Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is nearing ballot access in three crucial battleground states that President Joe Biden won in 2020 but is lagging behind in polls against former President Donald Trump for 2024.

Kennedy’s campaign announced on Super Tuesday it received the required signatures to get his candidacy on the ballot in Nevada, and his aligned super PAC American Values 2024 surpassed similar thresholds in Arizona and Georgia just last week. In the three battleground states, where the previous election was decided by less than 56,000 ballots combined, polling suggests Trump’s lead against Biden grows when Kennedy and other third-party candidates are on the ballot.

“Nearly 70% of Americans don’t want a Trump/Biden rematch from 2020. They want to vote for someone who represents hope and healing. For someone with an inspiring vision for America,” Kennedy said in a statement Tuesday. “I look forward to taking on Presidents Biden and Trump on the issues that matter most to Americans — from making housing and health care affordable to ending the forever wars and unraveling corporate capture of our government.”

Trump is beating Biden by 7.7 points in Nevada, 6.5 points in Georgia and 5.5 points in Arizona for head-to-head matchups, according to the RealClearPolitics (RCP) averages. The former president’s leads grow slightly to 8.5 points in Nevada, 8 points in Georgia and 7.5 points in Arizona when Kennedy, “Justice for All Party” candidate Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are included.

In the three battleground states, Kennedy pulls in the most support of the third-party candidates at anywhere from 6.7% to 8.5% of the share in the RCP averages.

Trump won Arizona and Georgia in 2016, but lost both to Biden the following election by less than one point. The Democratic nominee won Nevada each cycle, with Biden securing the state by 2.4 points in 2020.

Jon McHenry, GOP polling analyst and vice president at North Star Opinion Research, believes that even a small increase in margin for Trump with Kennedy on the ballot in crucial battleground states could be enough to swing the election for him.

“On the face of it, it makes sense that a nominal Democrat like [Kennedy] would take more votes away from President Biden than former President Trump,” McHenry told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “What we’ve seen in our polling is a very slight difference in margin — maybe a point or two better for Trump — because [Kennedy’s] candidacy is more than anything else an anti-Biden statement that provides another option for some folks who might choose Trump in a two way ballot.”

“Of course, if it’s a point or two better for Trump, that could be the difference in states like Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin, and flipping those three states would give Trump a win in 2024,” McHenry added.

Kennedy originally challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination in April 2023, where he had been pulling in double-digit support, but switched his affiliation to independent in October.

Mark Weaver, a veteran Republican strategist, argued that Kennedy being a household Democratic name would likely pull more support from Biden’s camp than Trump’s.

“The polls I’ve seen show Trump voters gripping more tightly to their candidate than Biden voters gripping to theirs,” Weaver told the DCNF. “The pull of a third-party candidate will have a greater effect on Biden voters, who are not gripped so tightly to their candidate, than it will on Trump voters.”

Kyle Kondik, nonpartisan polling analyst and managing editor for Sabato’s Crystal Ball, argued that West and Stein’s candidacies pose more of a threat to Biden’s campaign than Kennedy’s does.

“Biden generally does worse on the ‘full ballot,’ but that also includes Cornel West and Jill Stein, who more clearly are left-wing and who more clearly hurt Biden,” Kondik told the DCNF. “[Kennedy’s] effect is harder to quantify, as he generally takes from both Biden and Trump.”

Kennedy has already secured ballot access in Utah, and collected the required signatures to get on the ballot in New Hampshire. American Values 2024 is now focused on gathering signatures in California, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

The independent’s supporters collected enough signatures in Hawaii to establish the “We The People” party, which plans on nominating Kennedy for president, the campaign announced on Feb. 22. Kennedy’s allies have also filed the necessary paperwork to form the party in California, Delaware, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas.

Kennedy’s campaign is aiming to make it on the ballot in all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C.

The Kennedy, Trump and Biden campaigns did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

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Fulton County Ethics Board Decides At Last Minute Not To Hear Fani Willis Complaint

The Fulton County Board of Ethics reportedly declined to review two complaints against Fani Willis just before a meeting scheduled for their consideration Thursday.

The board chose not to review the complaints because it found it lacks jurisdiction to enforce the code of ethics against Willis, as she is a state constitutional officer, according to multiple reports. The meeting agenda initially listed two ethics complaints against Willis but was later amended to exclude them.

