Harris challenges Trump to another debate: Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted an invitation from CNN to debate Donald Trump on October 23.The former president suggested last week that he might be open to another matchup, but he argued Saturday that it was “too late” for another debate because Americans have begun casting their ballots in the 2024 election.
Fallout in North Carolina: Trump held a rally Saturday in North Carolina, where his handpicked GOP nominee for governor, Mark Robinson, is facing calls to resign after a CNN report revealed his history of inflammatory comments on a porn website. The former president did not mention Robinson during the rally.
Campaign finance: The latest federal filings show Harris ending August with a significant cash edge over Trump after setting a grassroots fundraising record during her first full month as the Democratic presidential nominee. One notable donor to the Republicans last month was billionaire Elon Musk, who cut a six-figure check to the House GOP campaign arm.
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Trump continues to pan ABC News over debate, saying network “should be investigated”
From CNN's Kate Sullivan
Former President Donald Trump continues to criticize the network that hosted his September 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, saying in an interview that aired Saturday that he thought ABC should be “investigated.”
Trump previously called for ABC to lose its broadcast license the morning after his face-off with Harris while claiming that the debate was “rigged.” The former president has also baselessly suggested that Harris was given the questions in advance.
Trump added in the interview that he didn’t think his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, would “get a fair shot” at his vice presidential debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be hosted by CBS on October 1.
Trump also praised his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, as a “tremendous person, very precise, very accurate,” when asked about her upcoming memoir.
“I do believe she loves her husband. That’s probably the biggest surprise to a lot of people, come to think of it. But she loves her husband,” the former president said.
In a video posted on social media earlier this month to promote her book, Melania Trump said she felt “a responsibility to clarify the facts.”
“I believe it is important to share my perspective: the truth,” the former first lady says in the video.
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Vance says Robinson scandal will play out in “court of public opinion”
From CNN's Kit Maher
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference in Washington, DC, on June 21.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance declined to take a definitive stance when asked Saturday if he believes North Carolina gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson when he said the porn forum posts revealed in a recent CNN KFile story weren’t his.
Referring to how Robinson, the state lieutenant governor, is officially on the North Carolina ballot as the Republican nominee, Vance said, “I just think that fundamentally it’s Mark Robinson and the people of North Carolina that get to decide whether he’s their governor and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Former President Donald Trump was in North Carolina on Saturday, rallying supporters in Wilmington. The Trump campaign did not invite Robinson to the event, and Trump made no mention of the lieutenant governor in his remarks.
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Both campaigns took their messaging to battleground states Saturday. Get up to speed here
From CNN's Kaanita Iyer
With 45 days until the election, both campaigns took their message to key battleground states, as former President Donald Trump traveled to North Carolina and vice presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance both held rallies in Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was not on the campaign trail Saturday, accepted CNN’s invitation for a presidential debate next month, challenging Trump to another showdown.
Here’s what to know:
Harris challenges Trump to another debate: The vice presidentaccepted an invitation from CNN to debate Trump next month.The former president, who previously signaled that he may be open to another matchup with Harris, argued Saturday that it is “too late” for another debate because Americans have begun to cast their ballots. CNN invited both campaigns to the October 23 debate but only Harris has accepted.
Trump rallies in North Carolina amid controversy: The former president campaigned in the Tar Heel State, where he discussed immigration and other familiar topics. Notably, however, Trump and other speakers at the Wilmington rally did not mention Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson — who has previously campaigned with the former president in the state — as the fallout from an explosive CNN reporting on Robinson’s disturbing comments on a porn site continues.
Running mates travel to Pennsylvania: Vance, the GOP vice presidential nominee, spoke at a rally in Leesport, Pennsylvania, where he said would “love” to have another matchup with Walz as the two are set to face off next month. Walz, meanwhile traveled to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as part of the Harris campaign’s efforts to reach Hispanic voters in the region.
