The Minnesota governor was set to visit the Granite State this past Sunday, but he canceled at the last minute amid rumors that he was on a list of contenders for her running mate. The campaign confirmed those rumors were true in an official announcement Tuesday. NBC10 Boston spoke with voters in the swing state to get their reaction — and Walz isn’t exactly getting rave reviews.

“I was definitely disappointed that it wasn’t Pete Buttigieg because I think he is the man for the job and I think he will be president someday,” New Hampshire voter Rebecca Leedberg said. “I will support the Democratic party regardless, so I am supportive of Kamala and her pick.”

Leedberg used to work on the primary presidential campaign for now U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and was hopeful that he would run again this time around. On the other hand, Craig Brown worked for the Harris primary campaign that same year and couldn’t be happier to see her on the top of the ticket.

“I’m really excited for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Brown said. “I think in her time as Vice President, she’s done a really great job of focusing on issues that matter.”

Meanwhile, neither Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, nor Walz as a running mate is doing much to sway Trump’s base.

“I think it’s a very poor pick because he’s far too liberal,” New Hampshire voter Dave Neises said. “I think Trump has many flaws but I think that he is actually in favor of improving the country and keeping it the country that it was as opposed to moving it towards Marxism.”

“I know he’s got a lot of faults,” New Hampshire business owner Robert Abrams said. “Things all boil down to policy and the policy of Trump worked.”

Political analyst Scott Spradling said Harris has been enjoying a boost in the polls over the last couple of weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. The big question, according to Spradling, is whether Harris leaves a lot of votes on the table among moderate, independent voters who tend to decide elections in November.

“She’s not going to win over a lot of Republican votes. Period,” Spradling said. “So the ownness is still going to be on the Vice President to come to New Hampshire and close the deal and sell the ticket, if you will.”

The Minnesota governor was set to visit the Granite State this past Sunday, but he canceled at the last minute amid rumors that he was on a list of contenders for her running mate. The campaign confirmed those rumors were true in an official announcement Tuesday. NBC10 Boston spoke with voters in the swing state to get their reaction — and Walz isn’t exactly getting rave reviews.

“I was definitely disappointed that it wasn’t Pete Buttigieg because I think he is the man for the job and I think he will be president someday,” New Hampshire voter Rebecca Leedberg said. “I will support the Democratic party regardless, so I am supportive of Kamala and her pick.”

Leedberg used to work on the primary presidential campaign for now U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and was hopeful that he would run again this time around. On the other hand, Craig Brown worked for the Harris primary campaign that same year and couldn’t be happier to see her on the top of the ticket.

“I’m really excited for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Brown said. “I think in her time as Vice President, she’s done a really great job of focusing on issues that matter.”

Meanwhile, neither Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, nor Walz as a running mate is doing much to sway Trump’s base.

“I think it’s a very poor pick because he’s far too liberal,” New Hampshire voter Dave Neises said. “I think Trump has many flaws but I think that he is actually in favor of improving the country and keeping it the country that it was as opposed to moving it towards Marxism.”

“I know he’s got a lot of faults,” New Hampshire business owner Robert Abrams said. “Things all boil down to policy and the policy of Trump worked.”

Political analyst Scott Spradling said Harris has been enjoying a boost in the polls over the last couple of weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. The big question, according to Spradling, is whether Harris leaves a lot of votes on the table among moderate, independent voters who tend to decide elections in November.

“She’s not going to win over a lot of Republican votes. Period,” Spradling said. “So the ownness is still going to be on the Vice President to come to New Hampshire and close the deal and sell the ticket, if you will.”

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he will be interviewed Monday night by Elon Musk, the billionaire who runs Tesla and SpaceX.

The former president’s planned talk with Musk comes on the heels of Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. It also follows the disclosure of probes of a Trump-supporting political action committee that Musk says he created.

“ON MONDAY NIGHT I’LL BE DOING A MAJOR INTERVIEW WITH ELON MUSK — Details to follow!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

CNBC has requested comment from Musk.

On Monday, the North Carolina Board of Elections told CNBC it had opened an investigation of the America PAC, a political action committee, which Musk has said he created, after receiving a complaint that the group was collecting personal data from website users and failing to help users register to vote as promised.

The practices of America PAC, which is supporting Trump’s candidacy, are also being eyed by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office and Michigan’s secretary of state.

Musk is also the owner of the social media company X, which was previously known as Twitter when the company was publicly owned. Trump was for years an avid Twitter user before the site banned his account because he incited the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

The ban was lifted after Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion.

Despite that, Trump uses Truth Social for his social media messages. The company is owned by Trump Media, a publicly traded company whose majority shareholder is the former president.

— Additional reporting by CNBC’s Lora Kolodny.

Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to be her running mate in the 2024 election, according to NBC News.

Harris interviewed multiple candidates ahead of the announcement, the Associated Press reported. That included Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, as well as Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Harris opted for the governor of a swing-state who has successfully pushed multiple democratic initiatives, including expanding abortion rights, legalizing marijuana and gun reform.

“I am proud to announce that I’ve asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate,” Harris posted on X Tuesday morning. “As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his. It’s great to have him on the team.”

Walz posted shortly after.

“It is the honor of a lifetime to join @kamalaharris in this campaign,” Walz posted on X. “I’m all in. Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what’s possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school. So, let’s get this done, folks! Join us.”

Those who Walz were competing with for the bid posted their support on X.

“Tim Walz is an exceptionally effective governor – and also great to work with,” Buttigieg posted on X. “I’m excited for what his Midwestern voice, military experience, and common-sense values will bring to our winning ticket, and for everything the Harris-Walz administration will deliver for Americans.”

“My friend @Tim_Walz is an excellent choice to be the next Vice President of the United States,” Pritzker posted. “I’m ready to work alongside the Harris-Walz team to help ensure victory for Democrats up and down the ballot in November. Let’s win this!”

“My work here in Pennsylvania is far from finished — there is a lot more stuff I want to get done for our Commonwealth,” Shapiro posted. “Over the next 90 days, I look forward to traveling all across the Commonwealth to unite Pennsylvanians behind my friends Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and defeat Donald Trump.”

“Vice President @KamalaHarris and Governor @Tim_Walz are going to move us forward,” Kelly posted. “They’re already building a campaign to unite our country — and @GabbyGiffords and I are ready to do everything we can to help them win.”

“It was an honor to be considered in this process, but @Tim_Walz is a great friend and a great choice,” Beshear posted. “I fully support this new ticket and will work to elect @KamalaHarris as our next President of the United States.”

Here’s how others – from prominent politicians to celebrities to Minnesota representatives – reacted to the announcement.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

The Minnesota governor was set to visit the Granite State this past Sunday, but he canceled at the last minute amid rumors that he was on a list of contenders for her running mate. The campaign confirmed those rumors were true in an official announcement Tuesday. NBC10 Boston spoke with voters in the swing state to get their reaction — and Walz isn’t exactly getting rave reviews.

“I was definitely disappointed that it wasn’t Pete Buttigieg because I think he is the man for the job and I think he will be president someday,” New Hampshire voter Rebecca Leedberg said. “I will support the Democratic party regardless, so I am supportive of Kamala and her pick.”

Leedberg used to work on the primary presidential campaign for now U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and was hopeful that he would run again this time around. On the other hand, Craig Brown worked for the Harris primary campaign that same year and couldn’t be happier to see her on the top of the ticket.

“I’m really excited for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Brown said. “I think in her time as Vice President, she’s done a really great job of focusing on issues that matter.”

Meanwhile, neither Biden’s decision to drop out of the race, nor Walz as a running mate is doing much to sway Trump’s base.

“I think it’s a very poor pick because he’s far too liberal,” New Hampshire voter Dave Neises said. “I think Trump has many flaws but I think that he is actually in favor of improving the country and keeping it the country that it was as opposed to moving it towards Marxism.”

“I know he’s got a lot of faults,” New Hampshire business owner Robert Abrams said. “Things all boil down to policy and the policy of Trump worked.”

Political analyst Scott Spradling said Harris has been enjoying a boost in the polls over the last couple of weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. The big question, according to Spradling, is whether Harris leaves a lot of votes on the table among moderate, independent voters who tend to decide elections in November.

“She’s not going to win over a lot of Republican votes. Period,” Spradling said. “So the ownness is still going to be on the Vice President to come to New Hampshire and close the deal and sell the ticket, if you will.”

Walz also served in the House of Representatives for more than a decade and had a decades-long military career in the Army National Guard, but many voters are still getting to know Minnesota’s chief executive.

Born in Nebraska, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard out of high school. He served in the Guard for more than two decades before retiring his position in 2005.

During that time, Walz completed college and became a high school teacher. He first gained fame in the state after leading Mankato West to their first-ever state championship in football, according to his official campaign biography.

After retiring from the National Guard, Walz decided to run for Congress, and was elected to the House in 2006 in a district that had typically voted for Republicans. He was reelected in four successive elections, and according to NPR was the highest-ranking retired enlisted solider to ever serve in Congress.

Walz typically supported key progressive values in Congress, including opposing continued increases of troop levels in Iraq and in favor of the Affordable Care Act. He also occasionally would push back on the Obama administration, at one point joining 17 Democrats who voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt of Congress after he declined to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal.

After serving five terms in Congress, Walz was elected governor of Minnesota in 2018, and quickly went about establishing himself as a progressive liberal with a slew of legislation to back up that classification.

Among the pieces of legislation highlighted on his official biography are a bill to provide free college tuition to students whose family incomes are under $80,000, expanding background checks on all weapons purchases, and providing free meals to all Minnesota school students.

He also has a track record of backing labor unions and workers, including expanding protections for workers in Amazon warehouses and banning non-compete agreements, according to his official website.

In recent weeks, Walz has stepped up his attacks on former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance. His most famed contribution to the current political climate was the introduction of the adjective “weird,” which he used during an MSNBC interview to describe Republican politicians who he said misrepresented small-town values.

“We do not like what has happened where we can’t even go to Thanksgiving dinner with our uncle because you end in some weird fight that is unnecessary,” he said. “It’s true. These guys are just weird.”

The “weird” adjective has become a source of heated debate, with Republicans and Democrats slinging the term at one another as it became a viral hit on multiple social media platforms.

Now, Walz will take his folksy approach directly to voters on a massive battleground state tour with Harris, including stops in Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada. He’ll also address voters on a national stage in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention later this month, with a presumed Wednesday speaking slot at the event.

“Since the day that I announced my candidacy, I set out to find a partner who can help build this brighter future,” Harris said at her first rally with Walz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. “I’m here today because I’ve found such a leader, Gov. Tim Walz of the great state of Minnesota.”

“I’m thrilled to be on this journey with you and Doug, this incredible journey,” Walz told Harris, referring to her husband. “Thank you for trust you put in me, and maybe more so, thanks for bringing back the joy.”

Walz, the governor of swing-state Minnesota, has become a powerful figure in the party thanks to his great success in pushing a variety of democratic initiatives, including expanding abortion rights, legalizing marijuana and gun reform.

The 60-year-old’s success in Minnesota has been viewed by Democratic operatives as an example of how Harris’ campaign could model her message on crucial issues in the 2024 election.

In 2022, Walz defied a “red wave” and won reelection in a heated race that also gave Minnesota Democrats control over both chambers for the first time in eight years.

“This isn’t about jamming down Democratic priorities. These are proven things that improve people’s lives,” Walz said in an interview according to NBC News, adding that Democratic policy goals so far “are about not allowing our people to be demonized” because of “Republicans wanting to go to war on social issues.”

Walz also oversaw the 2020 George Floyd protests, where he mobilized the National Guard to control protests and later filed civil rights charges against the Minneapolis Police Department.

“The investigation will review MPD’s policies, procedures and practices over the last 10 years to determine if the department has utilized systemic discriminatory practices towards people of color,” Walz said in a statement.

Among his most recent accomplishments, in 2023 Walz spearheaded a bill that gave free lunch and breakfast to all Minnesota students, regardless of income requirements set by a federal program. He also signed a bill allowing driver’s licenses for all, regardless of immigration status.

“If there’s one thing I hope folks across this country recognize and take away from what we’re doing here in Minnesota, is it’s amazing what you can accomplish when you stop complaining about corporations going ‘woke’ and start giving a damn about real people and real lives,” Walz said.

Walz was born in 1964 in West Point, Nebraska, a small town of less than 4,000 people.

Before becoming governor, Walz was a social studies high school teacher who later ran for office and served in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019. He then held the highest position for a Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

Walz also served for more than two decades in the Army National Guard, where he reached the Command Sergeant Major rank and was awarded the Army Commendation and Achievement medals.

Since 1995, Walz has been married to Gwen Whipple, who he met while they were teachers. They have two children together, Hope and Gus.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

More than four years after her first attempt at the presidency collapsed, Harris’ coronation as her party’s standard-bearer caps a tumultuous and frenetic period for Democrats prompted by President Joe Biden’s disastrous June debate performance that shattered his own supporters’ confidence in his reelection prospects and spurred extraordinary intraparty warfare about whether he should stay in the race.

Harris’ nomination became official after a five-day round of online balloting by Democratic National Convention delegates ended Monday night, with the party saying in a statement released just before midnight that 99% of delegates had cast their ballots for Harris. The party said it would next formally certify the vote before holding a celebratory roll call at the party’s convention later this month in Chicago.

Already Harris has telegraphed that she doesn’t plan to veer much from the themes and policies that framed Biden’s candidacy, such as democracy, gun violence prevention and abortion rights. But her delivery can be far fierier, particularly when she invokes her prosecutorial background to lambast Trump and his 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records in connection with a hush money scheme.

Decision 2024 Aug 5

Harris expected to announce her VP pick Tuesday before a rally in Philadelphia

news Aug 4

Ex-Trump White House officials, dozens of Republicans endorse Harris

“Given that unique voice of a new generation, of a prosecutor and a woman when fundamental rights, especially reproductive rights, are on the line, it’s almost as if the stars have aligned for her at this moment in history,” said Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California, who was tapped to succeed Harris in the Senate when she became vice president.

A splash in Washington before a collapse in the 2020 primaries

Kamala Devi Harris was born Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, to Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer scientist who emigrated to the United States from India when she was 19 years old, and Stanford University emeritus professor Donald Harris, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Jamaica.

She spent years as a prosecutor in the Bay Area before her elevation as the state’s attorney general in 2010 and then election as U.S. senator in 2016.

Harris arrived in Washington as a senator at the dawn of the volatile Trump era, quickly establishing herself as a reliable liberal opponent of the new president’s personnel and policies and fanning speculation about a presidential bid of her own. Securing a spot on the coveted Judiciary Committee gave her a national spotlight to interrogate prominent Trump nominees, such as now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Harris launched her 2020 presidential campaign with much promise, drawing parallels to former President Barack Obama and attracting more than 20,000 people to a kickoff rally in her hometown. But Harris withdrew from the primary race before the first nominating contest in Iowa, plagued by staff dissent that spilled out into the open and an inability to attract enough campaign cash.

She also struggled to deliver a consistent pitch to Democratic voters and wobbled on key issues such as health care.

Joining Biden’s team — and an evolution as vice president

Still, Harris was at the top of the vice presidential shortlist when Biden was pondering his running mate, after his pledge in early 2020 that he would choose a Black woman as his No. 2. He was fond of Harris, who had forged a close friendship with his now-deceased son Beau, who had been Delaware’s attorney general when she was in that job for California.

Her first months as vice president were far from smooth. Biden asked her to lead the administration’s diplomatic efforts with Central America on the root causes of migration to the United States, which triggered attacks from Republicans on border security and remains a political vulnerability.

For her first two years, Harris also was often tethered to Washington so she could break tie votes in the evenly divided Senate, which gave Democrats landmark wins on the climate and health care but also constrained opportunities for her to travel around the country and meet voters.

Her visibility became far more prominent after the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that dismantled Roe v. Wade, as she became the chief spokesperson for the administration on abortion rights and was a more natural messenger than Biden, a lifelong Catholic who had in the past favored restrictions on the procedure.

Headed to the top of the ticket

After Biden ended his candidacy July 21, he quickly endorsed Harris. And during the first two weeks of her 2024 presidential bid, enthusiasm among the Democratic base surged, with donations pouring in, scores of volunteers showing up at field offices and supporters swelling so much in numbers that event organizers have had to swap venues.

“The country is able to see the Kamala Harris that we all know,” said Bakari Sellers, who was a national co-chair of her 2020 campaign.

Yet Democrats are anticipating that Harris’ political honeymoon will wear off, and she is inevitably going to come under tougher scrutiny for Biden administration positions, the state of the economy and volatile situations abroad, particularly in the Middle East. Harris has also yet to answer extended questions from journalists or sit down for a formal interview since she began her run.

The Trump campaign has been eager to define Harris as she continues to introduce herself to voters nationwide, releasing an ad blaming her for the high number of illegal crossings at the southern border during the Biden administration.

The Republican nominee’s supporters have also derisively branded Harris as a diversity hire, while Trump himself has engaged in ugly racial attacks of his own, wrongly asserting that Harris had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage and only recently played up her Black identity.

“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,” Trump said while addressing the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists. “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

In her response, Harris called it “the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect” and said voters “deserve better.”

“I can’t overemphasize how important this is for the city,” Wu told NBC10 Boston.

Empty office buildings are causing commercial property values to plummet and creating a revenue vacuum that without action, would fall on Boston homeowners.

“It’s to the balance and benefit of everyone who lives, works and plays in the city,” Wu said.

“I’m hopeful we’ll still be able to get it done during our informal sessions,” said State Rep. Rob Consalvo.

The conversation around the plan has largely focused on high-rise office buildings that line Boston’s downtown and financial districts. Analysts and onlookers say the real impact of the policy would be felt in neighborhood business districts.

“The folks who end up having the biggest impact is the grassroots property owners here in the outlying neighborhoods,” said Greg Maynard of the Boston Policy Institute.

But Wu stands by her plan, hoping lawmakers will revisit the issue as part of a potential formal session centered on proposals that didn’t make it through the July 31 deadline.

“I think residents everywhere want to see action on the issues that are urgent and appreciate the additional time and effort to get something right,” said Mayor Wu.

“It’s just really clear that people need a lot more information and need to understand this better,” said Maynard.

More on Boston

Boston Aug 5

Boston is offering eligible residents money to buy a new e-bike

Aug 5

Whale spotted breaching in Boston Harbor

Aug 5

Boston's breaking crew excited for sports debut at Paris Olympics

The armed forces are traditionally the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela and have been key to Maduro’s grip on power ever since he took over the so-called Bolivarian revolution in 2013 from his mentor, the late Hugo Chávez.

So far, they’ve shown no signs of ditching Maduro even in the face of credible evidence presented by the opposition that it trounced the self-proclaimed socialist at the polls by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

In a message posted Monday on social media, Edmundo González — who the U.S. and a half dozen countries have recognized as the victor — and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado called on rank and file members of the security forces to rethink their loyalty.

“We appeal to the conscience of the military and police to put themselves on the side of the people and their families,” the two wrote in a long message.

“We won this election without any doubt. It was an electoral avalanche,” the two continued. “Now it’s up to all of us to respect the voice of the people.”

Authorities have declared Maduro the victor in last Sunday’s election but have yet to produce voting tallies to prove he won. The opposition claims to have collected records from more than 80% of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide showing it won.

Maduro announced Saturday that the government has arrested 2,000 opponents and at a rally in Caracas he pledged to detain more people and send them to prison. The post-electoral uprising has also claimed at least 11 deaths, according to Foro Penal, a Caracas-based human rights group.

Venezuela Aug 4

Voices across the globe express concern over increasing arrests in Venezuela after disputed election

Venezuela Aug 2

Venezuela's opposition secured over 80% of crucial vote tally sheets. Here's how they did it.

