Trump uses Biden comments as rallying cry, Harris continues to distance from 'garbage' controversy

With only five days until the 2024 presidential election, Thursday brought some major news into the political atmosphere.

Billionaire and Harris campaign surrogate Mark Cuban faced mounds of criticism after telling "The View" that he has never seen former President Donald Trump around "strong, intelligent women" when answering a question about Nikki Haley's inactivity in Trump's campaign.

Many women who have worked with Trump, and/or voted for him, quickly came after Cuban for his comment, describing it as "insulting."

"This is extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for President Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are voting for him," said Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt. "These women are mothers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, and they are, indeed, strong and intelligent, despite what Mark Cuban and Kamala Harris say."

Trump also responded to Cuban's comments, calling him a "really dumb guy, who thinks he's hot stuff."

Cuban then tried to clarify what he meant in his comment and later apologized on X if he "slighted or upset" anyone, adding that he wasn't talking about current or former Trump employees, supporters or voters.

It was also confirmed that the White House Press Office altered the transcript following President Biden's description of Trump supporters as "garbage" on Tuesday to make it seem as if he was referring to a singular supporter and not the group as a whole. The alteration was made without approval from White House stenographers, causing a discrepancy between the transcript released to the public by the Press Office and the transcript distributed by the Stenography Office.

"If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently," the White House stenography supervisor wrote in the email. "Our Stenography Office transcript — released to our distro, which includes the National Archives — is now different than the version edited and released to the public by Press Office staff."

Polls released on Thursday also revealed Trump and Harris are neck-and-neck in key battleground states of Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan as the 2024 presidential election draws near.

Continue to follow Fox News Digital for live updates from the campaign trail.

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., who also served as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa under Trump, shared with Fox News Digital the three things he believes are "dooming" Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.

He writes: "The reasons are complex and yet very simple: just 28% of respondents to a New York Times/Siena College survey believe the U.S. is headed in the right direction under the Biden-Harris administration. Asked to name something she would have done differently than Biden, Harris responded, 'not a thing comes to mind.'"

While Harris may not be able to name one issue, Brown thinks success, security and strength in this country are at the forefront of American voters' minds.

Brown notes that the Biden-Harris administration almost always demonizes wealthy Americans, suggesting that their spending wish list should be funded by top earners "paying their fair share."

"Never mind that our progressive system of taxation means that the top 1% of earners already pay nearly half of all income taxes in this country. Harris wants to raise taxes to a higher level by rolling back the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act when it expires at the end of 2025," he said.

He suggested that security is at an all-time low as migrant crossings surged due to lax immigration policies.

"The results were predictably catastrophic. Migrant crossings surged to all-time highs, and three times higher than the Trump years. Grisly crimes committed by those here illegally dominated the headlines. Immigration even surpassed the economy as the top issue with voters," Brown wrote.

Lastly, Brown criticized the current administration's weak foreign policy, adding that Trump's "unpredictable nature" was a good thing.

"The fiasco of our withdrawal from Afghanistan did more than deflate the credibility of the Biden presidency – it eroded our credibility on the world stage. Harris has not only stood by Biden’s decision, but has bragged about being the last person in the room during the decision-making process."

Read Brown's entire opinion here.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' "disdain for HALF of America was exposed" on Tuesday when Biden called Trump supporters "garbage" during a campaign Zoom call.

Johnson's comment, which was posted on his X account late Thursday night, comes after it was confirmed that the White House Press Office altered the transcript following Biden's "garbage" comment to make it seem like he said one singular Trump supporter instead of supporters in general – a change that was not approved by stenographers.

"They won’t apologize because they actually believe that, and changing the official transcript won’t erase the truth," Johnson wrote. "The message was delivered loud and clear."

Biden has not apologized for the comment, but instead posted on X that he was referring to the "hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico" made by a comedian at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally.

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy criticized Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign strategy on "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday evening, saying that she has to use "scare tactic because she has no policies."

"After spending more than a billion dollars in this campaign, being less than a week away from the voters going to the polls, can you tell me three things she is willing to do if she gets elected?" McCarthy said to Ingraham, adding that he's only aware of her plan to "create inflation" with her suggested $25k down payment assistance for first-time homeowners.

He said that Harris herself "does not motivate" her base to vote for her, so she's relying on "scare tactic" and "attacks on opponents and those who actually support her opponents" in order to gain more votes.

The former speaker also slammed Harris for attempting to appear more moderate than she has been in the past, adding that she often voted as the most left-leaning senator in Congress.

"Kamala, when she was a senator, she voted to the left of AOC, to the left of Bernie Sanders. She comes from San Francisco. She only speaks the way she does right now because she's on teleprompter," McCarthy said.

Vice President Kamala Harris was mocked by the Trump campaign and other conservatives online for yet another "word salad" after a heckler interrupted her speech in Nevada on Thursday night.

"You know what? Let me say something about this," the veep said in Reno after shouting could be heard from the audience while she spoke.

"We are here because we are fighting for a democracy. Fighting for a democracy. And understand the difference here, understand the difference here, moving forward, moving forward, understand the difference here," Harris continued as the heckling went on. "What we are looking at is a difference in this election, let’s move forward and see where we are because on the issue, for example, freedom of choice."

Trump adviser Stephen Miller posted the following on X after the ramble: "CRACKS UNDER PRESSURE. CHOKES EVERY TIME. Not a quality you want in the commander-in-chief."

The criticism continued on the social media platform with the Trump campaign posting, "Kamala spirals after ANOTHER speech is interrupted by protesters."

POLITICS

Gaza protesters plague Harris rallies: 'Wish I Could Vote For U'

Kamala Harris' rallies have been plagued by anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters this week, marking a continuation of disruptions from this bloc of the electorate in the final days before the election.

"She is the word salad Queen!" Author Tom Young chimed in.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Read more of this story by Andrew Mark Miller.

Vice President Kamala Harris made a late-night speech at a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday as the 2024 election heads down the final stretch of the race.

This was the 10th time Harris has visited the Las Vegas valley this year, and the third rally she’s held there since she replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Nevada, which has six electoral votes, is a key swing state that’s crucial in the tight election between Harris and former President Donald Trump.

She was there to rally voters before Friday, which is the last day for in-person early voting, and just days after Trump held a rally in nearby Henderson.

Harris, like many other of her rallies, had a high-profile band playing at her event. The Mexican pop rock group Mana played on stage and greeted her near the stage after the speech concluded.

Just last week, Harris held a rally in Houston, Texas, in which Beyonce introduced her before 30,000 people at a soccer stadium, and just after country music megastar Willie Nelson performed.

Harris used most of her speech to rib at former President Donald Trump, but didn’t reference Biden’s earlier remarks this week of calling Trump supporters “garbage.”

Former President Donald Trump's son, Eric Trump, hit back at President Biden's description of Trump supporters as "garbage" by dressing up as a garbage bag on Halloween.

On his X account, Eric captioned a picture of his family in costumes on Halloween night as "American 'Garbage'" while wearing a garbage bag, black pants and a red Make America Great Again hat.

His wife, Lara, was dressed as the Statue of Liberty, while the pair's two children and two dogs were in other costumes.

The post ended with, "Happy Halloween Friends! We love you all! Eric, Lara, Luke, Carolina, Charlie and Ben!"

Comedians Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe are seen in attendance during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on September 17, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Joe Rogan said he warned insult comedian Tony Hinchcliffe prior to his controversial joke about Puerto Rico at former President Trump's rally last weekend at Madison Square Garden.

Hinchcliffe became embroiled in controversy this week after jokingly referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

On his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan was speaking with writer Francis Foster and comedian Konstantin Kisin about the joke, which he said Hinchcliffe wrote after reading about Puerto Rico’s troublesome landfill issues.

“I tell all comedians, don’t ever do comedy at something that’s not a comedy event. Don’t do it. Don’t ever do comedy at a place that’s doing ‘also,’" he said. “Is he going to have a bunch of speakers and you’re going to do 10 minutes? Don’t ever do that. It’s a terrible setup.”

“That joke kills at comedy clubs. I don’t like the joke, but it kills, and I said to him, it’s just like, if you’re Puerto Rican and you hear that in the audience, you’re like, ahhh, but it’s a funny joke, the joke does well," Rogan added. "But I said to him, I go, dude, that’s the one that’s going to get you stabbed,” he said.

Rogan said he expects the joke to “blow over.”

"There are people that are always going to hate someone like Tony and it’s going to make other people love him more,” he said. “It’s just, like, he’s going through it right now. He’s going through the storm.”

Fox News Digital confirmed the Republican vice presidential candidate will appear on "The Joe Rogan Experience" Wednesday. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images | Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Vice presidential candidate  JD Vance told Joe Rogan that he felt compelled to guard his family immediately after the first assassination attempt on former President Trump.

Vance appeared as a guest on an episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" released Thursday where he recalled his initial reaction to the assassination attempt against Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

He revealed that ahead of the rally, Trump had toyed with the idea of having him come and announcing him as the pick there.

"He basically said, 'Well, I think I'm probably going to pick you, but I don't know, and I'm not ready to make a decision.' And then he looks at one of his staff members who's in the room, he's like, 'Actually, wouldn't it really set the world ablaze if we just made the decision today, and so why don't you come up with me and we'll just do the announcement in Butler, Pennsylvania?'" the Ohio senator said.

Vance was willing to do it, but Trump changed his mind again, saying he still hadn't completely decided on him and the announcement needed to be better prepared.

"I go back home to Ohio, he gets shot, you know, the initial reaction was, I actually thought they had killed him, because when you first see the video, he grabs his ear, and then he goes down, and I'm like, ‘Oh my God, they just killed him,’ and I was so pissed," Vance said.

"But then I go into like fight-or-flight mode. With my kids, I'm like, you know, ‘Alright kids’ - We're at a mini-golf place in Cincinnati, Ohio. I grab my kids up, throw them in the car, go home, and load all my guns, and basically stand like a sentry at our front door and that was my - that was sort of my action to it," he said.

This is an excerpt from an article by Alexander Hall.

The race for control of the House is tight. The classic political jumpball. It’s hard to judge which way the House will tilt.

Republicans are heavily favored to win the Senate. But nearly every competitive Senate contest is razor-thin. Pennsylvania. Ohio. Michigan. Wisconsin. Texas is suddenly in play. Some observers would never rule out Florida. Montana appears to be slipping away from Democrats . Democrats seem in good shape in Arizona. But what happens if former President Trump wins Arizona? Republicans might seize the Senate majority with a robust 53 or 54 seats – even if all of these races are decided by just a percentage point or two.

But, we could be talking about a very different scenario for control of the House and Senate had President Biden not withdrawn from his reelection bid in mid-July.2

House and Senate Democrats breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Although many wouldn’t publicly admit it – even now – they feared that Mr. Biden had lost more than a step. He appeared tired. Utterly incoherent at times during the late June debate with former President Trump. Few were excited.

They fretted that another Biden candidacy would drain all enthusiasm from the Democratic side. Former President Trump would bludgeon Mr. Biden in the race for the White House. But what truly petrified them was the impact of President Biden standing for re-election on down ballot races.

This is an excerpt from an article by Chad Pergram.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is running to keep his seat against U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. (AP)

Both political parties are spending billions of dollars in various parts of the country in an effort to sway voters for control of the Senate.

More than $1 billion is projected to be spent by Nov. 5 on three races alone in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana. Republicans need to pick up only two seats to ensure a majority.

The race in Ohio could break the spending record for Senate races while the contest in Montana will go down as the most expensive Senate race ever on a per-vote basis. Democrats are also spending millions more dollars in Texas in an effort to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz.

For Democrats, the brutal math of this year’s election cycle is forcing them to defend eight seats in tough states. Losses by established incumbents could amount to an extinction-level event for Democrats who represent reliably Republican states.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Warren Douglas Quets joined Trump on stage in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson while speaking about his son Nicholas Douglas Quets, a 31-year-old Marine veteran who worked for Pima County, Arizona, on water reclamation projects.

The younger Quets was shot and killed along the Caborca-Altar Highway in northern Mexico on Oct. 19, 30 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I really wasn't planning on being here," Warren Douglas Quets said. "Two weeks ago, I was a completely apolitical actor. Anybody outside my own home wouldn't have known who I would have voted for. Today. The situation changed for me two weeks ago.”

He said Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, met with him three days after the killing.

“So when you wonder about where America really is and what the stories are, you don't have to wonder anymore. The man next to me and his vice presidential nominee, a current seated senator, both met with me within 36 hours of asking, and both took up the cause,” said Quets.

“It is the policy that contributed to my son being killed. It is the policy that's contributing to the death of other Americans,” he added. “It is the policy that's contributing to fentanyl coming into the United States. Those are political failures, and we need to end them.”

Mexican officials reportedly said that Nicholas Quets didn't stop at a cartel checkpoint, and a group of armed men followed his pick-up truck and opened fire in a "direct attack."

While reports indicate Mexican authorities made arrests, Quets' father said he was relying on the FBI to conduct its investigation and wants his son's killers extradited to the U.S.

Businessman and television personality Mark Cuban addresses a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris October 17, 2024 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Harris continues to campaign daily in battleground swing states ahead of the November 5 election. (Photo by Andy Manis/Getty Images)

Former President Trump called billionaire Mark Cuban a “really dumb guy” who thinks he's “hot stuff” after the “Shark Tank” star said the Republican nominee doesn't surround himself with "strong, intelligent women."

“Mark Cuban, a really dumb guy, who thinks he’s 'hot stuff' but he’s absolutely nothing, is now out there saying that I don’t surround myself with strong women," Trump wrote on X. "Actually, he is very wrong, I surround myself with the strongest of women - With the understanding that ALL women are great, whether strong or not strong. This guy is such a fool, he’s constantly on Television being critical, and only for the reason that I tuned him out completely while President because he called incessantly.”

Cuban, who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, appeared Thursday on “The View” when he talked about Trump.

"Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever," Cuban said. "It’s just that simple. They're intimidating to him. He doesn't like to be challenged by them."

Cuban later appeared to backtrack on some of his comments:

“I’m happy to clarify that," he wrote on X. "1. I know many strong, intelligent women voting for Trump. Including in my extended family,” he added. “I’m certainly not saying female voters are not smart, strong and intelligent. 2. I know he has worked with strong intelligent women, like Elaine Chao, Kelly Anne, Ivanka and many others. I stand by my opinion that he does not like being challenged publicly.”

Trump hurled several insults at Cuban, calling him “insecure” and a "MAJOR LOSER."

“Nobody likes him, nobody respects him, and he’s unattractive both inside and out! He should go back to talk about the person he was forced to support, because I didn’t want it, Lyin’ Kamala Harris,” Trump wrote. “Also, he’s got no clubhead speed! I may, in fact, be surrounded by the strongest women in the World, including Heads of Countries, who make Mark look like a ‘baby!’ All strong women, and women in general, should be very angry about this weak man’s statement.”

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Albuquerque International Sunport, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

It's been two decades since a Republican carried New Mexico in a presidential election.

You've got to go back to President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election.

But former President Trump, making a brief detour from campaigning in the seven crucial battleground states that will likely determine whether he or Vice President Kamala becomes the next president, parachuted into the one-time swing state that now leans blue.

"Look, I'm only here for one reason," Trump told supporters Thursday at a rally in Albuquerque, the state's largest city.

"They said, ‘Oh, a Republican can’t win that state.’ They say a Republican can’t win. But you know what? We’re going to win it," the former president optimistically predicted.

Trump also said his stop in New Mexico was good for his "credentials" with Hispanic voters.

"I’m here for one simple reason. I like you very much, and it’s good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community," he argued.

The former president is facing backlash from some Latino voters after a comedian speaking at his large rally in New York City Sunday called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."

There hasn't been an abundance of polling in New Mexico, but most recent surveys indicate the vice president with an upper single-digit lead over the former president. However, one survey suggested a tighter contest for the state's five electoral votes.

This is an excerpt from an article by Paul Steinhauser and Brooke Singman.

One Apprentice alum and attorney has joined the campaign for Donald Trump as some alumni of the reality show have publicly endorsed Kamala Harris ahead of Tuesday's presidential election.

Erin Elmore appeared on season three of NBC's The Apprentice in 2006 and was "fired" after nine episodes, but she says the experience was immeasurable in the impact both it and Trump have had on her career.

Elmore is one of the 11 Apprentice contestants who recently penned a public letter in support of former President Trump's re-election bid after another cohort publicly endorsed Vice President Harris.

Their letter read, "it is disappointing and shameful that these contestants would use the platform that Donald Trump gave them to attack him in this manner. Is this the thanks he gets for literally changing the trajectory of our lives?"

A letter obtained by Politico from six people formerly involved with The Apprentice claimed that former President Trump is a "divisive, self-interested, and erratic leader with a fragile ego."

Elmore wholeheartedly disagrees with the letter's characterization, claiming in an interview with Fox News Digital that "every bit of success I have in this life and everything that I'm doing is because of Donald Trump."

She joined the show in 2006 as a 26-year-old who had recently graduated law school and made it nearly all the way through season 3.

"Yes, I heard the words, 'you're fired.' But I was rehired on the campaign many, many years later," said Elmore in an interview with Fox News Digital. "But before we get into that, you know, Donald Trump was someone that saw a young person who was ambitious; he gave me every opportunity in the world. After I left the show, he asked me, ‘what do you want to do?’ And I said, ‘I want to get into journalism.’ And he wrote me a letter of recommendation, handed me a folio with people that I could contact. He said, This is on you. This is your job to do it."

This is an excerpt from an article by Jasmine Baehr.

The White House remained silent Thursday when asked to confirm whether its stenographers had approved the transcript it posted of President Biden’s remarks calling Trump supporters "garbage," amid allegations from Republicans that the written version of his remarks posted to the White House's website was deceptively edited.

Republicans from the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to White House attorney Edward Siskel on Wednesday, alleging "a false transcript" of Biden's remarks had been released by the White House and demanded that it "retain and preserve all documents and internal communications" regarding the president's remarks and the release of the subsequent transcript. The committee also requested that an updated transcript with the correct wording be provided.

Following Biden's Tuesday remarks, which came during a virtual Zoom call with a Hispanic get-out-the-vote group known as Voto Latino, the White House posted a transcript of the president's remarks. Transcripts are regularly posted every time the president speaks, and it is typical protocol to get those transcripts approved by the White House's apolitical group of professional stenographers.

However, the White House has not responded to repeated requests from Fox News questioning whether the final transcript of Biden's remarks with Voto Latino had been approved by the stenographers.

Sources at the Oversight Committee told Fox News that while Biden was clearly calling Trump supporters "garbage," the transcript includes incorrect syntax that made the president's words appear as if he was not directly speaking about Trump supporters — an argument echoed by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

This is an excerpt from an article by Alec Schemmel.

Prominent conservative women are pushing back against billionaire and Harris campaign surrogate Mark Cuban for arguing that former President Trump would never surround himself with "strong, intelligent women."

"@mcuban I’ve been a CEO and professional sports team owner JUST like you," former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., said Thursday in response to Cuban on X. "I’m one of the millions of strong, conservative women who back Trump. You might think we’re stupid, or that we’re garbage. We think it’s time to replace you and Kamala with leaders who don’t hate us."

Loeffler’s comments came in response to Cuban’s remarks on ABC’s "The View" on Thursday morning.

"Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever," Cuban said. "It’s just that simple. They're intimidating to him. He doesn't like to be challenged by them."

The remarks were quickly condemned by the Trump campaign, with campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling the comment "insulting."

"This is extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for President Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are voting for him," Leavitt said. "These women are mothers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, and they are, indeed, strong and intelligent, despite what Mark Cuban and Kamala Harris say."

In a post on X, Cuban said that he was speaking about why Nikki Haley was not active in Trump's campaign.

“Donald Trump , you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever. It’s just that simple,” he wrote. "They’re intimidating to him. He doesn’t like to be challenged by them and, you know, Nikki Haley will call him on his nonsense with reproductive rights and how he sees and treats and talks about women. I mean, he just can’t have her around. It wouldn’t work.”

However, Cuban later appeared to backtrack on some of his comments:

“I’m happy to clarify that 1. I know many strong, intelligent women voting for Trump. Including in my extended family,” he added. “I’m certainly not saying female voters are not smart, strong and intelligent. 2. I know he has worked with strong intelligent women, like Elaine Chao, Kelly Anne, Ivanka and many others. I stand by my opinion that he does not like being challenged publicly.”

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Leavitt added that "joy at Kamala HQ has been replaced by division, vitriol, and a disturbing level of disrespect for the millions of Americans who are supporting President Trump after four years of destruction under Kamala Harris."

However, Loeffler and Leavitt weren’t the only conservative women to respond to Cuban, with many others taking to X to voice their frustrations with the billionaire’s remarks.

This is an excerpt from an article by Michael Lee.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Albuquerque International Sunport, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

Former President Trump is traveling to New Mexico and Virginia in the campaign’s final days, instead of visiting the seven battleground states to spend time in places where Republicans haven't won electoral votes in decades.

Trump campaigned in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Thursday and will visit Salem, Virginia, on Saturday.

The battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have seen a constant stream of candidate visits, and residents have been bombarded with political ads on billboards, televisions and smartphones.

In the past two weeks, presidential and vice presidential candidates have made 21 appearances in Pennsylvania, 17 in Michigan and 13 in North Carolina, The Associated Press reported.

Even in states that vote overwhelmingly against him, Trump still retains support in some pockets. He packed Madison Square Garden in New York and in in Coachella, California, two solidly blue states.

In New Mexico, a border state, Trump highlighted his stance on immigration as the state deals with a surge in migrant deaths.

Virginia, once a battleground state, has trended Democrat in recent years. Trump lost the state to Clinton in 2016 and Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

“We have a real chance,” Trump said while phoning into a Richmond-area rally last weekend.

Speaking with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday night, Youngkin said from what he’s seeing on the ground, “Virginia is far more competitive than any of the pundits would have believed.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Workers set up security barricades outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on August 2, 2023, ahead of the arraignment of former US President Donald Trump. Donald Trump was indicted on August 1, 2023 over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election -- the most serious legal threat yet to the former president as he campaigns to return to the White House. Federal prosecutors allege that Trump enlisted six co-conspirators to "assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power." The co-conspirators are not named in the indictment, but five of them can be identified using the detailed descriptions provided by prosecutors (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. Capitol Police will switch to an “enhanced posture” to protect the Capitol grounds ahead of the election, Fox News has learned, as the agency is still leery following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.

Authorities will begin to line the Capitol square with “bike rack” fencing and curb points of ingress and egress to the Capitol grounds. That will enable the Capitol Police to quickly take extra security precautions as necessary.

Additional officers will also be working. The enhanced posture will begin over the weekend and run until further notice, one source told Fox News.

There was no concrete threat to the Capitol on election day or the days afterwards.

The concern from authorities is related to the possibility of the election triggering protests with the potential for violence directed at the Capitol or those who work there.

One source familiar with Congressional security signaled that there may be more concern after Election Day than on Nov. 5 itself.

The Republican National Committee filed its final brief Thursday with the U.S. Supreme Court regarding a legal dispute in Pennsylvania over provisional ballots that were rejected for not following technical procedures in state law.

Republicans are asking the justices to block a lower court decision requiring provisional ballots to be counted after the mail-in ballots were rejected for various technical errors, including those that arrived without mandatory secrecy envelopes.

In its brief, the RNC argued for segregating the ballots in question while the legal dispute plays out.

“Moreover, once the county boards comply with the majority’s order, it may not be possible to challenge the counting of those provisional ballots,” the brief states. “After all, when election officials count a provisional ballot, they rely on the outer declaration envelopes to identify the elector and his status.”

“The actual provisional ballots contain no identifying information, only a vote," the brief continues. "Once ballots are separated from their outer envelopes, there is no way to retroactively figure out which ballots were illegally cast. In other words, once the egg is scrambled, it cannot be unscrambled.”

Pennsylvania's highest court ruled last week that the state must count provisional ballots for voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected or improperly filled out in a 4-3 decision that could provide thousands of voters in the state with a second chance to cast their vote.

An order by the high court is expected as early as Thursday or Friday.

A placard lets people know they can vote early outside the Black Mountain Public Library in Black Mountain, North Carolina on October 21, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Black voter turn out in early voting is lagging in the key battleground state of North Carolina, a red flag for Democrats who need minority voters to win the state.

According to Politico , citing Democratic operatives, Vice President Kamala Harris needs 20% Black turnout to be competitive in the state – with the percentage at just 18% days ahead of the election.

About 36,000 more Black voters had voted in-person by this point in 2020 than in 2024, and “that gap has to be closed among African Americans for Democrats to win,” Thomas Mills, a Democratic strategist in the state, told the outlet.

In 2020, Black voters comprised 19 percent of the electorate, when former President Donald Trump narrowly won the state.

Democratic operatives pointed to former President Barack Obama's sweep of North Carolina in 2008 – noting that he got more registered Black voters than registered white voters in the state to show up.

Obama was the first Democrat to win North Carolina's electoral votes in 20 years.

“Black voters know the consequences of another Trump presidency,” former Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-NC, told Politico. “And so I believe, at the end of the day, we will have an Obama-like turnout.”

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin speaks during "Fox & Friends" at Fox News Channel Studios on October 10, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said the presidential race in his state is a lot closer than what most analysts expect.

“Virginia is far more competitive than any of the pundits would have you believe but I just remind everybody, Donald Trump, of course, against Joe Biden in 2020, Joe Biden won by 10 points,” the governor told Bret Baier on “Special Report."

Youngkin, a Republican, urged former President Trump to continue to campaign in his state in the final days of the election.

“He has been here three times. Kamala Harris I don't think has been here at all in a rally format, asking people for their votes,” he said.

Trump is slated to campaign Saturday in Salem, Virginia.

The governor also praised Trump for his border and economic policies, issues that have appeared to resonate with many of Trump's supporters.

“Today we see the exact opposite on all fronts. And I do believe that is why we are seeing President Trump surge in the polls, that's why Virginia is more competitive than anybody could believe,” he said. “That's why he is coming on Saturday in order to deliver that message and ask people for their vote.”

Billionaire businessman and "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban said “it doesn't matter at all” after President Biden said supporters of former President Trump were “garbage.”

Speaking on “The View,” Cuban said Biden is known for malapropisms, the unintentional misuse or distortion of a word or phrase.

Biden has come under heavy criticism for saying Trump supporters were “garbage” during a virtual call with Voto Latino. Biden was asked about Trump's rally in Madison Square Garden, which made headlines after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe told a joke, referring to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage."

“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.' Well, let me tell you something," Biden said on the call. "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American.”

Cuban argued that Biden's remarks won't change any minds in the finals days of a hotly contested election.

“There's nobody changing hearts and minds because of what Joe Biden said,” said Cuban. “Vice President Harris is the candidate. That's all that matters is what she said.”

“I think it doesn't matter at all,” he added. “Whether Joe misspoke or not it really doesn't matter."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) walks to his office from the Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on September 25, 2024 in Washington, DC. A funding lapse is unlikely as a stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown is expected to pass the House and Senate with bipartisan support before federal funding expires at midnight Monday. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will not make an endorsement in the race to succeed him as Senate GOP leader.

McConnell, who has served as the GOP leader since 2007, is stepping down after the Nov. 5 elections.

Sens. John Thune, John Cornyn and Rick Scott are all vying to replace McConnell.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris exits after delivering remarks at an event with the Greater Washington Partnership at Howard University March 30, 2022 in Washington, DC. Greater Washington Partnership announced a $4.7 billion commitment to boosting minority-owned businesses and underrepresented communities in and around the Washington, DC region. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The Harris-Walz campaign will host an election night party at Kamala Harris's alma mater, Howard University, in Washington D.C.

Harris has previously cited the historically Black college as having a major impact on her and the role the HBCU has played in her life.

Howard is where Harris first ran a campaign, as a freshman class representative.

In a letter published earlier this month by the school's newspaper, Harris called herself a “proud” alumna.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are nearly even in the battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina, according to new polls released Thursday.

The CNN polls conducted by SSRS have found that Trump leads Harris 48-47% among likely voters in Georgia, while Harris leads him 48-47% in North Carolina.

Of those who responded, 42% in Georgia say they approve of the way the Biden administration has handed the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene, while only 36% feel that way in North Carolina.

In both states, Harris leads Trump among likely Black voters. That group backs Harris 84-13% in Georgia and 78-19% in North Carolina, according to the polls.

Harris also only has a 2% advantage among women voters in Georgia.

The polls, which were taken between Oct. 23-28, surveyed 732 voters in Georgia and 750 in North Carolina and have a margin of error of 4.7% among Georgia voters and 4.5% among North Carolina voters.

A new report from a government watchdog organization is blasting the Biden-Harris administration’s claims that it is the "most ethical and transparent" administration in history, calling it a "myth."

"From its onset, the Biden-Harris administration promised to ‘bring transparency and truth back to government,’ per then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki," the 26-page report from Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) states.

Psaki also claimed that President Joe Biden ‘is committed to ensuring we have the most ethically vigorous administration in history.’ However, the administration and its executive branch agencies have often failed to live up to these high ideals, and the myth of a scandal-free administration is just that: a myth."

The report outlines alleged ethics violations throughout the Biden administration from the White House, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Interior, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Commerce, State Department and other various complaints.

In the Biden White House, the report outlines alleged ethics issues with the Office of White House Counsel (WHCO) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), including allegations that Biden’s White House lawyers were acting as his personal attorneys amid the investigation into mishandling of classified documents.

The report also suggests that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has violated the Hatch Act, along with White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, and raises concerns about former press secretary Psaki's "apparent conflict of interest while looking to leave federal service for a high-salary television job."

This is an excerpt from an article by Andrew Mark Miller.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Vice President Kamala Harris is struggling to secure the support of male volunteers in some labor unions, according to media reports.

Historically, most unions have backed Democratic candidates.

Liz Shuler, president of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO, told Reuters that enthusiasm for Harris is strong overall but sexism is likely undermining support for her in some unions.

"Let's be honest, there are people who look at a female candidate and at face value dismiss her because, you know, she's perceived as not being presidential," she said. "No one questions Donald Trump in that way."

Finding men at home to engage them can be a challenge and the AFL-CIO is instead visiting them at their job sites, where chances of a conversation to address their concerns are much higher, she said.

The problem is especially acute within the building trades unions like electricians and pipefitters, whose members are predominantly male and white, Reuters reported.

Larger service unions with a more diverse membership have seen a growing gender gap, where a drop in male support has been offset by a surge in support from women, labor officials say.

Trump has made inroads with union workers in recent years and any drop in support for Harris could be a decisive factor in the neck-and-neck race.

President Biden is getting hit with a resolution in Congress condemning his "garbage" remarks while discussing former President Donald Trump’s supporters earlier this week.

"President Biden must be condemned for calling millions of Americans who support Donald Trump garbage," Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., who is introducing the measure later this week, told Fox News Digital.

He linked it to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s infamous quip that half of Trump supporters were a "basket of deplorables" during her doomed 2016 presidential bid. 

"First, Democrats called half the country deplorables. Now, they are doubling down, calling us garbage. Democrats’ disrespect for half the country’s views and opinions is exactly what is wrong with the leadership of extreme far-left liberals," Rose said.

Republicans have been hammering Biden – and by extension 2024 Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris – over the remarks, even forcing top Democrats to distance themselves from the controversial comment.

The White House has denied that the president called Trump supporters "garbage," and interpretations of what the 81-year-old leader said have been hotly debated.

This is an excerpt from an article by Elizabeth Elkind.

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Thursday told his more than 20 million subscribers that he supports former President Trump in the 2024 election. 

“Democrats have been in power for 12 of the last 16 years, so if we aren’t happy about the current political state, economic state, environmental state, then who is to blame?” Paul said in an 18 minute video posted to YouTube.

"Do I think Donald Trump is a perfect human being? No. I don't think anybody on this planet is a perfect human being, myself included," the influencer said. "Don't judge people off of a character that the media has portrayed them to be, because Democrats control 90% of the U.S. media." 

Paul argued that Trump is a better candidate on the issues than Harris, who he noted has been in office for the past four years. He said the media has mischaracterized Trump's position on abortion, asking, "what rights as a woman were taken away from you" in Trump's first term in office. 

"If you really cared about women and their opportunities, and their lives, I think it would be better to have a president that doesn't want biological men competing in women's sports," said Paul. 

"As a future father, you will find me dead before I send my daughter to a school where men can go into her bathroom and where men can compete against her in sports. It's bull---- that is taking away women's rights." 

A new poll has found that former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are essentially tied among voters in the battleground state of Michigan. 

The Washington Post poll of 1,004 registered voters reveals that Trump is leading Harris there 47 to 45%. Among that group, those who said they were likely to vote for Harris over Trump 47-46%. 

The poll was conducted between Oct. 24-28 and has a margin of error of 3.7%. Of those who responded, six out of every ten voters view the state of the economy negatively, according to The Washington Post. 

Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed listed the economy as an "extremely important issue," followed by immigration at 47%, taxes at 44%, healthcare at 42%, abortion at 41% and U.S. policy on the war in Gaza at 29%. 

On those issues, Trump leads Harris 49-42% among registered voters who believe he would do a better job handling the economy, 51-38% on the issue of immigration, and 48-38% on the war in Gaza. 

Harris, meanwhile, leads Trump 49-36% among voters who believe she will do a better job handling abortion, and 46-40% on health care. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Greg Norman.

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump holds a press conference from inside trash hauler at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport on October 30, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

American-born Israeli Olympian AJ Edelman called former President Trump's garbage truck photo op a "brilliant" campaign move on Thursday.

"It's still insane to me that a very significant number of people see Trump driving around in a garbage truck and go 'well that's [something negative],'" Edelman wrote in a post on X. 

"Campaigns are about sound bites and snapshot images. From a political perspective it's brilliant. If you think this is negative you're not his target demographic and most likely just aggravated that people are talking about it. It plays incredibly well and it's all anyone has talked about for the last news cycle. You don't hear a single thing about Puerto Rico or jokes," he continued. 

"He's a better showman than anyone who's ever done this. And if you think it's anything but a huge positive for him, I'm sorry you are wrong." 

Edelman said the garbage truck news cycle is "fun." 

"If you're aggravated about it you most likely really just hate the guy. Which is totally okay, but people who are undecided five days out from an election and bombarded for weeks with negativity (and let's be honest the Harris campaign has been incredibly negative these last few weeks,) don't look at this as anything but something kind of fun. And you know what it doesn't make them think about? A comedian at Madison Square Garden." 

CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell said former President Trump is offering President Biden "no grace" over his remark disparaging Trump supporters after the GOP nominee showed up to a campaign event in a garbage truck on Wednesday.

"Former President Donald Trump was in North Carolina earlier, and tonight, he is also in Wisconsin. He landed in Green Bay just a short time ago and then pulled this campaign stunt, speaking to reporters from a garbage truck, proof that he and his supporters are giving no grace to a gaffe by President Biden where he, in his explanation, inadvertently called Trump supporters garbage," O'Donnell said in the opening segment of "CBS Evening News."

Biden sparked backlash Tuesday night after he appeared to call former President Trump's supporters "garbage" during a virtual Harris campaign call with Voto Latino. He took a swipe at former President Trump's rally in Madison Square Garden, which made headlines after insult comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made jokes mocking different ethnic groups, with one joke referring to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage."

"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters," Biden said on the call. "His- his- his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it is un-American."

As Democrats in the media rushed to defend, dismiss or downplay the comment, Republicans have embraced it as the new line of attack against the Harris campaign with less than a week to the hotly contested election.

On Wednesday, Trump rolled up to the battleground state of Wisconsin in a garbage truck to answer questions from reporters, wearing an orange reflective vest with "Trump Make America Great Again 2024" emblazoned on the vehicle. 

"How do you like my garbage truck?" he asked reporters. "This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden."

This is an excerpt from an article by Yael Halon.

Vice President Kamala Harris is leaning on abortion issues in the final days of her campaign (Kylie Cooper for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris suggested she would sign federal abortion protections into law during a speech in Wisconsin on Thursday evening.

"One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree, the government shouldn't be telling her what to do with her body," Harris said, referring to women.

"When Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law."

Harris has made abortion rights a cornerstone of her 2024 campaign, and has spoken on the issue frequently in her capacity as President Biden’s vice president. 

Democrats are hoping that continued fallout from the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 will be a potent political cudgel in November. In the previous midterm races, it was partially credited with aiding them in keeping the Senate and blunting Republicans’ margin of victory in the House.

Harris said on Wednesday evening that Trump "would ban abortion nationwide" and likewise institute a ban on contraceptives – both stances the ex-president has explicitly denied.

While Democratic lawmakers have rallied around federal abortion legislation to codify it into law, Republicans have insisted it’s an issue best left up to the states.

The Republican Senate nominee in New Mexico says former President Trump's stop in the blue-leaning southwestern state on Thursday "will infuse our state with a lot of momentum."

Nella Domenici, the 2024 GOP Senate nominee and the daughter of New Mexico's last Republican senator, is trying to defeat Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is running in November for a third six-year term, as her party works to win back the chamber's majority.

"Trump is definitely going to help us with the independents," Domenici predicted in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the former president's visit to the state. 

With five days until Election Day next Tuesday, the former president is making a rare detour from campaigning in the seven crucial battleground states in the White House race that will likely determine if Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris wins the 2024 election.

It's been two decades since a Republican carried New Mexico in a presidential election. You've got to go back to President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election.

There hasn't been an abundance of polling in New Mexico, but most recent surveys indicate Harris with an upper single digit lead over Trump, although one survey suggests a tighter contest for the state's five electoral votes.

With time such a precious commodity for presidential campaigns and the clock quickly ticking toward Election Day, New Mexico Democrats say Trump's trip to the state - his first in five years - is a fool's errand.

"Trump is wasting his time coming to our state as polling shows New Mexicans are set to reject his MAGA extremism and divisive rhetoric yet again," Democratic Party of New Mexico spokesperson Daniel Garcia claimed in a statement.

This is an excerpt from an article by Paul Steinhauser. 

Many big-rig truckers are backing former President Trump this cycle, amid worries surrounding how a Harris administration would affect the crucial auto industry, a trucking company executive admitted. 

The presidential election is just five days away, and Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have presented different futures for the auto industry while on the campaign trail.

Mike Kucharski, co-owner and vice president of JKC Trucking, Chicago's largest specialty contract carrier, said that there are five reasons truckers are more in favor of a Trump presidency this cycle: costs, increased regulatory burdens, infrastructure, driving range of the trucks and less cargo capacity due to the battery.

"I personally don't vote along party lines, but I support candidates with policies. And I would say policies are the gateway to truckers' vote — policies that help small business thrive," Kucharski said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. "Right now, a lot of small business owners in the trucking industry are seriously concerned about Kamala Harris' impact on our industry if she takes office."

The number one issue, according to Kucharski, is costs. 

"Truckers are already struggling to stay afloat due to issues like skyrocketing diesel costs. It's pouring too much for diesel. Truckers are driving less miles, paying more for fuel," he said. "Another blow to truckers is this increased regulatory burdens. Truckers are overregulated."

Kucharski added that truckers are supportive of electric trucks, but that the industry is not ready for mandates such as those being pushed under the Biden-Harris administration.

Harris' campaign told Fox News Digital that she does not support electric vehicle mandates. However, the Biden-Harris Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced a final rule in March to require up to two-thirds of all new car sales to be electric by 2032. The agency also set a goal to require 40% of heavy-duty trucks to be zero-emissions by 2032.

The EPA previously projected the standards could lead to 50% of vocational trucks, 35% of short-haul tractor-trailers and 25% of long-haul tractor-trailers produced in 2032 being electric.

"The small trucking companies simply can't absorb these extreme costs. And people are saying the larger companies could do it. But I think they're going to have an issue. It's a great idea, but I don't think it's going to work," Kucharski said of the final rule.

This is an excerpt from an article by Aubrie Spady.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is accusing YouTube of potentially repressing former President Trump’s interview with podcast host Joe Rogan.

In a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pitchai sent late Wednesday, Jordan said the tech giant’s subsidiary "appears to have censored the video of Joe Rogan’s recent interview with President Donald Trump."

"We write to seek an immediate briefing on (1) YouTube’s decision to censor Joe Rogan’s interview with President Trump; and (2) Google Search’s elevation of material critical of the interview," Jordan wrote.

The Ohio Republican cited a New York Post report that said people were having difficulty finding the three-hour interview on YouTube.

"Recent news coverage reports that ‘search[es] on YouTube using the terms ‘Joe Rogan Trump’ or ‘Joe Rogan Donald Trump’ did not bring up Friday’s three-hour sit-down at the top of the list,’" the letter said

The report claimed the full interview was also "absent" from YouTube’s trending videos page the following day.

Jordan also said YouTube acknowledged "censorship" of the interview, referring to a statement posted to X earlier this week that read, "For some searches on Monday the original 3-hour interview didn’t appear prominently. Short excerpts uploaded by the Joe Rogan channel appeared, but we know it was frustrating for users looking to find the full video."

"We’ve worked to resolve this and viewers will begin seeing the full podcast in more YouTube search results soon," the statement said.

Jordan wrote in his letter to Alphabet, "Americans deserve access to political speech, especially in the closing weeks before an election."

"Given the company’s recent history of censorship, including at the behest of the Biden-Harris Administration, YouTube’s censorship of former President Trump is particularly troubling," he wrote.

"Please arrange for this briefing as soon as possible, but no later than 10:00 am on November 14, 2024."

This is an excerpt from an article by Liz Elkind.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has indicated that former President Donald Trump plans to give him "control" over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Kennedy indicated that Trump "promised" him "control" over "public health agencies, which are HHS and its sub-agencies, CDC, FDA, NIH, and a few others," plus the USDA. 

He made the comments in a video clip that has been circulating online. 

The New York Times reported that Kennedy noted via text that the video was a recording from an internal talk with campaign workers regarding get-out-the-vote efforts for Trump.

"I stand ready to help him rid the public health agencies of their pervasive conflicts and corruption and restore their tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science," Kennedy said in a statement, according to the outlet.

The HHS secretary and USDA secretary posts are both cabinet-level positions.

"No formal decisions about Cabinet and personnel have been made, however, President Trump has said he will work alongside passionate voices like RFK Jr. to Make America Healthy Again by providing families with safe food and ending the chronic disease epidemic plaguing our children," Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, according to reports.

This is an excerpt from an article by Alex Nitzberg.

A Fox News focus group of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents gave their real-time reactions to President Biden’s recent comments seeming to call supporters of former President Trump "garbage," with the latter two groups registering a strongly negative impression of the president’s words.

The groups recently participated in a dial test while watching Biden’s controversial statements that he made during a virtual Harris campaign call with Latino voters on Tuesday evening. The test allowed viewers to input their reactions while watching the moment in real time. These reactions showed up as a moving line on a graph indicating whether they were reacting positively, neutrally, or negatively to Biden’s words as he spoke them.

The test revealed that, while Democratic participants remained somewhat positive about Biden’s anti-Trump statements – including when he appeared to call Trump supporters "garbage" – Republicans and Independents sharply dipped into negative reactions as he made them.

Though Republican watchers’ reactions appeared to be the most negative, with the red line representing them veering down well below the neutral line for most of Biden’s 49-second statement, the yellow line representing independents also dipped low into negative response for the majority of the clip as well. 

While never registering as intensely negative as the red line, the yellow line sharply dropped off the neutral plane as Biden declared that Trump "doesn’t care about the Latino community" and that he’s a "failed businessman."

The Independent line stayed low until it briefly ticked up (while still in the negative) when Biden mentioned Trump wanting to end "birthright citizenship."

Once Biden appeared to say, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters," the yellow line took a notable downturn again, getting close to the Republican reaction line that was at its lowest point.

Meanwhile, the blue Democrat line represented the inverse reaction to both Independents and Republicans, traveling well above the neutral reaction line and gradually climbing as Biden made the "garbage" remarks.

This is an excerpt from an article by Gabriel Hays.

Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 102 days as the presumptive, and now, official Democratic nominee for president without holding an official press conference. 

Trump has held at least six news conferences where he took questions from the media since the beginning of August. Harris has done brief, informal press gaggles this week with the media while on the campaign trail, including on Monday when she criticized the tone and rhetoric at Trump's rally in New York City over the weekend. 

She gave a speech on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., outlining her path forward for the United States and how she differs from what she calls Trump's radical, dark vision.

Harris also ended her streak of not appearing on Fox News earlier this month, sitting for an interview in Pennsylvania with chief political anchor Bret Baier. She also did a CNN town hall and interviews last week with NBC News, Telemundo and CBS, as well as several podcasts and local news stations this week.

Harris has stepped up her interviews in recent weeks, including doing radio hits, friendly appearances with "The View," Stephen Colbert and Howard Stern and other media appearances.

But as for when she'll actually do a formal press conference as a candidate, that day appears like it won't come, at least while she's still a candidate.

This is an excerpt from an article by Brian Flood and David Rutz.

Vice President Harris on Wednesday picked up endorsements from three longtime Republican leaders in New Hampshire who supported former President Trump's rival Nikki Haley in the Republican primary.

Former U.S. Senator Gordon Humphrey, former U.S. Congressman and former New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Chuck Douglas and former New Hampshire Attorney General Thomas Rath condemned Trump as a divisive and unstable candidate in statements declaring their support for Harris. Her campaign said the endorsements reflect growing enthusiasm for the vice president among registered Republicans both in the Granite State and the rest of the nation.

"I voted Republican for fifty years, but I’m voting against Donald Trump and I plead with all Republicans to do the same," Humphrey said in a statement.  "As a father, a grandfather, a veteran, and a former United States Senator, I cannot vote for Trump. He’s dangerous to our democracy." 

Douglas said that Trump "believes in himself over service" and views the election "as the change to jail his political opponents." Harris would be a "steady hand at the ship of state" in contrast to Trump's "fragile mental state and anger," according to the former lawmaker. 

Rath likewise condemned Trump's "campaign of division, anger, thinly veiled prejudice, and rejection of our core values as a nation." 

The Harris-Walz campaign welcomed their support and noted that hundreds of current and former Republicans across the country have backed Harris, including former GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. 

Former President Trump reiterated his plans to "make America great again" as the 2024 race enters its final days.

Trump sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannity at Mar-a-Lago and repeated the same campaign promises he’s made on the trail, vowing to secure the border, fix the economy and immigration system and utilize tariffs against foreign countries.

The 2024 GOP presidential nominee said a potential second administration of his would be different because, now, he knows "everybody in Washington."

"I didn't know anybody [during his first term]. I was not a Washington person. I was rarely there," Trump said Wednesday on "Hannity." "I know everybody [now]. I know the good, the strong, the weak, the stupid. I know the -- I know everybody. And we're going to make this country great again, and we have to save our country."

He rallied against the Biden-Harris administration for its handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, record border crossings and weak foreign policy, pointing to Russia’s war against Ukraine and Israel’s war against Hamas, once again claiming they both would never have started had he been in the White House.

"We're going to be respected again. We're going to make America great again. And there's nothing in the world I'd rather be doing. I don't want to be on some beautiful beach. I don't want to be sitting in some faraway hotel where it's very nice and watching television or doing something. I want to be doing what I'm doing," Trump said. "It's so incredible."

This is an excerpt from an article by Ashley Carnahan.

President Biden was photographed playfully biting at least two babies dressed in Halloween costumes at the White House trick-or-treat event on Wednesday evening.

Both children were carried by their mothers to visit the 81-year-old commander-in-chief, who didn't seem to mind the interaction.

One baby who was dressed as a chicken even giggled after Biden took a faux nibble of his or her leg. The president then engaged in some easy banter with the baby's mother.

The White House event will be the last Halloween-themed celebration of Biden's term in office. Biden, who dropped out of the 2024 election, will leave office in January. 

First lady Jill Biden added an educational theme to the event and named it “Hallo-Read” to help encourage reading. She has been a teacher for 40 years. Earlier Wednesday, she read a short story about spooky pumpkins to a group of costumed children gathered on the lawn.

She and the president later ventured outside at sunset and spent about an hour handing out treats. Biden, in a suit and tie, dropped boxes of White House Hershey's Kisses chocolates in the kids' tote bags while the first lady handed out copies of “10 Spooky Pumpkins.”

As many as 8,000 people, including students and children, were expected to attend the White House event, according to the Associated Press. 

Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr The Associated Press contributed to this update.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been ordered to attend a hearing Thursday after a Pennsylvania prosecutor sued to block the billionaire's $1 million-a-day giveaway to registered voters in swing states.

Progressive Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner claims that Musk's America PAC is engaged in an "illegal lottery scheme to influence voters." 

Musk, who supports Trump, has promised to give away $1 million a day randomly to registered voters in swing states who sign a petition that pledges to support free speech and gun rights. Eligible voters must reside in one of seven key battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.

An attendee at an Oct. 19 rally hosted by America PAC in Harrisburg was the first recipient of Musk's million-dollar pay day. 

Krasner filed a lawsuit to stop the payments on Oct. 28, a little more than a week before Election Day on Nov. 5. Prosecutors claim the giveaway is essentially an illegal lottery unsanctioned by the state, which has the sole authority to regulate them. The suit also says it violates consumer protection laws by "deploying deceptive, vague or misleading statements" about its rules, Reuters reported. 

"Running an illegal lottery and violating consumer protections is ample basis for an injunction and concluding that America PAC and Musk must be stopped, immediately, before the upcoming Presidential Election on November 5," the suit said.

Reuters contributed to this update.

The vast majority of Americans report being "anxious and frustrated" rather than "excited" regarding the upcoming election, according to a Thursday poll from the Associated Press.

The poll found that 7 in 10 Americans reported feeling frustrated about the election, while just under a third say they are excited. The AP-NORC poll comes as the presidential race between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris remains neck-and-neck.

The poll found that Democrats in particular are feeling more anxious than usual. Roughly 8 in 10 Democrats said they have negative feelings about the upcoming election, compared to just 7 in 10 in the last election.

Independents are the most even keeled, however, with roughly half of the group saying they are anxious and the other half saying they are excited.

The poll of 1,233 adults was conducted Oct. 24-29, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

This is an excerpt from an article by Anders Hagstrom.

President Trump participates in a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 25, 2020. (Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A recent Pew Research Poll gives former President Trump the lead with veterans nationwide over Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Tuesday's presidential election.

The poll, conducted with 876 veteran registered voters, gave Trump or "Leans Trump" 61% of the key demographic's support. Just 37% of the veterans polled responded that they support Harris.

Veterans make up around 6% of the country, according to the Census Bureau, or about 16 million people per 2022 numbers. The number of veterans nationwide is steadily dwindling, with around 18% of the American population being veterans in 1980.

Veterans 4 America First Institute, a nonprofit, reacted to the recent poll showing overwhelming support for Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election in an interview with Fox News Digital.

"The reason veterans are sticking with Trump, despite all the fake news, all the lies about Trump, is because veterans care about two things: results, and their pension," Darin Selnick, an Air Force veteran and founder of Veterans 4 America First Institute, told Fox News Digital.

"And so with the VA, you know, veterans all over the country saying, ‘We want Trump back’ because the VA has gone downhill. We're not getting our choice of staff or not being accountable," said Selnick.

The Mission Act and the Accountability Acts passed under former President Trump allowed for veterans to seek private providers outside the VA as well as hold poorly performing VA staff accountable.

This is an excerpt from an article by Jasmine Baehr.

Election Day is less than a week away and voters are already heading to the polls and mailing in their ballots, and betting markets have weighed in on whether Republicans or Democrats are favored to win control of Congress.

Control of both the House of Representatives and Senate have been closely contested in recent years, with the last two Congresses having historically thin majorities in both the House and Senate. The GOP controlled a narrow 222-213 majority in the House at the outset of the current 118th Congress, after Democrats began the prior Congress with a majority of the same margin.

In the Senate, Democrats currently have a 51-49 majority when including independent senators who caucus with the Democratic Party. During the previous Congress, the Senate had a 50-50 split with Democrats controlling the majority by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote.

Traders on Polymarket see the trend of relatively narrow majorities continuing in the next Congress after this election. While the platform currently sees an 83% chance of a GOP majority in the Senate, bettors are also anticipating that it will be by a relatively small margin.

Since early September, Polymarket traders have seen a 52-seat GOP majority as the likeliest outcome, which peaked at a 52% chance in early October but has since ebbed to a 25% chance. A slightly smaller 51-seat GOP majority is the next most likely outcome according to Polymarket bettors, with a 16% chance.

Bettors see an 11% chance that Republicans will end up with 49 or fewer Senate seats — which would give Democrats a narrow majority. They also see a 9% chance of a 50-50 bipartisan split, which would give the majority to the party that wins the White House and has a vice president who can cast tiebreaking votes in the Senate.

Polymarket's traders see the battle for control of the House of Representatives as a virtual toss-up, with House Democrats having a roughly 50% chance of winning a majority over the past week. 

However, a separate market on the platform suggests that House Republicans are more likely to attain a larger majority than what has occurred in recent years, as it sees a 29% chance there will be 230 or more GOP seats in the House in the next Congress. It also shows a 15% chance the GOP ends up with fewer than 200 seats — which would leave Democrats with a majority of more than 235 seats.

BetUS' odds see control of the House of Representatives as a toss-up with Democrats and Republicans having equal odds. It also has Republicans as the heavy favorites to win control of the Senate. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Eric Revell.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced immediate backlash Wednesday after she denied that President Biden had referred to Trump supporters as "garbage."

"Just to clarify, he was not calling Trump supporters garbage," Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily White House press briefing, reiterating the statement Biden put out to clean up his remarks.

"He does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage," she said, adding that Biden has said numerous times that he is a "president for all," including those who did not vote for him in red states and blue states. 

But commentators argued this may say more about Jean-Pierre's estimation of the American public than Biden's actual statement.

"Breaking wind from BSNBC!" former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wrote. "5 Alarm fire at the WH when KJP's pants catch fire in spontaneous combustion after she claims Joe didn't really call Trump supporters ‘garbage.’ She does know that we can see the video for ourselves? That we aren't as clueless as her boss is?"

Tarrant County GOP chairman Bo French commented, "It amazes me more people aren't appalled by the outright lies these people tell. We watched the video. He clearly called us garbage. I have a feeling the swing voters are done with this kind of BS."

"JUST IN: Karine Jean-Pierre, while dressed as a piece of Laffy Taffy, says Biden ‘was not calling Trump supporters garbage.’ … even though it’s LITERALLY ON VIDEO Again, these people think you’re stupid," videojournalist Nick Sortor wrote. "Vote accordingly."

This is an excerpt from an article by Alexander Hall.

Jennifer Aniston announced Wednesday that she voted for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be the next president and vice president of the United States of America.

"Today not only did I vote for access to health care, for reproductive freedom, for equal rights, for safe schools, and for a fair economy, but also for SANITY and HUMAN DECENCY," Aniston wrote in a social media post.

She encouraged others to vote as well and pleaded for Americans to "end this era of fear, chaos and the attacks on our democracy." 

"I very proudly voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz," she wrote. 

"We are so lucky we get to VOTE and this election is in our hands! We only have one week until Election Day so talk to your friends, your family, your neighbors and let's find our way back to each other with respect, common cause, and Love." 

Former President Trump said the Biden-Harris administration has treated the American people and "our whole country like garbage," claiming that it's now clear what President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris "really think of our supporters."

Trump held a rally Wednesday afternoon in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, just a day after Harris made her final pitch to voters in a speech from Washington, D.C. 

The vice president’s address was quickly overshadowed by Biden’s remarks during a Zoom call with Voto Latino on Tuesday.

During the call with the group, which is one of the largest Latino voter and civic outreach organizations in the U.S., Biden was asked about a comment made Sunday during a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."

Biden replied: "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters." 

The White House has since denied that Biden called Trump supporters "garbage" and claimed the comment was taken out of context.

During the rally Wednesday, Trump said Harris has been "comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history, and now, speaking on a call for her campaign last night, Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters." 

"He called them garbage — and they mean it, even though, without question, my supporters are far higher quality than Crooked Joe and Lyin’ Kamala," Trump told supporters. 

But Trump said he had a response for the president and vice president. 

"My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple: You can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans," Trump declared. "And you can’t be president if you hate the American people, and there’s a lot of hatred there." 

This is an excerpt from an article by Brooke Singman.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Democrats are playing a "dangerous game" by using divisive language about former President Donald Trump during an appearance on "Jesse Watters Primetime" Wednesday night.

DeSantis criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for likening Trump to a "fascist leader" during her Monday campaign rally in Wisconsin and condemned the Hitler comparisons from other Democrat leaders and media pundits.

"He was president for four years, guys. People can watch and see what happened. I didn't see that happen in those four years," he said, adding that such language is "stirring up a lot of division in this country."

"If they are convincing you as a voter that American democracy will end if Donald Trump is president, you can see why you have some of the problems that we have and some of the things that have been stirred up amongst the populous," DeSantis added.

The Florida governor said he believes the rhetoric "is born out of desperation" and doesn't think it will ultimately work.