Harris Refuses to Change Course on Israel in Alarming First Interview

Kamala Harris made her Middle East policy abundantly clear during her first big media interview on Thursday: America will continue to arm Israel, unconditionally.

In the much-hyped interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, and Tim Walz by her side, Harris was asked how she’d differentiate her stance on Israel from President Joe Biden’s.

“Would you do anything differently, for example, would you withhold some U.S. weapons shipments to Israel? That’s what a lot of people on the progressive left want you to do,” asked Bash.

“Let me be very clear. I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that’s not going to change,” replied Harris. “As I said then [on October 7], I say today Israel has a right to defend itself … and how it does so matters.”

Harris went on to clarify that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed” by Israel, but still refused to commit to changing U.S. policy on Israel.

Harris emphasized the need for a cease-fire agreement saying “we have to get it a deal done,” mentioning the Biden administration’s presence this week at negotiations in Qatar. At talks in Doha, the potential deal included a limited six-week cease-fire, prisoner release, and aid into Gaza in exchange for 33 living hostages returned to Israel. However, Hamas has not participated directly in the talks because they say the negotiations “provide cover for Israel to continue its war”—and Israel left the talks on Thursday with no final agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu said he believes Israel must keep military pressure to force a deal.

Harris has previously told Netanyahu, “It is time for this war to end,” but the Israeli prime minister has refused to accept anything but a “partial” cease-fire deal, like the one that was being negotiated in Doha.

As Bash pointed out, many Americans are looking at Harris and Biden to cease arms sales to Israel. A June CBS poll found that 61 percent of Americans oppose weapons aid to Israel, including 77 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of independents. Moreover, 77 percent of those under 30 oppose arming Israel in its continued assault on Gaza. Another YouGov/IMEU Policy Project poll this month found that voters in swing states are more likely to vote for a nominee who vows to withhold weapons.

CNN’s Bash continued by zeroing in on this issue, pressing the vice president in terms of how this deal would get done. “But no change in policy, in terms of arms and so forth?”

“No, we have to get a deal done,” Harris replied, shooting down the possibility of an arms embargo. “I remain committed, since I’ve been on October 8, to what we must do to work toward a two-state solution—where Israel is secure and in equal measure, the Palestinians have security and self determination and dignity.”

Former New York City mayor turned Trump fixer Rudy Giuliani may soon lose control of all his assets for his involvement in defaming two Georgia poll workers in 2020.

The defamed election workers, mother-daughter duo Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, successfully sued Giuliani last year—and asked a federal court Friday to hand over control of his assets to fulfill the judgment.

In a court filing, the pair accused Giuliani of having “spent years evading accountability for his actions” with extemporaneous litigation and unproductive bankruptcy filings.

“Now that Mr. Giuliani’s bankruptcy case has been dismissed, Plaintiffs are finally in a position to receive a measure of compensation by enforcing their judgment,” attorneys for Freeman and Moss wrote. “In this motion, Plaintiffs seek two remedies to which they are entitled under New York law: an order requiring Mr. Giuliani to turn over personal property in his possession in satisfaction of the judgment, and an order appointing Plaintiffs as receivers with the power to take possession of, and sell, both real and personal property that Mr. Giuliani does not turn over.”

Giuliani was ordered to pay nearly $150 million in damages in December to Freeman and Moss. Since then, the former Trump attorney unsuccessfully filed for bankruptcy, lost his accountant over his insurmountable debts, begged Trump for help settling his seven-figure legal fees (he refused), had his WABC radio show canceled for spewing 2020 election lies, and miserably started his own coffee brand, “Rudy Coffee,” in an effort to funnel in some extra cash.

But running out of funds didn’t hamper Giuliani’s prolific spending habits. In May, unsecured creditors for the disbarred attorney slammed Giuliani’s “extravagant lifestyle” as “gross mismanagement,” and torched him for having “accomplished almost nothing” in his bankruptcy case. That resulted in a New York judge throwing out the bankruptcy case in July, calling the former city mayor a “recalcitrant debtor.”

