(NEW YORK) — Ernesto was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday night, with the National Hurricane Center warning of dangerous conditions for East Coast beaches.
The hurricane — which over the past week has caused major power outages and flooding in Puerto Rico and Bermuda — is out over the Atlantic, with maximum sustained winds up to 75 mph.
The NHC expects Ernesto to cross southeastern Newfoundland late Monday into Tuesday morning.
Ernesto is the fifth named storm and the third hurricane of this year’s Atlantic season. It made landfall in Bermuda early on Saturday, dumping 7 to 9 inches of rain and flooding parts of the island. The British Overseas Territory avoided major damage, and Ernesto is now some 200 miles northeast of Bermuda.
High surf and life-threatening rip currents are still anticipated over the next couple of days along the U.S. East Coast.
The entire Atlantic coast from Florida to Maine is under a high-risk rip current alert on Sunday.
“Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions are likely,” the National Hurricane Center warned, “which means life-threatening rip currents are likely, and dangerous for all levels of swimmers.”
(BALTIMORE) — One man was killed and seven others were injured in a shooting in Baltimore late Sunday night, police said.
Several firearms were found at the scene of the shooting on the 1300 block of Spring Street when police arrived after 8 p.m., Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at a press conference.
“There was a gathering over on Spring Street, and at some point, it looks like multiple people opened fire, and we end up with eight people shot and one deceased,” Worley said, as reported by ABC News’ Baltimore affiliate WMAR.
The man who was killed was 36 years old, police said. A woman and six men aged between 22 and 45 were injured, police said. Their conditions ranged from critical to stable, with all taken to local hospitals, police said.
Officials also said there was “no indication” that any of the people who were shot were simply passing by, or not involved in the gathering that was taking place before the shooting.
There was no immediate information released on possible suspects. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting with the investigation, which was in its preliminary stages.
Faith Leach, Baltimore’s chief administrative officer, said that under the direction of Mayor Brandon Scott the administration was launching “community neighborhood stabilization efforts right here in this community in the days ahead.”
“Please know that the Scott administration will be here. We will be here in the immediate aftermath of this incident, but we will also be here for the long term to address your challenges, your needs, and to also help the community heal,” Leach said.
ABC News’ Megan Wordell contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — After nearly two years of House Republicans vowing to investigate President Joe Biden and his family’s business dealings — while repeatedly falling short in substantiating their most significant claims — the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Ways and Means Committees on Monday released a nearly 300-page impeachment inquiry report filled with familiar allegations against the president, who has already announced he will not seek a second term.
The report, released on the first day of the Democratic National Convention and the morning of the day the president is slated to speak, rehashes many of the allegations Republicans previously made against President Biden while alleging that they have uncovered “impeachable conduct.”
However, the report does not recommend specific articles of impeachment; it instead says that the decision on the next steps will be left to the larger congressional body.
There appear to be no new bombshells in the report. The report details six so-called key findings alleging that the Biden family received $27 million from foreign entities using shell companies, $8 million in questionable loans, special treatment for Hunter Biden and White House obstruction of the impeachment inquiry into the president.
While the report is highly detailed and cites a wide array of documents and testimony, it provides few, if any, instances of Joe Biden himself being directly and knowingly involved in illegal or improper activities – mainly focusing on the actions of his son, Hunter Biden and his allies, and the president’s brother, Jim Biden.
The report appears to serve as a roadmap for House Republicans if they move to draft articles of impeachment for the House to then take up when Congress returns on Sept. 9.
It’s not clear yet what the next steps will be, including if articles of impeachment will even be drafted and formally introduced. If articles are introduced, one of the House committees — likely Judiciary led by Jim Jordan — would then hold a markup to pass the articles out of committee for House floor consideration. It’s not clear if Speaker Mike Johnson would hold an impeachment vote on the floor. Republicans have hesitated for months to move forward with impeaching Biden because they do not have enough votes to clear the measure, and many believe Biden’s actions do not merit impeachment.
Congress is only in session for three weeks in September and out on recess until after the November 2024 election. Notably, since Biden has dropped his reelection bid, House Republicans have already trained their sights on the new presumptive Democratic ticket, launching fresh investigations into both Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.
One of the key allegations in the report says that James Biden and Hunter Biden received a total of nearly $8 million in loans from entertainment attorney Kevin Morris, who represented Hunter Biden; family friend Joey Langston; and car dealer John Hynansky.
