That’s it for today’s live US elections and politics coverage. You can find our latest stories here – and the full story on Tulsi Gabbard’s endorsement below:
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby has spoken to journalists about the ongoing talks in in Cairo. He was asked how long the talks might take, what was being negotiated, and whether the Israeli air strokes on southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah’s drone and rocket attacks on nrothern Israel on the weekend have impacted the talks.
He said the exchange of hostilities had not had an impact on the talks in Cairo. He could not say how long the negotiations will take, but he did say that one of the issues beign discussed is “the exchange of hostages and prisoners that Israel is holding”.
Kirby: So, the working groups are meeting now in Cairo. Brett McGurk stayed in Cairo an extra day to get them kicked off, and he’s there now, but he’ll probably depart relatively soon and leave the discussion and the work to the working group members. I don’t have a list of names of all the people that are going to be represented there, but all parties will be represented, including Hamas, in those working group discussions.
And as for how long they’ll take, I think that remains to be seen. We expect that these working group discussions will at least take place over the next few days. But whether it goes longer or, you know, could end sooner, I think really is going to be up to those in the room and what they’re able to accomplish.
And then that gets to your other question about, well, what are they working on. I think it’s safe to say that the issues they’re going to be talking about are of a much more detailed, specific nature than we’ve typically been able to talk about.
For instance – and I want to be careful, obviously – but for instance, one issue that will be for the working groups to flesh out is the exchange of hostages and prisoners that Israel is holding. What that exchange looks like, how many, you know, some of the details of exactly who will be released on either side and at what pace, those kinds of things, that’s a good example of some of the things that they’re trying to flesh out now. I think it’s best if I don’t go into more detail than that, though, right now.
And on the attacks over the weekend: No, there was not an impact on the talks in Cairo, and we’re certainly glad to see that. Obviously, as I said earlier, the working groups are now meeting and talking, and so there continues to be progress, and our team on the ground continues to describe the talks as constructive.
So, despite the rocket and drone attack by Hezbollah over the course of the weekend, which Israel did a terrific job defending against, it has not affected the actual work on the ground by the teams trying to get this ceasefire deal in place.
Summary of the day so far
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, endorsed Donald Trump in the presidential election. Gabbard has become a fixture at conservative conferences and in rightwing media and has been helping Trump prepare for next month’s televised presidential debate against Kamala Harris.
More than 200 former Republican staffers who worked for former president George W Bush, and senators John McCain and Mitt Romney, signed a letter endorsing Kamala Harris for president.
Special counsel Jack Smith urged an appeals court to reinstate his office’s classified documents case against Donald Trump after it was dismissed by a judge last month. The US district judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case last month after concluding that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
The Arizona Police Association announced its endorsement of Democrat Ruben Gallego in the state’s Senate race, despite backing Republican Kari Lake in her gubernatorial bid last cycle. The group publicly threw its support behind Trump just days ago during a rally in Glendale.
Donald Trump expressed doubt that he will participate in a 10 September televised debate with Kamala Harris next month, hurling a trademark “fake news” slur at the network that had agreed to host it. Trump appeared to undercut his campaign’s position over the conditions of next month’s scheduled debate by declaring he would prefer to have participants’ microphones when it was not their turn to speak.
Kamala Harris’s campaign said it has now raised $540m for its election battle against Trump. The campaign said it saw a surge of donations during last week’s Democratic national convention in Chicago where Harris and her vice-presidential running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, accepted their nominations.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris issued statements on Monday marking the third anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Donald Trump visited Arlington national cemetery in Virginia on Monday to take part in a wreath laying ceremony as he seeks to tie Harris to the chaotic US pullout and attack at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate that killed 13 US soldiers.
The judge overseeing the Arizona “fake electors” case involving a scheme by Republican allies of Donald Trump to overturn his loss in the state during the 2020 presidential election set a trial date of 5 January 2026.
