Kavanaugh's Confirmation Hearing Cartoons

Top Dem candidate who said money 'corrupts' politics donated $100G to Obama and asked for US ambassadorship

A liberal millionaire now running for Congress in Pennsylvania -- and railing against the influence of money in politics -- has a history of making large donations to former President Barack Obama's campaign and other efforts.
Scott Wallace, grandson of a former vice president of Franklin Roosevelt -- who’s running as a Democrat in Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District against Republican incumbent Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick -- gave more than $100,000 to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and Presidential Inaugural Committee and also asked top administration official John Podesta to appoint him as U.S. Ambassador in South Africa.
Wallace has made criticism of money in politics a campaign issue, saying money “corrupts” politics and slamming President Trump for giving access to wealthy donors.

Scott Wallace and his wife Christy donated $30,800 and $28,500 respectively to the Obama Victory Fund. The now-Democratic candidate also forked out $50,000 to Obama’s Presidential Inaugural Committee.  (Scott Wallace Campaign)

In July 2008, both Wallace and his wife Christy donated $30,800 and $28,500 respectively to the Obama Victory Fund, the former president's political action commmittee, Federal Election Commission records show.
Also in 2008, Wallace gave Obama’s Presidential Inaugural Committee $50,000 – the maximum permitted contribution, which provided Wallace with tickets to Obama's January 2009 swearing-in ceremony, parade and inaugural balls.
As he was donating to various Obama funds, Wallace also began his efforts to become the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, his so-called “second country,” where he lived for several years while overseeing the Wallace Global Fund’s projects in the country, by directly pushing a top Obama official to consider him for the role.
TOP DEM CANDIDATE GAVE MILLIONS TO GROUPS ADVOCATING FOR TAXING FAMILIES ‘TO THE HILT’ FOR ‘IRRESPONSIBLE BREEDING’

"It has become my second country, and I would be deeply honored to be considered to represent President Obama as ambassador there."
- Scott Wallace

“I know you must have a million things on your plate, but as I mentioned to you, Elizabeth and Smith Bagley were encouraging me to reach out to you sooner rather than later about a possible appointment in an Obama administration,” Wallace wrote to Podesta on Nov 3, 2008, according to an email released by WikiLeaks.
“I am passionate about helping South Africa achieve its full promise, and see its upcoming elections and the next couple of years as critical to the health of its democracy. It has become my second country, and I would be deeply honored to be considered to represent President Obama as ambassador there,” he continued, openly offering his diplomatic services.
“I imagine that my service under Republicans in the Senate, as well as subsequent decades of working with Democratic Judiciary Committee leadership, should be of some help with Senate confirmation,” he added.

"I took the liberty of listing you as a reference in the application forms at change.gov, but then wondered if perhaps those need to be names outside the formal transition process."
- Scott Wallace

The liberal millionaire returned to the issue a few weeks later, sending another email to Podesta, who spearheaded Obama’s transition team, saying he listed Podesta as a reference in an application to work in the administration.
“John, I meant to ask you this at the Democracy Alliance conference, but had to duck out just before the end of your session … I took the liberty of listing you as a reference in the application forms at change.gov, but then wondered if perhaps those need to be names outside the formal transition process,” he wrote.
“John, let me also offer my assistance to the personnel team in a range of areas. From my 13 years as a grantmaker, and about 20 years in the field of criminal justice policy and research, my job is generally to identify and invest in the highest quality leaders of the most effective organizations,” Wallace wrote in a follow up email.

