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Tag: joe biden

  • FACT FOCUS: A look at ominous claims around illegal immigration made at the Republican convention

    FACT FOCUS: A look at ominous claims around illegal immigration made at the Republican convention

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    After Donald Trump triumphantly entered the hall on the second night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the program turned to one of his signature issues: illegal immigration. An ominous video of chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border led into to a speech by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who declared, “We are facing an invasion on our southern border.”

    Here’s a look at some of the claims made Tuesday:

    VIDEO NARRATOR: “Biden made one of the worst mistakes of any president in history when he told illegals to come here and surge our border.”

    THE FACTS: After the claim, the video cuts to President Joe Biden saying, “I would, in fact, make sure that there is — we immediately surge to the border,” and the narrator says, “And surge they did.”

    But important context is missing. The clip was taken from the Sept. 12, 2019, Democratic presidential debate. A moderator, Jorge Ramos of Univision, discussing immigration issues, notes that Biden served as vice president in the administration of President Barack Obama, which deported 3 million people. He then asks if Biden is “prepared to say tonight that you and President Obama made a mistake?”

    Biden answers by noting immigration accomplishments by Obama and discussing the policies of then-President Trump. He then adds, “What I would do as president is several more things, because things have changed. I would, in fact, make sure that there is — we immediately surge to the border. All those people who are seeking asylum, they deserve to be heard. That’s who we are.”

    Since then Biden has spoken repeatedly of sending agents and other law enforcement resources to the border to deal with the migrant influx.

    ___

    VIDEO NARRATOR: “Biden’s incompetence has led to a horrific 300,000 Americans now dead, not from a nuclear bomb but from lethal fentanyl brought in through Biden’s wide-open border.”

    THE FACTS: While it is correct that much of America’s fentanyl is smuggled from Mexico, 86.4% of fentanyl trafficking crimes were committed by U.S. citizens in the 12-month period through September 2023, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

    The fentanyl scourge began well before Biden took office. Border seizures, which tell only part of the story, have jumped sharply under Biden, which may partly reflect improved detection. About 27,000 pounds (12,247 kilograms) of fentanyl was seized by U.S. authorities in the 2023 government budget year, compared with 2,545 pounds (1,154 kilograms) in 2019, when Trump was president.

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    CRUZ: “Every day Americans are dying — murdered, assaulted, raped by illegal immigrants that the Democrats have released.”

    THE FACTS: A number of heinous and high-profile crimes involving people in the U.S. illegally have been in the news in recent months. But there is nothing to support the claim that it happens every day.

    The foreign-born population, immigrants in the country both legally and illegally, was estimated to be 46.2 million, or almost 14% of the U.S. total, in 2022, according to the Census Bureau, including about 11 million in the country illegally. Hardly a month passes without at least one person in the country illegally getting charged with a high-profile, horrific crime, such as the February slaying of a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student or the June strangling death of a 12-year-old Houston girl.

    Texas is the only state that tracks crime by immigration status. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences, based on Texas Department of Public Safety data from 2012 to 2016, found people in the U.S. illegally had “substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    While FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, there is no evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants, either along the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities seeing the greatest influx of migrants, like New York. Studies have found that people living in the U.S. illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes.

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    Find AP Fact Checks at https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • FACT FOCUS: Trump, in Republican convention video, alludes to false claim 2020 election was stolen

    FACT FOCUS: Trump, in Republican convention video, alludes to false claim 2020 election was stolen

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    DONALD TRUMP, alluding that the 2020 vote was stolen: “Whether you vote early, absentee, by mail or in person, we are going to protect the vote. That’s the most important thing we have to do is protect the vote. Keep your eyes open because these people want to cheat and they do cheat. And frankly, it’s the only thing they do well.”

    THE FACTS: In a prerecorded video at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump referenced baseless claims he made repeatedly after he lost the 2020 presidential race — that the election was “rigged” and that Democrats cheated to put President Joe Biden in the White House.

    The election was not stolen.

    Biden earned 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, the same margin that Trump had when he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, which he repeatedly described as a “landslide.” (Trump ended up with 304 electoral votes because two electors defected.) Biden achieved victory by prevailing in key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.

    Trump’s allegations of massive voting fraud have been refuted by a variety of judges, state election officials and an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department.

    In 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr told the AP that no proof of widespread voter fraud had been uncovered. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” he said at the time.

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    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made at the Republican National Convention as Trump accepts nomination

    FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made at the Republican National Convention as Trump accepts nomination

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    As former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday he laid out his vision for running the country. He painted a dire picture of the state of the U.S. and outlined a range of actions he planned to take. But his comments were marked with a myriad of false and misleading information that distorted the facts around immigration, the U.S. economy and his previous accomplishments.

    Here are the facts.

    IMMIGRATION

    TRUMP: “The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country — they are coming in from every corner of the earth, not just from South America, but from Africa, Asia and the Middle East — they’re coming from everywhere, and this administration does nothing to stop them. They are coming from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums, and terrorists at levels never seen before.”

    THE FACTS: Trump spent much of his address discussing immigration and the mass influx of migrants into the U.S., repeating several false and misleading claims, including that it has caused a crime surge. He cited recent high-profile and heinous crimes allegedly committed by people in the country illegally as proof.

    But the suggestion there has been a spike in violent crime nationally as a result of the influx is not supported by facts. FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, nor is there any evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants, either along the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities seeing the greatest influx of migrants, like New York. In fact, national statistics show violent crime is on the way down.

    Studies have found that people living in the country illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes. A 2020 study published by the National Academy of Sciences found “considerably lower felony arrest rates” among people in the United States illegally than legal immigrants or native-born citizens.

    There is also no evidence to support that other countries are sending their murderers, drug dealers and other criminals to the U.S.

    ECONOMY

    TRUMP: “We had the greatest economy in the history of the world.”

    THE FACTS: That’s far from accurate. The pandemic triggered a massive recession during his presidency. The government borrowed $3.1 trillion in 2020 to stabilize the economy and Trump left the White House with fewer jobs than when he entered.

    But even if you take out issues caused by the pandemic, economic growth averaged 2.67% during Trump’s first three years, which is pretty solid. But it’s nowhere near the 4% averaged during Bill Clinton’s two terms from 1993 to 2001, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In fact, growth has been stronger so far under Biden than under Trump.

    Trump did have the unemployment rate get as low as 3.5% before the pandemic, but the labor force participation rate for people 25 to 54 — the core of the U.S. working population — was higher under Clinton. The participation rate has also been higher under Biden than Trump.

    AFGHANISTAN

    TRUMP, on the U.S. troops from Afghanistan: “We also left behind $85 billion worth of military equipment.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    THE FACTS: Those numbers are significantly inflated, according to reports from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, which oversees American taxpayer money spent on the conflict.

    The $85 billion figure resembles a number from a July 30 quarterly report from SIGAR, which outlined that the U.S. has invested about $83 billion to build, train and equip Afghan security forces since 2001.

    Yet that funding included troop pay, training, operations and infrastructure along with equipment and transportation over two decades, according to SIGAR reports and Dan Grazier, a defense policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight.

    “We did spend well over $80 billion in assistance to the Afghan security forces,” Grazier told the AP in August 2021. “But that’s not all equipment costs.”

    In fact, only about $18 billion of that sum went toward equipping Afghan forces between 2002 and 2018, a June 2019 SIGAR report showed.

    Another estimate from a 2017 Government Accountability Office report found that about 29% of dollars spent on Afghan security forces between 2005 and 2016 funded equipment and transportation. The transportation funding included gear as well as contracted pilots and airplanes for transporting officials to meetings.

    If that percentage held for the entire two-decade period, it would mean the U.S. has spent about $24 billion on equipment and transportation for Afghan forces since 2001.

    But even if that were true, much of the military equipment would be obsolete after years of use, according to Grazier. Plus, American troops have previously scrapped unwanted gear and, prior to the withdrawal, disabled dozens of Humvees and aircraft so they couldn’t be used again, according to Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command.

    Though no one knows the exact value of the U.S.-supplied Afghan equipment the Taliban have secured, defense officials have confirmed it is significant.

    HAMAS

    MIKE POMPEO, secretary of state under Trump, on Americans held hostage in the Gaza Strip by Hamas: “President Biden won’t even talk about the fact that Americans are still being held there by the Iranian regime.”

    THE FACTS: President Joe Biden has spoken multiple times about the Americans who were among the 240 people taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Eight Americans are reportedly still in captivity, including three who were killed.

    For example, three days after the attack that started the Israel-Hamas war, Biden said, “we now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas.”

    Soon after, on Oct. 20, 2023, he said, “as I told the families of Americans being held captive by Hamas, we’re pursuing every avenue to bring their loved ones home.”

