Trump campaigns in Colorado amid false gang claims and anti-immigrant rhetoric: Live updates

Donald Trump is holding a rally focused on immigration in Aurora, Colorado, where local officials have rejected his claim that the Denver suburb is a “war zone” taken over by Venezuelan gangs.

As they announced the rally, the Trump campaign said: “Aurora, Colorado has become a ‘war zone’ due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members from Tren de Aragua.”

During the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10, Trump said: “They are taking over the towns. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently.”

The rally comes after Trump disparaged the entire city of Detroit, Michigan, on Thursday warning that the whole country could end up “a mess” like the Motor City if his Democratic rival wins November’s election, a pitch unlikely to endear him to local voters that has already inspired a major backlash.

Former president Barack Obama meanwhile delivered an impassioned speech denouncing the Republican’s character and mocking his “constant attempts to sell you stuff”, from gold sneakers to branded Bibles, during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, championing Harris’s bid for the presidency.

Key Points

• Trump disparages Detroit and rants about the death penalty when asked about raising his kids

• Barack Obama issues stern appeal to Black males thinking about voting for Trump

• Obama calls for action as he skewers Trump on campaign trail

• Kamala Harris comforts tearful woman as she appeals to Latino voters with Univision town hall

• Can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump? Latest poll updates

Live: Trump holds rally in Aurora, Colorado

21:10 , The Independent

Trump says Election Day will be ‘liberation day in America’

21:09 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump claimed during his rally that Election Day will be “liberation day in America.”

“To everyone here in Colorado and all across our nation, I make this pledge and vow to you. November 5, 2024, will be Liberation Day in America,” the former president said. “I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered. These towns have been conquered. Explain that to your governor, he doesn’t have a clue.”

WATCH: Trump falsely claims Harris used teleprompter during town hall

21:06 , Gustaf Kilander

Town hall host Enrique Acevedo said on X, “The prompter displayed my introduction (in Spanish) and then it switched to a timer. Any claim to the contrary is simply untrue.”

Trump says Colorado has to ‘flip’ in November

21:02 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump said Colorado has to “flip” into Republican hands in November’s election. The last Republican to win the state on the presidential level was George W Bush in 2004.

“That’s why I’m here … I’m not here for my health,” Trump said.

“I could be with the beautiful beaches all over the world. I could be in Monte Carlo. I could be all over the world … And where am I? I’m right now in Aurora, and that’s where I want to be,” he added.

Even Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Republican colleagues are outraged by her ‘loony toons’ hurricane conspiracies

21:00 , Mike Bedigan

House Republicans are becoming more and more frustrated with their colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene and her bizarre, and debunked, claims that Democrats are “controlling the weather” following the recent devastation caused by hurricanes in the southeastern US.

The Maga firebrand from Georgia has doubled down on her conspiracy, leading even her fellow party members to speculate that she “needs [her] head examined.”

Greene claimed online last week that “they” can control the weather after Hurricane Helene killed more than two dozen people in her state and more than 230 in total. On Wednesday she doubled down, clarifying that she was referring to governmental organizations including NOAA.

Republicans outraged by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘loony toons’ hurricane conspiracies

Trump pushes claim rejected by police that Aurora apartment complexes has been taken over by gangs

20:58 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump said during his Friday rally in Aurora that he was in the city to “call the attention of the world … to one of the most egregious betrayals that any leader in any nation has ever inflicted on its own people.”

“We are being led by stupid people, we cannot take it anymore,” he added.

“Kamala has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the Third World,” the former president argued.

“From prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions, and she has had them resettled beautifully into your community to pray upon innocent American citizens,” he added. “That’s what they’re doing. And in no place is it more evident than right here. Because in Aurora, multiple apartment complexes have been taken over by the savage Venezuela prison gang known as Tren de Aragua.”

Police in the Denver suburb have rejected the claim that apartment complexes have been taken over.

Can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump? Latest poll updates

20:30 , Alicja Hagopian

Vice President Kamala Harris will go head-to-head with Donald Trump in less than a month as Americans cast their votes in the 2024 election.

With just weeks to go, a new poll now finds Trump leading in multiple swing states, with margins mostly too close to call between the two candidates.

But Trump may be losing his grip on older generations of voters, with the latest New York Times polls showing the two candidates split by a hairline — and Harris ahead by 3 points.

With nearly 1 in 10 Republicans leaning left, how will Harris and Trump fare in November?

Can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump? Latest poll updates from the 2024 election

Live: Harris campaigns in Arizona as election day nears

20:25 , The Independent

Trump campaign uses mug shots of gang members as backdrop during Colorado event

20:25 , Gustaf Kilander

The Trump campaign is using mugshots of gang members arrested in Aurora as a backdrop for his speech in the city on Friday afternoon.

Jose Miguel Reyes-Perez and Juan Carlos Mejia-Espana were two of 10 members identified by the Aurora Police Department last month, according to TND. Their mugshots were seen on stage behind Trump’s podium on Friday.

Police said they arrested Reyes-Perez earlier this year for aggravated assault, menacing, and vehicle theft.

Meija-Espana was detained following an alleged domestic dispute involving a weapon.

The polls are clear: Kamala Harris’s honeymoon period is over

20:00 , John Bowden

Where will the 2024 election be decided?

In short, everywhere.

