Do voters care about climate change? How going green divides this election
Getty Images – STOCK/Dmitrii Marchenko
(WASHINGTON) — As voters prepare to head to the polls in November, inflation, foreign policy and reproductive rights have dominated the national conversation, with environmental policy failing to emerge as a major ballot issue.
But with climate change fueling more damaging and deadly weather events, experts question if the effects of global warming have fallen victim to over-politicization on the national stage.
“There’s no innate reason that addressing climate change should be a partisan issue, but unfortunately, it has become one,” Gregory Dotson, former chief counsel of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and current environmental law professor at the University of Oregon, told ABC News.
“This is an extremely consequential election with regard to climate change,” Dotson added.
National polls from the Pew Research Center released in Feb. 2024, found that Americans on both sides of the political aisle rank climate change initiatives as a far lower policy priority than other ballot issues.
Between party lines, however, Democrats are substantially more likely than Republicans to prioritize protecting the environment (63% vs. 23%) and dealing with climate change (59% vs. 12%), according to the survey.
Still, these findings may underestimate the public’s support for climate initiatives despite not being a top voting priority.
“The large majority of Americans would prefer government action on climate change, but that doesn’t mean that they prioritize the issue when they’re going into their polling place and voting,” Nathaniel Stinnett, executive director of the Environmental Voter Project, told ABC News.
Stinnett referred to the general public’s concern over environmental issues as “a mile wide and an inch deep,” meaning there is general awareness, but it’s not pushing the needle one way or the other politically.
The campaign for the White House this election sees Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the Democratic ticket and former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance as the Republican nominees.
Among the several issues that contrast the parties is their approach to climate.
Trump and Vance have been vocal about domestic oil production on the campaign trail, vowing to reverse clean energy projects “on day one” and denouncing the Green New Deal as a “scam.”
Trump claimed at the Republican National Convention in July that an increased domestic production of oil and gas would lead to a “large-scale decline in prices,” for Americans at the gas pump.
The U.S. averaged a record-breaking 12.9 million barrels of crude oil production per day in 2023 under President Joe Biden’s tenure, breaking the previous global record set in 2019 under Trump’s leadership, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“We can look at what the previous administration did on environmental policy, and they did not think this is something that was important and worth addressing,” Dotson said of Trump’s administration.
Trump has said his motivation behind withdrawing from climate initiatives, such as the Paris Climate Accord, is driven by economic needs and the push for energy independence.
“If Vice President Harris wins, I don’t think you would anticipate major changes, major reversals to address climate change,” Dotson added, specifically referencing the Inflation Reduction Act, which offers funding, programs and incentives to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.
Harris and her newly announced running mate, Walz, bring a history of progressive environmental measures to the race, with nonprofit climate groups dubbing the Democratic nominees a “winning ticket on climate.”
As a U.S. senator, Harris was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal and in 2019, as a candidate for president, Harris unveiled a plan to spend $10 trillion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a goal of getting to a zero-emissions economy by 2045.
As governor, Walz has pushed for climate action and growth in renewable energy. In 2019, he signed an executive order calling climate change an “existential threat,” and in 2023, he championed a budget bill requiring Minnesota to reach 100% of electricity from carbon-free resources by 2040.
In the countdown to the election, wildfires are raging across the West, tropical storms have threatened the East and unprecedented temperatures are affecting much of the nation.
The frequency and severity of these weather events are increased by the rise in greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through the burning of coal, natural gas and oil. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China.
“There is nothing that’s going to affect people’s health, livelihood and safety more than environmental issues,” Paul Anastas, a professor in Yale University’s School of the Environment and former chief scientist in the Environmental Protection Agency, told ABC News.
“That is not the way it’s being addressed publicly, but I think it needs to be,” Anastas added, maintaining that if climate change were characterized as a health and safety issue, it wouldn’t be as divisive among party lines.
Anastas, who co-founded the Green Chemistry Institute and has won the Nobel Prize for his work in sustainability, fears that the conversation surrounding climate change is missing an integral piece – the solutions.
