September 18, 2024, presidential campaign news

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Former President Donald Trump appeared on a late-night talk show on Fox News on Wednesday and joked about many things, including the apparent assassination attempt against him that took place just days ago.?

?The first question to Trump from the host of Fox News’s “Gutfeld!” was: “So, Mr. T, how’s your golf game?”?

“Well, I haven’t been?thinking about it too much?lately.?I always said golf is a very dangerous game. Turned out to be true,” Trump said.

Greg Gutfeld then asked, “If they had told you?that the shooter was there,?would you have tried to take him?out with your three wood?”

“I think so,” Trump said. “I think so, if I knew.”?

Trump was asked later in the show about the ABC presidential debate, and he said, “My only regret is that I wanted?to be elegant and I did not want?to go after the anchors — I wish I?did, in a way.”

Trump has repeatedly attacked the ABC debate moderators since the debate took place as he baselessly suggests that Vice President Kamala Harris was given the debate questions in advance and that the whole debate was “rigged.” He has also repeatedly said ABC host David Muir’s hair “was better five years ago” – an insult he repeated on the show Wednesday.

The former president was also asked if he would rule out reality TV, and he said, “I think so.”?

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump gestures during a rally at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in Uniondale, New York, on September 18.

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was going to visit Springfield, Ohio, “in the next two weeks” after repeatedly promoting an unfounded conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants in the city eating people’s pets.

“I’m going to go there in the next two weeks, I’m going to Springfield and I’m going to Aurora. You may never see me again, but that’s OK. I gotta do what I gotta do,” Trump said at a rally in Uniondale, New York, also referring to Aurora, Colorado — another city he has used to promote false claims about immigration.?

Trump on Wednesday said he thought the mayor of Springfield was “a very nice person” but slammed him for not expelling the migrants, who Trump falsely claimed are undocumented.

The city of Springfield says on its website that approximately 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants live in Clark County — which has a population of 136,000 — and that Haitian immigrants are there legally as part of a parole program that allows citizens and lawful residents to apply to have their family members from Haiti come to the United States.

Former President Donald Trump said during a campaign rally in New York on Wednesday that if reelected he would make Ground Zero in Manhattan a national monument.?

?“I am announcing tonight that as president I will officially make the Ground Zero site at the World Trade Center a national monument protected and maintained by the United States government so that hallowed ground and the memory of those who perished there will be preserved for all time, preserved forever,” Trump said during the rally in Uniondale, New York.??

Trump visited Ground Zero last week for a commemoration event to mark the 23rd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris is the best choice for workers in this election, pointing to former President Donald Trump’s recent comments to cast him as anti-labor unions.

“It’s a clear-cut choice, who stands with working class people and who doesn’t,” Fain told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.” “You know, I mean Donald Trump wants to fire striking workers and Kamala Harris stands – stands out there with striking workers on the picket line.”

Fain was referring to Trump remarks during an interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk during which the former president seemingly agreed with the tactic of intimidating workers who go on strike. Following the interview, the UAW filed federal labor charges against Trump and Musk.

Fain’s comments come after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union that represents truck drivers, freight workers and other workers, decided not to endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Asked by Collins whether the non-endorsement is a blow to Harris, Fain said, “Not really.”

However, Trump has falsely claimed that he won the endorsement of the “rank-and-file” of Teamsters.

Responding to Trump’s claim, Fain pointed to several local Teamsters chapters, including the key battlegrounds of Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada, endorsing Harris.

Emmy-award winner Liza Colón-Zayas and Grammy-award winner Anthony Ramos will appear alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, a campaign official told CNN.

The appearance from the two actors marks the Harris campaign’s effort to ramp up engagement with Latino voters after the campaign announced a $3 million investment in Spanish-language radio advertising last week.?

Colón-Zayas became the first Latina to win an Emmy for best supporting actress on Sunday for her role in “The Bear.” Ramos, who starred in “Hamilton” and “In the Heights,” campaigned along Vice President Kamala Harris at an event in Miami last year.?

Variety first reported the two actors appearing alongside Walz.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff sharply rebuked recent comments made by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggesting Vice President Kamala Harris not having biological children robs her of something “keeping her humble.”

“They said that somehow, because Cole and Ella aren’t Kamala’s quote, unquote biological children, that she doesn’t have anything in her life to keep her humble,” Emhoff told supporters at a campaign fundraiser in Brooklyn, New York. “As if keeping women humble, whether you have children or not, is something we should strive for.”?

While introducing former President Trump at a town hall in Michigan, Sanders said her three children serve as a “permanent reminder of everything that is at stake in this country” that Harris “doesn’t have anything to keep her humble.”

Emhoff said Wednesday that he and Harris experience the “same joys of raising children as any parent anywhere.”

“There is nothing more important to me Kamala and Kerstin than our kids, our big, beautiful, blended family,” Emhoff continued, referring to his first wife Kerstin Emhoff, the mother of his children.

The second gentleman also swiped at Trump while rallying women Harris supporters, who he said “will never humble themselves before Donald Trump.”?

“We know what they’re really trying to do. It’s Dobbs. It’s Project 2025. It’s spreading hate and trying to pit women against each other, trying to pit us all against each other,” he said. “But I’ve got news for him. Women in this country are sick and tired of weak men trying to take away their fundamental rights and then and then gaslight you about it.”?

“We’re sick and tired of it, and the women in this country will never humble themselves before Donald Trump,” he added.

House Republicans sounded off after Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposal to extend government funding failed and divided the GOP conference.

Pressed on whether a shutdown before the election could hurt Republicans, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she thinks “this is a complete failure of the speaker’s strategy.” “Again, we weren’t here in the entire month of August and could have finished our 12 separate appropriations bills,” she said.

The package tied a 6-month funding stopgap to a bill banning non-citizens from voting, known as the SAVE Act. The House voted 202 to 220, with 14 Republicans voting against it with two Republicans voting present. Three Democrats voted for the bill.

Earlier Wednesday, former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, encouraging lawmakers to allow the government to shut down rather than pass a funding extension without the SAVE Act included.?

Asked about Trump’s post, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who voted present, said: “I think he needs to get to know Mike Johnson. There’s no way Mike Johnson’s doing that. If he think’s Mike Johnson’s doing that, Mike Johnson’s getting one over on Trump.”

