Vice President Kamala Harris said she believes Donald Trump is “a fascist” after his senior chief of staff said the former president praised Adolf Hitler during his time in office and put personal loyalty over the Constitution.

Harris’ remarks, delivered at a CNN town hall on Wednesday evening, will be part of Harris’ final message to voters as there are still 12 days left until the 2024 presidential election.

Follow AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

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The last time Donald Trump ran for president, the lawyers most directly involved in his efforts to overturn the election were sanctioned, prosecuted or even sued for millions of dollars.

This time, Republican Party leaders are working to put forward a more organized and competent legal team, even as Trump continues to deny that he lost the 2020 election and sow doubts about the integrity of the upcoming election.

“It was very important to make sure we had a completely professional operation in every way,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley told The Associated Press.

As Republicans and Democrats battle election rules in court, the Trump team is under particularly intense scrutiny amid the aftermath of the 2020 race, as baseless legal efforts to challenge the results were repeatedly rejected by judges appointed by presidents of both political parties became.

▶ Read more about the Republican legal operation

His endorsement Thursday marks further bipartisan support for the Democratic presidential nominee, who campaigned this week alongside Liz Cheney, the former GOP congresswoman from Wyoming.

Both Upton and Cheney were among the House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Upton, who represented West Michigan and served in Congress for 36 years, said in a statement that Trump is “unfit to serve as commander in chief again.” Upton said he had already cast his vote for Harris.

“Time and time again, respected senior national Republicans have urged our former president to focus on governing and not on personal attacks, falsehoods and continued false claims about the 2020 election,” Upton said. “Instead of heeding this advice, we see bumbling behavior on most forums almost daily that is unacceptable.”