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Emails to a former friend and Yale Law classmate of J.D. Vance reveals the fledgling vice Republican presidential nominee was open about hating the police and called Donald Trump’s supporters racists before he seemingly transformed into a MAGA devotee overnight.

Sofia Nelson, who identifies as transgender, gave an exclusive interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday, detailing Vance's radical transformation from the person she knew.

“What I’ve seen is a chameleon. Someone who is able to change their position and their values depending on what will amass them political value and wealth and I think that's really unfortunate because it reflects a lack of integrity,” Nelson said during the broadcast. “This isn’t someone who evolved on one or two issues with new information. This is someone who has changed their opinion on literally every imaginable issue.”

Read also: Flip-flop: Remembering J.D. Vance's criticisms of Donald Trump

Nelson shared several emails from Vance with CNN, including one from 2014 where Vance wrote, “I hate the police,” a 180-degree flip from his pro-police talking points at recent campaign rallies.

“Given the number of negative experiences I’ve had in recent years, I can’t imagine what a black guy goes through,” Vance wrote in the 2014 email shared with CNN.

In 2016, Vance wrote, “I hate [Trump] and what he represents,” and also described Trump’s supporters as racists, according to the emails shared with CNN.

“I really see the racially offensive views of Trump's supporters (not all of them, of course, but it's certainly disproportionate) as coexisting rather than driving his support. Nov 2016,” Vance wrote in the email, according to CNN.

For Nelson, this is a complete departure from their old law school friend, who they described as compassionate and kind. In recent years, Nelson says they watched Vance transform both in the public eye and privately, adopting the rhetoric and attitude of Trump.

“When J.D. decided to run for the Senate in 2022, he started adopting that similar persona,” Nelson said. “It was reflected in our interpersonal communications and the end of our friendship .He just started talking in this dismissive, divisive way about people who are different from him."

“I don’t see any of the man I got to know and cared about,” they said. “It’s really heartbreaking.”

Watch the clip below or at this link.

The United States will once again have to combat Russian election interference in the form of propaganda supporting Donald Trump’s presidential run, according to a report from NBC.

An unnamed source described as an intelligence official told NBC that the Kremlin will likely proliferate a pro-Trump propaganda campaign in an attempt to sway the election away from the Democratic nominee..

Previous Russian interference in 2016 and 2020 was found by U.S. intelligence to have been authorized by Vladimir Putin. Earlier this month before Joe Biden dropped out of the race U.S. intelligence stated that “Russia remained the primary foreign threat to U.S. elections and that its candidate preferences were the same as in 2020,” according to NBC.

Read also: Alarms raised over missing classified Russian intel file last seen with Trump: report

While Biden has been swapped out for Harris, the intelligence official told NBC Russia's motivations remain largely unchanged.

“We view changes to influence themes are more likely than changes to larger strategies or preferences,” the official told NBC, later adding that, “Russia’s core interest in this election is opposing candidates who want to offer further aid to Kyiv, and we expect Russia’s focus will remain on that.”

As opposed to Harris, Trump has not committed to providing aid to Ukraine if elected and his running mate J.D. Vance said during a 2022 podcast, “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”

Fox News host Neil Cavuto pushed back on Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy’s attack on Vice President Kamala Harris as a “ding-dong” and a “loon” Monday, questioning if name-calling could backfire on the GOP.

Kennedy joined Cavuto for his afternoon broadcast to share his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s planned overhaul of the Supreme Court, which he said will be “as dead as Woodrow Wilson,” when it gets to Washington. He continued with a tirade that alleged Harris is actually behind the court reform package as a sort-of vendetta against the court for dismantling Roe V. Wade.

He then went on to ridicule her laugh and saying polling shows Americans think Harris is “a bit of a ding dong,” and a member of the “loon wing of the Democratic party.”

Cavuto wasn’t buying it.

“I’m wondering if the strategy to focus on her laugh or the former president calling her nasty and crazy, really promotes that push to show she’s not up to the job. Does it look petty?”Does it say to judge her on this level looks like a strategy that could backfire on Republicans?” Cavuto said. “By all means get her on the issues… but to focus on this other stuff just looks dumb.”

