Trump backs out of ’60 Minutes’ election special, Harris interview to still air: CBS
CBS News says former President Trump has backed out an upcoming interview with “60 Minutes.” For decades, “60 Minutes” has broadcast election specials with the presidential candidates. CBS reported both Trump and Vice President Harris had agreed to take part in this year’s special in separate one-on-one interviews, but Trump has since reportedly changed his mind.
In a press conference Tuesday night, Oct. 1, Trump said his decision was based on his last interview with CBS anchor Lesley Stahl in 2020 — which he walked out of early.
“They came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first, I want to get an apology because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the laptop from hell was from Russia. And I said, ‘It wasn’t from Russia, it was from Hunter [Biden].’ And I never got an apology, so I’m sort of waiting. I’d love to do ’60 Minutes’, I do everything.”
In a statement of its own, “60 Minutes” said the special will still move forward.
“Our election special will broadcast the Harris interview on Monday as planned,” the statement read. “Our original invitation to former President Donald Trump to be interviewed on ’60 Minutes’ stands.”
Vance, Walz defend their running mates’ records in vice presidential debate
We have a recap of the first, and likely only, vice presidential debate of 2024. And Iran has launched its largest attack ever on Israel. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024.
Vance, Walz defend their running mates’ records in vice presidential debate
For the first time, the two vice presidential candidates took the stage next to one another Tuesday night, Oct. 1. Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz introduced themselves to American voters while defending their running mates’ opposing views.
Vance and Walz kept the vice presidential debate cordial, at various times saying they agreed with the other, but they sparred on the policies and the statements made by their parties’ presidential nominees, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Look if you’re going to be president, you don’t have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does. My pro tip of the day is this, if you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump,” Walz said.
“I honestly, Tim, I think you got a tough job here because you’ve got to play whack-a-mole; you’ve got to pretend that Donald Trump didn’t deliver rising take-home pay, which of course he did; you’ve got to pretend that Donald Trump didn’t deliver lower inflation, which of course he did; and then you simultaneously got to defend Kamala Harris’ atrocious economic record,” Vance said.
The debate covered many topics including abortion, climate change, the economy and health care. The two opened the 90-minute CBS News debate discussing the conflict in the Middle East and the need for stability in the White House.
“I’m 40 years old, when was the last time that an American president didn’t have a major conflict break out? The only answer is during the four years that Donald Trump was president,” Vance said.
“So Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump’s fickle leadership. And when Iran shot down an American aircraft in international airspace, Donald Trump tweeted because that’s the standard diplomacy of Donald Trump,” Walz said.
On illegal immigration, Vance and Walz disagreed on whether former President Trump’s involvement helps or hurts solving the border crisis.
“But as soon as I was getting ready to pass [legislation] and actually tackle this, Donald Trump said no, told them to vote against it because it gives him a campaign issue,” Walz said.
“We have a historic immigration crisis because Kamala Harris started and said that she wanted to undo all of Donald Trump’s border policies — 94 executive orders, suspending deportations, decriminalizing illegal aliens, massively increasing the asylum fraud that exists in our system. That has opened the floodgates,” Vance said.
When the debate turned to gun violence, the two VP contenders shared a moment, highlighting the human aspect and often the aftermath.
“I think all the parents watching tonight, this is just your biggest nightmare. Look, I got a 17-year-old and he witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball, those things don’t leave you,” Walz said.
When it was his turn to speak, Vance responded, “Tim, first of all, I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting and I’m sorry about that and I hope he’s doing OK. Christ have mercy, it is it is awful.”
Things, however, turned contentious over the 2020 election and Jan. 6.
“[January 6, 2021] was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen, and it manifested itself because of Donald Trump’s inability to say — he is still saying, he didn’t lose the election,” Walz said.
Vance replied, “Tim, I’m focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?”
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz said.
Both candidates thanked each other for the debate and the viewers at home, who will make their decision at the polls on Election Day, Nov. 5, in just 34 days.
