© AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein/Jacquelyn Martin |
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Trump, Harris play it safe before debate |
Vice President Harris and former President Trump are campaigning from safe spaces in the run-up to next week’s debate in Philadelphia. -
Trump will participate in a town hall event this evening in Harrisburg, Pa., with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, the latest long-form, unscripted appearance with a friendly media outlet for the former president.
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Harris traveled to Portsmouth, N.H., to unveil new economic plans aimed at boosting small businesses. New Hampshire is a traditionally blue state that doesn’t appear to be a competitive battleground since President Biden dropped out of the race. Harris did not take questions from the press.
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Harris briefly went off-script to acknowledge the shooting early Wednesday at a high school in Georgia, which killed four people. She recalled visiting a college campus last year and learning that everyone there grew up with active shooter drills. “Our kids are sitting in a classroom, where they should be fulfilling their God given potential, and some part of their brain is worried about a shooter busting through the classroom. It does not have to be this way. This is one of the many issues that’s at stake in this election.”
- Harris will travel Thursday to Pittsburgh, where she’ll stay to prepare for next week’s debate, The Washington Post reports.
Next Tuesday’s debate could be the only debate between Trump and Harris, and it will take place in the most important swing state: Pennsylvania.
The cautious approach by the candidates will likely change as Election Day nears and the campaigns look for ways to disrupt a race that’s effectively tied in the states that matter.
The latest from each campaign: HARRIS -
The vice president proposed tax relief for Americans starting a new business that would expand the deduction from $5,000 to $50,000, with the goal of achieving 25 million new small business applications over the next four years. The new businesses could wait to claim the deduction until they first start turning a profit.
- Axios reports that Harris no longer supports an electric vehicle mandate, though she has not said whether she’d veto the bill she co-sponsored requiring automakers to only build electric or hydrogen vehicles by 2035.
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Republicans are worried about Trump’s polling numbers with women. Trump has bounced around on the issue of abortion as he seeks a middle ground that will appeal to independents without alienating conservatives.
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Trump’s campaign is fuming at the media. In a memo, Trump campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles argued that glowing media coverage of Harris’s momentum does not match the reality of the polls: “Do the Democrats and voters realize this? Or does the mainstream media, in its attempt to manage public opinion and continue the ‘Harris Honeymoon,’ report a version of reality that is at odds with the facts?”
- The Trump campaign raised $130 million in August and has $300 million in cash on hand.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has become an attack dog for Trump since ending his third-party bid for the White House, slamming Harris in an interview on NewsNation’s “CUOMO”: “I think we need to have a president who can give an interview, who can articulate a vision, who can put together an English sentence, who can articulate her and defend her policies and her record, and who can engage in a debate with, and regular debates unscripted appearance.”
Perspectives: Read more: |
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Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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© Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press file |
Trump’s legal troubles percolate
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Former President Trump’s legal problems persist, even as they’ve largely faded into the background as prosecutors and the courts adjust to the new reality following the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. -
Trump will plead not guilty this week to charges stemming from a revised indictment from special counsel Jack Smith in the election interference case, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch reports.
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Smith obtained a new indictment following the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling in July, reframing the case to accuse Trump of election interference outside of his official capacity as president.
- U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled a hearing between prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys for Thursday.
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The Hill’s Ella Lee reports: The Supreme Court’s ruling that narrowed the obstruction charge used against Jan. 6 rioters resulted in the first reduction of a sentence. A Virginia police officer received a six-year prison sentence for rioting on the Capitol, more than a year less than he originally received when obstruction charges were included.
Elsewhere, a watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to remove Judge Aileen Cannon from Trump’s documents case. - Smith is appealing a ruling after Cannon determined that the special counsel was unlawfully appointed.
- The CREW brief asks for the documents case to be reassigned to another judge in South Florida.
Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled against Trump’s request to move the hush money case from a state court to a federal court. -
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein disagreed with Trump’s attorneys, who argued the New York courts were biased against him and that the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity means the case should be moved.
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Trump’s sentencing is currently scheduled for Sept. 18, though Judge Juan Merchan will decide whether it will proceed as planned. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office argued in a new letter that there is no need to delay the sentencing.
More from the courts: |
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Biden administration cracks down on alleged Russian misinformation schemes
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The Biden administration on Wednesday accused Russia of meddling in the 2024 election through a misinformation campaign. - The Department of Justice (DOJ) seized 32 web domains Russia has allegedly used to mimic U.S. news outlets and spread propaganda.
- The DOJ charged two employees of RT, formerly known as Russia Today, with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyev allegedly sought to conceal Russian involvement in a scheme to “amplify domestic divisions” within the U.S.
From The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch: “Collectively, the two actions are some of the strongest moves taken under the Biden White House to confront accelerating efforts by the Russian government the intelligence community has deemed “the predominant threat to U.S. elections.”
The report comes as the U.S. also faces new threats from China and Iran. - Iran hacked the Trump campaign and sought to send information it obtained to reporters.
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Officials also believe Iran sought to hack the Harris campaign but was unsuccessful.
- New research indicates a Chinese social media operation is promoting negative attacks against both candidates in an effort to sow divisiveness ahead of the election.
- China’s consul general in New York has been expelled after an aide was charged with acting as an agent for Chinese government.
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Hackers breached the social media accounts of Laura Trump and Tiffany Trump.
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© Andrew Harnik, Getty Images |
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House Republicans subpoena Walz
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House Republicans on the Education and the Workforce Committee issued a subpoena on Wednesday for Vice President Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Walz has been called to testify about a Minnesota-based nonprofit, Feeding Our Future (FOF), which has been accused of misusing $250 million in COVID-19 funds that was meant to go to hungry children.
“Statements in the press by you and your representatives indicate that you and other executive officers were involved, or had knowledge of, MDE’s [Minnesota Department of Education] administration of the FCNP [Federal Child Nutrition Program] and responsibilities and actions regarding the massive fraud,” Education Chair Virginia Foxx (R-VA.) said in the letter to Walz. Walz has until Sept. 18 to provide the information the committee requested.
More from Capitol Hill: |
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“How immigration remade the U.S. labor force,” by Paul Kiernan for The Wall Street Journal.
“Brazil bans X, adding to global censorship,” by Arturo McFields Yescas for The Hill.
“Hamas must pay for murdering an American hostage,” by the Editorial Board at The National Review. |
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6 days until the first presidential debate. 16 days until early in-person voting begins in Minnesota and South Dakota.
27 days until the vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz. 62 days until the 2024 general election.
138 days until Inauguration Day 2025.
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Wednesday - Trump participates in a town hall event with Fox News’s Sean Hannity at 9 p.m.
Thursday - Harris travels to Pittsburgh, where she’ll stay for debate prep.
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