A new batch of polls came out this week, with a little less than one month to go in the presidential election. Kamala Harris’s “honeymoon” surge is now officially over.

Donald Trump is on the rise. A new Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan this week showed him leading in the latter two; RealClearPolitics’s polling average now has him ahead for the first time in months in the state of Michigan, a state which spurned Hillary Clinton in 2016 but flipped back to Democratic control in 2020.

But what’s really clear — what Quinnipiac’s poll and every other survey of the race indicates this week — is how close the race is in every state. No candidate has a lead higher than the low single digits in more than a half dozen states, all of which will play a significant role in the Electoral College.

The polls are clear: Kamala Harris’s honeymoon period is over

Maryland’s Senate race was friendly — until it really, really wasn’t

19:30 , John Bowden

The conversation between Angela Alsobrooks and her opponent Larry Hogan started off cordial, even friendly on Thursday evening.

It was a vibe that lasted for all of about thirty seconds.

Within moments of the debate hosted by NBC’s Chuck Todd kicking off on Maryland Public Television (MPT), the two candidates had dropped the cordiality and were trading accusations of dishonesty. That’s a sign of not just the passionate state of politics in 2024, but the stakes on the line in Maryland, where Hogan’s candidacy puts a formerly safe Democratic seat in the US Senate in real contention for the first time in many years.

Maryland’s Senate race was friendly — until it really, really wasn’t

Trump’s top general calls ex-president ‘fascist to the core’ and ‘most dangerous person to this country,’ new book says

19:00 , Andrew Feinberg

Mark Milley, the US Army general who Donald Trump appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, now says the current Republican presidential nominee is a “fascist to the core” and says no person has ever posed more of a danger to the United States than the man who served as the 45th President of the United States.

Milley, a decorated military officer who became a target for right-wing scorn after it became known that he expressed concerns over Trump’s mental stability in the wake of his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, is described by journalist Bob Woodward in his new book, War, as incredibly alarmed at the prospect of a second Trump term in the White House. The Independent obtained a copy ahead of the book’s October 15 release date.

In the wake of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a riotous mob of the then-president’s supporters, Woodward writes that Milley insisted on securing a meeting with the then-newly-minted attorney general, Merrick Garland, to urge him to investigate domestic violent extremism and far-right militia movements.

Trump’s top general calls ex-president ‘fascist to the core’

Trump, trailing badly with women, goes after ‘The View’ host in latest rant

18:30 , John Bowden

Donald Trump is watching Kamala Harris’s post-debate media blitz. He’s watching, and he’s not happy about it.

And as the former president struggles to mend his own self-inflicted wounds, Harris has taken on an energetic campaign schedule. The vice president has held multiple rallies and smaller events, while also hitting the interview circuit to reach wider audiences. Trump, meanwhile, has remained on the trail as well, with multiple events on his weekly calendar.

As the former president plays to the crowds of supporters at his rallies, however, he clearly has his mind on the larger audiences Harris is reaching with appearances on 60 Minutes, The View and even the Spotify podcast Call Her Daddy.

On Wednesday, at a rally in Pennsylvania, he highlighted some of his opponent’s media tour onstage, playing a clip of Harris’s interview with The View. Sunny Hostin, who asked Harris what she would have done differently than Joe Biden over the last four years had she been president, was a target of ridicule.

Trump, trailing badly with women, goes after ‘The View’ host in his latest rant

Trump ally Roger Stone suggests sending ‘armed guards’ to voting stations in undercover video

18:00 , James Liddell

Newly surfaced video footage reveals former Donald Trump adviser and longtime ally Roger Stone suggesting the deployment of Trump-backed “armed guards” at vote counting areas.

The notorious self-styled GOP “dirty trickster” was secretly recorded responding to a question about how Democrats can be stopped from “stealing” the election while mingling with attendees at his Jacksonville, Florida, event: ‘A Night with Roger Stone.’

“We have to fight it out on a state-by-state basis, but you have to be ready,” Stone can be heard replying in the undercover recording first given to Rolling Stone by documentarian Lauren Windsor.

Trump ally Roger Stone suggests sending ‘armed guards’ to voting stations

Trump expected to go on anti-immigrant rant during Colorado rally

17:38 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump is expected to go on an anti-immigrant rant as he visits Aurora, Colorado on Friday for a rally.

The Republican has claimed the Denver suburb has become overrun by immigrants and turned it into a “war zone,” suggestions that have been rejected by local officials.

“Aurora, Colorado has become a ‘war zone’ due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members from Tren de Aragua,” the Trump campaign said in a statement as the rally was announced.

During the debate on September 10, Trump said that members of the Tren de Aragua had taken control of a number of apartment buildings in the suburb, claims that have been denied by city leaders.

“They are taking over the towns. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently,” Trump said at the time. “These are the people that she and Biden let into our country.”

The rally is set to begin at 3pm ET at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center.

Trump’s ghostwriter says ‘The Apprentice’ biopic gets ‘most things’ right

17:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter who wrote Trump’s The Art of the Deal, has said the new biopic about the former president gets the most important thing about him right.

Gustaf Kilander has more.

Trump’s ghostwriter says ‘The Apprentice’ bio-pic gets ‘most things’ right

Trump’s campaign racks up $750,000 in unpaid bills for police protection at his rallies

17:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Cities across the US have tried to chase down money they say Donald Trump’s campaign owes them for providing law enforcement and other public safety measures at his hours-long rallies.

