Once the presumptive nominee, President Biden to spend Election Day at White House with no public events

(WASHINGTON) — Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who has thrown his weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris, told ABC News on Tuesday that he tried to set up a private meeting between Elon Musk and Harris, but her team declined.

Cuban said the campaign passed because “they didn’t think Elon Musk could keep the conversation private.”

“The things he says about Kamala are so far off I thought it would be beneficial for them to talk,” Cuban said of Musk.

If Harris wins the race, Cuban said he’d still try to set up a conversation between Harris and Musk, given that he’s one of the “best entrepreneurs.” The move is “not political — it’s common sense,” Cuban added.

Cuban also said that Musk’s pledge to give away $1 million a day to voters for signing his political action committee’s petition is a move out of “desperation” that could “backfire.”

With two weeks until Election Day, Cuban told CNBC that the Harris campaign’s biggest challenge is that “they’re not great salespeople.”

Cuban elaborated, saying being a salesperson is not Harris’ strength.

“Harris is just not a good salesperson — she’s strong on policy, integrity, ethics, understanding, self-awareness, open-mindedness,” said Cuban, a star of the ABC reality TV show “Shark Tank” and the former majority owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. “She’s great on politics for business and policies across the board. That’s where her strengths lie. Not everyone is a great salesperson.”

“Trump is the opposite. He will say things that are not remotely true,” Cuban said, adding that Trump will repeat falsehoods to make the sell.

Cuban said he has talked to Harris’ team about her improving as a salesperson, but said that in the sprint to the finish, “you’re not going to send her to a sales class at this point.”

“If I’m voting for someone who is ethical and honest — I’ll take the person who is not a great salesperson,” Cuban said, adding that surrogates like himself can help make the sell on the trail and that the candidate themself doesn’t have to be the best salesperson.

As Election Day rapidly approaches, Cuban and other surrogates are talking to voters about the value their candidate brings and their vision for the country in what’s expected to be a close contest. Earlier this month, Cuban embarked on a multi-day speaking tour through battleground Pennsylvania touting the Harris-Walz ticket.

Cuban said he spoke to Harris recently, remarking that her schedule is “worse than a professional sports team” so he wanted to see how she’s doing.

“I asked her how she is. She’s doing well. She’s holding up. She’s a workout machine. Harris is a workout machine,” Cuban said, referring to her exercise routine. “Whereas Donald Trump can’t see his toes.”

Cuban said that Harris’ economic plan is an improvement over Trump’s, which he said would raise costs for businesses and consumers.

“The second largest line item for every business is healthcare, it’s benefits, and she is looking to cut down those costs. Donald Trump has concepts of a plan,” Cuban said, referencing Trump’s response during the ABC News presidential debate when asked about his health care plan.

“He said he’s going to do across the board tariffs. That could be 60% of everything. Almost everything you buy for Christmas is made at some point from China. If that happens this time next year, then every household is going to have to cut back on what they buy for Christmas,” Cuban added.

Despite the polls tightening, Cuban insists that the momentum is still on Harris’ side.

On July 23, Harris’ favorability rating was 51.6% “unfavorable” and 38.6% “favorable,” according to 538’s favorability averages. At the moment, 47.2% see her as unfavorable and 46.6% as favorable.

Cuban said 13 weeks ago, Harris’ “favorables were negative,” but things have improved now.

“She was behind what Joe Biden was pulling at the time. And in those 13 weeks at worst she’s caught up and at best she’s ahead. Do you realize how incredible that is? Versus someone who is a former president and ran last cycle and has been campaigning almost the entire time since.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday kicks off new push to reach male voters in swing states, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign confirmed to ABC News.

As part of the push, the campaign is highlighting ABC’s Michael Strahan exclusive interview with Walz that aired on “Good Morning America” Friday morning.

Walz travels to Michigan, where he will deliver remarks on “protecting workers and investing in manufacturing, and then join a political engagement with Black male voters,” the campaign said.

Walz will do a round of local TV interviews in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that will be taped on Friday — focused on hunting and high school football.

Later in the day, Walz will return to Mankato West — the Minnesota high school where he taught and also coached football.

He will attend the school’s homecoming game and deliver a pep talk before the team takes on rival Mankato East.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Mankato West’s state championship win, according to the campaign.

The campaign will also release a video on Walz’s social media channels featuring what it says is never-before-aired footage from the state championship game and interviews with Tim and Gwen Walz’s former students and players.

Saturday marks the Pheasant Opener in Minnesota and a group of outdoors digital creators will join Walz for an early morning hunt in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.

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National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that President Joe Biden is looking to make as much progress as possible on foreign policy before he leaves office next month.

In an interview with “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Sullivan said that Biden is hoping to surge aid to Ukraine and move forward with ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas with his time left in office. Both conflicts have dogged the administration, with Ukraine struggling to retake territory it lost to Russia and little progress in Gaza despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“We are going to do everything in our power for these 50 days to get Ukraine all the tools we possibly can to strengthen their position on the battlefield so that they’ll be stronger at the negotiating table. And President Biden directed me to oversee a massive surge in the military equipment that we are delivering to Ukraine so that we have spent every dollar that Congress has appropriated to us by the time that President Biden leaves office,” Sullivan said.

When pressed on clinching a deal in Gaza and possibly broader diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Sullivan said, “The first step is getting the ceasefire and hostage deal. If we can get that into effect, then the possibilities for a broader diplomatic initiative in the region along the lines that you just described really open up, and we will use every day we have in office to try to generate as much progress towards that end as possible.”

Making progress on both fronts remains a tall order for multiple reasons. The U.S. has vowed to not make any decisions about Ukraine without Kyiv’s input and the Israeli government has appeared reluctant to wind down fighting in Gaza.

And with President-elect Donald Trump entering office, foreign policy priorities will undoubtedly be shaken up. Trump is believed to be unlikely to pressure Israel to scale back its military operations in Gaza, and he has appeared skeptical of sending aid to Ukraine at the same pace the Biden administration has.

“I’ve encouraged the Ukrainian team to engage the incoming team as well as to engage all of our allies and partners, because, again, on Jan. 21, the war in Ukraine doesn’t just go away. Obviously, the new team will have its own policy, its own approach, and I can’t speak to that, but what I can do is make sure that we put Ukraine in the best possible position when we hand off the baton,” Sullivan said, referencing the day after Trump takes office.

Still, Sullivan debunked a report suggesting that the administration is open to returning nuclear weapons to Ukraine.

“That is not under consideration. No. What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not nuclear capability,” he told Karl.

Sullivan did say, however, that the transition is going smoothly.

“We got a lot of work to do, and frankly, we’re going to try to do that also in a way where we have a smooth transition with the incoming Trump team. And I have to say that I’ve been gratified so far by the coordination I’ve been able to have with the incoming Trump team. They seem focused also on a smooth transition, because they want to be able to hit the ground running,” he told Karl.

After Trump takes office, however, things become less clear.

Trump on Saturday tapped Kash Patel, a loyalist and vocal critic of the Justice Department, as his pick to lead the FBI. Patel has railed against the so-called “Deep State,” naming Sullivan as a member.

When pressed on if that pick concerns him, Sullivan dodged.

“I’m not going to speak to President-elect Trump’s nominees. I’ll let him and his transition team speak to that,” Sullivan said.

“We inherited an FBI director who actually had been appointed by President Trump, Director Chris Wray, who has continued to serve in that role through the four years of the Biden administration, and served with distinction, served entirely insulated from politics where the partisan preferences of the current sitting president of the United States. This is a good, deep, bipartisan tradition that President Biden adhered to.”

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