Marco Rubio Is Trump’s Latest VP Presidential Candidate Contender: Reports
Former President Donald Trump is reportedly considering Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), his one-time rival, as a running mate in his reelection battle against President Joe Biden.
Several sources confirmed to NBC News and CBS News that Rubio’s star is rising among the ever-growing list of vice presidential candidates who could join Trump’s 2024 campaign.
But Rubio is among a list of Republican candidates that includes fellow Floridians such as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), whom Trump is eying to join his ticket.
Other running mate contenders include Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), and Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
Trump has repeatedly praised Scott in particular on the campaign trail. The former president told Fox News‘s Laura Ingraham during a town hall event last month that Scott has “been so great. He’s been such a great advocate.”
“He has been much better for me than he was for himself,” Trump continued. “I watched his campaign, and he doesn’t like talking about himself, but boy, does he talk about Trump.”
Rubio and Trump campaigned against one another during the 2016 GOP presidential primary before Trump vanquished the Florida senator in his path to claim both the GOP nomination and presidency that year.
The Florida senator would be a boon to Trump’s campaign as it seeks to increase support from Hispanic voters, but federal laws bar electors from voting for presidential and vice presidential candidates from the same state.
If Rubio were to join Trump’s ticket, one would need to change residency from the Sunshine State. Trump previously claimed New York residency but updated his homestead to Mar-a-Lago during his presidency.
Rubio’s campaign directed the Washington Examiner to a recent interview where the senator elaborated on the vice presidential rumors.
“Anybody who gets a chance to serve as vice president of the United States should consider that an honor,” Rubio told Glenn Beck. “I have never spoken either to President Trump or anybody on his campaign about this or anybody else that they’re considering for vice president.”
“What I do know is that unlike the Democrats, President Trump will have a lot of good options available to him,” he continued. “And I’m confident he’s going to make the perfect and right choice.
Trump’s first running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, recently announced he wouldn’t endorse Trump’s 2024 campaign.
“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence told Fox News’s Martha MacCallum.
“During my presidential campaign, I made it clear there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues,” he added. “And not just our differences on our constitutional duties that I exercised on Jan. 6. Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years.”
Trump flippantly responded he “couldn’t care less” about Pence’s snub.
“We need patriots. We need strong people in our country,” Trump continued. “Our country is going downhill very fast, very rapidly. We need strong people in this country. We don’t need weak people.”
While much attention has been spent on Trump’s running mate, the former president has also mused that his pick may not make that much of a difference for voters.
“The one thing that always surprises me is that the VP choice has absolutely no impact,” Trump said during the Fox News town hall. “It’s whoever the president is.”
A shocking new poll claims Vice President Harris is leading Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by three points in reliably conservative Iowa.
The final survey of the 2024 race for the White House from the famed Des Moines Register newspaper puts the Democratic nominee at 47% over Trump at 44%, in what one pollster described as a “stunning reversal” for the Republican.
“It’s hard for anybody to say they saw this coming,” said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co, the company that conducted the poll. “She has clearly leaped into a leading position.”
Trump held a four point lead over Harris in September in the same poll, and in June had a whopping 18 point lead over President Biden, before the incumbent dropped out of the race.
The poll of 808 likely voters was done between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31, and had a margin of error of 3.4%.
National polls have consistently put the two candidates at near deadlock.
Trump won Iowa in both 2020 and 2016.
Women and independent voters appeared to be driving the late turn toward Harris in the Hawkeye State, the pollster told the outlet, with 56% of women going for the vice president and 52% of men supporting the GOP candidate.
Voters 65 and older are also backing the Democrat, with senior women going for Harris by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
More than 553,000 voters have already cast ballots in Iowa, with 220,140 Republicans showing up to vote vs 219,085 Democrats, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
The Republican Party announced a lawsuit on Saturday in Georgia over Fulton County accepting absentee ballots over the weekend.
“Democrat officials in Georgia are playing fast and loose with election law,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said. While a judge soon after ruled against the GOP, Republicans plan to appeal that decision, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Republicans are also investigating election matters in other counties they allege violate state law.
“Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb, and Gwinnett counties decided at the last minute to accept ballots over the weekend — which disregards the law,” Whatley wrote. “They have also failed to let our poll observers in to watch the process. The Secretary of State has issued guidance to allow Republican poll watchers in but local officials REFUSE. Our election integrity operation has filed a lawsuit. Georgia voters demand that the state and courts ensure that these reckless counties administer fair, transparent, and secure elections. Anything less undermines public trust.”
The news comes just days ahead of the 2024 presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. RNC Co-Chairwoman Lara Trump added that their legal operation is “handling” the issues throughout Saturday. “Stay vigilant and VOTE!” Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law said.
Whatley added in a follow-up statement on Saturday that Republican poll watchers were “let into the building in all four Georgia counties.”
“Our lawsuit over the offices remaining open is still pending, but we have eyes in the room as votes are being counted,” Whatley said. “We will continue our aggressive efforts to enforce Georgia law and protect the vote.”
Our Georgia operation is on the ground and handling this in real-time. We will share updates as they are available — stay vigilant and VOTE! https://t.co/FHfCoVr8Ju
— Lara Trump (@LaraLeaTrump) November 2, 2024
On Friday, the Georgia GOP released a statement calling it a “blatant violation” for Fulton County election officials to open four election offices over the weekend. GOP’s lawsuit in Fulton County was tossed out
“This must be stopped immediately and those willfully breaking Georgia law should be held accountable,” the Georgia GOP said. “To make matters worse, the four election office locations are situated in areas of the county that will clearly favor Democrat candidates. We are calling on state officials to take immediate action to stop this and maintain confidence in Georgia’s election integrity. Fulton County’s patently illegal acts give us no choice but to immediately file suit.”
On Saturday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said state law permits election officials to receive absentee ballots in person at government facilities if the county chooses.
“Several counties have chosen to do this,” Raffensperger. “We are working with the counties and the political parties to ensure this is done transparently and within Georgia law.”
In the 2020 election, the deep-blue Fulton County swung for President Joe Biden, who secured over 72% of the vote there.
This week, Fulton County, along with other counties, announced that it planned to keep election offices open over the weekend so voters could turn in absentee ballots in-person. Voters also were permitted to use drop boxes to turn in their ballots without human contact.
In 2020, Trump lost to Biden in Georgia by just around 12,000 votes; Georgia is again a key battleground state in 2024.
A 60-year-old male has been arrested for beating a Trump supporter inside a New York grocery store over the victim’s “Trump 2024” hat, police say.
The suspect, Robert Yott, allegedly targeted the Trump supporter over his “Trump 2024” hat and repeatedly punched the victim in the head and face, leaving the Trump supporter with broken teeth and a bloodied mouth, the report said.
“On [November 1], around 10:00 a.m., the Village of Bath Police Department was dispatched to a fight at the Tops Friendly Markets,” a press release from The Village of Bath Police Department said. Bath is a small town located in Steuben County.
“It was determined that Robert Yott, age 60, of Bath, initiated a confrontation with a stranger inside Tops, after becoming aggressive over the fact that the stranger was wearing a Trump 2024 hat,” police said.
