This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. You can find the latest US elections coverage here.
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
Kamala Harris’s pre-recorded 60 Minutes interview aired. She was asked whether Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a “real close ally” of the US, and did not say that he was – she sidestepped the question, saying, “I think, with all due respect, the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people, and the answer to that question is yes.”
Harris was also asked about how her economic plans, which CBS reported would add $3tn to the federal deficit over ten years. She was pressed repeatedly on the question, at one point saying, “Well, one of the things is I’m gonna make sure that the richest among us, who can afford it, pay their fair share in taxes. It is not right that teachers and nurses and firefighters are paying a har-- a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations”, to which Whitaker responded, “But we’re dealing with the real world here” and asked how Harris would get that through Congress, which, he said “has shown no inclination to move in your direction.” Harris said she disagreed, and that, “There are plenty of leaders in Congress who understand and know that the Trump tax cuts blew up our federal deficit.”
An analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal budget released on Monday found that Trump’s policies would send the federal debt climbing by as much as $15.2t through 2035, and as little $1.4t. Over the same period, Harris’s policies could send it up by as much as $8.1t, or nothing at all.
Asked if she would sit down with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Harris replied: “Not bilaterally. Without Ukraine? No.” But she punted on a question about Ukraine’s request for Nato membership. Despite receiving assistance from the US and the western military alliance, Ukraine is not a Nato member. “Those are all issues that we will deal with if and when it arrives at that point,” she said. “Right now, we are supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression.”
Earlier on Monday, in response to reports that Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, will not respond to her calls regarding hurricanes Helene and Milton, Kamala Harris told reporters: “People are in desperate need of support right now, and playing political games at this moment … is just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship.”
Trump spoke at a memorial event for 7 October, where he described the Hamas attack as “a moment in horrible history”, and said, “It seemed as if the gates of hell had sprung open and unleashed their horrors unto the world. What a moment in time.” He asked for a moment of silence for those killed and the hostages still held by Hamas. He claims to be friends with a lot of families who lost loved ones that day.
Trump did not make any public remarks as he paid his respects at the final resting place of a famous rabbi in New York earlier on Monday. But he blasted Biden and Harris over their handling of the Middle East in an interview earlier, accusing the incumbent of having the “worst foreign policy of anybody in history probably. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “not listening at all” to Biden, said Trump – with the property tycoon lamenting that war-torn Gaza could one day be “better than Monaco”.
