--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, July 23rd. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, doctors describe unimaginable scenes of children injured in Gaza. Lawmakers call for the director of the Secret Service to resign. And how the Paris Olympics are unlike any games they came before. But first, it looks like Vice President Kamala Harris has secured a path forward to clinching her party's nomination to run for president.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As of last night, an Associated Press survey shows her campaign locked in the majority of the pledged delegates she needs to officially become the Democratic candidate. It's a sign of how drastically the energy has shifted in this election in the past few days.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Harris made her first campaign appearance last night in Delaware. She spoke from what was just 48 hours ago, the headquarters of the operation to re-elect President Joe Biden.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We have doors to knock on. We have people to talk to. We have phone calls to make. And we have an election to win. There was energy in the room, and Democratic voters seemed to be newly energized as well.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the first 24 hours of her campaign, Harris raised a staggering $81 million, which is a record. Donations came from nearly 900,000 people, and according to the campaign for more than half of those donors, it was their first time donating this election cycle.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Bloomberg reports that Sunday night, thousands of the most prominent Black women in America got together on a Zoom call to raise more than a million dollars in under three hours. Among them was Reverend Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. She has never publicly endorsed a candidate until now.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Other endorsements have poured in, too, from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the AFL-CIO, one of the biggest labor unions in the country. And in his first public remarks since dropping out of the race, President Biden called into the campaign headquarters to say he'll be fighting for Harris until the end.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The name has changed the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn't changed at all. And by the way, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be out there in the campaign with her, with Kamala. I'm going to be working like hell, both as a sitting president, getting legislation passed, as well as in campaigning.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, I called up Politico's Eugene Daniels, who spent a lot of time reporting on Harris, to talk about what these first days of her campaign have been like.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: The momentum is fully on Vice President Harris's side. People who folks were really interested in throwing their hats in the ring, all of them have basically said they endorse her and they're ready for her to go. But they're also very cognizant and she herself is very cognizant that they don't want this to be a coronation, right?
--:-- Eugene Daniels: There is a belief that she could do this, but there's also the momentum, the money also, more importantly, is on her side right now.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: I know, Eugene, you covered Harris's 2020 run, and there's been a lot written about how that campaign was run, how it fell apart. What are the lessons learned from 2020 that maybe Harris is thinking about or her team is thinking about right now?
--:-- Eugene Daniels: Yeah, there was a feeling that they really couldn't figure out what her electorate should be like who should she be speaking to. And then you know, frankly, she struggled at times to really tell people what she believed when it came to policies right. Health care is one where at one point she was for kind of health care for all kind of Bernie Sanders platform and then moved away from that.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: And so there's so many lessons learned both in that 2020 campaign and also in her first year, right? Getting her comfortable with just speaking her mind and moving forward with that, right? And that kind of trusting her gut and her instincts as a politician.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: And those are the differences between that campaign and this campaign. And also people like they know her more. Right. They've seen her do things. And as you've seen on social media, the memes abound. And, you know, when that that that as a politician nowadays, you know, having memes is a good thing, especially for the youth.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: Yeah, the youth with a capital Y. So talk to me about some of the defining features, some of the defining issues and policies of her vice presidency that we are going to see her talk about now that she is thinking about launching a presidential run. How do some of those issues follow her?
--:-- Eugene Daniels: The first and number one, I think is no surprise to folks who've been paying attention, is reproductive access. After Roe v. Wade failed in the Dobbs decision. Vice President Harris, she was a little reticent at first for this to be her issue, but then jumped headfirst into it. And Democrats point to her as one of the reasons why 2022 didn't go as badly as it could have for them in those midterms.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: You're probably going to see her talk a lot about health care, maternal health care, the care economy. But immigration is going to be a place that is going to be the toughest for them to figure out how to talk about it because people don't really trust Democrats when it comes to immigration. The views of the American people on immigration have moved further right. There's more people, even some Democrats, that are more interested than ever before in kind of, quote-unquote, mass deportation.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: So this is going to be a delicate dance and balance that our team has to figure out. So, Eugene, is there anything else that, you know, given all the time that you spent talking to Harris herself, but also the people who work closely with her, anything else that you know they're keeping in mind as we all navigate this really weird and stunning news cycle?
--:-- Eugene Daniels: They are going to and have always tried to work to figure out the racism and sexism aspect of this, right? You know, you look at what Hillary Clinton struggled with with trying to figure out how much to talk about the historic nature of her campaign. The same thing with President Obama being the first. How do you speak about that? What does that actually look like?
--:-- Eugene Daniels: And so to me, that is going to be a fixture of this because it's something that can excite a lot of people, but it also is something that folks will use against her. You've already seen Republicans and right-wing folks calling her a DEI hire. Harris herself, and I've talked to her about this, she seems to not be bothered by people's opinions of hers.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: She told me at one point, like, I can't get into people's heads, and like really just moves on. And she tells all of the women, Black women and brown women, that she mentors the same thing. Like, you have to keep your head down, put on the blinders and move forward, as her team likes to say. Do not pay attention to that stuff because it will debilitate you.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Really interesting insights. Eugene Daniels, thank you so much for your time.
