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Trump criticizes Harris as he returns to the campaign trail in a transformed 2024 race

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Trump criticizes Harris as he returns to the campaign trail in a transformed 2024 race

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Former President Trump repeatedly took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris – his new opponent in the 2024 presidential election, as he returned to the campaign trail Wednesday with a stop in the crucial swing state of North Carolina.

“Now we have a new victim to defeat – lying Kamala Harris,” the Republican presidential nominee charged at a large rally at an arena in Charlotte, the state’s largest city.

The Republican presidential nominee is facing a dramatically altered 2024 race in his first rally since President Biden’s blockbuster announcement Sunday that he was suspending his re-election bid and endorsing Harris to succeed him as the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer.

The president’s immediate backing of Harris ignited a surge of endorsements of Harris by Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders. By Monday night, the vice president announced she’d locked up her party’s nomination by landing the backing of a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention. She also hauled in a staggering $100 million in the first 36 hours following Biden’s announcement.

IT’S A MARGIN OF ERROR RACE BETWEEN TRUMP AND HARRIS 

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Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, speaks at West Allis Central High School during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee July 23, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

And new polls conducted after Biden bowed out indicate a margin-of-error race between Harris and Trump.

The former president, pointing to the assassination attempt against him a week and a half ago, said “I was supposed to be nice. Something happened to me when I got shot. I got nice.”

“If you don’t mind, I’m not going to be nice,” Trump said to cheers from the crowd.

Trump quickly took aim at Harris, claiming she was “incompetent” and the “worst vice president in American history.”

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The former president also repeatedly worked to portray the vice president as a “radical left lunatic.”

Trump argued that Harris is “more liberal than [Sen.] Bernie Sanders. Can you believe it.”

Pointing to Biden’s stunning announcement that came amid a growing chorus of calls from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out in the wake of his disastrous debate performance last month against Trump, the former president claimed “he quit because he was losing so badly in the polls.”

Trump argued that the pressure by Democrats on Biden to suspend his re-election bid was “an undemocratic move” and charged that “these are nasty people, the Democrats.”

Responding to the verbal attacks from Trump, Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement that “unity is over for Donald Trump – he is back with an unhinged, weird, and rambling speech complete with praise for the ‘late great’ Hannibal Lecter.”

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“But the American people won’t be fooled or distracted – the choice this November will be Trump’s Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion nationwide and give himself unlimited, unchecked power; or Vice President Harris who is fighting to protect freedom and ensure every American gets a fair shot,” Moussa argued.

Former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, headlines a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on July  24, 2024  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Trump throughout the rally repeatedly criticized Harris over the surge of migrants over the nation’s southern border during the Biden administration, claiming that “she’ll destroy our country if she’s elected, so we won’t let that happen.”

Harris was tasked by Biden in 2021 with leading the diplomatic outreach to tackle the “root causes” of migration in the Northern Triangle countries. It led to her being dubbed the “border czar” by Republicans, although the White House has rejected that description.

The Biden administration has pinned the blame for the crisis on Republicans in Congress for not having approved funding and reforms to what it says is a “broken” system. Trump’s comments helped spur congressional Republicans to vote against the measure.

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The Harris campaign, responding to Trump, points to policies he implemented when in office, and recent placards calling for mass deportations at the Republican National Convention.

“The only ‘plan’ Donald Trump has to secure our border is ripping mothers from their children and a few xenophobic placards at the Republican National Convention. He tanked the toughest bipartisan border security deal in a generation because for Donald Trump, this has never been about actually securing the border – it’s always about himself. He can make up whatever lies he wants but the fact is there’s only one candidate in this race who will fight for real solutions to help secure our nation’s border, and that’s Vice President Harris,” Harris campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Harris is also turning up the volume against Trump. In a tease of her argument against the former president, Harris is pointing to her law enforcement resume as she spotlights Trump’s legal controversies.

“As many of you know, before I was elected as vice president, before I was elected as a United States senator, I was the elected attorney general of California. Before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” Harris said Monday at an event at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.

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“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” she emphasized as she pointed to Trump’s multiple lawsuits and criminal cases, many of which are ongoing.

Harris repeated the line of attack the next day at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Trump responded on Wednesday, saying “I don’t think people are going to buy it.”

He argued that the vice president “was one of the worst prosecutors in history” and that “she destroyed San Francisco.”