“The Fulton County Code of Ethics only applies to county officers and employees,” a member of the board stated, according to a video posted by Atlanta News First reporter Doug Reardon. “The Fulton County district attorney does not fall within the definition of a county officer.”

The Fulton County Board of Ethics will NOT hear two Fani Willis complaints. Board apparently has determined it does not have jurisdiction over Willis, a state constitutional officer. #gapol

— David Wickert (@dwickert) March 7, 2024

It is unclear whether the meeting has been canceled entirely, though the Zoom link provided for public access leads to an invalid notice.

Gregory Mantell, who operates the Substack blog Investigative News Service, filed one complaint due to “the DA’s illegal refusal to release certain financial records, including Nathan Wade’s invoices, under Georgia’s public records law.”

Steven Kramer, a Fulton County resident, filed the other complaint, according to the agenda.

The Board of Ethics determined it lacked jurisdiction over Willis, who is an elected state officer, unable to be ethically reviewed by a county board. They noted the investigations going on at the state level. pic.twitter.com/3V8DGPiU3m

— Doug Reardon (@ReardonReports) March 7, 2024

Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who filed the motion to disqualify Willis on behalf of Trump co-defendant Michael Roman in January, testified Wednesday on how she had uncovered the district attorney’s relationship with Nathan Wade at a Georgia State Senate hearing.

The Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations held its first meeting Feb. 9 to “thoroughly investigate the allegations of misconduct by the district attorney for Fulton County, Fani Willis, relating to potential conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds, to enact new or amend existing laws and/or change state appropriations to restore public confidence in the criminal justice system.”

Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation

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Gold Star Parent is Placed Under Arrest for Interrupting Joe Biden’s State of the Union Speech

Steve Nikoui, a Gold Star parent invited to attend the State of the Union address, has been placed under arrest for interrupting Biden’s speech.

“U.S. Capitol Police confirmed to NBC News that Steven Nikoui, a guest at tonight’s State of the Union address, was arrested for disrupting the speech,” the media outlet reported.

“Our officers warned him to stop and when he did not, the man was removed from the House Galleries and was arrested,” Capitol Police said. “Disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in the Congressional Buildings is illegal.”

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) invited Nikoui, who is the father of one of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the attack on Abbey Gate during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

As reported earlier by the Politics Brief, during Biden’s boasting about allegedly making America safer, distraught man yelled “United States Marines!” and “Abbey Gate!”

“The man screaming at Biden during his speech was Steve Nikoui, whose son, Kareem Nikoui, was killed during Biden’s DISASTROUS Afghanistan withdrawal Steve was screaming things like ‘UNITED STATES MARINES’ and ‘ABBEY GATE!’ If there’s anything I’d ask you to do tonight, it’s pray for the Nikoui family, and demand they receive justice for Kareem,” Nick Sortor reported.

Steve Nikoui’s sad story was first told to Americans after President Biden’s disastrous Afghan withdrawal.

“Steve Nikoui had been glued to TV reports on Thursday, desperate for hints his son, Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, survived the deadly airport suicide bombing in Afghanistan when three Marines arrived at his door with the worst news possible,” Reuters reported in August 2021.

“The 20-year-old Marine, who the previous day had sent home a video of himself giving candy to Afghan children, was among 13 U.S. service members killed in the bombing,” the story continued. “Others included an expectant father from Wyoming, the son of a California police officer and a medic from Ohio.”

“He was born the same year it started, and ended his life with the end of this war,” Nikoui said.

“Joe Biden has been trying to turn the page on Afghanistan after his incompetence cost American lives, but not on my watch,” Rep. Mast said.  “For the last three years, Joe Biden has done nothing but tried to deflect blame as terrorists have taken hold of Afghanistan, repressed women, and killed those who supported America.  I will continue to call out President Biden to remind him of the damage he has done to national security and American families.”

This Gold Star parent’s arrest adds more insult to injury after Joe Biden infamously checked his watch while at a ceremony for the dignified transfer of remains.

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Judge Kaplan Deals Another Blow to Donald Trump in Defamation Case

Now we know who interrupted Joe Biden’s State of the Union address: A Gold Star parent who lost a son in Afghanistan.

That Gold Star parent’s story is indeed a tragic one. He took offense at a particularly painful passage during Joe Biden’s angry and partisan State of the Union Address.

