What to watch for on the campaign trail today
- President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats are marking the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade by attacking former President Donald Trump on abortion rights.
- Vice President Kamala Harris is hitting the trail today, speaking in Arizona and Maryland in support of abortion access.
- Trump and Biden are also expected to spend the week preparing for Thursday night's presidential debate, the first of the 2024 election cycle.
- There were two hearings in Trump's classified documents case in Florida, but he did not attend either one.
Trump attends fundraiser in New Orleans
Trump attended a closed-door fundraiser this evening in New Orleans, where he bashed Biden and repeated claims of being "targeted" by the Justice Department.
Former Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., who attended the fundraiser and answered a few questions after the event, said Trump didn’t talk about Hunter Biden or his running mate selection but did “express his disregard with the current occupant of the White House.”
Livingston said Trump also said he’s being “targeted” by the Justice Department and that “the charges didn’t start coming out” until he announced his presidential run.
According to several people in the room, no vice presidential contenders were present.
'Count on it': Elizabeth Warren vows Roe codification if Democrats control Congress and White House
MILWAUKEE — Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, campaigning in Wisconsin for Biden on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, remained bullish on Democrats’ chances to codify Roe-era protections at the federal level, despite an uphill electoral battle to keep their majority in the Senate.
“It is absolutely realistic. In fact, it is a promise. If Joe Biden is elected to the White House and we have a Democratic majority in the House — even a skinny, skinny Democratic majority in the House — and we have a Democratic majority in the Senate, then we are going to make Roe v. Wade the law of the land. Count on it,” Warren said in an interview at the Broken Bat Brewery.
A previous attempt to pass a bill to codify Roe's protections failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority.
Warren, sipping on a draught lager called Not a Horrible City in response to Trump’s disparagement of Milwaukee in a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, reiterated that “the only way to make Roe v. Wade the law of the land is to vote for Joe Biden,” even in states with abortion measures on their presidential ballots.
“All of the ballot initiatives to protect the individual states won’t be worth anything” if Trump wins, she said, adding that if the “federal government outlaws abortion nationwide, it’s gone everywhere.”
In contrast with Biden, who has distanced himself from Democratic calls to expand the numbers of justices on the Supreme Court, Warren said the measure should still be on the table for Democrats to consider to counteract the conservative majority on the court, labeling those justices “extremist” and “lawless.”
“It is entirely constitutional to change the size of the Supreme Court. It has been done repeatedly in the past. All it takes is a majority vote in Congress. We need more justices on the Supreme Court, and I strongly support that, and I’m talking to my colleagues trying to try to build a little more support for it,” she said.
Pressed about whether she has expressed that sentiment to Biden directly, Warren demurred and said she does not discuss private conversations.
New digital ad by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's PAC blames 'MAGA extremists' for abortion bans
In a new digital video released on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's super PAC is calling on people to vote against "MAGA extremists."
The 60-second ad from Think Big America features a video of a young woman taking a pregnancy test. After she sets a timer to wait for the results, the woman starts to scroll through her phone, looking at videos featuring the repercussions of the Supreme Court's 2022 decision.
The video closes with text on the screen saying: "MAGA extremists want to enforce a national abortion ban, putting millions of lives at risk. Only we can stop them."
Hunter Biden seeks acquittal in gun case after Supreme Court ruling in related matter
Hunter Biden’s attorneys today filed a motion for the president's son to be acquitted in his gun case on Second and Fifth Amendment grounds.
Biden's attorneys cited the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Rahimi on Friday that challenged the domestic violence prohibition on gun restrictions, arguing that while the high court had upheld a federal law barring people subjected to domestic violence restraining orders from having firearms, the ruling demonstrated that the firearm statute Biden was accused of violating was unconstitutional.
"The Supreme Court again emphasized that firearm possession is presumptively a constitutional right and the only valid exceptions must be analogous to a historical exception that existed when the Second Amendment was adopted," they wrote.
The attorneys also argued that Friday's ruling undermined special counsel David Weiss' argument at trial that Biden was “dangerous” for purchasing and possessing a firearm while in the throes of addiction, saying the Supreme Court had "emphatically and unanimously rejected the government’s other defense of the statute that rested on the claim that Congress can disarm people who it presumes to be dangerous or not responsible."
The Supreme Court has several pending cases it could act on that would give further signs of how eager its conservative majority is to continue with a long-term campaign to reshape the scope of the right to bear arms.
Biden debate prep strategy: Be prepared for two different Trumps
Biden is preparing to face a few different Donald Trumps on Thursday’s debate stage: the more bombastic and “unhinged” one known for his grievance-filled, stem-winding rallies and a fairly disciplined version who largely refrains from tirades and sticks to policy.
If Trump is more sedate than incensed, the goal for Biden will be to elicit what his aides see as “the true Trump,” according to three people familiar with his prep.
