South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem isn’t rushing toward the presidential debate stage anytime soon.
Despite the Republican’s rising national profile, Gov. Noem told CBS News reporter Robert Costa that she’s “not convinced” she should pursue the Oval Office.
“’I’m not convinced that I need to run for president,” Noem said according to The Hill.
Costa continued to press the Governor if she is looking ahead to future elections. Noem has been floated as a potential presidential contender or even as a potential VP choice for Trump’s campaign.
“Do you not feel a rush, governor, to make a decision on 2024?” he asked.
“I don’t, Bob, at all. No, I think it’s important that people focus on governing rather than going out and making big, broad statements and going out and taking action for their own political futures,” Noem said.
Noem was endorsed in her reelection bid by former President Trump and said last summer that she’d support Trump’s latest White House campaign. However, after the midterms, the South Dakota lawmaker said that the former president does not “offer the best chance” for the GOP.
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump challenged Joe Biden to take a drug test before this week’s televised presidential debate.
“DRUG TEST FOR CROOKED JOE BIDEN??? I WOULD, ALSO, IMMEDIATELY AGREE TO ONE!!!” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.
The former president has repeatedly suggested Biden could take a performance-enhancing drug before the debate, with some already discounting any well-received performance by the incumbent as a charade.
In two other posts on Truth Social, Trump praised Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who sent a letter to the president and his physician Monday, demanding he take drug tests immediately before and after the debate.
“Ronny Jackson was a brilliant Doctor, Admiral and now, a GREAT Congressman,” the presumptive GOP nominee wrote in one post. “He happens to be totally right about what is written in this MUST READ Article but, unfortunately, nothing will be done about it!”
Trump and Biden will square off Thursday night in a debate hosted by CNN, in what will be the first debate since the 2020 election.
Trump last week said he does not want to underestimate Biden ahead of the debate.
“Well, all I can say is this: I watched him with Paul Ryan, and he destroyed Paul Ryan,” Trump said during an episode of the “All-In podcast” last week. “And he beat Paul Ryan, so, I’m not underestimating him.”
Donald Trump challenged President Biden to a rematch- another “no holds barred” debate.
Trump threw down the gauntlet in a Thursday evening Truth Social post.
“I have the answer to the Crooked Joe Biden Incompetence Puzzle — Let’s do another Debate, but this time, no holds barred – An all on discussion, with just the two of us on stage, talking about the future of our Country,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “The ratings were massive for the First Debate, record setting, in fact, but this one, because of the format, would blow everything away!”
Office of the President of the United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In his post Trump said that he wants Biden to discuss topics ranging from immigration to inflation in another debate.
“Likewise it would be yet another test for me. What a great evening it would be, just the two of us, one on one, in a good, old fashioned Debate, the way they used to be. ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!!!” the former president added.
Biden’s unsteady performance during last week’s debate has spurred mixed reactions from Democrats. Multiple sitting lawmakers have called on Biden to withdraw from the race.
The White House was insistent Wednesday that Biden is not leaving the presidential race, and he said in a fundraising email sent the same day that nobody “is pushing me out.”
“I’m the Democratic Party’s nominee,” the fundraising email read. “No one is pushing me out. I’m not leaving, I’m in this race to the end, and WE are going to win this election. If that’s all you need to hear, pitch in a few bucks to help [Vice President Harris] and me defeat Donald Trump in November.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Biden said at a White House Fourth of July event.
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Texas Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first sitting Member of Congress to publicly encourage Biden to step down earlier this week. In a more damning appearance, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi switched from accusing Trump of having dementia to validating questions about Biden’s mental acuity, further fueling the debate over his capacity to lead.
Andy for President? @GovAndyBeshear’s comments when asked about his name being mentioned as a candidate if President Biden were to drop out. Beshear has been named by several national media outlets as a potential replacement. @WLKYpic.twitter.com/QDRnG5NDjh
Billionaire Elon Musk has no plan to back away from politics anytime soon.
SpaceX owner Elon Musk vowed to keep up his political activities in a social media post on Tuesday, saying he would take an active role in the GOP primaries ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“Normally, PACs go somewhat dormant after a big election,” Musk wrote on X, adding:
@America PAC is going to do the opposite and keep grinding, increasing Republican registrations in key districts around the country, in preparation for special elections and the midterms.
“And, of course, play a significant role in primaries,” Musk added.
Normally, PACs go somewhat dormant after a big election.@America PAC is going to do the opposite and keep grinding, increasing Republican registrations in key districts around the country, in preparation for special elections and the midterms.
Musk’s PAC reportedly spent some $200 million to help get Trump reelected in recent months. Musk himself, the world’s richest man, donated some $120 million to aid in Trump’s reelection bid – making him Trump’s second biggest backer after billionaire Timothy Mellon.
Musk’s pledge to stay active in GOP politics is the first sign his interest in the party extends far beyond Trump as activism.
Former President Trump has responded to the House Select Committee’s unanimous vote to subpoena him.
On Thursday, the House Select Committee voted 9-0 to subpoena the former president over his alleged role in the Jan. 6th Capitol attack.
