Summary
That’s all the live coverage for the day, thanks for following along. Some key developments from the day:
Robert F Kennedy Jr suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump.
Kennedy gave a rambling speech about his decision to support the GOP nominee and later appeared with Trump at a rally in Arizona.
Five of Kennedy’s siblings released a statement denouncing their brother’s decision to endorse Trump.
A county judge in Ohio temporarily blocked several state laws on Friday that combined to create a 24-hour waiting period for obtaining an abortion.
Kamala Harris’s Democratic national convention speech provoked a torrent of outrage from Trump as the former US president fired off a volley of ripostes, rebuttals and angry calls to TV stations.
US polls suggest Harris is making gains on Trump in national averages.
An Arizona man who was wanted after threatening over social media to kill Donald Trump was arrested on Thursday, the Cochise county sheriff’s office said.
The inclusion by the Democratic National Committee of a hostage family but not a representative of the Palestinian community provoked exasperation over the inequities surrounding the program at the Democratic party’s biggest show.
Arizona man arrested for alleged threats against Trump
A 66-year-old Arizona man has been arrested for allegedly making death threats on social media against Donald Trump, officials said.
Ronald Lee Syvrud was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon, officials with the Cochise county sheriff’s office said on Friday, Reuters reports. Syvrud was booked into the county’s jail on a felony warrant for “failure to register as a sex offender and two counts of threatening for this case”, the sheriff’s office said, saying Syvrud had been arrested without incident. The sheriff’s department hasn’t specified the exact nature of the threat, but said in a statement on Thursday that Syvrud’s “threatening message” had included “language that indicated bodily harm to the candidate”.
When Trump was asked about the alleged threat while campaigning, the former president said: “I am not that surprised and the reason is because I want to do things that are very bad for the bad guys.”
Trump is currently speaking in Glendale, Arizona.
On Friday, the US attorney’s office announced that a Memphis-area man was charged with threatening high-profile Democrats. Kyl Alton Hall, 37, “threatened to kill, assassinate, shoot, and crash the plane of President Biden; assassinate Vice President Harris; and assassinate former President Obama”, prosecutors said.
Updated
Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr have briefly rallied together in Glendale, Arizona, tonight, repeatedly noting that they don’t agree on all issues, but claiming to be united on some matters, including wanting a “healthy nation”. Kennedy said earlier today that he and Trump agreed on fighting against “the war on our children”, a phrase covering Kennedy’s widely criticized opposition to vaccines, which has been rooted in conspiracy theories.
Kennedy attempted a meld of their campaign messages, saying, vaguely: “Don’t you want a president that is going to make America healthy again?”
Trump also announced that “in honor of Bobby” he would, if elected, “establish a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts, and they will be tasked with releasing all of the remaining documents pertaining to the assassination of President John F Kennedy”. He said this commission would also “conduct a rigorous review” of his own assassination attempt.
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Trump rallies with RFK Jr: 'He went after me a couple times, I didn't like it'
Trump’s introduction to Robert F Kennedy Jr, who suspended his campaign today:
I’m very pleased to welcome a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share, and we’ve shared them for a long time. I don’t think too many of you people have heard of him. He’s very low-key. He’s a very low-key person, but he’s highly respected. He is a great person. I’ve known him for so long, for the past 16 months.
He also went after me a couple of times, and I didn’t like it.
Donald Trump is holding a rally in Glendale, Arizona
The Trump campaign’s rally is under way in Glendale, Arizona, where temperatures have exceeded 100F (38C). The ABC15 local station is reporting that more than 100 people have been affected by heat exhaustion, some of whom have been treated and hospitalized for heat-related illnesses.
UPDATE: Glendale Fire officials say more than 100 people needed to get checked out and/or transported to a hospital for heat exhaustion while waiting to get into Trump's campaign rally in Glendale this afternoon.https://t.co/XmlKFLsclU
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) August 23, 2024
Fire officials told the local station:
We have evaluated, treated and transported to local medical facilities many individuals for various reasons which depleted our ability to respond in a timely manner.
It’s 104 in Glendale - and many are still waiting outside to get into the Trump rally. Some people I talked to went home over heat concerns, another woman near me almost passed out in line, I’m told multiple people have gone to the hospital (haven’t been able to get solid #). pic.twitter.com/v1mwGYlamM
— Rachel Louise Just (@RLJnews) August 23, 2024
Kari Lake, the far-right US senate candidate, is currently speaking and says the former president is due to follow.
