Sarah Huckabee Sanders swipes at Kamala Harris for not having biological children
(FLINT, Mich.) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris’ family life, saying the presidential candidate “doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
The governor said during a rally for former President Donald Trump that her children are a “permanent reminder of what’s important” and they “keep me humble.”
“You can walk into a room like this where people cheer when you step onto the stage and you might think for a second that you’re kind of special,” Huckabee Sanders told a crowd in Flint, Michigan. “Then you go home, and your kids remind you very quickly you’re actually not that big of a deal.”
She added, “So my kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
Whether politicians have biological children has become a partisan issue in recent weeks, following comments made by Sen. JD Vance, who is running alongside Trump. In a resurfaced interview from 2021, Vance argued that voters without children should be subject to a higher tax rate.
Vance also in 2021 took aim at Harris, saying she was among a group of “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.” Speaking to Fox News, Vance accused that group of wanting “to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
When Taylor Swift endorsed Harris earlier this month, the pop star signed her endorsement with “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.”
Harris is the stepmother of two adult children, Cole and Ella Emhoff, from the first marriage of her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
“Cole and Ella keep us inspired to make the world a better place,” Kerstin Emhoff, their mother, said on social media in response to Huckabee Sanders.
She added, “Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working for the people, ALL families. That keeps you pretty humble.”
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump told a Long Island, New York, rally crowd on Wednesday night that he is going to Springfield, Ohio, the town he said on the debate stage two weeks ago, is where “people are resorting to eating dogs, cats and other household pets.”
“I’m going to Springfield, and I’m going to Aurora,” he told the rally attendees, adding that he plans to go within the next two weeks.
Trump did not specify the ethnicity of the migrants he claimed were eating pets in Springfield when he made those remarks, but on X, his running mate JD Vance continuously raised the issue of Haitian undocumented immigrants draining social services.
“Kamala Harris dropped 20,000 Haitian migrants into a small Ohio town, and chaos has ensued,” Vance previously said on X.
Trump’s reason for his Long Island rally on Wednesday night was to appeal to voters in New York, a blue state. Wednesday night’s event was Trump’s second rally in the state, on top of the multiple campaign stops he made in between his court appearances for his New York civil fraud trial.
As he addressed the crowd, Trump said a Harris win in November would turn New York “into a third-world country, if it isn’t already.”
Speaking at the Nassau Coliseum — a venue that holds 16,000 spectators — Trump thanked law enforcement that thwarted an apparent assassination attempt on him on Sunday and praised the woman who captured a picture of the suspect’s vehicle, saying he’d like to meet her.
Then he turned to his Democratic opponent, “the radical left Democrat politicians and the fake news media.”
“The message is it’s time to stop the lies, stop the hoaxes, stop the smears, stop the lawfare or the fake lawsuits against me, and stop claiming your opponents will turn America into a dictatorship,” Trump said. “Give me a break. Because the fact is that I’m not a threat to democracy. They are.”
He also pledged to restore SALT (state and local deductions), which his 2017 tax cut capped at $10,000.
Outside the Coliseum ahead of Trump’s event, vendors lined up selling various Trump merchandise. The celebration, which included music blaring through speakers, featured golden cars with Trump’s face on the front and bedazzled Trump jackets. Trump’s campaign claimed that 60,000 tickets were requested, which would make it one of Trump’s largest rallies during this campaign cycle.
The line for attendees stretched around the building hours before doors opened.
Trump’s rally was on the same day he was initially scheduled to be sentenced in his New York civil fraud trial. The judge in the case delayed his sentencing from Sept. 18 until Nov. 26 — after the presidential election.
Ahead of his Wednesday rally, Trump worked to court New Yorkers by promising to reverse a tax policy he signed into law in 2017. In a post on his social media platform, Trump claimed he would “get SALT back,” suggesting eliminating the cap on state and local tax deductions. In his 2017 tax law, Trump capped deductions at $10,000.
A majority of New York’s congressional Republican delegation has been pushing to reverse the SALT deduction cap on Capitol Hill, spearheading the ongoing debate around the issue.
