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The Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio senator claimed in an interview with YouTuber Shawn Ryan that a top EU official had threatened to arrest the billionaire if he allowed former President Donald Trump back on X.

“The leader, I forget exactly which official it was within the European Union, but sent Elon this threatening letter that basically said, ‘We’re going to arrest you if you platform Donald Trump,’ who, by the way, is the likely next president of the United States,” Vance said in the interview published last week.

Trump’s running mate then suggested that US support for NATO should be used as a cudgel to get the Europeans in line.

“So what America should be saying is, if NATO wants us to continue supporting them and NATO wants us to continue to be a good participant in this military alliance, why don’t you respect American values and respect free speech?” Vance asked. “It’s insane that we would support a military alliance if that military alliance isn’t going to be pro-free speech. I think we can do both. But we’ve got to say American power comes with certain strings attached. One of those is respect free speech, especially in our European allies.”

Musk has been accused of banning several journalists since taking over Twitter, now X.

“I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,” Vance added. “But European countries should theoretically share American values, especially about some very basic things like free speech.”

The US ranked 26th in the world when it comes to free speech, with several members of the European Union higher up the list, according to the 2024 Global Expression Report.

Internal market EU Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote on X in July that the platform’s verification system of users using blue checks is deceiving.

“Now X has the right of defence —but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines & require significant changes,” he added.

Musk who responded at the time, saying: “We look forward to a very public battle in court, so that the people of Europe can know the truth.”

“The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not,” he added in another post.

X could face disciplinary action under the EU Digital Services Act that was put in place in 2022. The legislation includes a number of regulations stating that platforms have to take responsibility for protecting European users from illegal content and disinformation.

Vance has faced criticism for putting forward, in the same interview, a peace plan for the war in Ukraine that would appear to benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin, who views NATO as a top adversary.

Ryan asked Vance what Trump’s plan was to end the war in Ukraine.

The senator said Trump would have a discussion with the Russians, Ukrainians, and Europeans and tell them that they “need to figure out what a peaceful settlement looks like.”

Vance also told Ryan that a possible peace agreement could mean that Russia would hold onto the land they have seized and that a demilitarized zone would be implemented along the current frontlines. Vance added that Ukraine would also give Russia a “guarantee of neutrality.”

“What it probably looks like is something like the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine becomes like a demilitarized zone, heavily fortified [so] the Russians don’t invade again,” he said.

Trump’s running mate also suggested that Europe, specifically Germany, and not Russia, would have to fund the rebuilding of Ukraine.

“Ukraine remains an independent sovereignty. Russia gets the guarantee of neutrality from Ukraine. It does not join NATO and some other allied institutions. Germans and other nations have to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction,” Vance added.

Ukraine has been trying to join NATO and the European Union for years. Already in 2008, then-NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Ukraine would eventually become a member of the military alliance.

Trump has long shared his disdain for NATO – during his first term, he reportedly privately discussed pulling out of the alliance completely.

The former president has also repeatedly indicated that he would refuse to adhere to NATO’s Article 5 collective defense clause, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all. Earlier this year, he said he had told a foreign leader that he would urge Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO members who were not spending enough on defense.

Trump has also made a habit of praising dictators and authoritarian leaders, showing a particular affinity for Putin, whom he called “genius” and “savvy” after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The then-president also sided with Putin over the US intelligence community when asked about Russian interference in the 2016 election during a 2018 press conference with the Russian leader in Helsinki, Finland.

Scholz said he had no trust in Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who leads a rival party that has been part of the coalition along with Scholz's Social Democrats and the Greens.

The move means Scholz's government no longer has a majority in parliament. The confidence vote could lead to early elections by March.

The so-called "traffic light" coalition led by the chancellor has governed Germany since 2021.

But internal tensions had been bubbling for weeks before exploding into the open on Wednesday night.

Scholz said his former finance minister had "betrayed my confidence" and had put the interests of his party base over those of the country.

He added that Germany needed to show it could be relied upon by other countries, particularly following the election of Donald Trump in the US.

Lindner accused Scholz of "leading Germany into a phase of uncertainty".