Rep. Marc Molinaro, a vulnerable Republican from New York who voted for the package, indicated that he would not support a shutdown. “We have to support the continuity of government,” he told reporters.

New York GOP Rep. Mike Lawler, who supported the legislation, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday evening that “the reality is we’re not shutting down the government with 48 days to go before an election.”

The election is going to be decided by voters based on the issues that are impacting them, Lawler said, and a shutdown “will only distract from that and certainly won’t serve any real purpose.”

This post has been updated with comments from Rep. Mike Lawler.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Uniondale, New York, on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed he received the endorsement of the “rank-and-file” of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters despite the union declining to endorse a presidential candidate.

The union announced on Wednesday that for the first time in nearly three decades it would not endorse a presidential candidate. Internal polling released by the Teamsters showed about 60% of its members believed the union should endorse Trump, while 34% supported Vice President Kamala Harris.

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign on Wednesday touted the endorsement of local Teamsters union chapters in some key battleground states.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is touting the endorsement of local Teamsters union chapters in some key battleground states after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to make an official endorsement in the presidential election on Wednesday.

The campaign boasted new endorsements from local Teamsters union chapters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.

Some context: The campaign is seeking to reaffirm its union support following the non-endorsement from the union’s leadership.

The Teamsters union choosing to not endorse Harris marks the first time since 1996 the union has not endorsed the Democratic nominee for president. Survey data released by the union on Wednesday showed a majority of its members support former President Donald Trump.

The House failed on Wednesday to pass a six-month GOP government funding plan that included a controversial measure targeting noncitizen voting, an effort pushed by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The defeat of the bill puts Republican divisions on full display, but creates an opportunity for Speaker Mike Johnson to pivot to a Plan B as a shutdown looms.

The House vote was 202 to 220, with 14 Republicans voting against it, two Republicans voting present and three Democrats voting for it.

While Johnson has not yet said what his next steps will be, government funding runs out at the end of the month. A “clean” funding extension without the voting provisions attached is widely viewed on Capitol Hill as the only viable option to prevent a shutdown.

Meanwhile, Trump is ramping up the pressure for a shutdown if Republicans are unable to pass the voting measure, which is considered a non-starter in the Democrat-led Senate.

Johnson, fresh off the defeat on the House floor, told reporters he will “draw up another play” but did not specify what he will do next.

Read more on the funding legislation here

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris has 50% support among likely voters to 48% for former President Donald Trump in the latest?national poll from Fox News, suggesting no clear leader in the race.?

Among registered voters, the survey finds Harris and Trump closely matched on who would do a better job bringing needed change (50% Harris to 47% Trump) and making the country safe (50% Trump to 47% Harris). Harris is more often seen as better able to help the middle class (53% Harris to 44% Trump), unite the country (50% Harris to 45% Trump), and fight for people like you (51% Harris to 46% Trump).

Trump holds a 5-point advantage as more trusted to handle the economy (51% to 46%) and a 10-point lead on handling immigration (54% to 44%). Harris has the advantage on election integrity (52% to 45%), abortion (56% to 40%) and health care (54% to 43%). The two are even on trust to handle taxes (49% each) and guns (49% Trump to 48% Harris).

And Harris is viewed slightly more favorably than Trump, with 49% holding a favorable view of the Vice President and 46% saying the same about the former president.

About a third of Harris’ supporters say they back her because they dislike Trump (33%), with 42% saying they support her because they like her record and policies and 24% because they like her character. Among Trump’s supporters, the vast majority, 72%, point to his record and policies, with 19% saying they support him because they dislike Harris and just 8% that they back him because they like his character.

This is the first poll from Fox to report a result among likely voters this cycle. The results among registered voters in the current survey are the same (50% Harris to 48% Trump) and are little changed from the near-even 49% Harris to 50% Trump result in the August poll from Fox.

The poll was conducted September 13-16 among a random national sample of 1,102 registered voters, including 876 who are likely voters. Results for both the sample of registered voters and likely voters have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Iranian hackers sent unsolicited information they stole from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to people who were affiliated with Joe Biden’s campaign over the summer, federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

There is no indication that Biden’s staff ever replied, the statement says.

A spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said “a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails” and that the campaign has cooperated with law enforcement.

A campaign official told CNN that “the material was not used.”

The Trump campaign said in a statement that Harris and Biden “must come clean on whether they used the hacked material,” claiming it’s “further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election” to help the Democratic ticket.

CNN previously reported that Iranian government-backed hackers?stole internal Trump campaign documents?and shared them with news organizations. The law enforcement statement Wednesday said that the hackers’ efforts to send information to US media outlets have continued.

The hack is one of several efforts by the Iranian government attempting to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process,” the statement said. Law enforcement officials have previously said that those efforts also included an unsuccessful attempt to hack the?Biden-Harris campaign.??

The Iranian hackers did breach the email account of longtime Trump ally Roger Stone to target campaign staff in June,?CNN has reported. US officials believe the hackers work for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Investigators believe the suspected Iranian hackers breached Stone’s account and then used that email account to try to break into the account of a senior Trump campaign official as part of a persistent effort to access campaign networks.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Kristen Holmes contributed reporting.

This post has been updated with additional details.

House lawmakers leading a bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempts into former President Donald Trump said Secret Service officials told them in their closed-door briefing that there did not appear to be “any obvious failures of security and protocols” at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course where a second apparent assassination attempt occurred Sunday.

Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, the top Democrat on the panel, said that assessment is different than the apparent security failures that led to the first assassination attempt of Trump in July at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Crow added that Secret Service officials told lawmakers that Trump had the “same security package” from the Secret Service while golfing on Sunday that he did when he was president. Following the Butler assassination attempt, President Joe Biden ordered the Secret Service to provide Trump and Harris with “a presidential level of security,” Crow said.

A source familiar with Wednesday’s briefing confirmed that Secret Service officials detailed how Trump and Biden currently receive the same security package, with the exception of specialized assets from other agencies that are reserved only for the commander-in-chief.?

Secret Service officials told lawmakers that the security model used to protect Trump?on Sunday enabled agents to identify the potential shooter before he gained a clear line of sight at the former president or was able to fire any shots.?That security model — which is the same provided by the Secret Service?to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — included a protective bubble that moved ahead of Trump on the golf course, sweeping the area and a “shift” that followed behind with the former President, the source said.

