Top pollster Frank Luntz sees signs that the "honeymoon period is officially over" for Vice President Kamala Harris, the UK Daily Mail reported. The influential GOP pollster believes the boost Democrats received after Harris was named the Democratic nominee has all but dried up as the candidates head into their first debate.
A nonpartisan online poll showed Harris hitting her peak in voter enthusiasm after the Democratic National Convention. Now, a YouGov poll has her and former President Donald Trump locked in a statistical tie at around 60% of voters who reported being "very enthusiastic" or "extremely enthusiastic."
As Luntz pointed out, "Quite a sharp drop in Democratic voter enthusiasm in this month’s YouGov poll. (It was 70% last month.) The honeymoon period is officially over," Luntz posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
Quite a sharp drop in Democratic voter enthusiasm in this month’s YouGov poll. (It was 70% last month.)
The honeymoon period is officially over. https://t.co/fVXiQgdfXv
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) September 4, 2024
Democrats were in a slump among their voters when President Joe Biden sought reelection. Since he stepped aside and left Harris as the presumptive nominee, her star has steadily risen, giving Democrats hope.
However, the height of enthusiasm seems to have come and gone following the DNC. Now, CNN reported, Harris has settled into a statistical tie with Trump in six key battleground states.
The closest race is in Pennsylvania, where Harris and Trump are locked in a dead heat at 47% among likely voters. In Georgia and Nevada, Harris and Trump received 47% and 48% support, respectively.
Wisconsin is polling 50% for Harris and 44% for Trump while Arizona is at 44% for Harris and 49% for Trump. Finally, likely voters in Michigan are 48% for Harris and 43% for Trump.
These states are vital for Harris to have a path to victory, and they are ones that President Joe Biden won in 2020. Notably, 15% of likely voters reported not having committed to either candidate, perhaps pointing to the importance of the upcoming debate in winning over voters.
On Sept. 10, the two candidates will face off in Philadelphia for the first time, and the pollster is certain this will convince or turn away voters depending on how the candidates do. According to The Hill, Luntz warned that next week's debate "is everything" to the candidates.
"When the voter sees side by side the two candidates and they listen to what they say, not just the answers, it’s the body language. Is there contempt? Does someone fold their arms? Do they look at the individual when they’re speaking? Do they seem presidential in their approach?" Luntz said Monday on CNN.
He noted that there are different criteria for each candidate. "For Trump, can he keep quiet? Can he actually listen to a response, or does he have to respond to everything," Luntz added.
"For Harris, does she seem open-minded? Does she seem willing to take in information not just project? Each of them has different goals for that debate, but each one, in the end, has to prove that they’re ready, not just for that moment, but voters are thinking ‘who do I want to represent me two years from now, three or four years from now?" Luntz said.
Voters often pay more attention in the weeks leading up to Election Day. As that's beginning to happen, Harris is losing more support which could spell major trouble for her come November.
Atlanta rapper Rich Homie Quan died Thursday at age 34, Breitbart reported. There is no cause of death listed for the rapper, whose girlfriend found him unresponsive and "foamed at the mouth" in his Fulton County home.
Born Dequantes Lamar, Quan debuted in 2013 with his hit single "Type Of Way." Other major hits included "Ride Out," Flex," "Walk Thru," "Lifestyle," and "Power." He also made a name for himself by teaming up with Young Thug for "Rich Gang" in 2013.
Most recently, Quan's name was bizarrely mentioned during the trial of rapper Lil Woody which wrapped up Wednesday. After verifying with the judge that what he said on the stand couldn't be used against him, Lil Woody admitted that he "shot up Rich Homie Quan daddy barbershop on Bankhead."
Once that was off his chest, Lil Woody added, "I don’t what know what happened with Threat and Rich Homie Quan, but I’ma ride with my brother and they was beefin’ and yeah, we pulled up and did that." The trial did not involve Quan, and it's unclear whether it had anything to do with Quan's death which is still a mystery.
It's still unknown what led to Quan's death. The rapper was found unresponsive by his girlfriend Amber Williams in his home on Thursday morning, Page Six reported using audio from a 911 call she placed.
He had fallen asleep on the couch the night before and hadn't moved when Williams checked on him the next morning. Thinking Quan was simply still asleep, she put a blanket over him and left to take her son to school.
When she got back to the house, Williams realized that something was wrong with Quan. Williams told 911 dispatchers it was then she realized she "didn't feel a heartbeat" and saw that Quan was not breathing.
