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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)Read More

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Supporters wait for the arrival of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally in Washington on Tuesday, Oct 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

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The White House is seen before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Ellipse in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

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Supporters listen as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

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With the Washington Monument in the back ground supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris wave they American flags as they attend a campaign rally in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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Law enforcement keep watch as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump departs Philadelphia International Airport, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

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A supporters stands on the side of the road as the motorcade with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump passes by after a roundtable at the Drexelbrook Catering & Event Center, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in Drexel Hill, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

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People wait in line outside the Bucks County government building to apply for an on-demand mail ballot on the last day to request one in Doylestown, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Catalini)

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris records a campaign video, “direct to camera,” Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, as a staff member holds a copy of the script, in Washington, ahead of her speech on the ellipse. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Former President Bill Clinton greets supporters while campaigning for Democratic Party presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during a stop at Bottle Works in the Cambria City section of Johnstown, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (Thomas Slusser/The Tribune-Democrat via AP)

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A long line of voters wait to cast their ballots at the J.F. Kennedy library, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in Hialeah, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

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Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign rally, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in Holland, Mich. (Isaac Ritchey/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

BY  THE ASSOCIATED PRESSUpdated 8:13 AM GMT+6, October 30, 2024Share

Today’s live coverage has paused and will resume Wednesday morning. In the meantime, see what you missed below and stay apprised of the latest election news by signing up for the Ground Game newsletter.

With one week left in the 2024 presidential election campaign, Kamala Harris spoke from the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., the same location where Donald Trump helped incite a mob on Jan. 6, 2021. Harris urged voters to embrace national unity by rejecting Trump, pledging to improve their lives for the better.

Trump, meanwhile, was in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for a rally after delivering remarks at Mar-a-Lago earlier Tuesday.

Trump: ‘Every time I go outside, I see somebody from Puerto Rico, they give me a hug and a kiss’

BY JILL COLVINShare

Trump says the comedian who described Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage” probably shouldn’t have been at his Madison Square Garden rally.

Asked by Fox News host Sean Hannity whether he wished Tony Hinchcliffe hadn’t been there, Trump said he did.

“Yeah, I mean I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes,” he said. “Probably he shouldn’t have been there, yeah.”

Trump, in the interview, also said repeatedly that “Puerto Ricans love me,” and that he has great relationships with Hispanics and people from Puerto Rico.

He says, “Every time I go outside, I see somebody from Puerto Rico, they give me a hug and a kiss.”

He added: “I have unbelievable good relationship with Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people. Who this comedian was, I have no idea.”

Trump says he knows nothing of the comedian who called Puerto Rico ‘an island of garbage’

BY JILL COLVINShare

Trump, in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, said he knows nothing about the comedian who made a series of racist and vulgar jokes at his Madison Square Garden rally Sunday night, but says, “I can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”

“I have no idea who he is,” Trump said of Tony Hinchcliffe, whose remarks that night have drawn condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike. “Somebody said there was a comedian that joked about Puerto Rico or something. And I have no idea who he is — never saw him, never heard of him. And don’t want to hear of him. But I have no idea.”

Trump acknowledged that “somebody said some bad things” that night, but tried to downplay concerns about insulting a critical voting bloc.

“They put a comedian in, which everybody does — you throw comedians in, you don’t vet them and go crazy. It’s nobody’s fault,” he said. “But somebody said some bad things. Now, what they’ve done is taken somebody that has nothing to do with the party, has nothing to do with us, said something, and they try and make a big deal.”

He again insisted that he had “done more for Puerto Rico than any president I think that’s ever been president.”

Rubio criticizes Biden’s comment condemning some Trump supporters

BY MATT BROWNShare

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took the stage with Trump in Allentown to condemn some garbled remarks by President Joe Biden that appeared to call some of Trump’s supporters “garbage.”

Biden joined a Tuesday video call with the civic group Voto Latino and denounced comments that equated Puerto Rico to “an island of garbage” at a Sunday Trump rally at Madison Square Garden.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” the president said. “His- his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American.”

Rubio told the crowd that Biden was talking about “everyday Americans who love their country.”

“I hope their campaign is about to apologize for what Joe Biden just said. We are not garbage. We are patriots who love America,” Rubio said.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement that Biden was referring to the rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as “garbage,” not Trump supporters.

Pennsylvania governor says he wouldn’t call Trump supporters ‘garbage’ as Biden did

BY NOMAAN MERCHANTShare

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a high-profile Democrat backing Vice President Kamala Harris, says he would not call supporters of Republican nominee Donald Trump “garbage” as President Joe Biden did.

Speaking Tuesday on CNN, Shapiro was shown video of the comment Biden made earlier. He was asked for a response.

“I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support,” Shapiro replied.

He said he would leave it to Biden if the president wanted to clarify his words.

7:15 AM GMT+6

Michelle Obama encourages people to vote at Georgia event

BY JEFF AMYShare

Michelle Obama took the stump Tuesday in Georgia, saying she was fighting not against Donald Trump but apathy.

The former first lady’s “When We All Vote” organization hosted a rally for more than 2,000 people at an arena in College Park, near Atlanta’s airport, in a slickly produced event that was was dominated by earnest pleas from a star-studded roster to vote.

Obama told attendees that “if you go out and get a crew together, you can decide who sits in the Oval Office.”

“You know how close this election is going to be,” Obama said. “Four years ago, the presidential election in Georgia was decided by less than 12,000 votes.”

The event was scrupulously nonpartisan, never mentioning the names Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, or even the words Democrat or Republican. But speakers drew freely on the civil rights history of the South, appealing to a Black voters’ sense of duty.

Obama spoke particularly against people who might find it not worth voting.

“If they respond by saying that they can’t trust the government or that all politicians are the same, ask them where they’re hearing that nonsense from,” she said. “Because the folks whispering that stuff into their ears, I guarantee you, do not have their best interests at heart.”

Two closing arguments show the stark choice between Trump and Harris

BY STEVE PEOPLESShare

In the shadow of the White House, seven days before the final votes of the 2024 election are cast, Kamala Harris vowed to put country over party and warned that Donald Trump is obsessed with revenge and his own personal interests.

Less than 48 hours earlier inside Madison Square Garden, Trump called his Democratic opponent “a trainwreck who has destroyed everything in her path.” His allies on stage labeled Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and said Harris, who would be the first woman to be president, had begun her career as a prostitute.

Two nights and 200 miles (320 kilometers) apart, the dueling closing arguments outlined in stark terms the choice U.S. voters face on Nov. 5 when they will weigh two very different visions of leadership and America’s future.

Trump campaign responds to Harris’ speech

BY JILL COLVINShare

Trump’s campaign is responding to Harris’ speech, calling it backward-looking.

“Kamala Harris is lying, name-calling, and clinging to the past to avoid admitting the truth — the migrant crime crisis, sky-high inflation, and raging world wars are the result of her terrible policies,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement.

She notes Harris has been in office for nearly four years.

6:20 AM GMT+6

Immigrant and first-time voter calls Harris’ speech ‘powerful’

BY FATIMA HUSSEINShare

Benjamin Eiz, a Washington resident, says Harris’ speech was “powerful.”

The Venezuelan immigrant who got his citizenship two years ago will be able to vote in his first election next week. He said the portion of her speech about immigration was what resonated with him the most.

“She talked about how immigrants made America great.”

6:17 AM GMT+6

Harris closes her speech with a final appeal to voters

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris urged voters Tuesday to “start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told” by rejecting Trump.

Harris used the finale to her closing argument speech in Washington, D.C., to say voters are “not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators.”

“The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised,” Harris said. “In seven days, we have the power, each of you has the power, to turn the page, and start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told,” she added.

Harris: ‘World leaders think Trump is an easy mark’

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris attacked Trump’s competency on the international stage Tuesday, using her closing argument speech to question the former President’s ability to stand up to world leaders.

“World leaders think Trump is an easy mark,” Harris said, arguing that leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are “rooting for” Trump in this election.

6:05 AM GMT+6

Harris pledges to ‘restore’ abortion rights

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris pledged to “restore” the abortion rights that were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his hand-selected Supreme Court justices took away from the women of America,” Harris said.

The Supreme Court, with three Trump appointees, overturned federal protections of abortion in 2022. Abortion has since become one of the most motivating issues for the Democratic base in the 2024 election.

Harris said later in the speech that she would “proudly” sign a bill protecting abortion rights if Congress were to send her one as president.

Trump claims the Harris campaign bused people to Washington rally

BY MATT BROWNShare

Trump claimed during his rally in Allentown that the Harris campaign had bused people to Washington “because they couldn’t get anybody to show up there tonight.”

The Harris campaign touted that more than 75,000 people had gathered on the National Mall for Harris’ remarks tonight at the same venue where Trump spoke ahead of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Harris both distances herself and embraces Joe Biden in closing argument speech

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris, speaking in front of the White House, both distanced herself from President Joe Biden and embraced her one-time running mate.

Harris said she has been honored to serve with Biden but she said she “will bring my own experiences and ideas to the Oval Office.”

“My presidency will be different because the challenges we face will be different,” Harris said.

Biden was in the White House behind Harris while she delivered her speech. Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee when Biden opted not to run for reelection in July.

5:56 AM GMT+6

‘Keep Donald Trump out of the White House,’ Biden says

BY WILL WEISSERTShare

President Joe Biden is reacting to a comic calling Puerto Rico garbage at a Trump rally last weekend by saying, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

He made the comment while joining a national call organized by the advocacy group “Voto Latino.” It immediately reminded some of then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton dismissing Trump supporters during a fundraiser in 2016 by saying that “half” fit into a “basket of deplorables.”

Biden also urged those listening on the call to “vote to keep Donald Trump out of the White House.”

“He’s a true danger to not just Latinos but to all people,” Biden said of Trump. “Particularly those who are in a minority in this country.”

Biden also praised Harris, who has been careful to criticize Trump but not his supporters, as she actively courts Republicans she hopes might cross over and vote for her.

Harris takes one last opportunity to introduce herself to voters

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris acknowledged one of the clearest critiques of her campaign on Tuesday, telling the audience that she understands “many of you are still getting to know who I am.”

Harris did not become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president until the summer, weeks after President Joe Biden decided not to run for reelection. That decision compressed the campaign timeline, denying Harris the months — and sometimes years — candidates usually have to introduce themselves to voters.

“I recognize this has not been a typical campaign,” Harris said, adding that she is “not afraid of tough fights against bad actors and powerful interests.”

“I will work every day to build consensus and reach compromise to get things done,” she said.

‘Our democracy doesn’t require us to agree on everything’

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris deliberately tried to win over Republicans and former Trump supporters, telling the audience in Washington that “our democracy doesn’t require us to agree on everything.”

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other,” she said. “That is who he is. But America, I am hear to tonight to say, that is not who we are.”

She added: “The fact that someone disagrees with us does not make us the enemy within.”