The vast majority of the alleged loans — more than $6 million of it — came from Morris, who allegedly paid more than $1.9 million of Hunter Biden’s tax liabilities, helped the president’s son buy a new house in Venice, California, and hire security. But, the report added, “Mr. Morris’s wealth allowed him to cover these tax debts and other debts for Hunter Biden without regard to expectation of repayment.”
The report suggests Morris’ financial assistance “creates the perception, at the very least, there was an unspoken quid pro quo or unlawful campaign contribution for which Mr. Morris would erase Hunter Biden’s IRS troubles—and by extension, help the Biden campaign rid itself of a serious liability—and receive some benefit in return.”
But the report does not provide any direct evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden himself in relation to this financial assistance.
Notably, multiple previous associates of Hunter Biden told the Oversight Committee over the course of the investigation that President Biden had no involvement with Hunter’s business dealings. Rob Walker, a longtime business associate of Hunter Biden, said in a closed-door interview in January that President Biden “was never involved” in Hunter Biden’s business dealings. “To be clear, President Biden — while in office or as a private citizen — was never involved in any of the business activities we pursued. Any statement to the contrary is simply false,” Walker said in his opening statement.
The report also claims the White House obstructed the Committees’ investigation into President Biden’s alleged retention of classified documents by preventing White House officials from testifying, erroneously asserting executive privilege and limiting access to materials from the National Archives.
Biden’s alleged retention of classified documents was independently investigated by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who recommended against charging Biden. While Hur says he found evidence that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified information,” he determined that charges were not warranted because “evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Hur’s decision to not recommend charges against Biden relied in part on his finding that Biden would come off as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” to a jury, a statement the president has slammed.
The report sharply criticized the White House for asserting executive privilege over the audio of Biden’s interview with Hur, arguing that the recording itself was necessary to understand Biden’s “mental state” and overall culpability. The DOJ defended its decision not to turn over the recordings by arguing the audio was “cumulative” and releasing them would harm “the evenhanded administration of justice” by preventing future cooperation from witnesses.
In June, House Republicans voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over the audio recordings, though the DOJ declined to prosecute Garland due to a longstanding policy against prosecuting an attorney general. A Republican-led effort to hold Garland in inherent contempt for his failure to turn over the audio tapes, which would have led to Garland being fined $10,000 per day until he complied with a congressional subpoena, failed in July.
(DALLAS, Ga.) — A Georgia sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Saturday night while responding to a call about a domestic dispute, officials said.
Paulding County Sheriff Gary Gulledge identified the deceased deputy as Brandon Cunningham, a 30-year-old father of two.
“Tonight, we’ve lost a hero,” Gulledge said.
Cunningham and another deputy were “ambushed” while responding to a home in Hiram after receiving reports of a domestic dispute, Maj. Ashley Henson said during a press conference later Saturday night.
“Unfortunately, it appears as if our deputies were ambushed,” Henson said, calling it a “tremendously tragic situation.”
Upon arriving at the address, the deputies were met with gunfire from the suspect inside the home, Henson said.
Cunningham was struck, while the other deputy avoided the gunfire.
A female victim at the scene was also shot and was transported to the ICU. She was in stable condition as of Saturday night, officials said.
The male suspect, who officials have not identified, was found dead at the scene of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Cunningham was a father of two who had worked for the sheriff’s department since 2020.
His death marks the first officer killed in the line of duty in the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.
In a statement shared to Facebook, the department called it “one of the hardest in the history of the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.”
“I ask that you pray for this family — both blood and blue,” Gulledge said during the press conference. “Everybody here is hurting, our whole staff is hurting.”
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tim Walz as her running mate, the buzz around Minnesota’s governor has been about his political image as a folksy “Midwestern Dad.”
But what about his “running mate?”
Gwen Walz currently serves as Minnesota’s 39th first lady and could become second lady of the United States if the Democratic ticket succeeds in securing the White House this November.
As an educator, activist, and someone who describes herself as one of her husband’s closest advisers during his time as a congressman and governor, she already has a reputation as someone familiar with politics and the spotlight.
Background, passions and career
Born in Glencoe, Minnesota, Walz, 58, and her three sisters, were raised by parents Val and Linn who worked as teachers and small business owners.
