National News

The Washington Post's chief executive told the newsroom on Friday that it will not support a presidential candidate, breaking with a long time of precedent on the newspaper.

“The Washington Post will not endorse a presidential candidate in this election,” wrote Will Lewis, the Post’s executive director. “Not even in future presidential elections. We are returning to our roots of opposing presidential candidates.”

The Post has supported presidential candidates since 1976, Lewis wrote, when it gave its stamp of approval to Jimmy Carter, who later won the election. Before that, there was generally no support for the president, although there was an exception in 1952 to support Dwight Eisenhower.

The move follows ongoing unrest on the Los Angeles Times, where the editor-in-chief and two of his writers resigned this week in protest over the choice by the Times' billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong to dam a planned presidential endorsement.

The post office is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.

Elon Musk is finding it difficult to distance himself from questions on which of Sean “Diddy” Combs' powerful friends and business associates could have enabled his alleged “criminal enterprise,” which authorities say involves fulfilling his sexual desires through sex trafficking and sex trafficking Several people were attacked, including a 9-year-old boy.

This week, Musk found himself at the middle of those questions after sharing a screenshot of an article on X, his social media platform. Mediaite reported. The article covered the news that the hip-hop mogul is facing recent allegations in civil court that he sexually abused greater than 100 people, including a young boy who was auditioning for his record label. The headline read: “Diddy accused of abusing nine-year-old boy and spiking drinks with horse tranquilizers as 120 victims make shocking claims.”

In response to the article, Musk wrote on X“How many people in the music and entertainment industry knew about this?”

Social media users quickly responded to Musk by mentioning his own relationship with Combs, Mediaite reported. Some pointed to a brand new book during which Musk reportedly bragged about his friendship with Combs, saying, “We write a lot.” The Hollywood Reporter also reported in August that a fund tied to the entrepreneurial Combs was among the many investors in Musk's $44 billion bid to purchase Twitter in 2023, which he renamed X.

A outstanding respondent to Musk's post was singer Aubrey O'Day. Page Six reports. The outspoken media personality and former mentee of Combs hit back at Musk on Wednesday by suggesting that the Tesla CEO's “friends” knew about Combs' alleged abuses. O'Day, who has criticized Combs for years, reposted Musk's comment and said he should do it “Ask your friends, they’ll tell you.”

It is unclear which of Musk's “friends” O'Day was referring to. Neither she nor Musk responded to Page Six's request for comment.

Earlier this week, Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee announced that he’s representing 120 people – including a 9-year-old child – in civil lawsuits against Combs over allegations spanning the past three a long time. said Page Six in one other report.

Buzbee alleged that the Bad Boy Records founder sexually assaulted the minor while he was amongst a gaggle of boys delivered to New York City to audition for Combs' Bad Boy Records, Page Six reported.

“This individual was allegedly sexually abused by Sean Combs and several other people in the studio with the promise of both his parents and himself of getting a record deal,” Buzbee said at a press conference in Houston. The attorney also alleged that Combs drugged his alleged victims by spiking horse tranquilizers into their drinks.

“Several of the people (I represent) … were drug tested and drugs were found in their bodies,” he said, in response to Page Six.

During the press conference, Buzbee also claimed that a pregnant woman's drink was “laced” with drugs while she attended a dinner with the rapper in Miami. The lawyer said the girl, who said she had tried to avoid alcoholic beverages throughout the night, “blacked out” and “woke up in the same bed – again allegedly – with Mr. Combs at his Miami mansion.” Her vagina and anus were torn and sore.”

After Buzbee's press conference, Combs' legal team told Page Six that the embattled music mogul “strongly and categorically denies as false and defamatory any allegation that he sexually abused anyone, including minors.”

But throughout the press conference, Buzbee warned that the “day will come” when he names additional alleged perpetrators and bystanders connected to Combs' alleged illegal activities, Page Six reported. He said, “There are many names” and “the names will shock you.”

“We will expose the enablers who enabled this behavior behind closed doors,” Buzbee said. “We will investigate this matter regardless of who the evidence implicates.”

Combs, 54, was arrested last month on federal charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering; sex trafficking involving force, fraud, or coercion; and transportation to prostitution. Although he pleaded not guilty, he was denied bail and stays in custody on the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Prosecutors say that Combs “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct” and that he “created a criminal enterprise whose Members and affiliates… sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”

According to the indictment, Combs and other members of this “enterprise” allegedly facilitated multiple “freak-off” parties, drug-fueled sex encounters that could last for days.

