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US Monthly Headline News November 2024
Story by Mike Bedigan

Joe Biden has issued a pardon for his son Hunter following his conviction on federal gun charges, despite previously claiming he would not do so.

The president officially announced the decision on Sunday night, saying that his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” by the Justice Department. In a lengthy statement, he said he hoped the American people would understand his decision as a father.

The pardon comes less than two weeks ahead of Hunter’s sentencing on December 12 for his conviction on federal gun charges back in June.

He was also set to be sentenced in a separate criminal case on December 16, after pleading guilty in September to federal tax evasion charges.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden said. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.

“Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form.

“Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”
Story by Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg

In the summer of 2015, three Syrian girls who had narrowly survived an airstrike some weeks earlier stood before Tulsi Gabbard with horrific burns all over their bodies.

Gabbard, then a US congresswoman on a visit to the Syria-Turkey border as part of her duties for the foreign affairs committee, had a question for them.

“How do you know it was Bashar al Assad or Russia that bombed you, and not Isis?’” she asked, according to Mouaz Moustafa, a Syrian activist who was translating her conversation with the girls.

It was a revealing insight into Gabbard’s conspiratorial views of the conflict, and it shocked Moustafa to silence. He knew, as even the young children did, that Isis did not have jets to launch airstrikes. It was such an absurd question that he chose not to translate it because he didn’t want to upset the girls, the eldest of whom was 12.

“From that point on, I’m sorry to say I was inaccurate in my translations of anything she said,” Moustafa told The Independent. “It was more like: How do I get these girls away from this devil?”

Before Gabbard left the Democratic Party, ingratiated herself with Donald Trump and secured his nomination to become director of National Intelligence, she was known as a prolific peddler of Russian propaganda.
Musk has taken his new role to unhinged levels.

Elon Musk is so excited to start his new gig ruining the federal government that he’s getting an early start by goading his millions of followers to cyberbully government employees.

This week, Musk took aim at Ashley Thomas, the director of climate diversification for the U.S. International Finance Corporation—a highly technical role that involves developing ways of securing agriculture and infrastructure against extreme weather, one agency official told The Wall Street Journal.

After a right-wing troll account posted on X drawing attention to Thomas’s position, Musk reposted it, noting that there were “So many fake jobs.” Ironic, coming from a CEO.

Speaking of fake jobs, last week, Donald Trump announced that Musk would be co-heading the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory board set on slashing the government budget by a trillion dollars, hoping to cut personnel and essential government services … so they can be snatched up by government contractors or outsourced to private companies … owned by billionaires … like Musk.
By David McAfee

Ukraine is having a tough time as its neighbor Russia wages war against it and "it’s going to get so much worse under the Trump administration," according to a Trump family member.

Donald Trump's niece, trained psychologist Mary Trump, on Wednesday wrote about the war in Ukraine. Specifically, she talked about all the terrible things Ukraine has already gone through, and then issued a warning about what could come next.

"Of all the unthinkable scenarios we’ve been forced to consider since Donald won the election on November 5th is the possibility that all of this will have been for naught," Mary Trump wrote. "After all, the fate of Ukraine and Zelesnkyy may rest with Donald Trump, Putin’s puppet, a man who is enamored of and beholden to the very autocrat who wants to destroy our ally."
Story by TARA COPP, MICHELLE R. SMITH and JASON DEAREN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth, the Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Defense, was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that's associated with white supremacist groups.

Hegseth, who has downplayed the role of military members and veterans in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and railed against the Pentagon’s subsequent efforts to address extremism in the ranks, has said he was pulled by his District of Columbia National Guard unit from guarding Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration. He's said he was unfairly identified as an extremist due to a cross tattoo on his chest.

This week, however, a fellow Guard member who was the unit’s security manager and on an anti-terrorism team at the time, shared with The Associated Press an email he sent to the unit’s leadership flagging a different tattoo reading “Deus Vult” that’s been used by white supremacists, concerned it was an indication of an “Insider Threat.”

If Hegseth assumes office, it would mean that someone who has said it's a sham that extremism is a problem in the military would oversee a sprawling department whose leadership reacted with alarm when people in tactical gear stormed up the U.S. Capitol steps on Jan. 6 in military-style stack formation. He's also shown support for members of the military accused of war crimes and criticized the military's justice system.
Andrew Solender

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) resigned from Congress just before the House Ethics Committee was set to hold a potentially pivotal meeting on its investigation into the Florida congressman, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Gaetz's resignation, just hours after Trump announced his nomination for attorney general, puts a swift end to the panel's wide-ranging probe.

   House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Gaetz's intention was to allow a swift process to fill his seat as Trump's selection of several House members for administration roles has the GOP anxious about its slim majority. Gaetz could have a difficult time getting confirmed in the Senate, as many Republicans reacted to his nomination with shock and horror.

What we're hearing: The Ethics Committee had been scheduled to meet later this week on its investigation of Gaetz, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

   That meeting may have set the stage for the release of the panel's report into Gaetz as soon as Friday. The committee had been investigating allegations including sex trafficking, illicit drug use and accepting bribes, all of which Gaetz has categorically denied. Gaetz's abrupt resignation set off a flurry of speculation on Capitol Hill about whether that report will now see the light of day.
By Flynn Nicholls
US News Reporter

VoteVets, a progressive veterans group, has warned that President-elect Donald Trump's proposal to fire top generals would politicize the military and transform it for the worse.

