Russia behind fabricated video falsely claiming Harris received a bribe from performer Sean Combs, officials say
A Russian disinformation group is behind a false claim that Sean “Diddy” Combs paid Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff $500,000 to warn him of police raids on his homes, according to U.S. intelligence agencies and researchers.
The U.S. government issued the statement on Nov. 1 as officials warned that Russian influence actors were also behind a video that claimed Haitians illegally voted in Georgia.
The bribe claim, initially published on Oct. 30 by Patriot Voice News, a website linked to a Russian influence group, was spread on social media by a now-suspended X account, according to Darren Linvill, co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University.
Linvill said the videos were likely produced by the Russian influence group known as Storm-1516, which recently released other videos with false claims about Harris, her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and voter fraud claims in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
— Emma Li, Rhona Tarrant
Experts outline U.S. election security in final stretch
The U.S. is monitoring overseas efforts to tamper with American democracy, with the emergence of two new fake videos online that claim to be from the FBI — one about election security and another about second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Four videos have now been flagged by government officials as misinformation.
CBS News contributor Chris Krebs, the former director of the CyberSecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, addressed the efforts on “CBS Mornings.” Krebs outlined that in 2016, “Russians were much more engaged” on platforms with fake personas that were directly sending messages to Americans, while in this election, he said the focus has been on putting content onto platforms where Americans are sharing the videos.
“So they’ve evolved their tactics, they’re getting a wider reach, but they’re also attacking the seams in content moderation,” Krebs said.
Meanwhile, David Becker, the executive director of the Center of Election Innovation & Research and a CBS News contributor, outlined that in terms of voting security, the U.S. has already seen over half of the turnout in 2020 overall, and “what we’ve seen is very few problems.”
“Almost all of the voting has gone smoothly, it’s gone safely, it’s gone securely,” Becker said.
Watch the full segment in the player above.
Trump made false claim about voter fraud in York and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania
Trump on Sunday repeated a false claim that officials in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, found 2,600 fraudulent ballots written by the same person, and the claim was reposted by X owner Elon Musk.
Trump referenced a review of about 2,500 voter registration applications flagged for potential fraud in Lancaster County. Preliminary findings indicate that detectives identified hundreds of fraudulent applications and hundreds more that they were unable to verify.
The applications were connected to a large canvassing effort to register voters, officials said. As of Nov. 4, no suspects have been identified. Voter registration forms are not the same as ballots, and the forms were identified before processing, officials said.
In a post on X responding to Musk’s post, CBS News election law contributor David Becker said of the claim: “This is 100% false. They did not find 2600 ‘ballots’ — not even close. They caught ~2500 voter registration applications BEFORE processing them, meaning they protected election integrity. The system worked, and voting is secure, thanks to the diligence of election officials in PA.”
All the battleground states to watch during the 2024 election
Seven battleground states, which which could potentially swing to either the Democrats or Republicans, hold the keys to the presidency in the 2024 election as voters make their choice between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Both Harris and Trump have made repeated visits to these competitive states, where CBS News polling shows the candidates were virtually tied in the lead-up to Election Day.
Do you have to register to vote every year?
As Americans get closer to Election Day 2024 and will choose between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, anyone who is registered to vote does not need reregister every year, unless there is a change of name, address or political affiliation.
Each state’s voter re-registration or voter registration update deadline can be found on their respective Board of Elections website.
See a state-by-state breakdown of the rules here.
— Patrick Maguire and Emily Hung
Number of early votes cast tops 78 million
As of the eve of Election Day, more than 78 million votes have been cast early, either in-person or by mail, according to data from the University of Florida Election Lab.
More people have cast their ballots in-person than by mail, with more than 42.6 million votes submitted at polling places in-person and over 35.3 million mail ballots returned. Upwards of 67.4 million mail ballots have been requested, according to the University of Florida’s figures.
Slightly more registered Democrats — 14.8 million — have voted ahead of Election Day, compared to 14.1 million registered Republicans, according to data from just over half the states that report party affiliation.
Tim and Gwen Walz to campaign in Midwest
Tim and Gwen Walz are spending the last day of the campaign in the Midwest, the first time the pair will be campaigning together after voting together. They have been crisscrossing battleground states separately.
They will first participate in a farewell rally in Minneapolis at 11:45 a.m. ET, and then heading to a get out the vote rally in Detroit.
What voters should and shouldn’t expect on Election Day
There will be some breakdowns, mistakes and disinformation this year, but none of that should be confused with election-altering fraud, CBS News election law contributor David Becker told “60 Minutes.”
Come Election Day, voters shouldn’t expect to get results quickly in many races.
“Definitely don’t expect to know who controls the United States House of Representatives. There are a lot of very close races, even in places like California, that will take days or maybe even weeks to resolve. The Senate we might know a little bit sooner, but unclear,” Becker said. “We probably will have a pretty good idea who won the presidency maybe around Thursday or Friday.”
Read more here about how election officials are protecting the vote.
Harris SNL spot draws rebuke from an FCC commissioner
After Harris appeared in a skit on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” Republican FCC Commissioner Brandon Carr said in a social media post on X it was “a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.”
In another tweet, Carr, who is a Trump appointee, noted that NBC filed a notice to the FCC acknowledging it had given 1.5 minutes of free airtime to Harris.
In the sketch with Maya Rudolph, Harris played herself as Rudolph was also portraying Harris.
“It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.”
Stars to join Harris at rally and concert in Philadelphia
Oprah Winfrey and a lineup of music stars will join Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks to energize supporters and mobilize voters at a concert and rally in Philadelphia Monday night.
According to the Harris campaign, the vice president will also be joined by Lady Gaga, DJ Cassidy, Fat Joe, Freeway and Just Blaze, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Ricky Martin, The Roots, Jazmine Sullivan and Adam Blackstone.
The event will be at the bottom of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s steps. along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Art Museum will be closed on Monday.
The rally and concert mark the campaign’s final Get Out The Vote effort to get voters to the polls ahead of Election Day on Tuesday.
More than 78 million early votes in so far
More than 78 million Americans have voted early, according to data compiled by the University of Florida Election Lab. That includes more than 42.6 million early in-person votes, and over 35.3 million mail ballots returned so far.
Trump: “I don’t mind” if someone had to shoot through media
Former President Donald Trump said during a rally on Sunday that he wouldn’t mind if someone tried to shoot through the group of reporters covering the event, as he complained that the bulletproof glass positioned around him was “ridiculous.”
“I have a piece of glass over here, and I don’t have a piece of glass there. And I have this piece of glass here, but all we have really over here is the fake news,” Trump said, pointing to the glass positioned between him and the head-on riser where the press was located. “And to get me somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind that.”
He repeatedly mocked news reporters throughout the rally, calling the media “bloodsuckers.”
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement afterward that Trump was trying to protect the media.
Read more about Trump’s comments here.
– Jacob Rosen and Olivia Rinaldi
Harris addresses war in Gaza during East Lansing rally
At a Sunday campaign rally in East Lansing, Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the war in Gaza at the top of her speech.
“We are joined today by leaders of the Arab American community, which has deep and proud roots here in Michigan. And I want to say this year has been difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon, it is devastating,” Harris said.
“As president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination,” she added.
Harris said she would also work to find a “diplomatic resolution across the Israel-Lebanon border to protect civilians and provide lasting stability.”
After her comments about the war, Harris stuck to her usual stump speech. Her lines on reproductive rights garnered the most applause and cheers from the crowd, which was filled with younger voters.