Updated
Robert F Kennedy Jr, who suspended his campaign today and endorsed Donald Trump, is confirmed to have had his name removed from the ballots in Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Texas:
RFK Jr. won’t be on the ballot in Ohio after withdrawing his name, SoS says. That’s now Arizona, Pennsylvania and Texas where Kennedy has asked to not appear on the ballot so far. https://t.co/69eTcY6GLZ
— Meryl Kornfield (@MerylKornfield) August 23, 2024
Updated
Ohio judge blocks abortion waiting period
A county judge in Ohio has blocked several state laws that created a 24-hour waiting period for accessing abortion care in the state.
David C Young, the Franklin county court of common pleas judge, cited a 2023 constitutional amendment that guarantees access to the procedure.
He found “that the challenged statutes burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, and discriminate against patients in exercising their right to an abortion and providers for assisting them in exercising that right”.
Dave Yost, the Republican attorney general, said he would appeal.
Amendments involving abortion access will be on the ballot in 12 states this election, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
For more on the Ohio law, read Alice Herman for the Guardian:
Updated
ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform, announced today that it had processed more than $100m in donations during the Democratic national convention this week.
The platform added that it recorded $7.2m in donations during Harris’s acceptance speech Thursday evening.
🚨BIG #DNC2024 NEWS:
— ActBlue (@actblue) August 23, 2024
🕛As of 12:00 PM ET today, the ActBlue platform processed over $100 million in fundraising for Democrats across the country during #DemConvention week.
📝$7.2 million was raised between 11:00 PM and 12:00 AM ET alone during VP Harris' acceptance speech. pic.twitter.com/WnC5XhayuB
Harris has raised $500m in the month since she took over as the Democratic candidate for president, Reuters reported earlier this week.
Updated
'Terrible human being': RFK Jr's past comments on Trump
Like JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Robert F Kennedy Jr previously condemned and insulted Donald Trump on numerous occasions. With news of Kennedy withdrawing and endorsing the Republican, here’s a look back at a few of his past quotes on the former president:
According to a New Yorker story from earlier this month, Kennedy recently wrote in a text message to someone that Trump is “a terrible human being”, adding, “The worse president ever and barely human. He is probably a sociopath.”
In April, after Trump accused Kennedy of being a “Democratic plant”, Kennedy posted: “When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged. President Trump’s rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate.”
In 2020, Kennedy said, “He is a bully. And you know, I don’t like bullies. And I don’t think ... that that’s part of America’s tradition. I think, in many ways, he’s discredited the American experiment with self-governance.”
The former disdain goes both way. Trump earlier this year called Kennedy “one of the most Liberal Lunatics ever to run for office”, adding, “Reminds me of this fly that’s driving me crazy up here. This fly is brutal. I don’t like flies.”
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Cheryl Hines, RFK Jr's wife, thanks supporters 'from all parties'
RFK Jr’s wife, actor Cheryl Hines, tweeted about her husband’s decision to suspend his presidential campaign this afternoon, thanking the campaign’s staff for helping Kennedy overcome “the roadblocks and lawsuits that have been brought against them”:
I’d like to extend a sincere, deeply heartfelt thank you to every person who has worked so tirelessly and lovingly on his campaign. … Over the last year and a half, I have met some extraordinary people from all parties – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. It’s been my experience that the vast majority of all parties are truly good people who want the best for our country and for each other. It has been an eye-opening, transformative, and endearing journey.
The decision has been made to suspend my husband's, Robert Kennedy Jr.'s, presidency and I'd like to extend a sincere, deeply heartfelt thank you to every person who has worked so tirelessly and lovingly on his campaign. They have accomplished feats that were said to be…
— Cheryl Hines (@CherylHines) August 23, 2024
Hines, who’s known for her role on the sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm, reportedly opposed RFK Jr’s decision to endorse Trump.
Updated
Brain worm and a dead bear: RFK Jr's campaign controversies
The decision by Robert F Kennedy Jr to suspend his presidential campaign brings to an end one of the most bizarre campaigns of recent times.
Kennedy, who introduced the general public to the concept of “leaky brain” and the idea that chemicals in water were making children transgender, initially ran for the Democratic nomination but launched an independent campaign in October 2023.
His efforts failed to gain traction but left the public with some unusual, and some unsavory, memories.
