Trump Seethes as Judge Rejects His Sad Attempt to Delay Sentencing

Donald Trump was just denied again in his hush-money trial, and predictably, he’s not happy about it.

Trump requested for a third time that Judge Juan Merchan step aside in the trial, claiming that Merchan has a conflict of interest due to his daughter’s political consultancy work, and Merchan declined yet again.

“Defendant has provided nothing new for this Court to consider. Counsel has merely repeated arguments that have already been denied by this and higher courts” and were “rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims,” Merchan wrote in a decision posted Wednesday. Merchan also denied similar requests from Trump’s legal team in April and August 2023.

The former president and convicted felon immediately went to Truth Social to complain.

“Judge Merchan just ruled that I, the Republican candidate for President, and leading in the Polls, am still under a Gag Order CONCERNING VERY IMPORTANT THINGS WHICH MUST BE BROUGHT TO LIGHT. I AM NOT ALLOWED TO ANSWER REPORTERS QUESTIONS. Can you believe this?” Trump posted, seemingly complaining that his partial gag order remains in place.

“The New York Courts refuse to act. This is happening right before the voting begins on September 6th. Suppression and manipulation of the vote. Voter interference. This is the real Fascist ‘stuff,’ the old Soviet Union! So much to say, and I’m not allowed to say it. Must get U.S. Supreme Court involved. New York is trying to steal the Election!” The post continued.

In May, Trump was found guilty in his hush-money trial on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime. His sentencing was originally scheduled for July 11, but that was delayed to September 18 thanks to the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. To the high court’s credit, earlier this month, they rejected an attempt to delay Trump’s sentencing, paving the way for Trump to maybe face accountability.

Minnesota Senate candidate Royce White won the state’s Republican primary on Tuesday, defeating Navy veteran Joe Fraser and setting White up to run against Senator Amy Klobuchar in November.

But White, a former NBA player who had been an outspoken advocate for mental health in sports, has cultivated some disturbing positions since befriending Steve Bannon in 2021. Those include becoming an ardent Trump supporter with an affinity for antisemitic, misogynistic, and homophobic conspiracies—all of which will only make it that much more difficult for him to unseat the incumbent Democrat, who has maintained the seat since 2007.

After dozens of appearances on Bannon’s show War Room (which a February study crowned as the chief spreader of misinformation among political podcasts), White turned his attention toward women, arguing in May that “women have become too mouthy.”

Minutes later, White claimed that women’s schedules were “too busy,” while elevating a conspiracy that there was an “economic incentive” to the inception of World War II insofar as it related to introducing women to the workplace.

The conservative populist has also been caught cooking up his own misinformation. In June, White shared a map of Minneapolis awash in green, yellow, and red dots, claiming that each data point symbolized crime in the City of Lakes. But a quick fact-check by a reporter for the Minnesota Reformer showed that the map didn’t depict any lawlessness, but rather the distribution of drinking fountains across the city’s public parks.

That same month, a nonpartisan nonprofit filed a complaint against White for allegedly illegally spending tens of thousands of dollars from his failed 2022 congressional campaign on luxury dinners, vacations, and other eyebrow-raising expenses, including a $1,200 night at a Miami strip club.

But White’s character doesn’t look any better beyond his political stunts to appeal to fringe, reactionary voters. In response to an NBC News report on ignoring his child support obligations, White claimed that “liberals really just want to shame people with kids” because they’re “anti-human as fuck.” But financial statements obtained by The Daily Beast from the mother of one of White’s children indicated that the wannabe MAGA politician owed her at least $100,000 in “child support payments for a daughter with whom he is barely involved.”

“Thank God I don’t rely on his support or it would be impossible,” the woman told The Daily Beast.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz handily shredded right-wing attacks over his military record.

Speaking to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union convention in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Walz addressed the right-wing smears, such as those from J.D. Vance, who falsely accused Walz of ending his 24-year term in the Army to avoid being deployed to Iraq. Walz actually retired before his unit was alerted it would be deployed, so he could run for office.

Vance, who served a single four-year enlistment in the public affairs section of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, and who, according to his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, was “lucky to escape any real fighting,” has accused Walz of “stolen valor.”

But Walz didn’t buy into the blatant swiftboating.

“And by the way, these guys are even attacking me for my record of service, and I just wanna say, I’m proud to have served my country, and I always will be,” Walz said to massive applause.