Venezuela Aug 1

US recognizes opposition candidate González as the winner of Venezuela's presidential election

The Venezuela-based human rights organization Provea, in a report issued Monday analyzing the post-election climate, concluded that the government’s response to silence people’s discontent has been “through the disproportionate use of force” that has resulted in the deaths of protesters, “the open coordinated action between security forces and groups of armed civilians in favor of Nicolás Maduro to calm the protests, and the exponential increase in arbitrary arrests.”

The organization reported that based on figures announced by the Attorney General’s Office last week, the number of arrests against real or perceived government opponents is equivalent to about 42% “of the total number of arbitrary arrests recorded by Provea between April and August 2017, the most important cycle of protests in the country since 1989.”

González and Machado in their missive called on Venezuelans with family members serving in the security forces to urge their loved ones not to attack protesters and obey illegal orders. It said it would offer “guarantees” to soldiers who follow the constitution even while promising there would be no impunity for those behind abuses and following illegal orders.

Both González, a former diplomat, and Machado — who was barred by the government from running — have gone into hiding, saying they fear they will be arrested or killed. Maduro and his cadres have threatened to lock them both up.

As Venezuelans fight Maduro on the streets, pressure is also building internationally for the Venezuelan government to publish the full breakdown of the electoral results.

But so far, Maduro has instead asked the country’s supreme court — which like all institutions in Venezuela is packed with loyalists — to review any claims of irregularities.

“Respect for popular sovereignty is what moves us to defend the transparency of the (election) results,” Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday in a press conference alongside fellow leftist President Gabriel Boric of Chile.

Boric, who cast doubt on Maduro’s victory claim in an unexpectedly strong statement within hours of Venezuela’s July 28 election, told reporters that he and Lula discussed the situation in Venezuela on Monday, without elaborating. The leaders did not take questions and their carefully worded statements signaled how leftist leaders in the region are gingerly trying to show respect for Venezuela’s sovereignty while voicing doubts about the official results.

A few of Maduro’s staunch allies — including Russia, China and Cuba — have applauded his victory. On Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held a telephone call with Maduro and reiterated his congratulations and “condemned any foreign interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs,” Pezeshkian’s office said.

—

AP Writers Joshua Goodman in Miami and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.

Ellis has previously pleaded not guilty to fraud, forgery and conspiracy charges in the Arizona case. Seventeen other people charged in the case have pleaded not guilty to the felony charges — including Giuliani, Trump presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows and 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona.

“Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. “As I stated when the initial charges were announced, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined — it is far too important. Today’s announcement is a win for the rule of law.”

Last year, Ellis was charged in Georgia after she appeared with Giuliani at a December 2020 hearing hosted by state Republican lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol during which false allegations of election fraud were made. She had pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. The cooperation agreement signed by Ellis in the Arizona case requires her to provide truthful information to the Attorney General’s Office and testify honestly in proceedings in any state or federal court. Prosecutors can withdraw from the deal and refile charges if Ellis violates the agreement.

Prosecutors have already asked a court to dismiss the Arizona charges against Ellis. It wasn’t immediately clear if a judge had yet approved the request.

news Aug 5

Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis cooperating in Arizona fake electors prosecution

news Oct 24, 2023

Trump 2020 lawyer Jenna Ellis pleads guilty in Georgia election case, the latest to flip

The Associated Press left messages with Ellis’ attorney, Matthew Brown, after the agreement was announced Monday.

While not a fake elector in Arizona, prosecutors say Ellis made false claims of widespread election fraud in the state and six others, encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the outcome of the election and encouraged then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept Arizona’s fake elector votes.

The indictment said Ellis, Giuliani and other associates were at a meeting at the Arizona Legislature on Dec. 1, 2020, with then-House Speaker Rusty Bowers and other Republicans when Giuliani and his team asked the speaker to hold a committee hearing on the election.

When Bowers asked for proof of election fraud, Giuliani said he had proof but Ellis had advised that it was left back at a hotel room, the indictment said. No proof was provided to Bowers.

Ellis also is barred from practicing law in Colorado for three years after her guilty plea in Georgia.

Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme.

Arizona authorities unveiled the felony charges in late April. Overall, charges were brought against 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona, five lawyers connected to the former president and two former Trump aides. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.

Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment.

The 11 people who claimed to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and asserting that Trump carried the state. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.

“QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley will regain possession of the makeshift spear and horned helmet that he carried as he stormed the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot with other Trump supporters, a federal judge ruled Monday.

The Department of Justice failed to show why it still needed his property, which had made him an iconic face of the Capitol riot, Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in an order in Washington, D.C., federal court.

“Since the government has not established that it still needs these items as evidence and has not sought their forfeiture, the Court will GRANT Mr. Chansley’s motion,” Lamberth wrote.

The DOJ last month said it wanted to hold onto Chansley’s property because despite having expressed remorse at his criminal sentencing he has since challenged his conviction and sentence.

“In other words, the government would like to ensure finality in the appellate process in this and other cases,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves wrote in the July 12 court filing.

Lamberth was unconvinced by that argument.

“Even if the government may need to reprove Mr. Chansley’s guilt, the government has not explained why it would need his property,” the judge wrote in Monday’s order.

“As there is voluminous video and photo evidence of Mr. Chansley’s conduct, his property is of little utility for an investigation or prosecution and the ‘United States’ legitimate interests can be satisfied even if the property is returned,'” he wrote.

Chansley was among the first of thousands of rioters who stormed and occupied the Capitol building on Jan. 6, the day that Congress convened for a joint session to confirm the Electoral College victory of President Joe Biden over then-President Donald Trump.

The mob of Trump supporters forced lawmakers to flee the Senate and House of Representatives chambers, delaying the confirmation process for hours.

Chansley led chants on the floor of the Senate and sat in the chair used by then-Vice President Mike Pence to preside over proceedings there.

Chansley’s striking appearance quickly made him a symbol of the insurrection. His outfit, coupled with his support for the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, earned him his spiritual sobriquet.

“He was like thousands of others that day,” Lamberth wrote in Monday’s order. “But he stood out to the entire world because of his ‘unmistakable outfit.’ “

The DOJ in its criminal complaint against Chansley described him as having been “dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants,” and carrying “a spear, approximately 6 feet in length, with an American flag tied just below the blade.”

Chansley was one of the first rioters to be charged by the DOJ, which since has filed charges against nearly 1,500 defendants.

Chansley later pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, and was sentenced in November 2021 to 41 months in prison.

He won an early release in March 2023 and then moved into his mother’s house.

Harris must decide on her wingman before the two set off Tuesday on a tour across key battleground states where they will introduce the new Democratic ticket to voters and highlight the stakes of the election.

Everything about her campaign has been rapid-fire out of necessity. She’s only been a candidate for a little over two weeks, since President Joe Biden bowed out of the race following a dismal debate performance and escalating calls within the Democratic party for him to step aside. Harris became the party’s nominee Monday night.

And about 8 in 10 Democrats say they would be somewhat or very satisfied if Harris became the Democratic nominee for president, according to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted after Biden withdrew from the race.

US & World

news Aug 4

Ex-Trump White House officials, dozens of Republicans endorse Harris

Jimmy Carter Aug 3

Jimmy Carter's grandson says former president is ‘trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris'

news Aug 3

Harris campaign says Trump is ‘running scared' after he offers Fox debate

Harris has had to do condensed vetting of her potential running mates as the party’s convention draws near. That means there’s not much time left for advocates for and against different picks get in their final licks.

Harris was zeroing in on three running mate contenders, whom she interviewed Sunday in Washington. They were Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to a person familiar with the process who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

Three other men have been in the mix: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Some congressional Democrats have promoted Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut whose state has more than 370 miles or 600 kilometers of border with Mexico. They say his selection could help defuse Trump’s arguments that the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies are too relaxed.

Shapiro has prominent supporters, too, like Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker. She caused a stir by posting a video Friday depicting several Philadelphia-area officials and Democrats promoting Harris, but also playing up Shapiro as her running mate. A person familiar with the mayor’s thinking said she had no insider knowledge about Harris’ intentions.

When asked about the veepstakes Monday, Shapiro said he had no information.

“I got nothing for you, man,” he told an Associated Press reporter as he arrived at the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. “Have a great day.”

Shapiro is scheduled to deliver remarks at the campaign rally tonight at Temple University, NBC News is reporting.

In the News

Decision 2024 Jul 30

Harris' potential running mates walk the line between offering support and openly auditioning

Decision 2024 Aug 2

DNC chair says majority of delegates have voted to give Harris the Democratic nomination

Both Kelly and Shapiro have seen their detractors become more vocal as Harris closes in on a decision.

Walz is in his second term as governor of Minnesota. He has made his state a bastion of liberal policy and, this year, one of the few states to protect fans buying tickets online for Taylor Swift concerts and other live events. He comes from rural America and in his first race for Congress, Walz upset a Republican incumbent.

Harris and her running mate — whoever that is — will launch Tuesday into an aggressive battleground tour that begins in Philadelphia on Tuesday and winds through Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. Scheduled stops in Georgia and North Carolina have been postponed by rains associated with Hurricane Debby.

Her early rallies have attracted enthusiastic thousands. Campaign officials say each stop will be loaded with local election officials, religious leaders, union members and more in an effort to show the diversity of her coalition. Some Republicans will also appear with her, according to the campaign.

Also in the News

news Aug 5

North Carolina election board investigates Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC after voter data complaint

Donald Trump Aug 3

Judge in Trump's federal election subversion case rejects defense effort to dismiss the prosecution

Donald Trump Aug 2

Trump promises lower interest rates. But he doesn't have that power

The campaign this week launched “Republicans for Harris.” The program will be a “campaign within a campaign,” according to Harris’ team, using well-known Republicans to activate their networks, with a particular emphasis on primary voters who backed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Campaign officials are aware that momentum can be fleeting and are working to capitalize on the energy now, while managing expectations by continuing to emphasize that the race with Republican nominee Donald Trump is tight. But the strong rollout has allowed the Harris campaign to put a number of states back in play that had been feared out of reach when Biden remained at the top of the ticket.

Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, told Fox News on Sunday that Harris’ pick doesn’t matter to him. “Whoever she chooses, the problem is going to be Kamala Harris’ record and Kamala Harris’ policies,” he said, adding “it’s not going to be good for the country.”

Taiwan is under growing pressure to build up its defense capabilities and deterrence against China in the face of uncertainty surrounding the U.S. elections slated for November, according to security and policy analysts. 

Taiwan’s foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, last month told reporters that the self-governed island must rely on itself for defense and will likely keep spending and modernizing its military in the face of threats from China, which sees the island as its own.

The minister’s comments came in response to presidential candidate Donald Trump suggesting that Taipei should pay Washington for military protection. Trump said that the country “doesn’t give us anything” and has taken “100% of our chip business.” 

Experts said Trump’s remarks highlighted the unpredictability that faces Taiwan, especially after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who has relatively less foreign policy experience.

‘Unpredictable’ Trump

While Biden has been “more consistent in his policy toward Taiwan,” Trump, since the start of his first term, has proven to be “erratic and unpredictable,” said Stephen Naggy, professor of politics and international studies at the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan.

This is largely due to a difference in strategy between the two leaders. While Biden has, on several occasions, stated the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s defense, Trump has opted for “strategic ambiguity,” Naggy added. 

Just days after his inauguration, Trump had become the first U.S. president in decades to communicate directly with Taiwan‘s president. 

Soon after, he suggested that the U.S. may change its long-held position that Taiwan was part of “one China.” However, he reportedly walked back on that position on a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping in February 2016. 

Regardless, Trump’s tough stance on China has led many in Taiwan to believe he would support the island substantially, according to Lu-Chung Weng, a Political Science professor at Sam Houston State University.

Similar to 2016, the candidate is running on a tough-on-China policy and has already proposed a major ramp-up of his trade war against the country. 

According to Muhammad Faizal, a research fellow at Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, a tougher China containment stance by Trump 2.0 would be welcomed by the ruling party of Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners. 

However, he added that they also fear that Trump’s “myopic and transactional approach” to foreign and defense relations — exemplified by his comments about Taiwan paying the U.S. for defense — could place them back on his geopolitical dartboard.

Meanwhile, while experts who spoke to CNBC agreed that a second Trump administration was likely to be packed with China hawks who see defending Taiwan as a top priority, the extent to which they may be able to steer policy remains unclear. 

“I think anyone who says they’re sure where [the administration] would head is out of their mind … I think the degree of unpredictability would be greater than ever,” said Richard Heydarian, policy adviser and senior lecturer of international affairs at the University of the Philippines.

Harris’ statecraft?

On the other side of the ballot is presumptive democratic nominee Harris, after Biden succumbed to pressure to drop out of the race amid concerns about his age. 

According to analysts, she is expected to remain somewhat consistent with Biden’s agenda and foreign policy. 

“I see [Harris] as a continuity play in terms of foreign policy trends more broadly over the last several decades,” Tina Fordham, founder of Fordham Global Foresight, told CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” last week. 

Dewardric McNeal, managing director and senior policy analyst at Longview Global, said there was a lack of clarity on exactly what Harris thinks as distinct from Biden, with her first 100 days to be closely watched by Beijing if she were to win.

As vice president, Harris has expressed support for Taiwan and met with the island’s new leader, Lai Ching-te, in 2022. However, she would come into office with significantly less foreign policy experience than President Biden.  

“While I anticipate some continuity [with Biden] in her China policy, it is essential to recognize the strong influence that personalities have on policy shaping, making, and execution,” McNeal said. 

“Vice President Harris is not Joe Biden, and her approach to statecraft will differ,” he added. 

Taiwan’s defense measures

As both candidates pose a level of uncertainty for Taiwan, policy experts said the island-nation was under more pressure to accelerate efforts to build up its own deterrence.

These efforts have already been building momentum since the election of Lai in January, with U.S. elections only injecting more urgency, according to Ava Shen, who covers Taiwan and Chinese foreign policy and domestic politics at Eurasia Group. 

Lai, a member of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, is seen by Beijing as a separatist and has continued his predecessor’s efforts of relationship building with Washington amid intensifying military and political pressure by China. 

His inaugural speech emphasized the importance of aligning with democracies and strengthening national defense. Around the same time, an extended one-year mandatory military service for men came into effect, an initiative announced under former DPP president Tsai Ing-wen. 

Meanwhile, Taiwan has been raising total spending on defense in its annual budgets, with the amount reaching 2.6% of GDP this year, and another proposed increase for 2025, according to local reports.

Bolstering defense has entailed securing more weapons from the U.S. As of February this year, the country was waiting on a backlog of some $19 billion worth of already-purchased American weapons, according to the Cato Institute.

A bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers met with Lai in May, promising that weapons and $2 billion of a support package for Taiwan’s military was on the way.

China’s latest official defense budget was $224 billion, about 12 times that of Taiwan’s, according to a report from the Council for Foreign Relations.

“In general, the government and society of Taiwan feel a certain degree of disquiet or anxiety,” said Kwei-Bo Huang, professor of diplomacy at Taiwan’s National ChengChi University and secretary-general of the Taiwan-based Association of Foreign Relations. 

He added that in the event of a Trump victory, Taiwan is expected to continue to expand its defense budget to at least 3% of its GDP, which is at par with what the former president’s advisors are reportedly considering asking NATO members.

According to Professor Lu-Chung of Sam Houston State University, while the U.S. elections are certainly bringing more pressure on Taiwan to boost deterrence, this is beneficial for the country, as it must grapple with tough realities.

“As to the self-defense plan, Taiwan will continue what it is doing, but filling the gaps across the Taiwan Strait is not easy,” he said.

Pope Francis said Venezuela is “living a critical situation” in his traditional Sunday remarks at the Vatican, adding, “I appeal to all parties to seek the truth, to avoid all kinds of violence.”

The remarks came hours after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced Saturday that the government has arrested 2,000 opponents. At a rally in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, Maduro pledged to detain more people and send them to prison.

U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told CBS program “Face the Nation” Sunday that the Biden administration is worried the arrests could spark wider unrest.

“We are concerned about the prospect of instability, should there continue to be these detentions,” Finer said.

And in a statement, the leaders of several European countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy said “the rights of all the Venezuelans, especially the political leaders, should be respected during this process. We strongly condemn any arrests or threats against them.”

Authorities have declared President Nicolás Maduro the victor in last Sunday’s election but have yet to produce voting tallies to prove he won. The opposition claims to have tally sheets showing it won.

Venezuela Aug 2

Venezuela's opposition secured over 80% of crucial vote tally sheets. Here's how they did it.

Venezuela Aug 1

US recognizes opposition candidate González as the winner of Venezuela's presidential election

Venezuela Jul 27

Why Venezuela's presidential election should matter to the rest of the world

An Associated Press analysis Friday of vote tally sheets released by the opposition coalition indicates that their candidate, Edmundo González, won significantly more votes than the government claimed, casting serious doubt on the official declaration that Maduro won.

Both González, a former diplomat, and opposition leader María Corina Machado — who was barred by the government from running — have gone into hiding, saying they fear they will be arrested or killed. Maduro and his cadres have threatened to lock them both up.

The government arrested hundreds of opposition supporters who took to the streets in the days after the disputed poll.

Machado braved the threats to speak at a massive opposition rally Saturday in Caracas, but was whisked away afterwards on the back of a motorcycle.

“After six days of brutal repression, they thought they were going to silence us, intimidate or paralyze us,” Machado told the rally. “The presence of every one of you here today represents the best of Venezuela.”

A few hours later, Maduro again threatened to arrest González for not showing up at the electoral council meeting he had been summoned to. The council, like most parts of Venezuela’s government, is completely controlled by Maduro.

“You face serious legal consequences for disobeying the Constitution, the courts and the law,” Maduro said of González.

Maduro also vowed to continue to use a heavy hand against his opponents, saying 2,000 of them have been arrested already.

“This time there will be no pardon, this time there will be Tocorón,” he said, referring to a notorious prison.

On Friday, masked assailants ransacked the opposition’s headquarters on Friday, taking documents and vandalizing the space.

In his long, rambling speech, Maduro issued threats but also called for reconciliation and peace, claiming, “There is room in Venezuela for everyone,” and calling it “the blessed land of opportunity.”

Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy, but it entered into a free fall marked by 130,000% hyperinflation and widespread shortages after Maduro took the helm in 2013. More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history.

U.S. oil sanctions have only deepened the misery, and the Biden administration — which had been easing those restrictions — is now likely to ramp them up again unless Maduro agrees to some sort of transition.

Late Friday, Venezuela’s high court, the Supreme Justice Tribunal, ordered the Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council to hand over the precinct vote count sheets in three days. There have been calls from multiple governments, including Maduro’s close regional allies, for Venezuela’s electoral authorities to release the precinct-level tallies, as it has after previous elections.

The AP processed almost 24,000 images of tally sheets, representing the results from 79% of voting machines.

According to the calculations, the González received 6.89 million votes, nearly half a million more than the government says Maduro won. The tabulations also show Maduro received 3.13 million votes from the tally sheets released.

By comparison, the National Electoral Council said Friday that based on 96.87% of tally sheets, Maduro had won 6.4 million votes and Gonzalez had 5.3 million. National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso attributed the delay in filing complete results to attacks on the “technological infrastructure.”

There has been a flurry of diplomatic efforts by Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to convince Maduro to allow an impartial audit of the vote. On Thursday, the governments of the three countries issued a joint statement calling on Venezuela’s electoral authorities “to move forward expeditiously and publicly release” detailed voting data.

The campaign is tapping state political directors to lead outreach to Republicans in their regions, the source told NBC News. However, the source said that the campaign is having a difficult time locking in support from certain state leadership teams to head GOP outreach.

