The Latest: 2024 candidates tune their campaigns with less than 100 days to go

Donald Trump spoke Wednesday at a meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists, where his opponent in the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, did not appear. The group said it was in discussions for her to address its members in September.

The Republican former president's appearance at the Chicago convention attracted protesters and came a day after Harris held a boisterous rally in Atlanta. The Trump campaign has said he plans an event Saturday at the same venue.

The director of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 vision for a complete overhaul of the federal government stepped down after blowback from Trump's campaign, which has tried to disavow the program created by many of the former president's allies and former aides.

Dueling ad campaigns by the presidential candidates portray Harris, a Democrat, as ''fearless,'' while an ad from Trump blasts the vice president for problems at the southern U.S. border.

Trump said in an interview Tuesday on radio station WABC that Harris ''doesn't like Jewish people'' and appeared to agree with a host who called her Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff, ''a crappy Jew.''

Follow the AP's Election-2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here's the Latest:

Samantha Bee and Shonda Rhimes rally for Harris

Two famous women who live in Connecticut made surprise appearances during a virtual rally Wednesday night for Vice President Kamala Harris, billed as the launch of the ''Connecticut Women for Harris'' initiative. Both television producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes, who lives in Westport, and comedian and writer Samantha Bee, who lives in New Canaan, both spoke of the excitement they're feeling and seeing surrounding her candidacy for president.

''What I've found is that there's like this amazing swell of energy. A swell of energy and an excitement about everything. But the other thing that I feel I am getting from people is so much hope. People are feeling hopeful again for something that really matters. This is a story that I could not write and make up. There are twists in here that I could not have contemplated ... in any show I wrote,'' said Rhimes, who said she's known Harris for years.

Bee, who has interviewed Harris multiple times over the years, said she's fired up about her candidacy, telling the women on the Zoom call: ''I feel like my entire body is vibrating.'' She added: ''I've covered a lot of presidential campaigns, and this feels like a very special moment,'' she said.

''I frankly have always thought that she would make an incredible president, and I know I'm not wrong. I love her laugh. Okay. I think it's great. She laughs. That's amazing. I love her vigor. I love her intelligence. I so admire her determination,'' Bee said. ''And truly, she is a best in class communicator on abortion and fighting for our bodily autonomy. Look, man, if this is the honeymoon period, I don't want it to end. And really, why should it? It does not have to.''

Harris calls Trump's race comments ‘the same old show'

Vice President Kamala Harris responded Wednesday to former President Donald Trump's false suggestion that she misled voters about her race, saying ''the American people deserve better.''

Speaking at the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.'s 60th International Biennial Boule in Houston, Harris drew knowing chuckles from the audience as she mentioned Trump's comments earlier in the day at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists.

''It was the same old show,'' she said. ''The divisiveness and the disrespect.''

''Our differences do not divide us, they are an essential source of our strength,'' Harris added. ''The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.''

Harris says SCOTUS ruling will embolden Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris is warning that after the Supreme Court found that presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution, former President Donald Trump will be emboldened like never before if he wins the White House again.

Speaking at a fundraiser in Houston, the likely Democratic presidential nominee said ''this is not 2016 or 2020.''

''This month, the United States Supreme Court basically just told the former president, who has been convicted of fraud, that going forward, he will be immune for activity we know he is prepared to engage in if he gets back in the White House,'' Harris told donors.'' So think about that. At least before there was the threat that there might be consequences. Now there is implicit, some would say explicit, authority to know there will be no consequences.''

The remarks were Harris' sharpest attack yet on Trump as she follows what had been a core component of President Joe Biden's campaign message in branding Trump as a threat to American democracy.

Harris raised $2.5 million at the fundraiser, her campaign said.

White House calls Trump's comments about Harris' race ‘repulsive'

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked during her briefing with reporters Wednesday about Donald Trump asking, about Kamala Harris, ''Is she Indian or is she Black?'' and making other derisive comments. She responded with disbelief, initially murmuring, ''Wow.''

Jean-Pierre called what Trump said at a meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago ''repulsive'' and said, "It's insulting, and no one has any right to tell someone who they are how they identify.''

''That is no one's right. It is someone's own decision,'' said Jean-Pierre, who said she was speaking ''as a person of color, as a Black woman who is in this position, that is standing before you at this podium behind this lectern'' in the White House briefing room.

''Only she can speak to her experience. Only she can speak to what it's like,'' Jean-Pierre said of Harris. ''And I think it's insulting for anybody — it doesn't matter if it's a former leader or former president, it is insulting.''

RFK Jr. announces more ballot access

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign announced ballot access in eight additional states: Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and Virginia. This means, his campaign claims, he has enough signatures to get on the ballot in 42 states.