GOP Rep. Mike Kelly, who chairs the task force, said the panel cannot go to Trump’s International Golf Club for a site visit or take any other official steps on this investigation until the House votes to formally expand the jurisdiction of his panel, which was created to focus specifically on the Butler assassination attempt.

Kelly and Crow expect this formality to be handled quickly. CNN has reported that the effort to broaden its jurisdiction is in the works. The panel has already requested a full briefing with the Department of Justice and FBI by the end of this week.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he doesn’t “want to ever be curtailed” by the Secret Service’s security measures following an apparent assassination attempt Sunday.

While Trump added that he will “do what the Secret Service wants,” he told reporters at a campaign stop in New York City that he hopes to continue to “lead my life,” including playing golf. The apparent assassination attempt happened as Trump played golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Asked by reporters if he feels “hemmed in” by the security protocols, Trump said he does not but insisted, “I just have to lead my life, and I have to make American great again.”

Vice presidential nominee JD Vance speaks at a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance on Wednesday amped up his criticism of an immigration parole program that allows Haitian immigrants to legally live and work in Springfield, Ohio, insisting that he will still call them “illegal aliens.”

CNN has previously reported, the city of Springfield notes on its website that approximately 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants live in Clark County and that Haitian immigrants are there legally as part of a parole program that allows citizens and lawful residents to apply to have their family members from Haiti come to the United States.

Former President Donald Trump makes a campaign stop at Pubkey Bar and Media House in New York on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump did not directly respond when asked Wednesday about Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ swipe at Vice President Kamala Harris for not having biological children.

Asked if Harris not having biological children is something for which she should be attacked, Trump said during a campaign stop in New York City: “Well I just don’t know anything about it, really.”

Sanders made the comment?during a town hall she moderated with Trump in Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday.

The governor said in introductory remarks that her children offer a “permanent reminder of everything that is at stake in this country” and said Harris not having children robs her of “humility.”

“My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble,” Sanders said. “You would think after four years of straight failure, she would know a little humility. Unfortunately, she doesn’t.”

Former President Donald Trump said he is “probably” going to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he travels to the US next week.

Asked by reporters during a campaign stop in New York City on Wednesday if he is going to meet with Zelensky, Trump replied, “Probably, yes.”

While Trump and Zelensky spoke on the phone in July, a meeting between the two leaders would mark their first in-person interaction since Trump left the White House. The potential meeting comes amid concerns in Europe?about what the Republican presidential nominee’s policy toward?the?Russia-Ukraine war would be if he were to win in November.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to end the war though he’s offered no details on how he would do so.

Zelensky is expected to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

Former President Donald Trump said the International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ decision to withhold an endorsement in the presidential race was “a great honor,” citing the union’s history of endorsing Democratic presidential candidates in previous elections.

During a campaign stop in New York City on Wednesday, Trump celebrated survey data released by Teamsters leadership indicating about 60% of the union’s members supported Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It’s a great honor. They’re not going to endorse the Democrats. That’s a big thing,” he said. “Democrats automatically have the Teamsters. They took a vote, and I guess I was at 60% or more, and that’s a great honor.”

“But the vote of the Teamsters themselves was very high for me and the leadership,” he continued.?“Sean O’Brien and the group, who are great people, they said, ‘We can’t endorse the Democrats.’ So, I think this is the first time in many decades that they haven’t endorsed Democrats.”

The Teamsters last backed a Republican presidential candidate in 1988, with an endorsement of George H.W. Bush.?

Trump’s comments come months after Teamsters’ union president Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in July. Since then, O’Brien has criticized Trump for comments he made in a virtual event with Elon Musk that O’Brien indicated were hostile to striking workers.??

Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will stay on the Michigan ballot, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting his last-ditch attempt to remove his name.

The ruling comes about one week after the Michigan Supreme Court?similarly decided?to keep Kennedy’s name on the state ballot. He filed the federal lawsuit after losing the state case.

District Judge Denise Hood argued, in part, that removing Kennedy from the ballot would harm the minor party that nominated him in Michigan, which gave him a spot on the ballot in the first place.

Kennedy, who ran as an independent candidate, withdrew from the race last month and threw his support behind former President Donald Trump.

Mail-in voting in Michigan is scheduled to start September 26, although ballots for overseas and military voters are required to go out by Saturday.

Former President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage point could be a politically motivated move.

Asked at a campaign stop in New York City for his reaction to the interest rate cut, Trump said it reflects either “the economy is very bad” or the Federal Reserve is “playing politics” with how it sets interest rates.?

The Chairman of the National Black Caucus of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is questioning the decision of his union’s senior leadership to withhold an endorsement of a presidential candidate this year.

James Curbeam told CNN that he was disappointed Teamsters President Sean O’Brien did not stand up to former President Donald Trump, whom he described as a “bully,” and questioned the polling the union cited to defend it’s decision to not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in nearly three decades.

Teamsters said internal polling showed that a majority of its members supported Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris. Curbeam asked, “What is the actual number of people that took part in the polls?” and claimed that “the poll numbers are skewed.”

Curbeam said the union’s Black Caucus is doing its own organizing in support of Harris.

Vice President Kamala Harris reacts as she addresses the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 47th Annual Leadership Conference in Washington, DC, on September 18.

Vice President Kamala Harris said the?rate cut announced by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday is “welcome news,” adding her focus is on keeping prices down.

In the first rate cut since March 2020, the half-point move paves the way for lower borrowing costs and marks a crucial milestone for the central bank’s historic inflation fight.

Harris touted her economic proposal, which includes plans to cut taxes for more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans, affordable housing and the first-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on food and groceries.?

Harris described her agenda as “the opposite of what Donald Trump would do as President,” before blasting him over his economic plans.?

Trump camp responds: Trump’s team is slamming the Fed’s decision to cut interest rates with an election around the corner, suggesting with no evidence the central bank lowered borrowing costs by half a percentage point for political reasons.

Asked about the decision’s timing relative to the election, Powell said the Fed applies no political filter to its decisions.??

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance on Wednesday dismissed the rate cut and blamed Harris’ policies for contributing to inflation and high housing costs.

“A half a point is nothing compared to what American families have been dealing with for the last three years,” Vance said in Raleigh, later conceding, “It’s better than nothing.”