The crisis inside the coalition plunged Europe's largest economy into political chaos, hours after Trump's election triggered deep uncertainty about the future of the continent's economy and security.

When the coalition between the chancellor's centre-left Social Democrats, the environmentalist Greens and economically liberal FDP was formed in 2021, each party planned to spend big on its own individual core interest groups.

However, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sent energy prices surging, and left Germany facing a increase in defence spending - and the cost of taking in 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees.

Germany is now facing its second year without economic growth.

Scholz and his Green partners want tackle this by loosening constitutional rules on public debt to allow more spending. Lindner wants to pay for tax cuts by slashing welfare and social budgets and pushing back environmental targets.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens said the party would not quit the government and that its ministers would remain in office.

Scholz announced that a vote of confidence would be held in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, on 15 January.

If MPs vote down the government, the country would hold fresh elections within weeks, instead of the scheduled date in September.

On Reddit, a user with the account name “ManCow2000” replied to a post in the r/WorkAdvice subreddit and said he was a property manager. In his comment, he said that he filled out four ballots that were mailed to tenants who had moved and had yet to update their voting address.

“PS: I am a property manager. I got four mail in voting forms … people who didn’t send in a change of address I guess,” the comment said. “I voted all four of them. NO on rent control. NO on school bonds. and … Trump baby,” adding: “… I follow the Chicago rule for voting: vote early — vote often.”

The user also said he voted for former President Donald Trump with his own ballot, and filled out his wife’s ballot to vote for Trump as well, bringing his total to six votes.

Last week, KCRC-TV — a station in Redding — reported that other Reddit users searched ManCow2000’s post and comment histories and were able to identify him as Charles Pierce of Redding. The outlet also reported that users forwarded Pierce’s claims to the FBI.

Shasta County Registrar of Voters Tom Toller told SFGATE he had been made aware of Pierce’s comments and forwarded them to the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office.

“A review of that social media posting provided sufficient detail for my staff to take the claim seriously,” he said in an email. “Election fraud of this type, voting more than one ballot, is particularly insidious because it dilutes the vote of every other registered voter in our county who votes one ballot according to the law. We referred this matter to the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office for investigation of a possible criminal violation of California Election Code section 18500.”

Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett confirmed to KCRC that her office is investigating Pierce’s claims.

“Every election, my office receives, from the Registrar of Voters, allegations of voter fraud. We look into each, often resulting in educating those involved in the election process on the resources available to them to ensure compliance with the law,” Bridgett told the outlet. “We also, in appropriate cases, file criminal charges for violation of the elections code. The registrar of voters has referred the allegations against Charles Pierce to my office.”

Bridgett did not immediately reply to a request for updates sent by SFGATE.

On Friday, KNVN-TV reported that Pierce had told the outlet that he had been fired from his job at the Manzanita Manor Apartments in Redding over his Reddit comment. He also said he “did not engage in any illegal activities,” claiming that his post was hyperbole.

“He says the situation has been ‘blown out of proportion’ and is ‘so bogus,’” the outlet reported.

Attempts by SFGATE to reach Pierce were unsuccessful, and his Reddit account has been deleted. A voicemail left at the Manzanita Manor Apartments was not immediately returned.

If Pierce did fill out four additional ballots to vote against California Propositions 2 (school bonds) and 33 (rent control), and to vote for Trump, it would be a federal crime.

“If the investigation substantiates that election fraud did occur, a further referral will be made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, since voting more than once is also a violation of 42 U.S.C. 1973i(3),” Toller said. “The latter is punishable by up to five years in federal prison, underlining just how serious the allegation of election fraud is.”

Test results are pending for two other pigs found on the farm in Crook County, Oregon, the USDA said, while two others tested negative.

The pig that tested positive didn't show signs of illness.

The five pigs were tested for H5N1 out of an abundance of caution, officials said, and "because of the presence of H5N1 in other animals on the premises."

The case is concerning as pigs can become infected with both bird and human viruses at the same time, which can give rise to mutated strains that can more easily infect humans.

Officials said there are no concerns about the safety of the nation's pork supply.

