Election 2024 Latest: Harris concentrates on Pennsylvania while Trump stumps in the West

Former President Donald Trump will hit the campaign trail in Western states on Friday as his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris fixes her attention on the battleground state of Pennsylvania in the East.

Trump held what was billed as a news conference at his Los Angeles-area golf club in the morning, but took no questions. He was expected to head to northern California for a fundraiser afterward, followed by a rally in Las Vegas, the largest city in swing state Nevada.

Harris, meanwhile, heads to Johnstown and Wilkes-Barre on Friday as she tries to capitalize on her momentum after Tuesday night’s debate. It’s her second day of back-to-back rallies after holding two events in North Carolina, another swing state, on Thursday.

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Here’s the latest:

Pope Francis on Friday slammed both U.S. presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and he advised American Catholics to choose who they think is the “lesser evil” in the upcoming U.S. election.

“Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,″ Francis said.

The Argentine Jesuit was asked to provide counsel to American Catholic voters during an airborne news conference while he flew back to Rome from his four-nation tour through Asia. Francis stressed that he is not an American and would not be voting.

Neither Trump nor Harris was mentioned by name.

▶ Read more on the Pope’s remarks

Vice President Kamala Harris will join Oprah Winfrey for an online event called “Unite for America” on Thursday.

Winfrey, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention, said in a statement that she’s hoping to drive turnout in this year’s election.

“My goal is to get people excited about the privilege and power of the vote,” she said.

The event will bring together a number of identity-focused grassroots gatherings that sprung up behind Harris, including “White Dudes for Harris,” “South Asians for Harris” and “Out for Harris.” Also involved is the organization called Win With Black Women.

Vice President Kamala Harris is spending time Friday in two patches of Pennsylvania that have been trending Republican over the last several elections.

Harris arrived this afternoon in Johnstown in Cambria County, a once Democratic-leaning county that Republicans have won by an increasingly wide margin over the last three elections.

Later, she’ll hold a rally in Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County. Trump took Luzerne by 14 points in 2020 over President Joe Biden and 19 points in 2016 over the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Without Pennsylvania, the path to victory for Harris is extraordinarily difficult. To that end, her campaign is trying to narrow the margins in parts of the commonwealth that might seem on paper less receptive to her message.

During a visit to the Johnstown bookstore and cafe Classic Elements, Harris alluded to her commitment to hunt for votes in parts of the state that appear less hospitable to a Democrat, saying there were “a lot of people who deserve to be seen or heard” throughout Pennsylvania.

Vice President Kamala Harris says she’s “feeling good” about carrying the swing state of Pennsylvania during a stop in Johnstown on Friday.

Harris dropped in to meet with owners and supporters at Classic Elements, a bookstore and cafe, to discuss her plans to support small businesses if elected.

“Small businesses are so much part of the fabric of a community,” she told the shop owners. Harris said she would be in the state a lot and that “we got to earn every vote.”

Trump is refusing to condemn right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, who traveled with him earlier this week to the debate and several 9/11 memorial events.

“Laura’s been a supporter of mine,” Trump told reporters in response to questions about Republican allies who have expressed concern about his decision to associate with her.

“I don’t control Laura,” he said. “I can’t tell Laura what to do. She’s a supporter.”

Trump acknowledged Loomer has “got strong opinions,” but said he was unaware of her recent comments.

Loomer has posted a string of vile posts on the social platform X in recent days about Harris, including one in which she wrote that “the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center” if Harris wins.

Trump on Friday said “crime is at record numbers,” seizing on an annual survey released by the Justice Department on Americans who have been a victim of a crime.

However, the survey shows there has been an overall decline over the past three decades in the rate of people or households who were victims of violent crime. The rate is down dramatically from the 1990s.

Regarding the government’s recent revision of job gains by 818,000, Trump on Friday said, “They had a whistleblower who released the numbers.”

But that is false: The preliminary revision occurred as part of a normal annual process and was released on a previously disclosed date. Every year the Labor Department issues a revision of the number of jobs added during a 12-month period from April through March in the previous year.

The adjustment is made because the government’s initial job counts are based on surveys of businesses. The revision is then based on actual job counts from unemployment insurance files that are compiled later. The revision is compiled by career government employees with little involvement by politically-appointed officials.