"Money corrupts politics and it corrupts it absolutely."
- Scott Wallace

TOP DEM HOUSE HOPEFUL FUNDED GITMO DETAINEES’ LEGAL HELP ‘JUST AFTER 9/11’
That history appears to contradict Wallace’s more recent statements about his views on the influence of money in politics.
“Money corrupts politics and it corrupts it absolutely,” Wallace said earlier this year at the Bucks County (Pa.) Democratic Forum.
He also criticized President Trump for giving access to wealthy donors.
“But when his buddies in Congress, like Paul Ryan and Brian Fitzpatrick, finally OK’d his massive tax cuts for corporations and billionaires, what did Trump do? Jetted to his Florida country club and bragged to a roomful of people who paid $200,000 to get in the door, that they all ‘just got a lot richer.’ Oooh, that’s rich,” Wallace said in a March news release.
Even in 2011, Wallace decried contributions from “wealthy elites” and suggested the U.S. political system was being ruined by such donors.
“Sacrifice is expected, improving your own lifestyle is not. This is not to say that American politics today is not awash in big money. Our political parties and politicians are massively dependent on contributions from corporations and wealthy elites,” he wrote in an op-ed for South Africa's Cape Times.
The Wallace campaign didn’t respond to Fox News’ request for a comment.

Second day of Kavanaugh hearings erupts into tense cross-examination on Mueller, racial profiling

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing boiled over into a series of tense exchanges late in the evening Wednesday, as high-profile Democrats lined up to hammer the appellate judge with thinly veiled accusations that he was hiding ties to President Trump's inner circle and harbored sympathies for racist policies.
In an especially combative moment late in the day, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., pointedly asked Kavanaugh whether he ever had discussed Special Counsel Robert Mueller or his Russia probe with anyone at Kasowitz Benson Torres, the law firm founded by Marc Kasowitz, a former personal attorney to President Trump.
"Be sure about your answer," Harris warned. "I'm asking you a very direct question. Yes or no?"
"I'm not sure I know everyone who works at that law firm," Kavanaugh said. "I'm not remembering, but I'm happy to be refreshed."
"How can you not remember whether or not you had a conversation about Robert Mueller or his investigation with anyone at that law firm?" Harris asked, visibly exasperated. "This investigation has only been going on for so long, sir, so please answer the question."
"I'm just trying to think -- do I know anyone who works at that firm?" Kavanaugh eventually replied. "I'd like to know the person you're thinking of."
"I think you're thinking of someone and you don't want to tell us," Harris shot back, sending the room into a few seconds of near-total silence.
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee then interjected briefly to defend Kavanaugh, saying that "this town is full of law firms" and that they "are constanly metastaizing, they break off, they form new firms -- they're like rabbits. There's no possible way we can expect this witness to know who populates an entire firm."
A barrage of protesters erupted in a chant of "Answer the question" before being led out by police as Lee spoke. In all, 73 people were arrested and charged for unlawful demonstrations within Senate buildings on Wednesday, including 66 people who were removed from the hearing room during the day, according to Capitol Police officials.
In another dramatic exchange, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., implied Kavanaugh had been open to racial profiling tactics, citing an email exchange between Kavanaugh and a colleague. However, Booker did not provide Kavanaugh a copy of the emails to review while questioning him about it, prompting another objection from Lee, who charged that it was inappropriate to "cross-examine" Kavanaugh about documents that he "can't see."
Booker countered that when Democrats received the emails, which he said were titled "racial profiling," they were marked "committee confidential," indicating that they contained sensitive information.
"The system is rigged," Booker said, arguing that the documents should not have been marked confidential, because they did not contain personal or national security information. "The process is unfair, unnecessary, unjust, and unprecedented on this committee."
Lee ultimately agreed that the emails should be released, but that Kavanaugh should still be able to review them: "There's no reason why this shouldn't be something we can't discuss in public -- I don't know why it was marked 'committee confidential,'" he said.
Also Wednesday evening, Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono pressed Kavanaugh at length about whether he was aware of inappropriate behavior by former 9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski when he clerked for Kozinski from 1991 to 1992. Kozinski abruptly retired last year after several woman who had worked as law clerks or colleagues accused him of sexual misconduct that included touching, inappropriate sexual comments and forced viewings of pornography in his chambers.
Hirono, who repeatedly has asked other judicial nominees whether they ever sexually harassed anyone, noted that Kavanaugh and Kozinski had kept in touch after his clerkship, with Kozinski recommending Kavanaugh during his 2006 confirmation hearings for his current job on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"You saw nothing, you heard nothing, and you obviously said nothing," Hirono said, even as Kavanaugh denied being aware of any misconduct by Kozinski and said he would have reported it if he had known.
For the most part, the lengthy hearing focused on Kavanaugh's writings and, in particular, key opinions he authored while serving on the nation's most prestigious appellate court.
At one point, Kavanaugh was asked by Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy about the constitutionality of individual federal judges issuing nationwide injunctions against presidential action -- a phenomenon that has attracted scrutiny after district court judges unilaterally brought temporary halts to President Trump's travel ban and other initiatives. Kavanaugh demurred, saying he could not discuss potential pending issues before the Supreme Court.

