Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville is warning his party not to get cocky about Kamala Harris' presidential bid, warning her "best day" is already behind her.
Joe Biden's decision to end his failing re-election has energized Democrats, but Carville warned that Harris has a long way to go still.
The strategist downplayed the current burst of enthusiasm behind Harris' bid, as she rides a wave of glowing press coverage.
"Right now she’s doing well, very well. But let’s find out why she’s doing very well. She’s doing very well because 72% of the country wanted something different, and she is something different,” Carville said.
Harris' bid has fired up the Democratic base, which had been demoralized by weeks of chaos following Biden's disastrous debate performance. Within a day of Biden ending his campaign, Harris raked in $81 million from donors, and she has seen a bump in the polls.
But Republicans, after getting blindsided by Biden's move, will soon regroup and launch a volley of "brutal attacks," Carville warned. Republicans were "confused" but "they’re getting unconfused now."
Carville warned Democrats that Harris' best days are already behind her.
“But I’m telling you, this is the best day that she’s gonna have for the rest of the campaign," he said.
"Democrats have got to get ready. I hope she can get her campaign, get her operation. It’s hard … you just don’t get into one of these things, turn the key on and it works."
Republicans are hopeful that Harris' momentum will fade after a "honeymoon" period. In the meantime, the GOP is rushing to define Harris as an out-of-touch California liberal with hard-hitting attack ads.
Carville warned MSNBC that Democrats need to get over their "giddy elation" and focus on winning.
“All I’m doing is saying, watch out people. Don’t get too far out there,” Carville told MSNBC. “If we don’t win this, all this good feeling is gonna evaporate and gonna be all for naught.”
The Trump campaign and its allies have focused on Harris' role overseeing the southern border crisis, as well as radical positions she has expressed over the years.
Harris' liberal record is widely seen as an obstacle to winning over swing voters in important Rust Belt battlegrounds.
Newly released police bodycam video from the Trump assassination attempt shows police discovering a transmitter for an explosive device next to the shooter's dead body.
The dramatic video also shows police and a Secret Service agent identifying the dead shooter as the same man who was photographed acting suspiciously before the attack.
The video was recorded by a Beaver County Emergency Services Unit officer and shared with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley (IA).
In the video, officers are seen rushing to access the rooftop that Thomas Matthew Crooks used to shoot at Trump.
A trail of blood is seen on the roof leading to Crooks' body. Next to his body, police make a troubling discovery: an electronic transmitter.
"It is a remote control device. It is gray in color, about five, six inches tall," an officer says, urging the FBI to "hurry the (expletive) up."
FBI director Christopher Wray told Congress Wednesday that Crooks had two explosive devices in his car and another at home.
It's unclear why the bombs were left in his car, but Wray said they were capable of being blown up remotely.
Secret Service has faced scrutiny for its failure to secure the rooftop, as well as its response to numerous warnings of suspicious activity before the shooting. A Beaver County sniper noticed a suspicious man using a rangefinder on the ground and took a photo.
The bodycam video shows Secret Service and police confirming that the dead body matches the man in the photo.
"A Beaver County sniper seen and sent the pictures out, this is him," the officer with the bodycam says.
"I don't know if you got the same ones I did?" the officer asks the Secret Service agent.
"I think I did, yeah, he's got his glasses on," the agent replies.
The men also discuss a suspicious abandoned bike. The officer says the sniper saw the shooter walk from the bike and set a bag down, then "lost sight of him."
FBI director Wray told Congress that Crooks had a collapsible stock, which made it easier to conceal his gun. He may have accessed the rooftop by climbing pipes.
Wray also said Crooks used a drone to scout the area two hours before the shooting. The drone would have given Crooks a view of the area behind him when he was on the rooftop.
The man who tried to kill President Trump likely acted alone but his motive is unclear, FBI director Christopher Wray said Wednesday, as he shared details about the agency's investigation of the attempted assassination.