The scandals include revelations he dropped off a dead bear in Central Park; his claim that part of his brain had been eaten by a worm; an alleged photo he took of a barbecued dog; conspiracy theories about wifi radiation; and allegations of sexual assault.
Read more here for a detailed recounting of the most notable controversies:
Trump mocks Harris for saying 'thank you' to convention audience
After ranting live on Truth Social during Kamala Harris’s Democratic national convention speech last night, Trump couldn’t seem to shake it today. During an event at a Las Vegas restaurant, the former president complained about Harris’s speech, falsely claiming she had made no mention of the border and mocking her for repeatedly thanking the audience.
“She mentioned ‘thank you’ about 50 times,” said Trump. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said, making a guttural noise possibly for dramatic effect and then continuing to repeat the word: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank – thank, thank.”
“What the hell is wrong with her?” he said.
The Harris campaign immediately posted the clip:
Trump: She mentioned 'thank you' about 50 times. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What the hell is wrong with her? She talked about her family pic.twitter.com/xAE34DBdao
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 23, 2024
Updated
Interim summary
Here’s a look at where things stand:
RFK Jr announced the suspension of his presidential campaign and his endorsement of Donald Trump. In a nearly 50-minute address, the independent candidate cited his endorsement reasons as “free speech, war on Ukraine and war on our children”.
Five of RFK Jr’s siblings have shared a statement denouncing their brother’s decision to endorse Trump. “We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride. We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story,” they said.
JD Vance will attend a fundraiser next month hosted by Keith Rabois, Jacob Helberg and the “Trump 47 Jewish Coalition”. Rabois, an investor, and Helberg, an author and technology investor, are both Jewish (the two are also married). They have been critical of the Joe Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, saying the president has not been vocally supportive enough of Israel.
In separate appearances on Fox News on Thursday, Donald Trump and Georgia governor Brian Kemp set their long-held distaste for each other aside, with Kemp endorsing Trump and Trump calling Kemp “very nice”. “We’ve got to win from the top of the ticket on down,” Kemp said, speaking in response to Kamala Harris’s nomination at the Democratic national convention last night. “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”
Merrick Garland announced this morning that the justice department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage. The DoJ alleges that RealPage’s algorithm provided landlords with recommended prices for rentals that allowed them to align their rents.
Several Secret Service personnel from the Pittsburgh field office have been reassigned to administrative duties and ordered to work from home following last month’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump, according to sources speaking to CNN. In a report on Friday, CNN also reported that a member of Trump’s security detail has also been reassigned to administrative duties.
In response to Kamala Harris’s speech at the Democratic national convention on Thursday, Donald Trump’s campaign released an email on Friday morning, calling Harris “dangerously liberal, not a centrist”. It went on to say: “Her record includes being named the most liberal senator, supporting eliminating private health insurance, and saying we need to ‘redirect resources’ from police. Kamala Harris is dangerously liberal, describing her as anything else is a lie.”
Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said on Friday that “the time has come” to cut rates, Reuters reports. During a speech at the Fed’s annual economic conference in Wyoming, Powell said: “The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook and the balance of risks.”
Updated
Robert Kennedy Jr. announced Friday that he is dropping out of the US presidential race and throwing his support behind Donald Trump.
The 70-year-old scion of the expansive and reliably Democrat family said in a Pennsylvania court filing that he was dropping out of the 2024 race for the White House, according to the Associated Press.
Kennedy, a life-long Democrat before he switched to independent – a reflection of his frustration after he was essentially blocked from challenging Joe Biden for the party nomination and later lost Democrat-financed challenges to appearing on state ballots -, said during a press conference that “in an honest system, I believe I would have won the election…”
Kennedy point to the system that his father, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, president John F. Kennedy, he said, had thrived in – ‘a system with open debates, primaries with regularly scheduled debates, a truly independent media untainted by government propaganda and censorship, a system of non-partisan courts and election boards, everything would be different.”
He said polls had shown him beating existing candidates in terms of favorability. “I’m sorry to say that while democracy may still be alive at the grassroots, it has become little more than a slogan for our political institutions, for our media, for our government and most sadly of all for me and the Democratic party.
Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, had hinted the Kennedy campaign might join forces with Trump or forming a new party “because we draw votes from Trump” or “we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. We walk away from that and we explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”
At the height of his campaign. Kennedy was polling at 10% of voters but since Biden dropped out from re-election in July and vice president Kamala Harris stepped in, Kennedy’s polling support halved. The big question is where that remaining 5% of voters go – with Kennedy and Trump, to Democrats, or withhold their vote entirely.
