Raw Story

The Michigan attorney general is taking over a state lawmaker's criminal case after police sought charges against him.

Republican state Rep. Neil Friske has been under investigation by a county prosecutor, but now that multiple jurisdictions are involved, prosecutors are handing the case off to Attorney General Dana Nessel.

It has been 81 days since police sought charges against Friske. The announcement of the attorney general taking the case is the first public update about it since Friske was released from prison on bond, MichiganLive reported Tuesday.

Friske was arrested after police were called to his neighborhood in the middle of the night after reports of shots fired. While investigating the possible gunfire, police learned a woman might have been sexually assaulted.

Read also: ‘Clear indication’: Dems accuse GOP congressional candidate of illegal super PAC ties

Friske has denied accusations of wrongdoing and claims "no evidence was found" to substantiate the claims. He was voted out in the Republican primary, losing to Parker Fairbairn 63 percent to 36 percent.

Friske beat Fairbairn two years ago and was one of 11 Republican state lawmakers who demanded that voting rights ballot measures that voters supported in the 2022 and 2018 elections be reversed.

Read the full report here.

WASHINGTON — It’s debate night in the nation’s capital, and that means many of the city’s sports bars are going to feel like booze-soaked libraries where patrons will be shushing anyone who dares speak over the two presidential candidates as they metaphorically duke it out on screen.

While most of the federal lawmakers Raw Story talked to have private debate viewing plans, there’s bipartisan consensus that tonight’s debate is must-see TV for the nation’s political class.

It should be no surprise that the town that annually throws "nerd prom" — a.k.a. the White House Correspondents Association Dinner — is being transformed into what feels like one big debate watch party as dozens of bars across Washington are offering drink specials that promise to wet the whistles of the city’s frattiest of frat boys and most serious of sorority girls.

Shots, shots, shots

At Union Pub, which is just a stone's throw from the Capitol, patrons will be included in a drinking poll of either a “Coconut Drink” — served in coconut cups — or an orange soda and vodka dubbed their “Orange Drink.” Doors are opening early as it was at capacity by 7:30 p.m. for the first debate.

ALSO READ: 'Outrageous': MTG blasts questions over Trump's cognitive health as 'absolute lie'

In the more upscale Dupont Circle neighborhood, The Admiral is serving up partisan "blue wave" and "red state" shots. And just down the street at Madhatter, they’ll be playing debate bingo while serving up red, white and blue shots for $5.

While most of the federal lawmakers Raw Story talked to have private debate viewing plans, there’s bipartisan consensus that tonight’s debate is must-see TV for the nation’s political class.

At the Royal Sands Social Club, Democrats will be enticed by their $6.50 "brat" special while Republicans can pound "Mar-a-Lago" shots.

Things promise to be more staid at the region’s eight Busboys and Poets, where local community leaders will address patrons at 7 p.m. before each restaurant airs the 9 p.m. debate.

While most of the federal lawmakers Raw Story talked to have private debate viewing plans, there’s bipartisan consensus that tonight’s debate is must-see TV for the nation’s political class.

Politicians are boring

While most all the drink specials around Washington are aimed at underpaid Hill staffers, many of the nation’s policymakers are planning their own private debate watch parties — one’s many are throwing for themselves.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was salivating for the debate early as he was walking through the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon with a fresh bag of specialty popcorn he snagged from the Senate Cloakroom.

“It's sweet heat. Some sort of popcorn,” Tillis told a gaggle of congressional reporters while he was waiting for the tram underneath the Capitol. “But I'll do what I always do. I watch debates by myself, and I’ll be having a good, nonalcoholic can of Sam Adams beer — I gave up alcohol last year.”

While Tillis gave up alcohol altogether, with a tight election just around the corner, he’s got some temporarily dry companions, like Rep. John Duarte (R-CA), who will watch the debate with his team at the Republican-only Capitol Hill Club.

“My staff and I, we get a table,” Duarte told Raw Story just outside the U.S. Capitol. “It’s usually quiet during the debate, but afterward, we all kind of get up and screw around a little bit.”

During the last debate at the private club across the street from the Cannon House Office Building, Duarte sipped a couple of rye whiskies, but with his own reelection on the line in November, the first-term lawmaker says tonight will likely be different.

