US intelligence has warned Donald Trump of "real and specific" threats from Iran to assassinate him, his presidential campaign said in a statement Tuesday.
"President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States," the statement said.
A former White House staffer for former President Donald Trump scolded her party over what she called it's "infantilizing" comments about women who need a "protector."
In recent days, Trump has tried to push back on claims that he's struggling in the polls with a gender divide.
"I am your protector," Trump said at a rally Monday night in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. "I want to be your protector as president, I have to be your protector. I hope you don't make too much of it. I hope the fake news doesn't go, 'Oh, he wants to be their protector.' Well, I am. As president, I have to be your protector."
Appearing on CNN's "AC360," Alyssa Farah Griffin told anchor Anderson Cooper that she initially laughed at the comment.
"I started laughing and thinking it was creepy," she said. "And thinking more about it, it's very infantilizing. Talking about women as though we're weak, we're meek, we need a protector, we need a defender and we just sit around thinking about abortions all day. It just underscores a fundamental lack of understanding for why a demographic that represents half of the country is one that he is struggling so profoundly with."
Griffin said that if Trump loses, his biggest regret could be not having a woman on the ticket, who "knows how to speak to normal living, breathing, normal women."
She noted that access to reproductive health care matters to women, but economics and national security are also issues women care deeply about.
"And just the way he is talking about them is not the way to sway voters in the middle," she concluded.
Griffin's comments came about an hour after Republican strategist Republican strategist Erin Perrine, who served as principal deputy communications director for Trump, got a "little animated" as she roundly criticized candidates in her party over their remarks attacking or insulting women.
"If a woman is having a miscarriage and bleeding out, that's not a question," she said, emphatically. "That shouldn't be a question in the 21st century and it should not be a question for the Republican Party. And the fact that we have people running for office in the Republican Party who can't state the obvious truth about access to health care when a woman needs her life saved boggles my mind. And I'm getting a little animated here because it actually flabbergasts me that Republicans can't speak the truth on this."
Shots were fired at Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign office in Arizona, reported the New York Post.
"Damage from gunfire, fired sometime after midnight on Monday, was discovered at the Democratic National Committee campaign office near Southern Avenue and Priest Drive in Tempe," reported Patrick Reilly, noting that staffers discovered the windows shot out when they arrived at work on Tuesday.
According to Sgt. Ryan Cook of the Tempe Police, “No one was inside the office during the overnight hours, but this raises concerns about the safety of those who work in that building, as well as those nearby.”
The report continued that "detectives are currently analyzing evidence collected at the scene, and additional measures have been taken to beef up security for staff and others in the area."
All of this comes after two attempts on the life of former President Donald Trump over the past three months, with the first causing crowd casualties and damage to the former president's ear, and the second resulting in apprehension by the Secret Service near Mar-a-Lago with no shots fired by the suspect.
Former President Donald Trump immediately leaped to attack prosecutors trying to charge his would-be assassin on the basis that they hadn't brought charges of attempted assassination yet. But on Tuesday, prosecutors did just that, noted former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance on X.
Ryan Routh was apprehended by the Secret Service after authorities said he tried to attack Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property with a high-powered rifle. Federal prosecutors initially charged him with unlawful gun possession as a felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Trump accused prosecutors of deliberately lowballing the charges for political reasons.
"BREAKING: The Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling and downplaying the second assassination attempt on my life since July," Trump said in a statement. "The charges brought against the maniac assassin are a slap on the wrist. It's no wonder, since the DOJ and FBI have been coming after me nonstop with Weaponized Lawfare since I announced my first Historic Campaign for the Presidency."
In reality, prosecutors were preparing an indictment for assassination all along and filed immediately lesser charges so they could keep him behind bars as they prepared the main case. That strategy was proven correct when assassination charges were officially revealed Tuesday.
"As suggested, DOJ in fact went to a grand jury & obtained an indictment for attempted assassination. Trump is criticizing people who are working at lightening speed to protect him," wrote Vance. "Routh is charged with trying to assassinate a major political party's candidate to be president & with a gun charge that carries a mandatory 5 year sentence, perhaps more depending on the facts DOJ develops. He is also charged with/assaulting a fed'l officer & the gun charges."
In another twist of fate, the case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the same far-right Trump appointee who issued the under-appeal decision to toss Trump's federal charges for mishandling classified information.
A Republican strategist unloaded on her party Tuesday evening and accused GOP candidates of failing to speak truth on women's health care.