At a campaign stop at a restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada, Donald Trump opened his remarks with a focus on tipped income, and his proposal to abolish taxes on tipped income if elected.
“Nobody ever heard of this concept before,” said Trump, of his proposal to do away with taxes on tips, a form of taxation that especially affects restaurant workers. He called Kamala Harris, who has said she supports the same kind of policy, a “copycat” and complained about her decision to back the policy.
“Can we get the culinary union to vote for Trump?” he said. “A lot of them are voting for us, I can tell you that.” The Culinary Union, which represents workers in food service, hotels and gaming, has already endorsed Harris for president.
“The path to victory runs through Nevada, and the Culinary Union will deliver Nevada for president Kamala Harris and vice president Tim Walz,” wrote Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas, in a 9 August statement.
Updated
Trump acknowledges 'very nice endorsement' from RFK Jr
Speaking in Las Vegas today, Donald Trump acknowledged a “very nice endorsement from RFK Jr”.
“That’s big,” Trump said, adding: “He’s a great guy, respected by everybody.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "We just had a very nice endorsement from RFK JR!" pic.twitter.com/yNmooMWGo4
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 23, 2024
Trump added that he will discuss the endorsement further at a rally in Arizona this afternoon. RFK Jr was still concluding his remarks at the time.
Updated
RFK Jr's siblings issue statement condemning his endorsement of Trump
Five of RFK Jr’s siblings have shared a statement denouncing their brother’s decision to endorse Trump.
“We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride. We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story,” Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy said in a statement.
I am sharing a personal statement that my family and I have made in response to my brother’s announcement. pic.twitter.com/j7vTTabNYZ
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) August 23, 2024
Updated
RFK Jr’s campaign has clarified that it did not intend to endorse Donald Trump in a Pennsylvania court filing, according to reports.
“Mr Kennedy has not endorsed president Trump,” Stefanie Spear, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement to the Washington Post. “The filing was made by an attorney and not reviewed by the campaign. The filing is being updated.”
The news comes as RFK Jr is speaking live to the nation.
Updated
RFK Jr will 'now throw my support to president Trump'
RFK Jr said he will “now throw my support to president Trump”.
Citing the reasons for his endorsement of Donald Trump, he said the causes “were free speech, war in Ukraine and the war on our children”.
Updated
RFK Jr on his campaign: 'I am simply suspending it and not ending it'
“I want everyone to know that I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it and not ending it,” RFK Jr said.
“My name will remain on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping president Trump or Vice-President Harris,” he added, saying: “In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me.”
Updated
“There in Chicago, a string of Democratic speakers mentioned Donald Trump 147 times just on the first day,” RFK Jr said.
“Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate. In contrast, at the RNC convention, president Biden was mentioned only twice in four days … What most alarms me is how the Democratic party conducts its internal affairs, or runs its candidates, let alone … resort to censorship and media control, and weaponization of the federal agencies,” he added.
Updated
“Now, in an honest system, I believe that I would have won the election,” RFK Jr said.
“My father and my uncle thrived in a system … [of] open debates with fair primaries, with a regularly scheduled debate with fair primaries and with a truly independent media, untainted by government propaganda and censorship. In a system of nonpartisan courts and election boards, everything would be different.”
Updated
“I want to thank all of those dedicated volunteers and congratulate the campaign staff who coordinated this enormous logistical feat,” RFK Jr said, referring to his presidential run.
“Your accomplishments were regarded as impossible. You carried me up that glass mountain. You pulled off a miracle. You achieved what all the pundits said could never be done. You have my deepest gratitude, and I’m never going to forget that, not just for what you did, for my campaign, but for the sacrifices you made because you love our country.”
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RFK on Democratic party: 'It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption'
“As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically on the core values that I grew up with,” RFK Jr said.
“It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech … and big money. When it abandoned democracy by cancelling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting president, I left the party to run as an independent.”
Updated
“I began this journey as a Democrat, the party of my father, my uncle, the party which I pledged my own allegiance to all before I was old enough to vote,” RFK Jr said.
“I attended my first Democratic convention at the age of six in 1960 and back then, the Democrats were the champions of the constitution of civil rights. The Democrats stood against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, imperialism and unjust wars. We were the party of labor.”