“What will you be drinking tonight?” Raw Story asked.

“Probably nothing. When you travel — when you're a freshman on the West Coast, in a swing district, there's not a lot of times you feel like putting a couple down,” Duarte said. “The next day comes fast.”

Shhhhhhhhush

As for what he hopes to hear tonight, Duarte says he’ll be listening for policy.

“I just want to see both sides lay out their policy agendas clearly. Compare them. See who's credible in stating their policy agenda,” Duarte said. “I mean, obviously one person has a fairly consistent agenda that has been there. The other has an agenda that seems to want to evolve and mutate fairly on the fly.”

California Democrats laugh off Duarte’s critique that Vice President Kamala Harris is running away from her progressive California roots.

“That's the heart of her story. She leads with it all the time,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told Raw Story while walking back to his office after voting in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. “She's running to be a president for all Americans. She has the right to evolve on issues. I think we all evolve on issues.”

As for his big plans tonight? Swalwell plans to get in the zone like he does on NFL game day.

“I watch debates like I watch the 49ers. I don't want to be in a crowd. I want to have the right to, like, cheer really loudly or scream really loudly,” Swalwell said. “It's weird. It's not fun for anyone who's around me.”

“Do you just watch by yourself?” Raw Story asked.

“No, I watch with my wife,” Swalwell said.

“Poor lady,” Raw Story joked.

“Poor lady, exactly,” Swalwell laughed. “She tells me I'm the unpaid assistant coach for the 49ers. That's kind of how I watch big games or big political moments.”

To make the evening more palatable for his wife, Swalwell’s planning to bust out a red from California wine country’s Wente Vineyards.

“Just a winery in my district where I got married,” Swalwell said.

While other politicians won’t be drinking, most all will be watching.

“Absolutely, I'm one of those few people who enjoy the presidential debates, particularly ones I'm not in,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) laughingly told a scrum of reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday.

It’s not just sitting lawmakers — it’s also sitting lobbyists, including at least one former Senate majority leader who’s bracing for the unexpected.

“Nervously,” former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott told Raw Story while riding an elevator in the Capitol. “Done a few of those — you better be careful.”

That’s one area of bipartisan agreement.

“The race is deadlocked. I mean, you know, it could go either way, so the one debate we may have, it's critical,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told Raw Story while walking across the U.S. Capitol grounds on Tuesday.

“Are you nervous?” Raw Story pressed.

“I think everyone's nervous on all sides,” Moskowitz said through nervous laughter.

ALSO READ: Caller asks if Trump will reveal himself as the Antichrist — many believe he already has

In the pre-game of Tuesday's debate, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace and analyst John Heilemann noticed former President Donald Trump's campaign made odd excuses for him before he even stepped on stage.

Wallace noted in an earlier segment it was surprising to see Trump's advisers in the pages of The New York Times acknowledging they fear Trump can't control himself.

Heilemann called it one of the "Trumpiest things I've ever heard." The campaign trashed Vice President Kamala Harris while trashing its own candidate.

Read also: If Harris deprives Trump of this one thing — he's got nothing

"Any of the candidates that we've covered, every one of them has tried to spin expectation before a debate," he explained. "How do you do that? How they always do it. My rival, my opponent, is so good as a debater, is so brilliant, is so strong I will be lucky if I survive this debate, right? Lowering expectations for yourself."

Trump's team has said that Harris is "so stupid that Donald Trump won't be able to contain his contempt for her."

Heilemann said that only Trump would try to explain away his bad behavior by blaming it on someone else "while they take a crap on her."

"I mean, really, I've never seen anything like that before, but it is so Trumpy. It just blows my mind," said Heilemann.

Wallace said she had another take when she saw the comment.

"I think some of it might be in the eye of the beholder because I saw it when they were talking about him like he was an untrained male puppy who couldn't help but pee on the fire hydrant," said Wallace.

They also plan to explain away his bad behavior; if he behaves badly, it's because she's so dumb that he can't control himself. It's an amazing way they really are trying to have it both ways on that, right?" Heilemann closed.

See the discussion in the video below or at the link here.

- YouTube youtu.be

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) forcefully pushed back at Democratic attacks questioning former President Donald Trump's cognitive fitness.

