The world's richest man, who also happens to be a top surrogate for Donald Trump, could be violating the law, a former FBI special agent said on Friday.
"The Logan Act gets thrown around a lot, but if Elon Musk is secretly in communication with the head of state of a nation with which we have ongoing 'controversy,' and is negotiating measures that undermine the U.S. government’s foreign policy, that is a crime," she said Friday.
Josh Gerstein, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico, asked in response, "If he has a top secret clearance, wouldn't he be obligated to report contacts with foreign nationals, especially from countries of concern?"
Rangappa responded to that question with a GIF that said, "Excellent point!"
During her appearance on Friday's episode of "Morning Joe," a frantic Elise Jordan explained that Donald Trump's presidential campaign has hit upon an effective message that has played out for weeks with little to no push-back from Vice President Kamala Harris' team.
As the political analyst detailed, an ad pinning blame on a Trump administration policy has been highly effective in turning potential Harris votes against her.
The ad in question, which has reportedly been run tens of thousands of time during football games, makes it appear that Harris originated a rule providing gender-affirming care to federal prisoners and undocumented immigrants which Jordan claimed is hitting home with male voters.
As she told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, "I think Democrats have done a great job on abortion, making it about basic human rights for women. You look at cultural issues, how the Trump campaign shifted their ads from an economic focus to an anti-trans ad they run during football games in Wisconsin and everywhere."
"There's no reason [Sen.] Tammy Baldwin should be down, that her numbers should be dropping in Wisconsin; she's a very popular senator who has done good things in the state, she's running against an outsider from Orange County. The trans ad has had impact," she elaborated.
That led to a discussion among the panel members that the quote from Harris on gender-affirming surgery was her stating she was following the Trump-era ruling.
"We've talked about this earlier," Scarborough replied. "They've run that 30,000 times during football games, it's having an impact. The [Harris] campaign is blind to it. They're blind to it and I don't know if they think they're too good to respond to an ad."
"I spoke to a Wisconsin operative who knows the state well, who was surprised at how many days it's taken for there to be any response to that ad," Jordan reported. " That ad is hitting a cultural just ... pressure point. Just with men, with Black men, with Hispanic men, with men who really, the Trump campaign, it's been their strategy all along to get those men."
Scarborough noted that the anti-Trump Lincoln Project has released an ad pushing back at the trans ad –– which he proceeded to share –– and added, "Now that's something, if they had been running alongside of the 30,000 misleading ads that lie about Kamala Harris when it is actually a Donald Trump policy, pushed by Donald Trump's director of Bureau of Prisons, pushed by the Justice Department, spelling out the policy about gender-affirming care for inmates from the Trump era, then, you know, this would have been answered."
The Post reports that while Trump has long been famous for going on long-winded digressions during speeches, his most recent speeches "have gotten longer and more repetitive compared with those of past campaigns.
The Post's analysis also finds that he "promotes falsehoods and theories that are so far removed from reality or appear wholly made up that they are often baffling to anyone not steeped in MAGA media or internet memes."
The Post notes that these speech patterns are particularly problematic given that Trump at 78 years old would be the oldest person to ever be elected president, even eclipsing President Joe Biden in 2020.
What's more, adds the Post, Trump hasn't released any of his medical records.
"The most detailed account of his health came in a January 2019 briefing from White House physician Ronny Jackson, who later resigned under allegations he drank on the job and mistreated subordinates; he now represents a Texas district in Congress," the report states. "His successor, Sean Conley, gave public accounts of Trump’s health that were rosier than reality when the then-president contracted covid-19 shortly before the 2020 election."
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung, however, dismissed fears about Trump's cognitive decline and described him as "the greatest orator in political history" whose "patented Weave is a brilliant method to convey important stories and explain policies that will help everyday Americans turn the page from the last four years of Kamala Harris’s failures."
Panelists on CNN on Friday hammered Republican strategist Brad Todd after he yet again tried to claim that voters know when to not take former President Donald Trump literally.
Reacting to Trump's recent assertion that he could deport special counsel Jack Smith, Todd said he was certain that Trump would not send Smith to another country.
This prompted an objection from host Brianna Keilar.
"If you'd told me that I'd be sitting on the Capitol on January 6th, and waiting for my president to call on the people who were breaking the windows and writing, 'Kill the media,' and chanting, 'Hang Mike Pence,' you know, waiting for him to say, 'Hey stop,' and he doesn't for hours and there's nobody coming for you," she said. "If you had told me that was what was going to happen, I would have told you that clearly you were not sane! But that actually happened!"
