Kamala Harris calls Trump ‘architect of healthcare crisis’ in Arizona abortion speech – as it happened (2024)

That’s all the live coverage for today, thanks for following along. Some highlights and links from the day:

• House lawmakers voted to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), including a key measure that allows for warrantless surveillance of Americans.

• The reauthorization of Fisa was considered a win for the embattled House speaker, Mike Johnson.

• New research showed that rates of people seeking permanent contraception – such as tubal ligation or vasectomies – jumped after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade.

• Donald Trump and Mike Johnson held a joint press conference promoting legislation to “require proof of citizenship to vote” despite federal law already prohibiting non-citizen voting and a lack of evidence of migrants casting ballots.

• Trump said he would “absolutely” testify at his upcoming New York criminal trial.

• Trump took credit for eroding abortion rights, saying, “We broke Roe v Wade … and we gave it back to the states.”

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• Kamala Harris condemned Arizona’s abortion ban at a rally in Tucson, saying Trump “wants to take America back to the 1800s” and blaming the former president for state bans across the US.

Speaking about abortion rights at a campaign rally in Tucson, vice-president Kamala Harris said “momentum is on our side”, citing voters’ support for reproductive rights in ballot measures across the US:

From Kansas to California to Kentucky, in Michigan, Montana, Vermont, and Ohio, the people of America have voted for freedom and not just by a little, but often by overwhelming margins, proving also that this is not just a partisan issue, proving that the voice of the people has been heard.

Harris was speaking days after Arizona’s supreme court ruled that a near-total abortion ban law dating back to 1864 could go into effect. Of that law, she said:

Women here live under one of the most extreme abortion bans in our nation. No exception for rape or incest, prison time for doctors and nurses and abortion made illegal before most women even know they’re pregnant. The overturning of Roe was without any question a seismic event, and this ban here in Arizona is one of the biggest aftershocks yet … this law was passed in the 1800s before Arizona was even a state, before women could even vote. What has happened here in Arizona is a new inflection point … overturning Roe was just the opening act of a larger strategy to take women’s rights and freedoms … we all must understand who is to blame. Former president Donald Trump did this.”

Vice-president Kamala Harris is strongly condemning Arizona’s near-total abortion ban and tying the policy and other state bans directly to Donald Trump:

Donald Trump is the architect of this healthcare crisis, and that is not a fact that he hides. Just this week, he said he was ‘proudly’ responsible for overturning Roe.

Harris summarized Trump’s remarks from minutes earlier in Mar-a-Lago: “Trump just said the collection of state bans is working the way it’s supposed to.” On Trump’s backtracking of support of a federal abortion ban, Harris said, “Enough with the gaslighting.”

A second Trump term, she said, would mean “more bans, more suffering and less freedom. He basically wants to take America back to the 1800s,” she continued. “But we are not going to let that happen.”

Vice president Kamala Harris is now speaking in Tucson, Arizona to condemn the 1800s-era ban supported by the state supreme court this week:

Donald Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago he would “absolutely” testify at his New York criminal trial, which is set to start next week. It is not, however, clear if he will actually do so.

Asked if it was “risky” for him to testify, the former president responded, “I tell the truth.” Trump’s testimony has previously hurt him in court, and he was ordered by a jury earlier this year to pay millions to E Jean Carroll for defamation.

Trump shared familiar grievances about his various criminal ongoing criminal trials before his “election integrity” press conference with House speaker Mike Johnson came to an end.

Donald Trump, speaking at Mar-a-Lago, was asked why voters should trust he will not sign a federal abortion ban, when he had previously indicated support. He responded:

We don’t need it any longer, because we broke Roe v Wade … and we gave it back to the states.

He claimed he does not support the unpopular Arizona state supreme court ruling this week supporting a near total abortion-ban dating back to 1864. When asked whether he is “pro-life” or “pro-choice”, he gave a meandering, unclear response.

House speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans are introducing legislation to “require proof of citizenship to vote” despite the fact that it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote and there is no evidence of widespread migrant voting (or even many specific examples of this happening).

Johnson hasn’t shared a ton of details about the mechanics of the legislation, but claimed that if “hundreds of thousands” of migrants cast votes, it could impact the result of the elections. Research has repeatedly shown that the systems in place have not allowed non-citizens to register or cast ballots.

The former president has started his presser with his signature xenophobic rhetoric on immigration, which has become increasingly dehumanizing and viscous on the campaign trail. He has frequently called migrants “animals” and has said they are “poisoning the blood” of the US, echoing Nazi speech and the racist, far-right Great Replacement Theory suggesting the left is promoting migration to replace white people.

Trump’s introductory remarks included misinformation tying migrants to crime.

As we await the joint press conference of Donald Trump and House speaker Mike Johnson at Mar-a-Lago, here’s a refresher on some of the misleading and false information they have been promoting about non-citizens and voting:

• The two have said they are pushing legislation to ban non-citizens from voting – despite the fact that it is already illegal under federal law for people without US citizenship to cast a ballot.

• Trump has spread racist conspiracy theories on the campaign trail – claiming without evidence that migrants will try to illegally vote and steal the election for him, saying, “They can’t speak a word of English for the most part, but they’re signing them up.”

• As the Guardian’s democracy reporter Rachel Leingang reported: “There is no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting, nor are there even many examples of individual instances of the practice, despite strenuous efforts in some states to find these cases.”

• A study by the Brennan Center of the 2016 election found just 0.0001% of votes across 42 jurisdictions, with 23.5m votes, were suspected to be non-citizens voting, 30 incidents in total.

The press conference is scheduled for 4.30pm local time. For more background, check out Leingang’s coverage from earlier this week:

Donald Trump is set to meet House Republican speaker Mike Johnson in Mar-a-Lago on Friday where the two will hold a press conference on “election integrity”.

Earlier on Friday, Johnson told reporters, “I don’t ever comment on my private conversations with President Trump, but I’m looking forward to going to Florida and spend some time with him.”

Meanwhile, a senior Trump adviser told CNN that the two will “draw attention to” state proposals and lawsuits that would allow non-citizens to vote.

Johnson’s meeting with Trump comes after the Republican speaker secured a crucial win in the House earlier on Friday after the Republican-led chamber voted to pass Fisa reauthorization. The legislation, which allows for warrantless surveillance of Americans by intelligence officials, is supported by Johnson but heavily opposed by hard-right Republicans and Democrats alike.

The Wyoming Republican representative Harriet Hageman has also released a video address following the House’s passage of Fisa’s reauthorization.

In her address, Hageman, who voted no, said:

I was a no vote for the reason that the amendment that would have required the intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant to search the records of American citizens was not adopted.

I truly believe that as members of Congress, it is our responsibility to ensure that all of these agencies are following the constitution and the protecting the civil liberties of American citizens yet that’s not what happened today.

The Colorado Republican representative Lauren Boebert has released a video address following the House’s passage of Fisa’s reauthorization.

In her address, Boebert said:

… 86 Republicans betrayed you, the American people, today, saying the federal government does not need a warrant to start a query or illegally spy on you or tap your phones or whatever they want to do.

Boebert went on to point to the Florida Republican representative Anna Paulina Luna, who objected to the legislation’s passage and requested a vote to reconsider the legislation. As a result, the bill will not be able to head to the Senate until the House votes on the motion.

That bill cannot be sent to the Senate until we take another vote on the warrant amendment for Fisa on Monday. That means we need you, the American people, putting pressure on these 86 Republicans who sold you out today,” said Boebert.