The Latest: Project 2025’s director steps down and Trump says Harris ‘doesn’t like Jewish people’
The Latest: Project 2025’s director steps down and Trump says Harris ‘doesn’t like Jewish people’
Republican Donald Trump’s campaign has announced that he will travel to Atlanta on Saturday for a rally in the same venue where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris plans one Tuesday night featuring a performance by hip hop star Megan Thee Stallion.
Dueling ad campaigns by the presidential candidates portray Harris as “fearless,” while an ad from Trump blasts the vice president for problems at the southern U.S. border.
Trump also appears to be backing away from his earlier commitment to debate Harris, questioning the value of a meetup and saying that he “probably” will debate but that he “can also make a case for not doing it” — prompting her campaign to say he’s “scared.”
Senate lawmakers grilled the acting director of the Secret Service about law enforcement lapses in the hours before the attempted assassination of Trump.
And Trump said in an interview Tuesday on radio station WABC that Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people” and appeared to agree with a host who called her Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff, “a crappy Jew.”
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Here’s the Latest:
Mind the enthusiasm gap
Assuming the enthusiasm for Kamala Harris holds for the next 98 days, it will be the first modern presidential campaign in which both major party nominees consistently draw mass crowds. In 2008, Republicans and John McCain’s campaign could look at Barack Obama only with envy. And even with Hillary Clinton’s historic candidacy in 2016, she did not consistently generate the kind of enthusiastic mass rallies that paved Donald Trump’s path to the White House.
Georgia’s Democratic senators work the crowd for Harris
Sen. Jon Ossoff called Republican former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, “strange men with dangerous ideas.” When he talked about Trump, the crowd briefly chanted, “Lock him up!”
Sen. Raphael Warnock said “everybody knows that the road to the White House goes through Georgia.” He added that Trump “is trying to steal your vote. Kamala Harris is trying to earn your vote.”
Warnock also drew long boos when he recalled Trump recently suggesting that, after November, Christians “in four years, you don’t have to vote again.”
The Harris campaign says 10,000 people are attending the raucous rally at Georgia State University’s Convocation Center. Trump is scheduled to hold a rally at the same venue on Saturday.
Stacey Abrams amps up the crowd at Harris’ Atlanta rally
Democrat Stacey Abrams is leading off an Atlanta rally for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, stirring the largest crowd the vice president’s nascent bid has attracted since President Joe Biden ended his campaign and endorsed his top lieutenant.
Abrams twice lost governor’s races in Georgia but is credited with rebuilding the Democratic Party in the state and paving the way for Biden to carry the state in 2020 and for U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to win tight races that tilted the chamber to Democratic control.
“People discounted Georgia. They dismissed Georgia,” Abrams said of 2020 forecasts that did not consider the historically conservative state a battleground until late in the campaign. “They didn’t know Georgia.”
Abrams urged the assembly to maintain their enthusiasm and “not let Donald Trump raze the ground and salt the earth.”
“We watched what happened for four years and we’re not going back,” Abrams said.
Google autocomplete results around Trump lead to claims of election interference
With fewer than 100 days until the 2024 election, social media users are claiming that a lack of Google autocomplete results about former President Donald Trump and his attempted assassination are evidence of election interference.
Many posts include screenshots showing what the autocomplete feature, which predicts what users are trying to type, has generated for text such as “attempted assassination of tr” or “president donald.” Among the pictured results for the former phrase are references to other assassination attempts, including that of Harry Truman and Gerald Ford, but nothing for Trump. The latter provides two options — “president donald duck” and “president donald regan.”
It is true that Google’s autocomplete feature as of Monday was not finishing certain phrases related to Trump and the assassination attempt as shown in screenshots spreading online, but there is no evidence it was related to election interference. Completed searches about Trump and the assassination attempt done on both Monday and Tuesday yielded extensive relevant results regardless of what autocomplete predictions came up.
Google told the AP that its autocomplete feature has automated protections regarding violent topics, including for searches about theoretical assassination attempts. The company further explained that its systems were out of date even prior to July 13, meaning that the protections already in place couldn’t take into account that an actual assassination attempt had occurred.