Trump’s campaign has been routinely accused of dodging invoices from local governments for the costs of increased police presence and other expenses that come with hosting large-scale events where crowds begin lining up hours ahead of his remarks, which typically go on for 82 minutes, on average.

In just five cities, that total is at least $750,000, with many of those bills dating back to rallies held while he was running for president in 2016, according to a new review from NBC News.

Here’s Alex Woodward’s report.

Trump racks up $750,000 in unpaid bills for police protection at his rallies

Recap: Detroit mayor slams Trump after ex-president trashes his ‘mess’ of a city

16:55 , Joe Sommerlad

Mayor Mike Duggan came out swinging after the Republican presidential candidate had the audacity to criticize the Motor City during his appearance before the Detroit Economic Club, a tactic that was never likely to win him many Michigan votes.

Gustaf Kilander has this report.

Detroit mayor slams Trump after ex-president trashes his ‘mess’ of a city in speech

Gateway Pundit removes all mention of defamed Georgia election workers

16:35 , Joe Sommerlad

The far-right conspiracy theory-driven website earlier this week settled a defamation claim from Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the Peach State election workers who received a massive compensation payout from Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

It now appears to have scrubbed any mention of the duo from its pages.

Meteorologists sent death threats over right-wing conspiracy theories alleging government ‘controls’ hurricanes

16:15 , Joe Sommerlad

This is deeply stupid and depressing.

FEMA has already warned that misinformation spread by Trump and his MAGA allies has hindered its efforts to help the worst-hit communities in America’s southeastern states.

Now, meteorologists say they are facing a backlash and even death threats in response to false claims like Marjorie Taylor Greene’s intensely idiotic pronouncement that “they” control the weather.

“I’ve never seen a storm garner so much misinformation, we have just been putting out fires of wrong information everywhere,” Katie Nickolaou, a Michigan-based weather expert, told The Guardian.

“I have had a bunch of people saying I created and steered the hurricane, there are people assuming we control the weather.

“But it’s taken a turn to more violent rhetoric, especially with people saying those who created Milton should be killed.”

You can follow all the latest on Hurricane Milton in our dedicated liveblog below.

Hurricane Milton live: Florida records fatalities and damage from the storm

Live: Tim Walz campaigns in Michigan weeks before Election Day

15:55 , Joe Sommerlad

You can watch a livefeed of Kamala Harris’s running mate’s latest appearance right here.

Walz can be relied upon to ridicule Trump over his comments about Detroit yesterday and will come prepared with attacks on the Republican’s lacklustre job creation record in the White House.

Trump-aligned UFC boss Dana White attacks Harris over Stephen Colbert interview

15:35 , Joe Sommerlad

White, who spoke at the Republican National Convention this summer but suggests he doesn’t generally like to get political, goes after Harris here for her late-night appearance earlier this week.

Admittedly this is not her best answer but have you seen, oh I don’t know, literally any video of Trump speaking publicly from the last nine years??

Watch: Obama criticized for singling out Black men during Harris-Walz campaigning

15:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Former Democratic Ohio state senator and activist Nina Turner appeared on CNN last night and argued that the former president was “wrong” to take Black men to task for backing away from supporting Kamala Harris.

James Liddell has more on Turner’s comments.

Obama faces fury after ‘lecturing’ Black men for not backing Harris

Fewer ‘everyday people’ have donated to Trump’s campaign than in 2020

14:55 , Joe Sommerlad

The Republican’s campaign has seen a more than 10 percentage point drop in the number of “small donors” this presidential election cycle compared to 2020.

So far this year, and with just 24 days to go until Election Day, only 31.7 percent of campaign donations have come from small donors – classified as people who give less than $200, according to OpenSecrets.

Four years ago, nearly half of Trump’s campaign donations came from small donors.

Ariana Baio has more.

Fewer ‘everyday people’ have donated to Trump’s campaign than in 2020

‘They came to see Vance’s new civil persona. They got the attack dog’

14:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Trump’s running mate has seen his numbers improve since last week’s VP debate against Tim Walz when he was surprisingly respectful to his opponent.

But that hasn’t stopped him reverting to a more pugnacious tone on the campaign trail.

Eric Garcia reports from Greensboro, North Carolina.

JD Vance’s debate rehabilitated his image. He quickly went back to throwing bombs

Trump seizes on one block of a Colorado city to warn of a migrant threat, even as crime dips

14:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s a timely little reality check on Aurora, the Denver suburb where Trump is holding the first of two events today, the second following later in Reno, Nevada.

Trump seizes on one block of a Colorado city to warn of a migrant crime threat, even as crime dips

Inside the Trump campaign’s ‘edgy’ and crass approach to appeal to men

13:55 , Joe Sommerlad

Donald Trump has proclaimed himself the “protector” of women but the tone of his messaging has become incrasingly geared towards young men with crass language and put-downs in the hope that that bloc will back him in November.

But the former president risks further isolating female voters by doing so, writes Kelly Rissman.

Inside the Trump campaign’s crass approach to appeal to men and ride them to victory

Watch: Pennsylvania Governor tells Trump to ‘stop s***-talking America’

13:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Josh Shapiro was as fired up as Obama in Pittsburgh yesterday.

Harris appears on the cover of Vogue as ‘the candidate for our times’

13:15 , Joe Sommerlad

How long before Trump goes insane about this on Truth Social?

