WaPo reporter suggests White House censor interview with presidential candidate

A reporter for The Washington Post openly suggested that the Biden White House censor so-called “misinformation” from the interview between X owner Elon Musk and former President Trump. 

During Monday’s press briefing, the Washington Post’s Cleve Wootson Jr. invoked Musk’s highly anticipated viral conversation with Trump that night, insisting misinformation is not a “campaign issue” but “an America issue” as well.

“What role does the White House or the president have in sort of stopping that or stopping the spread of that or sort of intervening in that? Some of that was about campaign misinformation, but, you know, it’s a wider thing, right?” Wootson Jr. asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

X MELTS DOWN AFTER TRUMP-MUSK INTERVIEW’S ‘SPACE’ IMMEDIATELY CRASHES

Jean-Pierre responded by telling the reporter that social media companies have a “responsibility” of clamping down on misinformation on their platforms, adding that the Biden administration is “mindful” that they are private companies.

“It is incredibly important to call that out, as you’re doing. I just don’t have any specifics on what we have been doing internally,” Jean-Pierre added. 

AP DOWNPLAYS NEED FOR KAMALA HARRIS TO SPEAK TO PRESS: INTERVIEWING CANDIDATES ‘AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE’

Critics slammed the exchange on social media. 

“My God,” RealClearPolitics co-founder Tom Bevan reacted.

 “An insane thing for a reporter to say,” podcast host Noam Blum said.

“Truly pathetic, @CleveWootson,” conservative lawyer Mike Davis told the liberal journalist. “You are a White House reporter for @washingtonpost. And you think your job is to collude with the White House press secretary to censor Americans with whom you disagree? Do you understand how dumb and dangerous you sound? You’re truly shameful.”

“I hope everyone else at the Post forswears this anti-free-speech campaigning,” Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney wrote.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness,” National Review senior editor Charles C.W. Cooke said, invoking the Post’s slogan.

KAMALA HARRIS HAS AVOIDED INTERVIEWS FOR MORE THAN TWO WEEKS SINCE BECOMING DEM NOMINEE

“The Washington Post trying to get the government to shut down private citizen interviews with presidential candidates. Because democracy dies in people speaking freely,” conservative X personality Sunny similarly quipped.

“These people need to lose their jobs,” Versus Media podcast host Stephen L. Miller said.

“This Washington Post propagandist @CleveWootson is an anti-speech activist. Here he begs Biden admin to punish @elonmusk for doing journalism,” The Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway wrote.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Washington Post did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital‘s request for comment. 

The Trump-Musk interview was off to a rocky start Monday night as the “Space” immediately crashed, telling X users “This Space is unavailable.” 

Musk claimed the crash was the result of a “DDOS [distributed denial-of-service] attack on 𝕏.” The interview officially took place roughly 40 minutes later, and the pair went on to speak for more than two hours.

State GOP chair warns nation being ‘bamboozled’ by media’s Midwestern narrative of Walz

DULUTH, Minn. – The Republican Party chair of a rural county in central Minnesota is blasting the prevalent media narrative that Gov. Tim Walz is a “moderate” and tells Fox News Digital that rural voters across the country are being “bamboozled” by that talking point.

“I do have a message for most of our rural people here and anybody else that may be watching this, please, you’re getting hoodwinked,” Lowell Smith, a state college educator and chair of the Crow Wing County GOP in Brainerd, Minnesota, told Fox News Digital. 

“You’re getting bamboozled. He’s lying to you. He is not for rural America. He only cares about very liberal policies that would be embraced by the elite. He’s not for us. He’s basically. You can’t remember who said it, but he really is. Bernie Sanders and flannel. They’re trying to market him as not being that. But he’s a liberal just dressed in flannel. He’s against the Second Amendment. He’s not for rural America.”

Smith continued, “Governor Walz’s values do not align with much of rural Minnesota at all, or for much of rural America. He kind of originally ran to try and be a moderate, but every policy he has taken, everything that he has done since being elected has been ultra liberal and nothing has reflected that he’s a moderate at all, so it made perfect sense that Kamala Harris picked him to be her running mate.”

