Election 2024: Trump holds town hall in Michigan; Harris speaks with Black journalists in Philadelphia

Harris’ campaign is running new digital spots targeting voters in heavily Muslim neighborhoods in the Detroit area, emphasizing her saying she “will not be silent about human suffering in Gaza.”

The ads, which began running Tuesday on Snapchat and Google, according to records made available by the companies, include clips of Harris sympathizing with the people of Gaza. They mark a new stage in a microtargeted back-and-forth in the area over the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, with a GOP-aligned group running digital ads in similar areas stressing Harris’ support for Israel, apparently in a bid to drive voters there away from her.

The super PAC Future Coalition PAC also ran other ads that highlight the Jewish faith of Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, including ads that have leaned on antisemitic “dual loyalty” tropes about Jewish Americans. 

Read the full story here.

There will be an all-senators classified briefing next week on “foreign threats to U.S. elections,” according to a Senate source.

The briefing will take place at 4 p.m. Sept. 25, the source said.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he will not endorse Harris, Trump or any other candidate in the presidential election.

"I won't be endorsing in this race," Pence said in an interview with "Dr. Phil" McGraw's Merit Street Media. "How I vote, I'll keep to myself, like every American has the right to do."

Pence said Trump would not advance the "conservative agenda," citing his stance on abortion, his "ongoing differences about [his] constitutional duties on January 6" and a party platform that he said ignored the national debt and embraced a role on the foreign stage.

Trump will attend the Alabama-Georgia college football game on Sept. 28, according to a campaign official.

Trump has previously stopped by tailgates when he has attended football games, but it was not immediately clear whether he would be doing so ahead of the game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

During remarks in Wisconsin tonight, Vance said he was not perfect but promised to do his part to lower the temperature on political rhetoric following the apparent assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend.

"Now, I you know you hear a lot of talk about overheated political record rhetoric, and I’m not saying I’m perfect. I promise you that I will do my part to lower the temperature, because we don’t want anybody to get hurt in our politics, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans," Vance said in Eau Claire.

Still, he said Democrats "especially" need to tamp down their rhetoric.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders opened tonight's town hall by taking a swipe at Harris' lack of biological children.

"Not only do my kids serve as a permanent reminder of what’s important, they also keep me humble," Huckabee Sanders said, adding that kids "remind you very quickly you’re actually not that big of a deal."

“So my kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble,” Huckabee Sanders continued. "You would think, after four years of straight failure, she would know a little humility. Unfortunately, she doesn't."

Harris is stepmom to her husband Doug Emhoff's children, Cole and Ella, from his previous marriage to film producer Kerstin Emhoff.

Trump appeared to mix up Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska during a town hall in Flint, Michigan, tonight.

When discussing inflation and rising gas prices, Trump seemed to refer to a program initiated during his administration that allowed drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — a remote region of the state that is home to polar bears and wildlife, and contains a rich oil reserve. It is often referred to by its acronym ANWR.

"We have Bagram in Alaska. They say it might be as big, might be bigger than all of Saudi Arabia. I got it approved," Trump said, adding that the Biden administration "terminated it."

"Check that one out, Bagram, check that one out," Trump told supporters. "You go to ANWR, you take a look at the kind of things that we’ve given up. We should be, we should have that air base, we should have that oil."

Trump said at tonight's town hall that he will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.

He shared his meeting plans as he called India a very big "abuser" and "tough."

Trump has met with several heads of state during the campaign.

During a town hall in Michigan, Trump referred to his phone conversation today with Harris following Sunday's apparent attempt on his life.

"I got a very nice call from Kamala. It was very nice," Trump told the moderator, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. "We appreciate that, but we have to take back our country."

NBC News reported earlier that Harris spoke with Trump today by phone. According to a White House official, Harris called to say she was glad he was safe.

Trump called for rolling back part of his signature tax law today, suggesting he would seek to reinstate the state and local tax deduction, commonly known as SALT, that he controversially capped in the 2017 legislation.

In a Truth Social post ahead of his trip to New York’s Long Island, Trump wrote that he would “get SALT back” and “lower your Taxes” if he returns to the White House in January.

Trump didn’t elaborate or get specific. The statement appears to be the first time he has called for rolling back a piece of his biggest legislative achievement, a law that he has also called for extending next year, when major parts of it are set to expire.

Read the full story here.

After the second apparent attempt on Trump's life, House GOP leaders said tonight they want to vote this week on a bipartisan bill that would ensure Harris and Trump get the same level of security protection as President Joe Biden.

“The goal’s to have it on the floor this week,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said of the Enhanced Presidential Security Act of 2024.