The View hosts nail Trump after verbal attack at Pennsylvania rally

12:55 , Joe Sommerlad

Whoopi Goldberg was hardly likely to take the Republican calling her “dirty and disgusting” lying down.

Here’s Inga Parkel on how she and her fellow View hosts responded to the nominee’s slur.

Whoopi Goldberg fires back at Trump after he called her ‘filthy, dirty, disgusting’

Fox News host blasts Trump over Hurricane Helene misinformation

12:35 , Joe Sommerlad

“For the most part, we’ve seen a lot of responsible actors on both sides of the aisle,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told Neil Cavuto on Fox yesterday.

“You would never know from the conversations we’re having which one was a Republican and which one was a Democrat.

“Right now you have a lot of people pulling together, working to get the job done for people, regardless of how you voted.”

Cavuto responded to that by saying: “We also get a lot of misinformation, don’t we? We have people who say in North Carolina – if you’re a Republican, you’re not going to get help.

“If you’re a Democrat, you’re going to get help. I would imagine that does a huge disservice to people working together and scares the bejesus out of others when they believe it.”

Here he is pretty frankly calling out Trump:

Buttigieg subsequently took his message to CNN:

As to the point the secretary raises there, here’s Graig Graziosi’s report on a North Carolina man who says his father-in-law is refusing help from FEMA explicitly because of Trump’s words.

Man says hurricane-hit father-in-law refusing FEMA help after falling for Trump lie

Watch: Obama uses diaper joke to mock Trump at Pittsburgh rally for Harris

12:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Harris re-creates John McCain’s legendary thumbs-down gesture

11:55 , Joe Sommerlad

In Phoenix in the same state, the Democrat paid tribute to Arizona’s celebrated Republican Senator and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain, who passed away in August 2018.

In particular, she recalled the moment he burst through the wooden doors of the Senate to vote to save Obama’s Affordable Care Act in July 2017 with an iconic thumbs-down gesture.

“It needed one vote to keep it intact,” Harris remembered. “That vote was the late, great John McCain.”

The moment the senator entered was “like out of a movie”, she said, before repeating the motion herself to cheers from the locals.

She also pointedly called McCain “a great man, a great American, a war hero”, a knock at Trump who notoriously derided the Vietnam veteran’s six-year imprisonment in the Hanoi Hilton by saying he liked people who weren’t captured.

That despite Trump himself having received at least six draft deferrals to stay out of the conflict and later joking to Howard Stern that escaping an STD in his youth was his “personal Vietnam”.

Trump cites ‘incorrect’ article to prove he was Michigan’s 2013 ‘Man of the Year’

11:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Also in Detroit, the Republican presidential nominee again confidently touted his being named the “Man of the Year” by the county’s Republican Party in 2013.

The only problem is that he was not and the newspaper clipping he brought to prove it had to have a correction issued in response to it.

The former president appeared determined to set the record straight about his non-existent victory, a false claim he has been obsessed with for years.

Multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, have fact-checked his insistence he won the award and determined that no such accolade exists and Trump was never given it.

He again complained that it was “fake news” and “quite insulting” on Thursday evening.

Ariana Baio has more.

Newspaper says Trump cited ‘incorrect’ article claiming he was ‘Man of the Year’

Harris says Trump’s refusal to debate her again is a ‘weak move’

11:15 , Joe Sommerlad

The VP rebuked her Republican rival yesterday for refusing to debate her again before the election, Trump having let offers from both CNN and Fox News pass him by after making a fool of himself at ABC’s event in Philadelphia on September 10.

“I think it’s a disservice to the voters. I also think it’s a pretty weak move,” Harris told supporters at her rally in Chandler, Arizona, on Thursday.

“But even if he will not debate, the contrast in this election is already clear. This election is about two very different visions… for our nation. One, his, focused on the past. The other, ours, focused on the future.”

Trump unwittingly reveals daughter Tiffany is pregnant

10:55 , Joe Sommerlad

The former president deviated from his economic speech in Detroit yesterday to unexpectedly revealed that his daughter Tiffany Trump is pregnant.

Trump noted that the father of Tiffany’s husband Michael Boulos, Dr Massad Boulos, was in the audience and paused to call the young couple “very exceptional” before going on to say: “She’s going to have a baby, so that’s nice.”

Gustaf Kilander has more.

Trump unwittingly reveals Tiffany is pregnant as he goes off-script in speech

Obama issues stern appeal to Black males thinking about voting for Trump: ‘I’ve got a problem with that’

10:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Speaking at a more informal Black Voters for Harris event in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh yesterday, the 44th president was more forthright as he urged Black males to get behind the Democratic candidate.

“We have not yet seen the same kind of energy and turnout in all corners of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama noted.

“Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers,” he said, alluding to Black men.

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses. I’ve got a problem with that.

“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

He continued: “Women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time.

“When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting.”

At his rally, Obama sought to appeal to men more generally, saying:

“I’ve noticed that some men seem to think that Trump’s behavior of bullying and putting people down is a sign of strength.

“And I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is.”

Harris joins Detroit Mayor and Michigan Governor in hitting back at Trump over Motor City slur

10:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Trump’s contention that “the whole country will end up being like Detroit” and become “a mess” if the Vice President wins November’s election has, not surprisingly, not gone down at all well with Democrats or local officials.