Smith told Fox News Digital that when he speaks to rural voters in Minnesota, “everybody’s really angry” about Walz “letting the state burn for about four days” during the George Floyd riots in 2020 that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

MINNESOTA MURDER STATS ROSE UNDER WALZ’S LEADERSHIP AS HE TRIES TO TIE VIOLENT CRIME TREND TO TRUMP: DATA

Additionally, Smith pointed to the tax policy and business climate under Walz in Minnesota and said that Democrats in control of the state have “squandered” a $17 billion surplus under Walz’s leadership.

The nonpartisan Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index for 2024, which was published in October 2023, ranked Minnesota as having the 44th best tax climate for businesses in the country.

An analysis published by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in January found that Minnesota’s tax code was the most progressive of all 50 states, with only the District of Columbia having a more progressive tax code.

“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make,” Walz told a Philadelphia crowd about abortion during his introduction as Vice President Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick. “Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: Mind your own damn business.”

Smith told Fox News Digital that rural voters in Minnesota take issue with that claim given Walz’s record on COVID, which he has been widely criticized for by Republicans.

“His policies did not reflect that at all,” Smith said. “He set up a tip line to where, basically, you could snitch off your neighbor if they were not wearing their mask, or they kept their business open and there would be civil fines attached to that.” 

MINNESOTA DEM LAWMAKER DEFENDS WALZ AGAINST ‘RADICAL’ LABEL FROM GOP: ‘COULDN’T DISAGREE MORE’

“So that was kind of reminiscent for up here back in communism when you had family members spying on family members and that is not what us in rural Minnesota really believe in.”

Smith told Fox News Digital that residents in his county colloquially refer to Walz as “Tampon Tim” due to his policies on transgender issues, including allowing menstrual products to be placed in school bathrooms across the country, including boys’ bathrooms. Democrats have pushed back against that line of attack, but Smith says that Walz has essentially made Minnesota a “sanctuary state” for transgender issues.

“Embracing that transgender ideology, so much so that he’s made Minnesota a sanctuary state to where if you’re a minor in Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, and your parents do not agree with you, you can drive into Minnesota, then at that point, for lack of a better term, Minnesota can take possession of you and allow you to get that transgender surgery or health care without your parents consent or even knowledge,” Smith said. “Even in Minnesota, if your child is gender confused, the state may step in and take your child and allow health care directives to be directed toward your child against the parent’s wishes. This just does not sit well with us up here.”

TIM WALZ HAS TIES TO MUSLIM CLERIC WITH ANTISEMITIC VIEWS, GAVE STATE FUNDING TO HIS GROUP: REPORT

Smith told Fox News Digital that residents around Brainerd are so fed up with Walz’s policies that a local business along Highway 10 in Royalton, Minnesota, put up a sign seen by thousands of motorists showing Walz with his head inserted in his rear end that reads, “Gov. Walz, Northern MN is trying to see things from your point of view. Sponsored by Rocks & Cows of the North.”

The “Rocks & Cows” refers to a comment made by Walz in 2017 about rural America that the Trump campaign has seized on, but some say was taken out of context.

 CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital asked Smith what issues rural voters in his county tell him they are most concerned about in the November election.

“The top three issues that we hear first and foremost is our budget nationally as far as our money,” Smith explained.  “We want to ensure that we have a strong economy and that does not look to be going that well. The next thing will be control of crime. Crime is rampant through most of the democratically controlled areas and people want to be safe in their neighborhoods and in their homes.”

“Lastly would be the control of the border, which would be the massive flood or what we hear up here, as they call it, an invasion from other countries into our country every week. Those are the three things that I hear most, from the people in our county

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris Walz campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

Putin reportedly lashes out with chilling message to Russian officials in private meeting

Russian President Vladimir Putin is continuing to blame the West for his nation’s difficulties subduing opposition forces in Ukraine.

The Russian president told regional governors and national defense officials on Monday that the Ukrainian military’s current campaign in the territory of the Kursk region will not affect negotiations.

“The West is fighting us with the hands of the Ukrainians,” Putin told them at his home outside the capital city of Moscow, according to a report from The New York Times.

FIRE AT ZAPORIZHZHIA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT EXTINGUISHED, RUSSIA, UKRAINE EXCHANGE BLAME

“The enemy will certainly get the response he deserves, and all our goals, without doubt, will be accomplished,” he continued.