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

Former President Donald Trump holds his first campaign event since a man carrying a rifle was arrested Sunday near where Trump was playing golf at his club in Florida, in the Dort Financial Center on September 17 in Flint, Michigan.

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Republicans on Wednesday to shut down the government unless lawmakers can pass a controversial bill targeting non-citizen voting, a move that comes just hours before the House is expected to try, and fail, to pass a six-month funding plan that includes the voting legislation.?

Johnson announced earlier in the week that the House will vote Wednesday on the six-month funding extension, which includes the voting measure, known as the SAVE Act.?The vote is expected to begin around 7 p.m. ET.

Due to Republican opposition, this legislation is expected to fail, leaving Congress in limbo as they scramble to meet the September 30?funding deadline.

Some GOP hardliners attacked Johnson’s proposed extension, despite it being tied to the voting bill. Republican Rep. Cory Mills, who also plans to vote against the extension, said he has been “disappointed with the way the 118th?Congress has handled this entire session.”

“I think that we should have had more policy wins,” he said. “I think the American people would rather see us fight and lose than not fight at all,” Mills added.

While Republican Rep. Chip Roy is backing the speaker’s proposal, and criticized his GOP colleagues who are opposing it, he warned that he will not accept Johnson stripping the ban on non-citizens voting from the package.?

However, Rep. Steve Womack, a senior Republican appropriator, said he is “not a fan” of allowing a shutdown, despite Trump calling for one. Womack added he is “frustrated,” that they are in this position in the first place.

“I think our job is to find a way to make government work for people, and that doesn’t include shuttering its operations,” Womack said.

This post has been updated with remarks from lawmakers.

The vice presidential candidates – Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz – are attending a?Business Roundtable?gathering in Washington, DC, on Thursday, according to two sources familiar with the plans.?

The appearances will take place at the BRT’s quarterly gathering of its executive members, which has become a common forum for sitting presidents and political candidates to discuss policies like regulation, immigration, and taxes.?

Instead of delivering traditional stump speeches, Vance and Walz will each be interviewed separately by one of the Business Roundtable’s member CEOs. The off the record event is meant to serve as a dialogue between the nation’s titans of business and those seeking the highest offices in government.

Former President Trump appeared at the organization’s second-quarter meeting in June. A standing invitation to President Biden was transferred to Vice President Harris when she ascended to the top of the ticket, but schedules did not align for her to appear given the intensity of campaign travel.

Politico first reported that Vance and Walz are addressing the Business Roundtable.

In this November 2022 photo, union workers attend a rally hosted by the Teamsters in Madison, Wisconsin.?

The influential Teamsters union, representing 1.6 million workers and retirees, will not endorse a candidate for president in 2024, the first time the union is remaining neutral in a race in nearly three decades.

Harris met with Teamsters leaders on Monday. O’Brien had a primetime speaking slot at this summer’s Republican National Convention but did not appear at the Democratic National Convention the following month.?

The Teamsters, which represents truck drivers, freight workers and other workers, is the last major labor union to announce a presidential endorsement. The nation’s other major labor organizations have backed Harris.

The Teamsters last backed a Republican presidential candidate in 1988, with an endorsement of George H.W. Bush. The Teamsters did not endorse a candidate in 1996, the last time they sat out a presidential election.

Trump’s campaign reacts: After the announcement from the union, the Trump campaign argued the “rank-and-file” members support the former president and cited polling figures released earlier by the Teamsters showing Trump with a wide margin of support.

“While the Executive Board of the Teamsters is making no formal endorsement, the vast majority of rank-and-file working men and women in this important organization want President Donald Trump back in the White House,” the Trump campaign said.

This post has been updated with comments from the Trump campaign.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 47th Annual Leadership Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center on September 18 in Washington, DC.

Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Georgia on Friday to deliver remarks on women’s reproductive rights, days after a recent?ProPublica?report revealed at least two women in the state died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care, the campaign confirmed to CNN.

A Georgia mother died in 2022 from a treatable infection due to delays to her medical care stemming from the state’s restrictive abortion law, nonprofit news outlet?ProPublica?reported.

Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, discovered she was pregnant with twins shortly after?Georgia banned abortions?as early as six weeks of pregnancy. She tried to schedule a surgical abortion four hours away in North Carolina, but due to traffic, she was late to the appointment?and?instead had a medication abortion: two pills approved to end a pregnancy through?10 weeks’ gestation.

ProPublica reported that Thurman experienced a rare complication from the medication. She retained some fetal tissue in her body and needed a dilation and curettage, known as a D&C, to remove it. At a hospital outside Atlanta where Thurman was transported after experiencing heavy bleeding and signs of infection, doctors waited to perform the procedure. Thurman died during surgery.?

A maternal mortality review committee said there was “a good chance” that Thurman’s death was preventable if she’d had a D&C sooner, ProPublica reported.?

ProPublica’s report also?detailed?another death that Georgia’s review committee called “preventable.” Candi Miller, a 41-year-old mother with several chronic conditions, died in 2022 after she experienced rare, treatable complications from a medication abortion. According to ProPublica, Miller’s family told a coroner she did not seek care because of laws around pregnancy and abortion. CNN has sought comment from Miller’s family.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday slammed Donald Trump over immigration proposals in an appeal to Latino voters, warning of “mass deportations” and “massive detention camps” if the former president returns to office.

A key demographic: Harris’ remarks come as she seeks to court the key demographic by drawing contrasts on the most controversial issues among voters. She outlined the “two very different visions” of the campaigns as she highlighted her policies including her “opportunity economy” agenda and health care.

She railed against Trump’s stance on women’s reproductive rights, emphasizing nearly two dozen states now have restrictive abortion bans and pointed to the impact it has had on the Latino community.?

“In more than 20 states, we have a Trump abortion ban, which criminalized health care providers in one state, providing prison for life…Many of these Trump abortion bans today, 40% of Latinas in America live in the state where the Trump abortion ban is,” Harris said.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates?for the first time in the Biden era after the White House spent the last three years grappling with Americans’ dissatisfaction with the cost of living, raising new questions about the health of the economy and the impact on voters at the ballot box.

The move is fresh vindication for President Joe Biden, whose pandemic-era agenda ushered in trillions of dollars in government spending — which, when coupled with strong demand for goods, supply chain snarls and Russia’s war with Ukraine — drove inflation to a four-decade high.

