News

Home News Page 75

Report: President’s Secret Service Spontaneously Explodes After Leaving for Nantucket Vacation

6
Pixabay free images

President Biden’s rented Secret Service vehicles burst into flames in a parking lot Monday- one day after he left for a Thanksgiving family vacation in Nantucket, Mass.

 The Secret Service rented five vehicles from Hertz to carry the president and his family, and all five of them caught fire in the parking lot, according to footage first obtained by the Nantucket Current.

per Fox News:

Footage shows firefighters spraying down the smoldering remains of one vehicle’s engine block. The five vehicles included a Chevy Suburban, Ford Explorer, Infiniti QX80, Ford Expedition, and a Jeep Gladiator.

The vehicles were parked at the Nantucket airport and the blaze reportedly spread to just 40 feet away from the facility’s jet fuel tanks. It is currently unknown what caused the fire. Fox News reached out to the  White House for information, but they did not immediately respond.

“At approximately 5:22 am Airport shift staff observed an active fire in the rental car overflow area through the Airport’s Closed Circuit Television System,” the airport said in a statement to the Current. “Staff activated the Alert system and responded to the fire in Airport-3, where they were met by responding units from Nantucket Fire Department and Nantucket Police Department.”

“Combined fire resources responded and contained the fire. Several vehicles were damaged. The Airport is currently coordinating with rental car agencies and agency partners to ensure scene safety, There is no longer an active fire at this time: the Airport is open, and aeronautical operations are not affected,” the statement continued.

This story is developing. Stay with Great America News Desk for more updates.

CNN Announces Changes to White House Correspondence Team

0
CNN Headquarters via Wikimedia Commons

CNN announced some big changes to its White House coverage.

Phil Mattingly has been promoted to chief White House correspondent, the network announced on Monday, and reporter MJ Lee has been promoted to senior White House correspondent.

Per The Hill:

Mattingly began covering the White House for CNN in January 2021, and was a congressional correspondent for the outlet beforehand. Lee joined CNN’s White House team last year as well after a stint in the network’s New York bureau covering the 2020 elections.

Mattingly takes over as CNN’s chief White House reporter for Kaitlan Collins, who was earlier this fall tapped by new network boss Chris Licht to serve as a co-host of the channel’s revamped Morning show “CNN This Morning,” along with longtime prime-time host Don Lemon and daytime anchor Poppy Harlow.

CNN has implemented some big changes since Christ Licht took over as CEO and the network is still planning to make some big layoffs ahead of the holidays.

California Governor Finally Breaks Silence on 2024 Run

4
Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation), CC BY 2.5 AR via Wikimedia Commons

California Governor Gavin Newsom is putting rumors to rest that he’s plotting a primary challenge against Joe Biden in the next election cycle.

Newsom, who has faced increased scrutiny recently due to speculation he’s planning to mount a presidential campaign, told reporters that he’s “all in” on Biden 2024 and has made that same commitment to other White House officials, according to Mediaite.

“I’ve told everyone in the White House, from the chief of staff to the first lady,” he recounted to me as we sat on the top floor of California’s now-ceremonial governor’s mansion on election night.

His message to Ron Klain and Jill Biden over the summer — when he visited Washington amid growing speculation, and considerable West Wing irritation, that he was plotting a primary challenge — was to count him as a firm supporter of Biden’s reelection: “I’m all in, count me in,” he said he told them.

Newsom relayed the same to Biden himself on election night.

Newsom says when he spoke to Biden on Election Night, he told the president “I’m all in; put me in coach. We have your back.”

Newsom’s declaration of support for Biden comes as he already faces a 2020 rematch against Donald Trump, who recently announced his own 2024 campaign. However, Trump’s announcement has been met with mixed feelings from Republicans as some say his bombastic character and history make him unlikely to win another national election.

Over the weekend, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced he plans to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for president in 2024 if he mounts a bid, despite just reinstating Trump’s Twitter account access.

“I’m fine with Trump not tweeting,” Musk wrote in reply to a tweet about Trump’s restored account. “The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service.”

“Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America,” he said.

In his reply thread, Musk said that in 2024 he wants someone “sensible centrist” in office, and that Biden has not been that. When someone replied to ask him directly whether Ron DeSantis would fit the bill, he said yes.

Report: Kanye West Asked Trump to be His 2024 Running Mate

0

The controversial rapper and fashion mogul “Ye,” previously known as Kanye West, asked Donald Trump to be his vice president in 2024.

The rapper, in a Twitter video posted Thursday evening, said he mentioned a campaign during a recent meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, also tweeting a series of “Ye 24” graphics, according to The Hill.

“I think the thing that Trump was most perturbed about, me asking him to be my vice president,” Ye said in the video in the Twitter post. “I think that was like lower on the list of things that caught him off-guard.”

Ye went on to say Trump screamed at him during the meeting about a run.

