J.D. Vance opens up about awkward donut shop trip and how he felt 'terrible' for bakery worker

J.D. Vance is finally addressing his awkward encounter with a donut shop worker in Georgia.

Last week, Vance, 40, stepped into Holt's Sweet Shop in Valdosta to order some sweets for his campaign crew ahead of a planned speech in the battleground state.

But the apparently unplanned visit quickly became uncomfortable, as the woman working behind the counter asked not to be shown on camera.

The Ohio Senator then made a show of telling the press to cut her out of their videos, before introducing himself to the employee.

'I'm J.D. Vance, I'm running for vice president,' he said, with a grin on his face.

The woman, in turn, simply replied, 'OK.'

He told NBC News days later during an interview: 'I just felt terrible for that woman.'

We walked in, and there’s 20 Secret Service agents, and there’s 15 cameras, and she clearly had not been properly warned, and she was terrified, right? I just felt awful for her.

He went on to say he loves to engage in retail politics, including stops at local food joints, but acknowledged they should be better planned out.

I like to get out there and talk to people, and we want to make sure we’re doing it, but definitely make sure that people are at least OK with being on camera, or we’re going to walk in and you’re going to have a person who has, practically, a panic attack because she’s got 15 cameras in her face.

Former Joe Biden and Kamala Harris advisor TJ Ducklo is leaving the Harris campaign to help advise a new super PAC meant to fund legal battles in the event of election challenges.

Ducklo, who in his latest role issued slashing statements about former President Donald Trump, had worked in the Biden White House and the 2020 campaign. He left that post in 2021 in the aftermath of reports that he threatened to ‘destroy’ a female reporter who was working on a story about his relationship with journalist Alexi McCammond.

That relationship later soured. McCammond brought back the incident in a post after Biden’s debate disaster this summer. ‘Good morning! I'd just say 'morning' but [I'm] not my toxic ex who works for the Biden campaign and has to play cleanup after that disastrous debate,’ wrote McCammond, a Washington Post Opinion editor. In the weeks since, Harris has moved some of her own loyalists to the campaign while keeping its structure intact.

Ducklo will serve as chief strategist, NBC reported, with Obama 2012 election campaign manager Jim Messina will serve as chair of the super PAC with an initial $10 million budget.

It's an all-too-common tale. A father and daughter who live in the same city but might as well be a million miles away, having drifted apart for whatever reason.

Yet this particular domestic fissure is suddenly now more poignant, as the daughter in question is the Vice President of the United States – and in the running for the top job.

And while Kamala Harris campaigns from her West Wing office, her 86-year-old father, Donald J. Harris, owns a home less than a mile away.

Despite the proximity, however, there is no record of Donald meeting his famous daughter in the White House.

His name does not appear in any of the publicly available visitor logs from her three-and-a-half years in office.

Nor are there any recent public photographs of the pair together.

It is of course possible that the VP has privately hosted her father in her government-provided home – at the United States Naval Observatory in DC – where visitor records are not public.

But it is perhaps more likely that Donald has kept a deliberate distance, determined to stay away from what he has described as the 'political hullabaloo' surrounding his daughter, whose controversial comments he once criticized as 'a travesty'.

Charlie Spiering, Senior Political Reporter

Vice Presidential hopeful JD Vance pointedly told Vice President Kamala Harris to 'go to hell' during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania on Wednesday afternoon.

Vance brought up criticism from the Harris campaign about former President Donald Trump attending a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday in honor of the slain 13 Americans who lost their lives during the disastrous exit from Afghanistan.

To have those 13 Americans lose their lives and not fire a single person is disgraceful...Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won't even do an investigation into what happened but wants to yell at Donald Trump for showing up. She can go to hell!'

Democrats criticized the Trump campaign for taking photos and video at the cemetery. And campaign staff reportedly clashed with a cemetery official who tried to stop them.

But Donald Trump and his team are hitting back at claims that his trip to Arlington National Cemetery included an altercation with a member of the staff there.

An official with the cemetery tried to 'physically block' members of Trump's team, according to Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman.

'The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony,' Cheung said in the statement.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Joe Biden appeared in public for the first time in three days, joining his wife Jill Biden on the beach near their vacation home in Rehoboth, Delaware.

The first lady’s two sisters and her senior adviser Anthony Bernal joined them.

The group sat under two blue umbrellas. Some passers-by waved at them as they walked the beach.

