With just over two weeks before the 2024 presidential election, and are hitting the campaign trail in strategic battleground states.
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Here鈥檚 the latest:
Trump criticized the Biden administration for the leak of secret documents detailing Israel鈥檚 preparation for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran
He called it a 鈥渂ad thing.鈥�
鈥淐an you imagine somebody doing that? That鈥檚 the enemy. I guess that maybe is the enemy from within,鈥� he said, repeating the phrase he鈥檚 used in recent speeches to refer to Democratic lawmakers such as U.S. Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff.
鈥淲e just can鈥檛 stand for this incompetence anymore.鈥�
The FBI said Tuesday that it鈥檚 of these documents.
At his event, Trump compliments Goya, the largest, Hispanic-owned food company in the country
The company鈥檚 CEO, Bob Unanue, is a vocal supporter.
鈥淚t鈥檚 actually quite good out of the can,鈥� Trump says of the company known for its beans and other products.
鈥淚 eat it whenever I can,鈥� he claims.
Bruce Springsteen is holding campaign concerts for Kamala Harris starting Thursday in Atlanta
Former President Barack Obama will also be there.
Springsteen will hold another concert with Obama on Monday in Philadelphia.
A senior campaign official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said more concerts will be announced in the coming days.
鈥� Chris Megerian
Trump is using the roundtable with Latin American leaders to complain about negative ads against him and criticize Harris鈥� intellect
At the event, Trump said Harris is 鈥渟low鈥� and has a 鈥渓ow IQ.鈥�
鈥淲e don鈥檛 need another low IQ person,鈥� he said.
Trump criticized Harris for her schedule Tuesday, which includes meetings in Washington and interviews with Telemundo and NBC, but no public events
鈥淪he鈥檚 sleeping right now,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is not what you want.鈥�
Trump鈥檚 jabs come after Harris tried to cast him as 鈥渆xhausted鈥� after he pulled out of several interviews 鈥� though Trump has had a busy schedule of interviews with conservative outlets and podcasts.
Trump will be speaking to Hispanic voters and leaders in a smaller gathering at Trump National Doral Miami
In the opening remarks, notable Florida Republicans including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott proclaimed Trump鈥檚 record in supporting the Hispanic community during his previous term.
Suarez was one of three Florida Republicans running for president in the earlier campaign cycle, but despite running against Trump, the mayor endorsed the former president in March. Suarez said that under Trump鈥檚 term, Hispanics experienced the lowest unemployment and the biggest reduction in poverty.
Scott, who鈥檚 running for reelection, emphasized Trump would be the best to handle Latin American conflicts and fight against dictatorial regimes, where the families of many voters in the crowd escaped from.
Miami is home to one of the largest Hispanic communities in the country, with about 70% of Miami-Dade County鈥檚 population identifying as Hispanic according to 2023 Census data.
Trump is starting his day at a roundtable with Latino leaders at his Doral golf club in Florida
It鈥檚 a beautiful day in Miami, with blue skies framing the property鈥檚 many palm trees.
US Sen. Rick Scott spoke to a crowd of about 100 Hispanic voters at the Trump National Doral Miami
Scott鈥檚 main message to Hispanic voters was that under Trump鈥檚 presidency, Hispanic voters were better off, because the border was more secure and inflation was lower.
Scott is saying Harris鈥� policy will institute price controls, which is socialism. He said her administration would raise taxes.
鈥淭he Hispanic vote is the deciding factor. If you want someone to fight for Latin America, Trump鈥檚 going to do it,鈥� Scott said.
Those early Zoom meetings got people fired up for Harris. Now they鈥檙e trying to get them to vote
When Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and jumped in, a cascade of Zoom meetings with hundreds of thousands of participants popped up seemingly out of nowhere and helped propel her to the Democratic nomination.
Now organizers are trying to turn that burst of digital enthusiasm into traditional get-out-the-vote efforts like phone banking and door knocking. They鈥檝e created a loose constellation of volunteer networks operating independently of the Harris campaign, all geared toward marshaling local or online communities behind the vice president.
People are sending postcards, texting friends, canvassing battleground states, making friendship bracelets with campaign messages, and sometimes surprising themselves by getting involved in ways they鈥檝e never done before.
The question is whether the Zoom meetings that drew so much attention during the summer 鈥� for Black women, Black men, white women, white dudes, cat ladies, Taylor Swift fans and more 鈥� will turn out to be a short-lived phenomenon or a powerful catalyst for Harris to beat Republican nominee .
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With less than two weeks before Election Day, Kamala Harris is heading Friday to the reliably red state of Texas
But she鈥檚 not necessarily trying to sway voters there. She鈥檚 trying to highlight a make-or-break issue for Democrats: abortion rights.
Harris will seek to show how Texas鈥� restrictive abortion ban is creating increasing medical distress for women. During her campaign, the Democratic presidential nominee has often highlighted the increasingly perilous landscape for women since the fall of Roe, and she links it to Donald Trump, who appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned the landmark abortion rights ruling.
But it鈥檚 unusual for her to do it from a state she鈥檚 highly unlikely to win. Campaign officials say the plan is a nontraditional way to capture the attention of voters in battleground states who are inundated with campaign ads and run-of-the-mill campaign events.
