Welcome to October Surprise, the Daily Beast’s daily countdown to the biggest election of our lifetime. It’s only 21 days until Election Day and here’s what’s happening in the race to the White House between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
THE DOWNLOAD
The co-manager of Donald Trump’s White House campaign has raked in $22 million and counting from the Republican nominee’s political operation in just two years, the Daily Beast has learned.
Chris LaCivita, an influential GOP operative, reaped a $19 million financial windfall in 2022 when he served as a “strategic consultant” to two Trump-affiliated super PACs, campaign finance records show. Then, after joining the Trump campaign, he negotiated three contracts that gave his tiny LLC a generous cut of Trump’s TV and digital ads, direct mail, and other campaign spending. He also collected retainers that at times amounted to $75,000 a month, according to multiple sources familiar with the campaign’s finances and campaign finance records.
“I’ve never heard of a package that rich in a presidential campaign,” said Trevor Potter, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission who served as the chief counsel for the late John McCain’s presidential campaign. Calling the totals flowing to LaCivita’s company “eye-opening,” Potter said they also inevitably raise questions as to what extent others in the campaign had approved or were even aware of them.
Trump on Tuesday dodged the question of whether he will allow for a peaceful certification of election results if Kamala Harris defeats him in three weeks.
During an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago, Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait asked Trump if he would commit “to respecting and encouraging a peaceful transfer of power,” especially in light of the violent Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
Trump didn’t answer the question. And he falsely claimed that he allowed for a peaceful transfer of power in 2020 when Joe Biden defeated him. “It was love and peace, and some people went to the Capitol,” Trump said. “And a lot of strange things happened there, a lot of strange things, with people being waved into the Capitol by police.”
POLLS OBSESSED
Trump is gaining on Harris. A new Morning Consult poll out Tuesday has the vice president edging Trump 50-46 percent. The survey of likely voters, taken between Oct. 11-13, shows Trump encroaching since last month when, in the same poll, Harris had soared to a six-point lead over Trump after her commanding performance in their raucous debate. Among independent voters, Harris leads 46-42 percent, with 6 percent of those voters saying they’re voting for someone other than Harris and Trump—and another 6 percent unsure. Tuesday’s poll also shows that 6 percent of Republican voters say they’ll vote for Harrris—including 4 percent who voted for Trump in 2020.
ON THE MOVE
Trump is holding a rally in Atlanta Tuesday night after appearing earlier in the day at the Economic Club of Chicago, where he refused to say whether he’ll keep the peace if he loses the election. In between events, the former president taped a women only town hall with Fox News. Harris, meanwhile, in her quest to win the support of Black men, was sitting down for an interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God. Both vice presidential candidates stumped in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania. Tim Walz stopped in Butler, where Trump was grazed by a bullet in the first assassination attempt. And JD Vance was set to hold a town hall with Moms for Liberty in Lafayette Hill.
THROWBACK TUESDAY
During his first presidential run, Trump’s time as host of The Apprentice had been a central part of his appeal. But on Oct. 15, 2016, it was proving more awkward after claims he had used the racist term “Uncle Tom” about Lil Jon. In a surprise twist, it was Lil Jon himself who commented in a Daily Beast article to clarify that, yes, Trump had said this, adding: “I can’t say if he knew what he was actually saying or not, but he did stop using that term once we explained it’s [sic] offensiveness.”
BEAST OF THE DAY
Journalist Ryan Lizza has responded to his ex-fiancee Olivia Nuzzi’s allegations of blackmail in a Washington, D.C., court addressing Nuzzi’s “personal relationship” with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Lizza, who is on a leave of absence from Politico, appeared in D.C. Superior Court Tuesday to address his bombshell filing from the previous day in which he denied hacking any of Nuzzi’s devices to learn of the acclaimed magazine writer’s affair with the former presidential candidate she once covered.
“I discovered that Ms. Nuzzi had been cheating on me with a married man [RFK Jr.] for almost a year,” Lizza told the court in his filing. “She admitted the affair and over the course of weeks of conversations she confided how she fell into what she described as a ‘toxic’ ‘unhealthy’ ‘stupid’ ‘psychotic’ ‘crazy’ ‘indefensible’ relationship with a 70-year-old ‘sex addict’ who told her he wanted to ‘possess,’ ‘control,’ and ‘impregnate’ her.’”
SHAMELESS PLUG
It’s hardly laugh-a-minute on the campaign trail so turn to The Last Laugh with the Daily Beast’s Matt Wilstein for some light relief. Which is guaranteed with Lamorne Morris, the Emmy-winning star of ‘New Girl’ and ‘Fargo,’ about his scene-stealing role as Garrett Morris (no relation) in the new film ‘Saturday Night’ about the making of the very first episode of SNL. Follow The Last Laugh on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or wherever you get your podcasts
