Georgia election rules passed by Trump-backed board are ‘illegal’, declares judge

Fulton judge invalidates seven new rules, including one that requires ballots be hand-counted after polls close

A Georgia judge has declared that seven new election rules recently passed by the state election board are “illegal, unconstitutional and void”.

Fulton county superior court judge Thomas Cox issued the order Wednesday after holding a hearing on challenges to the rules. The rules that Cox invalidated include three that had gotten a lot of attention – one that requires that the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls and two that had to do with the certification of election results.

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Kamala Harris pledges break from Biden presidency in testy Fox News interview

Nominee says presidency would ‘not be a continuation’ of Biden’s and condemns Trump for ‘enemy within’ comments

Kamala Harris said her presidency “would not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency” in a testy interview with the rightwing Fox News channel on Wednesday night as she criticized Donald Trump over his continuing threats against “the enemy within”.

The 25-minute interview, conducted after Harris held a rally with more than 100 Republican officials in Pennsylvania, was the first time Harris had sat for a conversation with Fox News, which has been a consistent supporter of Trump.

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Trump stands by false claims about immigrants – as it happened

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US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Washington was looking into reports that North Korea was sending troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine.

Western countries have long accused North Korea of sending weapons to help Russia fight in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the North was also sending personnel, becoming effectively a participant in the war.

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Report calls for child labor protections as Project 2025 seeks to limit regulations

Study offers actions Biden can take after surge in child labor violations and warns protections may weaken under Trump

State governments across the US are taking steps to eliminate protections for minors as rates of child labor violations, injuries and chronic school absenteeism rise, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The report by Governing For Impact, the Economic Policy Institute, and Child Labor Coalition proposes actions the Biden-Harris administration can take in response to a recent surge in child labor violations around the country and a trend of some states passing legislation that rollbacks state-level child labor protections.

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Trump’s pro-Israel stance alienates far right as it ramps up antisemitic attacks

Unity has begun to crack over ex-president’s support for Israel in its military operations across the Middle East

As the presidential election season unfolds, the Trump campaign has increasingly leaned on xenophobic rhetoric born out of racist chat boards – even receiving the tacit help of neo-Nazis attempting to seed their own policy interests into the mainstream.

But one campaign issue where the Maga world and the extremists of Telegram and other fringe social media sites have diverged, is the former president’s support for Israel in its several military operations across the Middle East.

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Elon Musk gave $75m to his pro-Trump group in three months

America Pac said to be doing bulk of Trump’s voter turnout work in battleground states, which may give Musk leverage

Elon Musk has donated roughly $75m over the last three months to his pro-Donald Trump spending group, underscoring how the billionaire has become crucial to the Republican candidate’s efforts to win the US presidential election.

Filings submitted by America Pac on Tuesday to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) showed Musk donated $15m (£12m) in July, $30m in August and another $30m in September. Musk remains the political action committee’s only donor.

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‘Height of blasphemy’: Rufus Wainwright and Leonard Cohen estate oppose Trump use of Hallelujah

Classic ballad was played during bizarre campaign event in which Trump told audience: ‘Let’s just listen to music’

The estate of Leonard Cohen has issued a cease and desist order to Donald Trump, after a recording of Rufus Wainwright singing Cohen’s song Hallelujah was played at a bizarre campaign event.

Wainwright has also condemned Trump’s use of the song at the town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania. The singer characterised Hallelujah as “an anthem dedicated to peace, love and acceptance of the truth. I’ve been supremely honoured over the years to be connected with this ode to tolerance. Witnessing Trump and his supporters commune with this music last night was the height of blasphemy. Of course, I in no way condone this and was mortified, but the good in me hopes that perhaps in inhabiting and really listening to the lyrics of Cohen’s masterpiece, Donald Trump just might experience a hint of remorse over what he’s caused. I’m not holding my breath.”

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Harris to portray Trump as tyrant-in-waiting after his ‘enemy within’ remarks

At Pennsylvania rally, vice-president will hone in on Trump’s threat to use armed forces against his adversaries

Kamala Harris will this evening seek to portray Donald Trump as a potential tyrant-in-waiting who wants to jail his political opponents by seizing on his threat to use US armed forces against those he has branded “the enemy within”.

The US vice-president and Democratic nominee will hone in on the former president’s darkening campaign rhetoric at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, widely deemed the most crucial battleground state in a presidential race that multiple polls suggest will go down to the wire.

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Trump sparks outrage after calling for army to handle enemies on election day

Democrats condemn ex-president for saying armed forces should turn against ‘enemy within’ when voters go to polls

Donald Trump has provoked an angry backlash from Democrats after calling for the US armed forces to be turned against his political adversaries when voters go to the polls at next month’s presidential election.

In comments that added further fuel to fears of an authoritarian crackdown if he recaptures the White House, the Republican nominee said the military or national guard should be deployed against opponents that he called “the enemy within” when the election takes place on 5 November.

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Trump ‘crossed a line’ by saying army should be used against his enemies, Walz says – live

Democratic vice-presidential nominee denounces ex-president’s remarks about ‘the enemy within’

Three polls released yesterday show the candidates locked in a close battle for the White House.

A New York Times poll found that Harris is underperforming the last three Democratic candidates for the White House among Latino voters.

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Trump ground game undercut by slow internet that crashes app

Trump campaign wants to hit rural voters but slow internet limits the functionality of the Campaign Sidekick app

Donald Trump’s campaign has limited ability to know whether their ground game operation is reaching target voters in battleground states, as the software being used needs fast internet service to properly track canvassers, according to multiple people familiar with the situation.

