Secret Service probing Musk’s Trump assassination attempt response

Charlie Spiering Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday said the government should launch a study on the need for reparations to black descendants of slavery.

Harris was asked about the issue during an event with the Black Association of Journalists in Philadelphia.

When pressed on whether Congress or the executive branch should commission the study, Harris indicated she favored Congress taking the lead.

‘I’m not discounting the importance of any executive action but ultimately Congress,’ she said.

The issue of a reparations study commission is a key priority for civil rights advocate Al Sharpton.

Harris previously co-sponsored a bill to launch a study when she was a senator.

She also previously supported the idea of reparations for descendants of slavery, during her failed 2020 run for president, but has clarified that the exact details are up for discussion.

‘I think there has to be some form of reparations, and we can discuss what that is,’ Harris told the Root in February 2019.

Charlie Spiering, Senior Political Reporter

Former President Donald Trump vowed to take legal action against any voters who were thinking of ‘cheating’ in the 2024 election, citing a newly created legal task force.

‘I, together with many Attorneys and Legal Scholars, am watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely because I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election,’ Trump wrote in a post on social media, describing the 2020 contest as a ‘disgrace to our nation.’

Trump pointed out that votes had already started getting cast in key swing states, but vowed the ‘closest professional scrutiny’ possible for the 2024 election.

He also warned that he would prosecute election ballot ‘cheaters’ if elected president.

‘WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,’ Trump said.

Trump posited that the United States would ‘devolve’ into a ‘Third World Nation’ if the elections were not fixed, and vowed to hold anyone responsible with claims of election fraud responsible.

‘Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials,’ he said. ‘Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.’

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Republicans are calling for Donald Trump’s security to be increased to the ‘highest level of presidential protection’ after a second assassination attempt on his life.

The threat level against the ex-president is so high that the head of the U.S. Secret Service revealed staffing changes need to be made if the GOP nominee wants to keep playing his favorite hobby golf.

The Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. met with the ex-president in Florida on Monday, the day after Ryan Wesley Routh’s alleged assassination attempt was thwarted while Trump was playing golf at his Palm Beach course.

A Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of 58-year-old Routh’s rifle sticking through the fence line near the sixth hole and fired off shots at him, causing him to flee before he was taken into custody by local police.

According to court documents, Routh stalked Trump’s course for nearly 12 hours before the assassination attempt, raising massive security concerns.

Now, according to the New York Times, the Secret Service chief told Trump significant additional security arrangements and planning would be needed if he wanted to continue playing golf safely.

Hillary Clinton described Melania Trump as looking like a ‘little kid’ when she met up with the former first lady at Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service.

Trump, Clinton, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and current first lady Jill Biden put aside their differences in November 2023 to remember Rosalynn, a member of their exclusive club of presidential spouses.

‘Melania had a look on her face – very smiley but uncertain – that reminded me of the little kid at the birthday party who doesn’t know anyone and is waiting at the edge of the circle, hoping people are going to be nice,’ Clinton wrote of the encounter in her book ‘Something Lost, Something Gained.’

Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Sparta, Michigan

J.D. Vance said it would be a ‘national scandal’ if the whistleblower claim is true that ABC News gave Vice President Kamala Harris a leg up in her debate against Donald Trump earlier this month.

The Ohio senator told DailyMail.com, however, that he will still participate in his upcoming debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz hosted by CBS – even if he thinks it won’t be a fair showdown.

An affidavit citing a whistleblower claims that the hosting network provided questions to Harris ahead of the debate on September 10 and agreed to a series of preconditions.

‘If it happened, it’s disgraceful,’ Vance said when speaking under the wing of Trump Force Two in Michigan on Tuesday. ‘It should be a national scandal.’

A second attempt by Democrats to pass legislation protecting access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other fertility treatments was blocked by Senate Republicans.

The vote occurred as lawmakers put the fight over reproductive access front and center 49 days before the upcoming general election.

Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer on Tuesday forced a repeat vote on the Right to IVF Act after Republicans blocked a first attempt to pass the legislation in June.

A 60-vote threshold was needed to advance the bill, but it failed 51-44 with all Democrat-caucused senators voting for the legislation.

Ahead of the vote, Republicans slammed the effort by Democrats to pass the bill that would protect and expand access to fertility treatment nationwide.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against Donald Trump’s suggestion that it was political rhetoric against him that led to Sunday’s assassination attempt.

Jean-Pierre was asked about the former president indicating President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ campaign rhetoric was behind the violence against him.

