PBS entered the last weekend before Election Day maintaining the deceitful form in which it has covered the race for the last two years, joining the rest of the press in spreading the same anti-Trump lie just four days before the vote.

On Friday evening’s edition, Laura Barron-Lopez lived up to her position as the most partisan reporter at the PBS News Hour, clipping Donald Trump’s criticism of Liz Cheney, ignoring the clear anti-war context to claim he was advocating a firing squad for his fierce Republican critic.

Laura Barron-Lopez: The former president rallied in Warren, Michigan, this afternoon after stopping at a cafe in Dearborn, where he doubled down on comments he made last night. In Glendale, Arizona, he sat down with a controversial ally, former FOX News personality Tucker Carlson. At the center of their conversation, one of Trump's most outspoken Republican critics.

[clip] Tucker Carlson, Former FOX News Anchor: Is it weird for you to see Liz Cheney -- that'd be Dick Cheney's repulsive little daughter -- running against you with Kamala Harris?

Barron-Lopez: Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming representative, crossed party lines to endorse and campaign for Kamala Harris. Trump talked about Cheney in violent and threatening terms.

[clip] Donald Trump: The reason she couldn't stand me is that she always wanted to go to war with people. His daughter is a very dumb individual, very dumb. She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it when the guns are trained on her face.

Trump, who made his anti-Iraq War views clear earlier in the talk with Carlson, went on to say, "You know, they're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in the nice buildings saying ‘Oh gee well, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy." But PBS didn't run that part or mention it.

Kamala Harris, Vice President and Presidential Candidate: This must be disqualifying.

Barron-Lopez: Today, Harris told reporters Trump's rhetoric is dangerous.

Harris: Representative Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party. Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge, and is increasingly unstable and unhinged.

Barron-Lopez stood with the Democratic candidate and passed on Cheney’s overheated response.

Barron-Lopez: In a post on X, Cheney gave a cautionary response, writing -- quote -- "This is how dictators destroy free nations." Arizona's top prosecutor is reportedly investigating whether or not the remark crosses into a death threat under state law. That kind of rhetoric from Trump, in addition to his racist Madison Square Garden rally, has battleground voters who only recently made up their minds breaking for Harris by double digits. That's according to a Harris campaign official's accounting of internal data. 

This segment was brought to you in part by BDO.

A transcript is available, click “Expand.”

PBS News Hour

11/1/24

7:03:01 p.m. (ET)

Geoff Bennett: Welcome to the "News Hour.”

With four days to go until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have dueling rallies planned in battleground Wisconsin tonight mere miles away from each other.

Amna Nawaz: But the homestretch is not without bumps in the road. Today, foreign threats of election interference sprang up in another swing state of Georgia.

But we begin tonight in Michigan with Trump's latest stop on the campaign trail.

Laura Barron-Lopez begins our coverage.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Donald Trump rounding the final lap of his third presidential campaign today, sticking with his anti-immigrant closing message.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: All those people that illegally come across the border with their open-border policy are taking the African American jobs away.

 

Laura Barron-Lopez: The former president rallied in Warren, Michigan, this afternoon after stopping at a cafe in Dearborn, where he doubled down on comments he made last night.

In Glendale, Arizona, he sat down with a controversial ally, former FOX News personality Tucker Carlson. At the center of their conversation, one of Trump's most outspoken Republican critics.

Tucker Carlson, Former FOX News Anchor Is it weird for you to see Liz Cheney — that'd be Dick Cheney's repulsive little daughter — running against you with Kamala Harris?

Laura Barron-Lopez: Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming representative, crossed party lines to endorse and campaign for Kamala Harris. Trump talked about Cheney in violent and threatening terms.

Donald Trump: The reason she couldn't stand me is that she always wanted to go to war with people. His daughter is a very dumb individual, very dumb. She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it when the guns are trained on her face.

Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: This must be disqualifying.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Today, Harris told reporters Trump's rhetoric is dangerous.

Kamala Harris: Representative Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party. Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge, and is increasingly unstable and unhinged.

Laura Barron-Lopez: In a post on X, Cheney gave a cautionary response, writing — quote — "This is how dictators destroy free nations."

Arizona's top prosecutor is reportedly investigating whether or not the remark crosses into a death threat under state law. That kind of rhetoric from Trump, in addition to his racist Madison Square Garden rally, has battleground voters who only recently made up their minds breaking for Harris by double digits.

That's according to a Harris campaign official's accounting of internal data. Harris is also in the Midwest today, making a final push with multiple stops in Wisconsin, her first in Janesville.

Kamala Harris: So, we have just four days left, four days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and we have a lot of work still to do, but I know who's here. We like hard work.

….

Laura Barron-Lopez: Meantime, both vice presidential candidates were in nearby Michigan today, Harris' running mate, Governor Tim Walz, in Detroit.

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Vice Presidential Candidate: Folks, I get it. You're tired. You're stressed. You're ready for this thing to be over. There's one antidote to this, and it's the best one. Go out and vote for Kamala Harris to be president. That's it.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: To vote for Kamala Harris is to vote for more of the same.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And Trump's partner on the ticket, Senator J.D. Vance, in Portage, before jetting off to North Carolina.

Sen. J.D. Vance: It is a vote for more of the same incompetent and failed leadership. And I think the state of Michigan, we're going to vote for a change.

Laura Barron-Lopez: In the final days, Trump's campaign has steadily ramped up lies about election fraud.

It all comes as foreign adversaries are interfering. This video that circulated on X purports to show Haitian immigrants illegally voting for Harris in several counties in Georgia. U.S. intelligence officials said today the video was manufactured by Russian influence actors to — quote — "raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans."

Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called the video of Haitian's voting — quote — "obviously fake," and urged Elon Musk and other social media leaders to take down such disinformation.

On the campaign trail, it's full speed ahead before the polls close on Tuesday. Both candidates will end their nights in the Milwaukee area, the heart of the Badger State, where polls say it's a complete toss-up.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.