5:45 AM GMT+6

Several speakers at Trump’s rally address the Puerto Rican community directly

BY MICHAEL RUBINKAMShare

Tim Ramos, a former Allentown mayoral candidate, began his remarks by saying: “I’m a Puerto Rican man and I want to start by expressing my love for the island and people of Puerto Rico. … We are a beautiful people from a beautiful island.”

He said Puerto Rican voters are “tired of empty promises, we’re tired of being told how to think, who to vote for,” and are dissatisfied with Biden-Harris economic and border policies. Puerto Rican voters need a leader who understands them, he said, and “Donald Trump is that leader.”

Puerto Rico’s shadow U.S. Sen. Zoraida Buxo also hit the Biden administration’s record on the economy and immigration, and she urged Puerto Rican and Hispanic voters broadly to “stay focused on what is truly important when you go to cast your vote. We need change.”

She added: “It’s easy to get distracted or misled by propaganda, emotional manipulation, and distortion of the truth and facts.”

The territory’s shadow representatives advocate for Puerto Rico but do not vote or hold seats in Washington.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, meanwhile, delivered some of his remarks in Spanish.

5:42 AM GMT+6

Harris takes the stage in Washington

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris opened her speech in Washington by setting the stakes of next week’s general election.

“One week from today, you will have the chance to make a decision that directly impacts your life, the life of your family and the future of this country we love,” Harris said. “And it will probably be the most important vote you ever cast.”

5:35 AM GMT+6

Harris’ backdrop on Tuesday is the office she hopes to hold

BY DAN MERICAShare

The backdrop to Harris’ closing argument speech on Tuesday will be the office she hopes to hold: the White House.

The event is thick with symbolism. Held on The Ellipse, the park just south of the White House, the event will represent Harris’ clearest attempt to show why she deserves to be the person sitting in the Oval Office next year. The site of the speech also harkens back to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol: It is where Trump gave a speech filled with lies about the election immediately beforehand.

Harris specifically mentioned in interviews before her remarks on Tuesday that the backdrop was picked to help voters envision having her in the Oval Office instead of Trump.

People attending the event have been standing in line for hours and are now waiting for Harris to take the stage. The back of the stage is lined with American flags, and large signs that read “Freedom” in block letters flank the set-up.

Two-time Trump voter backs Harris, says ‘it is time to turn the page’

BY DAN MERICAShare

Pennsylvania farmer Bob Lang, a two-time voter for Trump, explained on Tuesday how the former president lost his vote and why people who once backed the Republican should vote for Harris in 2024.

“We deserve better; it is time to turn the page,” Lang said at Harris’ closing argument event in Washington in the Ellipse Park just south of the White House.

“There is more at stake in this election than in any other election in my lifetime,” he added.

Lang, who spoke at a recent Harris event in Pennsylvania, spoke with his wife, Kristina Lang, who said both she and her husband were “proudly” voting for Harris. She voted for Trump in 2016 but not in 2020.

“Never in a million years did I think that I would be up on stage like this, supporting a Democrat for president,” she said. “But enough is enough.”

Harris will be at Howard University election night, source tells AP

BY ZEKE MILLERShare

Vice President Kamala Harris will spend election night at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss her campaign’s plans.

If elected, Harris would be the first graduate of a historically Black university to occupy the Oval Office.

5:01 AM GMT+6

Haley says she last spoke with Trump before the Republican National Convention

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Nikki Haley said Tuesday night during an appearance on Fox News Channel that she last spoke to the GOP nominee “back in June.”

Host Bret Baier asked the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador about Associated Press reporting from Monday that the Trump campaign had not reached out to Haley to stump for him. She was the last remaining Republican challenging Trump for this year‘s nomination when she shuttered her campaign following the Super Tuesday contests.

Haley had been a last-minute addition to the RNC speaking schedule and was not invited to speak until after the assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July.

She said Tuesday that she still supports Trump but also had criticism for some of the “overly masculine” tenor of his campaign that she suggested could alienate women voters.

Correction: A previous version of this post misspelled Host Bret Baier’s first name.

Attendee at Harris’ rally says the atmosphere is a ‘direct contrast’ to Jan. 6, 2021

BY GARY FIELDSShare

Across Constitution Avenue from the Ellipse, crowds continued waiting patiently and discussing alternatives for viewing or listening to Harris if they could not get into the venue.

Kathleen Nicholas, 36, a government relations worker in Washington, said she loved the difference in the crowd and atmosphere compared with those of Jan. 6, 2021.

“Having something that is a direct contrast to that day is what we needed.”

4:18 AM GMT+6

Former Democrat says she is voting third party due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war

BY FATIMA HUSSEINShare

Nila Jeya Pirya, a 21 year-old student from Texas wearing a keffiyeh, was holding a sign protesting the Israel-Hamas war in front of people waiting in line to get into the Harris rally in Washington.

Pirya, a former Democrat, plans to vote third party due to the ongoing situation in the Gaza Strip.

“We will always be outnumbered, but we can’t be complacent and need to have an arms embargo.”

Walz says illuminating moment from debate against Vance went against his team’s advice

BY DAN MERICAShare

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that the most illuminating moment from his debate against Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance went against the advice his team had given him going into the debate.

Walz, near the end of his meeting with Vance, turned to the Ohio senator and asked him, point blank, if former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election, a lie many Republicans continue to repeat. When Vance would not answer, the Democratic vice presidential nominee said, “That is a damning non-answer.”

Speaking on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, a popular sports and culture podcast, Walz said, “My team was very clear to me: They said don’t ask a direct question because you don’t know the answer, it puts you in a bad spot in a debate. And of course, me, I disregarded.”

Walz later added: “I was kinda speaking to 340 million people, I think he might have been speaking to 1, so that is a little more challenging.”

3:54 AM GMT+6

It ‘wasn’t a good idea to have an insult comedian speak,’ Rubio says

BY MICHAEL RUBINKAMShare

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters ahead of the Allentown rally, acknowledged that it “probably, in hindsight, wasn’t a good idea to have an insult comedian speak at a rally.”

But Rubio said the Trump campaign has already distanced itself from Hinchcliffe — and that ultimately it’s not going to matter to Hispanic voters.

“What does that have to do with the cost of living? What does it have to do with the fact that runaway illegal immigration is bringing criminals into our country that are terrorizing Hispanic neighborhoods?” he said. “I get the activists are going to make their noise, but that’s what’s really going to matter here. That’s what we’re going to focus on. Not an insult comedian.”

3:50 AM GMT+6

Puerto Rican voter wants to ‘trash Trump’

BY MICHAEL RUBINKAMShare

Outside the arena where Trump will speak in Allentown, Ivet Figueroa, 61, carried a pink sign with a small trash can attached. “Trash Trump” was written on the can, while the sign said: “Nov. 5 is trash day. Let’s put you where you belong!!”

Figueroa, who was born in New York but whose parents came from Puerto Rico, said she was appalled by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“It was devastating. I’m a Puerto Rican. How do you say that my country is trash?” said Figueroa, a clerk.

“It’s not trash,” she said. “It’s a beautiful country. And the person who said it was vetted by him. So that’s what he allowed, so he has to take responsibility for what he said. Now it’s too late for saying sorry. I don’t want an apology, I want justice, and justice is on Nov. 5.”

Figueroa said the joke is “definitely” going to lose Trump votes in Allentown’s Puerto Rican community. She said she knows people who plan to switch their votes to Harris.

“They’re disgusted by it, and they’re going to let him know that Puerto Rico is not a trash country,” she said.

3:36 AM GMT+6

Harris calls Trump ‘dangerous and unfit’ in Wisconsin interview

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris declined to outright call Trump a fascist in an interview with WISN 12 News on Tuesday, instead calling her Republican opponent “dangerous and unfit” for the presidency.

“I have said what I have to say, which is he is dangerous and unfit and increasingly unstable and unhinged,” Harris said after reporter Matt Smith asked her multiple times if she planned to call Trump a fascist in her closing argument speech on Tuesday night. “And the American people deserve better.”

Harris did call Trump a fascist during a recent town hall on CNN. She was asked during the event if she thought he met the moniker and she said, “Yes, I do.”

3:29 AM GMT+6

‘Puerto Rico stands behind you,’ woman in Trump roundtable says

BY ADRIANA GOMEZ LICONShare

A Puerto Rican woman participating in a Philadelphia-area roundtable with Trump made a slight reference to the comment made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at the Madison Square Garden rally Sunday calling the island a “floating island of garbage.”

“I want you to know that Puerto Rico stands behind you,” said Maribel Valdez.

Trump did not say anything about the comedian’s remarks but bragged about his record with Puerto Rico.

Trump’s efforts to help the island territory recover after devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017 have been persistently criticized. His administration released $13 billion in assistance years later, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election.

3:25 AM GMT+6

Harris’ Washington rally is a chance to experience history, attendee says

BY GARY FIELDSShare

Melanie Johnson, 64, associate of director of membership for the National Healthcare Association, said the Kamala Harris’ rally in Washington is the chance to experience history and together “save democracy. We’re saving our legacy and our freedom.”

Johnson, a resident of Montgomery County, Maryland, said the election is critical.

She said that Trump “tells you everyday, every time he opens his mouth, who he is. It’s hard to understand how anybody from a marginalized community can support him.”

3:24 AM GMT+6

Attendees await Harris’ speech in Washington

BY FATIMA HUSSEINShare

Candace Clark, a Maryland resident born and raised in Washington D.C. has been waiting in line since 3 p.m.

She said she’s attending the rally because she supports Kamala Harris and “all that vitriol with Trump needs to end.” Clark and her husband have already voted early in Maryland.

3:08 AM GMT+6

Supreme Court rejects Kennedy’s bid to get off two swing state ballots

BY LINDSAY WHITEHURSTShare

The Supreme Court is rejecting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to get off the ballot in two swing states: Michigan and Wisconsin.

Kennedy has removed his name from ballots in the other battleground states since dropping his independent presidential bid and endorsing Trump. Third parties could be pivotal in the tight race.

He’s also been trying to do the opposite and get on the ballot in states where his candidacy isn’t expected to make a difference. The Supreme Court rejected his bid to get his name on the New York ballot last month.

2:57 AM GMT+6

Puerto Rican male artists criticize comedian’s ‘garbage’ joke and endorse Harris

BY MATT BROWNShare

Some of the most prominent Puerto Rican male musical artists came out in support of Vice President Kamala Harris days after a comedian disparaged their home territory as “an island of garbage.”

Reggaeton stars Daddy Yankee and Don Omar have endorsed Harris. Latin megastar Bad Bunny came out in support of the vice president shortly after the Sunday Trump rally.

Singer Farruko published a video condemning the remarks comparing the island territory to trash. Other Puerto Rican stars like Jennifer Lopez have announced they will campaign with Harris as the election nears.

Trump had previously touted endorsements from Puerto Rican musical artists Anuel AA and Nicky Jam in a play for Latino voters. Neither artist has commented on the recent controversy, and Nicky Jam quietly deleted a pro-Trump post after facing backlash from fellow Latin artists.

2:40 AM GMT+6

Man whose family is Puerto Rican says comedian’s crude joke doesn’t reflect on Trump

BY MICHAEL RUBINKAMShare

Hector Avila, 57, a Trump supporter in Allentown whose parents came from Puerto Rico, said the joke comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made at a Sunday Trump that was disparaging to the island “was wrong,” but would not affect his support.

“I didn’t agree with the comment, but I don’t listen to it,” said Avila, who wore a baseball cap with the Puerto Rican flag as he waved a U.S. flag. “Because Trump’s not like that. He’s there for everybody, for Americans.”

He said his family remains supportive of the former president, too.

2:27 AM GMT+6

Jennifer Lopez to speak at Harris rally in Nevada

BY DAN MERICAShare

Vice President Kamala Harris will be joined by Jennifer Lopez on Thursday at a rally in Nevada, the Democrat’s campaign announced on Tuesday.

The event is part of the “When We Vote We Win” concert series, which has taken Harris across the country alongside top musical artists as the campaign urges its supporters to vote early.

Maná, a Mexican pop rock band originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, will perform at the event, while Lopez will speak.

Harris has leaned heavily on celebrities and performers in the final days of her campaigning, headlining events with Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce and Maggie Rogers, among other top names. The event on Thursday comes days before early voting in Nevada ends on Nov. 1.

2:20 AM GMT+6

‘I think everybody understands what’s on the ballot’

BY GARY FIELDSShare

Ruth Chiari, 78, and Phil Wurtz, 70, took a train from Charlottesville, Virginia, to attend Kamala Harris’ speech in Washington as the line ran from south of Constitution Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue then turned and ran in front of the Treasury Department.

The couple, who have been married 38 years, said they were excited to be attending the rally.

“We’re witnessing 21st Century history,” Wurtz said. Chiari said she came “to support democracy.”

She looked at the line and said, “I think everybody understands what’s on the ballot. We’re either going to have an autocrat or freedom.”

2:05 AM GMT+6

Harris to promise to ‘put country above party and above self’ in closing argument

BY DAN MERICA, ZEKE MILLERShare

Vice President Kamala Harris, delivering a speech Tuesday at The Ellipse in Washington, D.C., will promise to “put country above party and above self,” according to excerpts of the remarks provided by the Democrat’s campaign.

Harris will call Donald Trump “unstable,” “obsessed with revenge” and “consumed by grievance,” according to the provided remarks, using a speech her campaign has touted as a closing argument against the former president.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That’s who he is,” Harris plans to say. “But America, I am here tonight to say: that’s not who we are.”

She will add: “America, we know what Donald Trump has in mind. More chaos. More division. And policies that help those at the very top and hurt everyone else. I offer a different path. And I ask for your vote.”

Harris will then pledge “to seek common ground and common sense solutions,” and “to listen to experts.”

1:35 AM GMT+6

Trump arrives in Pennsylvania

BY ADRIANA GOMEZ LICONShare

Donald Trump has just landed in Philadelphia to head to a round table with members of the community in the suburb of Drexel Hill.

1:33 AM GMT+6

‘She is definitely more qualified’

BY GARY FIELDSShare

Robert Johnson, 60, said he was excited to go to Kamala Harris’ Washington rally and was telling others they needed to vote. A retiree from the district, he said the election was as much about who the former president is and who Vice President Kamala Harris is not.

“She’s not a convicted felon. She never staged a coup. She never gave away national secrets,” he said. “She has been a city prosecutor, a state attorney general, a US senator and the vice president.”

Johnson said men who have issues with female leaders need to look at her qualifications against Trump.

“She is definitely more qualified,” he added.

Johnson, who is Black, said another Trump presidency would negatively impact minorities and the poor.

1:31 AM GMT+6

Harris’ supporter says he’s excited ‘that a woman and a woman of color could be president’

BY FATIMA HUSSEINShare

Walking over to the rally in downtown Washington, D.C., Rev. Dr. Daryl Ferman was with a few friends, wearing a Harris 2024 teeshirt.

He said is attending because he wanted to feel the energy of the event.

“I don’t trust Trump and his friends and I don’t trust the polling that says the race is neck and neck,” the 69-year-old district resident said. “I’m excited about the historical aspect of the race, that a woman and a woman of color could be president.”

He thinks more than 30,000 will show up for the rally.

1:24 AM GMT+6

Biden will watch but not attend Harris’ speech in Washington

BY AYANNA ALEXANDERShare

President Joe Biden says he’s not attending Harris’ closing argument speech near the White House because the event is “for her.”

Biden said he’ll be watching as Harris speaks Tuesday night at the Ellipse, the same site where Trump made a speech that helped incite the mob that subsequently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The president’s comments came as he was campaigning with Democratic Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott at Bmore Licks, an ice cream shop in Baltimore.

Biden also told reporters that he was “concerned” about North Korean troops being sent to Russia to likely join the war in Ukraine.

Asked if Ukraine should respond militarily, Biden said, “If they cross into Ukraine, yes.”

1:05 AM GMT+6

Puerto Rico’s shadow senator to join Trump at Allentown rally

BY MICHELLE L. PRICEShare

As he grapples with the fallout from his Madison Square Garden rally, Donald Trump will be joined in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Tuesday night by Puerto Rico’s shadow U.S. Senator Zoraida Buxo.

That’s according to a campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.

Buxo had previously said on the social platform X that offensive comments made by a comedian comparing the island to “garbage” did not represent Trump or his campaign, and also called Trump the leader Puerto Rico needs.

The territory’s shadow representatives advocate for Puerto Rico but do not vote or hold seats in Washington.

12:52 AM GMT+6

Speaker Johnson: Trump is thinking ‘big about what we can do’

BY LISA MASCAROShare

House Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump is “thinking big about his legacy” as Republicans prepare an aggressive 100 days agenda to cut taxes, seal the border, and slash the federal government if they sweep the White House and Congress.

During a weekend campaign swing in Akron, Ohio, Johnson pointed to the America First Policy Institute and other think tanks he said had prepared “thick” proposals. He did not mention Project 2025 by name, but highlighted plans to push federal agencies out of Washington and re-staff the federal workforce.

“He’s thinking big about his legacy,” Johnson said at another stop near Toledo. “He’s thinking big about what we can do.”

12:42 AM GMT+6

New York’s mayor dodges questions about Trump

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZShare

New York City Mayor Eric Adams declined to say Tuesday whether he would oppose Donald Trump’s plan to carry out the largest mass deportation program in American history, dismissing the proposal as a “hypothetical” as he deflected questions about his relationship to the Republican nominee.

Adams bristled at reporters’ inquiries during a Tuesday news briefing about his feelings toward Trump, repeatedly responding with a terse: “Next question.”

He declined to say when he last spoke to the former president, if he was seeking a pardon from him or whether he disagreed with any of Trump’s statements at the Madison Square Garden rally.

Asked specifically if he opposed Trump’s plan for historic mass deportations, Adams voiced his support for New York as a sanctuary city, but said he would not be “entertaining any hypotheticals.”

Adams, a centrist Democrat, has shown a growing reluctance to criticize Trump in recent weeks, breaking with party leaders on the question of whether the former president is a fascist.

That support has fueled speculation that Adams, who is fending off federal charges of accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions, is seeking to align himself with Trump. If he were to win the presidency, Trump could halt the corruption case against him.

12:36 AM GMT+6

Biden says Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore “may be the best” in the country

BY WILL WEISSERTShare

That’s high praise, but especially given that Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, is governor of Minnesota.

Biden’s comments came at an event announcing nearly $3 billion to boost climate-friendly infrastructure at ports across the country — including Baltimore, where a bridge collapse killed six construction workers in March and disrupted East Coast shipping routes for months.

Biden traveled to near the bridge collapse site to make the announcement.

Moore, 46, spoke at the event before Biden. The governor was a key voice for outreach to young voters for Biden’s reelection campaign, before taking on a similar role for Harris when she took over the top of the Democratic ticket.

12:12 AM GMT+6

Bad Bunny posts video showcasing Puerto Rico’s beauty and captions it ‘garbage’

BY MATT BROWNShare

Latin superstar Bad Bunny reposted his 2021 video that showcased the natural beauty of Puerto Rico’s beaches, forests and culture alongside images of famous artists, athletes and other Puerto Rican icons.

The reposted video was simply captioned “garbage,” an apparent reference to racist and crude comments made by Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian, at a Sunday Trump rally that disparaged the island.

Bad Bunny is a global pop icon and is widely listened to by younger and Hispanic Americans. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris alongside other Puerto Rican superstars Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin shortly after the comedian’s remarks.

Hinchcliffe’s comments outraged many residents of the island and sent shockwaves through the island’s diaspora on the mainland. Those remarks and others delivered throughout the Madison Square Garden rally were widely condemned by opponents.

12:02 AM GMT+6

The first presidential election since the Jan. 6 attack will test new guardrails from Congress

BY LISA MASCAROShare

This presidential election, the first since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, will be a stress test of the new systems and guardrails that Congress put in place to ensure America’s long tradition of the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

As Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris race toward the finish, pro-democracy advocates and elected officials are preparing for a volatile period in the aftermath of Election Day, as legal challenges are filed, bad actors spread misinformation and voters wait for Congress to affirm the results.

“One of the unusual characteristics of this election is that so much of the potential danger and so many of the attacks on the election system are focused on the post-election period,” said Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice.

▶ Read more about how Congress has shored up the process

11:32 PM GMT+6

What is The Ellipse?

BY DAN MERICAShare

The Ellipse, where Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver her closing message against former President Donald Trump, is a grassy park between the White House and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

The area, which is administered by the National Park Service, has long played host to a range of political events and national traditions. Most recently, it was where then-President Trump delivered a lie-filled speech on Jan. 6, 2021, shortly before hundreds stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to certify to 2020 election.

While the White House is often the backdrop for events on the Ellipse, expressly political events are allowed in the park, unlike at the White House.

The park was first developed in the 1850s and was part of landscape architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s plans for the nation’s capital. However, its development was cut short by a lack of funds and the Civil War, according to the National Park Service. During the conflict, soldiers were housed on the site, and the area had also been used as horse pens, a slaughterhouse and a trash dump, according to the Park Service.

11:13 PM GMT+6

Harris’ closing argument against Trump is far from her final event

BY DAN MERICAShare

Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver what her campaign is touting as her closing argument against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

But the event, a large gathering on the Ellipse park just south of the White House, will be far from her last rally.

Harris is slated to crisscross the country in the final days of the campaign, hitting all key battleground states as she makes her last pitch to voters.

Harris’ campaign has crafted the Tuesday event as both a physical and rhetorical counter to Trump.

She will urge voters to “turn the page” toward a new era and away from Trump, lambasting both the kind of rhetoric Trump has used and what it would mean to give him four more years as president. Physically, Harris will be standing in the same park where Trump delivered a lie-filled speech on Jan. 6, 2021, shortly before hundreds stormed the Capitol as Congress met to certify to 2020 election.