Giuliani is also under the gun for a lawsuit from his former legal representation, who accused him of failing to pay his bill and allegedly only dishing out $214,000 of nearly $1.6 million in legal expenses. Giuliani, meanwhile, claimed he was stiffed by his favorite client, Trump, to the tune of millions of dollars. Amazingly, Giuliani’s legal troubles don’t end there, either: The MAGA henchman is also one of 19 co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case and was named in April in an Arizona indictment charging another slew of Republican officials and Trump allies for their alleged involvement in a scheme to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results.

After this story was published, Giuliani’s spokesperson reached out to The New Republic to decry the news.

“This lawsuit has always been designed to censor and bully the mayor, and to deter others from exercising their right to speak up and to speak out,” spokesman Ted Goodman said in a statement. “America is facing an existential crisis. We were once a country that put a premium on free speech and the integrity of our justice system, yet we now live in a time where the justice system has been weaponized against Mayor Giuliani and so many others for strictly partisan political purposes.”

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump was absolutely incomprehensible at his campaign rally in Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday.

While starting off talking about how Kamala Harris “destroyed the city of San Francisco,” Trump’s rant quickly devolved into him ranking which presidents were most “horribly treated.”

Of course, Trump considers himself the most persecuted, with Andrew Jackson following close behind.

“Andrew Jackson they say was the worst of all, that he was treated worse than any other president,” Trump rambled. “And I said, ‘Do that study again,’ because I think there’s nobody close to Trump,” he continued, speaking in the third person. “I even got shot! And who the hell knows where that came from.” Abraham Lincoln, whom he mentioned lower down in his ranking, also famously was shot.

But perhaps Trump’s tangent about the presidents was the most coherent part of his speech in Michigan, which was supposed to be about the economy. He struggled to find what he wanted to say after claiming California was “destroyed.”

“I own a big building there—it’s no—I shouldn’t talk about this—but that’s okay I don’t give a damn because this is what I’m doing. I should say it’s the finest city in the world—sell and get the hell out of there, right? But I can’t do that, I don’t care. I lost billions, billions of dollars.”

And yet Trump’s team says Kamala Harris doesn’t make any sense…

Even Donald Trump’s number two can’t seem to make heads or tails of his recent comments on in vitro fertilization.

Speaking with CNN on Friday, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance couldn’t cook up a reasonable explanation of the Republican presidential nominee’s sudden flip-flop on IVF access, which included saying that “right from the beginning” he was “always for IVF” and suggesting that government funding or insurance companies should cover the procedure.

“How would this work if a state—and you believe that states should have the right to make these decisions—if a state bans IVF, but Donald Trump says he wants to guarantee and/or pay for IVF for everyone who wants it, how would that work?” asked CNN’s John Berman.

“I think it’s such a ridiculous hypothetical,” Vance started. “Alabama, which is maybe the most conservative state in the entire union, has actively protected fertility access and fertility treatments. There’s no state in the union, whether a right-wing state or a left-wing state that I think is trying to ban access to fertility treatments.”

That is, however, not true. Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a devastating decision that classified single-celled, fertilized eggs as children, effectively stalling IVF access across the state. In a desperate bid to salvage votes, Alabama Republicans then passed a law to shield IVF providers from lawsuits or criminal charges relating to the death of embryos. Even still, legal experts have warned that while the new law helps clinics, there’s a long way to go in actually protecting fertility treatments for patients.

At the national level, Senate Republicans—including Vance—near-unanimously voted against a bill in June that would have enshrined IVF access across the country.

“You also voted against a measure that would have guaranteed access to IVF around the country, so it’s possible, right?” asked Berman, pointing to potential future restrictions on the family development procedure.

“Well, no, two things John: First of all, yes, a court made that decision in Alabama and like the next second, the Alabama state legislature fixed that problem and ensured women had access to these fertility treatments,” Vance said. “And all that I voted on, John, was for religious liberty.”

“I don’t want Christian hospitals or Christian charities to be forced to do something that they don’t want to do,” Vance continued. “We have multiple Republican measures that support fertility treatments, support IVF, but don’t require Christian hospitals or other religious organizations to violate their conscience.”

Trump has worked to soften his anti-choice position in recent weeks and appeal to women’s rights activists in an effort to draw more voters to his campaign—but his renewed rhetoric won’t change the practical effects of his presidency, not least of all instilling a hyper-conservative Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, which Trump has proudly taken credit for. In 2023, the former president also claimed that he should be celebrated for every single state abortion ban.