On Friday, Trump published a letter to the committee of “partisan hacks” accusing them of refusing to investigate what he considers basic questions surrounding the riot.
The former president refused to state whether he intends to honor the panel’s subpoena.
“The Unselect Committee has willfully ignored the fact that days before January 6, 2021, I recommended and authorized thousands of troops to be deployed to ensure that there was peace, safety, and security at the Capitol and throughout Washington, D.C. on January 6th because I knew, just based on instinct and what I was hearing, that the crowd coming to listen to my speech, and various others, would be a very big one, far bigger than anyone thought possible,” Trump wrote.
Despite Trump’s ire towards the House panel a source close to the former president insists he “loves the idea of testifying.” The source told Fox News, that if Trump does in fact testify he plans to “talk about how corrupt the election was, how corrupt the committee was, and how Nancy Pelosi did not call up the National Guard that Trump strongly recommended for her to do three days earlier on January 3, 2021.”
“They didn’t cover the reason for January 6—the largest crowd—it wasn’t set up by me,” Trump said. “The committee didn’t cover election fraud, which was massive, and they didn’t cover why Pelosi didn’t call the National Guard.”
“They didn’t do their job. I believed the crowd was going to be bigger—just my instinct—and they had the chance to call up the National Guard three days before Jan. 6, and if they did, Jan. 6 would have been a very different day,” Trump said. “But they didn’t do it.”
He added: “They were derelict in their duty. I gave them the authorization and the recommendation to call up the National Guard.”
On Monday, the House Select Committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6th, 2021 Capitol riot voted to recommend the Department of Justice criminally prosecute former President Donald Trump.
The committee voted 9-0.
According to Fox News, the first referral recommended by the committee is for Trump’s obstruction an official proceeding of Congress. The committee will also refer Trump to DOJ for conspiracy to defraud the federal government, making a false statement and inciting, assisting, or aiding and comforting an insurrection.
In what is expected to be its final meeting on Monday, the House Select Committee to Investigate January 6 said it will formally ask the DOJ to pursue charges after a nearly 18-month probe into the former president’s involvement in the activities that lead to the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021.
The committee’s unprecedented criminal referral holds no official legal weight, and a final determination in whether to pursue the charges will be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department.
At Monday’s meeting, the committee’s members, seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans, each presented a portion of their findings against Trump before taking the vote to issue criminal referrals.
The committee will also refer four Republican members of Congress to the House Committee on Ethics for defying the committee’s subpoenas. One of the Republicans who defied their subpoena was then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, (R-Calif.)
The committee also subpoenaed:
Jim Jordan, R-Ohio
Mo Brooks, R-Ala.
Scott Perry, R-Pa.
Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
This Hollywood-backed committee continues to waste resources and taxpayer money to produce the most biased congressional "investigation" in this nation's history.
According to The Hill, It’s unclear if the Ethics panel will launch an investigation based on the select committee’s new recommendations. Unlike most other standing committees, membership on the Ethics panel is evenly divided between the parties. And the committee strives — at least rhetorically — to avoid the divisive partisan politicking that practically defines some of the other panels.
Yet with just weeks left in the 117th Congress, there’s a small and closing window for the committee to launch any new probes while Democrats are still in the House majority. And it’s unlikely that a GOP-led Ethics Committee would take the remarkable step of investigating the role of sitting Republicans in an event as polarizing as the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
(Miami - Flórida, 09/03/2020) Presidente da República Jair Bolsonaro durante encontro com o Senador Marco Rubio..Foto: Alan Santos/PR
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) openly floated the idea of running for Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) Senate seat on Sunday.
“Many have asked which perch I will be fighting from next, and some of you throughout this conference have even given me a few suggestions,” Gaetz said at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest. “My fellow Floridians have asked me to eye the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress.”
“It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate. Maybe I’ll just run for Marco Rubio’s vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks,” Gaetz continued, nodding to the fact that he struggled to win enough support among senators to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general.
Rubio is leaving his Senate seat after being tapped by Trump to be his secretary of State. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will appoint Rubio’s replacement. Though it was not clear if Gaetz was seriously considering running for Senate, his remarks drew applause from the crowd.
Gaetz immediately resigned from Congress when he was tapped to be Trump’s attorney general. He later dropped his bid amid concerns that he didn’t have enough support in the Senate for his confirmation.
Gaetz had sued to stop the House Ethics Committee from releasing its report, with a lawsuit slamming the report, saying it included “untruthful and defamatory information.”
The Ethics Committee released the report on Monday:
Lara Trump, President-elect Trump’s daughter in law and former Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair, removed her name from consideration to replace Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote in a Saturday post on the social platform X.
“I could not have been more honored to serve as RNC co-chair during the most high-stakes election of our lifetime and I’m truly humbled by the unbelievable support shown to me by the people of our country, and here in the great state of Florida,” she later added.
Elvert Barnes, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Jacob Chansley, the Capitol rioter who came to be known as the “QAnon Shaman,” has reportedly filed paperwork signaling his interest in running for the Arizona congressional seat being vacated by Debbie Lesko (R).