Speaking in Vegas, Kamala hit back by saying: “I’ve had a good time meeting with the Culinary Union members, who of course are part of the backbone of this great city.

“I guess by contrast my opponent Donald Trump yet again has trashed another great American city when he was in Detroit, which is just a further piece of evidence on a very long list of why he is unfit to be President of the United States.”

Also incensed was Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who posted on X: “Detroit just hosted the largest NFL Draft in history, the Tigers are back in the playoffs, the Lions are headed to the Super Bowl, crime is down and our population is growing.”

Not finished there, he recorded a video for Instagram in which he declared: “Since Donald Trump left office, the unemployment rate in Detroit is way down, the homicide rate is way down, and our population is growing for the first time since the 1950s.

“In fact, the best thing that happened to Detroit was when Donald Trump left office and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came in and gave us real partners.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer also chimed in with: “Detroit is the epitome of ‘grit,’ defined by winners willing to get their hands dirty to build up their city and create their communities – something Donald Trump could never understand.”

Kamala Harris comforts tearful woman as she appeals to Latino voters with Univision town hall

09:55 , Joe Sommerlad

Kamala Harris herself took part in a town hall event in Las Vegas, Nevada, hosted by the Spanish-language network Univision as she sought to press home her advantage with that demographic, which she currently leads Trump on by 54 per cent to 40 per cent, according to an NBC News, Telemundo and CNBC poll published last month.

The Vice President wasted no time in trashing Trump for “playing political games” by lying about the federal response to Hurricane Helene and over his claim that he would be a dictator “on day one”.

“Do we support a democracy and the Constitution of the United States, or are we going to go on the path of somebody who is a sore loser and lost the election in 2020 and tried to have a violent mob undo it?” she asked viewers.

She did particularly well taking questions from the studio audience, comforting a woman moved to tears by the plight of her late mother and another describing her ordeal at the hands of long Covid, also putting to bed a concern about whether Joe Biden was pressured to drop out of the race in July to make way for her candidacy.

Invited by one person to name “three virtues” she feels Trump has, Harris responded carefully: “I think Donald Trump loves his family and I think that’s very important.

“I think family is one of the most important things we can prioritize. I don’t really know him to be honest with you, I only met him one time on the debate stage.”

Trump disparages Detroit and rants about the death penalty when asked about raising his kids

09:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Just hours earlier, Trump had disparaged the entire city of Detroit, Michigan, warning that the whole country could end up like the Motor City if his Democratic rival wins on November 5, a pitch unlikely to endear him to local voters.

More bizarrely, he managed to turn a question about his parenting style into an eight-minute rant about drugs that ended with him explaining why some people convicted of fentanyl-related crimes should face the death penalty.

Other “highlights” from his visit to the Detroit Economic Club included his raving about self-driving cars, declaring that California is “stone cold broke” and without electricity and griping about not winning a Nobel Prize, which I’m sure is a disappointment at the forefront of the minds of most Americans struggling with the cost of living and looking for a brighter vision for their country’s future.

Katie Hawkinson has more.

Trump was asked about raising his kids. He went on a rant about the death penalty

Barack Obama calls for action as he skewers Donald Trump on campaign trail

09:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Good morning!

Former president Barack Obama delivered an impassioned speech denouncing Donald Trump’s character and mocking his “constant attempts to sell you stuff”, from gold sneakers to branded Bibles, during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday as he championed Kamala Harris’s bid for the presidency.

Obama portrayed his White House successor as a callous, unprincipled and irresponsible man preoccupied with his own grievances and unfit to serve.

The 44th president’s speech is his first stop on a tour of battleground states stumping for Harris.

Bill Clinton is also expected to speak for her in rural Georgia next week.

Here’s a full report from Andrew Feinberg.

Obama calls for action as he skewers Trump in first appearance on campaign trail

Republicans file lawsuits to challenge overseas ballots (including those of military personnel)

08:00 , Alex Woodward

Republicans have filed a flurry of lawsuits in battleground states to target ballots cast by American voters living abroad — including military service members.

Critics warn the move is designed to cast doubt on the legitimacy of 2024’s forthcoming presidential election.

Alex Woodward reports.

Republicans file flurry of lawsuits to challenge ballots from Americans living abroad

Harris teleprompter misinformation circulates again

07:30 , Ariana Baio

Vance trolled after claiming he’d ‘never’ praise Obama when he did… in print

07:00 , Oliver O’Connell

Social media users have trolled JD Vance for claiming he “never” praises Barack Obama — despite a glowing op-ed about the former president seven years ago.

Kelly Rissman has the story.

Vance trolled for claiming he’d ‘never’ praise Obama – despite writing op-ed doing so

Harris warns Latino voters about Trump ‘dictatorship’

06:30 , Ariana Baio

During a Univision town hall on Thursday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris directly appealed to Latino voters – the voting population she is struggling to connect with this election cycle– by warning them Donald Trump would be a dictator “on day one.”

“Many people come from backgrounds and countries of origin, and we know what that means when you’re talking about someone who wants to be president of the United States and wants to be a dictator, and what that means in terms of taking freedoms from their people,” Harris said.

“Do we support a democracy and the Constitution of the United States, or are we going to go on the path of somebody who is a sore loser and lost the election in 2020 and tried to have a violent mob undo it?” She posed.

New polling: Republicans likely to seize control of the Senate this fall

06:00 , Oliver O’Connell

Democrats risk losing control of the Senate this fall as new polling in a handful of crucial races shows Republicans in strong single-digit leads less than four weeks before Election Day.