The half-percentage-point cut could?indicate the elusive “soft landing”?— experts’ favored term for raising borrowing costs to slow economic activity while avoiding severe joblessness — has been reached.

Biden, who has publicly touted the Fed’s policy independence, will speak at the Economic Club of Washington, DC, on Thursday and likely tout an economy that’s come full circle in four years.

But it could also suggest the economy, which is showing signs of stress, is in need of a jolt. Although most mainstream economists agree a recession is not around the corner, they also suggest the economy is not out of the woods yet.

Read more about what voters are saying.

This post has been updated with news of the rate cut.

A?set of new post-debate surveys?from Quinnipiac University show Kamala Harris with a modest advantage over Donald Trump among likely voters in battleground Michigan and Pennsylvania, with no clear leader in the race in Wisconsin.

With third party candidates included, Harris takes 51% to Trump’s 45% in Pennsylvania. In Michigan, she takes 50% to Trump’s 45%. In Wisconsin, Harris takes 48% to Trump’s 47%, with no clear leader between the two. The results are similar when looking at head-to-head matchups between just Harris and Trump in each state.

Surveys from other outlets released in September have found either no clear leader or an edge for Harris in all three states.

The Quinnipiac polls find Michigan and Pennsylvania likely voters closely divided over which candidate would do a better job handling the economy. In both states, 50% say Trump and 48% Harris. In Wisconsin, Trump has a slight edge on the issue, 51% to 47%.

Likely voters in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin also give Trump an?advantage over Harris on immigration: 50% to 46% in Pennsylvania, and 52% to 45% in Wisconsin. Michigan voters, however, are closely split with 49% saying Trump and 48% Harris.

Majorities in all three states – 57% in Pennsylvania, 53% in Michigan and 53% in Wisconsin – trust Harris over Trump on abortion.

About the polling: The Quinnipiac University polls were conducted September 12 through 16 and surveyed:

Senate races in Montana and Ohio stand out as especially challenging contests this year for Democrats, defending a pair of veteran incumbents who are seeking reelection in states that former President Donald Trump won twice.

Both contests rank in the top three among all Senate races in ad spending to date, and in future ad reservations. And dozens of new ads have hit the airwaves in these contests over the last week, reflecting key messaging strategies seen in top races across the country.

Here’s a rundown of some of the recent activity in both races:

Montana: Montana looms as one of the most challenging Senate races for Democrats, defending incumbent Sen. Jon Tester in the reliably red state with a thin Senate majority on the line, and advertising money from both parties is flooding the state.

All advertisers have combined to spend more than $111 million since the primary on June 4, and Democrats have outspent Republicans by about $60.3 million to $50.7 million.

Tester’s campaign leads in ad spending, having spent more than $24 million during that stretch, while a top GOP outside group, One Nation, ranks second at $14.2 million, and a pro-Tester super PAC, Last Best Place PAC, ranks third at $13.3 million. GOP nominee Tim Sheehy’s campaign has spent about $4.5 million on ad so far.

Five new ads went up this week, including two today, and twelve new ads have hit Montana airwaves just since last Friday, a pace matched by few other 2024 contests.

Ohio: Besides Tester, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is the only other Democratic incumbent seeking reelection in a state that Trump won twice, and his reelection contest is drawing more ad dollars than any other 2024 Senate race.

Since the primary on March 19 and today, Ohio voters have seen more than $200 million worth of Senate advertising, and the parties are running about even – including campaigns and outside groups, Republicans have spent about $105.7 million, and Democrats have spent about $101.2 million.

Six new ads from the Senate race have hit Ohio airwaves this week, and four more began airing over the weekend.

The voting process in the November election is already starting. Mail ballots will be sent out to voters who request them in Wisconsin beginning on Thursday.

Both presidential candidates have been dedicating a lot of time on the campaign trail in the battleground state — and it will likely be a “photo finish,” the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party said.

Wisconsin was decided by about 20,000 votes in 2020.

“I’m confident that everyone?who casts a ballot will?know that their ballot will be?counted. The question is how?many folks can we make sure?cast ballots for (Kamala) Harris because Wisconsin is the land?of the nail-biter,” Ben Wikler said.

He said with just 48 days until Election Day, Democrats in the state are ramping up efforts to get their message out by organizing volunteer shifts, pushing for donations and calling voters on the phone.

A hollowed-out state party apparatus. An off-kilter campaign by the governor. A?botched redistricting?plan that squeezed out incumbent House members.

New York Democrats offered a wide array of excuses for their disastrous 2022 midterms, when Republicans?flipped four seats?outside New York City on their way to winning a narrow US House majority.

Less than two months out from the 2024 general election, the state party, its campaign season allies, chastened candidates and Gov. Kathy Hochul are betting on what most describe as a revitalized political project – a series of them, in fact – to help the state deliver Democratic majority-makers, particularly from suburban districts, to the House next year.

Former?President Donald Trump’s Wednesday rally on Long Island, in Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito’s district, underscores the high stakes of the New York contests. D’Esposito is one of five New York GOP freshmen facing an onslaught from Democrats determined to claw back suburban voters. In 2022, he defeated Democrat Laura Gillen, flipping a district where Joe Biden would have routed Trump in 2020 under the current lines. Gillen is back for a rematch this year.

Reps. Marc Molinaro and Mike Lawler in the Hudson Valley, Nick LaLota on Long Island and Brandon Williams in Central New York are the other Republicans facing tough reelection fights in what is still largely blue state that Kamala Harris is expected to win comfortably.

Read the full story.

People wait outside Nassau Coliseum before the start of a rally for former President Donald Trump on September 18 in Uniondale, New York.

With just 48 days until Election Day, former President Donald Trump is traveling to deeply blue Uniondale, New York, for his first large-scale rally since the second apparent assassination attempt on his life this weekend.??

While Trump lost the Empire State by more than 20 points in both 2016 and 2020, he insists he has a “real chance of winning” New York in November.?

Trump advisers described the visit as being somewhat steeped in nostalgia. The former president has long wanted to hold another large-scale rally in New York, his initial hometown, even more so after his event in the Bronx this May drew thousands of supporters.?

“He’s always wanted to do a New York rally, in an arena,” one senior Trump adviser told CNN. Months ago, discussions over whether Trump would potentially host a political event at Madison Square Garden percolated within Trump’s campaign — initiated by the former president — though there were logistical problems that made doing so unfeasible.