Walz explained that he enlisted in the National Guard shortly after turning 17. When he was elected to Congress, he served on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, where Walz said he was a “champion for our men and women in uniform.”

“I’m going to say it again, as clearly as I can: I am damn proud of my service to this country. And I firmly believe that you should never denigrate another person’s service record. Anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country—including my opponent—I just have a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice,” he said.

Harris’s campaign acknowledged Saturday that Walz had misspoken during a 2018 rally when he claimed to have handled assault weapons “in war.” The campaign had posted a video of this remark, launching a barrage of attacks against Walz, who had never been deployed in a war zone.

Walz has been falsely accused of leaving his unit to run for office only after he was alerted that the team would soon deploy to Iraq. Walz filed to run for Congress in February 2005, long before his unit was notified it could deploy to Iraq, according to CNN. According to the Minnesota National Guard, Walz retired from service in May 2005.

Vance responded to Walz’s Tuesday remarks in a post on X. “Hi Tim, I thank you for your service. But you shouldn’t have lied about it. You shouldn’t have said you went to war when you didn’t,” Vance wrote. “Nor should you have said that you didn’t know your unit was going to Iraq.”

“Happy to discuss more in a debate,” wrote Vance, who absolutely lost it last week when a CNN anchor claimed Vance was wrong to make a meal of his own service record.

During his interview with Elon Musk Monday night, Donald Trump praised the tech CEO for firing organizing workers, drawing the ire of labor unions and those who care about workers’ rights.

It also reflected poorly on Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who became the first union leader to speak at the Republican National Convention last month.

“Firing workers for organizing, striking, and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism,” O’Brien said in a statement Tuesday to Politico’s Playbook.

In his conversation with Musk, Trump laughed at Musk’s union-busting practices. “I look at what you do,” Trump told Musk. “You walk in and you just say, ‘You wanna quit?’ They go on strike—I won’t mention the name of the company—but they go on strike and you say, ‘That’s OK. You’re all gone. You’re all gone. So, every one of you is gone.’”

The Teamsters are one of the only major unions that have not yet endorsed Kamala Harris for president, a surprising stance considering historic Democratic support for labor unions. Pressure is building against O’Brien from within the union’s rank-and-file members, as the Teamsters National Black Caucus voted unanimously to endorse Harris on Tuesday.

In a statement, the caucus said that Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz have an “unwavering commitment to workers and their families.”

“Their records reflect a deep dedication to advancing labor rights and supporting working-class Americans,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers has not only endorsed Harris, but also filed federal labor charges against Musk and Trump for “illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers who stand up for themselves by engaging in protected concerted activity, such as strikes.”

O’Brien has said that the union will endorse a presidential candidate after the Democratic National Convention, and has invited all of the candidates for interviews. Harris was invited last month, but has not yet had an interview with the Teamsters. O’Brien said on Tuesday that he had not received an invitation to speak at the Democratic National Convention.

Donald Trump appears to be losing the support of the one demographic that has reliably backed him, and is essential to winning the White House: white voters without a college degree.

CNN’s senior data reporter Harry Enten appeared on Out Front with Erin Burnett Tuesday to discuss what a recent New York Times/Siena College poll showed about Trump’s “core group” of white working class voters—the very same people who helped him break down the blue wall in 2016.

While the poll found that Trump still led among white voters without a college degree, his favorability appeared to have taken a massive hit in light of his new match-up against Vice President Kamala Harris.

In May, Trump was leading President Joe Biden among white voters without a college degree in the swing states Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania by a whopping 25 points. This latest poll shows that Trump’s lead has been nearly cut in half: in August, Trump only leads Harris by 14 points with this demographic in those swing states.

Harris’s apparent surge in support comes just as the vice president has managed to pretty much erase Trump’s edge on the economy, according to a new survey the Financial Times published last week, signaling a crucial shift in momentum for the Democratic candidate. Enten explained that Harris was doing slightly better among those voters, in those key states, than even Biden had in 2020.

“Those are the types of numbers that Kamala Harris needs to put up in order to win. And of course, Joe Biden was like, ‘I don’t want to drop out of the race, because I’m not sure that Kamala Harris can break into the group,’ but it turns out she absolutely can,” Enten said.