    Biden released a statement on Jan. 14, 2024, that described the day as “a devastating and tragic milestone — 100 days of captivity for the more than 100 innocent people, including as many as 6 Americans, who are still held being hostage by Hamas in Gaza.”

    More recently, on April 27, he wrote in a post on his official Facebook page: “I will not rest until every hostage, like Abigail, ripped from their families and held by Hamas is back in the arms of their loved ones. They have my word. Their families have my word.”

    ___ Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • Harris calls for expanded child tax credit of up to $6,000 for families with newborns

    Harris calls for expanded child tax credit of up to $6,000 for families with newborns

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    U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an event with U.S. President Joe Biden (not pictured) in Prince George’s County, Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2024. 

    Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

    Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday unveiled an economic plan, including an expanded child tax credit worth up to $6,000 in total tax relief for families with newborn children.

    The Democratic presidential nominee’s plan aims to restore the higher child tax credit enacted via the American Rescue Plan in 2021, which provided a maximum credit of up to $3,600 per child, according to a fact sheet from the campaign.

    The 2021 credit was up to $3,000 or $3,600, depending on the child’s age and family’s income. Harris’ proposed tax break would increase for middle- to lower-income families for one year after a child is born.

    “We will provide $6,000 in tax relief to families during the first year of a child’s life,” said Harris during a policy speech in Raleigh, North Carolina.

    More from Personal Finance:
    Vance wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. Here’s why that could be difficult
    The expanded child tax credit failed in the Senate. Here’s what it means for families
    Trump and Harris both want no taxes on tips. Why policy experts don’t like the idea

    The plan comes less than one week after Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, former President Donald Trump‘s GOP running mate, floated a $5,000 child tax credit. 

    A Trump campaign official told CNBC: “Trump will consider a significant expansion of the child tax credit that applies to American families.”

    While Harris has followed President Joe Biden’s footsteps with her proposed child tax credit expansion, the $2,400 bonus for newborns is “different and somewhat surprising,” said Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow and federal tax expert with the American Enterprise Institute. “That, to me, sounds very much like a response to JD Vance.”

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

    ‘Bipartisan momentum’ for the child tax credit

    Senate Republicans earlier in August blocked an expanded child tax credit that passed in the House with broad support. However, Republican lawmakers are expected to revisit the measure after the election.

    “There is bipartisan momentum behind expanding the [child tax credit],” said Andrew Lautz, associate director for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s economic policy program.

    There is bipartisan momentum behind expanding the [child tax credit].

    Andrew Lautz

    Associate director for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s economic policy program

    The size of the expansion and future credit design will hinge on which party controls the White House and Congress. But the House-passed bill and Senate negotiations could be a starting point, Lautz said.

    Future child tax credit expiration

    Without action from Congress, the maximum child tax credit will drop from $2,000 to $1,000 once Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expire after 2025.

    The American Rescue Plan temporarily increased the maximum child tax credit from $2,000 to either $3,000 or $3,600, depending on the child’s age. Families received up to half via monthly payments for 2021.

    The child poverty rate fell to a historic low of 5.2% in 2021, largely due to the credit’s expansion, according to a Columbia University analysis.

    If there’s a future child tax credit expansion, Pomerleau doesn’t expect it to be as large as the tax break that Harris or Vance have proposed.

    Amid the federal budget deficit, lawmakers are already wrestling with trillions in expiring tax cuts that are “prohibitively expensive,” he said.

    Expanding the child tax credit to $3,000 or $3,600 could cost an estimated $1.1 trillion over a decade, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Meanwhile, the expansion to $6,000 for newborns could cost $100 billion.

    The Harris campaign’s economic plan fact sheet said she would fulfill her “commitment to fiscal responsibility,” including calls for higher taxes on wealthy Americans and large corporations.

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  • What we know about suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in the US presidential race

    What we know about suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in the US presidential race

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Details emerged over the weekend of a suspected Iranian cyber intrusion into the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, potentially resulting in the theft of internal campaign documents.

    The FBI is investigating the matter as well as attempts to infiltrate President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, which became Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign after Biden dropped out of the race.

    Here’s what we know:

    What happened?

    Trump’s presidential campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and that sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed. It declared that Iranian actors were to blame.

    The same day, Politico revealed it had received leaked internal Trump campaign documents by email, from a person only identified as “Robert.” The outlet said the documents included vetting materials on Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio, who also was considered as a potential vice president.

    Two other news outlets, The New York Times and The Washington Post, also said they received leaked materials. None of them revealed details about what they had, instead describing the documents in broad terms.

    It’s still unclear whether the materials the news outlets received were related to Trump’s alleged campaign hack. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung indicated they were connected, saying the documents “were obtained illegally” and warning that “any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”

    The FBI on Monday confirmed that it’s investigating the intrusion of the Trump campaign. Two people familiar with the matter said the FBI also is investigating attempts to gain access to the Biden-Harris campaign.

    Why is Trump blaming Iran?

    Trump’s campaign didn’t provide specific evidence showing Iran was behind the hack. But it pointed to a Microsoft report released Friday that detailed an Iranian attempt to infiltrate a presidential campaign in June.

    Microsoft’s report said an Iranian military intelligence unit had sent “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.” Spear-phishing is a form of cyberattack in which an attacker poses as a known or trusted sender, often to install malware or gather sensitive information.

    The tech company wouldn’t disclose which campaign or adviser was targeted, but said it had notified them. Since then, both Trump and a longtime friend and adviser of the former president, Roger Stone, have said they were contacted by Microsoft related to suspected cyber intrusions.

    “We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government – Never a nice thing to do!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

    Grant Smith, an attorney for Stone, said his client “was contacted by Microsoft and the FBI regarding this matter and continues to cooperate with these organizations.” He declined further comment.

    What does the government say?

    U.S. State Department officials declined to speculate on allegations that Iran was behind the hack, but a spokesperson said it would be in keeping with Tehran’s past use of cyberattacks and deception.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    “These latest attempts to interfere in U.S. elections are nothing new for the Iranian regime,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday.

    U.S. intelligence officials declined to comment on the incident and referred questions to the FBI, which has said only that it’s investigating.

    Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved.

    “We do not accord any credence to such reports,” the mission told The Associated Press. “The Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

    However, Iran long has been suspected of running hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and beyond. Tehran also has threatened to retaliate against Trump over the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

    Was Harris targeted too?

    Harris’ campaign has declined to say whether it has identified any state-based intrusion attempts, only saying it vigilantly monitors cyber threats and wasn’t aware of any security breaches of its systems.

    But two people familiar with the matter said the Biden-Harris campaign also was targeted in the suspected Iranian cyber intrusion. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the investigation.

    At least three staffers in the Biden-Harris campaign were targeted with phishing emails, but investigators have uncovered no evidence the attempt was successful, one of the people said. The attempts came before Biden dropped out of the race.

    The FBI began investigating that cyber incident in June, and intelligence officials believe Iran was behind the attempts, that person said.

    Where have I heard this before?

    A suspected foreign hack-and-leak of campaign materials might sound familiar because it’s happened before — notably in 2016.

    That year, a Russian hack exposed emails to and from Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta. The website Wikileaks published a trove of the messages, which were reported on extensively by news outlets.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday noted the repeated use of the tactic against the U.S. and said it shows foreign adversaries are “intent on sowing chaos and undermining our democratic process.”

    “So we have to stand firm to ensure our cybersecurity can withstand such intrusions as we head into November,” he said in a statement.

    Experts say that the recent apparent hack of the Trump campaign is not likely to be the last such attempt to influence the U.S. election, either through cyberattacks or online disinformation. Both Iran and Russia, for example, have begun targeting Americans with fake news websites and other social media content that appears intended to sway voters, Microsoft and U.S. intelligence officials have said.

    The nation’s former top election security official, Chris Krebs, warned on the social platform X that Americans should take this threat seriously.

    “You might not like the victim here, but the adversary gives zero Fs who you like or don’t like,” he said of the Trump campaign hack. “American voters decide American elections. Let’s keep it that way.”

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    Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, David Klepper and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

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    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Google confirms an Iranian group is trying to access emails linked to both US presidential campaigns

    Google confirms an Iranian group is trying to access emails linked to both US presidential campaigns

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Google said Wednesday that an Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard has tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump since May.

    The tech company’s threat intelligence arm said the group is still actively targeting people associated with Biden, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden as the Democratic candidate last month when he dropped out. It said those targeted have included current and former government officials, as well as presidential campaign affiliates.

    The new report from Google’s Threat Analysis Group affirms and expands on a Microsoft report released Friday that revealed suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in this year’s U.S. presidential election. It sheds light on how foreign adversaries are ramping up their efforts to disrupt the election that is now less than three months away.

