Harris to deliver ‘closing argument’; Trump holds Mar-a-Lago news conference: Live

Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon wasted no time in getting back to work and immediately bashed Vice President Kamala Harris as a “fascist” in his return to the airwaves Tuesday after his release from federal prison.

“The four months in federal prison not only didn’t break me, but it empowered me,” the 70-year-old told his “War Room” podcast listeners hours after his release.

An advertising company removed a large billboard along an Ohio highway presenting a fake image of the Democratic presidential nominee about to engage in a sex act surrounded by text that reads: “Kamala can’t talk right now. She’s at a baby shower.”

It had been posted along a highway on Friday in Licking County but was removed on Sunday, Kennedy Outdoor Advertising told The Newark Advocate.

A spokesperson told the outlet the billboard was taken down “once it was brought to our attention how vulgar the advertisement actually was.”

Far-right pundit Ryan Girdusky got booted off Abby Phillip’s CNN show last night after telling Muslim journalist Mehdi Hasan during a heated row about Hamas: “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.”

The comment appeared to be a reference to last month’s large-scale explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to alleged Hezbollah members, which killed 37 people and injured thousands, many of them civilians.

Lebanese officials have blamed the attack on Israel, which denies responsibility for the explosions.

The network quickly issued a statement, saying:

“There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air.

“We aim to foster thoughtful conversations and debate including between people who profoundly disagree with each other in order to explore important issues and promote mutual understanding.

“But we will not allow guests to be demeaned or for the line of civility to be crossed. Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network.”

Girdusky (about whom our own Eric Garcia has an important interjection to make below) has since hit back on X.

Here’s Rhian Lubin with more.

Imagine having to go on breakfast TV and insist that, despite heavy reporting to the contrary, your husband is not Hitler…

The newspaper has announced that it will not publicly back either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, with a spokesperson saying it will continue to provide “readers with the facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions.”

However, that stance caused particular anger among staff at the Post, who feel their organ is shirking its democratic responsibility, while reportedly more than 200,000 readers have cancelled their subscriptions in disgust.

Such is the extent of the crisis that call has sparked that owner Jeff Bezos felt compelled to take to the paper’s opinion pages to deny that a quid pro quo was in play.

If the Democrat is concerned about broadening her appeal to younger men, this is surely an opportunity she needs to take.

According to a Harris campaign official, the Vice President will be doing five interviews today ahead of her big speech in DC this evening – four battleground state TV interviews to appeal to voters in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh – plus a Spanish radio interview with Rumba in Pennsylvania.

The latter will enable her to reach Latino voters, including Puerto Ricans, who may be increasingly interested in what she has to say in light of what was said in Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

The former New York City mayor has reportedly been under “extraordinary pressure” and “months of arm-twisting” from his fellow billionaires like Bill Gates and Reid Hoffman to donate to the Democratic campaign, according to The New York Times, and has now finally done so, paying out to the Future Forward USA Action PAC after speaking privately to Kamala by phone.

“Bloomberg’s decision conforms to a strategy that has become his trademark: Confounding Democratic operatives by refusing to make early investments – only to come in hot and heavy in the homestretch,” the NYT observes.

One person who is not letting Hinchcliffe off the hook so easily is Roberto Octavio Gonzalez Nieves, who has written an open letter to the Republican presidential nominee expressing his shock and anger at the comic’s cruel joke at his island’s expense.

“I enjoy a good joke. However, humor has it’s limits,” Nieves wrote to Trump.

“It should not insult or denigrate the dignity and sacredness of people. Hinchcliffe’s remarks do not only provoke sinister laughter but hatred. These kinds of remarks do not have a place in society founded upon ‘liberty and justice for all.’”

The archbishop said that Puerto Rico “is a beautiful country” and pointed out that “more Puerto Rican soldiers died in the Vietnam War as part of the United States military than soldiers from any state in the United States.”

He continued: “Hinchcliffe’s remarks do not promote a climate of equality, fraternity and good will among and for all women and men of every race, color and way of life which is the foundation of the American dream. These kinds of remarks should not be a part of the political discourse of a civilized society.”

Nieves then called on Trump to personally “disavow these comments as reflecting in any way your personal or political viewpoints.

“It is not sufficient for your campaign to apologize. It is important that you, personally, apologize for these comments.”

Here’s Io Dodds on how the outcry might have been even worse had Hinchcliffe been allowed to say exactly what he wanted to about Kamala Harris.