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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”.
Trump has finished speaking in Florida. The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe is a the event and reports,
Trump spoke for exactly 20 minutes. He ended with a familiar refrain, namely the claim that the 7 October attacks would never have happened if he had still been in the White House.
“The last two years have proved that,” he says. “Violence, and more. You see that weakness. But there’s also a lot of hatred going around, not just weakness. There’s a lot of hatred on a certain side.
“What is needed is more than ever unwavering American leadership”.
If elected, Trump says, there will be “the dawn of new, more harmonious Middle East,” which he insists is “finally within our reach”.
“I will not allow the Jewish state to be threatened with destruction. I will not allow another Holocaust of the Jewish people. I will not allow a jihad to be waged on America or our allies and I will support Israel’s right to win its war.”
Updated
More now from my colleague based in Florida, Richard Luscombe. He is at the Trump event, and reports:
Trump says the Hamas attack was “a moment in horrible history”.
“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.
He spoke about the attacks for about 13 minutes before introducing politics, the Republican presidential nominee saying that, “If, and when, they say, when I’m president, the US will once again be stronger and closer [to Israel] than it ever was. But we have to win the election.”
He mentions “leadership of this country” – meaning the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – and the crowd begins to boo.
“The anti-Jewish hatred has returned … and within the ranks of the Democratic party in particular. The Republican party has not been infected by this horrible disease, and won’t be as long as I’m in charge.”
The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe is at the 7 October anniversary event at which Trump is speaking. He writes:
Donald Trump has finally taken the stage at his golf club in Miami, where the former president is telling a crowd of about 300, mostly from the Jewish community, that he had a bumpy flight down from New York to attend a commemoration of the first anniversary of the 7 October terrorist attacks in Israel.
Rising to chants of “fight, fight, fight”, the former president and Republican began his remarks by mentioning Hurricane Milton, about to slam into Florida’s west coast.
“It looks like it’s going to be a whopper. I hope everyone stays safe,” he says.
Updated
Here was Harris on how her economic plans will be funded – an answer she sidestepped, on a subject she has been criticised for being weak on, and one that is generally viewed as key to how people vote:
Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes: "The other economists that have reviewed my plan versus my opponent, and determined that my plan would strengthen America's economy -- his would weaken it." pic.twitter.com/JraMOkgvDn
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2024
That interview has ended. Trump meanwhile has finally taken to the stage at a memorial event in Florida. He started by speaking about Hurricanes Helene and Milton, but eventually moved on to more relevant comments.
And Harris on her gun ownership. She has mentioned repeatedly that she owns a gun – her running mate Tim Walz is a gun owner, too – and Harris now says that the type of gun she owns is a glock.
She is asked if she has fired it, and says she has fired it at a shooting range.
Kamala Harris to 60 Minutes: "I have a glock" pic.twitter.com/KBF6dHpRRj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2024
Here is that exchange with Walz:
Q: Why do you think the ‘weird’ label stuck to Republicans?
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 8, 2024
Gov. Walz: I was talking about the behaviors of being obsessed with people's personal lives in their bedrooms and their reproductive rights. Making up stories about folks legally here eating cats and dogs. They're… pic.twitter.com/JB0w8C1AC2
CBS’s Bill Whitaker is now giving Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, the “60 minutes” treatment. He begins by asking Walz where he and Harris disagree.
With a chuckle, Walz said Harris probably wished he was a “little more careful” about how he speaks publicly. Whitaker quickly follows up, noting that Walz has been caught embellishing stories on several occasions, including that he was in China when the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred.
“I will own up to being a knucklehead at times, but the folks closest to me know that I keep my word,” Walz said. He insisted voters could trust him, and that mispeaking was hardly on the same plane as Trump, whom he called a “pathological liar.”
He was also asked about Trump’s criticism of his record as governor of Minnesota. Walz stood by it, saying it was focused on expanding the safety net for families and children. He slipped a joke that in Minnesota, where it gets cold enough that lakes freeze in the winter: “We’re so optimistic, we walk on water half the year.
Walz was also asked why he believes his description of Republicans as “weird” stuck.
“I was really talking about behaviors, being obsessed with people’s personal lives in their bedrooms and their reproductive rights, making up stories about legal folks legally here eating cats and dogs,” Walz said. “They’re dehumanizing. They go beyond weird, because I said this, it becomes almost dangerous. Let’s debate policy in a real way, and let’s try and find an objective truth again.”
Harris sidesteps question on how she will pay for economic plans
Harris also sidestepped questions on the economy. Here is that tense exchange. It starts with CBS’s Whitaker saying Harris wants to expand the child tax redit and give tax breaks to first-time homebuyers, which Harris agrees are her plans.
Then Whitaker says: But it is estimated by the Nonpartisan Committee for Responsible Federal budget that your economic plan would add $3tn to the federal deficit over the next decade. How are you gonna pay for that?
Vice-president Kamala Harris: OK, so the other econ- economists that have reviewed my plan versus my opponent and determined that my economic plan would strengthen America’s economy. His would weaken it.
Bill Whitaker: But--
Vice-president Kamala Harris: My plan, Bill, if you don’t mind, my plan is about saying that when you invest in small businesses, you invest in the middle class, and you strengthen America’s economy. Small businesses are part of the backbone of America’s economy.
Bill Whitaker: But-but pardon me, Madame vice-president, the question was, how are you going to pay for it?
Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes: "The other economists that have reviewed my plan versus my opponent, and determined that my plan would strengthen America's economy -- his would weaken it." pic.twitter.com/JraMOkgvDn
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2024
Vice-president Kamala Harris: 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.
Bill Whitaker: But-but
Vice-president Kamala Harris: And I plan on making that fair.
Bill Whitaker: But we’re dealing with the real world here.
Vice-president Kamala Harris: But the real world includes—
Bill Whitaker: How are you gonna get this through Congress?
Here is that exchange on Ukraine:
Q: Would you meet with Putin?
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 8, 2024
Vice President Harris: Not bilaterally without Ukraine. Ukraine must have a say in the future of Ukraine. If Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. He says he can ‘end the war on day one.’ You know what that is? It's about… pic.twitter.com/Zfe6HXqvtv
Harris says she would not sit down with only Putin to discuss Ukraine
Asked if she would sit down with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Harris replies: “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.”