"When I turned him over, he kind of foamed at the mouth," Williams told the emergency workers. She was instructed to place Quan flat on his back while waiting for paramedics.
When emergency workers got to his home, they pronounced Quan dead at the scene. The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said it would conduct an autopsy Friday to determine the cause of death, but no updates have been released since.
Family and fans alike were upset about the sudden loss of a beloved rap star. Fellow rap legend Lil' Kim posted a tribute to Quan on X, formerly Twitter, including photos and videos of the two of them performing together.
"This is the part of life that I’ll never get used to, I’m so heartbroken," Lil' Kim, whose real name is Kimberly Denise Jones, posted Friday.
"No one ever understood the dope ass friendship u and I had. u always pulled up for me no matter what," the rapper wrote. "I’ve learned in life love those who love you. Rest in Heaven my angel," Lil' Kim said.
This is the part of life that I’ll never get used to, I’m so heartbroken 💔 No one ever understood the dope ass friendship u and I had. u always pulled up for me no matter what. I’ve learned in life love those who love you. Rest in Heaven my angel @RichHomieQuan 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/u9RdDSiu1k
— Lil' Kim (@LilKim) September 6, 2024
Quan's death seems sudden and certainly untimely for such a young man. There are many questions still unanswered about what happened to him, but the loss will have a ripple effect throughout the rap world regardless of how and why it happened.
A judge denied former President Trump's request to move his New York hush money case to a federal court Tuesday, The Hill reported. Trump immediately filed an appeal Wednesday in the hopes of delaying his upcoming sentencing hearing.
Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in Justice Juan Merchan's Manhattan courtroom in May. With his sentencing hearing scheduled for Sept. 18, the GOP presidential nominee could find himself behind bars weeks before the general election if Merchan imposes jail time.
Trump is again asking U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to move his case to federal court. "The national public has an interest in free and fair elections, unburdened by the potential for the unlawful incarceration of President Trump by local officials in a single county," attorneys Emil Bove and Todd Blanche said in Wednesday's court filing on behalf of Trump.
"The public would therefore benefit from a stay that could allow Justice Merchan to avoid the ‘rat’s nest of comity and federalism issues’ attendant to the Presidential immunity defense and President Trump’s potential sentencing in the weeks before the election while the Second Circuit determines whether the appropriate forum is in this District," they wrote. It's unclear whether that will happen, however.
Hellerstein has twice turned down Trump's request for removal. The first time was before the trial began in Manhattan, and Trump's attorneys abandoned an appeal the first time around.
However, the Supreme Court's decision to broadly define Trump's presidential immunity in another case has opened the door to a fresh challenge. His attorneys argue that the issue now puts the case back into the federal courts.
The judge disagreed with this rationale in his most recent rejection. Hellerstein ruled that "nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion" when turning down his second attempt.
Trump's attorneys were undeterred by this flat refusal in their new motion. "President Trump respectfully disagrees with the Court’s view," they wrote as they took another crack at the move.
The motion also noted that Trump is petitioning the Second Circuit to delay the ruling while the appeal is considered. This is one of many tactics attorneys are using to delay sentencing until after the election.
Trump's sentencing could bring the American election process into uncharted waters. Meanwhile, the New York Times was working overtime Wednesday to shore up support for Merchan as he mulls the most divisive sentence in modern political memory.
Painting him as a righteous judge of impeccable character, the Times acknowledged that throwing a candidate behind bars could irreparably harm trust in the judicial system. "The judge is in an impossible situation, and one that doesn’t lend itself to easy comparisons," Indiana University Bloomington law professor Charles Geyh said.
He added that Merchan's ultimate decision would have "historical implications" but noted that he was up to the task. "Within some quarters of the judiciary, there is the possibility of a judge running screaming from the room, and sort of seeking the least difficult way out," Geyh said.
"But I don’t think that this guy is showing signs of that," he added of Merchan. Nevertheless, it's undeniable that this use of lawfare against Trump will have repercussions directly proportional to Merchan's commitment to jail Trump in this witch hunt.
Trump has faced many attacks from his adversaries along the way, but the threat of jail is the most severe yet. A lesser man would have buckled already, but Trump has remained strong and steadfast throughout this ordeal, even as his future freedom hangs in the balance.
Whistleblowers told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) that security personnel were "woefully unprepared" on the day former President Donald Trump was shot at a Pennsylvania rally, the UK Daily Mail reported. Hawley said that Homeland Security Investigations agents were assigned to Trump's detail without proper Secret Service training.