“When Trump started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was going to lose — I mean has that ever worked for anyone in history,” Ye said in the video. “I’m like hold on, hold on, hold on, Trump, you’re talking to Ye.”

This isn’t the first time Ye has brought out his presidential ambitions, the rapper mounted a failed presidential run in 2020 but has been a longtime supporter of Trump.

Donald Trump recently announced his own 2024 run for president while addressing a crowd at Mar-a-Lago.

Arizona Candidate, RNC File Election Lawsuit

4
Missvain, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Arizona Republicans have filed a lawsuit after widespread voting issues impacted Election Day and prolonged results for more than a week.

Arizona Republican attorney general nominee Abraham Hamadeh in conjunction with the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed suit against many election officials Tuesday. 

The lawsuit targets Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) alongside the recorders and boards of supervisors for all counties in the state.

According to Fox News, the lawsuit also stated the Republicans are not alleging “fraud, manipulation or other intentional wrongdoing,” and added that the alleged mismanagement did not directly affect the outcome of the election.

“The voters of Arizona demand answers and deserve transparency about the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the General Election by certain election officials,” Hamadeh said. “Pervasive errors by our election officials resulted in the disenfranchisement of countless Arizonans who had their voices silenced.” 

According to Maricopa County election officials, at least 60 voting locations experienced issues with their ballot-on-demand printers. The assistant attorney general is demanding an in-depth report addressing those issues, as well as the “check-out” procedures at each polling location and each location’s official ballot report.

Hamadeh and the RNC allege that Arizona officials also wrongly disqualified provisional ballots and mis-marked early voters in the system.

Over the weekend, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright sent a letter to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office demanding explanations for the numerous election problems before the results can be certified next week.

“The Elections Integrity Unit of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has received hundreds of complaints since Election Day pertaining to issues related to the administration of the 2022 General Election in Maricopa County,” Wright wrote. “These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa’s lawful compliance with Arizona election law.”

Florida Lawmakers Want to Clear Path for 2024 DeSantis White House Bid

3

Top Florida Republicans are prepared to clear a path for Governor Ron DeSantis to make a run for the White House.

Currently, Florida law would require DeSantis to resign in order to run for president but legislators have signaled a serious interest in amending the law in the near future.

“Any officer who qualifies for federal public office must resign from the office he or she presently holds if the terms, or any part thereof, run concurrently with each other,” the states the law.

DeSantis was re-elected as governor on November 8 with a victory margin of nearly 20 percentage points.

Incoming Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R) called the suggestion of changing the “resign to run” law a “good idea” on Tuesday after being elected to lead the state’s lower chamber.

New Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R) also told reporters she supported the update.

“If Speaker Renner thinks it’s a good idea, I think it’s a good idea,” she told reporters.

Passidomo addressed reporters and said she does not feel a Florida governor with presidential aspirations should be forced to resign.

“If an individual who is Florida governor is running for president, I think he should be allowed to do it,” she said in regard to amending state law to allow DeSantis to keep his office in Tallahassee while running for president – should he choose to do so. “I really do. That’s a big honor and a privilege, so it is a good idea.”

So far DeSantis has remained committed to winning his gubernatorial re-election and has sought to tamp down 2024 White House speculation. However, the Florida Governor has been widely regarded among Republicans as the most formidable contender to take on Donald Trump who recently announced his own bid for the presidency.

According to The Daily Wire, some legal experts have questioned how the law could apply to DeSantis. Jon Mills, a constitutional law professor at the University of Florida, said in October it could depend on how far DeSantis got in a White House bid.

“The statute in text does say federal,’’ he said. “The question is when? What does ‘qualification’ mean, in terms of running for president? Does it mean you are the final nominee or is it when you qualify for the first primary state?”

But Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus wrote on her website that the law would not apply to a DeSantis effort to trade Tallahassee for Washington.

“The “resign-to-run” law prohibits an officer from qualifying as a candidate for another state, district, county or municipal public office if the terms or any part overlap with each other unless the officer submits a resignation from the office the person presently holds,” she wrote. “Therefore, the “resign-to-run” law would not preclude a sitting state, district, county, or municipal officer from qualifying as a candidate for federal office without resigning from the office the person presently holds as long as the officer is not also seeking to qualify for re-election to his or her present office.”

Supreme Court Clears Path for Congress to Obtain Trump Tax Records

10
Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

On Tuesday the Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal from former President Donald Trump that sought to shield his tax records from Congress.

The order, which had no noted dissents, concludes a multi-year legal battle by Democrats to obtain the records.

Last month, the former President filed the emergency appeal after a lower court declined to reverse its ruling mandating that he turn over the records to the House Ways and Means Committee. The Committee has argued the records are critical to its probe of how the IRS conducts its presidential audits but Trump and his attorneys have asserted the effort is merely a political stunt meant to jeopardize Trump and his businesses.

Chief Justice John Roberts had temporarily blocked their release in a Nov. 1 order while the court considered the matter, according to The Hill.