Updated
Special counsel Jack Smith, in a court filing on Monday, urged a federal appeals court to revive the criminal case accusing Donald Trump of retaining classified documents after it was dismissed by US district court judge Aileen Cannon last month.
“Congress has bestowed on the Attorney General, like the heads of many Executive Departments, broad authority to structure the agency he leads to carry out the responsibilities imposed on him by law,” Smith’s team wrote.
The district court’s contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.
Updated
Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan congresswoman and leading progressive Democrat, criticized the Democratic national convention for denying a speaking slot for a Palestinian American on the main stage last week.
Tlaib, who is the sole Palestinian American member of Congress, told Zeteo in a statement:
It’s hard not to feel invisible as a Palestinian-American. Our trauma and pain feel unseen and ignored by both parties. One party uses our identity as a slur, and the other refuses to hear from us. Where is the shared humanity? Ignoring us won’t stop the genocide.
The uncommitted national movement, who represent hundreds of thousands of anti-war protest votes from the primary season, staged a multi-day sit-in protest outside the United Center in Chicago where the Democratic convention was being held, after the convention told the group it would not get a speaker on the main stage.
The family of the Israeli American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, spoke on the convention stage on Wednesday, which the uncommitted movement supported.
Tlaib, who did not attend the convention, said the lineup showed that the convention “made it clear with their speakers that they value Israeli children more than Palestinian children”.
Updated
Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who endorsed Donald Trump on Monday, served in the military in Iraq and ran for president in the Democratic primary in 2020.
Gabbard quit the Democratic party two years later and has become a fixture at conservative conferences and in rightwing media.
Addressing a National Guard Association conference in Detroit, Michigan, where the former president was speaking, Gabbard, who represented Hawaii in Congress and is a former vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee, accused Kamala Harris of retaliating against political opponents, undermining civil liberties and weaponising the US’s institutions against both Trump and herself.
Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard endorses Donald Trump at a National Guard event.
— The Recount (@therecount) August 26, 2024
"[Trump] exercised the courage that we expect from our commander in chief. ... This [Biden-Harris] administration has us ... closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before." pic.twitter.com/nsQuOy5u2w
Recently Gabbard has been helping Trump prepare for next month’s televised presidential debate against Harris. In 2020 she took Harris to task on the debate stage over her record as a prosecutor – a clip that still circulates in rightwing media.
Her announcement comes a day after Robert F Kennedy Jr, scion of a Democratic dynasty, suspended his own White House bid and threw his weight behind Trump. Elon Musk, who describes himself as “historically a moderate Democrat”, is also backing Trump.
Updated
The judge overseeing the Arizona “fake electors” case involving a scheme by Republican allies of Donald Trump to overturn his loss in the state during the 2020 presidential election has set a trial date of 5 January 2026.
Trump allies including the former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani will stand trial on charges they conspired to subvert Arizona’s presidential election results.
Updated
If you type in NeverWalz.com in your browser, the page that appears probably doesn’t look like what you expected from a webpage donning a slogan against Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and the current vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic party.
“Trump is a convicted felon. Let’s vote for adults,” the webpage reads. “Try being joyful instead of an asshole.”
After just a few seconds on the webpage, users are automatically redirected to KamalaHarris.com, the official website for Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign.
The slogan “Never Walz” is indeed anti-Walz, and was seen recently plastered on a booth set up by an group against Walzt, Action 4 Liberty, at the Minnesota state fair. The group was seen handing out fliers and selling merchandise that criticizes Walz.
Fairgoers line up at the Never Walz booth to spin the wheel. Each person who spins receives a “never Walz” fan pic.twitter.com/Ni1XayKttD
— Sydney Kashiwagi (@SydneyKashiwagi) August 22, 2024
But, it appears that the group did not secure a website domain for the “Never Walz” slogan, leaving it available for someone else to buy and use.
As of Monday, the website domain NeverWalz.com is being used to criticize Donald Trump and then quickly redirects viewers to the Harris campaign website.
