The man charged with threatening to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will go on trial in June 2025, ABC News reported. California resident Nicholas John Roske showed up near Kavanaugh's home with zip ties, a gun, and a knife after the draft decision on the overturning of Roe v. Wade was leaked in 2022.
U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte took the first step in the case Tuesday and set the date for Roske's trial for next year. If convicted, Roske could face life in prison.
Roske was arrested after allegedly showing up near Kavaunaugh's Chevy Chase, Maryland, home after 1 a.m. with what appeared to be ill intent. The then-26-year-old arrived in via taxi wearing dark clothing and carrying the paraphrenia of a would-be assassin.
Jury selection for Roske's trial will begin on June 9, though Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Gavin said the process "in this case could take a little longer" than usual. The trial is supposed to last only about a week.
Roske was arrested after calling 911 on himself, stating that he had suicidal thoughts and was carrying a gun, CNN reported at the time. He told authorities that he traveled from California to kill "a specific United States Supreme Court Justice."
The young man was incensed about the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as well as the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that happened in May 2022. He believed that Kavanaugh would reject gun control laws even after the shooting that was later pinned on the failures of the town's police chief in an indictment.
"Roske indicated that he believed the Justice that he intended to kill would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws. Roske stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice," an FBI report said.
Roske planned to break into Kavanaugh's home and commit a murder-suicide. He had a screwdriver, hammer, crowbar, nail punch, duct tape, and a pistol light, along with the other items that suggest he was prepared for several crimes.
This alleged crime came at a time when conservative justices were under additional threat. The news and political coverage of the forthcoming opinion brought protesters to justices' homes, though it seems Roske was the only one to carry out one of these threats.
One aspect of this case that received little attention was Roske's mental state. According to a Fox News report in August 2022, the FBI accessed several online profiles for Roske, and further analysis revealed disturbing evidence.
In his online world, Roske sometimes portrayed himself as a transgender woman named Sophie and sought perverse sexual activity. "I am looking for a Daddy to control my sexual life," one account the FBI linked to him said.
On other platforms like Reddit, Roske shared his "radical" opinions about abortion, including a post in October 2018 where he called himself a "negative utilitarian" who supported forced abortions. His post hints at a deep pain and twisted psyche.
"If abortion were mandatory for pregnant women, no new people would be born, and thus no new people would experience suffering. If no new people are born, humanity will end and thus human suffering will end. I am aware how radical this view is, but I do hold it sincerely," Roske wrote.
Roske thankfully turned himself in before something terrible happened at Kavanaugh's home. However, this alleged crime points to a larger issue surrounding the interplay between the political climate the left created and what it does to people already experience mental health problems.
Vice President Kamala Harris has refused a third debate former President Donald Trump proposed, Breitbart reported. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, has only agreed to one debate with his GOP counterpart, Sen. J.D. Vance.
The Harris campaign has attempted to make it seem like Trump is the one running from debating her. This is patently false, as Harris was reluctant to agree to the number of debates until this week.
Trump proposed three on different dates and networks after President Joe Biden stepped aside and allowed Harris to take his place. The Republican candidate offered to face off with Harris on Sept. 4 on Fox, Sept. 10 on NBC News, and Sept. 24 on ABC News.
On Thursday, the Democratic candidate finally said she would agree to two debates, with the first on Sept. 10 leading to another date in October as long as he shows up. Notably, she declined to spar with him on Fox or NBC.
Besides refusing a third debate for herself, Harris has agreed to just one for Walz versus Vance. The Ohio Republican shared the statement on X, formerly Twitter. "Tim Walz refused to deploy!" Vance captioned an image of the statement, playing on previous disputes about Walz's military service claims.
Tim Walz refuses to deploy! https://t.co/KqGkm3nOHQ
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 15, 2024
"Assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on September 10 to debate Vice President Harris, then Governor Walz will see JD Vance on October 1, and the American people will have another opportunity to see the vice president and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October," Michael Tyler, campaign communications director, wrote in the statement.