Trump backs out of ’60 Minutes’ election special; Harris interview to still air
CBS News says former President Trump has backed out an upcoming interview with “60 Minutes.”
For decades, “60 Minutes” has broadcast election specials with the candidates. CBS reported both Trump and Vice President Harris had agreed to take part in this year’s special in separate one-on-one interviews, but Trump has since reportedly changed his mind.
In a press conference last night, Trump said his decision was based on his last interview with CBS anchor Lesley Stahl in 2020 — which he walked out of early.
“They came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first, I want to get an apology because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the laptop from hell was from Russia. And I said, ‘It wasn’t from Russia, it was from Hunter [Biden].’ And I never got an apology, so I’m sort of waiting. I’d love to do ’60 Minutes’, I do everything.”
In a statement of its own, “60 Minutes” said the special will still move forward.
“Our election special will broadcast the Harris interview on Monday as planned,” the statement read. “Our original invitation to former President Donald Trump to be interviewed on ’60 Minutes’ stands.”
The special is set to air Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. ET.
Iran launches largest-ever attack on Israel; Israel vows retaliation
Israel has vowed to retaliate after Iran launched its largest ever attack on Israel. Late Tuesday, Iran fired more than 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which seem to have been intercepted by the Israeli military with help from the United States and other allies.
So far, one person has been reported to have died in the attack, and the extent of the damage is not yet known.
Iran’s military chief also warned of broader strikes if Israel responds. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already vowed to do so, saying, “Iran made a big mistake and it will pay for it.”
Also Tuesday, just before Iran’s barrage began, at least six people were killed and a dozen more hurt when Israeli police say two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a train station in Tel Aviv. Police say the shooting was an act of terrorism and one of the gunmen was killed at the scene while the other was severely injured.
No specific group has claimed responsibility for that deadly attack.
Search and rescue efforts continue in North Carolina after Helene
Combs is already being held without bond at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have said he is innocent of all charges.
Louisiana governor supports bringing back live tiger mascot to LSU games
College sports are known for fierce competition. Now the governor of Louisiana is looking at making things even more ferocious by bringing back an old Louisiana State University football mainstay.
Officials from PETA are now speaking out against the idea, saying it would be cruel and dangerous for the animal.
These days, the current tiger mascot is on campus in an enclosure near the stadium, but the governor says returning the tiger to the field would be “an unbelievable opportunity.” LSU officials have not yet commented on whether there is a possibility of seeing a live tiger at football games once again.
Suspect faces charges after alleged bomb threat at Trump rally
A 65-year-old man was in court Monday, Sept. 30, facing multiple charges after allegedly making a bomb threat at a Trump rally in Michigan. Prosecutors said Steven William Nauta breached security at a Trump campaign rally in Walker, Michigan, during the week of Sept. 22.
He was initially denied entry at a traffic checkpoint and reportedly showed officers a bottle, claiming it contained C-4 explosives, before speeding through a security checkpoint.
Police pursued Nauta, who eventually stopped in a nearby business parking lot. He then threw bags of fertilizer from his vehicle onto the ground, apparently attempting to simulate explosives, according to the complaint.
Despite Nauta’s claims, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker confirmed that no active bomb or explosives were found in his vehicle.
Nauta now faces four felony charges, including making a false threat of terrorism and possession of bombs with unlawful intent. Kent County District Court Judge Nicholas Christensen set Nauta’s bond at $1 million.
In July, former President Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman opened fire from an unsecured rooftop.
Then just weeks ago, a gunman was arrested near Trump’s Florida golf course after Secret Service agents spotted a rifle barrel protruding through the golf course fence line.
Michigan voter denied ballot in 2022 settles lawsuit for $20,000
A western Michigan community has agreed to pay $20,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman who was denied a ballot in the 2022 midterm election despite being registered to vote. Ashleigh Smith of Muskegon County was repeatedly turned away from her polling place after officials failed to find her name in the voter database.