After attending Gustavus Adolphus College and Minnesota State University, she followed in her family’s footsteps and became a teacher as well, focusing on English.
In addition to teaching in public, alternative and migrant schools, she also served as an administrator and coordinator for Mankato Area Public Schools for more than two decades.
In an episode of the “What If It Works” podcast released last month, she was interviewed by her former student, Ann Vote, who grew up to become a teacher herself.
Vote called Walz’s high school American Literature class her “most memorable.”
Said to be passionate about improving equity in education, Walz has also taught in prisons and expanded education among incarcerated populations.
She is an avid supporter of the Bard Prison Initiative, a program dedicated to providing college-level educational opportunities in prisons. With the help of other congressional spouses, she expanded the initiative to more than 11 states.
That included educational opportunities from prestigious institutions such as Notre Dame and Washington University, she said on the “What If It Works” podcast.
During the episode, she also discussed her work with the Eastern Correctional Facility where she helped establish a debate team that beat Harvard University’s team.
“The arguments were so unique and different than what was heard on the college debate circuit,” she said.
LGBTQ+ rights are of high importance to her as well, she’s said, and students recall her and her husband being strong allies back in the 1990s.
Jacob Reitan, a student at Mankato West High School in 1999, said he told Walz he was gay before he told his parents, and her ability to openly discuss gay issues during the 90s “meant the world to [him].”
The couple turned to politics due to dissatisfaction with the Iraq War and they sought to enact change, she said during the podcast interview.
Since becoming first lady of Minnesota in 2018, she set herself apart by becoming more heavily involved compared to other political spouses.
In fact, she is the very first first lady in Minnesota to establish her own office in the state Capitol, according to the Star Tribune.
“[Tim and I] do work really closely together, and there are issues where I do a lot of the work and share my thoughts,” she said on the podcast. “We are still one another’s closest advisers.”
She added that she also works closely with her husband’s chief of staff.
She has even proven capable of replacing her husband when the need arose.
The New York Times reported on a 2006 fundraising dinner for Tim Walz’s first congressional campaign, during which he suffered from laryngitis. A seasoned public speaker, the report said, she stepped in and delivered an eloquent speech on his behalf.
Met teaching at same high school
Known as Gwen Whipple at the time, she met Tim Walz while teaching at the same Nebraska high school.
They even shared a classroom at one point.
After their first date of dinner and a movie, Tim Walz apparently leaned in for a kiss which she declined. He replied, “That’s fine, but you should know I’m going to marry you,” the Star Tribune reported.
The couple wed in 1994.
“The first project we ever did together was Earth Day,” she recalled on the “What If It Works” podcast. “We thought, gosh, we really have complementary things about our styles that work well together.”
The Walzes were quick to combine their teaching talents, establishing an annual summer trip to China for their students.
They even spent their honeymoon on one of these trips, and the Star Tribune said that they sacrificed sharing a room to accommodate their odd number of students.
The two later relocated to her home state of Minnesota, where they expanded their teaching duties at Mankato West High School.
Per the Star Tribune, their relationship resembles a movie plot: He taught social studies; she taught English. He coached the football team; she coached the cheerleading team.
The Walzes have been married for 30 years and have two children, 23-year-old Hope and 17-year-old Gus.
Their children represent how their policy beliefs are quite personal to them, they say, particularly with regard to reproductive rights.
“When my wife and I decided to have children, we spent years going through infertility treatments, and I remember praying every night for a call for good news, the pit in my stomach when the phone rang, and the agony when we heard that the treatments hadn’t worked,” her husband, 60, reflected during his debut campaign event in Philadelphia earlier this month.
“So, it wasn’t by chance that when we welcomed our daughter into the world, we named her Hope,” he said.
On the campaign trail
He continues to proudly introduce his wife as he steps into his new role in the national spotlight.
“I can’t wait for all of you and America to get to know my incredible wife, Gwen, a 29-year public school educator,” her husband said during the Philadelphia rally.
Recognizing the daunting position she has been thrust into, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband, extended his support with a phone call following the official announcement of her husband as the vice presidential pick.
“I remember getting this call four years ago, and I actually know what you’re going through right now,” Emhoff reassured her. “But the good news is, I’ve already been through it.”
“I’m going to be there for you,” he added. “And we’re going to do this together.”
