JD Vance tears into Dem governor for ‘wishing’ tragedy on his family
Ohio Senator and GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance called Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear a “disgusting person” and accused him of “wishing” that a member of his family “would get raped” in an interview.
Gov. Beshear spoke Monday night at the Democratic National Convention, praising the Harris campaign its plan to stop abortion bans following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
In an interview on MSNBC Tuesday morning, Behsear falsely criticized Vance for calling pregnancy resulting in rape “inconvenient.”
“Make him go through this,” Beshear said in the interview.
Vance responded to Beshear’s interview in a post on X saying, “What the hell is this?”
“Why is @AndyBeshearKY wishing that a member of my family would get raped?! What a disgusting person,” Vance said.
Vance has not referred to pregnancy resulting in rape as inconvenient. Rather, as a then-Senate candidate, Vance once said, “It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term. It’s whether a child should be allowed to live even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to society.”
Vance has repeatedly said that he supports abortion access for exceptions of rape, incest, and if the life of a mother is at risk. He supports President Donald Trump’s position that abortion policies should be decided at the state level — which is what the Supreme Court decided in 2022. He also supports IVF access.
William Martin, communications director for Vance said in a statement, “After speaking on the DNC main stage last night, Harris campaign surrogate Governor Andy Beshear went on national television this morning and explicitly called for a member of Senator Vance’s family to be raped. His comments are disgusting, vile, and should not be tolerated in American politics.”
“We call on Kamala Harris to immediately repudiate Governor Beshear’s comments and demonstrate that regardless of partisan disagreements, this kind of violent rhetoric has no place in our public discourse,” Martin said.
ABC News anchor and presidential debate moderator Linsey Davis echoed talking points from the Harris-Walz campaign when she linked former President Trump to the KKK during an interview Monday night.
At the Democratic National Convention (DNC), Davis spoke to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer about an upcoming campaign event Trump will hold in the town of Howell.
“As you know, former President Donald Trump is expected to go campaign in Howell, Michigan, tomorrow. Many people are aware that a month ago, in Howell, KKK protesters marched in the streets with the white robes on and suggested that they support Donald Trump. I’m curious if you make anything about that connection and him going in particularly to Howell tomorrow,” Davis said.
Whitmer responded, “Well, you know, anyone who’s doing a little bit of research might have said, ‘That’s really a bad idea, look at the optics.’ You’re showing up where the KKK was just at the same time you’re in Michigan.”
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President Biden during his speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention stressed that he is not angry about fellow Democrats pressuring him to end his bid for a second term.
“All this talk about how I’m angry at all those people who said I should step down: It’s not true,” Biden insisted.
Reports in recent weeks claimed Biden remained bitter at other senior Democrats for orchestrating an effort to force him out of the presidential race, culminating in his historic decision to step back and allow Vice President Kamala Harris to seek the office instead.
The group of dissidents included former President Barack Obama, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who relied on behind-the-scenes influence.
Biden rubbished those claims and stressed his devotion to his country over his desire to remain in office.“I love my country more, and we need to preserve our democracy,” Biden added, driving home the need to win not only the presidency but both the House and Senate.
“I’ve got five months left in my presidency,” Biden said. “I’ve got a lot to do: I intend to get it done. It’s been the honor of my lifetime to be your president. I love the job, but I love the country more.”
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
President Biden was lambasted overnight after critics drew comparisons between his comments on anti-Israel protesters and comments by former President Trump he has long criticized.
After torch bearing bigots descended upon Thomas Jefferson’s hometown that year and a paralegal was killed in the melee, Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” – He has since maintained he was comparing a local group opposed to the destruction of the city’s Gen. Robert E. Lee statue and those seeking its removal.
“Biden just gave the Hamas/Israeli conflict a very fine people on ‘both sides’-type line. Disgraceful,” said former McConnell adviser Scott Jennings in response.
Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote on X: “And just like that, Joe Biden legitimizes Nazis.”
Meanwhile, former Trump speechwriter Stephen Miller said it showed Biden is “leaning fully into the Charlottesville Hoax,” going on to call it the most “debunked, disproven and discredited hoax in existence.”
Miller, now the president of America First Legal, said Biden is deliberately “stirring up hatred” only weeks after Trump was nearly assassinated.
Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
Political commentators responded to President Biden’s speech being delayed past primetime on Monday, with some observers remarking the scheduling issues were disrespectful to the president who had already been forced off the 2024 ticket.
Biden, originally scheduled to speak at 10:30 p.m. ET, started his speech roughly an hour behind schedule and finished his remarks after midnight.