“The margin is shrinking, and elections are all about margins,” Enten continued. He explained that these numbers were significant more broadly as well, because non-college educated white voters make up 50 percent of the electorate in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

Trump’s advisers previously revealed that the former president tapped J.D. Vance as his running mate to pick up white working class votes. The campaign needed “a white guy to get the white guys we lost,” MAGA political operative Vish Burra told The Bulwark. If this recent polling is any indication, it seems the campaign’s play has yet to pay off.

Donald Trump’s lengthy interview with Elon Musk earlier this week may have violated federal campaign regulations, at least according to one Democratic-aligned political action committee that has already filed an FEC complaint over the issue.

The complaint, filed Tuesday by End Citizens United, argued that the unfettered “conversation” on X, Musk’s $12.5 billion company, amounted to a “virtual campaign event” financed by the social media platform. Per the FEC’s website, a contribution is “anything of value given, loaned or advanced to influence a federal election.”

End Citizens United also claimed that the event did not fall under press exemptions set forth by the election commission on the basis that X is not a traditional news outlet; that the company devoted “considerable resources” to host the interview, including dedicating “real time staff” to fix numerous technical glitches; and (perhaps most significantly) that Musk has repeatedly voiced his support for Trump in the 2024 race, and launched the talk with the intention to platform Trump’s personal beliefs.

“Because X spent considerable resources to host an event to expressly advocate for Trump and was not entitled to the press exemption for that event, Respondents have violated the ban on giving and receiving corporation contributions,” the complaint alleged.

The group called for the FEC to “immediately investigate” the violations and to take “appropriate remedial action” against the “brazen corporate contribution.”

Unfortunately for End Citizens United, such high-profile complaints can take months or even years for the ideologically gridlocked six-commissioner panel at the FEC to investigate, making it highly unlikely for the group to reach a consensus before the November election.

“The Donald Trump-Elon Musk campaign rally hosted on X wasn’t just an incoherent diatribe of lies marred by technical difficulties—it was a blatantly illegal corporate contribution to Donald Trump’s campaign,” said End Citizens United president Tiffany Muller in a statement. “This brazen corporate contribution undermines campaign finance laws and would set a dangerous precedent for unfettered, direct corporate engagement in campaigns.”

Donald Trump’s livestream interview with Elon Musk on X Monday night was plagued not only with technical glitches but also Trump’s own slurred speech. Late Tuesday night, Trump finally came up with an excuse.

“My conversation with Elon last night was heard by a RECORD audience, and was really something special, as Elon himself is very special—and I thank him for such a strong Endorsement!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Unfortunately, because of the complexity of modern day equipment, and cellphone technology, my voice was, in certain areas, somewhat different and strange. Therefore, we have put out an actual, and perfect, recording of the conversation. ENJOY!!!”

The post followed another late-night post, made an hour before, where Trump went on the offensive against Kamala Harris.

“Kamala: You ruined San Francisco, one of the greatest cities in the World, you ruined California, one of the greatest places on Earth—And you will turn America into a giant combination of both,” Trump’s post read. “We are not going to let that happen. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump’s excuse probably won’t be bought by anyone but the right. The Harris campaign has already seized upon his glitches, as well as Trump’s extremist rhetoric from the interview. The Trump campaign is trying to claim that one billion people watched the livestream, but that’s not going to get much traction either. The likeliest explanation for Trump’s slurring words may be his cognitive decline, which is all the more noticeable now that he’s the oldest candidate in the race.

Elon Musk’s judge-shopping attempt to get back at advertisers has failed.

The CEO of X (formerly Twitter) is trying to sue a coalition of advertisers who he claims conspired against the social networking site by refusing to buy advertisements. Reed O’Connor, a federal judge in the northern district of Texas, recused himself from the lawsuit Tuesday after NPR reported that he owns stock in Tesla, another one of Musk’s companies.

Last week, Musk sued the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a group of advertisers, media agencies, and platforms that focus on safety in media and technology. The lawsuit also targets the parent organization of GARM, the World Federation of Advertisers, and four of its member companies: Orsted, Unilever, CVS Health, and Mars.

Musk appears to have chosen the northern district because it is a favorite of conservatives, as almost all of its judges have been appointed by Republicans, even though the case has little, if anything, to do with Texas. O’Connor has a reputation for giving the right the rulings they are looking for. For example, he has repeatedly tried to gut or eliminate the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, even going after HIV drugs and cancer screenings. 

