Trump says he supports effort to legalise marijuana in Florida
Endorsement puts former US president at odds with social conservatives but in line with majority of American public. Former US President Donald Trump has said he will support a ballot measure in the southern state of Florida that would legalise marijuana for people over the age of 21. In a social media post on Monday, the Republican presidential nominee said that as president he would support state-level efforts to decriminalise and regulate marijuana, as well as research into the drug’s potential medical applications. “As I have previously stated, I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use,” Trump said. “We must also implement smart regulations, while providing access for adults, to safe, tested product. As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November.” Trump also said he would work with the US Congress to pass “common sense” laws around the issue, including safe banking for state-authorised marijuana vendors. Efforts to ease restrictions on marijuana usage are widely popular in the United States. A 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 57 percent of people in the US believe that the drug should be legal for medical and recreational purposes, with only 11 percent stating that it should not be legal at all. The announcement comes as Trump is locked in a tight race for the US presidency with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. The two candidates are set to hold their first debate on Tuesday. But in Florida, a Republican-leaning state with a long history of strict policies on criminal justice, the legalisation bid – known as Amendment 3 – has divided conservative lawmakers. The state’s right-wing Governor Ron DeSantis, who mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge against Trump for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, has expressed his opposition to the effort. Trump’s social media post came several hours after DeSantis told a group of Florida churchgoers that Amendment 3 was an effort to create a “drug cartel” using the state’s constitution. “Public use of this will be rampant,” DeSantis said. “You can’t point to a state that is better off for doing it.” Polls show the effort on track to win a sizable victory in the state, with a recent Emerson poll showing 64 percent in favour and 27 percent opposed. Recreational marijuana usage is legal in about two dozen US states. For decades, the US pursued a harsh approach to drug use that contributed to surging jail populations, disproportionately affecting people of colour and low-level drug offenders. Democrats have taken a more lenient approach to marijuana in recent years. In April, President Joe Biden said “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed”, but his administration has stopped short of pushing to legalise the drug at the federal level. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump allies offer debate strategies to beat Harris: ‘Already knocked one Democrat out’
In a margin of error race with eight weeks to go until Election Day and early voting getting underway this month in some crucial battleground states, it is hard not to underscore the importance of Tuesday’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. “It’s going to frame the race in people’s minds and have a decisive impact,” veteran GOP strategist and Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks told Fox News Digital. Republican consultant and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer emphasized that there is “a lot at stake in this debate.” While Trump is a very well known commodity in the minds of American voters, they are considerably less familiar with Harris. TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT’S DEBATE ADVICE FOR TRUMP: ‘LET HARRIS SPEAK’ “For the first time people are really going to get to see her and whether she can stand on her own two feet,” argued Fleischer, a White House press secretary under then-President George W. Bush. Harris and Trump will share the same stage at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center in an ABC News debate in their first and perhaps only face-to-face encounter ahead of the presidential election. Harris has enjoyed a wave of momentum in both polling and fundraising since replacing President Biden at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in July, but Republicans argue Americans’ honeymoon with the vice president is subsiding. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE HARRIS-TRUMP DEBATE Fleischer’s advice for Trump is, “Hit her on policy. Just like you did to Biden in the first debate. That was a disciplined, tough, policy-oriented Donald Trump. I would love to see the same Donald Trump against Kamala Harris.” Brooks highlighted that “on policy the distinctions are sharp and clear. It will be teed up to the American people if we stick to policy. That’s what they’re looking for and that’s what they want to hear about.” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who was seriously considered a Trump 2024 running mate, told Fox News that the former president “doesn’t need my advice. He just needs to be himself.” Scott said that “I think the American people have mostly made up their minds. Those independents, those uncommitted voters, this debate will show why Donald Trump is the only choice in 2024.” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, another Trump ally and surrogate, emphasized that “the American people know where President Trump stands. They know what they got when President Trump was president.” TRUMP AND HARRIS ON COLLISION COURSE AS 2024 CAMPAIGN ENTERS FINAL STRETCH Pointing to the vice president, Cotton charged that “Kamala Harris has tried to run as a blank slate.” When asked what advice he would give the former president, Cotton agreed with Scott that “I don’t think President Trump needs my advice.” “The last time he debated he ended one presidential campaign. I look forward to him doing the same thing…by exposing Kamala Harris’ radical record,” Cotton said. Biden’s disastrous performance in his late June debate against Trump instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House – and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the 81-year-old president to end his bid for a second term. Facing increased pressure from fellow Democrats, Biden, in a blockbuster announcement on July 21, ended his re-election campaign and endorsed his vice president. Harris and Trump are taking vastly different approaches to preparing for Tuesday’s showdown. Harris spent most of the past four days hunkered down in a downtown Pittsburgh hotel, taking part in an intensive “debate camp,” which included numerous mock debate sessions. Trump spent much of this past weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, taking part in less formal “policy sessions” with aides and allies. However, Trump also traveled to swing state Wisconsin on Saturday to headline a campaign rally. “It’s really important for Donald Trump to know the playbook,” Fleischer emphasized. “He needs to know Kamala Harris’ positions that she took in 2019 and 2020 about gun confiscation, about likening the border patrol to the KKK, ending fracking, ending offshore oil drilling. He needs to know her positions, and that requires studying ahead of time.” When asked about the former president’s preparations, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a Fox News interview, said “let me tell you, President Trump is ready.” Biden’s halting delivery and uneven responses in the first debate gave Trump an almost unhindered ability to make his case. However, it is unlikely the 78-year-old Trump will have such free-range against the 59-year-old Harris, a veteran prosecutor who served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general before winning election to the Senate in 2016. A big question heading into Tuesday’s debate is how Trump will react if Harris gets under the former president’s skin, by going on offense and calling him out over his likely insults and misstatements. “With President Trump, you never know what you’re going to get. There’s always an element of surprise, which is what makes him so authentic and real. But there can be risks to that,” Fleischer noted. “I’m hoping he’s going to be the same person he was against Joe Biden with that disciplined debate. He already knocked one Democrat out of the race – Joe Biden. Maybe he can do it twice.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Biden has signed just 2 executive orders since dropping out of 2024 race, trailing past presidents
President Biden has signed two executive orders since dropping out of the 2024 race, trailing past presidents at this point during an election year. On Friday, Biden traveled to the battleground state of Michigan, where he signed what the White House billed as his “Good Jobs” executive order following a visit with labor union members in Ann Arbor. “I signed an executive order to make sure that the most… the largest federal construction projects that are being built in America are built with project labor agreements,” Biden said in Ann Arbor, adding, “It’s a big deal.” Biden had signed just one other executive order since his unprecedented July 21 announcement that he was discontinuing his re-election bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. HARRIS FINALLY ADDS POLICY PAGE TO CAMPAIGN WEBSITE, DEVOTES SEVERAL SECTIONS TO TRUMP Biden signed an executive order on July 25, establishing an emergency board to investigate a dispute between New Jersey Transit Rail Operations and its locomotive engineers represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. Just days before dropping out, Biden signed a July 17 executive order “on advancing educational equity, excellence, and economic opportunity through Hispanic-serving institutions.” Biden’s rate is far lower than his most recent predecessors at this point in their presidencies. Former President Trump signed seven executive orders in August 2020. Similarly, former President Obama signed five executive orders in August 2016 during the last year of his presidency. Elon Musk is among those commenting online about Biden’s perceived lack of governance. “I keep forgetting that Biden is still technically in charge of the country,” Musk, the tech billionaire owner of X, wrote on his platform Sunday. Trump, the current Republican presidential nominee, teased a new executive order of his own during a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Saturday. “I will sign an executive order banning any federal employee from colluding to limit speech. And we will fire every federal bureaucrat who is engaged in domestic censorship under the Harris regime,” Trump said. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Monday about Biden’s lag behind Trump and Obama’s executive order record but did not immediately hear back. HOUSE DEMS ISSUE RESPONSE TO GOP REPORT ON BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN Trump’s seven executive orders in August 2020 included those “targetting opportunity zones and other distressed communities for federal site locations,” “fighting the spread of COVID-19 by providing assistance to renters and homeowners,” and “combating public health emergencies and strengthening national security by ensuring essential medicines, medical countermeasures, and critical inputs are made in the United States.” The Republican president’s orders that month also centered on “addressing the threat posed by WeChat, and taking additional steps to address the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain,” “addressing the threat posed by TikTok, and taking additional steps to address the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain,” “improving rural health and telehealth access,” and “aligning federal contracting and hiring practices with the interests of American workers.” In August 2016, Obama signed executive orders providing an order of succession within the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of the Treasury. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP That month, the Democrat commander in chief, whom Biden served as vice president, also signed amendments to two prior executive orders from 2014, one that focused on promoting “economy and efficiency in procurement by contracting with responsible sources who comply with labor laws” and another to expand membership on the president’s advisory council on doing business in Africa. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Harris doubles down on support for left-wing benefit for illegal immigrants: ‘Smart solutions’
Vice President Kamala Harris is doubling down on her support for an “earned pathway to citizenship” for illegal immigrants in a new campaign policy page, even as she presents a more muscular approach to border security overall. “Vice President Harris and Governor Walz believe in tough, smart solutions to secure the border, keep communities safe, and reform our broken immigration system,” the lengthy “issues” page of her campaign website says. The page itself comes as Harris has faced pressure over her policy positions, both in relation to whether she stands by some of her more radical policy positions from her 2020 presidential primary bid, and to what extent she differs from the President Biden administration. GOV. ABBOTT DISMISSES BIDEN-HARRIS VICTORY LAP NARRATIVE AS TEXAS BORDER CROSSINGS PLUNGE As a candidate, she supported decriminalizing illegal border crossings, called to shut down immigration detention centers on day one and talked about Immigration and Customs Enforcement starting again “from scratch.” After entering office in 2021, the Biden administration put forward a broad immigration reform bill that at its heart had a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States. While it failed to move forward after its introduction in the Senate, the administration has repeatedly expressed support for it. More recently, and after a historic three-year crisis at the border, the administration’s attention has shifted to a bipartisan Senate bill that would not include an amnesty pathway but would restrict some entries into the U.S. and would increase funding to the border. On her campaign page, Harris emphasizes that as California’s attorney general, Harris “went after international drug gangs, human traffickers and cartels that smuggled guns, drugs, and human beings across the U.S.-Mexico border.” It then notes her support for the border security bill. “As Vice President, she supported the bipartisan border security bill, the strongest reform in decades. The legislation would have deployed more detection technology to intercept fentanyl and other drugs and added 1,500 border security agents to protect our border,” she said. She also touted the recent drop in border crossings that came after President Biden signed an executive order restricting the ability of new migrants to claim asylum at the border. BORDER OFFICIALS REVEAL WHICH FOREIGN GANG THEY ARE MAKING KEY ‘PRIORITY’ AMID CRIMES IN MULTIPLE STATES “As President, she will bring back the bipartisan border security bill and sign it into law,” it says, before then highlighting that she still wants to see those in the country illegally given a pathway to citizenship. “At the same time, she knows that our immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform that includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship,” it says. It is the latest expression of support from Harris for an amnesty for many millions of illegal immigrants now in the U.S. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “We do need Congress to act and to do what we know is necessary to fully put the resources into the border and creating a meaningful pathway to citizenship,” she said in June. Similarly, she called for an “earned pathway to citizenship” during her remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month. Last month, Harris’ campaign confirmed to Fox News that Harris had shifted her positions on some issues, with a Harris campaign adviser telling Fox that her positions have been “shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.” The campaign said that she believes that unauthorized border crossings are illegal, wants to ensure sufficient resources to prioritize detention and removal of some illegal immigrants, and noted again her support for more funding at the border via the bipartisan Senate bill.