Updated
Arizona police association endorses Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego
The Arizona Police Association (APA) announced its endorsement of Democrat Ruben Gallego in the state’s Senate race, despite backing Republican Kari Lake in her gubernatorial bid last cycle.
Gallego “understands the complexities of modern policing in American society today”, the group’s president Justin Harris said in a statement posted to Twitter/X.
The APA does not take our endorsements lightly; we recognize the importance of having a U.S. senator that can bring people together to improve society for all. We believe congressman Gallego will be that U.S. Senator.
NEWS
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 26, 2024
The Arizona Police Association, which has endorsed former President Trump, has announced they’re endorsing Congressman Ruben Gallego for Senate. pic.twitter.com/EuDqtDAbOZ
The group publicly threw its support behind Donald Trump just days ago during a rally in Glendale.
Updated
A messy Michigan Republican party gathering this weekend to nominate candidates for office illustrated the diminished sway of two high-profile Michigan election deniers and highlighted longstanding divisions within the party.
Matthew DePerno, who faces charges for allegedly assisting in a scheme to improperly access voting machines in the wake of the 2020 election, withdrew from the race for Michigan’s top court hours before the state party convention. In a statement, DePerno said that instead of running for state supreme court, he would “use my knowledge about how elections work to get Republicans elected”.
DePerno, a rightwing attorney from Kalamazoo, Michigan, was a vocal proponent of Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election in Michigan after Trump lost in 2020 to Joe Biden, appearing on rightwing media to promote the claims of widespread fraud and helping fund Arizona’s sham election audit. DePerno ran for Michigan attorney general in 2022 but lost decisively to Dana Nessel – whose office has charged him for his role in allegedly tampering with voting machines.
In 2023, he lost his bid to chair the state party to Kristina Karamo – an outspoken elections conspiracy theorist who was ousted from her role earlier this year amid accusations that she had mismanaged the party’s already dwindling finances.
During the convention, Karamo faced a more dramatic setback of her own when she was escorted from the venue by police officers. Karamo reportedly entered with an all-access pass, which was revoked during the convention.
The US district judge Aileen Cannon threw out the classified documents case against Donald Trump last month after concluding that Jack Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
Smith’s team appealed to the 11th US circuit court of appeals, arguing that Cannon’s decision was “at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government”.
It is unclear how long the appeals court’s decision could take, but even if it overturns Cannon’s dismissal there is no chance of a trial before the November presidential election, according to AP.
If elected, Trump could then appoint an attorney general who would dismiss the case.
Updated
Special counsel appeals dismissal of Trump classified documents case
The special counsel Jack Smith has urged an appeals court to reinstate his office’s classified documents case against Donald Trump after it was dismissed by a judge last month.
NEW — Special Counsel Jack Smith appeals dismissal of the Trump classified docs case without asking for Judge Cannon’s removal https://t.co/V2II9qx2Zt
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 26, 2024
Updated
At least five Secret Service agents have been placed on leave after the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July.
The action is reportedly the latest consequence of the security failings surrounding the 13 July shooting, when a 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire on Trump as he spoke at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was wounded after a bullet grazed his right ear. One rally-goer, Corey Comperatore, was killed in the shooting while two others were seriously injured. Crooks was later shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
The agents who were placed on leave work at the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh field office, which was responsible for coordinating security at the rally along with local law enforcement, according to Real Clear Politics, which broke the story. They include the head of the Pittsburgh office.
The officers concerned are believed to have been put on administrative leave, which usually involves being taken off operational duties while still receiving a full salary. They are expected to report to the office and may be given paperwork duties.
Donald Trump, in his remarks to the National Guard Association of the United States, made reference to “if there is a debate”.
In a Truth Social post last night, Trump cast doubt on whether he would participate in a scheduled debate with Kamala Harris next month, claiming that the network that had agreed to host it was “biased” against him.
