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Trump Names JD Vance, Marco Rubio As Favored Contenders For 2028 Presidential Ticket

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(Miami - Flórida, 09/03/2020) Presidente da República Jair Bolsonaro durante encontro com o Senador Marco Rubio..Foto: Alan Santos/PR

President Donald Trump has made his clearest endorsement yet for a future Republican presidential candidate, declaring that Vice President JD Vance is “most likely” to carry the MAGA torch after his second term ends.

Speaking on Tuesday, Trump described Vance as “probably the favorite” to lead the Republican Party into the next election cycle.

“He’s most likely the heir,” Trump said, referring to Vance. “He understands the movement, he understands the people, and he’s doing a phenomenal job as Vice President.”

This is the furthest Trump has gone in positioning a successor to his populist-nationalist agenda, formally known as the Make America Great Again movement.

Rubio: VP Vance Would Be a “Great Nominee”

Trump also praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling him “somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form,” suggesting Rubio could play a key role in a future Vance-led administration or campaign.

Rubio, for his part, echoed Trump’s praise of Vance during a recent interview with Lara Trump on Fox News.

“I think he’s doing a great job as Vice President. He’s a close friend, and I hope he intends to do it,” Rubio said of Vance.

Although recent polling has shown Rubio with some early support among Republican voters for a potential 2028 run, conventional political wisdom indicates he wouldn’t start publicly signaling interest in running for president until much closer to the election.

“You never know what the future holds,” Rubio said. “But if I’m able to finish this term strong and we accomplish what we’ve set out to do, I’ll be satisfied with that as the apex of my public service career.”

Still, Rubio did not rule out a future run, leaving the door open for a possible challenge or alignment with a Vance ticket.

DeSantis on the Sidelines

Noticeably absent from the conversation was Governor Ron DeSantis, once seen as a natural successor to Trump’s political movement. Despite building a national profile and gaining traction in earlier cycles, Trump’s latest comments suggest DeSantis’s national ambitions may be deferred.

DeSantis has not commented on Trump’s endorsement of Vance, and there have been no signs of reconciliation between the two since the heated 2024 GOP primary battle that Trump won decisively.

After Trump tapped Marco Rubio to serve as Secretary of State, many within the GOP expected Florida’s open Senate seat to go to Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and a rising star within the Republican Party. However, DeSantis declined to appoint her, widely viewed as a political snub. Months later, President Trump publicly endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds for governor of Florida—despite growing rumors that First Lady Casey DeSantis was quietly laying the groundwork for her own gubernatorial bid.

JD Vance: Rising Star with Trump’s Blessing

Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy and a former venture capitalist turned U.S. Senator from Ohio, has quickly risen through the ranks. Since joining Trump’s 2024 ticket, he has been a key spokesperson for the administration, often on issues like immigration enforcement, trade reform, and a restrained foreign policy.

With Trump now openly calling Vance the future of the movement, the groundwork appears to be laid for a smooth transition of MAGA leadership — one that could shape the GOP’s identity for years beyond Trump’s final term.

READ NEXT: Tucker Carlson Predicts JD Vance As GOP 2028 Nominee

CBS In Chaos? ‘60 Minutes’ Producer Resigns Amid Trump Legal Battle

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Bill Owens, the executive producer of CBS’ “60 Minutes,” announced his resignation on Tuesday, claiming a loss of editorial independence. The decision comes in the wake of a $20 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against CBS, alleging deceptive editing in a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

As Mediaite reports:

Owens said Tuesday in a memo to staffers obtained by Mediaite that he decided to step aside because “over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for ‘60 Minutes,’ right for the audience.”

Owens is the third producer to run 60 Minutes in its more than 50 years on the air.

“So, having defended this show — and what we stand for — from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward,” Owens wrote.

Owens made clear the show will continue without him. “The show is too important to the country. It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer,” he wrote.

The Lawsuit’s Allegations

President Trump’s lawsuit, initiated in December 2024, accuses CBS of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the federal Lanham Act. The core of the complaint is that “60 Minutes” edited Harris’ interview to portray her more favorably, potentially influencing public opinion during the presidential election. Specifically, the lawsuit points to discrepancies in Harris’s responses about the Israel-Gaza conflict, suggesting that the edits were made to enhance her image and disadvantage Trump’s campaign.​

Resignation Amid Corporate Considerations

CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, is reportedly considering settling the lawsuit to facilitate an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, which requires FCC approval. This move has sparked internal conflict, with Owens and other CBS journalists opposing a settlement, viewing it as a compromise of journalistic integrity.