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's transition team was considering a draft executive order that would establish a "warrior board" to review top military officers.

According to a draft of the executive order reviewed by the outlet, the proposed board would consist of retired senior military members tasked with reviewing three- and four-star generals and recommending the removal of those deemed unfit. The draft order proposes the retirement, within 30 days, of any officer deemed "lacking in requisite leadership qualities."

In a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, Paul Eaton, a retired major general and the chairman of VoteVets, said the move would "be remembered as the first step in remaking the military from an apolitical force loyal to the Constitution into a MAGA Military, pledging fealty to Donald Trump."
By Michael D. Carroll AND Flynn Nicholls

Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed to implement a "massive downsizing" of the U.S. government after being appointed to lead Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Ramaswamy said: "Over the last 2 years, the Supreme Court has ruled that the administrative state is behaving in wildly unlawful ways. But slapping the bureaucracy on the wrist won't solve the problem, the only right answer is a massive downsizing."

In another post, Ramaswamy added: "DOGE will soon begin crowdsourcing examples of government waste, fraud, & and abuse. Americans voted for drastic government reform & they deserve to be part of fixing it."

Trump announced on Tuesday that Elon Musk and Ramaswamy would lead the new department in his second administration.

In a statement on Truth Social, the President-elect said the department "will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.
By Jordan King
US News Reporter

A clip of a woman getting attacked by Nick Fuentes after she showed up at his leaked home address has gone viral.

Right-wing commentator Nick Fuentes had his address leaked online amid the backlash he faced for telling women "your body, my choice" while celebrating President-elect Donald Trump's victory last week.

His address has appeared in multiple posts online in what is known as "doxxing"—a term used to refer to the publishing of private information online, usually with malicious intent.

A clip showing Fuentes allegedly pepper-spraying a woman who rang his doorbell has now gone viral, with a woman named Marla Rose claiming to be the person involved.
By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

CNN — The Justice Department on Friday announced federal charges in a thwarted Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump before the presidential election.

According to court documents, Iranian officials asked Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran, the Justice Department said.

This is a newly disclosed plot and marks yet another alleged attempt on Trump’s life by the Iranian regime.

Prosecutors allege Shakeri – who participated in recorded conversations with law enforcement – was originally tasked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to carrying out other assassinations against US and Israeli citizens inside the US. But IRGC officials told Shakeri on October 7 to focus only on Trump, court documents say, and that he had seven days to formulate an assassination plan.

Shakeri, who is an Afghan national residing in Tehran, told investigators that if he was unable to do come up with a plan in that timeframe, the IRGC would wait until after the presidential election to move forward as they believed Trump would lose.
Story by Julianne McShane

On Wednesday morning, some of Trump’s favorite fans finally felt comfortable joking about what the next president has long denied: Project 2025 has always been the plan for a second Trump term.

“Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda. Lol,” right-wing podcast host Matt Walsh wrote in a post on X of the 900-plus-page extremist guidebook. Walsh’s message soon got picked up and promoted by Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist who was recently released from prison, where he landed after ignoring a subpoena from the House January 6 Committee. “Fabulous,” Bannon said, chuckling, after reading Walsh’s post out loud on his War Room podcast today. “We might have to put that everywhere.”

Benny Johnson, a conservative YouTuber with 2.59 million followers who has called affirmative action “Nazi-level thinking” and said Trump should prosecute Biden for human trafficking of immigrants, also chimed in: “It is my honor to inform you all that Project 2025 was real the whole time,” he posted on X.
By Bilal G. Morris

Black students at the University of Alabama have reported receiving racist text messages after Donald Trump’s presidential election win—an incident that seems to be turning into a nationwide trend.

According to the Crimson White, Black UA students have been receiving racist threats from a slew of anonymous phone numbers. The numbers feature area codes inside and outside the state, making it difficult to trace.

One of the messages said the recipient had been “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.”

“Be ready at 1:00 pm SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve entered the plantation. You are in Plantation Group C. Good day,” the racist text read.

Parents and students, including those who received the texts, expressed fear and dismay about the messages.
Story by Amber Raiken

Elon Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, has been accused of racism over a tweet she shared ahead of the presidential election.

The 76-year-old author took to X/Twitter on Tuesday (November 5) to criticize an article that was allegedly in the works from The New York Times. In the since-deleted post, which has been re-shared on X, Maye made comments about tech reporter Ryan Mac’s ethnicity while alleging that he was writing a “hit piece” about Elon.

“I’ve heard there is going to be an Elon hit piece by @RMac18 in the @nytimes tomorrow,” May wrote. “Sadly, Ryan is an American Vietnamese reporter. My book is a bestseller in Vietnam. I don’t think my readers will believe the article if it’s hateful and/or dishonest. Let’s see.”

Maye published her first memoir, A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success, in 2019. She published her guide to fitness, nutrition, and self-confidence, Feel Fantastic- Maye Musk’s Good Health Clinic, in 1996.

On X, she was met with immense scrutiny for her post and her decision to mention Mac’s ethnicity.

