During debate, Harris reminds Trump and Americans that she is a gun owner
Michael Le Brecht II/ABC News
(PHILADELPHIA) — After former President Donald Trump said during Tuesday’s debate that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats will take people’s guns away, the vice president pushed back with a little-known fact about herself: She is a gun owner.
Harris briefly pivoted from a question on healthcare to respond to the attacks that Trump laid out during an earlier question.
“This business about taking everyone’s guns away, [Gov.] .Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away, so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff,” she said.
Although Harris has not spoken about her gun-ownership status during the current campaign, she did bring it up five years ago while running for president — telling reporters in Iowa that she became a gun owner for personal safety issues when she was a prosecutor.
Her campaign told CNN at the time that the firearm, a handgun, was securely locked up.
Harris has supported several gun control measures including universal background checks and stricter penalties for drug trafficking.
Trump is also a gun owner, however, his permit will be revoked following his conviction in Manhattan.
(WASHINGTON) — Domestic violent extremists will pose “the most significant physical threat to government officials, voters, and elections-related personnel and infrastructure, including polling places, ballot drop box locations, voter registration sites, campaign events, political party offices, and vote counting sites,” according to a Department of Homeland Security assessment released on Wednesday.
DHS believes that extremists will be motivated by policy grievances, which have also led to an uptick in the targeting of election officials.
The overall threat environment in the United States “will remain high,” according to the department’s annual threat assessment.
“The Homeland faces a complex set of threats to our public safety, border security, critical infrastructure, and economy from violent extremists, transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), adversarial nation-states, and malicious cyber actors,” the 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment says.
“The Homeland Security Assessment provides an important overview of the dynamic and evolving threat landscape, illustrating just how varied and challenging the threats we confront are,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. “It is because of the remarkable DHS workforce, and our close collaboration with our federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners, that we are able to meet the challenges and keep the American people safe and secure.”
The assessment, produced by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, said that threats from domestic actors will “continue to be characterized primarily by lone offenders or small cells motivated to violence by a combination of racial, religious, gender, or anti-government grievances; conspiracy theories; and personalized factors,” and be motivated by the Presidential Election and the Israel/Hamas conflict.
“Between September 2023 and July 2024, [domestic violent extremists] driven by various anti-government, racial, or gender-related motivations have conducted at least four attacks in the Homeland, one of which resulted in a death.7 US law enforcement disrupted at least seven additional DVE plots,” according to the assessment. “Two HVE attacks, partially motivated by the Israel-HAMAS conflict, also occurred during this timeframe, and law enforcement disrupted at least three other HVE plots.”
Mass shootings in the United States over the “last year were not motivated by an ideology, but were rather associated with suspected or confirmed mental illness or driven by relationship grievances,” the Department assesses.
DHS officials said that they are aware that the upcoming anniversary of Oct. 7th may add “even more fuel to an already challenging and heightened threat environment.”
The officials, on a call with reporters, said they’ve communicated this to their state and local partners.
Foreign terrorist organizations also maintain a threat to conduct or inspire attacks in the United States, the assessment said.
“These organizations maintain worldwide networks of supporters that could target the Homeland. FTO media outlets promote violent rhetoric intended to inspire U.S. persons to mobilize to violence, while foreign terrorists continue engaging online supporters to solicit funds; create and share media; and encourage followers to attack the Homeland, U.S. interests, and what they perceive as the West,” the report said.
Iran is also a concern for DHS officials, who say that they have threatened former U.S. government officials including former President Donald Trump.
“We’ve been very, very clear that is a threat vector that we are extremely concerned about and monitoring very closely, working to gain as much information and fidelity on as we possibly can,” the official said.
In addition to Iran, China and Russia also “pose a host of threats” to the United States and will attempt to use a blend of subversive, undeclared, criminal, and coercive tactics to seek new opportunities to undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions and domestic social cohesion.
The department has concluded, as intelligence agencies have, they will likely attempt to interfere in the election.
