Texas Weekly Online

Trump sues Des Moines Register, top pollster for ‘brazen election interference,’ fraud over Harris poll

Trump sues Des Moines Register, top pollster for ‘brazen election interference,’ fraud over Harris poll

FIRST ON FOX: President-elect Donald Trump is suing the Des Moines Register and its top pollster J. Ann Selzer for “brazen election interference” and fraud over its final 2024 presidential poll showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading him in Iowa, despite his ultimate victory in the state by more than 13 percentage points, Fox News Digital has learned.  The lawsuit was filed Monday night in Polk County, Iowa under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act and related provisions. It says it seeks “accountability for brazen election interference committed by” the Des Moines Register (DMR) and Selzer “in favor of now-defeated former Democrat candidate Kamala Harris through use of a leaked and manipulated Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted by Selzer and S&C and published by DMR and Gannett in the Des Moines Register on Nov. 2, 2024.” The lawsuit is also against the parent company of the Des Moines Register, Gannett, which also owns other publications, including USA Today. FIRST ON FOX: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS AND ABC APOLOGIZE TO TRUMP, ARE FORCED TO PAY $15 MILLION TO SETTLE DEFAMATION SUIT “Contrary to reality and defying credulity, defendants’ Harris Poll was published three days before Election Day and purported to show Harris leading President Trump in Iowa by three points; President Trump ultimately won Iowa by over thirteen points,” the lawsuit states.  Selzer released her final Des Moines Register-sponsored poll of Iowa just three days before the election, on Nov. 2, showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points. That shock poll showed a seven-point shift from Trump to Harris from September, when he had a four-point lead over the vice president in the same poll.  But Trump ultimately beat Harris in Iowa by more than 13 percentage points.  Selzer’s poll, though, had been hyped up by the media ahead of the elections, as her polling predictions in previous elections had been historically accurate.  Trump attorneys said Selzer’s prediction of Harris’ three point lead in “deep-red Iowa was not reality, it was election-interfering fiction.”  Trump attorneys said Selzer had “prided herself on a mainstream reputation for accuracy despite several far less publicized egregious polling misses in favor of Democrats” and said she “would have the public believe it was merely a coincidence that one of the worst polling misses of her career came just days before the most consequential election in memory, was leaked and happened to go against the Republican candidate.”  SHOCK POLL HAS HARRIS LEADING TRUMP IN IOWA WITH 3-POINT SHIFT TOWARD VICE PRESIDENT IN RED STATE “The Harris Poll was no ‘miss’ but rather an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election,” the lawsuit states, adding that “defendants and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.”  “Instead, the November 5 election was a monumental victory for President Trump in both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote, an overwhelming mandate for his America First principles, and the consignment of the radical socialist agenda to the dustbin of history.”  The lawsuit notes that Selzer, after more than 35 years in the industry, “retired in disgrace from polling less than two weeks after this embarrassing rout.”  Trump lawyers argued that “left-wing pollsters have attempted to influence electoral outcomes through manipulated polls that have unacceptable error rates and are not grounded in widely accepted polling methodologies.”  FORMER POLLSTER ANN SELZER HITS BACK AT CRITICISMS OVER IOWA POLL: ‘THEY ARE ACCUSING ME OF A CRIME’ “While Selzer is not the only pollster to engage in this corrupt practice, she had a huge platform and following and, thus, a significant and impactful opportunity to deceive voters,” the lawsuit states. “As Selzer knows, this type of manipulation creates a narrative of inevitability for Democrat candidates, increases enthusiasm among Democrats, compels Republicans to divert campaign time and money to areas in which they are ahead, and deceives the public into believing that Democrat candidates are performing better than they really are.”  The lawsuit states that Democrats’ “need for fake polling was even more acute than usual in the 2024 Election, given Harris’s many fatal weaknesses as a candidate and lack of appeal to critical swaths of the traditional Democrat base.”  Trump attorneys are suing under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, alleging that defendants “engaged in an ‘unfair act or practice’ because the publication and release of the Harris Poll ‘caused substantial, unavoidable injury to consumers that was not outweighed by any consumer or competitive benefits which the practice produced.’”  They also said consumers were “badly deceived and misled as to the actual position of the respective candidates in the Iowa Presidential race.”  “Moreover, President Trump, the Trump 2024 Campaign, and other Republicans were forced to divert enormous campaign and financial resources to Iowa based on the deceptive Harris Poll,” the lawsuit states, adding that consumers of the Des Moines Register and Iowans who contributed to Trump’s 2024 campaign were “similarly deceived.”  Trump is demanding actual damages upon trial of the case; statutory damages three times the actual damages suffered; an order enjoining defendants’ “ongoing deceptive and misleading acts and practices relating to the Harris Poll and compelling defendants to disclose all information upon which they relied to engage in the deceptive and misleading acts relating to the Harris Poll; attorneys’ fees and costs associated with the case; and any other relief as deemed just and proper by the court.  The lawsuit Monday night comes just hours after the president-elect said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago that he planned to sue the Des Moines Register and Selzer.  The lawsuit comes days after ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos reached a settlement with Trump in his defamation suit, resulting in the network paying the president-elect $15 million.  The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing the agreement to avoid a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a