The farm is noncommercial, the USDA said, and the animals weren’t intended for the commercial food supply. Additionally, the farm has been quarantined to prevent the spread of the virus. Sheep, goats and other animals on the farm are under surveillance, officials said.

The update comes as the H5N1 virus continues to spread rapidly among dairy cows across the country.

The bird flu outbreak in dairy cows has infected 387 herds across 14 states so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since March, there have been a total of 36 human cases, the majority of whom had direct contact with farm animals, such as dairy cows and poultry. Most cases have been reported in California and Colorado.

All of the patients who had tested positive have recovered. Most had redness and discharge from the eyes, and some had mild respiratory symptoms.

There is no indication yet that this strain of flu virus is mutating in ways that would allow it to spread easily among people. Last week, the CDC released results of a monthslong investigation that found no evidence of bird flu spreading from human to human.

It's unclear how the pig in Oregon was exposed to bird flu, although earlier this month state officials detected the virus in poultry on the farm.

Officials said livestock and poultry on the farm shared water sources, housing and equipment. In other states, officials said, the combination has enabled transmission between species.

The pig that tested positive was euthanized so investigators can do additional testing to determine whether it was truly infected with the virus, or perhaps whether it had simply sniffed up some particles that contained H5N1.

“This could be environmental contamination in the nose,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “I commend them for doing the necropsy. It’s really important to understand — is there evidence of real infection?”

Now, as former President Donald Trump campaigns on a pledge to hit all goods coming into the country with a 10%-20% tariff, or border tax, which would rise to 60% for goods from China, Chadwick is having to drastically rethink his strategy.

The 66-year-old has been exploring moving manufacturing of his products, like wool shirts with snaps and canvas jackets, to India or Pakistan - or perhaps closing his Wyoming Traders business, which employs 16 people, and retiring altogether.

Chadwick said tariffs were a "tax on the American people" and warned that the expense for a company like his of opening a factory in the US was unrealistic.

But as he prepares to cast his ballot, he expects to swallow his qualms about tariffs in favour of other priorities, such as illegal immigration and opposition to abortion.

"I will vote for Trump even though he's going to hurt our company if he does what he says he's going to do," he said.

Chadwick's readiness to look past Trump's views on tariffs is a sign of the contradictory impulses shaping American politics.

The Republican's platform has shifted America - once a global champion of free trade - towards an embrace of policies that are designed to protect US companies and jobs from foreign competition, despite the potential economic drawbacks.

During his first term, Trump hit thousands of items from China with tariffs - measures that President Joe Biden, despite criticising them before entering the White House, kept in place.

This year, the Republican has put plans for sweeping tariffs at the centre of his presidential campaign, calling such duties "the most beautiful word in the dictionary".

He argues his plans - which analysts say could return the average charge on imports to the highest level in at least 50 years - will spur job creation, reinvigorate US manufacturing, drive up wages and raise billions of dollars from other countries.

"We’re going to be a tariff nation. It’s not going to be a cost to you, it’s going to be a cost to another country," he has said on the trail.

His claims are rejected by most traditional economists, who say the policy would do little to expand employment in the US, while raising costs for everyday Americans and slowing growth around the world.

In the US, the Tax Foundation predicts the tariffs would reduce overall employment by 684,000 and shrink GDP by 0.8% - and that's without taking into account the almost certain retaliation from other countries.

For a typical US household, costs would rise by at least $1,700, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, one of the lower estimates out there.

"It's absurd," economist Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said of Trump's promises. "This is not the panacea that people are hoping for."

Despite the warnings, some surveys indicate that Trump's ideas are resonating: a September poll by Reuters/Ipsos found that 56% of likely voters favoured the Republican's tariff plans.

Kyle Plesa, a 39-year-old Trump voter in Miami, Florida, said he did not think tariffs would have precisely the impact the candidate has promised, but the Republican's focus on the pitfalls of globalisation had touched a nerve.

"People are upset about it and I think Trump is at least addressing it," he said.

"I would probably prefer protecting business and paying a little bit more due to tariffs than I would dealing with the current state of inflation and raising taxes from the left," he added.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has attacked Trump’s tariff expansion plans as a "national sales tax", pledging a more targeted approach.

