Trump-aligned group goes straight for Harris’ Achilles heel in general election ad blitz
EXCLUSIVE: A deep-pocketed outside political committee that supports former President Trump’s White House campaign is taking aim at Vice President Kamala Harris over the issue of border security.
“America needs a commander-in-chief who’s tough on illegal immigration. Kamala Harris fails that test,” National Border Patrol Council vice president Art Del Cueto charges in a new ad from the Preserve America super PAC.
The spot, shared first with Fox News Digital on Friday, is the latest by either the Trump campaign or aligned super PACs that target Harris for being weak on border security, which many Republicans see as the vice president’s political Achilles’ heel.
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Trump and his allies have repeatedly criticized Harris for nearly two weeks — since she replaced President Biden at the top of the Democrats’ national ticket — over the surge of migrants across the nation’s southern border during the Biden administration.
Harris was tasked by Biden in 2021 with leading the diplomatic outreach to tackle the “root causes” of migration in Central American countries. It led to her being dubbed the “border czar” both by the media and Republican opponents, although the White House has rejected that description.
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Del Cueto — who has endorsed the former president and who joined Trump running mate Sen. J.D. Vance at a campaign event Thursday along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona — calls Harris “Biden’s border czar” in the ad, which was filmed along the southern border.
“She supported sanctuary cities and taxpayer benefits for illegal immigrants. And she created the worst border crisis in American history. Kamala Harris is dangerous,” he argued.
The spot also includes a Harris interview on “The View” from August 2019 — when she was running unsucessfully for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination — in which she said, “We are not going to treat people who are undocumented cross the border as criminals. That is correct.”
The ad is the second straight one from Preserve America to criticize Harris over border security. The group tells Fox News that it is spending at least $10 million to run the spots from the Olympics through Labor Day as part of an ad blitz in the key battlegrounds of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Preserve America was set up during Trump’s unsuccessful 2020 re-election bid and was re-launched this spring to help the former president try to win back the White House in 2024.
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Multi-billionaire Miriam Adelson, the controlling shareholder of the Las Vegas Sands gambling empire, is helping to bankroll the super PAC’s efforts, a source with knowledge of her plans confirmed to Fox News a couple of months ago.
Adelson and her late husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, shelled out roughly $90 million to Preserve America four years ago. Sources indicated that the super PAC plans to increase its expenditures from what it spent in 2020 on behalf of Trump.
Harris has been pushing back on the border security attacks as she leans in on the issue.
“In this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his,” Harris said at a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday before highlighting her border security efforts as California attorney general.
The vice president argued that Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, “has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk.”
She pointed to a border security bill with some bipartisan support that had been making its way through Congress earlier this year before Republicans turned against the measure after prompting from Trump.
“It was all set to pass, but at the last minute Trump directed his allies in the Senate to vote it down,” Harris said.
She charged that the former president “tanked the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win an election” and pledged that “as the president, I will bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed.”
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The Trump campaign quickly took to social media to respond to the comments by the vice president at her rally.
“Kamala is actually *BRAGGING* about her record on immigration. HERE ARE THE FACTS: As Border Czar, Kamala ferried 15+ million illegals directly into our communities. She thinks illegal immigration “is NOT a crime.” She wants to abolish ICE. She thinks you’re stupid,” the Trump campaign claimed.
Hours earlier, the Trump campaign — in its first major ad blitz of the general election — charged that Harris had “failed us” in securing the border.
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Catholic leader condemns ‘debased and blasphemous’ display during Olympics
A Catholic leader scorched a widely condemned display at the Paris Olympics as “debased and blasphemous.”
Cardinal Raymond Burke of the Roman Catholic Church is the latest public figure to condemn the 2024 Paris Olympic Games’ opening ceremony for allegedly parodying the Christian faith with a performance that many interpreted as mocking the iconic Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus and his disciples during The Last Supper.
The display featured a group of drag queens and flamboyant performers all lined up along one side of a long table, with one in a halo crown posing in the center. According to news outlet France 24, the scene’s choreographer, Thomas Jolly, has denied the allegations that he was mocking Christianity and was instead trying to show “a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus,” but many art and religious experts remain unconvinced.
CatholicVote reported on Wednesday that Cardinal Burke had mentioned the Opening Ceremony scene in his homily for a Mass celebrating the 16th anniversary of the dedication of the church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on July 31.
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“On this past Friday, we witnessed an unbelievable manifestation of the darkness and sin in our world: the abominable mockery of the Holy Eucharist at its Institution for the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris,” the Cardinal said. “It is difficult to imagine anything more debased and blasphemous.”