Trump was shot on July 13 during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and sustained an injury to his ear. It could have been much worse as gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to get near the former president and take his shot despite the Secret Service's presence.
Hawley and other members of Congress have begun asking how this could have happened. The answers they're getting are disturbing, especially considering that these whistleblowers report that things have not improved.
These individuals charged with protecting Trump were given a two-hour webinar training with prerecorded content to prepare for the rally and little else. "'This is a nightmare; the only reason we know about this stuff is because of whistleblowers," Hawley said Tuesday on Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime.
Protecting Trump, a former president and current GOP presidential candidate, is a job that requires precision and knowledge of proper procedure. Instead, Hawley shared that the whistleblowers were inadequately briefed using glitchy technology.
"Imagine 1,000 people logging onto Microsoft Teams at the same time after being informed at the last minute that everyone needed to login individually. Once it got rolling, the Secret Service instructor couldn’t figure out how to get the audio working on the prerecorded videos," Hawley shared from a letter from the whistleblower to USSS Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr.
"All told, they restarted the videos approximately six times …. The content was not helpful," Hawley added.
To make matters worse, the whistleblowers said that the Secret Service has not learned from these mistakes, Fox News reported. "Nothing new, nothing improved since the assassination attempt on former President Trump," Hawley recounted from one of the whistleblowers.
However, it wasn't just the training that day that was the problem. As Hawley noted in a separate interview, the lead agent at the site was also the wrong person for such an important job.
"The site agent, the lead agent, was known to the Trump campaign to be inexperienced, to be ineffectual, to be, frankly, incompetent at their job. I'm also told by whistleblowers that on that day, she was not enforcing the normal security protocols," Hawley said at the time.
"She was not checking people's IDs. She did not use Secret Service agents," Hawley continued.
"Most of the agents there that day were not Secret Service agents. They were Homeland Security agents," Hawley noted.
Trump survived this attempt on his life by the grace of God. Unfortunately, it appears the Secret Service relied too heavily on that as well rather than properly training the people charged with protecting Trump's life.
A recent poll shows former President Donald Trump has overtaken Vice President Kamala Harris in Michigan, Breitbart reported. Although the lead is small, it represents a crack in the so-called "blue wall" vital for Harris to win.
The WDIV/Detroit News poll revealed that 43.5% of likely voters supported Harris over 44.7% of likely voters who said they'd vote for Trump. The survey was taken between August 26 and 29, just days after the Democratic National Convention.
Moreover, 4.7% of voters said they supported Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who the Associated Press noted dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump on Aug. 23, just days before the survey began. Another 4.8% were undecided, while 2.3% supported an unnamed third-party candidate.
📊 MICHIGAN poll by Glengariff Group for WDIV/Detroit News
🟥 Trump: 45%
🟦 Harris: 44%
🟨 RFK Jr: 5%
🟪 Other: 2%July 24 poll - 🔵 Harris +1
#175 (1.5/3.0) | 8/26-29 | 600 LV | ±4%https://t.co/7xfexn5C3t pic.twitter.com/3oFgEBqPF9
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) September 3, 2024
The survey results came after Harris spent Labor Day weekend in key states trying to build the "blue wall" of Democratic support, CNN reported. Harris popped up in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan to begin the final push that she hopes will propel her to Election Day victory.
These were the states that Biden clinched to win the 2020 presidial election, and Harris is attempting to repeat his strategy. She pulled out all of the usual Democratic pandering to labor unions, including steelworkers in Pennsylvania.
Harris railed against the Japanese-owned Nippon Steel's acquisition of US Steel. "The president mentioned it: US Steel is a historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies," Harris told the crowd.
"And I couldn’t agree more with President Biden; US Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated," Harris said in Pittsburgh. This was similar to her remarks in Detroit, where she touted the "dignity of work" while promising to side with unions against employers.
"We celebrate unions because unions helped build America, and unions helped build America’s middle class," Harris claimed. However, it wasn't what Harris said that made news over the weekend, but how she said it.
Harris was dragged on social media for her decision to use an accent while speaking in Michigan on Monday. "You better thank a union member for the five-day workweek," Harris said with a drawl.
"You better thank a union member for sick leave. You better thank a union member for paid leave. You better thank a union member for vacation time," she went on.
BREAKING: Kamala Harris brings out her accent again, this time in Detroit, Michigan.
The California and Canada-raised politician has brought out her new accent multiple times in the past month.