“That’s the dream of theirs, but I don’t actually think that’s going to happen on the level they want,” the person said.

The source has been nervous about getting Republicans behind Harris because of some of her policy positions during the 2020 Democratic primaries, such as her co-sponsorship of the Green New Deal and her support for mandatory gun buyback programs. But her shifting positions on some of those policy issues have reassured the person.

The campaign on Sunday announced a new push to appeal to GOP voters, which includes the creation of state advisory committees across battleground states that the campaign said will “play a pivotal role in facilitating Republican-to-Republican voter contact,” such as door knocking, phone banking and hosting events featuring Republicans. As part of Sunday’s announcement, the Harris campaign said that it will unveil a digital campaign where Republican Harris supporters make “their case online to fellow Republicans.”

During the 2020 election the Biden-Harris campaign relied on independent, never-Trump groups to court GOP voters. This time around, the 2024 campaign created a specific position to court them, hiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s former chief of staff, Austin Weatherford a few months ago.

“Donald Trump’s MAGA extremism is toxic to the millions of Republicans who no longer believe the party of Donald Trump represents their values and will vote against him again in November,” Weatherford, the Harris’ campaign’s national director of Republican outreach said in a statement. “Donald Trump said he doesn’t want these voters, but Vice President Harris and our campaign are working overtime to earn the support of my fellow Republicans who care about defending democracy and restoring decency.”

US & World

Jimmy Carter Aug 3

Jimmy Carter's grandson says former president is ‘trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris'

news Aug 3

Harris campaign says Trump is ‘running scared' after he offers Fox debate

Donald Trump Jul 31

‘All of a sudden': Trump tells Black journalists in Chicago Kamala Harris ‘turned Black'

The campaign also unveiled a slew of endorsements from Republicans, many of whom were already openly critical of former President Donald Trump, including former Gov. Bill Weld, R-Mass.; former Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va.; and former Trump administration press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

Republican surrogates will also join Harris at events during her seven-state campaign blitz this week, though the campaign did not specify which ones are slated to appear.

When the Harris campaign asked whether there were high-profile Republicans who could be courted to make an endorsement, the source said that it was difficult to find people who were willing to endorse the Democratic ticket in 2020, and they suspect it will be harder now. That source believes former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., will eventually endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, though she was not included in Sunday’s rollout of campaign endorsements. The source also said that they suggested that the Harris campaign court the endorsement of former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020.

Neither Cheney nor Flake had made a 2024 endorsement before Biden bowed out of the race.

If Cheney were to endorse Harris, it would once again align her with former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., the only Republican other than Cheney to serve on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and a fellow Trump critic.

“As a proud conservative, I never thought I’d be endorsing a Democrat for President,” Kinzinger said in a statement. “But, I know Vice President Harris will defend our democracy and ensure Donald Trump never returns to the White House.”

Similarly, Grisham said in a statement that she “might not agree with Vice President Kamala Harris on everything, but I know that she will fight for our freedom.”

“I encourage other Trump administration officials who saw the tyrant we worked for in office to speak out and stand with Kamala Harris this November to keep integrity in the White House and ensure democracy for our country,” she continued.

The endorsements come as the Trump campaign is working to paint Harris as “dangerously liberal,” a position the former president reiterated during his rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday when he called Harris a “radical left freak.”

But the broadsides from Trump have not dissuaded the person familiar with the Harris campaign’s GOP outreach, who previously worked in Republican politics.

“I feel really at peace with doing everything we can to beat him with Harris,” said the source. “I think defeating Trump is the best way to get to a healthy Republican Party.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.  More from NBC News:

• They built their careers fighting Trump. Now they could face him on the Democratic ticket.
• ‘This is the A-team’: Harris campaign brings on big new hires as it sprints to Election Day
• The pros and cons of Harris’ VP list — and how contenders would balance the ticket

Migrants will be able to schedule appointments on the CBP One app from the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, extending the zone from northern and central Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. The move satisfies a request of Mexico, an increasingly close partner of the U.S. in efforts to control extraordinary migration flows.

The change will spare migrants from traveling north through Mexico to get one of 1,450 appointments made available daily, CBP said. The agency said it will happen soon but did not give a date.

Immigration Jun 26

Homeland Security says border arrests fall more than 40% since Biden's halt to asylum processing

Immigration Jun 11

8 suspected terrorists with possible ISIS ties arrested in New York, LA and Philadelphia, sources say

“We consistently engage with our partners in the Government of Mexico and work together to adjust policies and practices in response to the latest migration trends and security needs,” CBP said in a statement.

The statement confirmed remarks a day earlier by Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena, who said closer relations with the United States cut migration sharply from late last year.

U.S. officials have said increased Mexican enforcement is largely responsible for a sharp drop in U.S. arrests for illegal border crossings during the first half of this year. Mexican officials have stepped up their presence at highway checkpoints and on railroads leading to the U.S. border, returning most to southern Mexico.

In June, the U.S. temporarily suspended asylum processing for those who enter the country illegally, making CBP One of the only avenues for migrants to enter the U.S. to seek asylum and further driving down illegal entries. U.S. officials said arrests for illegal crossings plunged 30% in July from the previous month to the lowest level of Joe Biden’s presidency and the lowest since September 2020.

“We have managed to decompress our (northern) border in a very meaningful way and that has helped … our relationship with the United States be very, very dynamic and very positive,” Bárcena said Friday.

More than 680,000 people scheduled CBP One appointments at eight Mexican land crossings with the U.S. from its introduction in January 2023 through June. The top nationalities are Venezuelan, Cuban and Haitian. U.S. authorities recently limited slots for Mexicans due to the high number of applicants from the country.

The perils of traveling through Mexico to be kidnapped or robbed has prompted many migrants to fly to northern border cities like Tijuana for their CBP One appointments once they reach the southernmost point from which they can apply — until now, Mexico City.

Migrants generally enter Mexico in Chiapas or Tabasco from Guatemala. Mexico City may offer more job opportunities and relative safety but the cost of living is higher, prompting some to live in informal camps in the nation’s capital.

___

Santana reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

Jason Carter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an article published Aug. 3 that the 39th president told his son Chip: “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris.”

Jason Carter, chairperson of the Carter Center’s Board of Trustees, added that his grandfather has been “more alert and interested in politics and the war in Gaza.”

The former president has been in hospice at his home in Plains, Georgia, since February 2023. His wife, Rosalynn Carter, entered hospice care a few days before her death on Nov. 19, 2023. She also was diagnosed with dementia earlier that year.

Jimmy Carter hasn’t been seen much since entering hospice care.

On Nov. 28, 2023, Jimmy Carter attended Rosalynn Carter’s funeral and many were moved to see the 99-year-old leave hospice care to honor the life of his late wife.

When Jimmy Carter arrived at the ceremony, he was photographed in a wheelchair with a blanket covering his legs. On it was a stitched image of the couple with the words “The Carters.”

In a tender moment, one of the Carters’ sons, James Earl “Chip” Carter III, 73, was photographed kissing his ailing father on the head. Jimmy Carter’s family was concerned about him traveling over 150 miles to attend the services, the New York Times reported.

The former peanut farmer is the first president to live to 95 or older and the only one to see the 40th anniversary of his inauguration. In recent years especially, his health has made headlines, and his family has shared updates about his time in hospice care.

Jimmy Carter’s health now

Jimmy Carter, now nearing his 18th month in hospice, is “experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process,” Jason Carter told Southern Living on June 5.

It’s been an adjustment to live without wife Rosalynn Carter by his side.

“After 77 years of marriage… I just think none of us really understand what it’s like for him right now,” Jason Carter said. “We have to embrace that fact, that there’s things about the spirit that you just can’t understand.” 

As for the former president’s health, Jason Carter says there’s “really been no change.” Jimmy Carter, he says, isn’t awake every day to receive the family members who regularly visit him.

On May 14, at an annual mental health forum in honor of Rosalynn Carter at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Jason Carter said the former president “is coming to an end” but “he’s still there,” according to NBC News.

Jason Carter spoke in September 2023 about his grandparents’ time together “coming to the end.”

“He’s been in hospice now for several months, but they are happy,” he told USA Today at the time. “They are together. They are at home. They’re in love, and I don’t think anyone gets more than that. I mean, it’s a perfect situation for this time in their lives.”

Jimmy Carter faces “really significant physical challenges,” and he spends his time watching baseball and seeing family members, Jason Carter added.

Josh Carter, another of the former president’s 11 surviving grandchildren, told People in August 2023 that his grandfather is in “the final chapter” of his life, but “he’s still fully Jimmy Carter.”

Although the former president is tired, Josh Carter said “he fully understands (how many well wishes he’s received) and has felt the love.”

Josh Carter added that there’s always someone at his grandparents’ home, usually one of their four kids: Amy Carter, 56, John William “Jack” Carter, 77, James Earl “Chip” Carter III, 74, and Donnel Jeffrey “Jeff” Carter, 71. Recently, visitors to the home have only been caregivers and family, Josh Carter said.

He also said at the time his grandmother was “still able to form new memories” during her final months.

In Feb. 2023, Jimmy Carter announced through his foundation, the Carter Center, that he’d be stopping medical intervention and only receiving hospice care. The news came after he’d survived a series of hospital stays.

Over the past several years, Jimmy Carter has survived cancer and multiple falls, among other illnesses.

In 2015, Jimmy Carter was diagnosed with and treated for metastatic melanoma.

In August 2015, Jimmy Carter underwent surgery to remove a small mass from his liver. At the time, the Carter Center called the procedure “elective” and said he’d make a full recovery.

Soon after, it was revealed that the mass on Jimmy Carter’s liver was metastatic melanoma, and later on in August 2015, it was announced that Jimmy Carter’s melanoma had spread to his brain, and he was preparing to undergo radiation treatment.

But by December 2015, he seemed to be cancer free. An MRI scan on Jimmy Carter’s brain at the time did not show “any signs of the original cancer spots nor any new ones,” according to a Carter Center statement. Afterward, he continued to receive immunotherapy treatments.

Jimmy Carter has a family history with cancer. His father, brother and both of his sisters died of pancreatic cancer. His mother was also diagnosed with the disease, NBC News reported.

A few years later, during a 2019 church service, Jimmy Carter reflected on his cancer scare and the possibility he was going to die. He said he was “absolutely and completely at ease with death.”

“I assumed, naturally, that I was going to die very quickly,” he said. “I obviously prayed about it. I didn’t ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death, and I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death.”

In 2019, Jimmy Carter had a series of falls and needed surgery.

In May 2019, Jimmy Carter fell at his Georgia home and broke his hip. Shortly afterward, he underwent surgery.

The injury occurred when he was getting ready to leave for a turkey hunting trip. The Carter Center shared a statement with NBC News at the time, proving that he was in good spirits.

“President Carter said his main concern is that turkey season ends this week, and he has not reached his limit,” the statement read. “He hopes the State of Georgia will allow him to rollover the unused limit to next year.”

In October 2019, Jimmy Carter fell again and needed 14 stitches in his forehead. Despite the injury and a black eye, he still traveled to Nashville to speak at a Habitat for Humanity event.

“I fell down and hit my forehead on a sharp edge and had to go to the hospital,” he told the audience. “But I had a No. 1 one priority, and that was to come to Nashville and build houses.”That same month, Jimmy Carter suffered a fractured pelvis from another fall at home. The Carter Center said in a statement at the time: “He has been admitted to Phoebe Sumter Medical Center for observation and treatment of a minor pelvic fracture. He is in good spirits and is looking forward to recovering at home.”

In November 2019, Jimmy Carter spent two weeks in the hospital in recovering from a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding from several falls. Following the surgery, the Carter Center revealed that there were “no complications.”

In October 2022, Jimmy Carter turned 98 and was still “with it.”

As Jimmy Carter prepared to celebrate his 98th birthday in October 2022, his grandson Jason Carter shared some thoughts about the former president’s life.

“He is looking at his 98th birthday with faith in God’s plan for him,” he told the Associated Press. “That’s just a beautiful blessing for all of us to know, personally, that he is at peace and happy with where he has been and where he’s going.”

Jason Carter described his grandfather as still being “100% with it” but acknowledged that “daily life things are a lot harder now.”

In February 2023, Jimmy Carter entered hospice care.

In February 2023, the Carter Center revealed that Jimmy Carter would soon commence in-home hospice care.

“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the statement read. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from Today:

• 9 questions with Khaby Lame, TikTok’s most followed star
• Who is Hannah Neeleman? The “Ballerina Farm” influencer and controversy, explained
• The bride loved her mom’s mother-of-the-bride dress. The internet did not

“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions,” Emhoff said in a statement, first reported by CNN. “I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”

He issued the statement after the Daily Mail reported on the matter.

Kamala Harris Jul 28

Doug Emhoff would become the country's first first gentleman if Kamala Harris wins the presidency

Biden Administration Feb 27

Emhoff to announce $1.7 billion in pledges to help Biden's goal of ending hunger by 2030

NBA May 15, 2023

Kamala Harris Wears Lakers Jersey After Losing Warriors Bet to Husband

The affair was known to the team that vetted Vice President Kamala Harris before President Joe Biden picked her to be his running mate in 2020, according to a person familiar with the events who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation. Harris knew about the affair before she married Emhoff, the person said.

Emhoff and Harris met on a blind date in 2013 and married the following year. It was her first marriage and his second. Harris’ stepchildren, Ella and Cole Emhoff, were teenagers when their father remarried.

Kerstin Emhoff has spoken positively of Harris as a “co-parent” of her daughters and as “loving, nurturing, fiercely protecting and always present.” She issued a statement supporting her ex-husband after he acknowledged the affair.

“Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons, many years ago,” she said. “He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala, and I have built together.”

Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is the first substantive order since the case was returned to her Friday following a landmark Supreme Court opinion last month that conferred broad immunity for former presidents and narrowed special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump.

In their motion to dismiss the indictment, defense lawyers argued that Trump was mistreated because he was prosecuted even though others who have challenged election results have avoided criminal charges. Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential race, also suggested that President Joe Biden and the Justice Department launched a prosecution to prevent him from winning reelection.

Decision 2024 Aug 3

Former President Trump agrees to debate Kamala Harris on new terms

Donald Trump Jul 31

‘All of a sudden': Trump tells Black journalists in Chicago Kamala Harris ‘turned Black'

But Chutkan rejected both arguments, saying Trump was not charged simply for challenging election results but instead for “knowingly making false statements in furtherance of criminal conspiracies and for obstruction of election certification proceedings.” She also said that his lawyers had misread news media articles that they had cited in arguing that the prosecution was political in nature.

“After reviewing Defendant’s evidence and arguments, the court cannot conclude that he has carried his burden to establish either actual vindictiveness or the presumption of it, and so finds no basis for dismissing this case on those grounds,” Chutkan wrote in her order.

Also Saturday, she scheduled an Aug. 16 status conference to discuss next steps in the case.

The four-count indictment, brought in August 2023, accuses Trump of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Biden through a variety of schemes, including by badgering his vice president, Mike Pence, to block the formal certification of electoral votes.

Trump’s lawyers argued that he was immune from prosecution as a former president, and the case has been on hold since December as his appeal worked its way through the courts.

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion, held that presidents enjoy absolute immunity for core constitutional duties and are presumptively immune from prosecution for all other official acts. The justices sent the case back to Chutkan to determine which acts alleged in the indictment can remain part of the prosecution and which must be discarded.

Trump has been criticized by Harris and other Democrats for refusing to commit to the previously agreed-upon debate on ABC, which was made before President Joe Biden said he was no longer seeking the Democratic nomination.

The ABC debate was scheduled for Sept. 10. There have been days of questions about whether Trump would participate in the ABC debate.

“I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th. The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Harris’ presidential campaign’s rapid-response social media account responded Saturday in a tweet.

Our statement on Donald Trump backing out of the debate he already agreed to pic.twitter.com/r8VrZRI0q8

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 3, 2024

After Biden decided to not seek the nomination and the presidential race dramatically changed with Harris as the de facto Democratic nominee, Trump said he did not like ABC and suggested a debate on Fox News instead. Some Democrats have said that Trump is afraid of debating Harris.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, made that claim Thursday. “He’s afraid to debate her,” Schumer said.

Trump also said in the post that because he is in litigation against ABC and George Stephanopoulos, there is “a conflict of interest.”

The agreed-upon ABC debate between Trump and Biden was announced in May. Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in March, as Reuters reported at the time.

Trump said in his Truth Social post the Fox debate was to be held in Pennsylvania, an important state in the presidential election, and would have a “full arena audience.”

A spokesperson for Fox did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment early Saturday.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Trump struggles to keep his edge against Harris with fewer than 100 days until the election
• Democrats made ‘weird’ an effective weapon, and then Republicans turned it on LGBTQ people
• Trump struggles to keep his edge against Harris with fewer than 100 days until the election

Assailants broke down doors and hauled away valuable documents and equipment in the raid around 3 a.m., opposition leader María Corina Machado’s party said. Several walls were covered in black spray paint.

The raid follows threats by top officials, including Maduro, to arrest Machado, who has gone into hiding while still urging Venezuelans and the international community to challenge Sunday’s election results.

The Biden administration has thrown its support firmly behind the opposition, recognizing candidate Edmundo González as the victor and discrediting the National Electoral Council’s official results. González was tapped in April as a last-minute stand-in for Machado, who was barred from running for political office.

The U.S. announcement late Thursday followed calls from multiple governments, including Maduro’s close regional allies, for Venezuela’s electoral authorities to release precinct-level vote counts, as it has during previous elections.

Maduro said during a news conference Friday that the U.S. should stay out of Venezuela’s politics.

González, whose location is also unknown, posted a message on X thanking the U.S. “for recognizing the will of the Venezuelan people reflected in our electoral victory and for supporting the process of restoring democratic norms in Venezuela.”

The electoral body declared Maduro the winner Monday, but the main opposition coalition revealed hours later that it had collected copies of more than 80% of the country’s 30,000 voting tallies — printouts from the electronic voting machines — and that they show González prevailed by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

“Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Venezuela Aug 2

Venezuela's opposition secured over 80% of crucial vote tally sheets. Here's how they did it.

Venezuela Aug 1

US recognizes opposition candidate González as the winner of Venezuela's presidential election

Venezuela Jul 31

Carter Center unable to verify Venezuela election results, blasts officials for lack of transparency

During his televised news conference, Maduro said members of the opposition “plan to carry out an attack” in a Caracas neighborhood near where Machado had called on supporters to gather with their families Saturday. He played audio and showed an image of a purported WhatsApp chat that he said was proof of the planned attack.

He said he has ordered the armed forces to guard the neighborhood. That order could limit the ability of opposition supporters to gather, but it would not affect the planned demonstration of ruling party supporters elsewhere in the city.

On Friday, Venezuelan electoral authorities gave an updated vote count, but not the precinct-level tallies that have been demanded.

National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso said that with 96.9% of tally sheets counted, Maduro’s margin of victory was more than 8 percentage points over González: 52% to 43.2%. He attributed the delay in updating results to “massive attacks” on the “technological infrastructure.”

Blinken’s announcement came amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts by Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to convince their fellow leftist to allow an impartial audit of the vote. On Thursday, the governments of the three countries issued a joint statement calling on Venezuela’s electoral authorities “to move forward expeditiously and publicly release” detailed voting data.

On Friday, Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said Russian election monitors witnessed Maduro’s legitimate victory and accused the U.S. of stirring tensions in the country.

Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest proven crude reserves and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy, but it entered into a free fall marked by 130,000% hyperinflation and widespread shortages after Maduro took the helm in 2013. More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history.

U.S. oil sanctions have only deepened the misery and the Biden administration — which had been easing those restrictions — is now likely to ramp them up again unless Maduro agrees to some sort of transition.