Alex Woodward looks at the numbers.

Republicans likely to seize control of the Senate this fall, new polling shows

Vance defends Trump during North Carolina town hall

05:30 , Eric Garcia

As he took the stage during a town hall at the Koury Convention Center, the image of JD Vance the civil statesman slowly began to peel off and he reassumed his image as Trump’s attack dog.

For example, Vance was asked about deportations and Trump’s lie that 13,000 murderers crossed the US-Mexico border during the Biden administration. In response, he used immigration as a wedge between Wester North Carolinians who are reeling from the effects of Helene and migrants.

“And if the message that our country sends after 25 million illegal aliens coming into this country is you get to stay here, you get to collect housing benefits, you get to collect welfare benefits, while folks in western North Carolina are struggling to survive, we will never have a border in this country again,” he said.

The Trump campaign and his allies have repeatedly spread lies that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was assisting immigrants with money meant for disaster relief, a claim that has been repeatedly debunked and that President Joe Biden has pushed back on.

Obama bashes Trump for not showing ‘real strength’

05:00 , Ariana Baio

Former president Barack Obama set the record straight about what “real strength” is in a leader while criticizing Donald Trump for “bullying” and “putting people down.”

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. I’ve noticed this, especially with some men, who seem to think Trump’s behavior of bullying and putting people down is a sign of strength. I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is. It never has been,” Obama said.

“Real strength is about working hard and carrying a heavy load without complaining. Real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth even when it’s inconvenient.”

“Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves. That is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons and that is what I want to see in a President of the United States of America,” he said.

Harris slams Trump for insulting Detroit

04:30 , Ariana Baio

In Las Vegas, Nevada, Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump for insulting Detroit while on the campaign trail, saying it was why “he is unfit to be president.”

“I’ve had a good time meeting with the Culinary Union members who of course are part of the backbone of this great city,” Harris told supporters.

“I guess by contrast my opponent Donald Trump yet again has trashed another great American city when he was in Detroit, which is just a further piece of evidence on a very long list of why he is unfit to be President of the United States.”

Earlier in the day, Trump referred to Detroit as a “mess” while at the Detroit Economic Club luncheon.

Whoopi Goldberg fires back at Trump after he called her ‘filthy, dirty, disgusting’

03:45 , Oliver O’Connell

The View’s Whoopi Goldberg has clapped back at Donald Trump after he singled her out, calling her “filthy, dirty, disgusting” during his latest Pennsylvania rally.

On Thursday’s (October 10) episode of the ABC talk show, Goldberg, 68, and her co-hosts expertly fired back at the former president’s verbal attack.

Inga Parkel has the story.

Whoopi Goldberg fires back at Trump after he called her ‘filthy, dirty, disgusting’

They came to see Vance’s new civil persona from the Walz debate. They found the old attack dog instead

03:20 , Eric Garcia

Vance has seen his numbers improve since the debate. But in North Carolina, he’s taking a more pugnacious tone, Eric Garcia reports from Greensboro

JD Vance’s debate rehabilitated his image. He quickly went back to throwing bombs

74 percent of voters think Trump won’t accept election results if he loses: poll

03:00 , Ariana Baio

If Kamala Harris wins the 2024 presidential election, 74 percent of voters think Donald Trump would not accept the results, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center.

In the survey of 4,025 registered voters, less than half of Trump supporters said they think the Republican nominee would concede the election if he lost to Harris. Only four percent of Harris supporters believe Trump would acknowledge Harris as the winner.

But 95 percent of Harris supporters and 48 percent of Trump supporters agree if Harris loses, she would concede to Trump.

The former president has vehemently claimed he won the 2020 election and that it was “stolen” by Democrats who committed mass voter fraud. Those claims are false and have been proven false by multiple independent investigations.

Obama jokes Trump has never changed a diaper

02:59 , Ariana Baio

Obama calls for action as he skewers ‘crazy’ Trump in first appearance on 2024 campaign trail

02:30 , Andrew Feinberg

Obama slammed the ‘78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago’ as he stumped for Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

Obama calls for action as he skewers Trump in first appearance on campaign trail

Kari Lake slammed for refusing to admit 2022 defeat during debate ‘disaster’

02:00 , Josh Marcus

Liberal political commentators slammed Arizona’s Kari Lake’s debate performance after the Senate candidate refused to answer a question about whether she lost the state’s 2022 gubernatorial election.

“Utter disaster for Kari Lake in tonight’s debate,” commentator Brian Tyler Cohen wrote on X of the moment.

The progressive New Republic magazine, meanwhile, added that the debate was a “complete disaster” for Lake.

The criticisms stem from a key exchange in the 2024 battleground state on Wednesday night, where the candidates are vying to fill the seat being vacated by the outgoing independent Kyrsten Sinema.

Kari Lake slammed for refusing to admit 2022 defeat during debate ‘disaster’

Obama delivers impassioned speech denouncing Trump’s lies about FEMA

01:48 , Ariana Baio

At a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Barack Obama went from cracking jokes about Donald Trump to delivering a serious, passionate speech about his character and values.

“The idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments. My question is when did that become okay?” Obama said, referencing Trump’s spread of misinformation about FEMA in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

“I want to ask Republicans out there…. When did that become okay? Why would we go along with that?”