Smith visited her polling location multiple times on Nov. 8, 2022, but was told her address didn’t appear in the electronic voter roster.
Holton Township Clerk Jill Colwell-Coburn later apologized but said there was nothing more she could do.
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Smith, who had a voter registration receipt and a sticker on her driver’s license confirming her new address, could have been given a provisional ballot under Michigan law. Local officials also had the option to re-register her on-site, but neither solution was offered.
Smith’s attorney, Mark Brewer, said the case highlights the importance of ensuring voters are not turned away, especially when the issue could be quickly resolved.
“No voter should ever have to leave a polling place without voting,” Brewer said. He emphasized that changes in Michigan’s election laws provide safeguards for situations like Smith’s.
The township settled the case quickly, acknowledging that its actions were unjustifiable. However, in a March court filing, an attorney for the township and clerk argued that the officials acted in good faith and believed they were following the law.
Republicans subpoena DHS for info on Tim Walz’s ties to China
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security for information on Gov. Tim Walz’s, D-Minn., alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party. Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said the committee received whistleblower disclosures regarding a non-classified Microsoft Teams chat group and intelligence reports that contain information regarding the vice presidential candidate’s ties to the Chinese government.
Walz’s relationship with China goes back 35 years. The Walz campaign told Minnesota Public Radio that the governor has been there approximately 15 times.
It began in May 1989, just one month after Tiananmen Square, when he spent a year teaching English through Harvard’s World Teach Program. Walz once recounted his arrival.
“I still remember the train station in Hong Kong,” Walz said during a 2014 congressional hearing. “It was a large number, especially European, I think, very angry that we would, we would still go after what had happened. But it was my belief at that time that the diplomacy was going to happen on many levels, certainly people to people. And the opportunity to be in a Chinese high school at that critical time seemed to me to be really important.”
Walz and his wife honeymooned in China. They also took hundreds of high school students on annual trips from 1993 until the early 2000s. They stopped organizing the trips once he became a member of Congress in 2006.
The Oversight Committee said this subpoena is part of its ongoing investigation into the CCP’s efforts to infiltrate and influence American political policy.
“If a state governor and major political party’s nominee for Vice President of the United States has been a witting or unwitting participant in the CCP’s efforts to weaken our nation, this would strongly suggest that there are alarming weaknesses in the federal government’s effort to defend the United States from the CCP’s political warfare that must be urgently addressed,” Comer said in a statement.
The committee is now demanding all communications from the Microsoft chat group and all Intelligence reports and notes related to Gov. Walz by Oct. 7.
Man arrested for assaulting postal worker over Kamala Harris mailer
A 61-year-old Farmington Hills man has been charged with ethnic intimidation and assault after threatening a postal worker over receiving campaign mail featuring Vice President Kamala Harris. Authorities say Russel Valleau used a derogatory term and made threats toward the postal worker before being arrested.
According to the Oakland County prosecutor’s office, Valleau became upset after receiving the campaign material and told the postal worker he didn’t want it in his mailbox, initially referring to Harris with a derogatory term.
He then repeated the term at the postal worker in a threatening tone, and approached her with a knife, prompting her to use pepper spray in self-defense.
Valleau was charged with felony ethnic intimidation, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He also faces a misdemeanor assault charge, punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald condemned the incident, stating that hate crimes have a wide-reaching impact on communities.
“No one should be assaulted or threatened because of their race or for doing their job,” McDonald said, pledging to pursue such cases vigorously.
The incident follows a pattern of ethnic intimidation cases. In a separate case, a Wayne County sheriff’s deputy was recently acquitted of similar charges related to a racial slur incident.
Oregon registers 1.2k voters without proof of citizenship, waited to report error
An error at the Oregon DMV led to more than 1,200 people being registered to vote without proof of U.S. citizenship. Transportation officials first learned of the error on Aug. 1, but election officials were not informed until six weeks later.