Trump touted his support for law enforcement and landed the backing of the National Association of Police Organizations, as the group’s president, Michael McHale, joined the former president on the podium to formally endorse the GOP nominee.

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Ahead of the rally, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley said even though Trump’s now facing a new opponent at the top of the Democrats’ ticket, the GOP’s strategy “does not change … at all.”

“We have been running our race, and we are going to continue to run our race,” Whatley, a former North Carolina GOP chair whom Trump installed as RNC chair in March after clinching the Republican nomination, emphasized in a Fox News interview.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR HARRIS NOW THAT SHE’S SEEMINGLY LOCKED UP THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION?

Whatley, speaking at the rally site at Charlotte’s Bojangles Coliseum, noted that Trump and the RNC will relentlessly tie Harris to Biden’s polices on border security, fighting inflation, crime and other top issues in the 2024 election.

“The Democrats not only have a messenger problem, they have a message problem. And Kamala Harris is doubling down on every single one of Joe Biden’s failed policies. It’s the Biden-Harris administration, the Biden-Harris campaign. And she is picking up that mantle,” Whatley argued.

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The RNC chair emphasized Trump “has absolutely united the Republican Party in a way we haven’t had in generations. Now it’s time to unite the country around that vision of making America great again.”

Former President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Vice President Kamala Harris over the issue of border security at his rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on July  24, 2024  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser )

Trump narrowly won North Carolina in his 2020 election defeat to Biden, and Democrats see an opportunity to flip the state this November.

The trip by Trump to North Carolina is his second in two months. The last time Trump was in North Carolina, he was watching NASCAR in Concord over Memorial Day weekend. 

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The state is one of seven crucial battlegrounds that decided the 2020 contest and is likely to once again heavily influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

“We continue to focus on the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — and the Sun Belt states of North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, where the Vice President’s advantages with young voters, Black voters, and Latino voters will be important to our multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes,” a memo from the Harris campaign said hours before Trump arrived in North Carolina.

Former President Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign rally July 20, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Whatley said Trump, in his speech in North Carolina, needs to “continue his conversation with every American family, talking to every single American voter about his vision for a better America. He is going to be the one who is going to restore our southern border, restore our economy, restore our standing in the world and really be the one around that vision.”

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this story.

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3 Georgia jail escapees allegedly force Lyft driver to Florida before capture by authorities

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3 Georgia jail escapees allegedly force Lyft driver to Florida before capture by authorities

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Three inmates who escaped a DeKalb County, Georgia, jail on Monday were captured without incident in Miami, Florida, after a multistate manhunt led by the U.S. Marshals Service and regional fugitive task forces.

The inmates – 24-year-old Stevenson Charles, 31-year-old Yusuf Minor and 25-year-old Naod Yohannes – escaped the DeKalb County Jail in Decatur, a northeastern suburb of Atlanta, early Monday morning.

The inmates were facing felony charges, including murder, arson and armed robbery, and were considered dangerous and possibly armed, according to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators learned Charles contacted his girlfriend in Florida, and about 2:30 a.m., a Lyft driver picked up all three suspects at the home of Minor’s girlfriend.

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‘ARMED AND DANGEROUS’ INMATE ESCAPES ATLANTA HOSPITAL, STEALS GUN AND SUV: POLICE

DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said three inmates escaped from Dekalb County Jail. (DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office)

The driver then took the suspects to a vacant address in Stone Mountain, Georgia, associated with Minor.

Investigators identified the Lyft driver and began efforts to locate her.

Authorities later determined the fugitives allegedly forced the driver to take them to Florida along a route toward the Miami area, where Charles’ girlfriend was located.

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SMILING FUGITIVE RECAPTURED AND RETURNED TO KENTUCKY AFTER DRAMATIC AIRPORT ESCAPE

The inmates were considered dangerous and possibly armed, according to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office. (DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office)

At about 9:30 p.m. Monday, investigators learned the fugitives had rented an Airbnb in Miramar, Florida.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office spotted the Lyft vehicle about 10:45 p.m. and attempted a traffic stop, but Charles and Yohannes fled.

LOUISIANA MANHUNT CONTINUES AS DANGEROUS INMATE CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER REMAINS ON THE RUN

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The three inmates were captured without incident in Miami, Florida, after a multistate manhunt. (DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office)

By 11:40 p.m., all three fugitives were apprehended without further incident.

The Lyft driver was located and treated by emergency responders.