She then turned on Trump’s records: “Donald Trump, if he were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. He talks about, ‘oh, he can end it on day one.’ You know what that is? It’s about surrender.”
Updated
Harris declines to say Netanyahu is a "real close ally" in 60 minutes interview
The interview is under way. As reported in previews, it begins with a question on the spiraling situation in the Middle East, a clip that was released in advance of the sit-down. She declined to say whether Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a real close ally”.
“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,” the vice-president replied in an excerpt from her forthcoming interview on the popular news program.”
The interview then turns to the economy. Harris is pressed to say how she would pay for her economic agenda, which she has mostly unveiled in broad strokes. She talked about the importance of making billionaires and big corporations “pay their fair share.”
“It is not right that teachers and nurses and firefighters are paying a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations,” she said.
“I am a devout public servant, you know that, I’m also a capitalist,” she added. “And I know the limitations of government.”
Kamala Harris’s “60 Minutes” election special has begun with a lengthy explanation of the effort by CBS to secure an interview with Donald Trump.
Scott Pelley, one of the show’s correspondents who was supposed to interview Trump, detailed the back-and-forth with the Trump campaign to secure the interview that he said was due to take place on Thursday last week. But he said Trump canceled the sit down.
Pelley said the campaign provided “shifting explanations” for pulling out of the interview, including that he did not want to be “factchecked” and that he “needed an apology” for a 2020 interview related to Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“Trump has said his opponent doesn’t do interviews because she can’t handle them. He had previously declined another debate with Harris,” Pelley said. “So tonight may have been the largest audience for the candidates between now and Election Day.”
Whitaker asks if the US has a real close ally in prime minister Netanyahu, to which Harris says, “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.”
During the interview, CBS’s Bill Whitaker will ask Kamala Harris about the crisis in the Middle East. Harris sidesteps a question about US support for Israel, and in particular, Netanyahu.
Here is that exchange:
Bill Whitaker: The events of the past few weeks have pushed us to the brink, if-if not into an all-out regional war in the Middle East. What can the U.S. do at this point to stop this from spinning out of control?
Vice-president Kamala Harris: Well, let’s start with 7 October. 1,200 people were massacred, 250 hostages were taken, including Americans, women were brutally raped, and as I said then, I maintain Israel has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. This war has to end.
Bill Whitaker: We supply Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, and yet prime minister Netanyahu seems to be charting his own course. The Biden-Harris administration has pressed him to agree to a ceasefire. He’s resisted. You urged him not to go into Lebanon. He went in anyway. Does the U.S. have no sway over prime minister Netanyahu?
Vice-president Kamala Harris: The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles.
Bill Whitaker: But it seems that prime minister Netanyahu is not listening.
Vice-president Kamala Harris: We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.
Updated
Trump has not yet spoken, but the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe is at the event in Florida and will report on anything noteworthy that he says when he does.
Meanwhile Kamala Harris’s pre-taped interview with 60 Minutes is due to air in two minutes’ time. We’ll bring that to you live as it airs.
Kamala Harris’s interview with 60 Minutes will air in 20 minutes’ time. We’ll bring you news and analysis from that live.
People around the world marked the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks on Monday, and devastating conflict that has followed.
Vigils paid tribute to the 1200 victims of the Hamas attacks, and the hostages in Gaza, and protests called for an end to the Israeli offensive, which has killed nearly 42,000 people, more than half of them women and children, and injured tens of thousands.
US President Joe Biden participated in a Jewish ceremony to remember the victims of the attack, and UK prime minister Keir Starmer called for an end to the escalating regional violence. The events came as Israel launched a wave of strikes on southern Lebanon, where it claims it has been targeting Hezbollah in recent weeks, leading to fears of a broader war:
As we wait for Trump to speak at an event on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, here are the biggest days to watch out for the next few months. There are no major events scheduled until election day, just a month of campaigning from the candidates.
5 November: Election Day. It could take days for the election result to be known, especially if it is close and mail-in ballots are a factor.
26 November: Trump, the first sitting or former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, is due to be sentenced in a Manhattan hush money case where he was found guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star. Trump has denied wrongdoing. Sentencing was originally due to take place on Sept. 18.
17 December: Electors, who together form the Electoral College, meet in their respective states and the District of Columbia to select the president and vice-president.
25 December: The electoral votes must be received by this date by the president of the Senate – a role held by the vice-president, now Harris – and the archivist.
6 January 2025: The vice-president presides over the Electoral College vote count at a joint session of Congress, announces the results and declares who has been elected.
Ahead of the count on 6 January 2021, then-President Trump lambasted his vice-president, Mike Pence, for refusing to try to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump.
On that day, the US Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters trying to stop the count. Biden’s win was certified early the next day.
Congress has since passed the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, which requires approval of one-fifth of the House and Senate to consider a challenge to a state’s results – a much higher bar than existed before, when at least one member each in the Senate and House of Representatives could together trigger a challenge.
20 January: The inauguration of the election winner and their vice-president takes place. At this ceremony, the victor and the vice-president are officially sworn into office.
Updated
Here is more on the Fema chief’s response to falsehoods spread by Treump about Hurricane Helene:
Trump has accused Joe Biden’s administration of “abandoning” people to the crisis and, baselessly, of being short of disaster relief funds due to money spent on undocumented migrants. Such claims are “frankly ridiculous” and creating a “truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear” among affected people, Criswell said.
In multiple rallies in the past week, Trump has accused Biden and Kamala Harris of favoring migrants over disaster-hit areas. “They stole the Fema money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season,” Trump has said.
“Kamala spent all her Fema money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal immigrants.” Trump added the places worst hit are “largely a Republican area so some people say they did it for that reason”.
JD Vance, Trump’s Republican running mate, echoed this theme on Monday, telling Fox News that Fema’s focus on migrants is “going to distract focus from their core job of helping American citizens in their time of need”. Last week, Stephen Miller, a far-right Trump adviser, said that “Kamala Harris turned Fema into an illegal alien resettlement agency.”
Fema does, in fact, have a housing program that offers shelter to migrants leaving detention but this is separate from its disaster relief program. “No money is being diverted from disaster response needs. None,” the White House has stated.
