Category Archives: US elections 2020

Trump unlikely to travel for weekend rally as Pelosi says medication has him ‘in an altered state’ – live

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Reports are coming out that Donald Trump will not hold campaign events over the weekend but is planning on heading back to the trail on Monday.

.@FoxNews is told @realDonaldTrump will likely not have campaign events this weekend, but is planning to be back on the trail on Monday.

The Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral arguments for cases virtually in November and December and will provide live audio feed of the hearings. The court will follow the same format it has been using for its new term starting this month.

The justices have not heard arguments in person since early March. In a press release, the court said it will determine plans for January’s arguments soon.

JUST IN Due to COVID-19 #SCOTUS announces they'll hear oral arguments for November & December via teleconference with live audio. pic.twitter.com/4X4HcVmKfm

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Biden blasts Trump for not condemning Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot – video

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has slammed Donald Trump for not condemning right-wing militias following the foiled kidnapping plot against Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Speaking from his campaign in Arizona, Biden criticised the president for not watching his words after Trump previously tweeted 'Liberate Michigan' in response to the state's Covid restrictions. 'You saw what the head of the FBI said a couple of days ago. He said the greatest terrorist threat in America is from white supremacists,' Biden said. 'Why can't the president just say, stop, stop, stop, stop, and we will pursue you if you don't"

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Donald Trump says he will not participate in virtual debate with Joe Biden – video

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The US president made his announcement in a Fox Business interview, moments after the commission that oversees the presidential election debates said the next event would be conducted from remote locations after Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis. The White House has refused to say when the president's last negative test for the virus was and, as a result, it is unclear how long he has been positive. The next debate is scheduled for 15 October

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Mike Pence and Kamala Harris spar on Covid, race and climate in VP debate – video highlights

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Mike Pence and Kamala Harris met in Utah for the only vice-presidential debate of the election, separated by Plexiglass barriers as a protection against coronavirus.

From the pandemic to healthcare and race to the supreme court, via a fly, here are some of the key moments

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‘They’re coming for you’: Harris slams Trump and Pence on healthcare – video

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One of the most memorable moments of the vice-presidential debate was on healthcare, when Harris issued a stark warning about the Trump administration’s intentions.

Trump is seeking to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, which prevents health companies turning away patients with pre-existing conditions.

'If you have a pre-existing condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they’re coming for you. If you love someone who has a pre-existing condition, they’re coming for you.'

Pence responded by claiming the Trump administration has a plan to protect people with pre-existing conditions. Trump has spent years claiming he will release a comprehensive healthcare plan. We’re yet to see it

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‘I’m speaking’: Kamala Harris reins in Mike Pence during VP debate – video

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The vice-presidential debate was more courteous than last week’s horror show, during which Donald Trump interrupted Joe Biden 71 times during the first presidential debate, but the events in Salt Lake City still showed two contrasting faces of the US.

'Mr Vice-President, I’m speaking. I’m speaking,' Kamala Harris told Mike Pence, as he again tried to interject as she discussed Trump’s tax plans

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Fly that landed on Mike Pence head becomes VP debate star – video

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A fly that landed on Mike Pence's head has become the star of the vice presidential debate after the Republican went head-to-head with Kamala Harris. The fly was on Pence's head for over one minute, which proved more than enough time to grow its notoriety online. Democratic candidate Joe Biden used the opportunity to raise money for his campaign, while multiple Twitter account where setup on the fly's behalf

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Looks speak louder than words as Harris makes quotable case against Pence

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The vice-presidential debate was more courteous than last week’s horror show but still showed two contrasting faces of America

It was always going to be about the two faces of America.

One: white, male, midwestern, evangelical Christian. The other: Black, female, coastal, progressive.

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Pence-Harris vice-presidential debate: six key takeaways

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Coronavirus was the key theme, but Harris also warned of the threat to Obamacare as both candidates dodged questions

The vice-presidential debate on Wednesday was less openly hostile than the Donald Trump-Joe Biden debacle last week – but provided a further insight into the state of both campaigns ahead of November.

Related: Kamala Harris and Mike Pence clash over coronavirus response in vice-presidential debate

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Minority of Europeans think US election will be free and fair – poll

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Exclusive: majorities in seven countries favour Joe Biden and rate Donald Trump poorly

Fewer than one in 10 Europeans expect next month’s US presidential election to be completely free and fair, and an overwhelming majority say they would like Joe Biden to triumph over Donald Trump.

According to a YouGov tracker survey in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden, in only one of these countries – Italy – are more than a tenth of voters confident that the American electoral process will prove irreproachable.

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Harris calls Trump’s Covid response ‘greatest failure’ of any administration – video

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Separated from vice-president Mike Pence by plexiglass barriers, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris called the Trump administration's response to the growing coronavirus pandemic 'the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country'. 

Speaking directly to the camera, Harris said, 'They knew what was happening, and they didn't tell you.'