State Department denies lack of planning for withdrawal laid out in GOP-led Afghanistan report
The State Department stood by the frenzied 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal in a new statement after House Foreign Affairs Republicans released a scathing 350-page report detailing dysfunction and a lack of planning leading up to the pullout. Republicans have “issued partisan statements, cherry-picked facts, withheld testimonies from the American people, and obfuscated the truth behind conjecture,” according to a statement put out by a State Department spokesperson. The report, led by Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, disputed Biden’s assertion that his hands were tied to the Doha agreement former President Donald Trump had made with the Taliban establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal for the summer of 2021, and laid much blame on a lack of planning by the State Department for getting Americans and allies out while there were still troops there to protect them. “There are valid and important criticisms of the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan and how it concluded, which is why the Department has remained focused on evolving and growing from this moment, learning important lessons and making sustainable changes to crisis operations,” the State Department statement said. “The Department stands ready to work alongside any Member who expresses serious interest in finding legislative and administrative solutions. However, we will not stand by silently as the Department and its workforce are used to further partisan agendas.” US FAILURE IN TALIBAN INTEL HAS OPENED UP AFGHANISTAN TO CHINA, RUSSIA The department said the idea that they lacked a noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) plan to close operations in Afghanistan is “one of the most persistent misunderstandings.” The State Department did not initiate a NEO to begin removing U.S. personnel and American allies until Aug. 14, as the Taliban marched into Kabul, and one day before President Ashraf Ghani fled his country in a helicopter full of cash. There were not enough troops present to begin the NEO until Aug. 19. The report lays blame on former Afghanistan Ambassador Ross Wilson, who instead of shrinking, increased the embassy’s presence as the security situation deteriorated – despite warnings from military officials. The statement noted that the U.S. had intended for the embassy in Kabul to remain open after the evacuation – “a decision Congress broadly supported.” “While U.S. military forces would end combat operations, Department personnel planned to operate out of Embassy Kabul to assist Americans and Afghan allies, coordinate diplomatic and development activity and investments, and help protect and advance U.S. national security interests after August 2021.” The U.S. Embassy in Kabul closed officially on Aug. 31, 2021 and has not reopened since. The statement said that “executing the NEO before [August 15] would have signaled to the people of Afghanistan the U.S. had lost all confidence in the then-Afghan government and precipitated the very collapse we sought to avoid.” Still, the department admitted it had no idea Afghanistan would fall to the Taliban so quickly. “Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict the government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained.” McCaul’s investigation found the State Department had been warned repeatedly about the Taliban takeover but refused to draw down its presence in the region. The department said it had been recommending Americans living in Afghanistan leave since March of that year. AFGHAN GENERAL SAYS HIS COUNTRY HAS ONCE AGAIN BECOME ‘CRUCIBLE OF TERRORISM’ “In total, between March and August, the Department sent 19 unique messages with warnings to Americans living in Afghanistan to leave, as well as offers of help, including financial assistance to pay for plane tickets.” Despite such efforts, nearly 6,000 Americans remained as Kabul fell, mostly dual citizens, prompting an evacuation effort of “unprecedented scope and scale.” McCaul contends that the State Department left some 1,000 Americans in Afghanistan, but the State Department said it evacuated “almost all” Americans by Aug. 31. The department said it helped another 500 U.S. citizens evacuate between Aug. 31 and the end of the year – and noted that it helped some 120,000 Americans, Afghans and third-country nationals flee the country in the last two weeks of August 2021. It also noted that when President Biden took office in January 2021, the special immigrant visa (SIV) program to offer visas to foreign nationals who assist U.S. missions abroad had a backlog of 14,000 and “there had not been a single SIV applicant interview in Kabul in nine months, going back to March 2020.”
Delhi court sends AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan to 14-day judicial custody in…
Khan was produced before the court on the expiry of his seven-day ED custody granted earlier.
