Joe Biden to announce he will run for a second term as US president next week – reports
Joe Biden is set to announce he will run for a second term as US president next week, according to US media.
Mr Biden’s advisers are planning to launch his re-election campaign as soon as next Tuesday, three sources familiar with the plans have told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.
The 80-year-old president’s advisers have said for months that no formal timetable has been agreed for him to launch his campaign.
However they have long had their sights set on 25 April, the anniversary of Mr Biden’s 2020 campaign announcement, as an informal target.
Mr Biden will launch his candidacy for next year’s election with a campaign video message – just as he did four years ago, the sources said.
The timing and method of the announcement mirrors how the Obama-Biden ticket launched its re-election bid in 2011.
Jen O’Malley Dillon and Anita Dunn, senior White House advisers overseeing the announcement of Mr Biden’s campaign, both worked on Mr Obama’s re-election effort.
Advisers have cautioned that plans could still change based on a range of factors, with one source saying that nothing is official until the president announces it himself.
As the sitting president Mr Biden will likely not launch the kind of barnstorming tour he did in 2019 after his announcement.
Instead, it is thought he will follow the precedent of other incumbents by employing what is known as a “Rose Garden strategy” for much of this year.
This refers to staying within the grounds of the White House rather than touring the country.
Mr Biden appeared to confirm he would seek re-election earlier this month when he said in an interview with NBC: “I plan on running… but we’re not prepared to announce it yet.”
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Even if Mr Biden won’t officially hold campaign events until next year, he is expected to continue to travel the country promoting his legislative accomplishments and using Congressional Republicans as his sparring partners until the Republican nominating race produces his general election opponent.
It comes months after Donald Trump officially launched his third bid for the US presidency in November 2022.
He can still run for office despite being the first current or former US president to be charged with a crime.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy for his alleged role in hush money payments to two women towards the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has been passed by the US congress, sending it to the president to sign into law.
The controversial tax breaks and spending cuts package cleared its final hurdle as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill with a 218-214 vote.
The bill delivers tax breaks Mr Trump promised in his 2024 election campaign, cuts health and food safety programmes, and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will lower tax revenues by $4.5trn over 10 years and add $3.4trn to the US’s $36.2trn debt.
But despite concerns over the 869-page bill’s price tag – and its hit to healthcare programmes – Republicans largely lined up in support, with just two rebelling on the vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is congratulated following the vote. Pic: Reuters
Every Democrat in Congress voted against the bill, blasting it as a giveaway to the wealthy that will leave millions of Americans uninsured.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made the Republicans’ closing argument for the bill, telling Congress: “For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel.”
Earlier, the House’s Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a record-breaking eight-hour and 44-minute speech against it.
“The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
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The bill’s spending cuts largely target Medicaid, the health programme that covers 71 million Americans on low incomes.
It will tighten enrolment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments.
The changes could leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance, according to the CBO.
On the other side of the ledger, it will stave off tax increases that were due to hit most Americans at the end of the year, when tax cuts from President Trump’s first term were due to expire.
It also sets up new tax breaks for overtime pay, seniors and tipped income.
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The bill narrowly passed the US Senate on Tuesday after vice president JD Vance cast the deciding vote to break a 50-50 tie.
Mr Trump will sign it into law on Friday at 5pm local time (10pm in the UK), the White House said.
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