steve contorno. thank you very much. tomorrow here in washington, the house will vote on requiring the secret service to provide major political candidates with the same level of protection as a sitting president and vice president. the move comes a day after the agency brief the bipartisan congressional task force investigating the assassination attempts on former president donald trump. here's what the top democrat on that panel had to say afterward so what we learned today are a couple of key things. >> one is it does not appear at this point is that there were any obvious failures of security and protocols. so unlike the butler situation shan which very obviously had some failures, it does appear as those the security processes and protocols were followed and the system worked as designed appear to be the same security pratt package that was provided to former president trump at that site. doing that activity as he actually received when he was the president joining me now is david ehrenburg. he's the state attorney

tar heel state fred. >> alright, steve contorno, keep us posted as things soon get underway there in wilmington, north carolina. so how did all of this political scandal even come to light? our dianne gallagher walks us through what cnn's kfile investigative team found the things, but the fallout from cnn's bombshell report about lieutenant governor mark robinson spilling over into its second day, are running for governor. the gop nominee for north carolina's governor, moving forward with his campaign after the deadline passed for him to withdraw as absentee ballots are sent out to voters friday, the fresh swirl of controversy follows a cnn kfile investigation that found robinson made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornographic website's message board. >> more than a decade ago, referring to himself as a black nazi and expressing support for reinstating slavery every among other salacious, lewd and gratuitous statements. >> thank you so much for robinson categorically denying the allegations. this is not us, these are not our words, and this is not anything that is characteri

opportunity to see the candidates side-by-side alright. >> and also with us is our correspondent as steve contorno, who was there in wilmington. and so steve, if you can hear me while we heard some of what donald trump had to say, you probably heard more what can you tell me? >> everyone and you go any many blocks in the hi steve contorno, if you can hear me this fredricka, the studio when we heard a little bit from donald trump, there say, you know, essentially why bother having another debate. >> it's just too late in the process. he says, what more did he say mark it down. that's right. start. he really came out onto the debate stage or on those stage over there. and did address the question right away, which was not necessarily expected, but he said without any uncertainty that he does not intend to participate in another debate. he said she's losing badly and that's why she wants to have another debate. he said that it's too late to do another. he said he would like to, but people are already voting. so it doesn't make sense to do one now that echoes what we had heard earlier in the day from

but first let's begin with steve contorno at a trump rally in north carolina. so steve, any word whether a trump has heard that harris has accepted cnn's invitation and if he's willing to follow suit will write off fred, we have confirmation that trump's campaign did receive our invitation to debate just like the harris campaign pain dead and we are still waiting to see if he accepts. we are monitoring his truth, social, minute by minute. he will address this crowd behind me in about an hour. so we'll see if he perhaps make some news when he gets on the stage. she has gone back and forth over whether or not he wants to have another debate at first, he said that he would accept multiple debates with vice president harris immediately after that debate, though he said there won't be a third debate and then a week later he hasn't another appearance where he said that that's, you know, if, i was in the right mood, but we don't know what that means exactly for him, so we will be watching closely to see whether or not donald trump make some news today and announces whe

steve contorno for us there in wilmington on the trail. thanks so much. joining us now is former democratic congressman of ohio, tim ryan. congressman. thanks so much for being here with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> i want to start first in north carolina and the controversy surrounding the trump endorsed republican candidate for governor. there we've seen the harris campaign sees on this, they've released an ad tying trump to mark robinson what kind of an impact do you think this could all have on the presidential race? there in north carolina it's going to have a big impact. >> i mean, i think it shows it reaffirms a lot of this extremism the whole holier than thou kind of attitude that you're getting from the trump campaign and really embed with the weirdos. >> and i think that's what you saw coming from the gubernatorial candidate. there. all of the great things that trump said about him, who's greater than martin luther king and all of that, i think that's going to hurt him badly in north carolina and may just be enough to tip it in the fav