Todd acknowledged that Trump should have intervened sooner to call off the deadly riot he'd incited, but then added that "the American people know when to take him seriously and when to take him literally."
Kate Bedingfield then stepped in to deliver a reality check.
"I disagree with the idea that... there should be some kind of magical, floating understanding of when you take him seriously and when you don't," she said. "The man had power, he wielded it in a way that, again, really undermined one of the bedrock fundamental foundations of America since its inception, which is that we have free and fair elections and that we peacefully hand over power. I think the idea that, when he says something outrageous we should just stand back and go, 'Oh we all know he doesn't really mean it,' I think it's ludicrous!"
Kicking off MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday, co-host Joe Scarborough ripped into Donald Trump for once again centering his third bid for the Oval Office by smearing the U.S. as a "garbage can."
In a rally on Thursday the former president told a crowd of MAGA fans, "We're like the garbage can for the world."
As the MSNBC host noted, any other candidate would be driven from the stage for attacking the country they want to run.
"The crazy thing is, again, these people that used to be flag wavers for America now will wave their Trump flags," Scarborough told his panel. "They sit back and smile and will vote for a guy who disparages America, constantly says he'll arrest his political opponents, and disparages generals who have given their entire lives for this country."
"I guess, again, we shouldn't be shocked because, of course, he disparaged John McCain –– said he wasn't a war hero because he got shot down. This has been a long time coming," he continued. "I don't think I ever expected him to be as disrespectful of military members, of generals, of admirals, and of those who gave their life defense of this country."
He later added, "If anybody believes America is a garbage can that's voting this election, they're stupid, they don't know the facts. They may want to move somewhere else if they think it is a hell hole."
Many union members in Pennsylvania are voting and campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris, in large part motivated by "900 pages of pure terror" that makes them fear Donald Trump, according to a new report.
Ross Thomas, an equipment operator for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, is one of multiple individuals profiled by News from the States Friday.
"Thomas is a member of Local 3033 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents operators, mechanics and inspectors of the department in Harrisburg’s Dauphin County," according to the report. "He is particularly concerned about how a Donald Trump presidency may threaten his safety at work. Trump allies, he told Capital & Main, 'want to dismantle union protections.'"
The report suggests Thomas is motivated by Project 2025, created by Trump allies in anticipation of another term for the ex-president.
"Thomas pointed to Project 2025, the lengthy playbook for a second Trump term ('900 pages of pure terror,' Thomas said), published by the conservative Heritage Foundation," the report states. "Trump has distanced himself from the plan written by those close to him in light of widespread public opposition; still, the proposals are similar to many of Trump’s own. And both Trump and Project 2025 have explicitly challenged public sector unions."
The article also quotes Dian Roy Smith, a member of AFSCME Local 1981, who it says "is concerned that Trump wants to 'get rid of AFSCME altogether.'"
"She said that Project 2025 questions the value of public sector unions, pointing to a statement on page 82 of the report that said, 'Congress should also consider whether public-sector unions are appropriate in the first place,'" the report states.
Politico reports that the former Trump officials released a letter on Friday affirming Kelly's description of Trump as a man who wants to rule the country as a dictator and they asserted that "this is who Donald Trump is."
"We applaud General Kelly for highlighting in stark details the danger of a second Trump term," the letter states. "Like General Kelly, we did not take the decision to come forward lightly. We are all lifelong Republicans who served our country. However, there are moments in history where it becomes necessary to put country over party. This is one of those moments. Everyone should heed General Kelly’s warning.”
The letter was signed, among others, by Kevin Carroll, Kelly's former senior counselor; former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor; and Olivia Troye, the former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence.
An unprecedented number of former Trump officials have refused to endorse him for a second term by arguing that he is unfit for office, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former national security adviser John Bolton, and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
According to longtime conservative columnist Matt Lewis, his belief that Donald Trump will fade from the political scene if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris lessens with every day and he expects a Trump presidential run in 2028.
Appearing with host Jonathan Lemire on MSNBC's "Way Too Early," Lewis said he has had a change of heart about the former president's future and the future of his family after a potential loss in less than two weeks.
"This is an area where I've changed my mind," he told the host. "I actually wrote a piece like a year or two ago saying, well, the good thing about Donald Trump, if he is the nominee for a third time, this time, surely, he'll go away, right? But then I got thinking, and I think the answer is clearly no."
"Donald Trump has every incentive to keep running for president, or at least pretend that he is going to run for president," he continued. "I think part of it has to do with the grifting. As long as he is going to run for president, he's going to be getting attention. He can sell watches, sell bibles. he can sell sneakers –– his family can continue to cash in."