“For the record, @RMac18 was born and raised in California. Not that it matters. Calling out a reporter for their ethnic heritage is never appropriate,” NBC News reporter Tyler Kingkade wrote.
Opinion by Max Burns, opinion contributor

A presidential campaign defined by personal hatreds, threats of political violence and two foiled assassination attempts ended on Tuesday in a mostly orderly election. No matter what the results ultimately show, Americans’ commitment to a fair and peaceful vote is a thumb in the eye to authoritarians both at home and abroad.  

That’s about all the joy Democrats (and lovers of democracy) will find in yesterday’s election results. The fleeting optimism that washed over the party after Ann Selzer’s storied Iowa poll showed Kamala Harris unexpectedly leading Donald Trump by 3 points has crashed back to reality. In its place is the realization that democracy’s worst-case scenario is unfolding in real time.

Our democratic institutions are not ready for what comes next. Neither are the American people.  

The Trump who will walk into the White House on Jan. 20 is a man steeped in unsettled vendettas, who came within a hair’s breadth of a string of federal felony convictions that he is now empowered to wipe away with a self-pardon — as if those offenses and so many others had never even happened. Trump will see his priorities as he has always seen them: party over country and self over all.
Story by Reuters

(Reuters) - Reactions from around the world began flooding in on Wednesday as Fox News projected that Republican Donald Trump had defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, which would cap a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House.

Here are views from financial market participants.
Opinion by Eleanor Clift

We saw it coming. America’s fascination with celebrity and wealth kept Donald Trump in the public eye even after he lost his bid for reelection. He stood at a lectern on the Ellipse with the White House as a backdrop and urged the crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol, telling them he would join them, which turned out to be a lie.

The Secret Service refused to transport him to the Capitol, so he sat instead in the room adjoining the Oval Office watching television of the Jan. 6 insurrection, telling an aide who informed him that Vice President Mike Pence was under attack, “So what.”

In the almost four years since that day, Trump nurtured his grievances, convincing his supporters that he had been cheated out of a second term and that the Biden-Harris administration had weaponized the Justice Department to falsely accuse him of whatever wrongdoing the courts found him guilty of.

His third nomination as the Republican standard bearer was about his own motivation to stay out of jail more than it was about the fate of the country.

His 2024 presidential election victory means a wholesale rearrangement of U.S. alliances with the prospect of Trump kowtowing to Putin, who he calls a “genius,” and breaking bread with Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea’s hermit kingdom, who Trump exchanged admiring letters with.
By Elissa Nadworny, Ryland Barton

Ten states considered adding language guaranteeing abortion rights in their state constitutions during this year’s elections.

Voters in seven of the states approved the ballot questions. Three rejected them.

The results mean a dramatic redrawing of the map for abortion access in parts of the country. Half of the measures cement existing abortion protections that were already outlined in state law.
Story by Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN

It was supposed to be everything short of a free ad – a panel of women not containing their excitement to welcome Kamala Harris, ready to introduce her to their committed daytime audience of exactly the type of women the vice president’s campaign always hoped were going to be critical to her base.

It was a moment that encapsulated one of the biggest challenges facing her campaign – which, in the end, proved insurmountable.

“What, if anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?” co-host of ABC’s “The View” Sunny Hostin asked Harris, looking to give her a set for her to spike over the net.

“There is not a thing that comes to mind,” she said.

Even Harris realized she had a problem, trying to adjust a moment later by saying she would put a Republican in her Cabinet.

Aides didn’t wait until Harris was off the set to start trying to clean it up. A Democrat who had spoken with her told CNN at the time that she didn’t want to name her differences with President Joe Biden – including a higher capital gains tax rate, a bigger child tax credit and a tougher border policy – because she thought it would look disloyal to the man who had picked her as his running mate and then stepped aside for her.
Story by Niall Stanage

Former President Trump completed an extraordinary comeback early Wednesday morning, becoming the first president to win nonconsecutive terms in more than a century by defeating Vice President Harris in an unprecedented battle for the White House.

The comeback is remarkable for a host of reasons.

Trump’s political career seemed to be over after he sought to overturn his 2020 election defeat and spurred his supporters to march on the Capitol, an event that led to a riot and the evacuation of Congress.

Before that event, Trump became the first president ever to be twice impeached; was charged in four separate criminal cases; was found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case; and was convicted in criminal court of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

But Trump was buoyed up by a fervently loyal support base — most of whom believe his narrative that he has been unfairly victimized by a corrupt political, legal and media establishment.

“We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible,” Trump told supporters at West Palm Beach, Fla., in the early hours, calling his win “a magnificent victory for the American people.”
Experts warn of ‘slide to authoritarianism’ as Trump promises to crack down on critics, enact hardline policies.
By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours

He has suggested using the United States military against an “enemy from within”.

He has threatened to prosecute lawyers, Democrats and others whom he falsely accuses of committing electoral fraud, and pledged to carry out the “largest deportation operation” of undocumented immigrants in US history.

And once he is back in the White House, he has said he will be a dictator during his first day.

Now, Donald Trump has crossed the 270 Electoral College votes he needed to win the presidency, according to the Associated Press – and it remains to be seen whether the Republican will follow through on these incendiary campaign promises.

Experts have warned that Trump, if taken at his word, is gearing up to lead a loyalist-filled, authoritarian administration intent on “revenge” – and the programme he has in mind will have dire consequences for the country.
By Andrew Goudsward and Luc Cohen

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's claimed U.S. presidential election victory on Wednesday will essentially end the criminal cases brought against him, at least for the four years he occupies the White House.

