August 17, 2024, presidential campaign news

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Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is significantly staffing up its legal team ahead of what it expects will be aggressive legal challenges to the election outcome in November.

The new team includes two former White House counsels — Dana Remus and Bob Bauer — along with Marc Elias, one of the Democratic Party’s top election lawyers.

Remus and Bauer are expected to provide overall strategic direction to the legal apparatus, according to a campaign official.

Both bring extensive experience in election issues. Remus was a White House counsel to President Joe Biden. Bauer served in that role under President Barack Obama, and has recently served as Biden’s personal attorney. He also played Trump in Biden’s debate practice this summer.

Others involved in the effort are Maury Riggan, the campaign’s general counsel and lead in-house lawyer, and Meredith Horton, the campaign’s national voter protection and access director.

Elias will lead recounts and advise the campaign on recount strategy.

The New York Times was first to report on the the changes.

The Harris campaign describes the legal effort as the largest voter protection program in American presidential history.

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Wilkes-Barre Township, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

Former President Donald Trump said Saturday he thought he was “much better looking” than Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Trump said he heard a commentator argue that Harris has an advantage over Trump because she is a “very beautiful woman.”  

Donald Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ newly unveiled economic agenda and questioned why she hadn’t implemented her proposals while she was already in office.  

Trump said, “So this is Day 1305, we’re at thirteen hundred and give, so why isn’t she doing it now? Why doesn’t she get away from her nice little place with her wonderful husband, go to Washington and do it now? You could do it right now.”

Trump said Harris’ plan is “very dangerous because it may sound good politically, and that’s the problem, and we have to be very careful because when somebody gets up and says, ‘We’re going to give you everything, $25,000 for a house, we’re going to give you all sorts of little goodies, free health care, we’re going to give you everything, universal health care,’ it sounds so beautiful.”

Harris on Friday proposed a new plan to provide tax relief for more than 100 million middle-class and lower-income Americans, and her new economic agenda includes measures aimed at making housing, groceries, health care and child rearing more affordable. 

“She’s promising to hand out things she can’t deliver. She can never deliver them; she will never get them approved,” Trump said.

“The things that she said yesterday don’t work. They have never worked,” he added.

Trump again falsely claimed that implementing a tariff “doesn’t affect our country.”  

CNN has previously fact checked that study after study including one from the federal government’s bipartisan US International Trade Commission, have shown that American consumers and industries bear almost the entire cost of US tariffs, including those duties previously imposed by Trump. When the US puts a tariff on an imported good, the cost of the tariff comes directly out of the bank account of an American importer when the foreign-made product arrives at a US port. It’s possible that some foreign manufacturers lowered their prices to stay competitive in the US market after Trump raised tariffs – but not enough to keep the cost paid by American importers the same as before.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz celebrated a homecoming at a Saturday campaign rally in Nebraska, the state where he grew up, where he met his wife — Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz — and where he began his teaching career.

Walz acknowledged his former colleagues and former students from Alliance High School in Alliance, Nebraska, amid the hundreds gathered in La Vista to hear him speak, telling the audience, “it feels good to be home,” while sharing the values he learned growing up in the state. 

Walz referenced local Nebraska landmarks and cultural touchstones throughout his remarks, often as a means of contrasting his Midwestern roots with former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

At another point, Walz took a swipe at Vance for claiming Midwestern roots, while suggesting Vance isn’t familiar with a local delicacy, to the delight of the Nebraskans in the crowd.

Following his remarks, Walz stopped at a Runza and picked up an order of hamburgers, sandwiches and other items totaling over $600, a restaurant employee told CNN. 

Gwen Walz preceded the governor at the rally and shared a story of the two of them teaching together in Nebraska, highlighting how the couple “huddled” to come with a play to improve the reading of a student athlete that allowed him to continue playing football and ultimately graduate high school.  

More on the electoral landscape: Nebraska is one of two states – along with Maine – that divide Electoral College votes by congressional district, rather than statewide, winner-take-all rules. Omaha’s single electoral vote could impact the outcome of the presidential race.

President Joe Biden carried the electoral vote from the state’s 2nd Congressional District in 2020. Former President Donald Trump has been pushing Nebraska Republicans to change the state’s election law.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attend a campaign rally in Philadelphia on August 6.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will roll through Pennsylvania on a bus tour Sunday, dropping in on the crucial battleground state just days before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

It’s a move that underscores how aggressively the Harris-Walz ticket plans to compete for Pennsylvania and its 19 Electoral College votes. The pair’s first rally shortly after Walz was announced as Harris’ running mate was in Philadelphia, the commonwealth’s largest city, and they embarked on a dayslong tour of battleground states shortly after.

Sunday’s tour, which is scheduled to begin in Pittsburgh, will mark the first time that Harris, Walz and their respective spouses – second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz – will appear on the campaign trail together since they shared the stage in Philadelphia. The goal, according to the campaign, is to have a cluster of intimate events with voters, ranging from canvass kick-offs to stops at local retail shops.

