The campaigns for former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are at odds over the first debate matchup between the two presidential candidates.
The issue is mostly over a rule that was arranged ahead of the CNN debate between Trump and President Joe Biden in June, which called for both candidates to have muted microphones while the other was speaking.
Former President Donald Trump speaks alongside Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia Hung Cao (2nd from left) at the Truong Tien Restaurant in the Eden Center in Falls Church, Va., on Aug. 26, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Trump is also suggesting he may back out of the debate because of the network host, ABC, and his perception that it is politically biased, taking direct issue with an interview with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Sunday.
Writing from his social platform, Truth Social, Trump said, “Why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network?”
On Monday, he also spoke with reporters inside a Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia, “They also want to change the rules. You know, the deal was we keep the same rules.”
The Harris campaign diverted from Biden and is calling for both candidates’ microphones to remain on for the full duration of the debate, which was the norm for presidential debates before this cycle.
“The Vice President is ready to deal with Trump … in real time,” Harris spokesperson Brian Fallon said in a statement, adding, “Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button.”
While in Falls Church, Trump suggested he was somewhat supportive of the rule change, “Doesn’t matter to me. I’d rather have it, probably, on. But the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time.”
The Harris campaign saw this as a green light, as communications director Michael Tyler said the “issue is resolved” during an interview on MSNBC while suggesting that it’s now up to the Trump campaign to accept.
Trump also proposed a debate on Fox News, but Harris declined, and Trump indicated that he would prefer NBC or CNN over ABC as a network host.
Traveling back to the country’s automobile manufacturing capital on Monday, Trump was in Detroit to highlight the third anniversary of a bombing at the Kabul airport that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. military members and more than 100 Afghans during the withdrawal from the War in Afghanistan.
During his speech, Trump was joined onstage by former Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who endorsed him for president.
Gabbard’s endorsement follows that of Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday after he suspended his campaign and said he would request to remove his name from ballots in key battleground states.
—Jacob Burg, Jack Phillips
SMITH APPEALS FLORIDA DISMISSAL
Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Aug. 26 to reverse Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of his prosecution of former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents.
The opening brief came roughly a month after Cannon ruled that Smith’s appointment violated the U.S. Constitution. It’s highly unlikely the case will be resolved before inauguration and Trump is expected to withdraw the prosecution if he’s elected.
Smith argued that Cannon misinterpreted relevant statutes and wrongly dismissed language in a prior Supreme Court decision as dictum, or nonbinding on her decision. Cannon’s ruling could be reversed by the 11th Circuit and wind up at the Supreme Court.
Cannon held in July that Smith’s appointment violated the Appointments Clause and Appropriations Clause of the Constitution but limited the effects of her decision to Trump’s case, rather than outright invalidating all special counsel appointments.
In US v. Nixon, the Supreme Court affirmed the special prosecutor’s authority but did so in a way that Cannon said didn’t require her to uphold Smith’s own authority.
In that case, former Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote: “[T]he Attorney General has delegated the authority to represent the United States in these particular matters to a Special Prosecutor with unique authority and tenure.”
The court’s reasoning, Smith said, was central to reaching the case’s conclusion about executive privilege. “That conclusion was a binding holding, or, at least, authoritative dictum,” his brief read.
His brief also said that Cannon’s decision had implications for other actions by the Justice Department. “The district court’s reasoning ... suggests that every special counsel throughout history who was appointed from outside the Department of Justice and who did not assist a U.S. Attorney was invalidly appointed.”
The appeal comes after the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States, which ruled presidents have some immunity from criminal prosecution. In that case, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion that cast doubt on Smith’s authority.
–Sam Dorman
TELEGRAM CEO’s ARREST
French President Emmanuel Macron clapped back today, denying claims that the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in Paris was politically motivated.
Macron said the arrest of Durov on Saturday at a Paris airport was “in no way a political decision.”
The prosecutor’s office in Paris issued its own statement shortly thereafter, announcing that Durov was apprehended as part of a wide-ranging independent investigation stemming from a judicial inquiry opened last month.
Durov may now be held until as late as Wednesday as prosecutors decide whether to charge him with a dozen different crimes, including complicity in the sale of child pornography and illicit drugs, fraud, abetting transactions for organized crime, and refusing to share information when required by law enforcement.
In France’s first public comment on the arrest, Macron said that the nation remained “deeply committed” to freedom of expression, but that “freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” a prepared statement by Telegram read.
Telegram has been frequently criticized by governments around the world for a lack of content moderation, which has been previously exploited by money launderers, drug traffickers, and terrorists.
The app is nevertheless used by political entities the world over to get messaging out to supporters and to share information in active conflict zones. Military organizations governed by Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Hamas all use the platform to publish content.
Saturday’s arrest is not the first time that Telegram has come under legal action.
Germany issued $5 million in fines against Telegram’s operators in 2022 for failing to establish a lawful means of reporting illegal content on the site. In 2023, Brazil temporarily suspended the app for failing to surrender data related to school shootings. The app was also blocked from 2018-2020 in Russia, and remains blocked in communist China.
BOOKMARKS
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he plans to strengthen knife laws and increase deportations of immigrants who commit crimes following a knife attack in Solingen, Germany. The attack came after a similar incident in May, in which four residents were injured and one lost his life.
The World Health Organization has announced a limited vaccination plan to slow the spread of a new, deadlier strain of monkeypox (now known as mpox). The six-month “strategic vaccination” operation will target those exposed to the disease, such as healthcare workers and relatives and associates of those who have fallen ill.
A series of attacks by secessionist terrorists in southwestern Pakistan have left dozens dead. Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the attacks were part of “a well thought out plan to create anarchy.”
An oil tanker attacked by Houthi pirates in the Red Sea continues to burn steadily but has not yet sprung a major oil leak. The vessel, known as the Sounion, was hit last week by the Yemeni pirates, reportedly for violating a maritime trade embargo against Israel.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will place tariffs on selected Chinese goods, including steel and aluminum; the plan also includes a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles. The measures are intended to counter China’s flooding of the global marketplace with electric vehicles and follow similar tariffs levied by President Joe Biden.
—Stacy Robinson
