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What’s on Kamala Harris’ calendar? Tracking the vice president’s public events

Last updated October 31, 2022

By Thomas Suh Lauder , Maloy Moore and Matt Stiles

The Times is following Vice President Kamala Harris ’ official schedule to better understand how she spends her time as the nation’s second in command.

Not all of the vice president’s events are disclosed to the public. But what is released is a growing source of insight into Harris’ role as the first female, Black, and South Asian American to hold the job. This page will continually update.

Harris, a Californian, has been in office for 649 days. In that time, she has listed 995 events on her official White House calendar, about two per day on average.

Following a burst of events after her inauguration , Harris’ activity slowed before a round of busy overseas trips, which included high-profile visits to Latin America and Southeast Asia .

Her busiest days can be packed with as many as 10 events. The slowest days tend to be on weekends, which have included only 34 total events so far.

Harris events by day

Mapping her travel

Most of the vice presidents’ events are in the Washington, D.C., area. She has journeyed to battleground states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. She has also ventured abroad to Guatemala, Mexico , Vietnam, Singapore and Paris . The former California senator, who maintains a home in Brentwood , has also traveled to Los Angeles frequently.

Harris’ shifting focus

The subject matter of the events has also changed over time, according to a Times analysis of the text of her schedules. These charts show the frequency of events for select categories over time.

Kamala Harris events that involve...

Press access often restricted

As in previous administrations, the White House sets the rules for press access. Some are listed as “open press,” allowing multiple reporters to attend. A smaller share are listed as “closed press.”

Events with open , closed or limited press

Often there are more complicated rules, such as only allowing photography or limiting the coverage to a small group that shares notes with the larger press corps. The Times has categorized these events as “limited.”

Explore the full calendar

The Times has categorized the vice president’s events based on keywords in the text. For example, if the event involves the Oval Office and the President's Daily Brief , the government's classified intelligence summary, it is categorized as relating to national security and also as a meeting with Biden.

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From The Queen To Putin, Here's What Biden Has Planned For His Trip To Europe

Franco Ordoñez

President Biden is set to spend eight days in Europe, first meeting allies and partners in the U.K. and Brussels, and then meeting his Russian counterpart in Geneva. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

President Biden is set to spend eight days in Europe, first meeting allies and partners in the U.K. and Brussels, and then meeting his Russian counterpart in Geneva.

On the first foreign trip of his time in office, President Biden is heading to Europe, seeking to repair ties with traditional allies and partners — and deal with a series of provocations from Russia.

Here's what's on his agenda:

Wednesday, June 9: RAF Mildenhall

Air Force One will land at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, and Biden will meet with U.S. Air Force personnel stationed there. The president will be accompanied by first lady Jill Biden for the first leg of his trip.

Thursday, June 10: Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet to talk about bilateral issues. Climate, trade and Northern Ireland are expected to be on the agenda.

Friday, June 11 and Saturday, June 12: G7 in Cornwall

It's the first time the leaders of the world's biggest economies will get together in person since the pandemic. The leaders are expected to talk about recovery from the pandemic, and Biden will be trying to marshal support for helping poorer countries get more COVID-19 vaccine doses — something the United States is only just beginning to do itself. Former President Donald Trump had a rough relationship with several G7 leaders — notably Germany's Angela Merkel and Canada's Justin Trudeau . Biden will try to mend fences, and is expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders on the sidelines of the summit's group sessions.

Sunday, June 13: The Queen

After the G7 concludes, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit Queen Elizabeth II , before traveling on to Brussels.

The Queen will meet the President of the United States of America and First Lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle on Sunday, 13th June 2021. pic.twitter.com/GPJLYwFzyr — The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 3, 2021

Monday, June 14: NATO

Biden will meet NATO allies at their first summit since 2018. Biden is expected to provide reassurance that the U.S. is committed to the alliance after difficult years when Trump fought with them to boost military spending . Amanda Sloat, the European director on the White House National Security Council, said Friday that aggressive Russian actions in the region would be discussed, as well as the "strategic challenge" from China, cyber threats, climate change and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Biden will also meet on the sidelines with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for what could be a difficult conversation after Biden's April declaration that the mass slaughter of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks more than a century ago was a genocide.

Tuesday, June 15: EU, trade and technology

This will be the first U.S.-EU Summit since 2014. There are some thorny topics: the Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs, and longstanding disputes over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing. Technology policy could be in the spotlight as well. "There's also a lot of things in the technology space that we have the opportunity now to work closely with our European friends on in terms of addressing 5G security, emerging technology, setting standards, technology regulation," Sloat said.

Wednesday, June 16: Russia

Biden has said he wants to establish a more "stable, predictable relationship" when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva at the end of his trip. But he has also said he will raise many contentious issues, including Russia's incursions in Ukraine, interference in foreign elections, the poisoning and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny , the SolarWinds hack, and ransomware attacks by Russia-based groups on a major U.S. pipeline and JBS, a major meat supplier. Their meeting will be the first stand-alone U.S.-Russia summit since 2018, when Trump sided with Putin in Helsinki when the Russian leader denied meddling in the 2016 election.

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The President and Vice President's Schedules

Publishing the President and Vice President’s daily public schedules online is just one more way we’re opening up the White House. You don’t have to visit WhiteHouse.gov to find out what the President and Vice President are up to each day – you can subscribe to their schedules via RSS or even add their schedules to your own Outlook, iCal, Google calendar, or any other calendar service that’s compatible with an iCal feed.  Just click here to download the iCal feed and add it to your calendar today.  Your calendar will be automatically updated as new events are added to the President and Vice President’s schedule.