"You betta thank a union memba for sick leave. You betta thank a union memba for… pic.twitter.com/Nm10hVw0eb
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 2, 2024
Trump adviser Stephen Miller expertly mocked Harris, Fox News reported. "This is her seventh new accent in four weeks. She has literally never used this accent before. She grew up in Canada. Phoniest politician in all of politics," Miller posted to X, formerly Twitter.
The polls show that Harris is having difficulty convincing voters in the states where she needs to win. This is not a good spot for Harris, who is effectively an incumbent, and she should be very, very worried.
Attorneys for former President Donald Trump and special counsel Jack Smith jointly filed for a status update in light of presidential immunity in the election subversion case, ABC News reported. Smith filed a superseding indictment last week that narrowed and adjusted charges to avoid the new ruling's pitfalls.
Smith attempted to salvage his case against Trump by making necessary changes to his indictment that would circumvent presidential immunity. Meanwhile, Trump's legal team has humiliated Smith by asking that the charges be dismissed entirely.
The conflict arose following a Supreme Court decision that granted presidential immunity to much of Trump's conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. How the court will proceed is still unknown, but Trump and Smith filed Friday to clarify that.
Trump's attorneys have requested that any further legal proceedings happen after the November election. Smith did not mention timing except to concede that the court's "decisions on how to manage its docket are firmly within its discretion."
Both sides disagree on the future of the case. Trump's team argued that the case be completely dismissed as their client has already submitted a plea of not guilty and that most of his conduct falls under his duties as president.
Attorneys have submitted a dismissal request for the immunity issue and another separate Supreme Court decision that ruled Smith's appointment was unconstitutional. Smith disagreed as both sides requested further consideration from the court on how to proceed.
"The parties recognize the types of motions and briefing anticipated in pre-trial proceedings but have differing views on how the Court should schedule these matters and the manner in which they are to be conducted," the filing noted. Normally, an evidentiary hearing would clear up legal matters before the trial.
This would mean a "mini-trial," requiring in-person hearings before Election Day to decide on these matters before the case proceeds in earnest. Smith seems reluctant to allow that and requested that the court admit briefs in writing that "distinguish [aTrump's] private electioneering activity from official action."
He wants any other legal issues that arise to be considered in writing simultaneously and expressed an eagerness to move things along. "The Government is prepared to file its opening immunity brief promptly at any time the Court deems appropriate," the filing noted.
Trump's good fortune at the Supreme Court will likely mean he will appeal if U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rules against him in Smith's case. The defense team has a third rationale for dismissal by considering Trump's conversations with then-Vice President Mike Pence, who was under presidential immunity.
Trump had spoken to him about holding off on certifying the votes in the 2020 election, but both were acting in an official capacity. "If the Court determines, as it should, that the Special Counsel cannot rebut the presumption that these acts are immune, binding law requires that the entire indictment be dismissed because the grand jury considered immunized evidence," the filing said.
Meanwhile, Trump faces other legal complications, with a sentencing date looming in his New York hush-money case. Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records earlier this year.
His legal team filed Thursday to move the sentencing to federal court since it would impact the 2024 election. "At that potential sentencing, President Trump faces the prospect of immediate and unlawful incarceration under New York law, which could prevent him from continuing to pursue his leading campaign for the Presidency," Trump's attorneys asserted.
Trump has been battling these politically motivated charges for months. The best he can hope for is that Smith's case proceeds quickly and justly, though that might be unrealistic, considering the point has always been about derailing his presidential run.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) slammed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for ignoring a request from Gold Star families to visit with them at Arlington National Cemetery, the New York Post reported. The families were commemorating the third anniversary of their loved ones' deaths after Biden's disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.
Cotton, a decorated Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, appeared on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. Host Kristen Welker asked Cotton about former President Donald Trump's decision to visit the cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony and allegedly using it as a campaign photo op.
"He didn't take campaign photos there," the Arkansas Republican shot back, rejecting her premise. "These families — Gold Star families — whose children died because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ incompetence invited him to the cemetery, and they asked him to take those photos," Cotton said before laying into Biden and Harris for not showing up.
Cotton turned the tables on the president and vice president for their decision to ignore the grieving families. "You know who the families also invited? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," Cotton pointed out.
"Where were they? Joe Biden was sitting at a beach," Cotton said, referring to Biden's Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, residence, where he has spent more than a week and counting.
"Kamala Harris was sitting at her mansion in Washington, D.C. She was 4 miles away — 10 minutes," Cotton said of Harris, who lives at the Naval Conservatory as the vice president. "She could’ve gone to the cemetery and honored the sacrifice of those young men and women, but she hasn’t," the senator said of Harris.