The FBI hasn't found anything like a manifesto, Wray told the House Oversight committee, and images of public figures that were stored on the shooter's phone do not appear to have any significance.
The hearing reflected usual partisan divides, with Democrats defending the FBI's integrity and pushing back on calls to defund the agency, which Republicans have accused of targeting Trump and his supporters.
Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Oh.) noted to Wray that many Americans are skeptical of the FBI's involvement in investigating the assassination attempt. But questioning from Republicans was mostly cordial as Wray shared bits of information.
Wray said that photos on the gunman's phone, including of Trump and Joe Biden, were saved automatically in a "cache" from searching news articles.
“This does not appear to be some sort of target list," he said.
Wray said there is currently no evidence the shooter had any accomplices. The gunman's list of phone contacts was "short", and he appeared to be a "loner."
The FBI is working to get inside the gunman's encrypted chats, Wray said.
"There doesn't appear to be a whole lot of interactions between him, face-to-face or digital, with a lot of people," Wray said. "That doesn't mean there's not any."
The gunman became focused on Trump around a week before the shooting, Wray said. On July 6, he registered for the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The same day, he looked up the Kennedy assassination on Google, typing, "how far away from Oswald was Kennedy?"
The gunman visited the rally site a week before the shooting for about 20 minutes and returned on the morning of for 70 minutes. He then returned a third time in the afternoon "for good."
Roughly two hours before the shooting, from 3:50 p.m. to 4 p.m., the shooter flew a drone about 200 yards away from the rally stage. The drone was livestreaming footage. The camera was pointed toward the rally stage, giving a "rear view" of what would have been behind the shooter during the attack.
A purchase of a five-foot ladder was traced to a bloody receipt on the shooter's person, but the ladder was not found at the scene, Wray said.
Investigators believe the gunman climbed on the roof using "mechanical equipment" and piping on the side of the building, he said. The director declined to answer questions about the failure to secure the scene, which has led to backlash against the Secret Service and the resignation of its director Kimberly Cheatle.
The security posture is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Wray said, while the FBI is focusing on the shooter.
Iowa's six-week abortion ban will go into effect after a bombshell ruling from the state's Supreme Court.
It's a setback for the Biden administration's pro-abortion agenda, which Democrats have made central to the 2024 campaign.
The Iowa abortion law bans most abortions once a heartbeat is detected, with exceptions for rape, incest, and pregnancies that threaten a mother's life.
Planned Parenthood had asked the Iowa Supreme Court to reconsider its previous 4-3 ruling, but the court denied the request.
In light of the Supreme Court's decision, a judge ordered the ban to take effect next Monday.
Iowa's Republican governor Kim Reynolds signed the six-week ban in 2023 after the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling, which clarified that abortion is not a federal right, sending the issue into the hands of state governments.
Despite Iowa's exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, President Biden condemned Iowa's ban as "extreme and dangerous" when it was upheld in June. At the time, Biden said the ban "puts women's health and lives in jeopardy."
"Vice President Harris and I believe that women in every state must have the right to make deeply personal decisions about their health," Biden said.
In its initial June ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court narrowly held that a lower court had used the wrong constitutional test when it blocked the ban.
Applying a lower standard of scrutiny called "rational basis," the Iowa Supreme Court found that the heartbeat law is "rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting unborn life."
"The state’s interest in protecting the unborn can be traced to Iowa’s earliest days,” Justice Matthew McDermott wrote.
Planned Parenthood asked the Supreme Court to reconsider, putting the law on hold. But the Supreme Court's denial allows the law to take effect in the coming days.
“As a pro-life advocate. I am very thankful and very grateful that we have the decision that we do,” said Kristi Judkins, the director of Iowa Right to Life.
Democrats have campaigned heavily on protecting access to abortion while painting Republicans as extreme.
The focus on abortion is sure to be heightened in the months ahead, with Biden ending his re-election campaign and vice president Kamala Harris - an outspoken pro-abortion radical - seen as his likely replacement.
