In the hours after Vice President Kamala Harris announced Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, allies of former President Donald Trump rushed to denigrate the Minnesota Democrat, seizing on criticism of his handling of the riots in the wake of George Floyd's murder in May 2020.

But at the time, Trump expressed support for Walz's handling of the protests, according to a recording of a phone call obtained by ABC News -- telling a group of governors that Walz "dominated," and praising his leadership as an example for other states to follow.

"I know Gov. Walz is on the phone, and we spoke, and I fully agree with the way he handled it the last couple of days," Trump told a group of governors on June 1, 2020, according to a recording of the call, in which he also called Walz an "excellent guy."

"I was very happy with the last couple of days, Tim," Trump continued. "You called up big numbers and the big numbers knocked them out so fast it was like bowling pins."

Trump also suggested on the call that it was his encouragement that sparked Walz to call in the National Guard: "I said, you got to use the National Guard in big numbers," Trump said. A spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign said Wednesday that was untrue.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said Trump lauded Walz only after the governor heeded his advice to enlist support from the National Guard.

-ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman and Katherine Faulders

A rare moment took place Wednesday when the respective planes flying Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. JD Vance to separate campaign events in Wisconsin were on the same tarmac.

Vance took the opportunity to rib the Harris-Walz campaign when he walked over to Air Force Two to "check out" what he called his "future plane."

Vance said he saw Harris' car, but he didn't see her because her windows were tinted.

-ABC News' Hannah Demissie

A poll from Marquette University Law School published Wednesday of voters in Wisconsin found that Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are closely matched among registered voters in a 2024 general election head-to-head matchup.

Among registered voters, Trump and Harris were split 50% to 49%, respectively, and among likely voters, they were split 49% to 50%, according to the poll.

The poll shows virtually no change from the split between President Joe Biden and Trump in a Marquette poll that was conducted in June.

When a few third-party candidates are added in, Harris and Trump are still about even among registered voters, with Harris netting 45%, Trump netting 43% and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. getting 8%, the poll found.

The survey was conducted between July 24 to Aug. 1. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.6 percentage points among registered Wisconsin voters and +/- 4.8 percentage points among likely Wisconsin voters.

-ABC News' Oren Oppenheim

Gov. Tim Walz visited the campaign's Wilmington headquarters Wednesday morning to a cheering crowd.

"I wanted to say thank you myself to the people who have put everything into helping us win. Holy smokes, this team," he said in a post on X.

Several volunteers and staffers were outside holding signs and shook the governor's hand as he greeted them, according to a video of the visit on his X account.

The crowd engaged in a chant of "Let's go coach," referencing Walz's time as a high school football coach.

"It's Friday night lights," Walz responded.

-ABC News' Will McDuffie, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim Isabella Murray and Fritz Farrow