The next debate is set:Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are set to debate on ABC on September 10 after he said Thursday he had agreed to the faceoff, along with two others next month. The other potential September debates are still up in the air.
On the campaign trail: Meanwhile, Harris and Walz decried Trump’s policies as they continued their campaign swing in battleground states, visiting Michigan before heading to Arizona on Thursday. They rallied union workers in the Detroit area as they worked to draw a sharp contrast with Trump on labor issues.
Our live coverage has ended. Follow the latest 2024 election news here or read through the posts below.
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Harris and Trump are set to debate next month. Catch up on what happened today on the campaign trail
From CNN staff
Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump
Getty Images/AP
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday repeatedly demeaned Vice President Kamala Harris, calling her “barely competent,” and made a string of false and often confusing claims about her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Meantime, Harris and Walz continued their blitz of battleground states with an event in Detroit this afternoon before heading to Arizona.
Here are the top headlines:
Trump’s news conference: Repeating many of his familiar talking points, Trump criticized Democrats over immigration and the economy. He insisted that his campaign strategy is unchanged now that Harris is his opponent and said he preferred running against her. Asked about his light campaign schedule, Trump dismissed the question as “stupid” before saying that he’s been busy taping commercials, talking on his phone, the radio and on television programs.
Harris and Walz in Michigan: The Democratic ticket rallied union members in a local union hall in Michigan Thursday. Harris and Walz worked to drum up support amongst organized labor and draw a sharp contrast between them and Trump on labor issues. Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers, endorsed Harris last week, but many rank-and-file members may not be sold yet. The Harris campaign later called Trump’s news conference a “public meltdown.”
A debate on the calendar: Harris and Trump are slated to debate on ABC on September 10 after the former president said that he agreed to it, along with two others. He said during his news conference that he wants there to be three debates, but Harris would not answer a question from CNN on whether she would commit to all of them. Earlier this week, Trump said that he would not debate Harris if she did not agree to attend the proposed Fox News debate on September 4.
Ad wars heat up: Across the country and a series of key battleground states in particular, ad spending soared to the highest single-week total of the presidential campaign so far last week, seeing a combined total of more than $82 million in presidential advertising. Democrats outspent Republicans during that stretch from July 30 through August 6.
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Harris has secured support from union leaders — but some workers are still weighing their options
From CNN's Kayla Tausche and Arlette Saenz
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are rallying voters across the Midwest this week, looking to build on support from key union leaders as they promote a message of pro-labor policies that they say benefit the middle class.
At the leadership level, the Democratic ticket’s been deemed a clear choice. Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers who endorsed Harris last week and appeared alongside the pair Tuesday, called them a “Democratic Dynamic Duo.”
The public show of support follows weeks of behind-the-scenes maneuvering to renew support from the unions that had backed President Joe Biden, who called himself the most pro-union president in history, until he made a surprise exit from the race last month.
Since then, Harris has set out to prove that she won’t veer from Biden’s agenda — working the phones with union leaders, holding early campaign events alongside the American Federation of Teachers and the UAW, and notching the endorsement from a major hospitality union, despite a proposal by former President Donald Trump to increase service workers’ take-home pay.
And the selection of Walz as the ticket’s No. 2 is seen as bolstering those labor bona fides: Walz and his wife were both union members, and his tenure as governor includes infrastructure, climate and paid leave legislation.
Fain projected confidence later Thursday during an interview with CNN’s Erica Hill, insisting that an “overwhelming majority” of union members will vote for Harris and Walz in November.
Biden offers praise for Walz: "When you get to know him, he's the real deal"
From CNN's Betsy Klein
President Joe Biden offered praise tonight for Kamala Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, according to a source in the room where he spoke to his former Wilmington-based campaign staff.
“When you get to know him, he’s the real deal,” he added.
First lady Jill Biden also spoke. She echoed her handwritten note, thanking them for “(believing) in Joe” and expressing her appreciation, per another source in the room.
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Biden thanks members of former campaign staff as some teared-up, campaign official says
From CNN's Nikki Carvajal
President Joe Biden spoke to several hundred members of his former Wilmington-based campaign staff at The Queen Theatre Thursday night, thanking them for their support of his presidential bid, a campaign official told pool reporters traveling with the president.
There were a few tears from some staff members, the official told the pool.
Biden took photos with every person who wanted one.
