Trump lawyers make arguments appealing E. Jean Carroll verdict
A New York City appeals court panel heard arguments this morning in Trump's appeal of the E. Jean Carroll verdict finding the former president liable for sexual abuse and defamation, with Trump appearing in court for the hearing.
Trump attorney John Sauer told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the finding was flawed because the judge improperly allowed in evidence he should not have, including testimony about two other women who claimed they'd been sexually assaulted by Trump, and the so-called "Access Hollywood" tape, a 2005 hot mic recording where he boasted about being able to grab women by the genitals without their consent.
Sauer argued the jury was "tainted" by that evidence. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said the judge was right to allow in that testimony and the jury still would have found in her client's favor regardless.
The judges will rule on the appeal at another date.
Harris campaign and allies raised $361 million in August, campaign says
The Harris campaign and its allies have raised a combined $361 million in August, the campaign announced in a press release today. The team also reported that they have $404 million in cash on hand.
NBC News cannot independently verify the numbers, as the most recent batch of Federal Election Commission data is not made available until later this month.
About 1.3 million of the donors supporting Harris' election efforts in August were making their first donation this cycle, the campaign said. The campaign also noted that 95% of all August donations were for amounts less than $200.
"As we enter the final stretch of this election, we’re making sure every hard-earned dollar goes to winning over the voters who will decide this election," campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in the press release. "Make no mistake: this election will be hard-fought and hard-won. But with the undeniable, organic support we are seeing, we are making sure we are doing everything possible to mobilize our coalition to defeat Donald Trump once and for all."
88 corporate leaders, including CEOs of Yelp and Box, endorse Harris
Eighty-eight current and former top executives from across corporate America have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a new letter shared exclusively with CNBC.
Among the signers are several high-profile CEOs of public companies, including Aaron Levie of Box, Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp and Michael Lynton, chairman of Snap, Inc.
Other signers appear to be issuing their first public endorsements of Harris since she became the de facto Democratic nominee in July. They include James Murdoch, the former CEO of 21st Century Fox and an heir to the Murdoch family media empire, and crypto executive Chris Larsen, co-founder of the Ripple blockchain platform.
With coat drives and concerts, Harris and Trump tackle winning over swing voters
Trump’s campaign hopes to sway persuadable voters at personal finance workshops and concerts. Harris’ political aides think a coat drive may help their candidate do the same.
With two months left until Election Day, the two camps are spending cash, time and energy on one of the most difficult tasks in modern elections: finding and winning over the tiny fraction of voters who live in one of the seven battleground states and haven’t yet picked a side — or, in some cases, haven’t even decided whether to vote.
Republicans zero in on planned EV battery plant in Michigan to hit Democrats on China in battleground state
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. — Last fall, voters angry about plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in their rural community in central Michigan turned their ire on the township board that supported the project, ousting five of the seven board members in a recall election.
It could have been all seven, Lori Brock, an area real estate agent who helped lead the effort, said. But two members resigned ahead of time. “They knew they were going to get recalled,” she said.
Back then, the political debate over Gotion Inc., a U.S.-based subsidiary of a Chinese company that acknowledges its association with the Communist Party of China, was parochial, playing out in Green Charter Township and surrounding areas. Now, it’s playing out in the race for the White House as a fusion of two issues central to Republican messaging — the rise of China as a geopolitical adversary and the emergence of electric vehicles — in a critical battleground state.
As the presidential debate is near, NBC News’ Dasha Burns examines the history of Trump’s performances during debates.
Harris faces her ‘toughest’ battleground fight against Trump in Pennsylvania
The entire presidential election may come down to just one state: Pennsylvania.
And it’s setting up to be the trickiest battleground for Harris to win.
“It’s going to be the toughest swing state,” said J.J. Abbott, a Democratic strategist in the state working on an outside effort to boost Harris. “Of the three blue wall states, it’s the most diverse in terms of the kinds of places” a candidate must compete in to be successful.
A second Democratic operative in the state simply said the race there will “be a nail-biter.”
Democrats and Republicans have dumped more advertising dollars into Pennsylvania than any other battleground state, underscoring its importance. Polling there shows a tighter contest now than at this time in 2016 between Trump and Hillary Clinton, or in 2020 between Trump and Joe Biden. Trump significantly outperformed polling averages both cycles, narrowly beating Clinton and losing to Biden by a similarly slim margin.
Judge Juan Merchan expected to rule today on Trump's request to postpone sentencing
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a letter to an appeals court last night that Judge Juan Merchan is expected to rule today on Trump’s lawyers’ motion to postpone his sentencing until after the election.
Trump had been scheduled to face a sentencing hearing Sept. 18, but the former president asked for it to be pushed back.
Preparation, pitfalls and breaking the fourth wall: Takeaways from a decade of Harris debates
Harris has been thinking about Tuesday’s debate against Trump for a long time.
“What we need is someone who is going to be on that debate stage with Donald Trump and defeat him by being able to prosecute the case against four more years,” the vice president said in July 2019 during a CNN Democratic presidential primary debate. “And let me tell you, we’ve got a long rap sheet,” she added.