Obama asks Black men to support Harris

01:30 , Ariana Baio

Before making a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Obama stopped at a campaign field office where he scolded Black men for not having enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris.

“My understanding, based on reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama said.

The former president asked how voters, especially Black voters, could question supporting Harris over Donald Trump.

“And you are thinking about sitting out?” Obama asked. “And you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” Obama added.

“Because part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

Obama hits at Trump for selling merch

Friday 11 October 2024 00:54 , Ariana Baio

Obama joked about his successor’s tendency to sell merchandise with his branding on it during a campaign rally stop on behalf of Harris.

“It’s like Fidel Castro, on and on, constant attempts to sell you stuff. Who does that? Selling you gold sneakers, a $100,000 watch and most recently, a Trump Bible,” Obama said.

“He wants you to buy the Word of God, Donald Trump edition, got his name right there next to Matthew and Luke,” the former president joked.

Obama told the room of rallygoers there is “absolutely no evidence” that Trump “thinks about anybody but himself.”

Obama praises FEMA and government response to hurricanes

Friday 11 October 2024 00:37 , Ariana Baio

On the stage in Pittsburgh, former president Barack Obama made an indirect comment about the misinformation about Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

“It’s times like this that having honest, competent leadership in government really matters,” Obama said.

He praised FEMA workers for helping victims of the storms.

Trump went on an eight-minute rant calling for the death penalty

Friday 11 October 2024 00:20 , Katie Hawkinson

Donald Trump was asked about his family and parenting style at an event in Detroit, Michigan on Thursday.

At first, his response was on-topic. But his answer quickly devolved into an eight-minute rant about drugs that ended in him explaining why some people convicted of fentanyl-related crimes should face the death penalty.

Trump was speaking at the Detroit Economic Club on Thursday afternoon when his outburst began. Businessman John Rakolta Jr., who interviewed the former president in front of club members, complimented his parenting style before asking how he made his children “so responsible.”

“Well, I’m fortunate in that, you know, they’re smart children,” Trump responded.

Before Rakolta could say anything else, Trump then began to discuss fentanyl, claiming he “had that problem almost solved with President Xi [Jinping]” while serving as president.

“Almost all of it comes through Mexico, and the maximum penalty is the death penalty, and he was going to impose that,” Trump said.

Read more here

Former president Barack Obama expected on stage soon

Friday 11 October 2024 00:00 , Ariana Baio

With just a few weeks to go until Election Day, former president Barack Obama is hitting the campaign trail on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris tonight, hoping to rally support for her in the key battleground state, Pennsylvania.

The rally, which is taking place at the University of Pittsburgh, is expected to begin around 7:30 p.m. ET.

It is the first of several stops Obama is expected to make for Harris in swing states.

From JD Vance’s town hall in Greensboro, NC

Thursday 10 October 2024 23:35 , Eric Garcia

They are playing the same playlist at this JD Vance town hall on a loop.

I have heard the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” twice and am now on my second go-around with “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses.

Kamala Harris’s honeymoon period is over — the polls make that clear

Thursday 10 October 2024 23:20 , Oliver O’Connell

Where will the 2024 election be decided?

In short, everywhere.

A new batch of polls came out this week, with a little less than one month to go in the presidential election. Kamala Harris’s “honeymoon” surge is now officially over.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.

The polls are clear: Kamala Harris’s honeymoon period is over

Republicans file lawsuits to challenge overseas ballots (including those of military personnel)

Thursday 10 October 2024 23:10 , Oliver O’Connell

Republicans have filed a flurry of lawsuits in battleground states to target ballots cast by American voters living abroad — including military service members.

Critics warn the move is designed to cast doubt on the legitimacy of 2024’s forthcoming presidential election.

Alex Woodward reports.

Republicans file flurry of lawsuits to challenge ballots from Americans living abroad

Florida MAGA Republican praises Biden and blasts Mike Johnson’s hurricane response

Thursday 10 October 2024 22:59 , Eric Garcia

A MAGA Republican ally of former president Donald Trump who has persistently spread lies and misinformation about Hurricane Helene relief is now praising President Joe Biden while bashing House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Representative Anna Paulina Luna, who represents Florida’s 13th district that got hit by Hurricane Helene, said she spoke with Biden.

“He is personally overseeing that FEMA does not create problems with the debris removal and is supportive of the 15 Billion in FEMA funds ONLY FOR Hurricane victims,” she said on X/Twitter.

Luna had previously criticized Biden and spread lies and misinformation.

“I HAVE PEOPLE THAT HAVE DIED IN MY COUNTY AND FEMA GAVE FUNDING TO ILLEGALS,” she said last week. This came despite the fact that she had left Florida to campaign with Trump in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

But now, Luna praised Biden and also blasted House Speaker Mike Johnson since Congress is out of session.

“If Congress goes into a special session we can get it passed immediately,” she posted. “This needs to happen. @SpeakerJohnson call us back.”

Luna has been one of the hellraisers in Congress who initially blocked Kevin McCarthy from becoming speaker early last year before she flipped her vote.

But she is feeling the heat in her home district as Whitney Fox, a Democrat, is running a competitive race.

Fellow Republican rep Nancy Mace of South Carolina responded to Luna’s post on X: “Thank you Biden for doing the right thing here. We need to put politics aside and help the American people here.”