Congress recently provided an extra $20bn for disaster relief but Biden has warned that more funding will be needed to help the long-term recovery of places increasingly assailed by powerful storms fueled by global heating.
Other conspiracy theories and erroneous claims have swirled online and in areas affected by Helene, such as the assertion that Fema will give only $750 to individuals as a loan (it is in fact a grant and can be followed by further claims for more than $40,000) or that the agency is seizing people’s land.
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”.
The event in Florida is starting now, though Trump is not yet speaking.
Trump’s event in Florida is so far running 30 minutes late. We will bring you any important lines from those remarks on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks by Hamas when they begin.
Updated
A slew of falsehoods about Hurricane Helene, including claims of funds diverted from storm survivors to migrants and even that Democrats somehow directed the hurricane itself, have hampered the response to one of the deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the US, the nation’s top emergency official has warned.
Misinformation spread by Donald Trump, his supporters and others about the hurricane has shrouded the recovery effort for communities shattered by Helene, which tore through five states causing at least 227 deaths and tens of billions of dollars of damage. Many places, such as in western North Carolina, are still without a water supply, navigable roads or vital supplies.
“It’s frankly disappointing we are having to deal with this narrative, the fact there are a few leaders having a hard time telling the difference between fact and fiction is creating an impedance to our ability to actually get people the help they need,” Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), told MSNBC on Monday.
Here is the press pool report – by the Guardian’s own David Smith – on Kamala Harris’s comments earlier on Governor Ron DeSantis not taking her calls about Hurricane Milton.
Harris said:
Moments of crisis, if nothing else, should really be the moment that anyone who calls themselves a leader says they’re going to put politics aside and put the people first.
People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment, in these crisis situations – these are the height of emergency situations – it is utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”
Earlier VPOTUS said she had just come off the phone with Fema Administrator Deanne Criswell. She commented on remarks made by Trump.
And I cannot stress enough to all the folks in Florida in the Tampa area, please listen to evacuation orders. Please listen to your local officials because I know a lot of folks out there have survived these hurricanes before; this one is going to be very, very serious and I urge you to grab whatever you need.
The other point I’d make is there’s a lot of misinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, particularly for the survivors of Helene. First of all, it’s extraordinarily irresponsible. It’s about him, it’s not about you. The reality is Fema has so many resources that are available to those who desperately need them.”
Updated
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is reportedly refusing calls about storm recovery from Kamala Harris, more than a week after Hurricane Helene hit the state and two days before intensifying Hurricane Milton is expected to hit the south-west of the state.
Citing a DeSantis aide, NBC News reported on Monday that the Republican governor was dodging the Democratic presidential nominee’s calls because they “seemed political”.
“Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer,” the DeSantis aide told the outlet. DeSantis does not appear to have spoken to Joe Biden, either, to the aide’s knowledge.
The Florida governor has, however, been in touch with the Fema director, Deanne Criswell.
Last week, DeSantis said Biden had called him, but he was flying at the time so could not take the call. A source familiar with the planning for Biden’s trip to north Florida to survey Helene’s damage said that the Biden team had invited DeSantis to the event but their schedules conflicted.
The response to Hurricane Helene has become an intense political issue one month before the presidential election. The White House and local Democratic leaders have appealed for an end to misinformation about the storm and the response to it.
Summary
As we wait for Trump to begin delivering his remarks on the October 7 Hamas attack in Florida, here is where things stand:
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both attended events today in recognition of the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel.
The Supreme court upheld a ruling that will prevent abortions from being performed in some emergency circumstances in Texas. The court also rejected an attempt by an Alabama fertility clinic to avoid a wrongful death lawsuit that was at the center of a state high court ruling earlier this year that led to IVF access being briefly curtailed in the state
The Harris campaign launched a week-long media blitz, beginning yesterday with an appearance on the podcast Call Her Daddy, that will include appearances with Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert and The View this week.
Florida is bracing for Hurricane Milton to make landfall. The state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has declined to speak with Harris or Joe Biden, but says the federal government has fulfilled his requests for aid.
A report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests that both the Harris and Trump campaigns are making promises that will increase US debt, but that Trump’s proposals are more expensive.
Updated
Donald Trump will speak shortly in Miami at a commemoration for the victims and hostages of the 7 October Hamas attacks.
It’s a relatively small affair, some 350 or so seats are laid out in rows in the ballroom at the Trump National golf resort in Doral. Supporters, some wearing red yamakas in the style of Trump’s traditional Maga (Make America great again) caps, passed memorials to those killed or taken hostage a year ago. Rows of candles accompanied pictures of the victims on a table. And outside the resort, in pouring rain, a man help up a sign that said “Thank you Trump for supporting Israel”.
The former president is expected to turn the event into an attack on Kamala Harris, whom he has called “weak” over Israel. In recent days he has called for Israel to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran in retaliation for that country’s missile attack on Israel last week.
Earlier Monday, Trump visited Ohel Chabad Lubavitch in Queens, New York, before flying to Florida.
Jewish supporters of Donald Trump are gathering at his golf resort in Doral, Miami, where the former president will shortly give remarks on the anniversary of the Hamas Oct 7 attacks. Will be interesting to hear what he has to say… a year ago he called Hamas “very smart” pic.twitter.com/xe4E96Q1nT
— Richard Luscombe (@richlusc) October 7, 2024
Updated
In response to reports that Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, will not respond to her calls regarding hurricanes Helene and Milton, Kamala Harris tells 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.”
Reporter: There are reports that DeSantis is ignoring your calls..
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 7, 2024
Kamala Harris: Playing political games at this moment…It's utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do pic.twitter.com/lySDD98xO9
Updated
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, delivered remarks on Hurricane Milton’s impending landfall this afternoon. Although DeSantis has declined calls with Biden and Harris, he told reporters that Fema and the Biden administration have fulfilled his requests for aid.
“We have gotten what we need from the feds. We have been working constructively with all of the local communities,” he said, before criticizing a reporter’s question about declining calls with the Biden administration. “Some of these questions are just trying to create some sort of political angle.”
