The Latest: Trump held rally in North Carolina; Harris campaign launches $90M ad buy

Donald Trump held a rally and speech in North Carolina on Wednesday that his campaign billed as a significant economic address, though the former president spent much of his time airing grievances against his rivals and veering toward familiar topics like the U.S.-Mexico border. Set in a Democratic city surrounded by staunchly Republican mountain counties, the event carried both national and local implications for the former president.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is launching a $90 million advertising effort over the next three weeks to introduce the Democrat to voters and sharpen the contrast with Trump. The media buy marks her campaign’s largest-yet investment in messaging to voters with just 2 1/2 months until Election Day in November.

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Here’s the Latest:

Walz says country is ‘ready for hopefulness’ at Boston fundraiser

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz attended a fundraiser in downtown Boston Wednesday evening, hauling in more than $1.2 million, according to his campaign, and painting what he called a more hopeful vision of the country than his GOP counterpart, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance.

Walz said the race is going to be hard fought but said the sense of optimism around the Democratic ticket is palpable.

“This energy that’s out there is real,” Walz told the gathering of about 50 supporters in a hotel ballroom. Notables included Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and U.S. Sen. Edward Markey.

“People are pouring their literal souls into this because they know what’s at stake,” Walz said.

Walz also criticized the top of the Republican ticket.

“Donald Trump is out there today making an economic speech and saying ‘I’ll lower energy prices by 70 percent by drilling,’” Walz said. “That’s nonsense.”

Walz said he was also looking forward to debating Vance on Oct. 1 in New York City, should Vance accept.

“We have very different visions of America,” Walz told the gathering.

“This country is ready for hopefulness,” he added. “We’ve always been believers in the future. We’ve never been fearful of the future. At our heart we are not angry people.”

Vance will ‘hopefully’ debate Walz — if his stipulations are met

Sen. JD Vance hasn’t committed to debating his Democratic foil, Gov. Tim Walz, on Oct. 1, but he sounds open to doing it, with certain parameters.

Trump’s running mate said Wednesday on Fox News that he only learned of CBS News’ debate invitation several hours earlier, as he was landing following a campaign event in Michigan.

Earlier Wednesday, CBS News posted on its X feed that the network had invited both Vance and Walz to debate in New York City, presenting four possible dates — Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 and Oct. 8 — as options.

Walz reposted that message from his own campaign account, “See you on October 1, JD.” The Harris-Walz campaign followed up with a message of its own, saying Walz “looks forward to debating JD Vance — if he shows up.”

Vance said Wednesday that “hopefully” he would debate Walz on that date, adding, “I strongly suspect that we’re going to be there on Oct. 1,” but made no firm commitment, saying he wanted to see specifics on debate moderators and whether an audience would be present.

“We’re not going to walk into a fake news media garbage debate. We’re going to do a real debate, and if CBS agrees to it, then certainly we’ll do it,” Vance said.

Trump veers off message again: Do voters care about the economy or about Harris’ laugh?

Trump sought to recalibrate his presidential comeback bid with a North Carolina rally focused on the economy, but he struggled to stay focused on a topic that voters identify as a top concern.

Trump opened his speech with off-script attacks on the media and aired his grievances over the Democrats swapping Vice President Harris for President Biden atop their ticket. He referred to San Francisco, where Harris was once the district attorney, as “unlivable” and went after his rival in deeply personal terms, questioning her intelligence and saying she has “the laugh of a crazy person.”

“You know why she hasn’t done an interview? She’s not smart. She’s not intelligent. And we’ve gone through enough of that with this guy, crooked Joe,” Trump said.

Trump said that his aides wanted him to focus on economic concerns but that he was “not sure” he agreed the economy is the most important issue of the election.

‘Do you think he knows you?’

Walz pointed out that Kamala Harris worked at a McDonald’s growing up and drew laughs when he asked the crowd if they could imagine Donald Trump working at the fast food chain, challenging his populism.

“Do you think he knows you? You think he knows who you are? You think he knows your family?” he said.

Google reports an Iranian group targeted Biden and Trump affiliates in a cyberattack

An Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard has tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to President Biden and former President Trump since May, according to Google. The company said the group is still targeting people associated with Biden, Trump and Vice President Harris. It said the recipients include current and former government officials, as well as presidential campaign affiliates.

The new report from Google’s threat-intelligence arm affirms and expands on a Microsoft report released Friday that revealed the suspected Iranian cyber intrusion in the U.S. election.

Google also said it observed the group gain access to one high-profile political consultant’s personal Gmail account and reported the incident to law enforcement in July. Microsoft’s report shared similar information, noting that the email account of a former senior adviser to a presidential campaign had been compromised.