Despite the state not being a battleground, Trump’s advisers argue there’s merit to visiting Long Island, noting its large immigrant population as well as it being home to many blue-collar, working class voters and small business owners that the campaign is eager to court in the weeks leading up to November 5.

New York is also home to several key US House races that could determine control of the chamber in the next Congress.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune said he disagrees with former President Donald Trump’s call to reverse a cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT), something that hit blue states hard and was part of a 2017 tax bill up for renewal next year.

Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said the changes to SALT were used to offset the price tag of the 2017 tax bill and will be needed for the same reason in 2025.

Trump and congressional Republicans included the so-called SALT cap, which limits Americans’ ability to deduct state and local taxes on their federal returns to $10,000, in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as a way to pay for other tax cuts in the law. It largely affects higher-income people in high-tax blue states who itemize their deductions, but its unpopularity has led?some GOP representatives?in those states to call for its elimination as the party seeks to hold onto the House in this year’s election.

“I’m a supporter of what we did in ’17 and would like to see it extended,” Thune said when asked about his personal position on the issue.

CNN’s Tami Luhby contributed reporting to this post.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance is attending a fundraiser in Washington, DC, on Wednesday evening with several fellow senators and lawmakers, according to an invitation obtained by CNN.?

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, along with Sens. Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, Rick Scott, John Barrasso, Tom Cotton, Marsha Blackburn, Chuck Grassley, Tommy Tuberville, Mike Lee and Bill Hagerty are listed as special guests, as well as several other senators.

Other attendees: Several Republican Senate candidates are also attending including Kari Lake, Dave McCormick, Sam Brown, Rep. Jim Banks, Hung Cao and Bernie Moreno.?

The Trump 47 event is hosted by the?Associated Builders and Contractors, Deecy Gray, Jeff Miller and Marty Obst.

House Speaker Mike Johnson would not reveal what he will do if his government funding plan fails Wednesday night and said he has spoken Donald Trump “a lot” about government funding after the former president floated a government shutdown.?

Trump?has said?that if Republicans don’t receive “absolute assurances” on election security, they should not pass a funding extension.

Asked by CNN if he would listen to Trump, Johnson said, “President Trump and I have talked a lot about this. We talked a lot about it with our colleagues who are building consensus on the plan.”

“We all believe that election security is of preeminent importance right now,” Johnson said.?

Johnson vowed to bring his spending bill to the floor regardless of its doomed fate as more than ten GOP members have already indicated they will not support it.

“We’ll see what happens with the bill. All right, we’re on the field in the middle of the game. The quarterback’s calling the play. We’re going to run the play. I’m very confident,” the speaker said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed former President Donald Trump Wednesday for announcing he would support reversing a cap on the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT,?ahead of Trump’s Wednesday rally on Long Island,?an area that was hit hard by the cap that the former president signed into law as part of a major tax bill in 2017.

The New York Democrat warned Trump won’t go through with his pledge if he wins back the White House:?“It’s comical, unserious and shows the lack of integrity that this man has.?His promises carry as much weight as Monopoly money.”?

“I’ve been a loud proponent?of eliminating the SALT cap from the start.?As long as I’m leader, I’ll do everything I can to make sure these caps expire at the end of next year,” Schumer said.

Trump and congressional Republicans included the so-called SALT cap, which limits a taxpayer’s state and local tax deduction to $10,000, in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as a way to pay for other tax cuts in the law. It largely affects higher-income people in high-tax blue states who itemize their deductions, but its unpopularity has led?some GOP representatives?in those states to call for its elimination as the party seeks to hold onto the House in this year’s election.

Rep. Mike Waltz speaks on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, a member of the bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump, told CNN’s Manu Raju that he wants to hear how the Secret Service will adjust to prioritize Trump’s protection during today’s briefing.

He added that they are “open” to the idea of sending additional funding to the Secret Service, but said the agency needs to make more changes to their operating procedures.?

Pressed on whether future funding could be folded into this round of government funding, Waltz said that the Secret Service should focus on making internal changes, with or without new resources. “I think the changes Secret Service need to happen clearly yesterday, and so that’s what we’ll be, that’s what we’ll be looking for,” he said.

“And those can shift internally. Mayorkas can shift agents; he can shift from HSI, he can shift from TSA, if he even had to. But if you’ve got lower threat protectees, then pull the agents onto your highest threat protectee, which is clearly Donald Trump.”

Early morning light is seen on the?White House on July 18 in Washington, DC.

Representatives from both Vice President Kamala Harris’ and former President Trump’s transition teams met with the White House Transition Coordinating Committee this week for the first time.

The meeting was led by?White House chief of staff Jeff Zients.?It was not immediately clear which aides from the transition teams were present.

Who is on the committee: The White House’s transition coordinating committee is comprised of several top administration officials, including the White House chief of staff, General Services Administration administrator, director of National Intelligence,?director of the Office of Management and Budget and National Security adviser, among others.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is keeping his members in the dark about a Plan B, as his first proposal to extend government funding is expected to fail on the House floor this evening. However, Republicans are warning that Congress must avoid a shutdown ahead of the election.?

“We’re going to have a vote, see what happens, and then ultimately, obviously, if it fails, then obviously the speaker is going to have to, have to recalibrate. But bottom line is, there’s not going to be a shutdown,” GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York told CNN’s Manu Raju. “We are 47 days away from an election. There’s not going to be a shutdown.”?

Pressed on former President Donald Trump’s argument that they should shut down the government if they cannot tie the funding extension to a bill banning non-citizens from voting, Lawler maintained that they would avoid a shutdown.?

Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri, another freshman Republican, pushed back on his colleagues that have agreed with Trump about allowing a possible shutdown, warning that a shutdown is “not a winner for the Republicans.”

Haiti clearly holds a place in the heart of Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. He’s been to the country at least?25 times?with his wife, he said at a news conference Monday in Springfield.

He respects the Haitians who have come to the US legally and found work in Springfield.

Further, DeWine said the Haitians found Springfield because business owners there were having trouble finding workers after the Covid-19 pandemic.

But while he is defending the Haitians legally working in Springfield with Temporary Protected Status due to violence and a humanitarian crisis after storms and an earthquake there, DeWine wants to separate them from the larger immigration and border debate fueling the Republican political argument in 2024.

