News in brief
By The Associated Press
NATO chief Mark Rutte visits Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine | New NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has visited Ukraine in his first official trip since taking office and pledging continued support for Kyiv. Rutte met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday as air raid sirens twice went off in the Ukrainian capital.
The new head of NATO vowed on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for Ukraine, which has been fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion since February 2022. Rutte expressed confidence that he can work with whomever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November. That could be a key moment for Ukraine’s effort to ensure continuing Western support.
Trump’s campaign says he raised $160M in September
PHOENIX | Former President Donald Trump raised $160 million for his campaign in September and entered October with $283 million in the bank for the campaign’s final sprint, his aides announced.
The September fundraising figure, which Trump’s campaign released on Wednesday, is up from the $130 million he reported raising in August. It covers money raised by Trump’s campaign and affiliated committees.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival, has not yet released her fundraising numbers for the full month, but numbers previously released suggest she’ll exceeded Trump’s haul.
Tina Peters sentenced to
nine years
A judge excoriated a Colorado county clerk for her crimes and lies before sentencing her Thursday to nine years behind bars for a data-breach scheme spawned from the rampant false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
District Judge Matthew Barrett told former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters — after earlier sparring with her for continuing to press discredited claims about rigged voting machines — that she never took her job seriously.
“I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen,” Barrett told her in handing down the sentence. “You are no hero. You abused your position and you’re a charlatan.”
—From AP reports