Updated
RFK Jr is now live on stage.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates.
RFK Jr's campaign endorses Trump in Pennsylvania court filing on Friday - report
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s campaign endorsed Donald Trump in a Pennsylvania court filing on Friday, the Associated Press reports.
Additionally, the independent candidate’s campaign requested that he be removed from the Pennsylvania ballot, according to the Associated Press. The move comes a day after he filed paperwork to withdraw from presidential ballots in Arizona.
RFK Jr is due to deliver an address on his widely speculated withdrawal from the presidential race in a few minutes. According to his campaign, the speech will be “about the present historical moment and his path forward”.
Updated
JD Vance will attend a fundraiser next month hosted by Keith Rabois, Jacob Helberg and the “Trump 47 Jewish Coalition”.
Rabois, an investor, and Helberg, an author and technology investor, are both Jewish (the two are also married). They have been critical of the Joe Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, saying the president has not been vocally supportive enough of Israel.
In May, Helberg wrote: “If you support Israel, there’s only one choice in this election.”
On American Jewish Heritage Month, American Jews who still support Biden should have their heads examined.
— Jacob Helberg (@jacobhelberg) May 9, 2024
If you support Israel, there’s only one choice in this election. https://t.co/uL40QFte1U
Tickets for the 12 September dinner in Manhattan will be $100,000 or $250,000.
NEW —
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) August 23, 2024
JD Vance to raise money next month in New York City, hosted by Keith @rabois and @jacobhelberg.
Jewish-focused fundraising dinner.
Tickets for either $100k or $250k. pic.twitter.com/GzQA5yCwyj
Updated
Robert F Kennedy Jr to hold press conference where he is widely expected to end campaign
Robert F Kennedy Jr is set to hold a press conference at 2.30pm ET, where he is expected to announce his widely speculated withdrawal from the presidential race.
According to Adrian Fontes, the Arizona secretary of state, the independent candidate has filed paperwork to withdraw from presidential ballots in the state.
Updated
In a segment on the Daily Show, host Jon Stewart pointed out the absence of a Palestinian American speaker at the Democratic national convention, despite the representations of Americans from other varying communities over the course of four days, including the parents of an American Israeli hostage kidnapped by Hamas last October.
Speaking sarcastically and pointing out the apparent hypocrisy between the convention’s theme of joy and Israel’s killing of more than 40,000 Palestinians since last October, Stewart said:
They have Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, gay Americans, Jewish Americans, Palestinian Am–, oh. Well, to be fair, it was only four nights, eight hours a night. Really, it’s best not to think about the consequences of our actions over there, especially given the theme of the week.
Stewart went on to show a montage of various Democrats talking about feeling “joy” at the convention.
In response to Stewart’s segment, the uncommitted movement wrote on X: “Thank you, @JonStewart.”
Thank you, @jonstewart.
— Uncommitted National Movement 🌺 (@uncommittedmvmt) August 23, 2024
pic.twitter.com/9dZ3obPj0C
This past week, the convention failed to meet uncommitted delegates’ request for a Palestinian speaker while thousands of anti-war protesters took to the Chicago streets over their disapproval of US policies on Israel’s deadly war in Gaza.
Videos on social media also appeared to show various convention attendees covering their ears as they walked past anti-war protestors chanting the names of Palestinians, including children, killed by Israeli forces across Gaza.
📍Chicago Illinois | DNC attendees covered their ears the same way they cover their eyes when it comes to the genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Z8MXoMWimN
— WearThePeace (@WearThePeaceCo) August 22, 2024
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At a press conference today, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson called the city’s performance hosting the Democratic national convention a success for policing. He said:
If the 1968 convention went down in history as the example of police brutality, then the 2024 convention will go down as the example of constitutional policing.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the convention this week to protest the Democratic party’s support for Israel in the Gaza war.
According to the National Lawyers Guild, which deployed legal observers to monitor policing during the protests, close to 90 protesters were arrested over the course of the week, 14 earlier in the week and 72, including two journalists, during a demonstration outside the Israeli consulate on Tuesday. At least four protesters were hospitalized following their arrests, the Intercept reports.
“The repressive police response to a Palestine solidarity protest at the Israeli consulate seemed pre-planned and designed to stifle free expression during the Democratic national convention,” said Ben Meyer of the Guild’s Chicago chapter.