She pointed out that both Biden and Harris ‘have always forcefully, forcefully condemned violent rhetoric, including political violence.’

‘And the president has also said, when it comes to violent rhetoric, we gotta bring the temperature down,’ she said at her daily press briefing.

She then, however, got in a swipe at Trump.

‘The President and Vice President believe that the kind of language that Trump used in those comments I just said are contributing to the tension and devices,’ Jean-Pierre noted.

She added that President Biden ‘has been clear eyed about the threat that the former president represents to our democracy. He’s been clear eyed from his role, does not forget, from his role of January 6, where he refused to accept the outcomes of free and fair elections.’

Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked her how she could condemn political rhetoric while calling Trump a threat.

Jean-Pierre pushed back, saying ‘I actually completely disagree with the premise of your question, the question that you’re asking, it is also incredibly dangerous in the way that you’re asking it, because American people are watching.’

‘We have been very clear in in condemning political violence for the year. What I have said about the president, the former president, about January six, is facts,’ she added.

‘We have been very clear from here, now we can have a disagreement on policies. We can on issues. That is what we should do. It is important to have those disagreements. It is welcome to have those disagreements on the economy, on health care, on foreign policy. But when you start bringing political rhetoric that is not okay, and that’s what you’ve heard from us too.’

Charlie Spiering, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Vice President Kamala Harris reacted to the news that schools in Springfield, Ohio had been closed as a result of bomb threats in the community after former President Donald Trump claimed that immigrants there were ‘eating the dogs’ and ‘pets’ in the community.

‘It’s a crying shame. I mean my heart breaks for this community,’ Harris said about school children in Springfield, OH who had to be evacuated on ‘school photo day.’

The vice president was asked to react to the controversy during an event with the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia.

Harris decried former President Donald Trump for failing to understand the impact of his words.

‘It’s gotta stop,’ she said, accusing Trump of ‘hateful rhetoric designed to divide us as a country.’

‘Let’s turn the page on this, this is exhausting, and harmful and hateful and grounded in some age-old stuff that we should have the tolerance from,’ she said.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sent state troopers to help protect the city’s schools following bomb threats.

‘We know that people are very, very concerned,’ DeWine said. ‘But we’ve moved resources into Springfield. People have the right to feel safe as well as being safe.’

DeWine said that none of the bomb threats had any validity and that many of them came from calls overseas.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Kamala Harris called Donald Trump on Tuesday to tell him she is ‘grateful he is safe’ after an attempted assassination attempt on Sunday.

‘Vice President Harris called former President Trump this afternoon to speak with him directly to express that she is grateful he is safe. It was a cordial and brief conversation,’ a White House official said.

Harris told the National Association of Black Journalists that she called Trump and ‘checked on him to make sure he is okay.’

‘There is no place for political violence in this country,’ she said.

Harris and Trump met for the first time last Tuesday at their first presidential debate. They were together again in New York City the next day to mark the 23rd anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

President Joe Biden called Trump on Monday to check in on him. Trump said their conversation was ‘very nice’ and they talked about security issues.

From Katelyn Caralle, Senior Political Reporter:

Trump’s VP pick Senator J.D. Vance revealed what the former president told him on the phone when he called about the second assassination attempt on Sunday.

J.D. you won’t believe it, they tried to do it again… they just tried to shoot me.

Hundreds of Trump supporters gathered inside and outside the Apple Valley Events space in Sparta, Michigan.

The VP hopeful went on to add in a joke:

I’d like to see an assassin try to come in this room.

Charlie Spiering Senior Political Reporter

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas voiced his concerns about the ongoing controversy surrounding Haitian migrants in Ohio, after former President Donald Trump voiced claims during the debate that some of the migrants in the city of Springfield were eating pets.

Mayorkas was asked about the ongoing controversy during a Politico AI and Tech summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sent state troopers to help protect the city’s schools following bomb threats.

‘The community is feeling extraordinarily threatened,’ Mayorkas said.

‘They’ve received bomb threats and other threats of violence based on false statements.’

He said he was taking the threats seriously and was in touch with DeWine to address the over 30 bomb threats that had been made.

DeWine said that none of the bomb threats had any validity and that many of them came from calls overseas.

‘We know that people are very, very concerned,’ DeWine said. ‘But we’ve moved resources into Springfield. People have the right to feel safe as well as being safe.’

Trump’s running mate JD Vance accused the media of lying about the source of the bomb threats, in a post on social media.

‘They lied about these bomb threats to silence us. Why? Because they don’t want to talk about Kamala Harris’s border policies making housing unaffordable for American citizens,’ Vance wrote on X.com.

