Obama calls Trump 'wannabe king' at Harris event

“That's not what you need in your life," he said.

ByAlexandra Hutzler, Ivan Pereira, Tal Axelrod, and David Brennan
Last Updated: October 25, 2024, 6:37 AM EDT

The race for the White House is heading into the final stretch with most polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump neck-and-neck in key states with less than two weeks to go.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing:
Oct 25, 6:54 am

More than 31 million Americans have voted early

As of Friday morning, more than 31 million Americans cast an absentee ballot or voted early in person, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.

Roughly 13.7 million people voted early in person, the lab reported, and more than 17.7 million returned their ballot by mail.

A man votes on the second day of early voting in Wisconsin at the American Serb Hall Banquet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 23, 2024.
Vincent Alban/Reuters

Oct 24, 2024, 12:26 AM EDT

Trump praises judge who tossed Florida documents case

Trump called into the "Hugh Hewitt Show" and praised Alieen Cannon, the federal court judge who tossed Trump’s Florida classified documents case earlier this year.

“We had a brave, brilliant judge in Florida. She’s a brilliant judge, by the way. I don’t know her. I never spoke to her. Never spoke to her. But we had a brave and very brilliant judge,” he said.

In this image from video provided by the U.S. Senate, Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight nomination hearing, July 29, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Senate via AP

Trump nominated Cannon to the bench in 2020.

His praise comes as ABC News reported that Cannon is a possible candidate for Trump’s attorney general should he win in November.

"But the fact is, we had, and the big case was that case, the documents case. You even said 'Oh, that’s the big case,'" Trump said.

Cannon is also appointed to the federal case against Ryan Routh, the man charged with trying to assassinate Trump at his Florida golf course in September.

Routh's attorneys have requested that the judge recuse herself from the case.

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh and Soo Rin Kim

Oct 24, 2024, 10:57 AM EDT

Another former GOP member of Congress endorses Harris

Fred Upton, a former GOP congressman who voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is endorsing Harris for president.

He joins a growing list of other Republicans, including Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, in backing the Democratic nominee over concerns about Trump's role in the unrest.

"Today, I'm joining more than 30 former Republican members of Congress who publicly refused to support Donald Trump, and I'm proud to say that I've already cast my ballot for Kamala Harris," Upton told reporters on Thursday.

He added, "I've never before voted for a Democrat for president, and I honestly never thought I would, but she's strong, committed public servant. She's running to put people together, strengthen our economy and protect our fundamental freedoms."

Upton, who served 30 years in the House, said impassioned fights about policy were always the norm but "with Trump in charge, politics was more personal, more angry and more divided than ever before."

-ABC News' Fritz Farrow

Oct 24, 2024, 10:44 AM EDT

Beyonce to join Harris rally in Houston: Sources

Superstar Beyoncé is set to appear in her hometown with Harris during the vice president's planned rally in Houston, Texas, on Friday, according to two sources with Harris' presidential campaign.

The musician was thought to be on the program for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but she did not end up performing despite headlines saying she was planning to. The buzz around the potential performance was notable.

Friday's event is slated to be focused on reproductive health care. Beyoncé has spoken publicly about her own fertility journey.

The moment comes as Democrats are hopeful that their Texas Senate candidate Colin Allred is surging, though he remains behind in the polls.

-ABC News' MaryAlice Parks, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Molly Nagle

Beyoncé attends Glamour Women of the Year at the Times Square EDITION Hotel, Oct. 8, 2024, in New York.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Glamour
Oct 24, 2024, 10:34 AM EDT

Trump's generals call him a threat to democracy: ANALYSIS

After he won the 2016 election, Trump surrounded himself with decorated military officers such as John Kelley and James Mattis. He called them "my generals."

But now, those figures are offering harsh condemnations of the former president.

Kelly this week told the New York Times that Trump "falls into the general definition of fascist." Mattis, years earlier, said Trump purposely tries to divide the American people and made "a mockery of the Constitution."

ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl offers an analysis of the comments and their impact here.