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Vance defends comment about creating stories to generate attention on Springfield immigration issues
From CNN's Kit Maher in Leesport, Pennsylvania
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance on Saturday defended his comments to CNN’s Dana Bash earlier this week about creating stories to generate media attention surrounding immigration issues in Springfield, Ohio – without addressing false claims he promoted about Haitian immigrants eating local pets.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” last weekend, Vance told Bash, “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
As CNN has reported, there are no credible reports of Haitian migrants eating pets, and the false claim fueled by Trump and Vance, along with their allies, has led to a wave of racist harassment against the community.
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who has endorsed Trump and Vance, wrote an op-ed published Friday, expressing sadness that Vance and Trump “continue to repeat claims that lack evidence and disparage legal migrants.” In the New York Times op-ed, DeWine also stressed that the Haitian immigrants in the city are there legally.
While Vance on Saturday didn’t address the false claim on migrants eating pets, he argued that DeWine is “just wrong” about Haitian migrants being in the country legally.
However, he continued to tout DeWine’s support.
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Analysis: Does Trump really want his VP to have the final debate word this election?
From CNN's Brian Stelter
Sen. JD Vance and former President Donald Trump stand onstage during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Does Donald Trump really want his running mate, JD Vance, to have the final debating word this fall? Or does Trump want that opportunity for himself?
That’s one of the questions now on the table after Vice President Kamala Harris challenged Trump on Saturday to a second debate hosted by CNN next month.
The only remaining agreed-to debate of this presidential election season is the October 1 face-off between the vice presidential nominees, Vance and Tim Walz.
CBS is hosting the VP debate and allowing other networks to simulcast the matchup. The contrasts between Walz, 60, and Vance, 40, are sure to be fascinating.
But historically the VP debate has never been the last in an election cycle, with the running mates usually sandwiched in between debates between the candidates at the top of the ticket.
Of course, this year’s election cycle has been unusual for many reasons, including the earliest general election debate between President Joe Biden and Trump, and the late ascension of Harris as the nominee.
But it sure would seem anticlimactic to have Walz and Vance helm the last debate of the cycle.
Vance says he'd "love to have a second debate" with Walz
From CNN's Kit Maher in Leesport, Pennsylvania
Sen. JD Vance speaks during a campaign rally in Leesport, Pennsylvania, on September 21.
Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said that he would welcome a second debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the two are set to face off next month for the first vice presidential debate of the cycle.
Vance and Walz will participate in a debate hosted by CBS on October 1. Vance previously accepted a second debate offer from CNN, which was not accepted by the Harris-Walz campaign at the time.
The Ohio senator’s remarks come as his running mate, former President Donald Trump, said Saturday it was “too late” to debate Kamala Harris again after the vice president accepted CNN’s invitation for an October matchup. “The problem with another debate is that it’s just too late, voting has already started,” Trump said at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.
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Trump does not mention embattled GOP gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson during North Carolina rally
From CNN's Kate Sullivan
Former President Donald Trump made no mention of Mark Robinson, the embattled Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, during his campaign speech in the state on Saturday, and Robinson did not attend the rally.
Robinson has appeared at Trump campaign events in the past, and the former president has previously praised him as “Martin Luther King on steroids” and “outstanding.”
CNN’s KFile reported this week that Robinson made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he expressed support for reinstating slavery and referred to himself as a “black NAZI!”
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Vance: Media is focusing on “salacious scandals" instead of second apparent assassination attempt
From CNN's Kit Maher in Leesport, Pennsylvania
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance claimed Saturday that the media is focusing on “salacious scandals” in other states rather than the apparent second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, seemingly referring to the scandal surrounding Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s GOP nominee for governor.
As CNN’s KFile reported, Robinson made a series of inflammatory comments on a porn forum more than a decade ago, including referring to himself as a “black NAZI,” saying he enjoyed watching transgender pornography and expressing support for reinstating slavery. Robinson denied making the comments.
Robinson has appeared at several Trump campaign events in North Carolina and previously earned the praise of the former president, who has called him “better than Martin Luther King.”
Trump campaigned in Wilmington, North Carolina, today, but Robinson did not attend.
