Politics
Trump shared a fake image to smear Harris with the shocking allegations against Diddy
Donald Trumpno stranger to recklessly sharing fake images on social media, reposted a doctored image falsely showing Kamala Harris with Sean “Diddy” Combs that questioned whether she attended the rapper’s “freak offs,” where federal prosecutors allege he forced victims to perform sex acts for extended periods of time.
The now-deleted post on Truth Social used an image from 2001 of the Democratic nominee with Montel Williams, whom she was dating at the time, and his daughter. Combs’ head was superimposed onto Williams’ face, and the text on the image asked if Harris had “been involved with or engaged in” Combs’ alleged “freak offs.”
Combs, who has denied wrongdoing in a slew of sexual assault and sexual misconduct lawsuits in recent months, was arrested on Monday and charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. Among other distressing allegations in the federal indictmentCombs is accused of forcing victims to engage in sex acts with male commercial sex workers, which he recorded, for hours or days on end. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
As NBC News pointed out, both Trump and Harris have interacted with Combs in the past. Both have also previously praised him publicly; Harris lauded the rapper for hosting a town hall on how the coronavirus impacted Black communities in 2020, and in 2012 Trump called Combs a “good guy” and “a good friend of mine.”
Fake images, and especially AI-generated imageshave flooded social media in this election. Many of these images contain disinformation about one candidate or the other. Trump has embraced that content in recent months, sharing AI-generated images on social media that he later claimed no responsibility foreven as he’s accused the Harris campaign of “cheating” and using photos of crowds he says are faked (they are not). His attempt to associate his election rival with one of the more appalling allegations that federal prosecutors have leveled against Combs is the latest example of his embrace of false information on social media.
Harris’ campaign declined to comment on Trump’s repost. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America’s operations after it had effectively been shut down a year ago, putting hundreds of employees who have been on administrative leave back to work.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media a week to put together a plan for putting Voice of America on the air. It has been operating with a skeleton staff since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shut it down.
A week ago, Lamberth said Kari Lake, who had been Trump’s choice to lead the agency, did not have the legal authority to do what she had done at Voice of America. In Tuesday’s decision, Lamberth ruled on the actions she had taken to respond to Trump’s order, essentially shelving 1,042 of VOA’s 1,147 employees.
“Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision,” Lamberth wrote.
There was no immediate comment on the decision by the agency overseeing Voice of America. Lake had denounced Lamberth’s March 7 ruling, saying it would be appealed. Since then, Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to run USAGM. That requires Senate approval, a step that was not taken with Lake.
Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to restore it, said she is deeply grateful for the decision.
“We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year,” she said.
“We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult,” she said. “We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda.”
Voice of America has transmitted news coverage to countries around the world since its formation in World War II, often in countries with no tradition of a free press. Before Trump’s executive order, VOA had operated in 49 different languages, broadcasting to 362 million people.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America’s operations after it had effectively been shut down a year ago, putting hundreds of employees who have been on administrative leave back to work.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media a week to put together a plan for putting Voice of America on the air. It has been operating with a skeleton staff since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shut it down.
A week ago, Lamberth said Kari Lake, who had been Trump’s choice to lead the agency, did not have the legal authority to do what she had done at Voice of America. In Tuesday’s decision, Lamberth ruled on the actions she had taken to respond to Trump’s order, essentially shelving 1,042 of VOA’s 1,147 employees.
“Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision,” Lamberth wrote.
There was no immediate comment on the decision by the agency overseeing Voice of America. Lake had denounced Lamberth’s March 7 ruling, saying it would be appealed. Since then, Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to run USAGM. That requires Senate approval, a step that was not taken with Lake.
Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to restore it, said she is deeply grateful for the decision.
“We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year,” she said.
“We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult,” she said. “We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda.”
Voice of America has transmitted news coverage to countries around the world since its formation in World War II, often in countries with no tradition of a free press. Before Trump’s executive order, VOA had operated in 49 different languages, broadcasting to 362 million people.
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