Trump’s legal problems grow. So does his political power - CNN

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CNN  — 

Former President Donald Trump’s fortunes seem to be moving in opposing directions.

He is burning cash on an expanding, multipronged legal war with fronts in courtrooms up and down the East Coast: New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington, DC. Trials are already scheduled for March in Manhattan and May in Florida.

But Trump’s place atop the Republican primary field for the 2024 presidential race has never felt more secure and his chances against President Joe Biden have never felt more competitive.

Trump’s political power feeds on his criminal exposure

In a self-propelling cycle, Trump’s grassroots political supporters give a portion of their donations to his leadership PAC, which is paying his epic legal bills – more than $40 million in the first half of this year alone.

And his campaign, fueled by outrage over his legal problems that Trump alleges are politically motivated, remains his best bet for outlasting the two criminal cases he currently faces.

Two more criminal trials could be coming. Federal prosecutors may carry forward with allegations related to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And the Fulton County district attorney in Georgia is wrapping up her own case and could bring charges by the end of August.

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Read CNN’s full report on Trump’s legal bills.

Separately, The New York Times and CNN’s Kristen Holmes reported Monday that Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, has asked for a refund on a $60 million contribution it gave to a super PAC formed to support Trump.

A legal defense fund is also being set up to help offset legal costs for Trump’s associates. His aide Walt Nauta and the Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira are listed as co-defendants in federal charges related to alleged attempts to hide classified material from the FBI.

Related interactive: Track the indictments against Trump.

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De Oliveira made an initial court appearance Monday in Miami. But he did so without a Florida-based attorney, which might seem like an accident if Nauta had not done the same thing. Arraignments for both men were delayed as a result.

This court sketch shows Carlos De Oliveira and his lawyer at the James L. King Federal Courthouse in Miami on July 31, 2023.

William Hennessy Jr.

Delay is Trump’s top legal strategy. His legal team has been working hard to delay and disassemble the cases against him.

“Every day of delay counts,” said CNN’s senior justice correspondent Evan Perez, appearing on “Inside Politics.” “Every bit of it will add up. The former president’s overall goal – he has made it very clear – is to … wait until after the election to actually go to trial.”

Evidence of the delay strategy in many of his moves

Trump’s request to have charges brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg – regarding a 2016 hush-money payment scheme involving an adult-film star – moved to federal court has been denied. Trump is appealing the ruling.

He has also tried to revive a previously abandoned RICO lawsuit alleging a conspiracy against him by Democrats and Hillary Clinton. Read CNN’s report by Kara Scannell and Tierney Sneed on Trump’s legal maneuvers.

Endgame in Georgia

Security measures have been ramped up around the Atlanta courthouse in Fulton County, Georgia, and a yearslong investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state is complete, according to District Attorney Fani Willis.

“We’ve been working for two and half years. We’re ready to go,” Willis told CNN affiliate WXIA.

Whether that means Trump will ultimately face charges in Georgia is unclear, although Willis has said she would make a decision by the end of August.

On Monday, the judge who has overseen Willis’ investigation, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, dismissed Trump’s latest effort to circumvent the Georgia case, making clear the former president will have to wait until he is actually indicted there to fight potential charges.

‘Rumpelstiltskin’

He also alluded in a footnote to how Trump has fanned fury at his legal problems for his own political purposes.

“And for some, being the subject of a criminal investigation can, à la Rumpelstiltskin, be turned into golden political capital, making it seem more providential than problematic,” McBurney wrote, drawing a parallel between the former president and the villain of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale who turns straw into gold.

Trump is also trying to have McBurney bounced from the case. A hearing before another judge is scheduled for August 10.

Read CNN’s full report on the Fulton County probe by Sara Murray and Jason Morris.

Trump’s political fortunes stay bright

CNN’s Harry Enten has two very important points in his analysis.

Trump is in a very strong position to win the GOP primary.

Enten: No one in Trump’s current polling position in the modern era has lost an open presidential primary that didn’t feature an incumbent. He’s pulling in more than 50% of support in the national primary polls, i.e., more than all his competitors combined.

Proving Enten’s point, in a new New York Times/Siena College poll, Trump has the support of more than half, 54%, of the Republican primary electorate. He roughly triples the support for his nearest competitor, the flagging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is under 20%.

Trump would be competitive in November 2024 against Biden.

