Live updates: Donald Trump, Kamala Harris election news

Vice President Kamala Harris directed her team this week to immediately schedule a visit to Georgia following a media report that revealed two deaths linked to the battleground state's abortion restrictions , according to two sources familiar with the planning – a callback to the rapid response travel she's done over the past year.

It's reminiscent of the type of quickly arranged travel that placed Harris at the center of President Joe Biden 's then-reelection effort and an example of the types of moments her campaign is seizing on to elevate – and amplify – issues it believes will galvanize voters and mobilize them to vote.

"She uses her platform to command the attention of the country to these issues. This is a natural succession of that," a senior Harris adviser told CNN.

Before she replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, Harris had traveled the country to offer forceful pushback over contentious Republican-led state legislation or laws on a range of issues.

Last year, for example, she delivered an impassioned speech in Nashville after Tennessee Republicans expelled two Black Democratic state legislators , who had protested on the state House floor against inaction on gun control following a mass shooting in the city .

That was later followed by a trip to Florida, where she slammed Republicans over a new set of standards for how Black history should be taught in the state's public schools.

And earlier this year, she went to Arizona, where she coined the term "Trump abortion bans" in reference to the restrictions on the procedure implemented in Republican-led states since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Harris' advisers see Friday's trip to Georgia as emblematic of that approach: rushing to the scene of issues of consequence and using her bully pulpit to put a spotlight on it; and doing so in a state that Democrats are trying to keep in play.

Read more ahead of Harris' trip to Georgia to address reproductive rights

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that "the Jewish people" would be partially to blame if he loses in November, escalating his persistent trail criticism of Jewish voters and insisting that Democrats hold a "curse" over them.

Trump has frequently questioned why Jewish Americans would consider voting for his opponent, repeatedly saying that Jewish Democratic voters "should have their head examined."

In the first of two speeches to Jewish groups on Thursday, Trump warned an audience that included GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, who introduced him onstage, that the upcoming US election "the most important" in Israel's history.

He claimed that the Jewish state would be "eradicated," "wiped off the face of the earth" and "cease to exist" if Harris wins the presidency.

Trump appeared preoccupied with what he described as ingratitude from Jewish voters, whom he said should be supporting him in greater proportions because of his record on Israel.

Later Thursday, at the Israeli American Council's national summit, Trump said he had not been "treated properly by voters who happen to be Jewish" during the 2020 election and, for the second time in a few hours, said Jewish voters would hold some responsibility if he is defeated this year.

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Vice President Kamala Harris sought to capitalize on the star power of Oprah Winfrey and a host of Hollywood celebrities to help her win over persuadable voters during an online rally Thursday night that ranged from participants' searing accounts of personal loss and trauma to the Democrat's unguarded remark about her own gun ownership.

During the "Unite for America" event in Michigan, Harris also reflected on the change that Winfrey said she and others had observed in the vice president once she became the Democratic Party's standard-bearer .

"We each have those moments in our lives where it's time to step up," Harris responded, adding that she felt a "sense of purpose," given the stakes of November's election.

Winfrey delivered her coveted endorsement of Harris at last month's Democratic National Convention . At times, the night evoked Winfrey's long-running talk show, with Harris taking questions from the media mogul and listening to members of the invited live audience gathered in a suburb of Detroit. Celebrities, ranging from Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts to comedian Chris Rock, chimed in virtually.

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Teamsters president Sean O'Brien defended his labor union's decision against endorsing in this year's presidential race , saying on CNN's "Inside Politics" that "this was not an endorsement for the Republican Party, this is a wake-up call that the system is broken."

O'Brien explained that one reason for not endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris was a lack of "a commitment that the government will not interfere or impede our right to strike," citing the 2022 rail strike, when the Biden administration used a century-old labor regulation to end the work stoppage.

Former President Donald Trump, O'Brien said, "couldn't commit to vetoing national right to work" or commit to supporting the PRO Act during his meeting with the Teamsters.

Responding to the New York lawmaker's criticism of the decision, O'Brien said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "has to remember: there is a clear divide, especially in Teamster members, between the Democrats and the Republicans and instead of trying to pick a fight with labor leaders who listen to their members and embrace their members' opinions, she should maybe get into her district."

"She may want to focus on her job instead of mine," he said, claiming that Teamster members in her district voted overwhelmingly for the former president, without providing data to back up that claim.

"This is an opportunity for Republicans who claim they want to be the working party for American workers to prove that they can do that by supporting the PRO Act," O'Brien said.