    Google’s report said its threat researchers detected and disrupted a “small but steady cadence” of the Iranian attackers using email credential phishing, a type of cyberattack where the attacker poses as a trusted sender to try to get an email recipient to share their login details. John Hultquist, chief analyst for the company’s threat intelligence arm, said the company sends suspected targets of these attacks a Gmail popup that warns them that a government-backed attacker might be trying to steal their password.

    The report said Google observed the group gaining access to one high-profile political consultant’s personal Gmail account. Google reported the incident to the FBI in July. Microsoft’s Friday report had shared similar information, noting that the email account of a former senior adviser to a presidential campaign had been compromised and weaponized to send a phishing email to a high-ranking campaign official.

    The group is familiar to Google’s threat intelligence arm and other researchers, and this isn’t the first time it has tried to interfere in U.S. elections, Hultquist said. The report noted that the same Iranian group targeted both the Biden and Trump campaigns with phishing attacks during the 2020 cycle, as early as June of that year.

    The group also has been prolific in other cyber espionage activity, particularly in the Middle East, the report said. In recent months, as the Israel-Hamas War has aggravated tensions in the region, that activity has included email phishing campaigns targeted at Israeli diplomats, academics, non-governmental organizations and military affiliates.

    Trump’s campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and that sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed. It declared that Iranian actors were to blame.

    The same day, Politico revealed it had received leaked internal Trump campaign documents by email, though it wasn’t clear whether the leaked documents were related to the suspected Iranian cyber activity. The Washington Post and The New York Times also received the documents.

    While the Trump campaign hasn’t provided specific evidence linking Iran to the hack, both Trump and his longtime friend and former adviser Roger Stone have said they were contacted by Microsoft related to suspected cyber intrusions. Stone’s email was compromised by hackers targeting Trump’s campaign, a person familiar with the matter said.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Google and Microsoft wouldn’t identify the people targeted in the Iranian intrusion attempts or confirm that Stone was among them. Google did confirm that the Iranian group in its report, which it calls APT42, is the same as the one in Microsoft’s research. Microsoft refers to the group as Mint Sandstorm.

    Harris’ campaign has declined to say whether it has identified any state-based intrusion attempts, but has said it vigilantly monitors cyber threats and isn’t aware of any security breaches of its systems.

    The FBI on Monday confirmed that it’s investigating the intrusion of the Trump campaign. Two people familiar with the matter said the FBI also is investigating attempts to gain access to the Biden-Harris campaign.

    The reports of Iranian hacking come as U.S. intelligence officials have warned of persistent and mounting efforts from both Russia and Iran to influence the U.S. election through their online activity. Beyond these hacking incidents, groups linked to the countries have used fake news websites and social media accounts to churn out content that appears intended to sway voters’ opinions.

    While neither Microsoft nor Google specified Iran’s intentions in the U.S. presidential race, U.S. officials have previously hinted that Iran particularly opposes Trump. U.S. officials also have expressed alarm about Tehran’s efforts to seek retaliation for a 2020 strike on an Iranian general that was ordered by Trump.

    Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved.

    “We do not accord any credence to such reports,” the mission told The Associated Press. “The Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

    The mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about Google’s report.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • ‘Chaos agent’: Suspected Trump hack comes as Iran flexes digital muscles ahead of US election

    ‘Chaos agent’: Suspected Trump hack comes as Iran flexes digital muscles ahead of US election

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — With less than three months before the U.S. election, Iran is intensifying its efforts to meddle in American politics, U.S. officials and private cybersecurity firms say, with the suspected hack of Donald Trump’s campaign being only the latest and most brazen example.

    Iran has long been described as a “chaos agent” when it comes to cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns and in recent months groups linked to the government in Tehran have covertly encouraged protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, impersonated American activists and created networks of fake news websites and social media accounts primed to spread false and misleading information to audiences in the U.S.

    While Russia and China remain bigger cyber threats against the U.S., experts and intelligence officials say Iran’s increasingly aggressive stance marks a significant escalation of efforts to confuse, deceive and frighten American voters ahead of the election.

    The pace will likely continue to increase as the election nears and America’s adversaries exploit the internet and advancements in artificial intelligence to sow discord and confusion.

    “We’re starting to really see that uptick and it makes sense, 90 days out from the election,” said Sean Minor, a former information warfare expert for the U.S. Army who now analyzes online threats for the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, which has seen a sharp increase in cyber operations from Iran and other nations. “As we get closer, we suspect that these networks will get more aggressive.”

    The FBI is investigating the suspected hack of the Trump campaign as well as efforts to infiltrate the campaign of President Joe Biden, which became Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign when Biden dropped out. Trump’s campaign announced Saturday that someone illegally accessed and retrieved internal documents, later distributed to three news outlets. The campaign blamed Iran, noting a recent Microsoft report revealing an attempt by Iranian military intelligence to hack into the systems of one of the presidential campaigns.

    “A lot of people think it was Iran. Probably was,” Trump said Tuesday on Univision before shrugging off the value of the leaked material. “I think it’s pretty boring information.”

    Iran has denied any involvement in the hack and said it has no interest in meddling with U.S. politics.

    That denial is disputed by U.S. intelligence officials and private cybersecurity firms who have linked Iran’s government and military to several recent campaigns targeting the U.S., saying they reflect Iran’s growing capabilities and its increasing willingness to use them.

    On Wednesday Google announced it had uncovered a group linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that it said had tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to Biden and Trump since May.

    The company, which contacted law enforcement with its suspicions, said the group is still targeting people associated with Biden, Trump and Harris. It wasn’t clear whether the network identified by Google was connected to the attempt that Trump and Microsoft reported, or were part of a second attempt to infiltrate the campaign’s systems.

    Iran has a few different motives in seeking to influence U.S. elections, intelligence officials and cybersecurity analysts say. The country seeks to spread confusion and increase polarization in the U.S. while undermining support for Israel. Iran also aims to hurt candidates that it believes would increase tension between Washington and Tehran.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    That’s a description that fits Trump, whose administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of an Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.

    The two leaders of the Senate intelligence committee issued a joint letter on Wednesday warning Tehran and other governments hostile to the U.S. that attempts to deceive Americans or disrupt the election will not be tolerated.

    “There will be consequences to interfering in the American democratic process,” wrote the committee’s chairman, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, along with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the vice chairman.

    In 2021, federal authorities charged two Iranian nationals with attempting to interfere with the election the year before. As part of the plot, the men wrote emails claiming to be members of the far-right Proud Boys in which they threatened Democratic voters with violence.

    Last month, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said the Iranian government had covertly supported American protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Groups linked to Iran’s government also posed as online activists, encouraged campus protests and provided financial support to some protest groups, Haines said.

    Recent reports from Microsoft and Recorded Future have also linked Iran’s government to networks of fake news websites and social media accounts posing as Americans. The networks were discovered before they gained much influence and analysts say they may have been created ahead of time, to be activated in the weeks immediately before the election.

    The final weeks before an election may be the most dangerous when it comes to foreign efforts to impact voting. That’s when voters pay the most attention to politics and when false claims about candidates or voting can do the most damage.

    So-called ‘hack-and-leak’ attacks like the one reported by Trump’s campaign involve a hacker obtaining sensitive information from a private network and then releasing it, either to select individuals, the news media or to the public. Such attacks not only expose confidential information but can also raise questions about cybersecurity and the vulnerability of critical networks and systems.

    Especially concerning for elections, authorities say, would be an attack targeting a state or local election office that reveals sensitive information or disables election operations. Such an incursion could undermine trust in voting, even if the information exposed is worthless. Experts refer to this last possibility as a “perception hack,” when hackers steal information not because of its value, but because they want to flaunt their capabilities while spreading fear and confusion among their adversaries.

    “That can actually be more of a threat — the spectacle, the marketing this gives foreign adversaries — than the actual hack,” said Gavin Wilde, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former National Security Council analyst who specializes in cyber threats.

    In 2016, Russian hackers infiltrated Hillary Clinton’s campaign emails, ultimately obtaining and releasing some of the campaign’s most protected information in a hack-and-leak that upended the campaign in its final weeks.

    Recent advances in artificial intelligence have made it easier than ever to create and spread disinformation, including lifelike video and audio allowing hackers to impersonate someone and gain access to their organization’s systems. Nevertheless, the alleged hack of the Trump campaign reportedly involved much simpler techniques: someone gained access to an email account that lacked sufficient security protections.

    While people and organizations can take steps to minimize their vulnerability to hacks, nothing can eliminate the risk entirely, Wilde said, or completely reduce the likelihood that foreign adversaries will mount attacks on campaigns.

    “The tax we pay for being a digital society is that these hacks and leaks are unavoidable,” he said. “Whether you’re a business, a campaign or a government.”

    __

    Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report from New York.