If the country is going to transition to clean energy, Anastas believes the existing oil and gas infrastructure is the best fit to make that a reality.
His work includes research on producing green hydrogen and alternate, nonpolluting ways to produce sustainable aviation fuels with carbon dioxide.
“No one has the infrastructure today better to make and transport that hydrogen than the oil and gas industry,” Anastas said. “The people who are making money off causing the problem are probably going to need to make money off advancing the solution,” he added.
(WASHINGTON) — Despite a new Democratic opponent who entered the race some three weeks ago, former President Donald Trump appears to be still focused on the man no longer in the race — President Joe Biden.
Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris took over the top of the Democratic ticket, the Trump campaign and his allies have attempted to turn their focus toward the new Democratic rival — but on the campaign trail so far, Trump has kept up attacks on the current president as he struggles to define Harris.
At campaign rallies and during interviews, Trump has characterized Biden exiting the race as a “coup” even though Democrats rallied around the newly minted ticket and largely haven’t pushed back on the sudden change in presidential candidates. Most recently, he brought it up during his conversation with tech mogul Elon Musk on X Monday night.
“We have somebody that hasn’t received one vote for president and she’s running,” Trump said during a news conference in Mar-a-Lago last week.
He also falsely claimed that Democrats would have invoked the 25th Amendment if Biden didn’t step down willingly. The 25th Amendment says that the vice president replaces the president if they die in office or resign, or if members of the president’s Cabinet decide the president is unable to fulfill the duties of the office. Some members of Trump’s own Cabinet and his allies discussed invoking the 25th Amendment after the attacks at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
And even as he says he finds Harris to be an easier rival, Trump has repeatedly pushed baseless claims about the possibility of Harris being replaced, saying that Biden could make a “comeback” or that the Democratic Party could replace Harris with another candidate.
So far on the campaign trail, many of Trump’s attacks on Harris have centered on his old lines of attack against Biden and painting her as “worse” than the sitting president, including calling her “more radical” than Biden.
As he attacks both Biden and Harris, Trump insists that he hasn’t recalibrated his campaign to focus solely on Harris, saying, “It’s the same policies: open borders, weak on crime.”
In a direct attack against Harris, Trump has repeated the false claim that Harris was appointed “border czar,” a label that has stuck with the vice president since Biden tasked her with leading diplomatic talks to address the root causes of migration from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
Trump has also attacked her for supporting a ban on fracking, single-payer healthcare such as “Medicare for All,” inflation and the economy.
In addition to her record as vice president, the Trump campaign has tried to differentiate themselves from Harris, scrutinizing her over the lack of media appearances since becoming the nominee.
“Kamala refuses to do interviews because her team realizes she is unable to answer questions, much like Biden was not able to answer questions, but for different reasons,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
The Trump campaign stresses that in the more than 20 days since Harris has become the nominee, she has not yet had media availability.
By contrast, in the past week, Trump held the news conference in Palm Beach, Florida, and his running mate Sen. JD Vance spoke to the press daily during a battleground blitz mirroring Harris’ trip with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
U.S. Republican Presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on July 27, 2024 in St Cloud, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
(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:
CBS News confirms VP debate will be Oct. 1 in New York City
The vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News is set for Oct. 1 in New York City, the network announced on Thursday morning, with both Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance agreeing to participate.
Vance on Thursday agreed to debate Walz on Oct. 1.
The debate will be moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator and CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.
CBS News on Wednesday said it invited the 2024 vice presidential nominees to debate, providing four dates as options. Walz indicated that he’d agreed to one on Oct. 1.
Vance said in a post on X that not only did he accept the CBS News debate on Oct. 1, but also challenged Walz to debate again on Sept. 18.
ABC News has asked the Harris campaign if Walz will also accept the Sept. 18 debate.
“The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already,” Vance said.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Isabella Murray, Will McDuffie, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Fritz Farrow
Vance rep disputes suggestion he agrees role of ‘postmenopausal’ women is to help raise children
A spokesperson for JD Vance is pushing back after audio from a 2020 podcast resurfaced that seemed to suggest the vice presidential candidate agreed with the host, who said having grandmothers help raise children is “the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female.”
