NEW: Michael Tyler, Harris campaign communications director, reacts to Trump’s debate statement: “Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out. He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10. The Vice President will be there one way or the other to take the opportunity to speak to a prime time national audience. We’re happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th.”

It’s interesting how “any time, any place” becomes “one specific time, one specific safe space.”

I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there.

NEW: Judge Chutkan has set an Aug. 16 hearing to consider the schedule for Trump’s criminal case. She has denied his motion to dismiss on legal grounds but says he can refile once immunity issues are resolved.

@kyledcheney: Just as importantly, the Aug. 9 status report will give us a glimpse of Jack Smith’s thinking on how this case should proceed.

Kamala Harris is preparing for the final stage of selecting a running mate: face-to-face interviews.

She has yet to meet with any of the vice presidential finalists in person. But Harris plans to do so in the coming days, the last step in an unusually condensed vetting process before a public rollout next week that includes a rally Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Governor Andy Beshear canceled a stop in western Kentucky planned for Friday, August 2, according to his office.

They say Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman will visit the Jackson Purchase Distillery instead. An official reason for the change was not given.

Russia released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan as part of a major prisoner swap with the US, according to people familiar with the situation.

SCOOP: Harris and her yet-to-be named VP will hit the road next week on a battleground state tour, sources tell me and
@nanditab1, signaling that the decision process is nearing a close.

Campaign communications director Michael Tyler said...that Harris will be at ABC’s Sept. 10 debate — to which Trump and President Biden had both previously agreed — regardless of the former president’s attendance.

“As Vice President Harris said last week, the American people deserve to hear from the two candidates running for the highest office in the land and she will do that at September’s ABC debate,” Tyler said. “If Donald Trump and his team are saying anything other than ‘we’ll see you there,’ — and it appears that they are — it’s a convenient, but expected backtrack from Team Trump. Vice President Harris will be there on September 10th — we’ll see if Trump shows.”

The US economy is on the verge of an extremely rare achievement.

Economic growth in the first half of the year was solid, with the economy expanding a robust 2.8% annualized rate in the second quarter, according to fresh Commerce Department figures released Thursday, which are adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings.
...
America’s economy is about to stick what’s called a “soft landing,” which is when inflation returns to the Fed’s target without a recession — a feat that’s only happened once, during the 1990s, according to some economists.

@kylewilsontharp

Wow. The architect of Project 2025, Kevin Roberts, has a new book coming out in September about taking over Washington.

JD Vance wrote the foreword.

In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon. — Senator JD Vance