Donald Trump, speaking to the National Guard Association of the United States, pledged to create a “Space National Guard” if he is elected back to the Oval Office.
Trump said launching space force in 2019 was one of his proudest achievements in his first term, adding:
The time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the US space force.
More than 200 former Republican staffers endorse Harris
More than 200 former Republican staffers who worked for former president George W Bush, and senators John McCain and Mitt Romney, have signed a letter endorsing vice-president Kamala Harris for president.
The letter, obtained and published by USA Today reads in part:
Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.
At home, another four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions.
Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies.
We can’t let that happen.
Updated
When endorsing Donald Trump for president, Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman who is also an Iraq war veteran, told the crowd at the National Guard Association’s conference that she believes that Trump has a better understanding of the “grave responsibility” that a president bears “for every single one of our lives.”
Gabbard praised the former president and said that during his first term, Trump “exercised the courage that we expect from our Commander in Chief,” and exhausted “all measures of diplomacy, having the courage to meet with adversaries, dictators, allies and partners alike in the pursuit of peace.”
Tulsi Gabbard endorses Donald Trump for president
Tulsi Gabbard has just formally endorsed former president Donald Trump for president.
Gabbard left the Democratic party in 2022, after her 2020 run for president and it was recently reported that she has been helping Trump prepare for next month’s presidential debate against Kamala Harris.
Updated
Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman, has just been introduced on stage by former president Donald Trump at the National Guard Association of the United States Conference in Detroit, Michigan.
“She’s a special person” Trump said of Gabbard. “She’s got great common sense, great spirit, she loves our country and she loves the people in this room.”
Trump to speak in Detroit at National Guard Association conference
Donald Trump is about to appear at the National Guard Association of the United States Conference in Detroit, Michigan.
Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman, is expected to formally endorse Trump’s presidential bid at the event, CNN reported earlier today, citing a source.
Updated
Interim summary
Donald Trump has appeared to undercut his campaign’s position on a scheduled televised debate with Kamala Harris by declaring he would prefer to have the microphones on when it was not their turn to speak.
Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he’d “rather have it probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted" amid a reported impasse between the Kamala Harris and Trump campaigns over the conditions of next month’s debate.
Trump, in a Truth Social post on Sunday, threatened to pull out of the 10 September debate with Harris, hurling a trademark “fake news” slur at ABC News.
Kamala Harris’s campaign said it has now raised $540m for its election battle against Trump. The campaign said it saw a surge of donations during last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago where Harris and her vice-presidential running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, accepted their nominations.
Elizabeth Warren said on Sunday that “American women are not stupid” enough to believe JD Vance’s promise that Trump would veto any nationwide abortion ban passed by Congress if Trump is elected again to the Oval Office.
Kerry Kennedy, the sister of Robert F Kennedy Jr, said on Sunday she was “disgusted” by his decision to drop out and endorse Trump’s presidential bid. Max Kennedy, her brother, also condemned his sibling’s endorsement of Trump.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris issued statements on Monday marking the third anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Donald Trump visited Arlington national cemetery in Virginia on Monday to take part in a wreath laying ceremony as he seeks to tie Harris to the chaotic US pullout and attack at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate that killed 13 American soldiers.
Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman, is expected to formally endorse Donald Trump’s presidential bid today at his event in Detroit, Michigan, according to a report.
A judge in Arizona will hear arguments on Monday in the “fake electors” case involving a scheme by Republican allies of Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state during the 2020 presidential election.
Elizabeth Warren’s comments came in response to separate Meet the Press interview with JD Vance in which he was asked whether Donald Trump, if elected again to the Oval Office, would use the presidency’s veto powers overrule a congressional federal abortion ban.
“I think he would,” Vance said. “He said … explicitly that he would.”
Asked if he could commit to Trump not imposing a national abortion ban, Vance said:
I can absolutely commit that. Donald Trump’s view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions because we don’t want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue.