Trump unveils picks for his future ambassadors to Japan, Austria and other countries: ‘PUT AMERICA FIRST’

Trump unveils picks for his future ambassadors to Japan, Austria and other countries: ‘PUT AMERICA FIRST’

President-elect Trump announced his nominations for U.S. ambassadors to five countries on Monday, including Austria and Japan. In a series of Truth Social posts on Monday night, the incoming president detailed his picks for the U.S. ambassadors to Japan, the Dominican Republic, Austria, Luxembourg and Uruguay. Each nominee will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Trump named George Edward Glass, a former U.S. ambassador to Portugal, to serve as the incoming U.S. ambassador to Japan. “As a former President of an Investment Bank, George will bring his business acumen to the Ambassador’s position,” Trump said of Glass. “George graduated from the University of Oregon, served as Alumni President, and on its Board of Trustees. He will always PUT AMERICA FIRST. Congratulations George!” TIDE TURNS FOR HEGSETH AS TRUMP’S DEFENSE SECRETARY NOMINEE GOES ON OFFENSE Leah Francis Campos, the sister of “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy and sister-in-law to incoming Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, was also picked to be an ambassador. Trump nominated her to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic. “Leah served our Country as a CIA Case Officer before becoming Senior Advisor for the Western Hemisphere on the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” the Republican wrote. “Leah will take her love of Country, and commitment to our National Security and Prosperity, to her post as U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Congratulations Leah!” GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR? Trump also announced Arthur Graham Fisher, the president of Fisher Realty, as his pick for U.S. ambassador to Austria. “He has been consistently ranked as a top broker in the area, and the State of North Carolina, representing many of the most astute clients in America,” the incoming president wrote. “Art has been a staunch supporter of America First Policies, and will make us proud in Austria!” Trump added that Stacey Feinberg and Lou Rinaldi will serve as U.S. ambassadors to Luxembourg and Uruguay, respectively. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FROM FOX NEWS ON THE TRUMP TRANSITION “As a Producer of Broadway musicals, a motivational speaker, and a Board Member of the Women Founders Network, Stacey is committed to supporting women in launching their careers, and scaling their businesses to unprecedented success,” Trump wrote of Feinberg. “Stacy will be GREAT, and make America proud!” Of Rinaldi, Trump called his nominee a “successful businessman, entrepreneur, and longtime friend,” who grew up in Uruguay. “Lou is a great golfer, and will be in a Country with some terrific courses. Having grown up in Uruguay, he possesses an intimate understanding of the Country’s culture and history,” Trump’s statement read. “His expertise and background make him exceptionally qualified to advance U.S. interests, and strengthen the longstanding partnership between the United States and Uruguay.” Fox News’ Deirdre Heavy contributed to this report.

