Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle endorsed Kamala Harris’ bid for president on Friday in a roughly one-minute long video that captured a private phone call between the couple and the current vice president.

“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Obama told Harris.

“I am proud of you. This is going to be historic,” the former first lady told Harris.

Talking into a cell phone and cracking a few smiles, Harris expressed her gratitude for the endorsement and their long friendship.

“Thank you both. It means so much. And we’re gonna have some fun with this too,” Harris said.

The campaign said the video was the actual call, not a reenactment.

Harris’s surprise bid against Republican rival Donald Trump continues to gain steam from supporters, donors and politicians less than a week after President Joe Biden bowed out of the race amid slumping poll numbers.

Obama, the first U.S Black president, remains one of the most popular figures in the Democratic party even after more than a decade has passed since he was last elected.

Obama has lent his support to Biden during big-money fundraisers, which were among some of the biggest blockbuster events of his campaign.

The endorsement could help activate and sustain energy and fundraising for Harris’ campaign and it signals he is likely to get on the campaign trail for Harris once she is officially the presumptive nominee.

Obama initially withheld his endorsement even as Biden, his former vice president, anointed her as his heir apparent. Obama reportedly did not want to put his thumb on the scale as the party worked through the process of determining its nominee. – Reuters

Negotiations on a ceasefire-for-hostages deal in the Gaza conflict appear to be in their closing stages and U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss remaining gaps on Thursday, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

The official, briefing reporters ahead of their talks, said the remaining obstacles are bridgeable and there will be more meetings aimed at reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas over the next week, Reuters reported.

Hamas-led fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct.7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies, triggering a war in which more than 38,000 people in Gaza have been killed.

Hamas and other militants are still holding 120 hostages; Israel believes around a third of them are dead.

Months of stop-and-start talks have failed to produce a deal to gain release of some of the remaining hostages.

The senior U.S. official said both Israel and Hamas still have some issues to resolve but that a deal is close in which a six-week ceasefire would take place in exchange for the release of women, elderly men and wounded hostages over a 42-day period, read the report.

“It’s a very different negotiation now than just a month ago when we had some fundamentally unbridgeable issues,” the official said.

Biden will hold talks with Netanyahu and then later in the day Vice President Kamala Harris will have a separate meeting with the Israeli leader.

Harris has taken over as the presumed Democratic choice for the November presidential election against Republican Donald Trump, after Biden opted not to seek reelection again under pressure from Democrats concerned about his mental acuity.

The senior U.S. official said both Biden and Harris are “completely aligned” on U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza, Reuters reported.

“The Israelis will hear full alignment,” the official said.

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US Vice President Kamala Harris assailed Donald Trump on Tuesday at her first campaign rally since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate, while a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed her taking a marginal lead over her Republican rival.

In a 17-minute speech, Harris aggressively went after Trump’s vulnerabilities, comparing her background as a former prosecutor to his record as a convicted felon, Reuters reported.

Harris ticked through a list of liberal priorities, saying that if elected she would act to expand abortion access, make it easier for workers to join unions and address gun violence, drawing a sharp contrast with Trump, the Republican nominee for president in the Nov. 5 election.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” she told a cheering crowd of several thousand at West Allis Central High School in a Milwaukee suburb in Wisconsin, a battleground state with a pivotal role in deciding the election outcome.

“Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear and hate?”

The raucous rally was a notable contrast to the smaller, more subdued events Biden held, underscoring Democrats’ hope that Harris, 59, can revive what had been a flagging campaign under Biden, 81.

The audience danced and waved Harris signs, while chants of “Ka-ma-la!” broke out when she took the stage.

Harris led Trump 44% to 42% among registered voters in the national Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday after Biden dropped out of the contest on Sunday and endorsed Harris as his successor.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week showed Biden, before he ended his campaign, trailing Trump by two percentage points.

Both were within the poll’s three-point margin of error. But the results could signal limited movement in Democrats’ direction – and may suggest that Harris’ elevation to the top of the ticket blunted whatever momentum Trump hoped to gain from last week’s Republican National Convention, also in Milwaukee.

Trump and his allies have tried to tether Harris to some of Biden’s more unpopular policies, including his administration’s handling of the surge of migrants at the southern border with Mexico.

In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Trump expressed confidence in his ability to defeat Harris, noting that her previous presidential run in 2020 did not even survive until the first statewide nominating contest.