Joe Biden - President's Public Schedule

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• 11/13/19 : Taylor, Kent Testimony
• 11/15/19 : Yovanovitch Testimony
• 11/19/19 : Vindman, Williams
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Follow up on Friday's @WHCA new #whitehouse press seating chart for the briefing room in 2022. We've got the seating charts back to 2008, with all the changes. Data's downloadable (of course). https://t.co/H9fcCzVNwC — Factba.se (@FactbaseFeed) December 20, 2021

Presidential Records

Presidential Daily Diaries

The present-day Presidential Daily Diary is the official record of the presidents’ travel, meetings, and telephone calls. The Presidential Daily Diaries include daily appointments calendars, lists of attendees at official functions, and passenger manifests for presidential transport.

Over the years, there have been different versions of the Presidential Daily Diary, and formats have included appointment books, schedules, and long hand diary entries. For example, President Herbert Hoover and his staff maintained a daily appointment calendar, while President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s calendars and schedules were recorded by the White House Usher and the official White House stenographer. Versions of this model continued through President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose secretaries began compiling a Daily Diary for him in 1959, when Johnson was the Senate Majority Leader. 

President's Daily Diary online from the Presidential Libraries:

President Herbert Hoover's Daily Schedule (not yet available) President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Daily Schedule President Harry S. Truman's Daily Appointments President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Daily Appointments President John F. Kennedy's Appointments President Lyndon B. Johnson's Daily Diary President Richard Nixon's Daily Diary President Gerald R. Ford's Daily Diary President Jimmy Carter's Daily Diary President Ronald Reagan's Daily Diary George Bush's Presidential Daily Diary President William J. Clinton's Daily Diary President George W. Bush's Daily Diary President Barack Obama's Daily Diary (not yet available) President Donald J. Trump's Daily Diary (not yet available)

The Presidential Diarist

The current Presidential Diarist is an employee of the National Archives detailed to the White House. This practice began during the Nixon Administration, the National Archives maintained a small staff at the old Executive Office Building referred to as the Office of Presidential Papers staff. Created on January 20, 1969, as a special branch of the Presidential Libraries Office of the National Archives and Records Service, the Office of Presidential Papers acted as a liaison between the White House and the National Archives to insure a smooth transition of Presidential papers, documents, and other archival material to the future Nixon Presidential Library. The Office of Presidential Papers had two major areas of responsibility. First, they compiled, indexed, and provided reference service on President Richard Nixon's Daily Diary, a minute-by-minute log of President Nixon's official and social activities. The second was planning and developing projects for the future Richard Nixon Library which included a range of activities.

The Ford Administration closed the National Archives' Office of Presidential Papers early in the administration and stopped the compilation of the Daily Diary for several months. In January 1975 the White House Staff Secretary's Office hired the former compiler for the National Archives directly to resume preparation of the Diary. They began the retrospective compilation of the missing 1974 Diaries in November 1975 and completed the project in January 1977. They continued compiling the President’s Daily Diary all throughout the Carter Administration, but once again as National Archives staff.

During the Reagan Administration the Presidential Diarist was a National Archives employee detailed to the White House. They continued the work of Presidential Diarist through the George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush Administrations. The current Presidential Diarist works for NARA and has been in that role since 2008.

Joe Biden visit latest: US president to wrap up Ireland trip with visit to ancestral home

Joe Biden, the US president, will today conclude his four-day historic trip by travelling to the west of Ireland to make a public address at a cathedral in Co Mayo - the town where some of his ancestors hail from.

Saturday 15 April 2023 00:55, UK

• US leader arrives in Co Mayo for last leg of trip
• Homecoming reception ready for Biden in Ballina 
• Biden bows head before plaque dedicated to son Beau 
• Why Biden's visit could boost his chance at re-election back home | Dominic Waghorn
• What is the Good Friday Agreement?
• Updates from David Blevins, Dominic Waghorn, Stephen Murphy and Ashna Hurynag. Live reporting by Brad Young and (earlier) Bhvishya Patel

The final speech of Joe Biden's visit has ended before he flies back to America tonight.

It has been a trip characterised by folksy stories, nostalgic tributes and a single "gaffe", but read between the lines of the president's visit and you'll find some important diplomacy.

He encouraged, indirectly, the DUP to return to Stormont amid their boycott of the Northern Irish Assembly, while being careful to emphasise that it isn't up to him.

Mr Biden brought the gravitas of an American president to the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, stressing how precious peace is and how it must be "nurtured".

The trip "humanised" him and will make him "more relatable" to American voters, a former Ohio State senator said.

And, in the closing moments, being named the "most Irish of all American presidents" by the prime minister will likely be a title Mr Biden is happy to return home with.

Joe Biden says the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is a  "reminder of the importance of peace".

He says the world "stands at an inflection point" that will impact decades to come.

In these moments "we need hope and courage more than ever."

He says the challenges around the world are too great for any one country to meet alone.

The president points to the climate crisis, world hunger and the invasion of Ukraine.

This is a moment to "recommit to progress" and a "greater future" for our children, he adds.

He says he has "never been more optimistic" about what the world can achieve.