Top Harris aide hypes radical activist who said ‘America deserved 9/11’ while plotting future for Dems

Top Harris aide hypes radical activist who said ‘America deserved 9/11’ while plotting future for Dems

A top aide on Vice President Harris’ failed presidential campaign recently called for more cultural voices like the vocal anti-America and anti-Israel Twitch star, Hasan Piker, who previously faced backlash for saying that “America deserved 9/11.” Harris’ former deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, said during a recent interview that Democrats are “losing hold of culture” and laid out a strategy for them to develop a “whole thriving system” ahead of future elections. “We need a whole thriving ecosystem,” Flaherty told Semafor. “It’s not just Pod Save America, though I think we should have more of them. It’s not just Hasan Piker. We should have more Hasan Pikers. It’s also the cultural creators, the folks who are one rung out who influence the nonpartisan audience. Those things all need to happen together.” “The reality is it’s not going to be big media organizations. It’s going to be a network and a constellation of individual personalities, because that’s how people get their information now,” he added. KAMALA HARRIS AIDE ADMITS DEMOCRATS ‘LOSING HOLD OF CULTURE’ AS INFLUENCER MEDIA SHIFTS RIGHT Flaherty, who previously served as the director of digital strategy for the Biden White House, is likely to face backlash for calling for “more Hasan Pikers” due to Piker’s past controversial comments. Piker, who previously raised more than $1 million for Palestinian aid, has used his platform with millions of followers to downplay and justify terrorist attacks such as Oct. 7 and 9/11 as acts of resistance in recent years. During a 2019 livestream, Piker praised the “brave f—ing soldier” who wounded conservative U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, while he was deployed to Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL, asking, “Didn’t he go to war and, like, literally lose his eye because some mujahideen, a brave f—ing soldier, f—ed his eyehole with their d—?” He went on to say that “America deserved 9/11, I’m saying it,” before later walking it back and saying it was “inappropriate.” However, in another stream this year, Piker joked about 9/11 again, saying, “Oh my god, 9/11 2 is going to be so sick” and “give Saudi Arabia a nuke so they can do 9/11 2.” In another stream, Piker broadcast propaganda from the Houthis, an Iranian-backed group in Yemen that has been designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group. Instead of explicitly addressing the materials as questionable propaganda, the streamer instead expressed sympathy and admiration for the group. “They do musicals about, like, their f—ing actions all the time,” Piker said of the terrorist propaganda. “They love walking over like the American flag and the Israeli flag, side by side.” “They do not care about the heavy missiles … they will literally take the war to them no matter what. … For them, it’s an act of resistance. You know what I mean?” he added. “It doesn’t matter if f—ing rapes happened on Oct. 7,” Piker said in a May 22 stream. “It doesn’t change the dynamic [of Palestinians and Israelis] for me.” FOX NEWS ‘ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED’ NEWSLETTER: TRUMP’S WARNING TO HAMAS GIVES HOSTAGES’ FAMILIES NEW HOPE During an April 18 stream, Piker also expressed that Hamas was the “lesser evil” next to the Israeli military. While Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others have been on Piker’s platform, Dem Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York wrote a letter this year to top executives at Twitch and Amazon expressing “alarm about the amplification of antisemitism on Twitch at the hands of Hasan Piker” and said Piker has “emerged as the poster child for the post-October 7th outbreak of antisemitism in America.” “Outside the context of October 7th, Mr. Piker has even joked and mused about men date-raping women on a college campus and has posted an image of a handgun on top of a United States Senator in what appears to be open invitation to gun violence against a sitting elected official,” Torres said. “Inviting one’s followers to shoot an elected official, whether it be done in earnest or in jest, is the kind of threat that warrants serious attention from federal law enforcement.” Piker’s Twitch streams regularly hit more than a million views and often have as many as 30,000 viewers at a given time.   Fox News Digital reached out to Flaherty for comment but did not receive a response. Fox News’ Andrea Margolis contributed reporting.

Judge rejects Trump request to toss Bragg charges in New York on basis of presidential immunity

Judge rejects Trump request to toss Bragg charges in New York on basis of presidential immunity

