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      Trump appoints RFK Jr and Tulsi Gabbard to transition team

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      Donald Trump has appointed Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, two former Democrats who have endorsed his bid for a second presidency, to the transition team that could shape his future administration.The pair will serve as honorary co-chairs of a body that will help him choose policies and personnel if he wins November’s presidential election, the New York Times reported.Kennedy’s appointment came after he suspended his own presidential campaign as an independent candidate last week and threw his weight behind an erstwhile opponent who, just four months ago, branded him a “radical-left lunatic”.He had already flagged up his new role in an interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host and prominent Trump supporter, posted on X.Gabbard, a former member of Congress for Hawaii, unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and left the party shortly thereafter.She has rebranded herself as a pro-Trump celebrity and has been helping the Republican nominee prepare for a 10 September debate with Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, which is to be hosted by ABC.Gabbard and Harris clashed in a televised primary debate in 2019, footage from which was posted on social media on Tuesday.Gabbard, a former member of the national guard who served in the Middle East, criticised the Democratic party in the debate, saying it was “not the party that is of, by and for the people and continues to be influenced by the foreign policy establishment in Washington represented by [Hillary] Clinton … and other greedy corporate interests”. She also attacked Harris’s record as a prosecutor.Harris responded by describing Gabbard as “someone who during the Obama administration spent four years full-time on Fox News criticising President Obama”. She also accused Gabbard of “buddying up” to Steve Bannon, a key Trump supporter and adviser, to get a meeting with Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election.It is unclear what role Kennedy or Gabbard will play on the transition team, which also features two of Trump’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric, and his vice-presidential running mate, JD Vance.On Tuesday, the Wisconsin elections commission voted to keep Kennedy on the presidential ballot, despite requesting to be removed from the ballot in all swing states when he endorsed Donald Trump last week.US media reported that Kennedy would also remain on the ballot in another key swing state: Michigan. The presence of independent and third-party candidates on the ballots could be a key factor in states where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.Kennedy, who has traded in debunked conspiracy theories about children’s vaccines and the causes of the Covid epidemic, has been touted as a potential member of a second Trump administration, and has said he would expect any role would involve healthcare and food and drug policy.Trump has supported some of Kennedy’s vaccine scepticism, but played down suggestions that he could appoint him as secretary of health and human services. That post would see him surmounting the potentially problematic hurdle of Senate confirmation.Marc Short, a former chief of staff to Mike Pence, who served as Trump’s vice-president, told the New York Times that the appointment of Kennedy and Gabbard was a setback to conservatives.“From the convention platform to the transition team, free-market, limited-government and social conservatives have been kicked to the curb,” he said. “Doubling down on big-government populists will not energise turnout among traditional conservatives.” More

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      Special counsel files new indictment against Trump in election subversion case – live

