The Hill’s 12:30 Report — Paul Pelosi’s assault raises questions of lawmaker safety

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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.* 

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically.

NEWS THIS MORNING 

Oh my gosh. Nancy Pelosi’s husband was assaulted in his home: 

Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was “violently assaulted” early on Friday morning by an assailant who broke into their San Francisco home. 

Was Nancy Pelosi home?: No, she was not home. 

Is Paul Pelosi OK?: He is in the hospital and “is expected to make a full recovery,” according to Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill. 

Who is the suspect?: We do not know the identity or motivation, but the suspect is in custody. 

THE BROADER WORRY — VIOLENCE AGAINST POLITICAL FIGURES AND THEIR FAMILIES:

The Hill’s Mychael Schnell points to a few other recent examples. 

In Washington: “Over the summer a man armed with a pistol was arrested near Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s (D) Seattle home after yelling threats at the congresswoman, who was home with her husband at the time.” 

In New York: “Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) was separately attacked by a man at a campaign event in New York during his gubernatorial race.”

It’s Friday of the spooooky weekend! 🎃 I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.

🐥 At Twitter HQ 

He came in like a wrecking ball: 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk officially owns Twitter, reports CNBC’s David Faber and Jonathan Vanian. 

Musk tweeted late last night: “the bird is freed.”  

Musk’s deadline was Friday: Musk first agreed to buy Twitter in April. He later tried to back out and faced a lawsuit. A judge then agreed to halt trial if the deal closed by Friday. And here we are.  

Musk’s first order of business — firing Twitter’s top executives: “Chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, were let go, according to the people. Sean Edgett, the company’s general counsel, was also pushed out, one of the people said. The top executives were hastily escorted out of the company’s San Francisco headquarters.” What we know from The Washington Post’s Faiz Siddiqui and Elizabeth Dwoskin 

List of executives who have exited Twitter 

Musk’s potential second order of business — end lifetime Twitter bans: Elon Musk plans to remove lifetime bans for Twitter users, according to Bloomberg’s Katie Roof, Ed Hammond andKurt Wagner. Think: former President Trump, who was permanently banned from Twitter following the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack.  

WELL, LOOK WHO’S BACK … : 

Rapper and designer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is back on Twitter just two weeks after his ban and one day after Elon Musk’s deal finalized.  

‘RACIST TWEETS QUICKLY SURFACED AFTER MUSK CLOSED TWITTER DEAL’: 

“An emboldened cast of anonymous trolls spewed racist slurs and Nazi memes onto Twitter in the hours after billionaire industrialist Elon Musk took over the social network Thursday, raising fears of how his pledge of unrestricted free speech could fuel a new wave of online hate.” Full reporting from The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell 

A LIGHTER, THOUGH CONTROVERSIAL, REACTION:

CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski tweeted, “Since this platform is allowing free-speech again I would just like to say that cool ranch Doritos are better than nacho cheese.”  

I’ve given this tweet a lot of thought this morning and I unfortunately must disagree.

💰 On the campaign trail 

New Hampshire’s Senate race is getting more attention now:

“Republicans are refocusing on the New Hampshire Senate race with just two weeks left before the November midterms as recent polling shows Sen. Maggie Hassan’s (D) lead against Republican Don Bolduc shrinking.” 

Back story: Republicans have had their eyes on this race as a potential pickup for a Senate seat. But Bolduc’s campaign underperformed, so its attention went to the backburner. National Republican fundraising even diverted its resources to other states.  

“But recent polling showing the two candidates within the margin of error coupled with a favorable political environment for Republicans encouraged the National Senatorial Campaign Committee (NRSC) to recommit resources toward the race earlier this week.”

What this $$ shift tells us about the race, via The Hill’s Al Weaver and Caroline Vakil

🦠 Latest with COVID 

There’s no new recent variant that warrants a Greek letter, so that’s good news!:  

“Nearly a year after omicron first landed in America, we have seen sublineages of omicron spread left and right — BA.2, then BA.4 and BA.5, now even XBB. But we have yet to see a variant arise deemed concerning enough to earn a Greek letter for a name.”  

“That’s good news,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine and infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. 

Why that’s the case: “Gandhi said so many people have been vaccinated, so many have been infected, and a lot of people have had both. ‘So that’s called hybrid immunity. When the population is so much more immune, the virus can make minor shifts in an immune population, but it can’t make major shifts.’”  

If and when there’s a new variant, what will it be called?: Pi 

The full story from Nexstar’s Alix Martichoux 

➤ THE COVID-19 NUMBERS 

Cases to date: 97.3 million 

Death toll: 1,066,351 

Current hospitalizations: 21,442 

Shots administered: 636 million 

Fully vaccinated: 68.4 percent of Americans 

CDC data here.

💔 In other news 

Tom and Gisele are officially ending things:  

TMZ reports that Gisele Bündchen has filed for divorce from Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. 

What we know: “Tom and Gisele’s lawyers were hammering out a settlement during most of the month of October and have reached an agreement on property and child custody. The settlement document was filed with the court as well, but will remain confidential.”  

The full story

📱Notable tweets 

OK, this made me laugh:

Cato Institute’s Christian Schneider tweeted a screenshot of The Washington Post headline, “What should I do if I see a bear? First, don’t run away.”  

Schneider added: “Written by a bear.”  

Here’s the Washington Post article if you’re curious the actual protocol of encountering a bear

⏱On tap 

The House and Senate are out. President Biden is in Delaware. Vice President Harris is in Washington, D.C. Biden and Harris are both going to Philadelphia for a campaign event on Friday evening.

• 1:50 p.m.: Harris leavesfor Philadelphia.
• 5:30 p.m.: Biden leaves Delaware and flies to Philadelphia. 
• 7 p.m.: Biden and Harris speak at a reception for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in Philadelphia. 
• 8:55 p.m.: Biden returns to Delaware. 
• 9:25 p.m.: Harris leaves Pennsylvania and flies back to Washington, D.C. 

All times Eastern.

📺What to watch

• 3:45 p.m.: Former President Obama campaigns for Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) at a rally in College Park, Ga. Livestream 
• 3:50 p.m.: Harris participates in a moderated conversation about reproductive rights with Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) and Sophia Bush. Livestream 
• 4:30 p.m. Saturday: Obama campaigns for Wisconsin Sen. candidate Mandela Barnes. Livestream 

🍫 In lighter news 

Today is National Chocolate Day! And to plan for your weekend, tomorrow is National Oatmeal Day and Sunday is National Candy Corn Day! 

Tidbit for Halloweentown fans:

Actress Kimberly J. Brown, who played Marnie in the Disney film “Halloweentown,” shared the alternative ending to the 1998 film, which was scrapped. 

The gist: Instead of putting the talisman in the jack-o’-lantern, she brought it to a “deep, dark forest” where she aged “exponentially older.” Watch her full explanation of the scrapped ending 

And to leave you on a festive note, meet Teddy. Teddy has been excitedly planning for Halloween for weeks.