Trump falsely compares protests

Trump repeatedly made false comparisons between protests that have taken place over the last several years, including the police brutality protests during COVID-19, and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But the events have been fundamentally different.

The insurrection at the Capitol was an intentional, direct attack on a hallowed democratic institution, to overturn a fair and free election. More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Nearly 900 of them have pleaded guilty. Over 200 others have been convicted by judges or juries after trials in Washington, D.C. Only two Capitol riot defendants have been acquitted of all charges after trials.

Protests following the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police were a coast-to-coast protest movement demanding an end to systemic racism that occasionally, but not frequently, turned violent.

Trump was asked during his appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention if he would pardon his supporters who assaulted more than 140 police officers while trying to breach the Capitol building while lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden's 2020 presidential win. Trump deflected and began a long winded diatribe about the recent pro-Gaza protests near the Capitol last week where there were skirmishes with police and many demonstrators were arrested for publicly defacing property with anti-Semitic tropes and terrorist propaganda. There were no reported injuries of police or protesters at the recent protests, unlike the Capitol attack which resulted in one woman dead and several police officers who died after the fact due to related injuries and mental health trauma.

Trump explains why he chose Vance as running mate

Donald Trump was questioned Wednesday at the conference of the National Association of Black Journalists about his vice presidential running mate, JD Vance, and Vance's history of comments about the value of women or couples who don't have children.

Asked why he chose Vance, Trump said it was because he represents a working-class upbringing.

''He's a very smart guy without the benefit of having a family that has contact with a father that is well-connected,'' the former president said. ''I respect people for their success.''

Kadia Goba, of Semafor, received light applause when she noted that Trump was divorced and that Vance ''may have opinions'' about divorced people.

Trump received laughs and gasps when he said that Vance would also have opinions about childless people when he said ''people like yourself'' in response to Goba.

Asked if he, like Biden, would step down as president or presidential candidate if his health were to become an issue, Trump said Wednesday that he would and challenged Kamala Harris to a cognitive test while accusing her of failing her bar exam to become a lawyer.

''I would do it with her. I'll say, you know what? She failed her law exam. She didn't pass a law exam, so maybe she wouldn't pass the cognitive test,'' Trump said. While Harris reportedly failed her first attempt at the bar exam, she went on to pass the exam and later became elected as San Francisco's district attorney and then as California's attorney general.

Trump says he isn't familiar with the killing of Sonya Massey

A room full of journalists at the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago stood largely stone-cold Wednesday as former President Donald Trump addressed them.

Some remarks drew interlaced boos, cheers and gasps as the conversation unfolded. Trump garnered rounds of laughs as he lambasted Rachel Scott and ABC News for their coverage of him and for the journalist's questions about his record and rhetoric on race.

When Trump said he ''wasn't familiar'' with the killing of Sonya Massey, many conventiongoers groaned. A white sheriff's deputy shot and killed Massey inside her Illinois home this month after the Black woman called 911. A now-fired deputy has been charged with murder. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were among those to publicly mourn Massey.

Trump earlier in his remarks questioned the race of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Black and Indian American.

Before he became a presidential candidate, Trump led efforts challenging the candidacy of former President Barack Obama by falsely asserting he was ineligible to run because he was born outside of the U.S. Birtherism, as it became known, was just the start of Trump's history questioning the credentials and qualifications of Black politicians.

— The item above has been corrected to show that Massey was killed this month, not last month.

Trump questions Harris' race in appearance before Black journalists

Donald Trump falsely questioned Kamala Harris' race during an appearance Wednesday with the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago that quickly turned hostile.

The Republican former president claimed that Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past promoted only her Indian heritage.

''I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?'' Trump said.

Trump's appearance immediately became heated as he sparred with interviewer Rachel Scott of ABC News, accusing her of giving him a ''very rude introduction'' with a tough first question about his past criticism of Black people and Black journalists.

''I think it's disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country; I've done so much for Black population of this country,'' Trump said.

As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation's most prominent historically Black institutions, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Some protesters outside the venue played horns and musical instruments under the name Sousaphones Against Hate. ''We played a whole bunch of protests going back to 2016 all the way through," said trombone player Dylan Rehm, 44. ''So when we found out that he was going to be here today, we decided to do a version of an ode to Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us,' but we said ‘Trump's not like us.'''

Second gentleman cites a choice between freedom and ‘hellscape'

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff rallied New Hampshire Democrats on Wednesday, highlighting his wife's commitment to restoring abortion rights and more.

''Once we get the presidency, get numbers in the Senate and the House, we can actually do something about this crisis,'' he said. ''You can see a world in which if Kamala Harris wins and we get the House and the Senate, we can make things happen in this country, not only on reproductive rights, but freedoms in general.''