NPR’s report found that O’Connor owns between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of Tesla stock, which gives the appearance of a conflict of interest and ultimately seems to have led to O’Connor’s recusal. But while that will delay the advertiser lawsuit, O’Connor is still presiding over a different Musk lawsuit against Media Matters, filed in November, accusing the liberal media watchdog of defaming X by pointing out the rise in hate speech on the site.

The Media Matters lawsuit is still ongoing and still has the right-wing judge presiding over it. Even with O’Connor’s recusal from the advertiser lawsuit, Musk had a small measure of success as GARM announced last week that it would be disbanding, claiming that it didn’t have the financial resources to fight billionaire Musk. The question is how much more money Musk is willing to spend to punish perceived slights.

Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has been altering the headlines on real articles in Google search results to make them appear more pro-Harris, Axios reported Tuesday.  

The articles—which, unbeknownst to the outlets publishing them, are transformed into advertisements by the Harris campaign—include a banner that says “Paid for by Harris for President” floating above URLs linking articles on sites such as the Associated Press, Reuters, The Independent, and more. 

The headlines and deks, or subheads, of these articles have been changed in the search results to emphasize support for Harris’s accomplishments. 

For example, an article about Harris’s economic plan published by NPR was accompanied by the headline “Harris Will Lower Health Costs” and a dek that states “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care.”

While the banner is meant to make clear that the results are advertisements, not articles, the ads may create the impression that Harris is backed by certain news organizations when she is actually not. 

Spokespeople for CNN, USA Today, and NPR told Axios that they weren’t aware their brands were being used by the Harris campaign. 

A spokesperson for The Guardian, which had also been featured in the ads, made a statement to Axios. “While we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure it is being used appropriately and with our permission,” the spokesperson said. “We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.”

This style of ads is common in commercial marketing, and Google has said that those ads don’t violate its rules. However, this approach may ultimately prove to be a gambit that lacks an actual advantage as it potentially undermines trust in the news. 

It is also unclear why Harris’s campaign felt the need to do this, as there has been plenty of positive coverage of Harris since President Joe Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed her to replace him.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump isn’t running these kinds of ads, according to Google’s transparency center, although he has edited articles he posted on Truth Social. But honestly, why would he want to align himself with mainstream media, which he actively rails against? Trump has previously vowed retribution against the press, which he claims has treated him unfairly, referring to journalists as the “enemy of the people.”

The momentum behind Kamala Harris has been so major that it may turn Florida blue again in November.

The Democratic presidential nominee is closing the gap on the Sunshine State’s solidly red status, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV survey of 500 registered voters released Tuesday. The poll results suggest Harris is just five percentage points behind Donald Trump—a far cry from the 19-point advantage that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had over Democrat Charlie Crist in 2022.

The USA Today poll showed Trump receiving the support of 47 percent of surveyed potential voters in Florida, while Harris gained the support of 42 percent. That five-point difference is within the poll’s margin of error.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. trailed behind with 5 percent, while another 5 percent were undecided or refused to disclose their preference.

Another poll conducted by Civiqs indicated that the number of Democrats feeling positive about the upcoming election had shot up since President Joe Biden exited the race, with approximately 34 percent of the party reportedly feeling hopeful. The number of surveyed participants feeling negative—including “scared,” “depressed,” and “angry”—had all gone down.

That could be why former Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke believes that the Lone Star State could also be coming into play for Harris—or, at the very least, that her candidacy would motivate enough Texas Democrats to vote downballot in other contentious races.

“The thing is you now see Democrats smiling,” O’Rourke told MSNBC Monday. “There is joy in our party. There is electricity moving through our system. And yes, places that I think were written off are now in contention.”

“I think Harris-Walz rise or increase the chances that we’re going to be able to win these races,” O’Rourke continued, referring to the House race between Democrat Michelle Vallejo and Republican Representative Monica De La Cruz, as well as Democratic Representative Colin Allred, who’s gunning for Senator Ted Cruz’s seat.

“Who knows, but Joe Biden lost Texas by only 5.5 points in 2020. It’s been moving faster into the blue column than any other battleground state. Anything, I think, is possible in this year, and with the energy that those two are bringing to the ticket, I think that Texas could possibly be in play,” O’Rourke said.