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From Foo Fighters to Beyoncé: These artists have objected to Trump’s use of their music — 5:56 p.m.

By Alyssa Vega, Globe Staff

Donald Trump seems to be falling back into an old pattern, using music in campaign videos and rallies from artists who haven’t given their consent.

Recently, a growing number of performers have criticized the former president for the practice. They join a long list — including Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Phil Collins, Pharrell, John Fogerty, Neil Young, Eddy Grant, Panic! at the Disco, R.E.M., and Guns N’ Roses — who spoke out against Trump’s use of their music during his 2020 campaign.

The objections also extend to the estates of late musicians like Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty, and Prince.

Trump has, of course, secured endorsements from a few musicians, including Kid Rock and Lee Greenwood, known for his patriotic hit “God Bless the USA.”

Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her presidential campaign with an ad featuring Beyoncé’s song “Freedom,” after receiving the singer’s blessing to use it at events. The track has become the anthem for her campaign and sets the stage for Harris’s speeches.

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Special counsel files new indictment in Trump Jan. 6 case, keeping charges intact but narrowing allegations — 4:41 p.m.

By the Associated Press

Special counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment against Trump over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election that keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him following a Supreme Court opinion conferring broad immunity on former presidents.

The new indictment removes a section of the indictment that dealt with Trump’s interactions with the Justice Department, an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court in a 6-3 opinion last month said Trump was entitled to immunity from prosecution.

The updated criminal case no longer lists as a co-conspirator Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official who championed Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Trump’s co-conspirators were not named in either indictment, but they have been identified through public records and other means.

The special counsel’s office said the updated indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, was issued by a grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in the case.

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How lessons learned from the 2016 campaign led US officials to be more open about Iran hack — 4:24 p.m.

By the Associated Press

The 2016 presidential campaign was entering its final months and seemingly all of Washington was abuzz with talk about how Russian hackers had penetrated the email accounts of Democrats, triggering the release of internal communications that seemed designed to boost Trump’s campaign and hurt Hillary Clinton’s.

Yet there was a notable exception: The officials investigating the hacks were silent.

When they finally issued a statement, one month before the election, it was just three paragraphs and did little more than confirm what had been publicly suspected — that there had been a brazen Russian effort to interfere in the vote.

This year, there was another foreign hack, but the response was decidedly different. US security officials acted more swiftly to name the culprit, detailing their findings and blaming a foreign adversary — this time, Iran — just over a week after Trump’s campaign revealed the attack.

Wisconsin Elections Commission keeps Kennedy on the ballot — 4:01 p.m.

By the Associated Press

The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted to keep Robert F. Kennedy on the presidential ballot, despite his request to be removed, and also rejected a Democratic attempt to oust independent candidate Cornel West.

A move by Democratic elections commissioners to keep Green Party candidate Jill Stein off the ballot also failed. The vote to approve her came the day after the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by Democrats to remove Stein from the ballot.

Ultimately, the commission approved eight presidential candidates for the ballot including Harris and Trump.

Republican members of the commission pushed to grant Kennedy his wish to no longer be on the ballot after he suspended his campaign last week and endorsed Trump. But the commission deadlocked under opposition from Democrats who pointed to Wisconsin state law that says once a candidate has filed for office they must remain on the ballot unless they die.

“We know Trump and Kennedy are playing games,” Democratic elections commission member Mark Thompson said. “Whatever games they’re playing, they have to play them with Kennedy on the ballot.”

Vance attempts to lay blame for US economic struggles on Harris — 1:51 p.m.

By the Associated Press

Vance is continuing Republicans’ attempts to lay any blame for US economic struggles at Harris’ feet.

During a campaign appearance in Big Rapids, Michigan, the Republican vice presidential nominee said that Harris “is undoing the incredible work that Donald Trump did” to shore up American manufacturing.

Messaging against Vance’s visit, Harris’ campaign argued that the US lost more than 150,000 manufacturing jobs during Trump’s final year in office.

That timeframe — 2020 — also encompassed the initial year of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“You had your chance, you’ve failed and we’re not giving you a promotion,” Vance said, directing his comments at Harris.

Saying that, as much as he is “frustrated” with Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Vance noted that he is “hopeful” for America’s future — provided that he and Trump are elected into office this year.

As he has been since the Republican National Convention, Vance continues to stump in battleground states this week, planning visits to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

Zuckerberg says the White House pressured Facebook over some COVID-19 content during the pandemic — 1:16 p.m.

By the Associated Press

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to “censor” some COVID-19 content during the pandemic and vowed that the social media giant would push back if it faced such demands again.

