Trump rally overshadowed by opening act's insults against Puerto Ricans, latest on Trump-Harris polling

A voter CBS News met at the rally said she's heard from a number of female Republicans who will vote Democrat. 

"There's been kind of a little under campaign going about," she said. "You can vote and no one knows your vote. And it's been aiming at women."

Four first-time female voters all said the top issue for women their age is abortion and reproductive rights. 

Harris told CBS News in an interview Saturday that she would restore Roe v. Wade if she wins the election. 

"I support Roe v. Wade being put back into law by Congress, and to restore the fundamental right of women to make decisions about their own body. It is that basic," Harris said. 

Read more from Norah O'Donnell's interview with Harris here and watch a clip in the player above. 

At a rally in Philadelphia on Monday night, former President Barack Obama condemned the racist jokes made at former President Donald Trump's rally in New York on Sunday while urging voters to look forward.

Obama noted that calling Puerto Rico an "island of garbage" referred to "your fellow citizens." 

"Here's a good rule: If somebody does not respect you, if somebody does not see you as fellow citizens with equal claims to opportunity, to the pursuit of happiness, to the American dream, you should not vote for them," he said.

Obama also contrasted Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump's backgrounds, and said "America is ready for a better story."

"You may not agree with every decision she makes. You didn't agree with every decision I made ... If you elect Kamala Harris, she will see you. She will hear you. She will have your back every single day."

Ahead of Obama's 45-minute speech, superstars Bruce Springsteen and John Legend performed at Temple University's Liacouras Center.

As the fallout continued Monday over comments made during the opening acts at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, Trump attacked Democrats for labeling him a Nazi and criticized former first lady Michelle Obama in particular for comments she made about him over the weekend.

"I'm the opposite of a Nazi," Trump said. He said his father told him, "You don't ever use the word Nazi," and added, "It's just horrible the way they talk." 

Trump said Michelle Obama made a "big mistake" in criticizing him, and said she was "so nasty."

"I always tried to be so nice and respectful," Trump said. " She opened up a little bit … of a box" in criticizing him, he said.

Michelle Obama is set to appear in Atlanta on Tuesday as part of her When We All Vote initiative. 

The FBI is now leading the investigation into the suspect's vehicle, according to Vancouver Police Department. No suspect has yet been identified. 

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told CBS News that officials won't have an exact number of ballots impacted until the end of the day Tuesday. 

The ballots are still wet and drying out, and officials are waiting for them to dry in order to assess the damage. 

In addition to increasing patrols around ballot boxes, officials in Clark County will assign ballot box observers to watch their 23 ballot drop boxes countywide — around the clock, 24/7 — up until Election Day.

The county will also assign election officials to pick up ballots at drop boxes more frequently — including every evening.

Those who dropped ballots in the County Election's Salmon Creek drop box between 11 a.m. PT on Saturday and the time of the fire (3 a.m. PT) have been advised to check their ballot's status online at votewa.gov. Impacted voters can contact the County Elections Office or submit a request at votewa.gov to request a new ballot. 

In Portland, Oregon, Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott told reporters that only three ballots — in a box of hundreds — were damaged after this morning's fire in the county. Police were able to clearly read the voters' names on those ballots. 

Authorities in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, said they've opened investigations after two ballot boxes went up in flames early Monday morning.

In Portland, an incendiary device was placed inside the ballot box and used to set it on fire, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement. Police said a suspicious device was found next to the ballot box in Vancouver, which is just over the state line and about 20 minutes from Portland by car.

Read more here. 

In a roughly hour-long interview with former NFL star Shannon Sharpe, which was filmed Thursday but released Monday morning, Harris made several cases for why Black voters shouldn't consider Trump. 

"Let's not get distracted by who he was on 'The Apprentice,' right? Let's not get distracted by whatever, you know, building in whatever city in Vegas or whatever has his name on it. Let's look at the job of president of the United States and is he fit to do that job?" Harris said. 

She pointed to Trump's full-page newspaper ads in 1989 that called for the death penalty to be reinstated after the brutal rape of a jogger in New York City. Five Black and Latino teenagers, known as the Central Park Five, were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to prison in the brutal assault. Harris also mentioned Trump's role in spreading birtherism lies about former President Barack Obama. 