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      Donald Trump faces a new indictment in the 2020 case against him after the US supreme court ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution.The new indictment filed by the special counsel Jack Smith dropped allegations that Trump attempted to pressure the US justice department in his effort to overturn his defeat.Kamala Harris’s campaign denied Donald Trump’s claims that the two sides had reached an agreement about their upcoming debate in September.The former president said Tuesday that he had agreed to the rules for the 10 September debate, which will be their first encounter since Harris kicked off her White House campaign. Trump had previously spent several days suggesting he might not participate.The vice-president’s campaign has suggested the debate terms have not been finalized.“Both candidates have publicly made clear their willingness to debate with unmuted mics for the duration of the debate to fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates – but it appears Donald Trump is letting his handlers overrule him. Sad!” the Harris campaign said in a statement.More on the updated indictment against Donald Trump:The justice department filed a new indictment against Donald Trump on Tuesday over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The maneuver does not substantially change the criminal case against him but protects it in the wake of a July supreme court decision ruling saying that Trump and other presidents have immunity for official acts, but not unofficial ones.“Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment, charging the defendant with the same criminal offenses that were charged in the original indictment,” lawyers for Jack Smith, the special counsel handling the case, said in a filing that accompanied what’s known as a supersedeing indictment.“The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions in Trump v United States.”The document retains the same four criminal charges against Trump that were originally filed last summer. But portions of the new indictment are rewritten to emphasize that Trump was not acting in his official capacity during his efforts to try to overturn the election.Read the full story here:Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will sit down for a joint interview with CNN on Thursday, the outlet reported.The interview will be their first together and the first for the vice-president in more than a month. It comes as Harris has faced growing criticism for not sitting down with a major media organization or holding a full press conference since she began her campaign.The updated indictment against Trump was issued by a grand jury that had not heard evidence in the case before, the special counsel said.The new indictment keeps the same charges, but there are several key changes – primarily, the removal of allegations against the former president related to his interactions with the justice department.It also no longer includes Jeffrey Clark, an official at the justice department who promoted Trump’s false claims that the election had been stolen, as a co-conspirator.Donald Trump faces a new indictment in the 2020 case against him after the US supreme court ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution.The new indictment filed by the special counsel Jack Smith dropped allegations that Trump attempted to pressure the US justice department in his effort to overturn his defeat.It’s worth noting that Kamala Harris has not responded to Donald Trump’s announcement that he has reached an agreement for the rules of their debate on 10 September.Earlier this month, her campaign said she would be willing to do two debates, one on 10 September, and another on a to-be-determined date in October. Her running mate Tim Walz will do one debate with Trump’s pick, JD Vance, on 1 October.Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris say they support cutting taxes on tips, and the topic may come up at their debate on 10 September. But as the Guardian’s Michael Sainato reports, workers’-rights advocates aren’t thrilled about the suddenly popular policy:Tipping has always been a controversial subject in the US. Imported from Europe and popularized by some accounts after the fall of slavery to reinforce racial wage disparities, the practice comes freighted with historic baggage.Nor is it overly popular with consumers. Since the pandemic, 72% of US adults say tipping is expected in more places today than it was in 2019, according to a Pew survey. Four in 10 Americans oppose the suggested tips that have been popping up on payment screens everywhere from coffee shops and dry cleaners to self-service machines in airports.That hasn’t stopped Donald Trump and Kamala Harris from putting tips at the center of their election battle. Earlier this month, in a bold move, the vice-president endorsed a policy that the former president touted earlier this year to ban taxes on tips for service workers, as both candidates have been vying for working-class voters in the 2024 election, especially in the swing state of Nevada.At a glance, the idea of giving a break to tipped workers is attractive – in some states, the minimum wage for tipped workers is just $2.13 an hour, and an alarming 14.8% of those workers live in poverty. But the idea raises many issues: why should a low-wage worker who does get tips be treated differently from one who doesn’t? Will higher-paid workers be able to use the measure to cut their tax bills? Harris says no; Trump is less clear.Donald Trump agreed to the rules of the 10 September presidential debate after spending the last few days openly mulling pulling out of the event entirely. Here’s a look back at what we know about the squabble over the debate’s rules, from the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe:Donald Trump has expressed doubt that he will participate in a scheduled televised debate with Kamala Harris next month, hurling a trademark “fake news” slur at the network that agreed to host it.The former president and Republican presidential nominee threatened to pull out of the 10 September meeting with Harris, the vice-president and Democratic nominee for November’s election, in a post on his Truth Social network on Sunday night.Referring to an interview on ABC’s This Week earlier in the day with the host Jonathan Karl and Tom Cotton, the Republican Arkansas US senator, Trump questioned the network’s fairness for the only debate that both presidential candidates had already agreed on.“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump wrote with his usual penchant for erroneous uppercase letters.He also alluded to his ongoing defamation lawsuit against the This Week host George Stephanopoulos and the ABC network over comments the anchor made in March stating Trump had been found “liable for rape” instead of sexual abuse in a case brought by the New York writer E Jean Carroll.Donald Trump says he has agreed to the rules for ABC News’s 10 September debate with Kamala Harris, which will be their first encounter since she launched her presidential campaign.The two campaigns had reportedly been at odds over the rules of the debate, with the biggest point of contention being whether the candidates’ microphones would be muted when the other candidate was talking. Politico reported yesterday that Harris’s team wanted the microphones live during the whole broadcast, which would be a change from the CNN-hosted June debate between Trump and Joe Biden.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the debate will be held under CNN’s rules – which seems to indicate microphones will be muted when a candidate is not speaking:
      I have reached an agreement with the Radical Left Democrats for a Debate with Comrade Kamala Harris. It will be Broadcast Live on ABC FAKE NEWS, by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business, on Tuesday, September 10th, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Rules will be the same as the last CNN Debate, which seemed to work out well for everyone except, perhaps, Crooked Joe Biden. The Debate will be “stand up,” and Candidates cannot bring notes, or “cheat sheets.” We have also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a “fair and equitable” Debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance (No Donna Brazile!). Harris would not agree to the FoxNews Debate on September 4th, but that date will be held open in case she changes her mind or, Flip Flops, as she has done on every single one of her long held and cherished policy beliefs. A possible third Debate, which would go to NBC FAKE NEWS, has not been agreed to by the Radical Left. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
      Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will host fundraisers in three well-heeled western towns, the Harris-Walz campaign announced this afternoon.Emhoff’s first event will be in Ketchum, Idaho, on Thursday, and then on Friday, he’ll hold fundraisers in San Francisco and in Aspen, Colorado.Harris has raked in donations since entering the presidential race in late July following Joe Biden’s withdrawal, and saw a pronounced surge in fundraising during last week’s Democratic convention: More

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      RFK Jr faces call for investigation into claim he chainsawed whale’s head off