A Lyft spokesperson told Fox News Digital the company is working with law enforcement in any way it can.

“We are deeply concerned by this incident and relieved that the driver is safe,” the spokesperson said. “Our hearts are with the driver, and we have reached out to offer support.”

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The investigation into the escape remains ongoing.

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According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Charles was convicted of federal weapons violations and sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. Minor was convicted of murder in 2024 and is serving a life sentence, while Yohannes was being held on arson and criminal damage charges. All three now face additional charges.

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Texts after Anna Kepner’s mysterious cruise ship death show family scrambling to clamp down on info

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Texts after Anna Kepner’s mysterious cruise ship death show family scrambling to clamp down on info

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Newly released court records shed additional light on how a family responded after the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who was found dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship last month.

According to documents obtained by FOX 35 Orlando, text messages exchanged after Anna’s death show the family’s concern about limiting information shared publicly and keeping their 16-year-old son’s name out of the media.

The messages were submitted as exhibits in an ongoing family court case and include exchanges that began within roughly a day of Anna’s body being discovered. The messages also emphasize the family’s position that the teen does not remember events surrounding Anna’s death.

Anna Kepner was found dead Nov. 7 in her cabin aboard the Carnival Horizon, which returned to Port Miami two days later. Federal authorities boarded the ship upon its return and began collecting evidence.

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CHEERLEADER’S CRUISE SHIP DEATH HAS FAMILY POINTING FINGERS

Anna Kepner was identified by her family as the passenger who died onboard the Carnival Horizon. (Instagram/Anna Kepner)

Officials said she died from mechanical asphyxia, meaning she was deprived of oxygen. No suspect has been publicly named in the case.

Text exchanges between Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Kepner, and her ex-husband show conversations that began the evening of Nov. 8, about a day after Anna’s body was discovered.

Court records indicate the discussions focused largely on managing information, limiting social media exposure and addressing concerns involving the teen, who is a minor, rather than on the circumstances of Anna’s death. Court documents indicate the teen is being investigated in connection with Anna’s death but note he has not been charged.

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ANNA KEPNER DIES MYSTERIOUSLY DURING FAMILY VACATION ON CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP: TIMELINE OF EVENTS

In one message sent around 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, Shauntel asked her ex-husband to call her immediately, describing the situation as an emergency. When he later suggested picking up their daughter, Shauntel declined, explaining the girl had only been told that her brother was struggling emotionally and was being evaluated at a hospital.

In a later exchange on Nov. 9, Shauntel described a brief conversation she said she had with her son while he was in a medical facility. She stated he repeatedly said he could not remember anything and that a nurse allowed the short call so she could reassure him that his parents loved him.

The messages also show efforts to prevent information from spreading on social media, including concerns about posts circulating online and the desire to shield the teen from negative attention. Shauntel emphasized that he is a minor and that the family did not want his name released.

FATHER OF CHEERLEADER WHO DIED ON CARNIVAL CRUISE SUBPOENAED TO TESTIFY IN CUSTODY CASE

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During a Dec. 5 court appearance, Shauntel’s attorney said the teen’s father agreed to have him live with a relative after his release from the hospital once the ship docked. The attorney said the decision was made to eliminate any potential risk to other children in the home, according to FOX 35 Orlando.

Shauntel also testified that the teen takes medication for ADHD and insomnia and had not taken his insomnia medication for two nights during the cruise, including the night before Anna’s body was found.

Court documents state Anna’s body was discovered under a bed in a cabin she was sharing with two siblings, including her 16-year-old stepbrother.

CRUISE TRAGEDY: ‘I AM NOT OKAY,’ SAYS MOTHER OF 18-YEAR-OLD FOUND DEAD ABOARD CARNIVAL SHIP

(L-R) Chris Kepner, Shauntel Kepner, and Jeffrey Kepner arrive to court in Melbourne, Florida, Friday, December 5, 2025. The trio are  headed to an emergency custody hearing in an ongoing dispute between Shauntel and her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

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While the FBI has not publicly identified anyone as a suspect and no criminal charges have been filed, records from an ongoing family court dispute between Anna’s father and stepmother, Christopher Kepner and Shauntel Kepner, and Shauntel Kepner’s ex-husband, Thomas Hudson, indicate the teen is being investigated in Anna’s death.

Additional messages referenced the possibility that charges could be filed depending on the results of the autopsy. Shauntel said the family planned to learn more once the autopsy findings were available.

