Top Democrat urges Biden admin to do more to help local election officials fight a flood of disinformation
Dan De Luce
A top Democratic senator is asking the Biden administration to do more to help state and local governments detect and respond toonline disinformation campaignsdesigned to manipulate voters in the November election, according to a letter obtained by NBC News.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged the federal government’s civilian cybersecurity agency to ramp up support to state and local election officials who he said are facing an onslaught of false information — from domestic andforeign actors— that threatens to disrupt this fall’s voting.
“Unfortunately, throughout this election cycle we have witnessed an unprecedented rise in targeted election disinformation campaigns,” Warner wrote to Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“I strongly urge you to use all the tools at your disposal to provide state and local administrators with the necessary resources to uncover, build resilience against, and rapidly respond to information manipulation campaigns leading up to the election and afterwards,” Warner wrote.
Read the full story here.
Arizona secretary of state announces registered voted data posted online
Alex Tabet
Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced he delivered a criminal referral to the state’s attorney general’s office today after a man from Wisconsin posted voter registration data online.
Voter registration data is public record and is available upon request, but Fontes alleges the Wisconsinite broke Arizona state law saying that voter information recipients “shall not distribute, post or otherwise provide access to any portion of that information through the internet.”
In a statement, Fontes said, “The threat environment around elections today is complex, and this was a deliberate act to expose Arizona voters to potential bad actors on the internet.” NBC News reached out to the Secretary of State’s office to ask how many Arizonans have had their data published but have not heard back.
About a half hour before Fontes’ statement, the Arizona GOP sent out a fiery statement of its own, calling out Fontes and alleging he mysteriously postponed a meeting concerning “an urgent election issue.”
“At the last minute, Secretary Fontes moved the meeting to Monday to wait for the ‘right time.’ We don’t know what the meeting will cover, and we don’t know why it was moved — this is highly concerning, and we are demanding answers from Secretary Fontes immediately,” read the statement from Arizona Republican Chairwoman Gina Swoboda.
After the secretary of state’s press release about the published voter data, Swoboda confirmed to NBC News she learned of the posted registered voter data along with the rest of the public.
Bad blood with Republicans drives a decline in Taylor Swift’s poll numbers
Faith Wardwell
Republican views of Taylor Swift have taken a nosedive in comparison to last year, anew NBC News poll shows, weeks after the pop singer announced her endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
About 47% of Republicans say they view Swift negatively in a poll conducted days after her presidential endorsement, a sharp uptick from the 26% who reported viewing her negatively inNBC’s Nov. 2023 poll, the last time she was included in the survey. Just 12% of Republicans report positive attitudes toward the singer, down from 28% last year.
Among Democrats, 58% view Swift in a positive light,a slight increase from 53% in 2023. About 26% of independents have a positive attitude toward Swift, a drop from 34% in 2023.
The significant shift from Republican voters has pushed Swift’s overall favorability rating among registered voters lower than last year, decreasing from 40% in 2023 to 33% this year. While 16% had negative feelings about her in 2023, 27% say they do now.
Read the full story here.
Trump supporter says he backs former president on tariffs and worries about immigration
Shaquille Brewster
Alex Tabet
Shaquille Brewster and Alex Tabet
WALKER, Mich — Trump supporter Zach Dole, 20, who's voting for the first time in a presidential election, said he likes that the former president uses the threat of tariffs to protect American jobs.
“I just saw that he would impose a 200% tariff on John Deere if they moved to Mexico,” Dole said.“That may raise prices. But I also like the fact that he’s looking out for Americans and keeping American jobs,” he added. “If they move to Mexico, then we’d lose all those American jobs. And I like that he’s looking out for that."
Dole said his most important issues are the economy and immigration. He said life is increasingly expensive as a college student and he worries undocumented immigrants are driving up prices.
Asked if he found Harris’ positions on the border security attractive, Dole said he did, but added that he’s not sure whether he can trust the vice president "because she’s been the border czar for four years, and it’s gone to s--- under her."
Asked if Trump would accept the election results if he lost this time around, Dole believed that he would. “I know he was asked not that long ago that if he lost, would he run again? And he said, No,” said Dole. “So I think that goes to show that he’s just willing to accept the results."