CNN anchor Erin Burnett played a clip of Sen. J.D. Vance attacking "childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they've made" during an interview with Tucker Carlson, followed by former President Donald Trump's declaration, "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" after the artist endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and attached a photo of herself with her cat.
After playing the infamous Access Hollywood tape — in which Trump was recorded saying that when "you're a star" you can do anything, including "grab [women] by the p----" — Burnett questioned why attacking or insulting women is "smart politics for the GOP."
When Burnett asked her panelists to react to a clip of Trump telling women, "I will be your protector," Democratic political commentator Kate Bedingfield called the comments "patronizing" and "a little creepy."
"He does not seem to understand and the Republican Party across the board doesn't seem to understand why they have a problem with women," she said.
Bedingfield, who previously served as the White House communications director during the Biden administration, said Trump and his running mate "talk about women like they don't know any women."
"They talk about women like women are this 'other' like this foreign object. They don't talk about women like they're human! And you constantly hear them degrading women. Suggesting that women over the age of 50 don't have any stake in some of these policy positions. They don't seem to understand that the policies they're putting forward take freedoms away from women."
In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, Republican strategist Erin Perrine, who served as principal deputy communications director for Trump, agreed with Bedingfield.
"It's a bit of a head-scratcher that this is the line of attack that Donald Trump and Bernie Moreno are taking," she said.
She said that Republicans are "losing" anytime they aren't talking about immigration and the economy.
Since the Dobbs decision, she said Republicans have "struggled" to give the "easy answer" to women's health care.
"If a woman is having a miscarriage and bleeding out, that's not a question," she said, emphatically. "That shouldn't be a question in the 21st century and it should not be a question for the Republican Party. And the fact that we have people running for office in the Republican Party who can't state the obvious truth about access to health care when a woman needs her life saved boggles my mind. And I'm getting a little animated here because it actually flabergasts me that Republicans can't speak the truth on this."
A familiar face will preside over federal charges filed against the man who authorities said sat in a bush with a high-powered rifle waiting to shoot former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago country club, according to CNN.
Prosecutors said Monday that Routh stalked the former president in Florida for more than a month. Cell phone data showed Routh was at the golf course and Mar-a-Lago for several days beginning Aug. 18, including the day he was arrested, reported Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand.
Routh appears to have opposing political views compared to the former president, but his former social media account claimed to have voted for Trump in 2016.
Cannon, a far-right judge who was herself appointed by Trump, is best known for overseeing the federal case against Trump brought by special counsel Jack Smith in the classified documents case.
After months of delays and antagonistic behavior toward the prosecution, Cannon eventually ordered the case dismissed, based on a legal theory put forth by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that because Smith was not confirmed by the Senate, he cannot legally act as a special counsel. The theory has not been endorsed by any other court.
Smith is appealing that decision to the 11th Circuit.
Routh's charges come just two months after another unsuccessful assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, where 20-year-old Thomas Crooks opened fire on Trump's rally from the roof of a nearby warehouse, causing Trump mild injury to his ear and shooting multiple members of the crowd before Secret Service counter-snipers killed him.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer fact-checked a former Republican strategist and frequent commentator during a discussion over the filibuster.
The filibuster allows a minority of senators to block or delay legislation, even if it has majority support. The mechanism has drawn criticism from those who see it as a hindrance to passing important legislation.
Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has called for ending the filibuster so lawmakers can push through her pledge to codify Roe v. Wade and guarantee women's right to an abortion through legislation.
Harris told a radio station in Wisconsin that she supports ending the filibuster "for Roe," saying it would "get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom, and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body – and not have their government tell them what to do."
Harris' comments drew the ire of independent Sen. Joe Manchin, who told CNN's Manu Raju on Tuesday, "Shame on her." Manchin said he can no longer endorse Harris in the race due to her stance on the filibuster.
When Blitzer asked his panel to react to Manchin's comments, Republican Scott Jennings, called it "amazing" that Harris wants to end the mechanism given that polls have shown Republicans are in a good position to take control over the chamber.
"They might have 51 or 52, so I was shocked to learn that Kamala Harris wants Republicans to get rid of the filibuster today and do goodness knows what," he said with a laugh. "The dynamic is this: the Republican Party will defend the filibuster and thank God because we do need it."
Jennings praised the mechanism as "one of the last tools in Washington to drive bipartisanship."
