World News

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government fell early Sunday, bringing a surprise end to the Assad family's 50-year rule, after a sudden rebel offensive advanced across government-held territory and entered the capital inside 10 days.

Syrian state television broadcast a video statement from a bunch of men saying President Bashar al-Assad had been overthrown and that each one prison inmates had been released.

The man who read the statement said the opposition group Operations Room to Conquer Damascus called on all opposition fighters and residents to preserve the state institutions of the “free Syrian state.”

The statement got here hours after the pinnacle of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Assad had left the country for an unknown location, fleeing insurgents who said that they had entered Damascus after the remarkably rapid advance through the country.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the federal government was able to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its duties to an interim government.

“I am in my house and I have not left it, and that is because I belong to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office within the morning to proceed his work and urged Syrian residents to not deface public property.

He didn’t address reports that Assad had fled.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Associated Press that Assad took a flight from Damascus on Sunday.

Iranian state television, Assad's primary supporter throughout the war years in Syria, reported that Assad had left the capital. Qatari news channel Al Jazeera was quoted as providing the knowledge without elaborating.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.

As day broke over Damascus, crowds gathered to hope in town's mosques and have a good time in its squares, chanting “God is great.” People also chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked their horns. In some areas, celebratory shots were fired.

Soldiers and police abandoned their posts and fled, and looters broke into the Defense Ministry headquarters.

“My feelings are indescribable,” said Omar Daher, a 29-year-old lawyer. “After the fear in which he (Assad) and his father made us live for many years, and the panic and state of terror in which I lived, I cannot believe it.”

Daher said his father was killed by security forces and his brother was in custody, but his fate was unknown. Assad “is a criminal, a tyrant and a dog,” he said.

“Damned be his soul and the soul of the entire Assad family,” said Ghazal al-Sharif, one other reveler in central Damascus. “It is the prayer of every oppressed person and God has answered it today. We thought we would never see it, but thank God we did.”

The police headquarters within the capital gave the impression to be deserted, the door was open and nobody was outside. An Associated Press journalist captured footage of an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms lay on the bottom beneath a poster with Assad's face. Footage broadcast by opposition-affiliated media showed a tank in one in all the capital's central squares.

It was the primary time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital after a years-long siege.

Pro-government radio station Sham FM reported that Damascus airport had been evacuated and all flights had been suspended.

The insurgents also announced that that they had entered the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital and “freed” their prisoners there.

The night before, opposition forces had captured the central city of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, after government troops abandoned it. The city lies at a key junction between the capital Damascus and the Syrian coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus – the bottom of the Syrian leader and the positioning of a strategic Russian naval base.

The rebels had already captured the cities of Aleppo and Hama in addition to large parts of the south in a lightning offensive that began on November twenty seventh. Analysts said rebel control of Homs can be a game-changer.

The rebels' entry into Damascus got here after the Syrian army withdrew from much of the southern a part of the country and other areas, including several provincial capitals, remained under the control of opposition fighters.

The advances last week were by far the most important in years by opposition factions led by a bunch that has its origins in al-Qaeda and is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations. In their push to topple Assad's government, the insurgents led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) faced little resistance from the Syrian army.

UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen called on Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to make sure an “orderly political transition”. Speaking to reporters on the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is Assad's primary international backer, said he felt “compassion for the Syrian people.”

In Damascus, people rushed to fill up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon and tried to go away the country. Lebanese border officials closed the primary Masnaa border crossing late Saturday, leaving many individuals waiting.

Many shops within the capital were closed, a resident told The Associated Press, and people still open were running out of staples reminiscent of sugar. Some were selling items for 3 times the traditional price.

The United Nations said it was moving non-critical personnel in a foreign country as a precaution.

Syrian state media denied social media rumors that Assad had left the country, saying he was carrying out his duties in Damascus.

He received little to no help from his allies. Russia is busy with its war in Ukraine. Lebanon's Hezbollah, which once sent 1000’s of fighters to support Assad's forces, has been weakened by years of conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region weakened by regular Israeli airstrikes.

US President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media on Saturday that the United States should avoid military involvement in Syria. Separately, President Joe Biden's national security adviser said the Biden administration had no intention of intervening there.

Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on implementing a 2015 U.N. resolution calling for a Syrian-led political process can be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of an interim governing body, followed by the drafting of a brand new structure and at last elections supervised by the United Nations.

Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, met with Pederson on the sidelines of the Doha summit to debate the situation in Syria.

In a press release, participants reiterated their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to an end to military activities and protect civilians.”

An insurgent commander, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the messaging app Telegram that opposition forces had begun the “final phase” of their offensive by encircling Damascus.

HTS controls much of northwest Syria and established a “salvation government” in 2017 to administer day-to-day affairs within the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to reshape the group's image by cutting ties with al-Qaeda, abandoning hardline officials and embracing pluralism and non secular tolerance.

The shock offensive began on November twenty seventh. Gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, and the central city of Hama, the country's fourth largest city.

Since the conflict began in March 2011, the Syrian government has described armed opposition members as terrorists.

Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to reap the benefits of the lull in fighting lately to deal with the country's underlying problems. “Assad has not taken advantage of this opportunity to engage with his people and restore relations with them,” he said.

As the Denver Broncos prepared to make their third-round pick within the NFL Draft in April, they were thrilled to see Jonah Elliss' name was still on the board.

Denver coach Sean Payton said earlier this season that the team had a second-round grade on pass rusher from the University of Utah. They believed he had the tools to contribute in his first season, a necessity that was heightened by a spring injury to last yr's third-round pick, Drew Sanders.

There was only one problem. The Atlanta Falcons selected two picks ahead of the Broncos. Their general manager is Terry Fontenot, who previously served within the New Orleans Saints front office for nearly all of Payton's 16 seasons because the team's head coach. And on Atlanta's roster was a linebacker named Kaden Elliss, Jonah's brother and a seventh-round pick by Payton, Fontenot and the Saints in 2019.

“I turned to George (Paton, Denver general manager) and said, ‘Terry is going to draft the brother; “I know it,” Payton said this week. “They picked another player and then of course we were excited to make our selection.

The Falcons selected Washington outside linebacker Bralen Trice, who suffered an ACL injury in the preseason, with the 74th pick. Two picks later, the Broncos took Jonah Elliss.

Immediately, Payton's phone buzzed with a text message. It was Kaden.

“I won’t inform you what it said,” Payton said with fun, “but I would say that getting to know Kaden really helped us understand the mindset of football as it relates to the next election.”

Kaden Elliss also didn't reveal many details of the exchange.

“(I was) just like, 'You got a good hit,'” the Falcons linebacker said. “Other things have been said, but it is what it is. I'm just so excited that he's in Denver and out there with Sean (and) a good team. We have family out west, so it’s a good place.”

Two weeks after the draft, the NFL schedule was released and a date was set for an Elliss family reunion. On Sunday, when the Falcons visit the Broncos in a matchup of two teams attempting to take one other step toward the playoffs, Kaden and Jonah will face off for the primary time within the NFL. Both play defense – Kaden because the starting inside linebacker, leading the Falcons with 88 tackles; Jonah as an out of doors linebacker who has secured a job within the pass rush rotation and has two sacks – so there can be no direct conflict between the 2 brothers.

Unless …

“Maybe we can find a way to sneak in a special teams match,” Kaden said.

The brothers are two of 5 Ellis relations to make it to the NFL. Christian Elliss is a linebacker for the New England Patriots and Noah Elliss is a defensive tackle who hung out with the Philadelphia Eagles the last two seasons and is a free agent. Along with Kaden and Jonah, they’re considered the one 4 brothers to have played within the NFL. Jonah said Friday he wouldn't be surprised if Elijah Elliss, a rookie defensive end at Utah, joins the family's NFL fraternity in the approaching years.

“I can’t help but know an Elliss,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said this week. “There are a million of them.”

Her father, Luther Elliss, played ten seasons within the league as a defensive tackle. The first nine got here from the Detroit Lions, who chosen him in the primary round in 1995 after an All-American college profession at Utah. His final season was with the Broncos in 2004, a fitting end to his profession for somebody who grew up in Mancos, Colorado. Elliss later became the Broncos' team chaplain, a job he filled in the course of the team's Super Bowl season in 2015.

