Biden having addressed delegates, the week’s full focus now turns to Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov Tim Walz.

Here’s the Latest:

Broadway stars form group to back Harris

A list of Broadway heavy hitters — including Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Sara Bareilles, Tony Kushner and Sarah Paulson — have gathered to back the Democratic ticket, creating the volunteer group Broadway for Harris.

The group says it will use phone banks, canvass, social media and host special fundraising events to increase voter participation in key swing districts. A Democratic National Convention watch party on Thursday in Manhattan will launch the group.

Members include more than 70 industry leaders, current and former Broadway performers, producers, writers, directors, choreographers and marketing specialists. A public Zoom call has been set for Aug. 26 to learn about how fans can get involved.

The group includes actors Rachel Brosnahan, Adrienne Warren, Idina Menzel, John Leguizamo, Billy Porter and Alan Cumming; songwriters Alan Menken, Jeanine Tesori, Stephen Schwartz and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul; playwrights David Henry Hwang and Jeremy O. Harris; and producers Jordan Roth, Thomas Schumacher and Jeffrey Seller.

At Trump’s campaign event

Asked about a comment Trump has made several times through the years at political events about using the U.S. military to help control urban crime, Rep. Byron Donalds said that “saying something at a rally is not public policy. It’s not.”

“If you go to his website, you’re not going to find that written in stone on the website under what he’s going to do the help solve crime issues,” Donalds added.

According to campaign policy positions listed on his website, Trump “has committed to deploying federal assets, including the National Guard, to restore law and order when local law enforcement refuses to act.”

Walz: ‘We’re not going to make that mistake again’

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz says he listened to Hillary Clinton address the party’s convention Monday night and couldn’t help but imagine “how different things could have been in 2016, if we’d gotten the work done.”

“We’re not going to make that mistake again,” Walz said at a meeting of the convention’s Women’s Caucus.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says Harris nomination could be barrier breaking moment

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris a historic, potentially barrier breaking moment for women in politics during a gathering of the Democrat’s Women’s Caucus.

Hochul referenced past trailblazing Democratic women like Rep. Shirley Chisholm, a Jamaican American New Yorker who ran for president in 1968, and Geraldine Ferraro, who served as the party’s presidential nominee in 1984.

“Maybe this means that women can do more than be the supporting cast,” Hochul said.

“There will be no more barriers. That’ll be proof that every little girl can be whatever she wants because someone came before,” Hochul said. She urged the audience to prevent a “Trump travesty” this year.

At a JD Vance event in Wisconsin

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde warmed up a crowd of about 150 people waiting for Sen. JD Vance outside the county courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday by bashing Kamala Harris’ public safety record.

He accused her of allowing San Francisco to slide into crime during her tenure as district attorney there. He called her stint as California attorney general a failure, accusing her of allowing the rise of sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants, sex trafficking and drug use. She’s also been unable to control the influx of undocumented immigrants across the southern U.S. border during her time as vice president, he said.

“She has a history of failure,” Hovde said.

Chicago police superintendent: ‘We’re up to the challenge’ as more protests expected

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said there was a “brief breach” of security fencing “within sight and sound of the United Center” on Monday evening.

He said 13 people were arrested on charges ranging from criminal trespass and resisting and obstructing an arrest to aggravated battery of police officers.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday morning, Snelling praised officers’ actions, saying they didn’t overreact. “Our officers showed great restraint,” he said.

He said an estimated 3,500 protesters participated in the march and rally, and just a small group breached the security fence.

“I’m not going to tie that event — what happened with the breach — with the entirety of the protest,” he said, saying the vast majority of protesters were peaceful.

Snelling said more protests are expected as the week goes on, and his department is prepared to de-escalate situations whenever possible.

“Again, we’re up to the challenge,” he said. “The city is up to the challenge.”

Harris campaign ties Trump event in Michigan town to far-right demonstration

Donald Trump is hosting an event Tuesday tied to the theme of “Make America Safe Again” in a Michigan city that has long been linked to the Ku Klux Klan.

Howell, a city of about 10,000 people, is a Republican stronghold west of Detroit. Nicole Matthews-Creech, executive director of the Livingston Diversity Council, said the public perception of the area has been stained by its past as the decades-long residence of a KKK grand dragon from the 1970s to the 1990s.

A Trump campaign spokesperson said they didn’t know about the KKK link and chose the location because it’s part of the Detroit media market and has a supportive sheriff in what the campaign considers an important area.

Last month, a group of about a dozen masked demonstrators marched through downtown Howell and dispersed after a library board member confronted the group at the Howell Carnegie District Library, according to a news release from the city of Howell, the Livingston Diversity Council and the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce.

Another group of people, similarly dressed, were seen at an interstate overpass nearby. Video from the overpass appears to show someone yell, “We love Hitler, we love Trump,” according to reporting by the Livingston Daily.