Asked by Sharpe about how some Black voters think Harris is "pandering," she claimed there is misinformation "out there about who I am and what I've done." 

Harris also talked about her economic plans and said low Black unemployment numbers are "a floor." "It should be the baseline that everybody's working, that's not enough," she said. 

Harris reiterated her pledge to reassess the need for a college degree to be hired in a federal job, saying experience should also be a factor. 

"You gotta look at the skills," she said. "You gotta look at the experience." 

Harris said last month she would cut the college degree requirement for certain jobs in the federal government if elected. 

— Nidia Cavazos / Caitlin Yilek 

While campaigning with the Republican mayor of Waukesha, Wisconsin, Walz said Trump's closing argument "was clear to the rest of the world." 

"It's about hate," he said, in reference to Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden where racist and crude remarks were made by several in the opening speeches. "It's about division. It's about dividing us." 

The Trump campaign has sought to distance itself from an offensive joke at the rally by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico. 

Harris has taped an interview with Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy, and Loren LoRosa for their podcast The Breakfast Club, the campaign said Monday. The episode is set to air at 7 a.m. ET.

Harris has sat down with the popular podcast before, most recently on Oct. 15. 

The interview comes as the Harris campaign has been trying to ensure voter turnout among Black men in particular. 

House Democratic Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez held a news conference in East Harlem, New York to condemn the rhetoric at former President Donald Trump's campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage," along with other crude and racist comments. 

Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in the House, noted that New York City is home to the largest Puerto Rican community in the U.S., saying "to come to New York and make these comments is a slap in the face to every Puerto Rican in New York and the 5 million Puerto Ricans in the mainland."

Espaillat, the first Dominican American to serve in Congress, added, "tell me who you work with, and I'll tell you who you are."

"The racists that were there yesterday are walking with Donald Trump,"  Espaillat said. "He's also a racist!"

— Ellis Kim, Kaia Hubbard

Harris is touring a chemical processing facility that produces polysilicon for the semiconductor and solar industries in Saginaw, Michigan.

Harris met several employees and asked about what materials that they process, including polysilicon, and the steps that are involved. 

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over the Biden audiotapes lawsuit, questioned what effect the recordings would have, if any, during a hearing Monday morning. 

Attorneys for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared in court as part of the dispute over the recordings of the president's interview with Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified materials after his vice presidency. 

Jackson said the president's voice and demeanor in the recordings are a "marginal detail" when the content of the interview is already public. 

"How does that narrow piece of information bear on the impeachment inquiry issue whether the president used his office to enrich himself in connection with his family's business dealings with foreign parties? What do his poise and demeanor have to do with that?," she asked the committee's lawyers.

But she also noted that the president is a public figure who is accustomed to his voice being heard by a large audience, and questioned the Justice Department over why this circumstance is different.

The judge also asked both parties if she should listen to the recordings to aid in her decision over their release to the committee. Both parties did not think that was necessary. 

"I'm having trouble with both sides on different issues," she said at the end of the hearing. 

— Caitlin Yilek and Patrick Maguire

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced on Monday that 40% of registered voters in the state have already voted, with more than 2.9 million in total turnout, including more than 2.7 million people voting early. He said these numbers were so far "shattering previous early voting performance."

"Georgia voters know we've made it easy to cast a ballot. It's really that simple," Raffensperger said in a statement, noting that the state has worked "tirelessly to prepare for this election" over the last four years. "We're battled tested and ready, despite the critics."

Georgia's top election official, who in 2021 resisted fTrump's urging to "find" more than 11,000 votes for him and overturn the results of the 2020 election in the Peach State, outlined that early voting turnout is expected to rise before ending on Friday. 

The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times are both experiencing resignations and mass subscription cancellations after the newspapers announced they would not endorse a candidate for president in 2024. CBS News correspondent Kelly O'Grady has more.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Monday that nearly 25% of registered voters in the state have already voted after more than 145,000 voters took part in early voting on Saturday.