He insisted that Trump would veto such legislation if it were passed by Congress:
If you’re not supporting it as the president of the United States, you fundamentally have to veto it.
‘Women aren’t stupid’ enough to believe Trump would veto federal abortion ban, says Warren
Elizabeth Warren said “American women are not stupid” enough to believe JD Vance’s promise that Donald Trump would veto any nationwide abortion ban passed by Congress if the Republican presidential ticket wins November’s election.
Warren said on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press:
American women are not stupid, and we are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country.
American women are not stupid—and we are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to Donald Trump and JD Vance, who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion. pic.twitter.com/rFYAC9iukk
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 25, 2024
She added that she suspects conservative activists could use the Comstock Act, a 19th-century anti-obscenity law which bans mailing abortion-related materials, to enforce a federal ban on abortion if the former president clinches a second presidency with Vance as his running mate. She said it would not be all that “hard to accomplish” with “the right person [in] the Department of Justice and one of their extremist judges out in the world”.
“Understand this: today 30% of all women live in states that effectively ban abortion,” Warren said, referring to how 14 US states have enacted near-total bans on the procedure since the 2022 US supreme court ruling that eliminated federal abortion rights.
Donald Trump and JD Vance in the White House – it won’t be 30%. It’ll be 100%.
Updated
Donald Trump, at a campaign event in northern Virginia, was asked he would consider appointing Robert F Kennedy Jr to the post of health and human services secretary if he were re-elected.
Trump said they had not talked about it but said Kennedy “knows a lot about the subject,” and that he had made a good impression within the Republican party, the New York Times reported.
Max Kennedy, the brother of Robert F Kennedy Jr, also condemned his sibling’s decision to suspend his independent presidential campaign and endorse Donald Trump.
In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, Max Kennedy said: “Trump was exactly the kind of arrogant, entitled bully” that his father, the former US senator and attorney general Robert F Kennedy, stood against before he was assassinated in 1968 as he pursued the Democratic presidential nomination.
Max Kennedy predicted his father would have admired Kamala Harris because she was a former prosecutor as well. “Her career, like his, has been all about decency, dignity, equality, democracy and justice for all,” Max Kennedy wrote.
I’m heartbroken over my brother Bobby’s endorsement of Donald Trump. Robert F Kennedy’s life was dedicated to promoting the safety, security and happiness of the American people.”
Kerry Kennedy, the sister of Robert F Kennedy Jr, said she was “disgusted” by his decision to drop out and endorse Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
Speaking to MSNBC on Sunday, Kerry Kennedy said she planned to “separate and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. in this flagrant and inexplicable effort to desecrate and trample and set fire to my father’s memory,” adding:
I think if my dad were alive today, the real Robert Kennedy would have detested almost everything Donald Trump represents.
Kerry Kennedy: I am disgusted by my brother’s obscene embrace of Donald Trump. And I completely disavow and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. and his flagrant efforts to desecrate my father's memory. pic.twitter.com/iW8pmRQRdn
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2024
Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia’s center for politics and editor in chief the election forecaster the Crystal Ball, said he believes Robert F Kennedy Jr’s decision to drop out of the presidential race will not have a substantial effect on Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
On Friday, Kennedy suspended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed Trump. His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said he was considering dropping out “because we draw votes from Trump”.
But “few people will vote for another candidate just because their candidate drops out and endorses someone else,” Sabato said.
They’re going to split, some for the Democrat, some for the Republican, some are going to vote for one of the other independents, and others will just sit on the couch. They won’t vote at all.
Brian Fallon, a senior adviser for Kamala Harris’s campaign, has responded to Donald Trump’s latest comments saying that whether or not the microphones are unmuted in the presidential debate “doesn’t matter” to him.
“With this resolved, everything is now set for Sept 10th,” Fallon posted to X.
Trump said unmuting the mics “doesn’t matter to me.” Always suspected it was something his staff wanted, not him personally.