The rebuke seemed to ruffle Kennedy’s feathers more than little. He went on the defensive, doubling down on his remarks to the Fox News host.

Read also: 'She's nasty': Charlie Kirk throws fit over 'Obama-style madness behind Kamala Harris'

“I’m sorry if that offends you Neil, but I’m just telling you what the people of America…” Kennedy said.

Cavuto interrupted him.

“I’m just telling you what the polls are showing right now,” Cavuto said, referring to polls that put Harris and Donald Trump in a dead heat among voters. “I guess I’m saying all the problems and calling her a loon and all that… ”

“Well I didn’t call her a loon, you’re putting words in my mouth!” Kennedy responded with anger. “She’s a member of the loon wing of the Democratic party.”

“Well what's the difference between the loon wing and being a loon?” Cavuto said. “She is running even with Trump and I’m just wondering about the approach you're taking – it’s going to come back to bite your heinies, isn’t it?”

Cavuto asserted that such attacks may alienate female voters and minorities.

“Well let me say it again. The vice president is a candidate for president of the United States. I don’t care about her gender, maybe you do Neil, but I don’t. I don’t care about her race. I care about her…” Kennedy said, clearly frustrated, as Cavuto cut him off.

“Then why call her a ding dong?” Cavuto pressed.

Kennedy backed up saying he was just “telling you what the polling shows. And I’ll be glad to sit down with you and walk you through the polls.”

“Please do, because I never know when it's constructive to call people names,” Cavuto said.

Watch the clip below or at this link.

A Polk County jury has found former police officer Walter Pacheco guilty of stalking his ex-girlfriend, according to court records.

Pacheco, 29, of Pleasant Hill, had been convicted of the same crime before, but this criminal charge was enhanced to a felony by the existence of a protective order that barred the two from having contact. It carries a potential punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

A sentencing hearing has not yet been set. It’s possible that a judge will extend his existing nearly 21-year prison sentence with the latest conviction.

Pacheco — also known by the surname Pacheco Belen — is a former police officer of Carroll and Eagle Grove, which hired him despite a similar harassment allegation by another woman. He was forced to resign from Carroll and was fired by Eagle Grove before moving to the Des Moines metro area. He applied to be an officer with the Des Moines Police Department, court records show.

But his law-enforcement career was derailed by a pattern of violence and harassment that surfaced in 2022, much of which was tied to his most recent ex-girlfriend. Pacheco surrendered his peace officer certification in July 2022 after, over a period of months, he was arrested for multiple felonies and misdemeanors, including assault, burglary, criminal mischief, false imprisonment, harassment, robbery, stalking, theft, witness tampering and willful injury.

Pacheco pleaded guilty to four of the charges by early 2023 and received a 19-year suspended prison sentence and probation.

In August 2023, after Pacheco again violated a no-contact order, a judge sentenced him to 24 days in jail and warned him that further violations might result in prison time.

Ultimately, it was an incident two months later that led to the imposition of the 19-year sentence, an additional nearly 2-year sentence for protective order violations, and the looming potential 10-year sentence.

On Oct. 16, 2023, Pacheco was accused of approaching the woman at a fitness center on Des Moines’ south side.

“The staff at Planet Fitness noticed the victim was in fear and attempted to help her by having the victim step behind the counter,” according to a criminal complaint. “The staff helped the victim leave Planet Fitness so she could get to her car.”

Still, Pacheco persisted by approaching her vehicle and following the woman in his vehicle to her house and then when she left for work, court records show. The woman also noticed Pacheco’s mother near the woman’s residence.

Pacheco was wearing a tracking device at the time because of his probation, and its data confirmed the woman’s allegations, court records show. She also recorded cellphone video of Pacheco.

Prosecutors also accused Pacheco of sending 39 emails to the woman after the incident and, as the court case progressed, they learned Pacheco attempted to call the woman from jail, often by using other inmates’ accounts in an apparent attempt to disguise his identity.