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  • 8/15: CBS Evening News

    8/15: CBS Evening News

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    8/15: CBS Evening News – CBS News


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  • A Single Iranian Hacker Group Targeted Both Presidential Campaigns, Google Says

    A Single Iranian Hacker Group Targeted Both Presidential Campaigns, Google Says

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    When Donald Trump’s presidential campaign publicly stated last week that it had been successfully targeted by Iranian hackers, the news may have initially seemed like a sign that the Middle Eastern country was particularly focused on the candidate whom it perceived to take the most hawkish approach to its regime. It’s since become clearer that Iran has had the Democrats in the sights of its cyber operations, too. Now Google’s cybersecurity analysts have confirmed that both campaigns were targeted not simply by Iran but by the same group of hackers working in service of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

    Google’s Threat Analysis Group on Wednesday published a new report on APT42, a group it says has aggressively sought to compromise both the Democratic and Republican campaigns for president, as well as Israeli military, government, and diplomatic organizations. In May and June, APT42, which is believed to be working in service of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), targeted about a dozen people associated with both Trump and Joe Biden, including current and former government officials and individuals associated with the two political campaigns. APT42 continues to target Republican and Democratic campaign officials alike, according to Google.

    “In terms of collection, they’re hitting all sides,” says John Hultquist, who leads threat intelligence at Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant, which works closely with its Threat Analysis Group. Hultquist notes that equal-opportunity cyberspying doesn’t come as a surprise, given that APT42 also targeted both the Biden and Trump campaigns in 2020 as well. APT42’s targeting doesn’t necessarily speak to its preference for a single candidate, he says, so much as the fact that both candidates, Trump and now Vice President Kamala Harris, are of enormous significance to the Iranian government. “They’re interested in both candidates because these are the individuals who are charting the future of American policy in the Middle East,” Hultquist says.

    Only one campaign, however, appears to have had its sensitive files not only successfully breached by the Iranian hackers but also leaked to the press, in an apparent replay of Russia’s 2016 hack-and-leak operation that targeted Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Politico, The Washington Post, and The New York Times have all said they’ve been offered documents allegedly taken from the Trump campaign, in some cases by a source known as “Robert.”

    Whether those files were in fact compromised by APT42 remains unconfirmed. Microsoft noted last week that APT42, which it calls Mint Sandstorm, had in June targeted a “high-ranking official on a presidential campaign” by exploiting a hacked email account of another “former senior adviser” to the campaign. Google in its new report also notes that APT42 “successfully gained access to the personal Gmail account of a high-profile political consultant.”

    While neither company has offered any confirmation of which individual or individuals may have been successfully hacked by the Iranian group, Trump adviser Roger Stone has revealed that he was alerted by Microsoft and then by the FBI that both his Microsoft and Gmail accounts were compromised by hackers.

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    Andy Greenberg

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  • Mexico’s president to send diplomatic note over US funding for a Mexican anti-corruption NGO

    Mexico’s president to send diplomatic note over US funding for a Mexican anti-corruption NGO

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    MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s president lashed out at U.S. funding for a Mexican anti-corruption nonprofit group Wednesday, and said he will send a diplomatic note to the U.S. government in protest.

    President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed the group is part of the conservative opposition, and shouldn’t receive foreign funding or tax deductible contributions. He published detailed financial information on the group and vowed to send a bill to Congress to change the rules on tax deductible contributions.

    “I think that there is open intervention by the U.S. government in the sovereign affairs of Mexico,” López Obrador said. He sent a similar protest note in 2021, with no apparent result. The U.S. State Department generally does not comment on diplomatic correspondence.

    According to documents presented at the president’s morning news briefing, a small amount of funding for the group — about $685,000 — came from U.S. charitable foundations over the last eight years.

    A larger chunk — about $5 million in recent years — allegedly came from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is administered by the State Department.

    López Obrador has complained about the funding for years and said he would also write a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden. “I am sure he has not been informed about this situation,” the Mexican president said. But López Obrador already sent a similar letter to Biden in 2023.

    López Obrador said he will also ask prosecutors and tax authorities to investigate the donations.

    The group, Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, denies that it is allied with any political party. The group monitors government spending and programs for abuses. It was founded three years before López Obrador took office and has criticized previous governments and other parties.

    The organization has issued reports critical of some of López Obrador’s major initiatives, including the cancellation of a partially built Mexico City airport and the construction of a costly tourist train around the Yucatan Peninsula.

    The group’s founder, Claudio X. González, has openly endorsed opposition candidates in the past.

    USAID often supports civil society groups, usually related to human rights or democracy promotion, in many countries. In some nations, such groups sometimes run afoul of local governments.

    While López Obrador said tax deductions for the group’s contribution constituted a partisan misuse of government funds, he has openly used taxpayer-funded government television stations to support the ruling party.

    Mexico’s president has long sparred with journalists, civic and environmental groups that have criticized his administration, and has used confidential tax and banking information to criticize their funding and salaries.

    López Obrador is the latest leader in Latin America, and around the world, who has railed against outside funding for nongovernmental organizations.

    In 2013, Bolivia’s then-President Evo Morales expelled USAID from his country, alleging that it was working to undermine his government.

    In recent years, the Nicaraguan government has passed a number of laws making it more difficult for nongovernmental organizations to operate, and in some cases seized their offices.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Polls: Majority of Americans Want Troops Sent to Border, Oppose Illegal Immigration

    Polls: Majority of Americans Want Troops Sent to Border, Oppose Illegal Immigration

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    The United States Senate – Office of Senator Kamala Harris, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)

    Polls are consistently showing two key indictments on the Biden-Harris administration border policy: Americans not only overwhelmingly oppose illegal immigration but also want troops sent to the southern border and the border secure.

    Two new recent polls support this trend, although polls have consistently shown that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Vice President Kamala Harris’ job as “border czar.”

    A new Napolitan News Service poll found that 84% of registered voters believe “illegal immigration is bad for the United States” compared to only 12% who say it is good.

    RELATED: IRS Employees Owe $50 Million In Unpaid Taxes

    The ratio of opposition/support to illegal immigration has “remained broadly unchanged for decades,” the news service says.

    The overwhelming majority polled, 71%, said they support legal immigration, arguing it is good for the country. Those who oppose illegal immigration say it hurts Americans.

    “That view has also remained stable for decades. Voters make a clear distinction between legal and illegal immigration,” the news service says.

    The primary reason for opposition: crime. Among those polled, 49% cited crime as a top concern; 28% said illegal immigration allows criminals and terrorists into the country; 26% said it places a burden on the economy and healthcare; 16% that it allows in people who are dangerous; 5% that it allows in drugs and dealers.

    “Overall, these numbers reflect the fact that voters see America as both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” RMG Research president Scott Rasmussen said. “Voters understand why most immigrants want to bring their families to the land of opportunity. But they are angry at the federal government for allowing and encouraging illegal immigration.”

    In a separate poll, 75% said they support sending U.S. troops to “challenge drug cartels and secure the border.”

    “That’s up significantly since President Biden took office and the total includes 90% of Republicans and 62% of Democrats,” Napolitan News Service said.

    The findings are consistent with several other polls.

    RELATED: Biden’s Supreme Court Term Limit Proposal Would Hurt Both Parties, Not Just Republicans

    A recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that nearly two-thirds surveyed say the southern border crisis should be called an invasion. Large majorities said border security is a vital national security interest (70%) and acknowledged what’s happening is a crisis (72%).

    This is after Texas changed the conversation on the border, introducing the term and concept of invasion to the American public, with 55 counties declaring an invasion. Sixty counties also issued disaster declarations citing the border crisis.

    A recent Monmouth University Polling Institute report found the majority polled said they support building a border wall, a policy former President Donald Trump implemented that Biden ended on his first day in office. The majority polled, over 80%, said illegal immigration is “either a very serious (61%) or somewhat serious (23%) problem.”

    “Public concern about illegal immigration is higher during President Joe Biden’s term than it was under the prior two administrations,” the institute said.

    A University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll found that the majority of Texans, including Hispanics and Blacks, support building a wall and border security measures. It also found that Democrats in Texas are increasingly supporting Trump.

    Overall, 65% of all Texas voters said they support Texas building its own wall and barriers; 57% support Texas installing marine buoys in the Rio Grande River; 66% support deploying additional state police and military resources to the border.

    A majority of Hispanic Texas voters, 56%, also disapprove of Biden’s handling of immigration and border security, the UT/TPP poll found.

    RELATED: Questions remain over Walz military service after Harris campaign says he ‘misspoke’

    Another UT/TPP poll found that Texans overwhelmingly support Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security efforts through Operation Lone Star, including supporting Texas installing marine barriers, constructing a border wall and physical barriers at the Texas-Mexico border, deploying additional resources to the border, and busing illegal foreign nationals north.