CBS’ Response and Transparency Efforts

In response to Trump’s allegations, CBS released the full, unedited transcript of the Harris interview in February, asserting that the editing was standard journalistic practice aimed at clarity and brevity, not deception. The network maintains that its editorial decisions are protected under the First Amendment.

The ongoing situation underscores the tensions between media organizations and political figures, raising questions about journalistic independence, corporate influence and the role of the press in democratic societies. As CBS navigates legal challenges and corporate decisions, the resignation of a key figure like Owens highlights the complexities at the intersection of media, politics and business.​

READ NEXT: Ex-Fox News Star Jumps Into High-Stakes Governor’s Race [WATCH]

George Santos Announces Primary Challenge

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Ex-Congressman George Santos (R-Ny.) is reportedly planning a political comeback.

Less than a year after being expelled from Congress, Santos says he plans to mount a primary challenge against Nick LaLota (R).

During his visit to the Capitol for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Santos announced on Twitter, that he would challenge LaLota of New York’s 1st Congressional District, on Long Island.

“Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick [LaLota] for the battle over #NY1,” Santos wrote on Twitter during Biden’s address. “I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican. The fight for our majority is imperative for the survival of the country.”

“New York hasn’t had a real conservative represent them since I left office arbitrarily, thanks to RINO, empty suits like @nicklalota. He is willing to risk the future of our majority and the future of this country for his own political gain,” Santos wrote.

“God bless you all, and we are off to the races!” Santos concluded.

“To raise the standard in Congress, and to hold a pathological liar who stole an election accountable, I led the charge to expel George Santos. If finishing the job requires beating him in a primary, count me in,” LaLota told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives on Dec. 1 after being indicted on multiple felony counts related to alleged campaign finance crimes, following which the House Select Committee on Ethics produced a report corroborating the indictment’s allegations. 

Donald Trump Wins 2024 Presidential Election

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Numerous outlets have projected that Donald Trump has officially made history and has won the 2024 presidential election.

Trump was projected to have breached the 270 electoral vote threshold after stunning wins in the battleground states of North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Trump will be the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms other than Grover Cleveland who was elected in 1884 and again in 1892. 

Watch Trump deliver his victory speech from West Palm Beach:

Former first lady Melania Trump stood near her husband and was joined by Barron, the former president’s youngest son. Trump’s older children, Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany, all joined their father on stage, too.

Trump’s top political minds, including top campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, joined Trump on stage. And his political allies were on stage, too, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.

This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

Report: Tom Cotton Removes Name From Cabinet Consideration

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

A surprising move…

As President-elect Donald Trump begins to start forming his administration one high-profile name will be notably absent: Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.

Cotton had been widely seen as a front-runner for a top cabinet position in the next Trump administration, but a source close to the senator told Fox News on Thursday that he asked that his name be pulled from consideration

Cotton has two boys under the age of 10 and wants to remain close to them and not upend their lives.  He also feels “confident” about securing the No. 3 position in the new GOP Senate majority, the Republican Conference chair when the election is held next week.

The source said Trump understands Cotton’s decision and knows “he is with him all the way in the Senate.”

It’s unclear who Trump will select to serve in his new administration but some familiar faces are expected to return.

Ben Carson is being weighed to return once again as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Betsy DeVos could return as Secretary of Education. Mike Pompeo too could return as Defense Secretary.

New faces include North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who could serve as Secretary of the Interior or Energy Secretary. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is in the running for Secretary of State, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could serve as Secretary of Agriculture or Health and Human Services.

Report: Judge Unseals More Documents In Trump Investigation

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A new development…

The judge in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case ordered more documents to be revealed from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president just weeks before the 2024 election. 

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered on Thursday night that additional documents be made public. 

The documents pertain to the appendix of exhibits in the fight over whether Trump has a level of presidential immunity that negates the charges against him. 

