Harris recruits donors to attend awards ceremony in Washington; Trump raises money in Utah

Sept. 14 (UPI) — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris met with donors in Washington, D.C., her running mate Tim Walz held a rally in Wisconsin and GOP candidate Donald Trump was scheduled to raise money in Utah on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon, Harris appeared at a private fundraising event in Washington, followed by a speech later in the evening at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner at the Washington Convention Center.

Speaking to donors at the Washington Hilton, she touted her performance in Tuesday’s debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump and warned of the potential consequences of a second Trump term following the Supreme Court’s July decision that declared presidents immune from criminal prosecution.

“On Tuesday, I talked about my plans for how we bring down costs, how we rebuild our economy, how we protect reproductive freedom and keep our nation safe,” Harris said, according to a pool report. “But that’s not what we’re hearing from Donald Trump. Instead, it was the same old tired show. He ran with the same tired playbook that we’ve been hearing for years.”

She later warned of the Supreme Court ruling: “Imagine what that ruling means for this individual and what he’s willing to do and what he’s already done. Imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”

President Joe Biden and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, will also speak at the Phoenix Awards Dinner, which serves as the flagship event of the CBCF’s annual legislative conference. Phoenix Awards recognize individuals who “serve as leaders and trailblazers for the Black community, creating greater opportunity for the next generation.”

At last year’s event, which Harris and Biden also attended, winners included White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones, and rappers MC Lyte and LL Cool J.

Harris spent Friday campaigning in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, speaking to voters in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and giving her first solo televised interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

In her interview with WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, she was asked about Trump’s enduring appeal to the state’s voters, despite his divisive personality and calls for racism, and how she expects to counter it.

“I, from experience and lived experience, know in my heart, I know in my soul, I know, that the vast majority of us as Americans have so much more in common than what divides us,” Harris said.

“And I also think I’m right in knowing that most Americans want a leader who brings us together as Americans and not someone who claims to be a leader and tries to get us to point fingers at each other,” she added.

Walz, who is governor of Minnesota, continued his campaign in northern Wisconsin, also seen as a crucial swing state in the November election. His campaign was scheduled to appear in Superior, Wisconsin, after a stop Friday in Wausau.

In Superior, located in the northwestern tip of the state across the St. Louis River from Duluth, Minnesota, Walz also praised the outcome of Tuesday’s debate, which criticized Trump’s efforts during his first term to torpedo the Affordable Care Act.

“He never worried for a moment about having to pay a medical bill,” he told the crowd at the University of Wisconsin campus.

On Friday at the Whitewater Music Hall in Wausau, he warned that the United States’ foreign allies “have no respect for (Trump). They know where he is. He keeps bragging about his friendship with the dictators.”

The former president is expected to attend a private fundraising event in Utah on Saturday after attending a rally in Las Vegas on Friday.

Attendees at the Salt Lake City event are expected to include controversial Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, right-wing radio host Glenn Beck, former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes.

At his rally in Las Vegas, Trump repeated false claims about Venezuelan criminal gangs taking over parts of Aurora, Colorado, and Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, declaring that immigration to the United States is an “invasion.”

“Our country is under attack like an army,” he said, though he stopped short of repeating debunked rumors that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are killing and eating pets. After Trump made those insults earlier this week, they were linked to a series of bomb threats to the city’s schools and government agencies that caused children to miss classes.