Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he greets attendees upon departs a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump centered their attention on Texas on Friday with both presidential candidates holding events in the staunchly Republican state. The vice president teamed up with Beyoncé for a rally aimed at highlighting the perilous medical fallout from the state’s strict abortion ban and putting the blame squarely on Trump.

Meanwhile, the former president held a news conference in Austin on Friday afternoon and sat down with podcaster Joe Rogan later in the day.

President Joe Biden visited a reservation in Arizona, a long-promised trip to Indian Country that Democrats hope could boost Harris' turnout effort in a key battleground state.

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Here’s the latest:

Trump’s three-hour interview with podcaster Joe Rogan has been released

The nation’s most listened-to podcaster pressed the former president on whether he’s “completely committed” to bringing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., into his administration.

“Oh, I completely am,” Trump responded. “But the only thing I want to be a little careful about with him is the environmental. Because he doesn’t like oil, I love oil and gas.”

He said he’ll tell Kennedy to “focus on health, do whatever you want.” Trump said he’s faced pressure not to work with Kennedy, citing “big Pharma” as one example.

Kennedy has been instrumental in spreading skepticism about vaccines, rejecting the overwhelming consensus among scientists that the benefits of inoculations outweigh the rare risk of side effects.

He also claims pharmaceutical companies conspire to prevent health improvements because they make so much money selling drugs to people with chronic illnesses.

Rogan also is skeptical of vaccines. Trump noted that “they’ve come up with some amazing things” such as the polio vaccine.

Harris takes the stage

After embracing Beyoncé and Rowland, Harris took her spot at the mic, as the crowd cheered her name.

“It’s good to be back in Texas,” she said.

Harris started speaking at 10:20p ET, nearly an hour later than scheduled.

In her hometown of Houston, Beyoncé gave the city’s neighborhoods shoutouts, to raucous cheers from the crowd.

“We are all part of something much bigger,” she said. “We must vote, and we need you.”

“Our moment right now. it’s time for America to sing a new song. Our voices sing a chorus of unity,” she said, casting her remarks forward, and introducing Harris. “Are y’all ready to add your voice to the new American song? So let’s do this, ladies and gentlemen.”

Beyonce and Kelly Rowland take stage at Harris rally

Hometown hero Beyoncé showed up at Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign rally in Houston on Friday night. Her mother, Tina Knowles, introduced Beyoncé and her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland, who took the stage.

Rowland kicked things off, describing this as “a moment where we grab back the pen from those who are trying to write an American story of division and hatred,” she said. “We are grabbing back the pen.” She concluded, “Now Houston, you’ve already had a hand in creating destiny. So do what you do, and do this thing again.”

Texas Senate candidate Colin Allred takes stage at Harris rally

Allred thanked Harris for “coming to Texas and shining a light on what’s happening to Texas families and Texas women.”

The crowd broke out in cheers of “beat Ted Cruz” after the Democratic congressman said that, “with y’all’s help and God’s grace, we’re gonna beat Ted Cruz.”

“Do you hear that, Ted?” Allred asked.

Allred likened both his opponent and Trump to being too “small” to be effective leaders.

“Everything is bigger in Texas, but Ted Cruz is too small for Texas,” Allred said, eliciting cheers and laughter from the crowd.

Allred also remembered being at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when he said he “was going to defend the House floor from that mob,” while “Ted Cruz was hiding in a supply closet.

“I went to public school in Texas,” the former football linebacker said. “I’m not just going to sit there.”

Actress Jessica Alba kicks off Harris’ rally in Houston

Actress Jessica Alba kicked off Harris’ star-studded rally in Houston on Friday evening to praise the Democratic nominee as someone who “protects our freedoms and creates a brighter future, a more inclusive future for all.”

Harris is expected to focus her rally on abortion restrictions in the state and the consequences of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Alba said: “As a woman I know we need a leader like Kamala Harris who is dedicated to protecting reproductive freedom, ensuring that decisions about your body are made by you, never by the government, because Kamala Harris understands that protecting reproductive freedom isn’t about politics, it’s about our right to choose.”

There doesn’t seem to be an empty seat at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, the site of Harris’ rally with Beyonce.

