Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Lara Trump Slammed After Claiming RNC Operatives Will 'Handle The Ballots' On Election Day

Screenshot of Lara Trump
Newsmax

The new RNC co-chair, who also happens to be the GOP nominee's daughter-in-law, sparked immediate concern after claiming on Newsmax that election operatives would include 'people who can physically handle the ballots.'

Former President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, the new co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), was widely criticized after she told Newsmax host Eric Bolling that the RNC's 2024 election operatives will include "people who can physically handle the ballots."

She said:


"We now have the ability at the RNC not just to have poll watchers—people standing in polling locations—but people who can physically handle the ballots."

When Bolling asked her whether those tasked with handling ballots will be stationed directly inside polling locations, she referred to a consent decree that restricted Republican poll watcher activity for nearly 40 years:

"So there was a moratorium for about 40 years on the RNC actually training people to work in these polling locations. And last year, the judge who implemented that passed away, so that gives us a great ability, heading into what I assume everyone understands is the most important election of our lifetimes."

You can hear what she said in the video below.

Lara Trump's comments came shortly after the RNC announced a significant "election integrity" initiative, pledging to deploy 100,000 volunteers and attorneys to key battleground states to "protect the vote and ensure a big win" in the upcoming election.

According to a press release, the volunteers and legal teams will be assigned to oversee various stages of the electoral process, including logic and accuracy testing, early voting, ballot counting, mail ballot processing, Election Day voting, and post-election canvasses, audits, and recounts. The statement hints that they might also aim to recruit poll workers.

RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly echoed Lara Trump's remarks in a statement released following the Newsmax interview:

"This election cycle, Republicans will beat Democrats at their own game by leveraging every legal tactic at our disposal based on the rules of each state. That includes ballot harvesting in states like California and Nevada and nominating Republican poll workers in states like Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat."

However, poll watchers are usually designated by political parties to oversee election administration and sometimes monitor voter turnout. They are tasked with reporting issues or irregularities to authorities and election officials.

State-specific regulations guide their actions, but poll watchers are generally forbidden from disrupting the electoral process, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Between 1982 and 2017, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was bound by a court order limiting its poll watcher activity after Democrats filed a lawsuit alleging voter intimidation tactics against minorities in 1981. In 2018, a judge decided not to renew the consent decree—a decision that Lara Trump suggests now allows the RNC to do whatever it wants.

Many condemned Lara Trump's statements, saying her own words betray a GOP plan to interfere in the 2024 election.



The RNC's recent decision to approve Trump's choices for new leadership, including Michael Whatley as the new RNC chair, his daughter-in-law as co-chair, and Chris LaCivita as the chief operating officer, further solidifies Trump's control over the party. Despite ongoing primaries, the move indicates the party's acceptance of Trump as the de facto GOP presidential candidate.

The shake-up at the RNC follows the private announcement by Ronna McDaniel, who had led the committee since 2017, that she would be stepping down.

McDaniel found herself under mounting pressure both within and outside the committee to step down, driven by lackluster fundraising and criticisms of the GOP's unexceptional performance in the 2022 elections.

Several of Trump's allies accused McDaniel of not providing adequate support to the former president. They pointed to her neutrality during the Republican primary and her reluctance to accede to Trump's proposal to cancel a series of debates he had refused to participate in.

Lara Trump previously vowed to spend “every single penny” of RNC funds to re-elect her father-in-law, an admission many perceive as further evidence that the Trump family would continue to funnel money normally allocated to other GOP candidates to Donald Trump's campaign.

More from News/2024-election

JD Vance; Jen Psaki
Johannes Simon/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Vance Gets Brutal Reminder After Accusing Jen Psaki Of 'Attacking' People For Praying Following School Shooting

Vice President JD Vance was criticized after he lashed out at MSNBC host Jen Psaki for saying that "prayer is not freaking enough" to end school shootings after a shooter killed two children and wounded 17 others during the first week of classes at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Psaki spoke out on X shortly after the shooting occured, to stress that "thoughts and prayers" don't actually address or prevent mass shootings and gun violence overall:

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @andydouglas.trumpboy's TikTok video; President Donald Trump
@andydouglas.trumpboy/TikTok; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Video Of Little Boy Sobbing After Finding Out Trump Is A Real Person Goes Viral—And We Totally Get It

Whether it was Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or some other important facet of childhood, most of us found out when we were kids that something we loved did not exist, and it was absolutely devastating and world-changing.

But imagine there being something that you deeply disliked or feared, only for you to find out that it actually exists on the same plane and in the same timeline as you.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @originalsugarphly's TikTok video
@originalsugarphly/TikTok

Woman Stunned After Best Friend Of 23 Years Ends Friendship Over Her 'Mom Shorts'

We will all have friends who come into our lives for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime. There are those situational friendships, like from work or school, that dissolve when we exit that space, and there are friendships that might form from knowing the same people.

Then there are those tried-and-true friendships that we think will truly stand the test of time—but even those sometimes fracture under pressure. And sometimes for the most ridiculous reasons.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @nurse_xtina129's TikTok
@nurse_xtina129/TikTok

Woman Sparks Debate By Putting Out Small Fire At Dunkin' Donuts After Workers Ignored It

Imagine hitting that afternoon slump and seeking out your favorite caffeinated beverage: a highlight in an otherwise dumpster fire kind of day. But then you arrive at your coffeehouse of choice—and there's literally a fire.

TikToker Cristina Conklin was waiting in line for a beverage at Dunkin' Donuts in Warwick, New York, when she became either a villain or a hero, depending on who was watching her TikTok video.

Keep ReadingShow less
Former Republican congressman and Fox News host Trey Gowdy
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

MAGA Fumes Over Fox Gun Control Talk

The nation is reeling after yesterday’s mass shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, where a gunman opened fire during a Catholic school Mass, killing two children and injuring more than a dozen others. The tragedy has not only shaken the community but also reignited the national debate over guns in America—this time sparked by an unlikely voice.

Former Republican congressman and Fox News host of Sunday Night in America, Trey Gowdy—long seen as a staunch defender of gun rights and a past recipient of National Rifle Association contributions—surprised many of his own allies when he called for a national reckoning on firearms access.

Keep ReadingShow less