Arnold Palmer’s daughter calls Trump’s remarks about her father ‘disrespectful’
(WASHINGTON) — Arnold Palmer’s daughter, Peg Palmer Wears, reacted to former President Donald Trump’s vulgar comments about her late father, calling them “disrespectful,” “inappropriate,” and “unacceptable.”
“Being at the airport, which is named for my dad, where he flew out of to go to work every day or every week, you know, to come there and talk about … hackneyed anecdotes from the locker room … seemed disrespectful and inappropriate to me,” she told ABC News Monday afternoon.
Not only was Arnold Palmer a renowned American golfer with a popular beverage named in his honor, he also has a regional airport named after him in his hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Campaigning at that airport on Saturday evening, Trump kicked off the rally with a long-winded story about Palmer, who dies in 2016, specifically referring to the golfer’s genitals.
“When he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there. They said, ‘Oh my God. That’s unbelievable,’” Trump joked.
According to Wears, Trump was “appropriating someone he admires to bolster his own image,” and that “people deserve better.”
“The people coming to these rallies deserve substance about plans Trump has as a candidate, if he could elucidate on some of the threats he’s made to people,” she continued. “I mean, these are important issues that should be discussed for people when they’re getting ready to vote, and using my dad to cover over the important things just seems unacceptable to me.”
Wears also confirmed to ABC News that she will be voting in the presidential election, though she did not disclose which candidate she plans to vote for.
An unaffiliated North Carolina voter, Wears plans to cast her ballot from one of the seven critical battleground states that could impact the election.
According to 538’s polling averages, Trump is leading in North Carolina by 0.8 points.
ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, and Soorin Kim contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — With about six weeks until Election Day, former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks on the tax code and U.S. manufacturing in battleground Georgia on Tuesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris has her own economic speech scheduled for Wednesday in Pennsylvania, another critical swing state. Later this week, she will travel to Arizona for some campaign events and to visit the southern border, according to a source familia with her plans.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Harris planning a visit to southern border this week: Source
Vice President Harris is planning to visit the southern border during her visit to Arizona on Friday, according to a source familiar.
This would be Harris’ first visit to the southern border since she jumped to the top of the ticket at the end of July.
Immigration has been a big issue in the 2024 race, with Donald Trump and Republicans inaccurately calling Harris the “border czar” and blaming her for the border crisis. Harris, in turn, argues that Trump and Republicans are at fault for killing the bipartisan border bill earlier this year.
Harris has overseen the Biden administration’s efforts to address the root causes of migration as vice president, and visited the border in 2021, after she came under fire for not having done so.
Trump expected to return to Butler for a rally on Oct. 5: Sources
Trump is expected to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, the city of his first assassination attempt, next Saturday for a rally, according to multiple sources familiar with his plans.
The rally is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Trump has long promised to return to Butler to honor the victims who died at his July rally.
“I WILL BE GOING BACK TO BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, FOR A BIG AND BEAUTIFUL RALLY, HONORING THE SOUL OF OUR BELOVED FIREFIGHTING HERO, COREY, AND THOSE BRAVE PATRIOTS INJURED TWO WEEKS AGO. WHAT A DAY IT WILL BE — FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS,” Trump wrote on his social media platform in July.
NBC News was first to report the news.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Lalee Ibssa, Kesley Walsh and Soorin Kim
Harris won’t attend the Al Smith dinner, a presidential campaign staple
Vice President Harris will not attend the Al Smith dinner next month in New York, breaking with tradition of major party nominees sharing laughs at the benefit dinner, and will instead be on the campaign trail, a campaign official confirmed to ABC News.
“She is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election,” the official said.
The dinner, which benefits Catholic Charities, is scheduled for Oct. 17. It has become a traditional stop on the presidential campaign trail, with both the Republican and Democratic nominees attending and delivering remarks full of roasts. In recent years, both nominees attended the gala, including in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. (The latter was virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The official also added that Harris’ team informed the dinner’s organizers she would be absent, but was willing to attend in a later year as president.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabrielle Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie
Melania Trump to sit for her 1st interview of 2024 election cycle
Former first lady Melania Trump will sit down for her first interview of the 2024 election cycle with Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt as she continues to promote her new book.