Biden’s advisers have been meticulously studying and combing through all of Trump’s recent comments, these people said, to best identify what might get under his skin and what might “trigger” him the most if he does demonstrate some self-control.
Kamala Harris front and center on Dobbs anniversary while Biden hunkers down for debate prep
Vice President Kamala Harris is criss-crossing the country today to mark the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, as Biden remains hunkered down at Camp David, Maryland, prepping for Thursday’s debate.
“In the case of the stealing of reproductive freedom from the women of America, Donald Trump is guilty,” she told a crowd at the University of Maryland.
While Biden posted a video to mark the anniversary, it’s Harris who’s speaking directly to voters at events in Maryland and Arizona — making the case that Trump orchestrated the dismantling of abortion rights and that a second Trump term would be “even worse.”
“Now [Trump] wants us to believe he will not sign a national abortion ban? Look, enough with the gaslighting,” Harris said in Maryland to cheers from the crowd, in reference to Trump’s comments that abortion policy should be left up to the states.
Harris and Biden both warned about Republicans’ going further, with Biden saying in his video: “They’re coming for IVF and birth control next. We’re up against extremism.”
The events Harris addressed were two of 17 the Biden-Harris campaign held in 13 states to mark the anniversary — including two in Michigan that Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, attended. First lady Jill Biden focused on reproductive freedom during two campaign stops in Pennsylvania yesterday.
Despite his absence from the campaign trail today, the Biden campaign says reproductive rights will be one of the top three issues Biden plans to focus on during Thursday’s debate, along with threats to democracy and the economy, according to a memo released yesterday.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman fights for political survival in race exposing deep Democratic divisions
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. — Bernie Sanders has lined up on one side of the race, Hillary Clinton on the other. A Democratic House primary in New York is in many ways a redux of the 2016 presidential primaries — with much of the familiar vitriol.
Tomorrow's election between progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and centrist challenger George Latimer — which has attracted the most ad spending of any House primary in history — has re-exposed fault lines from that bitterly fought race eight years ago and highlighted the gaping divide in the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war.
Bowman, one of the fiercest critics of Israel in Congress, is fighting for his political life as he tries to fend off an onslaught of attack ads and win a third term. United Democracy Project, a super PAC tied to the powerful pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee, alone has poured nearly $15 million into ads to oust Bowman and elect Latimer, the Westchester County executive who has spent more than three decades in local politics.
Trump files opening brief with appeals court in Georgia election case
In a filing with the Georgia Court of Appeals, Trump argued that a lower court should have dismissed his interference case in Georgia and disqualified Fulton County DA Fani Willis from prosecuting the criminal case after allegations of misconduct and an improper relationship with now-former special prosecutor Nathan Wade emerged.
“Make no mistake: Willis, by persistently untethering herself from the legal, ethical, and professional constraints of her powerful position, has decimated the integrity of these proceedings,” Trump attorney Steve Sadow wrote in the filing. “Sadly, the circumstances that require her disqualification are entirely self-inflicted wounds that were within her power to avoid. DA Willis disqualified herself. Absent the removal of Willis and her office, a pall and the ‘odor of mendacity’ will continue to loom.”
In a separate statement, Sadow referred to Wade as Willis' "lover and taxpayer-funded financial benefactor," adding that Trump's defense team was "optimistic that the Court will favorably decide the appeal in our favor.”
Oral arguments before the appeals court are scheduled for Oct. 4.
Biden's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, playing Trump in mock debates
As Biden holes up at Camp David, Maryland, for debate prep, a familiar face is playing Trump in mock debate sessions — Biden's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer.
Bauer played Trump during Biden's 2020 debate prep sessions, too.
Over a dozen top aides joined Biden and Bauer to assist with the preparations over the weekend, a source familiar with the debate prep said.
Democratic governors say abortion will be central to 2024 campaigns
MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic governors said today that they see abortion rights as a winning issue for the party across the country in this year's elections.
"We're going to have Democrats winning at a pace that we haven't seen in decades," Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers told reporters at a policy conference here.
Referring to new legislative maps in Wisconsin that reduced pro-Republican gerrymandering across the state, Evers said, "The issue around reproductive rights is going to be talked about by every one of those Democrats that are running for office, and that will make a difference in each race."
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper highlighted the salience of abortion rights in the presidential race and his state's contest for governor.
"2024 is critical when you look at this presidential race," Cooper said. "The difference couldn't be more stark between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Donald Trump is taking credit for the destruction of Roe v. Wade."
Cooper also read several statements about women and abortion made by Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, including one in which Robinson said on a Facebook Live: "Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers. It’s about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”
"Mark Robinson will rubber-stamp any severe [abortion] legislation," Cooper said today, outlining what he said is at stake in the election.