Music superstar Beyoncé gave an impassioned speech at a Harris campaign rally in Houston, Texas, on Friday night.
“Texas plays a pivotal role to change the course of our future,” Beyoncé said.
Introduced by her mother, Tina Knowles, Beyoncé came out on stage at Shell Energy Stadium with fellow Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland.
Susan Walsh / AP
“We are at the precipice of an incredible shift, the brink of history,” Beyonce said. “I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician, I’m here as a mother. A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in. A world where we have the freedom to control our bodies.”
She also urged attendees to cast their ballots.
“We’re all part of something must bigger, we must vote,” she later added.
Beyoncé then welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris on stage, and the two embraced.
Earlier in the evening, country music icon Willie Nelson performed with his band.
F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump was several hours late for a rally in Traverse City, Michigan, on Friday evening.
A large portion of attendees left the hangar at the Cherry Capital Airport. Earlier in the evening, the campaign played a video of Trump on the big screen that had been recorded on his plane in which he told rallygoers he was late because “we had to spend some time with some people.”
“I think we land in about two hours and we’re stepping on the gas,” Trump said, adding that it was going to be a “special performance.”
CBS News
Trump’s plane landed just after 10 p.m. Eastern Time, about two-and-a-half hours after the rally had been slated to begin.
The former president flew in from Austin, Texas, where he held a rally earlier in the day and recorded a podcast with Joe Rogan.
— Katrina Kaufman and Jacob Rosen
Across Philadelphia, dozens of silver haired, climate-conscious canvassers are going door to door in the last weeks before Election Day, leaving green slips of paper with guides on how to register to vote this year.
“It’s the most consequential one that I’ve been a part of,” climate canvasser Daniel Carlson told CBS News. “I’ve been voting for four decades.”
Carlson is part of Third Act, a climate activist group for people over 60. The group is trying to mobilize voters on climate change in an election that’s been dominated by worries about the economy, immigration and abortion access.
CBS News polling has found climate change is “not a factor” for 32% of voters in the presidential race, but for millions, it’s their top issue, according to the Environmental Voter Project, another non-profit group; EVP works on identifying climate-minded voters and get them to the polls. EVP focuses on low-propensity climate voters — those who did not vote in the last presidential election and are concerned about climate change.
Nathaniel Sinnett, executive director of the Environmental Voter Project, said, “In Pennsylvania, we’ve identified 245,000 of these voters,” Sinnett told CBS News, and he’s found equally high numbers in other key battleground states where EVP is active. In 2020, Joe Biden’s margin of victory over Donald Trump in Pennsylvania was 80,555.
EVP says it uses predictive modeling and data analytics to identify millions of climate-focused registered voters, and then it relies on voter files to target its efforts toward environmentalists who are registered to vote but who have not been voting.
“We really like what we’re seeing in the early voting, nearly 130,000 first-time climate voters have already cast ballots in the 19 states where we work,” says Sinnett.
By Tracy Wholf and Seiji Yamashita
CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell will interview Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in Kalamazoo, Michigan, this weekend in a CBS News exclusive.
The interview with the vice president will air first on “CBS News Sunday Morning” on Oct. 27, with additional clips appearing on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Evening News” and streaming on CBS News 24/7.
“CBS News Sunday Morning” airs at 9 a.m.
“Face the Nation” moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan’s interview with GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance will air at 10:30 a.m. ET Sunday.
A watchdog group, American Oversight, shared a heavily redacted Defense Department report on an incident at Arlington National Cemetery during Trump’s visit in August. The report was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act after a judge ordered its release.
The redacted report reveals few details about the incident that occurred on Aug. 26, but describes the incident as a simple assault.
“While working at the Arlington National Cemetery, [redacted] with both of [redacted] hands while attempting to move past [redacted] did not require medical attention on scene and later refused when offered. [Redacted] rendered a sworn statement on a DA Form 2823 and stated [redacted] did not want to press charges,” it says.
Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall Police Department is investigating the incident, it said. In a statement, the Army said the investigation continues.
“The law enforcement investigation into the incident remains open and we are therefore unable to provide further information at this time,” the statement said.
Trump visited the cemetery to mark three years since a suicide bombing in Kabul killed 13 service members during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trump visited part of the cemetery known as Section 60, where veterans of the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest. While there, an interaction occurred between Trump campaign staff and a cemetery official, multiple sources previously told CBS News. The dispute appears to be over whether the Trump campaign’s photographer had permission to be there.
By Eleanor Watson and Caitlin Yilek
Harris is continuing to draw celebrities to perform at her rallies in the final days before Election Day. Artists Gracie Abrams,,Mumford & Sons, Gracie Abrams, Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger are expected to perform at a Harris get-out-the-vote rally Wednesday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Harris campaign official said. Wisconsin is a key swing state, and its capital, Madison, is home to a high concentration of liberal voters. The Harris campaign is particularly trying to turn out young voters who may be voting in their first presidential election.
