Trump Calls Out Harris Over Border to Defuse Puerto Rico Uproar

Former President Donald Trump sought to both move past the controversy over racist remarks made at his Madison Square Garden rally and nullify a major address Vice President Kamala Harris will delivery Tuesday evening by focusing attention on one of her biggest political vulnerabilities.

Trump at an event at his Mar-a-Lago home Tuesday unveiled a new campaign pledge, vowing to seize the assets of drug cartels and gangs to provide compensation to victims. The president invited on stage a woman whose daughter was killed in a case where two migrants have been charged with the murder.

The Republican presidential nominee’s campaign has been dogged by criticism over the remarks from the Sunday rally in New York City — in particular a comedian labeling Puerto Rico as an “island of garbage” — threatening to undercut Trump’s campaign in the last full week before Election Day.

Harris has seized on the incident, hitting Trump again over the comments during an appearance on The Breakfast Club radio program Tuesday morning aimed at amplifying her outreach to both Black and Latino voters. 

The incident has bolstered Harris’ efforts to try to frame the election as a referendum on Trump rather than her current boss Joe Biden as she prepares to deliver her closing argument in Washington, DC, Tuesday evening. She is due to speak from the same spot just south of the White House where Trump rallied supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, before many of them stormed Capitol Hill.

Trump, meanwhile, is heading to the critical battleground of Pennsylvania to campaign, including a rally in Allentown — which has a sizable Puerto Rican population and an incumbent mayor who is the first Latino to hold that office in the town.

Here’s everything happening on the campaign trail Tuesday:

Trump Vows to Seize Cartel Assets

Trump sought to preempt Harris’ closing argument, casting the US as a nation overrun by migrants and crime and with a failing economy, summing up the major themes of his stump speeches. At an event at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the former president made an eleventh-hour campaign promise to seize the assets of criminal gangs and drug cartels to create “a compensation fund to provide restitution for the victims of migrant crime.”

“Something has to be done, and we’re going to get it done,” he said as he highlighted migrants crossing the US-Mexico border and violent crimes where the suspects or those convicted are migrants.

Immigration is a major political liability for Harris, with polls showing voters rate it as one of the most important issues of the campaign.

Trump has sought to tie Harris to the administration’s struggles on the issue and he’s vowed to finish building the border wall if elected and to carry out mass deportations of illegal migrants.

His advisors have also nudged him to focus on the economy, the top issue for voters. The Republican nominee, often prone to hyperbole, said Harris “decimated the middle class.”

Harris Speech Preview

Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Harris campaign chair, during a call Tuesday said the Democratic nominee’s speech will detail her values, lay out her plans for the American people, including how she will lower costs and ease the strain on household budgets. And she highlighted the location at the Ellipse, calling it “significant” to Harris’ closing message to voters.

“The backdrop of the White House — it’s really a reminder of the gravity of the job, how much a president can do for good and for bad to shape the country and impact people’s lives,” she said. “But it’s also a stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how he’s used his power for bad.”

Early voting is in full swing across the country and O’Malley Dillon said the campaign is seeing increased supporter turnout.

Outreach to Black, Latino Voters

Harris on The Breakfast Club show Tuesday revisited the denigrating remarks about Puerto Rico, saying she had met with leaders from the Puerto Rican community in swing-state Pennsylvania to assure them of her commitment to the island, and highlighting economic policies she is promoting aimed at bringing private-sector investment to the island.

The vice president is seeking to counter the inroads Trump has made among Black and Latino voters, in particular men, reeling from the harsh impacts of inflation and broader anxiety over economic mobility, And she’s enlisted former President Barack Obama to aid that effort.

“Black men are no different than any other voter. You have to earn their vote,” Harris said. She pushed back on the narrative that Black male voters feel that she is not speaking to their concerns.

“The brothers aren’t saying that,” she said, citing an event at a barber shop in Philadelphia where she met with “incredible and distinguished men who are leading in our community and small business and education.”

“Black men in particular who are at the rallies have recently been saying to me, ‘don’t you listen to that,’” she added.

Obama has faced criticism from some prominent Black Americans – including The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne Tha God – after suggesting that Black men were finding excuses to not vote for a woman candidate.

Washington Post Controversy

Harris also weighed in on the controversy overThe Washington Post, which decided to stop endorsing presidential candidates, setting off a firestorm and that has led to multiple resignations and as many as 200,000 readers canceling subscriptions, according to NPR News. The editorial team had been preparing to endorse Harris.

Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, who owns the paper, defended the decision, claiming in an op-ed that he made the move to address what he called a “credibility gap” impacting the media, and insisting it was unrelated to his business interests.

Harris on The Breakfast Club called the decision disappointing and cast it as another example of how wealthy interests are aligned with Trump.

“Look, it’s billionaires in Donald Trump’s club. That’s who’s in his club. That’s who he hangs out with, that’s who he cares about,” she said.

Bannon Is Back

Longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon was released from prison after serving a four-month sentence for his conviction for contempt of Congress after he refused to testify and hand over documents to a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. 

Bannon said on his War Room podcast his time spent incarcerated “empowered” him, referring to himself as a “political prisoner.” He pledged to focus on get-out-the-vote efforts in the final week of the election. 

“We have to be maniacally focused on making sure first that were not just cannibalizing the game day vote,” Bannon said, referring to data that shows strong early turnout among registered Republicans in some swing states. “The game day vote will be everything.”

The Republican operative’s comments underscore the uncertainty of making predictions based on early voting data, which just show a snapshot of the party identification of voters casting ballots before Election Day, but no information about which candidate is leading.

Bannon is also scheduled to hold a press conference in New York City on Tuesday afternoon.

Biden in Baltimore

While President Biden hasn’t spent much time on the trail during the closing days of the campaign, he traveled to Baltimore on Tuesday to tout $3 billion in Environmental Protection Agency grants to fund new and greener equipment at ports.

The awards – which include $147 million for Maryland – come after operations at Baltimore’s port were crippled for nearly three months following the collapse in March of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Biden hailed the efforts to clear the debris from the collapse and reopen the port — and he urged lawmakers to approve funding to build a new bridge.

“We won’t stop until a new bridge is finished completely,” Biden said, asking Congress to fully fund the project this year.

The president also used the port grants to jab at Trump, saying the funds from the Inflation Reduction Act would also cover Puerto Rico.

“I’d like to take that guy for a swim out there,” Biden added, but it was unclear if he was referring to Trump or the comedian at the Madison Square Garden rally who drew criticism for his remark about Puerto Rico.

Tuesday’s visit could also provide a boost for Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who is running against Republican former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan for the US Senate.

Battleground Interviews

Harris is also stepping up her media blitz with plans to do five interviews today ahead of her speech at the Ellipse, according to the campaign.

Those interviews will include four state TV interviews to reach voters in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh — major metropolitan areas in the Blue Wall northern states that offer her a critical electoral path to the White House.

The vice president will also sit for a Spanish radio interview with Rumba in Pennsylvania to reach Latino voters, including Puerto Ricans.

Vance to Sit With Rogan

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, will sit for an interview with comedian Joe Rogan on his podcast Wednesday, according to CNN.

Rogan, the most popular podcaster in the world, snared Trump for a three-hour interview last Friday that saw the two discuss the Republican nominee’s agenda and delve into a wide-range of topics, including aliens and conspiracy theories.

Harris’ team has said scheduling difficulties have kept her from appearing on Rogan’s show.

With assistance from Stephanie Lai, María Paula Mijares Torres and Michelle Jamrisko.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.