“The media is dishonestly putting words in JD’s mouth — of course he does not agree with what the host said,” Taylor Van Kirk, a Vance spokeswoman, said in a statement to ABC News.
In April 2020, on “The Portal” podcast, Vance discussed with the host how his mother-in-law moved in with him and his wife, Usha, after they welcomed their first child to help support the couple and how it was a positive experience.
“It makes him a much better human being to have exposure to his grandparents, I don’t know and the evidence on this, by the way, is like super clear,” Vance said.
The host, Eric Weinstein, then said to Vance, “That’s the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female in theory.”
Vance said, “Yep” after the host said “menopausal.”
Van Kirk said Wednesday night that Vance was reacting to another comment.
“JD reacted to the first part of the host’s sentence, assuming he was going to say: ‘that’s the whole purpose of spending time with grandparents.’ It’s a disgrace that the media is lying about JD instead of holding Kamala Harris accountable for her policies that caused sky high prices for groceries and everyday necessities, a disaster at the southern border, and a historic drug overdose epidemic,” her statement read.
Vance non-committal to proposed Oct. 1 debate with Walz
Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance did not outright commit to the Oct. 1 debate on CBS News with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, but speaking with Laura Ingraham on Fox News Wednesday night, Vance said he plans to go up against him on a debate stage.
“Look, Laura, we’re certainly going to debate Tim Walz. We just heard about this thing three hours ago, so we’re going to talk to them and figure out when we can debate,” Vance said.
Vance signaled he wants to meet Walz on the vice presidential debate stage more than once before the November election.
“I actually think we should do more than one debate, so hopefully we’re going to see him on Oct. 1, but hopefully we’re going to see him either before or after that because I think it’s important for the American people to actually see us discuss our views,” he said.
When Ingraham asked Vance if “there’s any doubt that you will not be there on Oct. 1 to debate Walz,” Vance said he “strongly suspects” he’ll be there.
“I strongly suspect we’re going to be there on Oct. 1, but we’re not going to do one of these fake debates, Laura, where they don’t actually have an audience there, where they don’t actually set the parameters in a right way, where you can have a good exchange of ideas,” Vance said.
Harris campaign calls out Trump over economy speech in North Carolina
The Harris campaign went on the offensive against former President Donald Trump Wednesday following his speech on the economy, saying he does not care about working families.
“During what was billed as a speech about his economic vision, Donald Trump said he’s ‘not sure the economy is the most important topic’ — because when you’re running to slash taxes for rich donors and corporations it’s easy not to care about the working families and middle-class Americans who get hurt as a result,” Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement to ABC News.
Trump delivered remarks Wednesday at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in downtown Asheville, North Carolina.
“The choice this November is clear: Building up the middle class will be the defining goal of Vice President Harris’ presidency — that’s why she’s focused on lowering costs for working families, holding greedy corporations accountable, and creating opportunity for all Americans,” Moussa said.
RFK Jr. appeals ruling that he cannot appear on New York ballot
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially appealed a New York judge’s ruling that he cannot appear on the state’s ballot because he misrepresented his place of residence on his nominating petition forms.
In the appeal, RFK Jr. called the judge’s ruling “an assault on New York voters who signed in record numbers to place me on their ballot.”
The independent presidential candidate went on to call the Democratic party “unrecognizable.”
“The party of my father and uncle’s time was committed to expanding voters’ rights and understood that competition at the ballot box is an essential part of American Democracy,” RFK Jr. said in the appeal.
“The DNC is now a party that uses lawfare in place of the democratic election process,” he added.
CBS invites VP nominees to debate, Walz agrees to Oct. 1 date
CBS News on Wednesday said it has invited the 2024 vice presidential nominees to debate.
The network said it provided four dates as options to the campaign. Democrat Tim Walz indicated that he’d agreed to one on Oct. 1.
“See you on October 1, JD,” Walz wrote on X.
