What to know about the campaigns today
- Former President Donald Trump held a rally tonight at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, where heightened security measures were in place. Trump seemed to refer to being more on-edge following the apparent assassination attempt against him Sunday.
- Second gentleman Doug Emhoff defended Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event after Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders swiped at Harris, who is a stepmother, for not having biological children to keep her "humble." Emhoff said he disagreed with the notion that women should be kept humble.
- The Teamsters declined to endorse a presidential candidate. The union has typically supported Democratic presidential candidates for decades.
- Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, spoke at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, before he headed to a dinner fundraiser in Washington, D.C.
- Harris' vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was in St. Paul for meetings before he headed to Washington in the evening.
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Trump’s inconsistent messaging clashes with the RNC’s attempted embrace of early voting
At practically every Donald Trump rally, scripted words encouraging early voting get loaded into the teleprompter. But those words are rarely the actual message the former president delivers to his audience.
The Republican National Committee has embraced early voting in 2024. Trump has promoted it in recordings the GOP played at its convention and in ads distributed around the country, as well as in copies of his prepared remarks at rallies. But live and on the trail, Trump’s tenor on the subject has remained inconsistent, often veering off remarks and instead sowing doubt in the legitimacy of the early voting process, confusing Republican voters — and potentially getting in the way of the party’s efforts to chase votes this fall.
Iranian hackers sent stolen Trump campaign info to Biden campaign associates, FBI says
Iranians sent “unsolicited emails” that included stolen material that was not publicly available from former President Donald Trump’s campaign to people associated with his Democratic political rival, the FBI and two other government agencies said Wednesday.
The FBI and federal officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said there was “currently no information” indicating that recipients associated with President Joe Biden’s campaign had responded to the emails, which the government officials condemned as part of an effort “to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process.”
How Elon Musk amplified content from a suspected Russian election interference plot
As Elon Musk increasingly weighed in on politics in the last several years, he used his massive following on his social media app X to repeatedly amplify content from a company that appears to be at the center of an alleged Russian covert operation to manipulate U.S. public opinion ahead of the 2024 election.
Musk, one of the world’s richest people, boosted content from creators and accounts tied to Tenet Media at least 60 times, resharing the operation’s posts and engaging in back-and-forth replies with Tenet’s paid pundits on X.
Musk’s posts, shared with his 198 million followers, put Russia-aligned conservative talking points in front of possibly tens of millions of eyeballs, according to the viewership data published by X, and he did so apparently without knowledge of the alleged Russian money behind the operation.
Lindsey Graham visits Nebraska on behalf of Trump campaign to push for electoral vote change
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., met today with Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and about two dozen Republican legislators to discuss how the state allocates its electoral votes, according to a source with direct knowledge of the trip.
Graham, acting on behalf of the Trump campaign, was working to encourage Pillen to call a special legislative session at which lawmakers could consider changing the state’s apportionment of electoral votes, the source said.
Nebraska allocates its electoral votes by congressional district. The swing district around Omaha often goes to Democrats in an otherwise ruby red state.
LaMonica McIver wins special House election in New Jersey
Newark City Council member LaMonica McIver has won a special House election for New Jersey's 10th Congressional District, according to The Associated Press.
The election comes after Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-N.J., died in April at age 65. The race was not viewed as competitive.
"Thank you NJ-10! Now let’s get back to work and win this in November," McIver said on X.
House members are up for election every two years.
Trump says he will visit Springfield, Ohio, ‘in the next two weeks’
Trump said today at a rally that he would travel to Springfield, Ohio, the focal point of unsubstantiated claims targeting Haitian migrants, “in the next two weeks.”
“I’m going to go there in the next two weeks. I’m going to Springfield, and I’m going to Aurora” in Colorado, Trump said at a rally in Uniondale, New York.
Trump says he wants to make ground zero site a national monument
Trump said tonight that he wants to make the ground zero site at the World Trade Center a national monument.
"As president, I will officially make the ground zero site at the World Trade Center a national monument protected and maintained by the United States government, so that hallowed ground and the memory of those who perished there will be preserved for all time, preserved forever," Trump said at his campaign rally in Uniondale, New York, on Long Island.
Trump and Harris attended an event in New York last week commemorating 9/11, which Trump referred to as a "beautiful ceremony" in tonight's remarks.
He also acknowledged the New Yorkers who played a role in establishing the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, saying: "I want to thank them. And I want to ensure that their outstanding work is sustained forever."
Doug Emhoff responds to Sarah Huckabee Sanders' dig at Harris
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff responded today to Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' apparent criticism of Harris for not having biological children at a Trump town hall she moderated last night.
"They said that, somehow, because Colin and Ella aren't Kamala's biological children, that she doesn’t have anything in her life to keep her humble. As if keeping women humble, whether you have children or not, is something we should strive for. It is not," Emhoff said at a campaign event in Brooklyn, New York.
Huckabee Sanders, who was moderating a Trump town hall in Michigan, said her children keep her humble before she added that Harris “doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.” Harris is a stepmom to two adult children from Emhoff’s previous marriage.
Emhoff also described the joys of parenting, which he said were shared by Harris and his former wife, Kerstin Emhoff.
"There’s nothing more important to me, Kamala and Kerstin than our kids — our big, beautiful, blended family. We know that all parents, no matter how you become one, make the same sacrifices and revel in the same joys of raising children as any parent, anywhere," he said.
A spokesperson for Huckabee Sanders said today that she was referring to Harris' lack of humility in "claiming she alone can solve America’s problems" amid faulty border security and inflation.
Trump says he has a 'yip problem' as someone approaches the stage
Trump briefly interrupted his remarks in Uniondale, New York, as someone approached the stage, apparently acknowledging being more on-edge after Sunday's apparent assassination attempt and the attempt on his life in July.
"I thought this was a wise guy coming up," Trump said, interrupting his train of thought.
"This guy, I thought, I'm getting ready, I'm going like this," he continued, raising his arm into a defensive stance. "You know, I've got a little bit of a yip problem here, right? That was amazing. I was ready to start duking it out."
Trump appears to admit he hasn't read his wife's book
Trump appeared to admit during a rally that he has not read his wife Melania's book, which is set to be released next month.
"I hope she said good things about — I don't know. I didn't — so busy," Trump said when talking about the book.
"She just wrote a book called 'Melania.' Go out and buy it. It's great. And if she says bad things about me, I'll call you all up and I'll say, 'Don't buy it. Get rid of it,'" he added as the crowd laughed.