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      His independent White House campaign has fizzled, but the flow of bizarre stories of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s unorthodox handling of the carcasses of wild mammals has experienced no similar suspension.An environmental group is calling for a federal investigation into the former presidential candidate for an episode in which he allegedly severed the head of a washed-up whale with a chainsaw – and drove home with it strapped to his car’s roof.The episode has parallels with another extraordinary tale reported earlier in August in which Kennedy confessed to dumping a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park and attempted to make it look like the animal was killed by a bicyclist.The latest grisly revelation, about the whale head, is not particularly new – it stems from a 2012 interview Kennedy’s daughter Kick gave to Town & Country magazine, in which she talks about a visit to other family members of the political dynasty in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, more than two decades prior.But the story’s re-emergence, following the bear tale and other off-the-wall declarations – including claims that part of RFK Jr’s brain was eaten by worms and that he had an apparent fondness for barbecued dog – has angered activists at the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund. The group previously denounced Kennedy’s candidacy and endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for president.In a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) this week, Brett Hartl, the organization’s government affairs director and chief political strategist, demanded an inquiry.“Mr Kennedy’s apparent transport of the marine mammal skull from Massachusetts to New York, and therefore across state lines, also represented a felony violation of the Lacey Act, one of the earliest wildlife conservation laws enacted by [the] United States in 1900,” he wrote, adding that it was also illegal to possess part of any animal protected by the endangered species act.“Normally, an unverified anecdote would not provide sufficient evidence as the basis for conducting an investigation. The [bear] story made it seem like this was normal behavior for him, so he may also possess additional illegally collected wildlife parts.”The former Kennedy campaign’s press office did not respond to a request for comment. And Noaa has yet to publicly acknowledge receipt of Hartl’s letter.The somewhat unpleasant recounting by Kick Kennedy – granddaughter of Robert F Kennedy, the assassinated former US attorney general and Kennedy Jr’s father – remains the only documented account of the whale incident.Describing her father’s fascination with animal skulls and skeletons as “eccentric environmentalism”, she tells how the whale washed up on a beach near Hyannis Port and he sped to the scene.“[He] ran down to the beach with a chainsaw, cut off the whale’s head and then bungee-corded it to the roof of the family minivan for the five-hour haul back to Mount Kisco, New York,” she said.“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet. We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day to day stuff for us.”Hartl, on X, called RFK Jr an “environmental criminal”. In his group’s denouncement of his candidacy, it said “his conspiracy theories go against the science-based foundation of all environmental protections”, and that he was no different from Donald Trump in terms of policy priorities “driven by what will benefit Big Oil and the greedy corporations that fund them”.Kennedy announced he was suspending his presidential campaign last Friday and immediately endorsed Trump. More

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      ‘Desperate’: Billy Baldwin denounces ex-friend RFK Jr for endorsing Trump

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      The actor Billy Baldwin has dismissed Robert F Kennedy Jr as a former friend while accusing him of betraying his values – as well as selling his political soul – after the erstwhile independent presidential candidate suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump.The rebuke from the 61-year-old Baldwin – the younger brother of fellow actor Alec Baldwin – added to the wave of blowback against Kennedy for his support of the former president. Kennedy himself acknowledged his wife – the actor Cheryl Hines – was “very uncomfortable” with his backing Trump. And his brother Max Kennedy published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times imploring the public to ignore Robert F Kennedy Jr’s maneuvering.Baldwin, in a lengthy post on X, explained that he has known Kennedy for decades.“We were friends,” Baldwin wrote. “I loved his politics. His speeches inspired me. We were neighbors. Our kids were friends. We carpooled the kids to school for a few years.”But now the actor said he has “completely” disavowed and dissociated from Kennedy.In the statement, Baldwin criticized Kennedy’s actions as the “desperate move of a man who had presidential ambitions but saw the door rapidly closing on the opportunity for him to hold any political office”. Baldwin added that the entire run “was a Hail Mary” – a phrase often used to describe a pass thrown in desperation but with little chance of success in the game of American football.Kennedy on Friday announced that he was suspending his independent White House campaign and then publicly endorsed Trump at a political rally alongside the Republican nominee in Arizona.Kennedy said that he and Trump had met several times and that they were “aligned on many key issues” – despite his reportedly having called him “a terrible human being”, “probably a sociopath” and the “[worst] president ever”.But, as Max Kennedy wrote, Robert F Kennedy Jr had also offered the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, his endorsement in exchange for a position in her administration if she won – though he received no response and then successfully offered the same deal to Trump.Baldwin described Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump as “not only a betrayal of the values and traditions of the Kennedy family” but also an act of “political cowardice”. Kennedy’s father was the former US senator and attorney general Robert F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 as he pursued the Democratic presidential nomination. His uncle was John F Kennedy, the Democratic president assassinated in 1963.“He has sold his political soul and desecrated the historic work and legacy of his father … and his uncle,” Baldwin said.Baldwin’s remarks echo the sentiments of five of Kennedy’s siblings, who in a joint statement recently said his endorsement of Trump betrayed their father’s family values.Kennedy on Sunday appeared on Fox News and addressed his siblings’ anger, saying that the family was “able to disagree with each other and still love each other”.Over the weekend, Kennedy’s campaign told CBS News that he had lost his Secret Service protection after suspending his campaign. That protection had been afforded to Kennedy after the failed 13 July assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania. More