A former sheriff’s detective, Jamie Copenhaver, reviewed the messages and told FOX 35 Orlando they raised concerns for him. He said the exchanges appeared focused on controlling public perception rather than addressing the loss of an 18-year-old family member.

CHEERLEADER WHO DIED ABOARD CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP CREMATED, DEATH CERTIFICATE REVEALS

Anna Kepner, her father, stepmother and several siblings in a family photo. (Shauntel Kepner/Facebook)

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Copenhaver described the messages as resembling “damage control,” adding that the tone suggested to him that the family knew more than what had been publicly shared.

Messages included in the court records also show both parents expressing emotional support for their son, emphasizing that he was not alone and that his family stood by him.

In one exchange, Hudson told Shauntel that he wanted their son to know “he isn’t just dead to everyone,” adding that “regardless of everything at the moment, he needs his parents,” and that he wanted an opportunity to speak with him as soon as possible.

Kepner, of Titusville, Florida, was a high school senior at Temple Christian School. She was preparing to graduate in the spring of 2026 and hoped to enlist in the U.S. Navy, her family said.

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The FBI has not released details about the investigation, and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner has not publicly released Anna’s autopsy or toxicology results. The investigation remains ongoing, and more than six weeks later, no individual has been publicly identified as a suspect.

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to appear on ’60 Minutes’ ahead of exit from Congress

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to appear on ’60 Minutes’ ahead of exit from Congress

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will appear on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” ahead of her expected departure from Congress next month.

On Friday, “60 Minutes” teased the interview with Lesley Stahl that will air Sunday, touting Greene’s first sit-down interview since she announced her exit last month.

Greene shocked the political landscape when she revealed she would leave Congress Jan. 5. Many believe her abrupt exit was the result of her soured relationship with President Donald Trump.

MARJORIE GREENE SAYS TRUMP’S ‘TRAITOR’ LABEL COULD PUT HER LIFE IN DANGER

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., will appear on Sunday’s installment of “60 Minutes,” marking her first interview since she announced her exit from Congress in January. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Greene previously sat down with Stahl in April 2023, when the two had a fiery exchange over the congresswoman’s claim that Democrats are the “party of pedophiles.”

“They are not pedophiles. Why would you say that?” Stahl exclaimed.

“Democrats support — even Joe Biden, the president himself — supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children,” Greene said.

“Wow,” Stahl reacted.

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MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE STUNS ‘60 MINUTES’ HOST LESLEY STAHL WITH ‘PEDOPHILES’ ATTACK ON DEMOCRATS: ‘WOW’

“60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl sighed during a tense exchange she had with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., over her claim that Democrats were the “party of pedophiles” in an April 2023 interview. (Screenshots/CBS News)

JIMMY KIMMEL WELCOMES FORMER TRUMP ‘SUPERFAN’ MTG TO ‘REALITY’ AMID ONGOING FEUD

The Georgia lawmaker, once an outspoken Trump supporter, has been on a media tour that has included multiple CNN hits and an appearances on CBS News and ABC’s “The View,” largely focused on her criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and her criticisms on healthcare and foreign policy in recent months.

There had been speculation that Greene’s feud with Trump stems from reports that he had privately discouraged her from running for Senate in 2026 amid polling that suggested she’d be defeated by Georgia’s Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff, D. Greene denies those claims. 

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In a lengthy statement posted to X, Greene cited her growing disillusionment with Washington politics, blasting what she called a corrupt “Political Industrial Complex” that she said uses Americans as “pawns in an endless game of division.”

“Americans are used by the Political Industrial Complex of both political parties, election cycle after election cycle, in order to elect whichever side can convince Americans to hate the other side more,” Greene wrote. “And the results are always the same — nothing ever gets better for the common American man or woman.”

President Donald Trump withdrew her endorsement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., previously one of his most outspoken supporters. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Greene said she “never fit in” in Washington and was leaving Congress to “fight for the people of this country in a different way.”

“I believe in term limits and do not think Congress should be a lifelong career or an assisted living facility,” Greene wrote. “My only goal and desire has ever been to hold the Republican Party accountable for the promises it makes to the American people and put America First, and I have fought against Democrats’ damaging policies like the Green New Deal, wide open deadly unsafe border policies, and the trans agenda on children and against women.”

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She made her announcement days after Trump withdrew his endorsement for her, calling Greene “wacky” and “a ranting lunatic.”

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