“I’m tapping out – I can’t stay up this late, we all have lives and kids,” former “View” co-host Meghan McCain wrote on X Monday.
“God speed to our 81 year old President getting through the speech at this hour. Whatever producers did this to him and let it go over this long at this hour is an a—— and it is disrespectful to Biden.”
“Democrats kicked Joe Biden out of the presidential race and now they aren’t even going to let him speak until after 11 pm eastern on the first night of the convention,” OutKick founder Clay Travis wrote before Biden’s speech. “Diabolical. They are nasty and play to win.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
A spokesperson for the DNC said excessive applause led to the delays in Monday’s program.
Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden arrived in Chicago Monday evening for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, while back in Washington hours earlier House Republicans made their case for impeaching the chief executive.
The 292-page report published by House Republicans follows a months-long investigation into Biden family business dealings.
“They say he defrauded the United States in an effort to enrich his family,” Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman reported.
“They laid out all of their findings about his family’s business dealings and how he was allegedly involved.”
The president addressed the convention on Day 1 of the 2024 DNC.
First lady Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also spoke.
On July 21, 2024, Biden ended his re-election bid in the wake of weeks of pressure from inside the Democratic Party after a disastrous CNN debate performance against former President Donald Trump.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed reporting.
Former first lady Hillary Clinton addressed
attendees at Day 1 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention with a fiery speech which took a number of swings at former President Donald Trump.
“Kamala locked up murders and drug traffickers,” Clinton said.
“She will never rest in defense of our freedom and safety.” Clinton continued, “Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history.”
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reported from the courtroom that Trump appeared to have fallen asleep at one point during the trial, where a jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts.
Trump denied falling asleep, writing on social media, “I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!”
“As vice president, Kamala sat in the Situation Room,” said Clinton, who lost to Trump
in the 2016 election, before being interrupted by “lock him up” chants from the crowd.
“I know what it takes, and I can tell you as commander-in-chief, Kamala won’t disrespect our military and our veterans,” Clinton said.
Former President Bill Clinton is expected to speak at Day 3 of the DNC.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’ public record on border security
has been relatively low key prior to his entry into the presidential election fray. But given Vice President Kamala Harris’ so-called position as “border czar” – and with Walz and her running mate – he has since been forced to take a stronger stance on the issue.
“[Trump] talks about this wall. I always say, ‘Let me know how high it is. If it’s 25 feet, then I’ll invest in the 30-foot-ladder factory,’” Walz told Anderson Cooper in a CNN interview. “He’s not interested in that. He wants to demonize.”
Attempting to turn the narrative on Trump, Walz pointed to a Senate compromise bill that Trump-aligned Republicans
killed. “The Border Patrol agents endorsed it. These are folks who know what needs to be done, but he’s not interested in solving the problem,” Walz said on the bill. “What Democrats need to do is acknowledge, and he has ginned up fear, but our border can work better.”
Delegates and superdelegates will be in the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention for their role in formally nominating Vice President Kamala Harris as the 2024 Democratic nominee.
What are delegates?
Delegates are those who are determined during primaries and are bound to specific candidates, and are bound to vote for them at the convention if they remain in the race.
What are superdelegates?
The 775 superdelegates, also known as automatic delegates, are comprised of Democratic National Committee members, all Democratic members of the House and Senate, Democratic governors and all former Democratic presidents, vice presidents, Senate leaders, House speakers, Democratic minority leaders and DNC chairs.
Those superdelegates do not vote on the first ballot but, if additional ballots are needed, can vote for whichever candidate they wish.
CHICAGO — Former President Obama will headline the second night of the Democratic National Convention under the banner of the Democrats’ “Bold Vision for America’s Future.”
The convention, which is being held at United Center, started Monday and runs through Thursday, when Vice President Harris will formally accept the Democrat presidential nomination with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The Democrats’ theme Tuesday night is “A Bold Vision for America’s Future.” The night is expected to focus on how the Harris-Walz ticket intends to present a “brighter vision where everyone will have a chance not just to get by, but to get ahead.”
The Democrats have stressed that the 2024 presidential race “isn’t just a choice between two candidates.”
“It’s a choice between two very different visions of America,” the DNC said. “While Donald Trump believes our best days are behind us, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz know the best days lie ahead.”
On Tuesday night, the Democrats plan to draw a “stark contrast” between their vision and former President Trump’s.
Sources told Fox News Digital it was a group of Obama allies and former advisers who helped to lead the charge in calling on President Biden to drop out of the race last month, including his former adviser, David Axelrod, George Clooney, a personal friend of the Obamas, and others.
