Trump accuses justice department of ‘downplaying’ second assassination attempt as suspect to remain in jail without bond – live | US elections 2024

JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential pick, has picked Representative Tom Emmer to help him in his upcoming debate preparation against Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential pick, according to the New York Times.

Over the past month, Vance has been working closely with his team, reviewing strategies for the face-off with Walz.

Donald Trump’s running mate will be debating Kamala Harris’s running mate on 1 October in New York City at 9pm, marking their first televised debate.

The preparation sessions have taken place at Vance’s home in Cincinnati and via online meetings with his inner circle, including Trump campaign strategist Jason Miller, the Times reported.

Congress appears on track to enact a spending bill that will keep the government open through 20 December, after Republican House speaker Mike Johnson dropped his demand for passage of a law requiring voters prove their citizenship before registering.

Donald Trump has demanded passage of that bill, and in remarks on the Senate floor earlier today, majority leader Chuck Schumer condemned his tactics ahead of the election:

The matter is now very straightforward: we now have less than a week to pass a funding bill through the House, through the Senate, and on to the president’s desk.

Both sides will have to act celeritously and with continued bipartisan good faith to meet the funding deadline. Any delay or last minute poison pill can still push us into a shutdown. I hope – and I trust – that this will not happen.

Of course, as we proceed, it’s important to remember that negotiations didn’t have to wait until the last minute. This agreement could have very easily been reached weeks ago, but Speaker Johnson and House Republicans chose to listen to Donald Trump’s partisan demands instead of working with us from the start to reach a bicameral, bipartisan agreement.

Remember: Donald Trump has spent the entire month urging House Republicans to shut the government down if his poison pills weren’t passed. That is outlandishly cynical: Donald Trump knows perfectly well that a shutdown would mean chaos, pain, needless heartache for the American people. But as usual, he just doesn’t seem to care.

Here’s the latest on the spending negotiations:

Keeping Nebraska’s unique system of allocating electoral votes by congressional district in place improves Kamala Harris’s chances of winning the election with only the three Great Lakes battleground states – Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Those three states combined with an electoral vote from Nebraska – which seems gettable, as the district encompassing the largest city Omaha leans Democratic – would send the vice-president to the White House.

But Politico reports that the Teamsters union declining to endorse any candidate last week, after backing Democrats for years, could be a warning sign for Harris, particularly when it comes to the white voters who will decide the victor in the Great Lakes states. Here’s more on that:

The Teamsters withholding an endorsement from Harris this week — after internal polling showed most respondents backing Trump — is sparking fresh concerns that the GOP nominee could have higher-than-expected support among union members, especially men. Labor leaders in other sectors attest that, like in 2016 and 2020, the former president has maintained a grip on key parts of their rank-and-file despite his anti-union record. Privately, Democrats say Harris still has work to do to win over older, white, working-class voters who make up a large portion of the electorate in the Rust Belt and have been hit by high prices.

“Candidly, Trump has a solid, solid base of working-class people that have bought into his message,” said Jimmy Williams, president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, which has endorsed Harris. “It’s movable and it’s been moving. But it’s not like some tide that’s turned.”

Some Teamsters leaders have questioned the methodology of the polling showing Trump winning majority support among the union’s members. But one pro-Harris union official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, spoke in dire terms about it. The person said it is a “red flag” that is reminiscent of the 2016 election, when Hillary Clinton underperformed among union households despite winning the majority of top labor endorsements.

“Hard not to have HRC flashbacks right now, to be honest, that stuff might be wrong beneath the surface,” the official said. “I hope it’s not.”

Democratic strategists said Harris’ performance in November could come down to the historic gender gap, especially among blue-collar voters, that has so far defined this election.

Key Nebraska lawmaker rejects Trump-backed effort to change state’s electoral vote rules – report

Trump accuses justice department of ‘mishandling and downplaying’ second assassination attempt

Police Leaders for Community Safety, a nonpartisan advocacy organization made up of law enforcement leaders from across the US, has endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for president.

In a statement posted on Monday, Sue Riseling the chair of the organization, said that the endorsement of Harris “reflects Harris’ track record and unwavering commitment to public safety and the rule of law”.

Riseling added that as law enforcement leaders, they “know first-hand what it will take to make our communities safer – and that includes having Kamala Harris as our next president”.

Man suspected of attempting assassination of Trump ordered to remain in jail without bond – report

The Republican Governors Association reportedly said in a statement that its pro-Mark Robinson advertisements are set to expire on Tuesday, and that no further placements have been made, according to the New York Times.

This comes just days after CNN reported that Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, had made disturbing comments on a porn message forum, including describing himself as a black Nazi.

Earlier today, it was also reported that several of Robinson’s top staffers on his campaign have quit in the days following the media report.

Joe Biden is scheduled to appear on ABC’s The View talk show on Wednesday, the network announced, adding that it will be Biden’s first interview since the Democratic National Convention and the July presidential debate.

The network added:

The exclusive appearance marks the first live appearance by a sitting president on the show and the second time a sitting president has visited, following former Barack Obama’s history-making visit which aired July 29, 2010.

The day so far

White House announces Biden’s ‘sprint to the finish’ in final months of presidency

North Carolina has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 2008, but recent polls have shown Kamala Harris within striking distance of taking its 16 electoral votes. The Guardian’s George Chidi has a look at why:

Landon Simonini found himself standing in the middle of a Charlotte highway lane at 2.30 in the afternoon, stuck in an artificial traffic jam while drivers waited for Kamala Harris’s plane to land and the motorcade to clear for the rally later that day.

He was out of his car, because why not? He wasn’t going anywhere soon. His red Make America great again cap stood out among others cursing the traffic gods.

Simonini, born and bred in Charlotte, builds houses. His livelihood depends to some degree on Charlotte’s tremendous growth. But not all growth is great, he said.

“This is a traditionally southern state,” Simonini said. “Over 100 people move to Charlotte a day. That is changing the election map. I am born and raised in Charlotte, for 33 years. I have lived here my entire life. I went to school at UNC Charlotte. This is my city. It is a conservative city and I want to keep it that way.”

But in America’s nail-biting 2024 presidential election, North Carolina is now in play. It rejoins a select list of crucial swing states whose voters will decide if Harris becomes America’s first woman of color to win the White House or if Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office from which he wreaked political chaos for four years.

Hundreds of former national security officials endorse Harris

Days after the House of Representatives failed to pass a government spending bill coupled with legislation against non-citizen voting demanded by Donald Trump, the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, is making a new attempt to head off a government shutdown without bowing to the former president’s demands. Here’s more on the legislative maneuvering, from the Guardian’s Robert Tait:

US congressional leaders have agreed to a short-term funding deal in a move that averts a damaging pre-election government shutdown and also amounts to a snub for Donald Trump.

The prospect of a shutdown at the expiration of the current government funding on 30 September had been looming after Republicans insisted on tying future funding to legislation that would require voters to show proof of US citizenship – known as the Save Act and backed by Trump but opposed by Democrats.

After weeks of backroom maneuvering, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, announced a compromise that provides funding for another three months while decoupling it from the Save Act. Any other path would have been “political malpractice”, he added.

The new package continues present spending levels while also giving $231m in emergency funds to the beleaguered Secret Service to enable it to provide added protection for Trump – the Republican presidential nominee, who has been the subject of two failed apparent assassination attempts – as well as his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, before the presidential election on 5 November.

It represents a climbdown for Johnson, who had previously adhered to Trump’s demand that government funding be conditioned on passing the Save Act. The bill – has become an article of faith for the former president and his supporters due to their belief, unsupported by evidence, that electoral fraud is rife.