“Freedom to be safe and America’s safer today than when I took office,” Biden said. “Year before I took office, murder rates went up 30%. 30%. They went up. The biggest increase in history. It was then through my American rescue plan, which every American voted against … are mad at. We made the largest investment in public safety ever. Last year, the murder rates saw the stop decrease in history. Violent crime fell to one of us lowest levels of more than 50 years. But we have more to do.”

During Biden’s boasting about the alleged decrease in violent crime, a distraught man yelled “United States Marines!” and “Abbey Gate!”

That man was Steve Nikoui, a Gold Star parent invited to the State of the Union. He was a guest of Florida Congressman Brian Mast.

“The man screaming at Biden during his speech was Steve Nikoui, whose son, Kareem Nikoui, was killed during Biden’s DISASTROUS Afghanistan withdrawal Steve was screaming things like ‘UNITED STATES MARINES’ and ‘ABBEY GATE!’ If there’s anything I’d ask you to do tonight, it’s pray for the Nikoui family, and demand they receive justice for Kareem,” Nick Sortor reported.

Steve Nikoui’s sad story was told to Americans after President Biden’s disastrous Afghan withdrawal.

“Steve Nikoui had been glued to TV reports on Thursday, desperate for hints his son, Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, survived the deadly airport suicide bombing in Afghanistan when three Marines arrived at his door with the worst news possible,” Reuters reported in August 2021.

“The 20-year-old Marine, who the previous day had sent home a video of himself giving candy to Afghan children, was among 13 U.S. service members killed in the bombing,” the story continued. “Others included an expectant father from Wyoming, the son of a California police officer and a medic from Ohio.”

“He was born the same year it started, and ended his life with the end of this war,” Nikoui said.

Rep. Brian Mast provided a rationale for inviting Nikoui to the State of the Union Address.

“Joe Biden has been trying to turn the page on Afghanistan after his incompetence cost American lives, but not on my watch,” Rep. Mast said.  “For the last three years, Joe Biden has done nothing but tried to deflect blame as terrorists have taken hold of Afghanistan, repressed women, and killed those who supported America.  I will continue to call out President Biden to remind him of the damage he has done to national security and American families.”

Mast, an Army veteran, provided more context for Biden’s Afghan War pullout.

• According to a Pentagon report, the United States left behind $7.12 billion of military equipment in Afghanistan after the withdrawal.

• In addition, despite his promise to stay to get all American citizens out by the August 31, 2021 deadline, more than 800 Americans were abandoned behind enemy lines after the withdrawal.

• Most egregiously, eleven Marines, one Navy corpsman and one Army soldier lost their lives in a suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

One of those servicemembers was Kareem Nikoui. And much like Laken Riley, Joe Biden was not able to ‘say his name.’

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Joe Biden Finally ‘Says Her Name’ at the State of the Union — And Humiliates Himself in the Process

President Joe Biden finally “said her name” at the State of the Union address on Thursday night before a packed joint session of Congress.

The president was challenged to say her name during his speech by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Congresswoman from Georgia.

Joe Biden did say Laken Riley’s name. Or at least he tried to. He appears to have butchered her first name, by saying “Lincoln.” Twice. (This is according to automated transcription.)

“I know you know how to read,” Biden railed.” I believe that given the opportunity for a majority in the House and Senate would endorse the bill as well. The majority right now. But unfortunately, politics has derailed this bill so far. I’m told my predecessor called members of Congress in the Senate to demand. They block the bill. He feels a political win. He viewed it as be a political win for me and a political loser for him. It’s not about him. It’s not about me. I’d be a winner. Not really.”

Then, MTG spoke up and derailed his scattershot train of thought.

Joe Biden has the authority as commander-in-chief to shut down the border without an act of Congress. His administration has issued dozens of executive actions that have made it easier for illegal immigrants to make it into the country.

There have been an estimated seven million illegal migrants who have come into the country on Biden’s watch. One of them killed Laken Hope Riley.

The House passed a bill Thursday that would target illegal migrants in the U.S. who have committed certain crimes, naming the legislation in memory of the late nursing student Laken Hope Riley.

Riley, aged 22, was killed on Feb. 22 after being allegedly attacked while running in a forested area near the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, with the suspect arrested and charged with her murder, Jose Antonio Ibarra, being a Venezuelan national who allegedly entered the United States illegally and was released after being initially detained. The Laken Riley Act would require the federal government to detain foreign nationals who commit “burglary, theft, larceny, or [a] shoplifting offense” as well as grant states to sue the federal government for non-enforcement of certain aspects of immigration law, and passed the House by a vote of 251 yeas to 170 nays.