The new report from Google notes that the same Iranian group targeted both the Biden and Trump campaigns with phishing attacks during the 2020 cycle, as early as June of that year.

The report also notes that the group is active in other cyber espionage activity, including email-phishing campaigns targeted at Israeli diplomats, academics, NGOs and military affiliates.

Trump meanders off message

Throughout his speech, Trump has ping-ponged between his prepared remarks and familiar attacks — often deviating from the teleprompter in the middle of explaining a new economic promise when something triggered another thought for him. He ticked through prepared remarks crisply and quickly. The rest was his more haphazard, sing-song style, punctuated with hand gestures and hyperbole.

He repeatedly digressed from discussing a policy contrast with Harris to swiping at her hometown of San Francisco. He noted several times that it was Biden, not Harris, who earned votes from Democratic primary voters. During a section of his speech on energy, he slipped seemingly at random in an apparent dig at Hunter Biden, the president’s son, and his “laptop from hell.”

As soon as Trump had committed to slashing energy prices by “half, at least half” within 12 months or “a maximum of 18” of his potential presidency, he hedged, seemingly off script: “If it doesn’t work out, you’ll say, oh well, I voted for him and he still got it down a lot.”

Walz stumps at Colorado fundraiser

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz praised the economies of his home state and Colorado during a fundraiser in Denver on Wednesday, noting that Minnesota recently edged Texas out of CNBC’s top five state economies, drawing cheers.

Walz said the “libertarian westernism” found in both Colorado and Minnesota includes supporting reproductive rights, adding that Texas can’t make the same promise to protect the rights of women-leading companies.

“Come live in states that are free. Come live in states that let you make your own choices,” Walz said, speaking in the midday heat on the grounds of a historic mansion owned by Tim Gill, a former software entrepreneur and a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights credited with helping shift Colorado to Democratic control.

The former teacher and football coach criticized vouchers allowing students to attend private schools, saying that“cannibalizes the public schools,” and also spoke out against book bans, drawing more cheers.

“Don’t read it if you don’t want to,” Walz said.

Trump takes the stage at North Carolina campaign rally

Former President Donald Trump is opening what was pitched as an economic speech with his usual off-script attacks on Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, the “fake news media” and President Joe Biden.

Trump’s speech in Asheville, North Carolina, is billed as the latest attempt for the GOP nominee to reset his campaign since Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed his vice president.

Harris, Walz will have a joint bus tour ahead of the DNC

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tm Walz, are gearing up for the Democratic National Convention with a joint bus tour.

Harris, Walz and their spouses, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz, will start the tour in Pittsburgh on Sunday. That follows Harris introducing Walz as her running mate at a Philadelphia rally last week, underscoring just how important a swing sate Pennsylvania will be.

The bus tour will begin a day after Walz makes a solo campaign stop in Omaha, Nebraska, the state where he was born.

Nebraska overall is reliably Republican, but awards its electoral votes by congressional district — meaning Omaha’s single delegate is competitive.

Both Walz and Harris will later in the week address their party’s convention, which opens on Monday in Chicago.

Senate intelligence committee leaders warn against meddling in US elections

The leaders of the Senate intelligence committee are warning Iran and other adversaries not to meddle in the election after former President Donald Trump’s campaign said it was hacked and blamed groups linked to Tehran.

Committee chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the alleged infiltration of the campaign’s systems is a reminder that “our foreign adversaries are intently interested in disrupting our democratic process.”

The two lawmakers called on law enforcement and the intelligence community to investigate and deter attempts to influence the election. They said the U.S. would respond to any nation that tries to hack into campaigns or spread disinformation in an effort to meddle with the election.

“There will be consequences to interfering in the American democratic process, and the Administration and both political parties must make that clear,” Warner and Rubio wrote.

The Trump campaign said Saturday that someone illegally accessed its network and obtained access to internal documents. Trump has blamed Iran, citing a Microsoft report stating Iran had sought to hack into a presidential campaign. Iran has denied involvement.

The FBI on Monday confirmed that it’s investigating the intrusion of the Trump campaign. Two people familiar with the matter said the FBI also is investigating attempts to gain access to the Biden-Harris campaign.

Vance: Harris responsible for policies that have been ‘decimating the American auto industry’

Ohio Sen. JD Vance is arguing to Rust Belt voters in Michigan that Vice President Kamala Harris is responsible for policy decisions he says have been “decimating the American auto industry.”

During a campaign stop in Byron Center, Michigan, on Wednesday, Vance told a crowd gathered outside a family-owned trucking company that Harris only “pretends to stand for normal Americans,” arguing that policies she supports on immigration result in “flooding this country with millions of illegal day laborers.”

