October 18, 2024, presidential campaign news

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters ahead of a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday she thinks it’s a “legitimate question” as to whether Donald Trump is “fit to do the job” of the presidency, pointing to the former president refusing to participate in multiple high-profile media appearances as evidence.

Harris cited a Politico report which said the Trump campaign told producers of The Shade Room, a digital media company that targets young, Black audiences, that Trump was “exhausted” while making the case that Trump’s fitness for the presidency is “an open-ended question.”

Harris went on to assert that Trump is “unfit for this office,” while reiterating her belief that he’s “unstable” and “a danger to our democracy,” citing former Trump administration officials who have criticized Trump in the years after he left office.

When asked if she thinks Trump decided to attend the Al Smith Dinner in New York City on Friday in part because he’s “exhausted,” Harris again framed Trump’s ability to bear the physical toll of the presidency as “a legitimate question.”

In her first visit to Michigan since the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Harris also reiterated her belief that his death provides a new opportunity to facilitate a ceasefire and a hostage release deal between the US and Israel, while reemphasizing her desire to see the Israel-Hamas war brought to an end.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley announced that she would vote for former President Donald Trump during an event at the Hudson Institute on May 22, in Washington, DC.

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is in talks with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to join him on the trail in the final days of the 2024 race as he seeks to broaden his appeal among female voters, two sources familiar with the talks told CNN.

No events have been finalized, however, some of the discussions have centered on a potential joint appearance at a Fox News town hall in late October, the sources said. The talks were first reported by The Bulwark.

Trump has held a number of town halls moderated by prominent Republican women, including Govs. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kristi Noem, however GOP operatives acknowledge Haley could draw a different kind of voter.

“The gender gap is real,” one source close to Trump told CNN. “Haley attracts a different kind of voter. She gets a lot of positive media coverage and appeals to women who are unsure of Donald Trump.”

“We’re seeing Republican candidates struggle with women, and that includes Donald Trump,” one GOP operative told CNN. “Haley helps with that.”

While she has continued to highlight her disagreements with Trump and has criticized his rhetoric and personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, Haley recently lent her voice in support of the former president in a robocall to voters. In that call, she acknowledged she doesn’t agree with the former president “100% of the time” but argued he’s the better candidate.

A GOP group with links to billionaire Elon Musk is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a divisive, highly targeted digital ad campaign in the battleground state of Michigan.

The campaign is aimed at damaging Vice President Kamala Harris with key voting blocs amid ongoing domestic political fallout from Israel’s military operations in the Middle East.

CNN has previously reported on activity from the group, Future Coalition PAC, including in September, when it ran antisemitic ads on Facebook and Google, promoting the Jewish faith of Kamala Harris’ husband and touting the vice president’s support for Israel. It was an apparent play to undercut Harris with the battleground state’s large Arab American population amid ongoing political fallout over the war in Gaza.

Since then, the group has produced dozens of more, seemingly contradictory attack ads, some continuing to highlight Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff’s faith and Harris’ support for Israel, other spots slamming Harris for “pandering to Palestine.”

On Facebook, for example, the group is simultaneously running an ad praising the “new Pro-Israel power couple ruling the Democratic Party!,” with pictures of Harris and Emhoff, while another ad from the group currently reads, “Why did Kamala Harris support denying Israel the weapons needed to defeat the Hamas terrorists who massacred thousands?”

According to AdImpact data, the group, Future Coalition PAC, has spent a total of about $1.2 million on digital ads since it began advertising in late August, with more than $500,000 targeting Michigan, and more aimed at desktop and mobile platforms without specific geographic targeting.

The 2024 presidential election is less than three weeks away. Some Americans have even already cast their ballot. The candidates have been all over the map this week, making final pitches to voters in key battleground states.

Here are some moments that went viral:

Trump sways to the music

A campaign event for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania took a turn on Monday after the former president stopped taking questions and opted to dance for more than 30 minutes in front of the crowd. The event had to pause because reportedly two attendees needed medical attention. Instead of continuing the town hall, Trump started playing his music playlist.

“Go and vote. Let me hear that music, please,” Trump said. He later added, “So play YMCA, go ahead, let’s go, nice and loud.”

A video about the event posted on CNN’s TikTok account racked up more than 3 million views and more than 172,000 likes. And it wasn’t the only one.

But some event attendees didn’t seem to mind the change in programming. “(I) did expect him to take more questions. I thought he would talk longer. However, I still would vote for him. The concert was great,” one woman told NBC News.