"Precincts all over the state reported strong turnout and enthusiastic voters," Benson said at a news conference on Monday. "This is the very first year in our state's history with in-person early voting and our bipartisan professional election officials rose to meet the moment."

In 2022, voters approved a constitutional amendment that gives residents the right to vote in person at early voting sites. The 2024 presidential election marks the third election with the new early voting option in place, after the primaries earlier this year. More than 1.5 million Michiganders have returned their absentee ballots and nearly 25% of registered voters have already voted either absentee or in person at an early voting location. 

Benson said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" earlier this month that she expects to have unofficial results completed by the day after the election.   

Read more from CBS Detroit and watch Benson's full appearance on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" in the player above. 

At his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, former President Donald Trump again promised to carry out "the largest deportation program in American history" if he's elected. CBS News immigration and politics reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez has more.

After Mr. Biden cast his ballot, he criticized Trump's campaign rally at Madison Square Garden and said it demonstrated the importance of next week's election.

"It's embarrassing. It's just simply embarrassing. It's beneath any president but that's what we're getting used to," he told reporters. "That's why this election is so important."

Mr. Biden said most presidential scholars that he has spoken with say the most important thing about a president is their character. 

"He puts that in question every time he opens his mouth," the president said.

Mr. Biden has officially voted in the 2024 presidential race. After waiting in line, Mr. Biden gave a thumbs-up to election workers at 12:23 p.m. ET. At 12:25 p.m., an election worker said "Joseph Biden now voting" as he gave his signature. 

He walked into the voting booth one minute later just as a first-time voter walked up behind him to vote. He walked out of the voting booth one minute later.

Read more here.

 Trump will hold a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Wednesday. Rocky Mount was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Helene, with an EF3 tornado touching down in the town the day after the hurricane.

President Biden greeted voters in New Castle, Delaware, including first-time voters and a woman in a wheelchair who looked emotional while meeting the president.

There was at least one person who shouted "let's go Brandon" from across the street, and one man waiting on the line had a red hat that said "Elect the Motherf***er Again." 

Mr. Biden is set to vote Monday in Delaware. 

Before heading to Michigan for campaign events in the battleground state, Harris lambasted Trump and comments made by speakers at his campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, calling the rally "nonsense."

"He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country," she told reporters. "And it is not in any way something that will strengthen the American family, the American worker."

The vice president said Trump's remarks are "fanning the fuel of trying to divide our country."

"There's a big difference between he and I," Harris said. "If he were elected, on day one, he's going to be sitting in the Oval Office working on his enemies list. On day one, if I'm elected president of the United States, which I fully intend to be, I will be working on behalf of the American people on my to-do list."

The vice president said her Republican opponent in the race for the White House "fans the fuel of hate and division," which she said is "why people are exhausted with him."

"People are literally ready to turn the page," she said. "They're tired of it."

Harris told reporters she is proud to have backing from singers Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez, who are both Puerto Rican and voiced support for the vice president in the wake of offensive remarks made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump's event.

"They understand that they want a president of the United States who is about uplifting the people and not berating, not calling America a garbage can, those are the words he has used," she said.

Early voting is underway in most of the states, and more than 43.3 million people have already cast their ballots, either by mail or in-person, according to data from the University of Florida's Election Lab.

In the 25 states that report party registration data, more Democrats have voted early than Republicans. A higher number of registered GOP voters have cast their ballots in person than registered Democrats, while nearly 1.5 million more Democrats have returned mail ballots than Republicans.

Virginia officials on Monday asked the Supreme Court to allow the state to move forward with its removal of roughly 1,600 alleged noncitizens from its voter rolls, seeking its intervention just days before the November general election.

State election officials requested the high court pause a lower court order that blocked Virginia from continuing its systematic voter removal program that was launched in August, exactly 90 days before Election Day. A provision of the National Voter Registration Act requires states to complete programs aimed at purging ineligible voters from registration lists up to 90 days before federal elections.

Virginia officials asked the Supreme Court to grant its request for emergency relief by Tuesday. They claimed that the district court's order violates Virginia law "and common sense" and "mandates a variety of disruptive measures."