During his rise in the entertainment and business worlds, Combs socialized with many A-list celebrities and made sure to be seen with them at the lavish “white parties” he hosted at his homes in the Hamptons and Los Angeles . Now some of these celebrities are under pressure to tell authorities what they know about Combs' alleged illegal activities or to take responsibility for Combs' decades-long abuse of power.

Musk is one of these celebrities, even if he doesn't seem to see himself that way. But according to the new book “Character Limit,” Must bragged about his friendship with Combs to Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels after Samuels expressed concerns about racism at X among Musk's owners. Futurism.com reported.

“I don't know when you know this, but Puff is an investor in Twitter,” Musk told Samuels, using a nickname for Combs, in response to authors Kate Conger and Ryan Mac. “You know, he's a good friend of mine. We write a lot.”

In August, it was reported that Combs was involved in Musk's purchase of

Originally published: October 3, 2024 at 2:37 p.m

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.The Kennedy campaign has reached out to Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign to establish a gathering and discuss a possible role in her administration if he drops out of the race and endorses her, a Kennedy campaign official and a Democratic official told CNN.

Kennedy's team had already contacted him last week, but no meeting between the 2 candidates had taken place, a Kennedy campaign official told CNN.

This meeting got here just a few weeks after Kennedy and former President Donald Trump met in person through the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the 2 discussed a possible role for Kennedy in a possible Trump administration in exchange for an endorsement.

The Kennedy campaign also tried to contact intermediaries for Ron Klain, former White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden, but those efforts were unsuccessful, the Kennedy campaign official said.

While Kennedy continues to make progress on ballot access, organizing campaign events and making media appearances, the campaign official told CNN that he stays willing to drop out of the race if he believes he can serve the country in one other way.

Kennedy campaign spokeswoman Stefanie Spear told CNN that Kennedy was “ready to meet with leaders of both parties to discuss the possibility of a unity government.”

CNN has asked Harris' team for comment.

The WashingtonPost was the primary to report on the motion.

Democrats have been fiercely opposing Kennedy's campaign because the starting of the 12 months, using ads to call Kennedy a “spoiler” and pointing to his ties to major Republican donor Timothy Mellon, who supported each an out of doors Kennedy and Trump group. The Democratic National Committee and an excellent PAC run by Democratic allies have challenged Kennedy's eligibility in several states.

“No one has any intention of negotiating with a MAGA-funded fringe candidate who applied for a job with Donald Trump in exchange for an endorsement,” DNC spokesman Matt Corridoni said in a press release to CNN on Wednesday.

When New York restaurateur Keith McNally called James Corden a “tiny idiot of a man” in 2022, he could count on strong support from individuals who are inclined to agree that the previous late-night host is probably the most annoying celebrities on this planet Today is .

But it looks like McNally, the owner of the famous Balthazar eatery, went too far with considered one of his daring and provocative opinions about one other celebrity. In an Instagram post On Monday, he called Lauren Sanchez “absolutely despicable” and said that she and her fiancé, multibillionaire and Amazon aficionado Jeff Bezos, were “an ugly and (expletive) smug-looking couple.”

“Is this what $1,000 billion does to people?” McNally asked.

For some reason, McNally doesn't seem to understand that it's not cool to comment on women's looks. He also insulted a lady who is extremely regarded by others in her elite social class, individuals who see her as a phenomenal, kind and educated woman.

Some of those people got here to Sanchez's defense on McNally's Instagram, including Chrissy Teigen. The model and influencer isn’t any stranger to the viciousness of social media, each as a known goal of online messaging and as a suspected cyberbully.

“She is actually incredibly dynamic, successful and kind, and anyone who knows her would say the same,” Teigen wrote in defense of Sanchez. Teigen appears to have adopted a kinder, gentler tone since 2021, when she was embroiled in a scandal and suffered serious reputational damage after it was revealed that she had sent direct messages to a teenage model in 2011 telling her to shut up kill.

Teigen wasn't the one famous defender of Sanchez against McNally. MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle responded that Sanchez, a businesswoman, helicopter pilot, philanthropist and former TV news anchor, was “competent, kind, smart and popular.”

Ruhle also said: “Social media is fun, but this isn't.” It's just mean, for no reason. If all of us took a breath and considered what it appears like to be mocked and teased, we might do loads less of it.”