Vice President Kamala Harris responded to a slew of celebrity endorsements in the 2024 presidential race including the highly-coveted support from megastar Taylor Swift.

The Democratic presidential nominee was interviewed by radio host Stephanie ‘Chiquibaby’ Himonidis where Himonidis noted Swift’s endorsement as well as those from other stars in the 2024 race.

Himonidis mentioned Swift by name as well as George Lopez and Eva Longoria before asking Harris to weigh in on the Mexican band dropping its collaboration with Nicky Jam who recently endorsed Trump.

Harris first responded that she’s ‘very grateful’ to all the artists who understood the stakes of the election and endorsed her candidacy.

‘I’m very honored to have their support,’ the vice president said.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Singer Billie Eilish and her brother and collaborator Finneas O’Connell announced they are backing Kamala Harris for president.

The pair posted a video on X to mark National Voter Registration Day.

‘We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet and our democracy,’ Eilish said.

‘We can’t let extremists control our lives, our freedoms and our future,’ O’Connell added.

They said the only way to stop them is to vote and elect Harris.

‘Vote like your life depends on it because it does,’ Eilish said.

The conspiracy theory surrounding a ‘whistleblower’ claim that ABC News gave Vice President Kamala Harris a presidential debate advantage continues making the rounds online, but one important detail surrounding the story has been debunked and corrected by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

From Rob Crilly, Chief U.S. Political Correspondent

Republicans stepped up pressure on President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Tuesday, giving Jake Sullivan seven days to arrange to answer questions about the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan or face a subpoena to appear before Congress.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul believes Sullivan is a chief architect of the hurried exit.

He has been pushing for Biden’s top foreign affairs adviser to appear before his investigation to explain whether he hid dire military assessments about the stability of the Kabul government from the public.

And he accuses Sullivan’s National Security Council of going beyond its role of advising Biden to take operational control that should have been the preserve of the State Department.

‘Mr. Sullivan must testify before this committee, not because of his title, but because of the power he wielded,’ writes McCaul in a letter sent to the White House on Tuesday and obtained by DailyMail.com.

Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter:

Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a taped radio interview where she addressed the assassination attempt on her political opponent Donald Trump.

‘I was briefed immediately after it happened,’ Harris said.

She said political violence of any kind is unacceptable.

‘I totally condemn it,’ she added.

The interview was with Stephanie “Chiquibaby” Himonidis for her show on Nueva Network was taped Monday but aired this morning.

Harris said she is grateful Trump is ok.

She said Americans need to stand up and say they’re not going to have that kind of approach.

‘We have to have civil dialogue,’ Harris said. ‘We have to be able to talk through our differences and violence has no place.’

See also

Reparations

‘A form of reparation’: Minnesota will send money to communities harmed by marijuana prohibition

The interview was conducted for a Spanish speaking audience. The vice president could be heard speaking in English as a translator spoke Spanish over her.

From Katelyn Caralle, Senior Political Reporter:

VP hopeful J.D. Vance is hitting the swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin today.

He’s accompanied by his wife Usha and his trusty dog companion Atlas.

DailyMail.com is traveling on the Trump-Vance plane today and will be posting live updates as the Republican hits the campaign trail.

Speaker Mike Johnson is plowing ahead with a vote to fund the government through March despite a staggering loss last week.

Since Johnson can only afford to lose four GOP votes to the Democrats, the GOP speaker decided the vote was too risky of a move last Wednesday and he pulled the plug.

But the speaker announced that a vote will take place tomorrow in a statement to DailyMail.com:

Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government and ensure the security of our elections.

Because we owe this to our constituents, we will move forward on Wednesday with a vote on the 6-month CR with the SAVE Act attached.

I urge all of my colleagues to do what the overwhelming majority of the people of this country rightfully demand and deserve — prevent non-American citizens from voting in American elections.

Former President Donald Trump is supportive of the SAVE Act, which restricts illegal immigrants from registering to vote.

He directly called on Republicans in Congress to not go forward with funding the government should the SAVE Act not be attached.

‘If Republicans in the House, and Senate, Don’t get absolute assurances on election security, they should, in no way, shape, or form, go forward with a continuing resolution on the budget.’

‘The Democrats are trying to ‘stuff’ voter registrations with illegal aliens. Don’t let it happen – close it down!’ his post continued.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced he is assigning Florida’s investigation into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump to the state’s Attorney General Ashley Moody.

‘It’s not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation,’ he claimed.