Harris and Gov. Tim Walz will hold a joint campaign rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Michigan is a critical battleground state.
The pair traveled on a bus tour in August in Savannah, Georgia, in late August.
By Ed O’Keefe and Shawna Mizelle
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who mounted an unsuccessful independent run for the White House, has asked the Supreme Court to remove his name from the Michigan general election ballot.
Kennedy’s bid for emergency relief marks the third time he has asked the Supreme Court to step into a dispute over his access to the ballot. The high court last month denied his request to be restored to the ballot in New York, and earlier this week, Kennedy asked the justices to remove his name from Wisconsin’s ballot.
Kennedy spent months fighting to get his name on the ballot in every state in Washington, D.C. But after suspending his campaign in August and endorsing Trump, he pursued efforts to have his name removed in 10 states that his campaign viewed as competitive. Kennedy said he was concerned that remaining on the ballots in those states risked harming Trump’s chances of beating Harris.
In his request for emergency relief filed with the Supreme Court, lawyers for Kennedy argued that by listing his name on the ballot, the secretary of state is “misrepresenting to voters” that he is “qualified and willing to serve” if elected.
Early voting is underway in Michigan, and more than 1.3 million people have already cast ballots in the state.
Federal authorities believe China-backed cyber criminals may have attempted to tap into phones or networks used by Trump, Vance and members of the Harris campaign, multiple sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News. Officials are concerned that the hackers could have infiltrated telecommunication systems and targeted the candidates, the people said.
The breadth of the potential cyber operation and what information the alleged hackers might have targeted remains unclear. The campaign was recently alerted that they may have been targets of a cyber campaign, the people said.
The potential hack was first reported by the New York Times.
“The U.S. government is investigating the unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China,” the FBI said in a statement. “… Agencies across the U.S. Government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector.”
By Robert Legare and Andy Triay
President Biden on Friday apologized to Native American communities for the atrocities committed against Indigenous children and their families during a 150-year era of forced federal Indian boarding schools.The president chose to speak at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, although he apologized to all tribal nations for their generations of suffering.
“After 150 years, the United States government eventually stopped the program,” the president said. “But the federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened — until today. I formally apologize, as president of the United States of America, for what we did. I formally apologize. That’s long overdue.”
From 1819 through the 1970s, the federal government and religious institutions established boarding schools throughout the country to assimilate Alaska Native, American Indian and Native Hawaiian children into White American culture by forcibly removing them from their families, communities and belief systems. The president called the practice “one of the most horrific chapters in American history” and a “sin on our soul,” holding a moment of silence for the lives lost.
“Generations of Native children stolen, taken away to places they didn’t know, with people they’d never met, who spoke a language they had never heard,” Mr. Biden said. “Native communities silenced. Their children’s laughter and play were gone. Children who would arrive at schools, their clothes taken off, their hair that they were told was sacred, chopped off. Their names literally erased, replaced by a number or an English name.”
Trump will be in Austin to record an interview with Joe Rogan for his podcast Friday. “The Joe Rogan Experience” is the most popular podcast in the country, with more than 14 million followers on Spotify and 17.5 million subscribers on YouTube and appeals heavily to young, largely male audiences.
A Trump campaign official said the interview with Rogan is likely to be released tomorrow.
Trump previously criticized Rogan for expressing support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Rogan has since said he didn’t endorse RFK Jr., but appreciated him and his policies.
By Kathryn Watson and Jacob Rosen
A video purporting to show someone ripping up Bucks County, Pennsylvania, ballots racked up hundreds of thousands of views on X on Thursday. Here’s what we know about the video:
- It was originally posted by an anonymous X account called ‘TheWakeninq’, which has a history of sharing disinformation from the Russian influence group Storm-1516. The original video has since been deleted.
- ‘TheWakeninq’ also recently posted a video linked to Storm-1516 that made baseless claims about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Here’s CBS News’ Confirmed reporting on this.
- Darren Linvill, co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, says he believes the video was likely created by Storm-1516. Linvill said TheWakeninq shared its first Storm-1516 narrative in August 2023, which targeted Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy with a debunked claim that Zelenskyy had bought a luxury villa in Egypt through his mother-in-law.
From the moment Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, fans of the hit HBO show “Veep” drew comparisons to lead character Selina Meyer. But one person who isn’t laughing at the comparison is the show’s creator, Armando Iannucci, whose interview with “CBS Mornings” aired Friday.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board endorsed Harris Friday, saying “there has never been a more important presidential election in our lifetime.”
The editorial board said the road to the White House “may well run through Pennsylvania and every vote matters.”
“Voters face an easy but tectonic choice in the race for the White House,” the editorial said. “Will they choose the first woman or the oldest man to be the next president? Will they choose the prosecutor or the convict? Will they choose the candidate who supports restoring Roe v. Wade, or the man who bragged about overturning it?”