“Mr. Yott punched the victim in the mouth and head several times, causing the victim’s teeth to be broken and mouth bloody,” the press release continued. “Mr. Yott was not known to the victim and this appears to be a random act of violence.”
Following the assault, Yott was arrested and charged with one count of assault in the second degree and fourth degree criminal mischief.
“Mr. Yott was arrested and charged with one count of Assault in the Second Degree, a Class D Felony, and Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree, a Class A Misdemeanor,” the department said. “Mr. Yott was processed and transported to Steuben County Jail where he is currently awaiting CAP arraignment.”
Numerous supporters of former President Donald Trump have been targeted and attacked for their political views.
In June, for example, an 82-year-old man in Massachusetts was allegedly assaulted by a 27-year-old male for holding a Trump sign, police said.
In April, a 64-year-old man from New Jersey was allegedly assaulted with a sledgehammer and was hospitalized for significant injuries to the head. The suspect, 36-year-old Michael Gonzales, was charged with attempted murder over the assault. The victim, Rocky Granata, was known for driving around New Jersey in a vehicle covered with pro-Trump and MAGA messages, reports indicate.
President Joe Biden raised eyebrows on Saturday while he was stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania.
Biden, who has often capitalized on his ties to Scranton, Pennsylvania, during political campaigns, was attempting to help Harris over the line with just a few days left until the November 5th general election. While speaking to the crowd, he riffed on the Democratic Party’s political nemeses — MAGA Republicans — and said that they were “the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the a**.”
Biden: MAGA Republicans “are the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the ass.”pic.twitter.com/sflWWrAPMc
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 2, 2024
“But I’m serious,” Biden said, baring his teeth. “These are the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the a**.”
“He’s intentionally trying to hurt Harris and no one can convince me differently at this point,” Meghan McCain commented on the video.
He’s intentionally trying to hurt Harris and no one can convince me differently at this point. https://t.co/aueRQkJxCZ
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) November 2, 2024
“Smack in the ass. . . Huh,” Ned Ryun added.
Smack in the ass. . . Huh. https://t.co/ejP8yOmLQ2
— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) November 2, 2024
“Biden is constantly preaching violence. He’s a weak, old, coward. And was always a miserable punk,” radio host Mark Levin said.
Biden is constantly preaching violence. He’s a weak, old, coward. And was always a miserable punk. https://t.co/U7uGJF8OQ4
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) November 2, 2024
“This must be the young, joyful, Democrat unity we’ve been hearing so much about. These people are freaking nuts!!!!” another added.
“If you’re wondering why @KamalaHarris let Biden anywhere near a microphone, it’s because they’re losing PA so badly they rolled the dice sending ‘Scranton Joe’ back in there. Oops,” another commented.
If you’re wondering why @KamalaHarris let Biden anywhere near a microphone, it’s because they’re losing PA so badly they rolled the dice sending “Scranton Joe” back in there.
Oops. https://t.co/BoXOTIKywe
— IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) November 2, 2024
Biden landed himself in hot water earlier in the week for referring to former President Donald Trump’s supporters as “garbage” in reaction to a comedian’s joke during Trump’s rally last week at Madison Square Garden.
Tony “Kill Tony” Hinchcliffe, well known as a roast comedian, made a crack about Puerto Rico being an island “made entirely of garbage,” prompting outrage primarily from Democrats. Biden, counting himself among the outraged, said, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The White House and legacy media worked overtime to unring the bell, trying to claim that he had meant to say that their rhetoric demonizing others was “garbage.” Even the official White House transcript was altered, over the objections of official stenographers.
Actor Harrison Ford has revealed he will be backing Kamala Harris for the presidency with just days until the election.
The 82-year-old star said in a dramatic black-and-white clip he would be backing the vice president and tore into Donald Trump.
The Indiana Jones actor said: ‘I’ve been voting for 64 years, never really wanted to talk about it very much, but when dozens of former members of the Trump administration are sounding alarms, saying ‘for god sake don’t do this again’, you have to pay attention.
‘They’re telling us something important, these aren’t soft people. They are governors, generals, standing up against the leader of the party they spent their lives advocating for.’
Ford explained in some cases people will be voting Democrat for the first time in their life over fears of Trump winning the race to the White House.
He continued: ‘For many of them, this will be the first time they’ve ever voted for someone who doesn’t have an R next to their name.
“I’ve got one vote — same as anyone else — and I’m going to use it to move forward. I’m going to vote for Kamala Harris” – Harrison Ford on why he’s endorsing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz pic.twitter.com/3hlSENqvk1
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) November 2, 2024
‘They know this really matters, the truth is this – Kamala Harris will protect your right to disagree with her about her policies or her ideas.
‘As we have done for centuries, we’ll debate them. We’ll work on them together, and we’ll move forward.’
‘The other guy, he demands unquestioning loyalty, says he wants revenge. I’m Harrison Ford. I’ve got one vote – same as anyone else – and I’m going to use it to move forward. I’m going to vote for Kamala Harris.’
In another clip released in collaboration with the Harris campaign, Ford said that he didn’t agree with them on every policy, nor does he think they’re perfect.
He added: [But] these two people believe in the rule of law. They believe in science. They believe that when you govern, you do so for all Americans.
‘They believe that we are in this together. These are ideas I believe in. These are people I can get behind.’
The Star Wars actor noted he was frustrated with aspects of the country but warned: ‘The other guy, he spent four years turning us against each other while embracing dictators and tyrants around the world.
‘That’s not who we are. We don’t need to make America great again. Come on, we are great, but what we need is to work together again. What we need is a president who works for all of us again.’
Addressing those who remain undecided on how to vote, he added: ‘If you’re still on the fence, here’s a good thing to look at: Who’s trying to scare you into voting for them?
‘Who’s trying to make you look at your neighbors with anger, suspicion, hatred, and who is encouraging you to build something with the people around you? It would be really nice to move forward.’
His comments concerning former Trump administration officials seem to refer to John Kelly, who served on Trump’s staff from 2017 to 2019.
Earlier last month he doubled down on claims he made that Trump once said ‘Hitler did some good things’ and had even praised the Nazi dictator.
Trump’s campaign have consistently denied the claims made by Kelly, who had described his former boss as ‘the general definition of a fascist’.
His former Vice President Mike Pence has also refused to endorse him, citing ‘profound differences’ between the two.
Pence was Trump’s loyal vice president for four years before falling out over Trump’s efforts to cling illegally to power after losing the 2020 election.
Ford joins a long line of celebrities who have publicly endorsed Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.
The likes of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Eminem and Leonardo DiCaprio and others have already backed Harris.
Ford had previously branded Donald Trump a ‘son of a b****’ while appearing on The Jimmy Kimmel show in 2020 and spoke out about his views on global warming.
He said in 2017: ‘We face an unprecedented moment in this country. Today’s greatest threat is not climate change, not pollution, not flood or fire.
‘It’s that we’ve got people in charge of important s*** who don’t believe in science.’
In 2020 he also came out and encouraged voters to back President Joe Biden, again raising concerns of Trump’s take on the environment and global warming.
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib publicly refused to endorse Vice President Harris during a rally in Detroit — a critical decision that could tip the scales against Democrats in Michigan.
The move carries significant electoral implications, with Michigan part of the Democrats “blue wall” of must-win states in the 2024 presidential election.
