Obama calls Trump 'wannabe king' at Harris event

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

Last Updated: October 27, 2024, 8:15 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.

Oct 27, 8:12 am

More than 40 million Americans have voted early

As of Saturday night, more than 40 million Americans cast an absentee ballot or voted early in person, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.

Roughly 19.3 million people voted early in person, the lab reported, and more than 20.9 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, 4:12 AM EDT

'Be a little careful': Trump floats baseless election claims in Georgia

Former President Donald Trump addressed a packed 13,000-seat arena in Duluth just outside of Atlanta on Wednesday, suggesting to supporters -- without evidence -- that vote counting might not be secure.

"Got to get out there and vote, but most importantly, just vote whichever way you want to do it," Trump said at the rally hosted by Turning Point USA.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga.
Alex Brandon/AP

"I've been one that says whichever way. Just get out and vote. Be a little careful. Make sure your vote gets counted. There are ways of doing that too."

Trump also again floated a conspiracy theory that Vice President Kamala Harris did not hold a public campaign event on Wednesday because she already knew the results of the coming election.

"Maybe she knows something we don't know," Trump said. "That's bad, right? Maybe she knows something we don't know."

"Does everybody understand that? Maybe," he added, to supportive responses in the crowd.

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

Oct 23, 2024, 9:58 PM EDT

Harris says 'yes' Trump is a fascist during town hall

During Wednesday's town hall, moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked point-blank if she believes former President Donald Trump is a fascist.

"Let me ask you tonight, do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?” Cooper said.

“Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted,” Harris replied, referencing the recent statements made by John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff.

Oct 23, 2024, 9:31 PM EDT

Harris calls John Kelly coming out against Trump a '911 call to the American people'

Vice President Kamala Harris reacted to John Kelly, a former four-star Marine general and the former chief of staff to Donald Trump, coming out swinging against the former president, saying he could fit the bill of a "fascist."

During her CNN town hall in Aston, Pennsylvania, Harris reacted to Kelly's statements and noted how he went public with his interviews so close to the election.

"Why would someone who served with him [Trump], who is not political, a four-star Marine general -- why is he telling the American people now?" Harris questioned.

"And frankly, I think of it as... he's just putting out a 911 call to the American people," Harris said.

Kamala Harris Participates In CNN Town Hall In Philadelphia
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks as CNN moderator Anderson Cooper looks on during a town hall at Sun Center Studios on Wednesday in Aston, Pennsylvania.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Kelly, who had previously refrained from discussing his time in the White House so openly, said in expansive interviews with The New York Times that Trump's discussion of using the military against the "enemy within" pushed him to come forward.

"Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It's a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy," Kelly told The Times.

"So, certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America," he added of Trump.

During the town hall, Harris was asked by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper if she believes Trump is a fascist.

"Yes, I do," Harris said.

"I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted," the vice president added.

Oct 23, 2024, 8:50 PM EDT

Georgia secretary of state's office says it stopped cyberattack aimed at crashing voter website

The Georgia secretary of state's office said that its online security experts stopped a cyberattack earlier this month, the intention of which was to crash the state's absentee voter website.

The office was first alerted to a potential issue when staff noticed a dramatic spike in attempts to gain access to the site, sources told ABC News affiliate WSB-TV.

Gabriel Sterling, chief operations officer for the secretary of state's office, confirmed the details to ABC News.

The office also told WSB-TV that its computer experts quickly prevented it from becoming a major issue for Georgia voters, calling it "a big win for the good guys."

The cyberattack consisted of more than 420,000 nearly simultaneous attempts to access the state’s absentee voter portal from around the world. The coordinated flood of entries, late in the afternoon of Oct.14, was intended to make the site crash and become unavailable to Georgia voters.

Oct. 14 was the last day to register to vote in the state of Georgia.

“We are a target. We are the center of the political universe. Our absentee ballot portal is live right now in the middle of an election. It is a ripe and juicy target for bad actors and enemy powers,” Sterling said.

Sterling told WSB-TV that, most likely, a majority of the attempts to access the portal were carried out by bots. “These different login attempts were from all over the globe,” Sterling said. “Many of these entities and these computers have been used in previous attacks.”

But, Sterling added: "We identified it and attempted to mitigate it immediately."

Sterling told ABC News that the attempted breach had the "hallmarks" of a foreign attack, based on his discussion with cyber experts.

However, he told WSB-TV that because of the safeguards in place, the only effect for voters was a brief slowdown on the absentee ballot portal. “By having these resources in place to begin with, we have lowered the likelihood of such an attack being attempted in the future,” Sterling said.

As of Wednesday evening, officials don’t know who was behind the attempted cyberattack or who coordinated it.

-ABC News' Olivia A. Rubin and T. Michelle Murphy