Cross-Examination

• Confirmed: Assault on Rubio canvasser was political violence: A campaign canvasser for Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio was attacked and severely beaten over the weekend in an incident of anti-Republican political violence. On Wednesday, police in Hialeah, Florida, arrested a second suspect in the assault. The victim, who was wearing a Rubio T-shirt, was in the neighborhood passing out campaign fliers supporting both Rubio and Governor Ron DeSantis when he was confronted and blocked by the two suspects on the sidewalk. The men allegedly told the campaign worker he was not allowed to go into their neighborhood, and when he tried to walk around them, they proceeded to attack him. One of the attackers released two dogs from his vehicle onto the victim as well. It is unclear if there were more suspects involved in the assault. “Detectives are pending other witness statements and video,” noted Sgt. Jose Torres. “We want to make sure that every person involved in the beating is brought to justice.” This is the latest incident in apparent politically motivated violence against Republicans. Last month, in North Dakota, a man who murdered a teenager with his truck following an argument claimed that the victim was a “Republican extremist.” These attacks come after Joe Biden’s infamous speech accusing “MAGA Republicans” of posing an “extremist” threat to the country.

• Trumped-up leaking: Joe Biden’s Justice Department has reveled its politically motivated bias as it has begun leaking like a sieve to the press negative information on Donald Trump over the last couple of weeks — just in time for the midterms. One leak claims that Trump ordered aides to move subpoenaed materials prior to the FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago estate. The documents in question allegedly contained secrets regarding China and Russia that presented a national security threat to the U.S. The frequency of the negative Trump leaks from the DOJ to the media began increasing in mid-October. Andrew McCarthy observes the reason for this: “Democrats don’t have an answer to inflation and crime, so they are trying to make it as if Trump were on the ballot. It’s not just these leaks, but all the investigations are stepping up at a time helpful for Democrats because they don’t have an argument for crime and inflation for the midterms.” Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley has also noticed that Biden’s DOJ is leaking at an unprecedented rate: “Washington floats on a sea of leaks, but, even in this city, the leaks from the Garland Justice Department are shocking. What began as a concerning trickle of leaks has become a virtual tsunami.” Turley adds: “These leaks make a mockery of the policy against filings that might influence an election. These officials are achieving the same purpose through media allies.” The DOJ is effectively working hand in glove with Leftmedia cohorts to make the claim — without actually legally proving it — that Trump is a criminal, thereby discrediting him and Republicans generally. What is actually criminal are members of the DOJ leaking to the media, but, unsurprisingly, Attorney General Merrick Garland seems entirely unconcerned and uninterested in finding these leakers. It’s not politically beneficial to Democrats to do so.

• Second railroad labor union threatens to derail Biden’s labor deal: Another railroad labor union has rejected Joe Biden’s negotiated labor deal, raising the specter of a nationwide railroad strike that could bring a significant sector of the nation’s supply chain infrastructure to a grinding halt. The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), a union that represents 6,000 railroad workers, voted overwhelmingly to reject the deal, making it the second major railroad worker union to do so. The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters previously rejected it. Just over 60% of BRS members voted to reject the deal, primarily over a lack of an agreement for paid time off for illness. The negotiation time for a deal to be reached between the railroads and workers unions before Congress may step in is November 14. Thus far, six of the 12 railroad labor unions that combined represent 115,000 workers have voted in favor of accepting the deal. Two unions have rejected the deal, with the remaining four scheduled to hold votes next week.

Headlines

• GDP accelerated at 2.6% pace in Q3, better than expected as growth turns positive (CNBC)

• Waukesha killer found guilty of murder in Christmas parade attack (Free Beacon)

• “They really can’t let her talk in public”: Kamala Harris mocked for gushing over a “yellow school bus” (Fox News)

• Saudi Crown Prince mocks Biden, questions his fitness for office (Daily Wire)

• Republican Mayra Flores prevented from joining the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (Townhall)

• Google caught manipulating search, buries GOP campaign sites in 83% of top Senate races (NewsBusters)

• Meta fined $24.7M for campaign finance disclosure violations (AP)

• Mortgage interest rates jump to 7.16%, highest since 2001 (Reuters)

• U.S. has less than 25 days of diesel (PM)

• Former Levi’s top exec reveals how woke mobs took over corporations (NY Post)

• Policy: The war over “transgender” kids: A pre-election battlefield update (RCI)

• Humor: Elon Musk announces plan to reduce Twitter workforce to only 280 characters (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.