Ukraine launched incursions into the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk districts last week, continuing the campaign since last Tuesday. 

The events have put the Russian military command under fire over the intelligence and tactical lapses that allowed such an attack to happen. 

PUTIN UNDER PRESSURE AS UKRAINE INCURSION CONTINUES, MAY GIVE KYIV BARGAINING CHIPS IN PEACE TALKS: EXPERTS

“One of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord, strife, intimidate people, destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society,” Putin told government officials in a televised meeting this week, according to the Moscow Times. “The main task is, of course, for the defense ministry to dislodge the enemy from our territories.”

Experts attribute the Ukrainian gains to “unconventional” tactics that have caught the much larger Russian military off-guard.

“Given the significant disparity of combat potential favoring Russia on the battlefield, Ukrainian forces appear to be switching to, or at minimum, intensifying, unconventional warfare, bringing war deeper into Russia,” Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst and author of “Putin’s Playbook,” told Fox News Digital last week. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“With the latest surprise incursion into Kursk oblast, Zelenskyy likely aims to demonstrate to Putin that as long as there’s no peace in Ukraine, the Russian people will not sleep peacefully either,” Koffler said. “Kyiv is probably also seeking to beef up its negotiating position in a potential peace settlement with Moscow.”

Approximately 121,000 people have evacuated the Kursk region — residents of the Belovsky and Krasnoyaruzhsky districts have also joined the exodus.

Ukraine has been the beneficiary of tens of billions of dollars from Western powers providing weapons and resources in order to push back against Russian expansion through the remote conflict.

From the election to border crisis, five key takeaways from Musk-Trump interview

Former President Trump spent around two hours on Monday night talking with Elon Musk on X, covering topics including his assassination attempt, U.S. relations with foreign adversaries and the state of the 2024 presidential race. 

Here are five of the biggest takeaways from that conversation: 

Trump says he is going back to Butler, Pennsylvania in October 

Former President Trump announced during the interview that he is planning to hold another campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, the city where his assassination attempt unfolded in mid-July. 

“By the way, we’re going back to Butler, and we’re going to go back in October. We’re all set up — the people are fantastic in Butler, it’s a great area,” Trump told Musk. “These are incredible people.” 

HARRIS CAMPAIGN CRITICIZES TRUMP FOR SERVING ‘SELF-OBSESSED RICH GUYS’ AFTER INTERVIEW WITH ELON MUSK 

“I think I’ll probably start by saying, ‘As I was saying prior to being so horribly interrupted,'” Trump then joked, previewing how he would pick up where he left off on July 13. 

Trump reveals the ‘miracle’ of his assassination attempt 

Trump told Musk that the “miracle” of his assassination attempt in Pennsylvania this summer was that he was looking in the “exact direction” of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks when he opened fire. 

“And so it hit me at an angle that was far less destructive than any other angle. So that was the miracle,” Trump said, recounting the path of the bullet that struck his ear. “That was — for those people that don’t believe in God, I think we got to all start thinking about that. You have to, you know, I’m a believer, now I’m more of a believer I think.” 

“It was amazing that I happened to be turned just at that perfect angle,” Trump added. 

Trump says ‘we’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of this country’  

Trump told Musk at one point during the interview that “We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of this country” and “we have no choice.” 

The remark came as the conversation was focusing on the challenges posed by illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“We’re already overwhelmed Elon, we are overwhelmed,” Trump said. 

TRUMP CHATS WITH MUSK IN LENGTHY, OVERARCHING INTERVIEW AS HARRIS CONTINUES SNUBBING MEDIA 

“And I saw an ad just before I got on the air… I saw an ad by Kamala saying how she is going to provide border security. Where has she been for three and a half years?” Trump said. 

Trump calls Biden the ‘worst president in history’  

Trump called Joe Biden – the current President of the United States – the “worst president in history.” 

Speaking about the events that led to Biden dropping his re-election bid, Trump said Vice President Harris is “incompetent” and “as bad as Biden.” 

“Look she hasn’t done an interview since this whole scam started,” Trump said. “And say what you want, this was a coup. This was a coup of a President of the United States. He didn’t want to leave. And they said, ‘we can do it the nice way, or we can do it the hard way.’” 

“Yeah, I mean they just took him out back behind the shed and basically shot him,” Musk responded. 