Obama, who had Biden as his vice president for two terms, ultimately endorsed Harris after Biden exited the race, but not immediately.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Brooke Singman
Chicago, thanks in part to its geographical centrality, is the most popular city when it comes to major party political conventions.
Between 1860 and 1996, Chicago hosted 14 Republican Party national nominating conventions and 11 Democratic Party conventions.
After a near three-decade drought, Chicago is hosting the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois as well as the state’s congressional delegation and Chicago city officials were instrumental in helping to land the convention. And one of their selling points was the vast number of hotel rooms in Chicago, which means that the thousands of delegates, officials, and journalists covering the confab would be able to stay within the city limits.
That is far from the case for many political conventions. Just last month, some delegates and journalists were housed in hotels far from downtown Milwaukee, site of the 2024 Republican National Convention.
The abundance of hotel rooms in downtown Chicago means that there will be easy access to both of the convention’s venues – the United Center, an arena on the city’s West Side where the prime time programming will take place, and McCormick Place, which is downtown near Lake Michigan, where daytime events will occur.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will debate on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News, the network announced earlier this month.
The announcement came shortly after Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said he had proposed three debates with three television networks and that he agreed on certain dates in September.
Trump is rejoining the ABC debate days after posting on his social media network that he would not appear on the network, citing a lawsuit he has filed, the Associated Press reported. His decision sets up a highly anticipated moment in an election where President Biden’s first debate against Trump led to Biden dropping out of the race and endorsing his running mate, Harris, to lead the ticket.
“I think it’s very important to have debates,” Trump said
earlier this month. “I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight.”
Officials at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago pushed back on criticism of the scheduling program that saw President Biden delayed well past his prime time slot into the late hours of the night on Tuesday.
Convention officials told Fox News’ Kellianne Jones that they skipped elements of the program to even ensure Biden spoke when he did. Biden’s speech began at roughly 11:30 Eastern Time and did not conclude until well after midnight.
“Because of the raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people. We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket throughout the week on and off the stage,” officials said.
Many critics argued it was disrespectful to so severely delay a speech by the president of the United States. Other observers argued it was further evidence that the party had fully shifted its focus away from Biden toward Harris.
At the Democratic National Convention Monday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked yet again whether there is any enduring animosity between her and President Biden after he relinquished the nomination.
Biden made history when he declared last month he would be dropping out of the 2024 race, endorsing Vice President Harris for the top of the Democratic ticket. This came after weeks of defections from Democratic lawmakers who implored him to withdraw from the presidential race after his widely criticized performance in the presidential debate, with some reporting that Pelosi had coordinated the effort to force Biden to step down.
CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke to Pelosi on the first night of the DNC about whether there is lingering resentment among Biden and his allies toward her.
“I know that it was very difficult for him,” Tapper said. “That’s been made very clear by some of his top aides like Anita Dunn and Ron Klain, and there does seem to be- even though Anita Dunn said earlier today, ‘Nobody wants to have a fight with Nancy Pelosi at this time.’ It does seem like there’s some residual bad blood or resentment, and I‘m wondering if you‘ve spoken to him and what your response is to that.”
Pelosi replied to the news host by joking, “Sometimes you just have to take a punch for the children.”
Tapper pressed further on Dunn’s comments and whether Pelosi had spoken to Biden.
“You know what?” Pelosi said as she made a gesture to stop. “I had to do what I had to do. He made the decision for the country. My concern was not about the president, it was about his campaign. As he has seen with the exuberance, the excitement that has come forth in our country.”
“Nobody is questioning the fact that the Democratic Party seems much better positioned right now than it did 4 weeks and 2 days ago, there’s no question about that,” Tapper said.
“So why are we even talking about it?” Pelosi asked.”So why are we even talking about it?” Pelosi asked.
“They put it in my script and made me read it,” he replied.
“Okay, Ron Burgundy,” co-host Dana Bash laughed.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Alexander Hall
Fox News’ Harris Faulkner, host of “The Faulkner Focus,” caught up with Fox News Digital to question why Democrats are not denouncing anti-Israeli protesters gathered outside of the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
“We know tens of thousands of protesters just on the footsteps of the DNC convention right now are anti-Israel,” Faulkner said.
She added that protesters are holding signs that read “Killer Kamala,” among others.
“When you don’t denounce that, when you don’t disavow it, when you don’t say that is wrong and that we don’t stand for that as a Democratic Party, then yeah, that has an affect on every Jewish person and every American no matter what their faith is across the country,” she added. “Because what it tells you is this is a party that would rather have your vote than say and do the right thing consistently.”
Faulkner said that pro-Hamas crowds, including pro-terrorism groups, are chanting “violence is inevitable” outside of the convention.
