Barack Obama has praised young Black Lives Matter demonstrators saying they gave him 'optimism', during a discussion with black male community leaders ahead of a drive-in rally for Joe Biden on Wednesday night.
At his Philadelphia campaign event, Obama emphasized the need for young voters to make it to the polls to ensure a better future for the country
Continue reading...Trump’s personal attorney has indiscreet encounter with actor playing Borat’s daughter in hotel room during pandemic
The reputation of Rudy Giuliani could be set for a further blow with the release of highly embarrassing footage in Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to Borat.
In the film, released on Friday, the former New York mayor and current personal attorney to Donald Trump is seen reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals while reclining on a bed in the presence of the actor playing Borat’s daughter, who is posing as a TV journalist.
Continue reading...Lawyers struggling to find parents deported to Central America, says ACLU, after US government removed 1,030 children in 2018
Three years after Donald Trump ordered a crackdown on undocumented migrants crossing into the US, lawyers are still struggling to find the parents of 545 children separated from them under the “zero-tolerance” policy, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
In a court filing, the ACLU said that about two-thirds of the parents had been deported back to the country of origin in Central America, leaving their separated children behind. In the rush to carry out Trump’s orders, the locations of the parents were not recorded and three years later they still cannot be found.
Continue reading...After winning the 2016 election, Donald Trump promised to deliver new jobs and economic prosperity to Youngstown, Ohio, a city suffering from decades of decline. But four years on those promises never manifested. Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone meet residents who lost their jobs and had their families split by economic necessity, and witness how the demise of the city’s only newspaper made it harder to hold politicians accountable for their failures
More from the Anywhere but Washington series:
Meanwhile, it seems Trump supporters in North Carolina were asked to avoid QAnon clothing.
The president refused to disavow QAnon during an NBC town hall last week. “I don’t know about QAnon,” he insisted.
A Trump campaign worker ahead of the President’s rally in Gastonia, NC, is informing attendees as they arrive at the main entrance that they cannot wear any QAnon attire.
“No flags, no signs, no e-cigarettes, no clothing with obscenities, no QAnon attire...” w/ @carolelee pic.twitter.com/vnddhTewH1
Joe Biden is leading by an average of 5 points in Pennsylvania – but Trump won the state by less than one point in 2016.
Here’s how the candidates are polling in swing states:
Related: US election polls tracker: who is leading in the swing states?
Continue reading...The president is 'crushing' Covid-19 as the country surpasses 220,000 deaths from the virus. Speaking at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump told voters 'If you want depression, doom and despair. Vote for sleepy Joe Biden. And boredom'. Trump blamed former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when his microphone cut out during the rally and also claimed that if the virus had not struck he would not have needed to campign very hard to win re-election.
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It’s worth noting that Mitch McConnell said the Senate would consider a coronavirus relief bill “at some point” if a deal is reached between House speaker Nancy Pelosi and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin.
That phrasing leaves it very unclear when the Senate would take up a coronavirus relief package if an agreement is reached.
Mitch McConnell said he would put a coronavirus relief bill on the Senate floor for a vote, if the White House and congressional Democrats can reach a deal on the package.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to discuss the negotiations again in about a half an hour, and Pelosi has said she is “optimistic” about reaching an agreement.
Continue reading...Candidates will be muted while the other has the floor and any interruptions will count toward their time
When Donald Trump and Joe Biden face off on Thursday for a final televised debate, each candidate will have their microphones cut off while the other is delivering responses to questions.
The 90-minute debate is divided into six 15-minute segments, with each candidate granted two minutes to deliver uninterrupted remarks before proceeding to an open debate.
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President Donald Trump is appearing today in both Prescott and Tucson in Arizona. Reid Wilson last night for the Hill previewed the trip, saying that undecided voters in the state are wary of Trump and craving stablility. Wilson writes:
The few Arizona voters still struggling to make up their minds between Trump and Biden are weighing a conservative agenda they generally favor led by a candidate they do not like against a more liberal agenda they do not entirely support led by a candidate who comes across as far more empathetic.
In interviews with undecided and late-deciding voters here, many said they had supported Trump four years ago, but that his behavior had either disqualified him in their minds or raised serious questions about whether he is fit for another term in office.
A lawsuit seeking to prevent Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam from removing an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond is scheduled to go to trial Monday.
The plaintiffs, a group of Richmond residents who live near the monument, filed suit after Northam ordered the removal of the statue in June amid the outcry caused by the police killing of George Floyd.