The president has taken to the podium and has begun speaking to crowds gathered outside the cathedral on both sides of the river.

Irish and American flags are waving over the heads of those listening to his last speech of a four day visit to the island or Ireland.

He describes the visits he has undertaken throughout the day, including meeting again a priest who gave the last rites to his late son, Beau.

Mr Biden says it "meant the world to me" to be celebrated in the town of Ballina when he won the election.

As he has in other speeches of his visit, the president speaks of his distant relatives, this time from Co Mayo, emphasising the importance of family.

He says the history and future of America and Ireland is shared: "Everything between Ireland and America runs deep."

Leo Varadkar stands on a bright green carpet as he begins speaking, and thanks Mr Biden for choosing the area for such an important part of his visit.

He thanks the US president for "your friendship, your leadership" in Ireland, America and around the world.

In the "darkest days of the country's history", Joe Biden's ancestors left Ireland, which was "starved of rights and freedoms", he says.

Today Co Mayo rededicates itself to "justice and dignity".

"You are the most Irish of all American presidents, not because of what is written on your family tree, but because of what is enshrined in your soul," he concludes.

The president is moments away from speaking.

Joe Biden is soon to speak at St Muredach's Cathedral in Ballina, in the final address of his visit to the island of Ireland.

Follow along with all the key moments here live or watch the speech in full above.

Crowds are waiting on the banks of the River Moy to hear what he has to say.

A brick might not seem an obvious gift for a sitting US president, but that's just what Joe Biden has received in Co Mayo.

He was presented with a 200-year-old brick recovered from the fireplace of his family's ancestral home in Ballina.

Bricks have further significance at the site of his speech this evening at St Muredach's Cathedral in Ballina, set to begin soon.

His great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to the cathedral in 1827, which helped him buy tickets to sail his family to America in 1851.

The president spent time speaking with expert Brendan Walsh about the background of the Blewitt family today, as well as the history of North Mayo and Irish-American connections, at its Heritage and Genealogical Centre

Huge crowds have gathered along the banks of the River Moy ahead of Joe Biden's address in Ballina.

The town is awash with Irish tricolours and American flags and a green stage is set for the US leader's speech at around 9pm.

There are sniffer dogs amid a visible security presence, while Garda divers were seen in boats on the river.

Music has been blaring from loudspeakers as excitement builds, ahead of live performances by The Chieftains and The Coronas.

We reported earlier that Joe Biden broke down in tears after an emotional meeting with a priest who gave the last rites to his son Beau - who died in 2015 with brain cancer (see post at 5.03pm).

Now, Father O'Grady, the priest who performed the ceremony for Mr Biden's son, has spoken of the emotional encounter and said he had not seen the US president since the death of his son.

He told Irish broadcaster RTE: "I was very surprised when I got a phone call to say the president wanted to see me.

"It was a delightful 10 minutes with him. I hadn't seen him really in eight years since Beau died. His son Hunter was there too, so we had a real reunion.

"He certainly misses his son. He has been grieving a lot, but I think the grief is kind of going down a bit. We talked a little bit about how grief can take several years."

The priest went on to say that Mr Biden was "very impressed with Knock".

"As a man of great faith, it really hit home very hard to him about his son's passing when he comes to Knock, because we talk about mysteries of life and death in a place like Knock, all the time here," he added.

"He is a man of great faith, and it is just a coincidence that I happened to meet him."

Joe Biden's visit to Ireland will "build on the foundations" that exist between the countries and strengthen ties in a divisive world, Dara Calleary, Ireland's minister of state for enterprise, trade and employment, has said.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Calleary said Ballina was "bursting with pride this evening" and it was good to see the town get the recognition it deserves.

He also said he earlier had the honour of welcoming Mr Biden at Knock Airport and the president was "incredibly excited" about the trip.

The Irish politician went on to say Mr Biden's "message of unity" was very important at this present time.

"We live in a very challenging world and it is important that where we have friendships, where we have a community of countries, such as the USA and Ireland, that we strengthen the community links," he said.

"Tonight is a community celebrating one of its most famous sons as we are doing in Ballina.

"The community between America and Ireland, between America and the EU and America and the UK is extremely strong but it needs to be strong in this very divisive world.

"This visit will build on those strengths and build on those foundations that are already there."

President Joe Biden has arrived at the North Mayo Heritage Centre at Enniscoe House near Crossmolina.

Mr Biden is due to learn more about the genealogy of his family and his North Mayo roots at the site.

The centre will be the penultimate stop of his tour of Co Mayo ahead of his speech in Ballina this evening.

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5 facts about presidential travel abroad

American presidents and other world leaders frequently travel internationally, most commonly for conferences and bilateral meetings. This face-to-face diplomacy can offer insights into political priorities, partnerships and tensions, as well as key international issues.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted international travel in 2020 and 2021, but diplomatic travel picked up significantly in 2022. Here are five facts about presidential travel abroad:

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to examine the international travel history of recent U.S. presidents and other heads of government through Jan. 20, 2023.

Dates and destinations of U.S. presidential travel prior to 2021 are from the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian, which has recorded international presidential travel since 1901. Travel data for 2021 and 2022 was compiled from White House press briefings. Information on visits to Ukraine by other world leaders were independently verified through official government websites.

