The 43rd president will not join his former vice president Dick Cheney, who said last week that he would vote for Democrat Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump.
Cheney’s daughter, leading Trump critic and former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, has also called on fellow conservatives to vote for Harris in November.
Harris and running mate Tim Walz have courted Republicans who refuse to vote for Trump, with Harris saying in a CNN interview that she would consider appointing a Republican to her cabinet.
Bush’s office said on Saturday that neither he nor former First Lady Laura Bush would endorse a candidate or publicly share how they would vote, according to NBC News.
“President Bush retired from presidential politics years ago,” his office stated.
Bush attended Trump’s inauguration after his 2016 win over Hillary Clinton, and reportedly called his speech “some weird s***.”
A spokesperson after that election said that Bush and his wife did not vote for either Trump or Clinton.
He also refused to endorse Joe Biden or Trump in 2020 and told People that he wrote in Condoleezza Rice’s name. She was Bush’s Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009.
Harris and Trump are set to spar in their first debate in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. The highly anticipated debate will be hosted by ABC.
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday called for “modifying” the 25th Amendment to allow for the removal of a vice president who “lies or engages in a conspiracy to cover up the incapacity of the president,” a political nonstarter and the latest escalation of his attacks on President Joe Biden and the change atop the Democratic ticket.
“If you do that with a cover-up of the president of the United States, it’s grounds for impeachment immediately and removal from office, beause that’s what they did,” Trump said during a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin.
In the wake of Biden’s poor June debate performance and his decision to end his presidential campaign a month later, Trump and his Republican allies have accused Vice President Kamala Harris and top Democrats of covering up a decline in the president’s mental fitness.
The Harris campaign declined to comment on Trump’s remarks on Saturday.
The vice president has continued to defend Biden and his mental capacity, telling CNN last month that she doesn’t regret insisting in the weeks after the debate that Biden was fit to serve another four-year term.
“Not at all,” Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash in her first major TV interview since becoming the new Democratic nominee. “He has the intelligence, the commitment and the judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president.”
Trump’s proposal comes as he continues to grapple with the changed dynamics of the 2024 race. In the midst of his struggles to land on a consistent message to blunt Harris’ momentum, Trump has continued to criticize Biden. During his Saturday rally, the former president said it was a “miracle” the president won the 2020 Democratic primary and mocked Biden’s performance at this March’s State of the Union and their June debate.
“We’re run by stupid people — stupid, stupid people,” Trump said Saturday. “And we found that out at the debate with Joe. How did that work out?”
The 25th Amendment lays out presidential succession and the process for removing a president, which would require the support of the vice president and a majority of the president’s Cabinet. It does not address forcibly removing a vice president. Ratifying a constitutional amendment requires the support of three-fourths of US states.
Impeachment, a separate process that wouldn’t require amending the Constitution, requires a simple majority vote in the House to adopt articles of impeachment and then a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict. Trump was twice impeached by the House during his first term, but was not removed from office by the Senate.
Trump’s call to alter the 25th Amendment invokes past calls to remove him from office. Some members of the former president’s Cabinet discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove him after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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“It was done in four sentences because I refused to spend another dollar on that woman," Christina Novak exclusively tells PEOPLE
Christina Mills Novak
On left, Christina Novak and on right, her mom Florence Harrelson
No one was more surprised than Christina Novak when the short online obituary she placed in the Kennebec Journal about her mom’s death went viral.
“Let’s be clear. It’s a PSA and it’s no joke. It was written with sarcasm and relief, but it’s real,” Novak, 47, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “It was done in four sentences because I refused to spend another dollar on that woman.”
For those who have not read Florence “Flo” Harrelson’s colorful send-off, which was published on Aug. 30, the death notice reads: "Florence 'Flo' Harrelson, 65, formerly of Chelsea, died on Feb. 22, 2024, without family by her side due to burnt bridges and a wake of destruction left in her path."
"Florence did not want an obituary or anyone including family to know she died," the obituary continues. "That’s because even in death, she wanted those she terrorized to still be living in fear looking over their shoulders. So, this isn’t so much an obituary but more of a public service announcement."
At first read, some people online thought it was a joke, a sly good-bye to someone who could take a jest — and that theory could even be supported by the personality-filled obituaries for Harrelson’s mother and her brother, Bill, who gained a level of fame on the TV series Maine Cabin Masters before his death last year.
Harrelson’s mother, who had five sons and twin daughters, died in 2015 when she was 80. She was remembered as “a good cook" who "was known for her ability to make delicious blueberry muffins without measuring any ingredients."
Meanwhile, the 2023 obituary for Harrelson's older brother William, 73, began with the line: “The world may not be as funny of a place for a little bit as we had to say goodbye to William Forrest Davenport on April 5th.”
Novak says the obituary for her uncle, who lived "about five minutes from me" was "very nice." She also alleges that after her uncle's death, her mom raided his home on at least two occasions.
Christina Mills Novak/tiktok
Florence "Flo" Harrelson
According to Novak, her mother, a former Maine State Prison corrections officer, died months before anyone in the family noticed.