Former Arkansas Senator Ben Sasse has announced his next career move.
The famous anti-Trumper is leaving his board position at the University of Florida to care for his epileptic wife.
Sasse announced that he would step down on July 31 to focus on helping his wife and caring for his kids.
Between 2015 and 2023, Sasse became known as one of the most outspoken anti-Trump Republicans in the Senate.
The former Midland University president returned to academia after leaving Washington. He took over as University of Florida's president last year despite backlash from students and faculty.
The board of trustees unanimously elected Sasse to a five-year term, but he has decided to put his family obligations first. He will remain employed at the university as a professor and president emeritus.
“My wife Melissa’s recent epilepsy diagnosis and a new batch of memory issues have been hard, but we’re facing it together,” he said.
“Our two wonderful daughters are in college, but our youngest is just turning 13. Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights."
"I need to step back and rebuild more stable household systems for a time. I’m going to remain involved in serving our UF students — past, present, and future — but I need to walk arm-in-arm with my dearest friend more hours of every week.”
The university's board of trustees thanks Sasse in a statement.
“The board of trustees thanks Dr. Sasse for his service to the University of Florida. Under his leadership, UF has continued to advance on the national and international stage, benefiting our students, faculty, alumni, community and state. He has left a lasting impact on the university and all of those associated with it. We wish Ben all the best as he steps back to focus on his family," the statement said.
During Sasse's tenure, the University of Florida targeted "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" initiatives - a priority of Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) and clamped down on riotous anti-Israel protests.
Sasse was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to convict Donald Trump during his second impeachment over the January 6th "insurrection."
Republican groups across the country have fought to challenge mail-in voting laws as many believe the mail-in system was rampant with abuse in previous elections and opens up the possibility for further abuse in November.
While some efforts have succeeded, according to the New York Post, Republicans had a major setback in Nevada this week after an Obama-appointed judge tossed out a challenge to the state's mail-in ballot counting laws.
Plaintiffs in the latest challenge included "the Republican National Committee, the state GOP, the 2024 Trump campaign and Nevada voter Donald Szymanski."
They filed suit against "Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, Washoe County Registrar of Voters Cari-Ann Burgess, Washoe County Clerk Jan Galassini and Lorena Portillo and Lynn Marie Goya, respectively Clark County’s voter registrar and county clerk."
Federal District Court Chief Judge Miranda Du, an Obama-appointed judge, ruled that the plaintiffs in the case lacked standing to move forward with the lawsuit.
The NY Post noted:
In a 15-page ruling, Du, a 2011 Obama appointee to the federal bench, said none of the plaintiff’s claims demonstrates they “have suffered, or will likely suffer, an injury” if the ballot-counting measure is allowed to stand. The judge said “it does not necessarily follow that mail ballots arriving after Election Day will skew Democratic. And even if later-arriving mail ballots have favored Democrats past elections, it is far from guaranteed that Nevada voters will behave similarly this November.”
The federal judge decided that Republican voters would not be adversely affected by the mail-in ballot counting rules currently on the books.
"The Nevada mail ballot receipt deadline does not have an ‘individual and personal’ effect on the voting power of Republican voters; it neither undermines their access to the polls nor disproportionately diminishes the weight of their votes relative to other Nevada voters," Judge Du said in her ruling.
Activist judge, Miranda Du, ruled Nevada can keep counting ballots that show up after election day.
https://t.co/KJlMggecTo pic.twitter.com/JoG5NgNJ4w— Watching The Defectives (@shannon_alter) July 18, 2024
Republican groups have stepped up their legal efforts in Nevada, as they believe former President Donald Trump stands a very strong chance at winning the state in the upcoming election cycle.
Shortly after the ruling, GOP spokeswoman Claire Zunk revealed that an appeal was already in the works.
"Our case fights a Nevada law that shouldn’t be on the books; it breaks federal law and allows mail ballots to be counted after Election Day,” Zunk said.