"It's how you get bipartisan outcomes in one of the two chambers of Congress," he said.
Jennings then tried to slam Harris for trying to do away with the mechanism for one issue.
"But that's not how it works! You can't get rid of it for one issue!" he exclaimed.
Blitzer was having none of it.
"Yes you can, Scott. They got rid of it for Supreme Court justices," said Blitzer.
Jennings pushed back again, saying if lawmakers get rid of the filibuster it won't be for one issue. But Blitzer continued, noting Harris was very specific in that she wanted to get rid of the filibuster to bring back Roe v. Wade.
Jennings doubled down, however.
"If you think the Senate is going to get rid of it for one issue especially a Senate that's not controlled by Democrats — I just — I find this answer to be a total mess."
He added: "The issue is live. And the issue is we shouldn't be changing the rules of the Senate. It's a terrible idea. She's come out for a terrible idea."
Another North Carolina Republican is backing away from embattled gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson — and this time it's the current nominee for lieutenant governor, the office Robinson himself currently holds.
Hal Weatherman addressed in a statement Tuesday on X bombshell revelations published by CNN last week that linked Robinson to an account on a porn site's message board in which Robinson defended slavery and called himself a "Black Nazi."
Robinson, he wrote, “should conclusively and quickly prove false the allegations against him."
"If he can prove this isn’t true and was fabricated to hurt him, he will win in a landslide," said Weatherman. "But if he fails to do so, he will lose, because the comments being attributed to him are highly disturbing."
"His entire campaign strategy should be focused on proving the allegations false," he added. "During this process I and the other Republican candidates need to stay focused on winning our own races.”
Robinson to this point has already been fending off controversy for a series of posts questioning the Holocaust, attacking school shooting survivors, and promoting various conspiracy theories. In the newly surfaced posts, Robinson also touted Adolf Hitler's autobiographical manifesto "Mein Kampf" as a great read.
Robinson maintains that he is being set up and denies writing any of these comments.
In response to the latest revelations, Robinson has seen a mass exodus of staffers from his campaign and prominent North Carolina Republicans distancing themselves from his campaign, with most either condemning his remarks or pivoting their focus to former President Donald Trump and down-ballot races.
Long-time Republican pollster and strategist Sarah Longwell called out stunning language in former President Donald Trump's recent speech in Pennsylvania, where he told women he was their "protector."
The comment came after Trump's running-mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), drove away female voters with his "cat ladies" comment and suggested grandmothers become free babysitters during retirement.
"But that's not even as pernicious as the things like if women are with somebody who is abusive, they should stay with that man," said Longwell. "We hear things like that from the vice presidential candidate. As you point out, Trump is an adjudicated rapist."
Longwell said Trump has "always been misogynistic."
She cited other Republicans such as embattled Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina and Trump supporter Dana White as evidence that the party creates a "sense" that women "don't have a place."
"So, for Donald Trump to treat them like the 'I am your protector' is a particular form of gaslighting," Longwell told Wallace. "It's almost like somebody who is an abuser, the way that they would then talk to the abused to try to keep them encircled or ensnared by them. But based on his poll and his dismal poll numbers with women, women are not falling for it."
The comments from Trump at the rally and the conversation around Trump's language made former Sen. Claire McCaskill question why Republican women aren't standing up to Trump.
Trump has used language in his latest rallies that sounds akin to ownership of women, noted McCaskill.
Trump has said, "I'm going to protect our women." McCaskill pushed back on the language, saying women are independent and aren't owned by anyone.
"All we want is our rights. All we want is our freedom," declared McCaskill.
McCaskill said that she won against him because Republicans agreed that what he said went too far.
Today, "they have made this normal in the Republican Party," she said, knocking Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for his so-called "Christian morality" while refusing to speak out against people like Robinson.
Other Republican leaders like Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have been willing to say they won't vote for Trump, but aren't repudiating his comments about owning women.
"Where are the Republican women?" McCaskill exclaimed.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tore into current Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for capitulating to former President Donald Trump's election conspiracy theories and refusing to commit to respecting the results of the election.
"If we have a free, fair and safe election, we're going to follow the Constitution, absolutely," said Johnson earlier in the day.
Pelosi, speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper, had a blunt response to his comments.