DeSantis: “We have made a pre-landfall declaration request from FEMA for support & the federal government has approved a portion of our request for pre-landfall items. And we expect the remaining parts of our request subsequent to landfall for debris and individual assistance,…
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 7, 2024
'YOUR PUBLICATION WILL TWIST ANYTHING THAT'S DONE [...] THAT'S HOW YOU GET YOUR CLICKS!': Gov. Ron DeSantis spats with reporter after being questioned about Kamala Harris phone call and "politics"
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) October 7, 2024
"Some of these questions are just trying to create some sort of political angle."… pic.twitter.com/rRKBGMX4Eg
Updated
Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast yesterday, Kamala Harris hit back at Republicans’ remarks about her lack of biological children.
The Guardian’s Edward Helmore writes:
Kamala Harris hit back at the Republican Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s comments that the vice-president and Democratic White House nominee “doesn’t have anything keeping her humble” because she does not have children of her own.
“I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, are not aspiring to be humble,” Harris told the Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper in a taped interview released on Sunday.
Sanders, a deputy White House press secretary during Donald Trump’s presidency, told a rally crowd in September that her “kids keep me humble.
“Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble,” Sanders said.
In a taped interview with Cooper, Harris said there are “a whole lot of women out here who have a lot of love in their life, family in their life and children in their life, and I think it’s really important for women to lift each other up”.
Updated
The Trump campaign has announced that the former president will be traveling to Coachella, California – a city best known for its music festival – this weekend.
The announcement says that, under Democratic leadership, the “notorious ‘California Dream’ has turned into a nightmare”.
Less than a month left, and Trump is headed to … Coachella pic.twitter.com/4686k9YGsX
— Matt Dixon (@Mdixon55) October 7, 2024
Harris campaign officials appear unconcerned about the rally.
Oh no. This is extremely concerning for our campaign. Please do not go to Coachella, CALIFORNIA 24 days before the election. https://t.co/QJoe3Ysyh4
— Ammar Moussa (@ammarmufasa) October 7, 2024
Updated
Donald Trump commemorated the anniversary of 7 October by visiting the grave of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century and a leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, in Queens, New York, today. Trump was joined by family members of Edan Alexander, an Israeli hostage taken by Hamas one year ago today.
He was also joined by conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, who shared photos of the event on X:
October 7 was the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. It was an honor to join President Trump in NY today to pay our respects and remember the lives lost in the horrific terrorist attack one year ago today. I had the additional honor of being accompanied by Yael, Adi,… pic.twitter.com/DdcFwnrWYl
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 7, 2024
Updated
As more news emerges on preparations for Hurricane Milton, including updates on Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ snub of a phone call from Harris, Fema is trying to dispel disinformation about its response to Hurricane Helene.
Deanne Criswell, who leads Fema, says false claims and conspiracy theories – spread most prominently by Donald Trump – are “demoralizing” aid workers and spreading fear.
Republicans, led by Trump, have spread misinformation since Helene made landfall, including rumors that the federal government was intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas, spending all its money to help immigrants, and that it used weather control technology to steer Helene toward Republican voters.
Updated
Kamala Harris and the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, planted a pomegranate tree outside her residence at the United States Naval Observatory before taking questions from members of the press.
Before doing so, Harris delivered brief remarks:
“We dedicate this tree to the 1,200 innocent souls, in an act of pure evil on October 7, 2023, who were massacred by Hamas terrorists,” Harris said, noting the American civilians who were among the dead and evoking the Jewish mourner’s prayer.
She also noted: “I will always make sure Israel has to defend itself” before adding: “We must work to relieve the immense suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, who have experienced so much pain and loss over the year.”
Join me and the @SecondGentleman as we speak about the horror of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel and as we dedicate a tree at the Vice President’s Residence to honor the 1,200 innocent people killed in that heinous attack. https://t.co/22fl0rvsXB
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) October 7, 2024
The Trump campaign is already criticizing the event.
Kamala uses her remarks on the one-year anniversary of the worst attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust to play both sides and implicitly criticize Israel's right to self-defense pic.twitter.com/V3QmRJ5vL5
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 7, 2024
Updated
Harris to mark 7 October with memorial tree planting
Kamala Harris, together with the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, will in a few minutes hold a tree-planting ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of the 7 October attack in Israel.
The vice-president will then deliver remarks at the event held at her residence at the United States Naval Observatory, which is about three miles from the White House in Washington DC.
It’s Harris’s only scheduled public speech today, and we will let you know what she has to say.
Updated
DeSantis declines to take Harris's call on Hurricane Milton
As Hurricane Milton churns towards Florida’s west coast, ABC News reports that the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, declined to speak to Kamala Harris.
A nationally prominent conservative, DeSantis mounted a failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, and since endorsed Donald Trump. Asked about the episode at the White House press briefing earlier today, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was the governor’s choice to speak to Harris or not:
Ron DeSantis has refused to take a call from VP Harris on Hurricane Milton, source tells @ABC.
— Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) October 7, 2024
White House Press Sec says "If you have POTUS & VP reaching out to offer up assistance...the governor, it's up to him if he wants to respond to us or not."
Updated
Reproductive freedom is a “deal-breaker” issue for voters, especially women, which is fueling Democratic candidates in races that will decide major offices from the state house to the White House.
That was the top line from a briefing to reporters by representatives from Emily’s List, the fundraising juggernaut that backs Democratic women candidates who support abortion rights.
“The question is not, will abortion drive votes in this election? It is, how far, how wide, how deep does that impact go?” said one senior member of the organization. The briefing was conducted without attribution to allow representatives to speak more freely.
She said the issue has allowed Democrats to compete in areas where they otherwise would not typically be competitive, like a seat in Wisconsin and one in Pennsylvania. She also said this election, women candidates who were not previously politically active have “entered the political ring arena because of the issue of abortion rights”. She pointed to Kristin Lyerly, an ob-gyn, who is running for a seat in Wisconsin.
Polls have consistently found that abortion is a top issue, often second to the economy. But what makes the issue so potent, she said, is how many voters, perhaps a decisive share of voters, view it.
“It is a deal-breaker issue,” she said. “When they learn information about a Republican who is on the wrong side of this issue that becomes a deal breaker for them, and they just won’t entertain it any further.”
Another official emphasized that Republicans’ efforts to re-cast their long-held positions on the issue underlined how important the issue would be this cycle.