Emhoff, who described as ''surreal'' the days since President Joe Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke to about 500 people in a union hall in Concord. As it has elsewhere, abortion has become a key campaign issue for Democrats in New Hampshire, where the procedure is legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy but the Republican-led Legislature has rejected attempts to enshrine it as a right under the state constitution.

''We really have a stark choice between a life of freedom — fundamental rights, progress, moving forward, a place for all of us — and like I said, a hellscape,'' Emhoff said.

Activists protest Trump's appearance in Chicago

Dozens of activists are protesting former President Donald Trump's appearance in Chicago and chanting outside the downtown hotel where he will address the National Association of Black Journalists.

Their chants Wednesday included, ''Donald Trump ain't welcome here!'' Several activists carried Palestinian flags and signs calling for ''Peace, Justice, and Equity for All.''

Police presence was heavy outside the hotel, where a brass band also played at times. A few cars driving by the hotel along the busy Michigan Avenue corridor honked their horns.

A few people in Trump T-shirts, and at least one counterprotester who spoke against abortion, also stood outside the hotel.

Campaigns spar over appearances before Black journalists

Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign said ahead of Donald Trump's appearance Wednesday at a meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that he would lie about his record.

''Not only does Donald Trump have a history of demeaning NABJ members and honorees who remain pillars of the Black press, he also has a history of attacking the media and working against the vital role the press play in our democracy,'' Jasmine Harris, the campaign's director of Black media, said in a statement.

Harris, who is not related to the vice president, also said, ''Black voters see Donald Trump's lies and empty pandering for what they are — and they will hold him accountable at the polls this November.''

Kamala Harris is not scheduled to appear at the convention, but the NABJ said in a statement on the social platform X that it was in discussions with her campaign to have her appear virtually or in person for a conversation in September.

Trump posted on his social media network that he was told he could not do the event virtually.

''She declined, and I am getting ready to land in Chicago in order to be there,'' Trump wrote. ''Now I am told that she is doing the Event on ZOOM. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?''

Trump faces resistance in Chicago

Chicago activists said that former President Donald Trump is ''not welcome'' in the nation's third-largest city and that they'll protest outside the hotel where he is expected to address the National Association of Black Journalists.

Activist groups, including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said they aren't sure how many will attend their Wednesday protest. The demonstration is expected to start shortly before noon, when Trump will be interviewed by a panel of reporters.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is also attending the same convention hours after Trump. Johnson said in a post on the social media platform X that his administration's values and practices ''are in complete opposition to former President Donald Trump's agenda.''

The first-term Democratic mayor says he wants to assure the public that city agencies and departments are ''fully prepared to uphold safety during his scheduled visit.''

During his 2016 campaign, Trump canceled a rally in Chicago over safety concerns after protesters packed the arena where he was scheduled to speak.

Harris gives Democrats a jolt in a critical part of Wisconsin

Kamala Harris has put a charge in Wisconsin's most powerful Democratic stronghold, Dane County, where enthusiasm and volunteer support for President Joe Biden had been slipping.

Voters in Madison, the county's famously liberal heart, pointed to what they described in interviews as Harris' more vocal attention to specific Democratic priorities, in addition to her younger age and livelier style, in helping to restore their enthusiasm in a place where the party must post overwhelming margins to carry the swing state.

Biden won 75% of the vote in the county, Wisconsin's fastest-growing, in 2020, beating Trump by 181,000 votes there while carrying the state by fewer than 21,000.

Harris calibrates policy pitch; Trump invited to address Black journalists

With less than 100 days until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris faces challenges in pitching her policy ideas.

Republicans are trying to drag her down by reminding voters of her liberal positions from her unsuccessful 2020 primary campaign, as well as tag her with controversies from President Joe Biden's administration.

At the same time, Harris wants to harness Biden-era accomplishments while charting her own course to maximize her chances of defeating Republican Donald Trump. It's a delicate dance that she'll need to perform at high speeds in an unprecedented political situation.

Meanwhile, Trump's invitation to address the National Association of Black Journalists has sparked an intense debate within the organization and a flurry of arguments online.

Trump's acceptance of the invitation has led at least one high-profile group member to step down as a convention co-chair and others to argue their convention may become a platform for Trump to make false claims or be seen as winning NABJ's endorsement.

Public interest in the presidential election is perking up

News executives were worried in the first half of the year about consumers expressing relatively little interest in the upcoming election. That has now changed.

There's evidence that interest has started to perk up following an extraordinary run of news. That includes the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden's decision not to seek reelection and the rapid ascension of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate.

Taboola says its measurement of news sites shows interest going up. Fox News was the most obvious beneficiary of the boost in attention, with July being its most-watched month since November 2020.