"Voters deserve to see the candidates for the highest office in the land share their competing visions for our future. The more they play games, the more insecure and unserious Trump and Vance reveal themselves to be to the American people. Those games end now."
This accusation about playing games is laughable, considering that Harris is a last-minute replacement candidate after the sitting president was likely pushed out of the position. Moreover, Harris and Walz are the ones shying away from a matchup, considering both have agreed to fewer debates than proposed by the GOP candidates.
Fox News shared Trump's response which became an opportunity to point out her glaring problems. In a post to Truth Social, Trump said he's "not surprised" by her refusal to face him because she can't "defend her record setting Flip-Flopping" on issues like "her statements that THERE WILL BE NO FRACKING IN PENNSYLVANIA and her HORRIBLE Performance on the Border."
Harris has been in office with Biden for the last four years, but now she's attempting to distance herself from his record. Biden is an unpopular president, and until the media started propping her up, Harris was even more disliked.
Now, she's also forced to back peddle on the radical agenda that defined her previous bid for the Democratic nomination in 2020. As the New York Post reported, Trump is correct that Harris has reversed her opinion on fracking and illegal immigration strategy, but she's also backed off on Medicare for All.
In fact, her chameleon-like habits were something Biden mocked her for during the 2020 primary race. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) rightly described Harris' agenda at that time as something "cobbled together to address various poll numbers."
With the media propping her up, Harris hasn't had to answer for much. The problem for her is that a debate puts her agenda front and center, and the more people hear her speak, the less they will want to vote for such a radical.
The FBI arrested Washington, D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. on Sunday on charges that at first seemed unclear, but later turned out to be for allegedly taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said that White was arrested around 2 p.m. and that he and the council had not known White was under investigation.
White was first elected in 2016 and represents Ward 8 in Southeast Washington.
“I’m anxious to get more details to understand what the situation is,” Mendelson told FOX 5. “You all know as much as I know.”
There were reports in March that White and his campaign owed over $80,000 in fines. At first, it was thought that he may have run afoul of the Fair Elections Program, a new initiative for public financing that has strict reporting requirements.
“The Washington City Paper reported last week that the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance levied a $20,000 fine against White and his campaign treasurer,” Fox 5 said in March. “On top of that, OCF says White owes nearly $59,000 in public funds he received through D.C.’s Fair Elections Program.”
“The Fair Elections Program is a relatively new program where candidates can be eligible for some public financing. If a candidate receives that money, though, It’s subject to a pretty thorough audit with reporting requirements,” the report added.
On Monday, however, The Washington Post reported that White is being charged with bribery charges and taking kickbacks for pressuring D.C. government employees to extend contracts that served at-risk youth.
The FBI said it has an informant and recorded conversations between White and the informant contractor, who dealt with White in the scheme.
White is accused of taking $156,000 in cash and trips to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas.
“What you need me to do, man,” White told the informant in a recording after being given $15,000 in cash, according to the affidavit. “I don’t wanna feel like you gotta gimme something to get something. We better than that.”
But White took the cash, the affidavit said.
White will be arraigned Monday in front of a magistrate.
His campaign said he was going to give back $59,000, but did not address the bribery and kickback charges.
The American political landscape experienced something of an earthquake last month when President Joe Biden announced the end of his re-election bid after new concerns about his cognitive health came to the forefront.
Though Kamala Harris swiftly stepped into the role as the Democratic Party's standard-bearer for November, recent polling finds that a substantial majority of Americans believe she knew about -- and was therefore complicit in hiding -- the true degree of decline Biden had been experiencing for quite some time, as the New York Post reports.
The news of voter perception of Harris' awareness of Biden's condition came via a Fox News survey that was released last week.
According to the poll, a staggering 73% of respondents believe Harris had knowledge of Biden's faltering abilities in recent years.
In bad news for the vice president, just 21% of those who responded to the survey said Harris did not know about the president's cognitive state, which for many was brought into stark relief during his June debate against former President Donald Trump.