Harris’ tough-on-migration pitch at the border points to a shifting national mood
Sahil Kapur
Harrishighlighted hertough-on-migration stanceduring along-anticipated triptoday to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, aiming to cover off a political vulnerability and rebut Trump’s core campaign message that Democrats are soft onimmigrationenforcement.
“The United States is a sovereign nation, and I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border and to enforce them, and I take that responsibility very seriously,” Harris said in Douglas, Arizona, tonight after visiting the border.
Her message reflects a broader turn on immigration that reflects a changing national mood, foreshadowing a new landscape in the coming years where imposing tougher border controls will likely be the focal point regardless of which party winsthe 2024 elections.
Read the full story here.
Harris doubles down on contested Biden asylum policy
Raquel Coronell Uribe
Harris doubled down on a contested asylum policy tonight set forth earlier this year by Joe Biden.
"If someone does not make an asylum request at a legal point of entry and instead crosses our border unlawfully, they will be barred from receiving asylum," Harris said.
That statement from Harris bears down on Biden's June executive action, which set a limit for asylum requests and mandated that individuals who crossed the border without authorization be rendered ineligible for asylum.
That order received backlash from immigrant advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit over the new rule in June. White House assistant press secretary Angelo Fernández Hernández declined to comment on pending litigation at the time, pointing NBC News to the Justice Department. However, Hernández cited the high number of "border encounters" as the reason the administration took action.
Harris' pivot toward a tougher stance on the border comes amid polling indicating that 54% of registered voters think Trump would better handle securing the border and controlling immigration, compared with just 33% who said the same of Harris.
Justice Department sues Alabama over effort to purge voter rolls within 90 days of election
Raquel Coronell Uribe
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against Alabama and its secretary of state, arguing that an effort to remove voters from state rolls was taking placetoo closeto the Nov. 5general electionin violation of federal law.
While states are allowed to clean up their voter registrations ahead of an election, federal law says that must happen more than 90 days before an election.
Alabama’s Secretary of State Wes Allen on Aug. 13announced a crackdownon what his office called “noncitizen voters,”saying that more than 3,500 peoplewho were registered to vote had been issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security. His office did not specify when those voters had received the ID numbers.
Read the full story here.
Chuck Schumer appeals to Harris to attend Al Smith dinner at request of prominent Cardinal
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Julie Tsirkin
Katherine Doyle
Carol E. LeeCarol E. Lee is the Washington managing editor.
Julie Tsirkin, Katherine Doyle and Carol E. Lee
Harris’ decision to skip the Al Smith dinner, a $5,000-per-plate charity event attended by every major presidential candidate for decades, has frustrated Cardinal Timothy Dolan so much so that he enlisted prominent New York Democrats to convince Harris to change her mind, according to four people familiar with the ask.
At Dolan’s request, New York Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer appealed to Harris’ team, suggesting she should attend the white-tie gala — set to take place a few weeks before the election — benefiting Catholic charities connected to the Archdiocese of New York.
Harris is scheduled to campaign in a battleground state instead, her campaign said when announcing her decision to skip the dinner.
Senior staff informed both Schumer and the Cardinal last week that she is unable to miss her commitments that day, which were scheduled prior to her team reviewing the invitation weeks after receiving it, according to a person with direct knowledge of events.
The vice president is not currently expected to reconsider and attend the dinner, according to two sources.
Trump is scheduled to attend, as he did in 2016 when he and then-Democratic nominee for president Hillary Clintontraded fiery barbsin what was supposed to be a friendly comedic roast.
In apost to Truth Socialthis week, Trump suggested Harris — who, like him, is Christian — has something “against our Catholic friends” because she “hasn’t been very nice to them.”
Over the summer, Trump successfully courted Sillicon Valley’s most prominent entrepreneurs and investors while President Joe Biden was still in the race; now there is concern that Harris could hand over key support and funding to Trump by simply not showing, said two of the sources.
A Harris adviser suggested that staff — not the vice president herself — had made the decision to skip the Al Smith dinner, a person familiar with the conversations said.
Dolan said publicly this week that Harris is making a mistake, suggesting the last major party nominee to skip the dinner was Walter Mondale in 1984 who lost the presidential election in a landslide.
“This isn’t a campaign event, but it certainly is good visibility. You know, I mean it’s a national audience and everybody covers it,” Dolan said onhis podcastMonday.
Reached by NBC News, both Harris and Schumer teams declined to comment.