11:05 PM GMT+6

‘We are on track to win a very close election,’ Harris campaign chair says

BY WILL WEISSERTShare

Harris’ campaign chair says early voting returns in key states suggest the vice president’s supporters are turning out in numbers she needs to win.

In an online video running nearly three and a half minutes, Jen O’Malley Dillon says a lot of Republican-leaning voters were voting early in strong numbers as well — but those tended to be folks who would have otherwise voted on Election Day.

By contrast, she said, the Harris campaign believes low-propensity voters are breaking for the vice president.

O’Malley Dillion said the campaign’s polling shows that late-breaking undecided voters “are more open to supporting” Harris if they find out “more information” about her in the campaign’s closing days.

“It’s OK to be worried,” before Election Day, she said, but added, “We are on track to win a very close election.”

11:00 PM GMT+6

‘This truly is a margin of error race’

BY WILL WEISSERTShare

Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon has released a video telling supporters, “Why you don’t have to feel anxious and you can feel good” about next week’s election.

As the campaign has been arguing for months, O’Malley Dillon says Harris has “multiple pathways” to get to the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the White House.

She said seven states remain in play — the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.

O’Malley Dillon said that, rather than conceding any of those, as sometimes happens late in races, Harris is still campaigning hard in all of them because “this truly is a margin of error race.”

10:53 PM GMT+6

Hundreds of Miami-Dade County ballots were found on the side of the road

BY KATE PAYNEShare

The elections department in Florida’s largest county confirmed Tuesday that a sealed bin and a sealed bag had been found by a driver and the ballots inside had already been scanned and tabulated at an early voting site on Monday, according to reporting by the Miami Herald.

A county employee forgot to lock the back of a truck and the containers fell out when they drove off, according to county elections supervisor Christina White, who said election workers confirmed nothing was damaged or tampered with.

A video posted by the popular South Florida social media account Only in Dade shows a passing driver apparently stopping to pick up the containers labeled with county barcodes and drive them to a police station.

The employee driving the truck has since been fired.

10:36 PM GMT+6

Harris campaign takes over Las Vegas’ Sphere to help get out the vote

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLEShare

The vice president’s team says her campaign is the first to advertise on the entertainment venue, which opened in 2023.

The exterior of the Sphere features a rotating series of messages encouraging people to vote for Harris and running mate Tim Walz by Election Day, Nov. 5. The messages include her slogan, “When we fight, we win,” and other phrases.

Nevada is among the handful of battleground states that the Democrat and Republican rival Donald Trump are trying hard to win.

Harris’ team says the Sphere advertising is a “critical piece” of their efforts in Nevada, which also include taking over the homepages of top newspapers and mobile billboards in Reno, Carson City and Las Vegas.

Harris is scheduled to campaign in Reno and Las Vegas on Thursday.

10:31 PM GMT+6

Trump on his Madison Square Garden rally: ‘There’s never been an event so beautiful’

BY MEG KINNARDShare

While he didn’t mention a comedian’s controversial remarks about Puerto Rico, Trump expounded at length about his Madison Square Garden rally, which he called a “lovefest,” a term he has also used to reference the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

At Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump noted “there’s never been an event so beautiful” as the Sunday night rally in his hometown of New York City. Trump called it “terrible to say,” as some of his critics have pointed out, that the same arena was host to a gathering of Nazis in 1939.

More than 20,000 people attended a Feb. 20, 1939 rally at the Garden organized by the German American Bund, a pro-Nazi group that hung swastikas alongside a huge portrait of George Washington.

Several of the speakers on Sunday referenced that event, including former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, who said, “I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”

“Nobody’s ever had love like that,” Trump said of the hourslong Sunday event that featured speakers including some of his children, wife Melania and high-level surrogates and supporters including TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “It was really love for our country.”

10:20 PM GMT+6

Trump wraps his remarks without referencing comments of a comedian at his New York rally

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Trump has yet to address the controversy, also not mentioning it during his appearances in Georgia on Monday. On Tuesday, he did reference the event overall, calling it “an absolute lovefest” in his hometown.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during the Sunday event at Madison Square Garden. His remark has drawn wide condemnation and highlighted the rising power of a key Latino group in the swing state of Pennsylvania. He also made demeaning jokes about Black people, other Latinos, Palestinians and Jews during his routine before Trump’s appearance.

The Harris campaign has released an ad that will run online in battleground states targeting Puerto Rican voters and highlighting the comedian’s remarks.

The comments landed Harris a show of support from Puerto Rican music star Bad Bunny and prompted reactions from Republicans in Florida and Puerto Rico.

10:12 PM GMT+6

Head of Puerto Rico’s Republican Party calls Hinchcliffe remarks ‘totally reprehensible’

BY DÁNICA COTOShare

The president of Puerto Rico’s Republican Party, Ángel Cintrón, rejected the comments of a comedian at a Trump rally in New York where he called the U.S. territory “a floating island of garbage.”

Cintrón said the “poor attempt at comedy” by Tony Hinchcliffe on Sunday was “disgraceful, ignorant and totally reprehensible.”

“There is no room for absurd and racist comments like that. They do not represent the conservative values of republicanism anywhere in our nation,” Cintrón said in a statement.

He noted that there are 3 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico and nearly 6 million in the U.S. mainland.

“Whether we are Republicans or Democrats, we are American and Puerto Rican citizens proud of our roots and incalculable contributions to American democracy for more than one hundred years,” Cintrón said.

10:01 PM GMT+6

Harris will have to ‘get herself a job someplace,’ Trump says

BY MEG KINNARDShare

A week away from the end of voting in the general election, Trump is reflecting on his presidential run, saying, “We’ve had a great campaign” and predicting that Harris will have to go home and “get herself a job someplace, who knows.”

9:59 PM GMT+6

Trump is featuring speakers who say they were harmed by policies under Harris’ time in office

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Tammy Nobles talked about the death of her daughter, saying the perpetrator was an MS-13 gang member in the country illegally.

Michael Koppy, owner of Go Green Dry Cleaners, talked about how he has had to help other small businesses unable to keep up with inflation and rising costs.

Christy Shamblin, whose daughter-in-law Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee was killed during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, said Donald Trump “demonstrates peace through strength.”

9:52 PM GMT+6

Trump: Anything positive about the economy during Harris’ time in office was ‘fake’

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Saying that the economy under Harris’ time in office has caused destruction, Trump said that any boon was “fake.”

He then cited “one of the most respected people on Wall Street” as saying that “the economy is only good” because “people think Trump is going to get elected.”

9:46 PM GMT+6

Trump says he would create ‘compensation fund’ for the ‘victims of migrant crime’

BY MEG KINNARDShare

As he has many times along the campaign trail, Trump is decrying federal authorities for dropping plane-loads of migrants “all over the Midwest,” mentioning Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio.

Saying he was announcing the intent “for the first time,” Trump said that as president he would be “seizing the assets of the criminal gangs and drug cartels,” and using those assets “to create a compensation fund to provide restitution for the victims of migrant crime.”

9:39 PM GMT+6

Trump calls immigration reform ‘the single biggest issue’ for his campaign

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Immigration reform — and blaming Democrats for issues caused by an influx of immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border — has long been Trump’s signature campaign issue, and a week out from Election Day, he is sticking to that.

Saying that “we talk about inflation and the economy,” Trump added, “To me, there’s nothing more important than the fabric of our country being destroyed,” calling the border “the single biggest issue.”

9:38 PM GMT+6

Trump plays video featuring mother of 12-year-old found dead in Texas

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Trump is playing a video featuring comments from the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Texas girl who was found dead in a creek not far from her home.

Police charged two Venezuelan men who had entered the U.S. illegally with the girl’s murder.

Alexis Nungaray said that her daughter is “six feet in the ground based off of” Harris’ decisions and called for Trump’s reelection.

9:31 PM GMT+6

Trump alleges Harris ‘keeps talking about Hitler and Nazis because her record is horrible’

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Trump accused Harris of not caring about the impact of her actions in what he called her “campaign of absolute hate,” saying that she intends to “keep this misery going, and she’s going to keep it going for as long as she can.”

Trump alleged that Harris “keeps talking about Hitler and Nazis because her record is horrible.”

Trump said that the “three great people” on stage with him would share their own stories about “how their lives have been shattered” by Harris’ policies.

9:27 PM GMT+6

Trump says he is ‘running on a plan to save America’

BY MEG KINNARDShare

The GOP nominee said his Democratic rival, now Harris, is running on a “campaign of destruction” and “of absolute hate,” accusing her team of “perhaps even trying to destroy our country.”

Trump again said Democrats “stole the presidency of the United States” by ousting Biden from their ticket this year.

As he spoke, Trump was flanked on stage by three people, none of whom he has identified thus far.

9:23 PM GMT+6

Trump has arrived at his Mar-a-Lago event

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Supporters cheered his name and raised cellphones in the air as he walked into the room, exactly one week before Election Day.

Two days ahead of Halloween, the former president walked out just after the playing of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which has become a staple at many of his campaign rallies.

Trump began his remarks by saying that things are “going very well” but noted some “bad spots in Pennsylvania where some serious things have been caught or are in the process of being caught.”

Reading from paper on the podium in front of him, Trump began by criticizing Kamala Harris, saying she “has obliterated our borders” and has “caused so much destruction and death at home and abroad.”

9:15 PM GMT+6

Musk’s pro-Trump super PAC uses vulgarity demeaning women to describe Harris as a ‘communist’

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Elon Musk’s super political action committee created an ad attacking Vice President Kamala Harris that includes multiple references to a vulgarity often used to demean women before calling her a “communist.”

The 35-second video from America PAC begins with a warning that it “contains multiple instances of the C-word.”

Calling Harris “a big ole C-word,” a narrator describes the Democratic nominee as a “tax-hiking, regulation-loving, gun-grabbing communist,” over images of her, as well as an illustration of a cat in a Soviet-style military uniform.

Musk endorsed Trump earlier this year and has appeared both at his rallies and at his own pro-Trump events throughout the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Both Musk and Trump have repeatedly referenced Harris as “Comrade Kamala,” implying that as president she would seek to implement socialist policies in the U.S.

The post is getting attention as Trump and his allies use increasingly inflammatory language in the final stretch of the campaign. Trump has repeatedly ridiculed Harris, at one point calling her “mentally impaired.” He has referred to CNN’s Anderson Cooper with a woman’s name, evoking the trope of gay men as effeminate. A Trump rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday featured multiple crude and racist jokes, including one from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

A spokesperson for the PAC declined to comment on the video.

9:02 PM GMT+6

It’s now an hour past the start time of Trump’s planned remarks to press at Mar-a-Lago

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Music — from Guns ‘n Roses to Dolly Parton and Donna Summer — has been playing, and people have continued to mill around the room as they wait on the former president.