    These findings are similar to those from The Center Square Voters’ Voice polls conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights. One poll last year found that 82% of Americans are concerned about border security. Among them, 50% said the border crisis became worse under the Biden-Harris administration.

    Another from March found that 62% of voters say the U.S. is moving in the wrong direction under the Biden-Harris administration with yet another showing that illegal immigration nearly ties inflationary high costs as the top concern.

    Another Voter’s Voice poll found that Americans want states to play a role in border security, supporting Texas and other state’s right to secure their borders.

    Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

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  • Biden Dropped Out Because “The Most Important Thing” Is “We Must Defeat Trump”: CBS News

    Biden Dropped Out Because “The Most Important Thing” Is “We Must Defeat Trump”: CBS News

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    In his first sit-down interview since dropping his 2024 campaign, President Joe Biden told CBS News reporter Robert Costa that he bowed out because he feared being a distraction in the Democrats’ efforts to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump. Their discussion, which aired on CBS Sunday Morning, touched on that infamous presidential debate, Biden’s plans for the rest of his campaign, and what another Trump presidency could look like.

    “Although it’s a great honor being president, I think I have an obligation to the country,” Biden said. “The most important thing,” he continued, is “we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.”

    The interview comes three weeks after Biden dropped out and swiftly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. What followed has been an expedited, energized whirlwind of a campaign for Harris and her newly minted VP pick, Minnesota governor Tim Walz. The Democrats revised ticket has shaken up their opponents’ strategy and thrown a wrench into what, prior to Biden’s decision, appeared to be a coordinated campaign. Much of Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s response has been filled with misogynistic and racist attacks on Harris.

    Following Biden’s concerning debate performance in late June, Democratic legislators from across the country began calling for the president to rethink his campaign. Some of Biden’s closest allies, like former president Barack Obama, were getting remarkably worried. One main concern was that a lackluster response at the polls for Biden could negatively impact down-ballot races in tough competitions.

    “Look,” Biden said during the CBS interview, “I had a really, really bad day in that debate because I was sick. But I have no serious problem,” adding at one point that he “can’t even say how old I am; it’s hard for me to get it outta my mouth.”

    “What happened,” Biden began, explaining what led him to end his bid, “was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic.”

    “You’d be interviewing me about, ‘Why did Nancy Pelosi say?’ ‘Why did so and so say?’” Biden continued. “I thought it would be a real distraction.”

    Biden is planning to hit the campaign trail again in the coming months—but this time to cheer on his former running partner. The president said he is going to team up with Pennsylvania governor and veepstakes runner-up Josh Shapiro to secure that battleground state’s 19 electoral votes. Biden said he’ll visit other states, too, adding that he wants to do “whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help most.”

    “I talk to [Harris] frequently, and by the way, I’ve known her running mate is a great guy,” Biden said of Walz. “As we say, if we grew up in the same neighborhood, we’d have been friends. He’s my kind of guy. He’s real, he’s smart. I’ve known him for several decades. I think it’s a hell of a team.”

    In his remaining time in the office, Biden said he plans to focus on the ongoing war in Gaza and efforts to avoid additional escalations toward regional war, claiming that a ceasefire deal during his presidency is “still possible.” His remarks come after an Israel Defense Forces airstrike on a school where individuals were sheltering killed at least 100 people and injured dozens more Saturday morning, according to Gaza’s civil defense. After the attack, the White House released a statement urging Israel “to minimize civilian harm.”

    Biden also touched on his efforts to reform the Supreme Court, deeming the institution “so out of whack.” On July 29, the president released a three-part blueprint on how to ensure “that no one—neither the President nor the Supreme Court—is above the law.”

    First, pass “a constitutional amendment that makes clear no President is above the law or immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office,” in response to the court’s recent immunity ruling siding with Trump.” Second, establish 18-year term limits for justices. Third, “Congress should pass binding, enforceable conduct and ethics rules” requiring that justices disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases with conflicts of interest for their spouses or themselves.

    A USA Today/Ipsos poll from early August found that a majority of both Democrats and Republicans were in favor of the reforms.

    In Biden’s initial Oval Office address after leaving the race, he said that nothing “can come in the way of saving our democracy.” Even, he added, “personal ambition.” Throughout the interview between Biden and Costa, the president repeatedly returned to his anxieties about the future of American democracy should Trump win in November. “Mark my words,” Biden warned, “if he wins this [election], watch what happens, he’s a genuine danger to American security.”

    Trump has said it will be a “bloodbath” if he doesn’t get elected.

    When Costa asked the president if he was “confident” that there would be a peaceful transfer of power in 2025, Biden responded quickly.

    “If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all.”

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  • Harris responds to Trump Fed comments, will release economic plan in coming days

    Harris responds to Trump Fed comments, will release economic plan in coming days

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    U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks with members of the media before boarding Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, U.S., August 7, 2024.

    Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

    Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday fiercely disagreed with former President Donald Trump‘s suggestion this week that U.S. presidents should have a say in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions.

    “I couldn’t … disagree more strongly,” Harris told reporters in Arizona, referring to the Republican presidential nominee’s comments. “The Fed is an independent entity, and as president, I would never interfere in the decisions that the Fed makes.”

    With just 87 days until the election, the vice president also told reporters that she is preparing to unveil an official economic policy platform in the coming days.

    “It’ll be focused on the economy and what we need to do to bring down costs and also strengthen the economy,” said Harris.

    Harris’ comments drew a stark contrast between her and Trump, who said this week that the president should “have at least [a] say” in Fed policy.

    “I think that in my case, I made a lot of money, I was very successful, and I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman,” Trump said Thursday during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

    Read more CNBC politics coverage

    Harris also said Saturday that she is watching to see where the Fed moves next on interest rates.

    “As we know we’ve there was some turbulence this week [in global markets], but it seems to have settled itself, and we’ll see what [decisions] they make next,” she told reporters. Harris added that she learns about Fed decisions “about the same time you do.”

    At his Florida press conference, Trump also reminisced about the very public disagreements he used to have with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, a fellow Republican, while he was president. Especially when the board decided to raise interest rates.

    “I used to have it out with him,” Trump said.

    Powell has repeatedly emphasized how important it is for the Fed to be completely independent, in order for the central bank to fulfill its mission.

    Free from political pressure, the Fed board can make its decisions based solely on whether they further the U.S. economy’s long-term interests — not whether voters approve of them.

    And while President Joe Biden has not tried to wield influence over the Federal Reserve Board one way or another, Powell occasionally faces pressure from the general public.

    After this past week’s tumult in the stock markets, many investors called on Powell to move more quickly to lower interest rates, ahead of the bank’s widely expected cuts coming in September.

    For his part, Powell says he wants to know that the economy is going to hit the bank’s traditional 2% inflation target before he and the board move to cut interest rates.

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  • Donald Trump headlines Montana rally after plane was diverted but landed safely

    Donald Trump headlines Montana rally after plane was diverted but landed safely

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    BOZEMAN, Mont. – Donald Trump traveled to Montana for a Friday night rally intended to drum up support for ousting the state’s Democratic senator, but the former president’s plane first had to divert to an airport on the other side of the Rocky Mountains because of a mechanical issue, according to airport staff.

    Trump’s plane was en route to Bozeman, Montana, when it was diverted Friday afternoon to Billings, 142 miles to the east, according to Jenny Mockel, administrative assistant at Billings Logan International Airport. Trump continued to Bozeman via private jet.

    The former president came to Montana hoping to remedy some unfinished business from 2018, when he campaigned repeatedly in Big Sky Country in a failed bid to oust incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. On Friday, Trump ripped into the three-term senator, mocking him for being overweight and for insinuating he sometimes sided with the former president.

    “He voted to impeach me — that guy voted to impeach me,” Trump said of Tester, whom he called a “slob” with “the biggest stomach I’ve ever seen.”

    Trump also invited to the stage Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, his former White House physician, to further slam Montana’s senior senator. Tester sank Jackson’s nomination to be Trump’s Veterans Affairs secretary, alleging the doctor drank and used prescription drugs while on duty.

    Tester has tried to convince voters he’s aligned with Trump on many issues, mirroring his successful strategy from six years ago. While that worked in a non-presidential election year, it faces a more critical test this fall with Tester’s opponent, former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, trying to link the three-term incumbent to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

    Trump kicked off his rally about 90 minutes behind schedule and immediately began lacing into Tester. “We are going to defeat radical left Democrat Jon Tester, he’s terrible,” Trump said. “We’re going to evict crazy Kamala,” he continued, workshopping a nickname on his new rival.

    Harris has benefitted nationally from a burst of enthusiasm among core Democratic constituencies, who coalesced quickly around her after President Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign last month. She’s drawn big crowds in swing states, touring this week with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her choice to be her vice presidential nominee.