Making matters worse for Harris is the fact that clear majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, 58% and 90%, respectively, asserted that she had to have known of Biden's cognitive state, with 69% of independent voters also agreeing with that assessment.
It is not just rank-and-file voters surveyed by Fox News who believe Harris hid knowledge of Biden's condition from the public, with her rival for the White House, former President Donald Trump, also leveling such allegations in recent weeks.
Even before Biden's withdrawal, Trump accused Harris of complicity in the deception, telling a Florida rally crowd, “Joe, Kamala and the entire Democrat establishment have been caught red handed in the thick of the biggest scandal and the biggest cover up.”
“It's the biggest coverup in political history,” Trump went on, characterizing the situation as a “sinister plot to defraud the American public about the cognitive abilities of the man in the Oval Office.”
NewsNation's Steve Krakauer recently suggested that questions about Harris' complicity in hiding Biden's true state could persist as the election draws nearer, writing, “If all these other figures could see the country was being led by a very unsteady president, mentally and physically, wouldn't Harris be able to see that too? In what possible scenario is President Biden's vice president not directly involved in the cover-up?”
Krakauer further wondered, “Or, perhaps even more embarrassing, was she so detached from the day-to-day activities at the highest level of the administration that she simply hadn't noticed?”
Though Harris' supporters certainly hope that discussions about her role in camouflaging Biden's decline will fade away as the head-to-head contest against Trump heats up, it could be her own past statements that come back to undermine their wish to move on.
Just this year, Harris told ABC News, “I'll tell you, the reality of it is, and I've spent a lot of time with Biden, be it in the Oval Office, in the Situation Room and other places -- he is extraordinarily smart. He has the ability to see around the corner in terms of that might be the challenges we face as a nation or globally,” attesting to her belief in his capacity to remain in office.
Whether the mainstream media will fulfill its duty to press Harris on what she knew and when she knew it in terms of Biden's evident decline, however, remains very much an open question.
Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to build 3 million homes over four years to ease a nationwide shortage, Breitbart reported. This rings hollow after she and President Joe Biden failed on other infrastructure initiatives.
Harris made this promise as part of her pitch to become the next Democratic president. "There’s a serious housing shortage in many places," Harris told the crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"It’s too difficult to build and it’s driving prices up. As president, I will work in partnership with industry to build the housing. We need both to rent and to buy," Harris went on.
"We will take down barriers and cut red tape, including at the state and local levels. And by the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class," Harris said.
Many Americans are suffering because of the high cost of housing, thanks to the economic conditions created by Biden and Harris. There is a shortage of affordable options and no relief in sight.
Still, several indicators point to this as nothing more than a lofty campaign promise. The most pressing problem for such a goal is that mortgage interest rates have exploded during the Biden/Harris administration.
Many have priced many people out of the market already because of this, and Harris does not say whether interest relief will be part of her plan for this program. There's also the issue of logistics as her plan would translate to adding 750,000 homes per year, a number not seen since the period immediately following World War II.
However, Harris didn't specify whether her administration will add another 3 million homes or if she expects that to be total after four years, including what's already been done. In 2023, 1.5 million more homes were built.
If her number includes that amount, that would mean her plan is to add another 1.5 million homes over the next four years, which actually represents a 50% slowdown. However, expecting her to deliver on this promise at all is mostly an academic exercise in light of her record.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, Harris has already fallen short of a goal like this. For instance, the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed during Biden's tenure was supposed to provide broadband internet connections throughout the U.S.
Two years and $42.5 billion later, and not a single new Internet connection came of it, according to FCC Commissioner Brenda Carr. Notably, Harris was specifically charged with overseeing this project.
According to the Washington Post, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law had also set aside $7.5 billion to meet Biden's goal of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the U.S. by 2030. Only seven operational EV charging stations have come online.
If Harris couldn't get these projects off the ground with funding from Congress and a mandate from voters, it would be difficult to see how she'll ever meet the housing target. However, getting anything done is not what these promises are really about anyway.
Democrats have historically run their campaigns with promises to give away all kinds of goodies funded by other taxpayers. This is about buying votes, and Harris will do or say anything to get elected.
