Noah Kirsch

Laure Andrillon/ReutersRobert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, personally delivered paperwork to the Texas secretary of state’s office this week and claimed in a video that the independent presidential candidate had gathered “far beyond the number of signatures” necessary to place him on the ballot.“Thank you guys so much. This is so meaningful,” Shanahan said while seated inside a vehicle, waiting for Kennedy to arrive. “This is the path to democracy in this country.” She was holding a box that she said contained signatures gathered by volunteers on Kennedy’s behalf.His presence on the ballot in November is not yet official, matching his status in several other states. As of last week, Kennedy was confirmed to appear on the ballot in Utah, Hawaii, Delaware, California, and Michigan, with six other states still pending.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Laure Andrillon/ReutersNicole Shanahan, who ignored repeated requests for comment on a Daily Beast story about her astonishing ascent to become Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, complained on Thursday that she was “slandered” and had to “take a walk to shake it off.”Shanahan, who has been bankrolling RFK Jr.’s spoiler-ready campaign for president with the fortune she got in her divorce from Google founder Sergey Brin, did not raise any specific objection to the story, which she said she didn’t read until nearly a full day after it was published.But she did go into detail about an almost cinematic encounter she had on her walk when she “pulled into a farmers market to say hello to the farmers.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via GettyA super PAC backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to sue Meta this week, alleging that the parent company to Instagram and Facebook “brazenly” censored a documentary about the candidate.Meta insists that American Values 2024 is being melodramatic. In a statement to The Daily Beast, a spokesperson said the film was “mistakenly blocked” and that the problem was “quickly resolved” after it was flagged. The company previously told The New York Times that the resolution took at most a few hours.According to a press release issued by American Values on Monday, many Facebook and Instagram users were unable to share the 30-minute, Woody Harrelson-narrated documentary about the candidate, Who Is Bobby Kennedy?Read more at The Daily Beast.

Laure Andrillon/ReutersRobert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, has repeatedly insisted she does not oppose vaccines—though she continues to sow doubt about at least some of them.In a post to X on Tuesday, the Silicon Valley lawyer opined about the “devastating reality” of Moderna’s mRNA jab. “It is not a safe vaccine, and must be recalled immediately. Many people are suffering who took it,” she wrote.She added a picture of herself and her boyfriend, “reformed Wall Street guy” Jacob Strumwasser, and the caption, “One of us took 3 doses of the Moderna mRNA vaccine, and the other did not. Guess who?”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images and Truth SocialDonald Trump’s acolytes gathered at Mar-a-Lago to on Wednesday evening to celebrate the public listing of his social media firm, even as the company’s stock continued to crater. Under the Palm Beach sky, right-wing radio host Sebastian Gorka suckled a cigar, actor Jon Voight posed for photos, and country singer turned bible salesman Lee Greenwood belted his runaway hit “God Bless the USA.” At the end of the song, he and the former president saluted.In a speech, Trump encouraged investors to keep calm. “We have over $200 million dollars in cash, which is very liquid,” he said, according to a reporter from Right Side Broadcasting Network in attendance.On Trump’s social media site, Truth Social, the mood is less ebullient. “Man I really thought we were gonna see a jump today. Especially after that party last night. There is always tomorrow,” one user lamented on Thursday morning.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Utah State CourtsTech billionaire Matthew Prince is ratcheting up the pressure against neighbors trying to block his proposed megamansion in Park City, Utah. He’s now filed a second lawsuit against Eric Hermann and Susan Fredston-Hermann, alleging that their retaining wall encroaches on his property.Prince, who co-founded the tech security firm Cloudflare, had previously sued the couple over the behavior of their Bernese Mountain dogs, which he said are often unleashed and uncontrolled.Hermann and Fredston-Hermann have emerged as two of Prince’s main adversaries in the property fight. They filed an appeal last month after Prince received approval to construct the home, arguing that his proposal violates zoning laws. Eight other individuals, including some of their friends, joined that appeal.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via GettyA day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign sent a fundraising email that called Jan. 6 rioters “activists,” it released a new statement on Friday suggesting that some of the insurrectionists may have been unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration.“January 6 is one of the most polarizing topics on the political landscape. I am listening to people of diverse viewpoints on it in order to make sense of the event and what followed. I want to hear every side,” the email began.Though the message, attributed to Kennedy himself, acknowledged that many of the rioters had broken the law, he said he was “concerned about the possibility that political objectives motivated the vigor of the prosecution of the J6 defendants, their long sentences, and their harsh treatment.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty ImagesTrump Media’s inexplicable ascent came crashing down on Monday, as shares of the social media firm plunged more than 21 percent, knocking roughly $1billion off former President Donald Trump’s net worth.Despite the precipitous drop, his 57 percent stake in the business is still worth over $3 billion.The firm, which began trading last month after merging with a public shell company, has benefited from so-called “meme stock” investors who have driven up its share price despite its abysmal financial performance. In 2023, the company generated revenues of just $4.1 million and posted a loss of $58.2 million, according to public filings.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesU.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan excoriated FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried during his sentencing hearing on Thursday, declaring that the convicted fraudster had perjured himself on the stand and attempted to commit witness tampering. Kaplan then sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison, capping a stunning downfall for the former public face of crypto.Bankman-Fried, who was convicted on seven fraud and conspiracy counts in November, has been locked up since August, when Kaplan got fed up with his pretrial antics and remanded him into custody.During Thursday’s hearing, Kaplan rejected Bankman-Fried’s claim that he deserves a lighter sentence because many of his victims may be made whole on their lost investments. That may happen, the judge noted, but only because cryptocurrencies have skyrocketed in value. He offered an analogy to explain why Bankman-Fried is still culpable: If a thief steals money, takes it to Las Vegas, and earns a handsome profit by gambling, he is still a thief, even if the funds are repaid. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyRobert F. Kennedy Jr. sought to breathe new life into his longshot presidential campaign on Tuesday with the announcement of his running mate: lawyer and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan. He made the reveal more than an hour into a rally that featured an unusual line-up, including retired NBA player Metta World Peace, an America’s Got Talent semi-finalist, speeches by Native American presenters, and an introduction from his celebrity wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines. The event also featured speakers who cast doubt on members of the scientific community—such as former White House Coronavirus Task Force member Anthony Fauci—or who questioned whether America’s agriculture system is responsible for rising incidents of autism and illness.Read more at The Daily Beast.