Harris campaign releasing new ad featuring her closing statement from ABC News debate
Vice President and Presidential nominee Kamala Harris kicks off her New Way Forward Tour with her first rally after the debate in Charlotte, United States on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is releasing a new ad on Friday featuring her closing statement from the ABC News debate when she called for unity and committed to serving all Americans.
The campaign said its live focus group of undecided battleground voters during Tuesday’s debate found those moments to be some of Harris’ strongest.
The news of the ad was first shared with ABC News.
Since the debate, the Harris team says it has been strategizing ways to capitalize on her momentum. The campaign says it has aimed to highlight moments from the debate that underscore the contrast with former President Donald Trump, as well as his answers they found most concerning — including what he said on abortion and Jan. 6, 2021, when an angry mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol.
(TRENTON, N.J.) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy formally announced Friday he would appoint his former chief of staff, George Helmy, to the U.S. Senate to replace resigning Sen. Bob Menendez.
“George is the ideal leader to take on this role, and he has more relevant experience under his belt than perhaps anybody in New Jersey,” Murphy said at a press conference in Newark on Friday.
The governor also mentioned a historic dimension to Helmy’s appointment; he will become the only Arab American currently serving in the U.S. Senate.
Murphy reiterated his own previous calls for Menendez’s resignation.
“Sen. Menendez accomplished many things on behalf of our state and our residents. Sadly, he will be remembered for putting his own interests ahead of the public interest,” Murphy said.
Menendez wrote to Murphy last month saying he would resign from the Senate as of Aug. 20.
At the press conference, Helmy spoke about his background as the son of immigrants and explained how his experience working in New Jersey government will inform his work in the U.S. Senate.
“I have never, nor will I ever, seek elected office. As a matter of fact, as the governor alluded to, the idea of being called senator bothers me deeply,” Helmy said. “And I recognize I’ll spend the rest of my life telling people, ‘Please, go back to calling me what you did before.’ And I appreciate that for much of both sides of this room, that will not be a problem at all.”
“But our residents deserve a functioning Senate office upon which they can call for help,” he added.
Helmy will only serve through the end of Menendez’s current term, and Murphy said he had called Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Rep. Andy Kim and Republican U.S. Senate nominee Curtis Bashaw on Friday morning to tell them he was making this decision.
“I expressed to them my ardent belief that this approach will allow the democratically chosen winner of this year’s election to embark on the smoothest possible transition into office so they can provide the best possible representation to the people of New Jersey,” Murphy said.
Kim wrote on X after the announcement, “Having led Senator Booker’s state operations for a number of years, George Helmy knows how to navigate the Senate and can step in immediately to keep delivering services for our state. That’s incredibly important experience with so many challenging issues facing our state and our nation. I look forward to working with him in the Capitol.”
Bashaw had written in a statement on Thursday, “Congratulations to George Helmy on his appointment to this position… Governor Murphy did the right thing in appointing a temporary caretaker to this seat and letting New Jersey voters make the ultimate decision on who will best represent them in the United States Senate come November.”
Friday is also the last day Menendez can remove his name from the November ballot. The 70-year-old is still officially on the ballot running for his seat as an independent candidate.
Menendez, who had served as senator in New Jersey since 2006, was convicted on all counts, including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction, in a federal trial last month.
He planned to appeal his conviction and said he was “deeply disappointed” by the jury’s decision. His sentencing was set for Oct. 29.
“I have never violated my oath,” he said outside the courthouse following his conviction. “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday pledged to continue support to Ukraine as she met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss his so-called “victory plan” to bring an end to war with Russia.
Harris cast the conflict as a fight for fundamental principles of “freedom and independence.”
“We also know that other would-be aggressors around the world are watching to see what happens in Ukraine,” Harris said. “If Putin is allowed to win, they will become emboldened, and history reminds us, and history is so clear in reminding us, the United States cannot and should not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. Isolation is not insulation.”
Harris also appeared to take a swipe at her political opponents — former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance — who’ve floated Ukraine ceding territory to Russia as part of negotiations to end the war.
“However, in candor, I share with you Mr. President, there are some in my country who would, instead, force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory, who would demand that Ukraine accept neutrality and would require Ukraine to forego security relationships with other nations,” Harris said.