A Harris campaign official said: “Harris for President has accepted CBS’ invitation to a Vice Presidential Candidate Debate on October 1. Governor Walz looks forward to debating JD Vance — if he shows up.”
-Isabella Murray and Hannah Demissie
Trump briefly mentions 2 recent policy proposals
Trump briefly mentioned two new policies he’s proposed in recent weeks: eliminating taxes on tip wages and on Social Security benefits for seniors.
“With your vote, I will end this injustice and I will always protect Social Security and Medicare for our great seniors,” he said.
But he did not offer further details of either policy. Some experts have warned his Social Security proposal could hurt the program by cutting down a funding source at a time when it faces solvency issues.
Trump attacks Harris on the economy, but talking little policy
Trump is in North Carolina to deliver remarks on the economy, but his speech so far has not revealed any new or detailed policy positions and instead is focused on bashing Harris on inflation and immigration.
“With four more years of Harris, your finances will never recover, they’re never going to recover. Our country will never recover, frankly, more importantly. It will be unrecoverable,” he said. “Vote Trump, and your incomes will soar, your savings will grow, young people will be able to afford a home and we will bring back the American dream bigger, better and stronger than ever before.”
Trump votes in Florida primary, speaks to reporters
Trump participated in early voting in Florida’s primary election at a polling location near his home in Palm Beach.
“Well, thank you very much, great honor to vote, done a fantastic job here, and we appreciate it,” Trump said as he walked out of the polling site.
Asked by reporters what the FBI had told him about the purported hack of his campaign’s email, Trump said, “They’re looking at it, and they’re doing it very professionally.”
He then insisted “it looks like it’s Iran,” while declining to say whether the FBI had told him it was Iran that hacked his campaign.
Trump also dodged questions about falsely accusing the Harris campaign of using AI-altered images to manipulate crowd sizes.
“I can’t say what was there, who was there. I can only tell you about ours,” he said. “We have the biggest crowds ever in the history of politics. We have crowds that nobody has ever seen before, and we continue to have that. We have a level of enthusiasm that nobody has seen before. They want to make America great again.”
Trump to hold press conference on Thursday
The former president announced Wednesday morning that he will hold a press conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Thursday.
The presser is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Trump held a press conference last week at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he repeated numerous falsehoods as he criticized Harris.
Walz falsely claims he is first union member on presidential ticket since Reagan
Speaking to AFSCME members in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz claimed he was the “first union member on a presidential ticket since Ronald Reagan.”
That claim is false: former President Donald Trump was a SAG-AFTRA member until he resigned in 2021 after the union’s national board found probable cause that Trump violated the group’s constitution by his actions on Jan. 6.
Trump was for years a member of the union, which represents more than 160,000 performers across a variety of media platforms, by virtue of his various appearances in films and television shows. He reported earning a pension from the union in his financial disclosures.
At a fundraiser later Tuesday, Walz repeated the claim, apparently unaware it was false.
Prior to his two terms as California governor, Reagan served twice as president of the Screen Actors Guild.
ABC News has reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment.
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.”
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton electrified the crowd on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention as she portrayed Vice President Kamala Harris as someone who could break barriers and reach a pinnacle that eluded her throughout her own political career.
“Together, we’ve put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling,” Clinton said in her rousing remarks after receiving a warm welcome from the crowd at the United Center in Chicago. “And tonight so close to breaking through once and for all.”
Harris will be the second woman in history to accept a major party’s nomination for president following Clinton, whose monumental 2016 run made history but ended with a general election loss to Donald Trump.
Clinton began her remarks by thanking President Joe Biden for his leadership and for returning decency to the White House. But she quickly switched gears to lay out the historic progress that’s led to this moment, recalling Shirley Chisholm’s presidential run and Geraldine Ferraro being the first woman to be nominated as vice president.
“And then, there was 2016 when it was the honor of my life to accept our party’s nomination for president,” Clinton said of her own experience. “And nearly 66 million Americans voted for a future where there are no ceilings on our dreams. And afterwards, we refused to give up on America. Millions marched. Many ran for office. We kept our eyes on the future.”