A Trump triumph there would hamper Harris’ chances of winning the White House.
Tlaib, a member of the House’s far-left “Squad,” is upset with the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel.
The only Palestinian-American in Congress, she has been openly supportive of Hamas during her time in office and has been censured by her colleagues for defending Hamas and calling for the destruction of Israel.
Tlaib, one of the last major Democrats who has withheld her endorsement from the top of the ticket, steered clear of Harris-Walz during a United Auto Workers union rally on Friday and instead offered a general plea to get out the vote, the Detroit News reported.
“Don’t underestimate the power you all have,” she said.
“More than those ads, those lawn signs, those billboards, you all have more power to turn out people that understand we’ve got to fight back against corporate greed in our country . . . We’ve got to make sure that the nonpartisan part of the ballot gets filled in.”
Tlaib was joined on stage by fellow squad member, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with UAW boss Shawn Fain, both of whom endorsed Harris and sang her praise.
In September Tlaib told far-left journalist Mehdi Hasan that when constituents came to her saying they could not support Harris she told them “there’s other people on this ballot that support a ceasefire. There’s other people on this ballot that can protect our community.”
Tlaib has not made any endorsement in the 2024 race so far, but far-left anti-war candidates like Jill Stein and Cornel West will appear on Michigan’s presidential ballot.
Michigan, which has a large and influential Muslim community, has been at the center of an uncommitted movement of voters who are refusing to back Harris because of Israel’s war in Gaza and their belief that she has been too supportive of the Jewish state while vice president.
About 57% of American Muslims said they believed Hamas “was justified in attacking Israel as part of their struggle for a Palestinian state,” according to a survey from Cygnal.
A massive hacking scandal that has engulfed Italy is now threatening to spill beyond its borders, sucking in Israel, the Vatican, the United Kingdom and Lithuania.
New claims have been made via police wiretaps that foreign powers were among those using a Milan-based private investigative firm to penetrate state security databases with the aim of obtaining secret information about financial activity, private bank transactions and police investigations.
Italian intelligence firm Equalize, which allegedly hacked information on thousands of people including politicians, entrepreneurs, athletes and even musicians, is accused of working for Israeli intelligence and the Vatican, police wiretaps leaked to Italian media show.
Members of the hacking network, including Nunzio Samuele Calamucci — the man prosecutors accuse of orchestrating the scheme — met with two Israeli agents at the firm’s office in Milan in February 2023 to discuss a task worth €1 million, according to the leaked wiretaps.
The job was a cyber operation against Russian targets, including President Vladimir Putin’s unidentified “right-hand man,” and unearthing the financial trail leading from the bank accounts of wealthy figures to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. The information was then supposed to be passed on to the Vatican.
It’s unclear from the leaked documents why Israeli intelligence and the Vatican were involved with the controversial Milan firm and what their reasons were for soliciting information on Russian targets, but their presence in the dossier has dramatically expanded the scope of Italy’s sprawling investigation.
According to the wiretaps, the Israelis suggested a partnership to exchange information, offering “all of the original documents” from the EU’s so-called Qatargate scandal, which involved allegations that people linked to the European Parliament accepted money or gifts in exchange for doing the Gulf state’s bidding in Brussels.
They also offered the Italian firm information that could help one of Equalizer’s alleged clients, the Italian energy giant Eni, with information on the “illicit trafficking of Iranian gas with Italian companies.”
Eni confirmed in a statement that it had hired Equalize for “an investigative assignment to support its strategy and defense in various criminal and civil cases” but said it was not aware of any illicit activities by the company.
Task force, assemble!
Italian politicians are up in arms about the mega hack-for-hire.
Ivan Scalfarotto, a senator from the opposition centrist Italia Viva party, told POLITICO that the role of foreign actors in the scandal added “a further worrying dimension to a phenomenon that presents strategic risks for the country.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Wednesday that the “unacceptable” hack, which intended “to blackmail, attack or pressure” politicians, and the hackers’ connections beyond national borders made it “much more serious.”
Tajani has ordered the creation of a task force to protect his ministry and Italy’s embassies abroad.
Other countries are likely to be pulled into the Italian investigation.
Calamucci, who previously boasted of penetrating the Pentagon with the Anonymous hacktivist collective, frequently referenced dozens of hackers working for him in Colchester, England. The firm also made use of servers in the United States and Lithuania, where they felt they were less vulnerable, according to leaked documents.
Prosecutors have ordered the seizure of a server in Lithuania and are evaluating whether to make a request to investigators in the U.K., according to reports in Italian media.
Four suspects who are currently under house arrest in relation to the case attended a hearing in Milan on Thursday, but refused to answer the judge’s questions.
Antonia Augimeri and Paolo Simonetti, lawyers for former police investigator Carmine Gallo, who is a partner in Equalize, and IT consultant Calamucci, said Gallo intended to oppose the charges but would be able to have a “fruitful” discussion with investigators only when he had seen all the legal documents.
Calamucci is “willing to clarify his position” as soon as a complete picture of the investigation is outlined, the lawyers said. Some of the allegations raised against him “are empirically unfeasible,” the lawyers added.
An upstate man whose beloved squirrel was cruelly killed by the state said he was treated like a “terrorist” when 10 government agents descended on his home during a five-hour raid.
Mark Longo, whose pet P’nut captured the hearts of 3 million social media users, was stunned when a convoy of vehicles carrying officials from the state departments of Environmental Conservation and Health arrived at his Pine City home Wednesday.
They served him with a surprise warrant allowing them to snatch away P’nut the squirrel and Fred, a raccoon he’d taken in.
“They treated me like I was a terrorist. They treated this raid as if I was a drug dealer. They ransacked my house for five hours,” Longo told The Post Saturday.
“They asked my wife, who is of German descent, what her immigration status was. They asked if I had cameras in my house. They wouldn’t allow me to go to the bathroom without a police escort, who then checked the back of the toilet to see if I was hiding anything there.”
But worse than all of that, they delivered his gray fur baby to its death.
The state claimed it had to euthanize both animals Friday so that they could be tested for rabies — because the squirrel sunk its teeth into the hand of an official during the disturbing raid. The test results are not yet known.
Longo, 34, cared for “P’Nut” for more than seven years, rescuing him when his mother was hit by a car.
“We rehabbed him for eight months, we released him for a day and a half, but he ended up getting attacked. He never developed the instincts to survive outside,” Longo told The Post.
P’nut slept in his own room in their house in Pine City, just south of Elmira, NY.
Fred arrived four months ago, after being dropped off at their front door, and split time between an outdoor enclosure and a room in their residence.
P’nut and Fred were targeted, and not other animals living on the 350-acre property, because they lived indoors.
P’nut was a star on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Even Elon Musk paid tribute to him on X today.
One post said, “President @realDonaldTrump will save the squirrels” and another lamented, “Government overreach kidnapped an orphan squirrel and executed him.”
“My phone is blowing up from people around the country saying how much they loved P’nut,” Longo said. “I have people who call me and cry more than I do.”
The Connecticut native moved to upstate New York last April to start “P’Nut’s Freedom Farm,” a nonprofit animal rescue he operates with his wife, Daniela. The sanctuary is home to 300 rescue animals.