“You can’t keep delaying and delaying and not having the proper level of protection for candidates for president, especially when you look at President Trump having direct threats now multiple times and good fortune being the reason it didn’t happen," Scalise added.

Russian disinformation peddlers are producing videos targeting the Harris-Walz campaign with false and disparaging claims, Microsoft said today.

At least three Russian disinformation actors have been working to denigrate the Harris-Walz campaign, Microsoft said. One is a “marketing” firm that the Justice Department indicted this month, while Microsoft identified the two others only by pseudonyms.

A spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry didn’t respond to an email requesting comment.

Read the full story here.

Trump Media, the company behind Truth Social, breached an agreement with one of the investors that helped it go public and must grant the investor a larger share of its stock, a judge ruled.

The order in Delaware Chancery Court yesterday came just three days before the investor, ARC Global, and other insiders — including Trump, the majority owner — will be free to start selling their shares.

If those insiders opt to cash out their stakes, they could be in line for a major payday. But they could also tank investor confidence and drive down Trump Media’s value, which has already fallen by billions of dollars amid a monthslong stock slump.

Read the full story here.

Harris ripped Trump’s repeated bashing of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, saying he was “spewing lies grounded in tropes.”

“It’s a crying shame. Literally,” Harris said in her most extensive remarks to date about Trump’s baseless claims.

“I know that people are deeply troubled by what is happening to that community in Springfield, Ohio, and it’s got to stop,” she said during a discussion hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Read the full story here.

For the second time in four months, Senate Democrats forced a vote on the Right to IVF Act, only to be blocked by Republicans who called it unnecessary and politically motivated as Harris seeks to make access to in vitro fertilization a campaign issue.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., forced the vote today after Trump called himself “a leader in fertilization, IVF,” at the recent debate with Harris and floated a vague plan to mandate that insurance companies or the government cover the treatment for free.

Read the full story here.

The FBI warned election offices to be on the lookout after threatening letters containing suspicious substances were sent to the offices of multiple secretaries of state throughout the country.

A senior law enforcement official confirmed elections officials in at least six states received packages yesterday but said that so far none of them have been found to contain any actual hazardous material.

Secretaries of state, attorney generals' offices and state election offices in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Tennessee, Wyoming and Oklahoma were targeted. The return address identified the sender as the “U.S.T.E.A.” — “US Traitor Elimination Army.”

The Kansas secretary of state’s office was evacuated yesterday, as were offices in Iowa and Oklahoma.

Read the full story here.

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said today that a visit from Trump would strain the city's resources as it responds to bomb threats and Trump's unfounded claims about Haitian immigrants' eating residents' pets.

“It would be an extreme strain on our resources. So it’d be fine with me if they decided not to make that visit," Rue said.

Gov. Mike DeWine, who, like Rue, is a Republican, said at the news conference that a campaign visit from a presidential candidate is "generally very, very welcomed," but he acknowledged that it would pose challenges for local officials.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said at his weekly news conference that it would be “politically beyond stupid” to shut down the government before the election and that Republicans “would certainly be blamed.”

"It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election because certainly, we get the blame,” McConnell said. “We’ve been here before. I’m for whatever avoids a government shutdown, and that’ll ultimately end up, obviously, being a discussion between the Democratic leader and the speaker of the House as to how to process avoiding a government shutdown.”

McConnell also said he would be open increasing funding for the Secret Service as part of a continuing resolution.

Vance told reporters this afternoon that he hasn't made plans to visit Springfield, the Ohio city that has been in the spotlight this month following baseless claims that he and Trump have made about Haitian immigrants' eating residents' pets.

Vance responded to a question about NBC News’ reporting that Trump soon plans to visit the city and was asked whether he would join Trump on the trip or whether he had made his own plans to visit.

"I don’t know there’s anything firm just yet. So my attitude towards it is doing what’s best for the residents in Springfield. I haven’t made plans to go just in the last few days," Vance said. "I know the president would like to go but also hasn’t made any explicit plans. And certainly when they do it, if they do it, it’ll be with full concern about the safety and security of the residents in mind."

During her panel interview, the interviewers asked Harris for her thoughts about the Springfield, Ohio, bomb threats and comments from Vance.

"When you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to understand at a very deep level how much your words have meaning," she said, adding, "It's a crying shame, literally, what's happening to those families, those children in that community."

Asked whether she had any specific policy change she would implement in U.S. policy on Israel and Gaza, Harris did not answer directly.

"We need to get this deal done. That is my position, and that is my policy," Harris said.  "We need a cease-fire deal. We need a hostage deal."

