Trump blasts DOJ for ‘election interference,’ calls Jack Smith case a ‘scam’ after judge unseals key filing
Former President Trump blasted the Justice Department Wednesday for having “disobeyed their own rule in favor of complete and total election interference” after a key filing from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election case against him was unsealed with just weeks before Americans cast their ballots. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed Smith’s 165-page filing Wednesday afternoon. The filing lays out his case and the alleged evidence he intends to use in an eventual trial against Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges brought by Smith. JUDGE UNSEALS KEY FILING IN SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S ELECTION CASE But Trump blasted the Justice Department Wednesday evening. “For 60 days prior to an election, the Department of Injustice is supposed to do absolutely nothing that would taint or interfere with a case,” Trump posted in all capital letters to his Truth Social. “They disobeyed their own rule in favor of complete and total election interference.” “I did nothing wrong, they did!” he continued. DOJ practice during an election year has often been to hold off on major actions in cases that could impact elections during the 60 days leading up to Election Day, an unwritten policy commonly referred to as the “60-day rule.” The “rule,” which is really more of a tradition because it is not an actual rule, has been cited many times in recent years. “The case is a scam, just like all of the others, including the documents case, which was dismissed!” Trump was pointing to the other case Smith brought against him related to classified records. The case was tossed out by a federal judge in Florida who ruled that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. The former president further blasted Democrats, saying they are “weaponizing the Justice Department against me because they I know I am WINNING, and they are desperate to prop up their failing candidate, Kamala Harris.” Trump said the unsealing of the Smith filing, which he called the “latest ‘hit job,’” happened because his running mate, Sen. JD Vance “humiliated” Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate. Trump said the Justice Department “has become nothing more than an extension of Joe’s, and now Kamala’s, campaign.” TRUMP TRIAL STEMMING FROM JACK SMITH’S PROBE DELAYED PAST ELECTION DAY “This is egregious PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, and should not have been released right before the Election,” Trump said. “The Democrat Party is turning America into a Third World Country that tries to censor, harass, and intimidate their Political Opponents. What they have done to our Justice System is one of the Great, All Time, Tragedies.” The former president added that the Democrat Party “is guilty of the Worst Election Interference in American History.” “They are trying to DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY, allowing millions of people to enter our Country illegally. They are determined to stop us from winning back the White House, sealing the Border, and MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. BUT THEY WILL FAIL, AND WE WILL SAVE OUR NATION!” Trump posted. Trump also blasted Smith as “deranged,” and said that he, the “Harris-Biden DOJ, and Washington, D.C. based Radical Left Democrats, are “HELL BENT on continuing to Weaponize the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power.” “‘TRUMP’ is dominating the Election cycle, leading in the Polls, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are totally ‘freaking out.’ This entire case is a Partisan, Unconstitutional, Witch Hunt, that should be dismissed, entirely, just like the Florida case was dismissed!” Trump said. Trump’s comments came in response to Smith’s newly-unsealed filing, in which he alleges Trump “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office” after losing the 2020 presidential election. “With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin,” Smith wrote. “His efforts included lying to state officials in order to induce them to ignore true vote counts; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in the targeted states; attempting to enlist Vice President Michael R. Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the election by using the defendant’s fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else had failed, on January 6, 2021, directing an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.” Smith claims that the “throughline of these efforts was deceit,” claiming Trump and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with the federal government function by which the nation collects and counts election results, which is set forth in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act (ECA); a conspiracy to obstruct the official proceeding in which Congress certifies the legitimate results of the presidential election; and a conspiracy against the rights of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.” The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts. TRUMP INDICTED A SECOND TIME IN ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH Smith was then required to file another indictment against Trump, revising the charges in an effort to navigate the Supreme Court ruling. The new indictment kept the prior criminal charges but narrowed and reframed allegations against Trump after the high court’s ruling that gave broad immunity to former presidents. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in the new indictment as well. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital the release of the “falsehood-ridden, unconstitutional J6 brief immediately following Tim Walz’s disastrous debate performance is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American Democracy and interfere in this election.” “Deranged Jack Smith and Washington DC Radical Democrats are hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power,” Cheung said. “President Trump is dominating, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are freaking out. “This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt
Walz explains ‘friends with shooters’ gaffe from the VP debate with Vance
YORK, Pa. — The day after their vice presidential debate in New York City, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota jumped back on the campaign trail with stops in two crucial battleground states. As he arrived at the airport near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, Walz pointed toward his debate hours earlier with Vance and told reporters, “New York City was a little crazy last night.” Most pundits said Vance was the more polished of the two candidates on the vice presidential debate stage Tuesday night, although flash polls indicated debate watchers were mostly divided on which running mate was victorious. An accidental response by Walz during the debate quickly went viral, as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate mistakenly said he had “become friends with school shooters.” 2024 CASH DASH: TRUMP UPS HIS ANTE AS HE TRIES TO CLOSE GAP WITH HARRIS The mishap occurred when Walz was asked about changing positions on banning assault weapons, which he previously opposed but now supports. “I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I’ve become friends with school shooters. I’ve seen it,” Walz said. Asked to clarify his debate gaffe, Walz said Wednesday, “I’m super passionate about this. The question came up about the school shooting. We’re talking about everything except school shootings. And I sat as a member of Congress with the Sandy Hook parents, and it was a profound movement. “David Hogg [a leading gun control activist and school shooting survivor] is a good friend of mine.” VANCE, WALZ, SPAR OVER ISSUES AT VP DEBATE SHOWDOWN Walz acknowledged “I need to be more specific on that. But I am passionate about this.” Vance, speaking at a rally in Auburn Hills, Michigan, said he didn’t hear Walz’s comment until he was told about it during a conversation with his running mate, former President Trump, after the debate. “He said that Tim Walz said that he was friends with school shooters twice,” Vance said, referencing his conversation with Trump. “And that’s something I actually didn’t notice that Tim Walz had said that on the debate stage. “I said, ‘Did he really say that, sir?’ And he [Trump] said, ‘I’m telling you, man, go and watch the clips.’ HARRIS, BIDEN, HEAD TO STORM-RAVAGED SOUTHEAST IN WAKE OF TRUMP TRIP “And I said that was probably only the third or fourth-dumbest comment Tim Walz made that night.” The debate moderators also confronted Walz on his claim to have been in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, China. Walz admitted he traveled to Asia in August 1989, several months after the April 15 massacre, adding he can be “a knucklehead at times.” The governor on Wednesday reiterated that he had his “dates wrong.” Trump, in an interview Wednesday with Fox News’ Brooke Singman, called his running mate’s performance “fantastic” and that it had “reconfirmed my choice.” The former president also argued that Walz had “embarrassed himself” during the debate. Another major moment in the debate came near the end, when Vance wouldn’t say that President Biden won the 2020 election over Trump. The former president for four years has repeatedly made unproven claims that the election was rigged and rampant with voter fraud. Walz, on Wednesday, once again emphasized that “it is disqualifying to not acknowledge that the 2020 election was won by Joe Biden. It’s as simple as that.” An hour later, speaking to a large crowd at a rally at the York Fairgrounds, Walz charged that “you can’t rewrite history. And trying to mislead us about Donald Trump’s record. That’s gaslighting.” Vance, asked about his avoidance of answering the 2020 election question during the debate, reiterated his charge on Wednesday that “the simple reason” is that “the media is obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago. I’m focused on the election of 33 days from now because I want to throw Kamala Harris out of office and get back to commonsense, economic policies.” Walz arrived at his rally in York to cheers as he pulled into the York Exposition Center riding his campaign bus. But York is Trump country. The former president won York County by roughly 25 points over Biden in 2020. Walz’s Pennsylvania swing through Harrisburg, York and Reading kicked off what the Harris campaign described as a more aggressive post-debate travel and voter engagement blitz by the governor, with stops in two other battleground states — Arizona and Nevada — and a fundraising blitz in Ohio, California and Washington And the campaign noted that Walz would participate in more media interviews. Vance has done dozens of interviews and repeatedly fielded questions from reporters on the campaign trail since Trump named the senator as his running mate 2½ months ago. Vance made the first of his two stops in Michigan in Auburn Hills, at Visioneering, an automotive industry tool supplier. Auburn Hills is in Oakland County, which has swung heavily toward the Democrats in recent election cycles. Biden carried the county by roughly 14 points over Trump four years ago. Michigan and Pennsylvania are two of seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine whether Trump or Harris win the 2024 presidential election. Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey and Kirill Clark contributed to this report Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Is the Middle East inching closer to full-blown war?