She added, "Rather than letting us fight this in court, a liberal judge unjustifiably dismissed our case. Political parties must be allowed to fight invalid election laws that threaten the integrity of our elections. We are committed to protecting the ballot and we will pursue further legal action in this case."
Hopefully, the appeals process goes in the Republicans' favor.
Now that the dust has settled to some degree, so many questions have arisen regarding the gunman who attempted to take former President Donald Trump's life at a Pennsylvania rally last weekend.
According to Fox News, the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, has a bizarre past regarding his thoughts on politicians, especially about Trump.
As FBI agents interviewed his former classmates, it was revealed that one of his classmates was reportedly chastised by Crooks for supporting Trump. Apparently, Crooks thought it was "stupid" to support the 45th president.
FBI agents have questioned his former classmates and peers to build a profile regarding a possible motive for the assassination attempt.
One of the former classmates interviewed by the federal law enforcement agency was 20-year-old Vincent Taormina, who said he wasn't able to provide much information about Crooks as he hadn't interacted with him for several years, saying the FBI was mainly looking for more people to contact.
"They called me…honestly just asked me for names and if I could give [them] much else," Taormina told Fox News Digital.
He did reveal that he believes the killer's closest group of friends had originated a school shooting threat, saying, "They were definitely the type, and they did, make threats to shoot up our school."
This is Vincent Taormina, former classmate of the shooter.
Don’t believe the lying media that says Crooks was “republican” pic.twitter.com/cDbFayFIwG
— Allie Crenshaw (@alliecrenshaw12) July 18, 2024
While there was no solid evidence that Crooks' group of friends made the threat, it was noted that afterward, Crooks was not at school for several days.
"Everybody, anybody who knew him-knew him, should have seen something," Taormina said. "They should have known something was up, and I know it's kind of easy to hide, but people are going to get their affairs in order before they do something that's bold and this drastic, and nobody saw it? And why?"
Crooks had confronted him years ago about his support for Donald Trump, and he said Crooks had a "smug" dislike for politicians.
Users across social media had their own thoughts on Crooks and his potential motives.
"Amazing how many young people are so brainwashed they believe everything bad about Trump," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "I do not believe for a second the FBI has no clue what Crooks's motive is."
Jack Smith is desperate to get back on track after the judge threw out his classified documents case against President Trump.
The Biden prosecutor filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday, two days after Florida judge Aileen Cannon handed Trump a stunning victory by tossing the charges.
Cannon's ruling was a huge win for Trump, whose re-election bid has been surging as various Democrat-led prosecutions encounter obstacles.
In her bombshell ruling, Cannon found that Smith was not legally appointed. Her ruling came after Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas expressed similar doubts about Smith's authority under the Appointments Clause.
Cannon said Smith's appointment undermines the power of Congress to appoint "officers of the United States." Smith was handpicked by attorney general Merrick Garland rather than nominated by President Biden with Senate confirmation.
Smith blasted Cannon's decision, claiming it "deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue."
Smith, in a filing Wednesday, said he would appeal to the 11th Circuit.
“The United States of America hereby gives notice that it appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from the order of the District Court entered on July 15," Smith wrote.
While Smith goes through the motions of an appeal, his chances of bringing Trump to trial before the election are effectively zero.
Smith's other prosecution of Trump, concerning the 2020 election, is also unlikely to be resolved on Smith's political timeline after the Supreme Court's historic immunity ruling.
Without saying so directly, Smith has been desperate to prosecute Trump before the presidential election, fearing he could drop his federal charges if elected.
Trump is widely seen as the favorite to win the presidency, especially after his iconic display of courage following an assassination attempt last week.
After Cannon's ruling - and in a spirit of unity following his near death - Trump has called on Democrats to end all "lawfare" against him.
"The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden's Political Opponent, ME. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
While Smith is clearly losing this battle, he is reportedly determined to keep prosecuting Trump until Inauguration Day.
Naomi Pomeroy, a famous chef known for appearing in cooking shows like Top Chef Masters, has died in a horrible tubing accident. She was only 49.