The more than 20,000-seat stadium is awash in light: flashing red, white and blue lights held by supporters in the stands and strobe lights. Large screens are flashing messages that say “Reproductive Freedom,” “Vote, “Trust Women,” Freedom” and “Vote for Reproductive Freedom.”

Harris is scheduled to speak at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Attendees are leaving Trump’s rally en masse as word spread the former president will be arriving late

Trump’s plane did not leave Austin, where he was taping a podcast interview, until not long before the rally was set to start.

It’s a chilly night, with temperatures in the low 50’s.

Some, however, are sticking around.

“Well, we rather they were on time,” said Medine Dahlquist from Bay City, Michigan. But, she said, it’s “worth the wait.”

Roughly 35 million people have voted early as of today

About 35 million people have voted early in the 2024 presidential election.

That’s roughly one-fifth the number of people who cast ballots in 2020. The robust total is due to Republicans voting ahead of time after largely refusing to do so the prior two elections because former President Donald Trump criticized the process.

Now, Trump wants his supporters to vote early.

Remember, early vote statistics don’t tell you who won, merely who showed up. We won’t see who they picked until votes are tallied after polls close on Nov. 5.

? Find out how many early votes have been cast in your state

Appeals court in Georgia declines to expedite review election ruling

An appeals court in the battleground state of Georgia has declined Friday to expedite the review of an appeal of a judge’s order that county election officials must vote to certify results by the deadline set in law.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled this month that county election officials cannot refuse to certify election results. His ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Julie Adams a Republican member of the election board in Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta and is a Democratic stronghold.

Adams appealed that order Wednesday and asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to hear it on an expedited basis.

But the appeals court’s decision means that McBurney’s order will almost certainly remain in effect through the deadline for county officials to certify results, which this year falls on Nov. 12.

South Carolina judge rules it’s too late to re-open voter registration after DMV mishap

A judge in South Carolina ruled Friday it is too late for the state to reopen voter registration for nearly 1,900 teens after the state Department of Motor Vehicles failed to notify election officials that they checked the box to register as they got their driver’s licenses.

The teens were 17 at the time they went to the DMV, but would be 18 by Election Day.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit to reopen registration Tuesday, a day after early voting started in South Carolina.

Lawyers for the DMV, election officials and lawmakers say they are sympathetic toward the teens, but it would be chaotic to reopen registration this close to Election Day.

Judge Daniel Coble’s decision came about six hours after he heard arguments in the case.

Early voting started on Monday in South Carolina and in the first four days, more than 500,000 votes have been cast.

“Our government failed these young voters, and now the same government is making excuses rather than making things right. When ‘It’s too hard to fix’ becomes an acceptable reason to disenfranchise voters, we know that there’s work to do,” ACLU of South Carolina Legal Director Allen Chaney said in a statement after the ruling.

Trump meets execs from Bezos-owned Blue Origin

After he spoke in Austin, Trump greeted executives from Blue Origin, the space exploration company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Bezos is the founder of Amazon and the owner of The Washington Post, which reported Friday that its editorial board won’t endorse a candidate for president. The decision was framed as a return to earlier tradition, but it sparked speculation that Bezos wants to avoid antagonizing Trump, who has vowed retribution against his enemies and critics if he returns to the White House.

The Post editorial board endorsed Trump’s Democratic rivals in 2016 and 2020, and the former president has often railed against critical news coverage by the newspaper.

Trump spoke briefly with Blue Origin’s CEO, David Limp, and vice president of government relations, Megan Mitchell, as he left a hangar where he spoke to supporters and journalists at the Austin airport.

The conversation underscores the web of diverse and competing interests in the Bezos business empire. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to questions about whether the conversation had been planned and whether they had attended the event.

Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013. He made the purchase as an individual and Amazon.com Inc. was not involved. Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021 but remains the company’s executive chairman and largest shareholder.

Officials with Seattle-based Blue Origin did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press.

Several bands, including Mumford & Sons, will join Harris at a get-out-the-vote rally in Wisconsin

Vice President Kamala Harris will be joined by several musicians, including Mumford & Sons, for a get-out-the-vote rally Wednesday on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the campaign announced on Friday.