The Harris-Walz ticket and their spouses head back to Pennsylvania for a campaign bus tour on Sunday, just prior to the Democratic National Convention starting Monday.
“This is the first time all four principals have campaigned together, following the rally in Philadelphia earlier this month,” the campaign announced in a press release.
This campaign event will take on a more intimate feel as the candidates and their spouses plan to speak to voters individually in community settings, officials said.
Walz has also begun spearheading campaign events of her own, including a Utah Women for Kamala kickoff call on Thursday.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, she said she was “especially outraged” about former President Donald Trump’s platform, specifically in regards to public school funding and his stance on reproductive rights.
The report said the call raised over $50,000 for the Harris-Walz campaign.
ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim contributed to this report.
(HOUSTON) — A driver could face a possible murder charge after he allegedly struck and killed an innocent bystander on a sidewalk in Houston early Sunday while attempting to mow down his domestic partner, according to police.
The incident unfolded around 3 a.m. after patrol officers in the city’s Midtown area responded to what they initially thought was a gunshot and found the mortally injured victim on the sidewalk, Robert Ementich, a spokesperson for the Houston Police Department, said during a news conference.
“It’s my understanding that the victim, the decedent, was actually the manager of one of the nightclubs and was preparing to go home,” Ementich said.
Witnesses, including the alleged intended target, told police the suspect and his domestic partner were involved in an altercation at a nightclub and left the establishment, Ementich said.
“Upon leaving the establishment, the male got into the vehicle and started driving around and struck multiple vehicles,” Ementich said.
Ementich said the driver’s domestic partner alleged to investigators that the suspect, whose name was not immediately released, intended to strike her with the vehicle when he hit the innocent bystander.
“She was able to get out of the way,” Ementich said of the suspect’s companion. “Unfortunately, an innocent bystander who was walking on the sidewalk was struck by the suspect’s vehicle.”
Ementich said the Houston Fire Department administered first aid, but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
The name of the woman killed was being withheld by police pending an autopsy and notification of her relatives.
Ementich said it was not immediately clear if the suspect’s domestic partner was his wife or girlfriend.
With help from witnesses, police officers located the suspect several blocks away and took him into custody, Ementich said.
Ementich said police and prosecutors are looking into possibly filing a murder charge against the suspect, alleging it was an “intentional act” to try to hit his partner.
“It’s kind of like if he were to pull out a gun and try shooting his wife and missed. It was still his intention to use a deadly weapon,” Ementich said. “Instead of a 160-grain bullet, he used a 4,000-pound motor vehicle as his weapon of choice.”
(CHICAGO) — Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., whose home state is hosting the Democratic National Convention, said Vice President Kamala Harris is on the upswing heading into the major political gathering this week.
Speaking to “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, Duckworth said “momentum is continuing to build” and that being “consistent with our messaging will be a big part of” gaining more support, particularly on the economy, as most polling suggests voters trust former President Donald Trump more than Harris on the economy and inflation.
“Here in Chicago, we’ve turned things around. We’ve had nine credit upgrades here. We’ve had balanced budgets for the last four years. And this is really the message that we’re sending when Democrats are in charge. We’re going to put the economy back on track,” Duckworth said Sunday.
“We’re going to continue the momentum that we started. Inflation is coming down, and I think that is what Kamala is going to be talking about when she’s going to be talking to those working families, those middle-income families, you’re our priority,” she added.
When pressed by Raddatz on the latest ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos polling showing Harris on her back foot on the issue, Duckworth said she believes Harris can turn it around before the election. She cited Harris’ recent economic plan, which includes proposals to ban “price gouging” on food and groceries, expand the child tax credit and offer up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.
Duckworth predicted Harris will “get into more details” this week but stressed that “the key is to talk about [how] we are going to put working families front and center in our economic plan.”
Trump, Duckworth said, is “on the side of corporations. He’s on the sides of people who make over a million dollars. Democrats [are] on the side of working families, and we’re going to put them front and center.”
The economy won’t be the only thing on Democrats’ minds in Chicago this week, however.
Thousands of demonstrators are anticipated to descend on the city, as well, to protest the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, threatening a distraction from Democrats’ party-like atmosphere in the United Center and sparking worries over security.