Enten: What should arguably be more amazing is that despite most Americans agreeing that Trump’s two indictments thus far were warranted, he remains competitive in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden. A poll out last week from Marquette University Law School had Biden and Trump tied percentage-wise (with a statistically insignificant few more respondents choosing Trump).

Enten notes that general election polling so far from the election should not be viewed as predictive, which could give Democrats some solace. But the fact is that both men have poor favorability ratings. And Trump is neck and neck with Biden in some key states like Pennsylvania.

And note: The primary will mostly be completed by the end of March, when the first of the currently scheduled criminal trials is set to get underway.

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Inside the Party Switch That Blew Up North Carolina Politics - The New York Times

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Tricia Cotham, a Democrat who supported abortion rights, was encouraged to run for a state House seat by powerful Republicans. After she was elected, she joined them and delivered a G.O.P. supermajority.

When Tricia Cotham, a former Democratic lawmaker, was considering another run for the North Carolina House of Representatives, she turned to a powerful party leader for advice. Then, when she jumped into the Democratic primary, she was encouraged by still other formidable allies.

She won the primary in a redrawn district near Charlotte, and then triumphed in the November general election by 18 percentage points, a victory that helped Democrats lock in enough seats to prevent, by a single vote, a Republican supermajority in the state House.

Except what was unusual — and not publicly known at the time — was that the influential people who had privately encouraged Ms. Cotham to run were Republicans, not Democrats. One was Tim Moore, the redoubtable Republican speaker of the state House. Another was John Bell, the Republican majority leader.

“I encouraged her to run because she was a really good member when she served before,” Mr. Bell recalled in an interview.

Three months after Ms. Cotham took office in January, she delivered a mortal shock to Democrats and to abortion rights supporters: She switched parties, and then cast a decisive vote on May 3 to override a veto by the state’s Democratic governor and enact a 12-week limit on most abortions — North Carolina’s most restrictive abortion policy in 50 years.

Overnight, Ms. Cotham became a heroine to Republicans and anti-abortion advocates across the country, even as Democrats vilified her as a traitor whose unexpected party flip had changed health care policy in a politically purple state of more than 10 million people.

Demonstrators gathered in downtown Raleigh, N.C., in May when Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill to restrict abortion access in the state. The state legislature overrode his veto.Kate Medley for The New York Times

More perplexing to many Democrats was why she did it. Ms. Cotham came from a family with strong ties to the Democratic Party, campaigned as a progressive on social issues and had even co-sponsored a bill to codify a version of Roe v. Wade into North Carolina law.

Interviews with former and current political allies depict her as someone who had grown alienated from Democratic Party officials and ideals. Republican leaders cultivated her before she ran and, seeing her growing estrangement, seized a chance to coax her across party lines.

Before the switch, Ms. Cotham chafed at what she perceived as a lack of support from other Democrats. Once she was elected, Mr. Moore said, he made it clear that she would be welcomed by Republicans.

“Never in my life did I think that one person could have that kind of impact, that will affect the lives of thousands of people for years to come,” said Ann Newman, a Democratic activist in Ms. Cotham’s district. Ms. Newman recently asked for — and received — a refund of the $250 she had donated to Ms. Cotham’s 2022 campaign.

Her change of parties has left many of Ms. Cotham’s constituents feeling angry and betrayed, and has allowed Republicans to flex the power of their new supermajority well beyond the abortion issue, overturning a string of vetoes by the state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, including six on June 27 alone.

Ms. Cotham, 44, has defended her switch and said she had delivered on many promises she made to voters.

“I campaigned on Medicaid expansion,” she said in a statement to The New York Times. “I campaigned on supporting children, housing, safer communities, a strong economy and increasing health care options. I’ve done all of this and more.”

Stickers, including some reading, “Cotham lied,” sit on a table during a Democratic Party rally in Charlotte in April.Sean Rayford for The New York Times

Yet there is no question that Ms. Cotham has dealt a grievous blow to Democratic policy goals in North Carolina.

Late in March, just a few days before switching parties, she skipped a pivotal gun-control vote, helping Republicans loosen gun restrictions in the state. After she became a Republican, she sponsored a bill to expand student eligibility for private-school vouchers, voted to ban gender-affirming care for minors and voted to outlaw discussions of race or gender in state job interviews.