In a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg alleges that the officials, including those from the White House, “repeatedly pressured” Facebook for months to take down “certain COVID-19 content including humor and satire.”

The officials “expressed a lot of frustration” when the company didn’t agree, he said in the letter.

“I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in the letter dated Aug. 26 and posted on the committee’s Facebook page and to its account on X.

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More than 200 staffers from previous Republican presidential campaigns endorse Harris — 11:58 a.m.

By the Associated Press

More than 200 staffers for four previous Republican presidential nominees have endorsed Harris’s bid, cautioning that the notion of a second term for Trump “is simply untenable” and “will hurt real, everyday people.”

In a letter first published in USA Today, 238 alumni of the campaigns of former Presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush, the late Senator John McCain and Senator Mitt Romney call on their fellow “moderate Republicans and conservative independents” to join them in backing Walz over Trump.

The appeal signals the importance of voters in the middle of the two major parties, with just more than two months until Election Day. In their letter, the former staffers note the significance of a handful of key battlegrounds to Biden’s slim margin of victory in 2020, marking the importance of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin “and beyond” in this year’s results.

In a similar letter, many of the same signatories issued a letter in 2020 supporting Biden’s candidacy over Trump.

“Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Harris and Walz,” the Republicans wrote. “That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.”

Trump’s campaign did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. join Trump’s presidential transition team — 11:34 a.m.

By the Associated Press

Former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have joined Trump’s presidential transition team.

Kennedy and Gabbard both recently endorsed the former president and the Republican’s campaign on Tuesday confirmed their addition to the team planning for a future Trump administration.

“We look forward to having their powerful voices on the team was we work to restore America’s greatness,” said Brian Hughes, a senior advisor to the campaign.

Kennedy last year ran as a Democrat challenging Biden for the nomination. He then ran switched to become an independent candidate. Last week he suspended his bid and endorsed Trump.

Gabbard, who ran as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, endorsed Trump on Monday and appeared with him at a campaign stop. She’s scheduled to hold a town hall with him Thursday in Wisconsin.

RFK Jr. to be on Maryland ballot as independent presidential candidate despite suspending campaign — 11:21 a.m.

By the Associated Press

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has collected enough signatures to be on the Maryland ballot as a presidential candidate despite suspending his campaign, state election officials said.

Kennedy suspended his independent presidential campaign Friday and endorsed Trump, the Republican nominee for president.

Although Kennedy has said he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states, he has made clear that he was not formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome.

Kennedy has said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Harris, though recent public polls do not provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize effect on support for either major-party candidate.

Vote.org challenges companies nationwide to grant employees paid time off to vote — 10:32 a.m.

By the Associated Press

Vote.org re-launched its campaign Tuesday that urges companies of all sizes to guarantee paid time off for their employees to vote on or before Election Day.

The ElectionDay.org initiative, which was first created in 2020, intends to challenge companies during this year’s election cycle to create voter-friendly work policies. The goal is to help workers avoid work scheduling conflicts, which in past elections, has primarily kept them from the polls. Participants in this campaign also get access to Vote.org’s online registration tools and additional materials to promote civic engagement at their companies.

Kayak, OpenTable, Snap Inc., and United Talent Agency are some of the companies that have already joined the campaign this year.

“Work-related barriers should never prevent someone from making their voice heard at the polls,” said Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey. “By joining ElectionDay.org, companies can stand for the rights of their employees while proudly demonstrating their commitment to our democracy. It’s also important to recognize that a thriving business environment goes hand-in-hand with a healthy democracy, which is all the more reason for companies to take steps to actively promote voting this election season.”

Harris campaign releases new ad to highlight plans to build 3 million homes, reduce inflation — 5:09 a.m.

By the Associated Press

Vice President Kamala Harris has a new advertising push to draw attention to her plan to build 3 million new homes over four years, a move designed to contain inflationary pressures that also draws a sharp contrast to Republican Donald Trump’s approach.

Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, highlights her plan in a new minute-long ad that uses her personal experience, growing up in rental housing while her mother had saved for a decade before she could buy a home. The ad targets voters in the swing states including Arizona and Nevada. Campaign surrogates are also holding 20 events this week focused on housing issues.

In addition to increasing home construction, Harris is proposing the government provide as much as $25,000 in assistance to first-time buyers. That message carries weight at this moment as housing costs have kept upward pressure on the consumer price index. Shelter costs are up 5.1% over the past 12 months, compared to overall inflation being 2.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Prosecutor turned politician: Could Britain’s leader show Harris a path to power? — 3:23 a.m.