“It should pass the Senate. That doesn’t mean it will or it would, but it should. This is common sense legislation. This is good legislation, and this can help our local law enforcement so I would hope that the Senate would look at it from that standpoint,” Republican Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, the bill’s sponsor, who represents the district where Riley died, told the DCNF. “There’s nothing wrong with this bill. There’s nothing I could see that they could point at and say ‘That’s wrong,’ with this bill. And if we can pass this, we should pass it. It’s got a good chance of helping save a life.”

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House Republicans Pass Laken Riley Act Despite 170 ‘No’ Votes from Democrats

Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Congresswoman from Georgia, laid into Joe Biden at the State of the Union address.

The Georgia firebrand confronted Joe Biden and demanded he “say her name.”

That person’s name? Laken Riley. Here was Joe Biden’s reaction.

Biden took a pin from Greene honoring Laken Riley, but did not say her name. MTG was handing out Laken Riley pins and wearing one in her honor.

On Thursday, the House passed a bill that would deport illegal migrants in the U.S. who have committed certain crimes, such as various types of theft. The legislation was named in memory of the late nursing student Laken Hope Riley, who was brutally murdered by a Venezuelan illegal migrant.

170 Democrats voted against the Laken Riley Act. The Act would require the federal government to detain foreign nationals who commit “burglary, theft, larceny, or [a] shoplifting offense” as well as grant states to sue the federal government for non-enforcement of certain aspects of immigration law.

Riley, aged 22, was killed on Feb. 22 after being allegedly attacked while running in a forested area near the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, with the suspect arrested and charged with her murder, Jose Antonio Ibarra.

“It should pass the Senate. That doesn’t mean it will or it would, but it should. This is common sense legislation. This is good legislation, and this can help our local law enforcement so I would hope that the Senate would look at it from that standpoint,” Republican Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, the bill’s sponsor, who represents the district where Riley died, told the DCNF. “There’s nothing wrong with this bill. There’s nothing I could see that they could point at and say ‘That’s wrong,’ with this bill. And if we can pass this, we should pass it. It’s got a good chance of helping save a life.”

“Laken Riley is not here with us anymore because of Biden’s failed policies. It’s about border security more than immigration. So, we need to look at what can we do if he is not going to secure the border,” Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia told the DCNF. “Her murderer was arrested in New York City weeks before and was released. Why shouldn’t he have been deported at that moment, by committing a crime?”

“Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old citizen of Venezuela, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Sept. 8, 2022, after unlawfully entering the United States near El Paso, Texas. He was paroled and released for further processing,” ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams told the DCNF. “On Aug. 31, 2023, Ibarra was arrested by the New York Police Department and charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation. He was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued,” Williams added.

The bill was passed shortly before Biden visited the U.S. Capitol to deliver the annual State of the Union address.

“This is a young lady who was just…with everything that we’ve learned about her, [she] just had a great future, a wonderful young lady who was dedicating herself to being a nurse, to help people,” Republican Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter of Georgia told the DCNF. “Don’t think that this is the only incident there are other incidents, as well…Every city is a border city. Now, every state is a border state.”

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MTG Explodes on Reporter Trolling Her During Interview, Tells Her to Her Face to ‘F*** OFF’

A federal court on Thursday denied former President Trump’s plea to postpone the $83.3 million judgment in advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit, refusing to grant Trump extra time to post a bond with the deadline just a few days away.

The former president and GOP presidential candidate has attempted to postpone the verdicts in both Carroll’s lawsuit and the New York attorney general’s vast fraud prosecution, with Trump facing hundreds of millions of dollars in fines across the two civil lawsuits.

Trump suffers a defeat as a result of Thursday’s verdict, which maintains default provisions that allow the judgment in Carroll’s case to be enforced as early as next week, thereby making it Trump’s bond posting deadline.

“Mr. Trump’s current situation is a result of his own dilatory actions,” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan stated in his decision.

A federal jury in New York ordered Trump to pay the eight-figure sum for defaming Carroll by dismissing her allegation when she came forward in 2019 accusing the then-president of sexual assault decades before. Last year, a second jury held Trump responsible for sexually assaulting the advice writer.