cnn's steve contorno is covering the trump campaign for us. now steve, i mean, has trump commented yet on the death of the hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah he has not yet omar and we've been watching his truth social to see if that's where he decides to weigh in. he is generally said that the turmoil in the middle east would not have happened if he was reelected four years ago, but we'll see if when he gets on this stage later today, he more directly addresses the latest developments in beirut however, we do expect this to this of speech to focus on immigration. obviously it's an issue that has been central to his campaign so far and it's interesting the backdrop today is a small city called prairie duchene. it's about 6,000 people live here. one of the smaller venues i've attended for a trump event. however, that is certainly the points he wants to make the case that the issues with crime that had been tied to our immigration policies can hit any community in america, including small towns like this one. there is a recent incident here that's

. >> cnn, steve contorno is joining us live from there. steve, what are we expecting today? >> well, brianna, we saw at the debate, donald trump turn to the issue of immigration over and over again, and you can certainly expect we'll, bring that up in a border state like arizona. his message here is being matched on the airwaves by both his campaign and his supporting super, super packs, which has spent 33 million in arizona alone since joe biden left the right race, matching democrats dollar for dollar, and many of those ads have been focused on it immigration, crimes committed by migrants, and the issue at the southern border interesting day though they are not matching the democratic spending in arizona through there professor, the november through the faults into the november election. but they are putting a lot of money into advertising in pennsylvania that critical swing state that could decide the election. take a look at this ad. they have running now that is hitting harris over fracking you commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking. >> your first day in offic

let's go straight to cnn's steve contorno, who is live in wilmington, north carolina, where the former president just wrapped up a rally and steve trump responding to this invite from cnn, while speaking to supporters there, what he say jessica is the answer was essentially thanks, but no thanks. >> he believes that he has debated enough already in this cycle and he told the crowd that it was too late. for another debate because people are already voting. now i will point out that he did participate in october debates both in 2016 against hillary clinton. in fact, he actually did two debates in 2016 as well as a late october debate against joe biden four years ago. however, he said he's not up for another one this time around also speak you can to his crowd. he continued to talk about his favorite topic immigration this time promising a new crack down on sanctuary cities. take a listen to what he said. >> today i'm announcing a new plan to end all sanctuary cities and north carolina and all across no more oh sanctuary. as soon as i take office, we will immediately surge federal law enf

cnn's steve contorno has more donald trump appearing in wisconsin on saturday where he said that immigration is the most pressing issue facing voters this election more important, he said quotes than anything to do with the economy, which is what voters have been telling pollsters is their top issue over and over again. >> and he chose to deliver this message in prairie duchene was scott, and this is a small community in the southwest part of the state that was recently rocked by an incident involving an undocumented individual who police say assaulted a mother and daughter here as visit, of course, comes right after vice president harris visited the border and donald trump remarked on what he saw from that trip. take a listen. >> border czar harris went to the border to lie and the most shameless and horrible way possible at the very site where she released so much suffering, misery, and death there's no greater act of disloyalty than to extinguish the sovereignty of your own nation right through your border no matter what lie she tells kamala harris can never be forgiven for her erasing ou

steve contorno cnn prairie du chien thanks for spending part of your day with me watching cnn newsroom. i'm michael holmes stick around. i'll be right back with more news after the break of the week and ask questions like, what does a comedy show doing on cnn? that's too much fun landslide. i want donald now. >> can you slice that? >> have i got news for you? next saturday at 9:00 on cnn. life is not always a straight line. they are knots. you learn to untangle you can play with things fade but you shine back and when life gets messy, you take control. >> because every time you look in the mirror, you know you have what it takes to style life the way you want tresemme style your way did you know that if you shave, one third of what you remove is skin new dove helps repair it. >> so if you shave it dove it new dove replenish your skin after every shave. >> what's up? you seem kind of sluggish today. >> things aren't really moving. >> you could use some metamucil metamucil. >> psyllium fiber helps keep your digestive system moving so you can feel lighter and more energetic. metamucil kee