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Here's a look at Trump's legal and election calendar
After a seven-week trial this spring in Trump’s New York hush money trial, a jury found the former president guilty on all 34 felony counts. The charges stem from his alleged falsification of business records with the intent to conceal illegal conduct connected to his 2016 presidential campaign.
Judge Juan Merchan had set a sentencing hearing for July 11, a week before the Republican National Convention. But after the US Supreme Court issued its ruling in Trump’s immunity case, Merchan pushed the sentencing hearing to September 18 “if such is still necessary.”
Also in September, Trump is set to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on ABC.
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Walz faced accusations in 2006 of embellishing his military service, which he called slander
From CNN's Andrew Kaczynski
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to audience members at a campaign rally at United Auto Workers Local 900 on Thursday, August 8, in Wayne, Michigan.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, newly selected Democratic vice presidential candidate, is facing scrutiny over his military service record, with critics, including his Republican rival Sen. JD Vance, accusing Walz of falsely suggesting he saw combat during his time as an Army reservist.
It’s not the first time Walz has encountered such criticism.
A CNN KFile review reveals that similar accusations were made in 2006, during Walz’s first run for Congress. That year, multiple letters to his local paper in Mankato, Minnesota, accused him of making misleading statements about his service, including whether he had served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Walz found the accusations serious enough that he personally responded to them both.
At issue were a selection of political ads and statements on Walz’s website describing his overseas military service. While they described Walz as having served overseas in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, they neglected to specify that he did so while serving in Italy, not Afghanistan.
Walz was more specific in other statements and interviews with the media from 2006, in which he did say that, “by luck of the draw,” he was posted to Italy, and not Afghanistan.
Special counsel asks to delay Trump 2020 election subversion case into September
From CNN's Holmes Lybrand, Katelyn Polantz and Paula Reid
Donald Trump continues to juggle multiple legal issues while preparing to face Kamala Harris in the November election.
The special counsel’s office wants more time before having to detail what the Justice Department’s next steps could be in the 2020 election case against Trump, which would push any activity in the case into September at the earliest, just months before the presidential election.
Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith’s office said in a filing Thursday that they are still working through what the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this summer – which granted Trump sweeping immunity for official acts as president – means for the case and how it proceeds.
The request marks a notable change in federal prosecutors’ approach in this criminal case putting the option of a delay on the table after the special counsel spent a year urging the case forward to trial so voters could quickly have answers. The move by Smith also contrasts sharply with Chutkan’s, who, ready to move forward in the days after she was given the case back last week, issued two rulings and set a quick schedule.
Chutkan had scheduled an August 16 hearing to go over the case’s schedule moving forward but prosecutors are asking the judge to push that date back into September.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys had a call earlier Thursday and the “defense was happy to provide this extra time,” according to a source familiar with their thinking. The two sides also spoke on a call earlier this week.
Trump was asked by a reporter: “There are other things the federal government could do, not just an [abortion] ban. Would you direct your FDA, for example, to revoke access to mifepristone? That’s one of the things.”
Trump answered, “So, you could do things that will be, would supplement. Absolutely. And those things are pretty open and humane, but you have to be able to have a vote. And all I want to do is give everybody a vote, and the votes are taking place right now as we speak.”
Pushed by the reporter: “And that’s something you would consider?”
Trump said, “There are many things you can do on a humane basis that you can do outside of that, but you also have to give a vote.”
During CNN’s presidential debate in June, Trump said he would not try to block access to the abortion pill mifepristone if reelected and said he agreed with the US Supreme Court’s decision to reject a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to regulating the abortion pill.
“The Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill, and I agree with their decision to have done that and I will not block it,’ Trump said.
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ABC will allow other networks to simulcast September 10 presidential debate
From CNN's Hadas Gold
ABC News will allow other networks to broadcast its September 10 presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, an ABC spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.
Details about the debate’s format and rules have yet to be confirmed publicly, but the 90-minute face-off will likely take place in Philadelphia, a source familiar with the matter said.
ABC News anchors David Muir and Lynsey Davis will moderate the debate, the network previously said.
During the first presidential debate of the 2024 season between President Joe Biden and former President Trump, CNN allowed other networks to air the debate but with strict requirements around its promotion and broadcast.
More than 51 million people watched the debate in June across 22 networks.
