WATCH: Harris holds rally in Greenville as she campaigns in battleground North Carolina

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to roughly 7,000 supporters at a Sunday afternoon rally at East Carolina University’s arena, suggesting that Trump’s team has stopped him from releasing medical records or debating her again because they might be “afraid that people will see that he is too weak and unstable.”
Watch the event in the player above.
Harris used an appearance earlier Sunday before a largely Black church audience in in battleground North Carolina to call out Donald Trump for spreading misinformation about the government’s hurricane response.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, did not speak Trump’s name, but he is most prominent among those promoting false claims about the Biden administration’s response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Florida was in the path of both storms, with Helene also hitting North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, while Milton headed for the open Atlantic.
READ MORE: Harris says Trump ‘incredibly irresponsible’ for spreading Helene misinformation
The vice president spoke at Koinonia Christian Center about the “heroes” all around helping residents without regard to political affiliation.
“Yet, church, there are some who are not acting in the spirit of community, and I am speaking of these who have been literally not telling the truth, lying about people who are working hard to help the folks in need, spreading disinformation when the truth and facts are required,” Harris said.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris stands next to Bishop Rosie S. O’neal and former Rep. Eva Clayton during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, North Carolina, Oct. 13, 2024. Photo by Jonathan Drake/Reuters
“The problem with this, beyond the obvious, is it’s making it harder, then, to get people life-saving information if they’re led to believe they cannot trust,” she said. “And that’s the pain of it all, which is the idea that those who are in need have somehow been convinced that the forces are working against them in a way that they would not seek aid.”
Harris said their motives are transparent, “to gain some advantage for themselves, to play politics with other people’s heart break, and it is unconscionable,” she said. “Now is not a time to incite fear. It is not right to make people feel alone.”
“That is not what leaders, as we know, do in crisis,” she said.
Trump made a series of false claims after Helene struck in late September, including saying that Washington was intentionally withholding aid from Republicans in need across the Southeast. The former president falsely claimed the Federal Emergency Management Agency had run out of money to help them because it was spent on programs to help immigrants who are in the United States illegally.
READ MORE: FEMA chief calls false claims about government’s Helene response ‘truly dangerous’
He pressed that argument on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” saying the White House response was “absolutely terrible” and repeating the claim about FEMA’s dollars. “It came out from there and everybody knew it,” Trump said in an interview that was taped Thursday and broadcast Sunday.
Harris opened her second day in North Carolina by speaking at the church in Greenville as part of her campaign’s “Souls to the Polls” effort to help turn out Black churchgoers before the Nov. 5 election.
The North Carolina appearances mark the start of a week that will find Harris working to shore up support among Black voters, a key constituency for the Democratic Party. She is counting on Black turnout in competitive states such as North Carolina to help her defeat Trump, who has focused on energizing men of all races and has tried to make inroads with Black men in particular.
On Tuesday, she will appear in Detroit for a live conversation with Charlamagne tha God, a prominent Black media personality.
Black registered voters have overwhelmingly favorable views of Harris and negative views of Trump despite his attempts to appeal to nonwhite voters, according to a recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But the poll also shows that many Black voters aren’t sure whether Harris would improve the country overall or better their own lives.
Madhani reported from St. Pete Beach, Florida, and Superville from Washington.