However, while many local Republicans have celebrated Trump’s posture change, it also comes as he has recently rolled out a series of tax breaks, raising concerns about significant increases to the deficit.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE? VOTE FOR TRUMP! I will turn it around, get SALT back, lower your Taxes, and so much more,” the former president posted on his social media network ahead of his Wednesday rally.
In May, Trump pledged to turn New York red during a campaign rally in deep-blue South Bronx, New York, attempting to court the Hispanic and Black voters that make up a majority of the area’s population.
“We have levels of support that nobody’s seen before … Don’t assume it doesn’t matter just because you live in a blue city. You live in a blue city, but it’s going red very, very quickly,” Trump said at the time.
The Trump campaign has worked to court New Yorkers this campaign cycle, attempting to at least pull enthusiasm away from Democrats and help make down-ballot races more competitive.
This is also his first large-scale campaign rally after an apparent assassination attempt on Trump while he was golfing in West Palm Beach on Sunday. The day prior, Trump held a town hall where nearly 4,000 Michigan voters attended; the Nassau rally is expected to be four times the size.
Trump had also made multiple smaller campaign stops in New York City before and after his mandated court appearance throughout his seven-week hush money payment criminal trial earlier this year to highlight several campaign messaging at each stop.
In mid-April, he visited a small bodega in Harlem that was the scene of a fatal stabbing two years earlier to highlight what he claimed was the failure of Democratic prosecutors in New York to ensure public safety as they prosecute him. Later that month, he visited a construction site in midtown Manhattan to boast support from union workers and working-class voters.
(WASHINGTON) — The United States Secret Service director told Congress on Monday that the attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump was the “most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades” and took full responsibility for the lapses in security that day.
“The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13, we failed,” Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee. “As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse. We are fully cooperating with ongoing investigations. We must learn what happened.”
In her first hearing before Congress, Cheatle also told the committee that she will move “heaven and Earth” to ensure that what occurred will never happen again.
“Our mission is not political. It is literally a matter of life and death, as the tragic events on July 13 remind us of that,” she said. “I have full confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. They are worthy of our support in executing our protective mission.”
This is yet another consequential week for the Secret Service, which is tasked with providing security to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Washington, D.C. — something the director has been focused on while also overseeing the security for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week.
Cheatle is facing a grilling before the House Oversight Committee over how her agency handled security around the attempted assassination of Trump.
She has faced calls from multiple Republicans and at least one Democrat to resign after the former president was targeted at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Rep. John Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told Cheatle in his opening statement that he is among those who believe she should resign.
Cheatle has said she will not resign.
Cheatle asked about why no agent was placed on roof the gunman fired from
The Secret Service director was asked Monday about her statements in an interview with ABC News about why no agents were placed on the roof of a building outside the security perimeter of the rally, where the suspected shooter fired from, because of the roof’s sloping nature.
“I should have been more clear in my answer when I spoke about where we placed personnel in that interview. What I can tell you is that there was a plan in place to provide overwatch, and we are still looking into responsibilities and who was going to provide overwatch, but the Secret Service in general, not speaking specifically to this incident, when we are providing overwatch, whether that be through counter-snipers or other technology, prefer to have sterile rooftops,” Cheatle said.
Cheatle also admitted that the FBI has told her the shooter flew a drone over the rally site, but she did not go into more details.
Why was Trump allowed on stage while there was a threat?
Cheatle said that if the detail had information that there was a threat to the former president, they wouldn’t have brought Trump on stage, but she said the information wasn’t passed along to them.
“If the detail had been passed information that there was a threat, the detail would never have brought the former president out onto the stage,” she said. “That is what we do. That is who we are. We are charged with protecting all of our protectees. Distinguish between someone who is suspicious and someone who’s threatening. A number of times, protective events where suspicious people are identified, those individuals have to be investigated and determine what is it that identifies that person as suspicious.”
She said the Secret Service did not know the suspect had a weapon before former President Trump took the stage.
‘Clearly a breakdown’
Cheatle said she has read the intelligence regarding the threat from Iran against former President Trump. The Iranians have long pledged retribution against Trump and members of his administration for the killing Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that when FBI Director Christopher Wray briefed congressional members, he was “incensed” that this threat information was not taken into account when planning for the rally.
