Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America. Please take a moment to click the ❤️ and restack this post. The oligarchs’ platforms are trying to keep stories like the ones below from hitting your feeds, and this helps us break through.
Trump lashed out at an NBC reporter who asked whether child sexual abuse allegations should matter in a campaign. The Justice Department filed a preemptive lawsuit to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election if the Republican incumbent loses. The Trump administration charged two former FBI agents over Hunter Biden’s laptop. And the DHS lied about why an ICE agent struck a legal observer with an SUV in Northern California.
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The president who has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women would like everyone to stop talking about sexual abuse.
Trump lashed out at a reporter Friday after she pressed him on Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad against Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton. The ad stars Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who lost custody of Acton after years of documented sexual abuse by Acton’s stepfather.
When asked if the sexual abuse allegations made any difference, Trump snapped “Quiet!” and called her “a horrible little reporter.” He then defended the ad, saying, “A mother is saying, don’t put my daughter there because she’s a terrible person, and she’s a liar. Why shouldn’t somebody use that?”
Arthur’s husband, Cledith “Bud” Arthur, was indicted for rape in 1978 after court documents showed he had engaged in sexual contact with Acton when she was under 13 years old. Arthur left town with him after he pleaded not guilty and skipped bail.
Trump has a long history of dismissing charges of sexual abuse, including those involving his former friend Jeffrey Epstein, whose findings by the government he has called a “hoax.” A court has found Trump sexually abused author E. Jean Carroll, and dozens of other women have accused him of sexual assault.
Trump is now suing to overturn election results that haven’t even happened yet.
The Trump Justice Department has filed a preemptive lawsuit to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola. The lawsuit says a second candidate with the same name, Daniel J. Sullivan, could confuse voters and draw support from the incumbent in a race that could determine control of the Senate.
Daniel J. Sullivan, a registered Republican, ran in the primary and finished with 4,107 votes to the incumbent’s 68,726. Alaska election officials listed him on the ballot as having no party affiliation, while the incumbent is listed as “Registered Republican” and “incumbent” and the two are differentiated by middle initial.
The Alaska Supreme Court has previously ordered that Daniel J. Sullivan stay on the ballot after state election officials removed him. Vanita Gupta, former Biden associate attorney general, said the lawsuit is “meritless” and that the Constitution gives Alaska, not the Justice Department, authority over who appears on its ballot.
Trump told reporters Friday that he personally ordered the lawsuit. He has repeatedly complained about the second Sullivan being on the ballot, calling it “cheating.”
They will find someone to punish over that laptop if they have to charge every agent in the government.
Two former FBI intelligence specialists, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, were charged Friday with lying to Congress about their roles on the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force during the Hunter Biden investigations. The charges come from testimony they provided to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023.
They both said the task force played no role in investigating Hunter Biden. But documentary evidence and witness accounts contradict that claim, FBI Director Kash Patel said, and prosecutors accused them of concealing communications about those investigations from Congress.
The task force was created in Trump’s first term to combat Russian election meddling. Republican allegations of Biden family corruption were investigated by a special counsel and found nothing besides the gun and tax charges Hunter Biden was ultimately convicted of and pardoned for.
The magistrate judge overseeing the case said both agents had otherwise sterling records and called the charge “rare.” Former U.S. officials who worked to protect elections from foreign interference said the charges seemed politically motivated, with one telling CNN that Floris and Benavides were dedicated professionals who were key to countering the efforts of Russia, China, and Iran.
DHS is now borrowing its defense strategy from the NBA.
A federal immigration agent ran over legal observer Antonio Moreida with an unmarked SUV Tuesday morning in Woodland, California as he documented ICE enforcement activity in a residential neighborhood. Moreida, 37, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
DHS denied that the agent hit Moreida, claiming in a statement that he “jumped onto the hood” of the vehicle. A DHS spokesperson accused Moreida of “flopping for the camera” and said the behavior was dangerous because it interfered with a federal law enforcement operation.
GoPro footage captured by Moreida and additional video shared by NorCal Resist show the SUV driving directly at him before he falls to the ground. Woodland Police Chief Ryan Kinnan stated that investigators reviewed the footage and confirmed the ICE agent struck Moreida and that Moreida did not jump onto the hood.
The Woodland Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation and will submit its findings to the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office for independent review.
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** Democrats Lead Republicans by 37 Points Among Definite Young Voters.** Democrats hold a 63-to-26 percent edge among voters ages 18 to 29 who say they will definitely vote this fall, the latest Harvard Youth Poll finds. 63 percent of likely young voters say their vote for Congress is driven by opposition to Trump and his policies. A separate New York Times/Siena poll this week found 70 percent of young voters identified as Democrats or leaned that way, a 15-point increase from the outlets’ last poll before the 2024 election. Trump’s popularity with young men was a key part of his 2024 victory, but the Harvard poll showed nearly 70 percent of men younger than 30 now disapprove of his performance.
** Texas Shuts Down Portal That Was Rubber-Stamping Data Center Permits.** After 404 Media reported that the state continued to issue permits despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for a pause in September, Texas shut down its automated construction permit portal and suspended 17 data center projects. Watchdog groups FracTracker Alliance and Public Citizen found more than two dozen data center permits issued after the governor’s order. The portal had been quietly approving projects on autopilot, including permits for OpenAI and Amazon as recently as this week, because the state apparently forgot about it. All applications are now being manually screened by the state’s environmental commission to decide if they are data-center related.
** New York Governor Signs Francesco’s Law Requiring Safe Gun Storage.** Governor Kathy Hochul signed two gun safety bills into law on Wednesday, including Francesco’s Law, which mandates that all gun owners secure their firearms when not in their immediate control. The law is named for a 17-year-old violinist from Long Island who killed himself with a family member’s unlocked shotgun after being bullied about his sexuality. The old law only required guns to be locked up in homes with children under the age of 18, but the new law applies to all places, including cars. Hochul also signed a second bill requiring state police to deny ammunition sales to buyers who are barred from owning firearms under state law or a red flag order.
** Tennessee Early Voter Turnout 61 Percent Higher Than 2022.** The secretary of state’s office reported early voting turnout in Tennessee is up 61.3 percent from the 2022 midterm elections. More than 577,000 Tennesseans had voted as of Wednesday, compared with the total at the same point four years ago. The surge comes as several polls show Democrats leading among likely voters nationwide and early voting numbers are increasing across a number of states heading into the Nov. 3 midterms. Tennessee isn’t usually competitive in federal elections, but the wave of turnout has caught the attention of strategists in both parties as Democrats seek to expand the map in traditionally red states.