“He’s counting on being able to wait this out and people will get tired of demonstrating,” said Cynthia Arnson, a distinguished fellow at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. “The problem is, the country is in a death spiral and there’s no chance the economy will be able to recover without the legitimacy that comes from a fair election.”

Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets Monday after the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of the election. The government said it arrested hundreds of protesters.

On Wednesday, Maduro asked Venezuela’s highest court to conduct an audit of the election, but that request drew almost immediate criticism from foreign observers who said the court — which like most institutions is controlled by the government — lacks the independence to perform a credible review.

On Friday afternoon, González was notably absent — an empty chair beside Maduro — when the court convened the nine presidential candidates.

Supreme Tribunal President Caryslia Rodríguez called on the candidates and their parties to provide all required documents as the court seeks to audit the results.

Maduro took the opportunity to call González “the candidate of fascism” and promised to hand over all of the voting tallies.

Later, Maduro and his campaign manager, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, attempted to discredit the tally sheets posted online by the opposition since Monday, arguing that they were missing signatures from the electoral council representative as well as poll workers and party representatives.

They didn’t acknowledge that soldiers, civilian militia, police and loyalists of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, on Sunday blocked some opposition representatives from entering the polls, witnessing the vote, and signing and obtaining copies of tally sheets.

___

Goodman reported from Medellin, Colombia. Associated Press correspondents María Verza in Mexico City and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed.

The president’s son could face up to 25 years in prison at sentencing set for Nov. 13 in Wilmington, Delaware, but as a first-time offender he is likely to get far less time or avoid prison entirely.

Hunter Biden is also facing another trial on tax charges in California set to begin in September. He’s charged in that case with failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes.

President Joe Biden, who dropped his reelection bid last month, has said he will not use his presidential powers to pardon his son or lessen his sentence. Hunter Biden was convicted of three felonies after lying on a federal form to purchase the gun by saying he wasn’t a drug user in 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction.

Hunter Biden Jul 18

Hunter Biden seeks dismissal of tax, gun cases, citing Trump's classified docs case ruling

news Jul 18

Hunter Biden cites Trump ruling in seeking dismissal of gun and tax cases

Hunter Biden Jun 25

Hunter Biden's law license suspended in Washington, D.C. after criminal conviction

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by former Republican President Donald Trump, will decide how much time, if any, Hunter Biden serves behind bars at the sentencing scheduled to fall shortly after Election Day.

He was supposed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and avoid prosecution in the gun case if he stayed out of trouble for two years in a deal with prosecutors last year. However, the agreement fell apart after Noreika questioned unusual aspects of the proposed agreement, and the lawyers could not resolve the matter.

Hunter Biden is also pushing for dismissal of both the tax and gun cases against him, citing a ruling in Florida t hat threw out a separate prosecution of Trump after his attorneys argued the Justice Department special counsel in the case was improperly appointed. Hunter Biden is also being prosecuted by a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

A representative for his legal team did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the sentencing.

With the reassuring tone of someone who has consistently been considered an underdog, opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado announced that her coalition had gathered more than two-thirds of vote tally sheets from polling centers nationwide, and that they show President Nicolás Maduro had lost his reelection bid.

The tally sheets known as actas — printouts measuring several feet that resemble shopping receipts — have long been considered the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. Opposition members knew they had to obtain as many of them as possible to refute the unfavorable election outcome they expected electoral authorities to announce.

Months of preparations and thousands of volunteers participated in the herculean task.

Their effort earned Maduro and his loyal National Electoral Council global condemnation, including from close regional allies, and fueled the anger of Venezuelans fed up with their nation’s cascading economy. In response, the government called for opposition leaders to be arrested, capping an election season marked by repression and irregularities.

This account of the opposition’s effort is based on public statements, as well as interviews with party representatives, volunteers and others involved, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government retribution.

Discipline

Tens of thousands of volunteers participated in training workshops nationwide in recent months. They learned that under the law they could be inside polling centers on Election Day, stationed near voting machines, from before polls opened until the results had been electronically transmitted to the National Electoral Council in the capital, Caracas.

Organizational discipline was key to their success because the ruling party wields tight control over the voting system. Polling places are guarded by soldiers, civilian militia, police and loyalists of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

On Sunday, officials attempted to block opposition volunteers from voting centers, and in some places, they succeeded. But elsewhere, the volunteers were unshakable, and once inside voting centers, they did not leave, in some cases until after 11 p.m.

“They took courage with their law in hand, with the polling station manual in hand, and they managed to enter,” Machado said Sunday, before the polls closed. She called party representatives and other volunteers “the heroes of this process.”

The 90,000 party representatives were taught to obtain a copy of the tally sheets — printed from electronic voting machines after polls close — before the results were transmitted to the council.

“Our representatives have the right to their tally sheet,” Machado said. “No representative leaves their voting center without the document in hand.”

The volunteers were also trained to use a custom-made app to report voting center irregularities such as opening delays or power outages, and to scan a QR code printed on every tally sheet.

Venezuela Aug 1

US recognizes opposition candidate González as the winner of Venezuela's presidential election

Venezuela Jul 31

Carter Center unable to verify Venezuela election results, blasts officials for lack of transparency

news Jul 30

Protests erupt in Venezuela after Maduro claims victory in disputed election result

The “chorizo”

Venezuelans have used electronic voting machines for about two decades. The machines record votes, provide a paper receipt for each voter and — after polls close — print copies of the tally sheets, whose length has led to the nickname, “chorizo,” or “sausage’ in Spanish.

The tallies show vote totals broken down by candidate, the QR code and the signatures of party representatives, an employee of the electoral body and poll workers who are drawn by lot to participate.

Every party representative is entitled to a tally sheet, while another copy is placed in an envelope and delivered to the National Electoral Council headquarters.

Infighting and disorganization had consistently limited the ability of government opponents to secure and safeguard the tallies in previous elections. But Machado said the opposition had obtained more than 70% of sheets. That number would eventually grow to over 80%.

The QR code scans gave a team of campaign workers immediate access to voting results, which they tabulated Sunday night and Monday.

The National Electoral Council has not yet shared the tallies on its website, which has been down since Monday. While it is not obligated to post images of the tally sheets, it has previously shared each sheet’s totals.

The council on Monday reported that Maduro received 5.1 million votes, while Edmundo González, representing the Unitary Platform opposition coalition, earned more than 4.4 million. Council President Elvis Amoroso on Friday provided updated results from 96.87% of tally sheets, gave Maduro 6.4 million votes and Gonzalez 5.3 million.

Eight other men vied for the presidency, including Enrique Márquez, a former member of the electoral council, who decried the official results and lambasted authorities for the lack of transparency.

“Most of our witnesses … were prevented from accessing the voting centers,” he told reporters. “Those who were able to enter witnessed the process and waited for the tally sheets, but they were not given to them as required by law and its regulations. Not only does it violate the law, it generates obscurity, opacity, lack of transparency.”

The opposition, electoral experts and foreign governments questioning the official results, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, both Maduro allies, who have urged him to make the sheets public.

By bike, motorcycle, car or boat

Securing the “chorizo” from each of the 30,000 voting machines was only half the battle. The campaign needed to get them all fully scanned using equipment especially designed to copy the tally sheets.

That’s when yet more volunteers came into play. If the party representatives did not feel safe or were unable to reach the places where the scanners were housed, volunteers met the representatives, grabbed the sheets and transported them via motorcycle, car, bike and even boat to the appropriate locations.

By the time National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso was shown on television handing Maduro a document certifying his victory, the opposition had scanned more than half of the tally sheets. Hours later, Machado and González stood before reporters and announced the numbers that shook the country: The vote tallies show González received roughly 6.2 million votes versus Maduro’s 2.7 million. The scanned tallies were also uploaded to a searchable website, and anyone who voted could use their government identification number to check out the tally sheet belonging to the machine they used to vote.

The government then claimed that the electoral council’s website had been hacked. National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez insisted Maduro was the indisputable winner and called his opponents violent fascists. He called for Machado and González to be arrested.

Maduro has faced a cascade of criticism ever since. International observers say they were unable to verify the results. Regional allies urged the government to publish the complete vote tallies. On Thursday, the U.S. government congratulated González on his victory.

“At least 12 million Venezuelans peacefully went to the polls and exercised one of the most powerful rights given to people in any democracy: the right to vote,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the processing of those votes and the announcement of results by the Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) were deeply flawed, yielding an announced outcome that does not represent the will of the Venezuelan people.”

The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.

The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TikTok Jul 27

TikTok collected US user views on issues like abortion and gun control, officials say

news Jun 30

Gen Z's shopping decisions are heavily driven by TikTok and influencers, report finds

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.

The U.S. decided to file the lawsuit following an investigation by the FTC that looked into whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.

In 2019, the federal government sued Musical.ly, alleging it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to notify parents about its collection and use of personal information for kids under 13.

That same year, Musical.ly — acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok — agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve those allegations. The two companies were also subject to a court order requiring them to comply with COPPA, which the government says hasn’t happened.

In the complaint, the Justice Department and the FTC allege TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create accounts and retained their personal information without notifying their parents. This practice extends to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok for children under 13, Justice said in a press release explaining the lawsuit.

The two agencies allege the information collected included activities on the app and other identifiers used to build user profiles. They also accuse TikTok of sharing the data with other companies – such as Meta’s Facebook and an analytics company called AppsFlyer – to persuade “Kids Mode” users to be on the platform more, a practice TikTok called “re-targeting less active users.”

The complaint says TikTok also allowed children to create accounts without having to provide their age, or obtain parental approval, by using credentials from third-party services. It classified these as “age unknown” accounts, which the agencies say have grown into millions.

After parents discovered some of their children’s accounts and asked for them to be deleted, federal officials said their requests were not honored. In a press release explaining the lawsuit, Justice said the alleged violations have resulted in millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, allowing them to interact with adults and access adult content.

In March, a person with the matter had told the AP the FTC’s investigation was also looking into whether TikTok violated a portion of federal law that prohibits “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data.

Those allegations were not included in the complaint, which is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief.

The DNC will not make an official announcement of results until Monday evening, when the virtual voting process closes for delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention.

“I will officially accept your nomination next week, once the virtual voting process is closed, but I’m happy to know we have enough delegates to secure the nomination,” Harris said on call with supporters organized by her campaign, where Harrison made the announcement.

Harris would be the first Black woman and first Indian American in American history to secure a major party’s presidential nomination.

Democratic delegates are holding an unusual pre-convention virtual vote in order to finalize their nomination before a ballot access deadline in Ohio next week, which was set before the party’s national convention kicks off in Chicago on Aug. 19. They had been planning to formally select their presidential candidate that way since May, long before Biden withdrew his re-election bid.

Harris is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed her last month. Democrats threw together a new lightning-fast nomination process that allowed other candidates to compete, but no major Democrats threw their hats in the ring and the unknown candidates who submitted nomination papers failed to secure enough support to qualify for the internal ballot.

Virtual voting for the roughly 4,700 delegates to the convention began Thursday morning and is not scheduled to conclude until 6 p.m. ET on Monday. Harris’ campaign says she received more than the 2,350 votes needed to secure the nomination a little over day into the process. Delegates cannot change their votes once cast.

Delegates will hold a “ceremonial and confirmatory” roll vote in-person at the convention, according to the party’s newly adopted rules, but the nomination will be made official once the virtual voting ends next week.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Democrats battle Trump’s efforts to define Harris
• Harris to meet with final vice presidential contenders in the coming days
• Election 2024 live updates: Harris team says it raised $310M in July, more than twice what Trump’s team announced

At the National Association of Black Journalists‘ annual convention in Chicago on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump said inflation and high interest rates are “destroying our country.”

The Republican presidential nominee said if elected, he would “bring interest rates way down.”

“I bring inflation way down, so people can buy bacon again, so people can buy a ham sandwich again, so that people can go to a restaurant and afford it,” he said.

The president, however, exerts no direct control over interest rates. The Federal Reserve sets interest rates, and it operates independently of the White House.

Inflation has been a persistent problem since the Covid-19 pandemic, when price increases soared to their highest levels in more than 40 years. The Federal Reserve — which sets interest rates — responded with a series of rate hikes to effectively pump the brakes on the economy in an effort to get inflation under control.

More from Personal Finance:
Harris: ‘Building up’ middle class is a defining goal
What Kamala Harris’ latest financial disclosure reveals
The Fed sets the stage for a rate cut. What that means for you

Now, recent economic data indicates that inflation is falling back toward the Fed’s 2% target, paving the way for the central bank to lower its benchmark rate for the first time in years. The personal consumption expenditures price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — showed a rise of 2.5% year over year in June. 

The federal funds rate, which sets overnight borrowing costs for banks but also influences consumer borrowing costs, is currently targeted in a range of 5.25% to 5.50%, the result of 11 rate increases between March 2022 and July 2023.

Once that rate comes down, consumers may see their borrowing costs fall as well.

‘A highly consequential year’

At the start of 2024, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference that this was going to be “a highly consequential year for, for the Fed and for monetary policy.”

In the months that followed, signs of economic growth and cooling inflation have laid the groundwork for a widely anticipated rate cut, which is welcome news for Americans struggling to keep up with sky-high interest charges.

After this week’s two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Powell said that central bankers could cut rates as soon as September, if the economic data supports it.

A contentious history

Trump, who nominated Powell to head of the nation’s central bank in 2018, became a fierce critic of the Fed chief and his colleagues, skirting historical precedent while in office by repeatedly and publicly berating the Fed’s decision-making. 

During his tenure in the White House, Trump complained that the central bank maintained a fed funds rate that was too high, making it harder for businesses and consumers to borrow and putting the U.S. at an economic disadvantage to countries with lower rates.

Ultimately, though, Trump’s comments had no impact on the Fed’s benchmark.

“Any chairman is going to remain loyal to the Fed’s mandate over any browbeating from the White House,” said Brett House, economics professor at Columbia Business School. 

Earlier this year, the former president told Fox Business that he would not reappoint Powell to lead the Fed. “I think he’s political,” Trump said. “I think he’s going to do something to probably help the Democrats, I think, if he lowers interest rates.”

Trump also told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview in July that cutting rates just weeks ahead of the presidential election in November is “something that [central bank officials] know they shouldn’t be doing.”

When asked about these comments Wednesday, Powell underscored the Fed’s singular focus on the economy. (The central bank has a few main goals with respect to the economy: to promote maximum employment, keep prices stable and ensure moderate long-term interest rates.) 

“We don’t change anything in our approach to address other factors like the political calendar,” Powell said. “We never use our tools to support or oppose a political party, a politician or any political outcome.”

The central bank is an independent agency that governs decisions about monetary policy without interference from the president or any branch of government. Therefore, it is theoretically free from political pressure.

“The Fed will staunchly defend their independence regardless of who is president,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

The election effect on interest rate policy

In previous presidential election cycles, the Fed has maintained its charted course through the election, whether that was tightening as in 2004, cutting in 2008 or remaining on hold as in 1996, 2012 and 2020, according to a research report by Wells Fargo released in February.

Further, since 1994, the Fed adjusted its policy rate roughly the same number of times in presidential election years as in non-election years, the report said.

A separate research note by Barclays also found “no compelling statistical evidence that Federal Reserve policy is conducted differently during presidential elections.”

“The Fed’s independence will remain paramount,” McBride said. Going forward, “what will influence what the Fed does is what is happening in the broader economy.”

And yet, Fed board members are nominated by the president and must be approved by the Senate. Powell will conclude his second four-year stretch as chair in 2026 — opening the door to a potential change in leadership — and, possibly, the direction of monetary policy — smack in the middle of the next presidential term. 

The Trump campaign did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment. 

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

The U.S. announcement followed calls from multiple governments, including close allies of Maduro, for Venezuela’s National Electoral Council to release detailed vote counts, as it has done during previous elections.

The electoral body declared Maduro the winner Monday, but the main opposition coalition revealed hours later that it had evidence to the contrary in the form of more than two-thirds of the tally sheets that each electronic voting machine printed after polls closed.

“Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Maduro responded with a quick admonishment: “The United States needs to keep its nose out of Venezuela!”

The U.S. government announcement came amid diplomatic efforts to persuade Maduro to release vote tallies from the election and increasing calls for an independent review of the results, according to officials from Brazil and Mexico.

Venezuela elections

Venezuela Jul 31

Carter Center unable to verify Venezuela election results, blasts officials for lack of transparency

Government officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been in constant communication with Maduro’s administration to convince him that he must show the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election and allow impartial verification, a Brazilian government official told The Associated Press Thursday.

The officials have told Venezuela’s government that showing the data is the only way to dispel any doubt about the results, said the Brazilian official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the diplomatic efforts and requested anonymity.

A Mexican official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, confirmed the three governments have been discussing the issue with Venezuela but did not provide details.

Earlier, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he planned to speak with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Gustavo Petro of Colombia.

Later Thursday, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico issued a joint statement calling on Venezuela’s electoral authorities “to move forward expeditiously and publicly release” detailed voting data, but they did not confirm any backroom diplomatic efforts to persuade Maduro’s government to publish the vote tallies.

“The fundamental principle of popular sovereignty must be respected through impartial verification of the results,” they said in the statement.

On Monday, after the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of the election, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets. The government said it arrested hundreds of protesters and Venezuela-based human rights organization Foro Penal said 11 people were killed. Dozens more were arrested the following day, including former a opposition candidate, Freddy Superlano.

Opposition leader Machado — who was barred from running for president — and González addressed a huge rally of their supporters in the capital, Caracas, on Tuesday, but they have not been seen in public since. Later that day, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, called for their arrest, calling them criminals and fascists.

In an op-ed published Thursday in the Wall Street Journal, Machado said she is “hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom, and that of my fellow countrymen.” She reasserted that the opposition has physical evidence that Maduro lost the election and urged the international community to intervene.

“We have voted Mr. Maduro out,” she wrote. “Now it is up to the international community to decide whether to tolerate a demonstrably illegitimate government.”

Government repression over the years has pushed opposition leaders into exile. After the op-ed was published, Machado’s team told the AP that she was “sheltering.” Machado later posted a video on social media calling on supporters to gather Saturday morning across the country.

The González campaign had no comment on the op-ed.

On Wednesday, Maduro asked Venezuela’s highest court to conduct an audit of the election, but that request drew almost immediate criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review.

Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice is closely aligned with Maduro’s government. The court’s justices are nominated by federal officials and ratified by the National Assembly, which is dominated by Maduro sympathizers.

On Thursday, the court accepted Maduro’s request for an audit and ordered him, González and the eight other candidates who participated in the presidential election to appear before the justices Friday.

Asked why electoral authorities have not released detailed vote counts, Maduro said the National Electoral Council has come under attack, including cyberattacks, without elaborating.

The presidents of Colombia and Brazil — both close allies of the Venezuelan government — have urged Maduro to release detailed vote counts.

The Brazilian official said the diplomatic efforts are only intended to promote dialogue among Venezuelan stakeholders to negotiate a solution to the disputed election. The official said this would include the release of voting data and allowing independent verification.

López Obrador said Mexico hopes the will of Venezuela’s people will be respected and that there’s no violence. He added that Mexico expects “that the evidence, the electoral results records, be presented.”

Pressure has been building on the president since the election.

The National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela, has yet to release any results broken down by voting machine, as it did in past elections. It did, however, report that Maduro received 5.1 million votes, versus more than 4.4 million for González. But Machado, the opposition leader, has said vote tallies show González received roughly 6.2 million votes compared with 2.7 million for Maduro.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven crude reserves and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy, but it entered into free fall after Maduro took the helm in 2013. Plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages and hyperinflation that soared past 130,000% led to social unrest and mass emigration.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history.