"He'll be treated with respect and invited on TV shows and all that stuff," Lewis predicted. "And I also think there is a possibility that it becomes a little harder to go after him to try to prosecute him if he is, in fact, angling to be the nominee of the Republican party and it looks like vengeance. It looks like you are weaponizing the Department of Justice."
"Frankly, I don't think anyone has the power in the Republican party to stop him. I don't see any reason why we won't be sitting here, like four years from now talking about Donald Trump's closing argument," he concluded.
A Republican strategist pushed back on a "Shark Tank" star investor Thursday night on CNN over a report that tech billionaire Elon Musk has had regular talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Wall Street Journal published a report Thursday night that Musk has discussed personal topics, business and geopolitical issues, with Putin. At one point, Putin reportedly asked Musk to avoid activating his Starlink satellites and providing internet service over Taiwan.
Panelists on "NewsNight" almost ubiquitously agreed that it's not in the United States' best interest for Musk, who has over $1 billion in federal contracts through his businesses, including SpaceX and Starlink, to be cozying up to one of its adversaries.
Host Abby Phillip said the report raises "big questions" — such as, "What are we doing here?"
"If you have too much credit card debt you can't get a security clearance," noted Phillip.
Kevin O'Leary, known best as a star on "Shark Tank" called it a "nothing burger issue" and found a surprising opponent on the panel — Republican strategist and Donald Trump supporter Shermichael Singleton.
"Well I don't know about that," Singleton said, shaking his head. "I have a lot of issues with someone that we're relying on for very sensitive information and technological advancements working with Vladimir Putin. Potentially working at the behest of Xi Jinping. These are two of our greatest adversaries."
He added: "I got a big issue with that."
If the reporting is true, Singleton said, the federal government may need to reconsider its business with Musk.
"This crap is not ok for a whole host of reasons," he said. "These countries are our adversaries. Their objective is to defeat the United States however possible! So this does make me very, very nervous."
When O'Leary said he "read the news a different way," Singleton was skeptical: "I don't know about that, Kevin."
As O'Leary said he interpreted one section of the reporting — that Russia asked Musk to avoid putting Starlink internet over Taiwan as a favor to China — as Xi Jinping trying to prevent the area from receiving freedom of speech.
"They have no right to forbid that!" Singleton interjected. "This is an American company Kevin what are you talking about?"
O'Leary defended Musk and said he "gave him the finger, said, 'I'm going to do whatever I want.'"
Phillip fact-checked O'Leary and noted the reporting doesn't mention how Musk responded.
Later in the segment, the two debated again. When O'Leary tried to insist many world leaders try to cozy up to Musk, including the French president, Singleton pushed back again.
"If Vladimir Putin is calling me, I'm not answering his calls! I'm not answering a phone call with Xi Jinping. I'm an American! My interest is about America first! Not Russia's interests, not China's interests," he said.
O'Leary refused to back down, noting Musk makes Tesla vehicles in China.
"But he also has federal confidential, top secret, above top-secret contracts," Singleton shot back. "I mean come on Kevin."
Increased pressure from Democrats prompted the New York Times on Thursday to directly respond to concerns that Donald Trump isn’t being characterized by the publication as more of a direct threat to American democracy.
The response came after the Times “forcefully rejected” a report issued by Media Matters for America in which the liberal media watchdog complained “that major media organizations gave evidence recently unsealed in the Jan. 6 indictment dramatically less attention than they did coverage of Hillary Clinton’s email server during the 2016 election,” according to the news website Semafor.
A spokesperson for the Times said in a statement that the evidence revealed in the new October indictment was “so heavily redacted that it didn’t reveal a great deal of new information beyond what was already reported.”
It also defended itself by saying that it covered the aftermath of Jan. 6 “much more extensively than it covered the Clinton email investigation.”
“This extensive coverage amounted to more than 2,600 online and print articles, visual investigations, audio and other multimedia journalism discounted by MMFA’s report. For comparison, The Times published 300 news and opinion articles about Hillary Clinton’s server and emails since 2015. This includes coverage following former FBI director James Comey’s letter to Congress in the days leading up to the 2016 election, a breaking news story that evolved in a more compressed time frame,” according to the statement.
The Times also complained that Media Matters focused on print stories without understanding the paper's digital news platform and how stories are received online.
“The Times’s audience overwhelmingly engages with our digital report, including newsletters, alerts and social media programming, where these stories were given heavy prominence,” the publication's statement said.
