New poll reveals where the 2024 presidential race stands in three critical swing states

A new poll in a trio of warm weather battlegrounds confirms the tossup nature of the presidential race.

A new Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll shows a narrow 50-49 percent lead for Harris in Georgia, a state Joe Biden carried.

In North Carolina, a state Trump carried twice and where Lieutenant Gov. Mark Robinson is embroiled in a scandal, the two candidates are tied at 49 percent.

And in Arizona, a state Joe Biden won in 2020, Trump leads Harris 50-49 among likely voters. The poll showed ‘preserving democracy’ was the top issue for voters in the state, followed by inflation at 26 percent, a departure from many surveys where economic issues are preeminent. Immigration follows at 21 percent.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in Washington on Thursday, months after he lost his law license in New York for pursuing false claims that then-President Donald Trump made about his 2020 presidential election loss.

The brief ruling from Washington D.C.’s appeals court said Giuliani did not respond to an order to explain why he should not be disbarred in Washington after he lost his law license in New York last summer.

Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani, called it the decision ‘an absolute travesty and a total miscarriage of justice.’

Members of the legal community who want to protect the integrity of our justice system should immediately speak out against this partisan, politically motivated decision.

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump Chairman Mike Kelly opened the hearing Thursday by talking about his expectations from the witnesses.

He said they were on the ground and could offer valuable insights apart from what several Secret Service members have already testified.

‘These men are the first individuals who helped provide security at the July 13 rather to testify before Congress, they are here to give their accounts of what they saw and experienced, both at the ground and the planning process leading up to the gaming and planning process.’

Kelly said he looks forward to hearing from the county medical examiner’s testimony to put to bed some theories about shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold separate meetings at the White House on Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

But one meeting is not on his agenda: Donald Trump.

Zelensky will be trying to sell the White House on his peace plan. Additionally Biden is expected to announce $8 billion in additional military aid for the war-torn country.

The Ukrainian president will also travel to Capitol Hill to meet with top lawmakers as he continues to rally aid for his country’s fight against Russia.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t be there. Johnson called on Zelensky to fire his ambassador because of a tour the Ukrainian president took of a munitions factory in Pennsylvania. The speaker said it was ‘designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference.’

Harris has pledged to continue sending military aid to Ukraine if she’s elected president. Trump, however, has been more critical of Zelensky, raising questions about what he will do if he returns to the White House.

The first public hearing of the task force probing both assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump’s life is set to kick off today.

They plan to grill a handful of local law enforcement officials about the security failures that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, to take a clear shot at Trump.

Lawmakers have invited the following witnesses:

• Mr. Edward Lenz: Sergeant, Adams Township Police Department, Commander, Butler County Emergency Services Unit  
• Mr. Drew Blasko: Patrolman, Butler Township Police Department 
• Mr. John D. Herold: Lieutenant, Pennsylvania State Police  
• Mr. Patrick Sullivan: Former United States Secret Service Agent  
• Dr. Ariel Goldschmidt: Medical Examiner, Allegheny County, Pa.

Meanwhile, some lawmakers are frustrated that the FBI is withholding information about the attempts on Trump’s life.

Melania Trump gave a blunt assessment of Kamala Harris during her first interview in two years.

The former first lady referenced high prices at grocery stores and said families are struggling across the country.

‘Well, how I see it is the record speaks for itself. The country is suffering. People are not able to buy usual necessities for their families.’

Melania Trump said she believed God was watching over her husband Donald Trump during the two attempts on his life and blamed Democrats’ for creating a ‘toxic’ political atmosphere the led to the two assassination attempts.

‘Is it really shocking that all this outrageous violence goes against my husband?,’ the former first lady said in an interview with Fox News to promote her forthcoming memoir.

‘Especially that we hear the leaders from the opposition party and mainstream media branding him as threat to democracy, calling him vile names. They only fueling a toxic atmosphere and all of these people that they wanted to harm – this needs to stop this needs to stop. The country needs to unite and I encourage everybody to read my letter that I wrote on July 14th, again. Because that cannot continue.’

Trump, 54, sat down with Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt in New York for a recorded interview, excepts of which aired on Fox and Friends on Thursday morning.

In the wide-ranging interview, which was her first in two years, she discussed the 2024 presidential race, her life in the White House, and how being a model prepared her to be first lady of the United States.

It included behind-the-scenes photos, including some never-before seen pictures of Barron Trump.

Melania Trump gave a glowing endorsement of her husband Donald when Fox News asked her why he wants to be in the White House for the second time.