"Why should there be a caveat? Why don't we just all agree?" said Pelosi. "Why don't we just all agree, whoever wins, we are for the peaceful transfer of power? He's trying, again, to just wed himself to this fake conspiracy theory that the election was stolen. But you know what? We don't just agonize, we organize. And we organize to make sure that [House Democratic Leader] Hakeem Jeffries has that gavel on January 6."
Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to accepting an election loss, a pattern he also followed in 2016 and 2020 — and after his actual election loss in 2020, responded by whipping up supporters into a frenzy and working to try to get the election certification overturned, for which he now faces multiple criminal charges.
He has also escalated rhetoric against the possibility of losing, warning that there will be a "bloodbath" in America if he is not returned to the Oval Office — a statement that has set off alarm bells among democracy observers.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) sparked an argument Tuesday on the floor of the House of Representatives after she said Democrats "hate Christmas."
The argument came after Boebert introduced an amendment to allow people to harvest Christmas trees off public lands for profit.
However, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) opposed the amendment.
"By placing a preference on projects that are related to Christmas tree harvest, this amendment would limit the landscape restoration program by prioritizing a marketable product over landscape restoration," Porter explained. "And to be extra clear, the Forest Service already has broad authority to conduct the sale of firewood and of Christmas trees."
Boebert responded by attacking Democrats.
"It's so sad to hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle hate Christmas," she insisted. "I urge adoption of the amendment in the spirit of Christmas and heating homes efficiently."
Porter took the attack personally.
"I as a Christian, I am offended that my colleague on the other side of the aisle would suggest that I hate Christmas," the Democrat complained. "This bill is not about, has nothing to do with inhibiting people from celebrating their religious holidays, including through having a Christmas tree."
"This bill is about this amendment, and this debate is about the fact that this amendment does not do what the gentlelady from Colorado claims that it does," she added. "I support the Forest Service using its existing authority to permit the harvesting of Christmas trees and trees for firewood, but that's not what this amendment actually does."
In the end, Republicans controlling the House passed the amendment with a voice vote.
"I'm done with 'I'm not supporting Trump but'" statements, said Wallace. "Anyone who isn't supporting Trump, and I'll single out Mitt Romney, who is the subject of some lovely new writing and reporting. He tells a haunting story of how chilling it is that he will be targeted should Trump be reelected."
"If you're that haunted, if you find it chilling, you do the one thing — you do the one thing that protects your wife," she hammered Romney. "You want to be a protector, Mitt Romney? There's one way to protect your wife, and your kids, and your grandkids. I believe he loves them, but I don't believe he finds it chilling. Because if he did, he wouldn't just endorse Kamala Harris; he would call her and say how can I help you?"
Wallace continued saying that if Romney truly found Trump's words and threats that "chilling" then he would do something.
"A frightened person does anything they can to actually protect them," she said. "So, I think it's time to draw a line in the sand and call bulls--- on people who say, 'I'm not voting for Trump, but I can't do it for Harris.'"
She lambasted Republicans who claim they're not voting for Trump out of fear of what the ex-president would do to the rule of law.
"He's the reason there's no immigration bill! Trump is the reason that women are dying in Georgia! Trump is anti-life. Trump is anti-immigration policy; Trump is anti-constitution," Wallace exclaimed. "If you're a Republican who isn't voting for him because you care about any one of those things, it's bulls--- if you're not campaigning for Kamala Harris. There's one way to do something if that's what you care about."
Special Counsel Jack Smith won his motion in a Washington, D.C. federal court Tuesday seeking to have 180 pages to address both the 2020 election trial and the presidential immunity question.
While Smith promises wordiness, a legal analyst described the monster filing as the kind of "mini-trial" that Donald Trump foes have pined for before the November election.
MSNBC host Katy Tur asked whether it could be called a kind of "mini-trial," with Smith laying out more evidence and arguments. She also asked whether it would give the public more insight into what Smith is alleging Trump did around the 2020 election.
Network legal analyst Lisa Rubin said it was the way "some people are expecting," before confessing, "I put myself in that camp."
After the ruling on presidential immunity from the U.S. Supreme Court, Rubin recalled, "a number of folks on our air said the way to handle what the Supreme Court had dumped back in Chutkan's lap was to have something akin to a mini-trial. Think about this as a mini-trial on the papers alone."
She noted that witnesses may not take the stand, but "Jack Smith is going to take Judge Chutkan on a tour of why they believe, based on the context and circumstances, they can get around the Supreme Court's immunity ruling and hold Donald Trump responsible on all four of the charges that are pending."