Vance has been ping-ponging among the Rust Belt states where margins between Harris and former President Donald Trump are anticipated to be slim in November’s election.

As he hits the road, Vance has been targeting Harris directly, along with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Last week in Wisconsin, as both Vance and Harris ended up landing at the same airport around the same time, Vance exited his plane and walked across the tarmac over to the government plane on which Harris had flown, holding a gaggle with the reporters traveling with her, and criticizing Harris for not sitting for an interview since her ascent to the top of Democrats’ ticket.

On Wednesday, Vance again levied that criticism, saying Harris “doesn’t talk to the media, she just talks behind a teleprompter.”

He also took issue with the way in which Democrats subbed Harris in for Joe Biden after the president shuttered his 2024 campaign last month.

“Everything about her campaign is fake,” Vane said. “It’s a fake ticket that never earned a single Democratic primary vote.”

Trump casts early vote in Florida state primaries before heading to North Carolina for rally

Former President Donald Trump cast his early vote in the Florida state primaries Wednesday before traveling to Asheville, North Carolina, for a campaign rally. Tuesday is election day for the Florida primaries and some nonpartisan races.

The GOP presidential nominee told reporters he would be focusing his speech at the rally on the economy. He’s criticized the Biden administration for the rampant inflation, but a report Wednesday showed continuing signs that inflation is slowing down.

When asked about the FBI’s investigation into the alleged hacking of his campaign, Trump accused Iran of being behind it.

“They are looking at it, and they are doing it very professionally,” he said. “It looks like it’s Iran doing it. And the reason is because I was strong in Iran, and I was protecting people in the Middle East, and maybe they aren’t so happy about that.”

Trump said he did not want to say whether the information came from the FBI.

Pro-Trump lawyer removed from Dominion case after leaking documents to cast doubt on 2020 election

A pro-Trump lawyer who is facing felony charges in Michigan of improperly accessing voting equipment following the 2020 presidential election has been disqualified from representing a prominent funder of election conspiracy theorists who is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems.

Michigan lawyer Stefanie Lambert has been representing Patrick Byrne, the founder of Overstock.com, in a defamation lawsuit brought against him by Dominion, one of the main targets of conspiracy theories over former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.

Lambert was disqualified from the case on Tuesday after admitting to releasing thousands of confidential discovery documents that she had agreed to keep private.

Due to Lambert’s actions, the documents that all parties “had agreed to keep confidential, have now been shared widely in the public domain,” U.S. District Court Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya wrote in a 62-page opinion.

Contenders in key Wisconsin Senate race come out swinging after primaries

Republican millionaire businessman Eric Hovde and Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin are wasting no time going after one another.

Hovde easily captured the GOP nomination Tuesday, officially setting the field in Wisconsin’s closely watched Senate race. The seat in battleground Wisconsin is seen as essential for Democrats, who know they must win there if they hope to maintain majority control of the Senate. A win there for Republicans would dramatically increase their chances of gaining the upper hand in an election landscape that has Democrats defending far more Senate seats this year.

Hovde is banking on his deep pockets and an endorsement from former President Donald Trump to knock off Baldwin, a liberal Democrat who’s honed her ability to appeal to key independent and moderate voters.

Baldwin launched a rural Wisconsin tour Wednesday with a stop at a farm in Merrill before a brewery tour in Chippewa Falls in a key swing area of western Wisconsin. Hovde aired two new positive ads featuring his wife and others touting his charitable work and his battle with multiple sclerosis.

Judge rejects Donald Trump’s latest demand to step aside from hush money criminal case

Donald Trump has lost his latest bid for a new judge in his New York hush money criminal case as it heads toward a key ruling and potential sentencing next month.

In a decision posted Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan declined to step aside and said Trump’s demand was a rehash “rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims” about his ability to remain impartial.

It’s the third time Merchan has rejected such a request from lawyers for the former president and current Republican nominee. They contend the judge has a conflict of interest because his daughter works as a political consultant for prominent Democrats, including Kamala Harris when she sought the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nomination. Harris is now the party’s nominee against Trump.

The judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, met Harris occasionally in 2019 but never “developed an individual relationship” with her, consulting firm founder Mike Nellis told the chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in a letter Tuesday. The firm, Authentic Campaigns Inc., has not worked for Harris’ campaign, President Joe Biden’s now-ended reelection bid or the Democratic National Committee in the 2024 election cycle, Nellis said.

