Vice President Kamala Harris responds to reporting on warnings about former President Trump from John Kelly, prompting a response from the former president calling her a "stone cold loser"; and the fentanyl crisis continues to ruin lives in Central Florida.

Harris responds to reporting on John Kelly's warnings on Trump; former president calls her a 'stone cold loser'

Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday responded to new reporting detailing comments retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly made about his one-time boss, former President Donald Trump, calling the revelations “deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous” and saying it is clear her GOP opponent falls into the “general definition of fascist.”

“All of this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is,” Harris said on Wednesday. “This is a window into who Donald Trump really is from the people who know him best, from the people who worked with him side-by-side in the Oval Office and in the Situation Room.”

“And it is clear from John Kelly’s words that Donald Trump is someone who I quote, ‘certainly falls into the general definition of fascists,’” she continued. 

In response, Trump's campaign sent out a statement after Harris' remarks calling her "a stone-cold loser who is increasingly desperate" and sought to blame the vice president's rhetoric for the two assassination attempts against the Republican nominee this year.

"She is despicable and her grotesque behavior proves she is wholly unfit for office," said Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung.

Harris’ remarks, which were previously unscheduled and delivered from the Vice President’s Residence before she was set to head off to Pennsylvania for a town hall with CNN, came one day after The New York Times and The Atlantic published pieces detailing warnings from Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, about the former president. 

Kelly told the New York Times in an interview that Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist.” The Atlantic story charges that Trump would love to be a dictator and said he wanted generals like the ones Adolf Hitler had. 

Cheung told The Times in a statement that Kelly had shared “debunked stories” and “beclowned” himself.

A handful of other high-level officials who served in Trump’s administration have also issued warnings about the former president, either publicly or as repealed in reports, such as former Defense Secretaries Mark Esper and Jim Mattis as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton. 

Fentanyl epidemic continues to shatter lives in Central Florida

Tens of thousands of Americans die each year from fentanyl overdoses. And while statistics show those overdoses are leveling off some from recent years of increases, the problem is still considered an epidemic.  And it’s a problem that continues to be a topic raised by some running for political office.

Patti O'Keefe wanted the best for her son Phil.

“He was so young and he had so much to look forward to,” said O'Keefe. “And because he was a gifted musician, I wanted so much to see him to do something with the potential of his music.”

As a home economics teacher for 30 years, O'Keefe taught high school students life skills, and the dangers of addiction — a message she also shared with Phil, her youngest son.

“He heard all of this from his mother, and, unfortunately, I didn’t even know — I wasn’t even aware of what he was going through,” said O'Keefe.

But O'Keefe says her son battled depression and was addicted to alcohol and drugs. At one point, she said her son used an opioid pill he didn’t know was laced with fentanyl.

As a result, her 33-year-old son died from a fentanyl overdose.

“You just don’t think it’s going to happen to your child," O'Keefe said. "And it does and it did, and there is an epidemic of fentanyl right now, and it needs to stop."

“His time on earth was short,” O'Keefe added.

O'Keefe now surrounds herself with pictures — reminders of her youngest son. She still grieves the loss of her son a year and a half ago, but she says she can’t let the pain consume her.

“I’m his mother — I carried him for nine months," she said. "You can’t expect to feel the same. So I’ve had to give that to God and say, 'What it is that you want me to do now with this pain?'”

And then through a television documentary, O'Keefe discovered Victoria’s Voice, a nonprofit founded by David and Jackie Siegel who lost their 18-year-old daughter Victoria to a drug overdose in 2015.

“I was deeply touched by what they went through as parents," O'Keefe said. "Because, unfortunately, Victoria had an addiction and, unfortunately, so did my son Phil. And I could relate so much to what they went through as parents.”

O'Keefe is now dedicating her life to advocating for the prevention of fentanyl overdoses.

She even keeps Narcan, the antidote to an overdose, in her car just in case.

“You want to help in any way, shape or form that you can, and this is right there so you can save a life, right away,” said O'Keefe.

CDC data shows fentanyl overdoses actually decreased from 76,226 in 2022 to 74,702 in 2023, after several years of increasing each year.