Harris pledges more resources to detect fentanyl, fight cartels
Raquel Coronell Uribe
In her first visit to the border as the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris pledged to increase resources for the southern border.
The vice president, speaking in Cochise County, Arizona, vowed to increase staffing and technology, promising new tools and additional agents to help detect fentanyl coming into the U.S. from Mexico.
Harris, who visited a port of entry today, said she would double resources for the Department of Justice to "prosecute transnational criminal organizations and the cartels."
Harris extended the problem beyond Mexico, saying the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl are manufactured in China and then shipped to Mexico.
"I will ensure that we target the entire global fentanyl supply chain, because we must materially and sustainably disrupt the flow of illicit prisons coming into our country," she said.
Trump briefly addresses Harris' border visit
Megan Lebowitz
Katherine Koretski and Megan Lebowitz
During his town hall in Michigan, Trump briefly addressed Harris' trip to the southern border today, saying that she "always complains and doesn’t do anything."
The former president also brought up a report about migrants with alleged criminal histories, saying, "what a day for the border."
Harris' trip to the border was the second one during the Biden administration. The first visit to the border was in 2021.
Trump continues criticism of union leader Shawn Fain in remarks to audience that includes auto workers
Megan Lebowitz
Trump criticized United Auto Workers union president Shawn Fain during his town hall tonight in Warren, Michigan, where several people who have asked questions have talked about their connections to the auto industry.
Fain is a staunch critic of Trump, and the former president has gone after the union leader in other campaign appearances.
"He sold you out," Trump said of Fain after the audience booed the mention of Fain's name.
The UAW has endorsed Harris for president, and Fain has called Trump a "scab."
RFK Jr. tells Michiganders not to vote for him
Alex Tabet
With ballots finalized in the battleground state of Michigan, Trump surrogate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urged Michiganders not to vote for him during a Trump campaign event in Walker today.
“The Democratic Party sued me to keep me off the state, here in Michigan, off the ballot. And the day that I announced for Donald Trump, they pivoted and sued me to keep me on the ballot,” Kennedy said. “So far, they’ve won that lawsuit."
“I don’t want you to vote for me. I want you to vote for Donald J. Trump,” said Kennedy, who dropped his independent presidential bid in August and endorsed Trump.
Trump suggests assassination plots spurred by tariff policies
Dareh Gregorian
Speaking at an event in Michigan, Trump suggested the assassination attempts against him might have been caused by foreign opposition to his tariff proposals.
Trump made the remark while touting his plan to impose tariffs on foreign auto manufacturers.
"Your car industry will be as big relatively as it was 60 years ago when you were like dominant. It's not dominant anymore," he said.
"This is why people in countries are all after Trump. This is why. You know the only one that has shots fired at them - that throbbing feeling right," he said, motioning to the ear that was shot in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa. "the only one are consequential presidents. When I do these things - I've got a lot of enemies out there."
He's previously suggested the assassination attempts were caused by Democrats calling him a threat to democracy.
Harris arrives at the southern border
Sarah Dean
Raquel Coronell Uribe
Sarah Dean and Raquel Coronell Uribe
Harris has arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, where she is walking along the border wall and speaking to Border Patrol agents.
RFK Jr. to remain on Wisconsin ballot, state Supreme Court rules
Raquel Coronell Uribe
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s name will remain on the ballot in Wisconsin, the state's Supreme Court ruled today, upholding a lower court's decision to deny the former independent presidential candidate's request to scrub his name.
The decision comes after hundreds of thousands of mail ballots were already sent out in the state, and some had already been returned, too.
Kennedy has been trying to get his name off the ballot in key battleground states in an effort to not siphon votes away from Trump, who Kennedy endorsed after dropping out of the race in August.
Harris campaign launches 'Weekend of Action' in effort to reach more than 1 million voters
Megan Lebowitz
The Harris campaign announced that it is launching another "Weekend of Action" in the hopes of reaching more than 1 million voters.
"We’ve spent over a year building a massive battleground advantage over the Trump operation. With just 39 days left, we are pushing our edge on the ground to underscore the stakesofthis election to the voters who will decide this election," said the campaign's battleground states director, Dan Kanninen, in a statement.
Weekend mobilization efforts include more than 25,000 volunteer shifts and 4,000 events in battleground states, the campaign said.