This panel at 1pm is definitely very funny because I just saw Elliss 55 attempting to sack Dak after which I saw Elliss 52 attempting to cover for Justice Hill after which I saw how Elliss 53 moved forward to tackle Tony Pollard.

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 3, 2024

During Elliss' only season with the Broncos, it was not unusual for the family's large pickup truck to drag as much as the team's facility. Luther and his wife Rebecca have 12 children, seven of whom were adopted. With a family this size, competition was inevitable. Sometimes the hardest races took place on the dinner table.

“We made up games. We would play every game under the sun, every sport,” Kaden said. “Sometimes it was football. Sometimes it was football or random games we made up.”

Luther's profession served as a guide. Most of the Elliss boys didn't play tackle football until eighth grade – Kaden sneaked in in fifth and seventh grade – however the love of the game embedded of their shared upbringing quickly grew.

“My father was obviously able to lead our work,” Kaden said. “So we’re not only working hard, but we’re also working smart and showing ourselves where we need to improve, what we need to do if we want to take this step.”

Sunday's matchup between the Broncos and Falcons is stuffed with familiar connections. Falcons safety Justin Simmons spent his first eight years in Denver after the team drafted him with a third-round pick in 2016. Thirty of his 31 profession interceptions got here in a Broncos uniform. He and his wife, Taryn Simmons, have established deep roots within the Denver community through their work with the Justin Simmons Foundation, and the protection has been named the team's Walter Payton Man of the Year thrice. He said he'll be “a Bronco for life” this week, but his concentrate on Sunday can be helping the Falcons to their seventh win.

“Training against him for years is one thing, but getting hot balls will be fun,” Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “I jokingly told him, 'Hey, bro, when you see me in the middle, remember that we're friends.'”

Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson grew up in Denver. He was a Broncos fan whose family had season tickets. He later became a standout football player at Chatfield High School in suburban Littleton, Colorado.

“When I saw we were going to Denver, (my) family was definitely excited,” Robinson said. “The atmosphere is hard to beat. There and KC are probably the two best in the NFL. I’m looking forward to getting back home.”

This return can be special, but reunion games and homecomings occur every week within the NFL. A fight between brothers at one among their father's home stadiums with greater than 30 relations? Not a lot.

“I played with one of my brothers in college, but this is obviously different,” said Broncos tight end Adam Trautman, whose locker is next to Jonah's in Denver and who was previously a teammate of Kaden's in New Orleans. “It’s always been competitive between me and my brother, and I’m sure they treat it that way.”

The Elliss brothers aren't taking Sunday's opportunity with no consideration. But at the top of the day, it's one other competition in an infinite series of competitions. Every yr, normally over the Fourth of July weekend, the family gathers for the Elliss Olympics, a multi-day event with a rotating list of competitions, from corn hole to board games. The event features a trophy with the names of the winners, which is kept in Luther and Rebecca's house. Including spouses and shut family friends, the competition can include greater than three dozen participants.

Trash talking is an integral a part of the spectacle. Jonah shared this week that he and his fiancée are dominating the pickleball competition, a proven fact that angered his older brother.

“I think we only scored three or four goals in a game before 11 a.m.,” Jonah said. “We're pretty good. We killed (Kaden). He didn’t like it.”

However, most appear to agree that Kaden sets the pace in the case of tweeting. So it's perhaps no surprise that the Falcons linebacker, who already has a straight NFL win over Christian of their 2022 meeting, delivered the parting words before his duel with Jonah.

“I’m 1-0,” he said of the Elliss matches. “This week we’ll make it 2-0.”

policy

When Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota introduced himself to Americans in campaign speeches across the country in recent weeks, he mentioned that his family suffered from infertility, but at the identical time warned that conservatives wanted to limit artificial insemination.

“Even if we wouldn't make the same decision for ourselves, there is one golden rule: Mind your own shit,” Walz said that evening when Vice President Kamala Harris introduced him at their first joint rally in Philadelphia. “Look, that includes artificial insemination. And that is a personal matter for me and my family.”

Many have assumed that his family relied on artificial insemination to conceive their two children. Several news outlets, including the New York Times, Associated Press and Minnesota Star Tribune, have reported that the family utilized in vitro fertilization. Fertility activists also got here to this conclusion after hearing Walz speak. In April, Tim Walz's gubernatorial campaign office sent a fundraising letter in an envelope that read, “My wife and I have started a family through artificial insemination.”