The Heritage Foundation says Project 2025 is not going away
Project 2025’s website will remain live and the group will continue vetting resumes for its nearly 20,000-person database of potential officials eager to execute its vision for government, the Heritage Foundation said Tuesday.
The group said project director Paul Dans will leave the Heritage Foundation in August and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts will now run Project 2025 operations. Roberts has faced criticism in recent weeks after he said on an episode of former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast that the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”
Earlier this month, in an interview before beginning a prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena, Bannon mentioned Roberts as the type of leader who could land a top job in a Trump White House. Roberts has written a book that will be released on Sept. 24 called “Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America.” An advance blurb for the book lists government agencies and outside groups “that conservatives need to build, others that we need to take back, and more still that are too corrupt to save.”
“All these need to be dissolved if the American way of life is to be passed down to future generations,” the blurb says. “The good news is, we’re going to win.”
The author of the foreword to Roberts’ book is JD Vance, the Ohio senator Trump picked as his vice presidential running mate.
A speaking invitation from Trump splits the most prominent American group for Black journalists
Donald Trump’s invitation to address the National Association of Black Journalists has sparked an intense debate within the organization and a flurry of arguments online.
Journalism organizations for people of color traditionally invite presidential candidates to address their summer gatherings during election years. But Trump’s acceptance of NABJ’s invitation has led at least one high-profile group member to step down as a convention co-chair and others to argue their convention may become a platform for Trump to make false claims or be seen as winning NABJ’s endorsement.
The debate over NABJ’s invite reflects how many journalists are still grappling with how to approach Trump nearly a decade after his first presidential run. Some group members argued journalists should give newsmakers an opportunity to be heard, while others pointed to Trump’s demeaning of prominent Black journalists, as well as his frequent falsehoods and attacks on the free press, including labeling reporters “the enemy of the people.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee and first Black woman to hold her office, is not currently scheduled to address the convention. A person familiar with her schedule, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Harris campaign was unable to find a time to appear at NABJ in person and claimed the organization turned down an offer for her to appear virtually.
Top Biden aid leaves White House to join Democratic super PAC
One of President Joe Biden’s top aides is leaving the White House to advise the primary Democratic super PAC supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Anita Dunn, who has served as a senior adviser in the West Wing and has overseen communications and messaging both at the White House and Biden’s former campaign in Delaware, will be taking an advisery role with the group Future Forward, the person said on the condition of anonymity to discuss her plans.
Biden praised Dunn in a statement, saying, “I deeply value her counsel and friendship and I will continue to rely on her partnership and insights as we finish the job over the next six months.”
Dunn and her husband, Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer, had come under criticism from some Biden allies for their roles in preparing the president for his disastrous June 27 debate against former President Donald Trump. Biden’s performance sparked a tidal wave of concern within his part over his ability to take on Trump in November that culminated in his decision last Sunday to quit the race and endorse Harris in his stead.
Biden, though, according to another person familiar with the matter, had made clear to Dunn and Bauer that he took responsibility for the debate and didn’t blame them.
With funeral behind them, family of fire chief killed in Trump assassination attempt begins grieving
The funeral is over. The crowds have left. Now the hard work of grieving is beginning for the family of a former fire chief who was shot and killed during the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Corey Comperatore’s sister, Dawn Comperatore Schafer, is mad at the scammers trying to collect money on their behalf fraudulently. She is trying to understand how it all happened.
Mostly, though, she is shattered. She said the family got through the funeral with the love and support of thousands of people. “They kept us standing,” she said. But, she added, it doesn’t stop after that. “The aftermath is just that. You sit with the loss,” she explained.
“We’re hoping the next several weeks coming ahead is when we can really wrap our heads around all of this. We’re trying to get out of the noise. And that’s very hard to do, as you can imagine. But that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to get out of the noise.”
The noise has been constant for the Comperatore family from the moment a bullet aimed at Trump killed her 50-year-old baby brother, who was a spectator at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“He was there,” she said of her brother, “because he loved this country. He wanted his country and the people’s lives to improve.”