Israel’s Netanyahu says Iran will pay for missile attack, as Tehran threatens a crushing response if Israel hits back. Iran has carried out a major missile attack on Israel – in retaliation, it says, to the killing of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Israel says it intercepted most of the approximately 200 missiles, with the help of the United States. World leaders are urging both sides to step back from the brink of a regional war. But Israel has promised to respond, warning Iran will pay for its “big mistake”. So, what would that response look like? And after nearly a year of war on Gaza and a campaign of air raids in Lebanon, is Israel able to fight on a third front? Presenter: Nick Clark Guests: Dan Perry – Journalist and author of the book, Israel and the Quest for Permanence Roxane Farmanfarmaian – Professor of modern Middle East politics at the University of Cambridge Julien Barnes-Dacey – Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council for Foreign Relations Adblock test (Why?)
‘Deadly cycle of tit for tat must stop’ says Guterres
NewsFeed ‘It’s high time to stop the sickening cycle of escalation after escalation that is leading the people of the Middle East straight over the cliff,’ warned Antonio Guterres at a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East on Wednesday. Published On 2 Oct 20242 Oct 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
US dockworkers press on with second day of strike, with no deal in sight
US President Biden urged for a quick deal to end the standoff, which threatens to drain billions from the US economy. Tens of thousands of United States dockworkers have continued to strike for a second day, keeping shipments at major eastern dockyards at a standstill. Containers at 36 ports stretching from Maine to Texas piled up on Wednesday, as the dockworkers appeared no closer to a deal with their employers’ group, the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). The stoppage is aimed at securing higher wages and better protections for the 45,000 workers in the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), but experts fear it could spur stinging economic losses and higher inflation in the month before presidential elections. The market forecaster Oxford Economics projects the standoff could drain between $4.5bn and $7.5bn from the US economy for every week that passes. ‘Time for them to sit down’ White House officials, fearing an economic dip, urged USMX to engage more with the port workers’ demands, which include a 77 percent wage hike over six years and a ban on automation. “It’s time for them to sit at the table and get this strike done,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday. He said ocean carriers had raked in huge profits during the COVID-19 pandemic and should fairly compensate the workers who kept their businesses booming. “They made incredible profits, over 800 percent profit since the pandemic, and the owners are making tens of millions of dollars from this,” Biden said. The president’s transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, also urged the port employers to make more concessions. “The companies need to put forward an offer that’s going to get the workers to the table,” Buttigieg said. “We actually think the parties economically are not as far apart from each other as they may think.” In its final offer, before negotiations collapsed, USMX offered to raise wages by 50 percent and keep current automation checks in place. ‘The longer the strike, the deeper the damage’ While a short-term stoppage is expected to have minimal effects on US consumers, a prolonged strike could spell trouble, analysts say. “The longer the strike action goes on and the longer it takes the US government to intervene, the deeper the damage will be to the economy and the longer it will take for ocean supply chains to recover,” said Peter Sand, chief analyst at shipping data company Xeneta. Biden has the authority under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act to order the union members back to work, but he has avoided taking such action. The Democrat has long touted his ambition to be “the most pro-union president leading the most pro-union administration in American history”, and he made history in September 2023 by becoming the first sitting president to join a picket line. In the midst of the current standoff, Biden has directed his team to watch out for potential price gouging that benefits foreign ocean carriers, according to the White House. Adblock test (Why?)
Florida Republican launches post-Helene rescue mission in North Carolina: ‘Defined by We the People’
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., took matters into his own hands and launched a rescue mission in North Carolina this week with other good Samaritans, providing crucial assistance to victims of Hurricane Helene and delivering essential supplies to those affected by the disaster. “It makes sense that Americans come together in times of grief and strife and difficulty, and I don’t think that’s ever really changed,” Mills, an Army combat veteran, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “I mean, we’re not defined by the federal government, we’re defined by ‘We the People.’” This isn’t the first time Mills has taken on a rescue mission. In addition to providing relief to Israelis after Oct. 7, he also provided support during Hurricanes Nicole and Ian in his own district and rescued 23 Americans along with 59 mentally and physically disabled children in Haiti. He also conducted one of the first successful overland rescues during the Afghanistan withdrawal, totaling around two to three dozen rescues in that region in 2021 alone. RESCUE MISSIONS UNDERWAY IN NORTH CAROLINA AFTER HURRICANE HELENE BRINGS ‘HISTORIC’ FLOODING, LANDSLIDES “The federal government, with its bureaucracy, moves too slow for the pace in which emergencies and often chaos actually moves,” Mills said. “And so, I think that it’s good that since Afghanistan and the failed botched withdrawal in 2021 you’ve seen a larger group of civilians who are coming together, a lot of which are former military or law enforcement, to pick up a slack and help as needed.” Mills partnered with a private helicopter company, Mercury One, to deliver food, water, diapers, non-perishables, insulin medication and oxygen since Monday. According to Mills, he and a small group have already delivered thousands of pounds of