From the frequency of attacks to the scope of ambition, racist terror groups – encouraged by the president, are showing unparalleled activity in the modern era
On 6 October Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, released his department’s annual assessment of violent threats to the nation. Analysts didn’t have to dig deep into the assessment to discover its alarming content.
In a foreword, Wolf wrote that he was “particularly concerned about white supremacist violent extremists who have been exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent, targeted attacks in recent years. [They] seek to force ideological change in the United States through violence, death, and destruction.”
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Here’s a summary of today’s events:
The Washington Post is already looking ahead to the contest to become the Republican party’s presidential nominee in 2024, regardless of whether Donald Trump sinks or swims on 3 November.
In an opinion piece Sunday penned by the respected political analyst and talk show host Hugh Hewitt, the newspaper lists 20 names of prominent and not-so-prominent Republican governors, senators, congressmen and women and two Trumps – Don Jr and Ivanka – he thinks are likely to throw hats into what promises to be a crowded ring.
Continue reading...With little more than two weeks to reverse his dismal standing in the polls, and amid a coronavirus resurgence that could sink his pursuit of a second term, Donald Trump has embarked on a tour of battleground states.
Related: Trump's hopes fade in Wisconsin as 'greatest economy' boast unravels
Continue reading...Donald Trump has described his Democratic presidential rival, Joe Biden, as the 'worst candidate in history' at a rally in Wisconsin. 'If I lose … what do I do? I'd rather run against somebody who is extraordinarily talented, at least this way I can go and lead my life.' Trump again insisted that he was immune from Covid-19, saying he 'got better fast' and that he 'can now jump into the audience and give you all a big kiss, the women and the men'
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Here’s a summary of the latest events:
Mitch McConnell announced Saturday that the Senate will vote Tuesday on a Paycheck Protection Plan funding bill and Wednesday on the same $500bn Covid-19 aid package that Democrats blocked last month on the grounds that it didn’t go far enough.
“It is long past time for the two parties to agree where we can and get more money out the door,” the Senate majority leader said in a statement.
I just announced the Senate will vote next week on hundreds of billions more dollars for relief programs that Democrats do not even oppose. Working families have already waited too long for Speaker Pelosi’s Marie Antoinette act to stop. Let's make law. pic.twitter.com/iR7OYKuCKw
Continue reading...More than 68,000 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the US on Friday, the highest number in a single day since July, further confirmation the country is in the midst of a coronavirus resurgence.
Related: American Crisis review: Andrew Cuomo on Covid, Trump … and a job with Joe Biden?
Continue reading...The president issued a familiar stream of insults on Twitter after the Nebraska senator heavily criticised him to constituents
Down in the polls to Joe Biden and campaigning through a surging pandemic, Donald Trump chose to devote time on Saturday morning to a Twitter rant against a member of his own party in the Senate, a chamber Republicans face losing on 3 November.
Related: Trump trails Biden with two weeks to go – but there could yet be surprises
Continue reading...A statue of the former California governor Pete Wilson was removed from a San Diego park after critics said the governor supported laws and policies that hurt immigrants and the LGBTQ community.
The 13-year-old statue near Horton Plaza Park was removed by Horton Walk, the non-profit that owns it, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Horton Walk’s president, Steve Williams, wrote in an email that no decision had been made on whether it will be returned.
Continue reading...The 1994 crime bill paved the way to mass incarceration of Black Americans. Biden says his support was a ‘mistake’
In 1994, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware stood proudly behind Bill Clinton as he signed into law a reform bill that touched nearly every aspect of the US criminal justice system.
Related: Trump trails Biden with two weeks to go – but there could yet be surprises
Continue reading...Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in their TV ratings battle from their duelling town hall events, figures showed Friday, while the president faced condemnation over his failure to disavow the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Related: Biden's town hall drew 2 million more viewers than Trump's in early figures – live
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Joe Biden said at a town hall event Thursday night that he would announce before election day whether he favors expanding the supreme court.
Biden has repeatedly declined to lay out a stance on the issue amid an ongoing Republican sprint to install a third justice nominated by Donald Trump before the election, in what critics have called a naked power grab.
Related: Biden says he'll lay out stance on expanding supreme court before election
In a new interactive elections timeline, Alvin Chang has explained how various 2020 US election scenarios, including the case of Trump losing but refusing to concede, could play out.
Americans are used to a certain routine with presidential elections – but this year might be different, Alvin writes. If you’re not current on such concepts as the safe harbor deadline and wonder how states select electors, read about it here:
Related: Timeline: how 2020 US election scenarios could play out
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