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 26, 2024
With this resolved, everything is now set for Sept 10th. https://t.co/l98QiTD9lh
Trump says he would rather have microphones unmuted during debate with Harris
Donald Trump said he would rather keep microphones on during a scheduled televised debate with Kamala Harris next month, despite his campaign team pushing to keep the same rules as in a previous debate with Joe Biden, when participants’ microphones were turned off when it was not their turn to speak.
Asked if he would want the microphone unmuted between exchanges, Trump said it “doesn’t matter to me”, adding:
I’d rather have it probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted. I didn’t like it the last time, but it worked out fine.
.@jake__traylor: "Would you want the microphones muted in the debate whenever you're not speaking?"
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) August 26, 2024
Donald Trump: "We agreed to the same rules. I don't know, doesn't matter to me. ... The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted." pic.twitter.com/l7d7Odd7cb
According to a Politico report, negotiations between the Trump and Harris campaigns over the 10 September ABC News debate broke down over the turning off of the participants’ microphones when it was not their turn to speak.
The report said that the Harris campaign is demanding that the microphones be left “hot” at all times, while Trump’s campaign has insisted Harris was reneging on terms agreed for the debate by the Biden campaign when it accepted the 10 September date.
Tulsi Gabbard expected to endorse Trump at Detroit event, reports say
Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman, is expected to formally endorse Donald Trump’s presidential bid today at his event in Detroit, Michigan, CNN is reporting, citing a source.
Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran, had been floated as a potential Trump vice-presidential pick. The former Democrat fell out with her party after standing in the 2020 presidential primaries after being smeared by Hillary Clinton as a “Russian asset”. That generated a lawsuit in which Gabbard alleged that Clinton’s suggestion she was the Democratic candidate favored by Russia was “retribution” for Gabbard backing Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary.
Gabbard has been helping Trump prepare for next month’s presidential debate with Kamala Harris, although Trump has since threatened to pull out of the 10 September debate.
Updated
Actor Billy Baldwin dismissed Robert F Kennedy Jr as a former friend on Sunday while accusing him of betraying his values and selling his political soul after the independent presidential candidate suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump last week.
“We were friends,” Baldwin wrote in a lengthy post on X.
I loved his politics. His speeches inspired me. We were neighbors. Our kids were friends. We carpooled the kids to school for a few years.
But now the actor said he has “completely” disavowed and dissociated from Kennedy.
Baldwin described Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump as “not only a betrayal of the values and traditions of the Kennedy family” but also an act of “political cowardice”.
I have known Bobby Kennedy Jr. for decades.
— Billy Baldwin (@BillyBaldwin) August 25, 2024
We were friends.
I loved his politics.
His speeches inspired me.
We were neighbors.
Our kids were friends.
We carpooled the kids to school for a few years.
Bobby Kennedy has had presidential ambitions his entire adult life.
In 2006,… pic.twitter.com/Be6JGWn5i2
The rebuke from Baldwin adds to the wave of blowback against Kennedy for his support of the former president.
Donald Trump’s visit to the Arlington national cemetery in Virginia today comes after comments earlier this month that the Presidential Medal of Freedom – a civilian award – was “better than the Medal of Honor given to service members.
Trump was talking about giving Miriam Adelson, a wealthy Republican donor, the Medal of Freedom, which he said was “actually much better” than the Medal of Honor “because everyone (who) gets the congressional medal of honor, that’s soldiers,” adding:
They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.
John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff and a retired Marine General, later rejected Trump’s comments and said the two honors are “Not even close. No equivalency of any kind.”
A judge in Arizona will hear arguments today in the “fake electors” case involving a scheme by Republican allies of Donald Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state during the 2020 presidential election.
Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Christina Bobb, who serves as the Republican National Committee’s top lawyer on election integrity, are among the 18 defendants in the case.
Arizona is one of seven states where Trump and his allies sought to install “alternate” electors who claimed Trump won in their states.
