Harris says she believes Trump is a fascist at CNN town hall

• Throughout the town hall, Harris often brought her answers back to warnings against the former president and his fitness for office.
• "I believe the American people deserve better, and they deserve a president who is focused on solutions, not sitting in the Oval Office plotting their revenge and retribution," Harris said.

Driving the news: When asked by Cooper at the town hall that comes less than two weeks until Election Day whether she believes Trump is a fascist, she said: "Yes, I do."

Context: The town hall comes after former White House chief of staff John Kelly in interviews earlier this week called the former president a "fascist" and recounted Trump praising Adolf Hitler.

What she's saying: Harris said that Kelly's warnings are a "911 call to the American people."

• She added: "This time, we must take very seriously those folks who knew him best and who were career people, are not going to be there to hold him back."
• Harris said that "the people who know Donald Trump best, the people who worked with him in the White House, in the Situation Room, in the Oval Office ... have all called him unfit and dangerous."

Zoom in: The Harris campaign has increasingly turned to former Trump aides and Republicans in presenting its case against the GOP presidential candidate to voters.

• Harris herself has also ramped up her rhetoric presenting the former president as a threat to the republic, saying earlier on Wednesday that her GOP opponent is "increasingly unhinged and unstable."

State of play: The town hall fell on the date that CNN had proposed a debate between Harris and Trump, which would have been the pair's second debate showdown of the cycle.

• The Democratic presidential candidate had accepted the invitation from the network for the debate, but Trump declined the offer.
• He also declined an offer to participate in a CNN town hall, Cooper said Wednesday.

Go deeper: Harris at CNN town hall: "I do pray every day, sometimes twice a day"

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.