Kai Trump’s election night vlog: Behind the scenes of the historic evening
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
(PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Kai Trump, President-elect Donald Trump’s 17-year-old granddaughter, released an “Election Night Vlog” on her YouTube channel Monday afternoon, where she took viewers behind the scenes into her family’s experience awaiting results on election night.
“I’m ready to party it up tonight, and hopefully we can catch a dub,” Kai Trump said, tapping into Gen-Z slang.
She provided an inside look into the viral family photo taken in Mar-a-Lago on election night, with footage featuring Trump talking about “dark MAGA” hats and insisting on including surrogate Elon Musk in the shot.
“Elon? You have to have a picture with your boy,” Trump said. “You have to get Elon with his boy. Gorgeous, perfect boy.”
Early in the evening, the family was seated around four TV screens displaying ABC News, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC newscasts as they eagerly awaited for results to filter in. Trump could be briefly seen sitting silently facing the TV screens.
“He’s up right now 20 Electoral College votes, so I think that’s pretty solid,” Kai said, describing the newscast results at the moment.
Providing a more casual, lighthearted glimpse into night, Kai also recorded herself getting her hair and makeup done, picking out her outfit, and taking selfies with family members.
Additional shots featured Kai driving to Mar-a-Lago and the Palm Beach County Convention Center, cracking jokes with a friend about Nutella, and singing along to “Money, Money, Money” from the “Mamma Mia” soundtrack — what she said was her go-to song whenever she pulls into Mar-a-Lago. The crowd could also be seen emulating Trump’s signature dance moves.
In addition to these lighter moments, Kai also opened up about the emotional aspect of the night, particularly in terms of her nerves.
“The past five days, I have been so nervous, like I feel like I’ve had butterflies in my stomach for so long,” she said, in addition to later expressing her anxieties by “stress-eating” sweet treats. Later in the video, she explains how she began “tearing up” when Pennsylvania was called for Trump.
Towards the end of the vlog, Kai announced that they were headed to say hello to Vice President-elect JD Vance, though the footage did not feature him. Melania Trump was also not seen or mentioned in the video.
While Kai did not record Trump’s ultimate victory or the celebratory events/reactions following the results, she later filmed a one-on-one explaining her admiration of her grandfather.
“I just finished playing 18 holes with him. It was his first time playing in probably 90 days or more,” she said, before recapping the sentimental value of Election Night. “It’s his last time running, so it was so special for him to win,” she said.
The oldest daughter of Donald Trump Jr., Kai recently stepped into the public eye after delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention in July in which she described Trump as a “normal grandpa” who is “very caring and loving.”
Kai’s YouTube channel, which has 133k subscribers, consists of additional vlogs featuring her golf skills and other behind-the-scenes glimpses into her life. She is also active on TikTok with 934.7k followers.
(WASHINGTON) — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case on Tuesday granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to file a 180-page brief on presidential immunity, including potential new evidence in the case.
Smith faces a Thursday deadline to file his opening brief about how the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity applies to the former president’s criminal case.
Smith had sought the judge’s permission to file an oversized brief, including more than 30 pages of exhibits. Filings are normally limited to 45 pages.
While U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is allowing the lengthy filing, the materials will likely be filed under seal — with a public version likely to be released, with redactions, at a later date.
Trump’s lawyers had opposed the request, calling the proposed filing a “monstrosity” and a “biased list of grievances” and arguing that the filing would allow prosecutors to unfairly publicize evidence.
Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled in blockbuster decision that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office — effectively sending the case back to Chutkan to sort out which charges against Trump can stand.
Chutkan subsequently ruled that Smith can file a comprehensive brief supporting his presidential immunity arguments by this Thursday.
The judge, in granting the government’s request for an oversized brief, said that the unique challenge of applying the Supreme Court’s ruling justifies the unusually long document.
“The length and breadth of the Government’s proposed brief reflects the uniquely ‘challenging’ and factbound nature of those determinations,” Judge Chutkan wrote.
In the same order, Judge Chutkan denied Trump’s request to reconsider her schedule addressing the immunity issue.
(NEW YORK) — The former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who has accused former President Donald Trump of groping her in front of Jeffrey Epstein in the early 1990s is offering more details about what she claims she observed about Epstein’s relationship with the current presidential candidate and what she says Epstein told her.
“I would say that he talked about having just seen Donald or having just done something, I mean, every time we spoke,” Stacey Williams, who worked as a professional model in the 1990s, told ABC News in an interview.
Williams went public this week with an allegation that Trump groped her in front of Epstein after she said Epstein, who would later be known as a serial sex offender, brought her to Trump Tower in the early 1990s.
‘I felt so humiliated’
In her interview with ABC News, Williams said that during her several-month relationship with Epstein, who she said she met in 1992, Trump was among three people who Epstein talked to her about the most, with one of the other two being Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate who has since been sentenced to prison for 20 years for recruiting and grooming the underage girls who Epstein sexually abused.
The third person, Williams said, was Leslie Wexner, the billionaire retail magnate who once employed Epstein to manage his fortune.
“The people he spoke about the most were his boss, or whatever that person was, Les Wexner, hard to understand that role. And then Ghislaine, again, a little ambiguous weird relationship. And then Donald Trump,” Williams told ABC News. “Those are the people he spoke about the most.”
The details come after Williams first publicly discussed the alleged incident in detail on a public “Survivors for Kamala” Zoom call last Monday night in support of Vice President Kamala Harris. The group is not officially affiliated with Harris’ presidential campaign.
In a statement to ABC News, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt denied Williams’ allegations, stating in part, “These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and announced on a Harris campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false.”