The first former U.S. president to face criminal charges, Trump for much of this year faced four simultaneous prosecutions, over allegations ranging from his attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. A New York jury in May found him guilty of falsifying business records tied to the Daniels payment, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a felony.
Story by Jonathan Allen

Donald J. Trump, the once and now future president, capped an improbable political comeback by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris on promises to turbocharge the economy and deport undocumented immigrants by the millions.

NBC News projected the Trump victory over Harris, who was the first woman of color to win a major party nomination for president, early Wednesday morning. She took the reins of the Democratic campaign after President Joe Biden abandoned his bid for a second term, a decision made in the wake of a disastrous June debate performance.

The most polarizing figure in modern American politics, Trump now must preside over a nation deeply riven by social, racial, cultural and economic hostilities that he has strategically exploited on the campaign trail for nearly a decade. It was, for him, a successful strategy. The last time a defeated U.S. president avenged his loss was Grover Cleveland — in 1892.

“This was the greatest political movement of all time,” Trump said just before 2:30 a.m. Wednesday at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida. “Now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal.”

Trump’s path back to the White House ran through Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin, states he reclaimed after losing them in 2020. He remained locked in close contests with Harris in Michigan, Arizona and Nevada as he looked to pad his Electoral College margin.
Story by Nicholas Liu

Election officials in battleground states say that voter turnout is surging in what is projected to be one of the closest presidential elections in a generation. Despite the massive voter turnout, swing state officials say, there is no evidence of any significant fraud or cheating.

"The only talk about massive cheating has come from one of the candidates, Donald J. Trump," Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Tuesday. Reports from the City of Brotherly Love suggest record-setting turnout. For his part, Donald Trump has targeted the area in a Truth Social meltdown Tuesday.

“A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia. Law Enforcement coming!!!” Trump wrote on his social media site.

"There is no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation. We have invited complaints and allegations of improprieties all day. If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now. We are not holding our breath," Krasner pushed back against the former president.
Several undercover FBI agents were involved in the investigation, the DOJ said.
By Alexander Mallin and Meredith Deliso

A 24-year-old Tennessee man has been arrested and charged with allegedly plotting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a neo-Nazi-inspired plot to destroy an energy facility near Nashville, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Skyler Philippi allegedly planned to attack Nashville's power grid with a drone armed with explosives after conducting extensive research into how such an attack could serve to "shock the system," as he reportedly relayed to one FBI confidential source who became aware of his plotting, prosecutors said.

The FBI first began investigating Philippi in June after a confidential source who was in touch with him reported to the FBI his alleged desire to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA near Columbia, Tennessee, according to the complaint.
NSC-131 founder Chris Hood says Trump vote will help “preserve and improve” plight of race separatists
By Tim Dickinson

Chris Hood, the founder of the thuggish neo-Nazi group NSC-131, has endorsed the MAGA candidate for president, calling on fellow fascists in the swing states “to vote for Donald Trump.”

In a long statement on Telegram, Hood described Trump as providing a small step forward to his goal of “ultimate victory,” and insisted that casting a ballot for Trump provides a no-regrets way for race separatists to act — “even if it means just one less Somalian in Maine, one less Haitian in Ohio, and one more foot of wall built.” He added, “It costs you nothing.”

The embrace by the Trump movement by a literal neo-Nazi — who was previously a member of the Proud Boys, Patriot Front, and another hate group called The Base — offers evidence that Trump’s late, ugly, attempts to expand his appeal to the fetid fringe of the American right could have met with some success. The Trump campaign did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Story by Sophie Clark | Newsweek

A summons in a defamation case against Donald Trump was served at Mar-a-Lago last month, an Election Day court filing has revealed.

The summons in the lawsuit brought by the Central Park Five, now often referred to as the Exonerated Five, was served to Trump's director of security, Dan Freeman, on behalf of the former president at the Florida resort at 4:10 p.m. on October 24, the filing seen by Newsweek showed.

Trump was campaigning in the Sun Belt that day, holding a rally in Tempe, Arizona, that afternoon, visiting a Cuban restaurant in Las Vegas, and phoning in to a televised town hall in Detroit to ask his running mate, Senator JD Vance, "How brilliant is Donald J. Trump?"
By Shamim Chowdhury | Newsweek

New York City Mayor Eric Adams returned to court on Friday as he battles corruption charges that threaten both his political future and his administration.

The hearing at the Manhattan federal courthouse saw Adams' legal team arguing for the dismissal of a bribery charge among five counts against him, contending that the allegations do not meet the necessary federal standards for a crime.

The indictment claims that Adams accepted over $100,000 in luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals seeking to influence him.

In return, prosecutors allege that Adams provided political favors, including hastening the opening of a consulate building that had been flagged as unsafe by fire inspectors.
Newsweek

There have been a thousand warnings about former President Donald Trump. If polls are to be believed these warnings have fallen on deaf ears. What accounts for this imperviousness despite clear evidence of his dangerous and egregious flaws? This question has stumped many. As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has long worked with complexities of mind, let me offer psychological explanations then suggest remedies that could help permeate this apparent impenetrability.

He offers a sense of omnipotence. Trump makes it seem like nothing is hard, meaning it's easy to be all powerful. The Civil War? Piece of cake. He would have settled it. Same with Ukraine. Never mind that he would have given away the nation with the former and imperiled the free world with the latter. He's the strongman who can handle anything. By extension, you can, too.

