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Trump safe after second assassination attempt, authorities say

washington — For the second time in nine weeks, former President Donald Trump walked away from an assassination attempt – the latest, on Sunday afternoon, at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, authorities said.

Officials said Trump was not hurt, and that the shooter was spotted and fired on first by members of Trump’s security detail.

Various national media sources, including The Associated Press, The New York Times and Fox News Channel, cited unnamed law enforcement officials who identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii. Those officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Unlike the previous attempt, this one did not happen on live television, like the dramatic shooting Trump survived on July 13. That attempt wounded Trump in the ear and killed a man attending the rally behind Trump. Days later, Trump accepted the Republican party’s presidential nomination.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the case, has described it as “what appears to be an attempted assassination.” That makes this the agency’s second ongoing investigation into an attempt on Trump’s life.  

The local sheriff said the suspect fled, leaving behind an “AK-47-style rifle” with a scope, a GoPro camera and two backpacks. Police later caught him as he sped on the main highway into a neighboring county.

“The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job,” said Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, in a briefing held by law enforcement shortly after. “What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the president was at. And he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engage that individual, at which time the individual took off.”

In a joint statement sent out to journalists less than an hour after the Trump campaign announced this latest attempt on Trump’s life, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they were being regularly briefed and said they are “relieved” that he is safe.

“The president and vice president have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was golfing,” their statement read. “They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team.” 

And in evening statement, Biden reiterated his message from the July shooting.

“As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and I have directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety,” he said. 

And Harris issued a shorter, solo statement on social media, in which she said, “Violence has no place in America.” 

Trump has not reacted to this latest turn of events on the social media platform he owns. 

However, in an email to supporters, Trump said: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!”

And so, as dawn rises and questions swirl in America about how this will impact what has already been a tumultuous election season as America hurtles toward November.

Trump has not announced any changes to his schedule and is set to speak live on X on Monday night from his Mar-a-Lago resort to launch his sons’ crypto platform.

Meanwhile, the leaders of a congressional bipartisan task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump said they have requested a briefing by the Secret Service. 

Some of the material for this story is from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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On Iran, Harris emphasizes defensive approach; Trump highlights record of sanctions

Iran’s threatening behavior toward the United States and its ally Israel is one of only a few foreign policy issues addressed by U.S. presidential rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the election campaign. Michael Lipin looks at the differing approaches of Harris and Trump in facing the threat from Iran and its proxies.
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Vance defends claim Haitian migrants are eating neighbors’ pets

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Immigration takes center stage in debate, but no major proposals from candidates

When Kamala Harris and Donald Trump faced each other on the debate stage less than two months before Election Day, the two candidates were at odds on issues ranging from the economy to tariffs and Ukraine. But on immigration, their positions were especially different. VOA immigration reporter Aline Barros brings us the story.
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Ohio city reshaped by Haitian immigrants lands in unwelcome spotlight

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Many cities have been reshaped by immigrants in the last few years without attracting much notice. Not Springfield, Ohio.

Its story of economic renewal and related growing pains has been thrust into the national conversation in a presidential election year — and maliciously distorted by false rumors that Haitian immigrants are eating their neighbors’ pets. Donald Trump amplified those lies during Tuesday’s nationally televised debate, exacerbating some residents’ fears about growing divisiveness in the predominantly white, blue-collar city of about 60,000.

At the city’s Haitian Community Help and Support Center on Wednesday, Rose-Thamar Joseph said many of the roughly 15,000 immigrants who arrived in the past few years were drawn by good jobs and the city’s relative affordability. But a rising sense of unease has crept in as longtime residents increasingly bristle at newcomers taking jobs at factories, driving up housing costs, worsening traffic and straining city services.

“Some of them are talking about living in fear. Some of them are scared for their life,” Joseph said.

A “Welcome To Our City” sign hangs from a parking garage downtown, where a coffee shop, bakery and boutique line Springfield’s main drag, North Fountain Street. A flag advertising “CultureFest,” the city’s annual celebration of unity through diversity, waves from a pole nearby.

Melanie Flax Wilt, a Republican commissioner in the county where Springfield is located, said she has been pushing for community and political leaders to “stop feeding the fear.”

“After the election and everybody’s done using Springfield, Ohio, as a talking point for immigration reform, we are going to be the ones here still living through the challenges and coming up with the solutions,” she said.

Ariel Dominique, executive director of the Haitian American Foundation for Democracy, said she laughed at first at the absurdity of the false claims. But seeing the comments repeated on national television by the former president was painful.

“It is so unfair and unjust and completely contrary to what we have contributed to the world, what we have contributed to this nation for so long,” Dominique said.

The falsehoods about Springfield’s Haitian immigrants were spread online by Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, on the eve of Tuesday’s debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s part of a timeworn American political tradition of casting immigrants as outsiders.

“This is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame,” Trump said at the debate after repeating the falsehoods. When challenged by ABC News moderator David Muir over the false claims, Trump held firm, saying “people on television” said their dogs were eaten, but he offered no evidence.

Officials in Springfield have tried to tamp down the misinformation by saying there have been no credible or detailed reports of any pets being abducted or eaten. State leaders are trying to help address some of the real challenges facing the city.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said Tuesday he would add more law enforcement and health care resources to an aid package the state has already provided to Springfield.

Many Haitians have come to the U.S. to flee poverty and violence. They have embraced President Joe Biden’s new and expanded legal pathways to enter, and have shunned illegal crossings, accounting for only 92 border arrests out of more than 56,000 in July, the latest data available.