Assurances that the city would respect people’s first amendment rights during the convention rings hollow next to this brazenly aggressive approach to free expression.
Chicago notably hosted the Democratic national convention in 1968, when protesters demonstrating against the Vietnam war also gathered outside the convention and were teargassed, beaten and arrested en masse.
Updated
Joe Biden asked Benjamin Netanyahu during a call on Wednesday to pull Israeli troops back from part of the Egypt-Gaza border as part of an initial phase of a ceasefire deal so that talks could continue, according to a report.
The US president asked Israel’s prime minister to agree to withdraw the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from a small part of the Philadelphi corridor during the implementation of the first phase of the deal, Axios is reporting, citing Israeli officials.
Netanyahu partially accepted Biden’s request and agreed to give up one Israeli position along the border, they told the outlet.
It comes as John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesperson, described the latest Gaza talks as having been “constructive”. Kirby told reporters on Friday:
We’re in Cairo. They’re in Cairo. We need Hamas to participate, and we need to get down to the brass tacks of locking in these details. And that’s what we’re focused on here in the next, coming days here over the course of the weekend.
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Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator for Massachusetts, reflected on the roaring standing ovation she received from the crowd before her speech at the convention on Thursday.
Warren was visibly emotional before her speech, during which she gave an emphatic endorsement of Kamala Harris, whom she painted as a strong figure who “gets it” and will defend the rights and economic interests of Americans.
Elizabeth Warren on Morning Joe this morning was still emotional about the huge ovation she got yesterday at the DNC. It was one of my favorite moments from the convention and there are so many to choose from. pic.twitter.com/AEcjT75SXR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 23, 2024
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James Comey, the former FBI director, has posted to X to say that Kamala Harris “made me feel like it’s finally morning in America”, adding:
Everyone who cares about the rule of law and America’s indispensable role in the world should vote for Harris and [Tim] Walz. I will.
Kamala Harris made me feel like it’s finally morning in America. Everyone who cares about the rule of law and America’s indispensable role in the world should vote for Harris and Walz. I will.
— James Comey (@Comey) August 23, 2024
Comey, who led the FBI during the Obama administration before being fired by Donald Trump just months into his presidency, endorsed Joe Biden during the 2020 Democratic primary.
Updated
In separate appearances on Fox News on Thursday, Donald Trump and Georgia governor Brian Kemp set their long-held distaste for each other aside, with Kemp endorsing Trump and Trump calling Kemp “very nice”.
“We’ve got to win from the top of the ticket on down,” Kemp said, speaking in response to Kamala Harris’s nomination at the Democratic national convention last night. “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”
Responding to Kemp’s endorsement later that evening, Trump told the network: “I think we’re going to have a very good relationship with Brian Kemp.”
Later, the former president posted on Truth Social:
Thank you to #BrianKempGA for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country. I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Trump and Kemp have feuded since 2020, when Kemp refused to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results. The former president lost the state of Georgia by a narrow margin of about 12,000 votes.
This year alone, the two have continued at each other’s throats, with Kemp saying he cast a blank ballot rather than vote for Trump in the Republican primary election and Trump calling Kemp a “bad guy” at a rally just three weeks ago.
For more on the legacy of Georgia’s continued election deniers, read Sam Levine’s latest:
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Donald Trump said it was “possible” he would meet with Robert F Kennedy Jr amid reports that the independent presidential candidate plans to drop out of the race and endorse Trump.
Kennedy is scheduled to deliver a public address this afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona. Meanwhile, Trump is scheduled to speak at an event in Glendale, Arizona, where he will be joined by a “special guest”, according to his campaign.
“I have no idea if he’s going to endorse me,” Trump told Fox News late last night.
I know he’s got a news conference, we happen to be in the same state, Arizona, we’ll be in the same state, but in quite different parts of the state. But it’s possible we will be meeting tomorrow and we’ll be discussing it.
As we reported earlier, Kennedy is reported to be facing pushback from wife, Cheryl Hines, over rumored plans to throw his support behind Trump.
Updated
Merrick Garland announced this morning that the justice department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage.
The DoJ alleges that RealPage’s algorithm provided landlords with recommended prices for rentals that allowed them to align their rents.
“When the Sherman Act was passed, an anti-competitive scheme might have looked like robber barons shaking hands at a secret meeting. Today, it looks like landlords using mathematical algorithms to align their rents. But anti-trust law does not become obsolete simply because competitors find new ways to unlawfully act in concert,” the US attorney general said.