But Trump has said money brought in from tariffs could allow for big tax cuts - sometimes floating the idea of eliminating income tax altogether.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s decision to maintain Trump's China tariffs – and expand them on items such as electric vehicles - has also allowed the Republican to claim a policy victory.

Biden has also signed off other protectionist policies, such as on historic government spending to boost manufacturing in sectors such as semiconductors and green energy.

He and Harris, like Trump, have opposed the takeover of US Steel by a Japanese company on national security grounds, raising chills in the business world about foreign investment.

Michael Froman, who served as the US trade representative under former President Barack Obama, said Washington's turn to tools like tariffs and restrictions on foreign investment was "probably here to stay".

"There certainly is less enthusiasm around pursuing what we might call an affirmative trade agenda in terms of liberalisation, openness, reduction of barriers," he said. "We just have to recognise that none of these policies are actually free. They all impose some kind of trade-off."

'Tariffs have not helped bring back jobs'

Jason Trice, the co-chief executive of Jasco, an Oklahoma-based lighting and electronics company that sells to major retailers such as Walmart, said the experience of his firm shows the damage tariffs can do.

Since 2019, it has paid hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tariffs while transforming its supply chain, moving the bulk of its manufacturing from China to places such as Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

He said the changes have made his firm less efficient and raised costs by about 10%-15%, which he has passed on to retailers, ultimately raising prices and contributing to inflation.

It has all taken a toll on his business, which has seen revenue fall 25% since 2020 and its staff numbers drop, via attrition, from 500 to 350.

“In 50 years in business, the Chinese government has… never done anything nearly as damaging to our business as what the Trump administration has done," Trice said. “Tariffs have not helped bring jobs back to America. Tariffs have hurt American businesses and reduced employment opportunities."

Lucerne International, a car parts supplier based in Michigan that has manufactured in China for decades, has also spent the last few years adjusting to the new climate.

With help from government incentives, the company is now working to open its first factory in its home state in 2026, plans expected to create more than 300 jobs over four years.

But though the project might sound like the kind of successful “reshoring” politicians in both parties want to see, chief executive Mary Buchzeiger, a long-time Republican, said it was a mistake for the US to try to "build walls" against its rivals.

“I don’t think tariffs are a long-term solution,” she said.

“All we’re going to do is continue to make ourselves uncompetitive on a global scale.”

Public information officer Paul Mattson III defended the event when Oregon Live asked about the backlash the department has received.

“There are always going to be people that have something negative to say,” Mattson told the outlet on Tuesday, Oct. 22. “It’s genuinely just us trying to create a fun, interactive event for our community and for people outside of our community to come join us and spend some time with us.”

The event, which was first advertised on the Sherwood Police Department’s Facebook account on Oct. 15, is "basically your only chance to run from the cops without consequences," the department's announcement read.

According to Mattson, the department is known for putting a spin on community gatherings — such as a Star Wars-themed “Coffee with The Force,” which encourages residents to dress up as Stormtroopers and Mandalorians to meet with officers for a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop.

However, commenters on the Sherwood Police Department’s Facebook post didn’t seem to think that running from armed officers after dark at 7 p.m. start time had the same ring to it.

“So you didn't think about how traumatizing interactions with cops with guns have been? You set this up as a game? Have you actually tried community outreach and sensitivity training?” one user wrote.

Another person added, “Intriguing idea, but I don’t think that citizens being more afraid of being killed by cops than by zombies or serial killers is the flex you think it is.”

One user said they were “torn” over the idea because “my nephew was gunned down by police during a mental health check and it’s hard not to be afraid of a uniform anymore.”

Still, Mattson tells Oregon Live that if the Sherwood Police Department didn’t wear their guns, it would defeat the goal of helping community members overcome the fear of interacting with officers as they are.

In a statement to KOIN, Mattson said, “Sometimes being in a uniform, it can scare people or make people feel uncomfortable. And so when they see us, you know, in community events or on social media, it really humanizes us, and it creates that community engagement.”

Hide and Seek With a Cop is scheduled for Oct. 30, the day before Halloween, in Stella Olsen Memorial Park.