“I think we need to work hard on getting the cease-fire agreement,” Duckworth said Sunday when asked how Harris could differentiate herself from President Joe Biden on the issue. “And I think what she can push for is to talk about making sure that we get the humanitarian aid into Gaza, and I think she would lean more heavily toward the humanitarian side of things.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat who himself has a background as an activist, insisted Sunday that his city is prepared.
“We are ready for this convention,” Johnson told Raddatz in a separate interview on “This Week.”
“The part that’s actually most exciting, though, in this moment is that this is a party that can handle protests and protecting the First Amendment right, which is fundamental to our democracy, while also strengthening our democracy and speaking to the future of our country,” he said.
“Our local police department has worked with the Secret Service as well as other local agencies to ensure a safe, peaceful yet vibrant, exciting convention,” Johnson added.
Duckworth on Sunday also criticized Trump for recent comments referring to recipients of the Medal of Honor as “either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.” The Trump campaign said the former president was referring to the experience of giving the award, not denigrating the Medal of Honor or the actions of service members.
Herself an Iraq War veteran who had her legs amputated after being injured in a helicopter crash, Duckworth targeted Trump’s five draft deferments during the Vietnam War and reports that he purportedly called fallen service members “losers” during his time in office. (Trump has vehemently denied the reported remarks, which Biden repeated on the campaign trail before he dropped out of the race.)
“American voters have a chance to choose. Do they want a five-time draft dodger who denigrates military men and women and our veterans and calls us suckers and losers? Who doesn’t want to have his picture taken with amputee veterans of various conflicts to be the next commander in chief? Or are you going to have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who care deeply about veterans?” Duckworth said.
She also praised Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s own 24-year service in the Army National Guard, defending him against criticism over past comments saying he’d carried a weapon “in war” when he had not actually seen combat.
“We say, ‘when you speak, oftentimes, you say things.’ But remember, this man served 24 years in uniform. He was a, he’s a retired command sergeant major. I’m excited to have a retired command sergeant major in the vice president’s office, in the Situation Room. When we look at issues of conflicts around the world, it’s going to be great to have that experience,” she said.
While Walz was serving as a command sergeant major leading up to his retirement, he did not hold the position long enough to retire with the title. Walz repeatedly referred to himself as a “retired command sergeant major” for years, ABC News has reported, and a line in his bio on the Harris-Walz campaign website also described him that way but has since been edited.
(PITTSBURGH) — Just a day away from the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz and their spouses, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Gwen Walz, will kick off their “On the Road to Chicago” bus tour in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. It will be the first time all four hit the trail together.
Sunday’s tour is set to launch from Pittsburgh with multiple stops in Beaver and Allegheny counties located in western Pennsylvania. The campaign hopes to “meet voters where they are in community settings.” The stops will range from canvass kick-offs to local retail stops.
The stops will be right after former President Donald Trump’s Saturday rally in Wilkes-Barre located in the northeastern region. The former president will also be stopping in York on Monday and his vice presidential pick, JD Vance, will deliver remarks in Philadelphia on the same day as well.
Harris’ campaign is looking to make inroads in the heavily conservative Beaver county where she will highlight labor unions while Trump is looking to appeal to the blue collar voters in Wilkes-Barre which is not too far from President Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton.
At his rally, Trump claimed that Harris’ economic policies would be the “death of Pennsylvania,” a state that has heavy ties in the energy and steel industries.
“We’re going to get your energy prices down by 50% the Kamala presidency will mean death for Pennsylvania energy. Remember that it’ll mean death of Pennsylvania,” said Trump.
The dueling events highlight how critical the state is in reaching the coveted 270 electoral votes needed to win November’s election. The state, which not only holds significance to Biden but for First Lady Dr. Jill Biden as well, was a regular stomping ground for the president. He made 9 stops this year before leaving the ticket. This will be both Harris’ and Trump’s 8th visit to the state this year.
Trump won Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes in 2016, but Biden was able to reclaim the state along with two other Rust Belt states, Wisconsin and Michigan, by a narrow margin of just over 1% in 2020.
The momentum Harris has seen since Biden stepped down has injected a much-needed enthusiasm into the campaign that has helped to give the candidate a bump in swing state polling. Currently Harris is polling nearly two points ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania, according to 538’s average.