A federal judge in Virginia blocked the state from continuing a systematic program that aims to remove alleged noncitizens from its voter registration lists.
The order from U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles stemmed from a challenge the Justice Department and voting rights groups brought against a program created by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to purge noncitizens from state voter rolls.
Giles agreed with the Justice Department that the effort was undertaken too close to the election. Federal law requires states to complete programs that systematically remove ineligible voters from registration lists by 90 days before the election. Youngkin announced his executive order creating Virginia’s program on Aug. 7, exactly 90 days before Election Day.
The judge ordered state election officials to restore more than 1,500 people who were purged to voter registration rolls unless they submit a removal request or are subject to removal because of a criminal conviction of mental incapacity. The state must also notify affected registrants by mail that their voter registration has been restored.
Youngkin, a Republican, criticized the decision and said he would seek relief from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit and the Supreme Court if needed.
The Washington Post’s publisher announced Friday that the editorial board won’t endorse a candidate for president for the first time since 1988, and the newspaper intends to refrain from endorsing candidates for president in the future, too.
“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election,” wrote Post publisher and CEO William Lewis. “Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”
Lewis became the Post’s publisher last year, and this is his first presidential election cycle in charge of the paper.
Trump will be returning to the battleground state of Georgia on Monday evening to speak about high housing costs and inflation, his campaign said in a press release Friday.
And next Friday, just before Election Day, Trump will be rallying in Milwaukee in the same location where the Republican convention took place.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republicans in Congress, criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for recent comments made about former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail, warning that they invite political violence.
“Vice President Harris may want the American people to entrust her with the sacred duty of executive authority,” they said in a joint statement. “But first, she must abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions.”
The Republicans were responding to Harris calling Trump a “fascist” during a CNN town hall on Wednesday. Her characterization of her opponent in the presidential race echoed criticism from John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, who told the New York Times that the former president met the definition of a fascist.
“Labeling a political opponent as a ‘fascist,’ risks inviting yet another would-be assassin to try robbing voters of their choice before Election Day,” McConnell and Johnson said.
They said Harris’ warning against political violence after a second assassination attempt against Trump in September rings hollow.
“In the weeks since that second sobering reminder, the Democratic nominee for president of the United States has only fanned the flames beneath a boiling cauldron of political animus,” the Republican congressional leaders said. “Her most recent and most reckless invocations of the darkest evil of the 20th century seem to dare it to boil over. The vice president’s words more closely resemble those of President Trump’s second would-be assassin than her own earlier appeal to civility.”
With early voting underway in all seven battleground states and in another three dozen states, millions of Americans have cast their ballots already.
More than 32 million people have voted early so far, according to data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab, with the most voting by mail. Democrats are outpacing Republicans in casting their ballots early, data from 25 states that report party registration shows.
More Republicans have cast roughly 452,000 more ballots in person so far, while more Democrats have returned 1.3 million more mail ballots than registered GOP voters, according to the Election Lab.
Two days after former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly said that his ex-boss fits the definition of a fascist and occasionally remarked that Adolf Hitler “did some good things,” 13 more members of the Trump administration penned an open letter backing up Kelly’s claims.
“Donald Trump’s disdain for the American military and admiration for dictators like Hitler is rooted in his desire for absolute, unchecked power,” wrote the group, which includes former national security, communications and other White House staff. “This is a man who threw his own Vice President – Mike Pence – at a violent mob in a desperate bid to hold on to power.”
Politico first reported on the letter Friday.
Kelly, retired U.S. Marine Corps general, told The New York Times and the Atlantic in recent interviews that Trump “could never wrap his arms around why people would serve the country in uniform” and “admires people who are dictators.”
By Nidia Cavazos, Graham Kates
AP / Chris Pizzello
Megastar Beyoncé is appearing with Harris at a rally in Houston Friday, a source familiar with the event told CBS News. Speculation swirled for months about whether the singer would throw her support behind the Democratic nominee, especially after Taylor Swift announced she would vote for Harris in September.
The appearance in Houston, Beyoncé’s hometown, comes 11 days before Election Day. Harris has been using Beyoncé’s “Freedom” as her walk-on song at rallies.
Beyoncé has a long history of supporting Democratic candidates, including President Obama in 2008 and 2012, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Biden in 2020. She also backed former Rep. Beto O’Rourke in his failed 2018 Texas Senate race.
/ Getty Images
Before former President Obama and Harris took the stage at a rally Thursday in Atlanta, Bruce Springsteen performed “The Promised Land,” “Land of Hope and Dreams” and “Dancing in the Dark.”
Springsteen also told the crowd of about 23,000, estimated by Harris’ campaign to be her largest to date, that “Donald Trump is running to be an American tyrant.”
The rock star endorsed Harris earlier this month, arguing that she supports a more unified and inclusive country while calling Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime.”
Joe Raedle / Getty Images