The Breaker Times

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul says he supports Trump but that his concerns about the federal deficit have tempered his enthusiasm for the GOP presidential nominee.

“I think there’s no question that Donald Trump is better than Kamala Harris,” Paul said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“But as far as my enthusiasm, I’m a deficit hawk,” Paul added. “The Trump administration added $8 trillion. The Biden administration is going to add $8 trillion.”

Trump approved $8.8 trillion of new borrowing during his administration, but cancelled out some of it with $443 billion of deficit reduction measures, according to a report by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The net total $8.4 trillion of Trump spending included roughly $3.6 trillion for Covid relief and stimulus packages.

Meanwhile, Biden approved $6.2 trillion of new borrowing in his first three years and five months in office, balanced out with $1.9 trillion of deficit reduction, per the CRFB.

— Rebecca Picciotto

As his running mate counts down the hours until her debate with Trump, Tim Walz will continue campaigning in key battleground states today.

The Minnesota governor is set to speak at campaign events in Las Vegas and Phoenix on Tuesday. His last event in Pheonix is schedule to begin at 8:30 p.m. ET — a half hour before the highly anticipated debate begins.

– Josephine Rozzelle

Nearly three quarters of American voters say they will watch the debate tonight, according to the latest poll by NPR, PBS News and Marist.

The debate between Trump and Biden earlier in June drew 51.3 million viewers, down from the record 73.1 million viewers who tuned in to watch the first debate between them in September 2020. That was the third most watched debate ever, according to Statista.

–Ece Yildirim

Police in Springfield, Ohio deny Vance‘s claim in an X post that people in the city have had their “pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”

“There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” the Springfield Police Department said in a statement. The police also denied that immigrants in the city had been squatting, littering or disrupting traffic.

The Vance campaign has responded with a statement of its own, saying the Ohio senator has received “a high volume of calls and emails” about an influx of Haitian immigrants in the city.

The campaign does not mention anything about pets being stolen and eaten.

– Josephine Rozzelle

Just like the June presidential debate between Trump and Biden, candidates’ microphones will be muted when they aren’t speaking tonight, according to rules released by ABC News.

The debate will last 90 minutes with two commercial breaks, during which time Trump and Harris cannot interact with members of their staff. There is no live audience.

The nominees will have two minutes to answer each question, two minutes for rebuttal and an extra minute for follow-ups, clarifications, or responses.

Trump won the coin toss and has chosen the last word. Harris has chosen to be on the right side of viewer’s screens tonight. Neither of them will give an opening statement.

– Josephine Rozzelle

Jessica Leeds, who has previously testified that Trump sexually assaulted her on an airplane in the late 1970s, calls him “a sexual predator” who does not understand the “psychological damage” done to women victimized in that way.

“We cannot let this person back in the White House,” Leeds, 82, said at a press conference outside of Trump Tower in Manhattan on Monday afternoon. 

Leeds spoke days after Trump lashed out at her in connection with her testimony at his trial last year for a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit by the writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her in a New York department store in the 1990s.

Trump called Leeds’ allegation that he groped her on a flight a “totally made up story,” and said she “would not have been the chosen one.”

On Monday, Leeds said, “He assaulted me 50 years ago and continues to assault me today.”

Asked if she would sue Trump for his comments about her while denying her allegation, Leeds said, “We’re considering a number of options because of his latest remarks, but no decision has been made at this time.”

Carroll has sued Trump twice, and has been awarded more than $88 million in damages for defamation and sexual abuse.

– Dan Mangan

Harris’ ally Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says the debate could turn into a battle over Trump’s proposed tariff policies.

“If I were a businessperson and I heard a 20% tariff on every import, and I watched [Trump] be so erratic and unpredictable – I think that’s scary,” Raimondo said on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

“Every businessperson deserves predictability,” she added. Trump has proposed tariffs from 10% to 20% on imports from U.S. trading partners.

Harris’ team has said she would “employ targeted and strategic tariffs to support American workers, strengthen our economy, and hold our adversaries accountable.”

– Brian Schwartz

The debate will be hosted by ABC News in collaboration with local affiliate WPVI-TV/6ABC.

It will air live beginning at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, and the broadcaster will be live streaming the debate on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. It will also be available on the ABC’s app and website, abc.com.

Other major broadcasters will simulcast the debate, including NBC, CNN, CBS, and Fox News.

— Ece Yildirim