The judge who presided over Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial will decide on Friday whether to delay the former president’s sentencing, currently set for September 18, or grant Trump’s request to delay it until after Election Day.
Justice Juan Merchan has delayed Trump’s sentencing in the case where he was found guilty of falsifying business records. But the current sentencing will be right in the middle of campaign season, and eight days after the ABC News presidential debate.
Trump is also seeking to delay proceedings in his federal election interference trial after the federal judge overseeing that case released an aggressive schedule Thursday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Vice President Kamala Harris received an endorsement, of sorts, from Russian President Vladimir Putin who claimed he would support Harris’s bid for the White House.
Putin claims he likes Harris because of her “expressive and infectious” laugh, and hopes that it would mean she wouldn’t sanction Russia.
Trump responded by saying, “I don’t know if I’m insulted or [Putin] did me a favor.”
Trump insists he and Vance are not weird as he rambles about hating mosquitoes
Donald Trump repeatedly insisted that he and running mate JD Vance were “not weird”, moments before launching into a tangent about hating mosquitoes during a town hall, where he also attacked rival Kamala Harris and promised “the largest deportation in history” if he was to return to the White House.
The former president participated in a one-hour, pre-taped event with Fox News’ Sean Hannity in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Kelly Rissman watched so you don’t have to.
Walz aims donut jibe at Vance on visit to Pennsylvania farmers’ market
Kamala Harris’s running mate poked fun at his Republican counterpart’s awkward attempt to make small talk at a donut store in Valdosta, Georgia last month. Awkward video of the event included one worker telling Vance that she did not want to appear on camera as he picked out sweet treats.
On Wednesday, Walz visited Cherry Hill Orchards and Farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in a state that will be crucial for Harris’s victory in November.
Graeme Massie has the story.
ICYMI: Cheney endorses Harris and warns of ‘danger’ Trump poses to Constitution
Former Wyoming congressmember Liz Cheney has endorsed Kamala Harris for president, breaking with her fellow conservatives who are supporting Donald Trump.
Cheney, one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics while she was in Congress, said during an event at Duke University on Wednesday that fellow conservatives don’t have “the luxury” of sitting out or writing in other candidates if they’re uneasy about Trump, especially in a swing state like the university’s home of North Carolina.
Josh Marcus reports.
Trump claims he’ll ‘save’ TikTok — the platform he tried to ban
Donald Trump has claimed he would “save TikTok in America,” a far cry from the days of 2020 when he sought to ban the social media platform via an executive order.
Josh Marcus looks at what’s at play here.
Putin cites Harris’s ‘infectious laugh’ in mocking endorsement for president
Russian president Vladimir Putin has claimed that he wants Kamala Harris to win the presidential election because President Joe Biden endorsed her – and because she has an “expressive and infectious laugh”.
On Thursday, during the Eastern Economic Forum, the Russian president claimed that Biden was his “favorite” candidate but that since he dropped out he will now support the new Democratic nominee.
“Our favorite, if you can call it that, was the current president Mr. Biden,” Putin said, with a smirk.
Ariana Baio reports.
The worm turns: Nick Fuentes blasts Trump on 2020 election
Bang go those secret dinners at Mar-a-Lago…
Here’s Alex Woodward’s report on the former president’s remarks that triggered Fuentes’s reaction.
Republicans concerned by dwindling support among women
With exactly two months to go until Election Day, Republican strategists are likely keeping a close eye on gender polling as Vice President Harris continues to enjoy support from a majority of women while Donald Trump struggles to hold onto women supporters.
Post-Democratic National Convention (DNC), Harris has managed to increase the percentage of women supporting her by three points, according to polling from Reuters/Ipsos.
That could be attributed to Democrats’ push for reproductive freedoms, including abortion, which is a top concern for voters this election cycle.
Meanwhile, Trump is losing support from women and instead picking up more from men. The former president had a five-point increase in support from men post-DNC.
But Trump still only holds a roughly five percentage point lead over Harris among men while Harris holds a 13 percentage point lead over the Republican among women.
Here’s more from Ariana Baio and Alicja Hagopian.
Watch: Trump tells Economic Club of New York ‘a couple of nukes and your bank doesn’t mean a thing’
He even gave a brief shout-out to JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon.
Some Republican leaders think Trump is bad for party – and want him to lose
Some members of the GOP are secretly rooting for Trump to lose the election in November for the sake of their party and its future, according to reports.
Katie Hawkinson has more.
Source: independent.co.uk