    Trump’s only rally this week, meanwhile, was in a state he won by 16 percentage points four years ago rather than a November battleground. Facing new pressure in the race from a candidate with surging enthusiasm, Trump on Thursday called questions about his lack of swing state stops “stupid.”

    “I don’t have to go there because I’m leading those states,” he said. “I’m going because I want to help senators and congressmen get elected.”

    He will add on fundraising stops in Wyoming and Colorado.

    Trump could be decisive in Montana’s Senate race

    Friday’s rally at Montana State University drew thousands of GOP supporters. Yet the former president’s bigger impact could be simply having his name above Sheehy’s on the ballot in November, said University of Montana political analyst Rob Saldin.

    “There is a segment of the electorate that will turn out when Trump is on the ticket,” Saldin said. And that could benefit Sheehy, a Trump supporter and newcomer to politics who made a fortune off an aerial firefighting business.

    Republicans have been on a roll in Montana for more than a decade and now hold every statewide office except for Tester’s.

    Tester won each of his previous Senate contests by a narrow margin, casting himself as a plainspoken farmer who builds personal connections with people in Montana and is willing to break with his party on issues that matter to them. He’s also become a prolific fundraiser.

    The race has drawn national attention with Democrats clinging to a razor-thin majority in the Senate and defending far more seats than the GOP this year. Tester is considered among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents.

    For him to win, large numbers of Trump supporters would have to vote a split ticket and get behind the Democratic senator.

    Trump’s drive to oust Tester traces back to the lawmaker’s work in 2018 as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Tester revealed past misconduct by Trump’s personal physician, Ronny Jackson, that sank Jackson’s nomination to lead the Veterans Affairs Department.

    Then-President Trump took the matter personally and came to Montana four times to campaign for Republican Matt Rosendale, who was then the state auditor. Rosendale lost by 3 percentage points.

    Tester has positioned himself apart from national Democrats

    Before Trump’s latest visit, Tester has sought to insulate himself against charges that he’s part of the Democratic establishment by rolling out the names of Republicans who support him, including former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot. His campaign highlighted more than 20 pieces of legislation, many dealing with veterans’ issues, that Tester sponsored and Trump signed.

    Tester also was the sole Democratic delegate from Montana to withhold a vote backing Harris as the party’s presidential candidate in the wake of Biden’s withdrawal. And when the Democratic National Convention takes place later this month in Chicago, Tester will be back in Montana “farming and meeting face to face with Montanans,” campaign spokesperson Harry Child said.

    The last time Tester attended the Democratic National Convention was in 2008. That’s also the last time a Democratic presidential candidate came anywhere near winning Montana, with President Barack Obama losing by just over 2 percentage points.

    On Friday, in an interview as he waited for the Trump rally to start, Sheehy dismissed the idea that Tester can survive Montana’s swing to the right. “Jon Tester is by 95%-plus in lockstep with the Biden-Harris agenda,” Sheehy said. “So I don’t think his attempt to message himself as a moderate is going to work.”

    A similar situation is developing in Ohio, where three-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown faces a tough race in a state expected to vote for Trump.

    Harris visited Ohio when the two were Senate colleagues to raise money for Brown’s 2018 campaign, but Brown has said he has no plans to campaign with her this year. Like Tester, Brown has highlighted legislation he worked on that Trump signed into law.

    Friday’s rally takes place in Gallatin County, which Tester has become increasingly reliant on over the course of his political career.

    He lost the county in his first Senate race, in 2006, but his support has since grown. A substantial margin of victory in Gallatin in 2018 helped push him ahead of Rosendale.

    Republican Don Seifert, a former Gallatin County commissioner, said he voted for Tester that year and plans to do so again this year.

    Seifert backed Trump in 2016 and said he has continued to support other Republicans, including Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Sen. Steve Daines.

    “Montanans tend to vote for the person over the party,” Seifert said. “For the state of Montana, Jon is the one that can do what we need.”

    But Sheehy says Tester has lost touch with his home state and fallen into step with Democrats in Washington. The Republican said in a message this week to supporters that Tester was “responsible for the rise of Kamala Harris” because he served as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2015 to 2017, when she was elected to the Senate from California.

    Tester has outraised Sheehy by more than three-to-one in campaign donations reported to the Federal Election Commission. However, outside groups supporting Sheehy have helped the Republican make up much of that gap. Spending in the race is on track to exceed $200 million as advertisements from the two sides saturate Montana’s airwaves.

    __

    Associated Press reporters Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana, and Julie Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Matthew Brown, Associated Press

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  • Harris erases Trump’s lead on economy among younger Americans, CNBC/Generation Lab survey finds

    Harris erases Trump’s lead on economy among younger Americans, CNBC/Generation Lab survey finds

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    U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Brendan Mcdermid | Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

    Younger Americans do not appear to hold Vice President Kamala Harris responsible for what many of them believe is a worsening U.S. economy under the Biden-Harris administration, according to a new survey from CNBC and Generation Lab.

    The latest quarterly Youth & Money Survey, taken after Biden dropped out of the race in July, reveals that 69% of Americans between 18 and 34 years old believe the economy is getting worse under President Joe Biden.

    But they also think the candidate best able to improve the economy is the de facto Democratic nominee Harris, not Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.

    Harris was viewed as the best candidate for the economy by 41% of poll respondents, while 40% chose Trump, while 19% said the economy would do better under someone else, like third party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    The results amount to a seven-point swing in Democrats’ favor on the economy since CNBC asked the same question in May’s Youth & Money Survey. At that time, only 34% of respondents believed Biden, then the likely Democratic nominee, was the best candidate to boost the economy, with 40% choosing Trump and 25% saying Kennedy.

    The shift in voting support for Harris is even wider among respondents overall. If the presidential election were held today, the latest poll found Harris holding a 12-point lead over Trump among younger Americans, 46% to 34%, while 21% said they would vote for either Kennedy or another candidate.

    Three months ago, the same survey found Trump and Biden effectively tied, with 36% for Biden and 35% for Trump, and 29% planning to vote for Kennedy.

    This jump in support for Harris today is all the more notable because of how significant the economy is to the voting choices of younger Americans.

    Read more CNBC politics coverage

    According to the new CNBC survey data, the “economy and cost of living” was cited more than any other issue when respondents were asked what will impact their decisions about who to vote for, with 66% of respondents naming it among their top three. Running second with 34% was “access to abortion and reproductive rights,” followed by “gun violence/control” at 26%.

    Nonetheless, these results also contain warning signs for Harris and the Democratic Party.

    To win the White House, Harris will likely need to do even better among young people in November than her current 12-point lead in the CNBC and Generation Lab’s survey.

    ‘Bidenomics’ may not be a drag on Harris

    With fewer than 90 days to go before Election Day on Nov. 5, these new results could have significant implications for a presidential contest that was altered by Biden’s decision to drop out.

    As pollsters race to gather data on how Harris’ candidacy is — or is not — changing the race, one of the biggest unanswered questions for both parties is whether Americans will transfer their well-documented frustration with Biden, after years of high inflation and high interest rates, directly over to Harris.

    These findings suggest that the political drag of “Bidenomics” has so far not rubbed off on Harris — at least not among younger people.

    In 2020 for example, Biden won voters age 18 to 29 by a margin of 24 percentage points, with 59% of the vote to Trump’s 35%.

    And while young people have long made up a crucial constituency for Democratic candidates, this year, depending upon which states Kennedy appears on the ballot, the embattled anti-vaccine independent might still be able to peel away enough votes from Harris to cut into her overall margins.

    Turnout is also a potential trouble spot for Democrats. The 18- to 34-year-old cohort makes up roughly a quarter of the total U.S. population, or around 76 million people, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. During the last presidential election in 2020, 57% of this age group turned out to vote.

    In this survey, 77% of respondents said they either definitely or probably will vote. But in past elections, the number of people who say they plan to vote is typically much higher than those who actually do.

    Economy is still a wild card

    Lastly, as is always the case in an election, the economy itself could either hurt or help Harris, depending upon where it goes.

    For example, this poll was taken between July 22 and July 29, before the latest jobs report showed a contraction, spurring new fears of an economic recession.

    It was also taken before the market sell-off on Aug. 5, which was triggered in part by fears stemming from the rocky jobs report.

    Meanwhile, most polls that sample all adults, and not just younger people, still show Trump holding on to his advantage when it comes to which candidate voters trust more to improve the economy.

    Any more bad economic news between now and November could see voters blame Harris — who has yet to fully articulate an economic agenda distinct from Biden’s — and pivot back to the perceived safety of Trump’s familiar economic agenda.

    The survey interviewed 1,043 adults between the ages of 18 and 34, with a margin of error of 3.0%.

    Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

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  • Joy Ride: Upbeat Dems Are Spreading Optimism to a Divided (and Newly Delighted) Nation

    Joy Ride: Upbeat Dems Are Spreading Optimism to a Divided (and Newly Delighted) Nation

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    The joy squad has rattled not only Team Trump but right-wing pundits as well. Even Fox News attack dog Jesse Watters, who has also been known to criticize Harris’s laugh, has voiced frustration about his own mother’s newfound infatuation with the vice president, insisting his mother is “a Kamala fanatic. Keeps talking about joy.”

    Third, warmth breeds warmth. It’s called positive reinforcement. Projecting an air of positivity tends to make others (in this case: potential voters) feel positive themselves. And one can feel this energy in the big-time crowds, the spontaneous chants, and the sheer giddiness that has returned to the hustings.

    Fourth, the nation has had fear fatigue for so long that the Dems’ campaign has brought waves of relief, hope, promise, and rejuvenated political engagement.

    Eight years of MAGA gloom—with a global pandemic in the midst of it—had enveloped the country in a dark cloak. In 2016, Trump won the presidency by mining a deep vein of discontent among the electorate. He constantly spoke of grievance. He spread fear. He helped usher in a national mood of loathing: loathing of a so-called deep state, loathing of the establishment, and loathing of the Other. And he did it by fanning long-simmering resentments among his base—resentments that, at their roots, were often the result of legitimate concerns. Yet, at times, those resentments sprang from a kind of paranoid self-loathing embedded in the belief that the American Dream was somehow unavailable to a huge swath of American voters. From his inaugural address (“This American carnage stops right here”) to his January 6, 2021 call for insurrection (“Stop the steal!”) to four years of social media ranting at Joe Biden and the American judicial process on social media (“The legal system in our country has been corrupted & politicized at a level never seen before”), Trump figuratively polluted the American political atmosphere. When Biden initially handed the reins to Harris and voters responded so enthusiastically, they were evidently starving for a break from the drumbeat, seeking a more optimistic message, even if many may not have realized it at the time. They were primed for the positive.

    The phrase “Make America Great Again” has always been about going backward. And in 2016, Trump deftly picked the electoral lock because we were at an anomalous hinge point in history when a slim majority of Americans were so afraid of what the future represented (technology, climate change, the global economy, shifts in migration), that they voted to get into a time machine. But this 248-year American experiment in representative democracy, for the most part, has been about progress, about embracing the future. And we may, in fact, be rerouting ourselves to that tried-and-true path of progress as we see raucous crowds roar in call-and-response cadence, when Harris declares at her rallies: “We’re not going back.”

    While there will be battles royale during the next three months over ideology, policy, and personal biographies, I believe this election will fundamentally boil down to a contest between the future and the past, between joy and anger. Indeed, many experts are seeing a surge in young people joining the voter rolls and becoming engaged, offering their opinions, loud and clear. They will certainly play a decisive role in the outcome. The question in this race, at the end of day, will be whether people at the ballot box are inclined to happily embrace tomorrow or bitterly claw back to visions of yesterday.

    Which is to say: What’s happening with the Harris-Walz campaign feels fresh and authentic—and different. It feels more like a movement than a moment. And Republican attacks about the ticket being “communist” or “socialist” just feel hackneyed. We’ve seen all of this before. And whatever we feel about politics, most of us are just exhausted by the old and desperate for something new.

    As that respected political sage Stephen Stills once observed:

    There’s something happening here

    But what it is ain’t exactly clear…

    Maybe it’s joy. And maybe that simple human feeling can change a nation’s future.

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    Mark McKinnon

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  • Biden Administration Borrowed $5 Billion Per Day in Fiscal Year 2024

    Biden Administration Borrowed $5 Billion Per Day in Fiscal Year 2024

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    Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    By Tom Gantert (The Center Square)

    So far in the fiscal year 2024, the federal government has had to borrow about $5 billion every day.

    The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday the federal budget deficit was $1.5 trillion for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024, which covers October through July.

    The CBO stated that the $1.5 trillion deficit for the first 10 months of FY 2024 was $103 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.

    RELATED: Poll: Majority Says First Amendment ‘Goes Too Far’

    The federal budgeting agency projects the deficit for 2024 will be $2.0 trillion. The deficit for fiscal year 2023 was $1.7 trillion. But the CBO says the differences in the deficits those years could be attributable to budgeting “timing shifts”.

    “We’re nearly at the end of fiscal year 2024, and while most of America is focused on the momentum in the race for the White House, beneath the surface our nation’s fiscal health has continued to worsen,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a media release. “We’ve just surpassed $35 trillion in gross debt, and today’s CBO projections estimate we’ve borrowed another $242 billion in July, or $5 billion each day this fiscal year. Our fiscal trajectory cannot be left on autopilot – the stakes are far too high and the consequences far too steep to leave our national debt climbing in perpetuity.”

    The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which was founded by Peter Peterson, the former secretary of commerce for President Richard Nixon, tracks the national debt at $35.08 trillion, or $104,193 for every person in America, as of Aug. 8.

    “Historically, our largest deficits were caused by increased spending around national emergencies like major wars or the Great Depression,” the foundation stated on its website. “Today, our deficits are caused mainly by predictable structural factors: our aging baby-boom generation, rising healthcare costs, and a tax system that does not bring in enough money to pay for what the government has promised its citizens.”

    RELATED: Former Secret Service Chief Wanted To Destroy Cocaine Evidence

    The think tank Truth in Accounting states the real national debt is closer to $156.8 trillion if unfunded Social Security and Medicare promises were included.

    Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

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    The Center Square

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  • In a 2020 flashback, Georgia’s GOP-aligned election board wants to reinvestigate election results

    In a 2020 flashback, Georgia’s GOP-aligned election board wants to reinvestigate election results

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    ATLANTA (AP) — Four years after the 2020 election, a newly GOP-aligned election board in Georgia is pushing to reinvestigate the state’s largest county for its handling of the vote.

    Georgia’s State Election Board voted 3-2 Wednesday to ask state Attorney General Chris Carr to investigate the Fulton County government, seeking to reopen an inquiry closed in May.

    The action shows the degree to which Republican outrage over the 2020 election continues to animate party activists and comes on the heels of a Saturday rally in Atlanta where former President Donald Trump attempted to relitigate unproven claims that he won Georgia, which President Joe Biden won that year by a narrow margin. He praised the State Election Board at the same rally.

    Spokesperson Kara Murray said Carr, a Republican who has been opposed by Trump, hadn’t yet received the request.

    “We take election integrity very seriously, and we will apply the constitution, the law and the facts as we have always done,” Murray said.

    However, Murray said the attorney general’s office doesn’t investigate or seek criminal charges in cases referred by the board.

    The resolution says that if Carr doesn’t act, the board will try to hire an outside lawyer to conduct an inquiry.

    It’s unclear what could happen if an inquiry occurs. In a hotly disputed 2021 law, the board was given the power to take over election administration in individual counties. That provision was always aimed at heavily Democratic Fulton County in the aftermath of an election that an independent monitor said was characterized by sloppy practices and poor management but with no evidence of intentional wrongdoing.

    A trio of Republican partisans aligned with Trump has cemented control of the five-member regulatory board, which has no direct role in determining election results but writes rules to ensure elections run smoothly and hears complaints about violations.

    Some activists who have long wanted action against Fulton County argue that officials should face criminal charges. Those activists have also long pushed for access to the paper ballots from the 2020 election, which could enable a citizen review similar to one that roiled Arizona in 2021.

    As part of the May resolution of the earlier inquiry, the board found that Fulton County improperly double-counted some votes. But those who brought the complaint say other issues are unresolved, such as missing electronic ballot scans.

    “It seems to me that somebody is moving heaven and earth to not allow anyone to get to the paper ballots,” said Dr. Janice Johnston, a retired obstetrician appointed to the board by the state Republican Party. “I don’t know why. I’m just interested in the data and interested in the numbers.”

    Wednesday’s decision is likely to be met with litigation. Fulton County’s election board sent a letter to the state board flatly saying the May resolution is final and the board is legally prohibited from reopening the charges.

    “We will not engage in any further discussions, investigations or other action related to this case,” Fulton County board Chair Sherri Allen said in a statement. “To do so would be a waste of taxpayer dollars and time that is best spent preparing for the upcoming general election.”

    The state board’s nonpartisan chair, John Fervier, tried to block the action, citing a letter from Carr’s office that he said also warned the move would be illegal. The Associated Press wasn’t immediately able to obtain a copy of the letter.

    “We are putting this board in legal jeopardy by approving that motion,” Fervier said.

    Johnston, who led a successful effort to overturn Fervier’s ruling blocking consideration of the move, said a lawyer for the state GOP had advised her that the board could legally go ahead. Janelle King, whose appointment tipped the balance of power on the board, said she is not afraid of a potential lawsuit.

