Video

A Republican strategist got forceful pushback on CNN on Friday night as he tried to downplay former President Donald Trump's remarks that he would deport special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the election subversion case against the MAGA leader.

Anchor Anderson Cooper told Republican Brad Todd it's "not normal for someone who wants to be president of the United States to talk about deporting a special counsel, a guy who is just assigned to this and doing his job."

Former President Donald Trump has been making a concerted effort to win over the "bro" vote, reaching out to gamers and others in the so-called "Manosphere."

MSNBC examined this outreach during a Friday, October 25 segment, interviewing a 19-year-old male voter in Georgia who he said he likes Trump because the former president talks like his friends — not like a slick politician.

Despite many ultra-wealthy donors backing former President Donald Trump over taxes, regulations, or their own political beliefs, much of the rest of the business world is horrified by what a Trump presidency could look like, tech and entertainment billionaire Mark Cuban told MSNBC's Ari Melber on Friday.

Cuban, who despite a handful of disagreements with the progressive left has been an enthusiastic surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail, said that it comes down to one key issue: Trump's plans to uproot and deport immigrant workers en masse.

A far-right congressman’s suggestion that electors in North Carolina could be assigned to Donald Trump even before votes are counted is part of a nationwide “MAGA blueprint,” according to one political analyst, who called the lawmaker out on CNN Friday as “hypocritical.”

The moment came on CNN’s "The Situation Room” after host Wolf Blitzer played a clip of Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) who floated the idea that the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature could take the unheard-of step of assigning electors in light of challenges revolving around Hurricane Helene.

A political expert warned on CNN on Friday that America could become an "oligarchy" with "crony capitalism" — and said what's at stake in the election is, "Do we want an American [Vladimir] Putin?"

Jonathan Alter, author of "American Reckoning," joined Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" on Friday to discuss a new poll showing nearly half of Americans think former President Donald Trump is a "fascist" — with the race essentially tied in the polls.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper had a blunt response to new sentiments from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) essentially accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of inviting another assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump by criticizing his obsession with Adolf Hitler's generals.

"The Vice President's words more closely resemble those of President Trump's second would-be assassin than her own earlier appeal to civility," they wrote. “Vice President Harris may want the American people to entrust her with the sacred duty of executive authority. But first, she must abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions. We have both been briefed on the ongoing and persistent threats to former President Donald Trump by adversaries to the United States, and we call on the Vice President to take these threats seriously, stop escalating the threat environment, and help ensure President Trump has the necessary resources to be protected from those threats.”

Gen. John Kelly's comments about Donald Trump continue to echo through the political world, with 13 former Trump officials willing to verify some of the stories he revealed about the ex-president's treatment of soldiers and the military.

Among those is Kevin Carroll, a former senior counselor to John Kelly, who spoke to MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on Friday. He relayed the moment when Trump railed against the military at Arlington National Cemetery, recalling running into Kelly after the fact.

Former officials from Donald Trump's White House continue to come forward to speak out against him in the final days of the 2024 election cycle.

Speaking to MSNBC on Friday, Elizabeth Neumann, former assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention at the Department of Homeland Security, tried to convey to Americans that their top issues won't matter if America loses its freedom.

Former President Donald Trump on Friday expressed his appreciation for the physical beauty of young girls who had been knifed to death, slammed President Joe Biden for refusing to discuss in 2020 the death of a woman killed in 2024, and suggested Vice President Kamala Harris had approached two children with a machete.

Trump delivered an anti-immigrant speech Friday in Texas that frequently veered away from detailing gruesome deaths at the hands of immigrants to throw questionable insults at political rivals.

Sister Stephanie Schmidt of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania spoke out to CNN's Boris Sanchez on Friday after a local Republican operative falsely accused her order of nuns of voter fraud, claiming the monastery used as a registration address was an empty building — despite it being the permanent home of 55 sisters.

"I had a friend text me this post, I'm not a follower of X or Twitter or any of that stuff, but she texted me and when I read it, I was first in disbelief and shocked, and then when I read it again, I was outraged, because they were accusing this community of voter fraud and that is so wrong," said Schmidt.

Former President Donald Trump hurled a homophobic insult at CNN anchor Anderson Cooper at a Texas rally Friday and was met with cheers and laughter.

Trump slammed Vice President Kamala Harris' Pennsylvania town hall on Wednesday during which she addressed concerns about border control and policies controlling immigrants' entry into the country — then took a bigoted jab at Cooper.

CNN fact checker Daniel Dale on Friday whacked Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) for falsely claiming that the Biden administration is forcing American car companies to only manufacture electric cars, which Vance said would cost thousands of autoworker jobs.

"The Biden-Harris administration has not forced and is not forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles," Dale said. "And Vice President Harris isn't proposing forcing people to buy electric vehicles. Nobody's taking away your gas-powered car."