Harris’ heated interview on Fox News

Harris sat down for an interview that aired on Fox News on Wednesday evening. From the first question, the back-and-forth between the vice president and anchor Bret Baier was testy.

“I’m in the middle of responding to the point you’re raising, and I would like to finish,” Harris said, one of the many times she pushed back against Baier when she felt like he was interrupting her.

“OK,” Baier said. “Yes, ma’am.”

Baier admitted that the energy was a little tense, calling it “a lot more contentious than I thought,” according to a video clip of Baier talking about the interview Fox News posted on TikTok.

Harris’ answer to a question about President Joe Biden’s mental state was watched more than 5.5 million times on Fox News’ TikTok and a clip of her answer about why half of the country is supporting Trump racked up another 5 million views. CNN’s video about the interview also got at least 5.8 million views on its TikTok.

A former president’s vote

Jimmy Carter cast his ballot in the 2024 election in Georgia on Wednesday, the Carter Center said. Carter, who turned 100 on October 1, is the oldest living US president. He has been in hospice care since February 2023 after a series of hospital stays. In August, Carter’s grandson said the former president was hoping to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris during the November elections.

On Wednesday afternoon after the news came out, “Jimmy Carter” was trending on X with more than 114,000 posts about the former president. Some posts used the moment to encourage others to — like Carter — make their voices heard in the election.

More than 300,000 votes were cast on Tuesday during the first day of early voting in Georgia, according to a post from Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling. That number is 123% higher than the previous record for the first day of voting.

The House GOP’s biggest super PAC is sounding the alarm about the political survival of a handful of its own members in an internal memo to donors obtained by CNN.

Congressional Leadership Fund, the House leadership-aligned group known for its prolific fundraising, warned donors in a memo Thursday that key incumbents in California, New York, Nebraska and Arizona remain at risk. But with more resources in the final weeks, it says, Republicans can still keep the House if they minimize their losses to around a half-dozen seats or less.

Republicans are particularly worried about members such as Rep. Don Bacon in Nebraska, Reps. Juan Ciscomani and David Schweikert in Arizona — two parts of the country that have become more difficult for the GOP this cycle.

Other key races: The GOP memo dubbed the Los Angeles area as “increasingly the most significant battleground nationwide,” with “tight races” against Rep. Mike Garcia, Michelle Steel and Ken Calvert.

In New York, the memo singles out GOP Rep. Mike Lawler — who it says has “opened a meaningful lead” against Democrat Mondaire Jones — and GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito who is tied in internal polling after a New York Times bombshell raising possible ethics violations.

Harris campaign advisor David Plouffe speaks at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, on August 22.

Harris-Walz campaign senior adviser David Plouffe said former President Donald Trump’s campaign is about “small things” in response to Pro-Trump forces spending millions on ads focused on LGBTQ rights and Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on transgender issues.

Plouffe also said he doesn’t think these attempts will “drive vote.”

More context: His comments follow Trump and his allies pouring more than $21 million into television ads over the first half of October attacking Harris over her past support of certain rights for transgender people.

It’s a staggering sum to spend on a topic that most voters say isn’t a top priority for them this election. But Trump’s campaign is betting any voters still choosing between the two candidates can be swayed to take sides in a cultural fight that has torn apart state houses and school boards in recent years.

At the center of the ads are positions, first reported by CNN’s KFile last month, that Harris took as a candidate for president during the 2020 primary, when she supported taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care for detained immigrants and federal prisoners, as already required by federal law.

So far in October, out of a total of about $66 million that the Trump campaign and allied outside groups spent on broadcast TV ads, roughly a third – $21 million – went to ads about “LGBTQ rights,” according to data from the campaign advertisement tracker AdImpact. Nearly all feature clips of Harris from four years ago expressing support for pro-transgender policies.

Read more about Trump’s ads here.

The top lawyer for Georgia’s secretary of state and the chairman of the State Election Board directed all state and local election officials on Thursday to ignore seven new rules passed by the board after they were overturned by a state judge this week.

Among the seven rules that were invalidated is one that would have required county election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into election results before certifying them and another that would have allowed them to “examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results.”

Democrats have warned that the rules could allow local officials to delay or decline certification of election results.

The ruling issued Wednesday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox also knocked down rules that would have required officials to hand-count the number of ballots cast at each polling place on Election Day and expanded the number of areas poll watchers can access.

State and national Republicans, which intervened in the case to defend the rules, have appealed the ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, holds a town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on October 14.

