Donald Trump’s claims of ‘massive cheating’ in Pennsylvania have ‘no factual basis’, Philadelphia district attorney says
Donald Trump has claimed there is “massive cheating” taking place in a battleground state – claims strongly refuted by the county’s district attorney.
Writing on his own social network, Truth Social, Mr Trump said: “A lot of talk of massive cheating in Philadelphia. Law enforcement coming!”
He followed up with a post 20 minutes later claiming – without providing evidence – that police were also present in Detroit, Michigan.
Both Pennsylvania (where Philadelphia is) and Michigan are battleground states, alongside Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin. The Harris/Walz and Trump/Vance campaigns have made more than 200 visits to these seven states, spending a collective $1bn in advertising there during the campaign.
US election live: Voting extended in key state after bomb threats
Pic: Truth Social
District attorney Larry Krasner hit back at Mr Trump’s claims, telling his team there is “no factual basis in these allegations”.
“We have invited complaints and allegations of improprieties all day,” he wrote on X. “If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now. We are not holding our breath.”
The messaging from Trump’s team mirrors the 2020 election – his campaign filed lawsuits in a number of states, including Pennsylvania, alleging election fraud.
Besides the hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida, the biggest disruptions to election season have been arson that damaged ballots in two drop boxes near the Oregon-Washington border.
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Ballot boxes on fire in US
But the absence of any significant issues has not stopped Mr Trump – or the Republican Party – from making claims of fraud and interference during the early voting period.
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Republicans attempted to challenge the late collection of a number of early voting ballots, but this was rejected as “frivolous” by a US judge.
Mr Trump has suggested he won’t challenge the results of the election, provided it is “a fair election”.
Democratic candidate vice president Kamala Harris has urged voters not to fall for the Trump campaign’s tactic of casting doubt on elections.
Police officers found a handgun, a silencer and a red notebook described as a “manifesto” when they arrested Luigi Mangione.
The 27-year-old was arrested in December 2024 and charged with killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in New York City.
Mangione‘s lawyers want to block prosecutors from showing or telling jurors at his eventual trial in Manhattan about statements he allegedly made and items they said police seized from his backpack during his arrest at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
The objects include a 9mm handgun prosecutors say matches the one used in the killing, a silencer, a magazine with bullets wrapped in underwear and a notebook in which they say Mangione described his intent to “wack” a healthcare executive.
Mangione with his attorney. Pic: Reuters
The defence contends the items should be excluded because police did not get a warrant before searching Mangione’s backpack.
Prosecutors deny claims Mangione was illegally searched and questioned.
They also want to suppress some statements he made to police, such as allegedly giving a false name, because officers asked him questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent.
Last week, Mangione watched surveillance videos of the killing of Mr Thompson, 50, as he walked to a New York City hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges.
The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison, while federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
This week’s hearing concerns only the state case, but Mangione’s lawyers want to bar evidence from both cases.
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In September, a judge dismissed two terrorism counts against Mangione, finding prosecutors had not presented enough evidence Mangione intended to intimidate health insurance workers or influence government policy.
Trial dates are yet to be set in either the state or federal cases.
Paramount has launched a £108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros, challenging Netflix, which had reached a $72bn takeover deal with the company.
Paramount said on Monday that it was going straight to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) shareholders with a $30 per share in cash offer for the entirety of the company, including its Global Networks segment, asking them to reject the deal with Netflix.
On Friday Netflix struck a deal to buy WBD, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max
The agreement means Warner Bros Discovery’s library of film and TV successes including Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones will come under the same roof as Stranger Things and Squid Game.
The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.
But Paramount says its deal will pay $30 cash per share, representing $18 billion more in cash than its rivals are offering.
In a statement, Paramount said it was making a “strategically and financially compelling offer to WBD shareholders” and a “superior alternative to the Netflix transaction”.
File pic: iStock
David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, said: “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company.
“Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.
“We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process.
“We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to WBD in the course of 12 weeks, but that they were never “meaningfully” engaged with.
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