The self-taught, award-winning cook, who owned renowned restaurants in Portland, Oregon, drowned in the Willamette River on Saturday, July 13.
Pomeroy was with a group of tubers who got caught on an exposed snag, her family told Portland Monthly.
The Benton County Sherriff's Office said Pomeroy was one of "three floaters on tubes and a paddle board, secured together" who were "caught on an exposed snag in the water."
Pomeroy was trapped underwater by the paddle board leash. Two others made it to shore safely.
One of those people was Pomeroy's husband, Kyle Linden Webster.
Police spent days looking for Pomeroy with sonar, underwater cameras, and drones. Her body was eventually found Wednesday morning by canoers about half a mile upstream of Hyak Park.
"People canoeing on the river spotted a body and called 9-1-1," the Benton County Sheriff's Office said in an update.
"BCSO marine deputies arrived shortly after, located a deceased female on a shallow section of bedrock near the middle of the river with about one to two feet of water," the sheriff's office said.
Pomeroy first became known for her restaurant Beast in 2007. She and her husband owned a cocktail bar, Expatriate, and Pomeroy had just opened an ice cream shop in May.
Pomeroy appeared on several cooking shows like Iron Chef and Top Chef Masters, and in 2014 she won a James Beard award.
The news of Pomeroy's death has sent a shock through Portland, where she was a fixture in the food scene.
Heather Wallberg, who owns a restaurant across the street from Expatriate, told KOIN-TV that Pomeroy "made the Portland food scene what it is today."
Chef and food critic Andrew Zimmern called Pomeroy a "great chef, an icon and a friend for many years."
Naomi Pomeroy was a great chef, an icon and a friend for many years. May her memory be a blessing to all who loved her https://t.co/XEmaf00BMb
— Andrew Zimmern (@andrewzimmern) July 15, 2024
Oregon congressman Earl Blumenauer (D) also paid tribute to Pomeroy in a statement.
"What a loss. Naomi was not just a fabulous chef and entrepreneur, but an amazing human being. Her impact went far beyond Portland, helping establish our leadership and reputation for food excellence. She will be greatly missed,” Blumenauer said.
A mentally disturbed homeless man wielding a knife was shot dead just one mile from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
The man was shot dead by a group of Ohio police officers providing security for the four-day convention, which started Monday. The man was threatening another man with a pair of steak knives.
Police released bodycam video of the incident, which happened about a mile from the convention in the King Park area.
A group of officers were having a conversation when they noticed the suspect having an altercation with another man in the street. "He's got a knife," one of the cops said.
The Columbus, Ohio officers ran towards the man, shouting "drop your knife!" The armed man ignored them and charged at the other man, who was unarmed. The police fired their guns, killing the suspect.
“Someone’s life was in danger,” Milwaukee Chief Jeffrey Norman said. “These officers, who were not from this area, took it upon themselves to act and save someone’s life today.”
The incident came just days after a gunman tried to assassinate President Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump was formally nominated the GOP's candidate for president on Monday.
The RNC's theme on Tuesday was crime and public safety. The roster of speakers included crime victims, who shared personal stories about their lives being torn apart by liberal soft-on-crime policies.
The 43-year-old suspect who was killed Tuesday lived in a well-known homeless encampment in the King Park area.
Local bums living in the tent city said that the encampment is familiar to local police. They said the altercation might have ended differently if local cops were involved.
“If MPD [Milwaukee police] would have been there, that man would still be alive right now,” one of the bums, David Porter, said.
At a press conference Tuesday, local police defended the out-of-town officers. The suspect had a knife in each hand, they said, and ignored commands to cooperate.
“The officers observed a subject armed with a knife in each hand, engaged in an altercation with another unarmed individual,” Norman said. "They only fired after the armed man ignored multiple commands and moved toward the unarmed man, the chief said.
“This is a situation where somebody’s life was in immediate danger,” Norman said.