Biden Fields Committee to Help Pick a Running Mate

Amazon Turns to Chinese Firm on US Blacklist to Meet Thermal Camera Needs

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO—Amazon.com has bought cameras to take the temperature of workers during the CCP virus pandemic from a firm the United States blacklisted over allegations it helped China detain and monitor Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. China’s Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd shipped 1,500 cameras to Amazon this month in a deal valued close to $10 million, one of the people said. At least 500 systems from Dahua—the blacklisted firm—are for Amazon’s use in the United States, another person said. The Amazon procurement, which has not been previously reported, is legal because the rules control U.S. government contract awards and exports to blacklisted firms, but they do not stop sales to the private sector. However, the United States “considers that transactions…

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is assigning four close campaign allies to head up the process leading to one of his most important decisions: picking a running mate.

Biden, who served as Barack Obama’s vice president, chose one of his former Senate colleagues, two elected politicians of color, and a former aide to run a panel that scours the backgrounds of those who could be the first U.S. female vice president.

The panel’s co-chairs are U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, and aide Cynthia Hogan, his campaign said in a statement on Thursday.

The former vice president has vowed to choose a woman for the role and hopes to complete vetting by July.

His choice has spurred special interest among voters on the campaign trail, who regularly ask who he will pick and sometimes express concern whether Biden, 77, would serve the maximum of two terms of four years each if elected president.

“These four co-chairs reflect the strength and diversity of our party, and will provide tremendous insight and expertise to what will be a rigorous selection and vetting process,” Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said in a statement.

None of the names are a surprise. Dodd, now an independent lawyer, was a longtime Senate colleague and friend of Biden’s. Hogan was Biden’s top lawyer when he was vice president and was also involved in the process to get Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, confirmed in the Senate.

Blunt Rochester and Garcetti are already co-chairs of the campaign, regularly serving as Biden’s spokespeople.

Biden Fields Committee to Help Pick a Running Mate

Blunt Rochester is from Biden’s home state of Delaware and black. Garcetti, who is Latino, is talked about among possible future Democratic presidential candidates. Both ethnic groups are critical voting groups for Democrats.

Another one of the broader campaign co-chairs, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, is among those Biden is thinking about picking as a possible running mate.

Others tipped for consideration include Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren. Each once fought Biden for his party’s presidential nomination.

The committee will closely scrutinize possible candidates for actions that could imperil Biden’s election odds ahead of his Nov. 3 face-off with Republican President Donald Trump.

Biden has likened the vetting process to “a public colonoscopy.”

The chairs will consult “a network of vetting teams” led by longtime Biden friend and lawyer Bob Bauer, campaign general counsel Dana Remus, and former Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco, the campaign said.

By Trevor Hunnicutt

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Illinois Governor Under Scrutiny for Releasing Convicted MurderersTaurean Giles

Kwayera Jackson Kwayera Jackson, 40, was released by Pritzker on parole April 10 after serving half of his 40-year sentence for the murder of his 5-month-old son. Advocates for Jackson have argued that he could have accepted a plea deal for 20 years, but did not do so, and thus received a 40-year sentence. Kwayera Jackson (Illinois Department of Corrections)Jackson was an 18-year-old star athlete who had given up a sports scholarship to help raise his son when his girlfriend became pregnant in 1998, according to a website set up in his name. He had allegedly tried strength-training his baby, leading to the baby’s death by internal bleeding. A Change.org petition calling for his release states, “His youthful incompetency at parenting was what led to the death of his child,…