He went on to declare, “That such an event could take place shows us, in a most painful way, how what was once a Christian culture has become the theater of Satan and those who cooperate with his thoroughly evil plans, the plans of ‘a murderer from the beginning’ who ‘has nothing to do with the truth,’ the plans of ‘a liar and the father of lies.’”
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He argued that such a display remains those of the faith that there is an ongoing conflict over morality being waged in our civilization.
“Our disgust and anger about what happened at the Summer Olympics awakens anew our consciousness of so many other manifestations of the open rebellion against God and His plan for our salvation in the world in which we live: attacks on human life and its cradle in the family created by the marriage of a man and a woman, and attacks on religion itself and its free exercise.”
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Internal chaos over Trump’s appearance at NABJ event spills out into public
Former President Trump’s appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) has created internal division among its members and the group is now in talks to hold a Q&A with Vice President Harris.
Former Ohio University journalism professor Justice B. Hill, who has been a member of the NABJ for nearly 50 years, told The Hollywood Reporter that he felt a sense of bewilderment and betrayal by his group after the Trump panel.
“It’s a mess,” Hill told The Hollywood Reporter. “The whole thing came together in the past couple of days. And I hate things being not transparent. There’s controversy among members — one of the co-chairs of the Chicago convention resigned. You don’t surprise members this way. He has never spoken at our convention before. He was invited in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and he refused to come. So, why is he coming now? He’s coming now because he sees some advantage.”
Hill described the panel as divisive, a sentiment echoed by other NABJ members on social media.
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“Trump came into our home, a Black Press advocacy convention, and insulted us in our face. What is worse he was invited to do this by NABJ leadership,” White House correspondent April Ryan tweeted on Wednesday.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson also weighed in on the event, writing, “To walk into a room full of Black journalists and attack someone’s ‘Blackness’ is another level of disrespect. To anyone who needs a reminder: we can’t change the color of our skin, and we don’t want to.”
Hill further questioned why Trump attended the Chicago convention in his interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“I understand he is a candidate for president, but Republicans have generally refused to attend our conventions or speak at them. And he has done that so, why now? Because he is trying to discredit Vice President Kamala Harris? And I don’t think that is fair to our membership,” he said.
Hill said it was egregious that none of the three individuals interviewing Trump were journalists from the Black Press or Black media outlets.
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“The Black Press cannot be marginalized, especially when it comes to issues related to this. This is right down their wheelhouse,” he said. “So, we can’t have no place at the table, particularly with the organization that’s about Blackness and the power of the press.”
Trump’s Q&A at the NABJ led to several contentious moments. When asked if he believed Harris is only on the ticket because she is a Black woman, he claimed that the presumptive Democratic nominee chose to “turn Black” a few years ago.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
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While Trump sparred with journalists at the event, Harris was notably absent, with the NABJ saying in a statement that it had difficulty coordinating her appearance with the vice president’s schedule.
“We were advised by her campaign at the time that her schedule could not accommodate this request. The last update we were provided (earlier this week) was that Harris would not be available in person or virtually during our Convention,” NABJ President Ken Lemon said in a statement. “We are in talks about virtual options in the future and are still working to reach an agreement.”
Global boxing organization spars with Olympics over fighters who failed gender tests
The International Boxing Association (IBA) fired back at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and maintained its decision to disqualify Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting from its world championship in 2023 was “justified” based on tests that year and in 2022.
The IBA said World Boxing, which was created to become the sport’s governing body following its separation from the IOC, reinforced ineligible athletes to compete in their very own recently announced events. Khelif was able to compete in two World Boxing events earlier this year.
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“We absolutely do not understand why any organization would put a boxer at risk with what could bring a potential serious injury within the ‘Field of Play’ (FOP). The main role of the referee in the ring is to manage the boxer’s safety at all times. How is this reasonably practicable when a boxer fails to meet the eligibility criteria to compete?” the IBA said.
“The IBA will never support any boxing bouts between the genders, as the organization puts the safety and well-being of our athletes first. We are protecting our women and their rights to compete in the ring against equal rivals, and we will defend and support them in all instances; their hopes and dreams must never be taken away by organizations unwilling to do the right thing under difficult circumstances.
“IBA stands by its position and will continue to support all athletes within the spirit of the rules.”
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At the time of Khelif’s disqualification, IBA President Umar Kremlev said, “Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women.
“According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition.”
The IOC maintained its stance on allowing Khelif to compete in the Olympic Games despite the outrage Thursday’s match against Angela Carini caused and Lin’s ability to compete on Friday.
“These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA,” the IOC said. “Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
“According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing.”
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“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.”
Chinese citizen arrested at Mar-a-Lago claims CCP is linked to assassination attempt
A Chinese citizen was arrested after police said he repeatedly tried to get into former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Zijie Li, 38, of El Monte, California, claimed that he had documents that tie his home country’s government to the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was killed by Secret Service agents after the bullets he fired struck Trump’s ear, narrowly missing his skull, and hit three of his supporters, killing former Buffalo Township Fire Chief Corey Comperatore.
