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Blackface Incident Threatens To Upend House Race

By
Madeleine Jackson
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6

Could this upend the whole race?

A recently unearthed photo of an incumbent Republican congressman in blackface as part of a Halloween costume years ago could be enough to shift the needle to Democrats in a close House race in New York. Lawler is facing off against Rep. Mondaire Jones.

Rep. Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.) who is white, is pictured dressed like pop sensation Michael Jackson, complete with bronzer to darken his face in an October 2006 photo reported by the New York Times.

Lawler does not dispute the photo’s authenticity and has issued an apology to anyone who has taken offense, though he said it was not his intention to dress in blackface:

“As has been well-documented – most recently by the Daily Beast – I was a so-called ‘Super Fan’ of Michael Jackson, so much so that I was mentioned by name in his biography for my outspoken support of him and the Jackson Family.  I loved Michael’s music, was awed by him as a performer, and by his impact on pop culture,” Lawler said in a statement. “One of my greatest memories is attending his concert at Madison Square Garden before his untimely death.  

“When attempting to imitate Michael’s legendary dance moves at a college Halloween party eighteen years ago, the ugly practice of black face was the furthest thing from my mind. Let me be clear, this is not that. Rather, my costume was intended as the sincerest form of flattery, a genuine homage to one of my childhood idols since I was a little kid trying to moonwalk through my mom’s kitchen.  

“I am a student of history and for anyone who takes offense to the photo, I am sorry.  All you can do is live and learn, and I appreciate everyone’s grace along the way,” he said. 

The race is one of 22 toss-up contests that may well determine which party controls the House of Representatives next year, according to Fox News’ Power Rankings.  

Elon Musk To Join Trump Rally At Attempted Assassination Site

By
Madeleine Jackson
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1
Image via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Space X CEO Elon Musk is planning to attend Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania this weekend – the same site where the former President narrowly survived an attempt on his life earlier this year.

“I will be there to support,” Musk wrote in a post late Thursday on social platform X, which he acquired in 2022. 

Trump’s campaign announced last week that he would return to Butler, Pa., just months after his ear was grazed with a bullet during a campaign event in July. The gunman and one attendee were killed, and two others were injured during the incident.

“President Trump’s return to Butler will stand as a tribute to the American spirit. In America, we do not let monsters like that evil assassin have the last word,” the campaign said in a release that framed Trump’s survival as “what the world has recognized as an act of divine providence.” 

Musk, who has increasingly waded into discussions on politics, endorsed Trump in July following the shooting. The tech entrepreneur helped launch a pro-Trump Super PAC, America PAC, that has carried out some of the GOP’s get-out-the-vote efforts in the critical swing states. 

The shooting in Pennsylvania was just one of two assassination threats the former president has faced this election cycle.

Last month, a suspect was arrested after Secret Service agents witnessed a man pushing a rifle through the perimeter of Trump’s Florida golf course. The man, identified was Ryan Wesley Routh, was later arrested and charged with federal gun crimes.

Former Speaker Skewers Matt Gaetz During Podcast Interview

By
Madeleine Jackson
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5
Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The claws came out…

It’s not a secret that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is no fan of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz after helping lead the charge to oust him from the Speaker’s office.

While the Florida Republican who filed a motion to vacate the chair in October 2023, which triggered a vote of the House on whether to remove McCarthy as speaker claims his actions were motivated by McCarthy’s mishandling of the office, the former Speaker discussed his own opinion on the shocking events.

McCarthy claims Gaetz wanted him to end a House Ethics Committee probe examining whether Gaetz had sexual relations with a minor.  In January, the left-leaning publication The Daily Beast reported that Gaetz privately told colleagues he was motivated by the ethics investigation.

Appearing on the PBD Podcast, McCarthy discussed the drama with host Patrick Bet-David.

The ex-speaker pointed to court filings unsealed last week in which witnesses testified that Gaetz was at a drug-fueled party that was attended by a 17-year-old.