"I'm sorry about the circumstances, but we'll get through it."
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

After Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse decried what he said was the improper mixing of partisan politics with legal discussion during the hearing, he reiterated his arguments from Tuesday that Congress often delegates excessive authority to mostly unaccountable executive branch agencies.
WATCH: SASSE UNLOADS ON CONGRESS DURING CONFIRMATION HEARING
In response, Kavanaugh specifically touched on the Obama-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), saying that even if the agency was a good policy idea, its creation was an improper "departure from historical practice" because it employed a single director, rather than a committee, who could only be removed by the president for cause.
Kavanaugh wrote an opinion for a three-judge panel striking down the CFPB's structure as unconstitutional in 2016, but was later reversed in part by a 7-3 vote in an unusual en banc review by other justices on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The en banc review found the CFPB's structure to be constitutional, but agreed with Kavanaugh that one of the agency's major interpretive decisions had improperly violated due process requirements.
"A single person can make these enormous decisions?" Kavanaugh told Sasse on Wednesday, referring to the director of the CFPB. "From my perspective ... that was an issue of concern."
The confirmation hearing has been chaotic at times, with Democrats trying to delay the proceedings as they complain they haven't received enough records from Kavanaugh's past work.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell found a way to allow Wednesday’s confirmation hearing to continue into the night, after a brief floor clash with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Schumer had objected to McConnell’s request for the committee to continue meeting after 2 p.m., despite plans to go late. But McConnell, using a parliamentary maneuver, adjourned the Senate for the day -- because committees can meet as long as they like when the Senate is not in session. 
KAVANAUGH VOWS TO 'KEEP AN OPEN MIND IN EVERY CASE'
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee’s ranking member and the first Democrat to question the nominee, began her questioning of Kavanaugh by referencing the outbursts from protesters: “I'm sorry about the circumstances, but we'll get through it,” she said.
Feinstein asked the nominee about his past case argument that Washington D.C.’s assault weapons ban was unconstitutional. He said he was following the precedent of the Supreme Court, but acknowledged that gun violence posed significant policy concerns.
In his 2011 dissent in a follow-up to the landmark D.C. v. Heller case, Kavanaugh wrote that based on Supreme Court precedent, gun restrictions should be assessed principally by reviewing "text, history, and tradition," rather than a balancing analysis that mainly considers dangers to the public and the government's interest in regulation.
Kavanaugh wrote that there is "no meaningful or persuasive constitutional distinction" between semiautomatic rifles and semiautomatic handguns, rejecting the city's attempt to apply regulations to rifles, other than automatics, that could not constitutionally apply to handguns.
Feinstein also pressed Kavanaugh over the Roe v. Wade court decision regarding abortion. “Well, as a general proposition, I understand the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v. Wade,” he said.
Later in the day, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., dismissed Kavanaugh's statements on Roe, saying that describing the case as important "existing Supreme Court precedent" was akin to callously introducing a woman as "my current wife," drawing a slight grin from Kavanaugh.
The nominee then stressed that "precedent on precedent" has since supported abortion rights, noting that the 1992 Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey explicitly upheld Roe. But when pointedly asked by Blumenthal to vow to never overturn Roe, Kavanaugh reiterated that it would be inappropriate for nominees to the Supreme Court to discuss hypothetical cases during their confirmation hearings -- a view echoed by each sitting Supreme Court justice.
It was a recurring theme for Kavanaugh on the day, as he emphasized that he would remain an impartial jurist despite his personal views, both before and after the confirmation hearings. To argue that he can be trusted to be fair to all litigants, Kavanaugh cited his decision in the 2012 case Hamdan v. United States, in which he overturned the conviction of Osama bin Laden's personal driver, Salim Hamdan. The conviction, Kavanaugh said, violated the Constitution's Ex Post Facto provision by punishing a defendant under a system of military tribunals enacted after his alleged crimes.
“You'll never have a nominee who's ruled for a more unpopular defendant," Kavanaugh told senators Wednesday, saying that while Hamdan was a widely reviled Guantanamo Bay detainee, he was still entitled to some constitutional protections.
Feinstein also asked Kavanaugh about past comments regarding investigations involving a president, a key issue amid the Russia probe that has implicated numerous Trump associates. Kavanaugh said he’s never taken a position on the constitutionality of whether a president should be investigated while in office.
In response to later questions from Sasse, Kavanaugh emphasized that "no one's above the law," saying that while any criminal prosecution of a sitting president may face "timing" issues, there is no absolute constitutional prohibition against eventually pursuing such a prosecution.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pressed Kavanaugh about what he knew about the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program. Leahy also asked Kavanaugh if a president has a right to pardon himself, a power President Trump has said he believes he has.
“The question of self-pardons is something I have never analyzed,” Kavanaugh replied.
Outbursts from protesters have been a recurring feature since the hearings began. Moments after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley opened the hearing Wednesday, shouting could be heard from the back of the room: “Sham president, sham justice!” Ironically, at one point, protesters shouted as Kavanaugh discussed how he tried to be respectful in court. "I’ve tried to be a very collegial judge, I’ve tried to be civil," he said.
Kavanaugh served for more than a decade on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and, before that, for five years as a lawyer in the White House Counsel's office in the George W. Bush administration. He also worked for independent counsel Ken Starr for three years during the probe that led to the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.
Kavanaugh's elevation from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court would mark a generational rightward shift on the Supreme Court, raising the stakes beyond those of last year's nomination of Neil Gorsuch.
The judge's nomination, though, will ultimately succeed or fail depending on a handful of swing-vote senators, including vulnerable red-state Democrats and moderate pro-choice Republicans who have all said that they would withhold judgment on the nominee.
Republicans command a narrow 51-49 Senate majority. Party leaders have said they hope to have Kavanaugh confirmed by a floor vote by early October, when the next Supreme Court term begins.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un expresses faith in Trump, reaffirms commitment to nuclear-free peninsula