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      Robert F Kennedy Jr’s brother ‘heartbroken’ over Trump endorsement

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      Max Kennedy, the brother of Robert F Kennedy Jr, has implored the public to ignore his sibling’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election and endorse Donald Trump’s campaign to return to the White House.In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Max Kennedy said “Trump was exactly the kind of arrogant, entitled bully” that his father, former US senator and attorney general Robert F Kennedy, stood against before he was assassinated in 1968 as he pursued the Democratic presidential nomination.Max Kennedy predicted his father would have admired the Democratic nominee for November’s election, Vice-President Kamala Harris, because she was a former prosecutor as well.“Her career, like his, has been all about decency, dignity, equality, democracy and justice for all,” Max Kennedy wrote.“I’m heartbroken over my brother Bobby’s endorsement of Donald Trump,” the piece added. “Robert F Kennedy’s life was dedicated to promoting the safety, security and happiness of the American people.”Robert F Kennedy Jr made the announcement to suspend his independent presidential campaign on Thursday. He soon appeared with Trump at a political rally in Arizona where he formally backed the former president, who clinched the Republican nomination despite his conviction on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, among various other legal problems.Kennedy said he planned on removing his name from the 2024 presidential election ballot in swing states to boost Trump’s chances of retaking the Oval Office. But Kennedy said he would remain on the ballot in other states that are not expected to decide the presidential race.In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Robert F Kennedy Jr claimed his campaign was undermined by “censorship” by the media – and not being included in the June presidential debate that preceded Joe Biden’s decision to halt his presidential re-election bid.Kennedy also described his periodic conversations with Trump before Thursday’s endorsement announcement, including one hours after the failed assassination attempt of the former president in July.While they agreed that they would be able to continue criticizing each other in connection with issues on which they don’t see eye to eye, “he invited me to form a unity government”, Kennedy said of Trump.Kennedy’s presidential bid and endorsement of Trump has drawn sharp criticism from the rest of his family. That includes his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, whom Kennedy has acknowledged was “very uncomfortable” with his endorsement of Trump despite her statement that she “deeply” respected her husband’s decision.And, before its suspension, his campaign was replete with controversies, including a sexual assault allegation made against him by a former staffer and the proliferation of numerous conspiracy theories over vaccine safety, Covid 19, wireless internet, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and antidepressants.Max Kennedy, a lawyer, is younger than his former presidential candidate brother. He is the ninth child of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy – and he was the nephew of John F Kennedy, who was president when he was assassinated in 1963.He characterized his brother’s endorsement of Trump as “inconceivable”, noting how he had offered Harris his endorsement in exchange for a position in her administration if she won. But Max Kennedy said his brother received no response from the Harris camp and successfully offered the same deal to Trump.“It is all the more tragic because of our brother’s name. To carry the name Robert F Kennedy Jr means a special legacy within a legacy,” Max Kennedy wrote, explaining his father’s record cut a stark contrast with Trump’s on anti-racism, immigration, the rule of law, the environment and gun control. Max Kennedy said the same was true with respect to truth and democracy, apparently an allusion to Trump’s falsehoods about having been robbed of victory in the 2020 presidential race by electoral fraudsters, which drove his supporters to mount the deadly US Capitol attack in early January 2021.“I love Bobby. But I hate what he is doing to our country,” Max Kennedy wrote. “It is worse than disappointment. We are in mourning.“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be motivated to write something of this nature. With a heavy heart, I am today asking my fellow Americans to do what will honor our father the most: Ignore Bobby and support vice-president Kamala Harris and the Democratic platform. It’s what is best for our country.”Kennedy on Sunday said everyone in his family needs “to be able to disagree with each other and still love each other”. More

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      Trump hails ‘very nice endorsement’ from RFK Jr as Kennedy siblings repudiate move – live

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      Speaking in Las Vegas today, Donald Trump acknowledged a “very nice endorsement from RFK Jr”.“That’s big,” Trump said, adding: “He’s a great guy, respected by everybody.”Trump added that he will discuss the endorsement further at a rally in Arizona this afternoon. RFK Jr was still concluding his remarks at the time.Like JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Robert F Kennedy Jr previously condemned and insulted Donald Trump on numerous occasions. With news of Kennedy withdrawing and endorsing the Republican, here’s a look back at a few of his past quotes on the former president:

      According to a New Yorker story from earlier this month, Kennedy recently wrote in a text message to someone that Trump is “a terrible human being”, adding, “The worse president ever and barely human. He is probably a sociopath.”