“Everything I said has come to fruition,” McCarthy stated. “It’s unfortunate that one person would utilize something to stop what was coming after them and disrupt the entire Congress.”

“How is the relationship now?” Bet-David asked. “Because I know I saw you guys at the RNC where he walked up to you while you’re talking to somebody. ‘You wouldn’t be on the stage, you would be booed’ or something like that. Are you guys better know or–

“No!” McCarthy said. “I don’t hang around with pedophiles, I’m sorry.”

Watch:

The Department of Justice investigated Gaetz, but ultimately declined to prosecute.

Trump Goes Off After Judge Releases Lengthy Election Subversion Case Brief

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4

    On Wednesday, Donald Trump spoke out after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., publicly released a brief on presidential immunity from special counsel Jack Smith in the 2020 election subversion case against the former president.

    In a flurry of posts to Truth Social, Trump warned of election interference, arguing that the filing’s appearance on the public docket so close to the 2024 contest boosts a political scheme to undermine his current campaign.

    “Democrats are Weaponizing the Justice Department against me because they know I am WINNING, and they are desperate to prop up their failing Candidate, Kamala Harris,” Trump said in a post to his social media platform.

    He also questioned the timing, contending that it came “immediately” after Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s “disastrous” performance in the vice presidential debate and a little more than a month before the election.

    The filing was submitted under seal last week. Federal judge Tanya Chutkan was the one who ordered its release.

    Chutkan wrote Trump’s team provided “no support” to claims of “bad-faith partisan bias” and rejected the defense’s push for redactions beyond names to protect witnesses, citing the public’s “need to understand” the document.

    The 165-page filing discusses how prosecutors’ superseding indictment should be able to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling in July that presidents have immunity for official acts.

    Melania Trump Unveils Unexpected Abortion Stance

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      8

      Former First Lady Melania Trump is breaking with her husband on a major issue: abortion.

      In a video posted on X promoting her upcoming memoir, Trump announced her pro-abortion views saying “there is no room for compromise” on the issue of women being allowed to abort their unborn children.

      Melania said she has “carried” her pro-abortion views “throughout [her] entire adult life,” a break from her husband’s pro-life record while he was in office. Her remarks on abortion come less than five weeks before the 2024 election as Democrats are focusing on the issue to motivate their base.

      Paragraphs of Melania’s memoir published by The Guardian on Wednesday go into more detail on her support for abortion.

      “Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes,” Melania writes, adding, “Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”

      In her book, Melania writes about disagreements between her and her husband, including on some aspects of immigration policy, The Guardian reported. She writes that “occasional political disagreements between me and my husband” are “part of our relationship, but I believed in addressing them privately rather than publicly challenging him.”

      Team Harris Taps Liz Cheney To Shore Up Support In Birthplace Of GOP

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
      -
      6
      Gage Skidmore Flickr

      Kamala is getting desperate…

      Vice President Kamala Harris has reportedly tapped former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney to help sway Republicans.

      A senior Harris campaign official says that the vice president on Thursday will team up in battleground Wisconsin with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, a former rising conservative star in the GOP who became her party’s most visible anti-Trump leader.

      The campaign event will take place in Ripon, Wisconsin, where a one-room schoolhouse was designated a national historic landmark due to its role in holding a series of meetings in 1854 that led to the formation of the Republican Party.

      Ripon is not the only town that claims to be the birthplace of the GOP. Exeter, New Hampshire also has some bragging rites, as it was the site of meetings in 1853 – a year ahead of the Ripon gatherings – by disenchanted political leaders who discussed the formation of a new party of Republicans.

      But officials in Ripon said the group in Exeter never actually formed a political organization, or chose officials, as they did in Wisconsin.

      Cheney — who has argued that the former president is a “liar,” a “con man” and a potential “tyrant” who, if elected again, would “torch the Constitution” — vowed after leaving Congress that “I will do everything I can to make sure [Trump] is never anywhere near the Oval Office again.”