“The immigration issue, and the border issue, obviously, is fair game,” DeWine said in the PBS interview, and it’s a refrain he has repeated in press conferences and interviews in recent days.

And on this point, there seems to be an ocean of disconnect between Republican leaders in Ohio, who argue that Haitians filled a desperate need in Springfield, and Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who argue, as Vance did, that “thousands of residents have had their lives destroyed” by the arrival of the Haitians.

Like DeWine, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue has also tried very hard to correct the record on the role Haitians are playing in Springfield.

Read the full analysis piece here.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday defended his inclusion of the SAVE Act, a controversial measure that targets non-citizen voting, as part of a government funding plan and did not say what a plan B might look like to avert a shutdown.

When asked about whether his Plan B would be to push a clean funding extension and work with Democrats, Johnson responded, “I don’t talk about Plan B. … I’m the quarterback on the field running the play, OK? I gotta focus on that down the field.”

Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is running digital ads in Michigan touting the vice president’s concern for Palestinian civilians, part of an intense fight to sway a key demographic in the critical battleground state.

Atop the video reads, in all caps text, “VP HARRIS WILL NOT BE SILENT ABOUT HUMAN SUFFERING IN GAZA.”?

Another one of the ads?features more clips of Harris criticizing the deaths of Palestinian civilians. “What happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.” They’re the first ads from the Harris campaign that have mentioned the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The ads began running this week, and disclosure data from Google shows the campaign has spent only a few hundred dollars running each spot – small numbers in a presidential campaign seeing hundreds of millions in ad spending, but still enough to precisely target key voters, and with extremely low production costs.

That fight escalated last week, when a GOP-linked super PAC launched its own highly targeted digital advertising campaign also aimed at Michigan, featuring anti-semitic advertisements highlighting the Jewish faith of Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, and touting Harris’ support for Israel.

Members of FBI are seen at the crime scene outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 17.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday that the FBI is working “around the clock” to investigate the apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Sunday.?

Where things stand in the probe: The FBI is leading the investigation into the 58-year-old man who authorities believe planning to attack the former president?while he played golf at his West Palm Beach course over the weekend. The man, Ryan Wesley Routh, is facing two federal gun charges.??

Wray said that the bureau’s investigation is “very much ongoing,” and stressed “we have dedicated the full force of the FBI to this investigation.” Those investigative efforts include resources like tactical support, evidence response teams and forensic scientists, he said.?

The Harris campaign on Wednesday launched a new ad focused on Asian American voters in swing states as it seeks to court the key voting bloc.

The ad, titled “My Mother,” features Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks at the Democratic National Convention paying tribute to her mother,?Shyamala Gopalan,?who was born in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and immigrated to the US in 1958.

“So, at a young age, I decided I wanted to do that work. I wanted to be a lawyer. Because I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity, and to justice,” the ad continued.

The campaign believes the demographic is a key part of their winning coalition in November and plans an aggressive outreach in coming weeks, including Asian American voter engagement staff in every swing state and paid media. The campaign also unveiled?a fact sheet?outlining Harris’ and Gov. Tim Walz’s plans for AANPHI communities.

The 60-second slot will air across an assortment of digital channels and nearly 70 different broadcast outlets.

This marks the campaign’s third ad targeting Asian American communities in the last month and is part of the Harris campaign’s $370 million investment in digital and television reservations between Labor Day and Election Day.

Law enforcement personnel continue to investigate the area where the Secret Service discovered a would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump at the Trump International Golf Club on September 17, in West Palm Beach, Florida.?

Members of the task force investigating the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump will be briefed by the US Secret Service Wednesday afternoon, according to an aide.?

On Tuesday, the FBI searched the home of Ryan Routh, the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt, in Hawaii.

The Reproductive Freedom Bus leaves after the kickoff of the Harris-Walz campaign reproductive rights bus tour in Boynton Beach, Florida, on September 3.

The Harris campaign launched a new ad highlighting women’s reproductive freedoms featuring Hadley Duvall, a reproductive rights advocate and rape survivor.

The ad, titled “Monster,” is narrated in first-person by Duvall, who describes becoming pregnant after her stepfather raped her at age 12 after years of sexual abuse.?

“I just remember thinking I have to get out of my skin. I can’t be me right now. Like, this can’t be it. I didn’t know what to do. I was a child. I didn’t know what it meant to be pregnant, at all. But I had options,” Duvall said in the ad.

On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris posted about Duvall while also blasting Trump over abortion policies.?

“After a violation of their bodies, survivors of rape and incest are being told they cannot make decisions about what happens to them next—all because of Trump Abortion Bans. This is immoral. Women and girls like Hadley deserve better,” Harris?posted?on X.

The ad’s soundtrack notably includes Billie Eilish’s song, “When the Party’s Over” — a day after the pop megastar said she will be “voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet and our democracy.”?

Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. of the US Secret Service speaks during a press conference regarding an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on September 16 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Acting United States Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe has made a concerted effort to put himself front and center after?Sunday’s apparent assassination?attempt at former President Donald Trump’s Florida golf course, as he makes his pitch — both publicly and privately — for Congress to provide his agency with more resources.

But lawmakers are still contending with whether the Secret Service is underfunded or simply mismanaged, and many have questions about what meaningful security improvements can be made 48 days before the presidential election to an organization under whose watch two apparent assassination attempts have occurred against a former president roughly 60 days apart.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said his panel has asked the Secret Service to “get creative” in its requests for additional resources, adding that “they can’t hire new Secret Service agents to make a difference between now and the inauguration.”

Murphy said that Senate appropriators have asked the agency to look at additional overtime costs as one option, and that the Secret Service has “come to us with some good ideas,” citing technology like drones.

One possibility being discussed, according to sources, is to include additional funding to the government funding extension, which needs to pass by September 30. Senate appropriators and the Biden administration are in talks about how much money to add to the upcoming stopgap bill for USSS, telling CNN it could be “hundreds of millions of dollars” to plus-up their budget, or it could be language allowing the agency to spend its existing money faster.

There is an uneasiness, however, about providing more money to an agency — whose budget has increased in the past decade — that has not been fully held accountable or shown that the issues that led to both apparent assassination attempts have been fixed.

Read the full story.

One of the best pollsters in America recently came out with?its latest survey, and it’s good news for?Kamala Harris.