The Biden administration recently announced an estimated 300,000 Haitians in the U.S. could remain in the country at least through February 2026, with eligibility for work authorization, under a law called Temporary Protected Status. The goal is to spare people from being deported to countries in turmoil.

Springfield, about 72 kilometers from the state capital of Columbus, suffered a steep decline in its manufacturing sector toward the end of the last century, and its population shrank as a result. But its downtown has been revitalized in recent years as more Haitians arrived and helped meet the rising demand for labor as the economy emerged from the pandemic. Officials say Haitians now account for about 15% of the population.

The city was shaken last year when a minivan slammed into a school bus, killing an 11-year-old boy. The driver was a Haitian man who recently settled in the area and was driving without a valid license. During a city commission meeting on Tuesday, the boy’s parents condemned politicians’ use of their son’s death to stoke hatred.

Last week, a post on the social media platform X shared what looked like a screengrab of a social media post apparently out of Springfield. The post claimed without evidence that the person’s “neighbor’s daughter’s friend” saw a cat hanging from a tree to be butchered and eaten, outside a house where it claimed Haitians lived. It was accompanied by a photo of a Black man carrying what appeared to be a goose by its feet.

On Monday, Vance posted on X: “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” The next day, he posted again, saying his office had received inquiries from Springfield residents who said “their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants.”

Longtime Springfield resident Chris Hazel, who knows the park and neighborhood where the pet and goose abductions were purported to have happened, called the claims “preposterous.”

“It reminds me of when people used to accuse others and outsiders as cannibals. It’s dehumanizing a community,” he said of the accusations against the city’s Haitian residents.

Sophia Pierrilus, the daughter of a former Haitian diplomat who moved to the Ohio capital of Columbus 15 years ago and is now an immigrant advocate, agreed, calling it all political.

“My view is that’s their way to use Haitians as a scapegoat to bring some kind of chaos in America,” she said.

With its rising population of immigrants, Springfield is hardly an outlier. So far this decade, immigration has accounted for almost three-quarters of U.S. population growth, with 2.5 million immigrants arriving in the United States between 2020 and 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Population growth is an important driver of economic growth.

“The Haitian immigrants who started moving to Springfield the last few years are the reason why the economy and the labor force has been revitalized there,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which provides legal and social services to immigrants across the U.S.

Now, she said, Haitians in Springfield have told her that, out of fear, they are considering leaving the city.
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Voting by noncitizens in US is rare. Republicans aim to keep it that way

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‘Childless cat ladies’ and ‘anti-family’ assertions give rise to natalism

Parenthood has become politicized this election season. As U.S. birthrates decline and more Americans choose not to start a family, some portend the collapse of the U.S. economy and society. But experts say it’s not that simple. Tina Trinh reports.
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Mounting North Korean threats await next US president

washington — Recent moves by Pyongyang have focused attention on what will be one of the first major foreign policy challenges facing the next U.S. president: how to deal with North Korea’s rapidly developing nuclear threat.

In a set of rapid-fire developments on Friday:

— North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an “exponential increase” in the size of his nation’s nuclear arsenal, according to the state-run news agency KCNA. He made the same call in speeches on Tuesday and on the last day of 2022.

— State media released photos for the first time of the Nuclear Weapons Institute where North Korea processes uranium for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. The photos, which showed a sophisticated array of centrifuges, were made public as Kim toured the facility.

— North Korea announced that it had tested a new type of 600 mm multiple rocket launcher the previous day. South Korea said on Thursday that North Korea test-fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the waters off the eastern coast.

The developments came in the context of enhanced military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, which is believed to be helping Pyongyang to develop its weapons capabilities in exchange for munitions used in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The threat from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs has been growing steadily and virtually unchecked over the course of several U.S. administrations,” said Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea.

“Whoever the next U.S. president is, she or he will face a more sophisticated and dangerous North Korean threat.”

Revere said in an interview that the winner of the U.S. election would have to find ways to weaken the link between Moscow and Pyongyang “and demonstrate to Beijing that its ‘partnership without limits’ with Russia is a dangerous and ill-advised path that will yield no benefits” for China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping declared in May a “new era” in opposition to the U.S. and reaffirmed the “no limits” partnership that was first announced just days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

While China has held back on providing Russia with arms for its war effort, the United States has accused it of delivering electronic components and other dual-use items that are keeping Moscow’s arms industry afloat.

Pyongyang, for its part, denies participating in any arms transfers to Russia, an act that would violate United Nations sanctions.

But a report this week by Conflict Armament Research, a U.K.-based group that tracks weapons in armed conflicts, said parts from four North Korean missiles have been found in Ukraine.

The missiles, examined by Kyiv, are either KN-23 or KN-24, known as Hwasong-11 short-range missile series, and thought to have been used in attacks in July and August, the report said.

Pyongyang-Moscow military ties have also been expanded to include tourism, trade, and economic and technical cooperation.

This makes the use of sanctions less effective as a policy tool to counter North Korea’s nuclear buildup, according to Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration.

“That’s not as much leverage now as it was before because of the Russian-North Korean relationship,” said Samore. “The U.S. doesn’t have very strong economic leverage that it can use with North Korea.”

With few obvious policy options available, the two presidential candidates – former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris – have largely confined themselves to criticizing each other’s approach without laying out any specific plans to roll back the North Korean threat.

At Tuesday night’s televised debate, Harris criticized Trump for exchanging “love letters with Kim Jong Un” during his presidency while Trump disapproved of the current administration’s handling of the issue, saying, “Look at what’s going on in North Korea.”