“When Democrats don’t say anything about that from inside one of the most watched places on the planet right now, it really does communicate to every voter out there, is this a party that necessarily cares about the issues that are actually on their doorstep?” Faulkner concluded.
Democrats will be hoping for a big boost in ratings from the selection of Vice President Kamala Harris as nominee, with eyes on whether they can get more viewers than their 2020 convention.
Democrats have been given a major boost in enthusiasm with the replacement of President Biden. Harris last week announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, a move that also enthused the Democratic base.
It is possible then that the DNC brings higher ratings than it did four years ago.
Viewership for the Republican convention had narrowly beaten its 2020 event, Axios reported, with about 19 million viewers across four nights. However, it was also down around 22% from the 2016 convention, the outlet reported, citing numbers from Nielsen.
Former President Trump’s speech this year similarly drew more viewers than his 2020 speech, but fewer than his 2016 speech.
“I have been a registered Democrat since the day I turned 18,” Jewish activist Shabbos Kestenbaum, told Fox News. “I have only voted for Democrats. I’d like to think the last 10 months I’ve been calm, cool and collected but I am so sick and tired, with the election less than 100 days away, of pretending that this anti-American, intellectually challenged, allergic to reality, petulant children have any role in normative policy making or in electoral politics.”
Kestenbaum ripped Democrats for antisemitic protests among those in the party’s progressive wing, “They want a cease fire. They want a two state solution. Hamas rejected a cease fire two days ago and then sent a suicide bomber to go blow up Jews.”
“That is the reality that we are dealing with in the Middle East,” he said. “Let me remind not only my fellow democrats, but to the American people, this war could be over the minute Hamas releases the G– d— hostages and surrenders.”
In Gaza, 115 hostages still remain unreturned since the terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
“We have been perpetrating a fantasy that Jews are somehow colonizers in the very land that they are literally named after and universities, college students, the media and far left politicians have fed into this fantasy,” Kestenbaum said. “That’s this crap that you’re seeing at the DNC right now in Chicago of 100,000 who really can influence policy and that’s what so concerns me as a Democrat and as a Jewish American.”
President Joe Biden’s declining health, put on full display during his July debate performance against Donald Trump, has continued to put the octogenarian president under scrutiny.
Biden delivered the final speech at the first day of the DNC in Chicago on Monday. His address was delayed for hours and didn’t conclude until after midnight. Many observers argued it was disrespectful for the Democrats to push the president of the United States out of his prime-time slot and into the late hours of the night.
Nevertheless, Biden passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris in his speech and also touted his accomplishments in office. He also addressed the widespread anti-Israel protests taking place outside the venue in Chicago. He said the protesters “have a point.”
“It’s possible, depending on Biden’s true capacities, that by rights he should have resigned and Harris should be president already — which probably would have put her in a better position to win the election even than her current honeymoon does,” New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote in a recent Saturday column.
Ross even predicted the possibility of a major Biden health “crisis” in the next few months, which he argued would make Democrats wish he had resigned, not just given up his bid for reelection.
Concern over Biden’s health has continued following his disastrous debate performance particularly due to reports that some of his closest advisers and family members worked to hide the true nature of Biden’s physical and cognitive deficiencies from the public.
Just days before Biden announced he would not seek reelection, for example, White House senior deputy press secretary and deputy assistant to the president, Andrew Bates, called speculation that Biden faced a medical emergency while traveling to Las Vegas “100% false.”
However, recordings from Las Vegas police released this week by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project show that Biden was experiencing a sudden illness after canceling a speaking engagement he had planned in Sin City that day.
Since announcing that he would not be running for reelection on July 21, Biden has held only six public events, according to his publicly available schedule.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report
Fox News’ Brooke Singman takes viewers behind the scenes of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, and guides Americans through the schedule for the week of political speeches.
“Each night the Democrats will have a theme, a host and a few big name speakers,” Singman said.
Monday’s theme was “For the People” and included Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jill Biden and President Joe Biden as speakers.
Earlier on Monday, House Republicans voted to impeach Biden just hours before his speech.
On Tuesday, “A Bold Vision for America’s Future” will take center stage as the theme. Former President Barack Obama is expected to headline the evening.
“A Fight for our Freedom” is Wednesday’s theme and former President Bill Clinton is expected to speak on Day 3 of the 2024 DNC.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate, is also anticipated to formally accept his nomination for the position on Wednesday night.
For the week’s finale, viewers can expect actress Kerry Washington to host the evening leading into the acceptance speech headlined by Harris.