He helps people deny painful realities and threats, instead trivializing them. He pulls for living in a fantasy world where the true existential threats don't exist. Climate change? Just a big scam. The promise and peril of artificial intelligence? Outsource the techno-state to one man, Elon Musk, who surely will handle it in the nation's best interests not his own. The real enemies are "out there" (illegal immigrants, cancel-culture, trans people) or "within" (Democrats, political opponents, radical left lunatics).
Smuggler busted on the border carrying naughty items
Iain Thomson

Vadim Yermolenko, 43, a dual US-Russian national and resident of New Jersey, has pleaded guilty to multiple charges related to his role in sanctions busting as part of a gang that operated in the US and Europe for nearly eight years.

According to the FBI, Yermolenko was a key player in a Russian intelligence controlled scheme and "unlawfully purchased and exported highly sensitive, export controlled electronic components, some of which can be used in the development of nuclear and hypersonic weapons, quantum computing and other military applications."

"The illegal export of sensitive, dual-use technologies in support of Russia's war effort poses a significant threat to the United States and its allies and must not be tolerated," declared FBI director Christopher Wray.

He went on to say: "The defendant in this case played a key role in exporting US technology that in the hands of our adversaries could pose great danger to our national security. The FBI and its partners will continue to focus on protecting strategic innovation at home and hold accountable anyone who facilitates illegal transfers to hostile nations like Russia."
Story by Ewan Palmer

Former President Donald Trump has been heavily criticized by the biggest newspaper in the key swing state of Pennsylvania in an editorial published on Election Day.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, which has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 race, warned that Trump's "dark and deranged campaign—fueled by anger, lies, racism, hate, and misogyny—demonstrated he is unfit" for another term in office.

"Regardless of what many of his MAGA followers believe, a second Trump presidency is perilous for red and blue America," the editorial board wrote on Tuesday.

Newsweek has contacted the Trump and Harris campaign teams for comment via email.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has the largest circulation of any Pennsylvania newspaper, and ranked 18th in the country overall in 2023, according to Press Gazette figures. The Keystone State is considered the most vital of all the battleground states this election, with its 19 Electoral College votes key to both Harris' and Trump's election hopes.
Story by Charlie Jones

A sinister plot by covert Russian operatives to set fire to US bound planes has been uncovered.

The discovery came after two incendiary devices went off at DHL logistic hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, England.

The explosions triggered a massive global hunt to identify the perpetrators with investigators now thinking they were a test run to figure out how to get such incendiary devices aboard planes bound for the US.

European investigators and spy agencies have now determined how the devices - electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance - were made and concluded that they were part of a broader Russian plot, according to security officials and individuals familiar with the investigation.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Donald Trump doesn't have the mental capacity to be president for four more years
By Gina Martinez

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said former president Trump’s latest comments about having an assailant “shoot through the fake news” is a sign of his continuing mental decline.

Pelosi appeared on MSNBC's “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday and responded to Trump’s comments from a rally earlier that day where he described the protective gear surrounding him on stage put in place following his assassination attempts.

“I have a piece of glass over here, and I don’t have a piece of glass there, and I have this piece of glass here,” Trump said. “But all we have really over here is the fake news.”
Story by Graeme Demianyk

Donald Trump is closing out his election campaign by bringing up the fact that he’d like to “hit back” at former first lady Michelle Obama.

At a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday, the GOP candidate asked a crowd of supporters whether he was “allowed to hit her now” after claiming that the former first lady had “hit me” — an apparent reference to her recent speech calling Trump “a criminal and an abuser.”

Trump had already appeared to threaten Michelle Obama at a previous rally, noting ominously that she’d made “a big mistake” by criticizing him, but his latest outburst is an escalation in his language and appears to deliberately lean into the ambiguity of the word “hit.”

Apparently recounting a conversation with his advisers, Trump said, “Michelle ... I was so nice to her out of respect. She hit me the other day. I was going to say: ‘Am I allowed to hit her now?’ They said: ‘Take it easy, sir.’ My geniuses, they said, ‘Just take it easy.’ ‘What do you mean? She said that about me, I can’t hit back?’ ‘Sir, you’re winning. Just relax.’”
Story by Tatyana Tandanpolie

Raquell Barton was knee-deep in her doctorate program at the University of Memphis when her husband dropped a bomb on her: he wanted a divorce.

It caught her off guard. Somewhere between the research and projects for her instructional design program, he began to feel neglected, like he and their marriage were no longer a priority for her. She said he never mentioned how he was feeling until he asked to part ways, and by then, he'd mentally checked out of the marriage.

"When I went into that doctoral program, we were on the same page. We knew it was going to be hard. We knew it was going to be a struggle. We knew my focus was going to be on something else," she told Salon in a phone interview. "By the time I realized something was wrong, it was too late."

He wanted out. She didn't. Despite her protests, the pair legally separated in 2018. After six months of separation, Barton's husband still hadn't filed for divorce even though he'd started seeing someone new. Fed up, she felt she had to take the initiative. The divorce was finalized in 2019.

Her divorce was as no-fault as divorces come, she said, even if it wasn't what she wanted.

