Today in one sentence: Biden – acknowledging that U.S. weapons have been used to kill civilians in Gaza – threatened to cut off shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a full-scale invasion of Rafah; Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson failed after 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voted to table the motion; the Ohio House declined to take up a Senate-passed bill to ensure that Biden appears on the November ballot in the state; and Stormy Daniels completed her testimony in Trump’s election interference trial involving falsified business records.

1/ Biden – acknowledging that U.S. weapons have been used to kill civilians in Gaza – threatened to cut off shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a full-scale invasion of Rafah. More than a million displaced Palestinians are currently sheltering in the southern Gaza city. Until now, which follows months of growing tension and frustration with Israel’s management of the war, Biden has resisted calls to limit U.S. support of Israel’s efforts to go after Hamas amid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Biden administration has also said for months that it would not support an operation in Rafah unless Israel presented a credible plan to evacuate and protect civilians living in the area. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said. “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden added, referring to 2,000-pound bombs that he paused shipments of last week. On Tuesday, Israeli troops seized control of and closed the Rafah border crossing in what the White House characterized as a limited operation – short of the full invasion of the city. Since then, negotiations for a hostage and ceasefire deal have paused, in part because of the fighting in Rafah, and no aid has entered through Gaza’s southern crossings. The WHO and other humanitarian aid agencies warned that hospitals in southern Gaza have less than three days of fuel supplies left and without fuel “all humanitarian operations will stop.” Meanwhile, Netanyahu, who has vowed to achieve a “total victory” over Hamas and said the country’s military would enter Rafah “with or without” a ceasefire deal, reacted with defiance to Biden’s warning, saying: “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone.” The IDF’s spokesman added that Israel already had the “necessary weapons” for its planned operations, “including in Rafah.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal)

2/ Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson failed after 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voted to table the motion. After threatening to force a referendum vote on Johnson’s speakership, Greene’s Republican colleagues booed her when she officially filed her motion to vacate. In response, Greene said: “This is the uniparty for the American people watching.” The overall vote was 359-43, with 11 Republicans and 32 Democrats voting to move forward with the motion. After the vote to kill Greene’s effort, Johnson expressed appreciation for lawmakers’ “show of confidence to defeat this misguided effort,” calling for “the end of the personality politics and the frivolous character assassination,” adding: “It’s regrettable.” House Democrats, meanwhile, said their willingness to save Johnson this time was a “one-shot deal” contingent on whether House Republicans “further isolate the extreme MAGA wing.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Politico)

3/ The Ohio House declined to take up a Senate-passed bill to ensure that Biden appears on the November ballot in the state. Under current law, state officials must certify the ballot by Aug. 7 − 90 days beforehand − but Biden won’t be nominated by the Democratic National Convention until 12 days later. Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, meanwhile, said Biden will be on the ballot either through the Legislature or the courts. “I don’t want to minimize that this has to happen, but I do want to minimize anybody thinking that there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that this isn’t going to happen,” DeWine said. “The president’s name is going to be on the ballot.” (USA Today / NBC News)

4/ Stormy Daniels completed her testimony in Trump’s election interference trial involving falsified business records. In more than seven hours of testimony over two days, Daniels described meeting Trump, details of their alleged sexual encounter in 2006, and the $130,000 hush money payment. Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, repeatedly attacked Daniels for trying to monetize her story about Trump with a book, a tour of strip clubs, and merchandise. “Not unlike Mr. Trump,” Daniels replied. Judge Juan Merchan also denied Trump’s second request for a mistrial and declined to modify Trump’s gag order so he could respond publicly to Daniels’ testimony. Nevertheless, Trump attacked Merchan outside the courtroom, saying: “This judge, what he did, and what his ruling was, is a disgrace.” Trump added: “We’re so innocent, there’s never been anything like it.” (NPR / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)

Two years ago today: Day 475: "Serious risk."
Five years ago today: Day 840: No choice.