Pressed about whether she would strike a tougher position on sending weapons to Israel, she said that she was a staunch defender of Israel and that it has a right to defend itself. She also said she has been involved in discussions with Israeli leaders and others in the area, but she would not disclose what was said. "We've made very clear this deal needs to get done," she said.

The NABJ event is underway, with Harris discussing her economic plan.

Asked about people who are struggling financially, Harris promoted her plan to spur the construction of new housing with tax credits and to offer financial assistance for first-time homebuyers and expand the child tax credit.

According to a White House official, Harris called Trump this afternoon to speak with him directly following the apparent assassination attempt and express that she is glad he is safe. The conversation was "cordial and brief," the official said.

While addressing supporters in Michigan, Vance addressed the story published yesterday by ProPublica about a Georgia mother who died after waiting 20 hours for a hospital to treat her abortion pill complications.

“It’s an unspeakable tragedy. It should never happen in this country," he said. "And that’s why we believe on the pro-life side in the life of the mother exception.”

He also said he would also like to learn more about the details of the case, which NBC News has not independently confirmed.

Roughly 90 minutes before Harris' interview is expected to begin, the space at WHYY Philadelphia was packed with students from local HBCUs, guests and a small contingent of media.

The Republican mayor of Springfield, Ohio, urged public figures to understand the “great weight” of their words and the negative impacts they can have during an interview on MSNBC’s "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Asked about the false claims of Haitian immigrants eating household pets that Trump and Vance continue to push, Mayor Rob Rue said the false rumors need to “quiet down” and that the city needs “help, not hate, we need peace.”

“If you have the national stage and you’re a national politician, please understand the words that you’re saying have great weight and how they can negatively affect the community like Springfield, Ohio,” Rue said.

Singer Billie Eilish and her brother, fellow musician Finneas, endorsed Harris-Walz today in a video posted to X.

"We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet, and our democracy," Eilish said.

Her brother says, "The only way to stop them and the dangerous Project 2025 agenda is to vote and elect Kamala Harris." Since entering the race, Harris has nabbed several major celebrity endorsements, including from Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Oprah Winfrey.

Trump is expected to participate Thursday in an event related to fighting antisemitism in Washington, D.C. According to a press release, GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson and other Jewish supporters will be in attendance.

Adelson is a major financial backer of Trump and Republicans and she attended the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas earlier this month. While in office in 2018, Trump honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson said the House will vote tomorrow on a six-month stopgap funding bill linked to legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote — the same package he abruptly pulled off the floor last week amid growing GOP opposition.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, spent the weekend calling members and trying to flip GOP defections to the yes column. But given Republicans’ narrow 220-211 majority, and some members’ blanket opposition to short-term bills known as continuing resolutions or CRs, it’s highly unlikely Johnson can push the package through the House.

Read the full story here.

Ranking House Intelligence Committee member Jim Himes, D-Conn., today called out Republicans who are placing blame on Democrats for the apparent assassination attempt against Trump on Sunday.

“If your instinct is to point the fingers at your political opponents, you are doing this wrong. And you are eroding Americans’ faith in their democracy," he said in an interview with MSNBC.

In Atlanta yesterday, Vance said, “No one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months. I’d say that’s pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and needs to cut this crap out. "

Trump also made similar comments yesterday on social media.

At a political event in Macon, Georgia, Walz addressed the second apparent assassination attempt against Trump, condemning political violence.

“All of us know we don’t solve our differences in this country with violence," he said. "We condemn it in all its forms. We solve our differences at the ballot box."

In the afternoon, Walz heads to Asheville, North Carolina, for a campaign rally.

Harris responded to a ProPublica report on a 28-year-old woman’s abortion-related death in Georgia by saying that Trump is to blame for the state’s restrictive abortion laws. According to ProPublica, Amber Nicole Thurman died after she didn’t receive timely medical care to treat a rare complication after taking abortion pills.

NBC News has not independently verified the report. In response to a request for comment on Harris’ statement, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the former president "has always supported exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, which Georgia’s law provides."

"With those exceptions in place, it’s unclear why doctors did not swiftly act to protect Amber Thurman’s life," Leavitt said.

“This young mother should be alive, raising her son, and pursuing her dream of attending nursing school,” Harris said in a statement. She said the story is "exactly what we feared" when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is set to launch a weekly podcast that will air Wednesdays at 8 a.m. on SiriusXM through Inauguration Day, the radio broadcasting corporation announced today.

The podcast, titled “Nikki Haley Live,” will run for an hour and will premiere next week. Haley will analyze the week’s top headlines and election news and feature conversations with key figures and callers, according to a press release.

