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, 1:30 PM EDT

James Taylor to join Walz in North Carolina

Singer songwriter James Taylor will join Harris' running mate Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday evening for a rally in North Carolina, according to the campaign.

Taylor will perform with his wife Kim and son Henry in Wilmington, North Carolina.

"During the rally, Governor Walz will speak directly to North Carolinians about the power of their voice and their vote and encourage voters across the state to get to the polls early and cast their vote ahead of the November 5th election," the campaign said.

Taylor was scheduled to perform at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this past summer but was bumped for time.

One of Taylor's best-known songs is "Carolina In My Mind," which has been covered by a number of other artists.

Musical stars have joined Harris and Walz in the final stretch of the campaign. On Thursday, Bruce Springsteen will perform at a Harris rally in Georgia, and on Friday, Beyonce is expected to join her at an event in Houston, sources told ABC News.

Oct 24, 2024, 12:40 PM EDT

Trump says he'd fire special counsel Jack Smith 'within 2 seconds'

During a call into the "Hugh Hewitt Show," Trump said one of the first things he'd address if reelected would be to terminate special counsel Jack Smith.

"It’s so easy. I would fire him within two seconds," Trump said during the call.

"I don’t think they’ll impeach me if I fire Jack Smith. Jack Smith is a scoundrel. He’s a very dishonest man, in my opinion, very dishonest man," he continued, adding that he was going to sue Smith.

Special counsel Jack Smith speaks at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2023.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP, FILE

Harris’s campaign was quick to criticize Trump for his comments.

"Donald Trump thinks he’s above the law, and these latest comments are right in line with the warnings made by Trump’s former Chief of Staff that he wants to rule as a dictator with unchecked power," Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement.

"A second Trump term, where a more unstable and unhinged Trump has essentially no guardrails and is surrounded by loyalists who will enable his worst instincts, is guaranteed to be more dangerous. America can’t risk a second Trump term," Moussa added.

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh, Soo Rin Kim, Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie

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