Election 2024 live updates: Judge in Trump’s classified documents case holds hearing as Biden calls for abortion rights (2024)

'A race to the bottom': DNC attacks potential Trump running mates over abortion rights

Biden shared a post on his X account today blaming Trump for the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade two years ago.

The post showed a map of the U.S. showing several states that have partial or full abortion bans in place.

The judge overseeing Trump's classified documents trial is holding two hearings today, the second of three days of hearings in the Florida case.

The first hearing began around 10 a.m. and is focusing on a defense motion to dismiss the indictment against Trump based on the constitutionality of special counsel Jack Smith.

The next hearing, expected to begin around 3 p.m., will deal with a request by the special counsel for a gag order on Trump to restrict him from making statements endangering law enforcement agents participating in the case. Smith's office made the request after the former president falsely claimed that the FBI agents who conducted the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search were planning to use deadly force against him.

Trump and his co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos DeOliveira are not required to attend today’s hearings. Trump is not expected to attend either hearing, a person familiar with the plans said.

Planned Parenthood said today that it is planning to spend $40 million on the 2024 election to re-elect Biden and other "abortion rights champions," pass abortion rights ballot measures and other initiatives.

A press release announcing the effort, which it refers to as the “We Decide” program, was timed for the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

“Planned Parenthood advocacy and political organizations are fighting to elect abortion rights champions, up and down the ballot," Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement.

She added, "We demand the power to decide what’s best for our families, our bodies, our lives, and our futures. When we decide — we win."

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., tweeted today that he's endorsing George Latimer, the Democrat challenging Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York's 16th Congressional District, which covers a part of the Bronx and Westchester County.

"I’m proud to endorse @LatimerforNY. We need more commonsense leaders and problem solvers in Congress. I know George will fight hate in all forms, and stand up for the values we all believe in," Gottheimer wrote in a post on X.

Bowman is facing a tough re-election fight in tomorrow’s Democratic primary.

Fellow New York Democrat Rep. Ritchie Torres also criticized Bowman for comments he made over the weekend at a campaign rally criticizing AIPAC, a prominent pro-Israel lobbying group. Torres has not made an endorsem*nt in the race.

North Dakota GOP Gov. Doug Burgum will attend Thursday's debate in Atlanta, a spokesperson told NBC News.

NBC News reported last week that Trump had narrowed his vice presidential shortlist to Burgum and GOP Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and JD Vance of Ohio.

GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, a former White House physician, suggested yesterday that Biden should submit to drug tests immediately before and after Thursday’s presidential debate.

“I’m going to be demanding on behalf of many millions of concerned Americans right now that he submit to a drug test before and after this debate, specifically looking forperformance-enhancing drugs,” Jackson told Fox News.

Baseless accusations that Biden has used performance-enhancing drugs have dovetailed with attacks on his age and mental fitness as he seeks another term at 81. Trump, who just turned 78, has also faced questions about his cognitive abilities, including whenhe misidentified Jackson as “Ronny Johnson”at a rally in mid-June.

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Two years after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade forced abortion-rights advocates to rethink their messaging, Democrats are leaning into the issue, hoping to sway enough swing voters to propel Biden to a second term.

But in a tight election that could be decided on several issues that voters rank as more important than abortion, it’s unclear whether Democrats can tap into enough conservative-leaning votes to keep them in the Oval Office.

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The Biden-Harris campaign releases a new TV ad today as part of its organizing push to mark the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

The new ad features Kaitlyn Joshua, a Louisiana woman who says she was turned away from two emergency rooms while experiencing a miscarriage due to the state’s abortion law.

"I was right around 11 weeks when I had a miscarriage. The pain that I was feeling was excruciating. And I was turned away from two emergency rooms. That was a direct result of Donald Trump overturningRoe v. Wade," Joshua says in the ad. "He’s now a convicted felon. Trump thinks he should not be held accountable for his own criminal actions, but he will let women and doctors be punished.We want to support someone that does have our best interests at heart. And that’s why I’m so adamant about supporting President Biden."

This ad is part of a $50 million ad buy this month. The campaign also plans to release videos today featuring other women who have “personally experienced the devastating impacts of Dobbs.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said yesterday that Trump should pick a running mate who “will help him win” and indicated that she has not been formally vetted for the position.

“I haven’t received any paperwork. No, I haven’t,” Noem said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” adding: “I’ve had conversations with the president, and I know that he is the only one who will be making the decisions on who will be his vice president.”

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Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu yesterday hinted that Biden will hit Trump on his legal troubles at Thursday’s presidential debate in Atlanta.

“Meet the Press” guest moderator Peter Alexander brought up a new Biden campaign ad that calls Trump “a convicted criminal” and asked Landrieu whether that line of attack would make it to the debate stage Thursday.

“I’ll let the president say what he’s going to say, but the fact of the matter is that the sky is blue sometimes and Donald Trump is a convicted felon,” Landrieu said.

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At two events Saturday, Trump attacked Biden, calling him “crooked,” a “Marxist,” “incompetent" and “a threat to democracy.”

At an evening rally in Philadelphia, the former president also insinuated that Biden would be on drugs at Thursday's debate, "to strengthen him up."

The rally came a few hours after Trump spoke at the conservative Faith & Freedom Coalition's conference in Washington, telling supporters, "We need Christian voters to turn out and the largest numbers ever to tell crooked Joe Biden, ‘You’re fired. You’re fired, Joe. Get out of here.'"

WASHINGTON — TheBiden campaignand its allies plan to hold 1,600 events and run a new slate of TV and digital advertisem*nts ahead of Thursday’s presidential debate, which they called “one of the first moments ... where a larger slice of the American electorate” will tune in to the campaign, according to a new memo obtained first by NBC News.

The events will include a nationwide mobilization of surrogates; events targeting groups the campaign sees as crucial to its coalition, such as members of the LGBTQ community and college students; and 300watch parties on debate night.

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