“These proposals are the same of those of Putin. And let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable,” she added.
This is Zelenskyy’s fifth visit to Washington since Russia’s invasion began in Feb. 2022, and he now faces an increasingly partisan environment with an election just weeks away.
Trump ratcheted up his criticism of Zelenskyy and Ukraine on Wednesday, calling Zelenskyy the “greatest salesman on Earth” and painting a picture of an “obliterated Ukraine.”
The former president also suggested Ukraine should’ve made a “deal” before the war started. Trump said, “If they made a bad deal it would’ve been much better. They would’ve given up a little bit and everybody would be living.”
Trump also accused Zelenskyy of making “little, nasty aspersions” about him, likely referring to Zelenskyy’s comments to The New Yorker casting doubt on Trump’s claim he could quickly end the Russia-Ukraine war.
After sources saying Wednesday Trump was not expected to meet with Zelenskyy, Trump told reporters Thursday afternoon Zelenskyy had asked to meet and that they would do so Friday morning at Trump Tower.
“I believe I will be able to make a deal between President Putin and President Zelensky quite quickly,” Trump said, but when asked what that would look like, he responded, “I don’t want to tell you what that looks like.”
And when asked to respond to respond to what a reporter said was Harris’ suggestion that his strategy amounted to “surrender” to Russia, Trump said, “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think so. And, it’s not a surrender. What my strategy is to save lives. I want to save lives. Millions of people are dead. Millions more than they even think about. And it’s not my fight, but it is a fight to save humanity.”
Zelenskyy has also called Vance “too radical,” taking issue with his statements that a Trump-Vance administration’s approach to the war would likely include Ukraine ceding territory to Russia and the current line of demarcation becoming a demilitarized zone. Vance said on Wednesday that “everything would be on the table” when asked if Ukraine should cede land.
The top Republican on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson, did not meet Zelenskyy when he visited Capitol Hill earlier Thursday to meet with a bipartisan group of House lawmakers. Johnson told reporters he would not be in town, but if he had sat down with Zelenskyy would have aired grievances about his tour of an American munitions manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania.
Zelenskyy made the case to lawmakers for permission to strike deeper into Russia at military targets using U.S.-supplied weapons. Several senators on both sides of the aisle expressed a desire for Biden to give Zelenskyy authorization to do so.
But the White House continued to express opposition to such a move.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, peppered with questions on the issue during Thursday’s briefing, told reporters not to “expect any new announcements” coming out of Zelenskyy’s one-on-one meeting with Biden.
“Our policy has not changed,” Jean-Pierre said. “They’re going to talk on a range of issues today. What we can say and what we can commit to is that we will continue to support Ukraine as they continue their fight against Mr. Putin’s aggression, into Ukraine. And so that is our commitment, that’s what the president is focused on.”
In the Oval Office, Biden said he looked forward to discussing Zelenskyy’s “victory plan” and said he saw two key pieces in aiding Ukraine.
The first, Biden said, was to “strengthen Ukraine’s position on the battlefield.” He then highlighted the new $2.4 billion package of security systems announced earlier Thursday and his directive to the Pentagon to allocate all remaining security system funding by the end of his term.
The second, Biden said, was to “look ahead to help Ukraine succeed in the long term” by helping Ukraine join NATO and the European Union as well as reforms to counter corruption, strengthen democracy and enhance security in the nation.
“Let me be clear: Russia will not prevail in war. Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail, and we’ll continue to stand by you every step of the way,” Biden said.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin, Lauren Peller, Michelle Stoddart and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump says he has agreed to an offer from ABC News to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10.
Trump said so during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago Club on Thursday.
“I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight,” he said.
Harris also confirmed her participation in the debate and told reporters Thursday evening that she’s looking forward to the matchup.
“Well, I’m glad that he finally agreed to a debate on Sept. 10. I’m looking forward to it and I hope he shows up,” she told reporters on a tarmac in Detroit.
Trump previously said he had been willing to go toe-to-toe with President Joe Biden and agreed to ABC’s first invitation issued in May.
However, after Biden dropped out of the race last month and Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Trump had implied he would not debate Harris on ABC.
Harris has accused Trump of “running scared” and trying to back out of the debate.