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Former Rep. Liz Cheney suggests new political party may be needed
From CNN's Kaanita Iyer
Then-Rep. Liz Cheney attends a committee meeting in Washington, DC, on December 19, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters/File
Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney, a vocal critic of Donald Trump, suggested Friday evening that a new political party may be needed as she criticized the former president.
Cheney predicted that “there is certainly going to be a big shift, I think, in how our politics work,” but added that it won’t be as simple as the Republican Party putting up “a new slate of candidates.”
“I think far too much has happened that’s too damaging,” Cheney said.
Some background: Cheney has been a vocal critic of Trump, whom she has argued does not represent the Republican Party or conservative values. She was one of two Republican members of the House January 6 committee and lost the Wyoming Republican primary during her reelection bid in 2022 to a Trump-backed candidate.
Cheney shared that she has spoken to Harris but did not answer whether she will join the vice president on the campaign trail. “I’m going to do everything that I can because I think it’s so important. So, stay tuned,” Cheney said.
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Harris to skip historic Al Smith charity dinner in New York before election, campaign official says
From CNN's Gregory Krieg
Vice President Kamala Harris attends an event in Philadelphia on September 17.
Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris will not attend next month’s Al Smith charity dinner in New York City, her campaign has told organizers, opting instead to stump in a battleground state on October 17, less than three weeks before the election.
The historic Catholic fundraiser traditionally features light roasts by the two major-party nominees — aimed at each other and others — in presidential election years. This fall’s gathering is already sold out and poised to welcome an estimated 1,500 guests to a ballroom in Midtown Manhattan.
Donald Trump stunned attendees in 2016 when he abandoned the collegial banter and launched a series of personal attacks on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who in her own remarks had offered the expected round of self-deprecating humor. The affair — black-tie for attendees, white-tie for the headliners — is named after the first major-party Catholic presidential nominee, four-term New York Gov. Al Smith, the Democratic standard-bearer in 1928.
Neither Harris nor Trump had formally committed to attending this year, but both were expected, according to comedian and emcee Jim Gaffigan.
How the Trump-Harris debate changed sentiments around both candidates
From CNN's Ariel Edwards-Levy
Following this month’s presidential debate, there was a rise in positive sentiment around discussions of Vice President Kamala Harris, while the conversation around Trump trended more negatively.
That’s the latest from The Breakthrough, a CNN polling project that tracks what average Americans are actually hearing, reading and seeing about the presidential candidates throughout the campaign.
The measurement of sentiment doesn’t mean that Trump’s debate performance was itself received poorly in this survey. Rather, it implies that what Americans say about his performance tended to be framed in negative terms.
Contributing to the negative sentiment around Trump was the tone of responses focusing on immigration. In the most recent data, that largely referred to a debunked viral claim of Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio — first popularized by Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, and then referenced by the former president on the debate stage – that has since led to a wave of racist harassment against the community.
“During the debate with Kamala Harris he was saying that people are stealing pets and eating them,” one respondent wrote. “I’ll never forget that.”
Trump says he would push to outlaw "sanctuary cities"
From CNN's Kate Sullivan
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on September 21.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Former President Donald Trump said Saturday that if reelected, he will push for congressional action to outlaw so-called sanctuary cities and empower federal law enforcement to curb undocumented immigration.
He added that he would do so by urging Congress to pass legislation, as well as by increasing the presence of federal law enforcement officer “to every city that is failing” to “turn over” undocumented immigrants.
“Sanctuary city” is a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. Trump regularly attacked sanctuary cities as president and tried to halt federal funding for them with an executive order but was blocked by a federal court.
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Attendees receiving medical attention due to heat at Trump’s North Carolina rally
From CNN's Steve Contorno and Alejandra Jaramillo
Supporters listen to former President Donald Trump speak at a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on September 21.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
First responders are aiding people who need medical attention due to the heat at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.