But Harris also thinks the issue is resonating for Republican voters, too, particularly women.
In hard-fought Pennsylvania, fast-growing Hispanic communities present a test for Harris and Trump
Pennsylvania is arguably the hardest fought of the battleground states and happens to have one of the fastest-growing Hispanic communities in the country, in what is known as the 222 Corridor, after the highway that connects small cities and towns west and north of Philadelphia.
It鈥檚 fertile ground for both Democrats and Republicans to test their strength among Latinos in a state where small margins decide who gets 20 electoral votes. It鈥檚 a place where Democratic nominee Kamala Harris can prove that her party still commands a large share of the demographic鈥檚 support, and where Republican Donald Trump鈥檚 campaign has been working to gain ground.
鈥淭his is the epicenter for Latino voters in Pennsylvania,鈥� said Victor Martinez, who is of Puerto Rican descent and lives in and broadcasts his show from Allentown. 鈥淚 like the fact that Kamala Harris has to keep sending people over here to listen to us and talk to us. I like it. I like the fact that JD Vance has to keep coming back. I like it, because that means that they have to pay attention to us.鈥�
Pennsylvania鈥檚 Latino eligible voter population has more than doubled since 2000 from 208,000 to 579,000, according to the Latino Data Hub from the University of California, Los Angeles鈥� Latino Policy & Politics Institute. The population in cities like Allentown and Reading is now more than half Hispanic, with a majority being of Puerto Rican descent and a sizable portion of Dominican origin.
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Biden administration awards $428M to help hard-hit coal communities transition to clean energy
The Biden-Harris administration is awarding $428 million for 14 clean-energy manufacturing projects in Pennsylvania and other states hit hard by the decline of the U.S. coal industry.
One of the larger grants, $87 million, will go to a Pennsylvania company to make state-of-the-art linear generators at a plant outside Pittsburgh, a key battleground in the presidential election.
Linear generators can use any fuel source to produce low-carbon power for utilities, data centers and industry. Mainspring Energy plans to use Energy Department funds to create enough electricity annually to power more than 40,000 homes. Harris, like Biden, has pledged to help workers displaced by the transition to clean energy, a key-issue in energy-rich Pennsylvania.
Mideast conflict looms over US presidential race as Harris and Trump jostle for an edge
Two weeks out from , the is looming over the race for the White House, with one candidate struggling to find just the right words to navigate its difficult cross-currents and the other making bold pronouncements that the age-old conflict can quickly be set right.
Vice President Kamala Harris has been painstakingly 鈥� and not always successfully 鈥� trying to balance talk of strong support for Israel with harsh condemnations of civilian casualties among Palestinians and others caught up in Israel鈥檚 wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Former President Donald Trump, for his part, insists that none of this would have happened on his watch and that he can make it all go away if elected.
Both of them are bidding for the votes of and , particularly in extremely tight races in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.
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How Project 2025鈥檚 rightward vision became a flashpoint in this year鈥檚 election
For the past year, has endured as a persistent force in the , its far-right proposals deployed by as shorthand for what would potentially do with a second term at the White House.
Even though the former president鈥檚 campaign has vigorously distanced itself from Project 2025, the sweeping Heritage Foundation鈥檚 proposal to and dismantle federal agencies with his vision. Project 2025鈥檚 architects come from the ranks of Trump鈥檚 administration and top Heritage officials have briefed Trump鈥檚 team about it.
It鈥檚 rare for a complex to figure so dominantly in a political campaign. But from its early start at a think tank, to its viral spread on social media, the rise and fall and potential rise again of Project 2025 shows the unexpected staying power of policy to light up an election year and threaten not only Trump atop the ticket but down-ballot Republicans in .
Through it all, Project 2025 hasn't gone away. It exists not only as a policy blueprint for the next administration, but as a database of some 20,000 job-seekers who could and administration and a still unreleased 鈥�180-day playbook鈥� of actions a new president could employ on Day One.
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Early voting kicks off in battleground Wisconsin with push from Obama and Walz
In-person early voting kicks off Tuesday across , with former President Barack Obama and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz hosting a rally in liberal Madison and Republicans holding events to encourage casting a ballot for before Election Day.
Wisconsin by just under in 2020, an election that saw unprecedented early and absentee voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump and Vice President are expecting another razor-thin margin in Wisconsin and both sides are pushing voters to cast their ballots early.
Trump was of voting by mail in past elections, falsely claiming it was rife with fraud. But this election, he and his backers are of voting, including by mail and early in-person. Trump himself encouraged early voting at a rally in Dodge County, Wisconsin, earlier this month.
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Harris鈥� campaign says her 鈥榦pportunity agenda鈥� will expand opportunity for Latino men
Harris is set to discuss how her plan will lower costs, increase their chances for homeownership and expand job opportunities for Latino men in an interview she鈥檚 taping Tuesday in Washington with Telemundo, the Spanish-language TV network.
The campaign says Harris, running mate Tim Walz and her husband, Doug Emhoff, are giving interviews to several Hispanic media outlets this week in a bid to get her message across to Latino men.
Harris鈥� Telemundo interview is set to air Wednesday night.
The Associated Press