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his South Korean counterpart will meet later this month to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, his state-controlled media reported Thursday.
Kim also expressed faith in President Trump efforts to settle a nuclear impasse, despite recent bumps in the diplomacy., the report said.
Chung Eui-yong, a special envoy from South Korea, told reporters that Kim stressed that "he has never talked negative about President Trump to his staff or anyone else," South Korea's Yonhap News reported.
Chung reportedly said North Korea expressed hope to improve the "North-U.S. relationship within Trump's first term."
The statement comes after a South Korean envoy met with Kim to set up the inter-Korean summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
KCNA said Kim and the South Korean delegation reached a “satisfactory agreement” over the planned inter-Korean summit.
Kim was paraphrased as saying it was “his will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat."
The dates of the summit were expected to be released sometime Thursday.
Kim’s commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula comes amid an impasse with the United States and growing skepticism of his intent to dismantle his nuclear weapons program.
His statement raises hopes that talks can get back on track following his meeting with President Trump in Singapore.
To overcome increasing dispute between Pyongyang and the U.S., Seoul is trying to persuade both countries to proceed with the denuclearization process simultaneously.
In addition, the South is aiming for a four-nation summit that would include China, to declare a formal end to the Korean War. Many see the peace declaration as a precursor to the North calling for the removal of all U.S. troops in the Korean Peninsula.
U.S. officials have insisted that the North must first takes steps to abandon its nuclear weapons before any peace declaration. Steps include allowing outside inspections, giving up some nuclear weapons during the early stages of negotiations and providing an account of components of its nuclear program.
Experts believe an end-of-war declaration could make it easier for North Korea to move toward discussions of a peaceful regime, diplomatic recognition and security concessions.
The North has routinely accused the United State of holding back the end-of-war declaration and making "unilateral and gangster-like" demands for denuclearization.
On Tuesday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a lengthy statement where it said an end-of-war declaration would be a necessary trust-building step that would "manifest the political will to establish the lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."
The declaration would be among several issues discussed, South Korean officials said, between North Korean officials and South Korean envoys.
Nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have settled into a stalemate since the summit meeting between Kim and Trump.
Citing a lack of progress in denuclearization, Trump called of a planned visit to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month.
Moon recently said the inter-Korean summit could warm relations between the Unites States, which maintains that efforts to improve relations should coincide with efforts to denuclearize the North.
"If needed, we should pull forward the negotiations for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with the development in relations between the South and North," Chung said.
Two past summits between the two Koreas in April and May removed fears of war between the two nations.
The frosty relationship between the United States and North Korea could present a tougher challenge for Moon’s third meeting with Kim, with his commitment to abandon his nuclear weapons in doubt.