Donald Trump said in an interview aired Friday that he thinks “manhood is under attack.”

The former president was participating in an interview with former professional wrestler and media personality Tyrus on the show “Maintaining with Tyrus.”

The host said to Trump, “We need to see the fathers are capable of great things because we’ve dealt with it, especially in the last three and a half years, a complete dismemberment of what it is to be a man. We’re under attack for everything.”

“We are. Well actually, manhood is under attack,” Trump responded.

Trump continued, “I see things that are so beautiful. And the next day, I see them knocking the hell out of somebody for doing something that the day before I said, what a wonderful thing. No, we have to get back a little bit more.”

It is unclear what Trump was referring to.

Trump also said that he thinks religion is under attack and that it was the “glue that kept this country together, and so many people are mocking it now.”

“But it’s absolutely under attack and under attack by this administration,” he added.

While heavily redacted, the evidence that was publicly released Friday in special counsel Jacks Smith’s case against Donald Trump provides some glimpses into what prosecutors are relying on.

One volume was filled with House January 6 committee interviews, including portions of a 2022 transcribed interview with an unnamed White House employee about the day of the US Capitol attack. Earlier this year, House Republicans had released that transcript but redacted some of the employee’s responses that are now public.

According to the transcript, the White House employee told Trump that TV networks had pulled away from his speech because “they’re rioting down at the Capitol.”

“And he was, like, What do you mean? I said, It’s, like, they’re rioting there at the Capitol. And he was, like, Oh, really? And then he was like, All right, let’s go see.”

The employee told the committee he took off Trump’s outer coat, got a TV and handed Trump the remote, after which, he went to retrieve a Diet Coke for the president, who was sitting in the Oval Dining Room.

“I’m taking off his outer coat that he’s wearing right now, and I get the TV, like, ready for him, and hand him over the remote, and he starts watching it,” the employee said. “And I stepped out to get him a Diet Coke, come back in, and that’s pretty much it for me as he’s watching it and, like, seeing it for himself.”

Remember: This is one of four criminal cases Trump is facing while running again for president.

Vice President Kamala Harris will be joined by singer Lizzo in Detroit Saturday for a get out the vote event and later that day, by singer Usher for an Atlanta rally, according to a campaign official, as the campaign tries to harness celebrity figures to boost early voting.

The campaign is leaning on star power in the closing weeks to draw more attention and get people to the polls, as well as increase volunteer sign ups.

This week, campaign officials are looking to Lizzo, who’s from Detroit, and Usher, who grew up in Atlanta, to also appeal to Black voters who are key in each state.

Elon Musk’s super PAC crossed the $100 million mark in pro-Donald Trump spending this week, according to its latest disclosures with the Federal Election Commission, including more than $62 million poured into critical canvassing and field operations.

A breakdown of the spending: America PAC, Musk’s group, reported spending a total of $106.8 million on independent expenditures for the presidential race in its latest round of filings, as it dropped millions more this week on door-knocking efforts, printing, digital media, texting and phone calls.

The group’s top expenditure category by far is in canvassing and field operations, giving a significant lift to the Trump campaign on the ground in key swing states, Pennsylvania in particular, where Musk has been stumping for the former president. With its latest round of reports, America PAC has now disclosed $62 million in spending on canvassing and field operations.

One of America PAC’s tactics that has drawn scrutiny is its offer to pay organizers $47 for every registered voter that they get to sign a petition, an effort Musk himself has promoted on social media. “Easy money,” Musk wrote earlier this month on X, the social media platform that he owns, about the effort.

In addition, American PAC has reported spending nearly $24 million on printing and postage, and more than $14 million on digital media, flooding voters’ mailboxes and screens with pro-Trump messaging.

Former President Bill Clinton speaks at a campaign rally in Durham, North Carolina, on Thursday.

As Bill Clinton hits the campaign trail for Kamala Harris in the final weeks of the 2024 election, the former president has been clear with the vice president’s team where he most wants to be deployed to: Small, rural American towns that are not used to seeing surrogates — let alone a former president — pass through.

That mandate from Clinton has been on clear display in the first few days of his time on the trail, when his initial stops included towns like Columbus and Albany in Georgia — a state that the Democratic ex-president won in 1992 (a feat President Joe Biden would repeat in 2020). A part of Clinton’s four-day bus tour will take him through small towns in eastern North Carolina on Friday.

“I don’t think any of these other surrogates are jumping up and down and saying ‘send me to Albany or Columbus,’” the person said.