He said he has directed all state agencies to ‘work expeditiously.’

He was found to have been hiding in the bushes along the golf course for nearly 12 hours before he was spotted.

Routh had tweeted on X after the July 13 attempt on Trump’s life pressing President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to visit the victims of the assassination attempt, saying: ‘Trump will never do anything for them.’

‘Show the world what compassion and humanity is all about,’ Routh posted on July 16, according to multiple reports.

Sunday’s incident, in which Secret Service fired shots at the suspect, who left his rifle behind, and later caught up to him on a highway, occurred two months after the July 13 assassination attempt that left Trump with a bloodied ear and supporter and former firefighter Corey Comperatore dead.

Routh, who wrote a book last year titled ‘Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,’ in which he referred to Trump as a ‘fool,’ ‘idiot’ and ‘buffoon,’ was also known to tag world leaders and celebrities like Elton John and Elon Musk in his posts, often providing his phone number and email.

In a sit-down with Katie Couric at Washington, D.C.’s DAR Constitutional Hall, Clinton also hammered her ex-rival for blaming Democrats earlier Monday for the second attempt on his life.

‘If he were really a leader, he should be doing what he can to calm the waters,’ Clinton said. ‘Not try to just continue to throw red meat out there to get people riled up.’

The former Democratic nominee was reacting to the assassination attempt and then Trump’s subsequent tweet in which he claimed ‘Comrade Kamala Harris‘ and the ‘ridiculous lawsuits’ on the ex-president were responsible.

The Secret Service has launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s tweet questioning why President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris weren’t also being targeted by assassination attempts.

Musk posted the comments on his X platform Sunday after former President Donald Trump was the target of a second assassination attempt as he golfed in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Responding to a post that asked: ‘Why they want to kill Donald Trump?, Musk – who is backing Trump – provocatively remarked: ‘And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden or Kamala.’

The Secret Service confirmed it is aware of the post, and that it investigates all threats related to protectees.

Donald Trump hits the campaign trail again on Tuesday, traveling to Michigan two days after an apparent assassination attempt against him was foiled at his golf course in Florida.

His Democratic rival Kamala Harris will also campaign as she heads to the key battleground state of Pennsylvania for an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

That event and another interview with Hispanic media, recorded Monday and set to air Tuesday, will be the first time Harris will have an opportunity to react in person to the apparent bid on Trump’s life.

The Republican nominee and ex-president was whisked away by the Secret Service after a gunman was discovered on his golf course in Florida on Sunday, in the second such close call for Trump in as many months.

Russia is ‘fully ready’ to detonate a nuclear bomb in the Arctic at ‘any moment’, it was revealed today as Vladimir Putin presses on with drills unseen since the Cold War.

The director of an old Soviet test site first in the Novaya Zelmlya archipelago insisted that testing facilities are ready and can be used immediately ‘if the order is given’.

Rear Admiral Andrei Sinitsyn said: ‘The test site is ready to resume full-scale testing activities… The laboratory and testing facilities are ready. The personnel are ready.’

Sinitsyn claimed ‘foreign intelligence’ was monitoring the site, ‘likely sign of a concern over nuclear tests’, speaking to the state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

‘We are constantly ready to repel all types of threats, including the penetration of sabotage and reconnaissance groups onto the island,’ he said.

Laura Loomer has furiously denied having an affair with former President Donald Trump – and made a bombshell claim about Kamala Harris.

The 31-year-old conspiracy theorist used her podcast to slam rumors she’s in a romantic relationship with Trump, 78, as ‘malicious’ and ‘disrespectful to Donald Trump and Melania Trump‘.

She then framed the rumors as a media conspiracy, saying on Saturday: ‘They’ve taken it so far, and you know if I was a leftist journalist, if I was a Democrat, oh my God, the media would be up in arms if the Republican media was doing this to a left-wing journalist.’

‘Oh my God, they’re misogynist, they’re bullying a woman, they’re trying to Monica Lewinsky her, they’re trying to discredit the fact that she’s a working woman,’ Loomer claimed the media would say.

Vice President Kamala Harris has taken the lead over Donald Trump in our DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners poll for the first time following her strong debate performance last week.

But there is still everything to play for with just 49 days until the election.

Harris now holds a one-point lead over the former president in our poll of 1,000 likely voters conducted in the week after the candidates went head to head on the debate stage in Pennsylvania.

Harris is the choice of 43 percent of voters (up two points since our last poll on August 13) while Trump is favored by 42 percent (down two points).

The shift appears to be driven by huge changes among Hispanic voters.