Trump digs in after explosive New York Times op-ed, vows to drain swamp

President Trump calls The New York Times 'gutless' for publishing an anonymous op-ed reportedly from a senior administration official who claims individuals inside the White House are working to thwart the president; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports.
President Trump took to Twitter late Wednesday and vowed to continue "draining the swamp" after The New York Times ran an anonymous op-ed written by a senior White House official who labeled the president "petty and ineffective." 
"I'm draining the Swamp, and the Swamp is trying to fight back. Don't worry, we will win!" Trump tweeted.
The New York Times on Wednesday published an explosive opinion piece written that described a "two-track presidency" in which top officials are "working diligently from within to frustrate parts of [President Trump's] agenda and his worst inclinations."
Trump called the piece "gutless."
"Does the so-called “Senior Administration Official” really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!" the president tweeted.
The piece titled "I am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," said that meetings with the president would "veer off topic and off the rails."
"He engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back," the anonymous author wrote.
The senior White House official wrote that many of the the administration's policies have already made America safer and more prosperous, "but these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective."
The writer alleged that "there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment" to remove Trump from office because of the president's "instability ... But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. "
TRUMP BATTLES BOB WOODWARD BOOK, BUT AGREES ON ONE POINT: 'I'M TOUGH AS HELL ON PEOPLE'
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had also demanded the unnamed author "resign."
"We are disappointed, but not surprised, that the paper chose to publish this pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed. This is a new low for the so-called 'paper of record,' and it should issue an apology," Sander said in a statement.
The New York Times defended the piece.
"We are incredibly proud to have published this piece, which adds significant value to the public's understanding of what is going on in the Trump administration from someone who is in a position to know," a Times spokesperson said in response to the White House statements.
The op-ed was published one day after The Washington Post published excerpts from a forthcoming book by longtime reporter Bob Woodward in which the Trump administration was depicted as filled with second-guessing staffers and Cabinet members filching papers from the president's desk before he could sign them.

Nike Kneeling Cartoons

Ayanna Pressley, Dem backed by Ocasio-Cortez, upsets Michael Capuano in Massachusetts House primary

Ayanna Pressley, right, upset 10-term U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in a Democratic primary Tuesday night.  (AP, File)

Boston city councilor Ayanna Pressley unseated 10-term U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in a Democratic primary Tuesday in the latest shakeup of the House Democratic caucus by a far-left challenger.
Capuano conceded defeat to Pressley in the race to represent Massachusetts' 7th District approximately 30 minutes before The Associated Press formally called the race. With 69 percent of precincts reporting late Tuesday, Pressley had the lead by 10,682 votes.
Pressley, who is running unopposed in November, is set to become the first African-American woman elected to Congress from the Commonwealth.
Capuano is the fourth House member to lose a primary this year, along with Reps. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C.; Mark Sanford, R-S.C., and fellow 10-term Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y.
The prospect of a Pressley upset had drawn some comparisons to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's defeat of Crowley in June. The New York democratic socialist had endorsed Pressley, as did Our Revolution, the offshoot of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.
However, unlike Crowley, Capuano had fiercely contested the Massachusetts race by racking up endorsements, attending debates and highlighting his consistently liberal voting record in one of the most Democratic districts in a traditionally Democratic state.
And unlike Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old political neophyte, the 44-year-old Pressley has a track record in Massachusetts' halls of power. She served as former Secretary of State John Kerry's political director when he was a U.S. senator and became the first black woman elected to the Boston City Council in 2009.