“This switch has been absolutely devastating,” said state Representative Pricey Harrison, a Democrat from Greensboro.

Ms. Cotham received a standing ovation at North Carolina’s state Republican convention in June. She was invited to meet privately there with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and former Vice President Mike Pence.

“She’s a rock star among the Republican Party activists and voter base,” said U.S. Representative Dan Bishop, a Republican who said he encouraged Ms. Cotham to join his party and who stood behind her when she announced the decision.

Tricia Cotham was greeted by fellow legislators when she first took a seat in the state House in 2007. She left the chamber in 2016 and was elected again last year. Karen Tam/The Charlotte Observer, via Associated Press

A Democratic upbringing

Ms. Cotham had deep Democratic roots when she first entered the state House in 2007, replacing a lawmaker who resigned amid corruption charges. At 28, she became the state’s youngest legislator.

Her mother was active in party politics, and later ran successfully for the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. A first cousin became a Democratic Party leader in Maine, and ran a political action committee supporting abortion rights.

As a student, Ms. Cotham volunteered for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign and interned for John Edwards, then a United States Senator.

A lot of people in the Democratic Party “have known her since she was a child,” said Ms. Cotham’s mother, Pat Cotham.

In the North Carolina House, Tricia Cotham was re-elected to four full terms and became a progressive force, calling for higher taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents to help close budget gaps. She criticized charter schools. She fought against the so-called bathroom bill that required people to use restrooms in accordance with their birth gender.

She repeatedly railed against waiting periods for abortions, and speaking on the House floor in 2015, invoked her personal experience.

“Legislators, you do not hold shares in my body,” she said in a speech that has now become famous, “so stop trying to manipulate my mind.”

In 2016, Ms. Cotham chose to run for Congress, rather than for another term in the legislature, and was defeated.

Lacey Williams, a former advocacy director at the Charlotte-based Latin American Coalition who considered Ms. Cotham a friend for years, said Ms. Cotham “felt she did not get the gratitude or spotlight that she felt she deserved,” and added, “she was jealous that other Democrats were getting the adulation from the party.”

In response, Ms. Cotham said Ms. Williams “has a right to her feelings,” but “I do not perceive it that way — I’m a very confident and accomplished woman.”

Ms. Cotham’s switch of parties meant that Republicans would have veto-proof majorities in both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. Travis Dove for The New York Times

The Lobbyist

For a time, Ms. Cotham left elective politics and went into lobbying, with a focus on education. In 2019, she and three partners founded a firm called BCHL. One of the partners was C. Philip Byers, a major donor to state Republicans who was also president of a company that built charter schools.

In office, Ms. Cotham had criticized charter schools, but now her firm supported private investments in the public school system and charter schools. (Ms. Cotham said she had been supportive of public school alternatives “for years.”)

In 2019, she also became president of an education organization called Achievement for All Children, which was chosen by state officials to turn around a foundering public school in Robeson County. For the next year and a half, Ms. Cotham commuted to the school, Southside-Ashpole Elementary, which is about 100 miles from her home outside Charlotte.

Ms. Cotham fought policy battles energetically, recalled Brenda McCallum, an office manager at the school. She also appealed to her younger constituents, once dressing as the Cat in the Hat for a reading event.

“She was an excellent advocate for our school,” said Ms. McCallum. “The kids loved her.”

In early 2020, Ms. Cotham fell sick with Covid-19, a diagnosis that hobbled her for the next two years. In a local television interview in 2022, she said she was still struggling with the virus’s lingering effects.

It was around that time that state Democratic Party officials were homing in on a redrawn state House district in Mecklenburg County, where Ms. Cotham lived, and where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans. Partly because of her public Covid battle, party leaders didn’t seriously consider nominating her, but she surprised them by filing at the deadline in March to run for the seat.

Some Democrats welcomed her return, seeing her as a reliable ally on social issues like abortion, but activist Democrats in the Charlotte area said she never responded to their offers of help. Text messages from political allies and friends, wishing her well, were met with silence.

She fumed that Lillian’s List, an abortion rights organization, had “really screwed” her by endorsing another Democrat in the primary, according to a message she sent to a campaign worker, Autumn Alston, that was reviewed by The New York Times.

Ms. Cotham seemed to have embraced a me-versus-them mentality, said Jonathan Coby, her former campaign consultant. “She would say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to talk to that group, they’re out to get me; they don’t like me,’” Mr. Coby recalled.

