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JD Vance says he would welcome RFK Jr. endorsement
Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said he would welcome an endorsement from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. amid reports that Kennedy is considering ending his third-party presidential bid.
“I think it’s a great endorsement for the president to have,” Vance told “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell in an interview on Wednesday. “I don’t know if it’s actually going to happen, but I’d certainly welcome it and encourage RFK to join the team.”
Kennedy is considering ending his presidential candidacy in the coming days, two sources familiar with his campaign told CBS News. On Friday, Kennedy plans to address the nation “about the present historical moment and his path forward,” according to his website.
Earlier this week, Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, suggested to “Impact Theory” podcast’s Tom Bilyeu that Kennedy was considering supporting Donald Trump, saying that if he remained in the race, Kennedy might “draw votes” from the former president.
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Vance, who often tells his personal story against the backdrop of the struggles of Appalachia and Rust Belt America, said he grew up in a family made up primarily of “Kennedy Democrats.” He noted that a lot of “old school Democrats” feel like the party has left them behind in a nod to Kennedy’s possible appeal among portions of the party.
But the Ohio Republican made clear when asked about Kennedy’s stance on vaccines that he doesn’t agree with the independent presidential candidate “on every issue.”
“That’s the thing I love about the Republican Party of Donald Trump, is it’s a big tent,” Vance said. “You don’t have to agree with the person on every vaccine to believe that if RFK is saying the Democratic Party has left a lot of old-line Democrats behind, then the Democratic Party’s got to do a better job, and maybe a lot of Democratic voters should come to Donald Trump’s Republican Party.”
Vance added that most Americans won’t agree with their preferred presidential candidate on every issue, while adding that he still wants them to “feel welcome in our party.”
“And certainly RFK is among them,” Vance said.
contributed to this report.
At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals and residents were urged to shelter in place on Tuesday after an explosion at a Louisville, Kentucky, business.
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services reported on social media a “hazardous materials incident” at 1901 Payne St., in Louisville. The address belongs to a facility operated by Givaudan Sense Colour, a manufacturer of food colorings for soft drinks and other products, according to officials and online records.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said emergency teams responded to the blast around 3 p.m. News outlets reported that neighbors heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the business. Overhead news video footage showed an industrial building with a large hole in its roof.
WLKY-TV
“The cause at this point of the explosion is unknown,” Greenberg said in a news conference. No one died in the explosion, he added.
Greenberg said officials spoke to employees inside the plant. “They have initially conveyed that everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred,” he said.
The Louisville Fire Department said in a post on the social platform X that multiple agencies were responding to a “large-scale incident.”
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services first urged people within a mile of the business to shelter in place, but that order was lifted in the afternoon. An evacuation order for the two surrounding blocks around the site of the explosion was still in place Tuesday afternoon.
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A rare square 37-carat emerald owned by the Aga Khan fetched nearly $9 million at auction in Geneva on Tuesday, making it the world’s most expensive green stone.
Sold by Christie’s, the Cartier diamond and emerald brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, dethrones a piece of jewelry made by the fashion house Bulgari, which Richard Burton gave as a wedding gift to fellow actor Elizabeth Taylor, as the most precious emerald.
In 1960, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan commissioned Cartier to set the emerald in a brooch with 20 marquise-cut diamonds for British socialite Nina Dyer, to whom he was briefly married.
Dyer then auctioned off the emerald to raise money for animals in 1969.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
By chance that was Christie’s very first such sale in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva, with the emerald finding its way back to the 110th edition this year.
It was bought by jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels before passing a few years later into the hands of Harry Winston, nicknamed the “King of Diamonds.”
“Emeralds are hot right now, and this one ticks all the boxes,” said Christie’s EMEA Head of Jewellery Max Fawcett. “…We might see an emerald of this quality come up for sale once every five or six years.”
Also set with diamonds, the previous record-holder fetched $6.5 million at an auction of part of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned jewelry collection in New York.