The Arizona Republic reported that a candidate statement of interest was signed by Jacob Angeli-Chansley and filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday, indicating he would seek to run as a Libertarian. He has also been known to go by Jacob Angeli.
Chansley, 35, gained notoriety for his horned fur hat, bare chest and face paint that made him one of the more recognizable Jan. 6 rioters. He pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing an official proceeding and sentenced to 41 months in prison. Chansley, who grew up in Phoenix, served 27 of those months before being released to a halfway house this past March.
The Associated Press reported that while the Constitution does not bar felons from running for Congress, Arizona law prevents them from voting in elections until they complete their sentence and have the right restored.
Former Republican Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters has also jumped into the race for Lesko’s seat.
“I’m running for Congress, to fight for Arizona’s 8th,” Masters said on X, formerly Twitter. “Biden has failed. We need Trump back. We need to stop inflation, Build the Wall, avoid WW3, and secure Arizona’s water future. We need to fight for our families.”
Retired U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, took a swipe at President Donald Trump’s Truth Social message to Vladimir Putin, calling the public plea unlikely to influence Russian military behavior.
Clark’s comments came during a Thursday appearance on CNN’s “Situation Room,” shortly after Trump had posted:
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE!”
“Do you think a post from President Trump on social media will actually wind up stopping Putin from launching more attacks on civilians, like in Kyiv, for example, where civilian men, women and children were just killed in big numbers?” asked CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
Clark replied bluntly: “Well, I think it would be very surprising if President Trump’s tweet would have any real impact on President Putin.”
The retired Army officer argued that Putin sees a strategic opening, particularly as the U.S. appears to be retreating from some of its longstanding commitments in Europe.
“So this is a moment for Putin, really. It’s what he’s been waiting for,” he continued. “This gives him a clear field to bring pressure to bear against Ukrainian population like this missile strike, and also to go to his allies, China, North Korea, and Iran, and say, ‘Give me more, give me more. This is the moment we can go.”
“We know there are exercises being prepared for this summer in Belarus. Rumors of brigades being ready to attack from Belarus into Kaliningrad to open that gate. This is a really perilous time for Europe. And it’s the opposite time to be pulling back,” he said.
“What President Trump should be saying is, ‘Since you did this, I’m reinforcing U.S. Military assistance to Kyiv, and you can forget about it. We’re going to stay with it until you realize you’re not going to win militarily,’” Clark advised Trump. That’s what it’s going to take to bring peace to Ukraine.”
Trump had pledged to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine within 24 hours of being elected, but he and his diplomatic team have thus far found it difficult to broker a peace agreement with Russia and Ukraine, going so far as to suggest they will give up any efforts recently.
Iowa’s senior U.S. senator, Chuck Grassley, has disclosed findings from his office’s investigation into the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump during a July 13 rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. Revealing the latest to Fox News, Grassley’s office shared concerning security lapses by the Secret Service, which had assured local law enforcement that it would secure the American Glass Research (AGR) building overlooking Trump’s rally – an assurance that was not fulfilled.
The building in question was later used by Thomas Matthews Crooks, the would-be assassin who fired eight shots at Trump in under 30 seconds. Three rallygoers were hit, one fatally, and Trump himself was grazed by a bullet that came within an inch of his head. Despite these dangers, no law enforcement personnel were stationed on the roof where Crooks had taken his position.
“Butler County law enforcement officials stated that at separate times during the walkthrough, when they reiterated their concerns to the agents and counter sniper about securing the AGR complex buildings, the agents responded: ‘we will take care of it,’” Grassley’s office revealed in a Tuesday letter to acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe.
…
The Iowa senator questioned Rowe whether the Butler County law enforcement officials’ claim is true and, if so, what the Secret Service did to secure the area with the AGR complex buildings.
Grassley noted that in the weeks following the first assassination attempt, Rowe told senators during a hearing, “what was communicated is that the locals had a plan and that they had been there before,” in regard to the roof of the AGR building where Crooks took his shots from.
Crooks’ final location was only discovered when bystanders noticed him army-crawling toward Trump. A local police officer attempted to access the roof, prompting Crooks to rush his first shot.
Startling video footage, obtained by Fox News more than two weeks after the incident, showed a figure believed to be Crooks moving across the roof of the AGR building three minutes before the attack. FBI officials later revealed that Crooks accessed the roof by climbing HVAC equipment and piping, moving across multiple rooftops to establish his position about 450 feet from Trump.
CRAZY. This video is from James Copenhaver – one of the bystanders who was shot twice and critically wounded during the assassination attempt against Trump. It CLEARLY shows Crooks' head scurrying on the rooftop moments before the shooting.
The Secret Service was aware of a potential threat 10 minutes before Trump took the stage but allowed the event to proceed. Additionally, a local law enforcement countersniper had flagged the shooter as suspicious over an hour before the attack due to his use of a rangefinder and his possession of a backpack.
Grassley’s investigation raises serious questions about the security protocols in place during the rally and the Secret Service’s handling of the potential threat.
Read Grassley’s letter to acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe here:
