Politics

Santa Claus is coming to town… with supposed early access to the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump administration official Michael Caputo wanted performers who portray Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and elves to lend their talents to a coronavirus-related ad campaign meant to promote the benefits of the eventual vaccine. In return,

The Wall Street Journal opinion page spent much of Thursday talking up a fresh allegation involving Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and the son’s alleged business dealings in China. “Joe Biden has a problem, and his name is Hunter,” wrote Kimberley Strassel, a member of the paper’s editorial board. James Freeman, assistant editor of the

Democratic challenger Joe Biden accused President Trump of trafficking in Russian disinformation in the final debate on Thursday, and asked Americans to weigh each candidate’s character in deciding how to vote. Trump brought up allegations involving Joe Biden’s son Hunter, referring to the “laptop from hell” cited in a New York Post story about the

Thursday’s debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will mark the second and last time both presidential candidates will talk one-on-one before Election Day. The event takes place after the previously scheduled debate on Oct. 15 was cancelled following Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis. This week’s hour-and-a-half debate will take place starting at

A commercial for Joe Biden’s presidential run, aired during Sunday’s NFL games and noted for its licensing of the Beastie Boys’ music, has been withdrawn after the Michigan nightclub owner featured in the ad became a target for fire from conservatives. The Biden campaign says it took the ad down in response to “doxxing” and

Twitter is disputing the account of a security researcher in the Netherlands who claimed he accessed President Trump’s Twitter account — simply by guessing that the password was “maga2020!” “We’ve seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands today,” a Twitter spokesman said in a statement to Variety. According

In the closing weeks of the campaign, President Trump has spent much of his time attacking network interviewers and debate moderators. But in a town hall aired on Wednesday night by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Trump got to relax a bit under friendly questioning from host Eric Bolling. Bolling, a former Fox News anchor, now hosts

Disneyland President Ken Potrock and other theme park executives have blasted the state of California over its strict reopening rules, contending that state officials have been unwilling to collaborate. “We believe that we’ve proven that we can responsibly reopen,” Potrock said. “We continue to prove all over the world that we have reliable protocols that

Comedy legend Mel Brooks is the latest celebrity to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 election against President Donald Trump. The prolific actor, director and writer was joined by his son, Max Brooks, and his grandson in a video shared to Max’s Twitter account on Wednesday. He wrote, “My father, Mel Brooks,

Controlling media and access to information has become a top priority for the Thai government, which has been rattled by shows of open defiance from pro-democracy protestors. But it is not clear that increased censorship and media bans will have the desired effect. The protestors have frequently altered their tactics and have used social media

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Larry David — the stars and co-creator of “Seinfeld” — will reunite on Friday for a virtual fundraiser for the Texas Democratic Party. The event is billed as a “Fundraiser About Something,” and the trio will be talking about their favorite “Seinfeld” episodes with host Seth Meyers. “Texas is a

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced new rules on Monday intended to allow the candidates to speak uninterrupted at the final debate on Thursday. Under the new rules, each candidate will have two minutes to address each of six topics. For that period of time, his opponent’s microphone will be muted. The change comes in

Donald Trump continues to invoke references that might be obscure or passé to many of his supporters, and Monday’s tweets included references to “the late, great Bob Hope” and a reply to the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman saying “Every rally is BOFFO.” But what exactly was he trying to say? Boffo is one of

President Trump kept up the attacks on NBC’s Kristen Welker on Monday, calling her a “dyed-in-the-wool, radical left Democrat.” Welker is set to moderate the final presidential debate on Thursday from Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Over the weekend, the New York Post reported that Welker’s parents had donated to Democrats. The Post also reported

It will be fun, fun, fun under the California sun for many well-heeled attendees at today’s Donald Trump fundraiser in Newport Beach — but not for Beach Boys Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, who are chagrined that the touring version of the group currently headed up by Mike Love will be headlining the campaign benefit.

The Beastie Boys had never before licensed any of their songs for an advertisement, but that commercial blackout came to an end during Sunday’s Steelers/Browns game, when the sounds of “Sabotage” accompanied a spot for the Joe Biden presidential campaign. It wasn’t just any campaign spot, but one that focuses on how the COVID-19 shutdowns

Thousands of people in masks rallied Saturday in Washington D.C. to protest President Donald Trump and his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to fill the seat of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The rally resembled that of January 2017, when young women and gender minorities across the country gathered to protest the president’s

Twitter is keeping itself in front of the political firing line by inconsistently applying policy to a series of unconfirmed reports by the New York Post about Joe Biden’s son Hunter — moves Republicans have slammed as censorship and election interference. The social network initially banned the Post’s story Wednesday about Hunter Biden’s alleged attempts

President Donald Trump said on Friday that Savannah Guthrie had gone “totally crazy” during the NBC town hall on Thursday night. Speaking to a group of seniors in Fort Myers, Fla., Trump also weighed in on Joe Biden’s appearance on ABC, which he said he did not watch. “He wasn’t looking too good,” Trump said.

Thom Tillis received more than $30,000 from entertainment companies and their trade associations last quarter, as he tries to fight off a challenger in one of the key races that will determine control of the Senate. Lindsey Graham, who is also in a tough race, has received contributions from the Motion Picture Association, Comcast, AT&T

On Friday morning, President Donald Trump retweeted a satirical article about the recent Twitter outage being a plot in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden, seemingly falling for the fake story. Coincidentally before Trump’s and Biden’s separate town halls on Thursday night, Twitter experienced widespread technical problems across the U.S. and other parts of

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, facing Republican wrath over the company’s blocking of tweets linking to New York Post articles on Hunter Biden, admitted Twitter’s handling of the situation was “wrong” and said the social network has updated its policies to do better. “Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement

President Trump and Joe Biden offered starkly different visions for the country and a sharp contrast in leadership styles on Thursday as the presidential contenders took part in dueling town halls on NBC and ABC. NBC’s hourlong event with Trump drew strong criticism from the entertainment industry and many others who saw it as a

Zeroing in on a provision of U.S. communications law that Donald Trump has repeatedly called to be nixed, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday said he believes the telecom agency has the legal authority to regulate social-media companies. “Social media companies have a First Amendment right to free speech,” Pai, a Trump appointee, said in

UPDATE: NBC News is not backing down to calls to move President Trump’s town hall on Thursday night. NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde said in a statement that the decision to air Trump’s town hall at the same time as Vice President Biden’s was not a decision motivated by business. “We share in the

Madame Gandhi kicked off the South Asian Block Party, which featured a who’s who of South Asians in showbiz to promote the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris presidential ticket Wednesday on Zoom. But Kumail Nanjiani brought the emotion, talking about how President Trump’s actions during the coronavirus pandemic have locked down his wife, Emily V.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has blasted Disney over its decision to lay off 28,000 employees, asserting that the entertainment giant’s priorities are unfairly weighted in favor of shareholders and executive pay packages. Warren issued the accusations in a letter released Wednesday, two weeks after Disney announced the layoffs and blamed the state of California’s “unwillingness” to lift

Facebook and Twitter put measures in place Wednesday to limit distribution of a New York Post story based on emails — which the paper claimed were supplied by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani — purportedly revealing evidence of influence-peddling by Joe Biden’s son Hunter. According to the Post’s story, Hunter Biden in 2015 introduced his father,

Snoop Dogg wants you to drop it like it’s hot — your ballot at your nearest official election drop box, that is. In a new ad entitled “Drop It In The Box!,” released in partnership with the Democratic National Convention, the rapper showcases how voters can conveniently drop off their ballots at their chosen location

The world may be turned upside down, but the “Hamilton” cast is not letting Joe Biden throw away his shot. Biden’s presidential campaign campaign announced Monday night that it will be holding a virtual grassroots fundraiser with the cast of the hit musical on Oct. 16 at 9 p.m. ET. Original cast members Lin-Manuel Miranda,