      In April, after Trump accused Kennedy of being a “Democratic plant”, Kennedy posted: “When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged. President Trump’s rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate.”

      In 2020, Kennedy said, “He is a bully. And you know, I don’t like bullies. And I don’t think … that that’s part of America’s tradition. I think, in many ways, he’s discredited the American experiment with self-governance.”
      The former disdain goes both way. Trump earlier this year called Kennedy “one of the most Liberal Lunatics ever to run for office”, adding, “Reminds me of this fly that’s driving me crazy up here. This fly is brutal. I don’t like flies.”RFK Jr’s wife, actor Cheryl Hines, tweeted about her husband’s decision to suspend his presidential campaign this afternoon, thanking the campaign’s staff for helping Kennedy overcome “the roadblocks and lawsuits that have been brought against them”:
      I’d like to extend a sincere, deeply heartfelt thank you to every person who has worked so tirelessly and lovingly on his campaign. … Over the last year and a half, I have met some extraordinary people from all parties – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. It’s been my experience that the vast majority of all parties are truly good people who want the best for our country and for each other. It has been an eye-opening, transformative, and endearing journey.
      Hines, who’s known for her role on the sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm, reportedly opposed RFK Jr’s decision to endorse Trump.The decision by Robert F Kennedy Jr to suspend his presidential campaign brings to an end one of the most bizarre campaigns of recent times.Kennedy, who introduced the general public to the concept of “leaky brain” and the idea that chemicals in water were making children transgender, initially ran for the Democratic nomination but launched an independent campaign in October 2023.His efforts failed to gain traction but left the public with some unusual, and some unsavory, memories.The scandals include revelations he dropped off a dead bear in Central Park; his claim that part of his brain had been eaten by a worm; an alleged photo he took of a barbecued dog; conspiracy theories about wifi radiation; and allegations of sexual assault.Read more here for a detailed recounting of the most notable controversies:After ranting live on Truth Social during Kamala Harris’s Democratic national convention speech last night, Trump couldn’t seem to shake it today. During an event at a Las Vegas restaurant, the former president complained about Harris’s speech, falsely claiming she had made no mention of the border and mocking her for repeatedly thanking the audience.“She mentioned ‘thank you’ about 50 times,” said Trump. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said, making a guttural noise possibly for dramatic effect and then continuing to repeat the word: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank – thank, thank.”“What the hell is wrong with her?” he said.The Harris campaign immediately posted the clip:Here’s a look at where things stand:

      RFK Jr announced the suspension of his presidential campaign and his endorsement of Donald Trump. In a nearly 50-minute address, the independent candidate cited his endorsement reasons as “free speech, war on Ukraine and war on our children”.

      Five of RFK Jr’s siblings have shared a statement denouncing their brother’s decision to endorse Trump. “We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride. We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story,” they said.

      JD Vance will attend a fundraiser next month hosted by Keith Rabois, Jacob Helberg and the “Trump 47 Jewish Coalition”. Rabois, an investor, and Helberg, an author and technology investor, are both Jewish (the two are also married). They have been critical of the Joe Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, saying the president has not been vocally supportive enough of Israel.

      In separate appearances on Fox News on Thursday, Donald Trump and Georgia governor Brian Kemp set their long-held distaste for each other aside, with Kemp endorsing Trump and Trump calling Kemp “very nice”. “We’ve got to win from the top of the ticket on down,” Kemp said, speaking in response to Kamala Harris’s nomination at the Democratic national convention last night. “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”

      Merrick Garland announced this morning that the justice department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage. The DoJ alleges that RealPage’s algorithm provided landlords with recommended prices for rentals that allowed them to align their rents.

      Several Secret Service personnel from the Pittsburgh field office have been reassigned to administrative duties and ordered to work from home following last month’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump, according to sources speaking to CNN. In a report on Friday, CNN also reported that a member of Trump’s security detail has also been reassigned to administrative duties.

      In response to Kamala Harris’s speech at the Democratic national convention on Thursday, Donald Trump’s campaign released an email on Friday morning, calling Harris “dangerously liberal, not a centrist”. It went on to say: “Her record includes being named the most liberal senator, supporting eliminating private health insurance, and saying we need to ‘redirect resources’ from police. Kamala Harris is dangerously liberal, describing her as anything else is a lie.”

      Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said on Friday that “the time has come” to cut rates, Reuters reports. During a speech at the Fed’s annual economic conference in Wyoming, Powell said: “The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook and the balance of risks.”
      Robert Kennedy Jr. announced Friday that he is dropping out of the US presidential race and throwing his support behind Donald Trump.The 70-year-old scion of the expansive and reliably Democrat family said in a Pennsylvania court filing that he was dropping out of the 2024 race for the White House, according to the Associated Press.Kennedy, a life-long Democrat before he switched to independent – a reflection of his frustration after he was essentially blocked from challenging Joe Biden for the party nomination and later lost Democrat-financed challenges to appearing on state ballots -, said during a press conference that “in an honest system, I believe I would have won the election…”Kennedy point to the system that his father, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, president John F. Kennedy, he said, had thrived in – ‘a system with open debates, primaries with regularly scheduled debates, a truly independent media untainted by government propaganda and censorship, a system of non-partisan courts and election boards, everything would be different.”He said polls had shown him beating existing candidates in terms of favorability. “I’m sorry to say that while democracy may still be alive at the grassroots, it has become little more than a slogan for our political institutions, for our media, for our government and most sadly of all for me and the Democratic party.Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, had hinted the Kennedy campaign might join forces with Trump or forming a new party “because we draw votes from Trump” or “we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. We walk away from that and we explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”At the height of his campaign. Kennedy was polling at 10% of voters but since Biden dropped out from re-election in July and vice president Kamala Harris stepped in, Kennedy’s polling support halved. The big question is where that remaining 5% of voters go – with Kennedy and Trump, to Democrats, or withhold their vote entirely.At a campaign stop at a restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada, Donald Trump opened his remarks with a focus on tipped income, and his proposal to abolish taxes on tipped income if elected.“Nobody ever heard of this concept before,” said Trump, of his proposal to do away with taxes on tips, a form of taxation that especially affects restaurant workers. He called Kamala Harris, who has said she supports the same kind of policy, a “copycat” and complained about her decision to back the policy.“Can we get the culinary union to vote for Trump?” he said. “A lot of them are voting for us, I can tell you that.” The Culinary Union, which represents workers in food service, hotels and gaming, has already endorsed Harris for president.“The path to victory runs through Nevada, and the Culinary Union will deliver Nevada for president Kamala Harris and vice president Tim Walz,” wrote Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas, in a 9 August statement.Speaking in Las Vegas today, Donald Trump acknowledged a “very nice endorsement from RFK Jr”.“That’s big,” Trump said, adding: “He’s a great guy, respected by everybody.”Trump added that he will discuss the endorsement further at a rally in Arizona this afternoon. RFK Jr was still concluding his remarks at the time.Five of RFK Jr’s siblings have shared a statement denouncing their brother’s decision to endorse Trump.“We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride. We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story,” Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy said in a statement.RFK Jr’s campaign has clarified that it did not intend to endorse Donald Trump in a Pennsylvania court filing, according to reports.“Mr Kennedy has not endorsed president Trump,” Stefanie Spear, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement to the Washington Post. “The filing was made by an attorney and not reviewed by the campaign. The filing is being updated.”The news comes as RFK Jr is speaking live to the nation.RFK Jr said he will “now throw my support to president Trump”.Citing the reasons for his endorsement of Donald Trump, he said the causes “were free speech, war in Ukraine and the war on our children”.“I want everyone to know that I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it and not ending it,” RFK Jr said.“My name will remain on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping president Trump or Vice-President Harris,” he added, saying: “In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me.”“There in Chicago, a string of Democratic speakers mentioned Donald Trump 147 times just on the first day,” RFK Jr said.“Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate. In contrast, at the RNC convention, president Biden was mentioned only twice in four days … What most alarms me is how the Democratic party conducts its internal affairs, or runs its candidates, let alone … resort to censorship and media control, and weaponization of the federal agencies,” he added.“Now, in an honest system, I believe that I would have won the election,” RFK Jr said.“My father and my uncle thrived in a system … [of] open debates with fair primaries, with a regularly scheduled debate with fair primaries and with a truly independent media, untainted by government propaganda and censorship. In a system of nonpartisan courts and election boards, everything would be different.”“I want to thank all of those dedicated volunteers and congratulate the campaign staff who coordinated this enormous logistical feat,” RFK Jr said, referring to his presidential run.“Your accomplishments were regarded as impossible. You carried me up that glass mountain. You pulled off a miracle. You achieved what all the pundits said could never be done. You have my deepest gratitude, and I’m never going to forget that, not just for what you did, for my campaign, but for the sacrifices you made because you love our country.”“As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically on the core values that I grew up with,” RFK Jr said.“It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech … and big money. When it abandoned democracy by cancelling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting president, I left the party to run as an independent.”“I began this journey as a Democrat, the party of my father, my uncle, the party which I pledged my own allegiance to all before I was old enough to vote,” RFK Jr said.“I attended my first Democratic convention at the age of six in 1960 and back then, the Democrats were the champions of the constitution of civil rights. The Democrats stood against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, imperialism and unjust wars. We were the party of labor.”RFK Jr is now live on stage.Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates. More