Trump again admits to losing the 2020 presidential election
Rebecca Shabad
Trump admitted again today that he lost the 2020 presidential election despite claiming over the last four years that it was rigged and stolen by Democrats.
At his rally in Walker, Michigan, Trump said that his aides told him if he secured the same number of votes as in 2016, he couldn't lose.
"We got many millions of votes more than that," he said. "Nobody's ever gotten more votes, sitting president, and they beat us by a whisker. It's the only thing they're good at — they're good at cheating and elections."
A seemingly fake 'Latinos for Trump' ad draws backlash
Isabela Espadas Barros Leal
Mexican musician Alejandro Fernandez on Thursday posted a stern disavowal of the use of his father’s image in a seemingly fake “Latinos for Trump” ad.
The musician, whose father is the late Mexican legend Vicente Fernandez, said in an Instagram post to his 4.8 million followers that the ad was "totally fake" and would never have been supported by his father.
“My father was not only one of the best representatives of Mexican music and culture, but he was also a fervent defender of the dignity and rights of our citizens around the world,” Fernandez wrote in Spanish. He continued by denouncing Trump’s past comments about Mexicans and migrants.
The Trump campaign rebranded its Hispanic outreach effort from “Latinos for Trump” to “Latino Americans for Trump” in June. The campaign confirmed to NBC News that it is not affiliated with the video.
Michigan mother and daughter agree with Trump's remarks on migrants
Shaquille Brewster
Alex Tabet
Shaquille Brewster and Alex Tabet
WALKER, Mich. — Mother and daughter Stacy Waldron and Nancy Thompson, who are both Trump supporters, told NBC News ahead of the former president's remarks here that they agree with is comment yesterday that migrants are “infecting our country."
“I agree, at least the illegal ones that are coming over here and committing crimes, they shouldn’t be here,” said Waldron.
“They are, in a way,” Thompson said in agreement, adding, “You don’t know what diseases they have when they come through there."
When asked what they thought about Trump meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this morning, Waldron said, “I don’t even think he should be here, because we keep giving him all of our money, and we have people that need it here. Why are we fighting someone else’s war? It doesn’t make sense to me."
“Why do we have to keep giving them more and more and more?” Thompsons said.“And our guys are sleeping on the streets. The United States needs their money."
Vance to attend event with evangelist who said Harris used ‘witchcraft’
Mike Hixenbaugh
Alexandra Marquez
Mike Hixenbaugh and Alexandra Marquez
Ohio Sen. JD Vance is set to participate in a town hall in Pennsylvania on Saturday with evangelical religious leader Lance Wallnau, who said after this month’s presidential debate that Vice President Kamala Harris used “witchcraft.”
Wallnau, a Texas-based celebrity evangelist, is a self-described prophet. Two decades ago, he coined and popularized the Seven Mountains Mandate — an increasingly popular belief on the American right that says conservative Christians are called to occupy positions of power in seven key spheres of society, including business, education, media and government.
Since 2016, Wallnau and his allieshave presentedTrump as a flawed but anointed leader— like the biblical figure King Cyrus —who has been chosen by God to restore Christian power in America. After denying Trump’s 2020 election defeat and telling followers that God had a plan to keep him in office, Wallnau joined pro-Trump protestors in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, to pray for divine intervention to stop Congress from certifying the electoral count as rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol.
Read the full story here.
Texas AG Ken Paxton sues city of Austin over 'reproductive health grant'
Suzanne Gamboa
Dareh Gregorian
Suzanne Gamboa and Dareh Gregorian
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit against the city of Austin today over a grant designed to help residents travel out of state for abortions.
Paxton contends the $400,000 in taxpayer funds the city appropriated for the reproductive health grant for the 2024-2025 fiscal year is "unlawful."
“No city in Texas has the authority to spend taxpayer money in this manner," Paxton said in a statement, adding “The Texas Constitution prohibits governmental entities from doing so.”
The suit says it is "a crime to aid or abet a violation of the state's abortion laws." "As such, the 'logistical support' of out-of-state abortions serves to support and encourage acts that are unlawful in Texas and is a transparent attempt to undermine and subvert Texas law and public policy," the filing says.
The legal action seeks a court order stopping any of the money from being distributed.