Donald Trump seems to believe that the price of bacon is caused by the blowing of the wind.

At a campaign town hall in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday, the 78-year-old presidential candidate rambled incoherently about wind power while answering a question about inflation.

An attendee asked Trump his plan “to make life more affordable and bring down inflation,” in what should have been a softball question for the Republican candidate.

“Some people don’t eat bacon anymore,” Trump replied. “We are going to get the energy prices down,” he continued, jumping from topic to topic. 

“This was caused by their horrible energy. Wind. They want wind all over the place. But when it doesn’t blow, we have a little problem.”

In the most charitable read, it seems like Trump was trying to complain about food price inflation, which has slowed after hitting a high in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But jumping right into complaining about wind energy decimates any point he was trying to make. Additionally, if Trump is trying to blame wind power for rising energy costs, he’s dead wrong.

This is not the first time Trump has complained about wind energy. Previously, the former president has said he “never understood wind,” claimed wind farms are driving whales “batty,” and told oil and gas executives that he hates wind. The more he babbles, the more it’s clear he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Donald Trump and his campaign are suddenly at odds on the issue of abortion.

Speaking with NBC News, the Republican presidential nominee shared that he intended to vote in favor of abortion rights when it comes up on the ballot in Florida, believing that a “six-week [ban] is too short.”

“I’m going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” Trump told NBC on Thursday.

He also elaborated that he believed there should be exceptions in abortion restrictions in instances of rape or incest, and that medical intervention should be allowed to maintain the life of the person pregnant.

But that wasn’t what his campaign had expected him to say. In a statement to NPR, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt left the political decision ajar, insisting that “President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”

Florida’s abortion ban, which went into effect in May, is one of the most extreme in the nation. The new law prohibits abortion well before a lot of people even realize they’re pregnant, and just one week before drug store pregnancy tests can detect pregnancy hormones in their earliest, and least reliable, window. The restriction has forced patients in need of the procedure to seek treatment in North Carolina, where abortion is banned after 12 weeks, or even further.

Prior to the ban, Florida allowed abortion up to 15 weeks, making it a haven for people seeking the medical procedure in the South. The six-week ban passed alongside similarly restrictive bans in neighboring states, meaning that abortion access throughout the entire region has been crippled.

Backlash to Florida’s new law has been extreme, with more than a million Floridians signing a petition to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The effort has placed abortion rights on the ballot in November. That initiative, known as Amendment Four, would protect abortion until “fetal viability” at approximately 24 weeks. Still, a possible win in the second half of the year will come “on the backs” of people who have had to suffer in the interim, giving birth “when they didn’t want to,” executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund Megan Jeyifo told NPR shortly after the ban was enacted.

Trump has worked to soften his anti-choice position in recent weeks and appeal to women’s rights activists in an effort to draw more voters to his campaign—but his renewed rhetoric won’t change the practical effects of his presidency, not least of all instilling a hyper-conservative Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, which Trump has proudly taken credit for. In 2023, the former president also claimed that he should be celebrated for every single state abortion ban.

“I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” Trump posted on Truth Social last year, “and for the first time put the Pro Life movement in a strong negotiating position.… Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to.”

Donald Trump seemed well and truly out of it during a chaotic, self-aggrandizing speech in Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday. 

Trump spoke at a private messaging event at Alro Steel, where he was meant to speak about the economy—but flanked onstage by a few dozen workers dressed in hard hats and neon vests, he barely mentioned the economy at all. 

Having walked onstage more than half an hour late, Trump appeared shaken, and incoherently skipped through different talking points, repeatedly diverting to heap compliments on himself. 

“We will bring back the American Dream, bigger, better, stronger, and just better, bigger, better, we love the American Dream,” Trump said in his opening remarks, appearing to immediately lose track of what he was saying. “You don’t hear about the American Dream. When was the last time you heard about the American Dream?”

Trump immediately began attacking his opponent, Kamala Harris. “The only good thing that she’s uh—flip-flopping,” Trump said, stammering. “She’s the greatest flip-flopper—things that she’s never even thought of. She probably goes back to her room and gets sick to her stomach when she says what she has to say.”