During his presidency, Trump held three summits with Kim but the diplomatic effort ultimately failed when Trump refused Kim’s demand for sanctions relief in exchange for a partial rollback of his nuclear program.

There have been no formal talks between the two countries since, although the Biden administration insists it is open to negotiations without preconditions, a policy that Harris could be expected to continue if elected.

The Biden administration also maintains that its goal remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, even as many experts suggest it is time to acknowledge that Pyongyang will not give up its weapons and say the international community should focus on containment.

Samore predicted that a Harris administration would continue to say that “as an ultimate objective … the U.S. seeks denuclearization in the long term.”

A second Trump administration, he theorized, may say “denuclearization is no longer possible” and “accept North Korea as a nuclear power.”

Robert Rapson, who served as charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said much would depend on how the winner of the election decides to work with regional allies South Korea and Japan.

“In the likely absence of any grand outreach towards Pyongyang, Harris will have to carefully manage the relationship with ally Seoul, with a focus for the foreseeable future on maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula,” he said.

He added that it was “uncertain at this moment” whether Trump would feel compelled to reach out to Kim and whether he would diminish the value of the alliances with South Korea and Japan.

Eunjung Cho contributed to this report.
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Trump pledges to deport Haitians in Ohio city; Biden calls for attacks to stop

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California / WASHINGTON — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised mass deportations of Haitian immigrants in an Ohio city on Friday, shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden called for attacks on that community to stop. 

“We will do large deportations in Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said at a news conference at his Los Angeles-area golf resort.  

While Trump, 78, continued his attacks on immigrants, he did not revisit false and derogatory remarks he made during his debate on Tuesday night with his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Those comments, including that the Haitian community was eating household pets, drew a sharp rebuke earlier Friday from Biden. 

At a White House event celebrating Black excellence, Biden referred to his White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, as a proud Haitian American. 

“A community that’s under attack in our country right now. It’s simply wrong. There’s no place in America. This has to stop — what he’s doing. It has to stop,” Biden said. 

Haitian community leaders across the United States said the Republican candidate’s remarks could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in Springfield, where thousands of recent Haitian arrivals have boosted the local economy but also have strained the social safety net. 

Trump’s comments that “they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats” during the debate were the latest in a long list of lies about immigrants that have defined his political career. It followed a similar false claim spread by his running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio, on social media about Springfield’s new residents. 

City officials say they have received no credible reports of anyone eating household animals. Karen Graves, a city spokesperson, said she was not aware of recent hate crimes targeting Haitian residents but that some had been victims of “crimes of opportunity,” such as property theft.
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Trump refuses to criticize Loomer, alarming Republican allies

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California — Donald Trump refused on Friday to weigh in on recent racist and conspiratorial comments from right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, who traveled with him earlier this week to the debate and several 9/11 memorial events.

“Laura’s been a supporter of mine,” Trump told reporters at a press conference near Los Angeles, where he was pressed on concerns from Republican allies about his ongoing association with Loomer.

“I don’t control Laura,” Trump said. “I can’t tell Laura what to do. She’s a supporter.”

Trump said Loomer has “strong opinions” but said he was unaware of her recent comments, including a post on X in which she played on racist stereotypes by writing that “the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center” of his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, wins in November. Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.

Loomer’s appearances on the campaign trail with Trump have alarmed many of the former president’s allies who worry he is hurting his chances of winning in November, particularly as Harris has driven up Democratic enthusiasm and repeatedly put Trump on the defensive in Tuesday’s debate. Harris was campaigning Friday across Pennsylvania.

Loomer’s comments have drawn rebuke from Trump allies, including Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia congresswoman, herself known for spreading conspiracies, called the post about curry “appalling and extremely racist” and said it did not represent Trump’s movement.

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, called Loomer “a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans. A DNC plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning reelection. Enough.”

Trump’s comments came at a news conference at his Los Angeles-area golf club after days of criticism of his performance at this week’s debate.

Trump, in remarks, unleashed against Harris a litany of attacks that his aides had suggested he would focus on during the debate, including accusing her of having been soft on crime in her previous positions.

Before she served as vice president, Harris represented California in the Senate and also served as the state’s attorney general and the district attorney of San Francisco.

“She destroyed San Francisco, and she destroyed the state,” Trump charged. He also assailed the ABC anchors who moderated the debate. He’ll travel later Friday to northern California for a fundraiser, followed by a rally in Las Vegas, the largest city in swing state Nevada.

Harris headed to Johnstown and Wilkes-Barre on Friday, campaigning in counties where Trump won in 2016 and 2020, as she tries to capitalize on her momentum after Tuesday night’s debate.

It’s her second day of back-to-back rallies after holding two events in North Carolina, another swing state, on Thursday. Her campaign is aiming to hit every market in every battleground state over four days, with stops by Harris, her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and other surrogates in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.

While speaking in Charlotte, Harris took a victory lap for her debate performance in which she needled Trump and kept him on the defensive. Recounting one moment while campaigning in North Carolina, she mocked Trump for saying he had “concepts of a plan” for replacing the Affordable Care Act.

“Concepts. Concepts. No actual plan. Concepts,” she said as the crowd roared with laughter.

Her campaign said she raised $47 million from 600,000 donors in the 24 hours after her debate with Trump.

Harris said the candidates “owe it to voters to have another debate.” But Trump said he won’t agree to face off with her again.