Only trips where the head of government met face-to-face with another head of government are included. For example, Biden’s trip to the UK for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral is excluded as Biden did not hold any diplomatic meetings with the British prime minister or other world leaders. Visiting leaders were only counted if they were the head of government at the time of their visit. Depending on the country’s political system, “head of government” could mean president or prime minister, but not both. Heads of state, monarchs and interim leaders are excluded from the visiting leaders count.

U.S. President Joe Biden has traveled internationally less frequently than his last two predecessors did. Biden traveled to 17 places outside the United States in his first two years in office, visiting some more than once. He made six international trips in 2021, all of them to Europe. In 2022, he made 12 trips, including to Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. And in early 2023, Biden traveled to Mexico for the North American Leaders’ Summit.

All told, Biden’s international visit count trails those of former Presidents Donald Trump, who made 23 international trips to 20 places during his first two years in office, and Barack Obama, who made 32 trips to 24 places in the first two years of his presidency.

Biden’s first presidential trip abroad was to the United Kingdom, while Trump’s was to Saudi Arabia and Obama’s was to Canada. A president’s first trip is often used to signal the importance of a strategic alliance. On his trip to the UK in June 2021, Biden reaffirmed the U.S.-UK partnership and committed to close cooperation throughout his presidency. Typically, U.S. presidents visit a close ally on their inaugural trip: Canada was the first international destination for both Obama and Bill Clinton, while Mexico was the first destination for George W. Bush.

U.S. presidents have visited the UK the most in the past decade – a total of eight times. American presidents have worked closely with their British counterparts over the past decade, cooperating on issues from defense and counterterrorism to climate policy . Travel to the UK has largely centered around conferences and summits, but in 2019, Trump made a ceremonial state visit to the UK .  

In the past decade of presidential travel, Belgium (home to NATO headquarters ), France, Germany and Japan are the second-most visited destinations, at six times each.

So far, Biden has made the most trips to the UK and Belgium – two each. (Biden’s additional visit to the UK to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is not included in this count, since he did not hold any diplomatic appointments.) Just as these two European allies stand out in Biden’s presidential travel thus far, France stands out in Trump’s administration and Germany stands out in Obama’s – they visited those respective countries four times while in office.

Biden is among 38 heads of government who have visited Ukraine since the beginning of the war there. Biden traveled to Kyiv as part of a surprise trip in February, days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion .

While many heads of government visiting Ukraine have come from neighboring countries or countries in Europe (such as Poland’s prime minister, who has visited five times since the beginning of the war) that is not always the case. For example, Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei and Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló traveled to Ukraine in July 2022 and October 2022, respectively.

Biden hosted 28 heads of government at the White House as of the end of 2022. Foreign leaders come to the U.S. for events including conferences, summits and bilateral meetings. Among those to visit the White House in 2021 and 2022 were then-Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden, who met with Biden to submit her country’s application for NATO membership ; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who traveled to the White House on his first known wartime trip abroad ; and French President Emmanuel Macron, whose trip marked the first state visit of Biden’s presidency . In fact, the president of France has been the first leader to make a state visit to the U.S. for the past three presidential terms, with Macron visiting Trump in April 2018 and his predecessor, François Hollande, visiting Obama in February 2014. In April 2023, Biden hosted the second state visit of his administration , meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

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Sarah Austin is a former former research assistant focusing on global attitudes research at Pew Research Center .

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2024 election updates: Presidential candidates battle over battlegrounds

V ice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz hit the road today on a two-day bus tour through southern Georgia, an indication that the campaign hopes to keep the state in play after President Joe Biden flipped it in 2020.

Walz started the day in Boston, where he spoke to a firefighters union, before joining Harris in Georgia. JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, is talking about the economy in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two other battleground states.

Latest Developments

Harris, walz make campaign stop at georgia high school.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz stopped by Liberty County High School in Georgia as part of their bus tour and were greeted by the school’s principal and superintendent and met with the school marching band during rehearsal.

Harris and Walz delivered brief remarks to band members, football players and faculty. After welcoming the class to the "role model club," Harris told the class that as "leaders" the nation is "counting" on them.

" You are showing what hard work can achieve, what discipline, what teamwork. And that's the stuff of greatness," she said.

She continued with a music metaphor that encouraged them to keep up their hard work.

"I will tell you I was in band when I was your age," she said. "And all that you all are doing, it requires a whole lot of rehearsal, a whole lot of practice, long hours, right? Sometimes you hit the note, sometimes you don't, right? All that practice makes for beautiful music."

-ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie.

Harris spokesman defends joint interview

A spokesman for the Harris-Walz campaign defended Wednesday the decision to make the vice president's first televised interview as the Democratic presidential nominee a joint interview with her running mate Gov. Tim Walz.

Ian Sams responded on X to a post by journalist Mark Knoller who questioned if CNN should have "insisted on a one-on-one interview," by saying that "The joint ticket interview is an election year summer tradition going back 20 years."

"Kerry/Edwards, Obama/Biden, Romney/Ryan, Trump/Pence, Clinton/Kaine, Biden/Harris all did them. Almost always right around the conventions. Harris/Walz join this rich tradition on CNN tomorrow," he said.

-ABC News' Will McDuffie, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Fritz Garrow

Vance claims he doesn't need to prepare for a debate

Vance told reporters he’s preparing for the October vice presidential debate by talking to people on the campaign trail, contending he doesn’t need other preparation against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“Look, the way I'm doing debate prep is by spending time with these fine people. This is how I do debate prep is to get out there. You get out there, you talk to people, you talk about the issues that matter,” Vance said.

