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WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee will move forward with the process to formally nominate a presidential candidate Wednesday when one of its committees meets in public amid ongoing efforts to set up a virtual roll call vote ahead of the convention, States Newsroom has been told.

The nomination process has been playing out for months as the DNC committees with jurisdiction have been meeting to iron out the details for a virtual roll call.

The need for a virtual roll call was triggered by deadlines in Ohio and some other states that required the political parties to have their nominee certified before or during the Democratic National Convention, scheduled to take place from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22.

Following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, the co-chairs of the DNC Rules Committee announced that it will be the panel’s “responsibility to implement a framework to select a new nominee, which will be open, transparent, fair, and orderly,” according to an individual familiar with their statement.

The committee is scheduled to meet publicly from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday. The meeting will be live-streamed on the DNC’s YouTube page.

DNC Rules Committee co-chairs Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said the “process presented for consideration will be comprehensive, it will be fair, and it will be expeditious,” according to an individual close to the process who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and X.

Republicans are scrambling to regain their footing after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election campaign and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.

The 81-year-old president ended his campaign Sunday following weeks of mounting pressure from other Democrats over concerns about his age, and Barack Obama's former campaign manager David Plouffe told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Donald Trump and his GOP allies were left grasping at straws following the shakeup.

"I've been impressed by Kamala's interviews the last few weeks," Plouffe said. "She's a prosecutor, he's a criminal – I like the matchup.

"Listen, let's not forget, the biggest issue in this campaign was Joe Biden's age. If Donald Trump gets elected, he'll be older than Joe Biden [was] on Inauguration Day. This guy is showing serious signs of unfitness — yes, in terms of character and the positions he holds, but in terms of his decline. He is really, really having trouble reading the Teleprompter. Obviously, the [Republican National Convention] speech was bad in tone, but he couldn't follow instructions there. This should give us great pause."

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The former president had been counting on a rematch with his 2020 rival, and although his team has been preparing for the possibility that Biden would drop out, Plouffe made fun of Trump adviser Jason Miller for coming out of the chute by attacking Harris for supporting a ban on plastic straws for environmental reasons.

"I'm excited about this," Plouffe said. "I think the Trump campaign doesn't seem like they were as prepared for this switch as perhaps they might have been. They seem like they're kind of grasping. I guess they're talking about plastic straws and whatnot – not a compelling message."

Watch the video below or at this link.

MSNBC 07 22 2024 07 17 29 youtu.be

Sen. J.D. Vance, the Ohio Republican former President Donald Trump has picked as his running mate, was shamed this week for the questionable claim that undocumented immigrants caused his mother's addiction to drugs.

An X community note was added Wednesday to a Vance 2022 campaign ad called "Are you a racist?" in which he suggested undocumented people were the lone source of the narcotics that took over his mother's life.

"I nearly lost my mother to the poison coming across our border," Vance says. "Joe Biden's open border is killing Ohioans with more illegal drugs and more Democrat voters pouring into this country."

The simple narrative Vance presents in his ad is challenged by the context of his mother's descent into addiction.

While Bev Vance ultimately did find herself addicted to heroin, which a 2022 White House report notes comes primarily from criminal organizations in Mexico, her substance abuse problems began with alcohol, multiple reports show.

The gateway between the two substances appears in a Washington Post report about Vance's "radicalization" that was published the same year as Vance's ad.

It notes Vance's mother "worked regularly as a nurse until she started stealing prescription narcotics and getting high."

Bev Vance's prescription opioid habit developed in the mid-1990s, about the same time the Food and Drug Administration approved Purdue Pharma's OxyContin and triggered an opioid crisis that plagues the nation to this day.

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It's that context referenced in this week's Community Note, which reads, "Vance’s mother utilized her position as a nurse to steal prescribed medication from her patients, not because of undocumented immigrants."

And it was that context that outraged X users who viewed the ad and challenged its message.

"Damn shameful," replied X user @AspieJames.

"Even without the lie, this ad was disgusting," wrote @ChristinaKilis.

"This tells us exactly who he is," wrote X user Sandy. "He runs with the hares and the hounds."

Another X user reminded readers of criticism Vance faced for a failed nonprofit for people with opioid addictions that "didn’t spend one nickel on anybody," as a political opponent argued in 2022.

"Bold talk coming from a man who set up a fake charity to 'help those affected by the opioid crisis,'" replied Jesse Denney, "and then used all of the proceeds to fund his Senatw [sic] campaign instead of, you know... helping people."

A New York Times report notes, "Some of the nonprofit group’s own workers said they had drawn a different conclusion: They had been lured by the promise of helping Ohio, but instead had been used to help Mr. Vance start his career in politics."

Watch the ad below or click here.

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin accused CNN and other broadcast networks of a "new low" with their coverage of the Republican National Convention (RNC).

In a post on X, Rubin called out CNN on Thursday.

"CNN and other broadcasts have reached a new low in RNC coverage, fawning over 'unity' and 'young Vance' - ignoring we are seeing a fascist party overflowing with criminals plot the downfall of America, a VP who is the single most radical and unqualified in history," Rubin wrote.

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"No pushback on lack of information on Trump's injury. It's access journalism at its worst. It's not the media we need to defend democracy," she lamented.

Throughout the Republican convention, CNN has devoted a scant few minutes each night to fact-checking the falsehoods repeated by speakers.