      According to her campaign, Harris plans to spotlight the significance of that moment and that place – as she makes another direct appeal to Republican voters frustrated that Trump is their party’s presidential nominee – and as she reiterates her pledge to be a president for all Americans.

      The Harris campaign says that the vice president, at her event with Cheney, plans to note that while Republicans may not agree with her on every issue, she promises to uphold the Constitution, America’s fundamental principles, and the rule of law.

      I Am Donald J. Trump. FEAR NOT! There are those who will do whatever it takes to stop us, but I will never stop fighting for you. I will never surrender! Your support means everything to me. Together, through our UNITY, we will Make America Great Again!

      Trump Rejects ’60 Minutes’ Interview, Says CBS Owes Him ‘An Apology’

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
      -
      4
      Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

      Former President Donald Trump will not sit down for an interview with “60 Minutes” next week.

      The Republican presidential nominee said that CBS News still owes him an apology over a “60 Minutes” interview in 2020 that Trump says was conducted unfairly.

      CBS said on Tuesday that Trump backed out of the interview after initially agreeing to it, but Trump campaign Communications Director Steven Cheung shot back at the network, saying, “60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in.”

      “They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented,” Cheung added.

      Trump addressed the “60 Minutes” interview request during a press conference in Milwaukee on Tuesday and said he “would love to do ’60 Minutes,’” but he’s waiting for an apology.

      In October 2020, Trump walked out of an interview with Leslie Stahl after Stahl fact-checked Trump numerous times and denied that Joe Biden was in the middle of a scandal stemming from Hunter Biden’s laptop, which contained information about the Biden family’s alleged foreign business dealings.

      “Well, right now, they came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first I want to get an apology, because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the ‘laptop from hell’ was from Russia, and I said it wasn’t from Russia.”

      “If you remember Lesley Stahl, we got into a little bit of an argument on the camera, talking about that and other things. And you know, they really owed me an apology,” Trump added.

      NYC Mayor ‘Welcomes’ Possible Trump Support After Corruption Indictment

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
      -
      2

      New York City Mayor Eric Adams is looking for support anywhere he can get it.

      Adams said he would “welcome support from every American” in response to a question from the Washington Examiner about whether he would accept former President Donald Trump’s favor.

      Trump recently said he had predicted Adams would be “indicted within a year” as the mayor called for federal government funds to deal with the city’s migrant crisis.

      “Listen, I welcome support from every American,” Adams said Tuesday at a press conference. “No matter where they are and who they are, I welcome support from every American. Those who know me and know how I am, and those who are just reading up on this. So every American in this great country, I welcome support from.”

      Trump’s comments last week suggested that he sympathized with the mayor.

      “I watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city, and the federal government should pay us, and we shouldn’t have to take them,” the former president said. “And I said, ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted within a year,’ and I was exactly right.”

      Watch:

      An Adams spokesman believes press coverage of Adams’s remarks has been misguided.

      “This is a distortion of what the mayor said today,” Fabien Levy, Adams’s deputy mayor for communications, said in a social media post. “He never said he was looking for Trump’s support. Mayor Adams has said multiple times that he supports Kamala Harris for president. In fact, the mayor traveled to Chicago to support her historic nomination in August.”

      Adams was recently indicted on five corruption charges, including bribery and wire fraud, for his actions allegedly soliciting benefits from foreign nationals, namely Turkish government officials, in exchange for favors.

      New York City Mayor Eric Adams could be facing a bevy of new charges after being indicted last week in a federal corruption case. On Wednesday, prosecutors said that further counts are “quite likely” and that more defendants may be implicated.

      I Am Donald J. Trump. FEAR NOT! There are those who will do whatever it takes to stop us, but I will never stop fighting for you. I will never surrender! Your support means everything to me. Together, through our UNITY, we will Make America Great Again!