Project 2025 director leaves Heritage Foundation after Democrat attacks and Trump criticism
The director of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a vision for a complete overhaul of the federal government, has stepped down according to a spokesperson for the think tank. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said in a statement the group is sticking to its original timeline and director Paul Dans’ exit comes after the project “completed exactly what it set out to do” and that the “tool was built for any future administration to use.”
But the news came after former President Donald Trump has increasingly disavowed and criticized Project 2025, prompting speculation that his campaign forced the exit.
“President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way,” Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement.
Many Trump allies and former top aides contributed to the project, which proposes a mass firing of government employees and sweeping changes to American life. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and top Democrats have repeatedly tied Trump to Project 2025 as they argue against a second Trump term. A statement from Harris’ campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez called Project 2025 Trump’s “agenda, written by his allies, for Donald Trump to inflict on our country.”
Kari Lake aims to win GOP primary for closely watched Arizona Senate race
Kari Lake is looking to easily win the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Arizona on Tuesday, setting up a fierce battle against Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego for a seat that could be crucial to deciding Senate control.
In Maricopa County, which includes metro Phoenix and 60% of Arizona’s voters, Republicans will also choose between a slate of incumbents who have stood up to former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and challengers who claim it was stolen.
The U.S. Justice Department said it will monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in Maricopa County for Tuesday’s primary. County Sheriff’s officials told Phoenix radio station KTAR that any attempts to disrupt vote centers, harass poll workers or prevent voting will be punished.
The primary will give insights about where the narrowly divided state is headed going into the final sprint of the 2024 election, when Arizona is central to the fight for control of the White House and Congress.
Donald Trump to attend Black journalists’ convention in Chicago
Former President Donald Trump is planning to attend the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention in Chicago on Wednesday.
In a statement released Monday night, the Trump campaign said the Republican presidential nominee would participate in a question and answer session “that will concentrate on the most pressing issues facing the Black community.”
Trump’s campaign has spent months scheduling appearances in areas outside his traditional strongholds of support, including when he attended — and was roundly booed at — the Libertarian Party convention in Washington earlier this year.
In its announcement, the campaign trumpeted Trump policies that it argued benefited Black Americans during his first term.
Harris pivots to convincing Arab American voters of her leadership
Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be trying to convince Arab American voters in crucial Michigan that she is someone they can unite behind. Community leaders are watching closely for signals that she will be more vocal in pressing for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Many in metro Detroit, home to the nation’s largest Muslim population, have expressed a willingness to listen, and some have had initial conversations with Harris’ team. Many had grown exasperated with President Joe Biden after they felt months of outreach had not yielded many results.
“The door is cracked open since Biden has stepped down,” said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud. “There’s an opportunity for the Democratic nominee to coalesce the coalition that ushered in Biden’s presidency four years ago. But that responsibility will now fall on the vice president.”
Harris did not attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent address to Congress, and some Arab American leaders interpret her absence as a sign of good faith with them.
Trump says Harris, married to a Jewish man, doesn’t like Jewish people
Former President Donald Trump said in a radio interview Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, “doesn’t like Jewish people” and appeared to agree with a radio host who called second gentleman Doug Emhoff “a crappy Jew.”
Trump, speaking on radio station WABC, claimed Harris looked uncomfortable while meeting last week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“You can see the disdain,” he said. “No. 1, she doesn’t like Israel. No. 2, she doesn’t like Jewish people. You know it, I know it and everybody knows it, and nobody wants to say it.”
The Republican former president then said, “If you’re Jewish, if you vote for a Democrat, you’re a fool, an absolute fool. They have let Jewish people down since Obama at a level that nobody could believe.”
As the interview went on, Trump again said Harris “dislikes Jewish people.” The interview host, Sid Rosenberg, then mentioned Emhoff and said, “He’s Jewish like Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah,” Trump said.
“He’s a crappy Jew,” Rosenberg said.
“Yeah,” Trump said again.
Rosenberg went on, saying of Emhoff, “He’s a horrible Jew.”
James Singer, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said, “America is better than the fear, hate, and despicable insults of Donald Trump. Vice President Harris believes Americans want a president who unites our country instead of divides it, uses the power of the presidency to help families instead of hurt them, and has a vision for our future, instead of taking us backwards.”