AG Merrick Garland announces that the DOJ has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage for enabling "landlords to sidestep vigorous competition in the rental market" and raise rents. pic.twitter.com/KmeywaGVzo
— The Recount (@therecount) August 23, 2024
In a statement posted on its website in June, after attorneys general in several states sued the company, RealPage called the allegations “false and misleading”.
The lawsuit comes in the wake of several other anti-trust efforts from the Biden administration just this year, including suits against Live Nation and Apple.
For more on those efforts, see:
Updated
Several Secret Service personnel from the Pittsburgh field office have been reassigned to administrative duties and ordered to work from home following last month’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump, according to sources speaking to CNN.
In a report on Friday, CNN also reported that a member of Trump’s security detail has also been reassigned to administrative duties.
Earlier this month, Ronald Rowe, the acting Secret Service director, said that the Secret Service takes “full responsibility” for the security failures in the assassination attempt, in addition to admitting to errors in communication and surveillance.
Updated
The Trump campaign on Harris following convention speech: 'Dangerously liberal, not a centrist'
In response to Kamala Harris’s speech at the Democratic national convention on Thursday, Donald Trump’s campaign released an email on Friday morning, calling Harris “dangerously liberal, not a centrist”.
In the email, Trump’s campaign wrote: “Kamala Harris has apparently expanded her press department to include the New York Times,” citing a New York Times article that described Harris’s “move to the political center” which “seems to be working”.
Citing the article, Trump’s campaign said, “That’s nonsensical,” adding: “Kamala is no centrist.”
It went on to say:
Her record includes being named the most liberal senator, supporting eliminating private health insurance, and saying we need to ‘redirect resources’ from police. Kamala Harris is dangerously liberal, describing her as anything else is a lie.
The latest email from Trump’s campaign follows a series of angry posts Trump fired off Thursday evening on Truth Social during Harris’s speech. In addition to accusing Harris of being “weak and ineffective” and having “done nothing for three and a half years but talk”, Trump accused her of standing for “incompetence and weakness”.
With only a few weeks left until election day, the two are neck and neck in the polls, particularly in crucial battleground states.
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Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said on Friday that “the time has come” to cut rates, Reuters reports.
During a speech at the Fed’s annual economic conference in Wyoming, Powell said:
The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook and the balance of risks.
Powell went on to add that his “confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2%” after it rose to 7% during the pandemic.
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With Democrats celebrating as a “joyful” Kamala Harris puts them back in the game, the Guardian’s Ed Pilkington reports on their reactions from the Democratic national convention and the long road they face before November:
Five weeks ago, Democrats were preparing to hold their national convention in Chicago under a pall, weighed down by fears of defeat and what Michelle Obama called a “palpable sense of dread about the future”. An 81-year-old president, trailing badly in the polls, would face his people as they cowered before the prospect of four more years of Donald Trump and his bloodlust for retribution.
What we got at the DNC in Chicago was a week-long celebration that went well beyond the relief that the party evidently feels now that it is back in the game. There was rejoicing in the energy and confidence that has been unleashed by the unexpected metamorphosis from Joe Biden to the “joyful warrior”, Kamala Harris.
Relief and rejoicing were written on Harris’s face as she took the stage in Biden’s place on Thursday night. She was met by a roar from delegates, many dressed in blazing white in homage to the suffragette movement without which they would not have been marking the nomination of the first Black and Asian American woman on a major party ticket.
For the full story, click here:
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RFK Jr reportedly facing pushback from wife, Cheryl Hines, over rumored exit
Robert F Kennedy is reported to be facing pushback from wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines over the independent presidential candidate’s rumored plans to throw his support behind Donald Trump later today.
The Kennedy campaign filed paperwork late Thursday to withdraw from the ballot in Arizona as speculation swirls that his presidential ambitions are coming to a close amid falling polls numbers and a campaign cash crunch.
But, according to the Hill, Kennedy’s negotiations with the Trump campaign to forge an alliance, which could in theory add Kennedy’s 5% national support to Trump’s side of the polling ledger, is not popular with Hines.
A source told the publication that Hines “really does not want him” to back Trump.
“He’s contending with that,” the source said.
The Kennedy and Trump campaigns are reported to have been in discussions for several weeks. “It would be so good for [me] and so good for you,” Trump said in a recorded phone call to the former Democrat last month.