Ms. Cotham said that Mr. Coby, who worked with her for nearly a decade, including on her most recent campaign, was not a reliable source of information.

Meanwhile, as Ms. Cotham grew leery of activists and groups on the left, she was receiving counsel from prominent Republicans. “I reached out to her and told her good luck, I hope she wins,” said Mr. Moore, the House speaker. “She was somebody I realized we could work with.”

Ms. Cotham said that Mr. Moore and “others” were pleased that she was running. She called their well wishes “pretty common.”

Both Mr. Moore and John Bell, the Republican majority leader, said they didn’t know at that time that Ms. Cotham would change parties.

Ms. Cotham’s top campaign donors included the North Carolina Dental Society PAC — which gave almost exclusively to Republican candidates — and the North Carolina Health Care Facilities PAC, which gave mainly to Republicans.

“Those groups have honored me with their support for years,” Ms. Cotham said. “I’ve earned it.”

Ms. Cotham, left, attended the North Carolina Republican Convention in Greensboro in June.Kate Medley for The New York Times

A rocky return

In January, Ms. Cotham was part of a small group of lawmakers who escorted Mr. Moore to the dais to be sworn in as speaker. Some Democrats said they were surprised to see Ms. Cotham play such a role.

In a recent interview, Mr. Moore praised Ms. Cotham’s ability to “work with Republicans at all times.”

Democrats, including Ms. Cotham, sponsored a House bill that month to write Roe v. Wade’s protection of abortion rights into state law. Yet she refused to meet or take phone calls from Planned Parenthood, according to Jillian Riley, a lobbyist for the group.

Ms. Cotham told Mr. Coby and her mother that she was put off that Democrats treated her as a newcomer when she returned to the House, inviting her to freshman orientation and offering her a mentor. She declined both.

Ms. Cotham would later say she was offended by what she regarded as bullying and groupthink inside the Democratic caucus, which was no longer the “big tent” she had once known. She said the caucus focused too much on process over the hard work of governance.

Democrats said they were baffled by the accusations she later aired. Text messages between Ms. Cotham and house Democratic Party leader Robert Reives reviewed by The Times show friendly dialogue.

“It never would have crossed my mind that she was having issues,” said Mr. Reives.

Mr. Bell, the Republican majority leader, said he was aware of Ms. Cotham’s unease. He and Mr. Moore tried to engage her about joining the G.O.P., telling her “you have a home over here.”

After Ms. Cotham was criticized for missing the vote on gun regulations, Mr. Bishop, the Republican congressman, called her and said he had heard she was thinking of joining his party.

“I got the sense when we talked that she was much farther along in that decision than I had understood before calling her,” he recalled.

After the gun vote, Mr. Coby said he found Ms. Cotham to be angry. “She said, ‘I’m either going to switch parties or resign,’” he remembered. “The things she was telling me then were like, ‘The Democrats don’t like me, the Republicans have helped me out a lot and been nice to me.’”

Four days later Ms. Cotham announced her decision to defect. “The party wants to villainize anyone who has free thought,” she said of the Democrats during a news conference.

She accused Democrats of spreading “vicious rumors” about her — perhaps alluding to chatter that she and Mr. Moore were romantically linked. Mr. Moore has denied the assertion; Ms. Cotham called it “insulting.”

Ms. Cotham was soon fielding thousands of texts, emails and phone messages calling her a traitor and liar, delivering vulgarities her mother described “as a new low in society” and demanding that she resign.

Four months after Ms. Cotham’s party switch, the bitterness still runs deep.

Linda Meigs, a political activist from Charlotte, drove to Ms. Cotham’s district this month for a meeting with local lawmakers hosted by Common Cause North Carolina and other liberal advocacy groups.

Ms. Meigs said she had come prepared to confront Ms. Cotham over how she could have campaigned on “Democratic Party values such as women’s rights to reproductive freedom and L.G.B.T.Q. rights,” only to reverse her support. Ms. Cotham was invited to speak, but didn’t attend.

“When I’m talking to somebody and asking them a question, I usually like to look them in the face,” Ms. Meigs told a crowded room at a Mint Hill church. “I can’t do that tonight.”

Instead, she pointed to a front-row chair. “So,” she said to cheers, “I’m going to talk to this empty chair.”