Updated
Biden and Harris mark Afghanistan withdrawal anniversary
Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris issued statements today marking the third anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In her statement, Harris said she mourns the 13 American service members who were killed in the bombing outside the Kabul airport, in which more than 100 Afghans were also killed. Harris said:
Today and everyday, I mourn and honor them. My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss. These 13 devoted patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe.
She added that Biden “made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war”, adding that she will “never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people.”
Biden’s statement paid tribute to the 13 Americans who died as “patriots in the highest sense” who “embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless”. He added:
Today, our longest war is over. But our commitment to preventing attacks on our homeland — or our people — never will be. We will continue to disrupt terrorist activity, wherever we find it. We will continue to deliver justice to terrorists who plot against America — just as we have over the last three years with the leader of al-Qaeda and the global leader of ISIS. And we will do so without deploying thousands of American troops to ground wars overseas.
Updated
Donald Trump visited Arlington national cemetery in Virginia on Monday to take part in a wreath laying ceremony to mark the third anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Republican presidential nominee has regularly attacked the Biden administration over the chaotic pullout and attack at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate that killed 13 American soldiers, and will be seeking to tie his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, to those events.
Trump is then scheduled to visit Michigan to address the National Guard Association of the United States conference.
Donald Trump’s campaign remains jittery about the prospect of a power struggle inside the inner circle that could become a major distraction just months until the 2024 election, even if the jockeying for influence by top officials has ended with a truce, according to people familiar with the matter.
The momentary power play among the senior advisers is widely seen to be over, for now, after the 2016 campaign chief, Corey Lewandowski, distanced himself from suggestions he was returning to the fold to run the campaign and the current leadership remained in their roles. (Lewandowski was brought on the current campaign as an adviser.)
But there has been trepidation that if the Trump campaign hits more rough patches in the race against Kamala Harris, any disagreements for instance on strategy between Lewandowski and the current chiefs, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, could cause a blow-up, the people said.
It is not the first time that Donald Trump, who trails Kamala Harris by seven points nationally in a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll published at the weekend, has sowed doubt over his debate appearance.
“Right now I say, why should I do a debate? I’m leading in the polls. And, everybody knows her, everybody knows me,” he told Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network earlier this month after Harris replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
He stated he had pledged instead to take part in a 4 September debate on Fox News, to which the Harris campaign did not agree, saying he would see Harris there “or not at all”, before changing his mind again.
Harris, meanwhile, seized on Trump’s wavering commitment before a lively crowd at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, last month. “If you got something to say, say it to my face,” she said.
Kamala Harris’s campaign says it has now raised $540m for its election battle against Republican nominee and former president, Donald Trump.
The campaign has had no problems getting supporters to open their wallets since Joe Biden announced on July 21 he was ending his campaign and quickly endorsed Harris, The Associated Press reports.
The campaign said it saw a surge of donations during last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago where Harris and her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, accepted their nominations.
Just before Vice President Harris’ acceptance speech Thursday night, we officially crossed the $500 million mark. Immediately after her speech, we saw our best fundraising hour since launch day,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a memo released by the campaign yesterday.
Trump has also proven to be a formidable fundraiser, but appears to be outpaced in her month-old campaign. Trump’s campaign and its related affiliates announced earlier this month that they had raised $138.7m in July — less than what Harris took in during her White House bid’s opening week. Trump’s campaign reported $327m in cash on hand at the start of August.
The Harris fundraising totals were raised by Harris for President, the Democratic National Committee, and joint fundraising committees.
In addition to Donald Trump raising doubts about his participation in his first debate with Kamala Harris, scheduled for September 10, there is also an argument about the rules for the set piece.
In the debate between Trump and Joe Biden on June 27, which went so badly for Biden that it precipitated his dropping out of his re-election race, the agreed rule was that while one candidate was taking his turn to speak, the other’s microphone would be muted.