The interview is set to air on Thursday, Fox announced on Monday.
While Melania Trump has remained relatively quiet this campaign cycle, mainly appearing with the former president at closed-door events, she has been more active online recently as she launches her forthcoming memoir, “Melania.”
Her book is scheduled to be released on Oct. 8. Her website describes it in part as “the powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has defined personal excellence, overcome adversity, and carved her own path.”
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Trump again says it’s too late for another debate amid challenges from Harris
Trump is again ruling out another debate against Harris, arguing it would be “a very bad thing” for the country.
“Well, I’ve already done two debates, and they, you know, we’re good, but to do a third one, everybody’s voting now, and it’s very late to be doing a third debate,” Trump told Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin in a phone conversation that aired Monday morning.
Harris said over the weekend she accepted an offer from CNN for a debate on Oct. 23.
Her team has also noted that there have been presidential debates in years past in the final weeks before Election Day.
“The final 2020 debate was October 22,” the Harris campaign wrote on X. “The proposed CNN debate is October 23.”
Trump also debated Hillary Clinton for a third time around the same timeframe: Oct. 19, 2016.
Trump slightly leads in Arizona, about even in North Carolina: Polls
A set of New York Times/Siena College polls found Trump slightly leads Harris in Arizona and they are about evenly matched in North Carolina.
Among likely voters in Arizona, Trump leads Harris 50% to 45% in a head-to-head matchup. In a six-way matchup with other candidates, Trump still leads Harris 48% to 43%.
In North Carolina, Trump also leads Harris among likely voters 49% to 47%. He also leads by 2 percentage points in a six-way matchup. The lead, however, is within the poll’s margin of error.
Arizona and North Carolina are considered crucial battlegrounds this election, along with Georgia. According to 538’s polling average, Trump is ahead slightly in each of the three Sun Belt states.
(WASHINGTON) — Senators grilled Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jørgensen Tuesday at a hearing over the costs of Ozempic, Wegovy and similar weight loss drugs, requesting explanations for why the U.S. faces a higher list price than other countries.
Since first entering the market nearly six years ago, the drugs have risen in popularity for diabetic patients and others looking to combat obesity. But doctors and patients have faced challenges in access and affordability.
Sitting in front of a chart showing the lower prices for Wegovy and Ozempic in other countries, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the chair of the Senate Health Committee, pressed Jørgensen on why it’s fair to charge more in the U.S.
“All we are saying, Mr. Jørgensen, is treat the American people the same way that you treat people all over the world. Stop ripping us off,” Sanders said to Jørgensen.
Sanders asked Jørgensen why the U.S. faced higher prices. Novo Nordisk charges $969 per month for Ozempic in the U.S., compared to $155 per month in Canada and $59 in Germany. For Wegovy, the price is $1,349 per month in the U.S., but $265 in Canada and $137 in Germany.
“Bottom line is, you are charging the American people substantially more for the same exact drug than you are charging people in other countries. And my question is, why?” Sanders asked.
The CEO said the company was spending $30 billion to increase its production and access to the drugs. He also highlighted a 40% decrease in cost since Ozempic came on the market and a sliding scale of costs for people across the U.S., including programs for low-income Americans to access the medicine for cheaper.
But ultimately, Jørgensen cast the blame on the complexities of the U.S. health care system.
“Senator, we are very committed to make sure that Americans have access at an affordable price point for our medicines. There’s nothing we would rather see happen. We have just announced $30 billion in investments to increase capacity to serve these patients. There is a market we have to operate in, and we negotiate hard to make sure that Americans have access,” he said.
“With that said, it is clear that patients too often struggle to navigate the complex US health care system. It’s also clear that no single company alone can solve such vast and complicated policy changes,” Jørgensen added.
Novo Nordisk isn’t responsible for deciding what price patients pay their insurance companies, he said, and he argued that pharmacy benefit managers, or companies that help oversee prescription drug benefits and control costs, get in the way of companies passing discounts on directly to patients.