8:42 PM GMT+6

Puerto Rico’s archbishop calls on Trump to disavow comedian’s rally comments

BY DÁNICA COTOShare

The archbishop of Puerto Rico, Roberto O. González Nieves, has joined a long list of Puerto Ricans decrying the comments a comedian made at a Donald Trump rally on Sunday that disparaged the island.

González said in a letter that he was “dismayed and appalled” after hearing Tony Hinchcliffe say, “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

González called on Trump to disavow the comments, saying it was insufficient that his campaign issued a brief apology.

“It is important that you, personally, apologize for these comments,” González wrote.

The archbishop said that while he enjoys a good joke, humor has its limits.

“It should not insult or denigrate the dignity and sacredness of people,” he wrote. “These kinds of remarks should not be a part of the political discourse of a civilized society.”

8:22 PM GMT+6

Trump’s event at Mar-a-Lago has gotten underway with operatic and Broadway musical selections

BY MEG KINNARDShare

Dozens of supporters, many clad in pro-Trump gear, stood near their seats and craned their necks to see if the GOP nominee and former president were about to enter an ornate Mar-a-Lago room set up for his remarks.

Several American flags and a screen with the words, “TRUMP WILL FIX IT!” were set up along the platform from which Trump was expected to speak.

8:21 PM GMT+6

‘We have to forgive and let it go,’ Trump supporter says of Madison Square Garden rally remarks

BY ADRIANA GOMEZ LICONShare

A supporter of Trump who attended his event at Mar-a-Lago and heads the Republican Latino Club of Palm Beach said in Spanish it was important to clarify that the former president was not the one who made the crude comments about Puerto Rico.

“He is a comedian. He tries to be funny and says a lot of nonsense. The man is dumb. He has no clue about Puerto Rico and doesn’t know our culture. He screwed up. We have to forgive and let it go,” said Lydia Maldonado, who is Puerto Rican. “Our economy needs a change. Enough of this.”

8:19 PM GMT+6

Allentown School District is closed ahead of Trump’s Pennsylvania visit

BY MICHAEL RUBINKAMShare

The district said in a statement that schools will be closed “out of an abundance of caution” since the rally is “expected to bring large crowds, heavy traffic and potential disruptions that may impact the safety and security of our students and staff.”

Trump is due to speak at the PPL Center in downtown Allentown at 7 p.m. ET.

8:17 PM GMT+6

Podcast host Joe Rogan polls listeners on a potential interview with Harris

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLEShare

In a post on the social platform X, Rogan says the Democrat’s campaign offered a date for Tuesday for an hourlong conversation, but that he would have had to meet her on the road. Rogan said he feels strongly that the conversation is best when done in his studio in Austin, Texas.

He headlined the post: “!! Austin TX podcast or let her walk. Thoughts?”

Asked for comment, a Harris campaign official said they were willing to sit down with Rogan when Harris was in Texas last week, but Rogan couldn’t accommodate.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the campaign’s internal deliberations, said Rogan was offered the option of joining Harris on the road but that Rogan has insisted that the conversation be taped in Austin.

Trump sat down with Rogan for three hours last Friday in Texas.

8:13 PM GMT+6

Harris aide says Washington speech will focus on the ‘clear choice voters are facing this election’

BY COLLEEN LONGShare

Vice President Kamala Harris, who spent years working as a prosecutor, has spent her campaign for president laying out the case to voters for why she should be elected, a top aide said Tuesday.

Cedric Richmond says over the past three months Harris has given her opening statement and laid out evidence and the facts for voters.

On Tuesday, she’ll deliver a speech meant to sum it all up.

“She’ll make her closing argument directly to the American people — or the jury — and that’s who’s going to decide the outcome of this election,” he said. “And that’s how it should be.”

Richmond says the speech will be about the “clear choice voters are facing this election between Trump and his obsession with himself versus her new generation of leadership that is focused on the American people.”

8:10 PM GMT+6

Harris to focus on what her generation of leadership ‘really means’ in Washington speech

BY COLLEEN LONGShare

Vice President Kamala Harris chose the area near the White House and Washington Monument to speak on Tuesday because “it’s a reminder of the gravity of the job,” her campaign chairwoman says.

Campaign leader Jen O’Malley Dillon says the location, where Donald Trump helped incite a violent mob on Jan. 6, 2021, is a visual reminder of how much a president can do for good — or for ill.

It’s a “stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how he’s used his power for bad,” she said.

But Harris won’t spend a lot of time rehashing the violence of that day or recounting Trump’s continued efforts to lie about the election and sow doubt over voting. O’Malley Dillon says Harris will focus on talking about what her generation of leadership “really means,” and how much she will work to shape the country and impact people’s lives for the better.

8:06 PM GMT+6

Harris to sit for interviews in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and elsewhere on Tuesday

BY COLLEEN LONGShare

Vice President Kamala Harris is doing five interviews Tuesday, including one with a Spanish-language radio in Pennsylvania aimed at Latino voters, in particular Puerto Ricans.

The interviews come after a comic at Donald Trump’s rally on Sunday made racist and vile jokes that singled out Puerto Ricans among other groups. Trump did not denounce the racist jokes. But he claimed he didn’t know the comic who gave a live performance at the venue before the Republican nominee took the stage.

Harris is also doing interviews in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. That’s before she gives a speech in Washington later Tuesday where she’ll lay out her closing arguments.

8:04 PM GMT+6

‘I don’t know him,’ Trump says of comedian from New York rally without denouncing his remarks

BY JILL COLVINShare

Donald Trump said he doesn’t know the comic who made racist and vile jokes at his big Madison Square Garden rally. But he’s not denouncing the comments either.

“I don’t know him, someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is,” Trump told ABC News in an interview Tuesday ahead of his remarks at Mar-a-Lago, according to the network.

The comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, had told a series of raunchy and crude jokes, including calling Puerto Rico an “island of floating garbage.”

The comments have drawn outrage from Puerto Rican leaders with just a week to go before the election.

In the interview, Trump also insisted he hadn’t heard Hinchcliffe’s comments, according to ABC. But, “When asked what he made of them, he did not take the opportunity to denounce them, repeating that he didn’t hear the comments.”

7:37 PM GMT+6

Trump supporters are gathering near the entrance of Mar-a-Lago’s main ballroom

BY ADRIANA GOMEZ LICONShare

The former president has arrived at his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. He is set to meet with reporters at 10 a.m. ET. It is unclear whether the Republican will take questions.

7:10 PM GMT+6

GOP works to turn out pro-Trump Jewish voters in swing states to trim Democrats’ edge

BY THOMAS BEAUMONTShare

Rachel Weinberg calls herself a religious Jew first, then a proud American. She said she has only one choice for president: Donald Trump.

“I don’t like everything he says,” the 72-year-old retired preschool teacher from Michigan said after volunteer canvassers for the Republican Jewish Coalition knocked on her door Sunday. “But I vote for Israel. It is our life. I support Israel. Trump supports Israel with his mouth and his actions.”

Weinberg’s home in West Bloomfield, in vote-rich Oakland County, was among more than 20 that the Republican Jewish Coalition was visiting that morning. She has voted for Trump in previous elections as well.

The door-to-door outreach to Jewish voters with a history of backing Republicans is part of a new effort the group is undertaking this year in five presidential battleground states in hopes of boosting Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election.

▶ Read more about Republicans’ outreach to Jewish voters

7:09 PM GMT+6

Arab American voters make their choice — Harris, Trump or neither — in the election’s final days

BY JOEY CAPPELLETTIShare

Bowls of labneh and platters of za’atar bread covered the tables in a Lebanese restaurant near Detroit, yet no one seemed to have much of an appetite.

On one side were Kamala Harris ’ top emissaries to the Arab American community. On the other were local leaders who were explaining — once again — why many in the community couldn’t vote for the vice president because of the war in Gaza.

“I love this country, but I’ll tell you, we have never been so disappointed in this country as we are now,” said Nabih H. Ayad, chairman of the Arab American Civil Rights League. “We wanted to give the Democratic Party the opportunity to do something, and they haven’t.”

“The one line we can’t cross,” Ayad said, “is genocide.”

▶ Read more on what Arab Americans are saying about the election

7:07 PM GMT+6

Harris calls Los Angeles Times and Washington Post decisions not to endorse in the presidential race ‘disappointing’

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLEShare

The Democratic presidential nominee commented during an interview with Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy, and Loren LoRosa for “The Breakfast Club” that aired Tuesday morning.

Both newspapers announced last week that they will not make endorsements in the presidential contest between Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

Harris sought to tie the decisions to billionaires in “Donald Trump’s club.”

Both publications are owned by wealthy executives, Jeff Bezos at the Post and Patrick Soon-Shiong at the Times.

7:03 AM GMT+6

Biden looks to maintain relevance in political conversation

BY AAMER MADHANIShare

As President Joe Biden’s 50 years in elected office near an end, he doesn’t appear content to quietly exit the political stage.

With a week to go before Election Day, Biden is intent on promoting his administration’s record and making the case for Americans to support Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats on the ballot — whether they want him or not.

He’s determined to keep up a busy schedule during the final sprint to Nov. 5 even as many in his party appear to be keeping their distance from him.

Biden, in an exchange with reporters Monday, played down the fact that he hasn’t campaigned side-by-side with Harris since their joint Labor Day campaign appearance in Pittsburgh and that he’s held few public campaign appearances with Democrats in competitive races.

“I’ve done a lot of surrogate stuff, and the fact of the matter is that I’ve also had to continue to be president at the same time,” Biden told reporters after casting his early vote on Monday in his home state of Delaware.

▶ Read more about Biden’s final days as president

7:00 AM GMT+6

Michelle Obama will campaign for Harris, Walz and other Democrats in Pennsylvania on Saturday

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLEShare

The former first lady will encourage voters to turn out for Democrats up and down the ballot, according to her office.

She made her first campaign appearance of the 2024 election season with Harris in Kalamazoo, Michigan, this past Saturday. Obama is expected to headline an Atlanta rally hosted by When We All Vote, a nonpartisan civic engagement group she founded in 2018 to encourage voting.

6:49 AM GMT+6

Democrats go after Jill Stein and Cornel West in digital ads aimed at young voters

BY JONATHAN J. COOPERShare

Democrats are spending about $500,000 for a last-minute push to persuade voters in battleground states to reject third-party candidates Jill Stein and Cornel West, warning a vote for them will help Republican Donald Trump.

The Democratic National Committee said Monday that the digital ads will run on Instagram and YouTube, targeting younger voters and college campuses. They use video of Trump from a June rally in Philadelphia, when he said: “Cornel West. He’s one of my favorite candidates, Cornel West. And I like her also, Jill Stein, I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100% from them. He takes 100%.”

Stung by narrow losses in 2000 and 2016 that they blame in part on support for Green Party nominees, Democrats have put a major emphasis this year on discouraging left-leaning voters from backing third-party candidates. They pushed back aggressively against No Labels, a nascent third-party movement, and the independent candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before turning attention to Stein and West.

