Coverage on this live blog has ended. For the latest news, click here.
What's happening on the campaign trail today:
- Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden met separately today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who came to the U.S. to make the case for Ukraine as it continues its fight against Russia.
- Zelenskyy, who drew ire from Republicans during his visit to U.S. soil by criticizing former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, at first was not expected to meet with Trump, but the Republican nominee announced today that he will meet with Zelenskyy tomorrow.
- The Trump campaign continued its outreach efforts among Black voters at an event in Detroit featuring Michigan’s Republican Senate nominee, Mike Rogers, local pastors and others.
Trump promotes watches branded with his name
Trump today promoted watches branded with his name, his latest involvement in a series of business endeavors as he simultaneously campaigns for the White House.
“You’re going to love them. Would make a great Christmas Gift,” Trump said in a Truth Social post linking to the vendor website.
The bipartisan House task force investigating the attempt to assassinate Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, held a hearing with local and federal law enforcement officials. NBC News’ Ali Vitali reports from Capitol Hill on what officials had to say about the breakdowns in communication and security.
Doug Emhoff talks about emotional challenges of meeting with Oct. 7 hostage families
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff talked about the challenges of fighting antisemitism, particularly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
"It’s something that I’ve been working on, speaking about, meeting with, with released hostages, hostage families. It’s intense, and a lot of times I don’t want to do it. It’s too raw, it’s too emotional for me," he said tonight in a clip of an interview with MSNBC's Jen Psaki.
Emhoff, who is Jewish, added that Harris "is the one who keeps pushing me out there because of the responsibility that I have in this role, and because she cares about these issues."
The second gentleman also responded to Trump's saying this month that Jewish voters would have "a lot to do" with a potential Republican loss in November.
"Blame the Jews — one of the oldest tropes," Emhoff said, adding that he believes Trump is putting a target on Jewish Americans.
"This is a disgusting trope," Emhoff said, adding that it was an "outrage."
When asked about Emhoff's comments by NBC News, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung called Harris and other Democrats "deranged" saying they have been "emboldening those who threaten the safety of President Trump."
"There have been two heinous assassination attempts on President Trump’s life, and their violent rhetoric are directly to blame," Cheung said. "Their outright lies and weaponization of the justice system to perpetuate countless witch-hunt hoaxes against President Trump have been nothing short of disgusting and abhorrent."
In the interview, Emhoff also weighed in on North Carolina's Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mark Robinson, calling him "clearly unfit, unhinged."
"Donald Trump is supporting Mark Robinson," Emhoff said. "Those are the types of candidates that he’s supporting, and we can’t have it."
The full interview airs at noon ET Sunday on MSNBC.
Dave McCormick talks Pennsylvania energy at Erie conference
Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate nominee, Dave McCormick, joined Shale Insight, a conference focusing on American shale energy, manufacturing and jobs in Erie, to drill home a message: “America, led by Pennsylvania, must become the world’s most energy-dominant nation.”
He did not shy away from criticizing Harris for “pledging” to ban fracking when she ran for president back in 2019.
“What I think is often lost in this debate is that politicians can say they won’t ban fracking, but through onerous EPA regulations, slow-rolling of permits for infrastructure projects, ESG requirements that reduce the capital available for oil and gas projects and rhetorical attacks on this industry, liberals, policymakers can effectively ban fracking without actually saying it,” he said.
“ESG” refers to investment principles based on “environmental, social and governance” concerns.
“During the Biden-Harris administration, we’ve gotten a taste of what this anti-fracking, anti-energy agenda looks like, a rationally constrained production and new energy infrastructure at home to satisfy environmental activists.”
McCormick also criticized the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to stop approving liquefied natural gas export permits, calling it a “huge setback.” He advocated for unleashing oil and gas production in the U.S. and said he believes it would “unlock a bright future for the commonwealth,” adding that all of that could be done while being “good stewards of our environment.”
“The only thing stopping us from becoming energy dominant is ourselves. It’s red tape. It’s a lack of imagination, it’s backward thinking, and it’s weak, weak leaders,” he said.