Trump’s morning press event was the second Friday in a row that the Republican has scheduled a news conference, although at his last appearance in New York, the former president didn’t take any questions. Instead, he railed for nearly an hour against women who have accused him of sexual misconduct over the years, resurrecting the allegations in great detail before his debate with Harris.

Harris has not held a news conference since becoming a presidential candidate, and the Democrat has sat for just one in-depth interview. Her campaign has said she will start doing more interviews with local media outlets in battleground states.
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Comparing Trump and Harris: Where do they stand on top issues?

Former President Trump and Vice President Harris offer worlds-apart contrasts on top issues in presidential race
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Judge tosses some counts in Georgia election case against Trump, others

ATLANTA — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others on Thursday tossed out three counts in the indictment — including two counts brought against the former president — saying that they lie beyond the state’s jurisdiction. 

The case against Trump and others who are appealing an order allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the case is on hold while that appeal is pending. But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued orders Thursday based on motions filed by two defendants, Shawn Still and John Eastman, who are not part of that appeal, meaning the case against them is not paused.

In the Georgia case — one of four criminal prosecutions against the Republican presidential nominee — a grand jury in August 2023 returned a 41-count indictment against Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally try to overturn Trump’s narrow loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four people pleaded guilty last year after reaching deals with prosecutors.

Trump and other defendants tried to get Willis and her office removed from the case, arguing that a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case, created a conflict of interest. McAfee ruled that there was not a conflict of interest that warranted Willis’ disqualification, as long as Wade left the case. Trump and others have appealed, and the Georgia Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments in December. 

The judge in March had thrown out six counts of the indictment, a ruling that prosecutors are appealing. Even with a total of nine counts quashed, 32 counts remain, including an overarching racketeering charge brought against all of the defendants.

At issue in Thursday’s ruling are two counts having to do with the filing of a document with the federal court in Atlanta that declared that Trump had won the state of Georgia and 16 Republicans who signed the document were the “duly elected and qualified electors” from the state.

One of the counts charges three of those Republicans, including Still, with filing false documents. The other charges Trump and others, including Eastman, with conspiracy to file false documents.

McAfee wrote that punishing someone for filing certain documents with a federal court would “enable a state to constrict the scope of materials assessed by a federal court and impair the administration of justice in that tribunal to police its own proceedings.” He concluded that those two counts must be quashed “as beyond the jurisdiction of this State.”

The third count charges Trump and Eastman with filing false documents, saying they “knowingly and unlawfully” filed a lawsuit with the federal court in Atlanta while “having reason to know” that the document included at least one “materially false” statement about the 2020 election in Georgia.

McAfee cited case law that says complaints filed in federal court fall within the scope federal perjury statutes and said the charge must be quashed.

A spokesperson for Willis said prosecutors are reviewing the order and declined to comment.
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Trump rejects 2nd debate against Harris as her campaign says it raised $47M

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As gender gap widens, will women push Harris to victory?

The U.S. presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump remains tight. But Harris has opened a sizable lead over Trump among one group of voters — women, who vote at higher rates than men. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, Harris’ late entry into the race widened the political parties’ gender gap.
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Young voters could make difference in US presidential election, say analysts

This year, about 8 million young people will turn 18 and become eligible to vote. In all, an estimated 41 million members of Gen Z — people under age 27 — will be able to vote in the 2024 presidential election
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More than 67 million people watched Harris-Trump debate 

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Haitian Americans fear for their safety after Trump repeats false claims about immigrants

WASHINGTON — Haitian Americans said they fear for their safety after Donald Trump repeated a false and derogatory claim during this week’s presidential debate about immigrants in Ohio.

Haitian community leaders across the U.S. said the Republican candidate’s remarks about immigrants eating household pets during his debate with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in the small city of Springfield, Ohio, where thousands of recent Haitian arrivals have boosted the local economy but also strained the safety net.

“We have to be careful where we go,” said Viles Dorsainvil, 38, who says the Haitian community center he heads in Springfield has received threatening phone calls. The hostility has prompted one friend working at an Amazon warehouse to consider leaving, he said.

“He said that things are getting out of hand now; the way people are treating us, making bad comments about us,” Dorsainvil said.

Trump’s Tuesday remark that “they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats” is the latest in a long line of lies about immigrants that have defined his political career. It followed a similar false claim spread by his running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio, on social media about Springfield’s new residents.

City officials say they have received no credible reports of anybody eating household animals. Karen Graves, a city spokesperson, said she was not aware of recent hate crimes targeting Haitian residents but that some had been victims of “crimes of opportunity,” such as property theft.

The Haitian Times reported that some Haitian families in Springfield, Ohio, were keeping their children home from school, while other sources told the newspaper that they were subject to bullying, assaults and intimidation in front of their homes amid racist rhetoric amplified by social media.

The lie fed on frustrations of some in the western Ohio city, who say the 15,000 Haitians who have arrived in recent years to fuel the city’s economy, have also stressed limited resources at local schools and health clinics and driven up rents.

Tensions have increased since a Haitian driving without an Ohio license struck a school bus in 2023, killing 11-year-old Aiden Clark and injuring 26 other children.

“People are getting really fed up,” city resident Richard Jordan said at a city council meeting on Tuesday. “Things are going to get ugly.”

At that same meeting, Clark’s father Nathan Clark criticized Trump and Vance for exploiting his son’s death.

“They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis, and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members,” Clark said. “However, they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio.”

Last month, a white supremacist was ejected from a city council meeting after he made threatening statements towards Haitian immigrants.