Trump cited the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, inflation and the “Afghanistan mess” as some of his criticisms of Biden’s administration. 

X MELTS DOWN AFTER TRUMP-MUSK’S INTERVIEW ‘SPACE’ IMMEDIATELY CRASHES 

“Now, Biden is close to vegetable stage, in my opinion,” Trump added during a later portion of the interview. 

Trump says he wants to ‘close up’ the Department of Education  

Trump told Musk that one of his “first acts” that he would do in a second presidential term is to “close up the Department of Education.” 

Trump said he would “move education back to the states where, states like Iowa, where states like Idaho, you know, not every state will do great because the states that basically aren’t doing good now, you look at Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, he, he’s terrible. He does a terrible job. So he’s not going to do great with education. 

“But of the 50, I would bet that 35 would do great. And 15 of them, or, you know, 20 of them will be as good as Norway. You know, Norway is considered great,” Trump told Musk. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Trump says as it is right now, the U.S. spends “more per pupil than any other country in the world” despite being ranked further down on lists of countries with the best education systems. 

Potential conflict of interest raising eyebrows ahead of ABC presidential debate

Ahead of next month’s presidential debate on ABC News, a potential conflict of interest is raising eyebrows. 

Dana Walden, a senior Disney executive whose portfolio includes ABC News, is one of Vice President Kamala Harris’ “extraordinary friends,” according to a report in the New York Times. Walden and Harris have known each other since 1994, while their husbands, Matt Walden and Doug Emhoff, have known each other since the 1980s. 

Dana Walden has donated to dozens of Democrats and contributed to Harris’s political campaigns since at least 2003, when she ran for district attorney in San Francisco. She went on to donate to her subsequent campaigns for California Attorney General and U.S. Senate, as well as her 2020 White House bid. Harris even credited Dana and Matt for her marriage at a fundraiser in April 2022, which was held at Walden’s home in Los Angeles. 

NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST MAKES ‘CONSERVATIVE’ CASE TO VOTE KAMALA HARRIS

ABC told the New York Times that Walden, who is Disney’s highest-ranking television executive, does not weigh in on editorial decisions. The network’s primetime debate is set for Sept. 10, and will be moderated by ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis. 

“ABC News has built its longstanding reputation on journalistic integrity,” the network said in its statement. “All editorial decisions are in the hands of ABC News management and the seasoned journalists and producers of ABC, who hold themselves to the highest journalistic standards.”

Disney Entertainment said in a statement to the New York Times that Walden has not hosted a fundraiser for Harris since June 2022, when ABC News came under her scope of responsibility, but in 2023, she donated $20,000 to support President Biden and the Democratic Party, according to public filings reported by the Times.

OpenSecrets finds Walden has donated extensively to Democrats across the nation over the years, including Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker, among numerous others.

ABC NEWS’ GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS INACCURATELY SAID TRUMP WAS FOUND ‘LIABLE FOR RAPE’ 10 TIMES, LEGAL GURUS SAY

Last month, Walden was described as a “Hollywood winner” in the rapid ascension of Harris to de facto Democratic nominee, according to a Puck report. Harris has extensive ties to the entertainment community, but few “go as far back with Harris as Walden does, nor do they enjoy the perch and purview Walden does at Disney,” the report said.

“[If there’s a Hollywood winner in her ascension it’s probably Dana Walden, the Disney TV chief,” Puck reported.

Walden is among the insider candidates who could take over as the next Disney CEO when Bob Iger’s contract expires in 2026, according to reports, and her coziness with a possible future president likely doesn’t hurt her stock.

Fox News Digital has reached out to ABC News, the Trump campaign and the Harris campaign for comment. Former President Trump is suing ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation after the ABC News host said several times on air that the former president was “found liable for rape” during a March 10 interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

‘Squad’ isn’t done being ‘primaried’ just yet as Omar faces biggest challenge to date

After a tough summer at the ballot box for members of the so-called “Squad,” the group of progressive and diverse House Democrats is facing its final intraparty challenge on Tuesday as four states in the Midwest and New England hold primary elections.

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota faces voters one week after her fellow Squad member, Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, lost her bid for re-nomination and nearly two months after another Squad member, Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, fell to his primary challenger.