“There was clearly a breakdown or a failure that day,” Cheatle said.
Cheatle also said that no personnel or assets were denied to Trump at the Butler rally.
But Cheatle was also grilled about whether her agency denied Trump’s security detail resources it requested in the two years before Saturday, as first reported by The Washington Post, something her agency initially denied but then admitted over the weekend.
In a statement to ABC News, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said, “In some instances where specific Secret Service specialized units or resources were not provided, the agency made modifications to ensure the security of the protectee. This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protected.”
“For the event in Butler, there were no requests that were denied,” she said.
Cheatle praised the agents guarding Trump for putting their lives on the line to protect him with their bodies even as shots were still being fired in their direction. She said that in less than three seconds, agents from Trump’s detail threw themselves onto the former president and helped to secure him.
“I would grade the agents and officers who selflessly threw themselves in front of the president and neutralized the threat an A. I think that we need to examine the events that led up to and prior to that day,” she said.
One shot took out gunman
Cheatle said there was one shot that took out the suspect from the Secret Service counter-sniper, whom she has spoken to since the assassination attempt.
Cheatle said she is “committed” to finding answers and has taken accountability and “will continue” to take accountability.
“I think that I’m the best person to lead the Secret Service at this time,” Cheatloe said, touting her increase in hiring and staffing since her tenure as head of the agency began in 2022.
She also said that if someone needs to be held accountable, she will do that.
“I’ve been a Secret Service agent for nearly 30 years. I have led with integrity, and I follow our core values of duty, justice, honor, loyalty and courage, and I am doing that in this case, and I assure this committee that I will provide answers when we have a full and complete report, in addition to cooperating with all of the other investigations that are ongoing,” Cheatle said.
House Speaker Johnson in attendance
The hearing room on Monday was packed, with standing room only, as opening statements were given by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Cheatle. House Speaker Mike Johnson was also in attendance.
In a rare bipartisan statement, Raskin had joined Comer in demanding that Cheatle testify after the Department of Homeland Security asked that her appearance be delayed, resulting in Comer issuing a subpoena.
The DHS inspector general has opened three separate investigations into what went wrong, the FBI is currently leading a criminal investigation, and Johnson has pledged congressional resources for a separate investigation.
As the head of the agency, Cheatle said it was her responsibility to investigate what went wrong and ensure that it does not happen again.
“The buck stops with me,” she told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas in an exclusive interview on July 15. “I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.”
Cheatle was in Milwaukee last week overseeing security for the Republican National Convention and met with the former president on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the situation.
“Secret Service is not political,” she told ABC News. “Security is not political. People’s safety is not political. And that’s what we’re focused on as an agency.”
Republicans also signaled they would question Cheatle about past statements that promoting diversity in the agency was a top priority.
The DHS pushed back against criticism of women in Trump’s security detail.
“In the days following the attempted assassination of former President Trump, some people have made public statements questioning the presence of women in law enforcement, including in the United States Secret Service,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other senior leaders wrote in a statement. “These assertions are baseless and insulting.”
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris is back in Washington and is preparing to roll out her economic plan on the road in North Carolina on Friday, which will mark her first major policy rollout since becoming the Democratic nominee. As Donald Trump looks for a campaign reset, he spoke with Elon Musk live on Tuesday and will deliver remarks on the economy in North Carolina on Wednesday.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Harris, Walz to tour Pennsylvania ahead of the DNC
Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will take a bus tour through Pennsylvania on Sunday right before their appearance at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), ABC News has confirmed.
Sunday’s tour, first reported by CNN, will begin in Pittsburgh and will be the first time Harris, Walz and their spouses will appear on the campaign trail together. According to the campaign, they aim to have a cluster of intimate events with voters, ranging from canvass kick-offs to stops at local retail shops.
Trump to deliver remarks on economy in North Carolina
Former President Donald Trump is set to deliver remarks on the economy in North Carolina on Wednesday as the campaign works to recenter its campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The election’s coming up, and the people want to hear about the economy,” Trump said during an interview with Elon Musk on X Monday, directly blaming the Biden-Harris administration for the current state of the economy.