He also has an OnlyFans account under the name “Squirrel Daddy,” and insisted it was separate from his animal rescue work. “That’s just me, completely separate. It actually just made enough money for us to start this organization.”
Longo was stunned that the gang of so-called government conservationists searching his home Wednesday kept him from tending to his other animals during their raid.
“I was not even allowed to fill their water,” he said.
Longo explained it is illegal to house a squirrel and raccoon, but he didn’t have the “heart” to keep them outside.
The DEC said in a statement obtained by WETM that the raid was in response to complaints about Fred, the raccoon, but Longo claimed they used him as an excuse to get P’nut.
“The only time I ever talked to the DEC prior to this was when they got complaints from anonymous people on the internet for P’nut about five or six months ago and that was before Fred,” he said. “They used Fred as their go-to to get into my house.”
The DEC claimed P’nut bit one of its officials on the hand during the raid, but Longo said he did not witness that and that the officials’ hands were heavily protected.
“I watched everybody put gloves on before they entered my house. They had gloves that you get an eagle to land on,” he said.
Longo is demanding an investigation into the claim they were checking the animals for rabies, and filing a motion to get the medical records of the officials in his house to see if they actually got tested for the disease.
“P’nut and Fred did not have rabies or I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now. I’ve been around them long enough, played with them, cared for them and I didn’t foam at the mouth,” he said.
Longo, who only found out his animals were put down through his local news station, said the state must answer for its actions.
“Why was there so much force brought to my house for a racoon and a squirrel?” he asked.
“We have so many other things that we need to focus on. We use our government to do this s–it when we can’t even fix the problems we have in daily human life.”
One elected official blasted state government for its over-the-top response.
“With all the crime in our migrant shelters, good to know we have the time and resources for a squirrel swat team,” scoffed City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island). “I can’t wait to meet the new senior advisor to the governor, Elmer J. Fudd.”
State Sen. Thomas O’Mara, who is Longo’s state representative, said he has reached out to the DEC and Chemung County Department of Health and has been stonewalled on getting an answer about who authorized the decision to euthanize Peanut.
“Everything else our government looks the other way on as far as illegal immigrants but then come down on someone harboring a squirrel,” said state Senator Thomas O’Mara. “It just highlights the priorities of the government we have in New York State, frankly. It’s disturbing and we need answers from both the state DEC and the Chemung County department of Health.”
Ken Girardin, research director at the conservative watchdog Empire Center for Public Policy, said that the raid that ultimately led to Peanut’s death demonstrates how the DEC is “arguably the most powerful state agency.”
“They have sweeping authority that, as this case shows, allows them to enter private homes and seize private property with what appears in this case to be questionable justification,” he said, adding, “Some of the blame falls on New York state lawmakers, who haven’t provided adequate oversight.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans have an ambitious plan to reshape and shrink federal government if they win the election. That vision includes a plan to deport tens of thousands of federal bureaucrats from Washington and relocate them to middle America.
In a wide-ranging interview this week with Just the News, Johnson said he and other GOP leaders wants to move federal agency offices, personnel and assets from the nation’s capital to bring them closer to the people they serve and farther from the monied special interests that often hijack policy and spending.
“There’s a lot of talk about uprooting, you know, these entrenched bureaucracies and putting them out elsewhere around the country,” Johnson told the John Solomon Reports podcast.
He explained such a re-invention of the monstrous federal bureaucracy with more than 2 million federal workers and contractors would integrate with former President Donald Trump’s plan to name billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to lead a government efficiency office and also tie to fiscal conservatives’ vision to eliminate federal bureaucracies and send monies to the states in the form of block grants.
Just how big has federal government become? Read this Congressional Research Service report.
The Louisiana Republican said the deportation of Washington bureaucrats would also create a natural shrinkage in the size and cost of government,
“That accomplishes a lot of important goals but the first would be that you don’t have all these career civil service law protected bureaucrats,” he said. “Some of them have been camped out of these agencies for decades. They’re nameless, faceless. We don’t know who to hold accountable,” he said.
Congressional vision
Johnson continued, saying “The idea is, if you move the agency to, you know, northern Kansas or southwest New Mexico, or wherever it is around the country, then some of the swamp dwellers they will not desire to follow the job to the new, less desirable location,” he added. “They love the swamp. You know they want to stay. They’ll turn them into lobbyist or something to stay in D.C.” The mass transfer and departure of bureaucrats then leads to a “business reorganization proposition” for federal government, he said.
“You’ve got agencies that you can scale down because you have empty cubicles and … almost all the agencies are bloated and inefficient,” he said. “So you can scale that down. And then in the cubicles that you do need to fill, we’ve had America First Policy Institute and some of our other think tanks that have been working to develop a notebook full of highly qualified, previously vetted, limited government conservatives who have expertise in these areas.”
Johnson’s comments were the most sweeping he’s made about a congressional vision for shrinking the budget and reshaping the budget. He said the process would take a “blowtorch” to the regulatory state and align government agencies in the aftermath of a historic Supreme Court ruling this summer that reversed a decades old “Chevron doctrine.” Under the new ruling, federal bureaucrats can’t make up or interpret their own regulations and simply must enforce those authorized by Congress.
“We have a once in a lifetime, yeah, once in a lifetime opportunity to really claw back article one authority to the legislative branch under the Constitution and have an administration that is in tune with that whole agenda. So look, I just think there’s almost unlimited potential in front of us, and we’ve got to seize that moment,” Johnson said.
If Republicans do win a majority in the House and Senate, it is likely to be slim, meaning Johnson’s government reorganization ideas would have to appeal to conservatives and moderates alike in his caucus.
One of the leading voices of the House conservative wing, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told the “Just the News, No Noise” television show Friday that he likes Johnson idea, but with some important caveats like first getting stay-at-home bureaucrats to come back to the office.
“Well, I would prefer an idea where we actually eliminated the bureaucracies and the agencies that need to go away. But here’s the thing: until you stop the telework epidemic the federal government has, it won’t work. So you’re gonna have to first stop that, then you then you can send them out,” Biggs said.
Right-to-work states
He also cautioned Congress not to send unionized federal workers to right-to-work states that give workers and employers more freedoms.
“They’re unionized,” he said of federal workers. “And that means, let’s say you’ve stuck something in Arizona, which is a right to work state, you’d be sending in all these unionized leftist federal bureaucrats to our state, and it would make it even harder to maintain.”
“So if you’re going to send them out, just send them out to a state that’s already deep blue. Send them to California for mercy sakes or or something like that,” he added.
On other issues, Speaker Johnson made clear a GOP-led Congress would be in lockstep with Trump’s already stated agenda to close the border, deport illegal aliens, reduce inflation, renew the Trump tax cuts that expire next year and rapidly improve national security in a turbulent world.
“I think within the hour of President Trump taking this oath of office, he’ll issue an executive order to secure that border,” Johnson said. “We’ll come behind that with legislative action to secure it, seal it up, and then we’ll work on having to deal with the fallout of everybody who was allowed in, and that’s a whole agenda thing.
“But immediately after the border is secured, we go to the economy, because the cost of living is unsustainable, unaffordable, and we know how to fix it … Then we’re going to do that and then somewhere you’re going to have an extension of the Trump era tax cuts,” he explained.