‘My heart fell’

Ahead of the debate, billionaire Elon Musk amplified the lie further on his X social media platform, as did Republicans on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

Guerline Jozef, who heads the national advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance, said her group had been trying to knock down the rumor before the debate.

When Trump mentioned it, “my heart fell to the floor,” she said. “This has become a nationwide lie that people everywhere are repeating.”

For Taisha Saintil, now an analyst with the immigrant advocacy group UndocuBlack Network, said Trump’s remark brought back painful memories of being taunted when she arrived at a Florida elementary school in 2006.

Some 1.1 million Haitian Americans live in the U.S., about half of whom are immigrants, according to the Census Bureau. Long established in Florida and New York, Haitian immigrants have recently been moving to states like North Carolina and California to pursue work, Jozef said.

Seeking work

Springfield officials say the majority of Haitian migrants are in the country legally, drawn by jobs at warehouses and factories. They have opened two restaurants and seven groceries, according to a city fact sheet.

“While we are experiencing challenges related to the rapid growth of our immigrant population, these challenges are primarily due to the pace of the growth,” city manager Bryan Heck said in a video on Wednesday.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, said on Tuesday the state is providing $2.5 million to help the new residents get vaccines and other health services, and state police are being brought in to help enforce traffic laws. He said President Joe Biden’s administration should also provide aid to cities like Springfield that see a sudden increase in new migrants.

Trump’s comments could energize his supporters to help him win over undecided voters, particularly aggrieved white voters who feel a sense of their own decline in this country, said Republican strategist Mike Madrid, founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.

“The attempts to dehumanize people is a long-proven strategy to work at a time when society’s undergoing change,” he said.

But that strategy risks spurring violence, Haitian American leaders said.

Democratic Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the only Haitian-American in Congress, said Trump’s rhetoric endangers Haitians across the country.

“We’ve heard these stereotypes for years about Haitian people, Black immigrants, doing all these things that we know aren’t true,” she said.

Gepsie Metellus, who heads the Sant La Haitian neighborhood center in North Miami, said Trump’s comment was viewed as a “cheap political shot” in her community, but directly endangers those in Springfield.

“This rhetoric has a way of turning out really badly,” she said. 
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AI not a US election gamechanger yet, officials say

Washington — When the U.S. announced the seizure of 32 internet domains tied to Russian efforts to ply American voters with disinformation ahead of November’s presidential election, prosecutors were quick to note the use of artificial intelligence, or AI.

The Russian operation, known as Doppelganger, drove internet and social media users to the fake news using a variety of methods, the charging documents said, including advertisements that were “in some cases created using artificial intelligence.”

AI tools were also used to “generate content, including images and videos, for use in negative advertisements about U.S. politicians,” the indictment added.

And Russia is far from alone in turning to AI in the hopes of swaying U.S. voters.

“The primary actors we’ve seen for election use of this are Iran and Russia, although as various private companies have noticed, China also has used artificial intelligence for spreading divisive narratives in the United States,” according to a senior intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive information.

“What we’ve seen is artificial intelligence is used by foreign actors to make their content more quickly and convincingly tailor their synthetic content in both audio and video forms,” the official added. 

But other U.S. officials say the use of AI to spread misinformation and disinformation in the lead-up to the U.S. election has so far failed to live up to some of the more dire warnings about how deepfakes and other AI-generated material could shake-up the American political landscape.

“Generative AI is not going to fundamentally introduce new threats to this election cycle,” according to Cait Conley, senior adviser to the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the U.S. agency charged with overseeing election security.

“What we’re seeing is consistent with what we expected to see,” Conley told VOA.

AI “is exacerbating existing threats, in both the cyber domain and the foreign malign influence operation-disinformation campaigns,” she said. But little of what has been put out to this point has shocked officials at CISA or the myriad state and local governments who run elections across the country.

“This threat vector is not new to them,” Conley said. “And they have taken the measures to ensure they’re prepared to respond effectively.” 

As an example, Conley pointed to the rash of robocalls that targeted New Hampshire citizens ahead of the state’s first in the nation primary in January, using fake audio of U.S. President Joe Biden to tell people to stay home and “save your vote.”

New Hampshire’s attorney general quickly went public, calling the robocalls an apparent attempt to suppress votes and telling voters the incident was under investigation.

This past May, prosecutors indicted a Louisiana political consultant in connection with the scheme.

More recently, the alleged use of AI prompted a celebrity endorsement in the U.S. presidential race by pop star Taylor Swift.

“Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site,” Swift wrote in an Instagram social media post late Tuesday. 

“It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter,” she wrote, adding, “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”

But experts and analysts say for all the attention AI is getting, the use of such technology in attacks and other influence operations has been limited.

“There’s not a tremendous amount of it in the wild that’s particularly successful right now, at least to my knowledge,” said Katie Gray, a senior partner at In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s technology-focused, not-for-profit strategic investment firm.

“Most attackers are not using the most sophisticated methods to penetrate systems,” she said on September 4 at a cybersecurity summit in Washington.

Others suggest that at least for the moment, the fears surrounding AI have outpaced its usefulness by malicious actors.

‘We jump to the doomsday science fiction,” said Clint Watts, a former FBI special agent and counterterror consultant who heads up the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC).

“But instead, what we’re seeing is the number one challenge to all of this right now is access, just getting to the [AI] tools and accessing them,” he said, speaking like Gray at the cybersecurity summit.

Over the past 14 months, MTAC has logged hundreds of instances of AI use by China, Russia and Iran, Watts said. And analysts found that Moscow and Tehran, in particular, have struggled to get access to a fully AI toolbox.