The campaign has 36 coordinated offices and 300 staffers in Pennsylvania, which Harris has already visited seven times this year. The campaign has touted a robust volunteer operation: Some 43,000 people have signed up to volunteer in the Keystone State since Harris announced her candidacy last month.

Read more about the bus tour through Pennsylvania.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Raleigh, North Carolina, on August 16.

Vice President Kamala Harris has committed to participate in a roundtable with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, her campaign and the union confirmed Friday, as she continues to court working class voters heading into November’s election.

The Teamsters, a union with 1.3 million members, is among the last major unions to offer an endorsement in the 2024 race with a decision on whether to back either candidate expected after the conventions. Some Democrats have expressed frustration with Sean O’Brien, the union president, who spoke in a primetime slot at the Republican National Convention while seeking a similar role at next week’s Democratic National Convention.

The union is expected to have a presence on stage at the convention, but O’Brien is not expected to speak at the Democratic confab, a source familiar with convention planning said.

Teamsters leadership invited Harris to participate in a roundtable shortly after she became the presumptive Democratic nominee, writing in a letter to her campaign, “Teamster members want to hear your vision on issues that affect their families.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said the vice president “has received and gladly accepted an invitation by IBT leadership to participate in a candidate roundtable to discuss her record of fighting for Teamsters and their families and to highlight her vision for the future. The campaign looks forward to scheduling the roundtable in the near future.”

Kara Deniz, a spokesperson for the union, said the union just received notice Harris has accepted the invitation but a date has yet to be set.

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden each participated in roundtables with the Teamsters earlier this year.

A pro-Palestinian protester attempted to interrupt Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s remarks at a rally in La Vista, Nebraska, on Saturday.

The protester shouted at Walz during the beginning of his remarks. Members of the audience attempted to quiet the protester. Walz did not appear to acknowledge the protester, who unfurled a Palestinian flag before being escorted out of the venue by staff.

Prior to the event, approximately a dozen protesters waving Palestinian flags and signs condemning US support of Israel’s military operation in Gaza gathered steps away from the line of attendees waiting to enter the rally.

One banner in front of the group read “Justice for Palestine.” Others called for a ceasefire and an arms embargo with Israel. A piece of plywood in front of the group read “Shame on those complicit in genocide.”

The protesters reflect a lingering tension for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign as she continues to navigate the political dynamics of the Israel-Hamas war. Harris has been interrupted at multiple campaign rallies by pro-Palestinian protesters since taking over the Democratic ticket.

On Thursday, Harris campaign officials met with Arab American community leaders in Michigan, the latest outreach effort to the sizeable constituency in a key battleground state.

This post has been updated with additional reporting on Walz’s event.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The first presidential debate of 2024 upended the race for the White House, effectively terminated the reelection aspirations of President Joe Biden and perhaps forever altered the direction of the country.

With so much potentially at risk at next month’s debate on September 10 — which will be the first time former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris encounter each other at close range — the planning for the high-stakes showdown has already begun. ABC, the network hosting the debate, announced Friday it will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Harris held her first formal debate training session earlier this week at Howard University, the historically Black college in Washington, DC, she attended nearly four decades ago. A team of Democratic advisers joined her there earlier this week, including Philippe Reines, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, who is reprising his role playing Trump at the request of the Harris campaign, several people familiar with the planning told CNN.

Karen Dunn, another longtime Clinton adviser who helped Harris prepare for her vice presidential debate in 2020, is also taking part in the preparation efforts, people familiar with the planning said. Former Harris aides Rohini Kosoglu and Sean Clegg are also involved with the effort, according to a person familiar with the prep.

Trump, meanwhile, has enlisted one of the vice president’s ex-rivals to help with the preparations: Tulsi Gabbard, the former representative from Hawaii who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 in a crowded field that also included Harris. He has revived the approach deployed ahead of his June debate with Biden, engaging in less formal policy sessions with close aides, advisers and allies in between campaign appearances and rounds of golf.

Trump’s interest in Gabbard as he prepares to face Harris next month stems in part from the notable exchanges the former congresswoman had with the vice president during their 2020 race. Seen mostly as a gadfly and an oddity during her Democratic primary run in 2019, Gabbard’s attack on Harris’ record as a prosecutor may have been her largest direct impact on the race.

Read more about how the candidates are preparing to face off.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is scheduled to deliver a marquee address Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention to help introduce Vice President Kamala Harris to the nation.

A convention adviser tells CNN that Emhoff, who could become the nation’s first first gentleman if Democrats win in November, has been given a prominent speaking slot on the second night of the convention to paint a personal portrait of Harris. 

His speaking role, perhaps, is one of the biggest examples of how the convention schedule has shifted dramatically with Harris at the top of the ticket.