Clinton, famously fond of retail politics, has made clear to the Harris campaign that if he could win over some voters in towns where a political rally might draw 75 to 250 people — rather than the several thousand that might attend a rally featuring Harris or her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz — ultimately, “those small pockets start to add up.”

The campaign is also leaning on Clinton’s visits to these less-visited areas to translate to wall-to-wall local coverage in secondary media markets.

Voting signs are stocked and ready at an elections office in Lansing, Michigan, on October 3, ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are campaigning in Michigan today, where more than 944,000 ballots have been cast so far, according to data from the Michigan Secretary of State.

The former president starts the day in Auburn Hills before a rally later in Detroit. The vice president is expected to deliver remarks in Grand Rapids and Lansing before a campaign event in Oakland County.

All the votes cast in Michigan at this point are mail-in ballots. In-person early voting will be available throughout the entire state starting October 26, although some places, including Detroit will begin Saturday.

Voter data: The racial makeup of the pre-election electorate in Michigan is very similar to what it was at this point four years ago, according to the ballots for which Catalist has data. White voters make up 83% of ballots cast so far in the state, while Black voters have cast 12% of ballots.

Latino and Asian voters in the Great Lakes State are trending at about the same number of ballots cast so far compared to the last election at 2%.

Ballots cast among older voters have increased since 2020, according to Catalist’s data. Voters 65 and older make up 62% of the vote so far, compared to 51% at this point four years ago. The share of ballots from 50 to 64 year olds ticked down, from 26% in 2020 to 20% so far.

A key state: Both campaigns are keenly aware of how a win in Michigan, a traditional “Blue Wall” state, could change the electoral map. Although the state went for Joe Biden by around 154,000 votes in 2020, it also delivered Trump a historic win when he defeated Hillary Clinton by less than 11,000 votes, breaking a streak of Democratic wins there since 1992.

Further context: Catalist is a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit advocacy groups, including insights into who is voting before November.

There are nearly 2,000 pages in a massive trove of documents released Friday from special counsel Jack Smith in the January 6 case against former President Donald Trump, but nearly all of the pages appear to be completely redacted.

There are some bits of evidence sprinkled into the blank pages, which were released by the special counsel one day after Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a bid by Trump to pause the release.

One volume is filled with sealed pages as well as tweets and other social media posts from Trump, his campaign and allies, including some posted during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

One of the tweets include Trump’s post that day that then-Vice President Mike Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done” that day, in supporting his effort to change the election results.

Others include a myriad of claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.

Prosecutors have argued that these tweets from Trump should be allowed to be used in the trial because they were personal in nature or part of his campaigning efforts and not his official duties as president.

Another volume contains memos from lawyer John Eastman with a plan for Pence to reject the congressional certification of the 2020 election. The volume also includes a public statement Trump released the night before January 6 claiming he and Pence were on the same page about the congressional certification, as well as other public statements Trump made surrounding January 6.

Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on a recently unsealed indictment including four felony counts against former President Donald Trump on August 1, 2023 in Washington, DC. 

Special counsel Jack Smith on Friday released a massive trove of heavily redacted documents in his 2020 election subversion criminal case against former President Donald Trump.

A team of CNN reporters is reviewing the documents and will provide the latest updates here.

The hefty, yet redacted, appendices filed on the public docket in the case are related to Smith’s expansive filing from earlier this month that laid out his fullest picture yet of the case against Trump and why his actions around the 2020 election should not be shielded by presidential immunity.

The files are expected to include an array of materials, including grand jury transcripts and notes from FBI interviews conducted during the yearslong investigation.

The documents were released a day after Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a bid by Trump to pause the release. Trump argued that posting the documents now could be seen as election inference and had asked them to remain under seal until after Election Day.

More about the case: Prosecutors have charged Trump with four crimes stemming from his actions following his 2020 election loss, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

In a blockbuster ruling this summer, the Supreme Court said that Trump enjoys partial presidential immunity for alleged crimes he committed while in office. Chutkan must now decide how to apply that ruling to the conduct at issue in the case.

Remember: This is one of four criminal cases Trump is facing while running again for president.

In this still from video, Sen. Raphael Warnock speaks at a campaign event for Elissa Slotkin in Michigan on Friday.

Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock continued to cast doubt on former President Donald Trump’s ability to win over Black men, but warned against voter apathy during a campaign stop in Michigan on Friday.

“We’re not a monolith, like anybody else. So there’s going to be some, there always been some,” Warnock said, adding, “you will not see waves of black men voting for Donald Trump. The real threat that we face, the real thing that we gotta address is apathy.”