However, there are a number of evidentiary problems that make the sexual assault claim very problematic. Ms. Carroll waited 23 years to bring the lawsuit. She could only bring the lawsuit after New York implemented a temporary reprieve on the statute of limitations, specifically so Carroll could bring her case. She does not remember any details about how the alleged sexual assault happened that can be corroborated. She has also contradicted herself in her testimony, mentioning a dress that she wore that had not been available at the time. She also seems to have modeled her story after a Law & Order episode.

Thus, Donald Trump has not been criminally convicted, but is instead being compelled to pay an award to Ms. Carroll. Trump’s bail amount is expected to be $91.63 million as he appeals the January conviction.

In recent days, Trump has filed papers seeking a new trial or a reduction in damages. Trump had asked Kaplan, who was nominated to the bench by former President Clinton, to postpone the judgment until 30 days after the judge rules on the motions or decrease the bail sum to $24.475 million.

Kaplan has not yet decided on the delay request, but on Thursday, the court dismissed Trump’s most recent plea for an administrative stay to postpone Saturday’s deadline.

“This is the continuation of a totally lawless witch hunt,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. “President Trump filed a timely motion to stay the ridiculous judgment, and many courts, including the Second Circuit, recognize the importance of temporary administrative stays while such motions are pending.” We look forward to continuing to pursue the lawsuit and achieving full vindication of the truth.”

Carroll’s attorneys rejected the former president’s plea to postpone the decision or lessen his bail amount, citing worries that Trump would not pay up.

“He simply asks the Court to ‘trust me’ and offers, in a case with a $83.3 million judgment against him, the court filing equivalent of a paper napkin; signed by the least trustworthy of borrowers,” they stated in their letter to the judge.

Trump’s attorneys said that Carroll’s team had highlighted to the jury Trump’s own assertions about the amount of his fortune, a technique intended to increase the overall damages.

Carroll’s lawyers were taking a “fast-and-loose approach to the facts,” according to Trump attorneys Alina Habba and D. John Sauer.

Sauer was appointed as a counsel on the matter after the trial. Sauer is also defending Trump in his presidential immunity defense against federal election subversion allegations, as well as his appeal of a gag order imposed in that case.

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California’s Super Tuesday Election Marred by Reports of Electronic Ballot Issues for GOP Senate Candidate

During the Super Tuesday election in California, several voters in San Mateo County reported having difficulty locating the name of a Republican contender for the United States Senate on their electronic ballots.

As reported by the Epoch Times, “She (pseudonym Voter X) requested to remain anonymous because she lives in an area where the majority of residents are Democrats. She said that she was worried about being exposed to potential retaliation.”

The voting place she visited was at Foster City Community Center. She told The Epoch Times that when she voted at 8 a.m., she couldn’t find Republican candidate Steve Garvey on the voting machine.

The report noted that California has two vacant seats in the United States Senate—one for a six-year full term and another for a six-month term—and Garvey has run for both.

Voter X stated that after going back and forth multiple times on the voting machine, seeking for the name “Steve Garvey” on the electronic ballot, she only found him listed as a candidate for the six-month seat, not the full-term position.

Voter X then requested assistance from the voting station’s supervisor. The supervisor informed her that he was aware of the matter and had reported it to the main office a few days earlier.

In the end, Voter X had to type in Garvey’s name for the United States Senate full-term position, but she was unsure whether her vote would be tallied correctly.

She stated that when her husband went to the same voting location to vote, he had no trouble locating the name of the same candidate for both U.S. Senate seats.

Voter X indicated that she has previously worked on an election integrity initiative and as a vote observer.

Garvey is competing against Democratic candidate Adam Schiff. Prior to the election, polls suggested that these two candidates were leading in a close battle.

The Epoch Times also contacted three additional voters who voted for Garvey at a separate polling location, the San Carlos Library in San Mateo County. They all stated that they had difficulties finding Garvey on the voting machine, but they were ultimately able to locate his name.

Trisha Seevers stated that she went back and forth multiple times but couldn’t find Garvey’s name for the full-term position. She was ready to give up until she picked the write-in candidate option, and then Garvey’s name appeared.

Rep. Adam Schiff and baseball great Steve Garvey are projected to move forward in the race for the US Senate seat left open by the late Diane Feinstein.

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Harris County Election Debacle: D.A. Kim Ogg Showed Up to Vote, Found Out She ‘Already Voted’