Trump also diverted to criticize his former opponent President Joe Biden for “laying on a beach, sleeping all day long” as he vacations in Rhode Island this week. “No seriously, who the hell wants to sleep—and who wants to sleep in public?” Trump said incredulously. “He’s sleeping!”

The weak attack is especially weird coming from Trump, who reportedly fell asleep multiple times during his hush-money trial in New York. 

During his rambling speech, Trump debuted a new blatantly false claim about Harris.

“Did you know that she was the leader of Defund the Police?” Trump asked, at one point.

“I said, ‘Why do I have to make a speech?’ All I have to do is say that ‘She was the leader of the Defund the Police movement,’ and then I say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much,’ and then leave, because when you hear that,” Trump said laughing. 

Trump then went from criticizing Harris to complimenting himself. “With me, I make a speech, I speak for two hours, everybody loves it,” Trump said. “I got thousands of people, by the way, outside trying to get in.”

“They never said Trump’s a great speaker, I don’t even want that, but I must be a great speaker right? We got thousands of people!” Trump said. 

The event was not open to the public, but a crowd of more than 100 people gathered outside. Trump later claimed that there were people “as far as the eye could see” gathered outside of the event.

“But no, I don’t care about that,” Trump said, suddenly serious. “I care about uh, winning for our country. I care about making America great again.”

Brian Pannebecker, swagged out in an Auto Workers for Trump T-shirt and visor, was called on stage at one point to criticize electric vehicle mandates. Pannebecker reportedly once called former President Barack Obama “a race hustler,” and was possibly behind a review praising KKK Grand Wizard David Duke’s memoir. Pannebecker has previously been invited on stage to speak at rallies in Waterford Township, Michigan, in February, and again in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in July.

Back behind the mic, Trump made lengthy remarks about trucks, complained about being the most persecuted American president in history, and whined about Harris’s interview with Dana Bash scheduled to air Thursday evening. Finally, he got to his big announcement—which he had more or less spoiled in a pre-speech interview with NBC. 

Trump announced that under his administration, the government would pay for IVF treatments—or mandate insurance companies to pay, but he didn’t seem clear on which. He also did not acknowledge that his administration’s policies and the Supreme Court justices he appointed are the reason IVF is currently under attack from his own party.

“Because we want more babies, to put it nicely,” Trump said.  

“And for this same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes. So that parents that have a beautiful baby … will be able … so, we’re pro-family, nobody’s ever said that before,” Trump said, sounding confused.

“I’ve been in favor of IVF right from the beginning,” Trump claimed, after months of waffling on his position ever since fertility treatments became a political liability for Republicans earlier this year. 

“They have ads like I’m against it, it’s just the opposite. By comparison, they’re against it. But I’m totally in favor of it,” Trump said. 

Not dwelling on his major announcement for long, Trump quickly changed subjects to inflation and the so-called “migrant invasion.” Although he mentioned he would soon be concluding, he carried on complaining about several different issues including an altercation Monday, in which Trump’s staffers reportedly shoved an employee at Arlington National Cemetery who was trying to prevent them from illegally filming after a memorial for 13 service members killed during the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Trump’s response was nothing short of extreme. 

“Joe Biden killed their children, by incompetence. Shoulda never happened. Kamala killed their children. Just as though they had a gun in their hand, by gross incompetence,” Trump said, blaming his opponents for their deaths. 

J.D. Vance is begging his old friend Peter Thiel to help Donald Trump win the 2024 election.

The co-founder of PayPal and Palantir has helped swing elections in the past, but previously stated that he would sit this one out. However, Vance is trying to capitalize on their long-standing relationship to get Thiel “off the sidelines” and funding the Trump-Vance campaign, according to the Financial Times.

“I’m going to keep on talking to Peter and persuading him that—you know he’s obviously been exhausted by politics a little bit—but he’s going to be really exhausted by politics if we lose and if Kamala Harris is president,” Vance told the FT in an interview published Thursday.

“He is fundamentally a conservative guy, and I think that he needs to get off the sidelines and support the ticket.”