President gets sympathy from the right for his party’s snafus that led to late DNC speech
Political commentators responded to President Biden’s speech being delayed past primetime on Monday, with some observers remarking the scheduling issues were disrespectful to the president who had already been forced off the 2024 ticket.
Biden, originally scheduled to speak at 10:30 p.m. (ET), started his speech roughly an hour behind schedule and finished his remarks after midnight.
“I’m tapping out – I can’t stay up this late, we all have lives and kids,” former “View” co-host Meghan McCain wrote on X Monday. “God speed to our 81 year old President getting through the speech at this hour. Whatever producers did this to him and let it go over this long at this hour is an a—— and it is disrespectful to Biden.”
“Democrats kicked Joe Biden out of the presidential race and now they aren’t even going to let him speak until after 11 pm eastern on the first night of the convention,” OutKick founder Clay Travis wrote before Biden’s speech. “Diabolical. They are nasty and play to win.”
PROTESTS ERUPT, CHICAGO BUSINESSES BOARD UP AS THE DNC KICKS OFF DAY 1 FESTIVITIES
“Fitting that the DNC pushed Biden out of Primetime considering they pushed him out of the race too,” GOP staffer Abigail Jackson wrote on Monday.
Biden insisted for weeks after his disastrous June debate performance that he would not leave the race, but intense pressure from figures like Nancy Pelosi over concerns he’d lose to former President Trump eventually forced his hand. He dropped out on July 21 and endorsed Kamala Harris, who quickly clinched the nomination and has reinvigorated Democrats.
Some commentators called attention to the possible political considerations behind pushing Biden’s speech out of primetime.
“Yeah, it’s disrespectful, but why would Democrats want to feature Joe Biden in primetime if they don’t have to?” National Review’s Rich Lowry wrote. “Harris needs distance from him, not to embrace him. Besides, once you’ve taken the nomination from him what’s pushing his speech out of prime time?”
“This is truly the ultimate humiliation ritual,” one conservative account added, noting Biden was “strong armed” off the ballot.
Pollster Nate SIlver said that the scheduling delays for Biden’s speech were by design.
“The media is very East Coast focused though, you’ve gotta be pretty naive to think the prolonged DNC tonight is for any reason other than diminishing Biden’s visibility,” Silver wrote.
Former CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller said that Biden was “booted.”
“They took the nomination away from him and now booted him out of prime time,” Knoller wrote.
BIDEN SAYS DNC ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS ‘HAVE A POINT,’ RIPS TRUMP AS ‘NOT WORTHY’ OF OVAL OFFICE
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The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. A spokesperson for the DNC said excessive applause led to the delays in Monday’s program, which had been touted by the liberal media as a celebration of the president that party bosses had forced out of the race.
“Because of the raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people,” the DNC told Fox News Digital. “We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket throughout the week on and off the stage.”
Experts issue stark warning as anti-Israel mobs flood streets outside DNC
CHICAGO – Organizers behind protests against Democrats’ support for the Israeli military are coordinating bus drop-offs for agitators from around the country in Chicago this week as they hope for tens of thousands of attendees.
Permits for rallies on the Democratic National Convention’s opening and closing evenings, Monday and Thursday, sought space for tens of thousands of demonstrators opposed to Israel’s fight against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
The anti-Israel agitators, who are also calling for other far-left policies like the legalization of all illegal immigrants, have also called for a rally at the Israeli consulate Tuesday night.
“Make it great like ’68! Shut down the DNC for Gaza,” an Instagram post from the group Anti-Imperialist Resistance shared Tuesday morning reads. The post contains details of the march starting at the Israeli consulate at 7 p.m. CT.
DNC HOST CHICAGO, HAUNTED BY 1968 CONVENTION RIOTING, BRACES FOR BLOODSHED
Protesters showed up already over the weekend, before the DNC, to raise attention for their causes at Union Park, the legally approved staging area for the larger marches. Organizers are hoping people chartering buses in to town will coordinate with them to arrange for drop-offs at the park, according to the website for March on the DNC 2024.
“Chicago is perfectly positioned as reachable by every activist group in the country,” said Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector who warned that the city’s well-known struggles with crime and police staffing might leave the place vulnerable.
“Chicago is perfectly positioned as reachable by every activist group in the country.”
Some security experts warn agitators in the crowd may be hoping to provoke clashes with police and cause further chaos. Some groups called for as much in flyers promoting the demonstrations, with slogans like “Make it great like ‘68.”
CHAOS ERUPTS AT KAMALA HARRIS NYC EVENT AS DNC BRACES FOR CHICAGO UNREST
That’s a reference to the violent week of clashes during Chicago’s 1968 DNC, when hundreds of people were arrested and dozens were hospitalized – both police and demonstrators. City lawyers blamed “troublemakers” from out of town, while a federal report dubbed the law enforcement response as a “police riot.”