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      Robert F Kennedy Jr suspends US presidential campaign and endorses Trump

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      Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of the Democratic Kennedy family whose independent presidential campaign threatened to draw votes from both Republicans and Democrats, has suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump.Kennedy said he would be removing his name from the ballot in critical swing states, but will remain on the ballot in other states and some voters could still cast ballots for him.In a rambling statement that started three-quarters of a hour behind schedule, Kennedy said he would be giving his support to Trump following a series of conversations with him, the first of which took place days after the Republican nominee survived an assassination attempt on 13 July.“I was surprised to discover that we are aligned on many key issues,” Kennedy said, explaining that he and Trump met several times. “In those meetings, he suggested that we join forces as a unity party. We talked about Abraham Lincoln’s team of rivals. That arrangement would allow us to disagree publicly and privately and seriously, if need be, on issues over which we differ while working together on the existential issues upon which we are in concordance.”He also praised Trump’s call for an end to Russia’s war with Ukraine, which he blamed on the US and the Nato alliance.Kennedy said the war was one of three “great causes” that drove him to enter the race and ultimately to give his support to Trump, with the others being free speech and what he called “the war on our children”, a phrase covering his well-known opposition to vaccines, about which he has peddled conspiracy theories.Kennedy, whose uncle, John F Kennedy, and father, Robert F Kennedy, were both assassinated, announced that he was running against Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in April 2023.He left that race last October, however, warning that under the two-party system the US was “cycling from despair to rage and back to despair”, and ran as an independent.Kennedy’s campaign was seen as a threat to both Harris and Trump, but in the past few months Kennedy was dogged by controversies. He was accused of assaulting a former babysitter, it emerged that Kennedy believed that part of his brain had been eaten by a worm, and in early August he admitted to having staged a bizarre bicycle hit-and-run incident with a dead bear cub in a New York City park.As his election bid floundered, Kennedy reportedly made overtures to the Harris campaign in August to discuss dropping out and endorsing her in exchange for a job in her administration, while he was also courted by Trump in July.Having initially hovered at about 10% in national polling, Kennedy’s popularity dropped amid the scandals, with the 70-year-old averaging about half of that in August. The campaign struggled to raise money, with just $3.9m cash-on-hand at the end of July, and debts of $3.5m. Politico reported that Kennedy spent more than $7m in July – more than the $5.6m he raised.Both Democrats and Republicans watched Kennedy’s campaign closely, however, mindful that his mix of vaccine skepticism, hardline policies on the border, and ties to the most famous Democratic family in politics, could draw votes in key swing states.Kennedy, as a former Democrat, was initially seen as more of a threat to Democrats winning the presidential election, but in recent months he was seen to be drawing more votes from Trump, something his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, admitted on Tuesday.“There’s two options that we’re looking at,” Shanahan told the Impact Theory podcast.“One is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump. Or we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. We walk away from that and we explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”There has been evidence that Trump did see Kennedy as a threat.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA video posted online on 16 July showed a phone call between Trump and Kennedy where Trump appeared to offer an opportunity for the pair to work together in the future. The video came after reports – denied by Kennedy – that he might drop out and endorse Trump.At an event in Nevada, Trump thanked Kennedy for his decision to endorse him, and in a statement the campaign called the decision “good news”.The Harris campaign responded less directly, with a statement apparently directed at Kennedy supporters: “for any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you.”Kennedy’s apparent efforts to meet with Harris to discuss endorsing her in exchange for a possible cabinet secretary position were snubbed by the Harris campaign.His run for president has been controversial. Recently Kennedy responded to an allegation that he sexually assaulted an employee by stating: “I am not a church boy,” while in July 2023, a video surfaced of Kennedy making false claims that Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” to attack Black people and white people while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.Last year Kennedy claimed that wifi causes “leaky brain” and has linked antidepressants to school shootings. In 2023 he also claimed that chemicals in water were making children transgender, while Kennedy has longstanding, and wrong, beliefs about apparently any and all vaccines.In a joint statement, five of Kennedy’s siblings – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy – denounced his endorsement of Trump as a betrayal of the values of their father, Robert F Kennedy, the former attorney general and Democratic senator.“We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride,” they said. “We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story.” More

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      RFK Jr voters on ‘frustrating’ suspension of campaign: ‘He’s playing politics’