Haley has made regular media appearances to offer suggestions on Trump and Vance’s campaign. In an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” last week, the former South Carolina governor said she thinks Trump and Vance need to change the way they speak about women and turn their focus on policy issues.

Vance will deliver remarks in Sparta, Michigan — a town with just over 4,200 residents — today at 1:30 p.m.

In the evening, Vance will make his fifth trip to Wisconsin this campaign, speaking at an event in Eau Claire.

PHILADELPHIA — Harris will take questions from three members of the National Association of Black Journalists today, six weeks after Trump questioned her ethnicity and clashed with a journalist at the organization’s national convention in Chicago.

Harris declined an invitation from NABJ to attend the August convention because it conflicted with the funeral of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

Today at WHYY, a public radio station in downtown Philadelphia, Harris will field questions from Tonya Mosley, co-host of NPR’s “Fresh Air” and host of the “Truth Be Told” podcast; Gerren Keith Gaynor, White House correspondent and managing editor of politics at TheGrio; and Eugene Daniels, Playbook co-author and White House correspondent for Politico.

NABJ said PolitiFact will perform fact-checks in real time, which will also be shared using the hashtag #NABJFactCheck on social media and through a live feed on the NABJ website.

A golfing partner of Trump has described the dramatic moment he heard gunshots and saw Secret Service agents dive on top of the former president during the apparent assassination attempt at his Florida golf course Sunday.

Businessman Steve Witkoff, a longtime Trump friend and political donor, told NBC News on Tuesday that he knew immediately that a series of loud “pops” was gunfire, and praised the Secret Service for their quick response in getting Trump off the golf course in under 20 seconds.

A suspect, Ryan Routh, was charged Monday night with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh hid in bushes for up to 12 hours and pointed a semiautomatic weapon at Trump from about 400 yards away, authorities said.

Trump had “a guy who follows him right behind him, but there’s also people perched next to him. The entire team converged on top of him, except for the snipers,” Witkoff told NBC’s “TODAY” show.

Third-party candidates have played a big role in deciding key presidential battleground states in the last few years — meaning which (and how many) candidates will actually be on the ballot state by state could matter a lot in a close election.

That reality has led to a series of protracted court battles over ballot access across the country. In recent weeks, state supreme courts in North Carolina and Michigan issued different decisions, allowing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to remove himself from the ballot in the first state but keeping him on the ballot in the second state. After spending millions to get on state ballots, Kennedy has attempted to pull back since endorsing Trump. 

Kennedy initially sparked fears among Democrats that the descendent of one of the Democratic Party’s most storied families could jeopardize their path to the White House. But Kennedy’s base of support grew more and more right-leaning in 2024, eventually pulling more from people who might back Trump. And there are still other third-party candidates, including some familiar faces and some new ones, whose presence on key state ballots could affect the November results.

Read the full story here.

The American Federation of Teachers is set to air three ads in key battleground states featuring its president, Randi Weingarten, alongside educators and parents criticizing Trump and Vance’s comments on defunding public schools, school shootings and teachers who don’t have children.

A TV ad, titled “Team Kid,” will air statewide in Pennsylvania and is narrated by Weingarten. “No Clue,” a 30-second radio ad, will also run in the state and features a father pushing back on Trump and Vance’s disparaging comments about Haitian immigrants and inaction on gun violence at schools. A 30-second digital video ad, titled “A Lesson for JD Vance,” will target voters within 5 miles of Vance’s scheduled campaign stops, including those in Michigan and North Carolina, and focuses on remarks by Trump’s running mate on childless educators.

The Democratic National Committee is launching a textline Tuesday to help people with voting questions, aiming to reach voters where they are — on their phones — when they need help with something about the ballot-casting process in the next 49 days before Election Day.

Ahead of National Voter Registration Day, DNC chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement to NBC News that the effort is aimed especially at helping young people navigate the voting process.

“Every voter deserves to make their voice heard and cast their ballot for the future they want to see, which is why we’ve invested millions into our ‘I Will Vote’ program and have launched a new text hotline to get young voters real time information and live support directly on their phones in the run up to Election Day,” Harrison said in the statement.

Harris will be in Philadelphia today to participate in a discussion hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Harris, who has faced criticism for doing very few media interviews, will speak with a panel of three journalists before an audience of NABJ members and local HBCU journalism and communications students, according to NABJ.

The event comes a month-and-a-half after Trump participated in a combative interview at NABJ's annual conference, where he focused on Harris' race and baselessly suggested that she had recently decided to "turn Black" for political purposes.

Trump will participate in town hall tonight in Flint, Michigan. The event will be moderated by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served for two years as White House press secretary during his administration.