Judge Juan Merchan on Monday rejected Trump attorneys’ request to dismiss charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on the basis of presidential immunity. The ruling comes after President-elect Trump and his team in July requested Merchan overturn his guilty verdict in New York v. Trump, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents have immunity for official acts.  Merchan ruled that the evidence presented in the trial was related “entirely to unofficial conduct and thus, receive no immunity protections.”  “Further, even if this Court were to deem all of the contested evidence, both preserved and unpreserved, as official conduct falling within the outer perimeter of Defendant’s Presidential authority, it would still find that the People’s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch, a conclusion amply supported by non-motive-related evidence,” Merchan writes.  Merchan also argued that the Court said “if error occurred regarding the introduction of the challenged evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt.”  TRUMP ATTORNEYS FILE MOTION TO DISMISS ‘FAILED LAWFARE’ CASE IN NEW YORK, CITING HUNTER BIDEN PARDON Merchan rejected that request, but has yet to rule on President-elect Trump’s formal motion to dismiss the case altogether. “Today’s decision by deeply conflicted, acting Justice Merchan in the Manhattan DA Witch Hunt is a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity, and other longstanding jurisprudence,” Trump spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital. “This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed, as President Trump must be allowed to continue the Presidential Transition process, and execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this, or any other, Witch Hunt.”  Cheung added: “The sooner these hoaxes end, the sooner our country can unite behind President Trump for the betterment of all Americans.” Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree stemming from the yearslong investigation related to alleged hush money payments run by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance initiated the investigation, and Bragg prosecuted Trump.  After an unprecedented six-week trial in New York City, a jury found the president guilty on all counts.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a former president has substantial immunity for official acts committed while in office.  In the formal motion in July, Trump attorney Todd Blanche pointed to the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, and argued that certain evidence of “official acts” should not have been admitted during the trial.  Specifically, Blanche argued that testimony from former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks; former Special Assistant to the President Madeleine Westerhout; testimony regarding The Special Counsel’s Office and Congressional Investigations and the pardon power; testimony regarding President Trump’s response to FEC Inquiries; his presidential Twitter posts and other related testimony was impermissably admitted during trial.  Meanwhile, Trump attorneys, earlier this month, officially requested to “immediately” dismiss charges against the president-elect in New York v. Trump, declaring the “failed lawfare” case “should never have been brought.”  TRUMP REQUESTS NY JUDGE OVERTURN GUILTY VERDICT, INDICTMENT AFTER SCOTUS IMMUNITY RULING Trump attorneys said the case “would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views, the transformative national movement established under his leadership, and the political threat that he poses to entrenched, corrupt politicians in Washington, D.C. and beyond.”  Trump lawyers said that “wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump’s transition efforts and his preparations to wield the full Article II executive power authorized by the Constitution pursuant to the overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024.”  Bragg, last month, requested to Judge Juan Merchan that the case be stayed until the end of Trump’s second term, but Trump attorneys noted that the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department concluded that “the categorical prohibition on the federal indictment of a sitting president…even if the case were held in abeyance…applies to this situation.”  They added that Bragg’s “ridiculous suggestion that they could simply resume proceedings after President Trump leaves Office, more than a decade after they commenced their investigation in 2018, is not an option.” This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.  

Schumer seeks legislation giving local officials authority to ‘swiftly’ respond to drone sightings

Schumer seeks legislation giving local officials authority to ‘swiftly’ respond to drone sightings

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Monday that he will move to advance drone legislation this week that will give local officials more authority to respond to the growing concerns of drone sightings. Reports of drones flying over New Jersey and New York, particularly near military research facilities and Trump’s Bedminster golf course, have prompted lawmakers to press the Biden administration for more transparency when it comes to who is flying the suspected unmanned aircraft and why the government is not doing anything about them. Schumer has called on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to “quickly deploy” any drone-detecting tools that are available to help New York and New Jersey deal with the mysterious drone sightings that started a few weeks ago. “This week, I will also come to the floor of the Senate to seek passage of legislation that will give local officials greater authority to swiftly respond to these sightings,” Schumer said while speaking on the Senate floor on Monday. “The reports of the past few weeks have ignited immense anxiety and confusion for millions of people living across the Northeast. Thankfully, there is no reason to believe these drone sightings pose a national security threat, but even so they can be disruptive if they fly over restricted airspace particularly near airports or bases.” SCHUMER REQUESTS 360-DEGREE RADAR SYSTEM FOR NY, NJ TO DETECT DRONES He continued, saying there was no shortage of reports of possible drone activity, yet there are few answers being provided about where some of the drones originated from and who was operating them. Local officials lack the resources and authority to find the underlying cause of the matter, Schumer added. NJ DRONE SIGHTINGS COULD BE A ‘CLASSIFIED EXERCISE’: FORMER CIA OFFICER Along with seeking the Senate’s help in passing the legislation, Schumer also urged the DHS to take all necessary action to deploy as many drone-detecting resources as possible. One of those technologies is the Robin Radar System, which, according to its website, notes “bird, bat, or drone, our 360° radar systems log thousands of observations, scanning every second to track and classify with precision.” DRONE MYSTERY CONTINUES IN NEW JERSEY AS EXPERTS OFFER NEW THEORIES ABOUT SIGHTINGS Schumer said systems like Robin would go a long way to help local officials collect real data about where these drones are coming from. “I want to see a flock of ROBIN-like technology systems deployed across the New York City metro area,” he said. “So, we need the Department of Homeland Security to spring into action.” The House Intelligence Committee will receive a classified briefing on the drone activity on Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with the matter told Punchbowl News. The news agency also said Biden administration officials from the FBI, Department of Defense, CIA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence will hold the briefing. Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