Of course, all of that must be preceded by Republicans winning the Senate, House and White House and Johnson winning another term as Speaker in a fractious GOP caucus. The answer those questions will be decided this month.
Top House Republicans are coalescing behind the House Administration Committee’s subpoena of Democratic fundraising giant ActBlue.
Republicans have accused the company of having insufficient donor verification standards. Committee Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., has argued that the site is vulnerable to fraudulent and illegal foreign donations, though ActBlue has said it “rigorously protects donors’ security.”
“ActBlue has a lot of explaining to do, and Chairman Steil is right to demand answers on these very serious allegations of foreign funds being funneled through the platform,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairman of House Republicans’ campaign arm, told Fox News Digital.
“Just as we must protect the right to vote for American citizens, we must ensure our elections are free from foreign financial interference.”
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., also credited Steil and pointed out that his accusations come amid reports that China and Iran are trying to influence the election.
“Malign foreign actors are attempting to hijack American elections through the Far Left Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue by tipping the scales in favor of Kamala Harris and Congressional Democrats,” Stefanik said. “It has never been more critical to ensure American elections are free from foreign manipulation.”
ActBlue did not require a card verification value (CVV) to be input for donations until recently, prompting a flurry of concern from Republican lawmakers and some GOP state attorneys general.
Steil sent multiple letters and requests for information to the platform, which has insisted it holds donor security to a high standard.
A spokesperson for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said he was “supportive” of the subpoena, adding, “Only American citizens should be participants in our elections, and this investigation is critical to ensure that our elections remain secure and shielded from foreign actors.”
Steil issued a subpoena Wednesday to ActBlue for “documents and communications related to ActBlue’s donor verification policies and the potential for foreign actors, primarily from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China to use ActBlue to launder illicit money into U.S. political campaigns.”
ActBlue responded to Steil in a statement, “ActBlue has received Chairman Steil’s latest inquiry and will respond to address the continued inaccuracies and misrepresentations about our platform, as we have done previously. We rigorously protect donors’ security and maintain strict anti-fraud compliance practices. We have zero tolerance for fraud on our platform.”
But fellow Republicans on his committee are standing firm that the subpoena was necessary.
Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., the chair of the panel’s subcommittee on elections, told Fox News Digital, “In our investigation so far, we have found that loopholes in ActBlue’s insufficient security protocols may be exploited by bad actors, potentially leading to countries like China, Russia and Venezuela donating to campaigns in the names of Americans without their consent.”
“With the general election just five days away, Americans need to have confidence that our elections are secure and that there is no foul play involved,” she said.
Committee member Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said, “The subpoena is critical for the committee to ensure federal campaign finance laws are not being violated, including laundering money into campaign coffers through inadequate security protections.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital, “Like the chairman, I have been concerned by the inadequate security protocols at ActBlue, who haven’t required CVV verification and allow for pre-paid cards for political donations.”
The accusations come at a critical time, with Election Day less than a week out.
The platform denied all GOP allegations of wrongdoing in a statement to Fox News before Steil’s subpoena, “These false claims about ActBlue have been discredited repeatedly by campaign finance experts. ActBlue protects donors’ information by maintaining a robust security program and fraud prevention measures, often beyond what is required by law.”
A law originally intended to protect black voters in the late 19th century is now a “powerful weapon” for the Biden administration to target its political opponents, one legal expert told the Caller.
The law is often wielded by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) to target pro-lifers protesting abortion clinics, the Daily Caller first reported. Last year, the Conspiracy Against Rights charge was levied against Douglass Mackey for a 2016 social media post and former President Donald Trump over January 6.
“I was not aware of the Biden-Harris DOJ’s abuse of this harsh conspiracy against rights statute in these other contexts, but I am not surprised,” Stephen Crampton, Senior Counsel with the Thomas More Society, told the Caller in a statement.
Douglass Mackey, known online as “Ricky Vaughn,” was charged with election interference by the Biden-Harris DOJ in 2021. The DOJ alleged in a press release that he illegally used social media to “deprive” citizens of their right to vote during the 2016 presidential election.
Douglass Mackey Case and the Meme Defense Fund
President Donald Trump: “They’re putting Douglass Mackey in jail for sharing a joking meme about Hillary Clinton seven years ago. Nobody ever heard of anything like that.”
Background: On January 27, 2021, five days after Joe…
— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) October 31, 2024
Jimmy Kimmel instructs viewers that if they’re voting for Trump they should vote late like Thursday or Friday.
Wasn’t Douglass Mackey sentenced to prison for doing something similar?
Will @TheJusticeDept investigate Jimmy Kimmel? pic.twitter.com/cfwDl94aIZ
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 31, 2024
The charge stemmed from a complaint filed in Brooklyn which alleged Mackey “conspired” with other individuals to encourage supporters of Hillary Clinton to “vote” with text or on social media. One post stated: “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,” and “Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925.”
Mackey was convicted of the Conspiracy Against Rights charge in 2023 and sentenced last October to seven months in prison.
“Given its expansive interpretation by the courts in years past, it has become a powerful weapon with which this corrupt administration can bludgeon its political opponents and instill fear in all who dare oppose them,” Crampton told the Caller.
Mackey received a bond by an appeals court and has not yet gone to prison, he stated in a Twitter post.
Ep. 38 The First Amendment is done. Douglass Mackey is about to go to prison for mocking Hillary Clinton on the internet. We talked to him right before his sentencing. Remember as you watch that this could be you.
TIMESTAMPS:
(3:12) The Hillary Clinton meme
(4:20) Hillary’s… pic.twitter.com/MLwz2SboGr— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 9, 2023
The Conspiracy Against Rights charge was originally a part of the Enforcement Acts passed between 1868 and 1870, according to the DOJ. Most of the legislation was repealed in 1894, but section 241 and 242 of 18 U.S.C. survived. The law was originally intended to protect recently-enfranchised black voters, according to Reuters. The Enforcement Acts are also colloquially known as the “KKK Acts.”
The law prohibits two or more people from “[conspiring] to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person” from exercising their Constitutional rights. The charge carries hefty fines and up to ten years in prison.
“The Biden Justice Department is now using this [charge] against other political enemies,” Mackey wrote in his “Meme Defense Fund.”
Mackey’s case specifically has been pointed to as an example of politically motivated lawfare.
Individuals including Mackey noted that Jimmy Kimmel recently told his viewers that Trump voters should “vote very late” and on “Thursday or maybe Friday.”
Douglass Mackey was sent to prison for this. https://t.co/asYpjeh4pY
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) October 31, 2024
Mackey was not the only prominent individual charged under the law last year.
Special Council Jack Smith prosecuted former President Donald Trump on four counts of allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election results on January 6, 2021.
One of these counts included the Conspiracy Against Rights charge. The federal government alleged Trump violated the statute by “[conspiring] against the right to vote and to have one’s counted.”
….These revelations END the Sham J6 Civil Hoaxes and the lawless D.C. Case brought by Deranged Jack Smith, which has already been demolished by the United States Supreme Court’s Historic Immunity and Fischer Decisions. I called for everyone to act PEACEFULLY and PATRIOTICALLY,…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) September 26, 2024
The complaint claims that Trump “targeted a bedrock function” of the federal government. He was also charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding, and Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding.