By The New York Times

When Vice President Kamala Harris said last week in Chicago, “you can always trust me to put country above party,” it struck a familiar note in Britain, where the new prime minister, Keir Starmer, used much the same phrase throughout the Labour Party’s relentless march to power earlier this summer.

It’s not the only parallel between Starmer and Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. Both have shaken off or soft-pedaled some of their earlier positions as they try to broaden their party’s appeal. Both are former public prosecutors, who declare a ringing commitment to the rule of law. Both are operating in a volatile environment, where law and order is threatened by extremist elements.

In Starmer’s case, he was hit with anti-immigrant riots only weeks after his victory, after a deadly knife attack on a children’s dance class was followed by false claims, amplified by people on the far right, that the assailant was a Muslim asylum-seeker. (The attacker was born in Britain, police said, and his parents were Rwandan Christians.) In Harris’ case, some analysts believe she could face unrest if she defeats former president Donald Trump in a close race and Trump or his supporters reject the results.

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In the Hamptons, Doug Emhoff calls Kamala Harris a ‘joyful warrior’ — 2:42 a.m.

By The New York Times

Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, told receptive crowds at two fundraisers in the Hamptons in New York on Monday evening that his wife had met the moment — quickly winning the Democratic Party’s support for her candidacy under difficult circumstances after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

“She’s just the most badass version of Kamala Harris,” he said, “when we needed it most.”

Emhoff spoke at the homes of supporters of Harris’ presidential campaign — on patios beside large, expensive houses, in backyards landscaped with oaks, hydrangeas and swimming pools. He traveled via a seven-car motorcade. Each event — one in Water Mill, the other in Sag Harbor — had many dozens of attendees. “My wife could be the next president of the United States,” he said at the Sag Harbor event. “That would be pretty cool!”

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Tuesday, August 27

Hearing over whether to dismiss charges in Arizona fake electors case stretches into second day — 12:23 a.m.

By the Associated Press

A hearing on whether to dismiss charges against Republicans accused of scheming to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential race in Arizona will stretch into a second day Tuesday.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, who is presiding over the case, is considering requests from at least a dozen defendants who were indicted in April on charges of forgery, fraud and conspiracy.

In all, an Arizona grand jury indicted 18 Republicans. They include 11 people who submitted a document falsely claiming former president Donald Trump won Arizona, two former Trump aides and five lawyers connected to the former president, including Rudy Giuliani.

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Former aides to Bush, Romney, and McCain back Harris over Trump — 9:13 p.m.

By The New York Times

More than 200 people who previously worked for President George W. Bush and Sens. Mitt Romney and John McCain have signed a letter endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

Many of the more prominent signatories, including a chief of staff, a legislative director and a deputy campaign manager for McCain, had signed a letter supporting President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Others work for organizations like The Bulwark and the Lincoln Project that oppose former President Donald Trump’s leadership of the Republican Party.

But the former Republican officials’ renewed support of the Democratic ticket reflects how Trump has transformed the Republican Party under his leadership, as well as deep and persistent opposition to his candidacy from those who served Republican presidential candidates.

Romney, Bush and other high-profile Republicans skipped the Republican nominating convention last month, while the Harris campaign made significant efforts to highlight the support of anti-Trump Republicans — as well as former members of Trump’s staff who no longer support him — with speaking slots at the Democratic convention last week.

“We have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz,” the letter said. “That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.”

Democrats sue Georgia election board, warning of ‘chaos’ — 8:17 p.m.

By The New York Times

Democrats sued the Georgia State Election Board on Monday, arguing that measures approved by the board this month seeking to alter the election certification process in the state were illegal and could create chaos on Election Day.

The lawsuit claims that the board intended to give local election officials a broad license to “hunt for purported election irregularities of any kind, potentially delaying certification and displacing longstanding (and court-supervised) processes for addressing fraud.”

The lawsuit was filed in state court by local election officials, political candidates, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia with support from Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. The move comes weeks after the State Election Board voted 3-2 to pass rules to give election officials authority to conduct “reasonable inquiry” into elections before certification and to require that county election officials be given “all election related documentation” before certification. Both rules, the lawsuit argues, create the impression that local election officials have discretionary power over certifying election results.

Georgia judge rules independent and third-party candidates ineligible — 6:23 p.m.

By the Associated Press

A judge says four independent and third-party candidates are ineligible to appear on Georgia’s presidential ballot.

The final decision is now up to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after Monday’s rulings by Michael Malihi, an administrative law judge. If affirmed, the rulings would block independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, as well as the Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Claudia De la Cruz.

Kennedy has said he wants to withdraw his name in Georgia and some other closely contested states after he endorsed Donald Trump. Democrats legally challenged whether all four qualify for the ballot, seeking to block candidates who could siphon votes from Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris after Joe Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020.