“We are going through the collapse of 40 years of Republican branding around the phrase ‘pro-life,’”that official said. “Voters hear that now, and they assume that a ‘pro-life’ politician is for an abortion ban with no exceptions.”
Flirting with eugenics, Trump says: ‘We got a lot of bad genes in our country right now’
In an interview earlier today with conservative broadcaster Hugh Hewitt, Donald Trump used terminology associated with eugenics to attack migrants.
The remark came as the former president discussed the alleged harm done by new arrivals to the United States, saying many were “murderers”.
“Now, a murderer, it’s in their genes,” Trump continued. “And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
It was language similar to the beliefs of eugenics, which emerged in the late 19th century and held that human ills could be combatted through selective breeding. The theory is today regarded as both inaccurate and racist.
Here’s audio of Trump’s remark:
Trump rants about Kamala Harris and migrants to Hugh Hewitt and says, "we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now" pic.twitter.com/ybKFF9TDf3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 7, 2024
White House warns supreme court has allowed Texas to deny women abortions in emergencies
At the ongoing White House press briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the supreme court has effectively allowed Texas to deny women abortions even in emergencies, by refusing to take up a Biden administration lawsuit against the state today.
“Today we saw the supreme court decision and what it means that women in Texas could still be denied critical emergency medical care, because of the state’s dangerous and extreme abortion bans,” Jean-Pierre said. “We have seen and have heard the horrific stories of women being denied the care they need because of these laws.”
Jean-Pierre also noted that a Georgia court had allowed the state’s abortion ban to go back into effect, and said:
All of these laws were made possible when the former president handicapped three Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v Wade. They are creating chaos and confusion for women and doctors.
The administration has been clear that all patients, including women experiencing pregnancy loss and other pregnancy related emergency, must be able to access the emergency medical care they need, and that is required by federal law. The stories we hear of women being denied care they need in emergency situation [are] completely unacceptable.
The Georgia supreme court’s reinstatement a little earlier of a six-week abortion ban in the state is provoking reaction.
The ban was struck down a week ago and now revived while the court considers more fully the state’s appeal against the ban’s striking.
The Center for Reproductive Rights posted on X that: “Despite this devastating setback, we are prepared to fight like hell when the case goes before the Georgia Supreme Court. This is NOT over, and we are NOT backing down.”
Despite this devastating setback, we are prepared to fight like hell when the case goes before the Georgia Supreme Court. This is NOT over, and we are NOT backing down. Are you with us? https://t.co/jOwSIx5zt4
— Center for Reproductive Rights (@ReproRights) October 7, 2024
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia decried today’s decision.
Andrea Young, executive director, said: “Elected officials in our state continue their disrespect of women, treating our bodies as state-owned property. We will persist, using all lawful means to restore dignity, full citizenship and a right to privacy for Georgia’s women.”
• This post was amended on 8 October 2024. An earlier version misspelt Andrea Young’s first name as “Andrew”.
Today, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled to reinstate Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban just one week after a lower court ruling allowed abortion clinics to resume abortion care beyond the earliest weeks of pregnancy. pic.twitter.com/GRInIhThld
— ACLU of Georgia (@ACLUofGA) October 7, 2024
Updated
Here is some more detail on the new ruling by Georgia’s supreme court reviving the state’s six-week ban on abortions, a week after the ban was struck down.
The lawsuit challenging the ban was brought by Atlanta-based SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.
Today, the Georgia Supreme Court sided with anti-abortion extremists. Every minute this harmful six-week abortion ban is in place, Georgians suffer,” SisterSong’s executive director, Monica Simpson, said in a statement, Reuters reports.
The office of Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, a Republican, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The law bans almost all abortions after what it labels a “human heartbeat” is detected, typically around six weeks. In fact, at six weeks a fetus has not yet developed a heart, but there may be rudimentary, pulse-like signals. This is before many women know they are pregnant.
The ban was passed in 2019 during Donald Trump’s presidency but did not take effect until the end of Roe v Wade in 2022.
Here’s Simpson speaking at an event last month.
Our keynote speaker and performer, @monicarsimpson, joins us as we close an incredible two days! #powerplus2024 pic.twitter.com/nuzlWd4Em9
— IWPR (@IWPResearch) September 24, 2024
Updated
Georgia supreme court reinstates abortion ban
Georgia’s highest court on has today reinstated a ban on nearly all abortions in the state after about six weeks of pregnancy while it considers the US state’s appeal of last week’s ruling by a lower court judge blocking the law.
The order from the Supreme Court of Georgia allows the ban to take effect at 5pm ET today, Reuters reports.
A week ago, Fulton county superior judge Robert McBurney struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban, ruling that the ban is unconstitutional and blocking it from being enforced.
McBurney ruled that the state’s abortion laws must revert to what they were before the six-week ban – known as the Life Act – was passed in 2019. The ban was blocked as long as Roe v Wade was the law of the land, but went into effect after the US supreme court overturned Roe in 2022.
So for one week, abortions became legal in Georgia again up until about 22 weeks of pregnancy.
The day so far
Kamala Harris is on a media blitz, with appearances planned on everything from The View to Howard Stern in the days to come. We will see her later tonight on 60 Minutes, one of the most watched news programs in the country, but based on what we have seen so far, the vice-president doesn’t seem interested in breaking new ground. In excerpts released by CBS, she sidestepped a question about how she would cajole Congress into approving higher taxes on the rich, and demurred when asked if she regarded Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “close ally”. Meanwhile, the supreme court began a new term with cases dealing with transgender rights and the Biden administration’s effort to curb ghost guns on its docket. It also declined to weigh in on a wrongful death lawsuit involving an Alabama clinic at the center of the controversy over IVF care, and a Biden administration challenge to Texas’s abortion ban and how it affects carrying out the procedure in an emergency.
Here’s what else has happened today:
Donald Trump’s policies would add more to the national debt than Kamala Harris’s, an analysis by a nonpartisan budget watchdog found.
Biden, Harris and Trump are all marking today’s one-year anniversary of the 7 October attack in Israel.
Florida is bracing as Hurricane Milton, which has just been upgraded to a category 5 storm, churns towards it west coast, even as it continues to recover from Hurricane Helene.