CNN witnessed attendees leaving the rally as the former president speaks and the relentless sun hits the crowd on the tarmac at Aero Center Wilmington, a largely outdoor venue. The high temperature Saturday was 82 degrees.
Many of those remaining are fanning themselves with signs to try to stay cool. CNN witnessed numerous attendees fainting at the Saturday rally.
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Walz's Pennsylvania rally features celebrities and protesters
From CNN's Aaron Pellish and Edward-Isaac Dovere in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took the Democratic ticket’s messaging to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Saturday with just 45 days until the election.
The stop was ostensibly part of the campaign’s efforts to reach Hispanic voters in the region, and the vice presidential nominee was introduced by Emmy-winning actor Liza Colón-Zayas and Grammy winner Anthony Ramos as part of the appeal.
During his remarks, which featured attacks on JD Vance over the GOP ticket’s health insurance plan, protesters interrupted him on five different occasions.
Many of the protesters were seen carrying Palestinian flags or were heard advocating on behalf of people in Gaza. Walz did not acknowledge the protesters, who were in each instance drowned out by chants from the crowd before being escorted out of the venue.
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Walz seeks to tie GOP candidates to Mark Robinson after CNN's reporting on past antisemitic comments
From CNN's Aaron Pellish and Edward-Isaac Dovere in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on September 21.
Pool
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attempted to tie the Republican Party to North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson during following CNN’s reporting that Robinson referred to himself as a “black Nazi” on a porn forum.
Walz told supporters at a Saturday rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, that Robinson’s sentiments aren’t isolated from that of other Republican candidates nationwide.
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Vance swings by Pennsylvania supermarket, aiming to spotlight Harris' “inflationary policies”
From CNN's Kit Maher in Reading, Pennsylvania
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance on Saturday swung by King Food Supermarket in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he aimed to spotlight “way too expensive” grocery prices he blamed on Kamala Harris’ policies.
Vance, inside the shop with his two sons, held a carton of eggs while addressing reporters briefly ahead of a rally in Leesport, Pennsylvania.
Vance received a warm welcome inside the supermarket, where he greeted workers and shoppers. One asked Vance to sign his book, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
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Trump argues it’s “too late” to do another debate because voting has begun
From CNN's Kate Sullivan
Former President Donald Trump takes the stage at a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on September 21.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday argued it was “too late” to have another presidential debate because Americans have begun casting their ballots in the 2024 election.
National polling continues to show no clear leader in the race between Harris and Trump.
Harris said earlier Saturday that she had accepted an invitation from CNN to participate in a debate in October. The Trump campaign reiterated the former president’s previous comments that he would not participate in another debate.
This post has been updated with additional information.
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Embattled North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson goes unmentioned in Trump's rally preprogram
From CNN's Steve Contorno in Wilmington, North Carolina
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
At former President Donald Trump’s rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, there’s no sign of Mark Robinson, the state’s embattled lieutenant governor and the GOP nominee for governor.
A source close to the campaign reiterated Saturday that Robinson — a regular at Trump’s Tar Heel State events in the past — will not join the former president onstage today. His absence comes after CNN’s KFile reported on Robinson’s history of troubling and sometimes graphic statements on a porn website years ago, including referring to himself as a Black Nazi.
Supporters cheer as former President Donald Trump arrives on his plane for a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on September 21.
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
But Robinson is not only not present, he has also gone unmentioned by the speakers. Instead, speakers — including Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, who previously led the North Carolina GOP — have focused on Trump’s race against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Despite the contested race for the state’s governorship, there has been little discussion of it. One speaker criticized Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Stein but stopped short of elevating Robinson. Instead, he encouraged the crowd to vote for Trump and Republicans up and down the ticket.
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Trump campaign reiterates former president won't participate in another debate after Harris accepts CNN invitation
From CNN's Kate Sullivan
Former President Donald Trump waits during a break in the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia on September 10.
Alex Brandon/AP
Donald Trump’s campaign on Saturday referred to a previous comment from the former president saying there would not be another debate, shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris accepted an invitation from CNN for a debate in October.