Walz scheduled to return to Boston to speak at a firefighter union conference — 5:00 p.m.

By James Pindell, Globe Staff

Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz is scheduled to be in Boston on Wednesday morning to deliver remarks at the International Association of Fire Fighters convention, the Globe has learned.

This will be Walz’s second visit to Boston in two weeks. He previously attended a fundraising event in the Back Bay on August 14.

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Special counsel urges appeals court to reinstate classified documents case against Trump — 4:07 p.m.

By the Associated Press

Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal appeals court to reinstate the classified documents case against Trump after it was dismissed by a judge last month.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case, one of four prosecutions of Trump, after concluding that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.

Smith’s team then appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, with prosecutors saying in their appeal brief that Cannon’s decision is “at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.”

The appeal is the latest development in a prosecution that many legal experts consider a straightforward criminal case but has been derailed by delays, months of hearings before Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, and ultimately a dismissal order that brought the proceedings to at least a temporary halt.

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Behind the rhetoric, a presidential campaign is a competition about how to tell the American story — 1:25 p.m.

By the Associated Press

Harris accepted the Democratic nomination “on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth.” America, Barack Obama thundered, “is ready for a better story.” JD Vance insisted that the Biden administration “is not the end of our story,” and Donald Trump called on fellow Republicans to “write our own thrilling chapter of the American story.”

“This week,” comedian and former Obama administration speechwriter Jon Lovett said Thursday on NBC, “has been about a story.”

In the discourse of American politics, this kind of talk from both sides is unsurprising — fitting, even. Because in the campaign season of 2024, just as in the fabric of American culture at large, the notion of “story” is everywhere.

This year’s political conventions were, like so many of their kind, curated collections of elaborate stories carefully spun to accomplish one goal — getting elected. But lurking behind them was a pitched, high-stakes battle over how to frame the biggest story of all — the one about America that, as Harris put it, should be “the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.”

Harris and Trump are having a new squabble over their upcoming debate, this time about muted mics — 11:32 a.m.

By the Associated Press

The campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are arguing in advance of their high-stakes Sept. 10 debate over whether microphones should be muted except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak.

While it’s common for campaigns to quibble beforehand over debate mechanics, both Harris and Trump are under pressure to deliver a strong performance next month in Philadelphia. The first debate during this campaign led to President Joe Biden’s departure from the race.

Trump on Sunday night raised the possibility that he might not show up on ABC, posting on his Truth Social network that he had watched the network’s Sunday show with a “so-called Panel of Trump Haters” and posited, “why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” and urging followers to “Stay tuned!!”

The current dispute centers on the muting of microphones when a candidate isn’t speaking, a condition both Biden and Trump accepted for their June debate hosted by CNN. Both sides are accusing the other of gaming the system to protect their candidate.

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Trump suggests he may skip debate with Harris on ABC — 9:56 a.m.

By The New York Times

Trump, in a social media post Sunday night, questioned his agreement to debate Harris next month.

Trump had agreed months ago to a debate with President Joe Biden on Sept. 10 on ABC News. After Biden ended his campaign and Harris replaced him as the Democratic nominee, Trump wavered, trying to get Harris to agree to debate on Fox News instead, but he ultimately agreed to honor the original plan.

On Sunday, though, he complained about what he called a “ridiculous and biased interview” of Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, and about ABC’s “so-called Panel of Trump Haters.”

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She’s the sitting vice president. She’s the candidate of change. How Harris is having it both ways. — 4:57 a.m.

By the Associated Press

She’s the sitting vice president who has been in office for 3 1/2 years. She’s also the presidential candidate of just five weeks promising a “new way forward.”

Kamala Harris is having it both ways as she hits the campaign trail after the Democratic National Convention, taking credit for parts of President Joe Biden’s record in rallies staged in front of Air Force Two while casting herself as a new leader who rails against “the politics of the past.”

In every presidential cycle candidates run on experience or freshness, but Harris so far appears to be successfully harmonizing two seemingly competing messages, much to the frustration of former President Donald Trump and his allies.

Monday, August 26

Trump is expected to tie Harris to chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal in speech to National Guard — 12:16 a.m.

By the Associated Press

In a speech Monday to National Guard soldiers in Michigan, former President Donald Trump is expected to promote his foreign policy record and tie Vice President Kamala Harris to one of the Biden administration’s lowest points: the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.

The speech coincides with the third anniversary of the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is set to appear at 2 p.m. Eastern time at the National Guard Association of the United States’ 146th General Conference & Exhibition in Detroit.

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