“The Committee’s purpose in requesting President Trump’s tax returns has nothing to do with funding or staffing issues at the IRS and everything to do with releasing the President’s tax information to the public,” Trump’s attorneys wrote to the court in October.

Federal law mandates that tax returns are generally confidential unless an exception applies, one of which includes a written request by the House Ways and Means Committee. The issue in Trump’s litigation in large part turns on whether this exception is constitutional.

“Why would anybody be surprised that the Supreme Court has ruled against me, they always do!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is unprecedented to be handing over Tax Returns, & it creates terrible precedent for future Presidents. Has Joe Biden paid taxes on all of the money he made illegally from Hunter & beyond.”

“The Supreme Court has lost its honor, prestige, and standing, & has become nothing more than a political body, with our Country paying the price,” Trump wrote on Wednesday. “They refused to even look at the Election Hoax of 2020. Shame on them!”

This story is developing. Stay with Great America News Desk for updates.

Top CNN Executive Gets the Axe Amid Network Reorganization

5
CNN Headquarters via Wikimedia Commons

A top executive is set to leave CNN by the end of the year as the network continues to re-organize under CEO Chris Licht’s new regime.

CNN’s executive vice president of programming, Michael Bass is departing his role after more than a decade.

“I’m writing to let you know that Michael Bass has made the decision to leave CNN at the end of this year,” the memo said. “As head of domestic programming, Michael helped create a number of new shows and overhaul legacy programs. His full list of accomplishments is too great to acknowledge in a single memo. But on the heels of the midterms, it’s worth noting that he oversaw coverage of elections, town halls and debates.”

Bass, whose resume includes previous stints at CBS and NBC, is likely not the last high-profile employee to leave the network in the coming weeks. Last week, Licht revealed more layoffs are expected to come in early December.

Those who will be laid off will receive anywhere from a 60- to 90-day notice.

CNN’s new CEO has sent shockwaves through the network as he seeks to implement major changes from the top down. Numerous hosts, including Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter, have left the network while others like Don Lemon have seen their role within the company shift.

Many have speculated Licht plans to take CNN in a more moderate direction after years of hyper-partisan reporting, however, Licht says that is simply speculation.

“One of the biggest misconceptions about my vision is that I want to be vanilla, that I want to be centrist. That is bullshit,” Licht told the Financial Times this week. “You have to be compelling. You have to have edge. In many cases you take a side. Sometimes you just point out uncomfortable questions. But either way you don’t see it through a lens of left or right.”

“We are truth-tellers, focused on informing, not alarming our viewers,” Licht wrote in one of his earliest memos to CNN staffers this summer. “You’ve already seen far less of the “Breaking News” banner across our programming. The tenor of our voice holistically has to reflect that.”  

Who do you think is next to leave? Tell us in the comments below!

Amanda Head: Lauren Boebert Election Update!

2

Pro-Trump superstar Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (CO-3rd) has faced a contentious post-Election Day battle as she fights for another term in Congress.

Watch Amanda explain the ongoing ballot fiasco below.

Trump Announces 2024 Presidential Campaign

4
Gage Skidmore Flickr

While addressing a crowd in his Mar-a-Lago resort former President Donald Trump officially declared his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“Ladies and gentlemen, America’s comeback starts right now!” Trump said to a cheering crowd.

“The decline of America is being forced upon us by Biden. This decline is not a choice we must accept,” Trump said.

Epoch Times editor Ivan Pentchoukov tweeted shortly before Trump’s speech that tonight’s remarks follow a similar time frame to his initial 2016 campaign announcement.

https://twitter.com/IvanPentchoukov/status/1592666689111408641

Former President Donald Trump filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday to run for a third consecutive White House bid, ahead of a planned announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

The paperwork listed “Donald J. Trump for President 2024.”

Trump’s main political committee had approximately $70 million in the bank as of mid-October, which could be transferred to a newer super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc.

Trump teased the announcement on Election Day eve at a rally in Ohio to support U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

“I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.,” Trump said toward the end of a rally near Dayton, Ohio, where he was campaigning for a host of candidates in the state, including Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

“We want nothing to distract from the importance of tomorrow,” Trump said.

As Great America News Desk previously reported:

However, while a Republican red tsunami was expected to sweep the midterm elections the results thus far have been disappointing as the GOP has yet to officially win a majority in either chamber. Some conservatives have blamed Trump’s interference as a major factor behind the lackluster results and have expressed hopes he will reconsider his announcement.

Former House Speaker for the GOP, Newt Gingrich, stated on Wednesday that he believes Trump might be reconsidering his plans for 2024.

“I mean, just in my own emails today, [with] the number of people who want somebody other than Trump who have decided, literally overnight, that person is going to be DeSantis, he’s going to find it almost impossible to avoid running,” Gingrich told Just the News. “I think Trump’s got to look at the results and be troubled.”

Trump’s announcement tees up a re-match against Joe Biden, who has said he plans to seek a second term.

This story is developing. Stay with Great America News Desk for updates.