The rally will take place just before former President Donald Trump will be about two hours away for a rally in Green Bay.

Both campaigns are hitting the swing state hard in the final days of the race.

The Harris rally will include two members of the indie rock band The National, Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner, along with singer-songwriters Gracie Abrams and Remi Wolf. They are performing as part of the “When We Vote We Win” GOTV Concert and Rally Series, the campaign said.

Trump wraps remarks in Austin without taking questions from reporters

Donald Trump has concluded his remarks in Austin, Texas.

He spoke for about 45 minutes, with a heavy emphasis on immigration.

Trump did not take questions from reporters while speaking, and he didn’t answer shouted questions afterward.

Both major presidential candidates are in Texas on Friday. Kamala Harris took questions from reporters ahead of her rally later this evening with Beyoncé in Houston.

Trump predicts he’ll break records for deportations if he wins the election

Donald Trump is predicting he’ll break records for the number of people deported from the United States if he wins the election.

At an appearance in Texas, Trump praised President Dwight D. Eisenhower for overseeing mass deportations as part of a sweeping plan known by the racist title “Operation Wetback.” Trump has made mass deportation a centerpiece of his campaign for a second term in the White House.

“I think we’ll break that record,” Trump said of Eisenhower’s deportations. “Not that I want to break it, but I think we have no choice.”

He said his administration will put “these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell out of the country.”

Leonardo DiCaprio endorses Harris for president

Leonardo DiCaprio is endorsing Kamala Harris for president, with the Oscar-winning actor expressing support for the Democratic nominee in a video Friday.

“Climate change is killing the earth and ruining our economy. We need a bold step forward to save our economy, our planet and ourselves,” DiCaprio said. “That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris.”

DiCaprio, long an outspoken advocate for addressing the climate crisis, has supported Democratic candidates in the past. In early 2020, he attended a fundraiser for Joe Biden at the home of former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Harris has received the support of many high-profile entertainers including Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Chris Rock and George Clooney.

Republican nominee Donald Trump’s celebrity supporters include Elon Musk, Dennis Quaid, Roseanne Barr and Kid Rock.

In December 2016, DiCaprio and the head of his eponymous foundation met with Trump, then president-elect, to discuss how jobs centered on preserving the environment could boost the economy.

Trump again likens the US to a ‘garbage can’

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Donald Trump is doubling — and tripling — down on likening the United States to a trash receptacle.

“We’re like a garbage can. We’re like a garbage can,” he said Friday. He noted that, “The first time I said it was last night.”

During a Thursday night event, Trump had declared that the U.S. was “like a garbage can for the world.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, in response on Friday, called that comment, “Another example of how he really belittles our country.”

Moments after her reaction, Trump said it twice more during an appearance in Texas.

Trump derides Harris’ rally with Beyoncé as ‘rubbing shoulders’ with ‘woke celebrities’

AUSTIN, Texas — Donald Trump is dismissing Kamala Harris’ rally in Houston with Beyoncé as his opponent “rubbing shoulders” with “woke celebrities.”

“I think she’s coming here today,” Trump said in Austin. “She picked the wrong place. I think she picked the wrong place.”

He said that instead of her rally with a superstar, Harris should meet with victims of violent crimes committed by people in the country illegally. He called some immigrants arrested for allegedly committing violent crimes “animals.”

Trump says Biden administration has made Texas ‘ground zero’ for a border ‘invasion’

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Donald Trump is saying in Texas that Vice President Kamala Harris is using the state as a “staging ground” to bring armies of people into the U.S. illegally.

The former president says the Biden administration is making Texas “ground zero” for a border “invasion,” though he blamed Harris.

Trump also suggested that mismanagement of the U.S.-Mexico border was a crime against humanity.

There is no evidence to support those claims, however.

Trump slams judge’s order for Virginia to restore some purged voter registrations

AUSTIN, Texas — Trump has kicked off his remarks in Texas by slamming a judge ordering Virginia to restore registered voters who were purged from the state’s voter roles close to Election Day.

“The outrageous decision goes against the bedrock of our democracy,” Trump said.