A right-wing think tank in existence for just about four years is at the core of the planning for a second Donald Trump presidency, according to the New York Times, which reported Thursday that the group already has nearly 300 executive orders ready for Trump should he return to the Oval Office.
Like Project 2025, the America First Policy Institute has developed a plan “for staffing and setting the policy agenda for every federal agency, one that prioritizes loyalty to Mr. Trump and aggressive flexing of executive power from Day 1,” according to the Times.
But, the publication noted, unlike the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the institute's transition plans include "discretion."
“It understood what Heritage didn’t: Transition work is always best kept very quiet,” said Heath Brown, a professor of public policy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who studies presidential transitions,” according to the Times.
However, the group’s vision “is no less Trumpist: It calls for halting federal funding for Planned Parenthood and for mandatory ultrasounds before abortions, including those carried out with medication. It seeks to make concealed weapons permits reciprocal in all 50 states, increase petroleum production, remove the United States from the Paris Agreement, impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients and establish legally only two genders,” the Times reported.
The publication notes that in one critical area, the institute “goes significantly further” by advocating for the removal of nearly all civil service protections for federal workers “by making them at-will employees – a strategy supporters believe will allow Mr. Trump and his aides to root out career staff members who they believe stood in his way in his first administration.”
The group, which the Times adds “has quickly inserted itself into nearly every corner of Mr. Trump’s political machine,” was founded at the end of 2020 by three wealthy Texans.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper found himself defending his network Thursday night during a conversation with Charlamagne tha God when the radio host shot down Cooper’s line of questioning before asking “Who gives a damn?”
The moment came on Cooper’s show “AC360” after Charlamagne launched into his frustrations on his belief that the news networks were not engaging in conversations about Donald Trump’s increasingly dangerous rhetoric, and are instead focusing, unfairly he added, on Harris’ race.
“When somebody questions Kamala Harris’ blackness, or is she a DEI hire, you all will have roundtable discussions about that – asking that question – how come you’re not having roundtable discussion asking ‘Is Donald Trump a fascist? Actually, not even asking, stating it,” Charlamagne said.
Cooper later asked the radio host about his conversation with Harris and then noted that Trump is planning on appearing on the Joe Rogan podcast. He then asked Charlamagne if he thinks the vice president should also be interviewed by Rogan.
“I think she should keep calling Donald Trump a fascist,” he said. "We fought to be a patriotic country, whenever somebody, Colin Kaepernick takes a knee in this country everybody talks about ‘Oh, that's so unpatriotic,’ but a guy can say he wants to terminate the Constitution to overturn the results of an election and nobody cares?"
“Even me be bringing it up now, you brought it back to Kamala and Joe Rogan, Anderson – who gives a damn? Charlamagne said.
“Well, I think you give a damn about who's elected president, and I’m asking you…” Cooper responded before Charlamagne jumped back in.
“Yeah especially if that president is a fascist that's talking about putting people in camps, that's talking about once again terminating the Constitution to overthrow the results of an election, that is talking about, you know, jailing his political opponents like that rhetoric doesn't scare people?”
“We talk about this every single night,” Cooper said.
Charlamagne responded by saying he didn’t think there were “enough conversations about it.”
“I feel like I heard more on this network about ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ than I do about Donald Trump being a fascist.”
“Honestly that’s bulls---, I’m sorry. No, I'm not — I'm a huge fan of yours, but to say that we're sitting around discussing ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ like I don’t…"
“No, that’s bull--- Anderson for you to say you don’t have those conversations.”
Cooper seized the moment to say that he doesn’t believe any “any anchor on this network has been going around saying ‘Is she Black?’ I’m sure we have had nutty people or people who have strongly held beliefs who I may disagree with who somewhere on some panel have said something.”
A former deputy press secretary in the Trump administration told CNN panelists Thursday night she agreed with Hillary Clinton that her old boss is "more unhinged" than he was in 2016 — and warned fellow Republicans: "This isn't the same man that I worked for."
Joining "The Source" with host Kaitlan Collins, Sarah Matthews echoed Clinton's remarks that Trump is "more unhinged, more unstable."
"I would agree with that," said Matthews. "That's been my warning to Republican voters out there."
Matthews warned, "This isn't the same man that I worked for. I think that something in him broke in the 2020 election. He was unable to accept that loss and he started to unravel."
Matthews said she believes Trump was running on a vision in 2016 to "Make America Great Again" — and voters gambled on him because he didn't have a record. Four years later, however, Americans rejected him.