Matthews-Creech said it hasn’t been confirmed if the two groups were one and the same.

Harris’ campaign played up the connection between Trump’s past remarks on far-right demonstrations, including comments he made about white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, and the recent demonstration.

“Trump’s actions have encouraged them, and Michiganders can expect more of the same when he comes to town,” Harris for President Michigan Communications Director Alyssa Bradley said in a statement several days before his visit.

The Trump campaign decried any connection to white supremacy.

“Did the media write this same story when Joe Biden visited Howell in 2021, or when Kamala Harris visits cities where racist protests and marches have occurred in the past?” Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, said in a statement.

New security measures in Chicago a day after activists clashed with police

A Chicago park, which had erupted into chaos during the first day of the Democratic National Convention as several dozen activists clashed with police, was calm Tuesday morning but now fortified with new security to prevent further breaches.

During a march of several thousand calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, the group paused at a park a block from the convention center. Several dozen activists then broke away from the larger group, breaching police fencing before being pushed back by officers, leading to multiple arrests.

On Tuesday morning, an extra line of fencing was installed at the park and the tall metal barriers were reinforced to prevent protesters from lifting and removing the panels in the future. No police officers or protesters were present at the park early Tuesday.

Closer to downtown Chicago, security was tighter than usual — including law enforcement officers with weapons slung across their bodies — outside the office building that houses the Israeli consulate and a major city transportation hub. Metal barricades were set up and an officer said they were preparing for a 7 p.m. demonstration.

Most of the largest demonstrations have been organized by the Coalition to March on the DNC, which has focused on calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. But smaller protests have popped up around the city, including disruptions at the convention’s welcome party at Navy Pier.

Harris campaign blames convention process for party platform that wasn’t updated

The Harris campaign is blaming a long-established process at the convention for a party platform that was approved without being updated to reflect that the vice president replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.

Convention delegates on Monday approved a sweeping set of Democratic policy goals for the next four years that repeatedly referred to Biden seeking reelection. Party officials spent more than a year compiling the platform delegates were to consider, but they also approved it days before Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris.

No effort was then made to change it before it was approved on the convention floor.

“Obviously, the platform was voted on before the switch here, and so it’s part of the process as it played out,” Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters at a Tuesday morning briefing at the convention.

Rep. Byron Donalds says Harris and Walz don’t support law enforcement enough

Rep. Byron Donalds is warning against the negative effect he says Harris and Walz would have on American policing if elected to the White House.

The Florida Republican said Tuesday at a Trump campaign media availability that Harris and Walz don’t support law enforcement ranks strongly enough. Donalds said Harris, a former prosecutor, “incentivized states to move toward cashless bail,” a policy he said “creates a turnstile for criminals to be arrested and go right back out on the streets.”

Donalds is among the Trump surrogates offering Republican counterprogramming in Chicago as Democrats gather for the DNC.

Donalds also said Walz had a delayed response to the Minneapolis violence after the killing of George Floyd, noting that the areas affected by violence “mostly are inhabited by Black people and Hispanic people — that’s what was burning.”

Donalds also made brief mention of the Day 1 DNC delays that meant a late start to Biden’s speech but paused before he levied more specific criticism of the president: “It’s a shame to do that to somebody — well, I’m going to stop there.”

North Carolina governor says he isn’t concerned by Harris shifting stances on hot-button issues

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says it’s a sign of growth since she last ran for president in 2019.

Harris has dropped her opposition to fracking and her onetime support for progressive proposals like Medicare-for-all and the “Green New Deal” in recent weeks.

“I think the policy and how it affects people is always important, but clearly the character of the candidate can be more important,” said Cooper, speaking at an event hosted by Bloomberg at the Democratic National Convention.

Cooper, who leads a key battleground state has known Harris since they both were state attorneys general.

Cooper noted Harris had a seat at the table as President Joe Biden passed major legislation in their first two years in office and said the vice president “saw the give and the take.”

“And I think that’s just part of growing as an elected official and growing as a candidate and being a president for everybody,” he added.

To avoid running late again, DNC organizers plan to start earlier on 2nd day

Organizers are planning an earlier start to day two of the Democratic National Convention in hopes avoiding scheduling that ran hours late and into the wee hours of the night on day one.

DNC director Alex Hornbrook said Tuesday morning that “we made some real-time adjustments last night” and “we’re working with our speakers and making some other adjustments this evening” including starting at 5.30 p.m. local time in Chicago “to make sure that we stay on track.”

During a briefing with reporters, Hornbrook ducked a question about speakers who were canceled on night one as the program ran long — including a performance by acclaimed singer-songwriter James Taylor — would be rescheduled. He said only, “Our program team is working very hard right now to ensure that we can be on schedule” without providing further details.