Harris’ potential running mates walk a fine line
Democratic governors and other officials under consideration to be Democrat Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate are practicing a time-honored tradition in presidential campaigns. They’re walking the line between open self-promotion and loyal advocacy for the potential boss in what amounts to unofficial auditions.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro campaigned for Harris on Monday outside Philadelphia. He blasted Republican former President Donald Trump and called Harris ready to lead. But he also showcased his own accomplishments.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear took a similar approach over the weekend. He told voters in Georgia that Harris has the makings of “a great president,” and then highlighted the elections he has won as a Democrat in Republican territory.
Harris is said to also be considering Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, among others.
Secret Service head, FBI’s No. 2 grilled by Senate lawmakers
The acting director of the Secret Service said Tuesday he “cannot defend” why the roof used by the gunman in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump was not secured.
Ronald Rowe, testifying before two Senate committees, said that he recently traveled to the Pennsylvania shooting site where Trump had been holding a campaign rally, and that “what I saw made me ashamed.”
Rowe was joined at a joint hearing of the Senate committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security by FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate.
The FBI’s No. 2 official said a social media account believed to be associated with the gunman espoused political violence and included antisemitic and anti-immigrant sentiment. The posts were from when the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, would have been in high school.
Trump plans rally at same Georgia venue as Harris event
Republican Donald Trump’s campaign announced Tuesday, hours ahead of a rally planned by Vice President Kamala Harris at Georgia State University, that he will travel to Atlanta on Saturday for a rally in the same venue.
Democrats say they have new hope for winning Georgia in November after President Joe Biden bowed out of the race and endorsed Harris. They’re betting that a fresh burst of energy and a surge in fundraising has helped make Georgia — the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020 — a toss-up again.
The Harris campaign and Georgia Democratic officials have 24 offices across the state, including two added last weekend in metro Atlanta. Trump and the Republican National Committee opened their first Georgia offices only recently.
Trump ad blasts Harris for problems at the border
Republican candidate Donald Trump’s campaign released a new advertisement Tuesday, blasting Vice President Kamala Harris for problems at the U.S. southern border.
The advertisement dubs Harris the “border czar,” a reference to her work on migration issues. It includes a parade of headlines about drugs and criminals entering the country, as well as a clip from a controversial interview that Harris did three years ago in which she brushed off a suggestion that she would visit the border.
“Failed. Weak. Dangerously liberal,” the advertisement brands Harris.
New $50 million ad portrays Harris as ‘fearless’
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is kickstarting a $50 million advertising campaign with a new television spot calling the likely Democratic presidential nominee “fearless” throughout her career.
“Throughout her career as a courtroom prosecutor, attorney general, United States senator, and now as vice president, Kamala Harris has always stood up to bullies, criminals and special interests on behalf of the American people – and she’s beaten them,” said a statement from Jen O’Malley Dillon, the campaign chair.
“She’s uniquely suited to take on Donald Trump, a convicted felon who has spent his entire life ripping off working people, tearing away our rights, and fighting for himself.”
The advertisement is slated to run during the Olympics, “The Bachelorette,” “The Daily Show” and other popular programs. It’s an attempt to even the score with Republicans, who have been outspending Democrats on the airwaves during a chaotic summer when President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed Harris.
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion to campaign for Harris
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion will join Vice President Kamala Harris for a special performance during her campaign stop in Atlanta on Tuesday.
A Harris campaign spokesperson confirmed the hip-hop star’s performance alongside the vice president in a post on X on Monday night.
The Harris campaign is promising a large rally in Atlanta, on par with the large events that Republican former President Donald Trump has made his signature.
Harris has America focused on multiracial identity
If Vice President Kamala Harris were to ascend to the presidency, she would become the first female president, but also one who is also multiracial.
The daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both of whom immigrated to the U.S. during the Civil Rights Movement, Harris’ historic presidential bid has again put a spotlight on American identity politics and the growing number of people who say they are multiracial.
Different countries divide people into categories depending on different national traditions. The U.S., with its slavery-molded history, divides people into Black or white, and nine million people identified as multiracial in 2010.
When Harris ran for vice president in 2020, 33.8 million people in the U.S. identified as being more than one race, according to the census.
By The Associated Press