The chaos of 1968 aside, Chicago has hosted more major political conventions than any other U.S. city, in part because it’s easy to get to in the center of the country.
There are 11 Amtrak routes running to the city’s Union Station, as well as the high-speed commuter rail, Metra. It’s accessible from five major interstates and other highways. It’s part of a network of other Midwestern cities connected by charter bus – as well as regular national bus routes.
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“While I have no doubt that the Chicago Police Department is up to this, you have to wonder who decided on Chicago for this event,” Mauro said. “That department is undermanned as it is and the city’s shooting numbers are horrific.”
Chicago police statistics show 30 shootings in the weekend leading into the DNC – and five homicides.
Buttigieg gets fiery answering point-blank question about Dems pushing Biden out of race
“Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones put Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in the hot seat Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention, addressing the successful effort to oust President Biden from the 2024 ticket and spikes in violent crime across major U.S. cities.
“I just want to know, when did you guys know that the president was unfit [to serve]…?” Jones pressed Buttigieg.
“The president is not unfit,” he replied.
“So why is he not the nominee right now?” Jones pressed further.
“Because he did something that Donald Trump cannot comprehend, which is to put his ego aside,” Buttigieg answered.
‘POWERFUL DEMOCRATS’ PUSHED BIDEN OUT IN ‘COUP’: NYT COLUMNIST
Jones pointed out that Democrats only began their push to replace Biden after his poor debate performance against former President Trump in late June, when he appeared to stammer over words and struggled to answer questions.
In the following weeks, reports began to emerge, claiming that top Democrats like former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer believed the president should pass the torch to someone else.
“You can go over whether he slips up and says one name when he wants to say another name, or you can look at what he’s actually accomplished as president,” Buttigieg said, addressing the point.
“It turns out he’s really good at being President of the United States.”
Jones also pressed the Transportation Secretary on crime, pinpointing a statistic from the Coalition for Law, Order & Safety, indicating violent crime has risen by a total of nearly 10% across 66 major U.S. cities, including Chicago, the site of this year’s DNC.
Just Monday, Jones spoke with Monee Jacobs, a heartbroken mother from the Windy City whose son Jeremy was murdered last year.
On-air, she pleaded for political leaders to take the violence seriously and act to stop it.
HEARTBROKEN CHICAGO MOM SENDS MESSAGE TO DEMOCRATS AFTER SON’S MURDER: ‘IT’S NOT WORKING’
“How can I vote for somebody who I don’t feel like has my back, or [the back of] any parent who lost their child…? But you want me to vote for you? What are you going to do for me? You say what you’re going to do when you get in office. Do you really do what you said you [are] going to do? I don’t think so. Because this crime has been going on for decades, and it’s getting sickening to watch parents on TV crying about the loss of their child,” she said.
Compare the lack of protection for everyday citizens to the beefed up security outside United Center, the site of the convention, Jones highlighted.
“You guys sent the cavalry in for your protection, but the people of Chicago don’t see that on a day-to-day basis. What are you guys going to do to stop the bloodshed in our community?” he asked.
“The big question, I think, for politics, for policy, for media, is, who is going to help them versus who is going to use them?” Buttigieg answered in part. “That mother is asking the exact right question, and the question is, ‘What are you going to actually do when you come into office?’”
DEAN PHILLIPS ‘TRIED TO’ OUST BIDEN ‘TWO YEARS AGO,’ WOULD DO IT ‘A THOUSAND TIMES OVER’ DESPITE BLOWBACK
On that note, he argued that Democrats have done more to help through pushes for gun safety measures.
He also insisted that this November’s match-up between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will be a litmus test for voters’ attitudes toward crime in America.
“When you have Donald Trump, an unrepentant convicted criminal, running against a prosecutor like Kamala Harris, we have an opportunity to send a message about whether we’re serious on law and order in this country or whether it’s a talking point, whether it’s just something people try to use as a political theme for partisan gain,” he said.
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Democrat’s murder trial unearths creepy photos allegedly found on his phone
A former Las Vegas Democratic politician, accused of killing an investigative journalist who had penned critical stories about the official, had hundreds of photos of the victim’s home and neighborhood on his cell phone and computer, a Nevada jury was told Monday.
Robert Telles, 47, a former Democratic Clark County administrator of estates, is charged with murdering veteran Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German in September 2022, just months after German wrote articles critical of Telles and his office.
German, 69, was found slashed and stabbed to death outside his home over Labor Day weekend 2022. Telles has pleaded not guilty and insists he was framed for the crime.