Harris participated in a radio town hall and a local stop in Detroit on Tuesday focused on reaching out to Black male voters. Former President Barack Obama will visit Michigan next week to stump for the Democratic ticket after issuing a stark warning in Pennsylvania to Black men about the potential impact of their inaction.

“I mean, Donald Trump, the man who, early in his real estate career, refused to rent apartments to Black people. You think people want to vote for Donald Trump?” Warnock asked.

The Georgia Senator brought up the Central Park Five to the room of mostly high school students and other members of the community at Cass Technical High School in Detroit. “You don’t remember, you weren’t here. Take my word. I’m old. I was here in 1980. Young men your age were accused of a heinous and horrible crime against a young woman,” he said, describing how Trump took out ads saying the men should face the death penalty.

Campaigning for Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Warnock contrasted the Democratic senate candidate’s record with that of her opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, on a series of issues, including economics, social security and abortion.

State data shows that slightly more people voted in-person on the first day of early voting in North Carolina on Thursday than they did on the first day of early voting in the state in 2020.

About 353,000 people voted in-person in North Carolina yesterday, according to data from the state’s election board. About 349,000 voted in-person on the first day of early voting in 2020, and about 166,000 voted in-person on that day in 2016.

On Thursday, the executive director of North Carolina’s election board, Karen Brinson Bell, commended what she described as “terrific turnout statewide,” despite hurricane damage in the state’s western region.

Here’s what early voting data can and can’t tell us about Election Day.

Former President Donald Trump sat for a wide-ranging on-set interview on “Fox and Friends” on Friday morning, just days after his rival Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee with the conservative network.

Asked about whether he expects to get more women, like his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka, as well as former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, on the campaign trail to help him appeal to women voters, Trump answered, “I think I do very well with women. And I think it’s all nonsense. I see the polls, and we do well.”

A pre-taped town hall that Trump did with a female audience in Georgia aired on Fox on Thursday. Fox News did not disclose that the female audience it selected for the event was packed with local Republican supporters and the network edited its broadcast to remove some of their vocal advocacy of Trump.

“Without abortion, the women love me now. They like me anyway, because what I’ve done is so good, I’ve taken this issue out of the federal government and put it back to the states where they’re voting,” he continued, again touting his appointment of Supreme Court justices who overturned federal abortion protections.

Trump said “a lot of the people” who attended the Al Smith dinner in New York on Thursday night would be part of his potential future cabinet, saying “I put him in, right?” when asked by a Fox host about Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Pressed again on roles in a potential administration, Trump said, “look, I think it’s a little bit early. I have great people at every position.”

Asked about former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who endorsed him this summer, Trump answered, “he’s going to be a part of it.”

The show also played a clip of a segment that will air on Monday of Trump’s visit to a barbershop in the Bronx on Thursday. He told the people there “you guys are the same as me,” adding, “we were born the same way. I grew up in Queens and all of that.” This comes as both Trump and Harris’ campaigns are trying to appeal to Black male voters.

Former President Donald Trump said Friday morning that Fox News staffers helped him write his speech at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York City on Thursday evening.

Trump made the comment during an interview on “Fox and Friends.” Host Steve Doocy said a lot of Democrats historically “turn to the guys from Saturday Night Live or the Tonight Show; they write all their material” before asking Trump who helped write his speech.

“I had a lot of people, a couple people from Fox actually, I shouldn’t say that. But they wrote some jokes. For the most part I didn’t like any of them,” Trump said to laughter from the co-hosts.

A Fox News spokesperson denied in a statement that anyone at the network helped Trump write the monologue.

“FOX News confirmed that no employee or freelancer wrote the jokes,” a spokesperson told CNN.

During his speech Thursday night to the friendly Catholic charity crowd, Trump disparaged Vice President Kamala Harris’ intelligence, insulted her family, and complained about how badly he was treated during his presidency, drawing occasional cheers and some laughs.

While many Fox News personalities are openly pro-Trump, using their television platforms to promote the former president and his narratives, it’s rare to see one of them participate in a formal way with the campaign. But it wouldn’t be the first time. In 2018, host Sean Hannity campaigned with Trump ahead of the midterm elections.

The Trump campaign did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

This post has been updated with Fox New’s response.

When Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in front of reporters on Thursday to deliver a statement about the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the moment was a product of some careful choreography.

Harris was the first US official to say anything on camera about the monumental occasion. But President Biden, who was aboard Air Force One jetting toward Germany, had drafted a paper statement with his team hailing Sinwar’s death and calling for renewed ceasefire talks.