Trump on Friday claimed that the United States has “thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants.” But the suggestion that there has been a spike in violent crime nationally as a result of the influx is not supported by facts.

FBI statistics do not separate crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, nor is there any evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants, either along the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities seeing the greatest influx of migrants, like New York. In fact, national statistics show violent crime is on the way down.

President Joe Biden sat down for an interview with the Washington Blade, an LGBTQ+ news organization, this week and congratulated Sarah McBride, who is on track to become the first transgender member of Congress.

McBride recently won the Democratic primary in Delaware, Biden’s home state. She’s close with the Biden family, having previously worked for Beau, the president’s late son who served as Delaware attorney general.“I called her and I said, ‘Sarah,’ I said, ‘Beau’s looking down from heaven, congratulating you,’” Biden said in his interview.

Although Delaware used to be more conservative, the president said, “Sarah is going to be, I pray to God, a congresswoman.”

On Friday, Trump said prices “have gone up like no one’s ever seen before,” but that’s not entirely true.

Inflation did soar in 2021-22, though it rose by much more in 1980 when inflation topped 14%. It peaked at 9.1% in June 2022.

Economists largely blame the inflation spike on the pandemic’s disruptions to global supply chains, which reduced the supply of semiconductors, cars and other goods. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also pushed up gas and food prices.

Inflation has now fallen to 2.5%, not far from the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Prices are still about 19% higher than they were before the pandemic, but the Census Bureau reported Tuesday that household incomes have risen by a similar amount, leaving inflation-adjusted incomes at roughly the same level in 2019.

Trump in his press conference repeated his claim that crime has skyrocketed under the Biden administration. FBI data has shown a downward trend in violent crime since a spike during the coronavirus pandemic.

Violent crime surged during the pandemic, with homicides increasing nearly 30% between in 2020 over the previous year — the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records.

FBI data released in June shows that the overall violent crime rate declined 15% in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. One expert has cautioned, however, that those figures are preliminary and may overstate the actual reduction in crime.

Trump’s campaign has cited the National Crime Victimization Survey recently released by the Justice Department, which shows that the number of times people or households were victims of violent crime increased by about 40% from 2020 to 2023. The report notes, however, that while the rate of violent victimizations in 2023 was higher than it was in 2020 and 2021, it was not statistically different from the rate in 2019, when Trump was president.

That survey aims to capture both crimes reported to police and crimes that are not reported to police and is conducted annually through interviews with about 150,000 households. It doesn’t include murders or crimes against people under the age of 12.

President Joe Biden says the Haitian community is “under attack” right now and it has to stop. Biden was referring to comments made by Republican former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

The Republicans have falsely claimed immigrants are eating people’s pets and Vance on Friday suggested immigrants in the area were responsible for rising crime and rent, among other claims. In the wake of the onslaught of online insults, bomb threats were sent to multiple agencies in the city, and two elementary schools were evacuated and a middle school was closed on Friday.

Biden, speaking at a luncheon at the White House, didn’t call out anyone by name, but he said: “There’s no place in America ... It has to stop what he’s doing. It has to stop.” He said it was “simply wrong.”

Trump once again described Harris as the “border czar.” But that was never her formal title, and she was never specifically given the responsibility for security on the border.

She was tasked by Biden in March 2021 to tackle the “root causes” of migration from the Northern Triangle — the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador — and pushing leaders there and in Mexico to enforce immigration laws.

Trump on Friday claimed he “completely won” the classified documents prosecution against him.

But that assessment leaves out the fact that the judge dismissed the case not because she found that Trump had done nothing but rather because she concluded that the prosecutor who brought the charges, Jack Smith, had been unlawfully appointed.

The decision from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is a departure from rulings by other federal judges across the country, creating a strong possibility that it will be overturned on appeal — in which case, the prosecution would be revived and the case reinstated.

After a significant delay, former President Donald Trump's press conference at his Los Angeles-area golf club got underway on Friday just before 1:30 p.m. ET.

He began with comments from the mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes, John Cruikshank, who was talking about issues with recent landslides.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — People began betting Thursday on which political party would win control of Congress in the November elections after a judge’s ruling allowing the wagers — the only ones to be legally approved by a U.S. jurisdiction.