Bryan Anderson contributed reporting from Raleigh, N.C. Kitty Bennett contributed research.

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South African political leader calls for violence against White citizens at rally: 'Kill the Boer, the farmer' - Fox News

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South African political leader Julius Malema led racially violent chants at a massive rally on Saturday.

Malema, who is the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, sang the genocidal anti-apartheid struggle song "Kill the Boer, the farmer," referring to the White descendants of Dutch settlers or "Boers" in South Africa.

The Economic Freedom Fighters has emerged as one of the preeminent powers in South African politics after the end of the Apartheid regime. Malema was originally a youth leader in the African National Congress (ANC) which was famous for being led by South Africa’s first Black leader, Nelson Mandela. 

Malema faced backlash for his call for violence against White South Africans. John Steenhuisen, the leader of South Africa's biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) condemned Malema on Monday, warning, "This is a man who is determined to ignite... civil war." He later noted that Malema is a "bloodthirsty tyrant" calling for "mass murder." He also claimed that the DA will file a complaint against Malema with the UN Human Rights Council.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema greets his supporters as he arrives for the party's 2019 Election Manifesto Launch at the Giant Stadium in Pretoria on February 2, 2019.  (PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)

CORNELL MEDICAL CRT CLASS CALLS TO DISMANTLE 'WHITE SPACES,' BOLSTERS DEFENSE OF RIOTING: 'BURN THIS B---H'

While the EFF is a relatively new party, it appears to be rising in popularity.

"The liberal DA, which has traditionally appealed to a largely White electorate, is polling to win about 16 percent of the vote," news outlet Barron’s reported. "The militant EFF, which advocates for reforms to increase land ownership among Black South Africans, is polling at around 13 percent."

According to the BBC noted that Malema has been brought to court for multiple similar offenses.

"He has been repeatedly accused of hate speech. He's been dragged to court by civil rights group AfriForum after the organisation filed a complaint to have the two songs Dubul'ibhunu (Shoot the Boer) and Biza a ma'fire brigade (Call the Fire Brigade) declared hate speech and unfair discrimination," the BBC reported in an article about the EFF’s 10-year anniversary.

At a similar rally in 2019, Malema declared he would be willing to destroy the political system in order to ensure equality.

"White people, all we want is to join you at the dinner table and eat with you," he said to thousands of followers at Soweto's Orlando Stadium. "If you do not want us to sit with you at the table, then we have no choice but to destroy the table."

Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), gestures as he speaks at a party rally in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sunday, May 5, 2019.  (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

‘RACE-BLIND AMERICA’ ADVOCATE THRILLED SCOTUS NIXED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

In response to previous backlash he has faced for singing "Kill the Boer," ("Kill the White farmer") Malema said the EFF is not "anti-White" so much as seeking "equality for South Africa's Black majority." 

Malema also argued that the EFF seeks to address the "ill-gotten privileges that White people enjoy, and which are being protected by the ANC."

In 2019, Malema said, "The first thing we will deal with is the issue of land. We want to expropriate the land without compensation so that Black people also benefit from its wealth."

Footage recently surfaced online of what appears to be a recent EFF rally, where Malema can be seen chanting "Kill the Boer, the farmer" to a packed stadium of supporters.

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South African-born billionaire Elon Musk weighed in on the video saying Malema is "pushing for genocide." He asked why South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hasn't addressed Malema's rhetoric. 

For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media 

Alexander Hall is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Alexander.hall@fox.com.

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Suicide bomber at political rally in Pakistan kills at least 44 - POLITICO

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Rescue workers carry a wounded man after a bomb explosion in the Bajur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on July 30, 2023. | Rescue 1122 Head Quarters via AP Photo

By Associated Press

07/30/2023 05:18 PM EDT

KHAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally in a former stronghold of militants in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least 44 people and wounding nearly 200 in an attack that a senior leader said was meant to weaken Pakistani Islamists.

The Bajur district near the Afghan border was a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban — a close ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban government — before the Pakistani army drove the militants out of the area. Supporters of hardline Pakistani cleric and political party leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose Jamiat Ulema Islam generally supports regional Islamists, were meeting in Bajur in a hall close to a market outside the district capital. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally but organizers added tents because so many supporters showed up, and party volunteers with batons were helping control the crowd.