Following the assassination attempt, the Secret Service increased security around Trump’s estate and his other properties. The Palm Beach Post reported this also prompted the agency’s decision to close South Ocean Boulevard next to Mar-a-Lago, effective on July 20.
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Li’s first of several attempts to reach Mar-a-Lago was the night before, on July 19, when Li reportedly drove up to the estate’s main entrance on South Ocean Boulevard in a gray Toyota Prius and told Secret Service agents that he had documents showing China was involved in the attempted assassination, according to an arrest report obtained by the Palm Beach Post.
However, Trump was not home at the time and was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the Republican National Convention.
Agents then reportedly told Li that he was trespassing and was not allowed on the property and the Palm Beach Police Department issued him a written warning, the report said. Police also told Li that he was not permitted to return to Mar-a-Lago, and if he did, he would be arrested.
Li’s next visit to Palm Beach was July 22, where footage from town security cameras showed that he drove east and then west again over the Royal Park Bridge twice, first in the morning and then in the afternoon, the arrest report said.
Trump was at Mar-a-Lago that day, after returning from Wisconsin.
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Li was then spotted again on July 30, driving toward the security checkpoint for Mar-a-Lago, the report said. Police approached Li as he was blocking a lane of traffic and during the stop, an officer noticed that Mar-a-Lago’s address was on Li’s GPS system, according to the arrest report.
Li was released and left town, but returned less than an hour later when his car was spotted south of Mar-a-Lago on South Ocean Boulevard, the report said. This time, Palm Beach Police and Secret Service agents again stopped him and told him not to return to Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach Post reported.
But, police said, Li kept trying to get into the property.
Officers found Li and arrested him at an intersection north of Mar-a-Lago.
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Trump was not at home when Li was arrested, but the former president will return this weekend, according to a new Federal Aviation Administration notice.
Temporary flight restrictions are scheduled to go into effect at 7:45 p.m. Saturday, lasting through 10:45 p.m. August 9, for “VIP movement” in an area with Mar-a-Lago as its center, according to the notice posted Thursday.
The Palm Beach Post reported that Li is also not the first Chinese citizen to face charges for trying to gain access to Mar-a-Lago. A 32-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in 2019 after the Secret Service said she lied to get into the club and then claimed she wanted to talk to Trump about economic relations between China and the United States.
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Court records also show Li used a Mandarin translator and that the judge gave him a no-contact order for Trump, anyone associated with him or his campaign, and for his Mar-a-Lago property.
Zi’s next court appearance will be on Monday, August 5.
Aerosmith gives update on Steven Tyler’s health in ‘heartbreaking’ announcement
After over five decades, Aerosmith is retiring from touring.
On Friday, the official X account for the band announced that frontman Steven Tyler’s voice has not been able to fully recover, leading them to the “heartbreaking” decision to stop performing.
“It was 1970 when a spark of inspiration became Aerosmith. Thanks to you, our Blue Army, that spark caught flame and has been burning for over five decades. Some of you have been with us since the beginning and all of you are the reason we made rock ‘n’ roll history,” the lengthy statement began.
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“It has been the honor of our lives to have our music become part of yours. In every club, on every massive tour and at moments grand and private you have given us a place in the soundtrack of your lives. We’ve always wanted to blow your mind when performing,” the statement continued.
The band then addressed the current state of Tyler’s health.
“As you know, Steven’s voice is an instrument like no other. He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury,” the statement read. “We’ve seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side.
“Sadly, it is clear, that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible. We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision — as a band of brothers — to retire from the touring stage.”
“We are grateful beyond words for everyone who was pumped to get on the road with us one last time,” their statement continued. “Grateful to our expert crew, our incredible team and the thousands of talented people who’ve made our historic runs possible. A final thank you to you – the best fans on planet Earth. Play our music loud, now and always. Dream On. You’ve made our dreams come true.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Aerosmith for additional comment.
In May 2023, Aerosmith announced their farewell tour, which was intended to give fans one last chance to see the band live.
At the time of the announcement, guitarist Joe Perry spoke out about the decision to retire from touring, citing the fact that all the band members are in their early to mid-70s as a big reason to give up this part of their careers.
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“I think it’s about time,” he simply said.
The group, currently consisting of Perry, Tyler, Brad Whitford, Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton, has been together since 1970, and in those 53 years, they’ve released hits like “Janie’s Got a Gun,” “Crazy” and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.”
They performed those songs and more in their Las Vegas residency that finished last year, and Perry suggested that they’d pull some of the production value from the residency to use in the upcoming tour.
