Biden pulls ahead in new poll while Warren draws huge crowd in midwest – live news | US news

Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday unveiled a proposal to expand mental health services, dubbing the issue as a “growing crisis” in America.

Gillibrand’s mental health plan would direct federal funds toward community health centers and behavioral clinics, as well as invest in training for healthcare professionals to reduce bias against people of color and other vulnerable populations.

“Transcending race, gender, age, religion, or life experience, mental health is a growing crisis in our country — and it has gone without sufficient attention, care or resources for too long,” Gillibrand wrote.

“Antiquated stigma and systemic failures have kept millions of Americans from sharing their suffering with others, forcing them to struggle quietly.”

Gillibrand has struggled to gain traction in the Democratic field and has yet to qualify for next month’s presidential debate in Houston, Texas. The New York senator is nonetheless continuing to press forward with her campaign in the hopes of creating momentum.

In case you’re wondering what Donald Trump is up to this morning, he is … wait for it … tweeting.

And the president clearly still has Anthony Scaramucci — aka ‘The Mooch’ — on his mind, dismissing the ex-White House communications director as a “disgruntled former employee who got fired for gross incompetence”.

What is this all about, you ask? Well, it all began when Scaramucci publicly withdrew his support for Trump after the two men traded barbs over the president’s rhetoric on race and immigration in the wake of the mass shooting in El Paso. Scaramucci went on to say he was assembling a coalition to stop Trump in the 2020 election.

Scaramucci-who? Republicans have criticized the media for giving Scaramucci airtime, given his record short tenure in the White House. Scaramucci served as Trump’s communications director for a mere 11 days before he was fired for delivering a profanity-laced tirade against other White House aides in an interview with the New Yorker.

Of course, Trump has spent several days directing his ire at Scaramucci over social media.

The latest: In an op-ed published by the Washington Post late Monday, Scaramucci deepened his criticism of the president and pushed back against criticisms that he only turned on his former boss because Trump first turned on him:

I broke from Trump because not only has his behavior become more erratic and his rhetoric more inflammatory, but also because, like all demagogues, he is incapable of handling constructive criticism. As we lie on the bed of nails Trump has made, it’s often difficult to see how much the paradigm of acceptable conduct has shifted. For the Republican Party, it’s now a question of whether we want to start cleaning up the mess or continue papering over the cracks.”

Joe Biden may have a hold over the frontrunner mantle, but Elizabeth Warren appears to have the momentum.

The Massachusetts senator and progressive icon drew a mammoth crowd of roughly 12,000 at her first campaign event in Minnesota on Monday. According to Warren’s campaign, it was the largest crowd she has seen while barnstorming the country over the past eight months.

Warren has steadily gained traction in the crowded Democratic field by introducing herself to voters one policy at a time. She has largely stayed out of the back-and-forth between other candidates, focusing instead on an agenda rooted in tackling corruption, restructuring the economy and expanding access to education while reducing student loan debt.

“If you want to get something done, you ought to have a plan for it,” Warren told the crowd in Minnesota. “Believe me, I plan to get something done.”

Joe Biden continues to hold a commanding lead over other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, according to a new poll released by CNN on Tuesday.

The survey found that 29% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters support the former vice president, as no other contender in the sprawling field made substantive gains.

Biden’s numbers, by contrast, rose seven points from a CNN poll conducted in late June following his widely panned appearance in the first Democratic presidential debate. California senator Kamala Harris, whose saw a post-debate bounce due to her fiery confrontation with Biden on race and segregation, has meanwhile dropped by a 12-point margin in the latest poll.

Progressive favorites Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are running neck-in-neck, at 15% and 14%, respectively, but still trailing Biden by double digits.

Why this matters: Biden’s uneven performances in the debates, coupled with fresh scrutiny over his gaffes, has had little tangible impact on his political standing thus far. Whereas other candidates have been boosted by moments, Biden has proven a durable frontrunner in the early stages of the primary.

Between the numbers: Biden’s position is bolstered by approval from moderate and conservative Democrats, as well as older voters. He also ranks highly on electability, with voters seemingly buying into Biden’s argument that he is best positioned to defeat Donald Trump. But among liberal voters, the race is effectively a three-way tie between Biden, Sanders and Warren, proving there is room yet for one of Biden’s rivals to topple his lead.

A word of caution: There are still more than five months remaining until Democratic voters cast their ballots in the primaries. A lot can change before the crucial Iowa caucuses and early voting contests in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. It remains to be seen if Biden can hold onto his lead as the field narrows.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo acknowledged on Tuesday that Islamic State militants are gaining strength, contradicting Donald Trump’s claims that he had defeated Isis.

“It’s complicated. There are certainly places where Isis is more powerful today than they were three or four years ago,” Pompeo said in an interview with CBS This Morning, while adding: “But the caliphate is gone and their capacity to conduct external attacks has been made much more difficult.”

Pompeo’s comments echo a report released by the Department of Defense earlier this month, which found that Isis militants were regaining strength due in part to the Trump administration’s withdrawal of US troops from Syria and other policy shifts in Iraq. Although the report stated the group had lost its strongholds in both countries, it warned that Isis was “rebuilding its capabilities”.

Trump has repeatedly claimed he defeated Isis in the Middle East.

Pompeo also conceded negotiations between the US and North Korea had stalled, stating the Trump administration knew there would be “bumps on the road” as the two countries looked to reach a deal on denuclearization.

A profile published in the New Yorker on Monday cast Pompeo as the “last survivor” of Trump’s original national security team and the president’s most influential voice on foreign policy. The profile, which charts Pompeo’s rise from a rank-and-file US congressman to America’s top diplomat, also revived the secretary of state’s previous criticisms of his now-boss.

During the 2016 Republican primaries, Pompeo warned voters that Trump would be “an authoritarian president”. Pompeo was backing Florida senator Marco Rubio at the time.

Good morning everyone! Sabrina Siddiqui here, manning the politics live blog out of Washington.

Famous last words, but a relatively quiet day is expected at the White House where Donald Trump is poised to meet with the president of Romania. Trump, for his part, rounded out his Monday night be reviving his attacks on former aide Anthony Scaramucci and teasing his potential purchase of Greenland.

We’ll keep an eye on any other developments from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and break down the latest in the 2020 Democratic primaries, where Joe Biden remains a formidable contender. New polling has good news for the former vice-president, and not so good news for California senator Kamala Harris after her breakout moment in the first presidential debate.

Stay tuned and watch this space!