The economy has been one of the Trump campaign’s central election issues this cycle — the former president often spending a considerable amount of time discussing inflation, gas prices and the job market.
“I just ask this: Are you better off now, or were you better off when I was president?” Trump said Monday night as he was wrapping up his conversation with Musk.
Omar decries ‘shameful’ opponents in primary race
Following her Tuesday night primary victory, Rep. Ilhan Omar told supporters: “We run the politics of joy, because we know it is joyful to fight for your neighbors.”
“We know it is joyful to want to live in a peaceful and equitable world,” she added, per ABC News’ St. Paul affiliate KSTP-TV.
Omar also had harsh words for her main primary opponent Don Samuels, though did not mention him by name.
“I hope that they reflect in the shameful way they decided to divide our district and the incredible people we are grateful to represent,” she said of her challengers.
Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar wins primary
Rep. Ilhan Omar has won her Congressional primary in Minnesota, multiple media outlets projected Tuesday night.
Omar’s win follows defeats by two of her fellow squad members in their primaries — Cori Bush from Missouri, and Jamaal Bowman of New York.
Omar had been expected to win in her district despite a challenge from former Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels.
Bush lost her primary earlier this month to St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell. He was backed by more than $8 million from the pro-Israel United Democracy Project.
Bowman lost to Westchester County Executive George Latimer in June. Per AdImpact, the race was the most expensive House primary on record, with most of the funding coming from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) United Democracy Project PAC in support of Latimer. Latimer was recruited to run by AIPAC.
Walz says he’s ‘damn proud’ of military record, thanks Vance for his service
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in his first solo campaign appearance, defended his military record and thanked his vice presidential opponent, Sen. JD Vance, for his service.
“I am damn proud of my service to this country,” Walz said to applause at the AFSCME convention in California. “And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record. Anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: thank you for your service and sacrifice.”
Vance has repeatedly criticized how Walz has talked about his military record, which included 24 years in the Army National Guard before he retired to run for Congress in 2005. Vance served as a combat correspondent for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Read more about Vance’s comments and Walz’s background here.
Biden says he would attend Trump’s inauguration if he were elected
President Joe Biden on Tuesday, as he was departing the White House, said he would go to Trump’s inauguration in January if he were to win this year’s election.
“I have good manners, not like him,” Biden told reporters after being asked if he’d attend. Trump did not attend Biden’s inauguration in 2021.
Biden also defended his calling Trump “a genuine danger to American security,” a comment he made during his CBS News interview over the weekend. Asked whether that contradicted his calls to cool heated political rhetoric, Biden shot back: “That’s just a statement. That’s a factual statement.”
-Fritz Farrow
Judge’s ruling means independent Cornel West can appear on North Carolina ballot
Independent presidential candidate Cornel West will be allowed on the general election ballot in North Carolina following a judge’s ruling that reversed a decision that would have kept him off the ballot in the battleground state.
In a ruling on Monday, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle ordered the North Carolina State Board of Elections to certify Justice for All North Carolina as a political party in the state. That party, started by West’s campaign, is nominating him as its candidate in North Carolina and some other states. The board had previously voted to deny certifying the party over concerns about how signatures were gathered for its petition to become a certified party.
Justice for All North Carolina called the decision a “monumental day for our party” but West’s campaign still faces headwinds. The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that West’s campaign received “illegal In-Kind Contributions” from firms it used to collect signatures for ballot access petitions in Arizona and North Carolina — allegations West has pushed back on.
“We’ve always said we’re going to ensure the third party candidates are playing by the rules, and it’s clear his campaign isn’t playing by the rules,” DNC spokesperson Matt Corridoni told ABC News after the complaint was filed.
-Oren Oppenheim
Walz to make his 1st solo campaign appearance
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday will embark on his first solo Harris-Walz campaign event as Harris’ running mate with a stop in Los Angeles for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) international convention.
Walz is set to speak at 3:35 p.m. ET.