Biden’s statement hit inboxes at 2:10 p.m. ET. Harris walked out to cameras five minutes later. The moment was carefully coordinated between aides to the president and vice president.

The one-two step was a glimpse into the methodical approach to the conflict taken by Harris, who has been under scrutiny for her approach to the war but unwilling to break from Biden’s strategy.

For Harris, the complicated politics of the Middle East are unlikely to be made much easier by Sinwar’s demise. Standing outside of the campaign event in Wisconsin where she was speaking Thursday, demonstrators kept up their pro-Palestinian chants.

And as she headed to Michigan a day later for a three-stop swing, the fraught politics were likely to continue dogging her. The Israel war has proven a complicating factor as the vice president looks for votes among the state’s large Arab and Muslim-American population in the Detroit metro area.

Many in that community have said they cannot vote for Harris, angry over the Biden administration’s largely unequivocal support for Israel and refusal to limit most weapons to the country.

Despite the swell of political pressure, Harris has resisted describing how she might approach the conflict differently. She has instead pointed instead to the nascent ceasefire and hostage negotiations, which have been stalled for weeks.

A Republican Jewish group went up with a presidential campaign ad Friday, first airing in New York City, condemning rising antisemitism amid fallout from Israel’s ongoing military operations in the Middle East after the October 7th attacks, and promoting former President Donald Trump’s reelection.

The ad features four women in a diner sharing their misgivings about developments overseas and politics at home, referencing the October 7th attack on Israel, campus protests, and the 2024 presidential election.

“Did you watch the news lately? Israel is under attack, antisemitism like I never thought I would see,” says one of the women featured in the ad.

“Did you hear about Samantha’s boy, Max?” asks another woman. “He got spit on, just walking at Penn.” Another responds, “I mean, that’s scary.”

The conversation turns to the 2024 election, and one of the women asks, “What about Kamala?” Her friend responds, “Busy defending the squad,” referencing the group of progressive House members who have been outspoken critics of Israel’s military conduct. “Oy vey,” another one of the women says.

More context: RJC Victory Fund’s ad bookings in New York are minimal, just $19,000 for the opening weeks of October, but the group has bought a total of $6.5 million worth of ad time since it began advertising for the presidential race in late September.

RJC Victory Fund currently has about $3 million in bookings remaining through Election Day, with reservations between $400,000 and $600,000 in several key swing states including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan.

Former President Donald Trump on Friday said he would consider calling his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who ran against him in the Republican presidential primary.

Trump then pivoted to pointing out his dominance over the GOP primary field, saying, “but let me just tell you Nikki Haley and I fought, and I beat her by 50, 60, 90 points. I beat her in her own state by numbers that nobody’s ever been beaten by.”

He said while “everybody keeps saying” Haley should campaign for him, “they don’t say get Ron, and Ron did very well,” referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“I like Nikki…Nikki, I don’t think should have done what she did, and that’s fine that she did it,” he said, before again highlighting his defeat of Haley in the primary and adding “they say oh when is Nikki coming back in. Nikki is in. Nikki is helping us already.”

More about the Trump-Haley relationship: Haley said in late May that she is voting for Trump, and got a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in July. CNN reported this week that Haley is lending her voice to support Trump in the closing weeks of the campaign in a robocall that acknowledges her past disagreements with the former president but emphasizes the stakes of the upcoming election.

Vice President Kamala Harris will join the Obamas for get-out-the-vote events in the battleground states of Georgia and Michigan next week, marking the first time she’s hitting the trail with either former President Barack Obama or Michelle Obama, according to a senior campaign official.

As Election Day nears, campaign advisers are turning their focus to voter turnout, bringing in surrogates to mobilize voters in critical states.

Next Thursday, Harris will appear with former President Obama in Georgia, where early voting has begun. And later in the week, she’ll head to Michigan to appear with Michelle Obama to mark the first day of voting in the state. Next Saturday’s event will also mark Michelle Obama’s first time on the trail for the Harris-Walz campaign.

Obama and Harris have been acquainted for 20 years. The energy fueling her candidacy and thunderous crowds chanting her name have drawn comparisons to Obama’s history-making 2008 run.

Last week, Obama admonished Black men who are hesitating to back Harris, telling them it’s “not acceptable” to sit out this election and suggesting they might be reluctant to vote for the vice president because she’s a woman.