steve contorno for us, steve. thank you very much, sir. >> all right. breaking overnight.d the deadly pagers that exploded in lebanon all at the same time and left a dozen people dead. and hundreds injured. >> also, how they did it. and nfl quarterback tua tagovailoa placed on the injured reserve after his latest concussion incident, his health in question. what he's saying about whether he will retire after multiple concussions every weekday morning. >> your honor? the five things you need to know to start your day, get the news. you need how about this for an earnings call headlines in five minutes or less cnn's five things with kate bolduan, streaming weekdays on cnn.com and matt, how long have you been tracking the value of our car? should we sell it? we hold our low mileage is paying off. >> you think we should sold the karwan go to karwan and track your car's value today. >> so this is pickleball e-trade from morgan stanley. we are ready for whatever gets served up, didn't get any trust or i'd rather work on saving for retirement college since you'd like to get schoo

vice president this comes after harris visited the border yesterday and joining us now cnn's steve contorno, who's on the trail with trump. a. steve, tell us about the event today it's interesting, we've seen donald trump turn speeches that were supposedly about the economy and inflation and crime into immigration speeches. >> while today's event was billed as an immigration events, and it was certainly delivered. it was full of supercharged rhetoric, racially charged rhetoric, and at times, very personal attacks vice president harris and her intelligence speaking about her an incredibly demeaning terms. >> it was also a dark which is a word that he actually used to describe the speech that he was given today and certainly fit that description. >> take a listen to what he had to say about what would happen if vice president harris was elected? did in november they've crossed the border, they've been taken out by their countries and set free into the united states of america so they're free to kill again. >> oh, they'll kill. these killers. these are killers that at a level that nobody's eve

let's get the latest now from trump world with cnn's steve contorno steve, what more can you tell us about these threats? first of all, and secondly, how trump is preparing for the debate in philadelphia boris, in many ways, these threats are how donald trump is preparing for the debate because that is certainly what he has been fixed it fixated on in the days leading up to his showdown with vice president harris over the weekend on truth social, trump posted that he would quote those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted, and levels unfortunately, never seen before in our country, he was talking about people that he believed cheated in the cheat in the upcoming election in a case you think he's only talking about people who file fraudulent ballots of which there is a very, very, very small number of he he specified that he's also including lawyers political operatives, donors, and election officials saying that they could face lengthy prison sentences. >> and as you said in another post on truth social, he raised concerns about mail-in voting i

let's get right to cnn, steve contorno and walker michigan. steve trump is in the grand rapids area and important region, of course in the last two presidential elections, what are you seeing there? >> all right. danny, the grand rapids area is a purple part of this purple state. the county that trump is speaking in today kent county is one that he won is eight years ago by four points. however, he hasn't yeah. will you look at excuse me, in 2020, he actually lost it to biden by six points and this is a challenge for the trump campaign going forward, they are concerned about the fact that this is an area where nikki haley got about one-third of the votes. when you look at the republican primary earlier this year. so that is one of the challenges they have is that is a much more moderate republican party than the rest of the state. and i was actually had the opportunity yesterday to walk some neighborhoods with a republican candidate for congress up here, paul hudson and there were there were houses where you had a trump flag outside the door. t

steve contorno, keep us posted there from willing again, north carolina alright. also new this hour, ohio. the ohio n double acp leaders are rallying people in springfield to register to vote in response to former president trump's false claims about haitian immigrants in that city cnn's rafael romo is trying to be right now rafael and community leaders are encouraging and people in springfield just stay positive and to register to vote yeah, that's the push said end double acp made today and it's been really difficult for folks in springfield and just to give you an idea, fred, of how hard has been there. >> according to mayor rue, as of friday, the city of springfield has received more than 30 five threats of violence, including bomb threats stemming from false statements made by former president donald trump during the september 10 debate. that's why earlier today, state and local and the lacp representatives, who rallied the springfield community, urging continue resiliency and offering support and telling them they need to respond by going to the polls. this

