By Kanishka Singh

November 5, 20249:16 AM GMT+6Updated 4 hours ago

Item 1 of 2 Oct 20, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Joe Rogan talks to fans in the paddock at the Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Aaron E. Martinez-Imagn Images/File Photo

[1/2]Oct 20, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Joe Rogan talks to fans in the paddock at the Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Aaron E. Martinez-Imagn Images/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who recently interviewed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for nearly three hours, said on Monday he has endorsed the former president in the race to the White House.

Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 U.S. election in what polls show to be a tight race. Harris has got multiple celebrity endorsements.

“For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump,” Rogan said on X while posting a clip of his interview with billionaire Elon Musk, who has also endorsed Trump. Rogan said in his post that Musk made the “most compelling case for Trump.”

Trump’s recent interview with Rogan lasted about 3 hours and was released on YouTube and Spotify in late October. The two discussed a range of topics and the interview got over 45 million views on YouTube.

The former president criticized Rogan in August on Truth Social, his social media platform, after the podcaster praised then-independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. Kennedy has since pulled out of the race and endorsed Trump. Trump later called Rogan a “good guy.”

Trump and Harris have courted voters with appearances on podcasts, in addition to more traditional rallies and media interviews.

Spotify (SPOT.N), opens new tab said in March “The Joe Rogan Experience” had 14.5 million followers, almost triple the platform’s second most popular program. Rogan also has more than 19 million followers on Instagram and 18 million followers on YouTube.

A poll by YouGov last year found that 81% of his listeners are male and 56% are under 35 years old, a demographic that tends to support Trump over Harris.

Harris’ team had been in touch with Rogan’s program about a possible appearance but her campaign said in late October she will not appear on his podcast.

Rogan joins a list of celebrities like Musk and wrestler Hulk Hogan to have endorsed Trump.

Harris has a much bigger list of celebrity endorsements – ranging from basketball superstar Lebron James and actress Meryl Streep to comedian Chris Rock and former talk show host Oprah Winfrey. Superstar singers Beyonce and Taylor Swift have also endorsed her.

Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Raju Gopalakrishnan

By Reuters

November 5, 20244:36 AM GMT+6Updated 9 hours ago

• A person picks up a sticker while voters head to a polling station as Georgians turned out a day after the battleground state opened early voting, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., October 16, 2024. REUTERS/Megan Varner/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The top court in the battleground state of Georgia ruled on Monday that Cobb County cannot extend the deadline for counting about 3,000 absentee ballots that were sent out shortly before Election Day, handing a victory to the Republican National Committee and presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Siding with the RNC, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned a judge’s ruling extending the deadline until Friday in Cobb County, located in suburban Atlanta. The court decided that only absentee ballots that arrive by 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday (0000 GMT Wednesday) can be counted.

Civil rights groups had sued last week seeking to extend the deadline, arguing that the county violated state law by failing to promptly send out about 3,000 absentee ballots. County officials said they were overwhelmed by a surge in requests.

The Republican National Committee had argued that extending the deadline would violate state law.

“Election Day is Election Day – not the week after,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley wrote in a post on social media.

Cobb County is a large and racially diverse area in Atlanta’s northern suburbs. The county voted for Democrat Joe Biden over Trump by 14 percentage points in the 2020 election. Biden defeated Trump in Georgia in 2020.

A spokesperson for Cobb County did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The state high court ordered that ballots received after Election Day be separated from other ballots and set aside. Voters who did not receive an absentee ballot or did not have enough time to mail it can vote in person on Tuesday.

Georgia is one of seven closely contested states expected to decide the outcome of the race between Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here.

Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham

By Jack Queen

November 5, 20246:19 AM GMT+6Updated 7 hours ago

PHILADELPHIA, Nov 4 (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania state judge on Monday allowed Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day giveaway to swing state voters to proceed, after a surprising day of testimony in which the billionaire’s aide acknowledged his political group selected the contest’s winners.

With one day to go before the tightly contested U.S. presidential election between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, lawyers for Musk’s pro-Trump America PAC sought to persuade Judge Angelo Foglietta that the contest was not an “illegal lottery,” as Philadelphia’s top prosecutor alleged.

Lawyers for America PAC and its director, Chris Young, said the group doled out the funds based on who would be the best spokespeople for its pro-Trump agenda, despite the billionaire’s assertion that winners would be chosen randomly.

Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab CEO Musk has already given away $16 million to registered swing state voters who qualified for the giveaway by signing his political petition. His group, America PAC, announced a winner from Arizona on Monday and said the final winner, from Michigan, will be announced on Election Day on Tuesday.

America PAC launched the contest on Oct. 19. It is open to registered voters in seven key battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – who sign a petition pledging to support free speech and gun rights.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, on Oct. 28 sued to block the contest in Pennsylvania, alleging the payouts amounted to an illegal lottery with hazily defined rules. Krasner said in court he would also seek financial penalties.

Foglietta denied Krasner’s bid in a brief written order and said he would lay out his reasoning later.

Musk’s lawyer Andy Taylor accused Krasner’s office of trying to stifle the rights of Pennsylvanians by preventing them from signing the petition.

“They’re trying to restrain citizens of Pennsylvania from signing a free speech and right to bear arms petition,” Taylor said during a closing argument.

Musk became an outspoken Trump supporter this year and has promoted the former president on his X social media platform. He has so far given nearly $120 million to America PAC to promote its voter mobilization and registration efforts, according to federal disclosures.

Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes will be critical in determining which candidate wins the 270 votes required to be declared the winner.

‘ONE OF THE GREATEST SCAMS’

In trying to persuade Foglietta that the giveaway was not an illegal lottery, Musk’s lawyers said the giveaway was not a prize but rather compensation for those chosen to serve as spokespeople for America PAC’s pro-Trump agenda.

Young, America PAC’s director, testified that he selected winners out of a pool of candidates who appeared in videos for the group and allowed it to use their images after reviewing their social media and meeting them outside event venues.

John Summers, a lawyer for Krasner’s office, said the admissions that the giveaway was not random made it not just an illegal lottery but also a fraud.

“If their story is true,” Summers said in his closing argument, “it’s one of the greatest scams of the last 50 years.”

Summers showed the court a clip of Musk at an Oct. 19 Trump rally saying America PAC would randomly award $1 million to people who sign the petition. In the video, Musk said “all we ask” is that the winners serve as America PAC spokespeople.

Young said he was surprised to hear Musk describe the giveaway as random at the rally. He also acknowledged that the winners signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from speaking about the terms of the contracts.

The giveaway falls in a gray area of election law, and legal experts are divided on whether Musk could be violating federal laws against paying people to register to vote.

The U.S. Department of Justice has warned America PAC that the giveaway could violate federal law, according to media reports, but federal prosecutors have not taken any public action.

The Trump campaign is broadly reliant on outside groups for canvassing voters, meaning the super PAC founded by Musk, the world’s richest man, plays an outsized role in what is expected to be a razor-thin election.

Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here.

Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Alistair Bell and Lisa Shumaker