Thursday Briefing: Biden tests positive for Covid-19

Plus, why a plain croissant is the best croissant.

View in browser|nytimes.com July 18, 2024 By Natasha Frost Good morning. We're covering President Biden's Covid infection and new details about Donald Trump's attacker. Plus: The very best croissant. President Biden's third bout with Covid sidelined him as he was trying to re-energize his campaign in Nevada. Eric Lee/The New York Times Biden's still in but 'willing to listen,' Democrats say President Biden has become more receptive in the last several days to hearing arguments about why he should drop his re-election bid, Democrats said, after Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the party's top leaders in Congress, privately told him they were deeply concerned about his prospects. The president tested positive for Covid yesterday, according to the White House, forcing him to cancel an event in Las Vegas and most likely sidelining him for days. A spokeswoman said he was "experiencing mild symptoms" and would "carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation." Three weeks after Biden's disastrous debate performance, allies and supporters continue to press him to quit the race, saying he has little chance to defeat Donald Trump in November. Democratic Party leaders agreed to delay the start of Biden's nomination by a week, prolonging the debate over the viability of his candidacy. Quotable: One person close to the president said he was "willing to listen" to the case for dropping out but had no plans to abandon his campaign. A growing rebellion: Nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters want Biden to quit the race, according to a recent survey. And Congressional Democrats have warned that his sagging prospects will make it much harder for them to win critical House and Senate races in November. Biden's mind-set: What would cause the president to drop out of the race? He has offered a list of scenarios — which has recently grown. Secret Service snipers before Donald Trump's fateful rally on Saturday. Eric Lee/The New York Times New details emerge about Trump's would-be assassin In a private call, F.B.I. officials told members of Congress that the gunman who tried to kill Donald Trump had searched for images of Trump and President Biden, as well as for the dates of Trump appearances and the Democratic National Convention. Yet the bureau has found no indication that he had strong partisan political views, based on their analysis of two phones that were among his possessions. Read our analysis of how the gunman slipped past the police. The director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, will face sharp scrutiny next week over the assassination attempt. She is scheduled to appear before two congressional committees that are examining the shooting, and inquiries by law enforcement departments, Congress and federal agencies are also underway. Representative Ronny Jackson, Republican of Texas, who was Trump's White House doctor, described the former president's injuries. "The bullet took a little bit off the top of his ear in an area that, just by nature, bleeds like crazy," he said. "The dressing's bulked up a bit because you need a bit of absorbent. You don't want to be walking around with bloody gauze on his ear." At the Republican National Convention: In a prime-time speech, Donald Trump's running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, accepted their party's nomination for vice president and connected his difficult upbringing to challenges confronting the American working class. Read highlights from the speech. The Upshot: Times reporters asked 65 convention attendees six questions about their political views. King Charles III reading the King's Speech in Parliament on Wednesday. Pool photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth Britain's new government lays out its priorities King Charles III formally opened Britain's Parliament yesterday, presenting the new Labour government's center-left legislative agenda, which includes efforts to curb climate change and cultivate closer ties with the E.U. The new government plans to create two new public companies, Great British Energy, which would invest in clean-energy projects across the country, and Great British Railways, which would put Britain's private rail companies back into public ownership. And it will no longer exempt private schools from paying value-added tax, using the revenue raised from that to hire 6,500 teachers for public schools. Poker face: Nothing in the king's demeanor suggested that he was any more enthusiastic about this year's agenda than he was about last year's, even though this one aligns more closely with his stated interests. That's the product of a lifetime of studied political neutrality, Mark Landler, our London bureau chief, writes. MORE TOP NEWS New Zealand Department of Conservation, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images New Zealand: A carcass of the world's rarest whale — so elusive that the species has never been documented alive — washed up on a South Island beach. Thailand: Investigators in Bangkok found traces of cyanide in a luxury hotel room where six people died. Hong Kong: A Wall Street Journal reporter said she was fired for leading a journalists' union that had been criticized by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leaders. Taiwan: In an interview, Trump said Taiwan should pay the U.S. for defending it from China. ISIS: The number of attacks claimed by the group in Iraq and Syria this year is on track to double last year's total, the U.S. military said. Science: A major study found that frequent moves in childhood had a bigger effect on the risk of depression in adulthood than poverty did. Coronavirus: New research suggests that vaccines significantly reduce the risk of developing long Covid among those who are infected. Emmys: The FX series "Shogun" dominated the awards race with 25 nominations, and "The Bear" notched 23, the most in a single year for a comedy. News From Europe E.U.: A court reprimanded the European Commission for refusing to disclose the terms of its contracts to purchase Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic. Ukraine: The country's war-ravaged energy grid is contending with another threat: a sizzling heat wave. Italy: The renaming of Milan's airport to honor Silvio Berlusconi has prompted protests from left-leaning lawmakers, a barrage of memes and an online petition. France: The last-minute surge of voting against the far right was driven in part by collective memory of the Vichy government's collaboration with the Nazis. Paris: The city's mayor swam in the cleaned-up Seine and fulfilled a promise that has become a symbol of the Paris Olympics. Romania: Lawmakers voted to double the number of brown bears that hunters can kill, after a wild bear attack led to the death of a hiker last week. SPORTS NEWS Copa América: The French Football Federation plans to file a legal complaint over an "unacceptable, racist and discriminatory" chant sung by Argentina's soccer team after it won the championship. Golf: Here's a guide to the British Open, where short holes can befuddle golfers. Brian Harman reflected on his victory last year in an interview. Wimbledon: The Athletic picked the players, matches and moments that made this year's tournament. Cycling: At the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar is closing in on his third victory. MORNING READ Ben Buckland for The New York Times Tired of predictable travel experiences, the writer Ben Buckland set out to walk across Switzerland without a smartphone or a planned route. Instead, over 12 days, he relied on maps hand-drawn by people he met along the way. Read more about his journey. Lives lived: Winston, a silverback gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park whose 451-pound frame concealed a tender personality, has died at 52. CONVERSATION STARTERS Tips for a happy life: Dr. Ruth's best advice on sex, relationships and how to approach delicate subjects. Ancient treasure: The National Museum of Ireland received two copper Bronze Age ax heads in a porridge box. Now it needs to figure out who sent them. Farewell, Childish Gambino: Donald Glover plans to retire his rap alter ego for good after the release of his sixth album, "Bando Stone & the New World." Dressing the ultrarich: How stylists developed looks for family members at the wedding of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of India's richest man. ARTS AND IDEAS Michelle Groskopf for The New York Times The best croissant In the competitive and often absurd era of extreme croissants, elite pâtissiers around the world are stuffing the pastries with exotic fillings, sculpting them into modish forms and decorating them with fragrant ganache. But the best croissant, our food critic Tejal Rao writes in this appraisal, has none of these fripperies — just a crisp outside, housing a tender, bubbled interior. A first bite wafts warm, butter-scented air into the face of the eater, she says. The plain croissant may not be made for the camera. But its simultaneous crispness and softness has a special magic, Tejal writes: "The way it can embody such a mind-boggling extent of textures within just a few bites, from the dark, crackling crisp of its edge, to the pale, weightless puff of its honeycomb." RECOMMENDATIONS Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich. Cook: Bake eggs in a tomato sauce that's scented with cardamom and garam masala. Consider: Here's how to weigh artificial sweeteners against sugar. Read: A new telling of Alexander the Great's final years shows what happened when dreams of conquest met reality. Streamline: Pack for a three-day trip with a single "personal item" bag. Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. See you tomorrow. — Natasha Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Morning Briefing: Europe Edition from The New York Times. To stop receiving Morning Briefing: Europe Edition, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. 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