Biden’s DOJ has a history of using the Conspiracy Against Rights law to enhance sentences.
An elderly woman, Paulette “Paula” Harlow, was one of several people sentenced to 24 months in prison this May for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and the same Conspiracy Against Rights law.
I doubt anyone is surprised to hear that an arm of the government failed in its most fundamental mission, promised accountability, and solved the problem by issuing a ‘report’.
And that’s exactly the approach that the Secret Service took.
The Secret Service said Friday it has carried out multiple reforms since the July 13 assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and signaled that the agency has not dismissed any agents for the security failures that day, according to a copy of a final internal report to be sent to Congress and other agencies.
There’ll be accountability, the Secret Service promises, without actually delivering any accountability.
The report said it had identified “several instances of behaviors and acts by multiple employees that warrant review for corrective counseling and, potentially, disciplinary action,” and that they would be provided due process under the law.
“All individuals found in violation of policies will be held accountable,” the report said.
…Ronald L. Rowe, Jr., is now acting director and he has asked for additional funding and pledged to reform the agency.
Uh-huh.
The House issued a much more devastating report and there have been other reports to which Rowe responded by asking for a safe space.
The acting director of the Secret Service said Thursday he was concerned about the morale of his overworked agents, as he addressed an independent review that called for “fundamental reform” within the agency to prevent assassination attempts like the one in July that injured former President Donald Trump.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Ronald Rowe Jr. said he worried about the health and wellness of “demoralized” Secret Service agents who are being pushed to the brink and working long hours amid operational and policy changes.
“We are redlining our people,” Rowe said.
“We are asking them to do extraordinary things right now.”
We’re asking them to do their jobs which are a whole lot less difficult than the jobs of front-line combat troops, beat cops in dangerous cities or a variety of other security and military personnel.
In a separate written statement, Rowe said the agency was developing a “comprehensive” plan aimed at “driving a fundamental transformation” within the Secret Service.
He said the plan focuses on increasing and retaining the agency’s personnel, modernizing technology and building a training plan.
So the fundamental transformation is going to be more of the same. Watch our PowerPoint presentation, increase our budget and watch as things grow even worse.
The IDF eliminated Hamas’s National Relations head Izz al-Din Kassab on Friday in Khan Yunis, Gaza, who was also one of the last remaining members of the terrorist organization’s political bureau still inside the Palestinian enclave.
The strike that killed Kassab was completed based on IDF and ISA intelligence. His assistant Ayman Ayesh was also killed in the strike.
He was also responsible for Hamas’s relations and cooperation, whether strategic or military, with other terrorist organizations within the Gaza Strip such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The military has released footage of the strike that killed top Hamas official Izz al-Din Kassab, one of the last remaining members of Hamas’s political bureau. The operation took place in the Khan Younis area. pic.twitter.com/5EHXXtYxaf
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 1, 2024
Kassab also held authority within the Gazan terrorist organization to direct attacks against Israel, the IDF noted.
Activity in Gaza earlier this week
Two days earlier, the IDF conducted a strike targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, also in Khan Yunis.
The IAF used IDF and ISA intelligence to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, the military announced.
Billionaire tech mogul Marc Benioff is reportedly in talks to sell Time magazine to a Greek media conglomerate.
Benioff, who co-founded enterprise software giant Salesforce and who boasts a net worth valued by Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $10.7 billion as of Friday, has engaged Antenna Group about a deal for Time, according to CNBC.
Sources familiar with the discussions told CNBC that Benioff, who bought Time in 2018 for $190 million, was mulling a $150 million offer from Antenna Group.
Benioff acquired the magazine from Meredith Corp, which owned the publication for less than a year.
Last month, Benioff expressed frustration that Vice President Kamala Harris declined to sit for an interview with Time.
Benioff criticized Harris while pointing out that ex-President Donald Trump and President Biden — before he dropped out — both sat down for interviews during their campaigns.
“Despite multiple requests, TIME has not been granted an interview with Kamala Harris — unlike every other Presidential candidate,” tweeted Benioff.
In September, Time raised eyebrows when it excluded Elon Musk from its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence.
Antenna has been eager to break into the American media market. In 2022, it nearly acquired Vice Media before the company filed for bankruptcy.
Time, like other magazines, has struggled with continued declines in print advertising and newsstand sales.
At its peak between the 1970s and 1990s, Time’s circulation exceeded 4 million copies nationwide — beating out competitors such as Newsweek and US News & World Report.
In 2012, Time had a circulation of 3.3 million. Today, its readership numbers around 1.6 million subscribers.
Started by Yale University graduates Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, Time first went on sale in March 1923.
Before Benioff bought the magazine, it was trying to shift to a digital strategy, but it struggled.
Time posted two straight years of annual losses and its revenue declined since it split off from Time Warner in 2014.
Federal prosecutors in California have charged 10 individuals, mainly Chilean nationals using fake IDs, with conspiring to steal millions from banks and ATMs, according to the Mercury News.
The group allegedly rented Airbnbs and used a secret stolen car rental service near targeted locations.
Throughout 2024, they reportedly stole at least $2.5 million, with some single heists netting $250,000.
Their method often involved spray-painting security cameras, using power tools and blowtorches on ATMs, and disguising as a construction crew with equipment like cellphone jammers, sledgehammers, and crowbars.
In one incident on September 18, they allegedly accessed a Wells Fargo ATM cash room by breaking through the wall of a neighboring pet spa, resulting in a $247,000 loss.
The Mercury News reports that despite their efforts to avoid detection, the theft group left a digital trail, according to the FBI.
The case saw a breakthrough when agents identified suspect vehicles linked to an underground rental service in West Hollywood. A Chevrolet Suburban, rented from Instagram promoter @xtrackz to a person named “Gordito” for a supposed family vacation, turned out to be connected to the crimes.
“Gordito” was identified as Alex Moyano-Morales, the alleged ringleader with fake IDs from Colombia and the U.S.
Following Moyano-Morales’ identification, FBI agents tracked his cellphone and found his associates had rented Airbnbs near several heist locations. Video footage from a Turlock Airbnb showed the group unloading burglary tools.
Prosecutors have charged Moyano-Morales and nine others, including Maite Celis-Silva, Erik Osorio-Olivarez, and Pablo Valdez-Rodriguez, with thefts targeting banks and ATMs across cities like Modesto, Citrus Heights, Fresno, and Anaheim. They are also under investigation for similar larcenies in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Houston.
The group recently moved to Oregon, allegedly committing additional thefts there. Four members—Valdez-Rodriguez, Alarcon-Alarcon, Parada-Munoz, and Dacosta-Frias—were arrested at a Seattle Airbnb with $20,000 and burglary tools. Parada-Munoz reportedly resisted arrest, while the others attempted escape in a Ford Fiesta used in previous heists.
These aren’t the only complex heists by South Americans this year. We reported in early October about a string of ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ style burglaries.
The Jewelers’ Security Alliance (JSA) and Jewelers Mutual warned last month about some stores suffering major losses as a result of the break-ins, according to a report from JCK.
Scott Guginsky, the JSA’s vice president, said: “We see burglaries everywhere, from New York to Texas. Some of the hits are in the millions. These are the largest dollar losses we’ve seen in some time.”