The Russians “need to use their own tools from the start, rather than Western tools, because they’re afraid they’ll get knocked off those systems,” Watts said.

Iran is even further behind.

“They’ve tried different tools,” Watts said. “They just can’t get access to most of them for the most part.”

U.S. adversaries also appear to be having difficulties with the underlying requirements to make AI effective.

“To do scaled AI operations is not cheap,” Watts said. “Some of the infrastructure and the resources of it [AI], the models, the data it needs to be trained [on] – very challenging at the moment.”

And Watts said until the products generated by AI get better, attempted deepfakes will likely have trouble resonating with the targeted audiences.

“Audiences have been remarkably brilliant about detecting deepfakes in crowds. The more you watch somebody, the more you realize a fake isn’t quite right,” according to Watts. “The Russian actors that we’ve seen, all of them have tried deepfakes and they’ve moved back to bread and butter, small video manipulations.”
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Trump, Harris exchange barbs on debate stage

In the U.S. presidential election, the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, clashed with his Democratic Party rival, Kamala Harris, Tuesday evening over issues such as abortion, immigration and foreign policy. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman has details from the candidates’ first debate in Philadelphia.
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Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris for president after debate ends

WASHINGTON — Taylor Swift, one of the music industry’s biggest stars, endorsed Kamala Harris for president shortly after the debate ended on Tuesday night.

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post, which included a link to a voter registration website.

Swift has a dedicated following among young women, a key demographic in the November election, and her latest tour has generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales. In a half hour, the post received more than 2.3 million likes.

She included a picture of herself holding her cat Benjamin Button, and she signed the message “Childless Cat Lady.” The remark is a reference to 3-year-old comments made by JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, about women without children not having an equal stake in the country’s future.

A Harris senior campaign official said the endorsement was not coordinated with the campaign. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, appeared to learn about the endorsement in the middle of a live interview on MSNBC. As Rachel Maddow read the text, Walz broke into a smile and patted his chest.

“That was eloquent. And it was clear,” Walz said. “And that’s the kind of courage we need in America to stand up.”

Swift wrote that her endorsement was partially prompted by Trump’s decision to post AI-generated pictures suggesting that she had endorsed him. One showed Swift dressed as Uncle Sam, and the text said, “Taylor wants YOU to VOTE for DONALD TRUMP.”

Trump’s posts “brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter,” Swift wrote. She added that “I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice.”

The Trump campaign dismissed Swift’s endorsement.

“This is further evidence that the Democrat Party has unfortunately become a party of the wealthy elites,” said spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.

“There’s many Swifties for Trump out there in America,” she said, herself included.

Swift’s endorsement was not exactly a surprise. In 2020, she supported President Joe Biden, and she cheered for Harris in her debate against then-Vice President Mike Pence. She also was openly critical of Trump, saying he had stoked “the fires of white supremacy and racism.”

Swift is a popular figure nationwide, but especially among Democrats. An October 2023 Fox News poll found that 55% of voters overall, including 68% of Democrats, said they had a favorable view of Swift. Republicans were divided, with 43% having a favorable opinion and 45% an unfavorable one.

AP VoteCast suggests that a partisan divide on Swift was apparent as early as 2018. That’s the year Swift made her first political endorsement, supporting Tennessee Democrat Phil Bredesen for Senate over Republican Marsha Blackburn.

VoteCast found that among Tennessee voters that year, 55% of Democrats and just 19% of Republicans said they had a favorable opinion of Swift. Blackburn won by a comfortable margin in the deep red state.

Swift is the leading nominee at Wednesday’s MTV Video Music Awards. While it’s unclear whether Swift will attend the show in New York, she could use any acceptance speeches to elaborate on her support of Harris.
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Top takeaways from the Harris-Trump debate

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off on Tuesday night in Philadelphia in a debate that comes less than two months before the presidential election.

The race is tight between the two candidates. Among registered voters, Harris leads Trump by 1 point — 49% to 48% — according to the latest PBS/NPR/Marist poll. That result falls within the margin of error.

The ABC debate marks the first face-to-face meeting between Harris, 59, and Trump, 78.

A former prosecutor, Harris is the first woman, Black American and South Asian American vice president. Trump, a businessman who has been criticized for his sexist and racist remarks, is the first convicted felon to run for president and, if elected, would be 82 by the end of his term.

During what could be their only debate, Harris and Trump sparred on issues ranging from the economy and immigration to democracy, abortion and the Israel-Hamas war.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the debate.

Economy

The economy was the debate’s first topic, with Harris saying she wants to create an “opportunity economy.” She cited her plan to increase the tax credit for starting new small businesses from $5,000 to $50,000.

“I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class,” she said, adding that Trump wants to help the rich with tax cuts.

Trump has said he will further reduce the corporate tax rate from the current 21% to 15%. Harris wants to increase the rate to 28%. It was 35% before Trump’s 2017 tax bill.

Trump spent much of his answer on the economy talking about immigration. However, he also said he created one of the best economies in the United States, without offering specifics, and that he will do it again.

“Look, we’ve had a terrible economy, because inflation, which is really known as a country buster,” Trump said.

Immigration

Immigration has been one of the biggest issues in this presidential campaign. Throughout the debate, Trump lambasted the Biden administration’s handling of immigration – often when the moderators asked questions unrelated to immigration.

Trump repeated his false claims that immigrants are “taking over the towns. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently.” He also cited baseless conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating pet dogs and cats.