"She never has spoken to them or taken a meeting with them,” he continued. Cotton believes Biden's decision to pull out of Afghanistan abruptly in August 2021 led to the deaths of 13 service members at the Kabul airport.
"It is because of her and Joe Biden’s incompetence that those 13 Americans were killed in Afghanistan," Cotton added. The families of the fallen heroes seem to believe that as well.
The media has attempted to portray Trump's actions as an affront to those whose family members were killed. Harris had claimed that Trump's visit "disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt," Fox News reported.
In response, the Gold Star families released a joint statement supporting Trump. "We, the families of the brave service members who were tragically killed in the Abbey Gate bombing, are appalled by Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent attempts to politicize President Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery," the families said.
"President Trump was invited by us, the Gold Star families, to attend the solemn ceremonies commemorating the three-year anniversary of our children’s deaths. He was there to honor their sacrifice, yet Vice President Harris has disgracefully twisted this sacred moment into a political ploy," the families added.
Harris should tread lightly on this issue. She has admitted to being the "last person in the room" when Biden made the fateful decision to abandon the conflict, and now she shares the blame.
Biden and Harris don't have the decency to show their faces to the grieving families. This is why the Gold Star families support Trump's willingness to show up for them and even take videos and photos, and Cotton is correct to point that out.
Michael Larosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, said Vice President Kamala Harris is making a mistake by hiding from the press this election cycle, the Daily Caller reported. The White House insider warned that voters will "lose trust" if Harris continues to shun the media.
Larosa made his remarks Thursday on Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime. It was the same day Harris gave her first interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
Harris sat down with CNN's Dana Bash for an interview with a friendly network with her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, by her side. Larosa thinks this kind of selective silence is a mistake that President Joe Biden ultimately paid for when he tried it.
Larosa's main message to Harris was to learn from Biden's misstep. "It’s a process story, which is the worst thing you could do. And one of the things that, unfortunately, the Biden team did was they ignored the press," Larosa told host Jesse Watters.
"And the problem with that is when you need the press, you lose goodwill, you lose trust. He had none of it by the end, which is what really did him in," Larosa added.
He further noted that giving just a handful of remarks will overemphasize everything she says. "Every little thing you say is amplified and your mistakes are scrutinized even more. The pressure is really hard for her," Larosa said.
Watters interjected that she's following "the Biden playbook" to her peril. "It becomes that more important, every little thing you say will be scrutinized and amplified, and that's unfair to do to her, frankly," Larosa replied.
"She should be establishing a cadence of talking to the press off the cuff. Actually, people connect, voters connect, when you do make mistakes and mistakes are forgiven," Larosa pointed out.
The problem with Larosa's suggestion is that Harris is terrible in front of a camera and simply can't answer questions truthfully. This was evident in her CNN interview, which was done on a friendly network with Walz by her side, and it did not go well.
Harris was asked about her many changes to policy positions that just so happen to reflect voters' opinions in key swing states. "I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is that my values have not changed," Harris claimed.
However, as Real Time host Bill Maher pointed out, Harris should have just admitted to changing her position on fracking rather than sidestepping the question. "I mean fracking… Dana Bash had her dead to rights," Maher told his audience, according to Fox News.
"It was like ‘You said this, I have the quote. I’m reading it to you. You said there should be a ban on fracking.' Why can't they just go, ‘Yeah, you know what? I got it wrong," Maher pointed out.
Harris can't be truthful because she has only changed her positions to suit voters. She can't justify this without acknowledging she's playing politics, nor can she intelligently articulate her plans for the White House in a way that will connect with voters.
Fact-checkers slammed Vice President Kamala Harris for several contradictions during an interview on Thursday, Newsweek reported. Harris and her running mate Tim Walz sat for the interview with CNN's Dana Bash meant to help the campaign.
The interview was Harris's first since naming Walz her vice presidential running mate. She was asked softball questions, and Bash seldom pushed back on Harris's statements.
Despite the help from Bash, there were several times that Harris' answers were not completely truthful or at least evasive which could imperil her candidacy. She made claims about positive job numbers, her immigration record, and other key policy proposals.
One of the most glaring problems came when she was asked about banning fracking. This is an important issue to voters in key swing states like Pennsylvania, and it's clear that she has that in mind when suddenly flip-flopping on it.
Even a leftist media outlet couldn't ignore some of the incongruencies, though Newsweek attempted to spin them. Harris touted President Joe Biden's administration that created "over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs" as well as "300,000 new clean energy jobs."