supplies in the region’s hardest hit areas. The congressman used two helicopters and also helped orchestrate search and rescues in Bernardsville, Poplar, Burnsville and the surrounding areas. He did a hoist operation of an elderly man on Tuesday, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. THOSE SUFFERING FROM HURRICANE HELENE’S IMPACT GET HELP FROM REV. FRANKLIN GRAHAM AND SAMARITAN’S PURSE “Anytime there’s any type of devastation or Americans that are in jeopardy, obviously it’s, it’s piqued my attention, and we need to be able to do a response to that in some way,” Mills said. “I feel like, as an elected official sort of like a responsibility to try and do what I can to help the American people, regardless if you live in Florida’s 7th District or anywhere in the country.” By partnering with some local response teams on the ground, Mills said he and his group mapped out a couple of different areas to target to bring much needed aid to those who are coming up on day five without essentials, including cell service. Rescue teams have also been deployed to parts of eastern Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Florida – areas that were also devastated by the storm. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON HELENE’S HAVOC Hundreds of thousands more remain without power and cell service, which has led to delays in locals getting help and trying to get in touch with loved ones affected by the hurricane. Helene’s death toll for North Carolina and Tennessee is unknown as authorities continue to respond and get in touch with families before publicizing official numbers, but the lack of data roaming and cellphone service is making that difficult. Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
Judge unseals key filing in special counsel’s election case against Trump
U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Tanya Chutkan on Wednesday unsealed a key filing in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election case against former President Trump. Chutkan unsealed Smith’s 165-page filing Wednesday after the special counsel submitted the document, in which he lays out the case and alleged evidence he intends to use in an eventual trial against Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him by Smith. TRUMP INDICTED A SECOND TIME IN ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts. Smith was then required to file another indictment against Trump, revising the charges in an effort to navigate the Supreme Court ruling. The new indictment kept the prior criminal charges but narrowed and reframed allegations against Trump after the high court’s ruling that gave broad immunity to former presidents. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in the new indictment as well. In the filing unsealed Wednesday, Smith outlines a “factual proffer,” alleging that Trump “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office” after losing the 2020 presidential election. “With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin,” Smith wrote. “His efforts included lying to state officials in order to induce them to ignore true vote counts; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in the targeted states; attempting to enlist Vice President Michael R. Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the election by using the defendant’s fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else had failed, on January 6, 2021, directing an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.” Smith claims that the “throughline of these efforts was deceit,” claiming Trump and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with the federal government function by which the nation collects and counts election results, which is set forth in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act (ECA); a conspiracy to obstruct the official proceeding in which Congress certifies the legitimate results of the presidential election; and a conspiracy against the rights of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital that the release of the “falsehood-ridden, Unconstitutional J6 brief immediately following Tim Walz’s disastrous debate performance is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine American Democracy and interfere in this election.” “Deranged Jack Smith and Washington DC Radical Democrats are hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power,” Cheung said. “President Trump is dominating, and the Radical Democrats throughout the Deep State are freaking out.” Cheung added: “This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.” In the filing, Smith lays out his findings, claiming that people close to Trump had tried to tell him that the claims were all “bulls—.” Smith details conversations between an unnamed Trump personal attorney and the former president. That attorney allegedly told Trump that the campaign was “looking into his fraud claims and had even hired external experts to do so, but could find no support for them.” TRUMP TRIAL STEMMING FROM JACK SMITH’S PROBE DELAYED PAST ELECTION DAY “He told the defendant that if the Campaign took these claims to court, they would get slaughtered because the claims are all ‘bullsh—t,’” the filing states, with Smith claiming that lawyer discussed with Trump the investigations and “debunkings on all major claims.” Smith also details alleged interactions between Trump and Pence in the days following the election. Smith details a Nov. 7, 2020 call between Pence and Trump in which Pence allegedly “tried to encourage” Trump “as a friend” by reminding him that he “took a dying political party and gave it a new lease on life.” Smith also details a private lunch between Trump and Pence on Nov. 12, 2020, in which Pence allegedly gave Trump a “face-saving option.” That option, according to the filing, was “don’t concede but recognize the process is over.” Smith also detailed another private lunch between Trump and Pence on Nov. 16, 2020, in which Pence allegedly tried to encourage Trump to accept the results of the election and run again in 2024. Trump allegedly said at the time: “I don’t know. 2024 is so far off.” Smith details another private lunch between the two in which Pence allegedly “encouraged” Trump “not to look at the election as a loss — just an intermission.” Smith writes that after that lunch, Trump allegedly asked Pence in the Oval Office: “What do you think we should do?” Pence allegedly said: “After we