    “We’ve got to make sure we’re not scared to make moves because of the fear of that, because in some cases it’s just the right thing to do,” said King, a conservative political commentator

    It’s at least the second recent time that state Republican Party officials or employees directly advised the board on a course of action. Party Chairman Josh McKoon recently sent two proposed rules and talking points to another GOP-aligned member of the board, former state Sen. Rick Jeffares.

    Part of the deal made in May was that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the State Election Board and Fulton County would agree on a monitoring team. On Wednesday, though, the board refused to vote on the team proposed by Raffensperger and Fulton County. That’s in part because it included the former chief lawyer for Raffensperger’s office and the man who monitored Fulton’s 2020 election.

    Raffensperger’s office declined to comment on the board’s actions. He was removed as a voting member of the board in 2021 and from his nonvoting capacity by lawmakers this year, largely driven by GOP anger at his defense of Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.

    At the Saturday rally, Trump said the three GOP-aligned board members “are all pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory” while criticizing Fervier and the Democrat on the panel. He in particular singled out Johnston, who was in the second row and stood to acknowledge Trump’s praise.

    “My courage was contagious?” Trump said. “Well, your courage is contagious, too.”

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  • Hunter Biden was hired by Romanian businessman trying to ‘influence’ US agencies, prosecutors say

    Hunter Biden was hired by Romanian businessman trying to ‘influence’ US agencies, prosecutors say

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden was hired by a Romanian businessman accused of corruption who was trying to “influence U.S. government policy” during Joe Biden’s term as vice president, prosecutors said in court papers Wednesday.

    Special counsel David Weiss’ team said Hunter Biden’s business associate will testify at the upcoming federal tax trial of the president’s son about the arrangement with the executive, Gabriel Popoviciu, who was facing criminal investigation at the time in Romania.

    The allegations are likely to bring a fresh wave of criticism of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which have been the center of Republicans’ investigations into the president’s family. Hunter Biden has blasted Republican inquiries into his family’s business affairs as politically motivated, and has insisted he never involved his father in his business.

    An attorney for Hunter Biden didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

    Prosecutors plan to introduce evidence that Hunter Biden and his business associate “received compensation from a foreign principal who was attempting to influence U.S. policy and public opinion,” according to the filing. Popoviciu wanted U.S. government agencies to probe the Romanian bribery investigation he was facing in the hopes that would end his legal trouble, according to prosecutors.

    Popoviciu is identified only in court papers as G.P., but the details line up with information released in the congressional investigation and media reporting about Hunter Biden’s legal work in Romania.

    Popoviciu was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2017 after being convicted of real estate fraud. He denied any wrongdoing. An attorney who previously represented Popoviciu didn’t immediately respond to a phone message Wednesday.

    Prosecutors say Hunter Biden agreed with his business associate to help Popoviciu fight the criminal charges against him. But prosecutors say they were concerned that “lobbying work might cause political ramifications” for Joe Biden, so the arrangement was structured in a way that “concealed the true nature of the work” for Popoviciu, prosecutors allege.

    Hunter Biden’s business associate and Popoviciu signed an agreement to make it look like Popoviciu’s payments were for “management services to real estate prosperities in Romania.” However, prosecutors said, “That was not actually what G.P. was paying for.”

    In fact, Popoviciu and Hunter’s business associate agreed that they would be paid for their work to “attempt to influence U.S. government agencies to investigate the Romanian investigation,” prosecutors said. Hunter Biden’s business associate was paid more than $3 million, which was split with Hunter and another business partner, prosecutors say.

    The claims were made in court papers as prosecutors responded to a request by Hunter Biden’s legal team to bar from his upcoming trial any reference to allegations of improper political influence that have dogged the president’s son for years. While Republicans’ investigation has raised ethical questions, no evidence has emerged that the president acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or his previous office as vice president.

    Hunter Biden’s lawyers have said in court papers that he has been “the target of politically motivated attacks and conspiracy theories” about his foreign business dealings. But they noted he “has never been charged with any crime relating to these unfounded allegations, and the Special Counsel should thus be precluded from even raising such issues at trial.”

    Hunter Biden’s trial set to begin next month in Los Angeles centers on charges that he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years during a period in which he has acknowledged struggling with a drug addiction.

    Prosecutors say they won’t introduce any evidence that Hunter Biden was directly paid by a foreign government “or evidence that the defendant received compensation for actions taken by his father that impacted national or international politics.”

    Still, prosecutors say what Hunter Biden agreed to do for Popoviciu is relevant at trial because it “demonstrates his state and mind and intent” during the years he’s accused of failing to pay his taxes.

    “It is also evidence that the defendant’s actions do not reflect someone with a diminished capacity, given that he agreed to attempt to influence U.S. public policy and receive millions of dollars” in the agreement with his business associate, prosecutors wrote.

    The tax trial comes months after Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony charges over the purchase of a gun in 2018. Prosecutors argued that the president’s son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

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

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  • Mass. Democrats praise Harris’ VP pick

    Mass. Democrats praise Harris’ VP pick

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    BOSTON — Massachusetts Democrats are praising Vice President Kamala Harris for choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in the upcoming presidential election.

    Harris made the announcement on Tuesday morning, ending weeks of speculation about her pick for a second-in-command to challenge former Republican President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, as Democrats seek to hold onto the White House after incumbent President Joe Biden bowed out of the race.

    “Tim is a battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting things done for Minnesota families. I know that he will bring that same principled leadership to our campaign, and to the office of the vice president,” Harris said in a statement.

    Walz, 60, is a military veteran, former public school teacher and six-term congressman. He was first elected as Minnesota’s governor in 2018 after defeating an incumbent candidate, a rare feat in the conservative-leaning, largely rural state.

    Gov. Maura Healey, a first-term Democrat and former surrogate for President Joe Biden, called Walz a “person of deep integrity and empathy” and lauded him as a “champion for the working families of his state (who) brings a common-sense approach to getting things done for the people he serves.”

    “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will build a country where people have the ability to not just get by, but get ahead. They will grow our economy, reduce the costs of housing and prescription drugs, and create jobs in every part of this country,” Healey said in a statement.

    “They are the team we can trust to protect Social Security, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act. And they will make sure every woman has access to the health care she needs,” she added.

    Rep. Lori Trahan called Walz an “excellent choice” and lauded his work on veterans affairs, education, gun safety and expanding benefits for workers.

    “He passed free school meals to make sure children don’t go hungry, gun safety laws to protect kids at school and in their communities, and paid leave for workers,” Trahan, a Westford Democrat, said in a statement. “We have a strong, proven ticket in Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who are ready to take our message for a better future directly to the American people.”

    Rep. Seth Moulton called him a “committed veteran, leader, and friend” and said the Harris-Walz ticket will “fight to unite America and make our country better.”

    “A tireless advocate for our troops, he knows how to stand up for those who have been left behind – or simply not appreciated for all they do for America,” the Salem Democrat said. “This election is a choice between community and chaos, between expanding freedoms for Americans or restricting them, between standing with our friends and allies or shirking responsibility and trust.”

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Walz is a “terrific pick” for Harris’ second-in-command and also praised his accomplishments as a governor.

    “As a former teacher, veteran, and one of the most effective governors in America, Walz has a strong track record of putting government on the side of working families,” Warren, a Cambridge Democrat, posted on X. “I’m all in for Harris-Walz!”

    Sen. Ed Markey called Walz a “working class champion” and said he has the experience to help Kamala Harris lead our nation and deliver on the promises of a livable future for our people and planet.”

    “We now have the ticket that will bring us to victory on Election Day,” the Malden Democrat posted on social media.

    At least one Newburyport Democrat is also hailing the pick as a win for the ticket.

    “I think Tim Walz was a great choice. He has fantastic experience that is very different from hers. He is a smart, honorable and highly qualified VP candidate,” Karen Trowbridge, Newburyport Democratic City Committee chair, said.

    Trowbridge went on to say she believes the Democratic Party will unite behind Walz just as they united behind Harris.

    “Democrats should feel proud and optimistic today,” she said.

    The Trump campaign blasted Walz, as a “dangerously liberal extremist,” while warning that their vision for the country is “every American’s nightmare.”

    “By picking Tim Walz as her running mate, Kamala Harris not only bent the knee to the radical left, she doubled down on her dangerously liberal, weak, and failed agenda,” Brian Hughes, the Trump campaign senior adviser, said in a statement.

    “Walz would be a rubber stamp for Kamala to wage war on American energy, continue aiding and abetting an invasion on our border, and embolden our adversaries as the world is brought to the brink of World War III.”

    Daily News editor Dave Rogers contributed to this report.

    Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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