‘I do not have a Cabinet yet’

HOUSTON — Asked about reporting that JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon would consider a role in Kamala Harris’ possible administration, Harris said she didn’t want to talk about theoretical leadership with the election not over.

“We have 11 days to go,” she said. “I do not have a Cabinet yet.”

Harris pledges to sign bill ‘putting back in place reproductive freedom’

HOUSTON — Answering a question about how she as president would advance reproductive rights legislation through Congress, where Democrats might not have control in either chamber following the elections, Kamala Harris promoted Democrat Colin Allred’s effort to unseat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz from his Texas seat.

“It is my pledge — when Congress passes a bill putting back in place reproductive freedom — I will sign it,” she added. “There’s no other plan. We keep fighting.”

Harris calls Texas ‘ground zero’ when it comes to issues related to abortion

HOUSTON — Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her remarks to reporters ahead of a campaign event in Texas Friday by calling the non-battleground state “ground zero” when it comes to issues related to abortion.

The Democratic nominee called elected leaders to task for that situation, saying her event Friday night will be centered around “the harm” that has caused for Americans.

Trump arrives in Austin, Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Donald Trump has arrived in Austin, Texas, where he’ll deliver remarks ahead of an expected taping of Joe Rogan’s popular podcast.

He’ll be speaking in an airport hangar before invited guests. Signs that read “END MIGRANT CRIME” and “DEPORT ILLEGALS NOW” will be his backstop.

Trump visiting Texas to tape Joe Rogan’s podcast and to criticize Harris on immigration

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Donald Trump on Friday is heading to Texas — his first public campaign event in the state since receiving the Republican nomination — to sit down with the most listened-to-podcaster in the country, creating another opportunity for him to highlight the hypermasculine tone that has defined much of his 2024 White House bid.

The GOP presidential nominee will hold a news conference in Austin and meet with podcaster Joe Rogan at his studio there. It is only the second time he has campaigned in the state after a Dallas visit where he addressed members of the National Rifle Association in May.

On Friday, his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, will also be visiting Texas for a rally on abortion rights with superstar Beyoncé.

Read more here.

Holocaust survivor criticizes Harris for calling Trump a ‘fascist’

WASHINGTON — A 94-year-old Holocaust survivor is criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris for calling former President Donald Trump a “ fascist.”

Jerry Wartski appears in a video for Trump’s campaign, saying, “I know more about Hitler than Kamala will ever know in a thousands lifetimes.” He’s referring to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who he describes having murdered his parents.

In the video, Wartski rolls up his sleeve to reveal a number tattooed on his arm while he was a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

He says Harris owes Holocaust victims and survivors an apology.

Harris called Trump a fascist during a CNN town hall this week.

She said his comments denouncing the “enemy within” mean he may prove willing to target Americans who disagree with him should he win the Nov. 5 election.

Trump to return to Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum next week

MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump is returning to the site of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee just four days before the election.

Trump plans to hold a rally at the Fiserv Forum on Nov. 1, his campaign said Friday. The stop comes two days after another planned rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The state is one of the most hard-fought this year with both sides expecting a razor-close finish. Vice President Kamala Harris was in both Milwaukee and Green Bay last week.

Johnson and McConnell blast Harris over saying she believes Trump is a fascist

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell are criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris for saying she believes that former President Donald Trump is a fascist during a CNN town hall, saying her words could lead to violence.

“Labeling a political opponent as a ‘fascist,’ risks inviting yet another would-be assassin to try robbing voters of their choice before Election Day,” the two Republicans said in their statement.

When asked if she believed Trump is a fascist, Harris replied twice, “Yes, I do.” Later, she brought it up herself, saying Trump would, if elected again, be “a president who admires dictators and is a fascist.”

The two lawmakers said they have been briefed on ongoing threats to Trump and called on Harris to take the threats seriously, adding “stop escalating the threat environment, and help ensure President Trump has the necessary resources to be protected from those threats.”

The two did not address comments coming from Trump, who at his rallies has also referred to Harris as a “Marxist” and a “fascist.”