When asked if the Walzes desired to share more details about their efforts to conceive a toddler, the Harris-Walz campaign team recently clarified that the couple didn’t depend on artificial insemination, but slightly on one other widely used fertility procedure called intrauterine insemination (IUI).

The treatments have one key difference: Unlike IVF, IUI neither creates nor discards embryos. That's why anti-abortion activists don't try to limit the treatment.

But for girls who’ve trouble conceiving, the procedures are sometimes intertwined. Some patients say they use “IVF” as a catch-all term for a big selection of fertility treatments. Walz said he and his wife tried to have children for seven years.

The success rate with IVF is way higher than with IUI. However, reproductive endocrinologists or fertility doctors may recommend that folks with infertility start with IUI since it is way inexpensive and fewer invasive. In each cases, patients often take hormone medications to induce or enhance ovulation. And individuals and couples who undergo the 2 procedures often undergo similar emotional journeys, where while success can bring elation, each failed attempt could be devastating.

Anyone who begins such treatment may find themselves in a world of dizzying and sometimes strange medical terminology.

In IUI, a highly concentrated sperm sample is collected and inserted into the lady's uterus using a catheter, mimicking natural conception. In IVF, multiple embryos are sometimes created within the laboratory and frozen, and people more than likely to lead to a healthy pregnancy are then transferred.

Since telling his story, Walz has typically referred to his family as having undergone “treatments like” IVF. “Governor Walz talks like normal people talk,” said Mia Ehrenberg, a spokeswoman for the campaign. “He used a common-sense shorthand for fertility treatments.”

By linking IVF to his family's experience, Walz became an influential ambassador for the Democratic Party on a difficult issue for Republican leaders, who had sought to distance themselves from efforts by influential conservative Christians to limit a well-liked procedure.

Infertility is common. According to federal data, about one in seven women on this country has trouble getting pregnant or maintaining pregnancy, and about 12% of ladies have used fertility services, which may include testing for themselves or their partners, ovulation medications, IUI, surgery to remove blockages, and IVF.

In 2022, nearly 100,000 children were born through IVF within the United States, and a Pew Research Center poll this 12 months found that a big majority of Americans view the strategy favorably.

The issue of IVF got here into the national highlight in February when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos in test tubes must be considered children. The ruling prompted fertility clinics in Alabama to stop IVF services out of fear that patients or providers might be held legally liable if embryos were destroyed. Republican leaders like former President Donald Trump have struggled to reassure voters that they support IVF.

In the backlash that followed, Democrats realized that IVF could change into a serious campaign issue in a key election 12 months. At the time, Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, also agreed that the governor must be more open about her own experiences, Gwen Walz said in an announcement provided to the Times by the Harris-Walz campaign team.

“Gwen and I have two beautiful children thanks to reproductive health care like IVF,” he posted on Facebook after the ruling. “Don't let these people get away with telling you they support IVF when their hand-picked judges are against it.”

In his State of the State address just a few weeks after the Alabama ruling, Tim Walz called the choice a “direct attack on my children.” On July 25, as Harris, a recent presidential contender, was considering her running mate, Walz criticized Republican vice presidential nominee and Senator JD Vance for “opposing the miracle of IVF” by voting against a bill that will have protected access to the procedure.

Barbara Collura, president of the infertility advocacy group Resolve, said she remembered Walz speaking at her organization's annual event in 2017.

At the time, Walz was the rating Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Collura's organization was pushing for veterans to receive broader medical insurance coverage for IVF services. She recalled knowing after the speech that Walz was “an IVF dad.” Collura said she was surprised, but not alarmed, to learn that the Walzes had undergone other fertility treatments.

In recent days, people have approached Collura about Walz, she said, adding, “Someone is actually telling their fertility story, and that means a lot to me.”

Conversations about infertility have long been largely private, leading to a scarcity of common public language and knowledge.

“I think any reproductive endocrinologist would agree: These are very sensitive issues for our patients,” said Dr. Gerard Letterie, a reproductive endocrinologist at Seattle Reproductive Medicine. “Men don't want to come forward and say, 'I have a low sperm count.' Women don't want to say, 'I need technology to get pregnant.'”