But Jørgensen didn’t provide a direct answer to why the U.S. faces a higher list price than other countries, instead pointing to “a very complex market and very complex health care system that creates a lot of misunderstandings.”
“Everyone blames everyone else,” Sanders said, from pharma companies to PBMs to insurance companies.
Sanders connected the high prices of Wegovy and Ozempic to something he’s made the center point of his career, including his 2016 and 2020 campaigns: corporate greed.
“Are they acting illegally by charging us some such high prices? Are they violating the law? No, they’re not. What they’re doing is perfectly lawful. They are simply taking advantage of the fact that, until very recently, the United States has been the only major country on earth not to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs,” Sanders said.
“In other words, Novo Nordisk and other drug companies, not just Novo Nordisk, can charge us as much as the market can bear, and that is precisely what they are doing,” he added.
Jørgensen and a handful of Republican senators, including ranking member Sen. Bill Cassidy, pointed out that wholesale prices don’t offer a completely apples-to-apples picture because, in the U.S., insurance and rebates typically reduce the price patients pay by a significant amount.
“There is a tension, a tension between the need to incentivize innovation and the ability to afford that innovation. We are here struggling with that balance,” Cassidy, who is a physician, said. “If anyone thinks going after big pharma is the silver bullet that if you do that, boom, health care costs or drug costs go down, they don’t understand what happens with pricing a drug.”
Sanders dismissed that argument, however, saying it’s still unfair for the initial list prices to be higher in the U.S. It trickles down to the U.S. patient, Sanders said, leaving Americans with higher prices even with rebates or insurance. Of course, uninsured Americans — around 8% of the country — also pay the full list price.
“Even factoring in all of the rebates that [pharmacy benefit managers] receive, the net price for Ozempic is still nearly $600 — over nine times as much as it costs in Germany. And the estimated net price of Wegovy is over $800 — nearly four and a half times as much as it costs in Denmark,” Sanders said.
When it comes to insurance coverage, drug prices become a “pass through to the insurance companies” resulting in higher plan prices, Sanders argued.
“What must also be understood is that not everybody can take advantage of the net price of these drugs. If you are uninsured, you pay the full list price. If you have a large deductible, you pay the full list price. If you have co-insurance, the percentage of the price you pay at the pharmacy counter is based on the list price,” Sanders said.
Novo Nordisk continued to place the blame on health insurance middlemen for the high drug prices in a statement released after the hearing.
“Our hope is that the conversation with the HELP Committee will result in real and tangible solutions that benefit patients and allow millions of people living with these serious and chronic diseases to be the direct beneficiaries of real change,” the company said. “While no single company can fix the American healthcare system alone, we look forward to continuing to work with policymakers and other stakeholders toward meaningful solutions for the people who rely on our medicines.”
ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
(PHOENIX) — Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, said that although he never met the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, he is certain McCain would not support Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid.
“John McCain, I’m sure, disagreed with Donald Trump on a whole host of issues. And yes, Donald Trump disagreed with John McCain on a whole host of issues. I do not believe for a second that if John McCain were alive today and he sees what’s going on at the American Southern border, that he would support Kamala Harris and all the destruction that she’s brought,” Vance told a crowd at a rally event in Phoenix on Thursday night.
The McCains came up when a local reporter asked Vance for his thoughts on Jimmy McCain, youngest son of John and Cindy McCain, saying he will vote for Harris.
“I mean, look, who cares what somebody’s family thinks about a presidential race,” Vance later said. “I care about what these people care about.”
While answering the reporter’s question, Vance also suggested that Trump, who in 2015 said of McCain, “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured,” and the Vietnam vet were able to work together.
“Look, one of the things I love about Donald Trump — and I never knew John McCain, but I suspect that one of the things that I would have loved about John McCain is that they didn’t let their personal grievances get in the way of serving the country,” Vance said.
Vance’s comments come after Jimmy McCain’s comments about supporting Harris and, more recently, former Rep. Liz Cheney, also saying she will vote for the vice president.