Trump slams Shapiro, agrees to debate Harris on ABC; Fetterman denies telling Harris about VP concerns

A Democrat-aligned political action committee has mounted a legal challenge that could block Robert F. Kennedy Jr, an independent candidate for president, from appearing on Pennsylvania’s ballot in November.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and longtime vaccine skeptic, has been working to secure ballot access in all 50 states. He filed paperwork for the Pennsylvania ballot in June.

Clear Choice Action challenged Kennedy’s petition in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Thursday. The group, which is focused on targeting independent and third party presidential candidates, has challenged Kennedy’s candidacy in other states including New York and Illinois.

Following a campaign event with auto workers in Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris said she’s “glad,” Trump agreed to debate and said she would schedule her first major interview as the party's nominee before September.

Harris took questions from the traveling pool after Trump held a long-winded and falsehood filled press conference earlier in the day, accusing her of dodging reporters’ questions.

Harris has not held a sit down interview or official press conference since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

Donald Trump used his falsehood-riddled news conference Thursday at Mar-a-Lago to draw attention to a claim he and his running-mate, Sen. JD Vance, have been making recently: Vice President Kamala Harris is purposefully avoiding the press.

Vance has been trailing the Harris campaign through different battleground states this week to make remarks to the press.

Trump claimed Thursday afternoon Harris “doesn't know how to do a news conference.” Vance said in his Tuesday visit to South Philadelphia Tuesday Harris is running a “basement campaign where she refuses to go before the free press and actually answer their questions.”

Kamala Harris tied her Oakland, California, upbringing by a single mother with running mate Tim Walz’s childhood in small-town Nebraska in an address to United Auto Workers Thursday.

“The same people raised us, good people, hardworking people, people who had pride in their work,” Harris said in the Detroit union hall. “People who had pride in knowing we were a community of people who looked out for each other.”

“No one should ever be made to fight alone,” Harris added. “We are all in this together.”

Donald Trump, who has long inflated crowd sizes for his speeches, falsely claimed that the crowds during his speech at the National Mall before the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol unfolded was larger than the audience that gathered for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which garnered an estimated 250,000 people and was a peaceful event.

“If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, it’s a great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same everything, same number of people, if not we had more," Trump said. 

Trump also complained about the coverage of crowd sizes at Kamala Harris' recent events, including an estimated 12,000 of people who dealt with major traffic issues to watch her and Tim Katz speak in rural Wisconsin Wednesday.

Former president Donald Trump continued to take jabs at Kamala Harris’ prosecutorial record at his Thursday news conference, claiming she was the “first of bad prosecutors” before seemingly roping in other prosecutors from other major cities.

“You see Philadelphia, see Los Angeles, you see New York, you see various people that are very bad," Trump said. "But she was the first of the bad prosecutors, she was early."

At his Harrisburg rally on July 31, Trump took a dig at Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

President Donald Trump complained about facing Kamala Harris in the presidential election due to Joe Biden dropping out of the race two weeks ago.

“We were given Joe Biden, and now we’re given somebody else,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate Thursday, speaking at length about Biden’s decision to end his reelection campaign following his poor debate performance. 

The Washington Post reported Trump has been complaining to allies about Harris' surging poll numbers and media coverage. 

Former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have agreed to appear at a previously-scheduled presidential debate on ABC on Sept. 10, the network confirmed Thursday.

Trump has backed out of attending the previously scheduled debate, which was originally supposed to be against President Joe Biden before he withdrew his reelection bid and endorsed Harris. The location remains to be determined.

During a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, Trump proposed three debates in September. In addition to ABC, he proposed a debate with Harris on Sept. 4 on Fox News in Pennsylvania and Sept. 25 on NBC.

Former president Donald Trump said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is a “terrible guy,” during his Thursday news conference at Mar-a-Lago, adding that he’s “not very popular with anybody.”

The selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ running mate “maybe is better than Josh Shapiro would have been,” Trump said, adding “I think [Harris] had some good choices, but Josh Shapiro is not one of them.”

During Harris’ search for her No.2, The Inquirer reported that Pennsylvania Republicans though Shapiro would be a formidable opponent, given his popularity in the commonwealth, a crucial swing state.

» READ MORE: Why the thought of Josh Shapiro as Kamala Harris’ VP nominee is making the Pa. GOP nervous

Former President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social he will hold his first news conference in months today at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla.

Trump said the news conference will begin at 2 p.m.

The former president hasn’t held a news conference since the beginning of his criminal trial in Manhattan on April 15, and comes as Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, have dominated news coverage of the 2024 presidential race. 

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman denies telling the Kamala Harris campaign not to pick Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate during her VP vetting process.

Politico reported Fetterman’s aides privately related his concerns about Shapiro to Harris team’ last week as they were making a final decision on her running mate, which ended up being Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“No, I never directed anyone on my team or anyone to do that,” Fetterman told MSNBC host Ali Vitali Wednesday. “It’s just not true.”

If you’re wondering who will play Tim Walz on Saturday Night Live, it won’t be Steve Martin. 

Martin revealed to the Los Angeles Times he was offered the role by longtime SNL producer Lorne Michaels to play Walz alongside Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris. 

“I wanted to say no and, by the way, he wanted me to say no,” Martin said. “I said, ‘Lorne, I’m not an impressionist. You need someone who can really nail the guy.’ I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses.”

Donald Trump’s candidacy appeared all but destined for victory only weeks ago.

He rose defiant from the bullet graze of an attempted assassination, hoisting his fist in the air with a unified party at his back, a growing lead in the polls, dissolving criminal prosecutions — and a struggling opponent, President Joe Biden, facing a full-blown revolt from within his own party. Trump mocked the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the new Democratic nominee, calling her “so pathetic.”

“At the convention, it was game over, and the Democrats realized that,” said Richard Porter, a member of the Republican National Committee from Illinois. “It felt like it was too good to be true, and it was. It’s amazing how quickly they coalesced behind another candidate.”

Former President Donald Trump and his allies have rushed to attack Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz since he was selected as Kamala Harris’ running mate earlier this week. One target for Walz critics is his handling of protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

"He allowed rioters to burn down the streets of Minneapolis," Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, said in Philadelphia Tuesday. 

But according to audio unearthed by ABC News, Trump expressed support for how Walz handled the protests during a phone call with a group of governors on June 1, 2020, calling the Minnesota governor an “excellent guy.” 

Tropical Storm Debby is putting a damper on Thursday’s event plans for the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Harris and her newly announced running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, had been scheduled to appear in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday as part of a five-day battleground state tour. That event, however, has been postponed due to Debby’s impacts on the region, which is expected to see heavy rain Thursday and Friday.

A rescheduled date has not yet been announced. Harris and Walz will reportedly hold a second event in Michigan Thursday, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro didn’t get the job, but the last three weeks were quite the resume booster.

Shapiro, already a national figure, catapulted higher as he became a top contender for Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

While the process included a public vetting of the Montgomery County Democrat’s positions and airing of grievances from his detractors, the news cycle was largely focused on his strength in a critical swing state and unbroken record of winning elections, amounting to what those who have followed his rise say was a net positive for his political stock.