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Harris-Walz debut, Hamas power shift and fake elector plea

 
Today's POLITICS story

Harris introduces running mate Walz at raucous rally

What happened
Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz held their first joint rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, hours after Harris offered the Minnesota governor the No. 2 spot on the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris told the cheering crowd that "Coach Walz" was the ideal governing partner to help her fight for a "brighter future," sporting a résumé — high school teacher and winning football coach, Army National Guard veteran, six-term congressman, two-term governor — that would make him "ready on day one."

Who said what
The main message of the raucous Harris-Walz kickoff was that the campaign to defeat Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), "is going to be fun," Jess Bidgood said at The New York Times. Walz, 60, began his introductory speech by thanking Harris for "bringing back the joy," then unleashed a series of smiling broadsides against "creepy" and "weird as hell" Trump and Vance.

When Republicans talk about "freedom," they mean "the government should be free to invade your doctor's office," Walz said. In Minnesota, "there's a golden rule: Mind your own damn business." During Trump's first term, "violent crime was up," and "that's not even counting the crimes he committed," he quipped, adding later that he "can't wait to debate" Vance, assuming "he's willing to get off the couch and show up." The Trump campaign called Walz "dangerously liberal" and a "West Coast wannabe."

What next?
Walz "now faces the urgent task of introducing himself to the country," The Washington Post said. "We've got 91 days," he said in Philadelphia. "My God, that's easy. We'll sleep when we're dead." Harris and Walz will tour battleground states together over the next week, ahead of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19-22.

 
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Today's international story

Hamas picks Oct. 7 mastermind as new leader

What happened
Hamas said Tuesday it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief and the likely architect of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, to lead the entire Palestinian militant organization. Previous political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran last week in a suspected Israeli assassination. 

Who said what
The killing of Haniyeh, a relative moderate, unexpectedly "opened the path for Sinwar to claim full control of Hamas" and "appears to have tipped the group into a more hardline direction," Hugh Lovatt of the European Council on Foreign Relations told The Associated Press.

Sinwar, the militant leader of Hamas' Gaza faction since 2017, has been "long viewed by Israeli officials as a sophisticated strategist with a keen understanding of Israeli society," The New York Times said. 

What next?
Selecting Sinwar is an "indicator of the central place that Gaza occupies in the group's political vision," Al Jazeera said. Previously, much of the group's official leadership was "overseas," The Times of Israel said. It "remains unclear," The Washington Post said, how Sinwar, "in hiding and atop Israel's most-wanted list, will carry out Haniyeh's diplomatic duties," including as a chief negotiator in Gaza cease-fire talks.

 
 
Today's LEGAL Story

Arizona fake Trump elector takes plea deal

What happened
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) on Tuesday secured a guilty plea from one of 11 Republicans who falsely attested that Donald Trump won the state in 2020, part of a broader scheme to overturn President Joe Biden's electoral victory. A grand jury indicted the 11 fake electors and seven other Trump allies in April. Another of the 18 defendants, former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, agreed Monday to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for the state dropping nine felony charges.

Who said what
Fake elector Lorraine Pellegrino, who pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge after more serious charges were dropped, is the "first participant in the elector scheme to accept criminal responsibility for signing the false documents, though dozens have been charged in a handful of states," Politico said.

Ellis also accepted a cooperation agreement last year in Fulton County, Georgia — the only of five state fake-elector cases where Trump himself was indicted. Court records unsealed Tuesday showed the Arizona grand jury "wanted to indict him, too," The Washington Post said, but prosecutors dissuaded them.

What next?
The Arizona case "is not expected to go to trial until next year at the earliest," The New York Times said. The Georgia case is "bogged down in litigation," but a similar federal case in Washington is "set to spring back to life next week after eight months in limbo" when the presiding judge decides how to apply the Supreme Court's recent grant of broad immunity to Trump.

 
 

It's not all bad

Microbes in tree bark absorb methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as effectively as soil microbes, according to a University of Birmingham study published in Nature. The research, involving trees in different global forests, showed that methane absorption was highest in tropical forests. It had long been thought that soil was the only effective terrestrial methane absorber, but this unexpected discovery enhances understanding of the role trees play in mitigating climate change, suggesting they can significantly reduce methane levels in the atmosphere.

 
 
Under the radar

Thousands of people protested after Turkey approved what activists have dubbed a "massacre law" to cull the country's stray dog population. The legislation, drawn up by the ruling AK Party, requires municipalities to round up Turkey's 4 million stray dogs and house them in shelters. The dogs will be put up for adoption, but any that are ill, infectious or aggressive will be killed. 

Opposition politicians say this will lead to widespread euthanasia, a claim President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed as "provocations" based on "lies and distortion." But the law, which passed 275 votes to 224, has sparked international calls for a tourism boycott. 

Since the early Ottoman times, Turkish citizens have cared for their neighborhood strays. But despite recent widespread neutering, the stray dog population has been growing rapidly. One association campaigning for the legislation said at least 75 people, including 44 children, have been killed as a result of dog attacks or traffic accidents caused by dogs since 2022. 

This year, Erdogan called for a "radical solution," proposing to kill any dog that wasn't rehomed within 30 days. The new legislation is a watered-down version of that proposal. "This is not a 'massacre' law," said Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Ibrahim Yumakl. "This is an 'adoption' law." 

But there are only 322 shelters in Turkey, with a capacity for 105,000 dogs. Those are "full to the brim," said The Telegraph. Consequently, activists say it's "highly likely" that dogs will be "slaughtered by way of loopholes."

 
 
On this day

August 7, 2007

San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit his 756th career home run, breaking the all-time MLB record previously set by Hank Aaron. Bonds would end his career with 762 home runs, but this achievement was clouded by allegations of steroid use that prevented him from being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

Kamala Harris "picks her 'happy warrior,'" Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as her running mate, USA Today says on Wednesday's front page. "Down-home Walz" — as the San Francisco Chronicle calls him — is a progressive "commonsense Midwesterner" who "brings to the Democratic ticket a rural, plainspoken voice and record of working with GOP," the Los Angeles Times says. His "easy rapport, everyman vibe sealed a quick choice" for Harris, The Washington Post says. And in their public rollout in Philadelphia, "Walz wows 'em," the Minneapolis Star Tribune says. The New York Post, less impressed, says Walz came "out of left field" to make the "most radical ticket in history."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Waiving the bird

Jonny Clothier graduated last week alongside his son, Carter, more than four decades after refusing to make his final rent payment to the University of Bristol in England. The $83 bill was sent after his roommate's parrot destroyed their student housing, and the university said if he did not pay he could not participate in graduation festivities. This year, officials contacted Clothier and said the bill was waived and he was welcome to graduate with Carter. Clothier accepted the offer, telling Metro it was "enormous fun."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harriet Marsden, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post via Getty Images; Laurent Van der Stockt / Getty Images; Christian Petersen / Getty Images; Bilal Seckin / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images