“It doesn’t appear like they’re stopping,” said Howard Stone, vice president of global risk services and analytics for Jewelers Mutual. He started noticing the crimes in June, the report says.
The JCK report says that the gangs meticulously plan their heists, gathering detailed intelligence beforehand. “They’re all from South America and they are somewhat in communication. But it’s a loose-knit group. It’s not like there’s a [mob boss] John Gotti coordinating everything.”
It’s unclear yet if the two strings of heists related.
Fast-food giant Wendy’s is shuttering 140 underperforming locations through the end of 2024 as it looks to improve its “restaurant footprint and overall system health.”
To counter the closures, though, the Ohio-based company is working to replace many of these units with “new restaurants at better locations with significantly improved sales and profitability,” Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner told analysts on its third-quarter earnings call.
The company thoroughly reviewed individual restaurants to ensure they meet sales expectations and are profitable enough to support growth, and said that the locations closing are “outdated and in underperforming areas,” with operating margins far below the system average, Tanner said.
“I think when you think about strengthening our system, you look at a brand that’s 55 years old and some of those restaurants are just out of date,” Tanner said.
This restaurant footprint optimization is part of a slate of initiatives Wendy’s is deploying to strengthen the brand and its operations across the company and its franchisees.
The company didn’t disclose where the closures will be, but Tanner noted that “it’s not one particular area.”
Wendy’s anticipates the total closures in 2024 to be “offset by new restaurant openings this year, leaving our net unit growth approximately flat compared to the prior year,” Tanner said, adding that the company is confident that it will achieve significant accelerated unit growth rate of 3% to 4% in 2025.
By the end of 2024, the company said it will have opened more than 500 new restaurants over the last two years.
Tanner said it is also “using data-driven insights to target high-growth trade areas” as it continues to open up new locations.
Globally, the company said it’s on track to reach 250 to 300 openings for the full year.
Wendy’s is among a growing number of chains that have been trying to lure customers back in through a slew of promotions.
In the prior quarter, Wendy’s said it maintained “overall traffic and dollar share in the [quick service restaurant] burger category.”
Its revenue for the quarter came in above analysts’ expectations, notching $566.7 million, a 2.9% increase from a year earlier.
Arizona’s top prosecutor is investigating whether Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump violated state law by making a “death threat” against former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney during remarks Thursday night at an event in Glendale, 12News reported.
“I have already asked my criminal division chief to start looking at that statement, analyzing it for whether it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona’s laws,” Attorney General Mayes, a first-term Democrat, said during Friday’s taping of “Sunday Square Off.”
“I’m not prepared now to say whether it was or it wasn’t, but it is not helpful as we prepare for our election and as we try to make sure that we keep the peace at our polling places and in our state.”
Trump was interviewed Thursday night by former Fox TV host Tucker Carlson at an arena event in Glendale.
Here’s what Trump said:
“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
The “nine barrels” comment has been interpreted as suggesting Cheney could face a firing squad.
“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” Cheney said Friday in a statement on social media. “They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Under Arizona law, threatening or intimidating a person is illegal. It can be charged as a Class 1 misdemeanor or Class 6 felony.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responded: “This is just a desperate attempt to help out Kamala Harris’ failing campaign.”
Related: Kamala Campaign, Media Accuse Trump of Calling for Liz Cheney’s ‘Execution’
The Supreme Court on Friday said it won’t block Pennsylvanians whose mail votes are voided for technical reasons from voting provisionally at their polling place on Election Day, rejecting a challenge from the Republican National Committee.
The emergency order keeps in place a 4-3 ruling from Pennsylvania’s top court giving voters the additional option to still participate when they return their mail ballot without an inner, secrecy envelope or other issues.
The Supreme Court’s ruling enables an in-person do-over for those impacted voters, even if they live in a Pennsylvania county that doesn’t permit curing of mail ballots when cancelled for technical issues.
Republicans contended the practice violates state law and potentially affects tens of thousands of people, a sizable margin in a key battleground state that could decide the outcome of the presidential election.
The RNC unsuccessfully asked the justices to halt the Pennsylvania court’s ruling or at least separate the challenged ballots until fully resolving the appeal.
“Whether that crucial election will be conducted under the rules set by the General Assembly or under the whims of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is an important constitutional question meriting this Court’s immediate attention,” the RNC wrote in its emergency application.
The Supreme Court’s order had no noted dissents. Three of the court’s leading conservatives — Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch — in a brief statement said they agreed with denying the RNC’s request.
“The application of the State Supreme Court’s interpretation in the upcoming election is a matter of considerable importance, but even if we agreed with the applicants’ federal constitutional argument (a question on which I express no view at this time), we could not prevent the consequences they fear,” Alito wrote.
“The lower court’s judgment concerns just two votes in the long-completed Pennsylvania primary,” he continued. “Staying that judgment would not impose any binding obligation on any of the Pennsylvania officials who are responsible for the conduct of this year’s election. And because the only state election officials who are parties in this case are the members of the board of elections in one small county, we cannot order other election boards to sequester affected ballots.”
Nearly 2.2 million Pennsylvanians have requested mail ballots for the upcoming election, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of State. The MIT Election Data and Science Lab estimates roughly 1.1 percent of mail votes in 2020 were rejected as naked ballots.
The dispute is part of a broader barrage of election lawsuits filed in the key swing state ahead of Tuesday’s contest. Other challenges implicate overseas ballots, mail ballots with missing dates and long voting lines.
Republicans have increasingly pulled the Supreme Court into the pre-election litigation, and many court watchers expect challenges to the election results will ultimately reach the justices.
The case at hand in Pennsylvania arose after two Butler County residents returned mail ballots without the required secrecy envelope in the state’s Democratic primary in April. The county’s election board then rejected the voters’ provisional ballots they cast in person on Election Day.
“This is a win for democracy and the rule of law,” Ari Savitzky, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, which represented the voters, said in a statement.
“The court rightly rejected this eleventh-hour attempt to discount the votes of Pennsylvanians and interfere in the state’s electoral process. The bottom line is that voters deserve to have their voices heard,” Savitzky added.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party, which is backing the voters’ challenge, told the Supreme Court to deny Republicans’ application, as did Pennsylvania’s Democratic attorney general.
“For this Court to grant certiorari here, it must conclude that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s routine application of statutorily defined interpretive principles was something other than ordinary judicial review. Should this Court go down that uncharted path, federal courts will be asked to do so every time a state court interprets any part of its statutory election law,” the state wrote in court filings.
“In Pennsylvania and across the country, Trump and his allies are trying to make it harder for your vote to count, but our institutions are stronger than his shameful attacks. Today’s decision confirms that, for every eligible voter, the right to vote means the right to have your vote counted,” Harris-Walz Campaign Communications Director Michael Tyler and Democratic National Committee Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin said in a statement.
“While we are disappointed in the Supreme Court’s ruling, we have secured three major victories for election integrity in Pennsylvania just this week: we won extended early voting in Bucks County; we won signature verification and observer access in Erie County; and we won — for the fifth time — the dated ballot case in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court,” RNC spokesperson Claire Zunk said in a statement.