Vance was once Thiel’s pupil in Silicon Valley, and when Vance started his own fund, he was financially supported by the PayPal founder, whom he considered a mentor. When Vance ran for Senate in 2022, Thiel shelled out a record-breaking $15 million to secure his victory. Trump and Vance reportedly initially met through a meeting put together by Thiel himself.

The billionaire venture capitalist and Trump have fallen out in recent years, and Thiel did not financially support Trump in 2020. Last year, Thiel said he wouldn’t give “any money to Republican politicians in 2024,” but left the door open, saying “there’s always a chance I might change my mind.” Many have seen Trump’s pick of Vance as a nod toward Silicon Valley right-wingers like Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Elon Musk.

In July, after Trump announced his V.P. pick, Thiel hinted that he could be swayed. “I always try to resist getting swept up in excitement,” he told The New York Times. “But in spite of many misgivings I had earlier this year, it makes me more hopeful that a second Trump term will be better than the first.”

Donald Trump has begun pestering CNN’s Dana Bash to ask hard-hitting questions of Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz during their interview, which airs Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. E.T.

The interview was filmed around 1:45 p.m. according to The New York Times, so Trump started his day early by pushing for Bash to seize the opportunity to speak to Harris and Walz.

“Dana Bash of CNN has a chance at greatness today. If she gave a fair but tough interview of Comrade Kamala Harris, she will expose her as being totally inept and ill suited for the job of President, much as I exposed Crooked Joe Biden during our now famous Debate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “How cool would that be for Dana and CNN???”

“Also, the interview should not have Tampon Tim present to help with the inevitable Kamala stumbles, and under no circumstances should the transcript be allowed to be changed in any way, shape, or form,” Trump wrote, echoing right-wing critics who say Harris should appear alone and will use Walz as a crutch in their first major interview since receiving the Democratic Party’s nomination.

In Trump’s first interview after being nominated at the Republican National Convention in July, Trump and J.D. Vance appeared together in an interview with Fox’s Jesse Waters, who tends to go for sexist comments over hard-hitting questions. During the interview, Trump shyly deferred to Vance when asked whether he thought Joe Biden’s ouster was a “coup.”

“Dana and Jake were fair, but firm, in my CNN Debate with Crooked Joe. This is a chance for Dana Bash to reach REAL stardom, while at the same time doing a great service to our now failing Country,” Trump wrote. “Good luck, Dana, do the right thing!!!”

Bash moderated Trump’s debate against Biden in June. Although he had criticized Bash before the debate, afterward Trump had nothing but good things to say.

Trump’s pleas to Bash come after he went on a rageful social media rant, calling for his enemies to be jailed and even killed.

Donald Trump’s campaign team apparently does not want his microphone on when it isn’t his turn to speak in the next presidential debate.

Brian Fallon, a senior adviser to the Kamala Harris campaign, posted on X Thursday afternoon that Trump’s staff asked ABC News, which will be hosting the first presidential debate on September 10, to ignore Trump’s comments and keep the microphones off when it’s not his turn to speak. If ABC doesn’t enforce muted mics as a debate rule, the Trump team will reportedly pull out of the debate, Fallon said.

“We find the Trump’s team’s stance to be weak, and remain in discussions with ABC on the final rules,” Fallon’s post said.

Trump said earlier this week that he was fine with debate microphones being on, but added that the rules he agreed to were the same as his first debate in June against President Biden, where the mics were muted. Earlier reporting also noted that Trump’s team was the one to push for muted mics again this time around. If true, Trump’s staff might be trying to save the Republican presidential nominee and convicted felon from himself.

Unlike his debate with Biden, Trump will be verbally sparring with a former prosecutor almost 20 years younger than him. At the last debate, Trump appeared sharper and more alert than Biden, raising concerns about the president’s ability to win reelection and ultimately resulting in his withdrawal from the race. Biden’s campaign pushed for muted microphones at the time, probably hoping to give Biden an advantage.

Harris’s campaign doesn’t see such a need, and on Wednesday her co–campaign manager Mitch Landrieu mocked Trump, saying that his team “wants to shut him up.” Whether microphones are on or off, the September 10 debate promises to be lively and much different from the one in June, with Trump desperate for a victory against Harris as his campaign struggles to land any attacks against her or her running mate Tim Walz. But, the more he talks, the weirder he may come across on national television.