In a video published Friday, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, and former President Donald Trump met with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago.
Barack and Michelle Obama endorse Kamala Harris for president: 'We've got your back'
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris for president, giving her two more high-profile Democratic endorsements as the vice president heads toward November's election against Republican Donald Trump.
In a video endorsement published Friday, the Obamas called Harris to offer their support, catching her while she appeared to be on the move between events.
"We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everythign we can to get you throught hsi election and into the Oval Office," the former president told Harris.
"I am proud of you. This is going to be historic," Michelle Obama told Harris, who appeared moved by the conversation.
“It's time for us to rally around you, your candidacy. This is not on you, it's not just on you and [second gentleman Doug Emhoff], it's on all of us," the former first lady said. "We've got to register, we've got to vote. ... So, let's all roll up our sleeves and make it happen.”
Harris thanked the Obamas for their words and friendship. "And we’re gonna have some fun with this too, aren’t we?"
The Obama endorsement is the highest profile backing that Harris has gotten since President Joe Biden endorsed her candidacy less than half an hour after ending his own chase for a second term. So far, the vice president has collected endorsements from 11 major national labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; more than three dozen advocacy groups; and Democratic leaders from across the country.
She also, within days of her announcement, clinched enough Democratic delegates to claim the nomination outright.
The Obamas’ endorsement comes as the Harris campaign plans to launch a nationwide campaign blitz, with volunteers knocking on doors across the country, including in the battleground states of Arizona (with 65 events and 1,300 people planned to mobilize around the state); Michigan (where former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is expected to speak for Harris); Nevada (more than 50 events and 3,000 people); and Wisconsin, where she held her first campaign rally earlier this week.
Trump meets with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort
Former President Donald Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-lago resort in Florida on Friday, capping off a week for the Israeli leader that included meetings with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, and a speech to Congress that sparked protests across Washington.
The meeting came the same day that Biden administration officials said that Israel and Hamas have reached the framework of a hostage release and cease-fire deal.
The leaders largely discussed Trump's Israel agenda during his first White House term, per a release from the Republican's campaign.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked President Trump and his Administration for working to promote stability in the region through, among many historic achievements, the Abraham Accords, moving the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, eliminating Qasem Soleimani, ending the horrific Iran Nuclear Deal, as well as combatting anti-Semitism in America and abroad," Trump's campaign said in a readout of the meeting.
Trump also pledged, per his campaign, to stand with Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 in the country and sparked the war, and vowed to stop antisemitism "from spreading throughout college campuses across the United States."
For both men, Friday's meeting at Mar-a-Lago will highlight for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again.
Trump broke off with Netanyahu in early 2021. That was after the Israeli prime minister became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden for his presidential election victory, disregarding Trump's false claim he had won.
"Bibi could have stayed quiet," Trump said in an interview with an Israel newspaper at the time. "He made a terrible mistake."
Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.
For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hopes will be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.
In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu gave recognition to Biden, who has kept up military and diplomatic support for Israel's offensive in Gaza despite opposition from within his Democratic Party.
But Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him "for all the things he did for Israel."
Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem's status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
"I appreciated that," Trump told "Fox & Friends" on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu's praise.
He didn't quiet his criticism, however, of Israel's conduct of the war, which has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians.
"I want him to finish up and get it done quickly. You gotta get it done quickly, because they are getting decimated with his publicity," Trump said in Thursday's interview.
"Israel is not very good at public relations, I'll tell you that," he added.