Turnout in Wisconsin election tops 26%, highest in 60 years for fall primary in presidential year

Turnout in Wisconsin’s election Tuesday was the highest in 60 years for a presidential year partisan primary, with over 26% of the state’s voting-age population casting ballots, based on unofficial results.

The election was marked by voters rejecting two constitutional amendments that sought to limit the governor’s power to spend money and deciding a pair of hotly contested congressional primaries. The election was also the first under newly drawn legislative maps, creating dozens of competitive races in addition to other hot contests for local office.

The city of Madison, a Democratic stronghold, had 45% turnout — the highest for a fall partisan turnout in at least 40 years, the farthest back the clerk’s office has records.

A proposed New York amendment lacks 1 word that could drive voter turnout: ‘abortion’

A proposed amendment to New York’s constitution meant to protect abortion access is a crucial part of Democrats’ plans to drive voter turnout in the state this fall and potentially flip vital congressional districts.

But there could be a problem: The ballot question doesn’t mention the word “abortion.”

Arguments began Wednesday over a lawsuit Democrats hope will force election officials to include the term in an explanation of the amendment that voters will see when casting their ballots.

The unusual legal effort begins weeks after the state Board of Elections chose late last month to use the measure’s technical language verbatim rather than interpret it in its explanation to voters.

Democrats plan “DemPalooza” during the party’s convention in Chicago next week

The Democratic National Committee will offer a schedule of trainings, panels and other programming it’s calling “DemPalooza” during the party’s convention in Chicago next week. The name is a play on the Lollapalooza music festival Chicago plays hosts to every year.

The DNC said Wednesday that the “DemPalooza” events will be held daily at McCormick Place. The convention itself will take place at the United Center.

“DemPalooza” events will range from trainings on how to use organizing tools to polling briefings and skills workshops. The DNC says these programs are part of its and the Harris campaign’s efforts to organize and reach voters in an evolving media environment and provide opportunities for Democrats to take what they’ve learned back to the communities that will decide the November presidential election.

“DemPalooza” will also feature an expo with vendor booths and interactive spaces for participants to make friendship bracelets, get a “Kamala Harris” manicure, listen to podcasts or watch performances by local artists.

Americans give Harris an advantage over Trump on honesty and discipline, an AP-NORC poll finds

Vice President Kamala Harris has a perceived advantage over former President Donald Trump on several leadership qualities such as honesty, a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds, although Americans are slightly more likely to trust Trump on the economy and immigration.

Nearly half of Americans say that “committed to democracy” and “disciplined” are attributes that better describe Harris. About 3 in 10 say these qualities better describe Trump.

About 4 in 10 say Harris is someone who “cares about people like you” while about 3 in 10 say that about Trump. About 4 in 10 say “honest” better describes Harris and 24% say that quality better describes Trump.

Both parties are racing to define Harris as she prepares to accept the Democratic nomination at the party’s convention next week. The poll suggests she carries some of the same baggage that weighed down President Joe Biden before he ended his reelection bid but has advantages over Trump when they’re compared to each other. And Democrats continue to be much happier about her candidacy than they were about Biden’s.

Harris campaign’s new $90 million in battleground ads in August aims to sharpen contrast with Trump

Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is launching a $90 million advertising effort over the next three weeks to introduce the Democrat to voters and sharpen the contrast with Republican Donald Trump.

The media buy marks her campaign’s largest-yet investment in messaging to voters with just 2 1/2 months until Election Day in November. It comes on the heels of a $50 million worth of ads booked last month shortly after Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the party’s ticket.

Harris’ campaign is buoyed by a rush of fundraising since the switch, and is now moving to spend the money in an effort to counter what had been overwhelming spending by Trump and his allies in the days after Biden dropped out.

Harris’ team said the ad campaign will focus on the vice president’s personal narrative, her career as a prosecutor in California, her commitment to standing up to powerful interests, and a contrast with what it termed Trump’s “dangerous, extreme agenda.”

Trump is going to North Carolina for an economic speech. Can he stick to a clear message?

Donald Trump will have another opportunity Wednesday to recalibrate his presidential comeback bid, this time with a rally and speech in North Carolina that his campaign is billing as a significant economic address.

Set in a Democratic city surrounded by staunchly Republican mountain counties, the event carries both national and local implications for the former president.

Republicans are looking for Trump to focus the scattershot arguments and attacks he’s made on Vice President Kamala Harris since Democrats elevated her as their presidential nominee. Twice in the last week, Trump has fumbled such an opportunity, first in an hourlong news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, then in a 2 1/2-hour conversation on the social media platform X with CEO Elon Musk.

The latest attempt comes in the state that delivered Trump his closest statewide margin of victory four years ago and that is once again expected to be a battleground in 2024.