The photographic evidence was put to the jury Monday as prosecutors rested their case after four days of testimony from more than two dozen witnesses.
JURY SELECTION BEGINS MONDAY FOR FORMER LAS VEGAS-AREA POLITICIAN ACCUSED OF KILLING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST
Other photos taken from Robert Telles’ devices included an image of a single gray athletic shoe with a distinctive black pattern and a shot of Telles’ work computer at the Clark County Public Administrator and Guardian office with results of internet searches through a password-protected site that retrieved German’s name, home address, vehicle registration and date of birth.
Prosecutor Christopher Hamner noted for jurors that the photo was taken Aug. 23, 2022 — less than two weeks before German was slashed and stabbed to death in a side yard of his home.
“This image came out of Mr. Telles’ phone?” Hamner asked Matthew Hovanec, a Las Vegas digital forensics supervisor who testified Monday about “extracting” the data from Telles’ devices.
“It did,” Hovanec responded.
Telles had looked up German’s home numerous times, nearly 20 days before the killing, the jury heard.
“What were the words being typed into Google search?” district attorney Christopher Hamner asked, per Fox 5 Vegas.
“Jeff German Las Vegas,” replied Hovanec.
Hovanec said that there were 132 Google Maps images tagged related to the topic.
Another Google photo showed a security camera on German’s home.
Telles’s defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, cross-examined Hovanec and asked him whether the phone could have been hacked. Hovanec’s response was that it could be a possibility, but he personally has never seen it happen.
Detective Justine Gatus, the primary Las Vegas police homicide investigator of German’s death, said the Las Vegas Review-Journal articles about Telles and the county office that German wrote in May and June 2022 “weren’t flattering.”
Around the same time, Telles took to social media to deride German and slam the articles as false depictions of his efforts to fight corruption amid a political and social “old guard” real estate network.
Gatus testified that the gray sneaker with a Nike logo and four black marks on the sole was “identical” to one that jurors saw earlier in neighbors’ security camera images of a figure wearing orange who slipped into a side yard of German’s home where German was later found dead on Labor Day weekend 2022.
Neither an orange shirt nor a murder weapon was entered as evidence in the case. However, one of those shoes, cut to pieces and bearing spots of blood from an unidentified source, was found in a plastic shopping bag in Telles’ home following his arrest.
Originally from Milwaukee, German had spent 44 years developing deep confidential sources in Las Vegas, its government and its courthouses, often covering Las Vegas mobsters and public officials.
He was widely respected for reporting about the courts, organized crime, government corruption, political scandals and mass shootings, first at the Las Vegas Sun and then at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
NEVADA JUDGE POSTPONES TRIAL OF FORMER LAS VEGAS OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF KILLING JOURNALIST
German was found slashed and stabbed to death in a side yard outside his home, where Telles is accused in a criminal complaint of “lying in wait” for German to come outside.
Telles was arrested days later after police circulated video of a person wearing an orange work shirt and a wide-brimmed straw hat toting a shoulder bag and walking toward German’s home.
Prosecutors say they have strong evidence, including DNA believed to be from Telles found beneath German’s fingernails and cut-up pieces of a straw hat and shoes found at Telles’ house that resembled those worn by the person seen on video outside German’s home.
Police also released images of a distinctive maroon SUV like one that a Review-Journal photographer saw Telles washing outside his home several days after the killing.
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Telles grew up in El Paso, Texas, and lived in Colorado before moving to Las Vegas. He became a lawyer in 2015 and ran as a Democrat in 2018 to become Clark County administrator of estates. He lost his elected position after his arrest and his law license was suspended.
He faces the possibility of life in prison if the jury finds him guilty. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, and he has remained jailed while preparing to face a jury.
Telles intends to testify, defense lawyer Robert Draskovich told The Associated Press on Monday, and is expected to take the witness stand to cap his own defense case, possibly Tuesday afternoon.
Trump asked whether he’d give Elon Musk a job in his administration if elected
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that he would give tech billionaire Elon Musk a key role in a future administration.
Trump was asked by a Reuters reporter whether he would name Musk as an advisor if he wins the November presidential election.
“He’s a very smart guy. I certainly would, if he would do it, I certainly would,” Trump responded. “He’s a brilliant guy.”
X CLOSES BRAZILIAN OFFICE AFTER JUDGE THREATENS ARRESTS OVER CENSORSHIP ORDERS
Musk acknowledged the shout-out on his social media platform X, posting an AI-generated photo of himself leading the fictional Department of Government Efficiency.
“I am willing to serve,” he wrote.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 222.72 | +6.60 | +3.05% |
The Tesla founder announced his official endorsement of Trump last month following the failed assassination attempt against the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania.