jessica. >> alright, steve contorno for us there in wisconsin. thanks so much and joining us now to discuss the latest on the state of the race is cnn senior political analyst and senior editor at the atlantic thank ron brownstein. ron, good to see you as always yesterday, we saw on friday, vice president harris go into the border and an attempt to turn the tables on trump by embracing the border security as a key issue. do you think this is the right move for the campaign? >> well, look, i mean the biden administration did make a significant policy shift and harris is now extending and even expanding that. it took i think the biden ministration a long time to recognize that the problem on the border had fundamentally changed from people trying to sneak across in the dark of night and kind of disappear into the population in phoenix. or la, to people who are presenting themselves for asylum and trying to get into the asylum process which as you know, is backlog of for multiple years and people could stay here for years while their cases are being

so clearly he has some ground to make make up their jessica i had steve contorno. >> thank you very much joining me now, the chair of the north carolina democratic party, anderson clayton anderson, thanks so much for being here with us tonight. >> thank you for having his jessica. >> yeah. so we have now seen the harris campaign releasing this ad tying trump to mark robinson but when you look at polling, robinson was already lagging behind his democratic challenger and it is still an incredibly tight race when it comes to that presidential race. they are in north carolina. do you think that's actually going to have an effect to benefit the harris campaign. there absolutely we know that donald trump has fully embraced mark robinson's agenda, wanting to see a total ban in the state of north carolina. >> and one is just as dangerous as the other folks down the ballot this year going to receipt we're going to see that every single republican that's been endorsed by donald trump and by mark robinson is only going to be rubber stamps for their administration if they were to be elected. and we

cnn's steve contorno has more donald trump arrived in north carolina on saturday with the state gop inrisis over their nominee for governor, mark robinson. after a cnn kfile report showed that he posted to a pornography website's several years ago claiming that he was, quote, a black nazi mark robinson has appeared in the past at trump events. however, he was not invited, did not show up and was not mentioned at all during trump's remarks. however, trump did mention the debate invitation. he received on saturday from cnn and he said thanks, but no thanks. >> although good entertainment value, a lot of people do it, it's great entertainment i've already done to the problem with another debate is that it's just too late. voting has already started. she's had her chance to do it with fox. no, fox invited us on and i waited and waited they turned it down. they turned it down, but now she wants to do a debate right before the election with cnn because she's losing badly. it's too late to do another i'd love to in many ways, but it's too late. the voting is cast worth noting, donald trump di

cnn's steve contorno is on the campaign trail with trump in arizona. but first, let's hear from cnn's eva mckend in north carolina with the vice president vice president harris, eager for another matchup with former president donald trump she believes the debate showed clear contrast and illustrated in her view that trump is unfit for the presidency two nights ago, donald trump and i had our debate because here's the thing in this election what's at stake could not be more important on tuesday night i talked about issues that i'm no matter to the families across america, like bringing down the cost of living investing in america's small businesses, protecting reproductive freedom our nation safe and secure democrats believe north carolina is in play. >> this cycle for a number of reasons. there are nearly a dozen historically black colleges and universities in this state and you know, the campaign has been doing direct outreach to those communities. they've seen more than 160,000 north carolinians requests, early ballots okay. to vote early the vice pr

as leader who was killed in a targeted strike by israel in lebanon's capital of beirut cnn's steve contorno is covering the trump campaign for us. steve, what are we expecting to hear from trump later today wolf, a day after vice president harris was at the southern border, donald trump is expected to discuss the issue of immigration here in wisconsin. >> he's an interesting part of the state. this is she is a city of less than 6,000 people, but he's trying to drive home the message that that crime issues that are tied to the border can happen anywhere in america right now, we're hearing from the chief of police here, who is talking about an incident involving an alleged suspect who is undocumented and allegedly part of a transnational gang who is suspected of attacking a woman and her daughter here in this city. and this is an example that republicans have seized on lady to demonstrate that the issue of immigration and the problems does that the southern border can hit people in any part of the country there signage on the walls here that says end the invasion of small town america yesterd

