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College athletes are being offered thousands to endorse Montana senator’s re-election bid through NIL deals

College athletes are being offered thousands to endorse Montana senator’s re-election bid through NIL deals

College athletes in Montana are reportedly being offered cash to make endorsement videos for Sen. Jon Tester as he campaigns for one of the Democrats’ most vulnerable seats of the 2024 cycle, according to emails shared with Fox News Digital. A group called “Montana Together” recently sourced athletes at the University of Montana (UMT), offering payments in exchange for the promotion of Tester, according to the school’s athletic director, Kent Haslam. In July, the initial contact was reportedly made on behalf of “Montana Together” through a representative at Opendorce.com, a platform used as a marketplace for athletes to score Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals. NIL is a policy approved by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2021 that allows college athletes to monetize their content. The group was offering student athletes a range of offers from $400 to $2,400 in exchange for a video “spreading the word” about the Democratic senator, a copy of the emails shared with Fox News Digital reveals. KEY SENATOR REPORTEDLY BEHIND HARRIS’ RISE TO POWER WITHHOLDS HIS ENDORSEMENT FOR PRESIDENT “We have an NIL opportunity for Montana student-athletes, and I could use your help getting the information below to any individuals who you recommend applying for this campaign. Montana Together is using Opendorse to source athletes for an NIL deal,” the email obtained by Fox News Digital reads. “Who are they looking for?: Athletes who attend college in Montana and are interested in spreading the word about Senator Jon Tester and causes you care about.” The deals were offered as follows: $400 for two scripted videos, $800 for two unscripted videos, and $2,400 for four unscripted videos. Tester’s campaign told Fox News Digital that they had no knowledge of these actions and are not in communication with the group. Lily Meskers, a UMT track athlete and journalism major who first made public the offer to athletes, told Fox News Digital that she “immediately felt frustration” upon receiving the email. “When I first received the NIL deal offer, I immediately felt frustration. I had to ask myself, ‘Why would someone seek my endorsement when their values directly negatively impact me?’ Tester’s vote against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act is against everything I’ve worked toward as a female athlete,” Meskers said. “This vote is a gateway to biological men taking away scholarships, medals and roster spots from female athletes. Many female athletes on my team shared this frustration.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), chaired by Montana’s Republican Sen. Steve Daines, highlighted Tester being one of 51 Democrats who voted against a GOP-led amendment to prevent biological men from competing in women’s sports. “Jon Tester sided with woke DC Democrats when he voted to let men compete in women’s sports, now his dark money allies are trying to pay students off to cover up his far-left voting record,” NRSC spokeswoman Maggie Abboud said in a statement. “Jon Tester is spiraling and resorting to every underhanded tactic in the book.” Fox News Digital could not reach “Montana Together” for comment at the time of this publication.

Trump ‘respectfully’ honored fallen troops at Arlington National Cemetery amid altercation report: veteran

Trump ‘respectfully’ honored fallen troops at Arlington National Cemetery amid altercation report: veteran

A U.S. veteran and former member of the Presidential Honor Guard defended former President Donald Trump’s appearance at Arlington National Cemetery this week amid reports of an altercation between Arlington staff and the Trump campaign. The veteran, Lucas O’Hara, said on social media that he worked at Arlington for three years during his time in the military, and he lauded Trump’s composure at the event. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is facing criticism following reports that cemetery staff warned them not to take photographs at the Monday event. “I have witnessed over 75 wreath laying ceremonies performed by politicians and conducted 524 funerals in this cemetery during the time I served in the Presidential Honor Guard for three years. What I got to witness yesterday was the most respectful and solemn ceremony I have seen,” O’Hara wrote.  “There were no speeches, no angles, no weird photo ops just our elected officials and the 45th President respectfully and solemnly honoring the fallen and their families,” he added. 38 DAYS: VP REFUSES TO REVEAL POLICY POSITIONS The Monday event honored the 13 U.S. service members who were killed while defending the Kabul airport during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Several parents of the service members released a statement saying they had approved a Trump campaign photographer to record the event. A report from NPR says two Trump campaign staff members “verbally abused and pushed” a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and taking photos. A defense official also told The Associated Press that the campaign was warned by cemetery staff not to take photographs at the event. REPUBLICANS SLAM HARRIS FOR BEING ‘LAST PERSON IN THE ROOM’ WHEN BIDEN MADE CALL TO EVACUATE AFGHANISTAN “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” a cemetery official said in a statement. “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung argued that the staffer who blocked the campaign photographers appeared to be having a “mental health episode.” He also specified that the campaign was granted approval to bring a photographer. ‘YOU’RE FIRED’: TRUMP VOWS PINK SLIPS ON DAY 1 FOR EVERY OFFICIAL RESPONSIBLE FOR ‘AFGHANISTAN CALAMITY’ “The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and, for whatever reason, an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” he said. Trump attended the event at the invitation of family members of the soldiers who were killed in the Kabul bombing. “We are deeply grateful to the president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief, offering his unwavering support during such a difficult time,” five of the family members wrote after the event. “His compassion and respect meant more than words can express.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Palin libel lawsuit against New York Times reinstated by federal court

Palin libel lawsuit against New York Times reinstated by federal court

A lawsuit against the New York Times brought by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been resurrected by a federal court. Palin, a former Republican vice presidential candidate, sued the outlet after it published a 2017 editorial claiming her campaign had encouraged the 2011 shooting of then-Rep. Gabby Giffords. The editorial in question was published on the day of a mass shooting at a congressional baseball practice game. No such encouragement of connection to the shooting was ever produced — Palin filed suit against the newspaper, alleging staff had intentionally published false information in an attempt to smear her and damage her reputation. NEW YORK TIMES FOUND NOT LIABLE IN SARAH PALIN DEFAMATION CASE U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff dismissed the lawsuit in February 2022 in the middle of jury deliberations. He allowed the jurors to finish deliberating and give a verdict, which ultimately favored the New York Times, but lawyers pointed out that individuals on the jury received notifications from the outlet mid-deliberation announcing the judge’s dismissal. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Wednesday overturned that dismissal and verdict, finding that Rakoff made a series of errors that qualify the lawsuit for a retrial. “We have no difficulty concluding that an average jury’s verdict would be affected if several jurors knew that the judge had already ruled for one of the parties on the very claims the jurors were charged with deciding,” 2nd Circuit Judge John Walker Jr. said regarding the dismissal. SARAH PALIN SUES NY TIMES OVER EDITORIAL TYING HER TO GIFFORDS SHOOTING “We think a jury’s verdict reached with the knowledge of the judge’s already-announced disposition of the case will rarely be untainted, no matter what the jurors say upon subsequent inquiry,” Walker said, addressing claims from jurors that the dismissal and subsequent notifications did not affect their decision. The court noted several other issues with how Palin’s lawsuit was handled, including restrictions on her claim that editorial page editor James Bennet allowed the unsubstantiated claims against her to politically aid his brother, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado. Palin’s legal team called the ruling “a significant step forward in the process of holding publishers accountable for content that misleads readers and the public in general.” “The truth deserves a level playing field, and Governor Palin looks forward to presenting her case to a jury that is ‘provided with relevant proffered evidence and properly instructed on the law,’” lawyer Shane Vogt added. The New York Times called the ruling “disappointing,” but said it is confident the lawsuit will be dismissed again in a retrial. Importantly, the appeals court did not find Rakoff biased against Palin and therefore still eligible to preside over the retrial.