“We don't need to prepare for a debate with Tim Walz. We need to get out there and talk. We need to get out there. Look, we need to get out there and talk to the American people. That's the biggest way that we're going to prepare for that debate on October the first,” he added.

-ABC News' Soo Rin Kim and Hannah Demissie

Vance says Harris 'can go to hell' for criticizing Trump for Arlington Cemetery visit

Sen. JD Vance continued to defend Trump's visit to Arlington Cemetery during a campaign event Wednesday in Erie, Pennsylvania, and went on the attack against Harris, blaming her for the deaths of 13 soldiers three years ago.

"Look, sometimes mistakes happen. That's just the nature of government, the nature of military service. But to have those 13 Americans lose their lives and not fire a single person is disgraceful. Kamala Harris is disgraceful,” Vance said.

“We're gonna talk about a story out of those 13 brave innocent Americans who lost their lives, it's that Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won't even do an investigation into what happened, and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up. She can, go to hell,” he continued.

The federal government conducted a probe into the final days of the war and American withdrawal and the Pentagon’s Central Command concluded in 2022 that the attack was not preventable despite others' assertions that it was preventable.

The Pentagon has conducted multiple rounds of reviews, including the latest review published in April that reaffirmed the initial investigation's findings that the attack was not preventable.

Congress has also scrutinized the attack and heard from many military leaders, including former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who told lawmakers last year that he was thwarted in an attempt to stop the suicide bombing.

-ABC News' Soo Rin Kim, Cindy Smith and Hannah Demissie

Biden to travel to Wisconsin next week to tout economy

President Joe Biden will travel to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Sept. 5 to highlight his economic agenda, according to the White House.

Exact details of the trip, including the locations in the state, weren't immediately revealed.

-- ABC News' Justin Gomez

Walz promises to fight for labor freedoms at International Association of Fire Fighters

Gov. Tim Walz addressed the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) convention on Wednesday in Boston, making the case that the Democratic ticket was the one that would fight for their freedoms, including labor protections.

“People tell me, look, I'm really not that into politics. My response to that is, too damn bad -- politics is into you,” Walz said to what he acknowledged as a bipartisan audience.

Walz said that Harris “is proudly part of the most pro-labor administration in history,” and that when they “win this election, we'll have your back like you've had ours.”

“We believe that you, not politicians, should be made free to make your own health care choices,” Walz concluded. “We believe that workers deserve to collectively bargain for fair wages and safe working conditions.”

-- ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Harris-Walz campaign responds to superseding indictment

Quentin Fulks, the Harris-Walz campaign’s principal deputy campaign manager, reacted to the news of the superseding indictment against Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon on MSNBC and avoided remarking on "ongoing legal cases" but characterized Trump as a danger.

"They saw it with their own eyes, and so we're going to continue to take the fight directly to Donald Trump on the issues that matter. But American voters aren't stupid. They know who Donald Trump is, and they know what he will do if he gets more time in the White House," Fulks told MSNBC.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie

JD Vance responds to new special counsel indictment

Sen. JD Vance, asked by ABC News on the tarmac in Nashville about the superseding indictment in former President Donald Trump's federal election interference case, and the GOP vice presidential candidate framed the special counsel's actions as an effort to influence the election.

“I haven't read the whole thing, but it looks like Jack Smith doing more of what he does, which is filing these absurd lawsuits in an effort to influence the election," he said.

The new indictment adjusts the charges to the Supreme Court's immunity ruling.

Vance pushed back against the Harris-Walz campaign's assertion that the Supreme Court ruling goes too far and grants the former president too much immunity, arguing that the president needs some immunity in order to do the job.

"If the president doesn't have some level of immunity in how he conducts his office, in the same way that judges have to have immunity, police officers have to have immunity. There has to be some recognition that people can't be sued for doing their job," Vance said.

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Harris and Walz Point Their Campaign Bus to Rural Georgia

The Democrats’ presidential ticket will head to the Sun Belt, aiming to sway voters in more conservative areas to their side.

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By Maya King and Nicholas Nehamas

Maya King reported from Atlanta, and Nicholas Nehamas reported from Washington.

• Aug. 28, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, seeking to build Democrats’ momentum in the Sun Belt, will campaign on Wednesday in the rural counties of southeast Georgia before holding a rally on Thursday in Savannah.

Democrats outside the party’s Metro Atlanta engine have long complained that focusing on the capital city, where a majority of Democratic voters in the state live, ignores pockets of supporters in less populous areas. Organizers have emphasized the particular need to engage voters in rural South Georgia and the state’s mountainous northern regions — both heavily conservative parts of the state that will still require high turnout from Black and moderate white voters to keep Democrats competitive.

A visit from the presidential ticket, some rural Democrats say, shows that top party leaders heeded their calls.

“A little does a lot in rural areas,” said Melissa Clink, the former chair of the Democratic Party in Forsyth County, north of the Atlanta suburbs. “If we can get some face time with, especially, the top of the ticket, then not only does that help donors open up their wallets to fund get-out-the-vote operations on the ground but it also inspires more people to do more work because they feel seen.”

The Georgia bus tour is similar to a campaign trip that Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz took to a conservative-leaning county outside Pittsburgh this month. Like South Georgia, Democrats in western Pennsylvania have also said their voters were being unwisely ignored by presidential campaigns. On their tour, Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz made sure to highlight the diversity of the area, engaging with residents in Aliquippa, a former steel town that has a large Black population, where they spent time with a high school football team alongside the former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis. (Mr. Walz is a former high school football coach, which might also play well in Georgia.)