As former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris campaign in Michigan on Friday, here’s a look into the full schedule of the 2024 candidates:

Trump did an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” this morning. He will participate in a community roundtable hosted by “Building America’s Future” at 5 p.m. ET. Later, he will speak at a 7 p.m. ET rally in Detroit, Michigan.

Harris will speak at Michigan campaign events in Grand Rapids and in Lansing this afternoon. In Lansing, Harris is expected to meet union workers. Harris will end the day with a rally in Oakland County.

Senator JD Vance does not have any public events scheduled for Friday. Vance told a crowd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday that he plans to be off the trail on Friday to attend his cousin’s wedding.

Governor Tim Walz also does not have any public events scheduled for Friday. He is expected to remain in St. Paul, Minnesota, for internal meetings.

The Harris campaign on Friday released a new ad targeting Latino voters featuring singer and songwriter Marc Anthony as it seeks to court the key demographic ahead of Election Day.

In the ad, titled “Recuerdo,” Anthony details why he supports Vice President Harris as he criticizes Donald Trump for his record for handling Hurricane Maria and his rhetoric toward the Latino community.

“I was not surprised because I also remember he launched his campaign by calling Latinos “criminals” and “rapists. He told us what he’ll do. He’ll separate children from their families, and threaten to use the Army to do it,” he continued.

In the 60-second slot, Anthony emphasized that the election “goes way beyond political parties.”

“Let’s remember what the United States represents and stands for: UNITED. Regardless of where we’re from…That’s why I support Kamala Harris for President,” he said.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris chats with the hosts during a commercial break at The View on Tuesday, October 8, in New York.

The leading pro-Trump super PAC launched a pair of new TV ads Friday, one slamming Kamala Harris for her comments on “The View” last week that have also been picked up by the campaign, the other echoing sustained GOP attacks on Harris’ record in law enforcement.

The ad seized on Harris’ answer when she was asked by host Sunny Hostin what she would have done differently than President Joe Biden. Harris answered, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” It’s the second ad this week that has gone up, with the Trump campaign launching its own version featuring the clip days ago, and quickly putting millions behind it.

The new ad from MAGA Inc., the super PAC, follows the clip with a narrator saying that “Kamala wouldn’t change a thing even though her radical agenda costs American lives,” and ticking through a list of attacks focused on immigration and crime.

Harris’ answer on “The View” was immediately picked up by GOP critics, eager to cement the link between the vice president and the outgoing incumbent, with Biden’s approval rating stuck underwater.

The second new TV ad that MAGA Inc. launched on Friday also reflects pro-Trump advertisers’ sustained focus on immigration and crime, which have been top issues in GOP campaign ads throughout the year. The ad hammers Harris’ record as California Attorney General, which has been repeatedly criticized by Trump allies, with stark warnings about sex offenders and criminals. “Don’t make America Kamala’s next victim,” the ad closes.

Former President Donald Trump is lying about a whole bunch of topics in the final month of the presidential election. But he is lying most frequently, by far, about immigration.

Trump’s October rally speeches and interviews have featured a dizzying barrage of false claims on the subject – about immigrants and crime, about Vice President Kamala Harris’ record on immigration policy, about Trump’s own record on immigration policy and about how foreign countries are supposedly “dumping” their most unwanted citizens into the US.

Here is a fact check of some of the distinct false claims he has made about immigration in the last two weeks alone, some of which he has repeated over and over:

Harris’ border role:

Harris’ border visits:

Harris’ approach to the border:

Read more about Trump’s claims here.

Vice President Kamala Harris will continue to campaign across Blue Wall states with three stops in Michigan on Friday, according to a campaign official.

Harris will begin the day with a “Fall Fest” rally where she will deliver remarks at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids. She will be joined by others, including Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Rep. Hillary Scholten.

The vice president will then head to Lansing to meet union workers and deliver remarks at a local union hall, where she is expected to emphasize that she will fight to protect American jobs, Michigan’s auto industry and American manufacturing if elected, as she draws contrast with former President Donald Trump.

Harris will end her day with a rally in Oakland County.

This weekend: On Saturday, Harris will mark the first day of early voting in Detroit by meeting with faith leaders in the area. She will also give brief remarks at a Get Out the Vote event where Harris-Walz supporters will gather before marching to the polls to vote.

Over the first half of October, former President Donald Trump and his allies poured more than $21 million into television ads attacking Vice President Kamala Harris over her past support of certain rights for transgender people — a message they have spread during nationally televised NFL games, college football broadcasts and in battleground states.