Harris criticized Trump for killing a bipartisan bill earlier this year that would have put 1,500 more border agents on the U.S. southern border. Harris has said she would support the bill.

Abortion

Trump and Harris grew increasingly combative when debating the question of abortion.

As president, Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped form the majority that overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. That decision laid the groundwork for states to impose restrictive rules on abortion around the country.

“The Supreme Court had great courage in doing it,” Trump said during the debate.

When asked if he would support a national abortion ban, he said: “No, I’m not in favor of abortion ban. But it doesn’t matter because this issue has now been taken over by the states.”

He also said he would not oppose abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. He also falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions “after birth.”

In response, Harris emphasized the importance of women’s reproductive rights.

“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” she said. She added that she would support Congress passing a bill to codify federal abortion protections and, as president, sign it into law.

Rule of law, threats to democracy and Jan. 6

Harris was a prosecutor for a dozen years, first as San Francisco district attorney and then as California’s attorney general. A central component of Harris’ campaign has been portraying Trump as a threat to democracy.

During the debate, Harris highlighted Trump’s status as a convicted felon. Trump replied with the unsubstantiated accusation that Harris and the Biden administration are “weaponizing” the government to prosecute him

When asked by the moderator whether Trump would acknowledge that he lost the 2020 presidential election, he replied with the false claim that he actually won the election. On the Jan. 6 insurrection, Trump said, “I had nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech.”

“It’s time to turn the page,” Harris said.

“There is a place in our campaign for you to stand for our country, to stand for democracy, to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos and to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy,” she added.

Russia-Ukraine War and Israel-Hamas War

In addition to domestic policy, the moderators also pressed Harris and Trump on foreign policy issues, including the ongoing wars between Ukraine and Russia, and Israel and Hamas.

On the Israel-Hamas war, Harris said the United States would defend Israel. She added that she supports a two-state solution. The war “must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal, and we need the hostages out,” Harris said.

Trump claimed that “Israel will be gone” if Harris becomes president, which is unsubstantiated. Trump also repeated his claim that the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas in southern Israel would have never happened if he were president.

Trump said the Russia-Ukraine war would not have happened if he were president. When asked if he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, Trump would only say, “I want the war to stop.”

Harris replied: “If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now.”
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House speaker pushes funding bill that includes proof of citizenship mandate

washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson vowed Tuesday to press ahead with requiring proof of citizenship for new voters as part of a bill to avoid a partial government shutdown in three weeks, though the measure appeared likely to be voted down. 

Democrats overwhelmingly oppose the measure. Enough Republicans were also coming out against the bill, though for different reasons, that its prospects of passing the House appeared dim. Even if it does pass the House on Wednesday, the bill would go nowhere in the Senate. 

Johnson said the issue of election security is too critical to ignore, though research has shown that voting by non-citizens is extremely rare. It’s also clear that Republicans see value in making House Democrats take another vote on the issue. The House approved a bill with the proof of citizenship mandate back in July 

“If you have a few thousand illegals participate in the election in the wrong place, you can change the makeup of Congress and you can affect the presidential election,” Johnson said. “The American people understand that.” 

The first test for the stopgap spending bill came Tuesday with a 209-206 vote that kept it moving ahead. But some Republicans who have said they will oppose the bill on final passage allowed it to proceed. 

The measure includes a six-month extension of federal funding to keep agencies and programs operating through March 28. 

But Democrats want a shorter-term extension so that the current Congress will set full-year spending levels for fiscal 2025 rather than the next president and Congress. They also want the proof of citizenship mandate stripped out of the bill, saying it’s unnecessary because states already have effective safeguards in place to verify voters’ eligibility and maintain accurate voter rolls. 

“Is it any surprise that the speaker’s purely partisan CR seems to be running into trouble?” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, using Washington parlance for the short-term continuing resolution needed to prevent a shutdown. “The answer is very simple. The House should stop wasting time on a CR proposal that cannot become law.” 

Schumer called on Johnson to consult with Democratic leaders and the White House on a bipartisan package that can pass both chambers. 

A few House Republicans have also come out against the bill. Some won’t vote for any continuing resolution. They want Congress to return to passing the dozen annual appropriations bills individually. Others say the continuing resolution funds programs at levels they consider inappropriate at a time of nearly $2 trillion annual deficits. 

“I’m a firm no on bankrupting the nation and a yes on election integrity,” said Representative Cory Mills in announcing his opposition. 

Representative Tim Burchett said Republican leadership was asking him to vote for what he called “a Nancy Pelosi-Schumer budget.” 

“I just think that’s a bad idea,” Burchett said. 

Republicans can afford to lose only four votes from their ranks if every Democrat votes against the bill. 

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday seemingly encouraged a government shutdown if Republicans in the House and Senate “don’t get assurances on Election Security.” He said on the social media platform Truth Social that they should not go forward with a continuing resolution without such assurances. 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell disagreed when asked about Trump’s post. 

“Shutting down the government is always a bad idea, no matter what time of the year it is,” McConnell said. 

House Republicans met behind closed doors Tuesday morning to discuss the path forward. Representative Jim Jordan, a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told colleagues “this is the best fight we’ve ever had,” said Representative Kevin Hern.

By holding another vote on the proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration, House Republicans are making Democrats in competitive swing districts take another vote on the issue ahead of the election. Last time, five Democrats sided with Republicans in support of the requirement. And their votes this time will be highly scrutinized. 

Lawmakers said no plan B was discussed for government funding and that Johnson was determined to hold a vote regardless of the likely outcome. 