After voting at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, Greene told Raw Story she plans to watch the debate Tuesday night between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump, but that she wasn't yet sure where. Even so, like millions of Americans, she'll be glued to the television.

“Should be interesting though. I wonder how it’s going to go?” Greene said. “I think it's very important. I think this is potentially what determines the election on November 5th, with a few other factors.”

When asked her thoughts on Democrats trying to flip the script on the GOP and questioning whether Trump has dementia and similar comments, Greene called the attacks "a complete lie."

ALSO READ: Buckle up: Win or lose, Trump promises potential scenarios of violence

"It's an absolute lie,” she said. “And I think it's outrageous for them to try to say that after they fully supported Joe Biden who clearly has dementia, and they hid it and they lied about it."

Greene added: "For them to try to say that about Trump, it's obvious to every member of the press that follows him around and he talks to every single day, and anybody at a rally that sees him speak, I mean, this man stands on stage and talks for an hour and a half, and it's — he does not have dementia. As a matter of fact, he's pretty sharp.”

Greene gave a more tempered answer when asked about Trump's remarks that he wants to prosecute voters, election workers and lawyers over the 2020 election.

“I haven't had those conversations with him,” Greene said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson struggled Tuesday to explain away former President Donald Trump's demand that he shut down the federal government should controversial legislation fail to pass.

Johnson said he and Trump were equally committed to passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act hours after telling Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman he didn't want to shut down the government.

“He and I are saying exactly the same thing," Johnson told Punchbowl News' Melanie Zanona.

Zanona pointed to Trump's Truth Social post Tuesday in which the former president and Republican presidential nominee threw full support behind a shutdown.

"If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET," Trump wrote. "THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO 'STUFF' VOTER REGISTRATIONS WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN - CLOSE IT DOWN!!!"

Johnson replied to Zanona, “He’s trying to make the point, as I am, that this is critically important."

ALSO READ: Mike Johnson forced to risk shutdown over Trump's election fraud 'delusions': columnist

But the SAVE Act does not appear to be critically important to Republicans who are showing signs of doubt it can pass — and fear what it's defeat could do to Trump's campaign, Politico reported Tuesday afternoon.

Nor is it important to critics who say the SAVE Act — which would mandate would-be voters prove their U.S. citizenship to register — cracks down on a unproven problem already banned by federal law.

House Democrats are likely to vote against the SAVE Act with Appropriations Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro calling it "reckless" and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dubbing it "dead on arrival," Politico reported.

A looming deadline puts extra pressure on Johnson.

Congress has only funded the federal government until the end of the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, at which point it must pass a stopgap measure or continuing resolution to reset the clock until a new spending bill is approved.

Police in Colorado debunked a right-wing conspiracy theory promoted by a failed Republican candidate for governor involving the shooting of a law enforcement officer.

According to Denver local news anchor Kyle Clark, state police said a U.S. citizen born in California "with a long rap sheet" in Colorado was accused of shooting a trooper Saturday.

The anonymous far-right account Do Better Denver and GOP gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl claimed the shooter was a Venezuelan gang member and that Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) was "covering it up," Clark wrote on X.

The Do Better Denver account claimed they "identified the US36 CSP shooting suspect as a TdA member" — meaning a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — "via fingerprints through INS (immigration & naturalization service)" but that Gov. Jared Polis "ordered Col. Packard, the head of CSP, to not release this information to the public because it might 'cause undue panic.'"

ALSO READ: How the press corps is Trump’s assisted living program

Among the signs the claim was dubious: the supposed migrant was identified by the INS, a federal agency that has not existed for more than two decades.

Ganahl ran against Polis in 2022 and has promoted far-right hoaxes in the past, including a viral false claim that schools around the country provided litter boxes to children who identified as cats. No school has been found to have done this. The one verified instance of a school procuring cat litter in Colorado was for emergency buckets children could use to relieve themselves in classrooms in case of a school shooting lockdown.

Misinformation about Tren de Aragua activity in Colorado has become widespread in recent weeks amid a rumor promoted by former President Donald Trump that the Venezuelan gang took over an apartment complex in Aurora. Police and residents have come forward to debunk the claim, with some residents alleging their property manager may have started the rumor in response to outrage from tenants about unsafe living conditions.