Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries voiced their strong support for Harris to be the Democratic nominee for president in a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

"We are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris," Schumer said.

"We are brimming with excitement, enthusiasm and unity," Schumer said as he announced that Harris would be the candidate. "She said she would work to earn the support of our party and boy did she do so, in quick order."

Schumer noted a "surge of enthusiasm from every corner of our party uniting behind Vice President Harris." He touted her record and said her candidacy is the "next chapter in our quest" to ensure former President Donald Trump does not become retake the White House.

Jeffries said Harris is "ready, willing and able to lead us into the future."

"I am proud to strongly endorse Kamala Harris to be the 47th President of the United States of America," Jeffries said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

The White House has just sent details on two upcoming trips, one for Vice President Kamala Harris this week and one for President Joe Biden next week.

Harris will travel to Indianapolis on Wednesday to attend the biennial convention of one of the nation's largest historically Black sororities. This will be on the heels of her visit to Milwaukee today.

Biden will travel to Austin next Monday, July 29 -- a rescheduled visit to the LBJ Presidential Library for the 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The president didn't go last week, as originally scheduled, in the aftermath of the assassination attempt.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

In a very rare move, the State Department organized a press gaggle with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, creating an opportunity for him to address the recent Washington headlines.

ABC News asked Blinken for his reaction to President Biden's decision not to seek another term and whether he saw Vice President Harris as an able replacement.

"As you all know, I don't engage in politics," Blinken began, but said he has known Harris for more than a decade and said he had been able to "observe her very closely in the situation room, in the Oval Office, around the world as a leading voice for American foreign policy."

Though the secretary did not explicitly endorse Harris, he extolled her leadership during foreign engagements, citing her work in East Asia and also claiming she was "deeply engaged in the Middle East and trying to find a peaceful path forward" and “helping to drive investment in countries in our own hemisphere so people have opportunity in the countries that they come from so they don't have to make the hazardous journey to the United States."

Blinken continued: "What I've observed is someone that asks time and again the penetrating questions, who cuts to the chase, and is intensely focused on the interests of the American people and making sure our foreign policy is doing everything it can to advance those interests."

Vice President Harris' perceived lack of experience in foreign policy has clouded her campaign. While in office, she has spent just three days in the Middle East and four days in Latin America. Still, the secretary rejected the notion that it wasn't her forte.

"My observation is she is a very strong, very effective and deeply respected voice for our country around the world. When she speaks, she speaks on behalf of the United States," Blinken said.

-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department began shutting down roads leading to UMC Hospital last week when President Biden took ill in Vegas, according to the department.

"The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was notified that President Joe Biden was sick on July 17th during his visit to Las Vegas. We did not know the nature of his illness. As a precaution, LVMPD proactively began to shut down roads leading to UMC Hospital. The Secret Service then advised LVMPD the President was going directly to Harry Reid International Airport and would be leaving Las Vegas," the department told ABC News.

Biden tested positive for COVID on Wednesday, following a campaign event in Las Vegas, the White House said. He has been self-isolating in Rehoboth, Delaware.

-ABC News' Josh Margolin and Alex Stone