This is not entirely true, as the numbers for manufacturing jobs are revised based on seasonal fluctuations, and green jobs are projected but not actual. However, one glaring omission was the role the COVID-19 pandemic played in the rebound in employment.
In the years following the lockdowns, businesses reopened, and people went back to work, resulting in a significant increase in jobs. Harris similarly falsly claimed that illegal immigration from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador was down by playing with the timing.
While the decrease was true as of 2023, the 2024 data already revealed an increase year over year in the number of these immigrants illegally crossing into the U.S. However, Harris's most dubious claim was her changing views on fracking.
When Harris was a candidate for president in the 2020 presidential election, she unequivocally supported a ban on fracking. She implied that those vies have changed, but the rhetoric on the issue only softened when she was reflecting Biden's views as his running mate.
Ohio GOP Sen. J.D. Vance, who is former President Donald Trump's running mate, slammed Harris. "If you look at the way that Kamala Harris has governed, she's actually governed as a far-left person," Vance said on Fox & Friends Friday, Fox News reported.
"She's just trying to pretend that she's not far left now because, of course, she wants to win the American people's votes over the next couple of months. But if she does, she's going to do the same thing that she's been doing for the last few years," Vance predicted.
He went on to point out that she is claiming to have moved to the center while her record shows she's a rabid leftist. "She has governed as a person who believes those things, and unfortunately, the American people are far off because of it," Vance said.
Harris is an avowed leftist who will continue to govern as such despite her lies. She had to tell a different tale in the interview because the truth is unpopular with the American people, and she knows it.
NHL start Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, are dead after being struck by a suspected drunk driver Thursday, USA Today reported. The 31-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets forward and his 29-year-old brother were struck and killed while bicycling on a rural road on the eve of their sister's wedding.
The accident occurred around 8:20 p.m. in Oldmans Township, New Jersey, which is not far from the town where the brothers grew up. New Jersey State Police say that the driver, Sean Higgins, 43, was driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.
The brothers were groomsmen in their sister's wedding that was happening the following day. Meanwhile, Gaudreau was poised for a promising season after spending his off-season training and playing for the United States team in the world championship against Czechia. He walked away from the tournament with three goals and eight assists.
During the regular season, Gaudreau led his team in scoring for the second year, finishing 81 games last season with a 12-48-60 record for the Blue Jackets. However, a series of bad decisions cut his life short.
Police say Higgins was driving in his Jeep Grand Cherokee in the northbound lanes when he attempted to pass a sedan and SUV in front of him in the lane. Higgins crossed into the southbound lanes to get around the slower-moving vehicles.
State troopers believe as Higgins tried to reenter the northbound lane, the SUV moved over to the left to accommodate the bicyclists. It was then that Higgins attempted to pass the SUV on the right and hit the brothers.
Their injuries were fatal to both men, whom CNN reported were supposed to be groomsmen in their sister's wedding the following day in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, their family is now planning for their burials.
"Through further investigation, Higgins was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol," a statement from State Police Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron revealed. In an affidavit filed Friday, Higgins admitted to having as many as six beers before getting behind the wheel that day.
"Mr. Higgins explicitly stated to the effect that his consumption of alcoholic beverages contributed to his impatience and reckless driving, which resulted in the motor vehicle accident," the legal filing said. Higgins was charged with two second-degree vehicular homicide counts and will remain in jail without bond until his hearing Thursday.
Those closest to the brothers are feeling the loss most acutely. "Last night we lost two husbands, two fathers, two sons, two brothers, two sons and brothers in law, two nephews, two cousins, two family members two teammates, two friends but truly two amazing humans," their uncle Jim Gaudreau posted to Facebook Friday on behalf of the family.
"We want to let everyone know we are receiving your messages of love and support, and we appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers," he added. The Blue Jackets also shared news of the loss of the beloved "Johnny Hockey" in a statement.
"Johnny played the game with great joy, which was felt by everyone that saw him on the ice. He brought a genuine love for hockey with him everywhere he played from Boston College to the Calgary Flames to Team USA to the Blue Jackets," the statement went on.
"He thrilled fans in a way only Johnny Hockey could. The impact he had on our organization and our sport was profound, but pales in comparison to the indelible impression he made on everyone who knew him."
The circumstances of this family's loss are especially tragic as this was supposed to be a time of joy for the family. Instead, they're mourning the loss of beloved wo family members because of the alleged recklessness of another.