A spokesperson for the city said, "We have successfully litigated this issue in the past and, similar to another lawsuit that raises this issue,will respond to the recent allegations through the appropriate court channels.”
CBS announces rules for Tuesday's vice presidential debate
Jesse Rodriguez
Dareh Gregorian
Jesse Rodriguez and Dareh Gregorian
CBS has announced the rules and format of Tuesday's vice presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz.
The 9 p.m. ET debate will be moderated by Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan, and will last 90 minutes with two four minute breaks, the network said. There will be no audience, and no props or pre-written notes are allowed. The candidates will have a pen and paper to take notes during the debate, and they cannot confer with campaign staffers during the breaks.
Candidates will get two minutes to respond to each question, and then the other candidate will have two minutes to respond. They can then have up to one minute each for further rebuttals, the network said. There will be no opening statements, but each candidate will have two minutes for closing statements.
The rules largely follow the ones used in Trump's debates against Biden and Harris earlier this year, with one notable exception: The announcement says, "CBS News reserves the right to turn off candidate microphones."
The other candidates' mics were muted when one was answering a question during the presidential debates, which became a sticking point when Harris unsuccessfully tried to get that rule lifted.
The politics of tariffs are complicated. A Democrat just introduced a bill to make Trump’s proposals law.
Alex Seitz-Wald
LINCOLNVILLE, Maine — Former President Donald Trump calls himself a “tariff man” and says the taxes on imported goods “are the greatest thing ever invented,” so it’s no surprise Vice President Kamala Harris hasattacked the centerpiece of the GOP nominee’s economic agendaas bad policy.
What’s more surprising, however, is that one House Democratic just introduceda billto codify Trump’s 10% across-the-board tariffs, revealing how the long-dormant trade policy splits both parties.
Tariffs can trace their roots to ancient Athens and other historical civilizations and were themain source of revenuefor the federal government until 1914, when the income tax supplanted them. But they largely fell out of favor during the late 20th century as the U.S. led a global free trade revolution.
Knocking down trade barriers slashed the cost of consumer goods and grew many economies around the world. But critics say unfettered free trade also decimated American manufacturing and the well-paid, often unionized, jobs that came with it since domestic factories were unable to compete with the lower costs of making things abroad.
“Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we’ve done for the world, and the tariff will be substantial,” Trump said said this week.
Read the full story here.
U.S. indicts three Iranians for Trump campaign hack
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Ken Dilanian
Sarah Fitzpatrick
Kevin Collier
David Rohde
Dan De Luce
Ken Dilanian, Sarah Fitzpatrick, Kevin Collier, David Rohde and Dan De Luce
Three Iranian nationals have been indicted for hacking into the campaign of former President Donald Trump, stealing emails and then sharing them with news media, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Washington on Friday.
The three Iranians, identified as members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, hacked into the campaign of an unidentified presidential candidate in May and stole documents from it.
U.S. officials have privately said that Trump’s campaign was the victim of the attack.
The hackers then sent “unsolicited emails” that included the stolen material fromTrump’s campaign to people associated with his Democratic political rival.
Iran has denied the accusations, its ambassador to the United Nations calling them “entirely baseless, lacking any credibility and legitimacy” and “in no way acceptable,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported earlier this month.
Read the full story here.
NYC Mayor Adams pleads not guilty to federal corruption charges
Chloe Atkins
Corky Siemaszko
Chloe Atkins and Corky Siemaszko
New York City Mayor Eric Adams stepped intoa Manhattan courtroom and into the history books on Friday when he was arraigned on federal corruption and bribery charges that could force him out of office.
“I am not guilty, your honor,” Adams told Federal Magistrate Judge Katherine Parker, during a brief court appearance in Manhattan.
Adams surrendered to federal authorities a day after he washit with a 57-page federal indictmentaccusing him of taking $100,000 worth of free plane tickets and luxury hotel stays from wealthy Turkish nationals and at least one government official in a nearly decade-long corruption scheme.
A 64-year-old former New York City police captain, Adams is charged with five criminal counts that include bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. He was expected to plead not guilty.
Adams is the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted on criminal charges in the modern era.
Read the full story here.
Biden in Pennsylvania attending funeral of childhood best friend
Dareh Gregorian
The president is in Scranton in the battleground state of Pennsylvania today, but not to campaign.