The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll, conducted by Selzer & Co., found?Donald Trump?at 47% to the vice president’s 43% — within the margin of error — in a state the former president has?twice won comfortably. (The poll was conducted last week, before Sunday’s?apparent assassination attempt?against Trump.)

While the Hawkeye State is unlikely to be pivotal in November, the fact that Selzer found a close race in a state Trump has dominated could signal good things for Harris, both in terms of the accuracy of polling and for her chances in next-door Wisconsin.

What makes the Selzer survey so important is that it’s been accurate in an era?when other pollsters have struggled. Four years ago, it had Trump up in Iowa by 7 points days before the election, when other polls had Democrat?Joe Biden?in a much better position. I noted?at the time?that “this one poll is giving Trump backers hope and Democrats anxiety.”

Democrats had good reason to worry. Not only did Trump end up winning Iowa by 8 points, he also vastly outperformed his polling in Wisconsin — nearly winning a state where he had trailed by high single-digits in pre-election polling. Trump would do significantly better in many other battleground states as well.

Read the full analysis here.

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week and labeled India a “very big abuser” when it comes to trade with the United States as he spoke about?his vision for a reciprocal trade policy.

Trump added that countries like India, Brazil and China are “at the top of their game and they use it against us.”

Michigan voters were able to ask questions at the town hall, all of which teed up Trump to talk about his policy promises. When a retired nurse asked how he would bring down the price of food and groceries, Trump said, “We have to start always with energy,” pledging to bring down Americans’ energy bills by 50% within his first year if elected.

“Interest rates are going to follow,” he said, adding, “actually they’re going to follow for another reason.”

Trump also referenced an expected interest rate cut announcement from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday.

“The economy is now not good, and interest rates, you’ll see they’ll do the rate cut and all the political stuff tomorrow, I think. And you know, will he do a half a point? Will he do a quarter of a point? But the reason is because the economy is not good. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to do it,” Trump said.

Trump also acknowledged his rambling speaking style and pushed back on Vice President Kamala Harris’ jab during last week’s debate that people leave during his rallies.

“You know, when she said that, well, your rallies, people leave. Honestly, nobody does. And if I saw them leaving, I’d say, and ladies and gentlemen, make America great again, now get the hell out. OK, because I don’t want people leaving,” Trump told a hockey arena full of supporters in Flint, Michigan.

Last week in Philadelphia, Harris said people leave Trump’s rallies early “out of exhaustion and boredom,” which prompted Trump to defend his campaign events and then pivot to making false claims about immigrants eating pets in Ohio.

Trump acknowledged to the Michigan crowd that he uses “long, sometimes very complex sentences and paragraphs,” but he said “they come all together.”

Real estate investor Steve?Witkoff, who was golfing with Trump, further detailed to CNN’s Kaitlin Collins a dramatic moment-by-moment recounting of seeing various teams of Secret Service agents spring into action simultaneously after shots were heard near the golf course.?

One group of agents rushed to secure Trump, Witkoff said.?

Witkoff said another group of agents worked to secure the perimeter around Trump to ensure there were no additional threats around the former president.?

“There were two snipers who were next to me — they were probably three yards away from me, with their tripods on the ground,” Witkoff said. At times agents were laying on the ground to stabilize their weapons for a better aim at the possible shooter, he said, and also repositioned themselves inside a golf cart to try to get “a better shot” at the apparent assassin.?

A final group of agents moved forward to where the suspected gunman was located “to engage with him,” Witkoff told Collins.

Voters want more from?Kamala Harris.

But while the Democratic nominee has been clear about what she is not —?Donald Trump?— she is unwilling or unable to spell out a comprehensive blueprint for exactly what she would do as the 47th president.

In an interview on Tuesday, the vice president mostly stuck to broad themes about?her economic plan?that were largely familiar from a previous big-picture policy speech and her convention address.

But a candidate criticized by opponents for running on “vibes” and surfing a wave of joy refused to be pinned down on specifics and details, instead citing her values and background to attest to her sincerity.

When asked how she’d alleviate the “squeeze” many Americans feel over child and elder care, she said her plan was for no family to pay more than 7% of their income on such costs. But she offered no roadmap for how she’d drive major social policy reform through what is likely to be a polarized Congress next year and didn’t say how she’d pay for it.

On the Israel-Hamas war, Harris was strong on aspiration, vague on specifics and seemed to fall on both sides of the issue.

It may be unrealistic to expect Harris, a member of an incumbent administration, to break with Biden over the war. And she’s got no power to stop it herself. But her hedging and repetitive soundbites in recent weeks show little evidence of new ideas.

Read the full analysis.

A week after President Barack Obama won reelection in November 2012, JD Vance, then a law student at Yale,?wrote a scathing rebuke?of the Republican Party’s stance on migrants and minorities.

He criticized the Party’s stance for being “openly hostile to non-whites” and for alienating “Blacks, Latinos, (and) the youth.”

Four years later, as Vance considered a career in Republican politics, he asked a former college professor to delete the article. That professor, Brad Nelson, taught Vance at Ohio State University while Vance was an undergraduate student. After Vance graduated, Nelson asked him to contribute to a blog he ran for the nonpartisan Center for World Conflict and Peace.

Nelson told CNN that during the 2016 Republican primary he agreed to delete the article at Vance’s request, so that he might have an easier time getting a job in Republican politics. However, the article, titled “A Blueprint for the GOP,” remains viewable on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

More background: Vance has spread and defended false claims?about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of?residents in Springfield, Ohio.

Asked to support his claims in an interview with CNN, Vance pointed to what he said are firsthand accounts from constituents who have told him this is happening — though he didn’t provide the evidence.

Read more here

Both Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are back on the campaign trail after Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt against the former president.

Here’s where the presidential contenders and their running mates will be this week:

Trump: Trump will host a rally in Uniondale, New York, today. GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance will speak at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Trump will hold another rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday, while Vance will join Tucker Carlson in Hershey, Pennsylvania, as part of the former Fox News host’s tour across the country.

Harris: Harris will deliver remarks Wednesday at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s (CHCI) 47th Annual Leadership Conference. Later today, “Young Voters for Harris-Walz” will hold a “national youth organizing call” with the vice president.

Tomorrow, Harris will participate in a “Unite for America” livestream with Oprah Winfrey in Michigan. Harris’ running mate Tim Walz was in Georgia and North Carolina earlier this week.

This post has been updated with new details on Harris’ schedule.