cnn's steve contorno has more from the campaign trail donald trump on thursday visited tucson, arizona for his first campaign event since tuesday night's debate on the stage, he attacked the debate moderator just put his own positive spin on the events and suggested that it was rigged. >> however, he also made clear that he will not participate in another debate. >> so because we've done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate. it's too late anyway, the voting's already begun yet he gotta go out and vote trump's speech on thursday was billed as an address on housing and the economy. >> he unveiled a new proposal to get rid of taxes on overtime wages, but he spent most of his time here talking about him the gracian, it's one of his top issues and it's an issue that they believe will resonate here in arizona, a border state. recent cnn poll showed that trump wins on this issue by his 17 point margin over vice president harris. >> people said that i was angry at the debate, angry. i was angry yes, i am angry because he allowed 21 million illegal aliens

let's get the trump view of things with cnn's steve contorno, who's live for us in tucson, arizona steve, what are you expecting to hear from donald trump today boris, we saw donald trump at the debates on tuesday, tried to emphasize the issue of immigration over and over again. >> and this is certainly a state where they believe that message will resonate with voters a recent cnn polls show that on the issue of immigration trump holds a lead by 17 points over harris when asked who they thought would be better at handling that issue. and that's why you're seeing trump and his allies, hammer the airwaves here with an immigration message several of the ads show migrant crime issues and attacking her over her stance answers on the border and her actions with the current administration and what they have done under joe biden, they have matched democrats here, dollar for dollar on the airwaves. but interestingly, going forward, republicans are not keeping up with democratic spending here. democrats are going to spend about 35 million on the presidential race over the next two months republica

vance and tim walz are scheduled to debate october 1, cnn's steve contorno details trump's first visit to the tar heel state since his handpicked candidate for governor got caught up in a porn-site scandal danny and amara donald trump landed in north carolina on saturday with the state gop in crisis over their nominee for governor, mark robinson following that seat cnn kfile report about what he wrote on a porn site several years ago. >> however, donald trump did not invite mark robinson to his rally. he was not mentioned at all while he was there, which is notable because he has showed up alongside mark robinson when he has visited the tar heel state in the past, trump did, however however, address his invitation to appear at a cnn debate in october. this is what he said to his crowd when he said he was going to reject that offer good entertainment value, a lot of people do it, it's great entertainment i've already done two the problem with another debate is that it's just too late. voting is already started. she's had her chance to do it with fox. no, fox invited us on and i waited a

cnn's steve contorno joining us now, what all is he saying in that context? he was talking about the 2020 election? >> yeah. trump in this interview, sara suggesting that not only do these superseding charges and all the indictments against him help him politically. but that that he had quote, every right to interfere in the 2020 election. take a listen to what he said in an interview that aired over the weekend it's so crazy that my poll numbers go up whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you are have every right to do it you get indicted and you poll numbers go up trump also weighed in over the weekend on these israeli hostages that were killed saying quote, the result of a total lack of leadership from the biden harris administration and claiming that this happened in part because they quote, only care about weaponizing the government against him. >> so tying what happened to his own legal lawfare trump this week, i'm going to go through his schedule a little bit because it's been a bit is busy couple of weeks on

steve contorno. thank you so much, john. >> all right. new reaction from the harris campaign to all of this and what it he is for every candidate on the campaign trail j.d. vance openly admits he is willing to quote, create stories for media attention when pressed by dana bash on his campaign's false claims that migrants are eating pets. and we are standing by for never before her details about what happened inside the titan submersible moments before it floated, killing five people. in just moments. the first public hearing set to begin reaction, to the birth one or warner was overwhelming. the idea that this fictional character played any role in politics is bananas tv on the edge, moments that shaped our culture premieres sunday at nine on cnn when it comes to amgen, life changing medical breakthroughs every second counts but without investment, those breakthroughs are often past cities seamlessly connected banking markets and services businesses deliver global financial solutions. so our client can keep investing in innovations for pa