President Joe Biden gave Monday’s night key address, but didn’t take the stage until around 11:30 p.m. on the East Coast, and the program didn’t wrap up until well after midnight for a large chunk of the audience watching around the country.

Trump’s campaign is getting started on Day 2 of its counterprogramming around the DNC

Ahead of a news conference at the Trump Hotel Chicago, placards were on display with statistics on homicide rates in various U.S. cities under the heading “Kamala Crime Crisis.”

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, one of Trump’s top U.S. House allies and surrogates, is expected to give remarks and take media questions.

North Carolina governor says he feels good about Democrats’ chances of winning his state

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says he has “that 2008 feeling” about Democrats’ chances of winning his state with Vice President Kamala Harris on the top of the ticket.

Speaking at an event hosted by Bloomberg at the Democratic National Convention, Cooper pointed to demographic shifts that have made the state more amenable to Democrats, but also a contentious race to replace him in the governor’s mansion that will generate its own “bottom-up” effect on the ticket.

Cooper acknowledged that he didn’t have the same optimism about his state just weeks ago when Biden was at the top of the ticket.

“Democrats were not united,” said Cooper said, before Biden dropped out. “I’m grateful for his decision to do that because it brought everybody together.”

Cooper pointed to the rave reception for Biden at the convention’s opening night to say, “Everyone loves President Biden.” But he added of Biden’s decision to step aside: “It was the time to do this, it was the time to make history.”

The DNC won’t only feature speeches by Democrats

The Harris campaign announced Tuesday that several Republican leaders will also offer remarks in Chicago, including former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and the mayor of Mesa, Arizona, John Giles.

Also speaking are former Trump White House staffers Olivia Troye, a former national security official, and Stephanie Grisham, who was a White House press secretary.

Grisham said she knows Harris will “defend our freedoms and represent our nation with honesty and integrity.”

“I never thought I’d be speaking at a Democratic convention,” she said in a statement. “But, after seeing firsthand who Donald Trump really is, and the threat he poses to our country, I feel very strongly about speaking out.”

Harris travels to Milwaukee for a rally before returning to Chicago in the evening

The Harris campaign said Tuesday it will spotlight “trusted messengers” from key battleground states over the convention’s three remaining days. They include Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Gary Peters and Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan; Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. From Arizona, Sen. Mark Kelly will speak along with John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa.

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina — a state that voted for Trump in 2020 but is now a major pickup opportunity for Harris — will be among the final speakers before Harris accepts the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday.

After DNC speech, President Biden and his family arrive in California

President Joe Biden and his family are spending the rest of this week in California at the Santa Ynez Valley ranch of longtime Democratic donor and medical device mogul Joe Kiani.

The Bidens arrived at the property of Kiani, the founder of Masimo and Cercacor Laboratories, early Tuesday after Biden delivered his address Monday at the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Biden has called Kiani “one of my closest friends,” and the president in 2021 appointed his billionaire host to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Kiani has also previously hosted the president’s son, Hunter, at the 8,000-acre property.

Masimo’s companies have been locked in a costly legal dispute with Apple. Kiani has accused Apple of violating patents for their watches from his companies, which pioneered technology related to measuring blood-oxygen levels.

DNC panelists discuss war in Gaza as Harris tries to ease tension with pro-Palestinian activists

The Democratic Party has been riven for months by the war in Gaza, giving rise to a protest movement that threatened Biden’s electoral coalition.

But with Biden gone from the race and Vice President Kamala Harris now leading the party, there were some indicators at the Democratic National Convention on Monday that Harris is taking more assertive steps to ease that tension.

In what organizers called a first, party activists were given space at the convention to hold a forum to discuss the plight of people in Gaza, who've been under Israeli bombardment since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and its taking of hostages, as well as to share deeply personal — and often heartrending stories — about family members lost in the conflict.

Though their core demands — a cease-fire and withholding U.S. support for Israel’s prosecution of the war — remain unmet, the decision to allow activists to hold a forum amounted to the offering of an olive branch by Harris. And it’s one that many doubted Biden would have extended if he were still the nominee.

US intelligence officials say Iran is to blame for hacks targeting Trump, Biden-Harris campaigns

U.S. intelligence officials said Monday they were confident that Iran was responsible for the hack of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, casting the cyber intrusion as part of a brazen and broader effort by Tehran to interfere in American politics and undermine faith in democratic institutions.

Although the Trump campaign and private-sector cybersecurity investigators had previously said Iran was behind the hacking attempts, it was the first time the U.S. government had assigned blame for the attack.

The joint statement from the FBI and other federal agencies also indicated that Iran was responsible for attempts to hack Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, saying hackers had “sought access to individuals with direct access to the Presidential campaign of both political parties.”

The goal of the hacking and other activities, federal officials said, was not only to sow discord but also to shape the outcome of elections that Iran perceives to be “particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests.”

Copyright Associated Press