McCormick’s opponent, Sen. Bob Casey, addressed the conference by video. According to his team, he was unable to attend because of Senate duties.
McCormick told the crowd, “I had the opportunity to see Sen. Casey phone it in, and I am happy to see him making an energy transition. But I want to say: Don’t believe it. Don’t believe it.”
Casey campaign spokesperson Emma Mustion told NBC News, “Senator Casey has always supported Pennsylvania’s energy industry, even breaking with his own party to protect fracking jobs and oppose a shutdown of natural gas exports. Meanwhile, McCormick was investing in Chinese state-owned oil companies. Pennsylvanians deserve a leader like Bob Casey that has always stood up for Pennsylvania energy workers.”
Democrats’ advertising advantage evaporates in key Ohio Senate race
Republicans are dominating the airwaves in Ohio’s Senate race this month, erasing an advantage that Sen. Sherrod Brown and his Democratic allies enjoyed all spring and for much of the summer in a battle that could tip control of the Senate.
GOP nominee Bernie Moreno and the outside groups supporting him have spent double what Brown and the Democrats have on TV, radio and digital advertising since Sept. 1 — roughly $70 million to $35 million through yesterday, according to the tracking firm AdImpact.
Jack Smith's team files evidence in Trump election interference case
Special counsel Jack Smith's team has filed evidence in its 2020 election interference case against Trump, a spokesperson from Smith's office confirmed tonight.
"We have complied with the court’s order," the spokesperson, Peter Carr, said in a statement, referring to a deadline to file the evidence today.
The contents of the filing were immediately available for public viewing.
Trump's attorneys this week sought to thwart the special counsel's plans to file the brief, which is expected to address whether certain actions during Trump's first term were official or unofficial acts.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign, said in a statement tonight that Smith is "hell-bent on interfering in the Presidential election on behalf of Comrade Kamala Harris."
"This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes,” Cheung said.
Independent journalist publishes Trump campaign document hacked by Iran despite election interference concerns
An American journalist who runs an independent newsletter published a document today that appears to have been stolen from Trump’s presidential campaign — the first public posting of a file that is believed to be part of a dossier that federal officials say is part of an Iranian effort to manipulate the U.S. election.
The PDF document is a 271-page opposition research file on Vance.
For more than two months, hackers who the U.S. says are tied to Iran have tried to persuade the American media to cover files they stole. No outlets took the bait.
Trump on Mark Robinson: 'I don't know the situation'
Asked by a reporter at the end of his news conference whether he'd pull his endorsement of North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, Trump said "I don't know the situation" before he walked away.
NBC News reported last week that Trump had gotten calls from his allies and from within his own campaign to pull his enthusiastic endorsement of the scandal-plagued candidate but that he had no plans to do so.
Those calls came after CNN reported that Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, posted a series of offensive comments on the message board of a pornography website called “Nude Africa,” including referring to himself as a “black NAZI!”
Feds expected to announce charges related to hacking of Trump campaign
The Justice Department is expected to announce charges tomorrow related to what the U.S. has said was an Iranian hack of the Trump campaign and other cyberattacks by Iranian operatives, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter.
The FBI said last week that Iranian operatives have been peddling stolen Trump documents to journalists and that they even sent some to staffers on the Biden-Harris campaign, who didn’t open the emails.
The expected announcement comes amid increasing concern inside the Justice Department and U.S. intelligence agencies about covert efforts by Russia, China and Iran to manipulate American public opinion in advance of the Nov. 5 election. U.S. intelligence officials said last week that foreign adversaries are using artificial intelligence to deceive Americans, and Microsoft reported on a video made by Russia operatives designed to discredit Harris.
Smartmatic and Newsmax reach settlement in election defamation case
Smartmatic and Newsmax have reached a settlement in the voting technology company’s election defamation lawsuit against the right-wing news outlet shortly before the case was set to go to trial.
The lawsuit focused on Newsmax’s false claims that Smartmatic’s machines rigged the 2020 presidential election for Biden.