--:-- Eugene Daniels: Thanks so much for having me.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A warning that this next story has graphic details about children injured in the war in Gaza.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington this week. His first visit, since 2020. Tomorrow he address Congress and he also expected to meet with Biden and Harris this week.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Close to 39 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks many of them children. In fact, two American doctors, California trauma surgeon Farouz Sidwa and North Carolina orthopedic and hand surgeon Mark Perlmutter, recently got back from Gaza and wrote an article for Politico about the incredible toll the war is taking on children.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Dr. Sidhwa says that among the horrors is the alarming number of children hit by bullets. Mark and I saw children who were shot in the head and chest, usually more than one. And every single physician that I've talked to has been in Gaza since October 7th has said exactly the same thing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Every single one saw multiple children every single day who were shot in the head and chest. And these two doctors who are used to working in war zones aren't the only ones who've said this. We've seen similar accounts elsewhere.
--:-- Shamita Basu: CBS spoke to more than 20 doctors who were recently in Gaza about the gunshot wounds they saw to children. They say some appear too precise to not be intentional. The Israeli military told CBS it, quote, has never and will never deliberately target children.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Also, many kids are getting seriously injured from Israeli bombs. Dr. Sidwa told us about a nine-year-old Palestinian girl named Juri who had been badly injured in a blast.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When we first met her, she was in septic shock. She was dying. We tried to examine her at the bedside, but she was just terrified. She would just scream in pain. Juri's injuries were devastating. The explosion had torn her small frame apart.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The femur was missing about two inches. The quadriceps muscles had been just shredded and destroyed. Her sciatic nerve had been ripped. How the leg was still attached to her, I really have no idea.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After multiple procedures, Jury began improving, although she'll need a lot more treatment and medication, which will be extremely hard to come by in war-torn Gaza, where pediatric ICUs no longer exist. And a complete recovery would still mean a lifetime of serious disability.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She became very near and dear to my heart. She's a sweet little kid. But she's got these sharp features and she just, she sticks in your mind. It's hard to forget her. And she's just kind of emblematic of what's going on there.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And just the fact that this, if you want to call it a war, fine. But it's hurting a whole lot of people that have clearly and obviously have nothing to do with anything that harms Israel.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The hospital Dr. Sidwa volunteered at was closed following an evacuation order from the Israeli army. The end of his time in Gaza was marked by a lot of guilt. And I'll tell you, I'm lucky in that I don't have nightmares or intrusive re-remembering or any of that kind of stuff from the trips that I've taken, but a lot of people do.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll tell you, what they remember is those kids that are missing part of their head when they come in, and that's what keeps them awake at night.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few stories that'll stick with you from the Apple News app. At a heated hearing in Congress yesterday, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle called for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle to resign following the attempt on Trump's life.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This committee is not known for his model of bipartisanship, But I think today we came together unanimously in our disappointment for your lack of answers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That Republican James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which grilled Cheadle for hours yesterday. She took full responsibility for the security failures but said she couldn't go into more details until the Secret Service internal investigation and FBI investigation are complete.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13th is the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades. Beyond the questions about presidential protection, Democrats raised questions of gun control, how the shooter was able to get an assault rifle.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post looks at how gun records played a role in this investigation. Law enforcement was able to trace the gun used by the shooter at the Trump rally in about 30 minutes using gun store sale records.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But many Republican lawmakers and the gun industry have tried to keep records like this off limits and cut the overall budget for the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The ATF's director says this data is vital to its work, and budget cuts would ultimately make it harder to investigate gun crimes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In economic news, the 19th writes about a fascinating news study on the impact of giving people a guaranteed income.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. It followed 3,000 people. Some were given $1,000 a month for three years. The rest served as the control group.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The results, the people who got $1,000 a month, said they were able to imagine futures they never could before. Many of them were able to stop living paycheck to paycheck.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Most used it on basic needs, things like food, rent, transportation. Some people were able to work less so they could have more time to care for family.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One person said the money let her take a lower paying job that had better long-term potential for advancement. And it paid off. She later moved into a job that paid six figures.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris kick off later this week, and it'll be the first Olympics ever where there is gender parity, meaning there will be equal numbers of women and men competing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the most decorated track and field athlete in the world is doing something kind of huge to make it even easier for women to compete. Allison Felix, the American runner who retired in 2022, is helping launch the first ever Olympic Village Nursery.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The mom of two is an outspoken advocate for athletes juggling their careers with parenting. Here's what she told CBS earlier this month.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I just knew how difficult it was to compete at the top level after I had my daughter. And some practical things were really hard. And so when I became on the Athletes Commission of the IOC, I really wanted to be that voice for athlete moms.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And just take away one less thing for them to worry about, you know, in the pressure of competition. The idea is to help Olympic parents be closer to their kids and sneak in some quality time during the whirlwind of competition.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can follow all the Olympics action in the Apple News app starting right now. And that's also where you can find all the stories we talked about today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the News app already, we've got a narrated article coming up next from Elle. The magazine spent time in Iken, Kenya, widely considered the running capital of the world.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The story looks at how it took decades for Kenyan women runners to get the same opportunities as men. And even now, they face enormous obstacles.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