That was the expected rule for September 10. Trump and Biden had been due to debate again then, on ABC, but now Harris is the Democratic nominee. She wants it to go ahead, had insisted that it should go ahead when Trump initially bridled after she took over the Democratic ticket, but now wants to tweak the rule.
Brian Fallon, the senior adviser for communications at Harris’s election campaign, issued a statement, saying: “We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, said in a statement.
Trump’s team is protesting, as the 2024 election moves into high gear.
Rick Wilson, the co-founder of the Republican anti-Trump organization the Lincoln Project, wasn’t mincing words on X.
Donnie Chickenshit is afraid to debate Harris. pic.twitter.com/6AHjQj0SV9
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 26, 2024
More of that Harris statement:
The Harris campaign is arguing the mics should NOT be muted at the upcoming debates.
— aaron navarro (@aaronlarnavarro) August 26, 2024
Senior comms advisor Brian Fallon:
“The Vice President is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies… Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button."
h/t @edokeefe pic.twitter.com/zf5HYAKJme
Updated
First Trump-Harris debate in jeopardy as campaigns spar
Donald Trump threw into question last night his intended participation in the presidential debate with Kamala Harris on September 10, to be hosted by the ABC News TV network.
The former US president and now, once again, the Republican nominee for the White House, has kicked off a fresh fuss, beginning last night when he posted on his social media platform that he thinks the network is biased against him.
He asked in a Truth Social post just after 10pm on the US east coast: “Why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on that network?”
In a classic, Trumpian post he called ABC, one of the three largest mainstream terrestrial TV networks, “fake news”, said its chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl (deliberately misspelled), conducted a “ridiculous and biased” interview with a Republican congressman, Tom Cotton, and a “so-called panel of Trump haters”.
He called out Democratic strategist Donna Brazile (also misspelled) and called veteran ABC anchor and political operator George Stephanopoulos “Liddle George Slopodopolus”. Politico was first to report the news, also saying that, according to sources “the two campaigns hit an impasse over the rules of the debate.” More on that next.
Trump and Harris argue over first debate
Good morning, US politics blog readers, there’s no slowing down after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week, where Kamala Harris was officially anointed as the party’s presidential nominee, with Tim Walz as her running mate. This week, they and their Republican opponents, Donald Trump and JD Vance are on a campaign blitz: Democrats heading south, GOP heading north. And, kicking off Monday morning, there’s a loud argument under way about a different matter.
Here’s what’s in store:
Donald Trump is now protesting about the first debate with his Democratic opponent for the White House, Kamala Harris, being on ABC News, according to fresh reports. He’s arguing that the TV news network is too biased against him and he’s questioning whether he will go ahead with it.
Kamala Harris’s election campaign team, meanwhile, is now asking that the debate rules allow “hot mics” – ie that each candidate’s microphone is on all the time, and therefore that interjections will be audible, rather than the rules agreed prior to her replacing Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, that if it’s not your turn to speak your mic will be muted.
The Harris campaign is waiting to see if their nominee and her running mate, Tim Walz, will have a post-convention bump in the polls. Meanwhile, Team Harris announced a post-DNC fundraising bump, saying that straight after Harris’s convention speech on Thursday, Harris-Walz saw its best hour of fundraising since it launched just a few weeks ago, with $540m raised in total since Biden announced he was dropping out of his re-election race on 21 July.
Campaign swing state blitzes are in store this week from both parties’ candidates. Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, between them are planning three stops in Michigan and, at current billing, one in Wisconsin and one in Pennsylvania; Harris and Walz are embarking on a bus tour of southern Georgia.
In just 11 days the first mail-in ballots will be sent to voters to begin defining their choices for president, Congress and measures up and down the ballot, including abortion rights in some states, in this pivotal 2024 election. In-person voting begins in less than a month, on September 20.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s campaign remains jittery about the prospect of a power struggle inside the inner circle that could become a major distraction just months until the 2024 election, even if the jockeying for influence by top officials has ended with a truce, according to people familiar with the matter.
