Trump heads back to battleground Pennsylvania where recent polls show a tight race: Live updates

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is accusing Donald Trump of being “deranged” for his stances on abortion and women.

The comments came in reaction to a Saturday speech where the former president claimed women’s lives had been improved by the end of the constitutional right to an abortion.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Violent crime in the U.S. dropped in 2023, according to FBI statistics that show a continued trend downward after a coronavirus pandemic-era crime spike.

Overall violent crime declined an estimated 3% in 2023 from the year before, according to the FBI report Monday. Murders and non-negligent manslaughter dropped nearly 12%.

Violent crime has become a focal point in the 2024 presidential race, with former President Donald Trump recently claiming that crime is “through the roof” under President Joe Biden‘s administration. Even with the 2020 pandemic surge, violent crime is down dramatically from the 1990s.

Here’s what to know about the FBI’s report and the state of crime in the U.S.:

More and more mainstream Republican officials are calling on Mark Robinson, their party’s nominee for governor in North Carolina, to sue CNN if he really believes a damning report about his history of comments on an online porn site is false or step aside in the race.

Robinson was trailing his Democratic opponent, Josh Stein, before the release of the report on Thursday. CNN’s article uncovered a deep history of shocking and outrageous comments apparently made by Robinson on a porn site years before he entered politics.

In the comments, the account linked to an email address and username known to be used by the Lt. Governor described himself as a “Black Nazi” while making graphic descriptions of his sexual preferences.

John Bowden reports.

Shares in Trump Media continue to fall today after closing out last week at a 52-week low on Friday, a day after former President Donald Trump, the majority shareholder, was allowed to start selling his stocks in the company.

Other early investors had also been prevented from selling their shares because of the “lockup” restrictions imposed on them.

How’s the rest of the market doing?

Well...

The Florida man accused of a botched September 15 assassination attempt against Donald Trump sketched out his plan in a handwritten note that offered a six-figure payout to anyone who could finish off the former president.

In the missive, which was shared with the FBI by a “civilian witness,” according to a Monday court filing by federal prosecutors, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, seemed to predict he would ultimately be unsuccessful at killing Trump.

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” read the note, which began, “Dear World.”

Justin Rohrlich has the details.

The Republican-controlled Georgia State Election Board has given the green light to a controversial voting measure that local officials warned against.

The new rule requires local precincts to hand count the upcoming November election results and match them to the machine counts before certifying them.

Three Trump-backed Republican members have been the majority on the board since May. They passed the measure despite being told by Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr that the board would illegally be seizing the power of the state legislature, board Chair John Fervier said, according to USA Today.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

NBC News reports that Vice President Kamala Harris had her biggest single-day fundraiser in New York on Sunday, bringing in $27m.

The man accused in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida left behind a note saying that he intended to kill the former president and maintained in his car a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was to appear, the Justice Department said Monday.

The new allegations were included in a detention memo filed ahead of a hearing Monday at which the Justice Department was expected argue that 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh should remain locked up as the case moves forward. The details are meant to buttress prosecutors’ assertions that Routh had set out to kill Trump before the plot was thwarted by a Secret Service agent who spotted a rifle poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing.

The note, addressed “Dear World,” was placed in a box that was dropped at the home of an unidentified person who contacted law enforcement officials after last Sunday’s arrest. It appears to have been based on the premise that the assassination attempt would be ultimately unsuccessful.

The box, which also contained ammunition, a metal pipe and other items, was not opened by the person until after Routh was taken into custody. The person who received the box and contacted law enforcement was not identified in the Justice Department’s detention memo.

“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job,” the note said, according to prosecutors.

An attorney for Routh didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday morning.

Donald Trump is cashing in by selling supporters commemorative coins, sneakers and bibles.

The $100 coins display Trump’s face and an image of the White House with the words “In God We Trust.”

Earlier this year, Trump launched golden Trump sneakers and Trump bibles.

He has also been selling several batches of NFTs as well as physical Trump cards.

Joe Sommerlad reports.