Supreme court to weigh transgender rights, ghost gun rule in new term
The supreme court began a new term today, where the conservative-dominated body could issue major rulings on transgender rights, rules to curb the spread of ghost guns, and a high-profile death penalty case.
The court will hear cases in the months to come, and likely issue rulings next year. There is also the chance the justices could be drawn into disputes over the November elections.
From the Associated Press, here are some of the cases they will be considering, starting with ghost guns:
The justices will hear a case Tuesday on regulations for ghost guns, privately made weapons that are hard for police to track because they don’t have serial numbers.
The number of the firearms found at crime scenes has soared in recent years, from fewer than 4,000 in 2018 to nearly 20,000 recovered by law enforcement in 2021, according to Justice Department data.
The numbers have been declining in multiple cities since the Biden administration began requiring background checks and age verification for ghost gun kits that can be bought online.
But manufacturers and gun rights groups argue that the administration overstepped and the rule should be overturned.
The rights of transgender minors:
Perhaps the court’s most closely watched case so far this year is a fight over transgender rights.
The case over state bans on gender-affirming care comes as Republican-led states enact a variety of restrictions, including school sports participation, bathroom usage and drag shows.
The administration and Democratic-led states have extended protections for transgender people, though the Supreme Court has separately prohibited the administration from enforcing a new federal regulation that seeks to protect transgender students.
The justices will weigh a Tennessee law that restricts puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. The case does not yet have a hearing date but will likely be argued in December.
And the case of death row inmate Richard Glossip:
In the decades since Richard Glossip was sentenced to die over a 1997 murder-for-hire scheme, the case has become a rare one where prosecutors are conceding mistakes.
Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general has joined with Glossip in seeking to overturn his murder conviction and death sentence.
Despite those doubts, an Oklahoma appeals court has upheld Glossip’s conviction, and the state’s pardon and parole board deadlocked in a vote to grant him clemency.
Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance will host a town hall in Greensboro, North Carolina on Thursday, his campaign announced.
The Ohio senator and vice-presidential aspirant appears set to continue his criticisms of the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, which has caused widespread damage to the western part of the swing state.
“Kamala Harris has completely failed the people of North Carolina. Not only has she released historic inflation and a flood of convicted illegal immigrants onto them, but she completely left North Carolinians behind in the wake of devastation post-Hurricane Helene. Harris’ failures have placed a huge burden on taxpayers, and it shows how little she cares about the well-being of Tar Heel State families,” the campaign said as it announced the event.
Florida braces as category 5 Hurricane Milton nears
Days after weathering Hurricane Helene, Florida is now in the path of Hurricane Milton, which has just been upgraded to a category 5 storm. The hurricane has the potential to become the latest crisis on Joe Biden’s plate just weeks before the 5 November election.
Here’s the latest on the approaching storm, from the Guardian’s Anna Betts:
North Carolina’s Republican senator Thom Tillis is not happy about the Harris campaign using his words to criticize Donald Trump.
Trump and his running mate JD Vance have tried to turn Hurricane Helene’s devastation of North Carolina and other parts of the southeast into a campaign issue, by accusing the Biden administration, and Kamala Harris by extension, of ignoring the plight of those affected.
Yesterday, the Harris campaign used Tillis’s comments about the storm in a tweet:
cc: @realdonaldtrump pic.twitter.com/xd9DjuLG3V
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 6, 2024
To which Tillis responded today:
VP Harris: I was talking about politicians like YOU using this disaster for political posturing. Claiming to be “working around the clock” while you don’t even plug in your headphones for a staged photo-op. Where were YOU as Ft. Liberty troops were standing by for days? #ncpol https://t.co/azzKEA6yLx
— Thom Tillis (@ThomTillis) October 7, 2024
Tillis has broken with the GOP on issues like gun control and LGBTQ+ rights, leading his state party to censure him last year:
Harris sidesteps when asked if Israel's Netanyahu is a 'close ally'
In her forthcoming interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes program, Kamala Harris did not quite say yes when ask asked if she would consider Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a real close ally”.
“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,” the vice-president replied in an excerpt from her forthcoming interview on the popular news program.
The US relationship with Israel has grown fraught over the past year, as Joe Biden’s efforts to encourage a ceasefire in Gaza have failed and the conflict has expended into Lebanon. The issue is particularly perilous for Democrats, who are facing a backlash from some voters, including Arab and Muslim communities in battleground state Michigan, over Biden’s support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza following the 7 October attack.
Harris avoided talking about Gaza in the 60 Minutes interview, instead noting that US military aid has helped protect the country from volleys of missiles shot by Iran. Here’s the full clip:
Updated
National debt would grow more under Trump than Harris - budget watchdog
Donald Trump’s policies would send the national debt higher than those proposed by Kamala Harris, a nonpartisan budgetary watchdog has found.
Both candidates have pitched themselves to voters are responsible stewards of the nation’s economy and the government’s spending, while simultaneously proposing expensive new policies. Harris has focused on efforts to fight poverty, making housing more affordable and improve health care, while Trump has floated lowering taxes and spending more on border security and the military.
An analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget finds 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:
🚨 NEW DEBT PROJECTIONS 🚨
— Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) October 7, 2024
In the first and comprehensive analysis of the candidates’ plans, we find Vice President Harris would add $3.5 trillion to the debt ($0 to $8.1t) and President Trump would add $7.5 trillion to the debt ($1.4t to $15.2t).
See https://t.co/LGMIUjlxIs pic.twitter.com/EmdtHzCW7I
The project comes as the US deals with a yawning budget deficit and a high debt-to-GDP ratio, which have been fueled by long-term expenditures such as paying for Social Security and Medicare, and short-term emergency responses, such as the stimulus measures approved to offset the impact of Covid-19.
Kamala Harris’s media blitz has not gone unnoticed by the Trump campaign.