Biden arrived in Rehoboth Beach on Sunday after spending a week on vacation at an 8,000-acre ranch in Santa Ynez, California. He’s on week two of his summer break.

He’ll be there until Monday, when he joins Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh for a campaign event.

The task force, run by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Jason Crow, D-Colo., are asking for the following:

• All transcripts from interviews conducted by DHS and USSS related to the July 13 event
• A list of all internal inquiries and/or reports underway within DHS and USSS related to the July 13 event
• Documents referring or related to the USSS’s intelligence advance process
• Documents related to the site selection process, security planning for outdoor events, communications planning, counter sniper capabilities, and countersurveillance capabilities
• All communications referring to or between USSS and contractors, DHS employees, and state and local law enforcement

Their request comes days after they toured the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally site.

The lawmakers told DailyMail.com they left with even more questions than answers after touring the grounds where the ex-president was shot last month.

The Biden administration was dealt another major blow by the Supreme Court, which denied its request to reinstate a major student loan forgiveness plan.

The high court declined to reinstate Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, announced in June 2023, that would cost the nation over $160 billion.

It comes after two federal judges last month sided with several Republican-led states and stopped Biden from moving forward with the debt cancellations.

The plan was designed to lower monthly payments and speed up loan forgiveness for millions of Americans by tying monthly payments to the income and family size of a borrower.

The administration has already canceled more than $168 billion in debt for some 4.8 million borrowers.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Joe Biden will get back on the road next week when he heads to Wisconsin on Thursday to talk about his administration's push to lower costs for Americans.

Wisconsin in a critical battleground state for Democrats in the 2024 election. Biden is no longer on the ballot but can talk about what he and Kamala Harris have done to help the country.

Democrats consider Wisconsin a must-win state.

Biden is currently in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, finishing up a second week of vacation.

He will travel to Pittsburgh on Monday for a campaign event with Harris.

The FBI released multiple photos of Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks' gun and other bomb-making materials.

The agency says that Crooks' Remington Semiautomatic rifle, which they recovered from the shooting site, was a DPMS - Panther Arms, an A-15 model.

It included the attachments: Atlas R-One, Aero Precision - Picatinny rail; AEMS optics attached to rai; and Magpul extendible rear stock.

According to the FBI, his rifle was 'broken down' to be more easily transported in his backpack.

There were also two 'improvised' explosive devices discovered in his car trunk.

Crooks' receiver to remotely detonate the devices was found in the 'off position,' according to the FBI.

Donald Trump's would-be assassin Thomas Crooks spent months planning an attack at a mass gathering and saw the Butler rally on July 13 as a 'target of opportunity', the FBI said on Wednesday.

FBI officials said the 20-year-old searched more than 60 times for information about the Republican presidential candidate and his then-rival, Democratic President Joe Biden, before registering for the Trump rally.

But the bureau insisted they are still not able to determine his motive, and said their investigation found he wasn't right or left wing.

More than 1,000 interviews have been conducted in the last six weeks.

The FBI said there wasn't a second a shooter and no evidence that he was backed by a foreign entity, throwing doubt on theories that he had help.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson told CBS News that was worried about the bench's recent ruling on Donald Trump's immunity from prosecution.

'I was concerned about a system that appeared to provide immunity for one individual under one set of circumstances, when we have a criminal justice system that had ordinarily treated everyone the same,' she told Norah O'Donnell.

Jackson wrote the dissenting opinion when the court ruled in July that a former president has substantial immunity for official acts committed in office, but not official acts.

She said: ‘The court has now declared for the first time in history that the most powerful official in the United States can (under circumstances yet to be fully determined) become a law unto himself

O'Donnell noted that her words sounded like a ‘warning.’

‘That was my view of what the court determined,’ Jackson responded.

Hillary Clinton has been forced to bow out of a Hamptons fundraiser for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz after a COVID diagnosis, according to a report.

The former secretary of state’s husband Bill Clinton stepped in for the glitzy, $100,000-a-head bash on Monday, Page Six reported.

Clinton, 76, was on the list of high-profile speakers at the Democratic National Convention last week, which has sparked a slew of COVID cases.

The event was held at the home of art collectors Lisa and Richard Parry in Sag Harbor.

Donald Trump's presidential campaign is offering some advice on what CNN's Dana Bash should ask Kamal Harris in her first interview as a presidential candidate on Thursday night.

The vice president will sit down with her running mate Tim Walz, 39 days after President Joe Biden stepped aside from the race.

In a blistering statement, the Trump camp accused Harris of hiding from reporters and said she is 'clearly scared'.