But Omar, who made history as the first Somali American in Congress and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota on Capitol Hill, is the favorite as she faces three primary challengers in the Democrat primary. Omar is seeking a fourth two-year term representing the Minneapolis-anchored 5th Congressional District.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE 2024 ELECTION

Bush and Bowman faced well-funded challengers and millions in outside spending by United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. While Omar is also a very vocal critic of Israel, she hasn’t been targeted by any ads from the United Democracy Project.

And Omar is considered to be in a much better political position than she was two years ago when she narrowly defeated Don Samuels, who for a second straight cycle is her top challenger.

But Samuels, in an interview Monday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” said he’s seen a surge in his fundraising and in volunteers to his campaign in the week since Bush’s defeat. And he said Omar is “divisive and combative. She picks a side including, simply trying to divide her, her constituency, and ignores the other side.”

Minnesota’s primary comes a week after Vice President Harris named the state’s governor, Gov. Tim Walz, as her running mate on the Democrat 2024 ticket. And an old clip of Walz praising Omar has gone viral in recent days.

Arguably the highest-profile Squad member, three-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, easily crushed her primary challenger in June.

The only other Squad member with a primary yet to come this cycle is Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who is unchallenged in her September contest.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the overwhelming favorite in a five-candidate Democrat Senate primary as she seeks a fourth six-year term representing Minnesota in the chamber. Eight candidates are running in the GOP Senate primary.

In neighboring Wisconsin, Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin is unopposed in her party’s primary as she seeks a third term. Republican businessman Eric Hovde, a real estate developer who’s loaned his campaign $13 million and who is backed by former President Trump, faces nominal opposition in the GOP primary.

Two Democrats are running in their party’s primary in western Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, with the winner taking on Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a staunch Trump ally, in November.

And in northeast Wisconsin’s heavily red 8th Congressional District, all eyes are on the GOP primary in the race to fill the seat of former Rep. Mike Gallagher, who left Congress in April. Taking place alongside the primary is a special election for the remainder of Gallagher’s current term, which expires at the end of the year.

In Connecticut, the spotlight is on Republican primaries to challenge two longtime Democrat members of Congress: Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Jim Himes.

In Vermont, two Democrats are vying for their party’s gubernatorial nomination, with the winner challenging Republican Gov. Phil Scott in November.

Scott, a moderate Republican and GOP Trump critic, is unopposed in his party’s primary as he seeks a fifth two-year term steering Vermont. Even though Vermont is a reliably blue state. Scott remains popular and grabbed nearly 70% of the vote in his 2022 re-election.

Red Sox fans come to player’s defense after he’s suspended over slur caught on hot mic

Food recall pushed to highest risk warning over link to bacterial illness

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reclassified a nut recall as the highest health risk warning possible for potential listeria exposure.

The shelled walnuts from Stutz Packing Company in Indio, California, were initially voluntarily recalled by the company back in July. Last week, the FDA changed it to a “Class I,” meaning that there is a “reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death,” according to the agency.

The 1-pound packages were distributed to food bank warehouses in Texas and Arizona before being further distributed to smaller food banks, school lunch programs, shelters and prison food systems, a press release said. 

The packages impacted are from lots 24171 1 or 24172 1, which are printed in black on the front of the bag. The UPC code is 7 15001 00908 1. 

FDA MOVES THE NEEDLE, APPROVES FIRST NASAL SPRAY FOR TREATMENT OF SEVERE ALLERGIC REACTIONS

The reclassification did not state any illnesses or deaths related to the recall.

The bacterial risk was found during routine sampling of finished products. Stutz ceased production and distribution of the product back in July while both the company and FDA continued its investigation.

A listeria outbreak this summer linked to Boar’s Head deli meats has killed three people and sickened dozens of others.

OVER 100 ILLNESSES TIED TO MUSHROOM-INFUSED ‘MICRODOSING’ CHOCOLATE BARS

No other sizes, varieties or packages of shelled walnuts from Stutz are included in the recall.

Listeria is especially harmful to those who are pregnant, aged 65 or older, or have a weakened immune system due to medical conditions or treatments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS 

Consumers who have the product should throw it out or return it to the location they received it from. Anyone with questions may contact Sasha Morales via email at smorales@stutzpacking.com, or call 760-230-9547 Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm PST.