"I went into [marriage] hoping that I was gonna have that Happily Ever After fairy tale, but sometimes it just doesn't happen," said Barton, now a certified divorce coach helping other women who didn't want their marriages to end in Arkansas, Texas, Tennesee and Oklahoma. "It's not that I don't believe in the sanctity of marriage, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. You just have to let people go."
Story by Lee Moran

Former President Donald Trump spewed yet more divisive, violence-themed rhetoric on the campaign trail Sunday, earning fierce backlash this time for talking about members of the media being shot.

“I have this piece of glass here but all we have really over here is the fake news, right? And, to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much, coz, I don’t mind, I don’t mind that,” Trump told a rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania.

The comment drew laughter from the audience.

Trump, who was the subject of an assassination attempt at a rally in July, later complained about how the protective glass installed to ensure his safety meant he didn’t look great on TV.
AP

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio sheriff's patrol commander who declared on Facebook that he would not help Democrats and would require proof of who a person voted for before providing them aid has apologized, blaming prescribed sleep aids for causing his “out of character” actions.

Lt. John Rodgers, a 20-year sheriff's veteran in Clark County, where Springfield is the county seat, made the statements in several posts on Facebook, WHIO-TV reported. In one post, he reportedly wrote: “I am sorry. If you support the Democrat Party I will not help you.” Another said: “The problem is that I know which of you supports the Democratic Party and I will not help you survive the end of days."

The sheriff’s office said Rodgers, who has commanded the department's road patrol, would remain on duty, with a written reprimand for violating the department’s social media policy.

Clark County has been in the spotlight since Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump amplified false claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating people’s pet dogs and cats.
ABC News

Shortly before former President Donald Trump's unlikely return to the Democratic stronghold of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Thursday -- just five days ahead of Election Day, Albuquerque's Democratic Mayor Tim Keller sent a special welcome message for the former president.

"Still waiting for Trump to pay the half million he owes. Maybe he's making a special Halloween delivery to the Duke City? We won't hold our breath," Keller posted on his social media, with a photo of a skeleton sitting at a desk.

Thursday was Trump's first visit to Albuquerque in five years, after officials say he left an unpaid bill of $211,176 in public safety costs from his 2019 rally at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, which is a part of the Albuquerque metropolitan area.

Fast forward five years, the bill has now snowballed into $444,986 including interest over the years, according to the city of Albuquerque.

Albuquerque is just one of many cities where Trump's campaign -- over his three tries for the White House -- has accrued hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills after holding campaign events, often leaving local governments with hefty sums of unexpected expenses that cause them to go over their budget.
Story by Natalie Venegas

Former President Donald Trump mocked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's endorsement of him on Sunday as a "painful day" for the senator during a campaign rally in North Carolina.

McConnell, who has led the Republican Party in the U.S. Senate since 2007, has notably clashed with Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, following the 2020 election. In private, McConnell called Trump "stupid" and "despicable," according to a biography about the senator that was published last week and while in public, he said that Trump was "practically and morally responsible for provoking" the U.S. Capitol riot that occurred on January 6, 2021.

Meanwhile, Trump has also bashed McConnell after his election loss, claiming the senator was "hanging by a thread."

Ultimately, McConnell put his concerns aside and endorsed Trump in the 2024 election against Vice President Kamala Harris rather than stand against the former president as some high-profile Republicans have done throughout the cycle. McConnell had promised to support the Republican nominee "regardless of who it is" and that Trump "earned the nomination."

During a campaign rally in Kinston, North Carolina, on Sunday, just days before Election Day, Trump mocked the endorsement stating that it "must've been a painful day in his life."

"Hopefully we get rid of Mitch McConnell pretty soon...Can you believe he endorsed me? Boy, that must've been a painful day in his life. Every time I think of it, he didn't have to do that. He provided the necessary votes. What a disgrace," Trump said.
Story by Joe Sommerlad

The New York Times’s editorial board has issued a strongly-worded denunciation of Donald Trump as the presidential election looms, telling readers the Republican nominee “is unfit to lead” and a serial liar whose policies are “cruel” and will only “wreak havoc” on the nation.

Without explicitly endorsing his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the piece, the board wrote a searing 112-word op-ed warning of a possible Trump second term.

“You already know Donald Trump. He is unfit to lead. Watch him. Listen to those who know him best,” it reads.

“He tried to subvert an election and remains a threat to democracy. He helped overturn Roe, with terrible consequences.
By Matt Naham

A pro- Trump lawyer who more than one year ago now pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit filing false documents, a felony, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against Georgia RICO case co-defendants, which includes the former president, has been “convicted of a serious crime” and, for that reason, should have his license to practice in New York “immediately” suspended, a court decided on Thursday.

Chesebro is an attorney who drafted a legal memo contemplating a scenario where then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6 could set aside legitimate electoral votes from “contested States” and replace those with “Trump-Pence electors.” That memo was featured prominently in the Jan. 6 Committee’s final report , which highlighted the lawyer’s communications to propel the fake elector scheme forward in Nevada, Arizona , Wisconsin , and elsewhere.
Story by John Bowden

The troubles for Tim Sheehy are only increasing ahead of Election Day in Montana, where the Republican Senate candidate is hoping to defeat incumbent Democrat Jon Tester and flip a crucial seat in the upper chamber of Congress.