▶ Read more about the Democrat effort to stop third-party spoilers

6:33 AM GMT+6

Trump wraps his Atlanta rally with a call to vote

BY MATT BROWNShare

Trump concluded his rally at Georgia Tech in midtown Atlanta by urging his supporters to turn out to the polls however possible. He promised to defend the “hardworking patriots who built this country,” who he said could “save” the nation if they turned out for him at the ballot box.

“We will never give up, we will never back down, we will never surrender,” Trump said to the crowd. “November 5 will be the most important day in the history of our country.”

Trump spoke for just over an hour. The raucous crowd had begun thinning out just before the former president finished his remarks.

6:10 AM GMT+6

Harris to young voters: ‘You are rightly impatient for change’

BY DAN MERICA, JOSH BOAKShare

Harris urged young voters Monday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take the baton from “generations of Americans” who preserved freedom and back her over Trump.

The pitch urged young voters, many of whom were in the audience from the nearby University of Michigan, to seize the power they want and protect a series of rights. Harris specifically called out abortion rights, a key issue for younger voters.

“Generations of Americans before us fought for freedom and now the baton is in our hands,” Harris said. “The baton is in our hands.”

“I love your generation,” Harris told the young audience. “You are rightly impatient for change.”

6:04 AM GMT+6

Trump: US towns are being ‘invaded and conquered’ by ‘blood-thirsty criminals’

BY MATT BROWNShare

Trump described the U.S. as an occupied nation due to illegal immigration, claiming undocumented migrants were more invasive and dangerous than a hostile occupying military.

“I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said. “You know, they have been invaded,” Trump said of towns across the country, “just as though a foreign enemy was invading, a military was invading, and probably just as vicious or more vicious,” the former president said.

“And we will put these blood-thirsty criminals in jail or kick them out of our country,” Trump said.

He once again promised to seek the death penalty for any unlawful migrant who has killed an American, drawing cheers from the crowd.

5:59 AM GMT+6

Pro-Palestinian protestors interrupt Harris rally

BY DAN MERICA, JOEY CAPPELLETTI, JOSH BOAKShare

Harris was confronted by roughly 30 pro-Palestian protestors at her event in Ann Arbor. The Democratic nominee, hearing the chants, told the protestors, “Hey, guys, I hear you.”

The group was chanting, “Israel bombs, Kamala pays, how many kids have you killed today?”

After Harris acknowledged the group, the vice president said, “On the subject of Gaza, we all want this war to end as soon as possible and to get the hostages out and I will do everything in my power to make it so.”

The group was escorted out of the event shortly after their chants were drowned out by chants of “Kamala.”

Michigan, because of its sizable Arab American population and progressive cities like Ann Arbor, has become the epicenter of activism against Harris and Democrats because of U.S. weapons sales to Israel.

5:50 AM GMT+6

Walz: ‘Our team is running like everything’s on the line’

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, sought to comfort Democrats on Monday in Michigan by highlighting how hard the party’s presidential campaign is working a few days before Election Day.

The event is a rare rally featuring both Harris and Walz, who often headline separate events.

“Eight days til the election and our team is running like everything’s on the line,” Walz said.

Walz directed part of his speech directly at men. “All of you who have that woman in your life that you love … Their lives are at stake in this election,” the Democratic governor said. “Be very clear about that.”

Walz, a former high school football coach, quoted famed University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, telling the crowd, “The team, the team, the team.” The quote comes from a speech Schembechler gave in 1983 about his approach to coaching.

“Boy,” said Walz, “do we have the right team.”

5:38 AM GMT+6

Arab American official rallies for Harris in Ann Arbor

BY JOEY CAPPELLETTIShare

Wayne County’s highest-ranking Arab American official, Assad Turfe, spoke at a rally for Kamala Harris in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Turfe endorsed Harris in August and has been working since to ease tensions in Michigan’s large metro Detroit community.

“The past year has been unimaginable for so many people in my community. We are mourning loved ones who have died in Gaza and Lebanon,” said Turfe, who is from Dearborn, where nearly half of the city’s 110,000 residents are Muslim.

“We are desperate for a president who sees us, who understands us and who will give voice to our pain,” Turfe said. “And Ann Arbor, I’m here tonight because I know without a doubt that Kamala Harris is that leader.”

Turfe’s appearance comes days after Trump had Michigan Muslim leaders onstage at a campaign rally in Novi, Michigan.

5:34 AM GMT+6

Trump rebukes Nazi comparisons and calls Harris ‘a fascist’

BY MATT BROWNShare

Trump dismissed claims that he or his supporters were comparable to Nazis and fascists.

“I’m not a Nazi. I’m the opposite of a Nazi,” Trump told the crowd assembled at Georgia Tech. “Now the way they talk is so disgusting and just horrible.”

After his Sunday evening rally at Madison Square Garden drew widespread criticism from opponents for crude and racist remarks from several speakers, the event drew comparisons to a 1939 Nazi rally in the same venue.

“My father — I had a great father, tough guy. He used to always say, never use the word Nazi. Never use that word.”

He then criticized Harris for “using the f-word.” Following comments from Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly saying the former president met the definition of a fascist, Harris said she agreed with the assessment.

Trump said of Harris: “She’s a fascist, okay? She’s a fascist.”

5:26 AM GMT+6

Maggie Rogers: ‘In these next 8 days, you can fight back against the fear of Donald Trump’

BY DAN MERICAShare

Rogers performed five songs, including “Love You For A Long Time,” “Back In My Body” and “Don’t Forget Me” at Harris’ rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“As I’m standing here with you today, I can’t ignore the headlines I have been seeing on my phone any longer,” Rogers said. “It is terrifying. … I don’t always know what to do with that feeling but there is something to me that is greater than fear, and that is action. … Voting is the key to the future.”

“In these next eight days, you can fight back against the fear of Donald Trump and everything he creates. You can take action against his darkness, you can choose the light,” she added.

Rogers is an ardent abortion rights supporter. After the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, she wrote online that “abortion is healthcare.” She also invited a series of nonprofits, including Planned Parenthood, to organize outside her most recent tour.

5:04 AM GMT+6

Trump lashes out at Michelle Obama

BY MATT BROWNShare

Taking the stage at his Atlanta rally, the former president quickly took aim at the former first lady.

“You know who’s nasty? Michelle Obama,” Trump says at his Atlanta rally. “That was a big mistake that she made.”

“I always tried to be so nice and respectful,” Trump said, claiming that she had “opened a little bit of something,” without further explanation.

Obama spoke at a political rally with Harris over the weekend. She will headline an Atlanta rally for her nonpartisan voter engagement group on Tuesday.

4:59 AM GMT+6

Maggie Rogers takes the stage at Harris rally in Ann Arbor

BY JOEY CAPPELLETTIShare

The singer opened with her song “Love You for a Long Time.”

Between songs, Rogers said that she took a break from her tour to perform at the rally “because nothing is more important than this election right now.”

Rogers is the latest musical guest to appear with Harris, who welcomed Beyoncé to a rally in Houston on Friday.

4:56 AM GMT+6

The theme of Trump’s Atlanta rally: protecting women

BY MATT BROWNShare

The Trump campaign zeroes in on supporting and protecting women with its own spin, focusing on the threats potentially facing American women — and how Trump would defend them. The message stands in contrast to how Democrats discuss women’s issues, which often first highlight topics like abortion.

Two close aides to the former president, attorney Alina Habba and the campaign’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, spoke at the start of the rally. Stephen Miller, a longtime Trump confidante, rallied the crowd by promising how Trump would protect American women from violent criminals and illegal immigration.

The Trump campaign also released an ad featuring an endorsement from the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was killed by two suspected gang members who were in the country illegally.

4:53 AM GMT+6

Voter Voice: Musical appearances at Harris rally are ‘cherry on top’

BY JOEY CAPPELLETTIShare

University of Michigan graduate student Haley Boylan said that while she is attending Kamala Harris’ rally in Ann Arbor to support the vice president, musical guest Maggie Rogers’ appearance is a “cherry on top.”

“How cool is it to see hopefully the future president of the United States and a great music guest at once?” said Boylan.

Boylan said that having special guests like Rogers is “a great way to get young people to come out, especially in these college towns.”

“It’s more drive for people to come out and hopefully just for politics in general, but it’s exciting to have that additional bonus as well,” said Boylan.

4:36 AM GMT+6

Stephen Miller stirs crowd with nativist rhetoric

BY BILL BARROWShare

Trump adviser Stephen Miller, one of the architects of the former president’s immigration policies, is stirring a Trump rally crowd in Atlanta by blasting Harris as solely responsible for an “open border” that he says led directly to murders of U.S. citizens.

Under Harris, he says, “It is a certainty that American wives, American daughters … that American blood will be spilled … that American children will have their whole future ripped away from them.”

4:08 AM GMT+6

Vance calls Madison Square Garden rally ‘a celebration of America’

BY MATT BROWNShare

Sen. JD Vance defended the Trump campaign’s Madison Square Garden rally on Monday after critics condemned the racist remarks of some speakers and equated the event to the 1939 neo-Nazi rally that took place in the same venue.

“It was a celebration of America,” Vance said during a political rally in Wausau, WI. He dismissed claims that the event was racist or featured discriminatory language.

“They decided to compare us to literal Nazis for gathering in Madison Square Garden and celebrating the United States of America. These are the same people, of course, who call us racists for wanting to secure the southern border,” Vance told a crowd.

“They’re the same people who have no plans, no ideas and no solutions,” Vance said, urging the crowd to vote for Trump and himself and “reject … ridiculous name-calling over actual governance.”

3:50 AM GMT+6

The White House could have a mezuzah on its doorpost

BY ZEKE MILLERShare

When Harris was sworn into office as vice president, she and Emhoff placed a mezuzah on the VP’s residence in Washington. Emhoff says if Harris is elected, he would look to see if one could be placed in the White House.

“Three months from now, the White House residence could – I have to check first — could have a mezuzah on its doorpost,” Emhoff said.

3:49 AM GMT+6

Emhoff says he and Harris are committed to battling antisemitism

BY ZEKE MILLERShare

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff says voters have a choice of whether to empower the voices fighting antisemitism or those fomenting it — declaring that he and Kamala are committed to “extinguishing this epidemic of hate.”

Delivering remarks on antisemitism in America Monday in Pittsburgh, a day after the anniversary of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre, Emhoff says, “There is a fire in this country, and we either pour water on it or we pour gasoline on it.”

“One thing we know about antisemitism is that whenever chaos and cruelty are given a green light, Jew-hatred has historically not far behind,” Emhoff says. “And that matters so much today because Donald Trump is nothing if not an agent of chaos and cruelty.”

Emhoff credits his wife for urging him to “use my voice” on the issue and says she has an “unwavering” commitment to support Israel. “Kamala feels it in her kishkes.” He contrasted her commitment with Trump, who according to former aides has praised Nazis.