Jessica Seinfeld, the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, was much more vocal in her disparagement of the Balthazar owner, saying his post “is a reflection of (his) twisted, pathetic and vile mind.” the Daily Beast reported. Seinfeld also called McNally a vulgar name after she said he bad-mouthed her editor to a room stuffed with people at a dinner they each attended last month.

Seinfeld's claim that McNally insulted a colleague, possibly while he was patronizing Balthazar, definitely raises questions on why individuals with money and influence would still eat at his restaurant.

As another person identified in response to McNally’s post: “You still work in hospitality……. You miss it……..”

In 2022, McNally showed that he enjoys a certain sort of “niche celebrity” when he made headlines for stalking Corden, the Daily Beast said. McNally announced he would ban the “Late Late Show” host from his restaurant after he claimed Corden was rude to his restaurant staff.

In October 2022, McNally said that the British entertainer began yelling at considered one of his waiters when he and his wife Julia Carey visited Balthazar for breakfast. The trouble began when Carey was served an egg yolk omelette “with some egg whites.” When the staff brought out a revised order, there was a side of fries on the plate as an alternative of their requested salad. At that time, McNally said, “Corden began yelling like crazy on the server. “You can't do your job! Maybe I should go to the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!'”

McNally's account of Corden's behavior sparked a growing flood of online allegations about other incidents during which Corden was allegedly rude and “horrible” to other restaurant servers, in addition to to colleagues and folks who work for him. At the time, the allegations appeared to tarnish Corden's image as an excellent entertainer and a likeable, easy-going star.

The former late-night host subsequently apologized and admitted during his show's opening monologue that he had been “ungracious” during his visit to Balthazar. He explained that he was upset because his wife had a “severe allergy” and the restaurant incorrectly prepared her order for an egg yolk omelette.

politics

According to a screenshot of the now-deleted post, a campaign consultant focused on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s outreach to minority voters used homophobic language on social media last week to attack the founding father of a black conservative group that supports the previous president Donald Trump endorsed.

Angela Stanton King, whose photo appears On the campaign website of Kennedy, the independent presidential candidate, the post on Wednesday on the social platform X targeted Diante Johnson, the founder and president of the Black Conservative Federation.

She called Johnson an “open, flaming, feminine gay” within the post. On Saturday I received a screenshot of the post that was first reported Politically.

“How is he supposed to lead straight black men to the Republican Party?” she wrote in a caption.

Reached by phone Sunday, Stanton-King asked how a Times reporter got her number after which hung up.

Stanton King, the Trump pardoned for her role in a automotive theft ring, ran as a Republican and lost her race for a U.S. House seat in Georgia within the 2020 election.

Kennedy's campaign didn’t immediately comment.

It was the second time in lower than every week that a Kennedy political adviser put the campaign ready to defuse a possible political landmine.

Last week, a video surfaced through which Rita Palma, a ballot access adviser, called President Joe Biden a “common enemy” of Trump and Kennedy supporters. She posted on

In the video, Palma discussed a hypothetical scenario through which Kennedy lost so many votes within the November election that neither of the 2 major party candidates – Biden or Trump – could reach 270 electoral votes, the number needed to win the presidency is required.

Each state delegation within the U.S. House of Representatives would then get one vote to determine the presidency, she said, potentially helping Republicans swing the election in Trump's favor.

Kennedy's campaign Palma fired amid criticism of her comments, which were first reported by CNN and confirmed by the Times.

Johnson, the goal of Stanton-King's attack, didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

Trump in February was headlining a gala hosted by the Black Conservative Federation in Columbia, South Carolina, and told the group that he believed the 4 criminal cases The elections he’s facing have earned him the support of black voters because they saw the historical injustice of the justice system reflected in his legal troubles.

A spokesman for Trump's campaign didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Stanton-King, a former reality TV star and writer, was convicted in 2004 on a federal conspiracy charge stemming from her role in a automotive theft ring. She received a pardon from Trump in 2020 after serving two years in prison and 6 months of house arrest.

A month after her pardon, she announced she would run against John Lewis, the civil rights activist and longtime Georgia congressman. He died just a few months later.

In this race, Stanton-King drew attention repeatedly posted QAnon content and obscure hashtags like “#trusttheplan.” They were later faraway from social media.

So read one other online post through which Stanton-King compared the LGBTQ+ movement to “pedophilia.”