Sheehy sat down for an interview with conservative journalist Megyn Kelly on Saturday, where he struggled to explain the shifting story behind an injury he claims was a bullet wound suffered in Afghanistan in a possible friendly fire incident — one he says he covered up to avoid getting Afghan allied forces in trouble.

Kelly pressed the former SEAL to explain where the injury actually occurred, and whether he was hurt in 2015 when he went to Glacier National Park with his family. Sheehy, in response to reporting on his explanation for the bullet wound byThe Washington Post, claimed in a statement that he injured himself in a fall at the park in 2015, then used that injury as cover for the bullet wound.

“It looks like you spoke to the Washington Post, and you said that you lied when you told the park ranger when you told them [you shot yourself in the park],” Kelly said.

Sheehy then offered a convoluted answer in which he claimed that medical officials, treating him for a wound he suffered at the park, had informed him that they were required to report the wound to law enforcement because of the bullet which Sheehy claimed had been dislodged by his fall and subsequent re-injury.
Story by Peter Wade

A savvy camera operator fact checked Donald Trump live.

During his rally in Greensboro, N.C. on Saturday night, Donald Trump bragged, "We have had the biggest rallies in history of any country, and every rally is full. You do not have any seats that are empty. You did not have anything."

But immediately after that comment, a cameraman for NTD.com smartly panned the stadium, zooming in on sections of empty seats and people exiting the arena, although it's unclear whether those attendees are leaving the venue entirely.

News Nation reporter Libbey Dean also captured dozens of empty seats in a post on her X (formerly Twitter) account, including seats that Trump likely would have been able to see from his position at the podium.
Story by Ray Sanchez, CNN

Robert “Boo Lee” Williams was still seething days after a popular basketball coach and two assistant principals at Houston’s first two historically Black high schools were arrested in an alleged teacher certification scheme.

“It almost got me in tears, man,” said Williams, a 1967 graduate of Jack Yates Senior High School in the city’s predominantly Black Greater Third Ward neighborhood, told CNN Friday evening. “We are fighting hard to overcome, to show that we are more than qualified. … I’m just being straight up with you.”

And, prosecutors said, more than 200 people certified to teach paid to have someone else take the state certification exam and now are scattered in classrooms across Texas.

“The most important thing to me is the ringleaders have been identified and are being rooted out of our home school district … and the fact that they held positions of power there, where they were held in esteem by the children, is the very worst part of this crime,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters Monday.
Story by Liam Archacki

The editorial board of The New York Times just eviscerated Donald Trump in a single paragraph.

The piece, published on Saturday, was only the Times’ latest attack on the former president during the run-up to the election, but the searing indictment was all the more brutal for its brevity.

Rhetorically matter-of-fact, the piece succinctly lays out many of the reasons Trump’s critics think his second term would be disastrous for the country—the implicit point being that nobody really needs a lengthy review of all Trump’s actions; everyone already knows what he’s about.

Here it is in full, with its original hyperlinks to other Times’ coverage of Trump preserved: “You already know Donald Trump. He is unfit to lead. Watch him. Listen to those who know him best. He tried to subvert an election and remains a threat to democracy. He helped overturn Roe, with terrible consequences. Mr. Trump’s corruption and lawlessness go beyond elections: It’s his whole ethos. He lies without limit. If he’s re-elected, the G.O.P. won’t restrain him. Mr. Trump will use the government to go after opponents. He will pursue a cruel policy of mass deportations. He will wreak havoc on the poor, the middle class and employers. Another Trump term will damage the climate, shatter alliances and strengthen autocrats. Americans should demand better. Vote.”
Donald J. Trump, who sought to overturn his loss of the 2020 election, also joked that he didn’t mind if reporters were shot.
By Michael Gold and Maggie Haberman

Former President Donald J. Trump told supporters on Sunday that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House at the end of his term during an end-of-campaign rally where he vented angrily about a spate of new public polls showing him losing ground to Vice President Kamala Harris and joked about reporters being shot at.

The former president also described Democrats as a “demonic” party at the rally, at an airport in Lititz, Pa., his first of three swing-state stops planned for his second to last day on the campaign trail. Mr. Trump’s voice was audibly hoarse and his speech sluggish as he made unfounded claims about election interference. He praised himself for ditching his prepared remarks, saying it meant the “truth” could come out.

“We had the best border, the safest border,” Mr. Trump said of his time in the White House. He said that the economy had been in good shape, before mentioning the chart he had been pointing to featuring immigration statistics when he was shot at during a rally in Butler, Pa., in July.

Senator Josh Hawley was challenged in his debate over his involvement in January 6th by challenger Lucas Kunce on the debate stage.
By Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

Former President Donald Trump’s social media company outsourced jobs to workers in Mexico even as Trump publicly railed against outsourcing on the campaign trail and threatened heavy tariffs on companies that send jobs south of the border.

The firm’s use of workers in Mexico was confirmed by a spokesperson for Trump Media, which operates the Truth Social platform. The workers were hired through another entity to code and perform other technical duties, according to a person with knowledge of Trump Media. The reliance on foreign labor was met with outrage among the company's own staff, who accused its leadership of betraying their “America First” ideals, the person said.

The outsourcing to Mexico helped prompt a recent whistleblower letter from staff to Trump Media’s board that has been roiling the company.