ACLU wants South Carolina to reopen voter registration for 1,900 teens

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A civil rights organization wants South Carolina to reopen voter registration for nearly 1,900 teens after the state Department of Motor Vehicles failed to notify election officials that they checked the box to register as they got their driver’s licenses. The teens were 17 at the time they went to the DMV, but would be 18 by Election Day.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Tuesday, a day after early voting started in South Carolina.

Lawyers for the DMV, election officials and lawmakers said they are sympathetic toward the teens, but it is too late to verify the teens are eligible and adjust the voting rolls.

A judge promised a ruling Friday after hearing arguments from both sides.

Federal judge orders Virginia to restore more than 1,600 voter registrations

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge on Friday ordered Virginia to restore more than 1,600 voter registrations that she said were illegally purged in the past two months to keep noncitizens from voting.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles granted an injunction request brought against Virginia election officials by the Justice Department, which claimed the voter registrations were wrongly canceled during a 90-day quiet period ahead of the November election that restricts states from making large-scale changes to their voter rolls.

Thomas Sanford, an attorney with the Virginia attorney general’s office, told the judge at the conclusion of Friday’s hearing that the state intends to appeal her ruling.

The Justice Department and private groups, including the League of Women Voters, said many of the 1,600 voters whose registrations were canceled were citizens whose registrations were canceled because of bureaucratic errors or simple mistakes like a wrongly checked box on a form.

Election workers identified about 2,500 Pennsylvania voter registration forms that may be fraudulent, officials say

LANCASTER, Pa. — Officials in a Pennsylvania county say an investigation is underway after election workers identified about 2,500 voter registration forms that may be fraudulent.

The Lancaster County Elections Board and the county prosecutor plan to hold a news conference Friday to discuss the steps taken so far.

The county says the registrations in question arrived in two batches shortly before Pennsylvania’s deadline to register to vote, which was this past Monday.

Harris, Beyoncé

team up for a Texas rally on abortion rights and hope battleground states hear them

HOUSTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will team up with on Friday for a rally in solidly Republican Texas aimed at highlighting the perilous medical fallout from the state’s strict abortion ban and putting the blame squarely on .

It’s a message intended to register far beyond Texas in the political battleground states, where Harris is hoping that the aftereffects from the fall of Roe v. Wade will spur voters to turn out to support her quest for the presidency.

Harris will also be joined at the rally by women who have nearly died from sepsis and other pregnancy complications because they were unable to get proper medical care, including women who never intended to end their pregnancies.

Read more here.

Biden heads to Indian Country as Harris steps up appeal to Native American voters

PHOENIX — is at last making his way to Indian Country, paying a long-promised visit to a reservation in Arizona that Democrats hope could provide a boost to Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout effort in a key battleground state.

Biden’s visit to the Gila River Indian Community’s land on the outskirts of metro Phoenix will be his first to Indian Country as president — something he promised tribal leaders he would do nearly two years ago.

During the visit, Biden intends to formally apologize to Native Americans for the U.S. government’s role in the abuse and neglect of Native children sent to federal boarding schools to assimilate them into white society, according to the White House.

Read more here.

Allies hope a Trump win changes the system for mortgages. Some warn it will make them pricier

If Donald Trump wins the presidential election, Republicans hope he will fulfill a longstanding GOP goal of privatizing the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been under government control since the Great Recession.

But Democrats and some economists warn that, especially in this time of high mortgage rates, doing so will make buying a home even more expensive.

Read more here.

Like Biden, Harris puts focus on Trump as Election Day draws near

WASHINGTON — With the end of her abbreviated presidential campaign in sight, is trying to put the focus squarely on and his threat to democratic institutions, echoing the strategy used by Joe Biden before he ended his reelection bid.

It’s a bet that fear of the former Republican president can rally Harris supporters and nudge undecided voters to her side in the final days. Harris’ challenge will be connecting philosophical questions about American democracy with the everyday concerns of individual Americans.

The effort will be on full display Tuesday, when Harris delivers what her team describes as her closing argument from the Ellipse, the grassy space adjacent to the National Mall in Washington. It’s the same place where Trump stood when he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in what became a bloody attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s election victory.

Read more here.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024