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WASHINGTON >> Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump today attacked his new Democratic rival Kamala Harris as the “ultra-liberal driving force” who should be held responsible for the Biden administration’s policies on immigration.

“As border czar, Kamala threw open our borders that allowed 20 million illegal aliens to stampede into our country from all over the world,” Trump said at a North Carolina rally, his first since President Joe Biden bowed out of the race at the weekend.

Biden put Harris in charge of working with countries in Central America to help stem the tide of migration, but she was not given responsibility for border security nor was she named “border czar.”

To the roars of the crowd, the former president described Vice President Harris as the most liberal politician ever elected in American history.

“She will destroy our country if she ever gets elected,” the former president said at the event, held in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of a handful of battleground states considered crucial to winning the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, would become the first woman elected president if she prevails on Nov. 5. In the three days since Biden dropped out, she has shaken up a staid race and sparked new energy among Democrats.

Trump’s rally began two hours before Biden, 81, is to address the nation from the Oval Office to explain why he dropped out of the race under mounting pressure from fellow Democrats.

His decision followed a disastrous June debate with Trump that exacerbated questions about his ability to win the election or to serve another four years if he succeeded.

“I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our nation,” Biden will say, according to excerpts of his planned address released by the White House.

Biden plans to say that he intends to focus on his work as president in the six months left in his term.

“That means I will continue to lower costs for hard-working families and grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights – from the right to vote – to the right to choose,” according to his prepared remarks, outlining some themes that Harris is expected to build her campaign around.

The president returned to Washington on Tuesday afternoon after isolating with COVID at his home in Delaware, where he made the announcement that he was ending his campaign.

Earlier today, the 59-year-old vice president called on a rally of more than 6,000 Black women in Indianapolis to help her revitalize the Democratic campaign.

The Democratic National Committee’s rules committee agreed today on a plan to formally nominate Harris as soon as Aug. 1 — before the party’s Aug. 19-22 convention in Chicago — with Harris picking a running mate by Aug. 7.

Harris spoke at an event in Indianapolis hosted by the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, which was founded at Howard University, the historically Black college she attended. She hopes to tap sororities’ multi-generational network of Black women — who played an important role in Biden’s 2020 victory — to deliver strong voter turnout for Democrats again in November.

“I thank you. And now, in this moment, our nation needs your leadership once again,” Harris said.

Harris and Trump are closely competitive, public opinion polls showed this week.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday showed Harris with a marginal two-percentage-point lead over Trump, 44% to 42%. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS showed Trump leading Harris, 49% to 46%. Both findings were within the polls’ margins of error.

BIDEN TO SPEAK

Trump, coming off a triumphant week in which his party unified around his presidential bid after a failed assassination attempt two weekends ago, has had to watch as Biden’s sudden departure from the race shifted the narrative and sparked a surge of attention toward Harris at his expense.

Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee who lost to Trump, said in an opinion piece in the New York Times, that she was excited about the Harris candidacy.

“She represents a fresh start for American politics. She can offer a hopeful, unifying vision. She is talented, experienced and ready to be president. And I know she can defeat Donald Trump,” Clinton said.

Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a memo made public today that Democrats would aim to compete in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, opening up a map that in the final weeks of Biden’s campaign had appeared to be more focused on the Midwest.

“This race is more fluid now – the vice president is well-known but less well-known than both Trump and President Biden, particularly among Dem-leaning constituencies,” O’Malley Dillon wrote.

The Harris campaign today said it has raised $126 million since Sunday, with 64% of donors making their first contribution of the 2024 campaign.

Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Susan Heavey and Jarrett Renshaw.