Tennessee judge allows gun control questions to go on Memphis ballot

City council approved proposals risking ire of Republicans threatening to withhold millions in state funding

A Tennessee judge has ruled that three gun control questions can go on the November ballot in Memphis, even as top Republican state leaders have threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in state funding should city leaders put the initiative before voters.

The Daily Memphian reports that Shelby county chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson sided with the Memphis city council, which sued the Shelby county election commission last month for refusing to put gun control measures on the ballot.

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Donald Trump a de facto Russian asset, FBI official he fired suggests

Andrew McCabe says Trump-Putin interactions ‘raise questions’, as Harris says Putin would eat Trump ‘for lunch’

Donald Trump can be seen as a Russian asset, though not in the traditional sense of an active agent or a recruited resource, an ex-FBI deputy director who worked under the former US president said.

Asked on a podcast if he thought it possible Trump was a Russian asset, Andrew McCabe, who Trump fired as FBI deputy director in 2018, said: “I do, I do.”

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Trump campaign publicly claims debate win but aides privately express doubts

Key advisers admit Trump unlikely to have persuaded undecided voters to back him after unconvincing display

Donald Trump’s campaign publicly claimed victory in the debate against Kamala Harris on Tuesday night, but at least some of his aides privately conceded it was unlikely that he persuaded any undecided voters to break for him, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Will tonight benefit us? No, it will not,” one Trump aide said.

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Europe watches Harris-Trump debate for clues on direction US may take

Diplomats most struck by Republican’s refusal to say whether he wanted Ukraine to defeat Vladimir Putin

The TV debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was as keenly watched by European diplomats and politicians as by US voters, eager to see who may be next in the White House and – crucially – the direction that a vital ally may next take.

One diplomat said they empathised when Harris adopted a series of poses that ranged from pity, bemusement and genuine curiosity about what craziness would emerge from Trump’s mouth next as she listened to his conspiracy-laden theories. However, the diplomat said they still did not underestimate Trump and the hold he had over one part of a divided America, adding: “Never write him off.”

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Harris-Trump debate watched by 15m more than Biden clash – as it happened

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Russia has accused both presidential candidates of using Vladimir Putin’s name as part of a domestic political fights, saying: “we really, really don’t like it”.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that the US was hostile and negative towards Russia, Reuters reports, and the Kremlin hoped that candidates would drop such references to Putin.

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Harris warns of ‘what’s at stake’ for US as vice-president appears to win debate with Trump – as it happened

Candidates clashed on January 6, abortion, immigration, Gaza and Ukraine.

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Donald Trump arrived in Philadelphia earlier today for his debate with Kamala Harris.

Photographers captured him and his entourage deplaning:

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Harris delivered a ‘masterclass’ debate. Will it change the race?

With the presidential race on a knife’s edge, Trump’s support remains relatively stable

The debate began on her terms. The vice-president of the United States walked across the stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, stretched out her hand and introduced herself“: “Kamala Harris.”

It was, incredibly, the first time Harris had ever met Donald Trump, whose election to the White House in 2016 coincided with her election to the Senate. Since then, they have circled each other, Harris carving out a reputation in the Senate for grilling Trump administration officials. Four years later, she helped defeat Trump as Joe Biden’s running mate.

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Harris targets Trump for falsehoods on abortion and immigration in fiery debate

Presidential candidates meet for first time in contentious face-off as moderators fact-check Trump’s statements

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump sparred on Tuesday in a contentious presidential debate that repeatedly went off the rails, as Trump pursued bizarre and often falsehood-ridden tangents about crowd sizes, immigration policy and abortion access.

The Philadelphia debate marked arguably the most significant opportunity for both Harris and Trump since Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race in July, and the event began cordially enough. Harris crossed over to Trump’s podium to shake his hand and introduce herself, an acknowledgement that the two presidential nominees had never met face to face before Tuesday night.

Fact-checking the presidential debate

Harris slams Trump for falsehoods in fiery debate

Taylor Swift endorses Harris in post signed ‘childless cat lady’

‘Maga mad libs’: How the debate played out on social media

Presidential poll tracker

Rally sizes, abortion and eating cats: the Trump and Harris debate – podcast

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Lawsuit seeking power to not certify Georgia elections is dismissed

Judge dismisses election board member’s lawsuit because of an incorrect party name, but she is allowed to refile

A lawsuit arguing that county election board members in Georgia have the discretion to refuse to certify election results has been dismissed on a technicality, but the judge noted it could be refiled.

Fulton county election board member Julie Adams filed a lawsuit in May asking a judge to declare that the county election board members’ duties “are discretionary, not ministerial, in nature”. At issue is a Georgia law that says the county officials “shall” certify results after engaging in a process to make sure they are accurate.

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2024 US presidential polls tracker: Trump v Harris latest national averages

Find out who’s up and who’s down in the latest US presidential election opinion polls

On 21 July, Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris. This historic move changed the landscape of the election and how many felt about the race. As the election enters its final weeks, Guardian US is averaging national and state polls to see how the two candidates are faring. We will update our averages once a week, or more if there is major news.

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Project 2025 ex-director accuses Trump campaign advisers of ‘malpractice’

Paul Dans slams Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita for allegedly failing to properly prepare Trump for potential Biden exit

The former head of Project 2025, a rightwing blueprint for remaking the US government that was created by many of Donald Trump’s former officials, has urged the former president to replace his two campaign managers if he wants to win November’s presidential election.