More broadly, Democrats hope Mr. Walz — who flipped a largely rural and more conservative House district in southern Minnesota in 2006 — can help stem their losses with rural and white working-class voters, especially men, who have grown increasingly hostile to their party. He has worked to present a more caring version of masculinity that contrasts with the brash aggressiveness of Mr. Trump.

His party knows it cannot hope to win those rural voters outright. But in what is expected to be a tight election, Democrats are aiming to keep their margins manageable outside the cities and suburbs, something Joseph R. Biden Jr. accomplished during his 2020 campaign. Ms. Harris has made few gains with white men since taking over the ticket.

The Harris campaign says it has invested heavily in rural Georgia, hiring nearly 50 staff members across seven offices, in places including the small cities of Valdosta and Albany close to the Florida line and rural towns like Millen and Cordele, which calls itself the watermelon capital of the world .

Polling shows that Ms. Harris has made Georgia competitive , after it seemed to be slipping out of reach for Mr. Biden. And Mr. Trump has devoted a significant chunk of his advertising budget to the state, suggesting his team also sees the state as being back in play.

In Savannah, where Ms. Harris will hold a rally on Thursday, Democrats are hoping her visit will reignite energy in a city that is home to the second-largest cluster of blue votes in the state.

“Love is an action word — you show people first by your presence,” said Van Johnson, the mayor of Savannah, who has lobbied the Biden and Harris campaigns to campaign in the city for months since Ms. Harris visited in February. “Her presence is going to really be indicative of that esteem she has for our community.”

Maya King is a politics reporter covering the Southeast, based in Atlanta. She covers campaigns, elections and movements in the American South, as well as national trends relating to Black voters and young people. More about Maya King

Nicholas Nehamas  is a Times political reporter covering the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris.  More about Nicholas Nehamas More about Nicholas Nehamas

Arlington National Cemetery officials confirm an 'incident' during Trump's visit

Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday confirmed an incident took place when former President Donald Trump visited there Monday to commemorate the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate attacks in Afghanistan.

"We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed," the statement read.

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” said the cemetery in the Virginia suburbs of Washington. “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”

Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Monday, marking the third anniversary of the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in an attack by the Islamic State outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan. More than 150 Afghans were also killed. Parents of fallen service members have expressed anger at President Joe Biden's administration for a lack of answers surrounding the attack.

After the ceremony, Trump headed to Section 60 of the cemetery, where some service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried and recording is typically heavily restricted.

NPR first reported Tuesday that two Trump campaign staffers had a confrontation with a cemetery official who tried to prevent them from filming.

Trump communications director Steven Cheung denied some of the details of the report and said the campaign was willing to release footage to support its claim.

“There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said in a statement. “The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.”

Cheung followed up in a statement on X , saying Trump was allowed to have a photographer there.

Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita posted a video on x that showed Trump laying flowers at a gravesite.

In a statement, he said a “despicable individual” physically prevented Trump’s team from accompanying him to the event.

“For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery,” LaCivita said. "Whoever this individual is spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces, and they are disrespecting everyone who paid the price for defending our country.”

LaCivita claimed that Trump was at Section 60 at the invitation of Abbey Gate Gold Star families “to honor their loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.”

In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, LaCivita claimed that a "nameless bureaucrat at Arlington whose job it is to preserve the dignity of the cemetery is doing the complete opposite in trying to make what was a very solemn and respectful event into something it was not."

Trump generated controversy this month when said this month that the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a civilian award, was "better" than the top military award, the Medal of Honor, because those who receive the latter are often dead or injured.

Trump has previously faced scrutiny over a 2020 report in The Atlantic, which former White House chief of staff John Kelly later confirmed , that he made disparaging remarks about fallen soldiers, calling them "suckers" and "losers." Trump has denied the allegation .

Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Jake Traylor is a 2024 NBC News campaign embed.

Raquel Coronell Uribe is a breaking news reporter. 

National Politics | Presidential transition planning has begun in…

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National politics | presidential transition planning has begun in earnest, but trump and harris are already behind.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration offered federal resources to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris for presidential transition planning for the first time Tuesday, with experts suggesting both are behind in preparing for their potential administrations.

While transitions kick into high gear after Election Day , when a president-elect must begin selecting and vetting about 4,000 federal political appointees, success depends on the infrastructure built during the pre-election period, including identifying agency review teams and beginning the background check process for national security staff.

Both Vice President Harris and former President Trump started the process this month, months later than prior transitions. Harris was elevated to the top of the Democratic ticket just five weeks ago after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid , and she had to first redirect his political operation before laying the groundwork for the transition. It is not clear why Trump, who sewed up the nomination months ago, did not start sooner.

Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, said planning to take office in the modern era has tended to begin in the late spring.

“It is possible to try and catch up, but the reality is that both candidates have a lot to do,” he said.

Tuesday is the congressionally mandated date for the General Services Administration to make space available for Trump and Harris, three business days after the second nominating convention. The office space is just blocks from the White House, with even more federal resources set to flow to the winner after Election Day. But nominees usually start the initial planning for their potential administrations soon after they lock up the nomination, even before they begin receiving federal support.