Walz emerged as a popular candidate among labor unions during Harris’ search for a vice president pick, sources said. AFSCME represents 1.4 million public service members, and the union’s president, Lee Saunders, previously released a statement endorsing Harris for president.
Harris to roll out economic plan on Friday
Harris will outline her economic policy in a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, her campaign announced, making it her first major policy rollout since jumping into the race.
Harris’ speech will detail her plan to “lower costs for middle-class families and take on corporate price-gouging,” a campaign official said.
The vice president has heavily focused her stump speech on the economy while on the campaign trail in recent weeks, saying over the weekend she would look to eliminate taxes on tips earned by service workers — a proposal Trump announced earlier this summer.
Harris’ college sorority creates PAC
The historically Black Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., of which Vice President Kamala Harris counts herself a member, started its own political PAC last week, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission posted Monday.
The committee is named Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority PAC, Inc., or AKA 1908 PAC, the filing shows.
Harris has been an AKA since her days as a student at the historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C. Harris on Monday visited the campus, her office confirmed to ABC News, but it’s not clear why she was there.
In July, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Harris spoke at the AKA’s annual Boulé in Dallas, Texas. Since then, as a candidate, she’s also addressed similar national gatherings of two other historically Black sororities, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho.
Trump says he will return to Butler, Pennsylvania after assassination attempt
After discussing the assassination attempt made against him in Pennsylvania in July, former President Donald Trump said he’s planning a trip back to Butler in October.
“We’re going back to Butler; we’re gonna go back in October,” Trump said, adding, “Butler is a big, great area.”
Addressing what he’ll say when he returns, Trump told Musk, “I think I’ll probably start by saying I was so horribly interrupted.”
Trump discusses assassination attempt with Musk, says he turned head at ‘perfect angle’
During his conversation with Musk, former President Donald Trump addressed the assassination attempt made against him during a campaign rally in July.
“It was amazing that I happened to be turned just at that perfect angle,” Trump said of the bullet, which grazed his right ear while his head was turned.
During the discussion, Trump mentioned the man who was killed in the shooting, saying, it was a “very sad situation.”
“We lost somebody that was firefighter, a great Trumper,” Trump said of Corey Comperatore, adding, “He was a just a fantastic family [man] and a fantastic man.”
Trump and Musk’s conversation on X appears to be delayed
The conversation between former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk appears to be delayed, with many X users reporting they cannot access the Spaces conversation.
“This Space is not available,” appeared for some users on X.
The conversation was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Judge orders RFK Jr. off New York ballot
A New York judge ruled Monday that the thousands of signatures gathered by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign in the state were “invalidated” after a Democrat-aligned group argued he misled voters by listing as his home an address he rarely visits.
The judge, Christina Ryba, ordered the New York Board of Elections to not include Kennedy’s name on the ballot this fall.
A lawyer representing Kennedy told reporters last week they would appeal any ruling that went against them.
The ruling could prompt Democrats to bring similar lawsuits against Kennedy in other states where he gathered signatures from registered voters to appear on the ballot.
The FBI is investigating alleged attempts by Iran to target the then-Biden-Harris campaign, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
The alleged targeting via spear-fishing emails occurred before Biden announced he would exit the 2024 presidential race, the sources said.
While the campaign was targeted, the alleged hack was not successful, sources added.
The FBI is investigating a purported hack of the Trump campaign, according to a brief statement from the agency earlier Monday.
The FBI did not attribute the hack to anyone in its statement.
A source familiar with the matter told ABC News that Trump adviser Roger Stone has also been informed that his email accounts have been compromised, and that he’s cooperating with any investigation into the matter.
The Washington Post first reported the news.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will Steakin and Katherine Faulders
Biden, Obama, Clintons tentatively slated to speak at DNC: Sources
President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, and Bill and Hillary Clinton are all tentatively slated to speak at the Democratic National Convention next week, sources familiar said.
The working speaking schedule, which can always change, is as follows, according to the sources:
Monday: President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday: Former President Barack Obama Wednesday: Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, former President Bill Clinton Thursday: Vice President Kamala Harris
-ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks and Fritz Farrow
Trump posts on X ahead of Musk interview
Trump posted on X for the first time in nearly a year ahead of his conversation with Elon Musk scheduled for Monday night.