But for the reason that overturning of Roe v. Wade, discussions about reproductive health care have change into more open, with more women sharing stories of painful pregnancies, miscarriages and attempts to conceive. And Walz appears to be breaking latest ground as a vice presidential candidate by speaking out about his family's experience with infertility.

In an announcement, Gwen Walz, who worked as a highschool English teacher when the couple underwent fertility treatments within the mid-Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, said the one one who knew intimately what they were going through was a neighbor. “She was a nurse and helped me with the shots I needed as part of the IUI process,” Walz said. “I rushed home from school and she gave me the shots to make sure we stayed on track.”

Gwen Walz described “the journey of infertility” as “despair that can eat away at the soul.”

In interviews, some advocates for people fighting infertility said they weren’t interested by the particular treatments the Walzes underwent, but saw the family as a vital voice for a big group of Americans who often suffered in private and received little understanding from most people.

“That's what politicians are trying to do,” said Briana Helgestad of Lakeville, Minn. She and her husband, Bill Helgestad, have undergone fertility treatments, including IUI and IVF, for several years. “They're trying to connect with the people who are voting.”

This article originally appeared in .

politics

Joe Biden's family grew up in a proud middle-class Irish Catholic family and idolized the Kennedys. They saw the Kennedys – successful, wealthy, attractive Irish Catholics – because the embodiment of the American dream. Biden says Robert F. Kennedy Sr., whose bust stands within the Oval Office, inspired him to turn out to be a public defender and eventually run for office.

“The Kennedys, as a group, were the people he modeled his life after,” said former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), who was Biden’s longtime chief of staff and stays his close friend. “Not just his political life, but his life.”

When the Kennedy family rallied behind Biden in Philadelphia last week and gave their full-throated support to his re-election campaign, consciously selecting him over one in every of their very own – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s running as an independent – it was not fairly politically helpful. It was also an especially personal victory for Biden.

Privately, Biden told advisers that Thursday was probably the greatest days of his campaign, in keeping with people conversant in his comments who spoke on condition of anonymity to debate private conversations. The event was attended by greater than a dozen members of the prolonged Kennedy family, including six of Kennedy Jr.'s siblings, and Biden was particularly moved once they said the president was the candidate to hold on their family's legacy.

Publicly, Biden was visibly touched by the overwhelming support from Kerry Kennedy, his rival's sister.

“This was the most meaningful introduction I've ever had in my life, other than my sister's introduction,” Biden said Thursday after her introduction.

The Kennedy family hopes their support will help Biden politically. Kennedy Jr.'s independent presidential campaign is threatening to take votes away from Biden, leaving Democrats increasingly concerned that it could significantly harm the president's probabilities of defeating Donald Trump. The final result could hinge on a number of thousand votes in key states, and plenty of Democrats say they lost the White House in 2000 and 2016 due to such third-party insurrections.

Within the Kennedy family, Kennedy Jr.'s cosmopolitan campaign was painful, people conversant in their discussions said. When he initially challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination, his family was frustrated – and made it clear they were on Biden's side – but largely ignored the candidacy publicly. They weren’t concerned about Kennedy Jr.'s influence on the election, since Biden would almost actually defeat him for the Democratic nomination.

But because he’s an independent candidate with ballot access across the country, relations are increasingly concerned about his ability to influence the election — and damage their family's legacy.

“Almost every single one of Joe and Rose Kennedy’s grandchildren supports Joe Biden,” Kerry Kennedy said in her introduction to Biden. “That’s right, the Kennedy family supports Joe Biden for president.”

She later compared Biden on to her father, the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.).

“Dad stood for equal justice, for human rights and freedom from want and fear,” she said, “just as President Biden does today.”

The Kennedy family occupies an unusual place within the American political imagination. President John F. Kennedy was a young, charismatic president who energized a generation of Americans until his shocking assassination in 1963. His brother Robert, an excellent more tortured figure, was seen by many Democrats because the embodiment of tragic idealism while running for president after his own assassination in 1968.