Harris, if she wins, may choose to keep some political appointees from the Biden administration — potentially helping her avoid messy confirmation fights if Republicans take control of the Senate. But significant change is inevitable, as she will want to put her own stamp on government. And many long-serving Biden administration officials are likely seeking to exit for other opportunities regardless of the outcome in November.

Trump, meanwhile, is likely to try to avoid mistakes of his 2016 transition, when he shelved months of planning by a group led by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. That left Trump and his team, many of whom had never served in government, unprepared after Election Day.

Stier said Trump’s 2016 effort set a low bar for transition efforts in the modern era, followed by George H.W. Bush’s 1988 effort as the then-vice president prepared to take over from President Ronald Reagan. He said there can be a special challenge in negotiating a same-party handoff, including misplaced expectations about continuity between presidents and the risk of hubris in those who’ve served in government recently assuming more significant roles.

Trump formally stood up his transition team earlier this month to be led by former Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon and billionaire Howard Lutnick.

Harris has asked Yohannes Abraham, the ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the executive director of the Biden-Harris 2020 transition, to lead her planning for the White House.

Abraham is set to leave his position in the coming days to assume the role. Covington & Burling, LLP, which assisted Harris in vetting her vice presidential pick, will provide legal counsel to the transition organization.

According to a person familiar with the planning, Harris’ transition team won’t make any personnel decisions before the election, nor will it develop policy — functions that will remain with Harris’ campaign and official office.

Trump’s team, meanwhile, has not committed to accepting the federal support. Trump told the Daily Mail last week that he would decline access to traditional pre-Election Day intelligence briefings, saying he was worried about being accused of leaking classified information.

“We look forward to this notification and will reply when we have evaluated what is being offered, said Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign.

Trump has also brought former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. onto his transition team, Hughes confirmed Tuesday.

GSA is required by law to make available federal office space, IT support and other resources to transition teams starting Tuesday, but only once it has entered into memoranda of understanding with representatives for each nominee, which Congress requires the agency to do “to the maximum extent practicable,” by Sept. 1. A GSA spokesperson confirmed that the agency had made its offer to the two candidates Tuesday.

“Both teams will really want to have the infrastructure set up behind the scenes that allows them to conduct meetings with federal agencies and manage a resume bank, and have an organized process for all of the personnel and policy planning confronting them should they win the election,” said Valerie Smith Boyd, director of the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been making plans to support the transition for months in line with its obligation under the Presidential Transition Act.

A federal transition coordinating council, which includes representatives across the government and is chaired by Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients, is holding regular meetings to prepare to hand off control on Jan. 20, 2025, and agencies are preparing detailed briefing memos on their activities to share with the eventual winner’s team.

Teams of federal agents and government workers from the FBI and intelligence community — including some hired back from retirement — are at the ready to vet hundreds of potential transition staff and administration appointees.

Access to current executive branch employees, facilities, and documents require the transition teams to agree to an ethics plan, and transition teams must disclose donors and limit contributions to $5,000 as a condition of receiving government funds.

Associated Press writer Michelle Price in New York contributed to this report.

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Fact Sheet: Biden Administration Releases Additional Detail for Implementing a Safer, More Stringent International Air Travel   System

As we continue to work to protect people from COVID-19, today, the Biden Administration is releasing additional detail around implementation of the new international air travel policy requiring foreign national travelers to the United States to be fully vaccinated. This updated policy puts in place an international travel system that is stringent, consistent across the globe, and guided by public health. Starting on November 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to fly to the U.S., with only limited exceptions. The updated travel guidelines also include new protocols around testing. To further strengthen protections, unvaccinated travelers – whether U.S. Citizens, lawful permanent residents (LPRs), or the small number of excepted unvaccinated foreign nationals – will now need to test within one day of departure. Today, the Administration is releasing the following documents to implement these requirements: 1) a Presidential Proclamation to Advance the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic; 2) three Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention (CDC) Orders on vaccination, testing, and contact tracing; and 3) technical instructions to provide implementation details to the airlines and their passengers.  With science and public health as our guide, the United States has developed a new international air travel system that both enhances the safety of Americans here at home and enhances the safety of international air travel. The additional detail released today provides airlines and international air travelers with time to prepare for this new policy ahead of the November 8 implementation date. As previously announced, fully vaccinated foreign nationals will also be able to travel across the Northern and Southwest land borders for non-essential reasons, such as tourism, starting on November 8. Additional detail on amendments to restrictions with respect to land borders will be available in the coming days. Travelers can find full details about today’s air travel announcement on the CDC and Department of State websites.  A summary is below: Fully Vaccinated Status:

• Starting on November 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to fly to the U.S.

Proof of Vaccination:

• For foreign nationals, proof of vaccination will be required – with very limited exceptions – to board the plane.
• Match the name and date of birth to confirm the passenger is the same person reflected on the proof of vaccination;
• Determine that the record was issued by an official source (e.g., public health agency, government agency) in the country where the vaccine was given;
• Review the essential information for determining if the passenger meets CDC’s definition for fully vaccinated such as vaccine product, number of vaccine doses received, date(s) of administration, site (e.g., vaccination clinic, health care facility) of vaccination.
• The Biden Administration will work closely with the airlines to ensure that these new requirements are implemented successfully.