The video posted is a previously released campaign ad referencing his multiple indictments and telling supporters, “They are not coming after me, they are coming after you.”
The last time Trump posted on X was Aug. 24, 2023. It was a picture of his mugshot from Fulton County, when he turned himself in to authorities following his election interference indictment in Georgia.
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh, Soorin Kim
Trump to be interviewed by Elon Musk tonight
Trump, in a post to his conservative social media site Truth Social, announced he will be interviewed live by Musk on X at 8 p.m. ET.
It will mark a major return for Trump to X, formerly known as Twitter, since he was banned from the site following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump was reinstated in late 2022 but declined to become active on the site again, despite boasting 88 million followers.
Musk endorsed Trump following the July 13 assassination attempt against the former president. Recently, Musk has amplified misinformation about voting and elections on his X feed.
Walz discusses ‘whirlwind’ 1st week on the campaign trail
In a video posted on his X account, the Minnesota governor discussed what he called “not a normal week” since being named as Harris’ running mate.
Walz confirmed some details reported previously by ABC News and others, including that he informed Harris’ vetting team that he had not used a teleprompter before.
“Not a normal week, which is a good thing. Started by missing a call from the Vice President, pretty important one. And then got that call and honored to join the ticket with Kamala Harris to take us in a great direction,” Walz said.
“After that, it has been a whirlwind. We got on a plane and we flew to Philly, and they told me that in an hour I’d be giving a speech and there would be a teleprompter, something I had never used in my life, so certainly terrified, but was lifted up by the folks in Philly.”
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Harris wraps battleground state blitz, Vance makes rounds on Sunday shows
Over the weekend, Harris closed out a cross-country tour that included stops in battleground states Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Arizona, as well as North Carolina and Nevada.
New polling released Saturday showed Harris taking the lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin among likely voters. The New York Times/Siena College polls showed Harris at 50% among likely voters in each state, while Trump polled at 46%.
Vance, too, campaigned in key 2024 states and made the rounds on the Sunday shows. During his cable news appearances, Vance reiterated campaign talking points on immigration and repeatedly hit Harris for not sitting down for extensive media interviews and laying out her agenda. Harris has done brief gaggles with reporters and said she’d unveil an economic policy platform this week.
Vance responds to mass deportation plan: ‘Let’s start with one million’
Sen. JD Vance told ABC News he blamed Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration’s policies, such as ending “Remain in Mexico,” for the ongoing migrant crisis.
When asked how he and Trump would accomplish their stated goal of mass deporting as many as 20 million immigrants — a proposal experts previously told ABC News would be a “nightmare” — Vance said they would take a “sequential approach.”
“I mean do you go knock on doors and ask people for their papers? What do you do,” Karl asked.
“You start with what’s achievable,” Vance said. “I think that if you deport a lot of violent criminals and frankly if you make it harder to hire illegal labor, which undercuts the wages of American workers, I think you go a lot of the way to solving the illegal immigration problem.”
“I think it’s interesting that people focus on, well, how do you deport 18 million people? Let’s start with one million. That’s where Kamala Harris has failed. And then we can go from there,” Vance said.
Harris cautions donors to ‘not take anything for granted’
Vice President Kamala Harris attended a fundraiser in San Francisco Sunday where she maintained her campaign “will win this election,” but cautioned donors to “not take anything for granted.”
“I know there’s a lot of enthusiasm out there,” Harris said, adding, “And you know, I’ve never been one to really believe in the polls — whether they’re up or they’re down.”
“What we know is the stakes are so high and we can take nothing for granted in this critical moment,” she continued. “So we will fuel our campaign as we have, with enthusiasm and optimism, but also with a deep commitment to the hard work it’s going to take, and to campaign.”
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi introduced Harris at the event, touting the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration and the background of vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, several times calling the Harris-Walz ticket “the freedom ticket.”
“[Harris] makes us all so proud. She brings us so much joy. She gives us so much hope,” Pelosi said, calling the vice president “politically very astute.”