Officials were announcing the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, when the bomb went off in one of Pakistan’s bloodiest attacks in recent years.

Provincial police said in a statement that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives vest close to the stage where several senior leaders of the party were sitting. It said initial investigations suggested the Islamic State group — which operates in Afghanistan and is an enemy of the Afghan Taliban — could be behind the attack, and officers were still investigating.

“There was dust and smoke around, and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some scattered limbs,” said Adam Khan, 45, who was knocked to the ground by the blast around 4 p.m. and hit by splinters in his leg and both hands.

The Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that the bombing was aimed at setting Islamists against each other. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “such crimes cannot be justified in any way.”

The Afghan Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government in November, and have stepped up attacks across the country.

The bombing came hours before the arrival of Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Islamabad, where he was to participate in an event to mark a decade of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a sprawling package under which Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan.

In recent months, China has helped Pakistan avoid a default on sovereign payments. However, some Chinese nationals have also been targeted by militants in northwestern Pakistan and elsewhere.

Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, told The Associated Press that so far 44 people had been “martyred” and nearly 200 wounded in the bombing.

The bombing was one of the four worst attacks in the northwest since 2014, when 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. n February, more than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at a mosque inside a high-security compound housing Peshawar police headquarters.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families. Sharif later, in a phone call to Rehman, the head of the JUI, conveyed his condolences to him and assured him that those who orchestrated the attack would be punished.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also condemned the attack. In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, it expressed its condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims killed in the attack..

Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman’s party, was among the dead. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt.

Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliamentary elections in November, but he said such tactics would not work. The bombing drew nationwide condemnation, with the ruling and opposition parties extending condolences to the families of those who died in the attack.

Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.

“Many of our fellows lost their lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones,” Rasheed said.

Mohammad Wali, another attendant at the rally, said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.

“I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground,” he said. “We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones.”

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GOP House candidate: DeSantis 'really hurt himself' with 2024 prez run - Business Insider

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Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, left, and former President Donald Trump.

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• Republican Alan Pincus told WaPo that DeSantis may have tanked his political future in Florida over his 2024 bid.
• DeSantis once led Trump in earlier Florida surveys of the Republican presidential primary.
• But Trump has continued to dominate the GOP race and DeSantis has had to reboot his campaign.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is at a major crossroads in the 2024 presidential race.

He entered the race in May as the top challenger to former President Donald Trump, hoping to carve out a lane among Republicans who wanted to see a nominee who was laser-focused on conservative policies and had the results to back it up. But his campaign has stalled in recent weeks, forcing him to lay off staffers and recalibrate his message as he faces an emerging threat from the candidacy of Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

But at DeSantis' core is his political appeal in Florida, where he won reelection last November by 19 points over former Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, winning nearly every county in the state.

With DeSantis continuing to lag behind Trump in the state, some Republicans are also rethinking the governor's continued strength in the state which launched him to national conservative stardom. And many of those same Republicans have also stated that a bloc of voters are turned off by DeSantis' decision to challenge Trump in the first place.

Republican Alan Pincus — who backed DeSantis for governor in 2022 and is running for Congress next year — told The Washington Post that if DeSantis loses the GOP presidential primary, his political future in Florida may fizzle as well.

"DeSantis has no chance of winning," Pincus told the newspaper. "He really hurt himself, maybe permanently."

DeSantis once led in early Florida polling among the GOP presidential contenders.

But even in the Sunshine State, he's fallen behind Trump — in a head-to-head contest, the latest Florida Atlantic University/Mainstreet Research survey had Trump leading DeSantis 54%-37%.

In the FiveThirtyEight average of national Republican presidential polls, Trump currently sits at 52.4%, well ahead of the second- and third-place contenders — DeSantis (averaging 15.5% support) and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (averaging 6.8% of GOP primary support).

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Bomb at political rally in Pakistan kills at least 40 people - POLITICO

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An ambulance carries injured people after a bomb explosion in the Bajur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on July 30, 2023. | Rescue 1122 Head Quarters via AP Photo

By Associated Press

07/30/2023 10:45 AM EDT

KHAR, Pakistan — A powerful bomb ripped through a rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader in the country’s northwestern Bajur district that borders Afghanistan on Sunday, police and health officials said. At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded.

Senior police officer Nazir Khan said the workers convention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema Islam party was taking place on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district, when the explosion took place.