It’s not just the election; DHS assesses that nation state backed “criminal hacktivists” will attempt to position themselves on critical infrastructure networks.
Along the southern border, DHS assesses that the challenges will continue, including from Individuals on the terror watchlist who the report says will evolve their tactics and try and exploit vulnerabilities along the border.
The official noted that the number of suspects encountered on the terror watch list have also decreased from year to year.
The encounters do remain high, the assessment notes, but due to the recently policies put in place, they are decreasing.
(WASHINGTON) — Billionaire Elon Musk joined President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the call told ABC News.
Musk was at Mar-a-Lago with Trump on election night as well as the day after, as previously reported by ABC News. Musk’s involvement in the call further highlights his influence in the upcoming administration.
Musk, the world’s richest person, had a profound impact on Trump’s campaign including a multi-billion dollar door-knocking operation, a social media megaphone and a $1 million sweepstakes for battleground voters.
Zelenskyy wrote on social media that he had an “excellent” call with Trump, but made no mention of Musk.
“I had an excellent call with President Trump and congratulated him on his historic landslide victory — his tremendous campaign made this result possible,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
The call happened as Zelenskyy seeks to shore up long-term American military and financial support in its war with Russia.
On the campaign trail, Trump has often boasted that he would be able to stop the war in Ukraine, though he has yet to provide specifics as to how, often showing a willingness to work with both sides.
As of now, Musk is expected to return to Mar-a-Lago next week, but plans remain in flux, per sources familiar with the plans.
Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Vice presidential nominees Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz will campaign in Arizona on Wednesday as early voting begins in a state that could decide the presidential race and control of the Senate.
Both Vance and Walz will hold rallies in Tucson on Wednesday. Vance will also participate in a town hall later in the day in Mesa hosted by the Conservative Political Action Conference, while Walz will hold an event in Chandler with Senate candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego and Jim McCain, son of former Republican Sen. John McCain.
With less than a month until Election Day, the race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to win the battleground state remains tight. According to FiveThirtyEight’s latest forecast, Trump leads Harris by just over 1 percentage point in the state.
The Trump campaign said Vance will encourage Arizonians to vote early in this year’s election, a sharp departure from the rhetoric Trump used in 2020 when he questioned mail-in ballots and voting early.
Wednesday’s swing for Vance is his third visit to the state since becoming Trump’s running mate in July and Walz’s trip is his second since he was picked by Harris to be her running mate in August.
Harris and Trump will also visit Arizona later this week — Harris will campaign there on Thursday and Trump on Sunday.
In 2020, Trump narrowly lost the state to President Joe Biden by just over 10,000 votes. As ABC News has previously reported Trump attempted to pressure then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn the results of the presidential race.
Trump dispatched former Vice President Mike Pence to pressure Ducey to find fraudulent votes in the state, and while Pence did call Ducey multiple times in the aftermath of the election, he did not follow those orders.
Speaking on the “Ruthless” podcast last Thursday, Vance shared that he feels good about the campaign’s chances in Sunbelt states such as Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, but that more work needs to be done in the Rust Belt states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Arizona’s first day of early voting also coincides with the Senate debate between Gallego and Republican Kari Lake in a race that will help decide which party controls the Senate in 2025.
Currently, Gallego leads Lake by just under 8 percentage points, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Lake, who lost the Arizona gubernatorial race in 2022, alienated many moderate Republicans by feuding with Ducey and upsetting supporters of the late Sen. McCain. Lake has also continued to deny the validity of the 2020 and 2022 elections but has changed how she approaches her campaign, trying to court those moderate Republicans she lost in 2022.
Ducey endorsed Lake in August, saying that too much is at stake in this election cycle.
“I will be voting for Republicans up & down the ballot in November — and both Donald Trump and Kari Lake have my endorsement,” Ducey posted on X. “Differences aside, there is too much on the line and only a Republican in the White House and a majority in the House and US Senate can ensure it.”
A spokesperson for Gov. Tim Walz did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on this story.