He was sentenced in April to up to 19 years in prison after his repeated probation violations. In June, a judge decided Pacheco had violated the no-contact order four times with the jailhouse phone calls and added about two years to his prison term.

Last week, a jury found him guilty of felony stalking after a four-day trial, court records show. Pacheco did not testify.

He faces up to 10 more years in prison when he is sentenced. Those who are incarcerated often serve less than half of their total possible sentences because of credit for good behavior, and they can also be paroled even earlier.

Pacheco has been held in the Polk County Jail since his October 2023 arrest.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and X.

President Joe Biden shared his plan to push sweeping reforms for the Supreme Court before he leaves office, including enacting term limits, ethics enforcement and – most importantly – dismantling presidential immunity as established by a recent case involving former President Donald Trump.

“There are no kings in America” Biden said. "No one is above the law."

Biden's remarks at the LBJ Presidential Library come just over a week after he announced he would not seek reelection, prompting Democrats to coalesce around Kamala Harris as the prospective party nominee.

ALSO READ: Boebert, MTG and far-fight friends derail Speaker Mike Johnson’s summer plans

Biden took aim at Project 2025, which he says will result in an "onslaught attacking civil rights in America," by attacking policies that protect diversity, equity and inclusion and voting rights.

"'Project 2025 is real," he said. "They mean it."

"Extremism is undermining the public confidence in the court's decisions," Biden added. "In the face of increasing threats to American Democratic institutions [...] today I'm calling for three bold reforms to restore trust and accountability to the court and our Democracy."

Biden’s plan calls for enacting 18-year term limits on justices, to be cycled out every two years. It also calls for an amendment dismantling presidential immunity and ensuring future presidents are held accountable for any criminal acts in office. Lastly, he called on the creation of an ethic code that can be enforced, to curtail conflicts of interest as evidenced by controversies surrounding lavish gifts and trips given to Republican justices by wealthy conservative donors.

Donald Trump's controversial former physician tried to put to rest lingering questions about the injuries the former president suffered in an apparent assassination attempt.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician, said last week that the bullet struck the tip of Trump's right ear, less than a quarter inch from his head, and opened a two-centimeter gash that could not be closed up with stitches. He issued another statement Friday after FBI director Christopher Wray suggested to a House committee that the injury could have been caused by shrapnel.

"There is absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet," Jackson said in a letter posted on Trump's Truth Social account. "Congress should correct the record as confirmed by both the hospital and myself. Director Wray is wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else."

Jackson said he has reviewed the former president's medical records from his initial treatment at Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania and examined the wound himself, and he said both he and the doctors and nurses who treated him at the hospital all agreed the wound was caused by a bullet.

However, those medical records have not been publicly released and the doctors who treated him have not spoken publicly about his injuries.

Trump himself angrily pushed back on Wray's comments about his injuries, saying the FBI had never examined him, and attacked the agency for prosecuting Jan. 6 rioters and allowing vandalism by demonstrators protesting the Israel-Gaza war.

"No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard," Trump posted. "There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a 'bullet wound to the ear,' and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!"

However, doubts about the cause of his injuries persist.

ALSO READ: 'I hope she eats him alive': Giddy panel of seniors looking forward to Harris/Trump debate

"He was totally, definitely, 100% hit by bullet and that's why we won't allow access to the actual hospital records or to the actual doctor who treated the actual injury," said A.J. Delgado, a former Trump 2016 campaign staffer turned outspoken critic.

"We must see Donald Trump’s official medical records," said Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY).

"Trump has only himself to blame for the controversy over what happened to his ear," said Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf. "Release the medical records, let an independent doctor provide an assessment and we can move on."

"Great news, journalists!!!" said legal expert Marcy Wheeler in response to his Truth Social post stating that the hospital had determined he was injured by a bullet. "Trump has given you cause to demand his medical records from the hospital in Butler (including the C2 scan results), and a waiver so the doctors can provide a press conference."