Trump courts Libertarians amid mounting concern over third-party candidates
CNN
Donald Trump will address the Libertarian Party’s convention Saturday, a move illustrative of his campaign’s intensifying concern over third-party candidates.
Former President Donald Trump will address the Libertarian Party’s convention Saturday, an unconventional stop for a presumptive Republican nominee but also illustrative of his campaign’s intensifying concern over third-party candidates. Trump is expected to deliver a pitch to Libertarians focused on their shared grievances over President Joe Biden’s four years in Washington, an event organizer told CNN. His team has also closely watched the results of an informal poll that asked convention attendees which topics Trump should touch on during his remarks. The outreach to Libertarians follows weeks of stepped-up attacks by Trump aimed at Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose high-profile independent White House bid is increasingly viewed by the former president’s advisers as a potential problem in an election expected to be decided by a narrow margin in a handful of states. Kennedy addressed the convention Friday as the two directly compete for voters disenchanted by the two-party system. In a speech last weekend to the National Rifle Association, Trump described Kennedy’s political views as “radical left” and warned his supporters, “We can’t waste any more votes.” In a candid moment, Trump also shared the purpose behind his unusual visit to the Libertarian Party. “We have to join with (Libertarians) because they get their 3% every year, no matter who’s running,” Trump said, “and we have to get that 3% because we can’t take a chance on Joe Biden winning.” Eight years ago, Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson earned more than 3% of the popular vote – a high point in the party’s history. The number of votes Johnson, Green Party nominee Jill Stein and other third-party contenders earned was larger than Trump’s margin of victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in a handful of closely contested battlegrounds.
CNN’s 5 Things AM brings you the news you need to know every morning
The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.