Asked about the claim that Epstein spoke frequently about Trump, a Trump campaign spokesperson said, “It is widely known that President Trump banned Jeffrey Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago Club when revelations about his sex trafficking became public.”
On the Zoom call, which ABC News obtained a video of, Williams, who first began speaking publicly about the alleged incident with Trump and Epstein in Facebook posts dating back to 2020, said she felt like the alleged groping incident was a “twisted game” between Trump and Epstein.
“I felt so humiliated and so sick to my stomach and was so upset, and as I absorbed what happened a few minutes later, I felt like that was some sort of sick bet or game between the two of them,” Williams said. “I was rolled in there like a piece of meat for some kind of challenge or twisted game, and I felt horrendous.”
“I figured it was time to share this and I’m ready to win this election,” Williams, a longtime Democrat who has been active in politics, said on the Zoom call. “The thought of that monster being back in the White House is my absolute worst nightmare.”
‘It was orchestrated’
Williams told ABC News the alleged encounter, when she was 24, lasted no more than ten minutes. “I was in shock and I was frozen,” Williams said.
“He just put his arms out and pulled me towards him and his hands on some part of my body the entire time,” Williams claimed in the interview. “His hands would touch the sides of my breasts, not the front, but the sides of my breasts, my waist, and then slid down to my butt and just kept kind of running up and down my body while the two of them were carrying on a conversation.”
Speaking with ABC News, Williams explained that shortly after the alleged incident, she began to suspect that the encounter with Trump and Epstein had been “orchestrated,” but went into denial about it because of the shame it made her feel.
“Now there’s no doubt in my mind it was orchestrated,” Williams said.
Not long after the alleged incident, Williams said Trump sent her a handwritten postcard featuring his Mar-a-Lago estate that read, “Stacey — Your home away from home. Love Donald.” A photo of the postcard was shared with ABC News.
Two friends confirmed to ABC News in interviews that Williams told them years ago about the alleged incident with the former president. Longtime friend Allison Gutwillinger told ABC News in an interview that in 2015 Williams invited her over to her home to tell her about the alleged incident after Trump had announced his run for office.
“I came over to her house. There was a postcard on the kitchen counter, with what looked like Mar-a-Lago on the cover. I turned it over, and there was a handwritten note signed ‘Love Donald,'” Gutwillinger said. “She then told me he groped her in Trump Tower.”
‘Not a fan of his’
Trump eventually distanced himself from Epstein, who in 2019 died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Authorities say that, in the early 2000s, Epstein sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in New York and Florida, among other locations.
In 2002, Trump told New York magazine, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.”
“He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump said at the time.
Epstein was questioned about his relationship with Trump during a March 2010 deposition in a civil suit against Epstein filed by some of Epstein’s victims.
Epstein answered, “Yes, sir,” when asked if he had socialized with Trump. When asked if he “ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18” Epstein replied, “Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment right, sir.”
By the time Epstein was charged in 2019, then-President Trump told reporters at the White House he was “not a fan of his, that I can tell you” and that he hadn’t “spoken to him in 15 years.”
A year later, Trump wished Ghislaine Maxwell “well” after being asked by a reporter if the longtime Epstein associate should reveal the names of powerful people who were associated with the serial sex offender.
“I don’t know,” Trump said. “I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly.”
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls.
During Maxwell’s trial, flight logs released as evidence showed that Trump was listed as a passenger on Epstein’s private jets at least seven times: four times in 1993, once in 1994 and 1995, and a previously known time 1997.
At least 18 women have accused Trump of varying degrees of inappropriate behavior, including allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault. During Trump’s first run for the White House, a 2005 video surfaced where he discussed groping women, in which Trump can be heard telling former “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush, “When you’re a star they let you do it.”
“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women, I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump said, including “grab ’em by the p—-.”
Trump apologized at the time after the comments were made public, saying in a video, “Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am,” adding, “I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.”
Trump has long vehemently denied all of the women’s accusations. In some cases, he and his team members have specifically denied individual accusations, but they have also repeatedly issued blanket denials against all the allegations, calling the women liars.
(MARCO ISLAND, Fla.) — Marco Island, a barrier island off southwest Florida, is under a mandatory evacuation ahead of Hurricane Milton’s anticipated landfall late Wednesday.
Though not everyone has evacuated.
Michael Sean Comerford, 65, told ABC News he decided to stay and watch his parents’ condo on the 23rd floor of a building while they evacuated to Naples, where his sister lives.
“I’m prepared,” he said Wednesday. “The island is closed. I have food and water for the next two days.”
Comerford said he’s not the only one who stayed behind in the building, which he said is expected to suffer a power outage in the storm.
“I feel like I’m going to survive it,” he said. “We’re not going to get the worst of it, but it’s going to be uncomfortable, given that there’s going to be power outages and it’ll be hot and dark.”
Comerford said he wanted to document what he sees for a book he’s writing about climate change, in which he talks to people on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts.
Milton is expected to make landfall on Florida’s west coast Wednesday night, likely as a Category 3 hurricane.
The storm is forecast to make landfall farther north of Marco Island, though Comerford said there is still the “fear of the unknown.”
“If it takes a turn here this way, I don’t know what could happen,” he said. “I just don’t know. We’re getting all sorts of alarming warnings, but I think they’re directed at the people north of us.”
Comerford said he is preparing himself for “dramatic” storm surge. Marco Island could see 5 to 8 feet, according to forecasts.
“It’s going to be not insubstantial here,” he said. “The whole island could go underwater.”
ABC News’ Mark Guarino contributed to this report.