Read more here.

The Trump campaign is hosting their election night party at the Palm Beach Convention Center.  

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and Attorney General Merrick Garland are in court Monday in a dispute over audio recordings of President Biden's interview with Rober Hur, the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified materials after his vice presidency. 

The committee sued Garland in July in the U.S. District Court in D.C., escalating the fight over the audiotapes of Hur's interview with the president and the ghostwriter of his book, Mark Zwonitzer. Hur interviewed both men as part of his investigation. 

Hur declined to seek criminal charges against Mr. Biden for his handling of the documents. The president said he was largely unaware of how classified government records from his decades-long career in public office ended up in his homes and private office, according to the transcript of the interview, which was released in March. Hur said the evidence did not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Biden had violated the law. 

However, the special counsel made a number of observations about the president's memory that enraged the White House and provided political ammunition to Republicans, whose impeachment inquiry into the president fizzled out. 

Republicans on the panel argued that they needed the audiotapes "because they offer unique and invaluable insight about information that cannot be captured in a transcript, such as vocal tone, pace, inflections, verbal nuance, and other idiosyncrasies," according to the lawsuit, which asked the court to order the Justice Department to hand over the material.

Read more here. 

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office is suing to halt a political action committee run by billionaire Elon Musk from giving away $1 million to registered voters in swing states.

Some legal experts have questioned the legality of the giveaway.

Read more here. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, responding to former President Donald Trump's claims about her IQ, said she would take a cognitive test — and "would challenge him to take the same one."

"This is what he has resorted to, and I think he actually is increasingly unstable and unhinged and has resorted to name calling because he actually has no plan for the American people," Harris said in an interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell conducted on the campaign trail in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

The vice president pointed to a slew of individuals who worked closely with Trump who have spoken out against him in recent weeks as evidence that he is "unfit to be president of the United States."

"Don't take it from me, listen to the people who know him best," Harris said. "His former chiefs of staff. Most recently, 4-star Marine General John Kelly. Listen to two former secretaries of defense who worked for him, listen to his national security adviser, listen to his vice president, who have all, in one way or another, said he is unfit to be president again, should never be president again, and is dangerous."

Read more here and watch more of the interview in the player above. 

Thousands of people from around the New York area and other parts of the country descended on Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday afternoon for former President Donald Trump's campaign rally.

Trump vowed to win New York, saying it would be an "honor" to win his home state. But his remarks were overshadowed by the crude and offensive speakers that went before him, which included racist jokes about Puerto Ricans and Black people as well as prominent Democrats. 

In the lead-up to Trump, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, referred to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage," made a crude joke about Hispanics and birth control, inferred that Jews are cheap and Palestinians are "rock-throwers" and made a racist comment about a Black man in the audience eating watermelon.

The comments were widely condemned, with the Trump campaign saying the joke about Puerto Rico "does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign." Republican Rep. Anthony D'Esposito of Nassau County, who is of Puerto Rican descent and attended the rally, posted on social media after the rally that he's "proud to be Puerto Rican" and "the only thing that's 'garbage' was a bad comedy set."

Read more from CBS New York. 

— Lisa Rozner, Jake Rosen, Olivia Rinaldi

With just over a week until Election Day, Puerto Rico has been thrust into the spotlight by both campaigns. Vice President Harris unveiled a plan to assist the island — leading to an endorsement from Bad Bunny — while Puerto Rico was referred to as "a floating island of garbage" by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who spoke at a rally for former President Donald Trump in New York City. 

In an effort to court Puerto Rican voters in the U.S. mainland, Harris on Sunday posted a video on her social media platforms pledging to create a Puerto Rican task force to create jobs, cut red tape to ensure disaster recovery funds are used quickly and efficiently and work with leaders across the island to ensure Puerto Ricans have access to reliable and affordable electricity. 

Reggaeton musician and singer Bad Bunny, a global superstar from Puerto Rico, shared the vice president's video on his Instagram account with his 45 million followers and later posted a clipped portion of the video in which Harris slammed Trump for his response to Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in 2017. 

Read more here.