The ruling from the nation’s highest court came moments after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted an RNC request in a separate case implicating ballots in the key swing state. The state court reaffirmed that mail ballots must be voided if they don’t have a proper date on the outer envelope.
The trial of Daniel Penny began Friday with opening statements. The 26-year-old Marine veteran is charged in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, 30, on a New York City subway in 2023.
Penny was expressionless as he walked into the courthouse with his legal team and sat across from jurors who will ultimately decide his fate. Outside, demonstrators chanted, “Justice for Jordan Neely.”
The Marine veteran is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the death of Neely, a homeless man who Penny says was threatening passengers on a subway train in May 2023 when he placed him in a chokehold. Penny has pleaded not guilty.
According to court documents, Neely boarded an F train, allegedly shouting, throwing things and acting erratically. Penny told police Neely was threatening to kill everyone on the train. He pinned Neely to the ground and held him in a chokehold for several minutes. Neely died at the scene, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Prosecution, defense give opening statements
Prosecutors’ opening statements were just over 40 minutes. They told the jury, “Jordan Neely took his last breaths on the dirty floor of an uptown F train.” They noted he was 30 years old, homeless, high on synthetic marijuana and struggling with mental health issues when he entered that train screaming threats. Though they say Penny’s intentions were good, “the defendant went way too far” and used “far too much force for far too long.”
They argued Neely was in a chokehold for nearly six minutes, even after everyone else got off the train, and that deadly physical force is permitted only when absolutely necessary and only for as long as absolutely necessary.
“The defendant had not tried any other means to deescalate the situation. He quite literally went for the jugular,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors argued Penny was reckless with Neely “because he didn’t recognize his humanity.”
The defense spoke for 18 minutes. Attorneys told jurors this case is “not about heroes and villains, this is a case about what a young man did for others. What we want someone to do for us.” The defense called Neely a “seething psychotic” and said he entered the train demanding food and drinks, and that Penny saw a mother barricading her son behind his baby stroller and heard Neely say, “I will kill.”
Penny’s attorneys argued that Penny had no opportunity to deescalate the situation and Neely was aggressively resisting, that Penny could barely contain him and that police took a long time to arrive.
Responding NYPD officers take the stand in Daniel Penny trial
The first witness to take the stand was one of the first NYPD officers on the scene back in May 2023. Jurors watched video from his body camera.
When asked what happened, Penny is seen on the video telling officers, “He was threatening everybody when he came onto the train.” He’s then asked if Neely has a weapon on him.
“I don’t know. I just, I just put him out,” Penny says.
In the video, the officer searches for weapons and pulls a muffin out of Neely’s jacket pocket. The officer says he feels a pulse on Neely, and another says he’s breathing. Narcan is administered, and eventually CPR begins. Narcan is administered again, and CPR continues before eventually an AED is brought.
A second officer testified he was surprised at how long it took an ambulance to arrive.
A third responding officer and two MTA employees also took the stand. Jurors watched multiple body cam videos from responding officers. CBS News New York’s Alice Gainer reports jurors were paying attention and taking notes.
Six rows in the courtroom were press. About 20 members of the public were inside, with more waiting in line to get inside. Members of Neely’s family were also present.
Donte Mills, an attorney for Neely’s family, said in a press conference, “This is a very straightforward case. I don’t think this is a difficult case to prosecute.”
He also said, “We know who the victim is in this case, and we know who the villain is.”
“The scene that our client had to contend with on that subway will really come to light when we start hearing from some of these passengers,” said Penny’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff.
During the lunch break, Penny’s attorneys were asked how the day was going.
“Very well,” an attorney said.
Court resumes Monday. The trial is expected to last about six weeks.
All 12 jurors are subway riders, most say they’ve seen outbursts on trains
It took eight days to choose 12 jurors and four alternates. It’s an anonymous jury made up of seven women and five men. All ride the subway, some more than others. Most said they had witnessed outbursts on the train, and others said they had been personally harassed or threatened.
Neely struggled with homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction.
While questioning and speaking with potential jurors this week, prosecutors told them while they believed that Penny’s intention was a good one and that he wanted to protect people on the subway from what he perceived to be a threat, Penny “went way too far,” was reckless and unnecessarily took another life.
Defense attorneys, who refer to their client as Danny, told prospective jurors that just because the medical examiner classified Neely’s death a homicide, it doesn’t mean Penny is responsible.
The defense hired a jury consultant for the selection process. Past high-profile cases she worked on included O.J. Simpson, Scott Peterson and, more recently, Kyle Rittenhouse.
Defense attorneys wanted to keep the police search of Neely’s body out of evidence because officers found no weapon on Neely, but Thursday, a judge ruled it was allowed in.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said that the worker who was responsible for a voting security breach that allowed passwords to be posted online is gone and that the incident shouldn’t shake residents’ confidence in the election.
Speaking to Colorado Public Radio on Wednesday, Griswold said that the employee, a “civil servant,” now “no longer works” for her office after the incident.
“A civil servant accidentally made this error. Out of an abundance of caution, we have people in the field working to reset passwords and review access logs for affected counties,” she said. “The employee responsible for the hidden tabs on the spreadsheet no longer works with the department and we are doing everything that we can to, of course, assure the public and work with the counties.
“And, again, this is out of an abundance of caution. We do not believe there is a security threat to Colorado’s elections.”
It’s unclear if the employee was terminated or if the individual, who was not identified, resigned.
Griswold said her office is now working to address the matter. She also claimed that “lies,” “conspiracies,” and “threats” against election workers have resulted in high turnover rates among county clerks who handle elections.
The passwords were left on a spreadsheet online for months, Griswold announced on Tuesday. She said local, state, and federal agencies were working together to change the passwords and analyze logs to ensure there hadn’t been any tampering.
The Colorado County Clerks Association said in a statement that because Colorado’s voting systems have layers of safeguards, and with the remediation plan already in motion, “county clerks can say with confidence that Colorado elections are secure.”
Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign sent a letter to Griswold to express concern, which followed a similar letter from the chairman of the Colorado GOP. Griswold responded in a letter on Thursday evening, saying that because of the many security levels, “no single error can compromise the integrity of the system” and that the leak presents “no immediate threat.”
The letter from the Trump campaign’s law firm said that Griswold’s office needs to take steps to remedy the problem “because it’s the only way to guarantee” that elections systems in areas where counties’ passwords were posted online are secure.
Those tasked with changing the compromised passwords are working in pairs, under direct observation from local election officials, according to a statement from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s office.
“We want to be able to provide assurances that all votes are counted fairly and accurately for this election and all elections,” Polis said.
Griswold said that “Colorado has countless layers of security to ensure voter’s voices are heard.”
“I’m thankful to the governor for his support to quickly resolve this unfortunate mistake,” she said.
Despite their assurances, a former Colorado secretary of state warned that the security incident constitutes a “serious breach.”
“It’s bad. Let me emphasize that we have other precautions in place, but the fact that a serious breach occurred is troubling,” former Republican Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams told 9News.
Colorado is not expected to be in play for Trump, according to political forecasters, including the Cook Political Report. The state was called in favor of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden by around 14 percentage points during the 2020 election, while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won by about 5 points in 2016.
A recent poll of Colorado shows that Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has a 12-point lead over Trump.
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