The release then listed 10 questions Bash should consider. The last time the CNN host interviewed Kamala, the VP said she was the 'last person in the room' when making decisions on the calamitous Afghanistan withdrawal:

1. If you are capable of lowering prices for Americans, why haven’t you done it in the 3½ years you have been in office?

2. You say housing affordability would be a 'Day One priority' if you were elected. Why is it not a priority now? Housing isn’t affordable for the average American in 99 percent of the nation.

3. You co-sponsored Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal? Do you still support these multi-trillion-dollar takeovers of the American economy?

4. You talk a lot about 'freedom.' What about the freedoms of Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Jocelyn Nungaray? These women were killed by illegal immigrants who were let into the country under your watch.

5. President Trump didn't need a 'border bill' to secure the border. Why did you support executive actions like stopping construction of the border wall and halting deportations that intentionally unsecured the border?

6. Trump was the first president in decades to start no new wars. Under your watch, wars are popping up in Europe and the Middle East. Why is that?

7. Why did you conceal Joe Biden's cognitive decline from the American people?

8. You supported the Defund the Police movement and have said more that police doesn’t mean more safety. Why do you want fewer police officers?

9. You’ve called for getting rid of cash bail and your campaign hasn’t backed away from it. Why do you still support such a radical view?

10. You have sent anonymous aides out to claim you've abandoned the radically liberal positions that you've held for decades. Do you think lying to the American people is the best strategy?

A former Biden administration appointee and aspiring Texas lawmaker has been accused of running four fake social media accounts that were harassing him and his campaign.

Taral Patel, 30, was arrested in June and charged with online impersonation and a Class A misdemeanor after he allegedly staged racist attacks against himself in an attempt to gain sympathy.

The Democratic candidate for Fort Bend County commissioner is now accused of running several fake accounts - including one where he impersonated a real district judge, as reported by ABC 13.

Patel allegedly used images of real people to create the fake Facebook accounts, which he used to abuse himself online - possibly to gain the public's sympathy.

Court records show that current Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers requested police open a probe into the racist comments against Patel last October.

Kamala Harris' running mate Tim Walz claimed the Trump-Vance ticket is 'not good for unions' in a speech to firefighters in Boston on Wednesday.

The Minnesota Governor alleged the Republicans know 'how to take advantage' of working people and praised unions for building the middle class.

'When Republicans used to talk about freedom, they meant it. Not anymore. They want government to invade every part of our life, from our union halls to schools,' he said.

Walz said he was 'proud' of being part of a union and paid tribute to Chris Parsons, a union leader and firefighter who died in the line of duty.

The VP contender will join Harris on a campaign swing through the swing state of Georgia later on Wednesday.

Then they will pre-record the interview that will air on CNN at 9pm on Thursday night.

When we’re in office, we’ll make sure you have all the resources and protections you need to do your jobs and your service is respected, and that you come home safe every night.

We know exactly who built this country. It’s people like the folks in this room: firefighters, police officers, construction trades, teachers and nurses and veterans who contributed their contributions to our nation long after they got out of military service.

When unions are strong, America is strong.

Donald Trump and his team are hitting back at claims that his trip to Arlington National Cemetery included an altercation with a member of the staff there.

A member of Trump's team and staffer at the cemetery clashed over the presence of a photographer in Section 60, the area of the cemetery where American troops who were killed in recent wars are buried, according to reports.

An official with the cemetery tried to 'physically block' members of Trump's team, according to Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman.

'The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony,' Cheung said in the statement.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Kamala Harris is launching an ad blitz this week that will tie Donald Trump to Project 2025, a conservative policy blue-print drawn up by former Trump allies.

The ad is part of a $370 million media blitz that will air in battleground states through Election Day. However, it will also run in the TV market in Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is located, in an effort to make sure the former president sees it.

‘Donald Trump’s back, and he’s out for control,’ the narrator says.

‘And he has a plan to get it. … It’s called Project 2025, a 922-page blueprint to make Donald Trump the most powerful president ever.’

Project 2025 calls for dismantling the Education Department, passing sweeping tax cuts, imposing strict limits on abortion, drastically cutting the federal workforce, and giving the president more power over the civil service.

Trump has denied any knowledge or affiliation with Project 2025.

The presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is back on, and set for September 10 on ABC.

The bombshell update came from the former president who said he had 'reached an agreement' with the Harris campaign for a primetime showdown in Philadelphia using the same rules of the CNN debate with President Joe Biden.

