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- Blow to US gun control efforts as Biden withdraws ATF nomination
- Biden to mandate Covid vaccinations for all federal workers – reports
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Biden will visit California on Monday, stopping in Sacramento to survey wildfire damage and then Long Beach to campaign with governor Gavin Newsom against the recall election.
Kamala Harris was in California yesterday campaigning for Newsom, returning to her home county of Alameda to rally voters. Newsom, a Democrat who won office by historic margins, remains popular and appears poised to maintain his seat per recent polls and early returns. But Democrats in California and DC are taking no chances – escalating efforts to help Newsom maintain his place at the helm of the most populous US state.
Related: California’s governor recall election is heating up. Here’s what you need to know
Joe Biden said in a Thursday afternoon statement that he was no longer proposing David Chipman, a 25-year veteran of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) who has worked to tighten gun laws, as the agency’s next director, confirming an earlier Washington Post report.
The gun reform group Brady says Biden’s decision to bow to National Rifle Association (NRA) pressure and withdraw his nominee, a strong gun control advocate, to lead the agency enforcing federal firearms laws is “a shameful day for our country”.
Related: Biden withdraws pick to run firearms agency after NRA pressure