have exhausted every legal process in the courts and Congress, if we still came up short, [the defendant] should ‘take a bow.’” Meanwhile, Smith claims a White House staffer traveling with Trump overheard him tell his family members that “it doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.” Smith claims that Trump “was on notice that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in Arizona within a week of the election,” and claimed Trump also “had early notice that his claims of election fraud in Georgia were false.” Smith claims that “none of the allegations or evidence is protected by presidential immunity,” arguing that Trump’s “scheme was a private one.” “He extensively used private actors and his campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results and operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office,” Smith claimed. “To the limited extent that the superseding indictment and proffered evidence reflect official conduct, however, the Government can rebut the presumption of immunity because relying on that conduct in this prosecution will not pose a danger of intrusion
Trump ups his ante with September fundraising haul
Former President Trump’s campaign said on Wednesday that they hauled in over $160 million in fundraising in September, in figures shared with Fox News. The haul by the former president’s campaign is up from the roughly $130 million that Trump’s various fundraising committees brought in during the month of August. Trump faces a large fundraising deficit to Vice President Kamala Harris, with just under five weeks to go until Election Day in November. FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP AIMS TO FLIP THE SCRIPT ON THE CASH DASH The Harris campaign announced last month that it raked in a staggering $361 million in August, nearly triple Trump’s fundraising. The Harris campaign has yet to report its September fundraising figures. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS SHOW IN THE 2024 ELECTION The Trump campaign, in revealing its fundraising numbers, said that it had $283.1 million cash-on-hand as of the end of September. That’s down slightly from the $295 million it had in its coffers a month earlier. The Harris campaign, in its announcement last month, reported $404 million cash-on-hand. Trump’s team, in releasing their latest figures, showcased their small-dollar grassroots fundraising, saying the average donation they received was $60 and that 96% of their contributions were less than $200. The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee enjoyed a fundraising lead over Trump and the Republican National Committee earlier this year. But Trump and the RNC topped Biden and the DNC by $331 million to $264 million during the second quarter of 2024 fundraising. Biden enjoyed a brief fundraising surge after his disastrous performance in his late June debate with Trump as donors briefly shelled out big bucks in a sign of support for the 81-year-old president. But Biden’s halting and shaky debate delivery also instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental ability to serve another four years in the White House and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the president to end his bid for a second term. The brief surge in fundraising didn’t last and, by early July, began to significantly slow down. Biden bowed out of the 2024 race July 21, and the party quickly consolidated around Harris, who instantly saw her fundraising soar, spurred by small-dollar donations. When asked about the fundraising deficit, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley told Fox News Digital last month that “the Democrats have a ton of money. The Democrats always have a ton of money.” However, he emphasized that “we absolutely have the resources that we need to get our message out to all the voters that we’re talking to and feel very comfortable that we’re going to be able to see this campaign through, and we’re going to win on November 5.” Fundraising, along with polling, is a key metric in campaign politics and a measure of a candidate’s popularity and their campaign’s strength. The money raised can be used – among other things – to hire staff, expand grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote efforts, pay to produce and run ads on TV, radio, digital and mailers, and for candidate travel. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Voters have largely positive response to exchange between Vance and Walz on shootings
Voters watching Tuesday’s debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had a largely positive response to an exchange between the two vice presidential candidates on shootings. “I got a 17-year-old, and he witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball. Those things don’t leave you,” Walz said, eliciting a response of “awful” from Vance. The answer from Walz on shootings began a portion of largely positive reactions from viewers of the debate as Walz explained his stance on gun safety measures, according to Fox News dials of Republican, Democratic and Independent voters that measured their responses to the candidates answers in real time. WALZ REPEATS GEORGIA ABORTION DEATH FALSEHOOD DECRIED BY DOCTORS AS ‘FEARMONGERING’ “I’m a hunter. I own firearms. The vice president is — we understand that the Second Amendment is there, but our first responsibility is to our kids to figure this out,” Walz said, eliciting an increasingly positive response from Independent and Democratic voters while Republicans remained mostly in the middle. All three groups of voters showed an increasingly positive response to Walz’s remarks as he acknowledged Vance in a rare bipartisan moment. VANCE, WALZ SPAR ON IMMIGRATION DURING VP DEBATE: BEEN TO THE BORDER ‘MORE THAN OUR BORDER CZAR’ “I 100% believe that Sen. Vance hates it when these kids… it’s abhorrent, and it breaks your heart. I agree with that, but that’s not far enough when we know there’s things that work,” Walz said. Independent and Republican voters also started to have a positive response when Vance was given the opportunity to respond to Walz’s remarks, with the Ohio senator calling it “awful” that the Minnesota governor’s son witnessed a shooting. “Tim, first of all, I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting, and I’m sorry about that. Christ have mercy,” Vance said, receiving a heartfelt thank you from Walz while garnering a positive response from voters.