AP video showed wounded people being carried from the scene in the chaotic aftermath of the explosion.

Adam Khan, 45, was hit by splinters in his leg and both hands. He said it was around 4 p.m. when the the explosion knocked him to the ground.

“There was all dust and smoke around and I was under the some injured people from where I hardly (could stand) up but only to see chaos and some scattered limbs,” he said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group operates across the border in Afghanistan.

Initially, police said 10 people were killed but later more bodies arrived at a local hospital bringing the death toll to 40. Khan said some of the wounded were in critical condition and the death toll could rise.

The JUI workers convention was arranged in a hall close to a market but later tents were added because of the large number of supporters who turned out. The venue was being guarded by party volunteers dressed in camel-colored traditional garb called Shalwar Qameez and holding batons.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Akhtar Hayat Gandapur said an initial investigation suggested a suicide bomber sneaked into the venue despite the security provided by party volunteers. He said explosives experts were combing the scene to preserve evidence.

District health officer Dr. Faisal Khan said 40 bodies and 150 wounded from the blast were at Khar’s main hospital. Some of the wounded were in critical condition and were being transferred to a facility in Peshawar and the adjoining district of Dir.

Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif, President Arif Alvi and other leaders condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families.

Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman’s party, was among the dead. Senator Abdur Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally.

Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliament elections in November but he said such tactics will not work.

Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the coming elections.

“Many of our fellows lost lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones,” he said.

Mohammad Wali said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.

“I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded throwing me away to the ground,” he said. “We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying wounded people and sobbing relatives taking bodies of their loved ones.”

Bajur, once used to be a tribal region but now a district, has been a safe haven for Islamic militants until recent years when Pakistani military carried out massive operations to eliminate militancy from the tribal region. Militants still strike attacking security forces and civilians often.

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Blast rips through political gathering in Pakistan, killing at least 44 - CNN

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CNN  — 

At least 44 people died after a suicide bomber attacked a political convention organized by an Islamist party in northwestern Pakistan, police said.

More than 100 were injured, 17 critically, in the attack targeting members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, who had gathered in the town of Khar, close to the border with Afghanistan.

Local police said the attacker detonated explosives near the convention’s stage.

There has been no initial claim of responsibility for the attack. But the local branch of ISIS has previously targeted JUI-F party leaders as they consider them apostates.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “strongly condemned” the blast, according to a statement released by the minister’s office.

An investigation is underway, and the prime minister’s office has requested a report from Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the statement added.

The leader of the JUI-F party, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, expressed “deep sorrow and regret” following the blast, in a statement released by his press office.

“‎Peace be upon JUI workers,” the statement added. “The federal and provincial government should provide the best treatment to the injured.”

One witness said more than 500 people were attending the convention when the blast occurred.

“A powerful explosion knocked me unconscious,” Rahim Shah told Dawn.com.

When he came around there were “people screaming and even shots were fired,” he said, adding that there was blood everywhere.

Pakistani political parties are beginning campaign preparations ahead of elections due later this year.

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Matthew McConaughey sidesteps question on running for political office - The Hill

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Actor Matthew McConaughey holds an image of Alithia Ramirez, 10, who was killed in the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, as he speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Tuesday, June 7, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Actor Matthew McConaughey sidestepped a question Sunday on whether he would run for political office in the future.

“It’s more of a larger question for me of, is politics the category where I can be the most useful,” McConaughey responded.

McConaughey launched the Greenlights Grant Initiative last month alongside his wife that he says will help schools apply for safety grants that were included as part of legislation passed in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Since the school shooting in Uvalde, McConaughey has emerged as an advocate for “real change” on gun violence.

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“There’s a great question that I’m still answering and as of right now to be a private citizen, with my wife and come up with an idea like the Greenlights Grant Initiative to work with the government publicly to help them — not doing the job for them — helping them pull off what they set out to do in the first place,” he said. “There is argument that that’s more useful what I’m doing right now in a small way.”

“I mean, I’d have to be convinced that that’s the category that I’d be could be quite useful in,” McConaughey added. “And it’s something that I think about all the time.”

President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in June 2022 in the wake of the mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, N.Y. According to McConaughey, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) told him that just 12 out of 119 schools in his district had applied for the $1 billion in school safety grants created by the bill.

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