“This is important to him,” said Representative Ralph Norman. “This is the hill to die on.” 
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Harris, Trump set for Tuesday debate

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Trump signals support for reclassifying pot as a less dangerous drug, in line with Harris’ position

washington — Donald Trump has signaled support for a potentially historic federal policy shift to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, putting his position in line with that of his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.

The commonality reflects a major shift toward broad public support for legalization in recent years and marks the first time that both major-party presidential candidates support broad cannabis reform, according to the U.S. Cannabis Council.

The Republican presidential nominee posted on his social media platform late Sunday that he would “continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug,” and also said he would be voting “yes” on a proposal to allow the sale of marijuana to adults for any reason in Florida.

Coming shortly before the two will meet for a pivotal debate, Trump’s post sets up the possibility that he could criticize Harris for her past cannabis prosecutions when she was district attorney in San Francisco. Because drug prosecutions disproportionately affect nonwhite defendants in the U.S., the line of attack could also fit with Trump’s efforts to increase his support among nonwhite men.

Harris backs decriminalization and has called it “absurd” that the Drug Enforcement Administration now has marijuana in the Schedule I category alongside heroin and LSD.

Earlier in her career, she oversaw the enforcement of cannabis laws and opposed legalized recreational use for adults in California while running for attorney general in 2010.

Harris has absorbed attacks on her prosecutorial record on the debate stage before, most notably from Democrat-turned-Trump supporter Tulsi Gabbard, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and announced in 2022 that she was leaving the party.

Trump said during his 2016 run that pot policy should be left up the states. During his term in the White House, though, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions lifted an Obama-era policy that kept federal authorities from cracking down on the marijuana trade in states where the drug is legal.

The DEA process to change the drug’s federal classification is already underway, kickstarted by President Joe Biden’s call for a review. But the DEA hasn’t made a final decision on the shift, which would not legalize recreational marijuana outright. It may not decide until the next presidential administration, putting a spotlight on the candidates’ positions.

Federal drug policy has lagged behind that of many states in recent years, with 38 having already legalized medical marijuana and 24 legalizing recreational use.

About 70% of adults supported legalization in a Gallup poll taken last year, the highest level yet recorded by the polling firm and more than double the roughly 3 in 10 who backed it in 2000. Support was even higher among young voters, a key demographic in seven main battleground states.

“We believe cannabis reform is a winning issue,” said David Culver, senior vice president of public affairs at the U.S. Cannabis Council, in a statement Monday.

The federal policy shift wouldn’t legalize marijuana outright for recreational use. Instead, it would move marijuana out of Schedule I to the Schedule III category, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids.

The proposed shift is facing opposition from advocates who say there isn’t enough data and from attorneys general in more than a dozen states, according to the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

Trump chimed in on the ballot question on the same day that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a fellow Republican who previously challenged him for the 2024 presidential nomination, spoke at City Church Tallahassee, where he ardently opposed two ballot initiatives this November: one to enshrine abortion rights and the other to legalize recreational marijuana.

For months DeSantis has publicly opposed the marijuana amendment, saying it would reduce the quality of life in Florida cities by leaving a marijuana stench in the air.

The Florida Republican Party has also formally denounced the amendment, saying in a May resolution that it would “benefit powerful marijuana special interests, while putting children at risk and endangering Florida family-friendly business and tourism climates.”
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Philadelphia gears up for Harris-Trump debate with protests expected 

philadelphia — It is the birthplace of U.S. independence, the “City of Brotherly Love,” and the hometown of beloved fictional boxer “Rocky” Balboa. 

Now Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will be center stage again when Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet in a highly anticipated televised debate that could weigh heavily on the November election. 

The two, who have never met in person, will square off at 9 p.m. ET (0100 GMT) for a 90-minute debate hosted by ABC News. 

Police are bracing for protests, with pro-Palestinian groups angry with Harris’ continued support of Israel planning to demonstrate. Barricades have been erected around the National Constitution Center, the site of the debate, barring access to the historic area that includes the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the U.S. Constitution was signed. 

Meanwhile, several of the city’s bars and universities are planning watch parties. Top Democrats will gather at a hotel for a watch party that Harris is expected to attend after the debate ends. Trump’s plans after the debate are not yet public. 

Some Philadelphia residents said they hoped to learn more about Harris. 

“I wasn’t, like, super impressed with her in 2020 when she had the presidential debates and for the primary,” said Dan Bessler, a Philadelphia resident and sales worker. “But she is a prosecutor. … I think she’ll be able to hold her own better than Biden was able to at his age.” 

President Joe Biden’s faltering debate performance against Trump in June essentially ended his political career, sparking powerful Democrats to convince him he should step aside ahead and allow Harris, his vice president, to run instead. 

Since then, Harris has broken fundraising records and sparked new enthusiasm in the party, but opinion polls suggest a tight race looms with Trump. 

With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is the biggest prize of the basket of battleground states expected to decide the election. Most pundits predict whoever wins Pennsylvania will win the White House. 

Democrats historically win Pennsylvania by running up huge margins in Philadelphia, to offset losses throughout much of the rest of the state. 

In 2020, the city saw its highest turnout since 1984 — 68% — but it paled beside the statewide figure of 76.5%. 
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Harris, Trump meet face-to-face for crucial debate

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump square off Tuesday in Philadelphia for their first presidential debate. Analysts say this rhetorical slugfest, which pits a prosecutorial puncher against one of America’s best-known counter punchers, could be decisive as they vie for the presidency. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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