      Trump Responds To Harris’ Debate Invite After VP Showdown

        By
        Madeleine Jackson
        -
        9
        Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

        Not going to happen…

        Donald Trump firmly rejected another invitation to participate in a debate against Vice President Kamala Harris before the 2024 election on Tuesday.

        “Vice President Harris believes that the American people deserve to see her and Trump on the debate stage one more time. She will be in Atlanta on October 23 — Donald Trump should step up and face the voters,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement, referencing a CNN debate Harris has agreed to attend.

        But Trump has repeatedly rejected the idea of doing another debate with the vice president. He has insisted he won their Sept. 10 showdown, despite some polling suggesting otherwise, and that it is too late for another debate with early voting underway.

        “I beat Biden, I then beat her, and I’m not looking to do it again, too far down the line,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Votes are already cast — And I’m leading BIG in the Polls. I’ll MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, she’s incapable of it!”

        Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance narrowly beat his Democratic opponent Tim Walz in the CBS debate on Tuesday, according to viewer polls conducted by CBS and CNN.

        According to a poll conducted by CBS and YouGov, 42% of viewers said Vance won the debate versus 41% who said Walz was the winner. 17% of viewers said the debate was a tie.

        An overwhelming majority of viewers (88%) said the “tone” of the debate was “generally positive,” while 12% said it was “generally negative.”

        CNN’s poll resulted in a very similar result, with 51% of viewers hailing Vance as the winner versus 49% for Walz.

        Walz’s performance fell short of viewer expectations, as 54% had predicted a Walz victory before the debate versus just 45% for Vance.

        Report: Alleged Trump Bomber Charged

        By
        Madeleine Jackson
        -
        2

        Political threats are on the rise…

        On Monday, A man pleaded not guilty after he allegedly drove past a security checkpoint and claimed to have an explosive device at a rally for former President Donald Trump in Michigan, last week.

        Steven William Nauta was arrested after police say he drove around barricades set up for Trump’s rally and told police that he had a C4 explosive, WOOD TV 8 reported. According to a court document, Nauta “held up a bottle to police and stated that it was ‘C4’ explosive and that it was the ‘real deal.’” After being told to stop by officers, Nauta allegedly “sped off” before stopping and throwing bags of fertilizer on the ground.

        The Daily Wire reports:

        “When (Nauta) finally stopped, he removed bags of fertilizer from his vehicle and threw them on the ground to make it appear that they were explosives while disobeying officers’ commands,” the court document states. The 65-year-old was eventually detained by police, and the man allegedly told officers that he intended to make them believe that he had explosives. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said there was no active bomb in Nauta’s vehicle.

        Nauta’s virtual court appearance from a jail cell was a bizarre scene as the man took his shirt off at one point and made profane hand gestures, according to WOOD TV 8. Nauta was charged with one felony count each of a false report or threat of terrorism, possession of bombs with unlawful intent, third-degree fleeing a police officer, and resulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer.

        Kent County, Michigan, District Court Judge Nicholas Christensen set the man’s bond at $1 million, and Nauta replied, “Well, your honor, given my situation, I think I’m better off just staying in here. Very cruel world out there. Probably a lot better off here.”

        The judge told Nauta, “It’s not lost on this court here today that your alleged actions were directed to stopping or hindering a fundamental aspect of this country’s democratic process: a political rally.”

        The Michigan man’s alleged bomb threat came just two weeks after Secret Service agents apprehended an alleged suspect with a gun near Trump’s golf course. Ryan Routh pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.

        The Republican nominee said on Monday that he has requested more Secret Service agents, but alleged that Democrats are “not giving us the proper number of people within Secret Service that are necessary for Security.”

        “We need more Secret Service, and we need them NOW,” Trump wrote. “It is ELECTION INTERFERENCE that we have to turn away thousands of people from arenas and venues because it is not being provided to us.”

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