Earlier: Harris campaign distances itself from interview editing claims

Thursday 10 October 2024 22:55 , Oliver O’Connell

Kamala Harris’s campaign has distanced itself from questions over her 60 Minutes interview after Donald Trump baselessly accused the network of committing a crime with its production of her interview.

Right-wing critics on social media posted side-by-side clips of the preview of her interview — in which Harris delivered a lengthy response to 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker on whether the US lacks influence over Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — next to the same segment in the final broadcast that aired October 7.

Alex Woodward reports.

Harris campaign distances itself from 60 Minutes interview editing claims

Ohioans still voting for Trump — even though they know his claims about migrants are false

Thursday 10 October 2024 22:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Most voters in Ohio do not believe Donald Trump’s racist falsehood that Haitian immigrants are “eating the pets” of Springfield.

But the Republican presidential candidate is still leading Vice President Kamala Harris by roughly six percentage points in the state, maintaining his lead from his 2016 and 2020 victories, according to polling from The Washington Post.

Alex Woodward took a look at the numbers.

Ohioans know Trump is lying about immigrants — but still plan to vote for him

The Mark Robinson scandal arrives down-ballot

Thursday 10 October 2024 22:37 , Oliver O’Connell

Eric Garcia reports from Greensboro, North Carolina:

Many have wondered whether CNN’s bombshell report showing that North Carolina gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson allegedly regularly commented on a pornography site called Nude Africa, where he called himself a “black NAZI” and expressed his preference for pornography with transgender women despite his rampant transphobia, would affect the presidential election.

Donald Trump has regularly praised Robinson, though he stiff-armed him at a rally in Wilmington. It comes as North Carolina is a must-win state for both Kamala Harris and Trump’s campaigns. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, is in Greensboro tonight for a town hall.

But ultimately, it’s unclear whether it will have an effect. What is clear is that Democrats in the state running for lower offices are seeking to tie their opponents to Robinson.

Rachel Hunt, the Democratic nominee for Robinson’s current job of lieutenant governor, released an ad asking “Who’s worse than Mark Robinson?” Before answering “his choice for lieutenant governor Hal Weatherman,” highlighting how he had mocked rape victims by saying “girls can be teases.”

The ad ends with Hunt, the daughter of former four-term governor Jim Hunt, opening a janitor’s closet.

“And since I’m moving into Robinson’s office, I’ll start with a gallon of this,” holding a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

Coming up: Obama’s first Kamala Harris rally aims at young voters in Pennsylvania

Thursday 10 October 2024 22:30 , Reuters

Former President Barack Obama will make his case for Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday night during a rally at a Pittsburgh college campus, as Democrats seek to spur young people to vote in the Nov. 5 election.

Obama has been a vocal supporter of Harris since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden stepped aside in July following a poor debate performance against Republican former President Donald Trump.

Obama, whose White House term ended in 2017, is still popular with his party’s base. His rally at the University of Pittsburgh, which he will headline while Harris campaigns in Nevada and Arizona, is the first of several events he plans to do in battleground states across the country in the coming weeks.

Obama is not the only former president the Harris campaign plans to deploy.

Bill Clinton, a two-term Democratic president and former Arkansas governor, will make stops in Georgia on Sunday and Monday before traveling to North Carolina for a bus tour later in the week in an effort to reach rural voters.

In remarks slated to begin around 7:15 pm ET (2315 GMT), Obama will say Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, her running mate, are uniquely positioned to lead the United States at this moment, according to his adviser Eric Schultz.

“He’ll also talk about the enormous stakes and the risks involved in returning President Trump into office,” Schultz said.

Youth are a critical part of the coalition that the Harris campaign hopes will propel her to victory. But voter registration among young people in 34 states is down compared with four years ago, according to data updated in September from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

The number of people between the ages of 18 and 29 who are registered to vote in Pennsylvania in September was 15 percent lower than it was on Election Day in 2020, the center’s data showed.

Obama’s engagement could help get young people motivated in the campaign’s final stretch. The former president has sought to serve as a closer for Democratic candidates before, with events for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and for Biden in 2020, especially at the end of the election cycle when early voting had begun, as it has now.

Obama is focused on voters who can put the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate in Democratic hands, another aide said. The former president has helped raise $80 million for the 2024 presidential campaign.

Obama and his wife Michelle gave rousing speeches in support of Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August; the former first lady is expected to campaign further for Harris as well.

Harris was an early supporter of Barack Obama’s own 2008 presidential bid, and he has helped her behind the scenes as the party’s 2024 standard-bearer, encouraging her to tap talent to bolster her campaign, which she did.

The former president is viewed by some as having helped usher Biden out of the race after Democrats’ worries about the 81-year-old leader’s age and abilities skyrocketed after his June debate against Trump.

Harris and Trump remain in a close race, and winning Pennsylvania could be key to winning the White House.

Crowd forming for Obama rally in Pittsburgh for Harris-Walz ticket

Thursday 10 October 2024 22:25 , Oliver O’Connell

Melania Trump roasted over ‘ChatGPT’ memoir

Thursday 10 October 2024 22:20 , Oliver O’Connell

Jordan Klepper roasted Melania Trump over her “ChatGPT” memoir and the now-infamous plagiarism scandal involving Michelle Obama’s speech during Wednesday night’s The Daily Show.

Rhian Lubin has the story.

Daily Show host trolls Melania Trump’s ‘ChatGPT’ memoir