Overall, Bloomberg spent more than $620 million on his campaign and hired at least 2,400 staff to help spread his message throughout the states. Moving forward, he has promised to keep his political organization active to help Biden defeat President Trump.
“Mike has always said he would put all of his resources in defeating Trump and has never shied away from tough battles,” notes Tim O’Brien, Bloomberg’s senior campaign adviser. “He deeply admires Joe Biden and will back his candidacy to the fullest extent.”
Biden won nine Super Tuesday states, leaving him with a total of 548 delegates. Bernie Sanders, who claimed California, has a total of 484 delegates.
Elizabeth Warren, who failed to win a single state, remains in third place with 53 delegates. While she is still the race, we can expect her to eventually drop out and endorse Sanders.
US Attacks Taliban Less Than One Week After Peace Deal
US forces launched an airstrike against the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Wednesday, just days after the two sides signed a peace deal aimed at ending the war.
The strike was intended to disrupt Taliban militants “who were actively attacking an [Afghan security] checkpoint,” explained a US military spokesman.
Taliban fighters attacked more than 40 targets on Tuesday, killing civilians and local security forces as well as 16 Afghan soldiers.
The peace deal, signed last Saturday, outlines the withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan if the Taliban upholds its promises to sever ties with insurgent groups (including al-Qaida), prevent those groups from using Afghanistan as a staging ground, and begin political negotiations with the Afghan government.
“Taliban leadership promised the [international] community they would reduce violence and not increase attacks,” says Colonel Sonny Leggett, currently stationed in Afghanistan. Taliban militants “appear intent on squandering this [opportunity] and ignoring the will of the people for peace.”
President Trump on Tuesday called chief Taliban negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, marking the first direct phone call between a US president and a top Taliban official since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
“We had a good conversation,” said Trump. “We’ve agreed there’s no violence. We don’t want violence…but we’ll see what happens.”