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Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) “has repeatedly claimed to be the recipient of two Bronze Star medals and a Combat Infantryman Badge from his time in the U. S. Army serving in Iraq and Afghanistan,” CBS News reports. “There is no question that Nehls served overseas, engaged in combat, and was awarded a Bronze Star for his duties there.

“Kristi Noem’s damage-control tour is in full swing. It appears destined for the same fate as her late dog Cricket: dead in a gravel pit somewhere near Pierre,” Politico reports. “But at Mar-a-Lago, even before the revelation about her dog, Noem had long ago been cast aside as a likely running mate, according to six people close to former President Donald Trump who, while not discounting Noem entirely, have for many weeks said she has almost no chance of being on the ticket.

“Donald Trump on Thursday scoffed at the notion that he would debate long shot presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. even as the former president’s allies show more concern about Kennedy’s campaign,” Business Insider reports. Said Trump: “He’s, uh, not a serious candidate. They say he hurts Biden. I don’t know who he hurts, he might hurt me.

“A key political operative on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign was charged with assault after allegedly choking and punching a woman in New York early Saturday morning,” Mediaite reports. “Trent Pool, who serves as a paid consultant on the long-shot independent campaign and has been leading the effort to get Kennedy on the ballot in all 50 states, was charged with assault and criminal obstruction of breathing.”

Russian state-affiliated accounts have boosted their use of TikTok and are getting more engagement on the short-form video platform ahead of the U. S. presidential election, according to a study published Thursday by the nonprofit Brookings Institution. The report states that Russia is increasingly leveraging TikTok to disseminate Kremlin messages in both English and Spanish, with state-linked accounts posting far more frequently on the platform than they did two years ago. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Such accounts are also active on other social media platforms and have a larger presence on Telegram and X than on TikTok.