One week until Election Day: This is how Harris and Trump make their final pitches

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump made their final pitches to voters ahead of next week’s presidential election.

Trump delivered remarks to reporters Tuesday morning at his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. He opened his remarks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago say Harris is waging a “campaign of destruction.” and “of absolute hatred,” accusing her team of “maybe even trying to destroy our country.”

The former president concluded his remarks without referencing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial comments during his rally in New York last weekend. But he did refer to the event in general, calling it “an absolute lovefest” in his hometown.

Trump said he does not know the comedian who made racist and mean jokes during his large rally at Madison Square Garden, but he did not denounce the comments either.

Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash” during Sunday’s event at Madison Square Garden. His comment has drawn widespread condemnation and highlighted the growing power of a key Latino group in the swing state of Pennsylvania. He also made derogatory jokes about black people, other Latinos, Palestinians and Jews during his routine before Trump’s performance.

RELATED: Harris vs. Trump latest polls: Here’s who wins with one week until Election Day

On Tuesday, Trump tried to move past the controversy and return to Harris, cementing his rival’s record on the border and inflation, saying that “on issue after issue they broke it” and “I’m going fixing and repairing. It’s very fast.” He did not answer questions from reporters.

In an interview with ABC News earlier Tuesday, Trump tried to distance himself from Hinchcliffe but did not denounce what he said.

“I don’t know him. Someone put it there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump said, according to the network, insisting he had not heard Hinchcliffe’s comments. When asked what he thought, Trump “did not take the opportunity to denounce them and reiterated that he had not heard the comments,” ABC reported.

The Harris campaign has released an ad that will appear online in battleground states targeting Puerto Rican voters and highlighting the comedian’s comments, the Associated Press reported.

The comments earned Harris a show of support from Puerto Rican music star Bad Bunny and prompted responses from Republicans in Florida and Puerto Rico.

Trump headed to Pennsylvania later in the day for a Building America’s Future event in Drexel and a rally Tuesday evening in Allentown.

Kamala Harris vows to put country ‘above self’

Kamala Harris vowed Tuesday to “put the country above the party and above itself” in the closing argument of her presidential campaign, delivering her message from the same site as Donald Trump fueled the Capitol riotto emphasize the stark choice facing voters.

One week off from now on Election Daythe vice president used the address of the grassy Ellipse near the White House to promise Americans that she would work to improve their lives, while arguing that her Republican opponent is there only for itself.

Trump “spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other: that’s who he is,” Harris said. “But America, I’m here tonight to say, that’s not who we are.”

She tried to sharpen that contrast by giving her capstone speech the place where Trump on January 6, 2021spewed falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election that inspired a crowd to march on the Capitol and try unsuccessfully to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

“Look, we know who Donald Trump is. He is the person who stood in this place almost four years ago and sent an armed mob into the United States Capitol to overthrow the will of the people in a free and fair election,” she said. said.

Harris hasn’t delivered a treatise on democracy — a staple of President Joe Biden’s own efforts to take a Democratic stance unlike Trump. Instead, she wanted to make a broader case for why voters should reject Trump and consider what she has to offer, encouraging the crowd to stake their diverse futures on Election Day.

“He has an enemy list of people he wants to prosecute,” Harris said. “He says one of his highest priorities is to free the violent extremists who attacked these law enforcement officers on January 6. Donald Trump plans to use the US military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls ‘the enemy’ from within.’ This is not a presidential candidate thinking about how to make your life better.”

Her campaign drew a huge crowd to Washington for the event, with an overflow crowd beneath the Washington Monument on the National Mall. More importantly, her campaign hopes the setting will help capture the attention of battleground voters who still don’t know who to vote for — or vote at all.

Before Harris’ comments, her campaign organized a speaker list of everyday Americans, rather than the star power seen at some of her recent events, or the parade of elected officials often scheduled at Washington events. They included Amanda Zurawski, a woman who nearly died of sepsis after she was denied care under Texas’ strict abortion ban, and Craig Sicknick, the brother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack .

In addition, during an interview Tuesday morning, Harris called the decisions of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post not to endorse the presidential race “disappointing.”

The Democratic presidential candidate made the comment during an interview with Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy and Loren LoRosa for “The Breakfast Club.”

Harris tried to link the decisions to billionaires in “Donald Trump’s club.” Both publications are owned by wealthy executives, Jeff Bezos of the Post and Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Times.

Podcast host Joe Rogan questions listeners about a possible interview with Kamala Harris

In a post on the social platform Rogan said he strongly believes the conversation works best in his studio in Austin, Texas.

He headlined the post: “!! Austin TX podcast or let her walk. Thoughts?”

When asked for comment, a Harris campaign official said they were willing to sit down with Rogan when Harris was in Texas last week, but Rogan was unable to comply, according to the Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the campaign’s internal deliberations, told the Associated Press that Rogan was given the opportunity to join Harris on the road, but that Rogan has insisted that the conversation be recorded in Austin.

Trump spent three hours with Rogan in Texas last Friday.