Mariano indicated that policies paving the way for a professional soccer stadium in Everett and raising the age of juvenile criminal jurisdiction, which made it into the Senate economic development bill but not the House version, are still in play.

“Absolutely, there’s a path for everything that doesn’t have a roll call,” Mariano told the State House News Service, as he and Moran exited the restaurant, Mooo…., and walked toward the State House.

House and Senate negotiators failed to strike a deal on the bond bill — which had featured hundreds of millions of dollars in borrowing for life sciences, climate tech and AI, among other investments — during formal sessions that wrapped earlier Thursday morning.

Mariano, asked about his priority bills to tackle in August, told the State House News Service, “my health care bills, obviously.” The Quincy Democrat earlier Thursday said he had taken the hospital oversight bill and prescription drug bill out of stymied House-Senate negotiations “for the better good.”

Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.

Asked about his priorities for August, Moran said he agreed with Mariano’s comments but added a word of caution.

“But understand that all these things can be stopped by one person,” Moran said. “So some of them are complex policy stuff and any one person can stand up and object, which is why we were trying to get as much as we could done before the deadline last night and this morning.”

The House lead negotiator on the Boston alcohol license bill, Moran signaled an agreement could come soon. The Senate on Monday passed a bill that would give the city 260 new alcoholic beverage licenses targeted mostly at specific Boston neighborhoods, while the House bill passed in May would grant 205 additional licenses.

“We met, we had some good conversations,” Moran said, adding that Senate lead negotiator Sen. Will Brownsberger has expressed “we can get that done.”

“I hope we can,” Moran continued. “We’re very close, if not done with that.”

Moran, who’s also on the maternal health conference committee, said the panel has yet to meet after members were appointed Wednesday. Conferees are still trying to schedule their first gathering, he said.

“We tried numerous times to convene the conference committee over the last 24 hours since it was formed, and we were unsuccessful,” Moran said.

The six contenders are Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

All of them are around the same age as Harris, 59, or younger, and most have already stumped for the vice president on the campaign trail or in media appearances since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

Shapiro met with Harris’ vetting team on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the meeting. The vice president was not present, the source said.

Shapiro canceled fundraisers in the Hamptons this weekend originally scheduled to raise money for his PAC, his press secretary Manuel Bonder confirmed. “His schedule has changed and he is no longer traveling to the Hamptons this weekend,” Bonder said.

Two sources familiar said Kelly met with Harris’ vetting team Tuesday afternoon. Kelly missed at least two votes on the Senate floor on Wednesday between noon and 6 p.m. ET, one source said. His aide said he was “off campus.”

Pennsylvania and Arizona are considered critical battleground states needed to win the Electoral College.

Pritzker sat for two Zoom interviews with Harris’ vetting team, one three-hour session on Monday and a follow-up session on Wednesday that included some questions on policies.

news Aug 1

Kamala Harris has a murky antitrust record. Wall Street sees an opportunity

Donald Trump Jul 31

‘All of a sudden': Trump tells Black journalists in Chicago Kamala Harris ‘turned Black'

news Jul 31

Kamala Harris gets support of more than 100 VCs and tech execs in online pledge

NBC News previously reported the list of candidates who received vetting materials, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but she later made clear she wants to finish her term as governor rather than be Harris’ vice president. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper also withdrew his name from consideration.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Harris told reporters she had “not yet” chosen her running mate, but the decision is expected by next Tuesday when Harris is set to appear with her choice for the first time during a battleground state tour that begins in Philadelphia, a source familiar told NBC News.

A source familiar with the process strongly cautioned against reading too much into the location, saying Philly was chosen in a vacuum apart from Shapiro.

The tour next week also includes visits to western Wisconsin; Detroit; Raleigh, North Carolina; Phoenix; Las Vegas; and Savannah, Georgia.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee’s virtual roll call to nominate Harris for president began Thursday and is expected to end Monday. DNC Chair Jaime Harrison announced Tuesday that only Harris qualified for the ballot and 3,923 delegates petitioned to put her on the ballot for the nomination. The DNC said that Harris secured the support of 99% of participating delegates.

Eric Holder, who served as attorney general under President Barack Obama, is leading the vetting process for Harris as part of his role as senior counsel at Covington & Burling LLP.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Some OB-GYNs aren’t getting abortion training, report finds, while pregnancy complications are on the rise
• Schumer vows Supreme Court reform will be ‘a very big priority’ if Democrats win election
• Vance takes attacks on Harris’ record to the southern border

Harris is poised to be the first Black woman to be a major party’s presidential candidate, and Jackson Lee became one of Congress’ most prominent Black women during nearly three decades representing her Texas district. Jackson Lee helped lead federal efforts to protect women from domestic violence and recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday.

Jackson Lee was 74 when she died on July 19 after being treated for pancreatic cancer. Harris, a former California senator, said in a statement after her death that she was “one of our nation’s fiercest, smartest, and most strategic leaders in the way she thought about how to make progress happen.”

Other prominent figures expected to speak at the service are former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Services for Jackson Lee began on Monday when hundreds of people paid their respects to her as her body lay in state in a flag-draped coffin inside Houston’s City Hall. President Joe Biden placed a bouquet of flowers near her casket and visited with Jackson Lee’s family.

Arva Howard, 72, who was among the hundreds who gathered for Thursday’s service, said Jackson Lee cared deeply for people. “We always knew if we needed something solved, Sheila was the person to go to,” Howard said.

Before the service, Calandrian Simpson Kemp, 53, posed next to a large photo of Jackson Lee in the church’s foyer while holding up a photo of her 20-year-old son, George Kemp Jr., who died from gun violence in 2013. Simpson Kemp said Jackson Lee was a mentor in Simpson Kemp’s efforts to stop gun violence and enact common sense gun laws after her son’s death.

“When I think of Sheila and her legacy, I think about empowerment. I think about the power of one,” Simpson Kemp said. “She never let up for people. She left it all on the battlefield, and I think it’s up to us now to pick up the torch.”

Jackson Lee represented her Houston-based district and the nation’s fourth-largest city since 1995. She previously had breast cancer and announced the pancreatic cancer diagnosis on June 2.

Before being elected to Congress, Jackson Lee served on Houston’s city council from 1990 to 1994.

In Washington, Jackson Lee established herself as a fierce advocate for women and minorities and a leader for House Democrats on many social justice issues, from policing reform to reparations for descendants of enslaved people. She led the first rewrite of the Violence Against Women Act in nearly a decade, which included protections for Native American, transgender and immigrant women.

Jackson Lee, who routinely won reelection to Congress with ease, unsuccessfully ran to be Houston’s mayor last year.

Lawmakers completed work on bills modernizing parentage definitions, reforming veterans services, and borrowing money for housing affordability efforts, but abandoned — for now — work on a whole host of other topics that both lawmakers and Gov. Maura Healey had cited as priorities for the past 18 months.

The collapse of negotiations across a spectrum of topics leaves several priorities in limbo, on life support or effectively dead as most rank-and-file legislators shift their attention to summer vacations and, for the few who face a contested road to reelection, campaign season.

At one point during the home stretch, the Legislature had an even dozen conference committees tasked with hashing out final accords on bills that already passed both chambers. By the time the final gavel rang out Thursday, only three of those panels (parentage, housing bond and veterans services) produced deals, and the others were left idling.

Other bills that had not yet made it to formal talks, like Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s property tax rebalancing plan that cleared the House but not the Senate, face a similarly uncertain fate.

Top House and Senate Democrats said they will try to find paths forward for incomplete bills during the informal sessions that will take place until the next term begins in January. Less controversial measures such as awarding more liquor licenses to Boston and using state savings to compete for federal funds could find success in that span, if negotiators can find agreements.

House Speaker Ron Mariano said he’s “pretty confident” that several health care bills can advance during informal sessions, including a hospital oversight measure pitched as a way to prevent the still-unfolding Steward Health Care crisis from happening again. Mariano said he, himself, decided to take the hospital bill and a Senate-priority prescription drug bill off the table “for the better good.”

Some other ideas could be doomed until supporters restart the process from square one in 2025.

Because legislative rules require roll call votes for bond authorizations, and do not allow roll call votes during informal sessions, the House and Senate are likely blocked from taking up the billions of dollars in bonding that featured in economic development bills.

Healey kicked off debate in March with a $3.5 billion economic development package that featured $2.8 billion in bond authorizations combined with tax credits. The proposal’s marquee investments would reauthorize state investments in the life sciences industry and launch similar support for the nascent climate tech industry.

That effort will now be largely pared back until at least next year because House and Senate Democrats could not agree on an approach. Mariano said lawmakers will try to salvage the remainder of the bill during informal sessions, adding that “obviously, the bonding part of it is a problem.”

“We just couldn’t get any information about the differences in the bonding. There were major differences in what the House wanted to put in. We were in line with the governor,” Mariano told reporters shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday. “The Senate, for the first time in about 20 years, stepped away from the commitment to [life sciences], which is something that we wanted to know why and we didn’t get any answers, so we couldn’t get it to an agreement.”

Minutes later, in their own press availability, Senate President Karen Spilka and Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues defended their approach to the life sciences and biotech industry. They sought fewer years of state dollars than the House and Healey recommended.

“We made significant investments in that area, and we plan to do so again. It’s an industry that we invested a lot to nurture it and have it grow in Massachusetts. It’s now beyond its pubescent stage,” Rodrigues said. “It’s now — it’s not even a child anymore, it’s a mature industry here in Massachusetts. We need to continue to support them to keep them here because there’s lots of competition from around the country.”

Inaction on the economic development bill also leaves uncertain the fate of a proposed professional soccer stadium in Everett, which the Kraft family has been seeking as a potential new home for the New England Revolution.

The Senate led the push this term to clear the way for the stadium development, but the House — which previously backed the idea without Senate buy-in — never got on board.

“I’m committed to continuing to try to find a way to a path forward on this, and in the next few days, we will examine that process and that path,” said Sen. Sal DiDomenico, an Everett Democrat. “I’m not giving up. I’m committed, and I think it’s the right thing for my community, the right thing for my region.”

House and Senate Democrats also failed to agree on whether to deploy their supermajority margins to muscle through annual state budget spending that Healey trimmed, effectively ensuring that her $317 million in budget veto overrides will stand.

The House voted to override more than a dozen vetoes this week totaling tens of millions of dollars, but the Senate never took up the cause, leaving Beacon Hill insiders scratching their heads for most of the overnight stretch.

Shortly after 6 a.m., the Senate’s budget chief revealed he had no plans to pursue veto overrides and thinks the governor made the right call.

“We believe that the governor was very judicious and thoughtful in her vetoes,” Rodrigues said. “We know that we’re going to have some very bad news on the economic front in just the next few days, that July’s [state tax revenue] numbers are going to be very bad. July is a small month, by the way, so it’s concerning for all of us.”

Rodrigues did not specify how much the forthcoming monthly tax revenue report will lag expectations. He said he does not see any need yet to implement additional cost controls or alter the fiscal 2025 consensus tax revenue forecast.

Legislative leaders offered mixed explanations the struggles that punctuated the end of formal lawmaking in the 2023-2024 term. Mariano — and his deputies who spent much of the buildup publicly complaining about the Senate — largely attributed the collapse to the approach senators took.

“We kept talking the entire way on the [ideas] that the other side was willing to engage with. Some of them, there just was no engagement,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chair Aaron Michlewitz. “We kept trying and trying and trying and just ran against brick walls. Eventually, we had to stop running into the brick walls.”

Asked why many big-ticket items fell short of the finish line, Spilka said, “The Senate understands these bills are very complicated.”

“You can make blame, but that gets us nowhere,” she said. “I believe that these are complex bills. They take a lot of time and energy, and I’m proud of the Senate for rolling up their sleeves and working hard.”

Cross-branch rivalry has for decades been a defining feature on Beacon Hill, but recent results point to a deterioration in the working relationship between House and Senate Democrats.

This is now the second straight term that the branches left an economic development package unfinished after the final adjournment on Aug. 1. The final adjournment times of 9:19 a.m. in the House and 9:57 a.m. in the Senate were the second-latest since a 1995 rules reform created the even-year July 31 deadline, trailing only last term's 10:10 a.m. and 10:13 a.m.

Asked what changed in the past four years to cause that trend, Spilka replied, "That's certainly something that we will be taking a look at."

"Working around the clock happened all the time when I first came in in '96, in the late '90s and early 2000s when I was in the House," Rodrigues added. "We would work around the clock during budget week all the time. I think now, we have much less of that happening, and we have different rules as far as how to extend the time now."

"So I think it's gotten better, not worse, over my career," he said.

Mariano defended the Legislature's approach, calling it "just the nature of the business that we're in."

A reporter asked if Mariano thought crafting new laws during the overnight hours was an efficient approach.

"Sure. Why wouldn't it be?" the speaker replied. "Everyone sits across and has an ample opportunity to meet and discuss the priorities in the bill. You get to argue your points to the opposing committee members, and you usually walk away with a solution."

It's not an opinion shared unanimously.

"We may want to look at going back to a one-year session," Sen. Marc Pacheco, the retiring dean of the Senate, told his colleagues on the floor shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday. "I won't be here for that, but it's something that those of you that will may want to consider."

Michael P. Norton and Sam Doran contributed reporting.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

The recount of the election for the seat representing Virginia’s 5th Congressional District comes after elections officials certified that McGuire won by 374 votes out of nearly 63,000 ballots cast, or six-tenths of a percentage point.

Elections officials have said they are confident in the result, but Good filed a recount petition in Goochland Circuit Court, citing apparent voting irregularities in Lynchburg.

Venezuela Jul 27

Why Venezuela's presidential election should matter to the rest of the world

Kamala Harris Jul 27

‘Gen Z feels the Kamalove': Youth-led progressive groups hope Harris will energize young voters

“I think conservatives across the country and the commonwealth want to make sure this result is accurate and reflects the true intent of all the voters in this election,” Good said after a mid-July hearing where the recount was scheduled.

Good was able to seek a recount because McGuire’s victory margin was less than one percent. But his campaign must pay for it since the margin is greater than half a percentage point.

A three-judge panel will oversee the recount, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. and continue until all the ballots are tallied. Chief Judge Claude Worrell II estimated last month that it would cost $96,500, though that amount could change.

Good, who has served in Congress since 2021, was one of eight House Republicans who voted to oust fellow GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker in October.

After Good endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP presidential contest, Trump called him a backstabber and threw his support to McGuire, a former Navy SEAL.

Schumer’s No Kings Act would attempt to invalidate the decision by declaring that presidents are not immune from criminal law and clarifying that Congress, not the Supreme Court, determines to whom federal criminal law is applied.

The court’s conservative majority decided July 1 that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken within their official duties — a decision that threw into doubt the Justice Department’s case against Republican former President Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Schumer, of New York, said that Congress has an obligation and the constitutional authority to check the Supreme Court on its decision.

”Given the dangerous and consequential implications of the court’s ruling, legislation would be the fastest and most efficient method to correcting the grave precedent the Trump ruling presented,” he said.

The Senate bill, which has more than two dozen Democratic cosponsors, comes after Democratic President Joe Biden called on lawmakers earlier this week to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity, along with establishing term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court’s nine justices. Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., recently proposed a constitutional amendment in the House.

US & World

Joe Biden Jul 29

Biden calls for Supreme Court reforms and constitutional limits on presidential immunity

Supreme Court Jul 10

AOC files articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito

news Jul 10

With Chevron reversal, Supreme Court paves way for a ‘legal earthquake'

The Supreme Court’s immunity decision stunned Washington and drew a sharp dissent from the court’s liberal justices warning of the perils to democracy, particularly as Trump seeks a return to the White House.

Trump celebrated the decision as a “BIG WIN” on his social media platform, and Republicans in Congress rallied around him. Without GOP support, Schumer’s bill has little chance of passing in the narrowly divided chamber.

Speaking about Biden’s proposal, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said that Biden’s proposal would “shred the Constitution.”

A constitutional amendment would be even more difficult to pass. Such a resolution takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate, which is highly unlikely at this time of divided government, and ratification by three-fourths of the states. That process could take several years.

Still, Democrats see the proposals as a warning to the court and an effort that will rally their voting base ahead of the presidential election.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump in the November election, said earlier this week the reforms are needed because “there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court.”

The title of Schumer’s bill harkens back to Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent in the case, in which she said that “in every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

The decision “makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of government, that no man is above the law,” Sotomayor said.

In the ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority that “our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of presidential power entitles a former president to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority.”

But Roberts insisted that the president “is not above the law.”

___

Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

While young voter rates are on the rise nationwide, disillusionment and disinterest have caused a slump in Massachusetts — voting experts are hopeful that Harris’ excitement with youth online could change that.

“If there’s one overarching theme in everything I’ve seen since President Biden withdrew from the race, it’s this: young people haven’t been this excited about politics in quite some time,” said Jordan Schwartz, co-chair of the Harvard Votes Challenge.

According to the Tufts’ Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), Massachusetts’ 33.3% turnout rate for young voters in 2018 fell to only 18.5% in 2022, the largest percent change of all 50 states.

Election experts do stress that turnout rates drop across all states and ages during midterms. But even in 2020, Massachusetts youth voted only at 2% higher than the national average, a benchmark the state has a long history of surpassing. 

Experts at CIRCLE emphasized that Gen Z feels a stronger attraction to issues over parties. According to Ruby Belle Booth, a researcher at CIRCLE, “they’re more likely to be independent, and they derive less community and identity from political parties. As an alternative, they’re really motivated by the issues they care about.”

Young voters we spoke to echoed this sentiment, especially in their disappointment with current candidates’ handling of said issues.

More on Decision 2024

Donald Trump Jul 31

Trump says Harris would be ‘like a play toy' to world leaders if elected

news Jul 31

Trump questions if Harris is Black, downplays Vance pick at Black journalists convention

news Jul 31

UAW union endorses Vice President Kamala Harris for president over Trump

“We’re getting a lot of candidates that no one’s excited about, and it’s candidates who actually don’t care about their voters and voter issues,” said Rachel, who was 29 during the last midterm elections. “What’s the appeal of voting for people who aren’t going to represent you?”

Voters also echoed how important social media was to their ability to stay politically informed, and how social media coverage has transformed since the announcement of Harris’ candidacy.

Keenan, a 22-year-old voter in Cambridge, thought Biden’s depiction on social media was “pretty negative, for the most part.” He felt there was a “lack of interest” around Biden, making his impact less powerful than the “news and chaos” that surrounded former President Donald Trump during Gen Z’s coming of age.

But for Harris, her campaign’s social media strategy has “[catered] to young voters in a way we haven’t seen from presidential candidates in the past,” said Julia High, Schwartz’ co-chair of the Harvard Votes Challenge.

“The Harris campaign social media content has been funny and relatable—most importantly, it has made some young voters feel valued,” said High to NBC10 Boston.

The campaign’s page has exploded on Tiktok, gaining over two million followers since their rebrand from @bidenhq two weeks ago. Their videos, from dancing edits to footage of Harris visiting the Rupaul’s Drag Race Werk Room, have spiked to millions of views, peaking at 54.1 million with an edit to Chappell Roan’s Femininomenon.

“I have never seen this much positive political content before on social media. Between the coconut trees, ‘Brat’ themes, and references to all in which we live and what came before, the memes are flying every which way and are oddly optimistic,” Schwartz said. “The Internet has taken a bunch of Vice President Harris’s gaffes and turned them into sources of youthful energy, which is so very refreshing.”

Of course, Harris hasn’t been exempt from Gen Z’s criticism. Young voters made it clear that “there’s still some criticizing, and of course no candidate is ever going to be perfect,” but that “there’s been a new life breathed in” since Harris announced her candidacy.

