Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we’ve got some truly fascinating stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on.
Rules have been agreed to by both sides in the first presidential debate, a judge in Georgia has disqualified four independent candidates from the November ballot, and a county in a swing state will be required to notify certain voters if their ballots are rejected. Also, the Trump campaign is adding two former Democrats to its transition team, and a judge is putting the brakes on the Biden administration’s new immigration program.
Trump Says He Has Reached an Agreement With Harris on ABC Debate
Trump just put out a statement on his social media platform Truth Social, saying that the debate will be hosted by ABC in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. He added that the rules will be the same as they were during the last debate, which was on CNN back in June with President Joe Biden. To refresh your memory, the rules mean that both candidates will be standing and cannot bring notes, but they can bring a notepad, a pen, and a bottle of water.By the way, other rules for the CNN debate, which will be applied to the upcoming debate, include two commercial breaks, no live audience, no opening statements, and strict limits on response times.
Trump also said that his team has been given assurance by ABC that this will be a “fair and equitable” debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance.
Interesting to note that before Trump’s announcement, he suggested that he might pull out of the debate after he watched ABC network host Jonathan Karl interview Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) this past weekend. He said that interview was done in such a biased manner that he wasn’t sure if he was interested in debating Harris on that network.
So you know, the debate will be moderated by ABC hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis.
On a side note, the vice presidential candidates, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are set to debate on Oct. 1 on CBS.
Georgia Judge Disqualifies 4 Independent, Third-Party Candidates From November Ballot
An administrative judge is recommending that Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, deny independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, the Green Party’s Jill Stein, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Claudia De la Cruz from appearing on the ballot.In their legal challenge, Georgia Democrats claimed that all four individuals improperly submitted candidate names to state elections officials rather than names of the state electors who will formally vote for them. It also said the Georgia electors for each of the four failed to pay state qualifying fees.
The final decision now rests with Raffensperger, who must decide before Georgia begins mailing out ballots to military and overseas voters on Sept. 17.
If he goes along with the judge’s recommendations, Georgia voters will only have three candidates to choose from: Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver.
By the way, Georgia is one of the battleground states where Democrats and allied groups filed challenges to independent and third-party candidates. And, while none of these four candidates are likely to win Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, they could siphon votes away from Trump or Harris in a very tight race.
You should know that Biden won the state in 2020 with a razor-thin margin of fewer than 12,000 ballots.
Pennsylvania County Broke Law by Not Telling Voters If It Rejected Their Ballots: Judge
A county in Pennsylvania illegally failed to inform voters that their ballots were rejected and would not be counted in last April’s primary election, according to the judge.He ruled that moving forward, the Washington County Board of Elections needs to alert voters when their mail-in ballots are rejected, so that they can then cast provisional ballots.
Previously, Washington County officials had adopted a policy of not notifying voters when their mail-in ballots or voter packets were found to have one or more errors.
Interesting to note, as a result of this policy, 2 percent of the votes from last April’s primary were rejected due to errors made on the mail-in ballots or voter packets, and the voters didn’t even know until after the election.
The Washington County judge went on to say that the failure to notify voters “deprived qualified electors the ability to challenge the decision made by the canvass board to reject the elector’s mail-in packet.”
You should know that Pennsylvania law clearly says that voters can challenge decisions made by canvassing boards, and U.S. constitutional rights also support notifying voters if their mail-in ballots are being rejected as long as there’s enough time left to cast provisional ballots.
The executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice said in a statement that it should be a no-brainer to notify voters so that they have the option of using a provisional ballot. She went on to say this ruling marks a significant step in safeguarding the voting rights of Washington County residents.
On a side note, as you might already know, Pennsylvania is considered a very important swing state in November’s presidential election.
Trump Adds RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard to White House Transition Team
The Trump campaign is confirming that both Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard are on his presidential transition team.Campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes tells The Epoch Times that the campaign looks forward to hearing their powerful voices as they all work together to restore America’s greatness should Trump win reelection in less than three months.
You should know that Kennedy announced he was backing Trump after he suspended his independent presidential bid last week. Kennedy says he’s going to work with the campaign and the former president on policy issues that they all see eye to eye on.
However, he added that his name will remain on ballots in states where his candidacy will not likely impact the outcome of the election, and he has been working to remove his name from ballots in swing states.
Interesting to note that during their recent rally in Arizona, Trump also pledged to create a commission that would release the remainder of files pertaining to the assassination of Kennedy’s uncle, former President John F. Kennedy.
Meanwhile, Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, who ran for president in 2020, says she’s backing Trump and made that announcement while standing next to him at an event in Detroit earlier this week.
She praised Trump for having the courage to meet with adversaries and dictators, and for seeing war as a last resort. She went on to say the United States is “facing multiple wars on multiple fronts in regions around the world and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before.”
By the way, earlier this month, Trump named former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon and billionaire businessman Howard Lutnick to co-chair his transition team. His two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, will serve as honorary chairs, along with his running mate, Vance.
Judge Pauses Federal Program Offering Legal Status to Spouses of US Citizens
A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has paused the Biden administration’s Keeping Families Together parole process for at least two weeks while a legal challenge plays out.Under this new policy, administered by the Department of Homeland Security, illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens can apply for permission to stay in the country, which is known as “parole in place.” If granted, they can then apply for a green card and move toward full citizenship if certain requirements are met.
However, 16 states filed a lawsuit last week, asking for a restraining order to prevent the program from being implemented. They argued that it would incentivize illegal immigration and irreparably harm them through the millions of dollars they would have to pay annually in health care and law enforcement.
You should know that prior to this new policy, the illegal immigrant spouses would often have had to return to their country of origin and wait for the legal process to play out.
In agreeing with the plaintiff states, the judge said that, in his opinion, their claims are substantial and warrant closer consideration.
This ruling means that the federal government can’t grant any new applications for “parole in place” for the next 14 days, but immigrants can still apply in order to begin the process.
By the way, to be eligible to apply for the program, applicants must have lived in the United States continuously for at least 10 years, not pose a security threat, and not have a disqualifying criminal history. They are also required to have been married to a U.S. citizen by June 17 of this year.
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Wednesday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
Thanks for checking out the program today, and next time you drop in for a listen, feel free to bring some friends and co-workers along.
*(Don’t forget the News Brief Motto): We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from Sharon Salzberg, who said: “Voting is the expression of our commitment to ourselves, one another, this country and this world.”
Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author.
Before we go, today is National Bow Tie Day. Both men and women wear bow ties, and famous bow tie wearers include James Bond, Groucho Marx, Orville Redenbacher—the popcorn guy—and movie star Diane Keaton. Clip on a bow tie and take on the day.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your Wednesday, and we’ll see you right back here next time for another edition of The Epoch Times News Brief. For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another, and have an absolutely superb day today! Bye for now.