“Well, my friends, the future is here,” she said to cheers.
Clinton said she wished her mother and Harris’ mother could see them, and believed they would tell them to “keep going.” The audience then echoed back shouts of, “Keep going!”
Comparisons of Clinton and Harris’ campaigns have begun to emerge as Harris ramped up her operation in the weeks after Biden’s decision to step aside.
Several Democrats told ABC News they are feeling buoyed by Harris’ candidacy and how she’s reenergized the party, but are worried about being overconfident against Trump after what transpired with Clinton eight years ago.
Clinton, who first ran for president in 2008 but lost in the primary race to Barack Obama, was successful in 2016 in clinching the nomination after defeating independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
A bitter, ugly general election contest ensued between Trump and Clinton. Trump took to calling Clinton “Crooked Hillary” and the “devil.” Clinton called half of Trump’s supporters a “basket of deplorables,” which critics called a mistake that alienated some voters.
A Trump fundraising email sent out Monday hours ahead of Clinton’s DNC remarks highlighted her past “deplorables” comment and claimed she was “about to unleash hell on MAGA.”
In her speech, Clinton took a shot at Trump for being convicted on 34 felony counts (a verdict he’s vowed to appeal) saying he “made his own kind of history” and “fell asleep at his own trial.”
After those comments, the crowd broke into chants of “Lock him up!” to which Clinton smiled and nodded her head. Trump called for Clinton to be imprisoned multiple times in the 2016 campaign, with “Lock her up!” calls frequently emerging at his rallies.
Polls in 2016 had shown Clinton ahead leading up to Election Day, but when results came in they showed Trump leading a stunning upset by grabbing several key battleground states. Clinton conceded the next morning.
Clinton referenced polls in her speech, noting that while Harris has been polling better against Trump than Biden, Democrats can’t take their foot of the gas.
“No matter what the polls say, we can’t let up,” she said. “We can’t get driven down crazy conspiracy rabbit holes. We have to fight for the truth. We have to fight for Kamala as she will fight for us. Because you know what? It still takes a village to raise a family, heal a country and win a campaign.”
Clinton recounted her loss in greater detail and what went wrong with her campaign in her 2017 memoir What Happened. She wrote that she bore responsibility ultimately for the loss to Trump but described it being difficult to overcome stereotypes. She also directed some blame at former FBI director James Comey for reopening the investigation into her private email server 11 days before the election.
After the 2016 election, Clinton maintained a relatively low profile until 2020 when she campaigned for Biden after his success in the Democratic primaries.
Clinton spoke at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, saying she wish Trump had been a “better president” and praised Biden’s character and his choice of Harris to be his running mate. She said they were a team who could “pull our nation back from the brink and build back better.”
More recently, she penned a New York Times op-ed offering Biden advice on how to debate Trump before the June CNN showdown. Clinton called Trump a bully who “stalked” her on the debate stage in 2016 and urged Biden to be “direct and forceful.”
After Biden dropped out of the race, in large part because his poor debate performance ignited Democratic fears about his age, Clinton wrote another Times op-ed offering a full-throated endorsement of Harris.
Clinton said that Harris can defeat Trump but warned she will face similar prejudices — a theme she continued in her DNC speech.
“On her first day in court, Kamala said five words that still guide her. Kamala Harris for the people,” Clinton said, referencing Harris’ record as a prosecutor.
“That is something that Donald Trump will never understand,” Clinton went on. “So, it is no surprise, is it, that he is lying about Kamala’s record. He’s mocking her name and her laugh. Sounds familiar. But we have him on the run now.”
Describing Harris as someone who would “always have our backs,” Clinton praised the vice president for her work on reproductive rights, support for military service members and commitment to the rule of law.
At times, some in the crowd appeared emotional as she spoke.
“I want my grandchildren and their grandchildren to know I was here at this moment, that we were here, and that we were with Kamala Harris every step of the way,” Clinton said. “This is our time, America. This is when we stand up. This is when we break through. The future is here. It’s in our grasp. Let’s go win it.”ble.”
