August 25, 2024, presidential campaign news | CNN Politics (2024)

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are looking to maintain their momentum as they prepare to hit the campaign trail again following an excitement-filled Democratic National Convention last week.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump — bracing for more unfavorable polling news — is seeking to curb Harris’ stride while also on the trail this week with his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who took swings at their rivals Sunday.

Catch up on today’s campaign news:

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks at a press conference at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 9.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday sharply criticized Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as he works to expand the slim Republican majority in the House and make the case for former President Donald Trump.

Speaking in Minneapolis alongside Joe Teirab, who is looking to flip the House seat held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, Johnson used the backdrop of the Police Department’s Third Precinct to criticize Walz’s handling of the protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The Third Precinctwas burnedduring the protests.

Trump and his allies have frequently cited the Minneapolis protests in their criticism of Walz. The former president has claimed that it was he who deployed the Minnesota National Guard in response to the protests. Walz, not Trump,sent the National Guardto Minneapolis — and Walz first deployed the Guard more than seven hours before Trump publicly threatened to do so.

Johnson also said he expected the Democratic “sugar high” to subside in the presidential polls after Labor Day.

“I mean, obviously, the Democrats are on a sugar high. Everybody’s acknowledged that. And I think that that gets real after Labor Day,” the Louisiana Republican said, adding, “I think that Kamala Harris is about to be put to the real test.”

Johnson also defended the GOP for tanking the bipartisan immigration bill supported by the Biden administration. The bill has been a key target for Democrats trying to change the narrative on border security.

Then-national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster at the White House in 2017.

Until now, Lt.Gen. H.R. McMasterhas held his fire about his stint in the Trump White House.

McMaster served with distinction in key American conflicts of the past decades: the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan, but as McMaster recounts in hisnew book, “At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House,” in some ways, his most challenging tour as a soldier was his last one: serving as thenationalsecurityadviserto a notoriously mercurial president.

In his blistering, insightful account of his time in the Trump White House, McMaster describes meetings in the Oval Office as “exercises in competitive sycophancy” during which Donald Trump’s advisers would flatter the president by saying stuff like, “Your instincts are always right” or, “No one has ever been treated so badly by the press.” Meanwhile, Trump would say “outlandish” things like, “Why don’t we just bomb the drugs?” in Mexico or, “Why don’t we take out the whole North Korean Army during one of their parades?”

McMaster wasn’t going to make the same mistake after Trump tapped him to be his national securityadviserin February 2017.He writes, “I knew that to fulfill my duty, I would have to tell Trump what he didn’t want to hear.” This helps explain why McMasterlasted just over a yearin the job.(Disclosure: I have known McMaster professionally since 2010, when he ran an anti-corruption task force in Afghanistan.)

McMaster’s book, which focuses on Trump’s tenure as commander in chief, comes at a particularly timely moment, just as many Americans start to really consider whether Trump or Vice President Kamala Harriswould make a better commander in chief.

McMaster provides unique detail on Trump’s approach to foreign policy and — similarly to his successor in the national security adviser role, former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton,who wrote scathinglyabout the former president in a book published in 2020 —his account is likely to do little to reassure US allies about the prospects of a second Trump term.

Read more about McMaster’s thoughts on Trump here.

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Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign accused Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance of “ducking and dodging”multiple questions about Donald Trump’s potential immigration policy during his interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday.

In the interview, Vance wouldn’t say exactly whether Trump’s plan for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants would separate children from their families.

“I think that families are currently being separated, and you’re certainly going to have to deport some people in this country,” the Ohio senator said.

Asked whether that means yes, Vance said, “No, I think it’s you start with the most violent criminals in our country. Those people need to be deported. That’s where you focus federal resources.”

“Kamala Harris cannot claim that she doesn’t know that her policies are leading to family separation. They are, and everybody knows it, and she has to take responsibility for that,” Vance said.

A 2023 report showed US Border Patrol separated some migrant children from their parents while the families were in custody amid overcrowding in facilities. Those separations, which took place under the Biden administration, were different from those that occurred under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, when families remained separated and, in some cases, parents were deported without their children. In the rare instances in which children are separated from a parent in custody now, they are reunited and released together, said a CBP official, who called separation a “last resort.”

CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this post.

From left, Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese and Dave Grohl perform at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in July.

Rock bandFoo Fightersdid not give Donald Trump’s campaign permission to play one of their songs at a recent campaign rally, a representative for the band said, and they plan to donate any royalties from the unauthorized use to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

On Friday, Foo Fighters’ song “My Hero” was played at a campaign rally for Trump in Arizona, according tovideotaken at the event and shared to social media.

A spokesperson for the band, however, said in a statement to CNN on Sunday that the group didn’t give Trump’s campaign the green light to use their hit 1997 rock anthem.

“Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were they would not have granted it,” the statement from the representative said, adding thatany royalties the band received “as a result of this use will be donated to the Harris/Walz campaign.”

Read more about the Trump campaign’s history with musical disputes here.

With each party trying to one-up the other on its family friendliness, the popular child tax credit has become a major point of rivalry in this year’s presidential election.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has made boosting the child tax credit a central piece of her recently releasedfour-part platformto lower costs for American families, which also includedmeasuresto make housing, groceries and prescription drugs more affordable. She wants to restore the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act’s enhanced credit of up to $3,600 per child, which was only in effect for one year, as well as create a $6,000 credit for newborns.

Meanwhile, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the GOP vice presidential pick who has repeatedly claimed Democrats are anti-family, told CBS News earlier this month that he’d like to see the child tax credit beefed up to $5,000 per child — though he’d have to see how “viable” that would be in Congress. Former President Donald Trump, who is at the top of the ticket and whose daughterIvanka successfully pushed to expand the creditduring his first term, indicated in a separate CBS News interview this month that he supports a generous child tax credit.

Vance and Democrats have also traded barbs over the credit, with the GOP vice presidential nomineefalsely claimingthat Harris wants to end the benefit, and Democrats attacking him for missing a recent vote that would have temporarily broadened the credit.

Whoever wins the White House will have to deal with the child tax credit next year, since it is scheduled to revert back to a maximum of $1,000 in 2026, down from the current ceiling of $2,000 put in place by the Republicans’ Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The credit is one of manyindividual income tax provisionsin the law that lapse at the end ofnext year.

Read more on what you need to know about the child tax credit here.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a campaign rally for Donald Trump on Friday, August 23, in Glendale, Arizona.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspending his presidential campaign has not yet put an end to the anecdotes about his personal life.

The latest story, originally shared by Kennedy’s daughter Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy in a recently resurfaced 2012 interview with Town & Country Magazine, details how Kennedy once used a chainsaw to cut off the head of a dead whale carcass that had washed up on the shores of their family’s home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. He then drove the whale’s head back to their home in New York on the roof of the family’s minivan, according to the interview.

The interview has seen renewed attention following tabloid reports romantically linking Kick Kennedy with actor Ben Affleck.

Kennedy suspended his independent White House bid and endorsed former President Donald Trump on Friday after he failed to make gains on Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris in recent weeks. In recent months, his campaign was beset by a string of reports about his personal life that drew national headlines.

In May, he said that in 2010 a parasitic worm had crawled into his brain and died, causing health problems. Weeks later, Vanity Fair published an article featuring a former part-time babysitter accusing him of sexual assault. The same article also featured a photo he sent to a friend which he implied depicted him eating a dog. Earlier this month, he said he placed a bear carcass in New York’s Central Park in 2014, an incident that drew international media attention at the time.

Cornel West speaks at a demonstration outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 21.

A Michigan judge on Saturday overruled the state elections office’s decision to block independent presidential candidate Cornel West from appearing on the state’s ballot in November, forcing the state to continue its review of his petition.

The Michigan Bureau of Elections had declared West ineligible for the state’s ballot following an objection from Clear Choice PAC, a Democratic-aligned group combatting third-party candidates, because his affidavit of identity was not properly notarized.

But on Saturday, Michigan Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford ruled that West was not required by state law to submit an affidavit to qualify for the state’s presidential ballot and said the state’s elections office “misapplied the law in finding otherwise.”

Redford ruled the Michigan Bureau of Elections must qualify West for the ballot if he is determined to have submitted enough valid signatures.

Democratic Rep. Summer Lee said not allowing a Palestinian-American or a member of the Uncommitted Movement take the stage at the Democratic National Convention was a missed opportunity to give people feeling marginalized space to speak in the Democratic Party.

The Pennsylvania Democrat said that while defeating former President Donald Trump was a “top concern,” the party could have also allowed these “marginalized” voices space to speak.

Sen. Cory Booker speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC in 2023.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker on Sunday defended the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, saying the administration is doing “an extraordinary job,” as it continues to be the subject of public criticism from progressives within the Democratic Party.

The Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week saw a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallying against US support for Israel in its war against Hamas. When asked about the lack of a Palestinian-American speaker at the convention, Booker defended the DNC saying it did a “good job” of addressing the conflict.

“I think that the convention did a good job of bringing up this conflict over and over again, from Vice President Harris herself to my friend Raphael Warnock, to even past Presidents – all spoke to the urgency for us to end this conflict and bring about a ceasefire, end Palestinian suffering, get the hostages released, which includes American hostages,” he said.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance arrives at a campaign rally on August 21, in Asheboro, North Carolina.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance said he does not have any hesitation about accepting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsem*nt of Donald Trump despite his history of conspiratorial comments.

“We’re going to disagree on issues, right?” Vance said of Kennedy, who has linked certain vaccines to autism, blamed antidepressants for mass shootings and said he wouldn’t “take sides” on theSeptember 11terroristattacks.

“There are things that Robert Kennedy has said that I disagree with. … I think what his endorsem*nt represents is that Donald J. Trump’s Republican Party is a big-tent party,” Vance said in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Asked specifically about Kennedy’s 9/11 comments, Vance said, “Of course, I don’t agree with that.”

Kennedyhad posted on Xin July, “My take on 9/11: It’s hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t. But conspiracy theories flourish when the government routinely lies to the public. As President I won’t take sides on 9/11 or any of the other debates. But I can promise is that I will open the files and usher in a new era of transparency.”

Vance said Sunday, “Now, to be clear, I don’t know what RFK actually said there. Maybe there was additional context, of course, you actually have to see what people say before you agree or disagree with it.”

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters on August 18, in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

Some House Democrats are urging Vice President Kamala Harris to visit the US southern border as former President Donald Trump seeks to paint Harris as responsible for spikes in border crossings.

Michigan Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee told CNN’s Manu Raju in Chicago on Thursday that it “would be helpful” for Harris to to make the trip.

If elected, Harris said she would “bring back the bipartisan border security bill” tanked by Trump and “sign it into law.” Harris made her first and only visit to US border operations in El Paso, Texas, in June 2021.

Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly agreed that a border visit would make sense.

Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks during a news conference on July 31, in Washington, DC.

Sen. Lindsey Graham once again insisted former president Donald Trump should focus on policy and not personal attacks, despite Trump dismissing his advice to stay away from such insults.

This is a reiteration of previous comments, including one made earlier in August where he said, “Donald Trump, theprovocateur, the showman, may not win this election” while saying the former president should avoid personal attacks.

Trump succinctly dismissed the advice, saying, “I like Lindsey. I don’t care what he says” while insisting Graham, a senator in the middle of his fourth term, only won his last election because of Trump’s endorsem*nt.

Despite the dismissal of his advice, Graham said of his relationship with Trump, “Me and him are good. We’re going to be together. I’m going to Georgia with him. We’re going to try to have a unity event in Georgia to bring this whole party together. I will be by his side in this election.”

Graham also criticized Democrats, calling the Democratic National Convention “a hate fest full of insults.”

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump shake hands during a campaign rally on August 23, in Glendale, Arizona.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will be “campaigning actively” for former President Donald Trump after Kennedy suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed the Republican nominee on Friday.

The endorsem*nt comes after Kennedy and Trump met multiple times to discuss the possibility in exchange for a role in a potential future Trump administration. Kennedy denied Trump had made any “commitments.”

Kennedy again said he plans to withdraw his name from the ballot in “10 swing states” while remaining on the ballot in others where he wouldn’t be a “spoiler.” Kennedy said he and Trump had discussed which states he would withdraw from.

Kennedy said his family’s continued opposition to his campaign and their condemnation of his endorsem*nt of Trump has not affected him.

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 20.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday he’s hopeful Vice President Kamala Harris will eventually show some daylightbetween herand President Joe Bidenon whether the US should continue to supply weapons to Israel.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has been vocal about his opposition to the US continuing to provide weapons to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

When asked about the exchange in rocket fire overnight between Israel and Hezbollah amid ongoing ceasefire and hostage release negotiations, Sanders said he’s hopeful that a deal can be reached.

“Clearly we have a very volatile situation in the Middle East. We have had that for a long time now. The good news is that it appears that both Hezbollah and Israel are trying to de-escalate. I hope that happens, and I hope we reach a ceasefire with Hamas – Israel and Hamas as soon as possible.”

When pressed on other issues where Sanders and Harris may not see eye to eye, like immigration, the military or healthcare, the Vermont Senator defended the vice president and noted he believes she is a far better choice than the alternative – former president Donald Trump.

“When you look at her positions versus Trump, the issue is clearly day and night. Her positions are far, far more superior,” Sanders said.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance speaks at a campaign rally on August 15, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said former President Donald Trump would veto a federal abortion ban as president if such a bill were passed by Congress.

In an interview that will air on Sunday at 9 a.m. ET, the Ohio senator told NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” that it is Trump’s view that the legalization of abortion should be left up to the individual states.

“We don’t want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue,” Vance added.

Trumpsaid in April he would not sign a national abortion ban if elected to the White House again, reversing a promise the former president made as a candidate in 2016 and stood by during his first term in office.

Trump, who has changed his public stance on the topic numerous times, also expressed support for abortion being a state-by-state issue during the CNN Presidential Debate in late June, saying “the states control it. That’s the vote of the people.”

Vance himself has also shifted his tones on abortion.CNN previously reportedthat Vance argued in 2022 that people seeking abortions often travel from states where abortion is banned to states with liberal abortion laws, necessitating federal action.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Democratic National Convention on August 22.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said Sunday that it has raised $540 million since she launched her presidential bid just over a month ago. The total marks a record for any campaign in history for this time span, according to Harris’ team.

The campaign saw a surge of grassroots donations during last week’s Democratic National Convention, raking in $82 million, according to a memo by campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon. The hour following Harris’ speech on the final night of the convention also marked the campaign’s best fundraising hour since launch day.

Harris’ team said a third of last week’s donations were from first-time contributors, two-thirds of whom were women. Teaching and nursing continue to be among the most common occupations for donors, the campaign said.

In addition to hauling in a hefty amount of donations, the campaign said it marked its biggest week of organizing, with nearly 200,000 volunteers signing up for shifts since Monday.

Harris’ camp called the DNC a “galvanizing moment” that energized and mobilized volunteers and grassroots supporters alike, but added the campaign isn’t slowing down as the race enters its final stretch to Election Day.

Heading into Labor Day, the campaign plans to build on momentum by “taking no voters for granted and communicating relentlessly with battleground voters every single day between now and Election Day – all the while Trump is focused on very little beyond online tantrums and attacking the voters critical to winning 270 electoral votes.”

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will kick off a bus tour in Georgia on Wednesday, marking their first time campaigning in the state together and underscoring the campaign’s focus on the key battleground. The vice president is also set to host a rally in Savannah on Thursday to “speak directly to Georgians about the stakes of this election.”

Former President Donald Trump points to supporters at a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23.

While former President Donald Trump campaigns in two “blue wall” states this week, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will visit another key battleground.

Trump will deliver remarks on the economy in Potterville, Michigan, Thursday afternoon, according to his campaign. The former president is also set to host a town hall that evening in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Trump “will meet with Wisconsinites to listen to their concerns and share his promising agenda: to make America affordable again,” the campaign said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Harris and Walz will kick off a bus tour in Georgia on Wednesday, concluding with a rally in the Savannah area on Thursday, according to their campaign.

Few battlegrounds will be more closely watched than Georgia — where President Joe Biden won by fewer than 12,000 votes four years ago — for signs of how voters are responding to campaign outreach.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is bracing for more unfavorable polling news in the days to come.

A memo from Trump pollsters Tony Fabrizio and Travis Tunis sent out by the Trump campaign Saturday predicts a convention bump in polls after the Democratic National Convention for Vice President Kamala Harris.

In July, Fabrizio wrote he expected a “honeymoon” period for Harris after she replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket – a prediction that has certainly come to pass. Before ending his re-election campaign, Biden’s support in CNN Poll of Polls registered at 45%, behind Trump at 49%. Heading into the convention, the race had shifted, with Harris at 50% and Trump at 48%, the CNN Poll of Polls found.

Fabrizio now anticipates the honeymoon for Harris extending, blaming it largely on favorable media coverage of the vice president.

The memo went on to caution against reading too much into national polls that may show Harris pulling ahead.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are joined by their spouses onstage on the final day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, August 22.

A new presidential candidate, a slew of celebrities and slick programming helped propel Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris to a ratings win at this week’s Democratic National Convention, surpassing the television viewership of last month’s Republican gathering.

Viewership of the four-day festivities in Chicago drew an average of 21.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, eclipsing the audience of the Republican National Convention by nearly 15%.

On the final evening this week, Harris’ acceptance address was watched by 28.9 million viewers, narrowly outdrawing former President Donald Trump’s speech in Milwaukee, which drew 28.4 million viewers across 15 television networks. Trump’s more than 90-minute address, the longest convention acceptance speech in recent history, came just days after he survived an assassination attempt.

Harris’ viewership victory amounted to a blow for Trump, who isfamously obsessedwith television ratings and the size of his crowds.

Excitement over her candidacy— as well as high-profile speeches by former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former first lady Michelle Obama — helped fuel viewership. So did appearances by a host of celebrities, including Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Pink, Kerry Washington and Mindy Kaling.

Viewership was also likely boosted by a non-appearance: Speculation ran wild online that music superstar Beyoncé would make a surprise performance on the final night. The singer had previously given the Harris campaign permission to use her 2016 hit“Freedom,”which played Thursday night as she took the stage.

The DNC turned normally staid moments into slickly produced spectacles, including araucous take on the ceremonial roll callthat featured music from each state, as well as a surprise performance by rapper Lil Jon.

Read more here about the Democrats’ convention ratings win.