Researchers urge that it’s still unknown “how reflective” this digital craze will be of the fall 2024 results. “Many [young people] are likely still gathering information on VP Harris, and she has only just begun to make a case for herself to the electorate, including differentiating herself from President Biden,” said Booth.

That said, voting organizers still view the excitement as a source of hope for their efforts in November.

“Our goal will be to keep the enthusiasm of the past few days alive for as long as we can, and if it can carry on through November 5, it may end up being a good year for the youth vote after all,” said Schwartz.

Mary Markos: Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate your time. So let’s get right to it. Steward Health Care is planning to close down two hospitals in Massachusetts. They’re blaming their financial squeeze on inadequate government payments. What do you think about all of this?

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Look, I am so frustrated about what Steward Hospitals is doing, but what I am most frustrated about is Ralph Delatorre is still in charge there. So here we are. We’ve gone into bankruptcy now. This company is now in bankruptcy. And it’s Ralph Delatorre who’s negotiating the deals. It’s Ralph De la Torre who’s deciding which hospital stay open and which ones are closed. It’s Ralph de la Torre who is negotiating with the state and wants to take $30 million from the state and spend it how Ralph de la Torre wants to spend it. And it’s Ralph de la Torre who is not investigating whether or not Ralph de la Torre’s wrongdoings got Steward into this mess and whether or not he should have to disgorge some of the money that he has taken out of this hospital system. I’m just really frustrated that this guy is still in charge. That’s not right.

Markos: Do you think that there needs to be a federal probe into their financial situation?

Warren: Absolutely. I also think there needs to be a trustee running the country company, not Ralph Delatorre.

Markos: Anything else on Steward before I move on to another subject?

Warren: One more thing I’ll just add on Steward — it is really important that the Steward hospitals stay open. They serve communities that need them. This is part of what our hospitals are and why it is that we need to change the laws. So these Wall Street guys, these private equity guys cannot come in and hollow out our hospitals, take $1 billion out of our hospital system and leave nothing behind but a shell that is no longer financially viable. We’ve got to change the laws overall to make sure it doesn’t happen in Massachusetts again and again and again.

Markos: And then on the next subject, Vice President Kamala Harris is sort of challenging Trump to, quote, ‘Say it to my face’ and stick to a debate that he already committed to on September 10th. Do you stand with her on those calls?

Warren: You bet I do. Good for her. You know, this is the thing about Kamala Harris. She has pulled our party together and she is ready to go toe to toe with Donald Trump. And Donald Trump is clearly afraid of that. I think he’s afraid of tough women. He is certainly afraid of a prosecutor. This will be the debate where a convicted felon meets a prosecutor on a stage for all of America to see. And I think that Vice President Harris is right to say, “You agreed to debate the other guy, why won’t you debate me?” She’s going to be the nominee for the Democrats. The Democrats and the Republicans should meet on a national stage here. And I think that Kamala Harris will do a great job. And I think that’s exactly the reason that Donald Trump doesn’t want to meet her.

Markos: Any thoughts on who she should pick for a running mate?

Warren: You know, I look at it this way. She is vice president. She’s had this job for three and a half years and Joe Biden has very much treated her as a partner and somebody he could rely on. He could ask her to do hard jobs, other jobs, things to be done. I think that what she will be looking for is someone that she can rely on as a partner. And I think that’s the right approach and I support her in that.

Markos: Excellent. And then for the next subject, we’re talking about the Hamas political leader who was killed in Iran. I just want to get your reaction and also ask if you’re concerned that this might risk escalating the war in the Middle East.

Warren: Look, I am very, very concerned about escalation. We need to get to a cease-fire. We need to get to the return of the hostages. We need to get to humanitarian relief.  And most of all, we need to push the parties — both parties — toward coming to the negotiating table and working out a solution. And that’s a two-state solution where two different peoples can live side by side with respect, with self-determination and in long-term peace. That’s the direction we’ve got to be moving.

Markos: And then the state’s emergency shelter system has been overwhelmed for months now. The governor just recently added a new change that does not prioritize migrant families in Massachusetts. How do you think that the situation is being handled or could be handled better in the state?

Warren: I want to acknowledge the governor is doing her best with very limited resources. And she’s trying to find the most humane and the most effective way to distribute those and to provide the support that’s needed. What I’m trying to do from the federal level is speed up work permits so that more migrants who are here can go out and do jobs that people in Massachusetts want them to do. We’ve got employers who are saying, I’d like to be able to hire this person in my restaurant. I’d like to be able to hire this person to help clean in my office building and migrants who want to be able to do that work and support themselves. But right now, under federal law, there are restrictions on their ability to do that. I’ve been trying to speed up those work permits so more people can get to work.

Second thing that we need to do at the federal level is that we need to get more resources into the states that are supporting migrants. You know, we were negotiating a deal on that. And unfortunately, two days before it was to be voted on in the United States Senate, Donald Trump told all of the Republicans who had negotiated the deal who supported the deal — my view was the deal was still missing Some important elements — but all of the Republicans who had built this deal and helped negotiate it. Donald Trump, two days before we’re going to vote on it, blew the whistle and told them all to vote no because he wanted chaos at the border. He wanted chaos in our cities because he thought it was going to help him in a reelection campaign. So this is someone who just put himself above the good of our country. We need a long-term solution on immigration and the way we’re going to do that is through Congress. The power of the president is limited. Congress really needs to work. And it’s more resources at the border. It’s more resources in the states that are supporting. And it’s a pathway to citizenship for our Dreamers, for people who serve in our military, for the essential workers who helped us out during COVID. That comprehensive package is something that I know Vice President Harris wants and that she is willing to work with Congress on so for me, everything That’s going on right now is about let’s get Vice President Harris and a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate and negotiate a real immigration package, rather than Donald Trump, who just wants more chaos.

Markos: And I want to touch on the pension cuts, too, that saved pensions for about 72,000 teamsters across New England. What’s your reaction?

Warren: So I am just over the moon about the fact that President Biden has now made sure that the New England pension fund has the resources it needs so that our so that Teamsters, when they reach retirement, can retire with dignity and so that their spouses will be protected in their retirement years. You know, I just want to remind you about the background of this. The Teamsters — for decades when Teamsters did work – they contributed to their pension funds. They did everything on the up and up. And then they got drawn in by the hedge funds and Wall Street banks. And during the crash In 2008, it took down the Teamsters pension fund. And they’ve been struggling ever since.

This is something, by the way, that Vice President Harris and I originally worked on coming out of the crash of 2008. She was attorney general of California. I was setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as we were trying to push back against these giant banks.

Finally, three years ago with President Biden in the White House, the Biden-Harris Administration leading us and Democratic Control in the House and in the Senate, we were able to pass a bill that put money and made it available for the Teamsters pension funds.

Every single Republican voted against it, but the Democrats felt that this is something our nation should do, so that Teamsters would have the opportunity to retire with dignity. Other pension funds got help from other sources through the years this one was still left behind and the gap was enormous. And this is a time for the United States government to step up on behalf of hardworking people who did nothing wrong. So I’m celebrating today. I wish the Republicans had been willing to join us on this, but we had enough Democrats to get it done by ourselves and to support our Teamsters.

Markos: And I know you have to run, but did you want to touch on Biden’s recent guidance on SCOTUS before you go?

Warren: Yes, I think when the president spoke last week to the nation explaining why he had stepped inside, he was telling us two things. The first one is why it was important for him to pass the torch because it was more important to keep someone like Donald Trump out of the White House than his own personal ambition — the president’s personal ambition. And I know he’s very worried about Donald Trump, who has said he wants to be dictator for a day and who talks about his love for other dictators around the world.

But the second thing the president was also saying to us is the Supreme Court is now out of control. They don’t follow basic ethics rules. They take gifts from people who’ve have cases in front of them and they’re no longer following the law and the Constitution. So this Extremist Supreme Court is the one that overturned Roe versus Wade. After those justices all swore that were going to respect precedent, current law, but it’s also the Supreme Court that said, “Sure, the president can be a king and won’t be bound by the same laws that bind everyone else.”

It’s also the Supreme Court that said, “No, we don’t think Congress should decide, for example, that the Environmental Protection Agency should be making sure that your children are breathing clean air.” They think that should be left to the courts to decide what the agencies can and cannot do. And what the president was saying is this: “The Supreme Court is no longer in the constitutional balance between the courts, Congress and the president. And we need to make some changes in the law and the changes he’s asked for – one is around ethics. Good. The other one is more fairness around the Supreme Court Justices. He basically said put term limits. And every time somebody gets elected to be president, they’ll basically get two nominees to the Supreme Court. And that’ll be true whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. But it’ll get some balance back into this court. And I think that’s President Biden saying to our nation there are two things that need to be done to save our democracy. And a reminder that come November 5^th who is president will certainly be on the ballot, but what happens in the Supreme Court, in effect, will be on the ballot right along with them.

Markos: Thank you so much, Senator. I really appreciate your time.

Warren: Thank you for having me.

“Senators are furiously at work,” said Sen. Julian Cyr.

“It’s very important, there’s a lot of things pending,” said Rep. Steven Xiarhos.

More than 15 high-profile bills are on the legislature’s agenda, including housing, healthcare, climate, economic development and liquor licenses.

Also caught up in the last-minute talks is Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s plan to temporarily shift property tax onto commercial buildings to ease the strain on everyday homeowners.

“We’re working with our Boston delegation of senators who understand the importance of this and need to make sure they get the support of all their statewide colleagues to pass something that is specific to one city,” said Wu.

But even as the plan passes out of the House, concerns remain on the Senate side.

“We haven’t debated, discussed nor even seen the bill,” said Senate President Karen Spilka.

“It needs to be properly understood and it shouldn’t be moving through the legislature on the last day of session,” said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr.

That was just one of many debates playing out as the session winds down.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces we’re still working on non-stop and I’m confident we’ll get many of them over the finish line,” said Chairman of Senate Ways and Means Committee Michael Rodrigues.

Formal sessions end on August 1, with the final moments expected to stretch into the wee hours of the morning.

In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, some of which aired Tuesday, Trump — who has a long history of making derogatory comments about female opponents — said: “She’ll be so easy for them. She’ll be like a play toy.”

He added, “They look at her and they say we can’t believe we got so lucky. They’re gonna walk all over her.”

Looking directly into the camera, Trump said, “I don’t want to say as to why, but a lot of people understand it.”

The former president has repeatedly attacked women who have criticized him by mocking their appearances and insulting their character. During the 2016 Republican presidential cycle, he called Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, a “nasty woman” — an insult that her supporters turned into a feminist rallying cry — and “unhinged.” Trump also poked fun at his Republican primary rival Carly Fiorina’s face on television and shared an unflattering photo of Sen. Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi Cruz, on Twitter.

Trump has lobbed personal attacks and unflattering nicknames on his male opponents, but the attacks on his female rivals are often gender-based. He has referred to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “crazy,” adult film actress Stormy Daniels as “horse face,” and his 2024 primary rival Nikki Haley as “birdbrain.”

Trump and his allies have pummeled Harris with attacks on her race and gender since she jumped into the presidential race, calling her “crazy” and a “DEI vice president.” They have also made fun of Harris’ laugh and called her “dumb as a rock.” On Wednesday alone, Trump referred to the vice president as “Crazy Kamala” at least five times on his Truth Social website.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump was not referring to Harris’ race or gender in the Ingraham interview and slammed Harris on her record on immigration.

“She is weak, dishonest and dangerously liberal, and that’s why the American people will reject her on November 5th,” Leavitt said in a statement.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance — who is facing backlash himself over comments he made in 2021 about “childless cat ladies” leading the country — repeatedly used the word “weak” during a speech in Nevada on Tuesday when describing Harris’ leadership.

“Of all of Kamala Harris’ faults, the worst of all is that she left America weak and vulnerable,” Vance said. “The entire world now knows that she helped cover up Joe Biden’s declining mental capacity for years.”

But he told NBC News that there’s no “particular effort to tag her as weak.” Vance added, “If there’s a particular label we want the American people to be aware of, it’s that she’s an ultra-liberal.”

NBC News’ Henry J. Gomez and Jillian Frankel contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Hamas chief’s killing raises prospect of regional war
• Trump stuns at Black journalists’ conference after suggesting Kamala Harris ‘became Black’
• Fed holds interest rates but keeps door open to a cut in coming months

Journalism organizations for people of color traditionally invite presidential candidates to address their summer gatherings during election years. But Trump’s acceptance of NABJ’s invitation has led at least one high-profile group member to step down as a convention co-chair and others to argue their convention may become a platform for Trump to make false claims or be seen as winning NABJ’s endorsement.

Trump will be interviewed at 12 p.m. CDT Wednesday in Chicago by three reporters: Kadia Goba of Semafor, Rachel Scott of ABC News and Harris Faulkner of Fox News. Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee and first Black woman to hold her office, is not currently scheduled to address the convention. A person familiar with her schedule, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Harris campaign was unable to find a time to appear at NABJ in person and claimed the organization turned down an offer for her to appear virtually.

The debate over NABJ’s invite reflects how many journalists are still grappling with how to approach Trump nearly a decade after his first presidential run. Some group members argued journalists should allow newsmakers to be heard, while others pointed to Trump’s demeaning of prominent Black journalists while president and his frequent attacks on the free press, including labeling reporters “the enemy of the people.”

US & World

news Jul 30

Harris directly challenges Trump to debate: ‘Say it to my face'

Decision 2024 Jul 31

Vance discusses his rocky debut and what role he wants to play as Trump's VP

news Jul 30

Trump address to Black journalist convention prompts co-chair Karen Attiah to quit

Trump and NABJ also have a tense history over his treatment of Black women journalists. In 2018, NABJ condemned Trump for repeatedly using words such as “stupid,” “loser” and “nasty” to describe Black women journalists including several Black journalists such as Yamiche Alcindor of NBC News; Abby Phillip of CNN; and April Ryan of The Grio.

“The most powerful man in the free world is verbally abusing journalists,” said then-NABJ President Sarah Glover. “His dismissive comments toward journalists April Ryan, Abby Phillip and Yamiche Alcindor are appalling, irresponsible, and should be denounced.”

When Trump told Alcindor “don’t be threatening” during a 2020 press conference, then-NABJ President Dorothy Tucker condemned the remarks as “not only unnecessary but demeaning and inappropriate.”

Former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have all attended NABJ. President Biden attended a virtual NABJ panel during his 2020 run for president where he received criticism for saying: “Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community.”

But for many NABJ members, the decision to host Trump polarizes the organization and threatens the convention’s ethos, which aspires to safeguard and advance Black journalists.

“I understand that the job should put us in tough situations if we’re doing it in a meaningful way,” wrote Tyler J. Davis, an NABJ member and freelance journalist, in The TRiiBE, a local Chicago Black news outlet.

“But this isn’t a story assignment or a news conference or a newsroom. NABJ is a place of learning, networking and feeling supported. It’s a space for Black folks to feel safe and celebrated; for Black media, specifically, to feel safe and celebrated,” Davis wrote.

In the News

news Jul 29

Trump's FBI victim interview on assassination attempt will be Thursday, he says

news Jul 29

Biden rolls out plan to overhaul the Supreme Court

Donald Trump Jul 26

FBI confirms that a bullet struck Trump's ear during assassination attempt

Ken Lemon, president of NABJ, insisted that the invitation was “absolutely not an endorsement.”

“We invited both of them, we got a yes from one of them,” Lemon said. “We’d love to get a yes from Kamala as well, but in this case this is an important hour.”

Lemon added that the event would be a “great opportunity for us to vet the candidate right here on our ground” and added that the association had worked with both campaigns for “probably for more than a month” and each had given “the inclination that both were interested in being a part of what we’re doing.”

Yet, Lemon and other leaders at NABJ have faced internal backlash and calls to resign since Trump’s appearance was announced.

Karen Attiah, a global opinions columnist for The Washington Post, stepped down as the co-chair of the 2024 convention in the wake of the announcement of Trump’s appearance.

“To the journalists interviewing Trump, I wish them the best of luck,” Attiah wrote on social media. “While my decision was influenced by a variety of factors, I was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format,” she continued.

Some industry leaders pushed back on the claim that Black journalists should not take opportunities to interview Trump, noting that any opportunity to hold powerful figures to account should not be wasted and that NABJ as a forum is especially suited to that mission.

“To suggest they not interview a Presidential candidate on issues relevant to the organization’s constituency is outrageous,” Rana Cash, the executive editor of the Charlotte Observer and an NABJ member, wrote on X.

___

Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.

“No,” Vance, R-Ohio, said in an interview aboard his campaign plane en route to a rally here Tuesday. “I mean, I knew that when I came out of the gate there was going to be a couple of days of positive media coverage and then immediately they would go and attack me over everything that I had ever said in my life.”

Vance has faced relentless criticism from allies of Vice President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic presidential nominee, for his 2021 comments questioning the societal value of women who don’t have children and referring to them as “childless cat ladies.” Harris’ campaign over the last week has tried to brand Vance and his political point of view as “weird.” Trump has stood by Vance.

“The price of entry of being on the national ticket and giving me an opportunity to govern is you have to … take the shots, and so I sort of expected it,” Vance said. “I think that, frankly, the people who’ve made a lot of money and acquired a lot of power screwing the country up are not going to go easily.”

Vance is in the midst of a big Western swing that includes California fundraisers, traditional campaign rallies and a visit Thursday morning to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. With his wife, Usha, seated next to him at the front of their chartered 737, Trump Force Two, Vance discussed the early days of his vice presidential campaign, as well as what he hopes to accomplish if the GOP ticket wins this fall.

“My attitude is I want to be a good public servant,” Vance said when he was asked what particular policy areas he would carve out for himself. “I’ll help out wherever I’m asked to help out. Certainly, I’d love to be given some influence over our border policy, and I’d basically do the exact opposite of what Kamala Harris did.” 

This week’s trip is a bit of a reboot meant to sharpen Vance’s role as an attack dog against Harris, whom President Joe Biden endorsed as his successor when he ended his re-election bid days after Vance accepted the Republican nomination for vice president. While Harris backers have tried to define Vance as weird, Vance tried Tuesday to define Harris as weak — particularly on immigration and border security.

“It all starts with strength — strong borders, strong families, a strong economy and a strong president,” Vance said in an afternoon speech at a high school in Henderson, Nevada, near Las Vegas. “Of all of Kamala Harris’ faults, the worst of all is that she left America weak and vulnerable. The entire world now knows that she helped cover up Joe Biden’s declining mental capacity for years.”

“Our adversaries,” Vance added, “are licking their chops and the world is in disarray because of weak American leadership.”

Asked aboard his plane whether the weird vs. weak contrast was intentional, Vance described it as more of a coincidence.

“I wouldn’t say there’s some particular effort to tag her as weak,” he said. “If there’s a particular label we want the American people to be aware of, it’s that she’s an ultra-liberal.”

Aside from border issues, Vance said he could see himself in the Trump administration as a spokesperson on combating drug abuse. His mother, Beverly Aikins, is nearly 10 years sober after having battled addiction — a struggle he wrote about in his best-selling 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and talked about in his speech at this month’s Republican National Convention. On the plane, Vance mentioned that he attends Narcotics Anonymous meetings with his mother “fairly frequently” to support her.

“One of the largest providers of medical care for people who have substance abuse disorder is Medicare,” Vance said. “And another big one is Medicaid, right? So the federal government has a huge role to play, I think, in solving or at least addressing the substance abuse problem. I think one of the roles that I can play is just a basic leadership role and remind people that there is hope on the other side of addiction — there is recovery.”

Vance then connected the issue back to a central issue in his recent speeches: the border.