J.D. Vance's semi-public Venmo account reveals former President Donald Trump's running mate mingling with lobbyists, never Trumpers and leaders behind the notorious campaign platform Project 2025, Wired reported Thursday.

Wired analyzed more than 200 payments and a public "friends list" the outlet said reveals "the populist's close ties to the very elites he rails against."

ALSO READ: Sen. J.D. Vance finally dumps stock in 'slave labor' company

"Friends" — which the app culls from cellphone and social media contacts — include vocal Trump critic former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a Manhattan federal court prosecutor and lawyers in President Joe Biden's Justice department, Wired reports.

It also reportedly includes government relations director Amalia Halikias, from the Heritage Foundation, several lobbyists and pundits Bari Weiss and Tucker Carlson.

Lanny Davis, "a well-known political operative and former lawyer for Trump antagonist Michael Cohen," may also appear on Vance's Venmo account, Wired reports.

It remains possible that the account belongs to another Lanny Davis, Wired reports, but adds, "the account in question, which Davis declined to confirm or deny was his, was also linked to someone named Michael Cohen."

"Gladden Pappin, for instance—president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs and a figure with close ties to the intellectual wing of the far right—shows up as one of Vance’s friends," Wired reports.

There are other "far-right activists like Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe, Laura Loomer, and Ali Alexander," also on the list of "friends," according to the report.

The Venmo account "was first discovered by a law enforcement and extremism researcher who asked to remain anonymous, citing security concerns," Wired reports.

Very few of Vance's transactions are public and appear mundane, Wired notes. But his former Senate campaign manager, Jordan Wiggins, appears to have more "eyebrow-raising" transactions, according to Wired.

"Some labeled for things like 'Back waxing & Happy Ending,' and adult 🎥,'" Wired reported. "While these descriptions are likely jokes between friends, Wiggins didn’t respond to a request for comment."

The campaign refused to respond to Wired's request for comment. After the request was made, Vance's transactions were made private.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday took the unusual step of applauding Elon Musk—but not for reasons that the Tesla CEO and world's richest man would likely find flattering.

In the wake of reports indicating that Musk plans to inject $45 million per month into a new super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump's bid for another four years in the White House, Sanders (I-Vt.) thanked Musk for doing "an exceptional job of demonstrating a point that we have made for years—and that is the fact we live in an oligarchic society in which billionaires dominate not only our economic life and the information we consume, but our politics as well."

"And let me be clear. While the size of Musk's financial contribution is particularly egregious, he is not alone in attempting to buy this election to further his own needs," Sanders continued. "Other billionaires are also playing a significant role—in both political parties. Oh, I know... here goes Bernie Sanders again about Citizens United and the role of money in politics. I have no shortage of critics who accuse me of being boring and of hammering away at the same themes year after year after year."

"They're probably right. I am repetitious, but that’s because the problems we care about are only getting worse," he added. "Let's be clear. It has never made sense to me, then or now, that a tiny clique of people should have incredible wealth and power while most people have none."

"While people like Elon Musk try to buy elections for Donald Trump, people who work for low wages, have no health insurance, can't afford prescription drugs, and can't find affordable housing are giving up on politics."

Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Musk has pledged to donate $45 million per month to America PAC, whose founding donors include ultra-rich tech investors who are part of Musk's social circle. The New York Timesseparately reported that "one leader of America PAC told a friend that the group expected to have a major donor who would make donations in four batches, adding up to as much as $160 million over the course of the campaign."

The Journal and Bloomberg stories—which Musk denied with a meme that included the words "fake gnus"—followed reports that Musk had already given the super PAC a substantial sum of money despite his March declaration that he is "not donating money to either candidate for U.S. president."

Musk formally endorsed Trump on X—the social media platform Musk owns—following an assassination attempt against the former president this past weekend in Pennsylvania. Conspiracy theories about the attempt on Trump's life proliferated rapidly on X, with the help of Musk himself.

The Tesla CEO's name did not appear on America PAC's disclosure filings for June, which could mean that he donated to the PAC earlier this month.

Musk, who is worth over $250 billion, is one of more than a dozen billionaires supporting Trump and his newly chosen running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). Axios and the Times reported Tuesday that Musk personally lobbied Trump to make Vance his vice presidential pick.

Musk and other U.S. billionaires got $1 trillion richer during Trump's first four years in office, gains fueled by massive tax cuts he signed into law in 2017.

Sanders wrote in his email Tuesday that Musk's influence on the 2024 election could be particularly pronounced given his ownership of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Musk, Sanders wrote, has used the platform "to amplify the voices of conspiracy theorists who deny the results of the last election and spread the dangerous idea that Democrats want to allow mass, undocumented migration to the country to replace, electorally, the votes of white people."

"The reality is that while people like Elon Musk try to buy elections for Donald Trump, people who work for low wages, have no health insurance, can't afford prescription drugs, and can't find affordable housing are giving up on politics," the senator continued. "They see the rich getting richer as they use their wealth to buy influence, and wonder whether anyone in Washington even knows what is going on in their lives."

Sanders argued that to end the pernicious political influence of Musk and other billionaires, it is essential to elect candidates who support overturning Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that spawned the super PACs now playing a massive role in the nation's elections.

"It is an issue that should concern all Americans—regardless of their political point of view—who wish to live under a government that represents all of the people and not just a handful of powerful special interests," Sanders wrote. "Taking action is not just good politics, it is also good policy. Because the truth is, campaign finance reform is the most important issue facing us today, because it impacts all the others."