Obama criticizes comic's Puerto Rico remarks at Trump's MSG rally
“These are fellow citizens he’s talking about," Obama said in Philadelphia.
As we head into the final full week of campaigning before Election Day, the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll shows Kamala Harris with a slight 51-47% lead over Donald Trump among likely voters nationally -- but the polls in the battleground states remain essentially deadlocked within the margin of error.
Fallout continues over racist comments made at Trump's big rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden and Harris is preparing for her "closing argument" Tuesday night on the Ellipse near the Capitol and White House in Washington.
Key Headlines
- DC braces for protests and road closures ahead of Harris rally at the Ellipse
- Obama criticizes comic's Puerto Rico remarks at Trump's MSG rally
- Harris' Michigan campaign rally interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters
- Trump says 'I'm not a Nazi, I'm the opposite of a Nazi'
- Trump says Michelle Obama was ‘nasty’ to him
More than 47.5 million Americans have voted early
More than 47.5 million Americans have voted early as of just after 9 p.m. ET Monday, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.
Of the total number of early votes, 24,243,105 were cast in person and 23,384,971 were returned by mail.
Trump says 'I'm not a Nazi, I'm the opposite of a Nazi'
During his campaign event in Atlanta on Monday, Trump responded to claims his rhetoric can be likened to fascist beliefs, saying "I'm not a Nazi."
"The newest line from Kamala and her campaign is that everyone who isn't voting for her is a Nazi," Trump told the crowd.
"I'm not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi," Trump said.
During a CNN town hall last week, Harris was asked if she thought Trump was a fascist and replied, "Yes, I do."
Harris went on to say American voters don't want "a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist."
Trump says Michelle Obama was ‘nasty’ to him
Trump told a rally in Atlanta on Monday that Michelle Obama has been “nasty” to him.
“You know who’s nasty to me? Michelle Obama,” he said. “I always tried to be so nice and respectful. Oh, she opened up a little bit of a little bit of a box, she opened up a little bit of something. There she was nasty. Shouldn't be that way.
“That was a big mistake that she made,” he added.
Obama attacked Trump while stumping for Harris in Michigan on Saturday, telling the crowd, “I hope that you’ll forgive me if I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse, all of this while we pick apart Kamala’s answers from interviews that he doesn’t even have the courage to do, y’all.”
Trump also claimed he could have locked up Hillary Clinton but didn’t.
Trump had just repeated his often used line “Get out of here, Kamala! You’re fired!” when the crowd broke into a chant of “Lock her up!”“Be nice, be nice,” Trump told the crowd. “You know, they used to say that with Hillary, and I'd always go, ‘Relax. Take it easy, we’re going to win.’”
“Then we won. When they said, ‘Lock her up, lock her up, lock her up.’ Easy, easy -- we won. We're going to have unity,” he said.
“I could have locked her up, but I didn't want to lock her up. She's the wife of the president of the United States, previously, and the presidential secretary of state. I said that would be so terrible for our country, and then try and do it to me.”
Biden touts Harris' character, says nation is at an 'inflection point'
President Joe Biden spoke of Harris' character and qualifications as she heads into the home stretch of the campaign trail during remarks Monday on the upcoming celebration of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.
"I selected Kamala to be my running mate for many reasons: She's smart, she's tough, she's trusted, a district attorney and an attorney general in California, a United States Senator, now vice president of the United States," Biden said in the White House's East Room. "There is more experience that she has than the whole of that other guy she's running against. But most importantly, and I mean this sincerely from the bottom of my heart: She has character."
As he spoke about "light" in the country, Biden said the U.S. is at an "inflection point" ahead of the election.
"Every generation has been called to move us forward to be the nation we say we are but only once in every few generations are we reminded not to take the idea of America for granted," he said.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
Trump campaign debated whether to address Hinchcliffe controversy
The Trump campaign debated internally on whether to even put out a statement addressing the comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump’s Sunday Madison Square Garden rally, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told ABC News.
Sources involved in the planning of the rally also told ABC News that all speakers were asked to submit drafts of their speeches so they could be loaded into the teleprompter. ABC News was told Hinchcliffe's speech originally had a joke labeling Vice President Kamala Harris with a vulgarity, but the comment was flagged by campaign staff who asked for it to be removed.
Those sources who reviewed the speech insist that while some of Hinchcliffe’s jokes remained in the speech, others including his line calling Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage" were ad-libbed.
The Trump campaign declined to comment.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, John Santucci and Katherine Faulders