A cyber attack has exposed the private data of millions of Americans, the Daily Caller reported. Their personal information, including social security numbers, was posted as a database for sale on the dark web.
One victim filed a lawsuit against the company National Public Data, alleging that it failed to keep private information safe. The legal action stemmed from the actions of the hacker group USDoD, which claims to have obtained the information from the company.
The group put the database up for sale on the dark web on April 8 under the name "National Public Data." It's asking $3.5 million for the trove of information, which includes the addresses, birth dates, and social security numbers of some 3 billion people.
The data goes back decades and even includes information on long-dead relatives. The size and scope of this hack rivals a 2013 Yahoo! data breach that impacted billions of the website's users.
The breach was the impetus for a lawsuit from California resident Christopher Hofmann. He discovered that his data made it to the dark web after being notified by an identity theft monitoring company.
The plaintiff is seeking monetary compensation and changes to the way data is collected and handled by companies like National Public Data. In his complaint, Hofmann notes that the company scrapes the data from private sources without the individuals' consent.
The company does this to perform background checks, which utilize a wide range of digital data sources. Cliff Steinhauer from the nonprofit National Cybersecurity Alliance told CBS MoneyWatch that the scope of this breach likely includes "everyone with a Social Security number," though the information hasn't been confirmed.
"It's a reminder of the importance of protecting yourself, because clearly companies and the government aren't doing it for us," Steinhauer added. From his view as the organization's director of information security and engagement, Steinhauer contends that this is a hole in the law system.
"They are data brokers that collect and sell data about people, sometimes for background check purposes. It's because there's no national privacy law in the U.S. — there is no law against them collecting this data against our consent," Steinhauer said.
Data breaches are a growing problem as information increasingly finds its way online through many sources. President Joe Biden attempted to keep it out of the hands of foreign adversaries with an executive order he signed in February.
CNN reported that the order was part of an effort to curb foreign nations' ability to compile data on Americans through online intermediaries. Transactions allow data brokers to siphon personal information, such as location, health information, and other useful data.
That information can then be used for anything from garden variety identity theft to international blackmail. Because of this exposure, the administration targeted problematic nations in its effort to clamp down on the practice.
"Countries of concern, such as China and Russia, are buying Americans’ sensitive personal data from data brokers," a senior administration official warned at the time. A report declassified in 2023 revealed that intelligence agencies from all over the world, including the U.S., use this as an intelligence-gathering tactic.
Cyberattacks are a novel threat to personal and national security, and the number of victims is growing. Lawsuits and other actions are vital to stopping this threat, though it's clear more work must be done.
Wally Amos, literacy advocate and founder of the Famous Amos cookie brand, died Wednesday at this home, ABC News reported. He was 88 and suffered from complications due to dementia before his passing.
Born Wallace Amos, Jr., the cookie entrepreneur forged a path to success nearly 50 years ago. Amos began his life in Tallahassee, Florida, but would build the brand that would make him famous with his first shop in 1975 in Hollywood, California.
As People reported, Amos made $300,000 in the company's first year and would reach $12 million by year five. In making his cookies free of preservatives and all-natural, Amos was ahead of his time.
Amos would become known not only for his confections but also for community outreach. In 1981, Amos became a spokesman for the Literacy Volunteers of America to inspire people with his passion for reading and writing.
Amos was a beloved icon in business and culture not only because of his cookies but also for his public service and quirky persona. After his passing, Ferrero Group, which now owns the Famous Amos brand, shared a tribute to the late cookie mogul on Instagram.
"Ferrero and the Famous Amos team are saddened by the loss of Wally Amos and our thoughts are with his family. He brought joy to millions with his cookies and is an inspiration to generations of entrepreneurs," the company wrote.
"We will continue to work to honor his legacy," the post added. After selling his brand to the company in the 1980s amid financial difficulties, Amos would later become a pitchman for the company.
Amos' children also shared fond remembrances of their late father, whom they said died "peacefully" at home. "Our dad inspired a generation of entrepreneurs," they told CBS News.
