AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

Both presidential candidates took their campaign to the Midwest today, fighting for crucial wins across the so-called blue wall.

Vice President Kamala Harris is in Wisconsin tonight, but we begin in Michigan, where former President Donald Trump gave a familiar and false rallying cry.

Laura Barron-Lopez starts our coverage.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In Central Michigan this afternoon, Donald Trump was on defense.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: You know, last time, last election, we did great in 2016.

A lot of people don't know we did much better in 2020.

We won.

We won.

We did win.

It was a rigged election.

It was a rigged election.

You have to tell Kamala Harris that's why I'm doing it again.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The stop in a key battleground state comes one day after a federal judge unsealed a court filing from special counsel Jack Smith's case charging Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In 165 pages, prosecutors outline new details about Trump's -- quote -- "increasingly desperate efforts to target every stage of the electoral process."

It also included new FBI evidence that Trump was alone in the Oval Office dining room when he posted a tweet attacking his then-Vice President Mike Pence as rioters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Prosecutors are pointing to that as an example of Trump defending his private political interests, not acting in an official capacity as president.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On NewsNation last night, Trump deflected, accusing Smith, without evidence, of interfering in the upcoming election.

DONALD TRUMP: And he works for Kamala and he works for Joe.

This was a weaponization of government, and that's why it was released 30 days before the election.

And it's nothing new in there, by the way, nothing new.

They rigged the election.

I didn't rig the election.

They rigged the election.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: According to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll, 64 percent of registered voters say preserving democracy is a deciding factor in choosing a candidate for president.

GOV.

TIM WALZ (D-MN), Vice Presidential Candidate: Did he lose the 2020 election?

SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: Tim, I'm focused on the future.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The subject was a major moment of Tuesday's vice presidential debate.

And at a rally in Pennsylvania yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz lambasted Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator J.D.

Vance, for what he called a damning nonanswer.

GOV.

TIM WALZ: I just asked the simplest of all questions that every single American should be able to answer.

I asked him if Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

GOV.

TIM WALZ: He refused to answer.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Meanwhile, the Harris/Walz ticket secured another endorsement from a prominent Republican voice.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Trump White House aide, explained on MSNBC this morning why she's throwing her support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.

CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, Former Aide to Mark Meadows: This is a moment that is so much bigger than a political party and our allegiance to a political party.

I don't know why so many Republicans, specifically the men, are still cloaking themselves in cowardice, especially in the face of Donald Trump and J.D.

Vance.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Hutchinson made headlines in 2022 as a key witness during the House Select Committee hearings investigating January 6.

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I want to begin by thanking Ms. Hutchinson for her testimony.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The Republican vice chair of that committee, former representative Liz Cheney, crossed party lines with her endorsement last month.

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY: Not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Tonight, Cheney plans to join Harris on the campaign trail in a historic location, Ripon, Wisconsin.

This little white schoolhouse is where the Republican Party was formed in 1854.

Tonight, it's a stage for Harris to make her case to swing voters and Republicans like Cheney, who no longer feel at home in their own party.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.