Senate advances NDAA, teeing up final passage for annual defense policy bill

Senate advances NDAA, teeing up final passage for annual defense policy bill

The Senatevoted to advance its annual $895 billion defense policy bill, a signal that the legislation is on track to pass despite Democratic grumblings over a transgender care provision. A vote to invoke cloture, or pass an agreement to limit debate, on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed the Senate 63 to 7 on Monday evening. The bill now heads to a final vote later this week. The legislation passed the House last week 281-140, with 16 Republicans voting no. Only 81 Democrats voted yes – 124 voting no – a much larger margin than in years passed when the legislation typically enjoyed bipartisan support.  The 1,800-page bill details how $895.2 billion allocated toward defense and national security will be spent. It will be voted on more than two months after the start of the fiscal year.  The $895.2 billion represents a 1% increase over last year’s budget, a smaller number than some defense hawks would have liked.  A significant portion of the legislation focused on quality-of-life improvements for service members amid record recruitment issues, a focus of much bipartisan discussion over the last year. That includes a 14.5% pay increase for junior enlisted troops and increasing access to child care for service members while also providing job support to military spouses. The measure authorizes a 4.5% across-the-board pay raise for all service members starting Jan. 1.  The NDAA typically enjoys wide bipartisan support, but this year’s focus on eliminating “woke” policies was hard for some Democrats to stomach.  PENTAGON ANNOUNCES NEW COUNTER-DRONE STRATEGY AS UNMANNED ATTACKS ON US INTERESTS SKYROCKET The policy proposal to prohibit Tricare, the military’s health care provider, from covering transgender services for the minor dependents of service members has raised concerns, prompting the leading Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, to reconsider his support for the bill. “Blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong,” he said in a statement. “This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills.” The goal of that provision is to prevent any “medical interventions that could result in sterilization” of minors. Other provisions, like a blanket ban on funding for gender transition surgeries for adults, did not make their way into the bill, neither did a ban on requiring masks to prevent the spread of diseases.  The bill also supports deploying the National Guard to the southern border to help with illegal immigrant apprehensions and drug flow.  Another provision opens the door to allowing airmen and Space Force personnel to grow facial hair; it directs the secretary of the Air Force to brief lawmakers on “the feasibility and advisability” of establishing a pilot program to test out allowing beards.  HERE IS WHO IS VYING FOR POWER IN SYRIA AFTER THE FALL OF BASHAR AL-ASSAD Democrats are also upset the bill did not include a provision expanding access to IVF for service members. Currently, military health care only covers IVF for troops whose infertility is linked to service-related illness or injury. But the bill did not include an amendment to walk back a provision allowing the Pentagon to reimburse service members who have to travel out of state to get an abortion. The bill extends a hiring freeze on DEI-related roles and stops all such recruitment until “an investigation of the Pentagon’s DEI programs” can be completed. It also bans the Defense Department from contracting with advertising companies “that blacklist conservative news sources,” according to an internal GOP memo. The memo said the NDAA also guts funding for the Biden administration’s “Countering Extremist Activity Working Group” dedicated to rooting out extremism in the military’s ranks. The annual defense policy bill also does not authorize “any climate change programs” and prohibits the Pentagon from issuing climate impact-based guidance on weapons systems. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., touted $31 billion in savings in the legislation that would come from cutting “inefficient programs, obsolete weapons, and bloated Pentagon bureaucracy.” The compromise NDAA bill, negotiated between Republican and Democrat leadership, sets policy for the nation’s largest government agency, but a separate defense spending bill must be passed to allocate funds for such programs.