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Donald Trump says catching Covid-19 was ‘like a blessing from God’ – video

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Donald Trump has described getting Covid-19 as 'a blessing in disguise' in a video delivered outside the Oval Office. Trump described his three-night stay at Walter Reed medical center, referring to the treatment he received as a cure, and promising to make it available to all Americans. 'I want to get for you, what I got and I'm going to make it free. You're not going to pay for it,' he said. 'It wasn't your fault that this happened. It was China's fault. And China is going to pay a big price – what they've done to this country. China is going to pay a big price.' Covid-19 has killed more than 210,000 Americans and over a 1 million people worldwide in 10 months

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Trump returns to Oval Office against CDC’s isolation guidelines – live

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Here’s a recap of today so far, from me and Martin Pengelly:

Related: Coronavirus live news: Brazil cases pass 5m; Trump calls catching Covid 'a blessing in disguise'

Facebook has announced significant changes to its advertising and misinformation policies, saying it will stop running political ads in the United States after polls close on 3 November for an undetermined period of time.

The changes, announced Wednesday, come in an effort to “protect the integrity” of the upcoming election “by fighting foreign interference, misinformation and voter suppression”, the company said in a blog post.

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Battle for the suburbs: can Joe Biden flip Texas? – video

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Texas is a rapidly changing state with the fastest growing population in the US. Hispanic Texans are expected to become the majority by 2022, but will this help Joe Biden flip a Republican stronghold? Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to suburban Dallas and the border city of McAllen to look at the political impact of this diversification and the legacy of Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies 


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Joe Biden calls for unity in Gettysburg speech: ‘Again we are a house divided’ – video

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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has called for the US to put politics aside and unite as the country faces 'too many crises'. Speaking at Gettysburg, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the US civil war, Biden said he decided to run for president after the far-right rally and resulting violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. 'It was hate on the march in the open. In America,' he said. 'Hate never goes away. It only hides. And when it's given oxygen, when it's given an opportunity to spread, when it's treated as normal and acceptable behaviour, we've opened a door in this country that we must move quickly to close'

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US military chiefs in quarantine as Trump Covid chaos spreads

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  • Mark Milley, chairman of joint chiefs of staff, in isolation
  • Military leaders attended event with president last week

The top general in the US military, Mark Milley, and several other members of the US joint chiefs of staff who advise Donald Trump entered quarantine on Tuesday, as the president, infected with the coronavirus himself, continued to recuperate at the White House.

While the number of White House staff and aides who have tested positive is unknown, given the administration’s cloak of secrecy around the outbreak, total cases appeared to number in the dozens, making the White House one of the hottest active zones for virus circulation in the entire US.

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‘Racism, fear, division’: Michelle Obama attacks Trump in election plea – video

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In a speech highly critical of the president, the former first lady made an impassioned plea to Americans to vote for Joe Biden in the election on 3 November. Among the condemnations of Trump's presidency, she criticised his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying he 'doubled down on division and resentment', adding: 'What the president is doing is, once again, patently false ... it’s morally wrong ... and yes, it is racist'

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The legal battles over voting that could swing the US election

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Rulings in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin have eased mail-in voting restrictions but higher courts could yet intervene

America is less than a month away from election day, but high-stakes fights over access to the ballot have been moving through US courts for months. Democrats and civil rights groups have sought to ease restrictions on voting by mail amid the Covid-19 pandemic, while Republicans and the Trump campaign have sought to keep them in place.

In recent weeks, courts in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all key battleground states, have issued hugely consequential rulings that could decide whether tens of thousands more votes are counted in November. Those three states will probably help decide who wins the election and Trump won each by less than one percentage point in 2016.

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‘Masks matter’: Biden says Trump is responsible for contracting coronavirus – video

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Joe Biden says he was not surprised by Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection and delivered a blunt rebuke to the president during a town hall event in Miami, Florida. The Democratic presidential candidate drew a stark contrast with Trump, who on returning to the White House just an hour earlier had instantly removed his face mask for a photo op.

During the NBC event, moderator Lester Holt noted that a recent poll found two in three people think the president bears some responsibility for contracting coronavirus. Biden agreed, saying: ‘Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying, masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think is – is responsible for what happens to them.’

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Footage suggests Trump was short of breath during maskless photo op at White House – video

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After a three-day stay at a military hospital to treat symptoms of coronavirus, a contagious Donald Trump returned to the White House and immediately took off his face mask while posing for cameras.

Video footage suggests the US president was experiencing laboured breathing during part of the photo op in which he also gave two thumbs up and saluted as he watched Marine One lift off from the south lawn. 

Trump later waved and walked inside, where masked staff were visible, only to reemerge for what appeared to be a film shoot. In the film, which he tweeted soon after, Trump offered some bizarrely contrary advice about the virus, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans: 'Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it. You’re gonna beat it'

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