‘All he wants to do, as he says, is Make America Great Again. He wants to make this country prosperous and safe for everybody. He wants to make the American dream possible again’.

Melania Trump told Fox News what she was doing when the Secret Service scrambled to stop a gunman who was plotting to take down her husband on his New York golf course.

I was in New York City, actually. And I saw it on television. I called again. And he was okay because the Secret Service was great. The guys that were with him, they were fantastic.

I think both of the events were really miracles.

Vice President Kamala Harris repeated her claim that she worked at McDonald’s on Wednesday, despite former President Donald Trump repeatedly accusing her of lying about it.

Harris was asked about her job at McDonalds during an MSNBC interview with correspondent Stephanie Ruhle, who asked her if she wanted to ask her about a ‘little job.’

‘There’s no such thing as a little job,’ Harris protested.

Ruhle referred to an old McDonald’s television jingle during her question by asking Harris if she had ever served ‘two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions…’

‘…and a sesame seed bun,’ Harris laughed as she completed the jingle.

‘I have,’ Harris asserted. ‘But It was not a small job, like, I did the fries. I mean, you know, I did.’

Vice President Kamala Harris gave a long pause during her interview on MSNBC when she faced a question over how she would pay for her economic plans.

The moment came early in the interview where Harris batted away slow-pitch questions such as ‘can we trust you?’

Interviewer Stephanie Ruhle asked Harris, who was giving her first network TV interview since securing her party’s nomination, how she would pay for her economic plans.

‘If you can’t raise corporate taxes or if GOP takes control of the Senate, where do you get the money to do that,’ her interviewer asked, after Harris outlined some of her plans like a $6,000 credit for young couples or subsidies for new small business ventures.

Republicans stand a decent chance of taking the chamber from the narrow Democratic majority, with a Montana Democratic-held seat growing increasingly vulnerable.

‘But we’re going to have to raise corporate taxes,’ Harris told her after a pause.

‘And we’re going to have to raise – we’re going to have to make sure that the biggest corporations and billionaires pay their fair share. That’s just it,’ Harris said.

Melania Trump said the FBI classified documents raid on Mar-a-Lago made her ‘angry’ and called it an ‘invasion of privacy’.

In her first interview in two years, the former first lady said she told her house manager to leave her stuff scattered after agents came in and rummaged through the rooms of the palatial Florida estate.

‘I saw unpleasant stuff nobody wants to see it. Nobody should be putting up with that kind of stuff, some person — I don’t know even know who or how many people they went through my stuff.’

Federal agents also raided Barron’s bedroom during the search which led to federal charges against her husband.

President Joe Biden joined a host of allies in calling for an immediate temporary ceasefire in Lebanon, warning the escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah is ‘intolerable’ and could plunge the Middle East into chaos.

In a joint statement, the 12-strong bloc called for a 21-day ceasefire ‘to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement’, as well as a ceasefire in Gaza.

The call was supported by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who said flatly: ‘Hell is breaking loose.’

But their hopes of salvaging a peaceful solution were seemingly dismissed by Israel, with IDF chief Herzi Halevi last night visiting soldiers close to the border to tell them they must prepare for a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Halevi declared: ‘We are attacking all day, both to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry [into Lebanon], but also to continue striking Hezbollah.

‘Hezbollah today expanded its [range] of fire. Later today, it will receive a very strong response. Prepare yourselves,’ he said, before adding: ‘your boots… will enter enemy territory.’

Halevi’s bleak declaration came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah was being hit ‘with blows it never imagined’ and vowed to ensure the thousands of Israelis evacuated from the northern border would soon be able to return to their homes and jobs.

Former first lady Melania Trump revealed she ‘ran to the TV’ in panic after hearing of an attempt on her husband’s life – and said the fact he survived was a ‘miracle’ – as she appeared on-screen for the first time in more than two years.

The wife of former US President Donald Trump, 54, sat down for an exclusive interview on Fox News’s ‘Fox & Friends’ to promote her upcoming memoir.

‘I ran to the TV and I [rewound] it and I watched it’, she said when asked about the moment she found out about the assassination attempt on her husband in July, which was broadcast on live television while he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

‘I didn’t really see [it] live, but maybe, you know, three minutes, a few minutes later,’ she said, adding that ‘nobody really knew yet. Because when you see him on the floor, and you don’t know, you don’t know what really happened.’

The former first lady also recounted her reaction to the second attempt on her husband’s life earlier this month, when eagle-eyed Secret Service agents spotted a gunman pointing an AK-47 at the former president while he played at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida.