As Florida grapples with the effects of Hurricane Milton, presidential campaigning remained in full swing in battleground states across the U.S. on Thursday
Vice President Kamala Harris attended a Univision town hall in Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon. She will then go to an evening rally in Phoenix while remaining in close contact with the White House and monitoring federal disaster response efforts, her campaign said.
Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, spoke at the Economic Club of Detroit, where he complained about the federal response to Hurricane Helene as he seeks to gain a political advantage from the tropical weather.
Even amid the hurricane, however, both the Harris and Trump campaigns are using their travel strategically, trying to increase support with key voting blocs who could decide an election expected to be exceedingly close.
Former President Barack Obama is also hitting the campaign trail on Thursday night, making his first appearance for Harris at a rally in Pittsburgh. That begins what the Harris campaign says will be a series of campaign stops Obama will make on the vice president’s behalf.
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Here’s the latest:
Harris rips Trump for his criticism of federal storm response
Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump for his attacks on the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton and suggested he was wrongly trying to turn the deadly storms to his political advantage.
Attending a town hall sponsored by Univision in Las Vegas, Harris was asked about complaints that federal officials have bungled disaster recovery efforts. She responded, “In this crisis — like in so many issues that affect the people of our country — I think it so important that leadership recognizes the dignity” to which people are entitled.
“I have to stress that this is not a time for people to play politics,” Harris added.
Those comments came after the former president spoke at the Detroit Economic Club, offering sympathy to people affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the latter of which came ashore in Florida Wednesday night.
Hundreds await Obama's first rally appearance for Harris
PITTSBURGH — Hundreds of people began filing into a University of Pittsburgh athletic venue Thursday night where former President Barack Obama was scheduled to make his first campaign rally appearance for Harris. Many in the crowd were decked out in Harris campaign T-shirts, though a handful were also wearing shirts that harkened back to Obama’s past campaigns, including the iconic “HOPE” image associated with his 2008.
Obama’s famous campaign rallying cry “Yes, We Can” was refashioned for Tuesday night’s event, with “Yes, She Can,” beaming on a screen over the crowd. A man wearing a papier-mache mask of Harris running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was greeting attendees.
Sherry Werner, a 60-year-old who works at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, was among those wearing her support for Harris with a button pinned to her sweater.
“Who doesn’t love Obama?” Werner asked. She pointed to the long line of people streaming in.
“I’m excited because that’s what Allegheny County needs, is him to promote Harris and Walz, just really to get the momentum going and to get those blue votes out,” she said.
Glenda Ellison, a 71-year-old retired schoolteacher and Democrat from Pittsburgh, said she is feeling “a little nervous” about the election but “prayerful that it’s going to turn out in our favor.”
Ellison said she sees Obama as a spokesperson with a large following who can hopefully sway voters that might be on the fence about voting for Harris.
“As a former president, and also as a Black president, I think that is something that might connect with the African American community, the fact that we do have our Black president supporting another Black candidate,” said Ellison, who is Black.
Trump confuses the budget deficit with trade imbalances
DETROIT — Donald Trump seemed to not understand the difference between the budget deficit and trade imbalances, conflating the two different economic measures as essentially being the same thing.
Speaking at the Economic Club of Detroit on Thursday afternoon, Trump noted that the federal government has nearly $36 trillion in total debt, a byproduct of the annual borrowing needed to cover the gap between tax revenues and government spending. But the former president then seemed to indicate that the debt was a byproduct of the trade deficit with China, which is a separate issue that reflects the difference between how much a country exports and how much it imports.
“We have $36 trillion in debt,” Trump said. “For years and years and years, we’ve been accumulating. We’d have these deficits that are monstrous. We had 5,6,7 $800 billion deficit with China.”
Trump falsely claims his administration had ‘the highest job numbers’
DETROIT — On Thursday, former President Donald Trump said, “we had the highest job numbers in my administration,” but that isn’t true any longer.
The unemployment rate fell slightly lower under President Joe Biden — to 3.4% early last year, the lowest in a half-century, below 3.5% before the pandemic under Trump.
The Labor Department also measures the proportion of Americans with jobs, which is now at the highest in more than two decades for Americans in their prime working years. Economists look at that age group — 25 through 54 — because it filters out students and retirees.
Biden wants Congress to approve disaster relief funds as quickly as possible
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says he wants Congress to act as quickly as possible to approve more disaster response funding — but stopped short of saying he’d order lawmakers to return from recess early.
Speaking to reporters at the White House about the federal response to Hurricane Milton’s destruction, Biden singled out urgent funding needed by the Small Business Administration, which offers low-cost loans to businesses damaged in storms.
“I think, in terms of the SBA, it’s pretty right at the edge right now,” Biden said. “And I think the Congress should be coming back and moving on emergency needs immediately.”
But asked directly if he was ordering Congress to return early, Biden was noncommittal, saying only, “I think Congress should move as rapidly as they can.”
The president also said during his briefing that there were four confirmed deaths associated with Milton. That appeared to contradict Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who said during an earlier White House briefing that he joined virtually: “We have reports that at least ten individuals have lost their lives.”
Asked to clarify, Mayorkas said the situation was still fluid but that, “Our understanding is that those fatalities were caused by the tornados” associated with Milton.
Trump complains about the federal response to natural disasters
DETROIT — Donald Trump again complained about the federal response to natural disasters that have damaged much of the Southeast as he seeks to gain a political advantage from the tropical weather.
While speaking at the Detroit Economic Club on Thursday, Trump sent a message to people affected by Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene. He praised Republican governors of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina but suggested the federal response had been lacking, particularly in North Carolina, where he alleged the government after Helene had “not done what you’re supposed to be doing.”
“They’ve let those people suffer unjustly,” said Trump, who has for several days promoted falsehoods about the response of President Joe Biden and emergency management officials.
Biden slams Trump for spreading misinformation about hurricane response efforts
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is again criticizing his predecessor, Donald Trump, for spreading misinformation about the federal government’s hurricane response efforts, declaring “Get a life, man.”
Addressing reporters Thursday about Hurricane Milton’s destruction, Biden said he wouldn’t call Trump directly. But asked what his message would be for Trump, Biden squared his shoulders and more directly faced the camera.
“Mr. President Trump, former President Trump, get a life man,” Biden said. “Help these people.”
The White House, and Biden personally, have spent days decrying Trump for making false claims about disaster response, including that federal funding is being diverted for use on people in the country illegally and that such assistance is capped at $750.
Trump announces that his daughter Tiffany is pregnant
DETROIT — Donald Trump announced on Thursday that one of his two daughters, Tiffany Trump, is expecting her first baby with husband Michael Boulos.
The former president delivered the news as he gave a speech at the Economic Club of Detroit and thanked Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, Massad Boulos.
Tiffany Trump, 30, is the daughter of Donald Trump and actor Marla Maples.
Massad Boulos is a Lebanese-born businessman who has been helping Trump with the influential Arab American community in the swing state of Michigan.
Harris agrees to CNN town hall after Trump rules out another debate
Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to CNN town hall on Oct. 23 in Pennsylvania, her campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a Thursday statement.
It comes after former President Donald Trump ruled out another debate with Harris after their first head-to-head contest last month. Harris had called for Trump to face her once more before polls close.
“Donald Trump’s refusal to join Vice President Harris on the debate stage again is a disservice to the American people, O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. "They deserve to see the candidates side-by-side one more time before casting their ballots for one last look at their vastly different visions for America. After backing out of 60 Minutes and doing 27 straight interviews with conservative media, unfortunately it is clear Trump would rather cocoon himself in safe spaces and avoid real questions about his harmful plans and failed divisive leadership.”
Trump says CBS should lose its broadcast license due to ‘60 Minutes’ editing
Donald Trump says CBS should lose its broadcast license over the way “60 Minutes” edited its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week.
Trump, in a post on his social media site, accused the network of perpetrating a “giant Fake News Scam” after different CBS shows, “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation,” depicted Harris giving different answers, an apparent result of editing.
“TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE. Election Interference,” Trump railed. “She is a Moron, and the Fake News Media wants to hide that fact.”
CBS has not responded to questions about the apparent discrepancies.
This is not the first time Trump has threatened to go after a network’s license.
He has said ABC deserved to lose theirs after they moderated his debate with Harris, and has previously threatened NBC and CNN for reporting he didn’t like.
UAW chief calls Trump the ‘job-killer-in-chief’
The Harris campaign openly challenged Trump’s economic record ahead of the Republican nominee’s Thursday speech in Detroit, part of a broader effort to chip away at the former president’s credibility.
On a call with reporters organized by the campaign, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, called Trump the “job-killer-in-chief.” Despite Trump’s promises to bring back factory jobs, Fain said, “The reality is Trump never brought back squat.”
Back in 2000, Michigan had nearly 900,000 factory jobs. That number nearly halved after the 2008 financial crisis, only to then slowly recover 633,900 jobs in 2018. But factory work in Michigan began to slump in 2019 and then plunged during the pandemic, all during Trump’s term. Labor Department data show that manufacturing work in the state still hasn’t fully recovered with there being 604,800 jobs in the sector as of August.
The Associated Press
