Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump will be joined by tech billionaire Elon Musk at his Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of his attempted assassination on July 13 when a gunman’s bullet struck the politician’s ear.
Musk announced his appearance on X, responding to a Trump post about the event by saying: “I will be there to support!”
Kamala Harris spent Thursday visiting Ripon, Wisconsin, where political meetings in 1854 led to the formation of the Republican Party as she attempted to remind her opposition of its pre-Trump principles in the company of anti-Trump conservative Liz Cheney.
Cheney could prove an influential supporter of the Harris-Walz ticket, as might rock legend Bruce Springsteen, who formally endorsed the Democrats in an Instagram video yesterday in which he called Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime”.
At his own rally in Saginaw, Michigan, Trump himself repeated lies about the 2020 election, just a day after the release of a court filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith that outlined a sprawling criminal case against him over his alleged attempts to overturn the vote, accusing him of “increasingly desperate efforts” to cling to power with “knowingly false claims of election fraud”.
Kamala Harris and Liz Cheney campaign in birthplace of Republican Party
The Democratic presidential nominee spent Thursday visiting Ripon, Wisconsin, where political meetings in 1854 led to the formation of what became the Republican Party as she attempted to remind her opposition of its pre-Trump principles in the company of anti-Trump conservative Liz Cheney.
In an unprecedented joint appearance with the former House GOP conference chair, Harris said upholding the US Constitution should be a “basic requirement” for seeking and holding the highest office in the United States.
And, citing Trump’s efforts to block the peaceful transfer of power after he lost the 2020 election four years ago, she warned that her rival “must never again, stand behind the seal of the President of the United States.”
Cheney, who recalled how she’d first voted for a Republican presidential candidate when she cast a ballot for Ronald Reagan in the 1984 election, told the crowd in Ripon that, this year, she is “proudly casting [her] vote” for Harris because the Vice President is “standing in the breach at a critical moment in our nation’s history” and “working to unite reasonable people from all across the political spectrum.”
Here’s Andrew Feinberg with a full report.
Elon Musk to join Donald Trump as he returns to scene of assassination attempt in Pennsylvania
Donald Trump will be joined by tech billionaire Elon Musk at his Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of his attempted assassination on July 13 when a gunman’s bullet struck the politician’s ear.
Musk announced his appearance on X, responding to a Trump post about the event by saying: “I will be there to support!”
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO called the Republican presidential nominee “tough” and officially endorsed him after he survived the attempt on his life earlier this summer, cementing Musk’s shift towards right-wing politics.
The October 5 rally will be held at the same ground where Trump was hit and a rallygoer was killed by shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, before he in turn was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
In September, the former president survived a second attempt on his life when another would-be gunman hid undetected for nearly 12 hours at one of his Florida golf clubs.
The politics of Hurricane Helene prove tricky
Eric Garcia writes:
But on Thursday, as Biden touched down in Florida to assess the damage of Hurricane Helene, Scott greeted Biden. And it’s not the only time he’s done so. Last year, after Hurricane Idalia ravaged the state, he did the same — while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was running for president at the time, elected not to meet with Biden at all.
Continue reading…
Trump laughed at Sidney Powell over ‘crazy’ election conspiracy, court filing shows
Rhian Lubin has the story.
Melania Trump’s publisher demanded $250,000 for interview about her memoir
The news channel says Skyhorse Publishing sent an email containing demands for the huge “licensing fee” and a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) last week as the former First Lady promotes her forthcoming memoir, Melania.
Ariana Baio has the full story.
Vance says Trump won the 2020 election, then doubles down on the lie
Senator JD Vance repeated a tired Republican lie from 2020 — that Donald Trump actually won the election, despite all evidence to the contrary — and then doubled down on it during a recent recorded encounter.
On Thursday, comedian Jason Selvig posted a clip of an interaction he had with Vance on X. During their brief encounter, Selvig repeatedly asked Vance if Trump won in 2020. The settled issue of who won the 2020 election came up again after Vance told viewers who tuned into Tuesday’s vice presidential debate that he would have helped Trump carry out his “alternative electors” scheme to maintain power in the White House.
Graig Graziosi reports.
America’s millionaires back Harris over Trump — even the over-60s
Alicja Hagopian has the details.
Biden says Congress ‘can’t wait’ on hurricane relief bill
Congress should not wait until after the November 5 election to pass a supplemental spending bill to fund relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene and other damaging storms, President Joe Biden has said.
Biden, who spent the day touring storm damage in Florida and Georgia, rejected House Speaker Mike Johnson’s suggestion that a delay until the post-election period could be acceptable rather than call Congress back into session from their pre-election recess.
Asked about the speaker’s suggestion that a supplemental aid bill could be set aside for now, Biden replied: “We can’t wait … people need help now.”
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Springsteen endorses Kamala Harris while eviscerating ‘dangerous’ Trump
The “Born in the USA” singer, 75, is a longtime Democrat who also backed Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
Kevin E G Perry reports on what he had to say.
Wisconsin election clerks referred 30 instances of suspected fraud to prosecutors over the past year
Wisconsin election clerks referred 30 instances of suspected fraud and voting irregularities to prosecutors over the last year, according to a new report.
The nation’s multilayered election processes provide many safeguards that keep voter fraud generally detectable and rare, according to current and former election administrators for the Democratic and Republican parties. America’s elections also are decentralized into thousands of independent voting jurisdictions — Wisconsin, alone, has more than 1,800 local clerks — making it almost impossible to pull off a large-scale vote-rigging operation that could tip a race. But fraud does happen occasionally.
Continue reading…
Source: independent.co.uk