Biden is attending the funeral of his childhood best friend, Thomas Bell. He issued a statement last week after Bell's death praising the father of four, a longtime insurance agent and former National Guardsman.
"From swinging on branches to running by the river, Tommy was the friend with the special heart, who would always lighten your heart. Over the next 70 years, he was the best friend at weddings, funerals, campaign rallies, and so many memories. You could always count on Tommy, and I hope he knew he could always count of me," Biden said.
The White House said Biden was also briefed on Tropical Storm Helen in the morning, and has approved emergency declaration requests from five of the affected states.
Rep. Jerry Nadler calls on Eric Adams to step down
Alexandra Marquez
In a tweet today, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., called on New York Mayor Eric Adams to step down. Adams was indicted on charges of bribery and fraud earlier this week.
"While the criminal charges outlined in the indictment by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York are very serious, Mayor Adams deserves the right to due process and to be treated as presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, there are questions on whether the Mayor can continue to effectively lead our City as Mayor at this time," Nadler said in his tweet.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has also called on the mayor to step down. Other New York Democrats, like Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Gov. Kathy Hochul have not yet done so.
Meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump says he will negotiate a Ukraine-Russia deal ‘that’s good for both sides’
Rebecca Shabad
Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy for the first time in five years, former President Donald Trump complained about his 2019 impeachment and said if re-elected he would work to end the Russia-Ukraine war with a deal “that’s good for both sides.”
“We’re going to work very much with both parties to try and get this settled and get it worked out,” Trump said, standing next to Zelenskyy while speaking to a small group of reporters ahead of their closed-door meeting. “It has to end. At some point, it has to end. He’s gone through hell. His country has gone through hell.”
Read the full story here.
Trump campaign hits Harris on the border: 'Kamala Thinks You’re Stupid'
Alexandra Marquez
In a new statement out today, the Trump campaign blasted Harris ahead of her visit to the border, saying, "Kamala has been at the forefront of the effort to dismantle American sovereignty and open up our border. Kamala's agenda is an affront to our rule of law."
In the press release, Trump's campaign highlighted several high-profile immigration cases that occurred while Harris was senator and later, vice president.
The cases include the slaying of college student Laken Riley in Georgia and a House Judiciary Committee report that alleged federal law enforcement released dangerous migrants into the U.S. under the Biden administration.
The press release also pointed to Harris' evolving positions on the border, linking to news coverage of her support in 2019 for decriminalizing border crossings and recent reports from CNN about Harris' past criticism of a border wall, among other things.
Biden celebrates new inflation numbers
Alexandra Marquez
In a statement from the White House, Biden celebrated the August personal consumption expenditure numbers released today, which show inflation slowing.
"The economy, incomes, savings, and consumer spending are all stronger than previously estimated," Biden said in the statement.
The president also committed himself and the vice president to do "more work ... to lower costs and create opportunities for Americans."
Biden blasted Republicans in Congress, saying that while his administration wants to "build millions of new homes, continue to lower the price of prescription drugs and health care, and cut taxes for families, small businesses, and industries of the future ... Congressional Republicans would take the opposite approach — raising costs for middle-class families by nearly $4,000 per year while giving more tax cuts to the wealthy and big corporations."
With immigration a top issue in the presidential campaign, Harris will visit the southern border for the first time in three years. NBC News’ Julia Ainsley traveled to a remote section of the border wall, which has become a symbol of the immigration issue.
DNC launches billboards targeting Trump in Michigan ahead of his campaign events
Rebecca Shabad
Shaquille Brewster
Rebecca Shabad and Shaquille Brewster
Similar to what it did in North Carolina earlier this week, the Democratic National Committee is launching billboards in Michigan targeting Trump who has two campaign events in the battleground state today.
The billboards blame Trump for the closure of automobile plants in the state and the loss of jobs. Trump is holding campaign events today in Walker and Warren.
In a statement, DNC spokesperson Stephanie Justice said that Trump broke his promises to Michigan's families.
"On his watch, a Warren car plant closed and the auto industry bled thousands of jobs," she said. "This is the truth: Trump said that he could have let auto companies ‘go bankrupt’ in 2008 and he continues to antagonize union workers."
"Michigan voters have had enough," she said. "They will reject Trump and his economic agenda that left them in the dust once already and instead send Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz to the White House so that they can continue fighting for Michigan families and invest in Michigan manufacturing.”