Donald Trump and his allies have lately tried to make Hurricane Helene’s devastation of a swath of the southeastern United States – including battleground states North Carolina and Georgia – into a political issue. This morning, his campaign juxtaposed Harris’s comments in her interview with podcast Call Her Daddy with images of the damage:
Kamala was “feeling great” as Americans clung to their rooftops in desperation amid the botched federal hurricane response.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 7, 2024
Kamala is in this race for one reason only: herself. She’s a disgusting, selfish person. pic.twitter.com/EnhOC3sAi8
The supreme court today also rejected an attempt by an Alabama fertility clinic to avoid a wrongful death lawsuit that was at the center of a state high court ruling earlier this year that led to IVF access being briefly curtailed in the state, Reuters reports.
Here’s more:
The U.S. Supreme Court turned away on Monday a bid by an Alabama fertility clinic to avoid a wrongful death claim in a civil lawsuit over the destruction of a couple’s frozen embryo in a case that has caused concern over the legal landscape for in vitro fertilization.
The justices denied an appeal by the Mobile-based Center for Reproductive Medicine of a ruling by Alabama’s top court allowing the suit by Felicia Burdick-Aysenne and Scott Aysenne to proceed after deciding that frozen embryos are considered children under state law. The clinic has called the ruling a violation of its constitutional right to due process.
The couple sued the Center for Reproductive Medicine and the hospital housing the clinic in 2021 for wrongful death and negligence after a patient at the hospital gained unauthorized access to the cryogenic embryo storage area and removed several embryos, dropping them on the floor, including the couple’s one remaining embryo.
The Republican-controlled Alabama Supreme Court in February ruled in the case that under an Alabama law called the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, “unborn children are ‘children,’” even outside the womb, allowing the lawsuit seeking monetary damages from the clinic to move forward.
The decision prompted IVF providers in Alabama to suspend treatments, while many health advocates and Democratic officials across the United States held up the decision as offered further evidence that reproductive rights are under assault in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision rolling back abortion rights.
IVF, which helps couples experiencing infertility issues, is a procedure in which eggs are removed from a woman’s ovary and combined with sperm in a laboratory dish to form embryos. The embryos can be frozen for future implantation.
Supreme court maintains ban on emergency abortions that violate Texas law
The supreme court has upheld a ruling that will prevent abortions from being performed in some emergency circumstances in the state, the Associated Press reports.
Texas is the most populous state in the country with an abortion ban, and the Biden administration had sued to ensure abortions are available for women suffering medical emergencies, citing a separate supreme court ruling from earlier this year in a case involving Idaho’s abortion ban.
Here’s how the court weighed in on Texas’s law, from the AP:
The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a decision barring emergency abortions that violate the law in Texas, which has one of the country’s strictest abortion bans.
Without detailing their reasoning, the justices kept in place a lower court order that said hospitals cannot be required to provide pregnancy terminations that would violate Texas law.
The Biden administration had asked the justices to throw out the lower court order, arguing that hospitals have to perform abortions in emergency situations under federal law. The administration pointed to the Supreme Court’s action in a similar case from Idaho earlier this year in which the justices narrowly allowed emergency abortions to resume while a lawsuit continues.
The administration also cited a Texas Supreme Court ruling that said doctors do not have to wait until a woman’s life is in immediate danger to provide an abortion legally. The administration said it brings Texas in line with federal law and means the lower court ruling is not necessary.
Texas asked the justices to leave the order in place, saying the state Supreme Court ruling meant Texas law, unlike Idaho’s, does have an exception for the health of a pregnant patient and there’s no conflict between federal and state law.
Doctors have said the law remains dangerously vague after a medical board refused to specify exactly which conditions qualify for the exception.
There has been a spike in complaints that pregnant women in medical distress have been turned away from emergency rooms in Texas and elsewhere as hospitals grapple with whether standard care could violate strict laws against abortion.
Kamala Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, is also doing his own media blitz.
Her campaign says Walz will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight, and also do an interview with a major US podcast, though they did not say which one. An interview the Minnesota governor gave to 60 Minutes will also air this evening.
He will campaign in Reno, Nevada and Arizona, on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, where will do interviews with local media and Hispanic outlets.
Updated
Harris plans interviews with Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert and The View
Kamala Harris’s media blitz will take her to New York City tomorrow, where the vice-president will appear on three high-profile programs with an eye towards boosting her candidacy ahead of the 5 November election.
Harris plans to talk with Howard Stern, a one-time shock jock who has remade himself as an in-depth interviewer, her campaign said. Also on her itinerary is an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, whose host has long delighted in pointing out the absurdities of US politics, particularly on the right.
Harris will finally appear on The View, much as Joe Biden did two weeks ago, and put her policies before the talkshow’s daytime viewership.
Updated
Harris questioned on how she'll get tax rise for the rich through Congress
Kamala Harris may be doing more media interviews in the final weeks before the 5 November election, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she is saying all that much.
CBS this morning released a portion of her interview on their high-profile broadcast news staple, 60 Minutes. It shows Harris telling correspondent Bill Whitaker that she supports higher taxes on the wealthy (as does Joe Biden and most Democrats in Congress), but sidestepping a question on how she’ll get such a plan through Congress. From CBS:
VICE-PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: 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 higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations.
VICE-PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: And I plan on making that fair.
BILL WHITAKER: But we’re dealing with the real world here.
VICE-PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: But the real world includes–
BILL WHITAKER: How are you gonna get this through Congress?
VICE-PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: You know, when you talk quietly with a lot of folks in Congress, they know exactly what I’m talking about ‘cause their constituents know exactly what I’m talking about. Their constituents are those firefighters and teachers and nurses.
Whitaker is getting at a real issue of concern for Democrats. While they may be able to claw back the majority in the House of Representatives from the GOP in November, their ability to maintain control of the Senate hinges on the re-election of two senators from red states, a tough task that they may not be able to pull off. Should they fail but Harris take the White House, she would be the first president since 1989 to be inaugurated without her party in control of Congress, and in this era of heightened partisanship, that may prove fatal for her prospects of passing any significant legislation in the first two years of her term.
Perhaps Harris will elaborate on what she would do in this situation when the full 60 Minutes interview airs tonight at 8pm.
Updated
House speaker Mike Johnson raised eyebrows yesterday when in an interview on ABC News he described being asked what the result of the last presidential election was as a “gotcha game”.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Johnson if he could say “unequivocally that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Trump lost”.