The Trump campaign this cycle is targeting so-called low propensity Trump voters, who are often in rural areas, as part of their bet that hitting those people who don’t typically vote but would cast a ballot for Trump if they did, could make a difference in a close election.

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Harris rallies North Carolina crowd to ‘fight to realize the promise of America’ as Trump hits Arizona – as it happened

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Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent Sunday trying to shore up political support among what they perceived to be must-have voting blocs with polls showing them locked in a tight 5 November presidential race.

With election day less than a month away, the Democratic vice-president attended a Black church in Greenville, North Carolina, as part of her campaign’s “souls to the polls” push. Her Republican opponent was in Arizona, looking for Black and Latino support as he seeks a second presidency, after a rally in California a day earlier.

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Harris and Trump, locked in tight race, seek edge among undecided voters

Presidential candidates spend Sunday trying to shore up support among must-have voting blocs

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent Sunday trying to shore up political support among what they perceived to be must-have voting blocs with polls showing them locked in a tight 5 November presidential race.

With election day less than a month away, the Democratic vice-president attended a Black church in Greenville, North Carolina, as part of her campaign’s “souls to the polls” push. Her Republican opponent was in Arizona, looking for Black and Latino support as he seeks a second presidency, after a rally in California a day earlier.

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‘Vengeful’ Trump withheld disaster aid and will do so again, ex-officials warn

Former administration officials say Trump deliberately denied funds to states he deemed politically hostile

Donald Trump deliberately withheld disaster aid to states he deemed politically hostile to him as US president and will do so again unimpeded if he returns to the White House, several former Trump administration officials have warned.

As Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton have ravaged much of the south-eastern US in the past two weeks, Trump has sought to pin blame upon Joe Biden’s administration for a ponderous response to the disasters, even suggesting that this was deliberate due to the number of Republican voters affected by the storms.

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Trump addresses Latino voters at Las Vegas event as Harris releases medical report – as it happened

The Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are campaigning with election day just over three weeks away. This blog is now closed.

Our latest polling shows Harris and Trump are neck-and-neck, with Trump gaining ground on Harris in crucial swing states.

Robert Tait reports: “the Guardian’s 10-day polling average tracker showed the vice-president and Democratic nominee with a two-point nationwide lead, 48% to 46%, over her Republican opponent as of 10 October - tellingly, down from a 4% advantage she registered two weeks ago.”

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Trump makes gains as poll figures trigger anxiety for Harris campaign

The Guardian’s 10-day polling average tracker showed vice-president with two-point nationwide lead, down from 4%

Tightening poll figures have triggered nervousness and anxiety in Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, with Donald Trump making gains in the states where it matters most as the election race enters its climactic final phase.

Amid a dramatic news cycle that has seen the US hit by two destructive hurricanes and rising fears of all-out war in the Middle East, the Guardian’s 10-day polling average tracker showed the vice-president and Democratic nominee with a two-point nationwide lead, 48% to 46%, over her Republican opponent as of 10 October - tellingly, down from a 4% advantage she registered two weeks ago.

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Kamala Harris releases medical report saying she is in ‘excellent health’

Release of vice-president’s medical history highlights questions around Trump’s physical and mental fitness

Kamala Harris on Saturday released a report on her health and medical history, which found that “she possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency” if voters elect her in November.

A senior aide to Harris, 59, said the vice-president’s advisers viewed the publication of the health report and medical history as an opportunity to call attention to questions about Donald Trump’s physical fitness and mental acuity. The 78-year-old Republican White House nominee would be the oldest president elected if Americans gave him a second term in the Oval Office.

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Trump campaign reportedly requests military vehicles and aircraft over fear of Iran plot – US elections live

Former president’s campaign makes unprecedented request, citing fears of an assassination attempt by Iran

As he wrapped up his remarks, Walz took a swing at Project 2025, the rightwing blueprint to remake the US government authored by people in Donald Trump’s orbit.

“I’ve also, at times, said Donald Trump doesn’t have a plan – concept of a plan, at times. That wasn’t exactly correct. He does have a plan. It’s called Project 2025,” Walz said.

This thing is a damn nightmare. His project 2025 would repeal the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act – that would threaten hundreds of thousands of new manufacturing jobs, including those right here in Michigan. The ones that JD Vance said, those 650 jobs were table scraps, good-paying union jobs building America, and those are table scraps. He would establish, and every single economist said so, a national sales tax on everything from groceries to prescription drugs.

And the estimates is it would cost each and every one of you $4,000 he says those tariffs that Trump will pay, or that China will pay, Trump’s tariffs – you’re going to pay them. That’s the way it always works.

Let me tell you exactly what vice-president Harris and I will do. We’re going to create an American forward strategy for manufacturing, one that builds on the historic investments, bipartisan infrastructure, law, Chips act, science act, Inflation Reduction Act, creating all kinds of new opportunities, ones that empowers American workers, revitalizes manufacturing communities, leads us into an industries of the future and keep out innovating and out competing the rest of the world.

We never fear the future. You build the future, and this gives us the opportunity to do it.

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Roger Stone calls for ‘armed guards’ at polling spots in leaked video

Trump ally and election denier declares readiness to ‘fight it out’ to ensure a Republican presidential victory

The longtime Donald Trump ally and friend Roger Stone said Republicans should send “armed guards” to the polls in November to ensure a Trump victory, according to video footage by an undercover journalist.

The video, first published by Rolling Stone, shows an embittered Stone, still angry about the 2020 election and ready to fight in 2024. Stone described the former US president’s legal strategy of constant litigation to purge voter rolls in swing states.

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