SK Fortune Group is Changing Pune’s Skyline with new high-rise buildings
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Harris solidifies support with Black voters, Trump numbers hold steady: poll
More Black Americans are planning to make their voices heard on Election Day now that Vice President Kamala Harris has replaced President Biden as the Democratic nominee, according to a Monday poll. The Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 69% of Black Americans say they are “absolutely certain to vote” on Election Day, compared to 62% in April. Meanwhile, a similar New York Times poll found Sunday that 56% of Black Americans said they were “almost certain” to vote, with an additional 33% saying they were “very likely” to vote. The Post poll found that Harris’ candidacy has had the largest impact on young Black voters, particularly women. The share of Black Americans under 30 who plan to vote has risen 15 points from April, to 47%. Meanwhile, intent to vote among Black women under 40 rose by 18 points since April, to 57%. Among Black registered voters, 82% say they favor Harris over Trump, according to the Post, while only 12% say they favor Trump. In the Times poll, 78% of Black Americans said they favored Trump, and Trump scored 14%. HOUSE GOP RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ON BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN MAKES PREDICTION FOR TRUMP AND HARRIS DEBATE: ‘IT’S GOING TO BE CLOSE’ The Post and Ipsos conducted the poll from Aug. 23 to Sept. 3, surveying 1,083 Black Americans. The poll advertises a margin of error of 3.2%. Harris holds solid or dominating majority support from Black voters when it comes to the issues as well. Only when it comes to Israel’s war with Hamas does she lose out on a majority, with 49% of Black Americans saying they trust her to handle the issue. A striking 28% said neither candidate could be trusted on the topic. Trump’s best performance is on immigration, where 19% of Black Americans say he is best to handle the issue. Harris maintains a commanding 55% support on the issue, however. The poll lands just one day before Harris and Trump are set to square off in their first presidential debate on Tuesday. The pair’s campaigns have already laid the groundwork for lines of attack. SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN MAKES PREDICTION FOR TRUMP AND HARRIS DEBATE: ‘IT’S GOING TO BE CLOSE’ Trump is expected to lean into Harris’ role in the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which saw 13 soldiers killed in a suicide bombing. Several relatives of those soldiers have endorsed Trump and criticized Harris in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Harris’ campaign sought to counter that narrative this week with a letter from 10 retired generals and admirals saying President Biden and Harris had done their best with a poor situation left to them by Trump’s own administration.
Gaetz questions Jack Smith’s authority to keep up Trump probes after judge calls him ‘unlawfully appointed’
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is writing to Attorney General Merrick Garland to question the legitimacy of special counsel Jack Smith’s continued probing of former President Donald Trump. Gaetz, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, asked Garland for “any written authorization” or other documentation regarding Smith’s continued efforts despite his case against the ex-president getting thrown out by a federal judge in July. “On August 27, 2024, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against former President Donald Trump in federal district court in the District of Columbia. One day later, he was arguing before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, attempting to overturn a federal district judge’s finding that he was unlawfully appointed by you,” Gaetz wrote in the brief letter. “It is unclear what authority Special Counsel Smith has to file either of these briefs or to provide services to the Department of Justice.” TRUMP UNLEASHES ON HARRIS, TALKING IMMIGRATION, CHINA IN EXCLUSIVE ‘LIFE, LIBERTY & LEVIN’ INTERVIEW Smith’s appointment as special counsel was deemed unlawful by Florida-based U.S. Judge Eileen Cannon, who said his lack of Senate confirmation for the role made him illegitimate. Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, had been overseeing Smith’s prosecution of the former president over his handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. Smith filed a response with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing Cannon was wrong in her assessment of the special counsel role, arguing “precedent and history” were on his side, as well as a “long tradition of special-counsel appointments by Attorneys General and Congress’ endorsement of the practice.” TRUMP INDICTED A SECOND TIME IN ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH Amid that court battle, Smith also filed a superseding indictment in a separate probe he is conducting into the ex-president, investigating whether Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Smith had filed an amended indictment in that prosecution after the recent Supreme Court ruling that presidents are afforded wider immunity privileges. However, Gaetz questioned whether Smith even had the legal footing to file either of those motions. His letter asked Garland whether he consulted the deputy attorney general and existing public integrity guidelines before Smith filed the superseding indictment. If so, Gaetz asked him to “provide any records of the Deputy Attorney General’s Office or the Office of the Attorney General authorizing the Office of Special Counsel to file the Aug. 27, 2024, superseding indictment.” Trump has so far denied any wrongdoing in any of the prosecutions against him. His congressional allies like Gaetz have been key defenders – Gaetz has heaped skepticism on Trump’s legal trials, and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., has filed a flurry of ethics complaints against judges overseeing Trump cases in New York. TRUMP PLANS TO PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO JACK SMITH’S REVISED FEDERAL ELECTION INTERFERENCE CHARGES Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., another Trump ally, has spearheaded GOP pressure in the House to defund Smith’s office. It is not fully clear yet how Trump’s criminal and civil proceedings will affect his bid for re-election, with less than two months until Election Day. The Department of Justice did not immediately return a request for comment on Gaetz’s letter.