Due to security concerns, Trump likely won’t golf again until after election: Sources

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for the first time this cycle, will soon hit the campaign trail with former President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, according to a senior campaign official.

The vice presidential nominee will be out with his party’s former standard bearers this week and next week in an effort to push for early voting in battleground states, ABC News has exclusively learned.

The governor will first rally with Clinton in Durham, North Carolina, on Thursday — the first day of early voting in the critical battleground state. Next Tuesday, Walz will travel to Wisconsin, another battleground, with Obama for the start of early voting in that state.

The joint campaign blitzes come as the Harris-Walz ticket has deployed both former presidents — some of its strongest political assets — headed into the final stretch of the election cycle.

Obama hit the trail for the ticket starting on Oct. 10 and has additional stops planned in the run-up to Election Day, according to the campaign.

His first stop was in battleground Pennsylvania in the Pittsburgh area — a visit where he sternly chided Black men over “excuses” to not vote for Harris, saying he finds them sitting out or voting for former President Donald Trump “not acceptable.”

Obama will also independently hit the campaign trail in the Sun Belt this week, with stops on Friday in Arizona and on Saturday in Nevada — the first days of early voting in the state.

On Sunday and Monday, Clinton made his trail debut with travel across rural communities in Eastern and South Georgia to encourage Georgians to vote early.

Last night, on the eve of early in-person voting in the state, Clinton stumped for the Harris-Walz ticket in battleground Georgia, mounting the stakes of the election and the importance of voting.

“I want you to be happy, and I want you to know that I am here because I believe. I believe, based on my personal knowledge of the job and the candidates, that Kamala Harris will be a fine president,” he said.

“All we gotta do is show up. If we show up, we’ll win,” Clinton added.

The joint principal campaign events also come as Walz himself has made campaign stops related to early voting. The governor campaigned last week in Phoenix and Tucson on the first day of early voting in Arizona.

“I know you’ve started voting here in Arizona. It’s happening across the country. We can make a difference. And I think just the idea of having an administration building on these strong relationships, this is our opportunity to take this to the next level that we need to do,” Walz said at event with tribal leaders in Chandler, Arizona last Wednesday.

ABC News’ Selina Wang, Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
 

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(NEW YORK) — The Alexander brothers — Alon, Oren and Tal — have been arrested on federal sex trafficking charges, according to New York prosecutors.

For well over a decade, the prominent real estate brothers conspired to “repeatedly and violently drug, sexually assault and rape dozens of women,” according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York after the brothers were arrested in Miami on Wednesday.

“At times, the Alexander brothers arranged for these sexual assaults well in advance, using the promise of luxury experiences, travel and accommodations to lure and entice women to locations where they were then forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men, including one or more of the Alexander brothers,” the indictment said.

The allegedly “long-running sex trafficking scheme” began in 2010 and relied on “deception, fraud and coercion,” with the brothers flaunting their wealth to induce women to attend parties, events and trips where they were then attacked, prosecutors said.

Trips were organized in advance and the brothers allegedly shared photographs of women to make sure they were “sufficiently attractive.” The brothers used dating apps or social media to contact them or used party planners as intermediaries, according to the indictment.

The Alexanders also procured drugs, including GHB and cocaine, and would sometimes spike women’s drinks before assaulting them, the indictment said.

The brothers allegedly held down women and “ignored screams and explicit requests to stop.”

The indictment includes two victims, identified only as Victim 1 and Victim 2, and charges the brothers with conspiracy and forcible sex trafficking.

The brothers began their careers at Douglas Elliman, focusing on the real estate market in New York and Miami. They left and launched their own firm, Official, in 2022.

They had previously been accused in civil lawsuits of various acts of sexual misconduct.

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(WASHINGTON) — The family of Austin Tice, the American freelance journalist and Marine Corps veteran who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012, said it has been in contact with a “significant source” that confirmed he is alive and well.

“We have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government that Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice is treated well, and there is no doubt about that,” said Tice’s mother, Debra.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with the family of Tice, who has been missing for more than 12 years after he was abducted on Aug. 13, 2012, at the White House on Friday.

“Jake Sullivan has regularly met with the families of wrongfully detained Americans,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said following the meeting. “We’re going to continue to make sure that we get Americans who are wrongfully detained, Americans home to their families.”

The Biden administration has successfully brought 75 unjustly detained Americans back to the United States.

Although reporters asked for more information about the source, the Tice family said it could not share more, claiming the U.S. government is restricting it from doing so for reasons the family does not understand. ABC News reached out to the family.

However, Tice’s father, Marc, said the family is “working toward” making more information public and that the source is “very different” from others who had given the family false hope in the past.

“We are confident in that this information is fresh,” he said. “It indicates as late as earlier this year that Austin is alive and being cared for.”

The U.S. government has continuously operated under the assumption that, despite his lengthy captivity and limited intelligence about his whereabouts, Tice is still alive. But its belief is primarily founded on a lack of evidence to suggest he is dead rather than evidence proving he is alive, according to multiple sources.

Questions about who exactly is holding Tice have cropped up over the past few years. The Biden administration has been careful with its wording on this, issuing statements saying that “we know with certainty that he has been held by the Government of Syria” because officials believe it is possible Tice is now in the custody of another group. However, the administration still believes the Syrian government has the power to bring about his release.

If the new source does have legitimate insight into Tice’s conditions, it stands to reason the source would likely also have information about whatever entity is holding him in custody, which could provide clues to his exact location.

The Syrian government has never publicly acknowledged playing any part in Tice’s disappearance, but during talks under the Trump administration, Syrian officials said they would provide proof of life in exchange for the United States fulfilling sweeping demands, according to officials familiar with the private negotiations. The Trump administration did not comply, and the Syrian government did not hand over any information about Tice.

The FBI has offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the safe location, recovery and return of Tice.

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