“We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision — as a band of brothers — to retire from the touring stage.”
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“It’s kind of a chance to celebrate the 50 years we’ve been out here,” Perry said. “You never know how much longer everybody’s going to be healthy to do this.… It’s been a while since we’ve actually done a real tour. We did that run in Vegas, which was great. It was fun, but (we’re) kind of anxious to get back on the road.”
In a statement to The Associated Press at the time, Tyler said, “We’re opening up Pandora’s Box one last time to present our fans with the Peace Out tour. Be there or beware as we bring all the toys out of the attic. Get ready.”
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Although both Perry and Tyler referred to the upcoming tour as a farewell, Tyler did add, “It’s the final farewell tour, but I have a feeling it will go on for a while. But I don’t know how many times we’ll be coming back to the same cities. It could very possibly be the last time.”
Judge dismissed from Olympics after photo with athlete appears on social media
An Olympic surfing judge was removed from the Olympic Games after a photo circulated online of him alongside a competitor in Tahiti this week.
Australian judge Benjamin Lowe, Australian surfing team member Ethan Ewing and coach Bede Durbidge took a group photo during the Games during an off day for the competition that raised eyebrows.
The International Surfing Association released a statement Thursday saying it removed Lowe from the judging panel for the remainder of the competition to “protect the integrity and fairness of the ongoing competition.”
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“The ISA is aware of a photo circulating on social media in which one of the Olympic surfing judges from Australia is seen socially interacting with an Australian athlete and the team manager,” the ISA said. “It is inappropriate for a judge to be interacting in this manner with an athlete and their team.”
The decision was made in accordance with the ISA’s code of conduct and the International Olympic Committee’s code of ethics, it said.
The surfing federation said it had “communicated with all judges and teams to remind them of their responsibilities regarding appropriate behavior.”
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“I’ve kinda been copping some hate on it online, but I really don’t know the story or have any insight on it,” Ewing told Stab Mag after Lowe’s departure.
“It’s sad for sure.”
Ewing lost his quarterfinal match to fellow Australian Jack Robinson, 15.33 to 13.00.
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The surfing competitions are taking place in Tahiti, a French Polynesian island that’s nearly 3,000 miles east of Australia and nearly 10,000 miles away from Paris.
This is hardly the lone controversy at the Games. A boxer who previously was barred from last year’s world championships for failing a gender test has dominated the women’s 66-kilogram division.
Study suggests common pain reliever could reduce risk of deadly cancer
Aspirin is widely known for its heart attack prevention benefits, but a new study has also linked the common drug to a reduced risk of colorectal cancer.
The study analyzed data from 107,655 men and women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study over a three-decade span. It was published in JAMA Oncology on Thursday.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Washington University School of Medicine found that regular aspirin use was linked to a lower risk of colorectal cancer — especially for those with the unhealthiest lifestyles.
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“It shows an association between regular, low-dose aspirin use and decreased colon cancer use (close to 20%) in patients who are already at higher risk for several reasons, including smoking or poor diet,” said Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, who was not involved in the study.
Criteria for determining unhealthy lifestyles included higher body mass index, heavy smoking, higher alcohol intake, lack of physical activity and poor nutrition.
“We observed that participants in our study with the least healthy lifestyle had the greatest absolute benefit from aspirin use,” lead study author Daniel Sikavi, M.D., a board-certified physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Fox News Digital.
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“These participants had multiple risk factors that increased their overall risk of developing colorectal cancer, and our results show that aspirin can proportionally lower this markedly elevated risk.”
Among patients with a healthier lifestyle, the benefit from aspirin was still evident, but less pronounced.
“In the least healthy group, treating 78 patients with aspirin would prevent one case of colorectal cancer over 10 years, while it would take treating 909 patients to prevent one case in the healthiest group,” added Sikavi.
As to why aspirin decreases colon cancer risk, Siegel said it is likely due to the fact that the medication acts as an anti-inflammatory, and many cancers are associated with increased inflammation.
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Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that health care providers consider recommending aspirin to patients with a less healthy lifestyle.
“This work is an example of how we can move beyond one-size-fits-all strategies for cancer prevention by targeting effective preventive agents, such as aspirin, to the populations that are most likely to benefit,” Sikavi said.
Potential limitations
One limitation of the study was that the researchers did not systematically assess potential side effects associated with aspirin use, Sikavi noted.
“Because this was an observational study, it is possible there may have been additional factors that influenced our findings, although we rigorously accounted for a number of known risk factors for colorectal cancer,” he said.
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Siegel reiterated that because this is an observational study, “it is still not proof.”
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 106,590 new cases of colon cancer and about 46,220 cases of rectal cancer will be diagnosed in 2024.