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      Robert F Kennedy Jr, the arguable black sheep of one of America’s biggest families in politics, has suspended his campaign for president and endorsed Donald Trump – and it has rocked some of his supporters.On Facebook, where Kennedy groups have amassed thousands of members across the country, some expressed bitter disappointment. In their view, Kennedy was a way to buck, and even break, the two-party system in the US – and while the end of his campaign hurt, backing one of the major party candidates was seen as far worse.Just before his formal announcement, Jenn Morgan said that if Kennedy “drops out and endorses Trump, then I will not be voting at all”. using an emoji with its tongue out on her post, meant to display the emotion “feeling disgusted”.“If he becomes part of the cabinet with him, that’s great and I hope he’s able to do good things but he would not have any integrity in my eyes,” she wrote.“He gave into the pressure just like they all do. If he drops out of the race, he has let us down about everything he said he stands for and what he said he was going to do for us. He will be no different than the rest of the politicians.”In an interview, Ray Orta, a 23-year navy veteran from the Bronx, New York, who has lived in Nevada for 28 years, said he didn’t feel “betrayed” by Kennedy but he did feel “frustrated”.In his view, the only way for this decision to make sense to his supporters, would be for Trump to name Kennedy as his attorney general, or a similar major role in his cabinet should he win in November.“He has to get Trump to give [him] something or else it’s all talk, talk, talk – Kennedy goes to the abyss, and then we’re back to the two-party system,” he said.Kennedy’s stance on Trump – and earlier in the race, Joe Biden – has previously been a bit all over the place. In a March episode of the New York Times podcast The Run Up, the independent said the Covid pandemic represented a break with the Democratic party. He cited the lockdowns as being the “driver” behind censoring people like him who dissent from government policies. Asked if he was worried about being a spoiler in the election, helping either Biden or Trump win, he responded: “I have a fear of both of them winning the election.”Still, his endorsement of Trump is not wholly surprising when one remembers that a video of Kennedy speaking to the former president about working together emerged just last month after Trump’s assassination attempt.In his speech on Friday, Kennedy thanked his supporters, attacked Democrats, and embraced Trump, but avoided the crux of why his supporters had been drawn to him in the first place: an alternative to the two-party system.“What’s this about??? Did you actually endorse this buffoon?” wrote Marcia Horn Kayhanfar in a top Kennedy Facebook group. “What a let down.”“I thought he was wanting to heal the divide, not make it deeper,” added Joey Martin, in the group “Robert F Kennedy Jr. America’s Best Hope”, which has 22,000 members. “I thought he wanted to give those who don’t want to vote out of fear an option. Is he now being divisive and saying that we should vote against what we fear? Did he give up on the dream and hope?”Some supporters were moved by Kennedy’s calls to back Trump, but others rejected the endorsement from a candidate they had backed for months.Told that not voting would be a vote for Harris, Marianne Moad responded: “No, actually it will be a vote for myself and all women.“[Trump] is responsible for the rights being suppressed from 50% of the population. I don’t want my daughter or granddaughters to die because they can’t terminate a bad pregnancy. It is happening already,” she wrote, sharing a link to a BBC article on Amanda Zurawski, a Texas woman who almost died after being denied an abortion.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionNow, as Kennedy suspends his campaign and lines up behind Trump just one day after Kamala Harris’s successful convention, attention turns to how his exit could affect the race.Pew Research Center polling from July – when Biden was still in the race – shows that Harris’s entry halved Kennedy’s support, according to its new August poll, while a Washington Post analysis suggests more of what’s left of Kennedy’s support could tilt towards Trump.But a Washington Post poll with ABC News and Ipsos from this past weekend found that Harris had a three-point edge against Trump with Kennedy in the race, and a four-point lead ahead of just Trump. That, the poll found, is because Kennedy supporters are more likely to view Harris favorably than Trump.After initial rumors of Kennedy’s withdrawal broke in the Facebook group Robert F Kennedy Jr. for President 2024, Alex Arey, 35, wrote to its 15,000 members: “I feel betrayed. Yeah, I despise the Dems, but not enough to vote Trump.”Arey, a special education teacher in Shenandoah county, Virginia, said he was a Kennedy true believer, having listened to about 100 hours of his interviews over the years. He has voted Democratic in the past, but chose to vote for the Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen in 2020. He called a Trump endorsement by Kennedy “disappointing”, because it represents him “just falling into the two-party duopoly”.“‘Declare your independence’ was one of his slogans, but now he’s joining up with the lesser of two evils, that’s something you don’t like to see,” he said. “He’s just playing politics.”Gabriela Morbitzer, 34, a retail manager from Tennessee, said she was disengaged during the 2020 election and not proud of it, but found both options poor and a “leadership gap” for president. After a friend told her to give a two-hour podcast with Kennedy a “real listen”, she was onboard believing he listened to people and filled that gap.Now, she said she feels “immediate disappointment” because Trump has “never been” a viable candidate.“What I don’t appreciate is I feel Donald Trump brings out the worst in us, the collective us,” she said. “He’s very divisive and feeds into that desire for people to behave in ways that are absolutely ridiculous.” More