Ayanna Pressley celebrated her victory with supporters Tuesday night.  (AP)

Greeting voters at a Boston polling station earlier Tuesday, Pressley spoke of "the ground shifting beneath our feet and the wind at our backs."
"This is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our democracy," she told reporters. "This is a disruptive candidacy, a grassroots coalition. It is broad and diverse and deep. People of every walk of life."
Pressley has backed Medicare-for-all and called for defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
She likely was aided by the demographics of the 7th district, which cuts a north-south swathe through the city of Boston and includes portions of neighboring Chelsea, Everett, Randolph, Milton and Somerville -- where Capuano served as mayor for nine years in the 1990s.
PRO-TRUMP REPUBLICAN WINS PRIMARY TO TAKE ON SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN
State lawmakers designated the district as the first majority-minority district in Massachusetts. Just a third of the population is white, with blacks, Hispanics and Asians constituting most of the other two-thirds.
However, Pressley had bristled at the notion that race was a defining issue in her campaign.
"I have been really furious about the constant charges being lobbed against me about identity politics that, by the way, are only lobbed against women and candidates of color," she said in one debate. "I happen to be black and a woman and unapologetically proud to be both, but that is not the totality of my identity."
The contest also formed sharp divides among Boston's Democratic political and media elite. The city's mayor, Marty Walsh, campaigned with Capuano in the final days of the race. U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a grandson of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, also endorsed the incumbent, calling him "a guy who won't shy away from steep odds or tough truths."
OPINION: IS THIS WOMAN THE GOP'S OCASIO-CORTEZ?
Pressley was backed by state Attorney General Maura Healey, who repeatedly has challenged the Trump administration's policies on on immigration, gun control and other issues. She also was endorsed by The Boston Globe, which called her "the future of the Democratic Party."
The last time an incumbent Democratic House member in Massachusetts lost a primary was in 2014, when Seth Moulton defeated former Rep. John Tierney, who brought significant personal baggage to the campaign.

Nike billboard featuring Kaepernick hovers over San Francisco

This image taken from the Twitter account of the former National Football League player Colin Kaepernick shows a Nike advertisement featuring him that was posted Monday, Sept. 3, 2018.  (Twitter via AP)

A black-and-white Nike billboard of Colin Kaepernick hovers above a building in San Francisco.
The vertical sign atop a Nike store is part of the sportswear company and the former San Francisco 49er’s "Just Do It" campaign to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
The "gray and solemn" eyes of Kaepernick are looking over Union Square in the city where he was once a quarterback, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.  A message that read "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything" in white letters was printed over Kaepernick's face. 
His activism began when he kneeled during the national anthem of football games to protest social injustice. Nike aimed to reference the movement he sparked, the report said. 
Kaepernick is currently unsigned and has a pending lawsuit against the National Football League, which he accuses of blacklisting him.
The company famous for the swoosh is now facing backlash since its announcement of the campaign.
President Trump weighed in on Tuesday, telling The Daily Caller that he "thinks it's a terrible message."
Trump said it’s Nike's right to make its own business decisions, as much as he disagrees with the endorsement, according to the report.
"It is what this country is all about, that you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn’t do, but I personally am on a different side of it,” the president said.
Kaepernick already had a deal with Nike that was set to expire, but it was renegotiated into a multiyear deal to make him one of the faces of the anniversary campaign, according to a person familiar with the contract. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Nike hasn't officially announced the contract.