Novak, who hadn't spoken to her mom in a decade, says she only discovered what had happened after a discussion with a friend about how things were “too quiet lately.” She Googled her mother’s name and a death notice from a crematorium popped up.
“I messaged my aunt, her identical twin sister, and I’m like, 'Did Mom die?' And she’s like, 'I don’t know,” ’ Novak says. “After some digging, I discovered it was her.”
Growing up, Novak says her mom “took sport in ruining every birthday and Christmas” and played cruel pranks on her when she was just little — like allegedly taking her to the top of a bridge and having her and her partner grab Novak's legs and arms and act like they were going to throw her into the water below.
"I still can't drive over a bridge without getting an anxiety attack," says Novak.
So she had no problem jotting down her true feelings, only restricted by the reported $1.25 per word price tag — in fact, she says, "it felt cathartic to write it out. It was like, hold my beer."
Before she turned in her four sentences, Novak says she ran it past her aunt to get her approval. She did not hear back for more than 24 hours. And when she did, she says her aunt only took note of a typo.
“She pointed out, ‘It’s destruction, not distraction,’ “ Novak says.
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However, it was supposed to be something only seen by her small Maine community and her relatives, whom she describes as "very private people." Instead, her words suddenly became a widespread topic of discussion by people who didn't really know what they were looking at.
“Some people are like, 'Why even say anything? She's dead,' " Novak says, but, as she points out, sometimes it's only when a person is no longer alive that "someone finally has got the power to say something."
Besides, she says, “I think my Uncle Bill would have gotten a chuckle out of it.”
Teen who came face-to-face with alleged Georgia school shooter speaks out
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The mother of the teenager suspected of killing four people during a shooting at a Winder, Georgia, high school called to warn a school counselor prior to the attack, according to the suspect’s aunt and grandfather.
Colt Gray, 14, apologized to his mother Marcee Gray on the morning of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School — sending an alarming, cryptic text Wednesday that prompted the mother to warn the school that something could be wrong, his grandfather told CNN, confirming information he first provided to the New York Post.
“I’m sorry, mom,” the text read, according to Marcee Gray’s father, Charles Polhamus, who said he was standing near his daughter at his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, when she received the message.
The mother called the school about an unspecified “extreme emergency” involving Colt sometime before the shooting began, Marcee Gray’s sister Annie Brown told the Washington Post and later confirmed to CNN.
A 10-minute call was placed from Marcee Gray’s phone to the school at 9:50 a.m., the Washington Post reported – about 30 minutes before police were notified of the shooting.
According to the Post, Brown has a shared phone plan with the family, which allowed her to see a log of the calls made by her sister.
After a 10-minute phone conversation, Polhamus said, his daughter and her mother then began the 200-mile drive from Fitzgerald to Winder.
Marcee Gray later confirmed the call to the Washington Post, which reported she “declined to elaborate on what had prompted her to call in the warning to the school, but said she had shared that information with law enforcement.”
“I am so, so sorry and can not fathom the pain and suffering they are going through right now,” she told the Washington Post in a text.
Colt Gray has been charged with four counts of murder after committing the mass shooting, prosecutors said. He will be tried as an adult and is expected to face additional charges in connection with the injured victims.
Marcee Gray broke her silence Saturday, apologizing to those affected for the “absolutely horrific” shooting.
The Barrow County School District did not return CNN’s request for comment. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation referred CNN’s request for comment to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
CNN has reached out to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office Saturday evening. CNN has also reached out to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith, who previously said he had no knowledge of any phone call to the school prior to the shooting.
Colt Gray on September 6 sits in the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the mass shooting at Apalachee High School, in Winder, Georgia. - Brynn Anderson/Reuters
Here’s what we know about the shooting – the 45th school shooting of 2024, and the deadliest US school shooting since the March 2023 massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville:
• The four people killed: The shooting at Apalachee High School claimed the lives of two 14-year-old students – Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, as well as two teachers – 53-year-old math teacher Cristina Irimie and 39-year-old assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, who also taught math. Authorities say Irimie was celebrating her birthday with her students the day she was shot and killed, according to a family friend.
• Nine injured are expected to make a full recovery: Of the nine other people injured, seven of them – six students and a teacher – were shot, the GBI said Thursday. The other two – both students – suffered other injuries, the GBI said.
• Suspect was questioned about online threats: In May 2023, law enforcement officials questioned Colt Gray and his father about “online threats to commit a school shooting” that included photos of guns, according to a joint statement from FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time, told investigators during that interview that “someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” authorities said. Authorities could not substantiate the threats and the investigation was closed, according to the sheriff’s office.
• Suspect’s father charged: Two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said Colin Gray, 54, told authorities he purchased the AR-style rifle used in the school shooting as a holiday present for his son in December 2023 – just months after authorities initially contacted the father about the online threats. Colin Gray faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.
• Suspect had writings on past school shootings: During questioning, Colt Gray told investigators, “I did it.” As authorities searched his home, they found documents that they believe he wrote referencing past school shootings, including references to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, a law enforcement source told CNN.