The Harris-Walz campaign is betting on the heavy investments they’ve made in the state to keep their edge. The campaign has nearly 300 staffers across 36 offices in the Keystone State. On Saturday they announced a $370 million ad investment with a promise of twice of the investment in TV in Pennsylvania than made in 2020.
(CHICAGO) — Vice President Kamala Harris will set out what Democratic officials are touting as a “bold vision for America’s future” at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week, as her campaign looks to maintain the momentum that has so irked former President Donald Trump.
The Democratic National Convention Committee on Sunday released a list of speakers for the Chicago event, which will run from Monday to Thursday. Each day will have a dedicated theme, bullet-pointing Harris’ presidential pitch to voters.
Primetime speakers will include former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, DNC officials have confirmed to ABC News.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will both speak on Monday night. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker will speak on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will give his vice presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday, with Harris taking the stage on Thursday to accept her nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Democratic officials have said that the convention will open on Monday with the theme, “For the people.” Tuesday will be dedicated to “a bold vision for America’s future,” and Wednesday to “a fight for our freedoms.”
Thursday, when Harris takes the stage, will be themed: “For our future.”
ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
(JACKSONVILLE, FL) — There’s a political storm brewing on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, just outside of Jacksonville.
A voter guide falsely purporting to show a slate of endorsements by the local Republican party hit mailboxes in St. John’s County, sowing confusion just as the primary was about to kick off this month.
The latest salvo in what many say is already an overheated election cycle, the incident has brought attention to an intra-party slugfest being waged inside the local GOP, amid a fight for the future of how — and how fast — development should proceed in the area around historic St. Augustine.
“I saw the card, and I’m like, this is a real issue,” St. John’s County GOP Chair Denver Cook told ABC News. “I was in shock. I’m dealing with one of probably the most flagrant frauds on voters — the day before early voting. It became an instant train wreck.”
On the eve of the first ballots being cast last Friday, as the mysterious mailers began spreading, Cook said his phone began blowing up with perplexed messages.
According to Cook, the glossy handout had a thickness, color scheme and font like the official voter guides put out by the local Republican party in June. And though it purported to be the “official 2024 membership-approved endorsements” of the county Republican party, it had a very different list of candidates from the ones the party had announced support for.
The new mailers also lacked any legal disclaimers explaining who paid for them, Cook said. And in pictures of the envelope that one of the fake mailers came in, which were reviewed by ABC News, the postmark was dated Aug. 7 — timed to arrive just in time for Aug. 10th’s early voting.
Cook, who is also running for St. John’s clerk of courts and comptroller, didn’t know how widely the phony cards were sent, but one thing was clear: In this predominantly Republican area, whoever won the primary would likely be the victor in November.
“That’s why there’s such a fight,” Diane Scherff, president of local political action committee “Trump Club of St. John’s County” said.
“It is the battle for the soul of St John’s County,” said Scherff, whose PAC endorsed a list of candidates in the spring that bucks the local GOP’s.
So, the urgent question: Where did this pamphlet come from?
‘I wish I knew’
“I never thought anyone would go that far in the dirty trick universe,” Cook told ABC News. “When we’re talking about tight races, any illegal mailer like this claiming to be from the county party could alter elections.”
Cook says he has asked law enforcement to investigate the fraudulent pamphlets — and that he would pursue legal action against those responsible.
“Whoever did this knows the rules,” Cook said. “There’s a level of sophistication to this that isn’t cheap.”
Florida’s Republican party chairman, Evan Power, said in a statement that they “are taking this matter very seriously and are investigating.”
“No Florida voter should be misled by anonymous, phony groups pretending to speak for the GOP,” Power said.
Long before the mailers appeared, the St. John’s primary had already stirred up bad blood over the question of who truly champions Republican policies and principles. At issue: the speed of local land development in one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most influential areas, awash in campaign cash and high-dollar real estate deals.
Some local party Republicans criticize others for being in developers’ pockets; the other Republicans say their opponents are faux-conservative and accuse them of being Democrats in GOP clothing.
“Our local party has been taken over by Democrats, and Republicans using Democrats help to take a shortcut,” said Jamie Parham, vice chair of the St. John’s GOP board of directors. “If they’re MAGA, they should be supporting the people that Trump supports.”
Cook pushes back against jabs like that.
“I am a Republican, I support President Trump’s campaign, I have supported his past campaigns, and as chair of the St. John’s County GOP I continue to fight for the platform of our party,” he said.