“For people to get second chances, they have to not die when they’re at the bottom of the addiction crisis, and the best way to solve that problem is to prevent the worst poison from coming into our streets in the first place,” he said, blaming Mexican drug cartels. “And if there’s an attitude shift that I’ve seen over the last five years, the last three years, it’s that there’s so much fentanyl out there, and everything is laced with fentanyl, that the consequence of falling off the wagon could very well be death, right? There’s a sense of fear in the addiction recovery space that I didn’t notice five years ago.” 

Vance got enthusiastic receptions in Henderson and Reno. At the first stop, after he noted that he will turn 40 on Friday, the crowd broke into a rendition of “Happy Birthday.” He also has reinforcements on this trip. Jason Miller, a senior adviser on the Trump campaign, and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., were among those traveling with him Tuesday.

“I’m here today because of the nasty attacks on JD Vance claiming that he’s anti-woman,” Luna said from the stage in Henderson. “Can you believe that? This is, mind you, by the same party that can’t define what a woman is.”

Speaking with reporters afterward, Luna, who traveled on Vance’s plane, said no one asked her to make the trip. 

“It was actually me,” she said. “I was like, you know, I have some things to say. So I kind of invited myself. But they’re happy to have me.”

On the plane, Vance stood by his old comments about childless women, which at the time he applied specifically to Harris, a stepmother of two, and other Democrats. Vance also said at the time that the criticism didn’t extend to women who have trouble conceiving. 

“What I was criticizing and continue to criticize is a particular neurosis in American leadership that I think leads people to say crazy things, like you shouldn’t have children because climate change is a threat to the future,” Vance said Tuesday. “Climate change may very well be a problem, but it is not a problem that should motivate people to not have families. And I think that attitude is quite damaging. It’s quite destructive.

“I’ll keep on calling it out, even though I’m sure that Democrats will misrepresent what I say,” he added. “I just think that the substance of what I said is actually quite defensible.” 

Vance, who remarked last week that he was “pissed off” that he would no longer face Harris in a vice presidential debate, said he had no particular preference for a new opponent.

“I don’t really care,” Vance said. “I think that obviously different guys — and they’re all guys, I guess, except for [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer, but I don’t feel like she has a good chance — they all present different strengths and different weaknesses. My attitude is I have a job, but it’s to persuade as many people to vote for us as possible. And I’m going to have that same job whoever the Democrats nominate.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Harris rebuts Trump attacks on immigration and border security at Georgia rally
• Merrick Garland: It’s ‘extremely alarming’ shooter was able to get that close to Trump
• Project 2025 winding down policy work following criticism from Trump

The two governors were demonstrating a time-honored tradition in presidential campaigns: Summertime auditions from vice presidential contenders who walk the line between open self-promotion and loyal advocacy for the potential boss.

Vice President Harris, the likely Democratic nominee, appears intent on making a choice that she’s comfortable with personally and that can expand her electoral appeal. Her campaign has been vetting about a dozen potential running mates, according to people familiar with the search process. Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly are seen as among the front-runners, according to the people.

Harris advisers, led by former Attorney General Eric Holder, have been combing through reams of paperwork submitted by potential running mates, while the candidate herself is holding personal conversations with the finalists, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Harris, according to another person familiar with the matter, is seeking someone with executive experience who can also serve as a governing partner. Notions of a so-called short list have not stopped those on the Democrats’ broader national bench from finding the spotlight.

US & World

news Jul 30

Shapiro backs ‘aggressive' corporate tax cuts in Pennsylvania as Harris campaign vets him for VP

news Jul 29

Harris VP short list stacked with contenders who can raise big money

Decision 2024 Jul 30

Democrats had feared Georgia was a lost cause with Biden running. Harris will campaign there Tuesday

“I’m not going to talk about the interactions I’ve had with the campaign,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared recently on MSNBC. He added, though: “Let’s just say I’m aware that the vetting process is quite an in depth one.” Then he listed his accomplishments, offering that he was the only Midwestern governor to raise his state minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, once held out as an ideal nominee if Biden bailed out, has said, more or less, that she’s not a contender. But she appeared Monday with Shapiro in Pennsylvania and mused on MSNBC last week that “two women on the ticket would be exciting.”

Harris would be the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as president. Many Democrats have argued she should balance her ticket both demographically and politically.

Dems’ VP list has notable differences

Shapiro, 51, is among the most popular U.S. governors, winning his 2022 election in a rout over a Trump-endorsed Republican. He’s an outspoken supporter of abortion rights who has won three statewide elections in Pennsylvania. His speaking style draws comparisons to former President Barack Obama. But he has taken flak from the left for his support for Israel’s war on Hamas, a private school voucher program and natural gas infrastructure.

His allies argue that he would help Harris win Pennsylvania, complicating if not blocking Republican Donald Trump’s path to an Electoral College majority.

Like all contenders, Shapiro sidesteps questions about the vetting process and stresses Harris should not be pressured. But he’s mentioned more than once that he’s known her for nearly two decades.

Beshear stands out in a heavily Republican state. During his weekend stop in Georgia, he talked of winning votes in “tough counties” but emphasized liberal bona fides: “I am a proud pro-union governor. I am a proud pro-choice governor. I am a proud public education governor. I am a proud pro-diversity governor.”

Closest in age to JD Vance among the Democrats’ possibilities, Beshear openly mocks Trump’s understudy for presenting himself as a son of Appalachia. “I mean, there’s a county that JD Vance says he’s from in Kentucky – and I won it by 22 points last November,” he said.

Back home in Frankfort recently, Beshear played down the importance of being from a battleground, saying, “About every successful ticket going back to 2000 did not have someone in a swing state.”

Of course, sometimes the spotlight can produce mistakes. Twice in Georgia, Beshear mispronounced Harris’ first name as “Kah-MAH-lah,” rather than the correct “KAH-mah-lah.”

Beshear and Shapiro were both state attorneys general, like Harris, before becoming governors. But their tenures did not overlap considerably with Harris’ service in California. She worked more closely with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper during his days as an attorney general, but Cooper on Monday said he had opted not to be considered for vice president.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, 60, is a favorite of some progressives. He brings an atypical national political resume: He was a non-commissioned Army officer, public school teacher and state high school championship football coach before entering politics. Before being elected governor, he was one of the last white Democrats in Congress to represent a mostly rural, small-town House district — a notable juxtaposition for Harris, the Bay Area Californian.

“She will make the best choice she’s going to,” Walz said Sunday on CNN, a day after Trump held a mass rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota. “One way or another, she is going to win in November, and that’s going to benefit everyone,” Walz said, including “a lot of those folks who were out in St. Cloud with the (former) president.”

Kelly, 60, is the only top contender in Congress. He boasts an impressive military resume and experience as an astronaut. He has strong Latino support locally and solid relationships with Arizona officials along the U.S.-Mexico border. That balance could give him credibility on immigration policy as Republicans frame high numbers of migrant border crossings as a national crisis.

But Kelly has had to shore up his credentials with labor, a key Democratic faction. Kelly changed his position on union-backed legislation known as the PRO Act, which would make it easier to organize workers. He was one of just a handful of Democrats who didn’t co-sponsor the bill, saying at the time he supported the goals but had concerns. Following opposition from labor leaders, Kelly said this month he would vote for the bill if it came up for a vote.

Everyone has an opinion

Harris is expected to announce her pick in time for Democratic delegates to ratify her decision in a virtual nominating vote that could conclude by Aug. 7. Whatever her timetable, the media and campaign circuit is allowing plenty of Democrats additional time in the spotlight.

In the meantime, everyone seems to have an opinion.

Steven Benjamin, the White House director of public engagement, laughed as he told reporters on Air Force One on Monday that his office has received thousands of recommendations from around the country.

Donna Brazile, who managed Democrat Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000 and was instrumental in urging Biden to pick Harris in 2020, said the selection process involves “a lot of noise” that underplays the complexity of the decision.

“The most important stage is what the lawyers will do to you,” she said, with a laugh and emphasizing the seriousness. “It’s worse than a dental hygiene check. … Before you get to suitability and other factors, before it gets to political people like me, they’ve done a forensic examination of your life.”

___

Barrow reported from Cumming, Georgia. Associated Press reporters Zeke Miller in Washington, Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky; Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix; and Colleen Long aboard Air Force One contributed.

But now that Biden has bowed out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris is the likely nominee, Democrats say they have new hope for the state. They’re betting that a fresh burst of energy and a surge in fundraising has helped make Georgia — the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020 — a toss-up again.

Harris is planning to make a show of political force with a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday night that will feature a performance by hip hop star Megan Thee Stallion, the latest example of just how much the race against Republican Donald Trump has shifted since Biden abandoned his reelection bid. She will be appearing in the same city where Biden’s dismal performance in a debate against Trump on June 27 sparked a Democratic revolt that ultimately ended his campaign.

Harris is hoping a large rally will help affirm her campaign’s momentum. Her campaign argues that Harris’ appeal with young people, working-age women and non-white voters have scrambled the dynamics in Georgia and other states that are demographically similar, from North Carolina to Nevada and Arizona.

“The energy is infectious,” said Georgia Democratic Chairwoman Nikema Williams, a congresswoman from Atlanta. “My phone has been blowing up. People want to be part of this movement.”

US & World

news Jul 29

Trump wavers on Harris debate, says he could ‘make a case' for skipping

Decision 2024 Jul 29

North Caroline Gov. Cooper opted out of Harris VP vetting, in part over worry about GOP lieutenant: AP sources

Kamala Harris Jul 29

More than 90,000 ‘White Dudes for Harris' sign up for call with potential VP picks

In a strategy memo released after the president left the race, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, who held the same role for Biden, reaffirmed the importance of winning Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, a trio of industrial states that have formed the traditional Democratic blue wall.

But she also argued that the vice president’s place atop the ticket “opens up additional persuadable voters” and described them as “disproportionately Black, Latino and under 30” in places like Georgia.

Republicans, who still control Georgia’s state government, counter that Biden’s lagging popularity and concern over higher consumer prices and immigration will transfer to Harris in the historically conservative state.

But they concede that the landscape suddenly looks much closer to 2020 – when Biden won by about 0.25 percentage points — than when Trump was riding high after the Republican National Convention and surviving an assassination attempt.

“Trump was going to win Georgia. It was over,” said Republican consultant Brian Robinson. “The Democrats have a chance here for a reset.”

Robinson said Harris still has plenty of liabilities, including the progressive positions she took in her failed 2020 primary campaign and her various rhetorical stumbles. But he said Harris so far in this campaign has been “in command,” and if that continues “we have a new ballgame and she will be competitive in Georgia.”

In the News

Kamala Harris Jul 28

A manipulated video shared by Elon Musk mimics Kamala Harris' voice, raising concerns about AI in politics

Decision 2024 Jul 29

Harris quickly pivots to convincing Arab American voters of her leadership

Kamala Harris Jul 28

Doug Emhoff would become the country's first first gentleman if Kamala Harris wins the presidency

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt did not give similar ground. She dismissed Harris as “just as weak, failed and incompetent as Joe Biden” and said the vice president would have to explain her support of Biden administration policies that “hurt working families in Georgia over the past four years.”

The Harris campaign and Georgia Democratic officials have 24 offices across the state, including two added last weekend in metro Atlanta. Trump and the Republican National Committee opened their first Georgia offices only recently.

Democrats are betting that a combination of high turnout among traditional, core Democratic constituencies, as well as a strong showing in the suburbs and small pickups elsewhere can be enough for Harris to carry Georgia. That approach was on display at the weekend office openings.

On Saturday, the venue was East Point, a majority Black municipality and Democratic stronghold south of Atlanta. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., was the featured guest, telling a crowd of mostly Black women that they were the key to victory — “the people who are really going to save the country.”

A day later, it was Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, among several contenders Harris is considering for her running mate, campaigning in Forsyth County. The area is historically very conservative, though Democrats have narrowed the GOP margins in recent cycles.

“Every county matters,” Beshear said, holding out his ability to win two governor’s races in Kentucky despite Trump’s domination of the state in presidential elections.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said in a recent interview that the best GOP campaigns can win comfortably in Georgia but bad efforts — combined with strong Democratic campaigns — lose.

Democrats recently have held wide advantages in the core of metro Atlanta, where Jayapal spoke. The party also performed well in Columbus and Savannah, as well as some rural, majority-Black counties. But Republicans dominated in other rural areas and small towns and cities –- where Trump has held multiple rallies in recent years.

The fast-growing, diversifying Atlanta suburbs and exurbs, like those where Beshear campaigned on Sunday, offer the most opportunity for swings, especially from GOP-leaning moderates disenchanted with Trump.

For Harris, that means depending on voters as varied as Michael Sleister, a white suburbanite, and Allen Smith, a Black man who lives not far from downtown Atlanta.

Sleister, who considers himself an independent, has lived in Forsyth County for 35 years. “I’ve voted Republican many times in my life,” he said, but not since the GOP took a rightward turn during President Barack Obama’s administration.

“Now I see the Republican Party as representing a direct threat to my grandchildren,” he said, adding that he sees Trump “as just a horrible person.”

Smith is a 41-year-old Atlanta native who has become a first-time campaign volunteer since Harris became the likely nominee.

“I was driving when I heard the news about President Biden endorsing her, and I started pounding my fist — I decided right then I would do whatever I could to help her get elected,” Smith said.

And Arizona’s position on the front lines of fights and conspiracy theories about election results over the last four years will take center stage once again, as a top election official in Arizona’s largest county faces a primary after having defended it from critics since 2020.

Here’s what to watch for after the polls close at 10 p.m. ET Tuesday.Setting up a critical Senate race

Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running uncontested in his primary, will officially learn his general election opponent — though he and GOP front-runner Kari Lake have been sparring for months under the assumption she will be her party’s nominee. 

Lake, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, has steadfastly refused to mention her nearest Republican rival, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, on the stump. When she was questioned about whether she would be open to debating Lamb in March, Lake said: “I am focusing on the general election. We feel very confident in what those poll numbers look like.” 

The closest the two came to a formal debate was on May 23, when Lake and Lamb both participated in a virtual forum and Lake, an election denier, ripped on him for not sharing her unfounded theories. 

“He’s a total coward when it comes to election integrity,” Lake said of Lamb’s refusal to reject the results of the election in 2020, when Joe Biden defeated Trump in Arizona and nationally.

“I don’t think Joe Biden got 81 million votes,” Lamb said at the forum. “But I don’t live in the world of feelings and thoughts. I live in the world of evidence, what you can prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt.” 

While Lake is the heavy favorite in the primary, having outraised Lamb and snagged big-name endorsements from Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Vivek Ramaswamy and more, some in the Arizona Republican establishment have expressed skepticism that her firebrand style will be successful in a general election. She narrowly lost the governor’s race in 2022.

Republican former Gov. Jan Brewer was complimentary of Lamb in an interview with KSAZ-TV of Phoenix this summer. Talking about Lake, Brewer had less favorable things to say: “There’s a lot of people that are unhappy with her. They don’t think that she is a truth teller and that she has changed her opinion on certain things. She goes to different rallies, she says different things to different audiences.”

Looking ahead to November, Gallego launched his Latino campaign coalition, Juntos con Gallego, on Monday. Speaking afterward, he agreed to debate Lake should she clinch the GOP primary. 

“Unlike her, where she didn’t debate her opponent, we will gladly debate Kari Lake,” he said.

While Lake refuses to utter Lamb’s name, she has choice words for Gallego at every campaign stop, rotating insults from “swamp rat” to “deadbeat.” 

A battle over who’s more loved by Trump

One of the most closely watched GOP primaries of the election features a battle between a pair of Trump acolytes who have both made him the most prominent feature of their campaigns in the 8th Congressional District.

Blake Masters, a financier who lost his 2022 Senate bid, and Abraham Hamadeh, who lost his 2022 race for state attorney general by just 280 votes (and has made unfounded claims that the race was stolen a centerpiece of his current campaign), are the front-runners in a race crowded with several other well-known Republicans. Also running are state House Speaker Ben Toma; former Rep. Trent Franks, who served in Congress for 16 years before he abruptly resigned in 2017, acknowledging at the time that he discussed surrogacy with two former female staffers; and state Sen. Anthony Kern, who was among 18 Trump aides and allies whom an Arizona grand jury indicted in April for their roles in the effort to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.

Hamadeh and Masters have been duking it out over who remains closer to Trump. Hamadeh won Trump’s endorsement in December, though Masters had for months touted that he had won Trump’s backing during his failed 2022 Senate bid. In an unusual move, Trump recast his endorsement in this year’s primary to throw support to both of them. Masters, like Vance, won major financial support from tech billionaire Peter Thiel in 2022.

The 8th District — in the northwest valley of the metropolitan Phoenix area with an older, retired population and a large chunk of evangelical Christians — is solidly Republican. Tuesday’s winner is all but certain to defeat likely Democratic nominee Greg Whitten in November.

Two of the closest House battlegrounds in the country

Former state Sen. Kirsten Engel is running uncontested in the Democratic primary in the swing 6th District, which covers a large chunk of the southeastern part of the state, including Tucson.

The race for the seat — currently held by Republican Juan Ciscomani, who is in his first term — is considered a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. It is one of two toss-ups in Arizona, which could help decide control of the tightly divided House.

The match-up would be a repeat of the race in 2022, when Ciscomani defeated Engel by less than 2 percentage points.

Meanwhile, GOP Rep. David Schweikert is a heavy favorite in his primary against lesser-known and lesser-funded candidates in the 1st District. But across the aisle, the Democratic primary is tight, with six candidates in contention.

Locked in battle for the Democratic nomination for the seat Schweikert barely held in 2022 are Andrei Cherny, a businessman and former chair of the Arizona Democratic Party who previously ran for Congress; Amish Shah, a former member of the state House; Conor O’Callaghan, a businessman; Marlene Galán-Woods, a former television news broadcaster; Kurt Kroemer, a former Red Cross regional CEO; and Andrew Horne, a photographer and orthodontist. 

As the only woman in her party’s primary, Galán-Woods is emblematic of a larger trend in congressional politics. The Rutgers University-based Center for American Women and Politics, the pre-eminent organization tracking the topic, found fewer women are running as major-party candidates for the House this year. 

The race to succeed Gallego

Arizona’s 3rd District, currently represented by Gallego, has a rich Latino history: The area sent Arizona’s first Latino member of Congress, Ed Pastor, to Washington before Gallego continued that legacy, and now former state Democratic Party chair Raquel Terán hopes to extend it. 

“We are making the case that we need to make sure that we have our voices heard in Congress,” Terán said in an interview Friday. 

“Of course, this is a Democratic primary, and we welcome healthy competition. But what we don’t welcome is that Republican investors, donors that have bankrolled Donald Trump, are meddling in a Democratic primary,” Terán added, swiping at her primary opponent, Yassamin Ansari.

Ansari, a former Phoenix City Council member, has been backed by $1.3 million from the Protect Progress PAC, which has spent money backing Democratic candidates around the country — but whose cryptocurrency industry funders are also supporting Trump. In an interview with NBC affiliate KPNX of Phoenix, Ansari distanced herself from the donors. 

“I’m not sure what they want,” Ansari told KPNX’s Brahm Resnick of her PAC supporters. “I ran for office because I hate Donald Trump. I cannot stand MAGA extremism.”

A big election about elections

In most counties, and in a previous time, the race for county recorder would not typically generate a whole lot of hoopla. Maricopa County is not most counties. 

Stephen Richer, one of the most outspoken Republican defenders of election processes in the country, is simultaneously fighting to keep his job while preparing to manage the vote this fall in Maricopa, the largest county in battleground Arizona.

The Maricopa County recorder’s administrative role is vast, including processing deeds and overseeing the voter file and other parts of elections. Since 2020, that is what has captured the most attention.

After ballot printers and vote tabulation machines malfunctioned during Arizona’s 2022 election, baseless claims of malicious activity arose, and conspiracy theories about Richer, fueled by Lake, resulted in Richer’s facing death threats. 