• Shows of support: Ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs’ kick-off against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Saturday, a moment of silence was observed to honor those affected by the shooting. Also on Saturday, in front of the high school, more than 100 motorcyclists from different motorcycle clubs staged a rally to show their support.
• Students recount harrowing shooting: In one classroom, a 14-year-old said she kept the suspect from getting through the door when she saw him pull out a gun. And after a teacher in another classroom was shot, students say they pulled him back inside and used the shirts off their backs to try and stop his bleeding while barricading the door with desks and chairs. One teenage boy said he raced to close his classroom door to prevent the shooter from entering – only to realize he had been shot.
A community grieves
Victims’ families wiped away tears or clutched stuffed animals as they sat in the Barrow County courtroom Friday during Colt Gray’s arraignment, where he declined to enter a plea to the charges against him. Prosecutors allege Colt Gray fired an AR-style rifle on campus Wednesday morning, killing four people.
Because of his young age, the maximum penalty Gray could face is life in prison with or without parole, Judge Currie Mingledorff told the teenager in court. In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled no one can be put to death for crimes committed before the age of 18.
The next step in the case against Colt Gray will be a grand jury meeting on October 17. This will be followed by a scheduled arraignment before the trial process is started, Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 4, Mingledorff said.
Separately, Colt Gray’s father, Colin Gray faces a maximum sentence of 180 years in prison for the charges brought against him. An arrest warrant for Colin Gray alleges he gave his son a firearm “with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others.”
“I’m just trying to use the tools in my arsenal to prosecute people for the crimes they commit,” District Attorney Smith said.
Colin Gray also declined to enter a plea at his first court appearance Friday, and neither he nor his son asked for bond to be set at their hearings.
CNN has sought comment from the public defenders representing Colt Gray and his father.
For survivors and others, a community recovery center will open in Barrow County on Monday to offer financial assistance, legal services and spiritual and mental health care, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency announced Friday.
Community members, students, and faculty of Apalachee High School come together for a vigil on September 6, 2024 in Monroe, Georgia. - Megan Varner/Getty Images
Student says she didn’t open the door after spotting a gun
Bri Jones, 14, was in second period Wednesday when Colt Gray left the classroom, Jones said. “We didn’t notice he left,” Jones said, adding that he was “always quiet.”
But Colt Gray came back and knocked on the door, Jones said.
Bri said she peeked out the door before she opened it because that’s what her mom taught her to do.
“As I was looking at the door, he was pulling his gun out, and then I froze up, like I froze up and I said ‘no’ to myself,” she said.
The teacher asked for the door to be opened, Bri said, “because she didn’t know he had a gun because she was at her desk.” As she went to open the door, “I was like, ‘No, he has a gun,’” Jones said.
Then, the shooter looked up at them before turning and firing shots, Jones said.
“He was looking at me, my teacher, and then somebody was in the hall,” she said. “He turned his head and he just started shooting.”
The students then ran to the back of the class and the teacher turned off the lights, Bri said.
“Once he started shooting, it’s like he kept going, it was so many gunshots after gunshots,” she said. “It felt like he was just shooting forever.”
If she had opened the class door, Bri said she believes the suspect “would have got every single one of us in that class.”
Another student, 14-year-old Ronaldo Vega, immediately took cover under his desk when the shooting began in his second-period math class, he said, believing he heard four to six shots. After, he stood up and quickly closed the classroom door so the shooter “couldn’t come back,” he said.
Only after seeing one of the bullets behind the teacher’s desk did he realize he had been shot and was bleeding, Ronaldo said.
Sen. Raphael Warnock speaks to community members, students, and faculty of Apalachee High School who came together for a vigil on September 6 in Monroe, Georgia. - Megan Varner/Getty Images
Students took the shirts off their backs to try to save their math teacher
Richard Aspinwall, a math teacher, heard commotion outside his classroom and entered the hallway to see what was going on. When he did, he was shot in the chest by the 14-year-old suspect, according to family friend Julie Woodson, who cited accounts by Aspinwall’s students.
“We had to watch our teacher come back in the classroom holding himself like he’s been shot, and fell to the floor,” 17-year-old Malasia Mitchell said. “And as he kept going, my teacher was shot again.”
Students in the class say they pulled Aspinwall back into the classroom and used the shirts off their backs to try and stop their teacher’s bleeding, according to Woodson.
Meanwhile, the students closed the door and protected themselves with desks and chairs, Mitchell said.
Woodson said Aspinwall “died as a hero trying to save his students’ lives.”
“If he didn’t walk out and take the bullet … who knows what would’ve happened,” Woodson said.
Malasia remembered her teacher as a “great guy” with “such a happy spirit” — someone who wouldn’t want her to ever give up.
“He wouldn’t want me to just stop coming to school,” she said. “He would want me to keep going.”
CNN’s Scott Glover, Keith Allen, Ashley R. Williams, Rebekah Riess, Holly Yan, Mark Morales, Ryan Young, Isabel Rosales, Chelsea Bailey, Sara Smart, Jaide Timm-Garcia, Raja Razek, Jade Gordon and Steve Sorg contributed to this report.
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