"With his Panama hat, kazoo, and boundless optimism, Famous Amos was a great American success story, and a source of Black pride. It's also part of our family story for which we will forever be grateful and proud." Amos has four grown children: Michael Amos, Gregory Amos, Sarah Amos, and Shawn Amos.
Wally Amos got his start as a talent agent. He signed acts like the Supremes and Simon and Garfunkel when they were still unknown. However, he would find that his most profound passion was for baking.
"I began to bake as a hobby; it was a kind of therapy. I'd go to meetings with record company or movie people and bring along some cookies, and pretty soon everybody was asking for them," Amos recalled in a 1975 interview.
Eventually, Amos would start his cookie enterprise with the help of music greats Helen Reddy and Marvin Gaye. They gave him $25,000 to start the business that would become Amos' most successful endeavor.
Amos would contribute to the culture with his book The Path to Success is Paved with Positive Thinking and cookbook The Cookie Never Crumbles. These works combined Amos' favorite hobbies and cemented his legacy as a literacy advocate.
From his delicious cookies to his community work, Amos shared his gifts generously with the world. With his passing, it's clear that the man who became Famous Amos also left the world a better place.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was disqualified from the 2024 presidential ballot in New York after a judge ruled Monday that he provided a "sham" address on his candidate's petition, Fox News reported. The 70-year-old claimed he a rented bedroom in the Empire State despite owning a house with his wife in California.
New York Justice Christina L. Ryba ruled that the Westchester County address was "merely a ‘sham’ address that he assumed for the purpose of maintaining his voter registration" and seeking high office. Ryba added that he made a "false statement requiring invalidation of the petition" in New York.
"Using a friend’s address for political and voting purposes, while barely stepping foot on the premises, does not equate to residency under the Election Law. To hold otherwise would establish a dangerous precedent and open the door to the fraud and political mischief that the Election Law residency rules were designed to prevent," the judge wrote in her 34-page-decision.
This ruling will keep Kennedy off of the ballot in New York but could also be grounds to disqualify him in other states. Previously, Kennedy said he was approved to be listed on the ballot in every state.
It's likely that Kennedy will appeal Ryba's decision, but this is another obstacle in a succession of hurdles. Kennedy began his candidacy as a Democrat from the party's most storied family.
However, after failing to gain traction as a Democratic candidate, Kennedy became an independent. He believes the Democratic Party is still trying to block him, including the lawsuit against him filed by the Democratic political action committee Clear Choice Action.
"The Democrats are showing contempt for democracy. They aren’t confident they can win at the ballot box, so they are trying to stop voters from having a choice," Kennedy said, adding that Ryba is a Democrat. "We will appeal, and we will win," he added.
The candidate doubled down on his message on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. "This case is an assault on New York voters who signed in record numbers to place me on their ballot. The DNC has become a party that uses lawfare in place of the democratic election process."
This case is an assault on New York voters who signed in record numbers to place me on their ballot. The DNC has become a party that uses lawfare in place of the democratic election process. We will appeal and we will win. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/D8rfIogIai
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 13, 2024
Many voters disillusioned with the two-party system who found a home with Kennedy may be tempted to believe Kennedy's assertion that this case is part of a conspiracy against him. Unfortunately, there is likely merit to the court's decision.
Notably, Kennedy spends most of his time in California, where he shares a home with his actress wife, Cheryl Hines. There's no evidence that Kennedy spent any time in the rented room located in the home of Barbara Moss, as he claimed.
In fact, Kennedy first paid Moss the $500 per month rent only after the media began investigating the matter. She also said there is no written lease for the arrangement.
These facts led the judge to say it was "highly improbably, if not preposterous," to believe Kennedy's claims that "he may return to that bedroom to reside with his wife, family members, multiple pets, and all of his personal belongings." Moreover, Ryba noted that Kennedy had a "long-standing pattern" of claiming friends' residences as his own to maintain his New York voter registration.
While Kennedy provided a necessary alternative for some voters, this decision could forever ruin his chances of electoral success. It remains unclear why Kennedy took such a risk in the first place.