It remains unclear how many of the 1,200 are noncitizens and how many are citizens lacking proper documentation. All individuals have since been removed from the state’s voter rolls.
Oregon allows noncitizens to obtain driver licenses, and the DMV automatically registers most people to vote when they receive a driver license or identification card. The DMV attributed the issue to “clerical errors on the part of the DMV staff.”
“Election integrity and security is of vital importance to us, and the DMV and the Secretary of State take the issue incredibly seriously,” Kris Strickler, director of the Oregon Department of Transportation told reporters Monday, Sept. 30. “The agencies have continued to implement swift corrective action to ensure that this data processing error will not impact the 2024 election or future elections.”
The state is now asking DMV applicants to provide their state of birth as a safeguard to prevent similar issues in the future, while standing by the DMV’s process of registering voters.
“There are currently three million registered voters in Oregon, so we’re talking about a fraction of a fraction of a percent,” Ben Morris, the secretary of state’s chief of staff told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “Automatic voter registration at the DMV remains the most trusted and secure way for engaging more eligible voters in our democracy.”
The vice presidential debate is tonight. Here’s what to expect on viewership.
With exactly five weeks to go until election night on Nov. 5, the vice presidential candidates will square off in a debate hosted by CBS News. One of the interesting factors to monitor is how many people actually watch the debate between Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
Vice presidential debates typically do not draw the same big audiences of presidential debates.
In this case, political experts say both candidates are still introducing themselves to the voters and the nation. The debate offers them a chance to stand out and get recognized.
Looking back at past vice presidential debates and the Nielsen television ratings, the 2008 clash between Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican candidate Sarah Palin stands out. It drew an audience of about 42% of American households.
Four years later, that number fell to approximately 32% when Biden debated Republican Paul Ryan. More recently in 2020, the debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence drew an audience of 33.7%.
Nielsen measures the number of households using television, also called HUT levels. However, it does not sample the number of people streaming a debate online.
The vice presidential debate could break records, or the numbers could be lacking.
Ballot drop box controversy in Wisconsin takes new turn as box returns
The controversy surrounding an absentee ballot drop box in Wausau, Wisconsin, took a new turn about a month before Election Day. The box is back and moored to the ground to comply with guidance from the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
In September, Wausau Mayor Doug Diny removed the ballot drop box without consulting the city clerk, who has the authority to decide whether to have a ballot drop box available to citizens.
In the summer, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that drop boxes are legal, but the court left it up to local communities to decide whether to use them.
More than 60 towns, villages and cities in Wisconsin opted to use the absentee ballot boxes in the upcoming presidential election. The boxes are supported in heavily Democratic big cities such as Milwaukee and Madison.
Former President Donald Trump is slated to campaign in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Oct. 1. He has events scheduled at a manufacturing facility near Madison and a museum in Milwaukee.
“The destruction we have seen in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia is heartbreaking,” Harris said. “In coordination with state and local officials, President Biden and I will continue to make sure that communities have the support and the resources that they need not only to respond to this storm and its immediate aftermath but also the resources they will need to recover.”
President Biden said he will visit hard-hit North Carolina on Wednesday, Oct. 2. Harris said she will be on the ground “as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, Republican nominee former President Donald Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia, which suffered severe damage from Helene. While there, Trump said this was not a time for politics.
“As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a hard-fought national election, but in a time like this, when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, none of that matters,” he said. “We’re not talking about politics now. We have to all get together and get this solved. We need a lot of help. They have to have a lot of help down here. We look out for one another. We pull together, we pitch in, we persevere and we pull it through. That is really the American spirit. That’s what made America originally great.”
Though Trump said he’d leave politics out of it, some of his words caused controversy in Washington. Trump claimed President Biden had not spoken with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R).
Biden responded saying Trump is lying and Kemp himself said he spoke with the president on Sunday, Sept. 29.