ELON MUSK MOCKS MEDIA FOR OVERWHELMINGLY NEGATIVE COVERAGE OF TRUMP’S X EVENT: ‘SO PREDICTABLE’
Since then, Musk has frequently posted commentary and analysis of the election in favor of Trump, as well as images mocking Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party.
Trump and Musk conducted a two-hour conversation about the election and broader U.S. political issues in a live broadcast via X earlier this month.
The conversation was free-ranging and casual, touching on topics such as the Butler attack, illegal immigration, tax credits for electric cars and more.
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It marked Trump’s first return to X since August 2023, when his campaign published the mugshot taken as part of his Georgia election case.
Aside from that mugshot, Trump has not used the social media platform since January 2021, when he posted that he would not be attending the inauguration of President Biden.
Newly-elected mayor arrested, hauled off in handcuffs after city meeting
The mayor of a small town in Georgia faces felony charges alleging that he illegally stashed a bottle of gin in a ditch for a state prison work crew to access.
Thomson Mayor Benjamin “Benji” Cary Cranford, 52, was indicted on Wednesday and arrested by Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents on felony charges of furnishing prohibited items to inmates and attempt to commit a felony, WRDW-TV reported.
The indictment, issued in McDuffie County Superior Court, accuses Cranford of driving to a store on June 3, purchasing a bottle of Seagram’s Extra Dry Gin and leaving it in a ditch along Cobbham Road in Thomson, Georgia, in the path of a work crew of state prisoners from the Jefferson County Correctional Institution.
Thomson Police asked the GBI on June 6 to investigate allegations that Cranford provided alcohol to inmates.
PATIENT SUES EMORY HOSPITAL IN ATLANTA AFTER IT ALLEGEDLY LOST PART OF HIS SKULL
Cranford was taken into custody at Thomson City Hall by GBI agents following a city council meeting and booked into the McDuffie County Jail, according to WRDW-TV. He was released Wednesday on $5,000 bail.
“As we understand the charges in this case are not related to Mr. Cranford’s duties as an elected official, we do not have a comment,” city spokesperson Jason Smith said in a statement.
Cranford could be subject to suspension from office until the charges are resolved if a panel recommends to Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp that the charges could hinder Cranford’s ability to serve as mayor. Some other officials had previously been suspended when they were slapped with felony charges that were not directly related to their office.
GEORGIA DEPUTY KILLED IN ‘AMBUSH’ ATTACK AFTER RESPONDING TO DOMESTIC DISPUTE CALL
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The mayor took office earlier this year after defeating incumbent Kenneth Usry in the election last year.
Earlier this month, Cranford, a former paving contractor, settled a lawsuit filed months before he ran for office accusing him of attempting to hide assets from a bonding company that was stepping in to pay some of Cranford’s company’s debts amid financial troubles to ensure large-scale projects undertaken by Cranford’s company would be completed.
Former NFL player breaks silence after being accused of vulgar act on plane
Gosder Cherilus, the former NFL player accused of urinating on a passenger during a flight to Dublin, has broken his silence on social media.
Cherilus, who was drafted as the 17th overall pick by the Detroit Lions in 2008, released a statement on social media Monday to explain his “behavior” on a Delta Air Lines flight departing from Logan International Airport in Boston that led to his arrest.
“I’d like to address the media reports about me that surfaced today regarding a situation that occurred onboard a flight to Ireland this past weekend,” the former NFL player said in a statement posted to X.
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Cherilus went on to explain that after several hours of delay, he took “sleeping medication” which caused the unruly behavior.
“The flight was unexpectedly delayed for approximately four hours, and it did not take off until after 12:30 a.m. In preparation for the unexpected overnight flight, I took a sleeping medication that I don’t normally use, which resulted in behavior that is not representative of my character, and I would like to apologize to the passengers and flight crew.”
According to the police report, Cherilus boarded the plane and appeared to be intoxicated. He proceeded to argue with the flight crew about his seat, and an hour into the flight, it was alleged that he urinated on an elderly passenger.
FORMER NFL STARTER ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY URINATING ON PASSENGER DURING FLIGHT
He is also accused of hitting another passenger before taking their seat and passing out, police said.
Cherilus was arraigned in court on Monday. According to the Boston Herald, he was charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing a flight crew and resisting arrest. He is due back in court on Oct. 11 for pretrial.
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Cherilus, 40, played five seasons with the Lions, where he was predominantly a starter on the offensive line. He assumed a similar role when he signed a five-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts, but was released after just his second season.
He would go on to play two more years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring from the NFL in 2017.