Johnson would only reply “this is the game that is always played by mainstream media with mainstream Republicans. It’s a gotcha game. We’re not going to talk about what happened in 2020. I’m not going to engage in it. We’re not talking about that. I’m not going to play the game.”
Updated
Biden, Harris and Trump to mark 7 October anniversary
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are among the global leaders commemorating the anniversary of the 7 October attack in Israel today, as is Donald Trump.
At 11.45am ET, the president will hold a ceremony at the White House, where he’ll conduct a yahrzeit candle lighting alongside an unnamed rabbi. Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will at 4pm plant a tree on the grounds of the vice-president’s residence in honor of the lives lost in the attack. Harris will also give a speech.
Trump will mark the occasion with two events: a visit to the grave of Menachem Mendel Schneerson in New York City, then a speech at his golf club in Doral, Florida later on, Politico reports.
We have a live blog covering the latest on the global commemorations of the attack, as well as the spiraling crisis in the Middle East. You can find it here:
Updated
Nate Cohn at the New York Times has also had a look at the latest polling figures, and has come to the conclusion that polling averages show “Kamala Harris and Donald Trump essentially tied across the seven battleground states considered likeliest to decide the presidency, with neither ahead by enough to count as even a modest favorite”.
Updated
Joe Biden has a light schedule for today. At 11.45am, along with the first lady, he is expected to participate in a candle lighting event at the White House to mark the one-year anniversary of the 7 October attack in Israel. After his regular briefing he is then expected to be briefed on his administration’s response to Hurricane Helene and preparations for Hurricane Milton.
Updated
Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, has written a lengthy piece for the Guardian today arguing that Donald Trump’s Hitlerian logic is no mistake but a deliberate ploy.
A report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s report, released on Monday, suggests that both candidates in the election are making promises that will increase US debt, but that it is Donald Trump’s proposals that are more expensive.
Tami Luhby reports for CNN:
The national debt would soar by trillions of dollars more regardless of who wins the election, further compounding the country’s fiscal problems. Kamala Harris’ plan would boost the debt by $3.5tn over the next decade, while Trump’s platform would cause it to spike by $7.5tn. The watchdog group’s analysis is the latest in a series of reviews of the candidates’ plans, which generally find that Trump’s proposals would have a bigger impact on the national debt than those of Harris.
Updated
Harris told failure to connect with blue-collar workers could hurt Michigan and Pennsylvania chances
Kamala Harris has been warned that her bid to win the key battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania risks being undermined by her failure to connect with unionized blue-collar workers in the same way that Joe Biden historically has done.
Jonathan Kott, a Democratic strategist and former Senate aide told the Hill website that the current president is a tough act for Harris to follow in that regard.
“Joe Biden is the most pro-union president ever,” he said. “He was the only president to be on a union picket line, he’s so over-the-top pro-union.”
Another Democratic strategist, Ray Zaccaro, told the website: “Biden has had a special relationship with labor throughout his entire career. I don’t think there’s anything particularly lacking in Harris’s position on labor, but there probably are some stylistic and relationship differences for her to overcome.”
Zaccaro warned: “There is a movement within the labor world that is more aligned with Maga, protectionism, nationalist identity,” adding that some union voters increasingly support “some of the messaging that the Trump campaign is putting out”.
Updated
Florida governor Ron DeSantis has told residents of the state they have a couple of days to prepare before Hurricane Milton hits. He said: “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point.”
“You have time to prepare – all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” DeSantis said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
AP reports DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruption, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road.
Updated
Speaking at his rally in Juneau, Wisconsin, last night, former president Donald Trump said he was looking for a “mandate” victory in November’s election. The current polling is tight, suggesting that the outcome is unlikely to deliver that for either candidate.
CNN’s senior data reporter Harry Enten most recent round-up on the state of polling in the key swing states that will decide the election suggests that Kamala Harris has the edge in the Great Lake battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, while Trump is looking stronger in the southern sunbelt states.
However, Enten notes that all of the leads of one or two points in these states are “well within the margin of error and too close to call”.
As it stands he suggests Harris would end up with “276 electoral votes, slightly more than the 270 she needs to win”, but he said if the polls have underestimated Trump’s support – as they did in 2020 – then he could romp home. Likewise, if the polls are underestimating Democratic party support – as they did in 2022 – then she could even reach as many as 319 electoral votes. In a nutshell, all bets are off.
Updated
Kamala Harris seeks to gain election edge over Donald Trump with media blitz
Kamala Harris has begun what has been described as a week-long media blitz with an appearance on Sunday night on the podcast Call Her Daddy.
During the interview with Alex Cooper, Harris addressed topics including abortion, reproductive healthcare, housing and student debt relief.
Harris said Trump’s repeated claim that Democrats support abortion “after birth” is a “lie”, and that it was insulting to claim that women in their ninth month of pregnancy are electing to have an abortion.
She also rebuked Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had suggested Harris “doesn’t have anything keeping her humble” because she doesn’t have children.
“I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who are not aspiring to be humble,” Harris said, adding: “We have our family by blood and then we have our family by love. And I have both.”
Harris said economic conditions hinder people having a family, and suggested her aim to build 3m new homes by the end of her first term would assist with that.
Harris said: “I think that most Americans want leaders who understand that the measure of their strength is not based on who you beat down. The real measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.”
Cooper has made a point of also asking Trump on to the show if he wants to appear.
Updated
Welcome and opening summary …
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the 2024 US presidential election campaign. Today both vice-president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump will attend ceremonies to mark the one year anniversary of the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas. Harris is expected to speak at an event at the White House, while Trump will be appearing at a Florida golf course. Joe Biden will also mark the occasion with an event at the White House.
Here are the headlines …
Polling continues to show that November’s election is too close to call.
Kamala Harris appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Sunday, discussing abortion, reproductive healthcare, housing and student debt relief.
Tim Walz said during an appearance on Fox News that Donald Trump’s agenda would destroy the US economy.
Donald Trump held a rally in Juneau, Wisconsin.
JD Vance has suggested a second Trump administration would defund Planned Parenthood.
The supreme court begins sitting again this week with the regulation of ghost guns and transgender rights on their agenda.
Florida is gearing up for what could be the biggest evacuations since 2017 as Hurricane Milton strengthens.
It is Martin Belam with you here to start with. You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Updated