steve contorno. thank you so much. appreciate it. kate, joining us right now to talk about this is congresswoman katherine clark of massachusetts, democratic whip in the house. >> carson. thank you for coming in. let's talk about the debate in just one second. but the new york times poll that has come out showing that there's no clear leader has jason miller of donald trump's campaign declaring that the honeymoon is officially over is how he put it for harris is that it jake? >> thank you for having me on and let me tell you the poll that matters is what happens on election day but just coming off of being in five different congressional districts. >> and michigan in ohio i can tell you that kamala harris message is resonating because she's focused on lowering costs, expanding ability to get into housing, growing the middle class, and protecting our fundamental freedom. and what i heard from voters, in purple, red, and blue districts over the last that's few days. is that that matters to them. they don't trust j.d. vance to order don

cnn reporter steve contorno is got details on the trump team. let's start with eva. let me start with you. we just heard the vice president just a little while ago weigh in on what she expects from her opponent on the debate stage tomorrow night. what can you tell us? >> well, wolf in a conversation with a radio host that aired earlier this morning, the vice president seemed to suggest that the former president essentially has a history of lying to expect to hear that, and also seemed to argue that he has no integrity, that he could get up on that stage tomorrow night in philadelphia, and say just about anything. take a listen to how she's thinking about the debate he plays for this really old and tired playbook, right? >> where he, there's no floor for him in terms of how little he will go and we should be prepared for that. we should be prepared for the fact that he is not burdened by telling the truth and we should be prepared for the fact that he is probably going to speak a lot of untrue and wolf those comments are in formed by the strenuous amount of debate pre

steve contorno. great to see you. thanks so much early john believe me never too early to talk about the debate coming up for us. >> a schools are shut down today across central kentucky as police are searching for the man, they say shot and seriously injured five people on a busy highway in attack police say was definitely not road rage miami dolphins player tyreek hill handcuffed and detained by police just before yesterday's game hill's agent is our guest and the scary new detail coming out on the message that the georgia school shooter sent his mother the morning of the deadly attack and her emergency call to the school will be right back kamala harris, donald trump, the debate. >> everyone's been waiting for follow. cnn for complete coverage and exclusive pre and post debate analysis. a cnn special event, the abc news presidential defeat to tomorrow at nine eastern on cnn and streaming on max cities. >> industry-leading global payments solutions help their clients move money around the world seamlessly in over 18

the city says, it's actually between 12 and 15,000 immigrants and they have legal status cnn's steve contorno is with us this morning trump often says he's going to do something in the next week or two. steve, this trip to springfield, how much credence should we put in it well, it's certainly something that has been rumored to be in the offing for quite a bit now, his campaign donald trump and his running mate have doubled down on that rhetoric that we saw at the debate. >> that the either quote, eating the pets in springfield, ohio will now they're going to triple down and there is plans in the works to go to springfield, ohio, as well as aurora, colorado, another city that has been sort of a fixation of the right for some of what's happening with migrants, their take a listen to what he said last night at this rally in uniondale, new york tougher. >> i'm going to go there and the next two weeks i'm going to springfield and i'm going to aurora again, but that's okay got to do what i got it. whatever happens to trump while he never got out of springfield woods very clear as donald trump want

thank you so much, steve contorno. appreciate it. >> all right. here to talk about where we are, where we're going. but most importantly, why we are where we are and where we're going communications strategist and pollster frank luntz, frank, great to see you. i just want to start with one number from the new abc news ipsos poll. this is a poll, that shows him chris with a six-point lead among likely voters, a four-point lead among registered voters, but a gender gap that widened over the election among women. she was ahead by six before the election or before the convention, 13. now, in among men, she trails by five. now, she trailed by three. the shift among men statistically insignificant, but the shift among women pretty big why do you think and it's even bigger among younger women. >> women 18 to 34 generally see in her what they want to be themselves. they serious inspirational. they see her as someone who has the skills and the talents and the traits that they want to represent? older men have exactly the opposite reaction to her. and that'