But it’s not clear that Kennedy supporters would necessarily follow the independent candidate to the Trump ticket. Kennedy’s polling has roughly halved since Joe Biden dropped out and Kamala Harris took up the mantle of presidential hopeful.
That suggests in part that Kennedy’s appeal to supporters rests on his being a non-major-party candidate.
According to the Hill, Kennedy and Hines agree to disagree on some of the candidate’s conspiracy-minded positions, including those around vaccines skepticism, which Trump sometimes appears to share.
When Kennedy compared vaccine mandates to the Nazi Holocaust – a comment he later walked back – Hines posted on X: “My husband’s opinions are not a reflection of my own. While we love each other, we differ on many current issues.”
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Here is the response from another undecided Pennsylvania voter on CNN on why he decided to vote for Kamala Harris following her speech last night at the DNC:
I was looking for policy information … I like what she gave on military, what she wants to do for our veterans. And with border control. I just think that she has a lot of good ideas and she is very well-spoken. I think she was very professional.
Undecided Voter: I like what she gave on military, what she wants to do for our veterans. And with border control. I just think that she has a lot of good ideas and she is very well spoken. I think she was very professional. pic.twitter.com/fxhIHqoMmA
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 23, 2024
Addressing the convention last night, Harris said:
I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and I will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice.
On border control, Harris vowed:
As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law. I know – I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border.
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Following Kamala Harris’s speech yesterday evening, a handful of undecided Pennsylvania voters raised their hands on CNN in response to whether they were ready to make a commitment to any candidate in November.
Among eight undecided voters, all but one raised their hands to the question. Six voters indicated that they would vote for Harris, one said Trump and another remained undecided.
In response to what led them to make up their minds on Harris, one person said:
I really liked her confidence. She really seemed presidential … She spoke from her heart.
Reporter: None of you were ready to make a commitment to any candidate in November. Please raise your hand if you’re ready to make a commitment after today. pic.twitter.com/yC4SgZOrsq
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 23, 2024
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For approximately 45 minutes on Thursday evening, Kamala Harris tried to show the US who she is and why she is worthy of being its next president.
Here are several key takeaways from her speech and the Democratic national convention’s final night by the Guardian’s Sam Levine:
Kamala Harris accepted the nomination “guided by optimism and faith”: The vice-president’s speech offered a forceful rebuke of Donald Trump and laid out the stakes of the election.
Harris said she would “always stand for Israel” and called for “Palestinian self-determination”: After days of sustained pro-Palestinian protests calling for an arms embargo on Israel, Harris’s address offered both a defense of Israel and a call for Palestinian self-determination.
The convention denied requests for a Palestinian speaker, sparking outrage: The convention ended without a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage, a key demand of the uncommitted movement. The Harris campaign and Democratic party faced increasing pressure throughout the week to include a Palestinian voice, particularly after parents of a Hamas hostage were given a speaking slot and delivered emotional testimony on Wednesday.
For more key takeaways, click here:
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Democrats in for hard-fought election after joyful convention as RFK Jr set to announce end of campaign
Good morning,
Following an energetic few days at the Democratic national convention in Chicago, where last night Kamala Harris deliver the biggest speech of her career, Democrats are now in for the hard part.
With many in the party celebrating as a “joyful” Harris offered the much-needed hope following Joe Biden’s lackluster campaign performances several weeks ago, Democrats will now fight tooth and nail in battleground states where Harris is polling by just a knife’s edge over Donald Trump.
Additionally, with the convention’s failure to meet uncommitted delegates’ request for a Palestinian speaker and thousands of anti-war protesters taking to the Chicago streets over their disapproval of US policies on Israel’s deadly war in Gaza, Harris and Democrats will need to figure out how to win the support of those voters come November. For many, the answer is simple: adhere to demands for a ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel.
Trump remains on the offence. Over the course of Harris’s speech, Trump fired off dozens of posts on Truth Social, accusing her of “complaining about everything but doing nothing” and calling her “weak and ineffective”.
Meanwhile, Robert F Kennedy Jr is scheduled to deliver a public address this afternoon in Arizona amid reports of the independent presidential candidate’s widely speculated withdrawal.
Here are other developments in US politics:
Trump is set to deliver remarks on his no-tax-on-tips proposal in Las Vegas today before heading to a rally in Arizona.
New details have emerged about communication failures prior to Trump’s assassination attempt last month, including forgotten radios, CNN reports.
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