Harris campaign signals effort to cast Trump as a threat in final stretch

Zoom in: With minutes left in the vice presidential debate this week, Gov. Tim Walz put Ohio Sen. JD Vance on his heels when he asked whether Vance believes Trump lost the 2020 election.

• Vance deflected, saying that he's "focused on the future." The led to Walz's most memorable line from the 90-minute debate: "That is a damning non-answer."
• Walz's retort — which already has been made into a campaign ad — is part of the Harris campaign's elevated focus on Trump's final, chaotic days in office.

Driving the news: On Thursday, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) appeared alongside Harris as she delivered a passionate defense of democracy during a campaign event in Ripon, Wis., the birthplace of the Republican Party.

• "[Anyone] who would do these things can never be trusted with power again," Cheney said of Trump's efforts to cling to power in 2020.
• "I don't care if you are a Democrat or Republican or an independent, that is depravity and we must never become numb to it," said Cheney, who endorsed Harris last month.

State of play: The campaign also has turned to other GOP surrogates, including some former Trump staffers, to make their case that Trump is a threat to the republic — and reinforce the stakes of the election.

• Harris' team launched an ad on Friday, called "Fit to Lead," highlighting Cheney and other Republicans who have endorsed the VP.
• Next week, ex-Trump White House aides Alyssa Farah Griffin, Cassidy Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews will make their pitch in the key battleground of Pennsylvania against their onetime boss.
• Hutchinson, a top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, delivered a bombshell testimony during the Jan. 6 House committee hearings in 2022.

Former President Obama will also take to the campaign trail for Harris next week.

• He's essentially being tasked as a "closer" in the final month of the campaign, with a mission of keeping Democrats motivated to turn out for Harris, raise money and record ads.
• "President Obama believes the stakes of this election could not be more consequential and that is why he is doing everything he can to help elect Vice President Harris, Governor Walz and Democrats across the country," Obama senior advisor Eric Schultz said in a statement to Reuters.

The other side: "Tomorrow, President Trump will return to Butler, Pennsylvania where he was nearly assassinated three months ago," Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

• "It's disgusting that Kamala Harris continues to parrot the same lies about President Trump, falsely casting him as a threat, that led to two heinous attempts on his life."

Zoom out: Trump, who was indicted over his efforts to subvert 2020 election results, continues to falsely claim that he won four years ago.

• "We won, we won," Trump said a rally in Michigan on Thursday. "It was a rigged election," he said in remarks that weren't among the prepared excerpts of his speech.
• Trump, who has denied wrongdoing, allegedly told his family members in 2020, "it doesn't matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell," according to a sprawling new motion released this week by special counsel Jack Smith.

Reality check: There was no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election. Election law experts are increasingly concerned that Trump is laying the groundwork to again falsely claim that the election was not fair if he loses in November.

Go deeper: Jack Smith's endgame