Scandal also followed the family, and while members of the following generation also achieved political office, none of them achieved the political and cultural influence of their parents. Still, the Kennedy mystique stays for a lot of Democratic voters, especially older ones.

This background is one in every of the the reason why Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy has given such a twist to the present presidential campaign. The revered senator's son and namesake has embraced controversial, baseless claims about every thing, including vaccines and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — which has unnerved many Democrats and, apparently, a few of his own relations.

Several of those relatives have had targeted conversations with Kennedy Jr. about his candidacy, but to no avail, and plenty of people near him say they don’t imagine he’ll drop out of the race. That understanding fueled the family's desire to hitch in a public endorsement of Biden, people conversant in their conversations said.

“This was not easy for anyone, and I think what no one should forget is that despite the scope of the event, given the dynamics of this race, it was not easy for anyone,” former Congressman Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), said a grandson of the elder Robert F. Kennedy, who now serves as Biden's special envoy to Northern Ireland, in an interview. “But it was an important thing.”

Like other members of his family, he declined to comment directly on his uncle's presidential campaign. Several of the candidate's relations have condemned Kennedy's comments on vaccines and other issues, but they’ve been careful to not portray their support for Biden as an explicit rebuke of their relative. Instead, they are saying it reflects their belief that there are only two possible outcomes in November: Biden wins or former President Trump wins.

“Given the reality we find ourselves in, there are only two people who can win this race,” Joe Kennedy said. “There are only two parties that have the necessary structures to win this race. So every additional candidate in this dynamic withdraws support from one side or the other.”

For his part, Kennedy Jr. has not commented on his family's approval because the incident. However, before his siblings met with Biden, he wrote on social media: “I heard that some of my family members will be supporting President Biden today.” I'm glad they’re politically energetic – it's a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.”

At age 81, Biden has discovered that his own path — one which has included each enormous political success and immense personal tragedy — parallels in some ways in which of the Kennedy family.

After immersing himself within the Kennedy story as a toddler, Biden found comfort within the embrace of family after the deaths of those closest to him. A couple of weeks after his election to the Senate in 1972 and before he was even sworn in, Biden's wife and daughter were killed in a automobile accident. His sons Beau and Hunter were injured and Biden considered giving up his seat to look after them.

But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), together with other colleagues, convinced Biden to remain. Kennedy helped Biden establish his Senate office and have become a mentor and shut friend.

“I know the president is someone who places a lot of value on family and places a lot of value on loyalty, and when you're there for someone at their most vulnerable, he's going to remember that,” Joe Kennedy said of the connection his family to Biden. “It is this relationship that, in my opinion, had a great influence on the members of both families, especially the older generation. They have also suffered immense loss and so has he, so there is a commonality there.”

In addition to Joe Kennedy, many other Kennedys work in Biden's government: Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, is ambassador to Australia; Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Edward Kennedy's widow, is the ambassador to Austria; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, one in every of Kennedy Jr.'s siblings who appeared on stage with Biden, previously worked in Biden's Labor Department as an adviser on retirement and pension issues. (The two ambassadors aren’t allowed to have interaction in political activity and weren’t present on the election event on Thursday.)

That rally in Philadelphia, led largely by Joe Kennedy and Kerry Kennedy, got here after relations made it clear they desired to publicly support the president. Given the scale of the family, the organization took months. While there was discussion of holding the event in Massachusetts, the Kennedys' traditional home, relations decided against it because most of them not live within the state.

The Kennedys also desired to campaign in a battleground state, and after the rally, a few of them knocked on doors and met with Biden campaign volunteers in Philadelphia.

This month, nearly 50 members of the Kennedy clan gathered on the White House for the annual St. Patrick's Day celebration, taking a personal tour of the Oval Office and posing for a photograph with Biden within the Rose Garden. Biden and lots of the Kennedys shared the photo on social media, the primary implicit rebuke of Kennedy Jr.'s campaign from his relations.

But during that visit, like Thursday's event, Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign was not specifically brought up, relations said.

“A lot of what was going on in the Oval Office, people were talking to him about the presence of President Kennedy and my father and where he put the bust and why he likes to look at my father's bust when he's making difficult decisions,” said Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

She added: “We have a wonderful connection with Joe Biden. We love politics. We love this country. We love Ireland.”