sara steve contorno. thank you so much for your reporting, larry, appreciate you this morning, john. >> all right. with us now, democratic strategist, matt bennett and cnn senior political commentator scott jennings. but i just want to start very quickly with what donald trump said because i can think of a time when job biden was still a democratic nominee, were donald trump saying, i had every right to interfere in the election, might become a big deal in the election how much do you think election interference in his attempts to overturn the results are playing right now? >> yeah, you know, to your point, john, it's very clear that the harris campaign has not made that a central plank in their argument in this race. and i think that's probably wise the biden campaign ran on that in 2020 and it worked in the restoring the soul of america i think what we were seeing by the end of the kind of biden run here was that that was no longer resonating as deeply as it had been it's amazing. i mean, trump is threa

this hour in the battleground, state of arizona will monitor that cnn steve contorno was at the trump event in tucson. eva mckend is with kamala harris in north carolina, will get harris's reaction to all of this. but steve, let me go to you first. what reason this trump give for not doing another debate? >> well, just moments ago, trump posted on his website truth, social laying out his case for why another debate is not necessary. he wrote i quotes when a prize fighter loses a fights, the first words out of his mouth are i want a rematch. polls clearly show that i won the debates, and he ended wiing in all caps, there will be no third debate. he also said that the vice president should quote, focus on what she should have been doing for the last four years. i should note that a cnn poll of registered voters who watched the debate 67% of that, 63% of them said that harris outperformed trump trump though is making the case in his campaign has made the case that they have gotten more of a bump out of this debates than harris as they see no need for a second debate when 65 million peopl

if he is reelected, cnn, steve contorno is joining us now tell us more about what he said to the crowd. i think he made some promises about bringing electricity down as well that's right, sara, this was donald trump's first campaign events since that second attempt on his life. >> and he appeared relatively unfazed by recent events. in fact, he was largely the trump that we have seen in recent weeks and all throughout this campaign, he was praising foreign leaders as stronger than biden and harris he was pushing back on. harris is claims from the debates that people leave his rallies early and he was continuing this message of trade wars and tariffs that has become central to his economic pitch to voters. in fact, he said it's these tariffs and trade wars that may have inspired this attempt on his life. take a listen you know only consequential presidents get shot at when i say something like that, you have countries saying this guy. but what can you do? >> you have to do, you have to do what you have to do, right? >> you have to we have to be brave otherwise, we're not going to have a

get i've already heard they're going to get questions in they're not getting the question cnn's steve contornooins us now. >> what do we know we're less than and a week out before this debate happens, it is another potentially that most consequential debate, maybe the only debate that americans get to see well sara, these kind of remarks from the former president are standard operating procedure for him at this point, especially going into large events like this. we saw this exact same kind of comments going into his debates with joe biden, where he went from saying that he would debate anyone anytime any place to complaining about the rules the network and, even, at one point suggesting that the campaign believed that joe biden would perform well, that he was a seasoned politician have been doing this for decades. and so they expected him to show up that night. so this kind of expectation setting and playing with the media and working the rafts is just kind of how trump operates. so let's take a moment to step back and remind our viewers what the actual rules for this debate are. each candida

despite pleas from advisers and aides to stick to issues like immigration and inflation cnn's steve contorno is joining me now, trump on the trail, not on the trail right now what are you learning about his strategy is the same thing that we saw in 2016? >> we'll exerts very clear that as this race has tightened and as we've gotten closer to november, donald trump is leaning on what has worked for him in the past. and in 2016, that was a very much attack and insult driven campaign. if we look at just the past few weeks, he has question vice president harris harris is racial identity shared a sexist social media post describing harris and allude sex as he is calling her an extremist and communists right out of the 2016 gop playbook, refusing to say if he will accept the accept the election results and also digging in and counterpunching in the face of controversy these, which is what he's done over this dust up about what happened at arlington national cemetery. so that's one way we are seeing sort of this reprised of 20 2016. and other ways is focused on immigration it's an issue that he cle