Harris is set to visit the southern border for the first time as the Democratic nominee. Meanwhile, Trump is holding a high-stakes meeting with the president of Ukraine in New York after a week of trading barbs. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez reports for TODAY.
Two-thirds of voters say the country is on the wrong track ahead of the 2024 election
Bridget Bowman
Two in 3 voters say the country is on the “wrong track” as voters weigh whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump would be better able to change that less than two months from Election Day.
The latestNBC News national pollfinds 65% of registered voters surveyed this month say the country is on the wrong track, while 28% say it’s on the right track.
The figure is one of the “warning signs” for Democrats ahead of November, said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the poll along with GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.
Read the full story here.
Analysis: Harris may have locked down her first electoral vote this week
Jonathan Allen
Garrett Haake
Jonathan Allen and Garrett Haake
The war for the first battleground electoral vote may have been decided this week before a single ballot was cast. The weapons of choice: private polls. The likely winner: Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a wild election season that has featured Democrats substituting Harris for President Joe Biden at the top of their ticket — and Republican Donald Trump surviving two assassination attempts while trying to become the first former president in modern history to avenge a loss — the story of Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District is one of the most compelling subplots.
Party operatives and political analysts are fascinated with the district because it is highly competitive turf in one of just two states — Maine is the other — that award an elector to the candidate who wins the most votes in each congressional district. With recent presidential elections turning on tens of thousands of votes spread across a few states, there are scenarios in which Nebraska’s 2nd District could determine who wins the Electoral College and the presidency.
That’s why Trump made a full-court press to get Nebraska to change its law to give all of the electors to the statewide winner — he took 58.5% statewide in 2020. But his effort came up short this week whenGOP state Sen. Mike McDonnell— a former Democrat — said he would not back the plan.
As intense as the GOP lobbying effort was — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally, traveled to the state to make the pitch for changing the law — Democrats’ counteroffensive proved more effective.
Read the full story here.
With immigration weighing on her candidacy, Harris heads to the front lines
Gabe Gutierrez
DOUGLAS, Ariz. — With a forecast high temperature near triple digits in late September, Vice President Kamala Harris is set Friday to dive into one of the most heated issues of the presidential campaign: immigration.
Harris isscheduled to make her first tripto the southern U.S. border in more than three years. It will be her first visit since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and she took over at the top of the ticket.
“We do have a broken immigration system,” Harrissaid Wednesdayin an interview with MSNBC. “And it needs to be fixed.”
Harris will call for tougher security measures, including new fentanyl detection machines and more Border Patrol agents, a senior campaign aide told NBC News. The aide said she also plans to press the Chinese government to do more crack down on companies that make the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl. Her team is also out with a new ad touting her record as California’s attorney general and highlighting that she prosecuted transnational gangs and drug traffickers.
It’s a remarkable attempt at rebranding for a vice president in an administration that has had a record10 million illegal border crossingssince Biden took office. (Crossings have dropped dramatically since heissued anexecutive actionthis year to tighten asylum restrictions.)
Read the full story here.
Harris’ team is considering keeping Biden Cabinet officials if she wins and Democrats lose the Senate
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Peter Nicholas
Carol E. LeeCarol E. Lee is the Washington managing editor.
Mike Memoli
Peter Nicholas, Carol E. Lee and Mike Memoli
Reporting from Washington, D.C.
If she wins in November, Harris may face a hostile, Republican-controlled Senate in no mood to confirm the senior Cabinet officials she would need to run her administration.
Anticipating that scenario, Harris’ team is exploring whether to keep in place some of the Biden administration officials who’ve already been confirmed by the Senate and wouldn’t need to face the gantlet again, four people familiar with her transition planning said.
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Harris to push for tougher border security in Arizona speech
Caroline Kenny
Megan Lebowitz
Caroline Kenny and Megan Lebowitz
Harris will push for tougher border security in a speech today at the southern border, a senior campaign official said.
In her remarks, Harris will repeat a frequent attack by highlighting Trump's role in squashing a bipartisan border bill this year, the official said.
"The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games," Harris will say, according to the official. The official said Harris will also call combating the flow of fentanyl "a top priority" if she is elected.
Polling indicates voters believe Trump would handle border and migration issues better than Harris. Today's border visit will be Harris' first as the Democratic presidential nominee and her second as vice president.