Former President Donald Trump told billionaire Elon Musk the pair should flee and "meet the next time in Venezuela" if the GOP presidential hopeful loses, Newsweek reported. Trump said this to underscore his concerns for the future of the U.S. if his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, prevails.
Musk interviewed Trump on Monday through the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which the SpaceX mogul also owns. The pair spoke at length after technical difficulties initially derailed the broadcast on X Spaces.
"If something happens with this election, which would be a horror show, we'll meet the next time in Venezuela because it'll be a far safer place to meet than our country...You and I will go, and we'll have a meeting and dinner in Venezuela," Trump said to Musk more than an hour and 53 minutes into the broadcast.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2024
Trump maintains that many of the problems with immigration come from nations like Venezuela, which is sending criminals to enter the U.S. illegally. The former president contends that it lowers the South American nation's crime rate.
"Their crime rate is coming down, and our crime rate is going through the roof. And it's so simple," Trump told Musk.
"And you haven't seen anything yet because these people have come into our country, and they're just getting acclimated, and they don't know about being politically correct, law enforcement or lack of law enforcement and our police. I have to just end with this. We have great police," the former president added.
"I'll tell you what. Venezuela has not gotten rid of all of them. They've gotten rid of about 70 percent of their really bad people," Trump said.
"Their jails are about 50%, put into the United States. Same with other countries, over 30%. Some are at 50%. They're all different. But the bottom line is they're all going to be 100%. Why wouldn't you put 100% of it?" Trump claimed.
Fact-checkers claimed that there is no evidence that Venezuela is sending over criminals or people from mental hospitals. However, Trump's statement underscores a broader problem with growing numbers of migrant crime.
When people are allowed into the nation unvetted, there's no telling what kind of past they have or crimes they've committed. This is especially concerning as Fox News reported that the number of migrant criminals has reached new heights since 2021.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data found that more than 13,000 "criminal noncitizens" were captured by Border Patrol in Fiscal Year 2024 so far. This is more than doubled the 4,269 in 2019 and represented people convicted of at least one crime anywhere in the world.
Prior to when President Joe Biden took over in 2021, the number was on the decline. However, each year of the Biden administration has seen an increase, with 2023, the last full year, recording 15,267 such migrants.
Trump is correct that migrant criminals pose a major threat to the citizens of the U.S. He's also correct that if he doesn't retake the White House in 2024, things will only get that much worse in the U.S.
Boston field office head of the Secret Service apologized Thursday for breaking into a salon on July 27 to allow agents and others to use the bathroom without permission from the owner during a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Berkshires salon owner Alicia Powers said that a Secret Service agent covered her security camera with tape and then broke the lock on her building. After a number of different people used the bathroom over about two hours and were encouraged to do so by the agents, Powers said they left the building unlocked and vacant.
At first the agents denied that they had broken in. After confronted with video evidence from cameras inside, however, the leadership did apologize.
"He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong,” Powers told Business Insider. “They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission.”
The salon was behind Colonial Theatre, the site of the fundraiser. The salon owner decided to close on Saturday because of the high security presence in the area on Friday and the "chaos" it brought.
She said she felt "violated" by the incident.
“Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would’ve opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them,” she told the outlet. “But they didn’t even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves.”
Powers’ landlord, Brian Smith, also said that the Secret Service “had no permission to go in there whatsoever.”
The Secret Service agent who apologized offered to have the salon cleaned, to cover the alarm bill for the day, and to come to the shop and apologize in person.
Powers said she would accept the offers.
It's yet another black mark on the Secret Service's reputation after it failed to protect former President Donald Trump from a gunshot that grazed his ear during an assassination attempt on the same day as the Harris event.
Security and communications failures led to a gunman not being stopped before shooting at Trump even though he was noticed as a person of interest almost 2 hours before Trump took the stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Another rallygoer was killed by one of the gunman's bullets, and two more were injured.
No doubt this incident will be added to the growing list of investigations into the agency.