US elections live: Donald Trump claims he is the ‘opposite of a Nazi’ as anger continues over Puerto Rico comments | US elections 2024
Trump claims he's 'the opposite of a Nazi' as rally fallout continues
Campaigning is ramping up in the race to the White House as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue to exchange barbs on the campaign trail. Only seven days remain until Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, 5 November. On Monday, Harris and Tim Waltz courted young voters in Michigan, while Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen spoke in Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Georgia, Donald Trump railed against being compared to Hitler, telling voters that he was the “opposite of a Nazi” in response to Democratic opponents, who likened him to the Nazi dictator after a slew of racist remarks were made at his rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Trump will hold a news conference at Mar-a-Lago at 10am ET – where he is likely to face questions about racist remarks about Puerto Rico at the New York event.
He is then heading to Allentown, Pennsylvania – home to tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans.
Campaigning for Harris in Wisconsin, Bernie Sanders said: “You have Mike Pence saying I can’t support the guy I worked with for four years” and “We cannot allow someone to be president of the United States who is a pathological liar and who is working night and day to undermine American democracy.”
Sanders also released a video addressing voter concerns over the Biden-Harris administration’s record on Gaza, saying: “After Kamala wins, we will together do everything that we can to change US policy towards Netanyahu.”
Before performing at a rally with Obama in Pennsylvania, Bruce Springsteen said: “I’m Bruce Springsteen and I’m here today to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and to oppose Donald Trump and JD Vance … I want a president who reveres the constitution, who does not threaten but wants to protect and guide our great democracy, who believes in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, who will fight for women’s rights … [and] create a middle-class economy that works for all our citizens.”
Anita Hill, a former clerk to the US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, has said “racist, misogynist and sexistinsults” aimed at Kamala Harris “must sting”. In a New York Times opinion piece published on Monday, the Brandeis University professor – who was famously brought before Thomas’s confirmation hearings only to have her sexual harassment allegations against him picked apart by sitting senators – wrote that she sympathises with the US vice-president.
Key events
Puerto Rico Republican chief demands that Trump apologises for rally’s racist remarks
As outrage continues over the remarks from Donald Trump’s Sunday rally in New York, Angel M Cintrón, the president of the Republican party’s branch in Puerto Rico, has said that he will not vote for Trump unless Trump apologises for the racist remarks made at his rally, where a speaker referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”.
“Right now we have no business and no relationship with Trump,” Cintrón said on Monday during a Puerto Rican talkshow. “If Donald Trump doesn’t apologise, we won’t vote for him.”
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A senior campaign adviser for Donald Trump has told CNN that the speeches from Sunday’s Madison Square Garden Rally, which included racist remarks and dangerous threats about immigrants, were vetted beforehand.
But, the senior campaign official, who was not named, insisted that the more offensive remarks were “adlibbed” and not on any draft given to the campaign.
Many of the remarks from Sunday appeared to be read from teleprompters, CNN reported, indicating they had been approved by someone within the event’s planning team.
Another Trump campaign adviser told the broadcaster that they were uncertain as to how the overtly racist language had made it to the stage.
Tony Hinchcliffe workshopped offensive Puerto Rico joke the night before Madison Square Garden Rally — report
Tony Hinchcliffe – the comedian who delivered offensive and racist jokes during the Donald Trump rally on Sunday in New York where he referred Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage” – reportedly practised the line the night before at a Manhattan comedy club, according to a new NBC News report.
At the comedy club, the joke did not draw laughs, NBC reports, instead prompting only a few “awkward chuckles.”
During his set, Hinchcliffe reportedly mentioned to the audience that he was going to be performing at the Madison Square Garden Trump rally the next day.
Hinchcliffe allegedly stated multiple times throughout his routine that he expected to receive a better reaction “tomorrow at the rally.”
Trump rally speaker: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico” pic.twitter.com/pbw88p5PhI
Kamala Harris set to give her closing argument address in Washington DC later today
Kamala Harris will give her closing argument speech later today at the Ellipse in Washington DC, just one week before election day.
She is expected to deliver a hopeful and optimistic message that’s focused on moving forward.
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz is scheduled to deliver remarks in Georgia today.
Pennsylvania is investigating potential voter fraud after an “overabundance” of voter registration forms and requests for mail ballots were sent to the York County elections office.
The York County elections office received a “large delivery containing thousands of election-related materials from a third-party organization,” including voter registration forms and mail-ballot applications, York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler said in a statement to the York Daily Record.
“As with all submissions, our staff follows a process for ensuring all voter registrations and mail-in ballot requests are legal. That process is currently underway. If suspected fraud is identified, we will alert the District Attorney’s Office, which will then conduct an investigation.”
Wheeler told Fox 43 on Monday: “It’s not unusual to get large stacks of voter registrations or large stacks of requests for mail-in ballots; it’s just this was an overabundance of registrations from one particular organization.”
She added: “We need to do our homework before we go and make accusations when we don’t have the data to back it up.”
Robert Tait
The Democrats are fending off a Republican offensive aimed at overturning their tiny majority in the Senate.
Retaking control of the US Congress’s upper chamber may represent the GOP’s best opportunity of success in November’s election, according to analysts, surpassing their chances of retaking the White House or even retaining control of the House of Representatives.
But with a burst of enthusiasm from Kamala Harris’s campaign, Democrats are still competitive…
Trump ally Steve Bannon released from prison week before election
Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon has been released from prison after serving a four-month sentence.
Bannon, 70, was jailed for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. When he began serving his sentence in July, Bannon called himself a “political prisoner”.
“I am proud of going to prison,” he said at the time, adding that he was standing up to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, and a “corrupt” justice department.
Bannon will have to answer further charges at trial in New York. He is accused of tricking donors who gave money to help build Trump’s notorious wall along the US-Mexico border. Bannon has pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges. The trial begins in December.
Trump claims he's 'the opposite of a Nazi' as rally fallout continues
Campaigning is ramping up in the race to the White House as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue to exchange barbs on the campaign trail. Only seven days remain until Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, 5 November. On Monday, Harris and Tim Waltz courted young voters in Michigan, while Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen spoke in Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Georgia, Donald Trump railed against being compared to Hitler, telling voters that he was the “opposite of a Nazi” in response to Democratic opponents, who likened him to the Nazi dictator after a slew of racist remarks were made at his rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Trump will hold a news conference at Mar-a-Lago at 10am ET – where he is likely to face questions about racist remarks about Puerto Rico at the New York event.
He is then heading to Allentown, Pennsylvania – home to tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans.
Campaigning for Harris in Wisconsin, Bernie Sanders said: “You have Mike Pence saying I can’t support the guy I worked with for four years” and “We cannot allow someone to be president of the United States who is a pathological liar and who is working night and day to undermine American democracy.”
Sanders also released a video addressing voter concerns over the Biden-Harris administration’s record on Gaza, saying: “After Kamala wins, we will together do everything that we can to change US policy towards Netanyahu.”
Before performing at a rally with Obama in Pennsylvania, Bruce Springsteen said: “I’m Bruce Springsteen and I’m here today to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and to oppose Donald Trump and JD Vance … I want a president who reveres the constitution, who does not threaten but wants to protect and guide our great democracy, who believes in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, who will fight for women’s rights … [and] create a middle-class economy that works for all our citizens.”
Anita Hill, a former clerk to the US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, has said “racist, misogynist and sexistinsults” aimed at Kamala Harris “must sting”. In a New York Times opinion piece published on Monday, the Brandeis University professor – who was famously brought before Thomas’s confirmation hearings only to have her sexual harassment allegations against him picked apart by sitting senators – wrote that she sympathises with the US vice-president.
