Closing summary
Good afternoon. We’re closing the liveblog for the day. Here’s a look back at what’s happened so far today.
Georgia Republican senate candidate Herschel Walker admitted to writing $700 check to his ex-girlfriend but denies it was for abortion. Walker, who is running in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, has spent weeks dogged by reports that he sent the unnamed woman money to end her pregnancy. Running as a staunch conservative with Trump’s backing, Walker has publicly argued that abortion should be illegal nationwide without exceptions.
The US Secret Service was made to pay as much as $1,185 a night to stay at properties belonging to former president Donald Trump, a congressional committee said on Monday as it released documents that appeared to show the former president profiting from his protection details in and out of office.
Steve Bannon should be sentenced to six months in prison and a $200,000 fine for “his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress”, the justice department said in a legal filing on Monday. Bannon was found guilty on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress in July for ignoring a subpoena from the US House committee investigating the January 6 attack.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned remarks by Donald Trump about American Jews as “antisemitic” and “insulting” to both Jewish people and Israelis. She also announced that Biden will host president Isaac Herzog of Israel at the White House on 26 October.
The White House formally unveiled its website for student loan forgiveness applications.
“This is a game-changer for millions of Americans,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. He added that “it took an incredible amount of effort to get this website done in such a short time.”
JUST IN: Pres. Biden unveils website for federal student loan debt relief application.
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 17, 2022
“It takes less than five minutes…This is a game-changer for millions of Americans.” https://t.co/1SlS2LJ69i pic.twitter.com/zWAe1RUCjT
A beta version of the website, studentaid.gov, launched on Friday. Biden said 8 million Americans used the website over the weekend to apply for student-loan forgiveness.
This summer, under immense pressure from progressives, Biden announced that he would cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year or more for Pell grant recipients.