cnn's steve contorno is covering the former president's campaign steve okay. we lost steve. sorry about that. i will fill you in on what we think that he is going to do. and when i say he, i'm talking about donald trump he said last night that he might go to aurora colorado. he might go to springfield ohio. i will tell you that i was communicating with the mayor of springfield this morning who is by the way, i should say, is a not so non-partisan role. he personally is a republican he is still very concerned about the notion of either candidate coming. he said it would be very difficult to have either candidate visit our community, right now. >> i mean trump has a habit of going to these hot zones when he feels like he can gain an advantage when the train derailment happened, then he's palestine. good example. that was not in the heat of the final seven weeks of an election. it was not against the backdrop of a racially inflammatory touri story people from all over the country trump's supporters are going to springfield to protest i mean, i don't know what else to say about

attempt on his life later today we will see him for the first time since his happened, cnn's steve contorno, tracking this joining us now steve, what are you learning about? what we could see today kate, we heard from the former president for the first time in a social media post where he wrote, quote, i would like to thank everyone for their concern and well wishes. >> it was certainly an interesting day he went on to thank the secret service and local law enforcement for their response saying, quote, the job done was absolutely outstanding. i am very proud to be an american. we also recently just heard from house speaker mike johnson, who recalled his conversation with the former president shortly after the secret service responded to take a listen to what he said good spirits, as you might expect, that's who he is. he so resilient and we're really grateful to see him. there's no leader in the history of america that has been so attacked and has remained so strong and so resilient. he's one of a kind he is not going to stop fighting for the american people. and it was really encouraging f

now, cnn's steve contorno is in florida tracking the details on this. and steve, what is going on here and what conflicts does this represent? sintering? does this present considering trump's status currently, which is the republican nominee for president that's right. >> kate, most presidential candidates tried to convince voters that they are eliminating potential conflicts of interests. here, donald trump is creating one potential conflict just 50 days before the election. now details john, this new venture are vague, but we know it will be called world liberty financial. it is a cryptocurrency business and the intention at least partly is to give access to capital for people who have been turned down by traditional banks. and the concerns are threefold. one is that donald trump, if he is elected president, will be in charge of creating a whole suite new regulations to put guardrails on this, this growing industry in the cryptocurrency space. >> if those guardrails and he has put out there a bunch of policy ideas that would help this industry grow and

those small dollar donors kristen, you and steve contorno have some terrific reporting that is very much related to this and the, headline is trump said he was expanding the battleground map. his campaign spending suggests otherwise, trump's campaign and his allies have reserved about $160 million in airtime this fall with nearly all of it planned for it the same states that proved pivotal in the 2020 election, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, north carolina georgia, nevada, and arizona. trump's. pull back from historically blue turf is reflective of a tightening race and a political landscape remade in the aftermath of the democratic ticket shakeup, as i'm reading that, i'm remembering talking to one of his pollsters at the rnc and he was talking about new jersey and minnesota and virginia. and that's obviously according to your reporting, not being discussed know this is now much more of a traditional race in the sense that these states that are always hanging in the balance, these critical swing states are back in play in terms of they are going to determine the election. >> there w

shifting their strategy and spending time and money on familiar and key battleground states cnn's steve contorno is in charlotte, north carolina, where donald trump is expected speak to the fraternal order of police a bit later today. we've heard what trump is saying, but what are you learning about this electoral map and where the strategy has changed? >> zero in the spring and this summer, donald trump's campaign had made inroads and laid the groundwork for them to fight for minnesota, new hampshire hampshire, and virginia. these are states that in recent elections have voted democratic in presidential races. however, they believed that they had a real chance of adding those states too. their path to the white house. well, that has certainly shifted in recent weeks. if you take a look at their spending and how they have scheduled donald trump's time since that rally. st. cloud, minnesota in july, trump hasn't returned to the state, nor has j.d. vance is running mate vance instead has been mostly appearing in those key seven battlegrounds. and when you look at where they are reserved airtime fo