Harris dodges answering whether athletes should stand during national anthem in unearthed interview
Vice President Kamala Harris sidestepped answering directly whether she believes athletes should stand for the national anthem during an unearthed 2016 interview, instead delivering a rambling response that is currently receiving backlash on social media ahead of the general election. While serving as attorney general of California, Harris joined PBS reporter David Nazar to discuss her Senate run and campaign platforms on issues such as criminal justice reform, the Black Lives Matter movement and the economy in California. During the discussion, Nazar pressed Harris if she believes athletes should stand for the national anthem. “Should folks stand for the national anthem?” Nazar asked in the interview, which was published in October 2016. Harris’ response focused on Americans’ rights protected in the Constitution, and did not include a direct answer on whether athletes should stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “We are all, and should be, treated as equals. We articulated those principles in our Constitution. And part of what we decided is what makes a fair and just and noble society in a democracy, a true democracy, is freedom of religion, freedom, right, of association, freedom to organize, First Amendment,” she responded. “So, that is part of who we are as a country, and I will defend it to the core, which is that we give people, certain choices in this country.” PRO ATHLETES WHO STOOD FOR NATIONAL ANTHEM AMID FEVER PITCH TO SUPPORT SOCIAL JUSTICE INITIATIVES In 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick became the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racism. The form of protest, which began in Harris’ backyard of San Francisco, soon spread to other sports leagues and athletes. Athletes such as Megan Rapinoe knelt for the anthem ahead of soccer games in 2016, while Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball athlete to kneel during the national anthem in 2017. TRUMP TAKES NFL, NBA TO TASK ABOUT KNEELING DURING NATIONAL ANTHEM The form of protest hit a fever pitch in 2020 following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis during an interaction with police. Scores of athletes knelt ahead of games that year during the anthem, while the NBA unveiled a court painted with “Black Lives Matter” amid social justice protests that year, and some Olympians took a knee during the Tokyo Games. The protests were slammed by conservatives in the U.S., including former President Trump, who ripped the athletes for politicizing games. TRUMP GIVES TWO-WORD RESPONSE IN REACTION TO NFL PLAYERS KNEELING BEFORE THANKSGIVING DAY GAME “I think it’s been horrible for basketball. Look at the basketball ratings. They’re down to very low numbers. People are angry about it. They don’t realize.… They have enough politics with guys like me. They don’t need more as they’re driving down… going up for the shot. They don’t need it. There’s a nastiness about the NBA about the way it was done too. So I think the NBA is in trouble. It’s in big trouble. Bigger trouble than they understand,” Trump said in 2020. Trump also posted to X, then Twitter, that kneeling for the national anthem is “a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag,” saying the “game is over” for him when he spots an athlete kneeling. Harris’ unearthed interview was criticized on social media this week, with OutKick founder Clay Travis saying Harris delivered a “long jumble of nothingness.” COLIN KAEPERNICK PROTEST FALLOUT SHOWED ‘REALLY HOW A LOT OF THE WHITE PEOPLE SEE US,’ NFL LEGEND SAYS Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment on the 2016 interview, but did not immediately receive a response. Harris defended athletes who knelt during the anthem in 2017, after she was elected senator, saying they should not be “threatened or bullied” for the protest. “Let’s speak the truth that when Americans demand recognition that their lives matter, or kneel to call attention to injustice, that that is an expression of free speech, protected by our Constitution, and they should not be threatened or bullied,” Harris said during an event in Atlanta, the Hill reported at the time. “When we sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ we rightly think about the brave men and women from all backgrounds who proudly defend the freedom of those they may never meet and people who will never know their names. When we sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ we also think about those marching in the streets who demand that the ideals of that flag represent them too,” she added. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.