Richer has continued to face a slew of attacks to this day. Last month, he posted a video on X of Shelby Busch, the chair of Arizona’s delegation to the Republican National Convention this month, saying she would “lynch” him if she had the chance. The video stemmed from a livestreamed event on Rumble, a conservative video platform, in Mesa on March 20. 

Richer’s main primary challenger is state Rep. Justin Heap, who has dodged questions about whether the 2020 election was fraudulent. But he has been endorsed by many of Arizona’s most prominent election deniers, including Lake.

Don Hiatt, a long-shot candidate who worked in information management technology, has more explicitly sown doubt about the 2020 election.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.  More from NBC News:

• More colleges are offering AI degrees — could they give job seekers an edge?
• Josh Shapiro and Gretchen Whitmer rally together for Harris as running mate jockeying heats up
• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper backs out of consideration to be Harris’ running mate

Regulators have been slow to grapple with the new technology, which allows people to use cheap and readily available AI tools to impersonate others. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel says disclosure is a critical — and, perhaps just as important, doable — first step in regulating artificially created content.

“We spent the better part of the last year in Washington hand-wringing about artificial intelligence,” Rosenworcel said in an interview. “Let’s do something more than hand-wringing and pearl clutch.”

The new rule would require TV and radio ads to disclose whether they include AI-generated content, sidestepping, for now, the debate about whether that content should be banned outright. Existing laws prevent outright deception in TV ads.

“We don’t want to be in a position to render judgment; we simply want to disclose it so people can make their own decisions,” Rosenworcel said. 

The move was inspired in part by the first-known deepfake in American national politics, a robocall impersonating President Joe Biden that told voters not to turn out in January’s New Hampshire primary. 

“We kicked into high gear because we want to set an example,” Rosenworcel said of the swift official response to the New Hampshire deepfake. 

The political consultant behind the deepfake robocall, who was outed by NBC News, faces a $6 million fine from the FCC and 26 criminal counts in New Hampshire courts. The U.S. Justice Department on Monday threw its weight behind a private lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters. 

The consultant, Steve Kramer, claimed he made the ad only to highlight the danger of AI and spur action.

Some political ads have already started using artificially generated content in both potentially deceptive and nondeceptive ways, and the generic AI content is becoming more common in nonpolitical consumer ads simply because it can be cheaper to produce.

Some social media companies have banned AI-created political ads. Congress has considered several bills. And about 20 states have adopted their own laws regulating artificial political content, according to the nonprofit group Public Citizen, which tracks the efforts.

But advocates say national policy is necessary to create a uniform framework. 

The social media platform X not only has not banned videos created with AI, but its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, has been one of their promoters. Over the weekend, he shared with his 192 million followers a doctored video made to look like a campaign ad for Vice President Kamala Harris.

The government does not regulate social media content, but the FCC has a long history of regulating political programing on TV and the radio, including maintaining a database of political ad spending, with information that TV and radio stations are mandated to collect from ad buyers. The new rule would simply have broadcasters also ask ad-buyers whether their spots were made with AI.

The Federal Elections Commission, meanwhile, has been considering its own AI disclosure rules. The Republican chairman of the FEC wrote to Rosenworcel asking the FCC to stand down, arguing his is the rightful regulator of campaign ads.

Rosenworcel brushed past the interagency squabbling, noting both agencies — along with the IRS and others — have played complementary roles in regulating political groups and spending for decades. The FCC also regulates a wider variety of ads than the FEC, including so-called issue ads run by nonprofit groups that do not expressly call for the defeat of a candidate. 

And advocates note the FEC has a difficult time doing much of anything because it is, by design, split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, making consensus rare.

“We’re barreling towards elections which may be distorted, or even decided, by political deepfakes. Yet this is an entirely avoidable dystopia if regulators simply demand disclosures when AI is used,” said Robert Weissman, a co-president of Public Citizen, who said he hopes the FCC rule will be finalized and implemented “as soon as possible.”

Still, while Rosenworcel said the FCC is moving as quickly as possible, federal rulemaking is a deliberate process that requires clearing numerous hurdles, as well as time for public input.

“There will be complicated questions down the road,” she said. “Now is the right time to start this conversation.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.  More from NBC News:

• More colleges are offering AI degrees — could they give job seekers an edge?
• Josh Shapiro and Gretchen Whitmer rally together for Harris as running mate jockeying heats up
• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper backs out of consideration to be Harris’ running mate

Ronald Rowe became acting director of the agency last week after his predecessor, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned in the aftermath of a House hearing in which she was berated by lawmakers from both parties and failed to answer specific questions about the communication failures preceding the July 13 shooting.

Rowe will be joined by FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate at a joint hearing of the Senate committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security.

Donald Trump Jul 29

Trump agrees to be interviewed as part of an investigation into his assassination attempt, FBI says

Donald Trump Jul 26

FBI confirms that a bullet struck Trump's ear during assassination attempt

The hearing comes one day after the FBI released new details about its investigation into the shooting, revealing that the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had looked online for information about mass shootings, power plants, improvised explosive devices and the May assassination attempt of the Slovakian prime minister.

The FBI also said that Trump has agreed to be interviewed by agents as a crime victim; the bureau said last week that the former president had been struck in the ear by a bullet or fragment of one. Trump said Monday evening that he expected that interview to take place on Thursday.

But the bulk of the questions Tuesday are expected to be directed at Rowe as lawmakers demand answers about how Crooks was able to get so close to Trump. Investigators believe Crooks fired eight shots in Trump’s direction from an AR-style rifle after scaling the roof of a building of some 135 meters (147 yards) from where Trump was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania.

One rallygoer was killed and two others were injured. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service countersniper.

At her hearing last week, Cheatle said the Secret Service had “failed” in its mission to protect Trump. She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades and vowed to “move heaven and earth” to get to the bottom of what went wrong and make sure there’s no repeat of it.

Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting at the rally. She also revealed that the roof from which Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally.

Cheatle said she apologized to Trump in a phone call after the assassination attempt.

In a Monday night interview on Fox News, Trump defended the Secret Service agents who protected him from the shooting but said someone should have been on the roof with Crooks and that there should have been better communication with local police.

“They didn’t speak to each other,” he said.

He praised the sniper who killed Crooks with what he said was an amazing shot but noted: “It would have been good if it was nine seconds sooner.”

Trump will participate in a conversation and question-and-answer session with political journalists “before an audience of registered convention attendees that will concentrate on the most pressing issues facing the Black community,” the association said in a news release.

The conversation will be moderated by Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, Harris Faulkner, anchor of The Faulkner Focus and co-host of Outnumbered on FOX News and Kadia Goba, politics reporter at Semafor.

“We look forward to our attendees hearing from former President Trump on the critical issues our members and their audiences care about most,” NABJ President Ken Lemon said in the news release. “While NABJ does not endorse political candidates as a journalism organization, we understand the serious work of our members, and welcome the opportunity for them to ask the tough questions that will provide the truthful answers Black Americans want and need to know.”

The event won’t be open to the public but will be livestreamed on the NABJ’s YouTube and Facebook pages.

Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, was invited to participate as well, NABJ stated. As of late Monday, her confirmation was pending.

The NABJ Convention & Career Fair is slated to take place from Wednesday through Sunday.

Cooper, 67, withdrew before Harris formally began soliciting vetting material from potential vice presidents, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive search process. Harris’ search is ongoing and her teams of lawyers and political aides are still reviewing information on a narrowing list of potential candidates.

Harris’ team was initially said to looking at about a dozen potential contenders, but the field has narrowed and now Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly are seen as among the front-runners, according to the people.

Cooper said in a statement, “This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket.” He said Harris “has an outstanding list of people from which to choose, and we’ll all work to make sure she wins.”

Cooper, the former chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, has been close to Harris since they were both state attorneys general. His potential selection was seen as a possible asset in shifting North Carolina — the Democrats’ only significant opportunity to expand on their 2020 map — into Harris’ hands.

Under the state constitution, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is the GOP’s nominee to replace the term-limited Cooper, becomes acting governor and can assume the Democrat’s powers when he travels out of state.

Cooper, according to one of the people, has expressed concern about what Robinson might do if he were to leave the state extensively for campaign travel.

Robinson is an ardent social conservative, who once called abortion “child sacrifice.” In various church pulpits, Robinson has asserted men as the rightful leaders in church and society. He once mused that leaders of the original birth control movement in the U.S. were “witches, all of ’em.” He has discussed LGBTQ people with words like “filth” and “maggots.”

Decision 2024 Jul 25

Republicans see Gov. Josh Shapiro as Harris' ‘super strong' VP contender

news Jul 26

Building the middle class may be a ‘defining goal' under a Harris presidency — how that may shape a key tax credit

Kamala Harris Jul 28

Kamala Harris has America focused on multiracial identity

In the weeks before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, Cooper appeared with Harris at campaign events in Greensboro and Fayetteville. He has deflected questions about the vetting process.

“I trust her to make the right decision,” he told reporters in North Carolina recently.

The New York Times first reported that Cooper had withdrawn himself from the process, but did not detail the timing of his decision or his rationale. The Harris campaign declined to comment.

__

AP writer Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

More than 90,000 people have signed up for Monday night’s “White Dudes for Harris” Zoom fundraising and organizing rally, which will feature comments from several potential Democratic running mates for Vice President Kamala Harris.

That response is nine times the initial target of 10,000 sign-ups, which was set by organizers several days ago for the event. The call is the male version of a “White Women: Answer the Call” Zoom fundraising meeting that drew more than 160,000 women to support Harris last week.

“Ninety nine days from now we have an opportunity to help Kamala Harris make some history, we also have the opportunity to change some minds, to have some tough but fair conversations, to meet other white dudes where they are and to address some things that, well frankly, just haven’t been addressed,” the organizers of “White Dudes for Harris” said in a statement.

“We are honest, open, and ready to support our first black woman president,”

Among the scheduled speakers for the 8 p.m. ET Zoom event are U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, all of who reportedly are being considered as possible running mates for Harris.

All four also are themselves “white dudes.”

Also slated to speak at the event are Mitch Landrieu, the co-chair of Harris’ campaign, and the actors Mark Hamill, Mark Ruffalo, Misha Collins and Josh Gad.

Harris became the Democratic party’s de facto nominee last week, after President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 election contest against former President Donald Trump, and endorsed Harris as the party’s nominee.

Harris, if elected, would be the first woman, and only the second person of color to be elected president of the United States. The vice president’s father is a black man from Jamaica and her mother is from India.

Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, are both white.

“As White Dudes, we know full well how MAGA cynically preys on resentments,” the White Dudes for Harris organizers said in a social media kit for the event. “This moment of crisis is challenging us, but we won’t let fear define who we are and take us – or our country – down a dark path

“As White men, we recognize all too clearly the culture of toxic entitlement surrounding Donald Trump,” the organizers wrote. “We need to be honest with ourselves and each other about the role we’ve played in our nation’s history – good and bad.”

Shortly after the National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Maduro’s ruling party, announced that he had won a third six-year term, angry protesters began marching through the capital, Caracas, and cities across Venezuela.

In the capital, the protests were mostly peaceful, but when dozens of riot gear-clad national police officers blocked the caravan, a brawl broke. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, some of whom threw stones and other objects at officers who had stationed themselves on a main avenue of an upper-class district.

The demonstrations followed an election that was among the most peaceful in recent memory, reflecting hopes that Venezuela could avoid bloodshed and end 25 years of single-party rule. The winner was to take control of an economy recovering from collapse and a population desperate for change.

“We have never been moved by hatred. On the contrary, we have always been victims of the powerful,” Maduro said in a nationally televised ceremony. “An attempt is being made to impose a coup d’état in Venezuela again of a fascist and counterrevolutionary nature.”

“We already know this movie, and this time, there will be no kind of weakness,” he added, saying that Venezuela’s “law will be respected.”

There was no immediate comment from the opposition, which had vowed to defend its votes. Opposition leaders planned to hold a news conference later in the day.

In the capital’s impoverished Petare neighborhood, people started walking and shouting against Maduro, and some masked young people tore down campaign posters of him hung on lampposts. Heavily armed security forces were standing just a few blocks away from the protest.

“It’s going to fall. It’s going to fall. This government is going fall!” some of the protesters shouted as they walked.

Venezuela Jul 29

Maduro declared winner in Venezuela's presidential election as opposition claims it prevailed

Venezuela Jul 27

Why Venezuela's presidential election should matter to the rest of the world

“He has to go. One way or another,” said María Arráez, a 27-year-old hairdresser, as she joined in the demonstration.

As the crowd marched through a different neighborhood, it was cheered on by retirees and office workers who banged on pots and recorded the protest in a show of support. There were some shouts of “freedom” and expletives directed at Maduro.

Elsewhere, some protesters attempted to block freeways, including one that connects the capital with a port city where the country’s main international airport is.

Officials delayed the release of detailed vote tallies from Sunday’s election after proclaiming Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, compared with 44% for retired diplomat Edmundo González. The competing claims set up a high-stakes standoff.

“Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” González said. But he and his allies asked supporters to remain calm and called on the government to avoid stoking conflict.

Several foreign governments, including the U.S. and the European Union, held off recognizing the election results.

After failing to oust Maduro during three rounds of demonstrations since 2014, the opposition put its faith in the ballot box.

The country sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy. But after Maduro took the helm, it tumbled into a free fall marked by plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages of basic goods and hyperinflation of 130,000%.

U.S. oil sanctions sought to force Maduro from power after his 2018 reelection, which dozens of countries condemned as illegitimate. But the sanctions only accelerated the exodus of some 7.7 million Venezuelans who have fled their crisis-stricken nation.

Voters lined up as early as Saturday evening to cast ballots, boosting the opposition’s hopes it was about to break Maduro’s grip on power.

The official results came as a shock to many who had celebrated, online and outside a few voting centers, what they believed was a landslide victory for González.

Gabriel Boric, the leftist leader of Chile, called the results “difficult to believe,” while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had “serious concerns” that the announced tally did not reflect the actual votes or the will of the people.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the margin of González’s victory was “overwhelming,” based on tallies the campaign received from representatives stationed at about 40% of ballot boxes.

Authorities postponed releasing the results from each of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, promising only to do so in the “coming hours.” The delay hampered attempts to verify the results.

González was the unlikeliest of opposition standard bearers. The 74-year-old was unknown until he was tapped in April as a last-minute stand-in for opposition powerhouse Machado, who was blocked by the Maduro-controlled supreme court from running for any office for 15 years.

Authorities set Sunday’s election to coincide with what would have been the 70th birthday of former President Hugo Chávez, the revered leftist firebrand who died of cancer in 2013, leaving his Bolivarian revolution in the hands of Maduro. But Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which controls all branches of government, are more unpopular than ever among many voters who blame his policies for crushingly low wages that spurred hunger, crippled the oil industry and separated families due to migration.

The president’s pitch this election was one of economic security, which he tried to sell with stories of entrepreneurship and references to a stable currency exchange and lower inflation rates. The International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy will grow 4% this year — one of the fastest in Latin America — after shrinking 71% from 2012 to 2020.

But most Venezuelans have not seen any improvement in their quality of life. Many earn under $200 a month, which means families struggle to afford essential items. Some work second and third jobs. A basket of food staples to feed a family of four for a month costs an estimated $385.

The opposition managed to line up behind a single candidate after years of intraparty divisions and election boycotts that torpedoed their ambitions to topple the ruling party.

A former lawmaker, Machado swept the opposition’s October primary with over 90% of the vote. After she was blocked from joining the presidential race, she chose a college professor as her substitute on the ballot, but the National Electoral Council also barred her from registering. That’s when González, a political newcomer, was chosen.

González and Machado focused much of their campaigning on Venezuela’s vast hinterland, where the kind of economic activity seen in Caracas in recent years never materialized. They promised a government that would create sufficient jobs to attract Venezuelans living abroad to return home and reunite with their families.

___

Associated Press Writer Fabiola Sánchez contributed to this report.

“I am tired of hearing how our talented students are breaking records on this track that don’t count because facilities don’t meet state standards,” said Mayor Michelle Wu about the failing conditions of White Stadium.

And yet the city’s multi-million dollar plan to transform it into a state-of-the-art facility that could host a professional sports franchise has become divisive.

Wu has partnered with a group of investors to propose a $100 million renovation for the stadium. Those for-profit investors, a group led by four women, formed Boston Unity Soccer Partners (BUSP) and were chosen to host an expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League. Under the proposal, the rebuilt White Stadium would serve as the soccer team’s home stadium and the cornerstone of BPS athletics.

“We want to create an experience that is comparable to what Boston sports fans are used to,” said Jennifer Epstein, the ownership group’s controlling partner and a part owner of the Boston Celtics.

“We want to have a packed stadium and that, you know, incredible fan experience that Boston fans deserve, “said Epstein, who is also the founder of the venture fund Juno Equity.

The plan is for the soccer team to use White Stadium part-time, for about 25 days between March and October. The mayor and Boston Unity Soccer say for the rest of the year, the facility would be devoted to BPS sporting events. A new grass field would be laid down and the track around the field would be rebuilt and widened from six lanes to eight.

“It’s really time for the students of the Boston Public Schools to play their sports in a stadium that they can be proud of, and will be exceptional, relative to their suburban counterparts,” said Epstein.

Wu describes the arrangement with Boston Unity Soccer as unique. The city has allocated $50 million to rebuild the East Grandstand; the team would lease and renovate the West Grandstand and has pledged $50 million for its part of the rebuild. Mayor Wu and the team’s owners want to start construction soon, so the team could play in the NWSL as soon as 2026.

Several city agencies, including the Boston Planning & Development Agency, the Landmarks Commission, the Civics Design Commissions and the Parks Commission, have approved the design of the renovation.  But Monday, the Parks Commission did not approve the demolition plan, asking that the Mayor’s office provide more information on that. A spokesperson says the city will plan to schedule another meeting in the coming weeks to approve demolition.

However, opponents of the plan say the process is rushed and neighbors say they’re concerned about the traffic and the noise that would come with the team.

“This plan isn’t the renovation we want or need”, said Renee Stacy Welch, who has lived near Franklin Park for most of her life.  

“Five thousand people are going to come park here for 20 weekends a year? On the most beautiful days? What about us? “ asked Welch.

The city says Boston Unity Soccer will not be allowed to use the existing parking within Franklin Park for game days.  The city says it plans to use satellite parking lots and having shuttles carry fans from nearby MBTA stations. In addition, the city says new resident parking restrictions to keep spectators from driving and parking on nearby residential streets will be enforced.

Welch is part of the group of citizen activists that calls itself “The Franklin Park defenders”. It’s a group of 20 citizens and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy who have sued to challenge the stadium redevelopment. They are argue that the project would privatize a public space.

In March, a Suffolk County Superior Court judge denied a request to stop the proposed renovation. 

Mayor Wu says that city will proceed with construction on the stadium’s East Grandstand, once it receives approval and permits, because of that ruling.

“The language in the decision from the judge in response to the preliminary order was very clear, ” Wu told NBC10 Boston. “She (Judge Sarah Ellis) not only addressed rejecting the need for halting the project in the immediate, but also went through the various legal claims that were brought up and said they were unlikely to succeed on the merits in the larger lawsuit…the lawsuit does not present to present a barrier to moving forward and continuing our design and the process.”

The Franklin Park Defenders are moving forward with their lawsuit and the case is scheduled to be heard in February.

More on White Stadium

Massachusetts Jun 12

PHOTOS: A look at the proposed home of Boston's pro women's soccer team

Boston Apr 10

Residents discuss concerns surrounding redevelopment of Boston's White Stadium

Boston Feb 22

Lawsuit filed to stop Boston's White Stadium pro soccer project