William Vaillancourt

NewsmaxA speaker at Donald Trump’s rally in the Bronx Thursday cited his Hispanic heritage while apologizing to the indicted Republican presidential candidate on behalf of the judge in his criminal trial, Juan Merchan—who also happens to be Hispanic.At one point during his remarks, Trump welcomed to the stage former New York City Councilman Rubén Díaz, who on paper is a member of the Democratic Party but opposes abortion and same-sex marriage, among a number of other unorthodox positions. Díaz, who would go on to endorse Trump, mentioned the hush-money trial underway in Manhattan, where closing arguments are set for early next week, and—like Trump himself has often done—attacked Merchan.“I am here for a variety of reasons, but I want to tell you first, that as a Puerto Rican, as a Hispanic, I want to apologize to you for the conduct of Judge Juan Merchan,” Díaz said. “As a Hispanic, I want to apologize. He has been used to destroy you, but we know better than that.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

CNNSen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), when asked Wednesday on CNN whether he would accept the results of the 2024 presidential election, responded by calling it a “ridiculous question,” further exemplifying how Trump-allied Republicans have refused to commit to honoring the outcome of the race.In an interview with The Source anchor Kaitlan Collins, Cruz sidestepped the simple prompt in the same vein as Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) did before him.“In 2024,” Collins asked, “will you certify the election results? Do you plan to object or will you accept the results regardless of who wins the election?”Read more at The Daily Beast.

MSNBCNathan Wade, the former Fulton County special prosecutor who worked on Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia, described how threats from the former president’s most ardent supporters have upended his life in an interview Wednesday on MSNBC.Wade resigned in March after the judge in that case determined that a prior relationship between Wade and District Attorney Fani Willis created an “appearance of impropriety.”Having previously spoken to ABC News earlier this month about the circumstances surrounding his departure from the legal team, Wade on Friday added some more details about the downside of helping to bring a case against a former president with notoriously loyal supporters.Read more at The Daily Beast.

CNNBenjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday denied the allegation from an International Criminal Court prosecutor that he was starving Palestinians in Gaza as a method of war, arguing the ICC arrest warrant was based on “a pack of lies.”On CNN, Netanyahu labeled ICC prosecutor Karim Khan a “rogue prosecutor” putting forth “false charges” after he had applied for arrests for the Israeli prime minister and Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as three leaders of Hamas. Khan accused the Israeli pair of “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, [and] deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”Netanyahu also compared the notion of his arrest to how it would have looked if President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had been arrested for leading the allied war effort in the 1930s and 1940s.Read more at The Daily Beast.

CNNRudy Giuliani’s love for live streams allowed Arizona authorities to finally serve him, the state’s attorney general told CNN on Monday.The former New York mayor, who was indicted in the battleground last month for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election there, was served just after his 80th birthday party on Friday night in Palm Beach, Florida, following weeks of unsuccessful attempts.It was Giuliani’s live stream of the party that gave away his location, Kris Mayes told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on The Source.Read more at The Daily Beast.

MSNBCFulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, in a rare television interview with MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, expressed her determination to not let threats and pressure from Republicans at the local, state and federal level prevent her from doing her job, which at the moment includes leading a high-profile case against former President Donald Trump.With that Georgia criminal case having ground to a halt amid a Trump appeal, Willis explained the effect of having personal security measures in place for an extended period of time.“It’s been happening since about a month after I took office—I began to get threats,” said Willis, whose term began in January 2021. Eventually, she said, the threats forced her to relocate out of her home.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Scott Olson/Getty ImagesFormer President Donald Trump, who four years ago called on Joe Biden to take a drug test prior to the pair’s first debate that September, decided to make the same demand on Friday—one that Biden is sure to wave away once more.At a campaign rally in Minnesota—where he said he would never return if he lost the state in 2020—the indicted former president recycled his old line of attack against the now-president in advance of the debate next month on CNN.“I just want to debate this guy, but you know, I’m going to demand a drug test, by the way. I am, I really am,” Trump told supporters at the state GOP Reagan Dinner in St. Paul.Read more at The Daily Beast.

KSTPIn an interview with a St. Paul, Minnesota reporter that aired a few days before his scheduled appearance Friday at the state GOP Lincoln Day fundraising dinner, former President Donald Trump denied saying that he wouldn’t return to the Midwest state if he lost it in 2020—but the local ABC affiliate brought the receipts to prove otherwise.KSTP reporter Tom Hauser spoke with Trump over a video call conducted Tuesday before the indicted ex-president went to court to hear testimony from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Hauser at one point asked Trump about his speaking engagement and whether it should be interpreted as part of a play for Minnesota in November.“I think at one point you vowed never to come back to Minnesota after you lost the state in 2020,” he recalled. “Is this a signal that you think you have a realistic chance to win the state of Minnesota in 2024?”Read more at The Daily Beast.

NewsNationKevin Spacey sat for his first U.S. television interview in seven years on Thursday, telling NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that he is eager to “get back to work” in show business after a series of sexual misconduct accusations derailed his career.When asked by the Cuomo host about some of Spacey’s peers in the industry—like Liam Neeson and Sharon Stone—publicly stating their desire to see his return, Spacey said their support “means a tremendous amount.”“These are people that I have conversations with who have been really helpful on my path, and I’m very, very grateful to them,” he said. “But look, Chris. Here’s the thing: I just want to go back to work. I would much rather play you in a movie than to be sitting here answering questions on your show.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fox NewsIn 2018, when NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant criticized then-President Donald Trump, Fox News host Laura Ingraham complained that they should just “shut up and dribble” rather than weigh in on political matters.Six years later, Ingraham didn’t have a problem with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker giving a commencement speech at Benedictine College ranting against President Joe Biden, Pride Month, the “COVID fiasco,” the pro-choice crowd, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, the “tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and the “growing support for degenerate cultural values and media.”Butker, whose mother is an accomplished physicist, also encouraged the women graduates—who had just earned their degrees—to embrace their roles as homemakers and wives.Read more at The Daily Beast.