While local party officials had thrown their weight behind a slate of candidates that included several challengers to the current incumbents, the Trump Club of St. John’s mostly endorsed the incumbent candidates.
Then Trump himself, in an early morning Truth Social post last week, endorsed three incumbent county commission members from the Trump Club’s list.
It was recognition that Scherff said she’d been seeking for years.
“I was so happy, after all the work I’ve done,” said Scherff. “I thought that would be all we needed.”
But the fake voter guides, printed with the official GOP banner, threw the race into turmoil: The guide’s endorsements were nearly identical to the slate of candidates endorsed by groups like the Trump Club.
Scherff said the resulting controversy enveloped the race — and that she had no idea where the bogus guides came from.
“I wish I knew, because then I could say to people, stop blaming me,” she said, worrying that the controversy has cast doubt on Trump’s support and undermined any momentum her group had.
“It’s been taken away,” she said. “As quick as I got it, it’s gone.”
On Saturday, the last day of early voting, Trump reiterated his support for the same candidates in another Truth Social post.
‘Freedom to speak out’
The back-and-forth has grown so contentious that at one point a sitting county commissioner faced criminal prosecution for raising the upcoming election at a meeting.
Krista Joseph, the county commissioner for St. John’s District 4, describes herself as an often-lone dissenting voice on the five-person governing body.
“I’m definitely a thorn in their side. I’ve voted with them when I think it’s right, but I don’t look at this as winning and losing. I’m representing,” Joseph said. “It’s not that I’m anti-development; I’m anti what they’re doing to develop.”
Joseph is not up for reelection this year — but last November, at a commissioners’ board meeting, she wanted to remind everyone who was.
Joseph told members of the public that if they’re “sick of the traffic” and “overcrowding in schools” and if they’re concerned that that “developers are controlling the boards,” they had a choice coming up.
“There’s hope,” Joseph said from the dais. “Less than nine months, we have an election.”
Several commissioners whose seats would be up were sitting with Joseph as she spoke.
In a 4-1 vote less than a month later, the board censured Joseph, led by two of the incumbents who would go on to seek reelection — both of whom would be endorsed by the Trump Club, and Trump.
Outside counsel decided Joseph had violated election law by speaking out during a meeting, and noted the matter could be referred to local prosecutors for possible criminal charges, according to court documents.
After a monthslong legal battle, U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger ruled in Joseph’s favor, finding her First Amendment right to free speech was protected, even at a county meeting.
“Simply because a person is an elected official, such as a County Commissioner, this rightful freedom to speak out so as to inform the electorate cannot be restricted,” Judge Schlesinger wrote in his July 10 decision granting a preliminary injunction. “The threatened prosecution is chilling Commissioner Joseph’s political speech in the last months of the primary election when this speech is most meaningful.”
‘Different factions’
“The local Republican party has been splitting off into different factions,” explains incumbent commissioner Christian Whitehurst.
Whitehurst, who has been endorsed for reelection by the Trump Club and the former president, said he wants to make sure local government can keep up with all the development.
“It’s virtually impossible to stop all the growth,” Whitehurst said. “We have a lot of people moving into not just St. John’s County but the state of Florida. Of course with the sharp increase in growth comes the challenge to keep up in terms of infrastructure and services.”
His primary challenger, Ann-Marie Evans — who was endorsed by the local GOP — criticizes Whitehurst on her campaign website as overseeing “the most overdeveloped area” and “STILL approving new homes by the thousands.”
“I am not opposed to all growth; I am opposed to exponential growth that does not keep pace with the need for infrastructure,” Evans’ site says.
Whitehurst says characterizing him as in cahoots with developers is unfair. “We have voted to deny many projects,” he said.
Whitehurst said he does not know who was behind the fake voter guides, and condemned “any attempt to mislead anybody.”
Parham, of the St. John’s GOP board, said it wouldn’t make sense for the current officeholders to be involved.
“It doesn’t benefit the incumbents if they sent it, because then they’re the bad guy for committing election fraud,” he said.
But Parham also decries the official endorsements made by his own local party.
“The Republican Party should not endorse candidates in the primary,” Parham said. “As a voter, you should figure out which group you most identify with, and that should be your voter guide.”
ABC News’ Will Steakin and Soo Rin Kim contributed to this report.