3:38 AM GMT+6

Harris says Trump ‘doesn’t understand the importance of unions, at all’

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris made the comment while standing before a few union members at a training facility in the key Michigan county. “He gives a lot of talk about what he cares about, but on the issues, specifically for what is good for unions and union labor, he has been awful.”

Harris specifically called out the way Trump filled the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforced labor laws in the United States, with anti-union figures, a frequent attack levied against Trump by union members. She also hit Trump for lauding ally Elon Musk, the businessman and owner of the social media platform X, for discussing firing striking workers.

“You’re here, he’s not,” a worker said to Harris after her critiques of Trump.

Union workers are important in a series of key swing states. While Democrats have long enjoyed the support of union leadership, Trump has improved Republican’s standing with rank-and-file union workers in both 2016 and 2020.

3:28 AM GMT+6

Trump returns to a defining location on the 2024 campaign trail

BY BILL BARROWShare

Trump’s Atlanta rally this evening is being held at McCamish Pavilion, across the street from the CNN studios where Trump and President Biden had their campaign-defining debate just four months ago.

McCamish housed thousands of credentialed media that night, along with the “spin room” floor where surrogates come to insist their candidate won. The spin room turned out to be no contest that night, though, after Biden’s whispering, disjointed performance highlighted the 81-year-old president’s age and led ultimately to him dropping out of the race.

Trump’s top aides were on McCamish floor that night crowing about what happened on the debate stage and predicting a romp over Biden, only to have Democrats opt instead for nominating Vice President Harris.

3:26 AM GMT+6

Trump praises Christians but negs them as not ‘very solid voters’

BY MATT BROWNShare

Trump talked about his experience with faith and fatherhood at the National Faith Advisory Board summit. Trump recounted his upbringing in New York, saying that he at times enjoyed religious ceremonies but broadly sidestepped questions of his own faith.

Trump praised conservative Christians as a key part of his administration and said that a revamped office of faith would have a direct line into the Oval Office. He also promised to repeal the Johnson Amendment, which bars 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from supporting or opposing political candidates.

“I shouldn’t scold anyone, but Christians aren’t known for being very solid voters,” Trump said to the crowd.

“We have to save religion in this country. No, honestly religion is under threat,” he warned.

3:18 AM GMT+6

Greene mangles New York City history to brag on Trump

BY BILL BARROWShare

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman and Trump loyalist, employed quite the exaggeration to brag on Trump at the Georgia Tech rally.

Having returned from Trump’s rally in New York City, she described Trump as “the man who built that city.”

Trump’s first real estate development projects, with his father’s company, came in the 1970s. He opened Trump Tower in 1983. Many of NewYork City’s signature skyscrapers predate this era, including the Woolworth Building (1913), the Empire State Building (1931) and the World Trade Center (dedicated in 1973).

3:13 AM GMT+6

Marjorie Taylor Greene pushes back on ‘fascist’ and ‘Nazi’ labels

BY BILL BARROWShare

Conspiracy theorist and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is pushing back at Donald Trump’s harshest critics.

“We are fed up being called Nazis and fascists,” Greene, R-Ga., said at Trump’s rally on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta. “Those are absolute lies, and we’re not going to take it any more.” Greene suggested Trump supporters file a class-action lawsuit against media and others that have circulated those labels about the former president and his supporters in the 2024 election.

She did not mention that Trump has many times referred to Harris as a “communist” and “fascist.”

She blasted Harris and all Democrats as incompetent, arguing their policies don’t work “and neither did their stupid vaccine” to combat COVID-19. Greene is among the loudest anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists.

3:05 AM GMT+6

WATCH: Harris tours computer chip factory in Michigan

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESSShare

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Kamala Harris on Monday emphasized how government funding for computer chip manufacturers could create factory jobs in the electoral battleground of Michigan, days after Donald Trump criticized the bipartisan 2022 law that provides the money and said he would rather just charge tariffs.

2:47 AM GMT+6

Democrats hope to dissuade Puerto Ricans from backing Trump

BY DAN MERICAShare

Democrats are sharing and condemning the racist comment made by a comedian at Trump’s New York rally. They’re hoping to dissuade Puerto Ricans nationwide from voting for the former president, but the impact could be particularly potent in Pennsylvania.

The Census Bureau has found Puerto Ricans are the largest detailed Hispanic group in the commonwealth. A study by the University of California-Los Angeles put the figure above 470,000 as of 2018.

2:42 AM GMT+6

Harris’ new ad centers on racist Trump rally remark

BY DAN MERICAShare

Harris’ campaign will begin running a new ad condemning the racist joke calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” told yesterday at Trump’s rally by a comedian.

The Harris ad opens with audio of the joke, before Harris says, “I will never forget what Donald Trump did. He abandoned the island and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults,” referring to the then-president’s response to Hurricane Maria in 2017. When Trump visited the island after the deadly hurricane, he threw rolls of paper towels into a crowd of people.

“Puerto Ricans deserve better,” Harris says on camera. “As president, I will always fight for you and your families and together we can chart a new way forward,” she adds.

The Harris campaign says the ad will run on digital platforms in all battleground states, but will specifically target zip codes with high concentrations of Latino voters.

2:28 AM GMT+6

Trump takes the stage at the National Faith Advisory Board

BY MATT BROWNShare

“That is a lot of religion out there. That’s pretty. That’s pretty good. We like that,” the former president said after applause. The National Faith Advisory Board summit is being held in Powder Springs, Georgia.

2:08 AM GMT+6

Republicans ask US Supreme Court to block some provisional ballots in Pennsylvania

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESSShare

Republicans on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency order in Pennsylvania that could result in thousands of votes not being counted in this year’s election in the battleground state.

Just over a week before the election, the court is being asked to step into a dispute over provisional ballots cast by Pennsylvania voters whose mail ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures in state law.

The state’s high court ruled 4-3 that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were voided because they arrived without mandatory secrecy envelopes.

The election fight arrived at the Supreme Court the same day Virginia sought the justices’ intervention in a dispute over purging voter registrations.

In their high-court filing, state and national Republicans asked for an order putting the state court ruling on hold or, barring that, requiring the provisional ballots be segregated and not included in the official vote count while the legal fight plays out.

2:00 AM GMT+6

JUST IN: Republicans ask US Supreme Court to block counting of some provisional ballots in battleground Pennsylvania

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESSShare

1:51 AM GMT+6

Walz slams rhetoric used at Trump rally: ‘It’s about hate, it’s about division’

BY DAN MERICAShare

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told a Wisconsin audience Tuesday that the rhetoric used during former President Donald Trump’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday highlighted the antagonistic tone of the Republican campaign’s closing message.

“Their closing argument last night was clear to the rest of the world: It’s about hate, it’s about division,” said the Democratic nominee for vice president, speaking at Copilot Coffee Co. in downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin.

The rally, which saw thousands of Trump supporters at one of the most iconic arenas in the country, was filled with crude and racist insults.

Democrats have lambasted the remarks, particularly one comment where a speaker called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

Walz said he and Harris offer “a new way forward” and lamented that Trump’s version of the Republican Party is “fundamentally different” from former Republican presidents like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

1:40 AM GMT+6

Surveillance images captured a vehicle stopping at a Portland ballot drop box

BY GENE JOHNSON, CLAIRE RUSHShare

Police say they have identified a “suspect vehicle” connected to incendiary devices that set fires in ballot drop boxes in Oregon and Washington state early Monday.

Surveillance images captured a Volvo stopping at a drop box in Portland, Oregon, just before security personnel nearby discovered a fire inside the box.

That fire damaged three ballots inside, while officials say a fire at a drop box in nearby Vancouver, Washington, early Monday destroyed hundreds of ballots.

Authorities said at a news conference in Portland that enough material from the incendiary devices was recovered to show that the two fires Monday were connected — and that they were also connected to an Oct. 8 incident, when an incendiary device was placed at a different ballot drop box in Vancouver.

1:34 AM GMT+6

JUST IN: Police say fires set at ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington are connected and they have identified a ‘suspect vehicle’

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESSShare

1:32 AM GMT+6

Harris sits down with ‘The Breakfast Club’ hosts in new interview

BY DAN MERICAShare

Vice President Kamala Harris taped an interview Monday with hosts from the morning radio program “The Breakfast Club.”

The interview, which will air Tuesday at 7 a.m. ET., is her latest involvement with the show and hosts Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy, and Loren LoRosa. The popular program, which has a large Black audience, has become a staple of Harris’ media strategy.

The Democratic nominee headlined a town hall-style event earlier this month moderated by Charlamagne tha God.

“We should never sit back and say, ‘OK, I’m not going to vote because everything hasn’t been solved,’” Harris said during the event. “This is a margin-of-error race. It’s tight. I’m going to win. I’m going to win, but it’s tight.”

1:19 AM GMT+6

Speaker Johnson appears to confirm Trump’s ‘secret’ plan

BY LISA MASCAROShare

House Speaker Mike Johnson appears to be confirming Trump’s claim that Republicans have a “secret” plan to win the election.

“By definition, a secret is not to be shared — and I don’t intend to share this one,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

The Republican speaker, who led a key legal challenge to the 2020 election, has worked to stay close to Trump and has been hesitant to contradict him. At his rally in New York on Sunday Trump said they have a “little secret” in the House that will have a “big impact.”

The statement was first reported by the New York Times.

1:14 AM GMT+6

WATCH: Biden casts his 2024 election ballot near his Delaware home

BY THE ASSOCIATEDPRESSShare

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President Joe Biden has cast his ballot in the 2024 general election.

1:10 AM GMT+6

Harris says her administration will ‘reassess’ federal jobs requiring a college degree

BY DAN MERICAShare

Kamala Harris, campaigning in Michigan on Monday, told an audience at a semiconductor facility in Saginaw County that on “day one” of her possible presidency she will reassess which federal jobs require a college degree.

The comment is both a policy proposal and a political bridge.

One of the clearest political divides in the nation over the past few presidential cycles has been between college-educated and non-college-educated voters, with Democrats acknowledging they need to cut into Donald Trump’s support among the latter group.

“One of the things immediately is to reassess federal jobs, and I have already started looking at it, to look at which ones don’t require a college degree,” she said. “Because here is the thing: That’s not the only qualification for a qualified worker.”

Earlier in her speech, Harris said, “We need to get in front of this idea that only high-skilled jobs require college degrees.”

12:56 AM GMT+6

Fires set in drop boxes destroy hundreds of ballots in Washington and damage 3 in Oregon

BY GENE JOHNSONShare

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Authorities are investigating after early morning fires were set in ballot drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where hundreds of ballots were destroyed.

Authorities — including the FBI — are investigating after early morning fires were set in ballot drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington.

Hundreds of ballots were destroyed in the Vancouver fire. In Portland, only three ballots were damaged after an incendiary device triggered a fire suppression system inside a drop box. The drop box that was targeted across the Columbia River in Vancouver also had a fire suppression system, but Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey says that for unknown reasons it failed work effectively.