It’s a staggering sum to spend on a topic that most voters say isn’t a top priority for them this election. But Trump’s campaign is betting any voters still choosing between the two candidates can be swayed to take sides in a cultural fight that has torn apart state houses and school boards in recent years — one that has put tremendous focus on an incredibly small, marginalized group that already faces discrimination-based violence. Republicans in key Senate races have mirrored that messaging as part of a playbook painting Democrats as out of touch with most voters.

At the center of the ads are positions, first reported by CNN’s KFile last month, that Harris took as a candidate for president during the 2020 primary, when she supported taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care for detained immigrants and federal prisoners, as already required by federal law.

“Kamala’s agenda is they/them, not you,” says one ad, referring to the pronouns used by some transgender and non-binary individuals. The Trump campaign put nearly $14 million behind the ad in the first two weeks of the month.

Asked by Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday about her current stance, Harris said she would follow the law, while alluding to a New York Times report that outlined the Bureau of Prisons provided gender-affirming services under the Trump administration. The Trump campaign disputed the report.

Read the full story.

Sam Brown, left, and Sen. Jacky Rosen shake hands before a debate on Thursday, October 17, in Las Vegas.

Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and her GOP challenger Sam Brown faced off on Thursday in their only debate for a pivotal Senate seat.

Here are some of the topics they discussed:

Economy: The candidates were asked about the one specific policy they’d support to lower costs for consumers. Rosen said she would work to lower housing costs and promoted her legislation, the HOME Act, which would direct the federal government to investigate price gouging of residential rental and sale prices. On how she’d lower grocery prices, Rosen said that she’s working with the Federal Trade Commission to hold Kroger to account in its plans to acquire Albertsons.

Brown said the US needs to prioritize cheaper and more efficient energy, arguing that it will drive down costs. He then accused Rosen and Harris of driving up costs with prioritizing energy policies that reward green energy projects.

The candidates were asked about their parties’ standard bearers’ proposals to eliminate tax on workers’ tips and who should qualify for this policy.

“If you’re receiving tips, then you ought to be– not have to pay taxes on those tips,” said Brown. Rosen said that they should start with servers, bartenders and waitresses and address the sub-minimum wage, then we “can also have a discussion and analysis, and see if there other industries that also work heavily in tip.”

Immigration: Brown was pressed on whether he agrees with mass deportations as former President Donald Trump has promised on the campaign trail, and acknowledged it’s a “very big logistical undertaking.”

Rosen did not directly answer whether she believed that the next US president should keep some of the Trump administration immigration policies that were brought back by the Biden administration. She said that the first thing she’d pass is the bipartisan border security agreement that was blocked in Congress earlier this year.

She then criticized Trump’s plans for mass deportations, saying, “How would that happen? Mass deportations? Who would get caught in that? How many innocent people would get rounded up?”

Brown asked to clarify stance on Yucca Mountain: Brown insisted that he hasn’t change his position on the Yucca Mountain nuclear depository when asked about his comments back in 2022 where he suggested that it could be “an incredible opportunity” and another source of revenue for Nevada.

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 15.

Former President Donald Trump will hold a town hall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Sunday and a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, on Monday.

The former president and Vice President Kamala Harris have been criss-crossing key battleground states as Election Day quickly approaches

Local residents line up to enter a polling site on the first day of early in-person voting in Asheville, North Carolina, on October 17.

The executive director of North Carolina’s election board said early voting began on Thursday with “terrific turnout statewide.”

Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell became teary-eyed and overcome with emotion as she discussed the start of early voting at a news conference in western North Carolina, where some have feared turnout could drop this election due to damage from Hurricane Helene.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections said there were 209,644 early voting ballots as of Thursday afternoon.

Bell said early voting is now underway in all 100 of North Carolina’s counties, which includes 76 early voting sites — down from 80 that were originally planned — in the 25 counties in a designated disaster area. She said the voting sites are not temporary structures but rather brick-and-motor buildings with power, though not necessarily running water.

She said the Postal Service has reduced the number of undeliverable addresses “considerably,” though acknowledged that some people in affected communities may still have to walk to get their ballots or travel to their polling places.

She commended workers who have helped restore power, cell service and infrastructure in time for early voting.

Corinne Duncan, director of elections in Buncombe County, home to Asheville, which sustained heavy damage, said her county is caught up on absentee-ballot processing and has a “strong” plan for early voting. She said about two-thirds of poll workers who had been trained before the storm to serve during early voting are still able to work.

CNN’s Sara Murray contributed reporting to this post.