His statement on Truth Social on Tuesday suggested the impasse over whether microphones should be muted had been resolved.

Trump's statement included some rules but doesn't specifically mention what is being done about the microphone muting. But the ex-president hinted he got his way and that microphones will be muted.

The debate will be the first time the two presidential nominees will share a stage.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has claimed more than one million names of ineligible voters have been purged from the state's voter rolls since the enactment of Senate Bill 1 in 2021.

The purged names include those of individuals who have moved out of Texas, those who have passed away, and non-citizens, among other criteria. The governor's office has indicated that this removal process is still underway.

According to a release from the governor's office, this process is still ongoing.

'Election integrity is essential to our democracy,' Abbot said in the statement. 'I have signed the strongest election laws in the nation to protect the right to vote and to crackdown on illegal voting.

'Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated. We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.'

For as far as the eye can see there is nothing but brown border fence, red dirt, low-lying desert shrubs and the occasional sweatshirt, water bottle or children's toy. The trash is new and fresh footprints can be seen in the dust - people were just here.

This stretch of the Arizona border near a small hamlet called Sasabe is part of the Tucson Sector of Border Patrol's map of operations, and it's one of the busiest areas in the country for crossers not wanting to be caught.

Arizona cattle rancher John Ladd told DailyMail.com the situation at the border is not just bad, 'this is the worst it's ever been.'

His family has operated a beef operation on the border since homesteading the property in the 1890s. Ladd says he must regularly must repair cut fence wire and recapture escaped cattle due to illegal migrant activity as they cross his property.

He estimates that his 16,000-acre ranch that butts up to over 10 miles of border wall has been the preferred path for an estimated at least 500,000 migrants in the last three decades after counting himself and discussing with Customs and Border Protection.

Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a new slimmed-down version of his indictment against ex-President Donald Trump for alleged election interference in light of the Supreme Court's immunity decision.

The move comes after the Supreme Court in June granted the former president substantial immunity from prosecution for acts ‘core’ to his official duties.

The superseding indictment was returned by a new grand jury in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, which had not previously heard evidence in the case.

Prosecutors write that the fresh indictment 'reflects the government's efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court's holdings and remand instructions.'

It contains the same four core charges against the former president for trying to subvert the election: Conspiracy to defraud the U.S.; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

But it is pared down to comply with the Supreme Court ruling.

Vice President Kamala Harris is being called out for 'rewriting' her story about where she really grew up in northern California to claim more moderate beginnings.

The presidential hopeful speaks fondly about her upbringing in Oakland, California, but she actually spent the majority of her youth and early school years in Berkeley, a place with more leftist connotations.

During her presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last week in Chicago, Harris spoke about how her mother rented an apartment in 'the East Bay.'

'In the bay, you either live in the hills or the flatlands,' she said. 'We lived in the flats, a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers all who tended their lawns with pride.'

Harris, however, did not officially move to the flats of Oakland until she was an adult in her 20s, according to the New York Times.

Although she was born in an Oakland hospital, her birth certificate lists an  apartment building near to the University of California at Berkeley where her parents were pursuing their doctorates.

Harris has a record of speaking vaguely about her upbringing, likely an attempt to identify with a more humble middle class life, instead of the privileged life as a child of Berkeley academics.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will sit for their first joint interview on Thursday with CNN, according to a release from the cable news network.

The interview will be conducted by CNN’s chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash in Georgia on Thursday afternoon and will air at 9 p.m. ET.

The highly anticipated interview will take place 39 days since Biden dropped out of his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris.

Bash has earned trust from President Biden's White House and Harris' team.

Bash interviewed Harris in April 2021 where the vice president made her comment about being the last person in the room when President Joe Biden made his decision to exit Afghanistan.

Bash also interviewed Harris in June 2022 about the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

A top election forecaster has shifted the potential result in North Carolina from 'lean Republican to a 'toss up' as Kamala Harris narrows the gap with Donald Trump.

Cook Political Report said the Tar Heel State, considered one of the battlegrounds that could decide the 2024 presidential race, is now 'more competitive than ever'.

'Despite the optimism and hype, [President] Biden was never able to keep this race [in North Carolina] close. By the time he dropped out of the race in late July, the president was trailing Trump by almost seven points,' Cook Editor-In-Chief Amy Walter wrote.

Polling averages have Trump and Harris in a dead heat, with the vice president seeing a surge in the 38 days since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.