Much of what readers are able to review is already public, including transcripts from the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee, press releases from various secretaries of state, the text of  Trump’s rally speech and phone call with Georgia officials, and even real election certificates showing President Biden as the winner of the 2020 contest. One of the exhibits appears to review much of Trump’s then-Twitter activity from the period of the election.

Chutkan cited in the order Trump’s claim that the “asymmetric release of charged allegations and related documents during early voting creates a concerning appearance of election interference.” 

According to the judge, while there is a public interest for courts to avoid involving themselves in elections, “it is in fact Defendant’s requested relief that risks undermining that public interest.”

She added that the court would continue keeping political considerations out of decisions, despite the defense’s request. 

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.


Mike Lindell Announces Run For Minnesota Governor

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It’s official…

On Thursday, MyPillow founder and Trump loyalist, Mike Lindell, announced he is running to become the next governor of Minnesota.

Lindell made the announcement on Steve Bannon’s War Room. The CEO vowed to “stand against rampant fraud” under current Gov. Tim Walz (D).

Lindell continued:

I’m still standing; MyPillow is still standing; and now I want you to know that I will stand for you as the next governor of the state of Minnesota. I will stand for you against the rampant fraud under Governor Walz. I will stand with you against a crime that threatens the safety of your family. I will stand for you against government-sponsored [unintelligible] your livelihood, via exploiting property taxes, excessive fees, and unfair sales tax. I’ll stand for you against unnecessary regulation that strangle the entrepreneurial spirit. I will stand for businesses of all sizes — small, medium, large, doesn’t matter. We need to defend those who provide our citizens with jobs that they need to… in turn take care of our families.

I will stand for those of you that are struggling with addiction. I will stand for you by making Minnesota’s education system one of the best. I am not alone in standing for you. I’ve never been alone. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been standing beside me all the way. Through the good times and the bad, she’s never let me down; and with God’s grace, I will never let you down, either.

Mike Lindell via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Watch:

Lindell adds uncertainty in an already crowded Republican field that includes Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives; Scott Jensen, a former state senator and the 2022 Republican nominee for governor; Chris Madel, a prominent lawyer in Minnesota; and State Representative Kristin Robbins.

They are competing for the chance to challenge Gov. Tim Walz (D) who is running for a third term.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Former Trump Adviser Sued by Biden’s Justice Department

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[Photo Cred: Office of the President of the United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro.

The lawsuit alleges Navarro used personal email accounts to conduct official White House business, “constituting presidential records.” The DOJ also accused the former Trump adviser of violating federal record-keeping laws when he didn’t copy the emails into an official government account or respond to the National Archives requests for the messages.

“Mr. Navarro is wrongfully retaining Presidential records that are the property of the United States, and which constitute part of the permanent historical record of the prior administration,” the lawsuit states. “Mr. Navarro’s wrongful retention of Presidential records violates District of Columbia law, federal common law, and the [Presidential Records Act].”

The Justice Department said officials initially approached Navarro about handing over the missing emails, but he refused “absent a grant of immunity for the act of returning such documents.”

Navarro’s attorneys, John Irving and John Rowley denied withholding the messages.

“As detailed in our recent letter to the Archives, Mr. Navarro instructed his lawyers to preserve all such records, and he expects the government to follow standard processes in good faith to allow him to produce records,” Navarro’s lawyers told POLITICO. “Instead, the government chose to file its lawsuit today.”

The civil lawsuit was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.

The lawsuit marks the latest in a string of public battles between the former Trump adviser and the U.S. government. In June, Navarro was charged with contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with the January 6th panel’s subpoena requests.

Dem Senator Leaves Door Open For Potential Presidential Run

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Could this no-nonsense Democrat be angling for a presidential bid?

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) did not rule out a 2028 presidential run during a Wednesday podcast with political analyst Chuck Todd.

When Todd pressed Fetterman on “The Chuck ToddCast” about whether he would run for the White House, the senator indicated he was unsure about whether he was paving the way for another independent-minded Democrat or considering his own bid.

“I know we’re wrapping up, so I’m going to make you answer the ’28 question,” Todd said. “What would it take to get you to run for president?”

“I am focusing right now on just the burgeoning kinds of chaos and trying to find a balance and find a way forward,” Fetterman replied. “And, you know, doing things that I know that will anger parts of my base. I hope that there is room in my party for someone who wants that kind of truth.”