New York startup company Kalshi began taking what amounts to bets on the outcome of the November congressional elections after a judge refused to block them from doing so.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb in Washington enabled the company, at least temporarily, to offer prediction contracts across the country — essentially yes-or-no bets — on which party will win control of the Senate and the House in November.

“The Kalshi community just made history, and I know we are only getting started,” said Tarek Mansour, a co-founder of the company. “Now is finally the time to allow these markets to show the world just how powerful they are at providing signal amidst the noise, and giving us more truth about what the future holds.”

▶ Read more about the endeavor

Former President Donald Trump plans to deliver remarks next Monday about cryptocurrency and the launch of the company World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform controlled by the Republican nominee’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric.

His speech will come 50 days before Election Day, an extraordinary use of dwindling campaign time to promote a personal business. The Republican former president has long mixed his political and business interests and marketed sneakers, photo books and Trump-branded Bibles during his 2024 campaign.

“We’re embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and outdated big banks behind,” Trump said in a video posted Thursday to X, the social media site that will also host his address on the subject at 8 p.m. EDT on Monday from his Mar-a-Lago home.

▶ Read more about Trump’s stance on cryptocurrencies

Former President Donald Trump will campaign Friday in Western states as his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris keeps her focus on one of the biggest battleground prizes in the East, Pennsylvania.

Trump is scheduled to hold what’s being billed as a news conference in the morning at his Los Angeles-area golf club before heading to northern California for a fundraiser, followed by a rally in Las Vegas, the largest city in swing state Nevada.

Harris, meanwhile, heads to Johnstown and Wilkes-Barre on Friday as she tries to capitalize on her momentum after Tuesday night’s debate. It’s her second day of back-to-back rallies after holding two events in North Carolina, another swing state, on Thursday.

While speaking in Charlotte, Harris took a victory lap for her debate performance in which she needled Trump and kept him on the defensive. Recounting one moment while campaigning in North Carolina, she mocked Trump for saying he had “concepts of a plan” for replacing the Affordable Care Act.

▶ Read more here.

NEW YORK — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.

It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.

While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.

Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.

▶ Read more here.

WASHINGTON — Even as she promoted her efforts to boost clean energy, Vice President Kamala Harris said in Tuesday’s debate that the Biden-Harris administration has overseen “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over-rely on foreign oil.″

The comment by Harris, a longtime climate hawk who backed the original Green New Deal, surprised supporters and opponents alike — and conflicted with frequent boasts by Harris and President Joe Biden that they are champions in the fight to slow global warming.

After former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Biden-Harris administration reentered the global pact aimed at reducing emissions. The administration also set a target to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and moved to accelerate renewable energy projects and shift away from fossil fuels.

▶ Read more here.

Trump said Thursday in Arizona that as president he’d seek to end taxes on overtime wages. It’s his latest appeal to the working-class voters he’s counting on to return him to the White House. Trump has also pledged to end taxes on tips and Social Security wages.

The proposals would take a significant bite out of federal revenue, ballooning the deficit unless accompanied by significant spending cuts.

“It’s time for the working man and woman to finally catch a break,” Trump said. Harris has announced her own proposal to stop taxing tips.

More on Trump’s plan to end taxation of tips here.

Supporters wave as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria Airport, in Johnstown, Pa., for a campaign event, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris takes a selfie with Sen. John Letterman, D-Pa., and his wife Gisele Barreto Fetterman, after Harris arrived at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria Airport, in Johnstown, Pa., for a campaign event, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, escorted by U.S. Air Force, Director of Flightline Protocol, Maj. Philippe Caraghiaur, walks to board Air Force Two, to travel to Pennsylvania for campaign events, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, escorted by U.S. Air Force, Director of Flightline Protocol, Maj. Philippe Caraghiaur, walks to board Air Force Two, to travel to Pennsylvania for campaign events, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference held at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, Thursday, Sept.12, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, government and Hezbollah officials said. Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily, coming close to a full-blown war on several occasions and forcing tens of thousands on both sides of the border to evacuate their homes.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

Here's the latest:

BEIRUT — At least eight people were killed Tuesday after hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria, government and Hezbollah officials said.

Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Lebanon’s health minister, Firas Abiad, said at least eight people were killed and 2,750 wounded. Hezbollah said at least two of its members were among the dead.

Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said that the country’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated at a hospital.

BEIRUT — Hezbollah said in a statement that at 3:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) pagers used by people working for the group’s institutions began exploding “mysteriously,” killing a young girl and two Hezbollah members and wounding several people.

The statement said Hezbollah is carrying out “a security and scientific” investigation into the simultaneous explosions.

Hezbollah called on people not to listen to rumors that are part of “psychological warfare” as Israel threatens to change the facts on the ground along its northern border.

“The resistance, at all its levels, is on high alert to defend Lebanon and its steadfast people,” the statement said.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s internal security agency says it foiled an attempt by Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group to kill a former senior Israeli security official.

The Shin Bet said in a statement on Tuesday that it had found an explosive device fitted with a camera and a mechanism that would allow it to be activated by Hezbollah from Lebanon. It said the attack was to be carried out in the coming days.

The Shin Bet did not provide evidence linking the device to Hezbollah, which has been trading fire with Israel along the Lebanese border since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

It did not say where the device was found or identify the target of the attack, but said the official had been notified. It said the device was similar to one found in a park in Tel Aviv in September 2023 that it said was intended to target a senior Israeli official.

That device went off without causing any injuries. The Shin Bet said Hezbollah was behind both planned attacks.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

In recent days Israeli officials have warned of a wider military operation to halt Hezbollah rocket attacks and allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to their homes in the north.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say Israel has struck a number of homes in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least four people, including a child. The Civil Defense first responders say more people are trapped under the rubble and the toll is likely to rise after the strikes early Tuesday.

Another strike late Monday in Gaza City killed a man, his wife and child, according to the Civil Defense.

Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in densely populated areas.

The Civil Defense said that their rescue crews came under Israeli fire as they arrived in the area, injuring one.

The Israeli military said it was targeting militants preparing to fire at troops and was reviewing “reports regarding harm to uninvolved civilians.” A military official speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations said that paramedics from agencies such as the U.N. sometimes have to coordinate with the military before rushing in to evacuate the wounded.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attacks and took another 250 hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire in November.

JERUSALEM — Returning residents evacuated from Israel’s north due to cross-border fighting with Hezbollah is now an official war goal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday.

Israeli officials have long said they aim to return the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to their homes, so it was not immediately clear how the announcement would impact the conduct of the war. But it was a strong indication Israel is prepared to take tougher military action to realize that goal.

Visiting White House envoy Amos Hochstein met with Netanyahu and other top officials Monday to try to soothe tensions and avoid the opening of a new front between Israel and Lebanon.

Netanyahu told the envoy that Israel will do “whatever is necessary” to bring home the residents.

In a brief statement after an overnight Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu’s office said Israel will continue to work toward the goal — the latest sign that patience is running out.

Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily, coming close to a full-blown war on several occasions and forcing tens of thousands on both sides of the border to evacuate their homes.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said the focal point of military action is moving from Gaza to Israel’s northern front. In talks with Hochstein on Monday, both he and Netanyahu warned that time was running out for a diplomatic solution and heavier military activity could be inevitable.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States ambassador to the United Nations accused Israel’s military of striking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza in a sign of growing American frustration with its close ally as the war approaches its first anniversary.

Israel has repeatedly said it targets Hamas militants, who often hide with civilians and use them as human shields, in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was unusually outspoken against the Israeli military at a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday, saying many of the strikes in recent weeks that injured or killed U.N. personnel and humanitarian workers were preventable.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation.

Thomas-Greenfield told council members that the U.S. will keep raising the need for Israel to facilitate humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territory and protect humanitarian workers and facilities. She also reiterated outrage at the death of Turkish American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was shot and killed Sept. 6 during a protest in the West Bank. Israeli Defense Forces said it likely killed Eygi by mistake, and the government began a criminal investigation.

FILE - Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, FIle)

Mehmet, left. the father of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26 year-old Turkish-American activist killed by the Israeli military, attends prayers during his daughter's funeral outside the central mosque of Didim, Turkey, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024,(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A Palestinian woman rides her donkey near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinians in Lebanon wave their national flags during a protest in front of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)