The Secret History of Kimberly Guilfoyle's Departure from Fox

Source: New Yorker

As President Donald Trump heads into the 2020 elections, he faces a daunting gender gap: according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, he trails Joe Biden by thirty percentage points among female voters. As part of his campaign, Trump has been doing all he can to showcase female stars in the Republican Party, from nominating Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court to naming Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox News host and legal analyst, his campaign’s finance chair. Guilfoyle, however, may not be an ideal emissary. In November, 2018, a young woman who had been one of Guilfoyle’s assistants at Fox News sent company executives a confidential, forty-two-page draft complaint that accused Guilfoyle of repeated sexual harassment, and demanded monetary relief. The document, which resulted in a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement, raises serious questions about Guilfoyle’s fitness as a character witness for Trump, let alone as a top campaign official.

In the 2020 campaign, Trump has spotlighted no woman more brightly than Guilfoyle. She was given an opening-night speaking slot at the Republican National Convention. And this fall Guilfoyle, who is Donald Trump, Jr.,’s girlfriend, has been crisscrossing the country as a Trump surrogate, on what is billed as the “Four More Tour.” At a recent “Women for Trump” rally in Pennsylvania, Guilfoyle claimed that the President was creating “eighteen hundred new female-owned businesses in the United States a day,” and praised Trump for promoting school choice, which, she said, was supported by “single mothers like myself.”

Guilfoyle has maintained that her decision to move from television news to a political campaign was entirely voluntary. In fact, Fox News forced her out in July, 2018—several years before her contract’s expiration date. At the time, she was a co-host of the political chat show “The Five.” Media reports suggested that she had been accused of workplace impropriety, including displaying lewd pictures of male genitalia to colleagues, but few additional details of misbehavior emerged. Guilfoyle publicly denied any wrongdoing, and last year a lawyer representing her told The New Yorker that “any suggestion” she had “engaged in misconduct at Fox is patently false.” But, as I reported at the time, shortly after Guilfoyle left her job, Fox secretly paid an undisclosed sum to the assistant, who no longer works at the company. Recently, two well-informed sources told me that Fox, in order to avoid going to trial, had agreed to pay the woman upward of four million dollars.

Until now, the specific accusations against Guilfoyle have remained largely hidden. The draft complaint, which was never filed in court, is covered by a nondisclosure agreement. The former assistant has not been publicly identified, and, out of respect for the rights of alleged victims of sexual harassment, The New Yorker is honoring her confidentiality. Reached for comment, she said, “I wish you well. But I have nothing to say.”



Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-history-of-kimberly-guilfoyles-departure-from-fox

'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams blasts Trump's white supremacist answer: 'He screwed me'

Source: The Hill

Scott Adams, the creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, blasted President Trump’s white supremacist answer during the presidential debate, saying, “He screwed me.”

Adams, who has defended Trump for his comments about the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., said during his recent podcast the president lost his vote due to his answer on debate moderator Chris Wallace’s white supremacy question.

“He botched it,” Adams said. “It was a layup. It was free money sitting on the f---ing table and he left it there, and he left me on that table, too. He left me just exposed.

“He lost my vote,” he added “Can he get it back? Yeah, all he’d have to do is fix that.”



Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/519245-dilbert-creator-scott-adams-blasts-trumps-white-supremacist

Georgia post debate poll (WSB TV): Biden +2

'This is extortion': Broward bows to state pressure to open schools

Source: Politico

TALLAHASSEE — Classrooms in Broward County will open their doors on Oct. 9 after the school board bowed to a deadline from Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, who had threatened to withhold funding if campuses weren’t open by his deadline.

The local board, which governs one of the nation’s largest school districts, voted unanimously Thursday to bring teachers and students back to campuses next week, beginning with the youngest students, to avoid a massive budget shortfall in the heat of the coronavirus pandemic. The district originally had planned to start classroom instruction Oct. 20.

Board members lamented the decision and expressed concern about logistical challenges the district will confront to open ahead of schedule. They bashed Corcoran and Gov. Ron DeSantis, both Republicans, for forcing their hand.

“This is extortion by the Department of Education, there’s no two ways about it,” Board member Patricia Good said at the emergency meeting Thursday.



Read more: https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/10/01/this-is-extortion-broward-bows-to-state-pressure-to-open-schools-1319476

AG Nessel Files Felony Charges Against Jack Burkman, Jacob Wohl in Voter-Suppression Robocalls

Source: Michigan.Gov

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed charges today against two political operatives for allegedly orchestrating a series of robocalls aimed at suppressing the vote in the November general election.

Jack Burkman, 54, and Jacob Wohl, 22, are each charged with:

One count of election law – intimidating voters, a five-year felony;
One count of conspiracy to commit an election law violation, a five-year felony;
One count of using a computer to commit the crime of election law – intimidating voters, a seven-year felony; and
Using a computer to commit the crime of conspiracy, a seven-year felony.

The charges were filed today in the 36th District Court in Detroit. Arraignment is pending for the defendants. The Attorney General’s office will be working – with local law enforcement if necessary – to secure the appearance of each defendant in Michigan. It’s too early to say if formal extradition will be necessary or if they will present themselves here voluntarily in the very near future.

Burkman, an Arlington, Virginia resident, and Wohl, a Los Angeles, California resident, allegedly attempted to discourage voters from participating in the general election by creating and funding a robocall targeted at certain urban areas, including Detroit. The calls were made in late August and went out to nearly 12,000 residents with phone numbers from the 313 area code.


Read more: https://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-359-92297_99936-541052--,00.html

Theresa Greenfield Leads Joni Ernst By 12 Points in New Poll of Iowa Voters

Source: WHO News

Interesting; a DNC Finance contact thought the number would be lower than August...

Probably the only time I'll agree with Sirota...

N.Y.C. reaches a major milestone, becoming the first major U.S. city to reopen all its public school

Source: New York Times

A day after indoor dining returned, New York City reached another major milestone in its recovery as a one-time center of the coronavirus pandemic: It has reopened all its public schools. The city’s final phase of reopening classrooms Thursday was also a hopeful sign for the country’s unsteady effort to resume in-person instruction.

Not long after sunrise, middle and high school principals welcomed students back into their buildings for the first time since March, following elementary school children who had started earlier this week. About half a million students, from 3-year-olds in pre-K programs to high school seniors, have now returned to school in New York City, which has by far the nation’s largest school system.

Roughly another 480,000 children have opted to start the school year remote-only, an indication of how wary many New Yorkers are of sending their children back to classrooms in a city that still fears a second wave of the virus.

And on Wednesday as indoor dining returned at 25 percent capacity, the delight among restaurant owners was also marked by trepidation over whether customers would feel safe enough to return and whether state-imposed limits would further eat away at profits.


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/01/world/covid-19-coronavirus?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#amid-a-virus-uptick-nyc-reaches-a-major-milestone-becoming-the-first-major-us-city-to-reopen-all-its-public-schools-for-in-perso

"I did not support Medicare for All; I do not support it now" -- Joe Biden today

...on his whistle stop train tour.