That complaint, reported by ProPublica last month , calls for the board to fire CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman. The letter alleges he has “severely” mismanaged the company. It also asserts the company is hiring “America Last” — with Nunes imposing a directive to hire only foreign contractors at the expense of “American workers who are deeply committed to our mission.”
Trump said Mexico would pay for the wall they did not. Trump also said Covid would go away it has not and if Biden won the markets would crash they did not.


Former President Donald Trump will campaign in several battleground states with a closing message focused heavily on painting a dark image of what America will look like without him as president. A new poll in Iowa shows him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris after he previously was ahead of her by 4 points in September. NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard reports for Sunday TODAY.
The former LMPD detective was declared guilty of violating Breonna Taylor‘s civil rights, not guilty of violating neighbors’
By Mark Stevens and Derek Brightwell

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) -Jurors go into overtime in former Louisville Metro Police Department Detective Brett Hankison’s federal trial after telling the judge they were stuck earlier in the day.

Hankison is charged with violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor and her neighbors when he shot through covered windows at her apartment after his partner was shot. The jury sent a note to the judge around lunchtime on Nov. 1, saying they didn’t think they could reach a unanimous decision.

The jury returned a split verdict in the trial after hours of deliberating.

Just after 7 p.m., the jury found Hankison not guilty of violating the neighbors' civil rights, before returning to deliberate on the charges of violating Taylor’s civil rights.
The former president’s vow to take aggressive and quick executive action makes his acting attorney general pick unusually pivotal.
By Josh Gerstein

Finding a Donald Trump loyalist in a bureaucracy full of Joe Biden appointees might sound difficult.

But if Trump is elected president again, it could be his first order of business.

That’s because he has promised, on Day 1, to harness the power of the Justice Department in novel and legally dubious ways. To do that, he’ll likely need a pliant official to lead the department temporarily while his permanent choice for attorney general navigates Senate confirmation.

This “acting” attorney general couldn’t be just anyone. Federal law limits who can be installed as an acting department head, so Trump would have to find someone who already holds a high-ranking position in government.

The vast majority of current senior DOJ officials would be nonstarters; Trump and his closest aides would not trust them to implement Trump’s radical vision for the department. But there are a few lesser-known officials throughout the government who might pass Trump’s loyalty test and could also qualify under federal law to fill the job of acting attorney general.
By SAFIYAH RIDDLE

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The FBI is investigating the death of a Black man in Alabama, who was found hanging in an abandoned house, following a request from a local sheriff amid fears among community members who accuse local law enforcement of longstanding, unchecked misconduct.

Sheriff’s deputies found Dennoriss Richardson, 39, in September in a rural part of Colbert County, miles away from his home in Sheffield, a city of approximately 10,000 people near the Tennessee River.

The Colbert County Sheriff’s Office ruled Richardson’s death a suicide. But Richardson’s wife, Leigh Richardson, has said that is not true, explaining her husband did not leave a note and had no connection to the house where he was found.

Instead, the 40-year-old fears her husband’s death was related to a lawsuit he filed against the local police department in February. Dennoriss Richardson, who coached kids in baseball and football, had alleged he was assaulted, denied medical attention, sprayed with tear gas and shocked with a Taser while in jail.
A jury found Hankison guilty of violating Taylor's civil rights by firing into her apartment. He was acquitted on a second count. None of his shots hit anyone.
By Melissa Chan and Phil Helsel

A jury on Friday found a former Louisville, Kentucky, police officer guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights in a botched raid that led to her death, a case that evoked widespread outrage and which led to a ban on no-knock warrants in the city.

The jury also acquitted Brett Hankison of a second count that accused him of violating the civil rights of Taylor’s neighbor.

Taylor, 26, was fatally shot by police in the March 13, 2020, raid, but not by Hankison and he was not charged with her death.

Hankison, 48, fired 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment but none of them struck anyone. Some of his shots also flew into a neighboring apartment.
Newsweek

The number of Americans voting early in person for their presidential candidate of choice has surpassed the total number that did so in 2020.

So far, more than 38 million U.S. voters have gone in-person to vote, according to the latest data from the University of Florida's Election Lab. Four years ago, that number was just over 35 million.

Early voting data is being analyzed to better predict the outcome of the election, with different trends being pulled out to gage a better understanding of whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris will be victorious on November 5.

While the number of in-person votes is higher this year, the overall number of early votes this year is still a long way behind the 101 million early votes in 2020, which also includes mail-in ballots. As of Saturday, just over 72 million people had already cast their vote.
Story by Oliver O'Connell

A night of dueling rallies in Milwaukee, the largest city in the key battleground state of Wisconsin, turned into a night of high contrast.

Kamala Harris was supported by local officials including Senator Tammy Baldwin, but also by a host of entertainers including comedian Keegan Michael-Key and rapper Cardi B. The vice president was then introduced by an elementary school teacher.

Speaking before Donald Trump took the stage were two sitting senators, Markwayne Mullin and Eric Schmitt, a candidate for the Senate, Eric Hovde, and Robert F Kennedy Jr, who introduced him. Needless to say, the energy levels were very different.

While at the Harris rally an apparent teleprompter failure led to Cardi B reading her speech from a phone, there were bigger tech failures at the FiServ Forum a few miles away.

At the same venue where Trump accepted the Republican Party nomination in July, the former president was plagued by an audio problem.
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