Vancouver is in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, the site of what is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

▶ Read more about the ballots that were destroyed

12:56 AM GMT+6

‘We cannot rest on tradition’

BY DAN MERICAShare

Vice President Kamala Harris told an audience at a semiconductor facility in Saginaw County, Michigan, on Monday that their work represents “the best of who we are as a country,” balancing the traditions of the nation and the desire to push technology forward.

“When we understand who we are as a nation, we take great pride in being a leader on so many things. And we have a tradition of that,” she said at the Hemlock Semiconductor facility in central Michigan. “But I think that what we know as Americans is that we cannot rest on tradition.”

Harris added: “We have to constantly be on top of what is happening, what is current, and investing in the industries of the future, as well as honoring the traditions and the industries that have built up America’s economy.”

Hemlock Semiconductor recently received a $325 million federal grant for a new factory.

12:32 AM GMT+6

Trump will speak to reporters at Mar-A-Lago on Tuesday

BY DAN MERICAShare

The Republican nominee for president will deliver what his campaign is calling “remarks to the press” at 10 a.m. at his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. It is unclear whether the former president will take questions.

12:19 AM GMT+6

Americans in Puerto Rico can’t vote for US president. Their anger at Trump is shaping the race

BY DÁNICA COTOShare

A comic calling Puerto Rico garbage before a packed Donald Trump rally in New York was the latest humiliation for an island territory that has long suffered from mistreatment, residents said Monday in expressions of fury that could affect the presidential election.

Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections despite being U.S. citizens, but they can exert a powerful influence with relatives on the mainland. Phones across the island of 3.2 million people were ringing minutes after the speaker derided the U.S. territory Sunday night, and they still buzzed Monday.

▶ Read more about Puerto Ricans’ response to the remarks

11:21 PM GMT+6

Biden criticizes Musk’s $1M giveaway as ‘inappropriate’

BY COLLEEN LONGShare

President Joe Biden said it was “totally inappropriate” for Elon Musk to pledge to give away $1 million a day to voters for signing his political action committee’s petition. The billionaire and owner of the social platform X has gone all-in on Republican Donald Trump.

The giveaway has raised questions and alarms among some election experts who say it is a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote.

“I think it’s totally inappropriate,” he said in Delaware where he just voted.

11:12 PM GMT+6

Since Labor Day, the campaigns have made more visits to Pennsylvania than to other states

BY TOM VERDINShare

The Democratic and Republican presidential tickets are heading into the final week of campaigning with a familiar strategy: Rally supporters in the handful of states that will decide the race.

Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin have received the most attention from Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and their running mates since the Labor Day weekend — the point when campaigning traditionally intensifies.

The Democratic ticket has been more active over the past two weeks, according to Associated Press tracking of the campaigns’ public events.

From Oct. 14 through this past weekend, Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held 42 campaign events over the seven swing states while Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, held 25.

There has been a stark contrast in Wisconsin: Harris and Walz visited the state eight times between Oct. 14 and Sunday, compared to just one visit by Trump and Vance during that span. The Republicans are headed back to Wisconsin this week, including a rally in Milwaukee.

The AP tracker shows that from Labor Day through this past weekend both campaigns have made more visits to Pennsylvania (43) than to Georgia, Arizona and Nevada combined (40). See where the campaigns have been traveling with this AP interactive map.

10:53 PM GMT+6

Biden calls Trump’s New York rally ‘simply embarrassing’

BY AAMER MADHANIShare

In response to Donald Trump’s New York rally where speakers made crude and racist insults, President Joe Biden said: “It’s simply embarrassing. That’s why this election is so important.”

Biden was speaking after he voted Monday in Delaware.

“Most of the presidential scholars I’ve spoken to talk about the single most consequential thing about a president is character. Character,” Biden said. “And he puts that in question every time he opens his mouth.”

10:31 PM GMT+6

President Joe Biden has voted in the 2024 election

BY AAMER MADHANIShare

Biden waited in line for about 40 minutes before he cast his ballot.

He handed his identification to the election worker, who had him sign and then announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.”

As Biden voted behind a black drape, some first-time voters were announced and the room erupted in cheers for them.

10:28 PM GMT+6

Alaska Sen. Murkowski says neither Trump nor Harris will get her vote

BY MARK THIESSENShare

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, says she won’t vote for him or Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the general election.

“I want to vote for somebody and not against someone,” she told the Anchorage Daily News. She added she was disappointed with the choices from both major parties.

Murkowski voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection and also called for him to resign. She said she didn’t vote for him in 2016 or 2020.

“I am going to be voting for someone and hopefully I will feel good about that, even knowing that that individual probably is not going to be in the winner column,” Murkowski said.

Murkowski declined to say who would get her vote.

There are six other candidates on the Alaska ballot for president, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. even though he dropped out of the race in August.

10:17 PM GMT+6

President Joe Biden is waiting in line to cast his ballot

BY COLLEEN LONGShare

When Biden arrived at the polling place at the Delaware Department of Elections, there was a long line of people lined up waiting to vote.

He chatted with some and was pushing an older woman in a wheelchair who was ahead of him in line. They’re all casting ballots early for the Nov. 5 election.

9:53 PM GMT+6

Harris: Trump is ‘fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on dividing our country’

BY CHRIS MEGERIANShare

Kamala Harris said Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square helped prove her point about the stakes of the election.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Harris said the Sunday event “really highlighted the point that I’ve been making throughout this campaign,” which is that Trump is “fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on dividing our country, and it is not in any way something that will strengthen the American family, the American worker.”

Harris plans to deliver her closing argument on Tuesday in Washington.

“There’s a big difference between he and I,” she said.

9:48 PM GMT+6

President Joe Biden is heading to cast his ballot

BY AAMER MADHANIShare

“Let’s go vote,” he told reporters Monday after breakfast with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who has served as Delaware’s lone House member since 2017 and is running for U.S. Senate.

8:18 PM GMT+6

Trump to hold his election night party at the Palm Beach Convention Center

BY JILL COLVINShare

The Florida venue, announced by Trump’s campaign on Monday, is not far from his Mar-a-Lago club and residence.

8:15 PM GMT+6

US voters concerned about post-election violence and efforts to overturn the results: AP-NORC poll

BY GARY FIELDS, ALI SWENSON, LINLEY SANDERSShare

American voters are approaching the presidential election with deep unease about what could follow, including the potential for political violence, attempts to overturn the election results and its broader implications for democracy, according to a new poll.

The findings of the survey, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, speak to persistent concerns about the fragility of the world’s oldest democracy, nearly four years after former President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results inspired a mob of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

About 4 in 10 registered voters say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about violent attempts to overturn the results after the November election. A similar share is worried about legal efforts to do so. And about 1 in 3 voters say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about attempts by local or state election officials to stop the results from being finalized.

▶ Read more about the latest AP-NORC poll

7:50 PM GMT+6

Biden breakfasts in Wilmington with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester

BY AAMER MADHANIShare

President Joe Biden swung by a breakfast spot near his home outside Wilmington, Delaware, with a longtime ally who is vying to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.

The president and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester headed to The Legend Restaurant & Bakery in New Castle. Blunt Rochester, who has served as Delaware’s lone House member since 2017, is trying to become the first Black woman elected to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.

Biden formally endorsed Blunt Rochester in a video released on Sunday evening by the lawmaker’s campaign. He is set to cast his early-vote ballot later Monday before heading back to Washington.

7:39 PM GMT+6

WATCH: Michigan is among the swing states expected to determine who wins presidency

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESSShare

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Michigan may play a decisive role in a presidential election for the third consecutive time (AP video: Mike Householder)

7:13 PM GMT+6

Harris says she’d take a cognitive test if asked to

BY COLLEEN LONGShare

As former President Donald Trump continues to attack Vice President Kamala Harris with deeply personal insults, he has also suggested she should take a cognitive test.

In an interview with CBS News, Harris said “sure” when asked whether she’d take such a test.

“I would challenge him to take the same one,” Harris said. “I think he actually is increasingly unstable and unhinged and has resorted to name-calling because he actually has no plan for the American people.”

It’s the same line Trump used when President Joe Biden was still running for president as questions swirled about the 81-year-old’s age and mental acuity following his disastrous debate performance in June.

Trump is 78 and is now the oldest candidate to run for office.

7:07 PM GMT+6

Biden plans to cast an early ballot on Monday

BY AAMER MADHANIShare

President Joe Biden plans to cast an early ballot on Monday near his home outside Wilmington, Delaware, according to the White House.

For all but a few years since 1970, Biden has held office or has been running for one during election season. But this year, his hopes lie with a newer generation of Democrats, including three on the Delaware ballot looking to make history.

6:56 PM GMT+6

Harris highlights costs of living, abortion rights and border security as 3 immediate priorities

BY COLLEEN LONGShare

Kamala Harris says she has three immediate legislative priorities when she takes office, should she be elected president.

In an interview with CBS News, Harris said her first priority will be reducing costs for Americans with an expanded child tax credit and efforts to reduce the cost of groceries and make homes more affordable. The second is to work to restore abortion rights protections and the third will be to work on passage of a border security bill.

6:51 PM GMT+6

Harris to focus on manufacturing jobs as she heads to Michigan

BY COLLEEN LONGShare

Harris is set to visit Corning’s Hemlock Semiconductor Next Gen Facility. The Saginaw company received a $325 million investment from the CHIPS and Science Act, legislation passed by the Biden administration.

She’s then touring a labor training facility in Macomb County. The election is in a week and one day, and Harris is hoping to appeal to many different voting blocs in the battleground states. On Tuesday she’ll give a closing speech in Washington.

6:37 PM GMT+6

Six questions to watch as the campaign enters its final full week

BY STEVE PEOPLESShare

What happens in the coming days will be pivotal in deciding the winner. Here’s a few things we’re watching:

1. Will wars in the Middle East shift the focus?

It’s still unclear how Iran would respond to Israel’s unusually public airstrikes across Iran on Friday. The answer could determine whether the region spirals further toward all-out war or holds steady at an already devastating and destabilizing level of violence.

2. Will Harris’ closing message harness Democrats’ anxiety?

Harris will try to alleviate Democratic anxiety on Tuesday when she delivers her “closing argument” at the Ellipse, the same spot near the White House where Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021 shortly before his supporters attacked the Capitol.

3. Can Trump stay on message (relatively speaking)?

And with eight days to go until Election Day, history suggests Trump is virtually guaranteed to say or do something else controversial in the final stretch. The only question is whether it will break through.

4. Where will they go?

The candidates’ evolving travel schedules will tell us much about the battlegrounds that will matter most on Election Day.

5. Will the early voting surge continue?

More than 41 million votes have already been cast in the election nationwide. Democrats generally have an advantage in early voting, but so far, at least, Republicans are participating at a much higher rate than they have in the past.

6. How hard will Trump work to undermine election results?

History may one day decide that the most significant thing Trump said in the closing days of the 2024 election is the thing that many voters barely notice anymore: his persistent warnings that this election is rigged against him.

▶ Read more about what to watch in the final days of the campaign