Paul Dans, who stepped down as the project’s director in July after Trump dissociated himself from it, turned his fire on Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, blaming the advisers for a series of errors that he claims have jeopardised the Republican nominee’s chances of beating Kamala Harris.

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White Stripes sue Trump over ‘flagrant misappropriation’ of hit song

Band accuse campaign of unauthorised use of Seven Nation Army and seek ‘significant monetary damages’

The White Stripes’ Jack White and Meg White have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for what they allege is the “flagrant misappropriation” of a recording of their hit song Seven Nation Army in a campaign video.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Jack White shared the first page of the lawsuit, filed in court in New York, with the caption: “This machine sues fascists.”

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DoJ warns states over voter purges – as it happened

Pew report says 49% of voters would choose Harris, with the same number planning to vote for Trump; justice officials remind states about voting laws

The statement of support for Kamala Harris by a group of retired top military officials comes a day before the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, will host a congressional gold medal ceremony honoring the 13 service members killed in the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.

Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans have tried to blame Harris for the Afghanistan pullout, including in a report by House GOP lawmakers today.

Our investigation reveals the Biden-Harris administration had the information and opportunity to take necessary steps to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government. At each step of the way, however, the administration picked optics over security.

Without involving the Afghan government, he and his administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban that freed 5,000 Taliban fighters and allowed them to return to the battlefield.

This chaotic approach severely hindered the Biden-Harris administration’s ability to execute the most orderly withdrawal possible and put our service members and our allies at risk.

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Advisers worry whether ‘happy Trump’ or ‘angry Trump’ will show up to debate

Sources say campaign is concerned that Trump may engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in 2020

Donald Trump’s campaign is most concerned going into the debate against Kamala Harris with the former president’s mood, afraid that the mercurial Trump could engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in the 2020 presidential election, according to people familiar with the situation.

The campaign’s internal refrain is whether they get “happy Trump” or “angry Trump”, the people said, as they count down the days to perhaps the final presidential debate this cycle.

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Liz Cheney calls Trump a ‘catastrophe’ and urges Republicans to vote for Harris

‘We have to do everything possible to ensure that he’s not re-elected,’ ex-congresswoman says

The former congresswoman Liz Cheney called Donald Trump an “unrecoverable catastrophe” on Sunday and urged fellow Republicans to vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in November’s election.

“We see it on a daily basis – somebody who was willing to use violence in order to attempt to seize power, to stay in power, someone who represents unrecoverable catastrophe, frankly, in my view, and we have to do everything possible to ensure that he’s not re-elected,” Cheney said in an interview on ABC News This Week, a show on the network that is hosting Tuesday’s debate between Trump and Harris.

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Project 2025 plan calls for shifting funding for childcare to in-home care

Trump recently gave garbled answer to question on childcare, while Vance said extended family should help out

With the Republican presidential ticket led by Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance recently drawing scrutiny over their answers to questions about how they would address the high cost of childcare in the US, the far-right Project 2025 manifesto offers some suggestions to them.

The plan calls for shifting funding for childcare to in-home family care because it claims children who go to childcare are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and neglect.

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Trump threatens to jail adversaries for ‘unscrupulous behavior’ if he wins

Message represents latest threat to use the office of the presidency to exact retribution if he wins second term

With just days to go before his first – and likely only – debate against Kamala Harris, Donald Trump posted a warning on his social media site threatening to jail those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election, which he said would be under intense scrutiny.

“WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,” the former president wrote, again trying to sow doubt about the integrity of November’s election, even though cheating is incredibly rare.

Guardian staff contributed reporting

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Democrats unite to center reproductive rights as Republicans flail on abortion

Harris campaign seeks to press advantage on powerful motivator, especially in states with abortion on the ballot

As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare to meet on the debate stage in Philadelphia, the battle over abortion rights has vaulted to the center of the 2024 presidential election campaign, the first since the supreme court’s decision overturning Roe v Wade.

At the party’s convention last month, Democrats spotlighted the harrowing stories of women placed in medical peril as a result of post-Roe abortion bans in their states. Last week, the Harris campaign launched a 50-stop “reproductive freedom” bus tour across several battleground states, kicking off in Trump’s “back yard”, miles from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in south Florida.

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Ro Khanna says he’s not a fan of fellow Democrats calling Republicans ‘weird’

California congressman says focus of Harris campaign should be on unity and reaching out to skeptical voters

Congressman and Kamala Harris campaign surrogate Ro Khanna said he doesn’t support the trend among his fellow Democrats of calling Republicans “weird” on the election trail.

“I’m not, in candor, a fan of calling each other ‘weird’ or names, I don’t think that advanced American democracy,” the California US House representative said during a live event with the Guardian at the Texas Tribune festival Saturday in Austin. “I think we have to – in this country, and as a party – not just win, but deserve victory. And to deserve victory means to offer a vision that is going to bring this country together with a common purpose.”

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Former vice-president Dick Cheney confirms he will vote for Kamala Harris

Lifelong Republican makes announcement day after daughter Liz also endorses Democratic candidate

The former vice-president Dick Cheney, a lifelong Republican, will vote for the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, in November’s presidential election, he said in a statement on Friday.

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said of the former president and Republican nominee. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.

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