Todd pressed further, asking if Fetterman was attempting to “plow a path forward for somebody like that” or if he wanted to “take the path” himself.

“I don’t know,” Fetterman responded before Todd cut him off, noting the senator was “not saying no” to a potential run.

“I’m not afraid of being honest. And now if there is going to be blowback or I’m punished, I get that. But for me, I think it’s more important to be honest and to describe the danger of where we possibly are at,” Fetterman responded. “And we have to stop and think before we make another significant mistake that’s even more and more difficult to come back from.”

Todd told the senator he would mark Fetterman “as not a no for ’28.”

“What I’m saying is that there will be a 2028,” the senator responded.

Watch:

A Washington Post analysis from January this year listed Fetterman as one of “12 Democrats who make the most sense for 2028,” citing his independence within the Democratic Party.

Others considered to be potential Democratic 2028 contenders include failed 2024 candidates Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and a handful of Democratic governors — Gavin Newsom of California, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Wes Moore of Maryland. Polling generally suggests that Democrats are by far most interested in seeing Harris become the party’s nominee again, followed distantly by Buttigieg and Newsom, according to Newsweek.

Todd on Sunday recommended Harris not pursue political office for the next several years.

“If I were advising her, I’d tell her: go throw yourself into the rebuild of LA and get involved with the LA Olympic Committee,” he said. “Be above politics for a couple of years and come back maybe in 2030 or 2032.”

Trump Goes Off on Gov. Ron DeSantis, Glenn Youngkin

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former President Donald Trump unleashed a fiery monologue against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Thursday evening after winning re-election with higher-than-expected margins in the Sunshine State.

In a statement sent by Trump’s Save America PAC to his supporters, the former president called DeSantis an “average” Republican governor with “great Public Relations.” The former president also took credit for DeSantis’s 2018 gubernatorial victory that earned him his first term as governor and honed in on DeSantis’s response to COVID-19 which has largely been credited as the move which propelled him to national recognition.

In the unprovoked attack, Trump also revived the nickname “Ron DeSanctimonious” in what appears the most extreme escalation between the two Florida Republicans to date.

Read the statement below:

“NewsCorp, which is Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and the no longer great New York Post (bring back Col!), is all in for Governor Ron DeSanctimonious, an average REPUBLICAN Governor with great Public Relations, who didn’t have to close up his State, but did, unlike other Republican Governors, whose overall numbers for a Republican, were just average—middle of the pack—including COVID, and who has the advantage of SUNSHINE, where people from badly run States up North would go no matter who the Governor was, just like I did!”

Trump continued by saying that DeSantis was “desperate” in 2017 and that DeSantis “had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would Endorse him, he could win.”

“I also fixed his campaign, which had completely fallen apart,” Trump continued. “I was all in for Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win. I stopped his Election from being stolen…”

“And now, Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games!” Trump concluded in his attack on DeSantis. “The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the Governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future.’ Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer.”

However, Trump wasn’t done bashing Republican governors and soon turned his ire toward first-term Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in the second wave of rage-filled statements.

“Young Kin (now that’s an interesting take. Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?) in Virginia couldn’t have won without me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I Endorsed him, did a very big Trump Rally for him telephonically, got MAGA to Vote for him – or he couldn’t have come close to winning. But he knows that, and admits it. Besides, having a hard time with the Dems in Virginia – But he’ll get it done!”

It’s unclear what provoked Trump’s comments against Youngkin but hours before the enraged message Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears announced she will not support Trump’s 2024 bid despite supporting him in past elections.

“A true leader understands when they have become a liability,” Sears said. “A true leader understands that it’s time to step off the stage. And the voters have given us that very clear message.”

“I could not support him. I just couldn’t, because we have seen, for example, in those states where he has endorsed the candidates, in fact, Republicans on the same ticket who he did not endorse over-performed, whereas his candidates totally underperformed by as much as 10 points,” she added. “We have a clear mission, and it is time to move on.”

On Friday, Gov. Youngkin said he hadn’t seen Trump’s comments.

“I didn’t see it. And I have to be honest, I’ve been busy all morning. Listen, you all know me, I do not call people names. I really work hard to bring people together,” Youngkin said.