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What's happening today on the campaign trail
- Vice President Kamala Harris discussed her plans to boost small-business growth at a campaign event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, this afternoon.
- Former President Donald Trump is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, tonight for a town hall moderated by Fox News host Sean Hannity.
- Harris and Trump both commented on today's mass shooting at a high school in Georgia. Harris said it was a "senseless tragedy," while Trump called the suspected shooter "a sick and deranged monster."
- Both nominees have also agreed to the rules for next week's debate after protracted jockeying over the conditions.
- Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, delivered campaign remarks in Mesa, Arizona, at an event hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action.
Cost of living, abortion and border security shape the fight for House control
The opening arguments in the closely fought battle for the House are heavy on the cost of living, abortion and the U.S.-Mexico border, with those issues dominating the TV airwaves — and Trump and Harris going largely unmentioned — as those down-ballot campaigns heat up.
A number of campaigns and outside groups launched new TV ads yesterday in the country’s most competitive House districts, kicking off the two-month sprint to Election Day. While the presidential campaign has been raging for months, fueled by tsunamis of online donations on both sides, many House campaigns save their resources for the final stretch before unloading their money on the issues that they most want to highlight.
Democrats need to net just four seats to take over the chamber, while Republicans are eager to expand a thin majority, and the fight for the House will help determine if the next president will face a combative or cooperative Congress as they seek to address those key issues.
Here’s how the economy is doing in the handful of counties that could decide the election
Like the nation as a whole, the economic fortunes of the counties poised to decide November’s election are starting to show early signs of distress.
From Reno, Nevada, to the Midwest to the suburbs of Atlanta, unemployment rates that were recently at all-time lows have begun to creep back up. Meanwhile, housing costs have exploded in these regions, creating divides between homeowners and renters.
In other words, these seven counties — part of NBC News’ “The Deciders” project — are microcosms of the U.S. economy writ large.
Former Joint Chiefs chairman says politics has 'no place in our national cemeteries'
Adm. Mike Mullen, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, weighed in on Trump's recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery, saying it's no place for politics.
"I was sorry to see that happen and never want to see it happen again," Mullen said in an op-ed published by The Washington Post today, referring to how Trump's visit to Section 60 became "a political event." Service members killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried in this area.
"Politics has no place in the ranks. And it absolutely has no place in our national cemeteries," Mullen said. "That goes double for Section 60."
The opinion piece did not mention Trump by name. Instead, Mullen referred to "the visitor."
Bringing politics to Arlington "may lead others to think less of those sacrifices, to view them as smaller than they actually were," Mullen said. "And that’s a travesty, no matter what the visitor may have intended."
Trump's lawyers request pause of judge's order rejecting a hush money case move
Trump's lawyers moved tonight to request a pause of a judge's order from yesterday that rejected the former president's efforts to transfer his New York hush money case to federal court.
The request to pause U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein's order comes as Trump's legal team seeks to appeal the order. Trump's lawyers started that process late last night.
The former president is set to be sentenced in the case on Sept. 18. His lawyers have requested that date be pushed back until until after the Nov. 5 election.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attacks Harris for busing migrants, then brags about his own busing program
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, while campaigning for former President Donald Trump, criticized Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration for busing migrants to other parts of the country. Minutes later, he bragged about doing the same thing.
“When you saw 5,000 people a day crossing into a town like Eagle Pass, Texas, you could see that that was on your TV. You knew what was going on in America,” Abbott told a crowd of about 50 people gathered at a wedding venue in a Phoenix suburb. “What Harris wanted to do was to silence the critics, and they could silence the critics by making this problem go invisible.”
Without evidence, Trump accuses ABC News of voter suppression during town hall
Trump reiterated his criticism of ABC News during a Wednesday Fox News town hall.
The former president called ABC News unfair, arguing that the network is the "meanest" and "nastiest." He also criticized George Stephanopoulos' interview with Biden after the previous debate, calling it a soft interview.
But he also criticized an October 2020 Washington Post-ABC News poll, which showed that Biden led Trump by 17 points, arguing without evidence that the poll artificially inflated Biden's lead to discourage Trump voters. Biden ultimately beat Trump by less than one percentage point.
ABC News is set to host the debate between Trump and Harris on Sept. 10.
Trump campaign threatens to fire staff who leak to the press
Trump’s co-campaign managers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, warned staff in an internal email this evening not to leak to reporters or risk losing their jobs.
In the email obtained by NBC News, LaCivita and Wiles write: “We have done a great job of preventing leaks, and that has been because everyone knows what the policy is and what we expect from everyone. Information is power — and the press doesn’t give a damn if you lose your job because you spoke out of school.
As this team moves forward with only 61 days left until victory, please do not deviate from this policy. Success requires buy-in from everyone.
If just one of us goes off course, it jeopardizes not only the team, but also President Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot.”
Vance bashes Liz Cheney after she endorses Harris
Vance criticized former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., tonight when asked about her endorsement of Harris during a moderated discussion with the conservative group Turning Point Action in Mesa, Arizona.
“A very good thing that I could say about the next presidency of Donald J. Trump is that he’s going to make sure people like Liz Cheney are laughed out of the Oval Office instead of rewarded,” Vance told moderator Charlie Kirk, who had suggested that warmongers had backed Harris while peacemakers stood behind Trump. "I think it's the best thing in the world that she's supporting Kamala Harris."
Cheney, who represented Wyoming in Congress for six years before she lost in the GOP primary in 2022 to a Trump-backed candidate, was among a handful of Republicans to vote to impeach Trump. She sharply criticized the former president over his actions in connection with the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 — remarks that cost her the No. 3 post in House GOP leadership.
Russian money was funneled to right-wing creators through a pro-Trump media outlet: prosecutors
Employees of the Russia-backed media network RT funded and directed a scheme that sent millions of dollars to prominent right-wing commentators through a media company that appears to match the description of Tenet Media, a leading platform for pro-Trump voices, according to an NBC News review of charging documents, business records and social media profiles.
The indictment today of two RT employees, Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, includes allegations that the duo implemented a nearly $10 million plan to fund an unnamed Tennessee-based company as one of their “covert projects” to influence American politics by posting videos to TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube.
The company’s description matches that of Tenet Media, according to a review by NBC News of details included in the indictment. Prosecutors said that the website of “Company-1” describes itself as a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues,” the exact same language used by Tenet Media on its website and social media channels. The indictment also states that Company-1 is registered in Tennessee and changed its name on or about May 22, 2023. Tennessee Secretary of State records found by NBC News show that Tenet Media entered its new assumed name on the same date: May 22, 2023.
Trump and Harris campaigns agree to rules for ABC debate
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are set to debate each other next week for the first time after their campaigns on Wednesday agreed to the ground rules set by host network ABC.
The Sept. 10 event in Philadelphia will use the same rules and format as the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden.
Both campaigns had previously agreed to hold the debate on that date, but the agreement appeared to be in jeopardy after Trump suggested he might back out and Harris’ team sought to change the rule on muted microphones.