Accepted Vaccines:

• CDC has determined that for purposes of travel to the United States, vaccines accepted will include FDA approved or authorized and World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use listed (EUL) vaccines.
• Individuals can be considered fully vaccinated ≥2 weeks after receipt of the last dose if they have received any single dose of an FDA approved/authorized or WHO EUL approved single-dose series (i.e., Janssen), or any combination of two doses of an FDA approved/authorized or WHO emergency use listed COVID-19 two-dose series (i.e. mixing and matching).
• More details are available in the CDC Annex here .

Enhanced Testing:

• Previously, all travelers were required to produce a negative viral test result within three days of travel to the United States.
• Both nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), such as a PCR test, and antigen tests qualify.
• As announced in September, the new system tightens those requirements, so that unvaccinated U.S. Citizens and LPRs will need to provide a negative test taken within one day of traveling.
• That means that all fully vaccinated U.S. Citizens and LPRs traveling to the United States should be prepared to present documentation of their vaccination status alongside their negative test result.
• For those Americans who can show they are fully vaccinated, the same requirement currently in place will apply – they have to produce a negative test result within three days of travel.
• For anyone traveling to the United States who cannot demonstrate proof of full vaccination, they will have to produce documentation of a negative test within one day of departure.

Requirements for Children:

• Children under 18 are excepted from the vaccination requirement for foreign national travelers, given both the ineligibility of some younger children for vaccination, as well as the global variability in access to vaccination for older children who are eligible to be vaccinated.
• Children between the ages of 2 and 17 are required to take a pre-departure test.
• If traveling with a fully vaccinated adult, an unvaccinated child can test three days prior to departure (consistent with the timeline for fully vaccinated adults). If an unvaccinated child is traveling alone or with unvaccinated adults, they will have to test within one day of departure.

Limited Exceptions from the Vaccination Requirement:

• There are a very limited set of exceptions from the vaccination requirement for foreign nationals. These include exceptions for children under 18, certain COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial participants, those with medical contraindications to the vaccines, those who need to travel for emergency or humanitarian reasons (with a US government-issued letter affirming the urgent need to travel), those who are traveling on non-tourist visas from countries with low-vaccine availability (as determined by the CDC), and other very narrow categories.
• Those who receive an exception will generally be required to attest they will comply with applicable public health requirements, including, with very limited exceptions, a requirement that they be vaccinated in the U.S. if they intend to stay here for more than 60 days.

Contact Tracing:

• The CDC is also issuing a Contact Tracing Order that requires all airlines flying into the United States to keep on hand – and promptly turn over to the CDC, when needed – contact information that will allow public health officials to follow up with inbound air travelers who are potentially infected or have been exposed to someone who is infected.
• This is a critical public health measure both to prevent the introduction, transmission, and spread of new variants of COVID-19 as well as to add a critical prevention tool to address other public health threats.

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When is Labor Day 2024? What to know about history of holiday and why it's celebrated

The calendar is getting ready to flip from August to September, which will soon mean the return of colorful leaves on trees, football season and bonfires. It also means Labor Day is approaching, meaning the unofficial end of summer.

During the three-day Labor Day weekend, many Americans will travel , shop for deals online and in-store and maybe sneak in one final visit to the beach or neighborhood pool.

However, the federal holiday is much more than just the summer's last hurrah. Observed each year on the first Monday of September, Labor Day is at heart a celebration of the hard-won achievements of America's labor movement and a recognition of what workers have contributed to the nation's prosperity.

Here's what to know about the Labor Day holiday, including when it is in 2024 and how it started.

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When is Labor Day in 2024?

In 2024, Labor Day falls on Monday, Sept. 2.

Why do we celebrate Labor Day?

Rooted in the the labor movement of the 19th century, the holiday originated during a dismal time for America's workers, who faced long hours, low wages and unsafe conditions.

As labor unions and activists advocated and fought for better treatment for workers at the height of the Industrial Revolution, the idea arose to establish a day dedicated to celebrating the members of trade and labor unions,  according to History.com .

Even today, many Americans continue to celebrate Labor Day with parades and parties − festivities outlined in the first proposal for a holiday, according to the  U.S. Department of Labor . Since those early celebrations, Labor Day is now also marked with speeches by elected officials and community leaders who emphasize the economic and civic significance of the holiday.

How did Labor Day begin?

Two workers can make a solid claim to the title of Labor Day's official founder, according to the labor department.

Some records show that it was Peter J. McGuire, the co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, who in 1882 first suggested the idea for the holiday. However, recent research supports the contention that machinist Matthew Maguire proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.

Regardless of which man deserves the credit, Labor Day soon became recognized by labor activists and individual states long before it became a federal holiday.

Organized by the Central Labor Union, the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated in 1882 in New York City, according to the labor department. On that day, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square, according to History.com.

New York was also the first state to introduce a bill recognizing Labor Day, but Oregon was the first to pass such a law in 1887, according to the labor department. By 1894, 32 states had adopted the holiday.

When did Labor Day first become federally recognized?

Labor Day became a national holiday in 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed a law passed by Congress designating the first Monday in September a holiday for workers.

But the federal recognition was hard-won, having come after a wave of unrest among workers and labor activists brought the issue of workers' rights into public view.

In May that year, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives, according to History.com. A month later, the government dispatched troops to Chicago to break up a boycott of the Pullman railway cars initiated by labor activist Eugene V. Debs, unleashing a wave of fatal riots.

Congress quickly passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. By June 28, Cleveland signed it into law.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected].

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X  @GabeHauari  or email him at [email protected].