Trump news: President calls out ‘Barack Hussain Obama’ as supporter at Florida rally appears to make ‘white power’ symbol
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Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail on Friday with a rally targeting senior voters at The Villages retirement community in Florida.
Trump made eyebrow-raising claims like Biden taking away seniors' air conditioning and remembering Barack Hussain Obama, as a member of the crowd appeared to make the so-called "white power" dog whistle in the background.
Biden, meanwhile, returned to his home state of Delaware to outline his coronavirus pandemic plan a day after the US hit a record for the number of new Covid-19 cases, announcing a mask mandate on all interstate transportation and in all federal buildings.
The candidates were coming off their final in-person debate, which turned out to be a remarkably civil affair with lower ratings than their previous encounter.
Trump was also back to work in the White House to announce an historic peace deal between Israel and Sudan, with five more - including Saudi Arabia - expected to be announced after the dam broke with United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in recent weeks.
Trump tried to get Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Biden on a phone call in front of reporters. Bibi did not take the bait, with commentators noting that he is probably keeping a keen eye on the current polling numbers.
Veteran GOP pollster Frank Luntz said that Trump may have won the battle of the last debate, but Biden has won the war. He says it's "impossible" for the president turning around voter sentiment this late in the election cycle.
Trump is also up against a campaign that has broken all records for its spend on television and digital advertising in a presidential election, with still more than a week to go before polls close.
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Trump administration plans to ban NGOs dubbed ‘antisemitic’
The Trump administration is reportedly making plans to declare that several high-profile non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are antisemitic, in a move aimed at influencing other governments not to support them.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam could are among those bodies who will face being labelled antisemitic because of their stance on Israel's settlement policies.
Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and Amnesty International each deny their policies are antisemitic, with the latter describing the allegations as "baseless".
Matt Mathers reports:
Trump administration plans to brand ‘leading NGOs as antisemitic'
Declaration could be issued just 11 days out from November election
Trump says polls Fox News polls ‘totally FAKE’
Donald Trump has claimed to be “leading in all of the states mentioned" in the latest Fox News poll, which shows him trailing Joe Biden in three states he won four years ago.
According to the poll, Mr Biden was 12 points ahead in Michigan (52-40 per cent), 5 points ahead in Pennsylvania (50-45 per cent), and 5 points ahead in Wisconsin (49-44 per cent).
Mr Trump, meanwhile, has a slim 3 point lead in Ohio (45-48 per cent), which he won by 8 percentage points in 2016.
The poll, like many others at this stage, point to tight races in a swathe of states that are expected to deliver either candidate the presidency after 3 November.
If the president is right about one thing, it’s that we’ll all “soon see” the results.
Ghislaine Maxwell court documents unsealed
My colleague Jon Sharman is covering the opening of documents concerning the British socialite’s relationship with deceased financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a former friend of President Trump accused of grooming underage girls for sex.
The papers date from a 2016 deposition in a defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, who alleges Epstein sexually abused her as a teenager with help from Maxwell.
You can follow his liveblog below.
‘It’s going to be okay’: Powerful video of Biden comforting son of school shooting victim resurfaces
A video of the Democratic challenger consoling the son of a sports coach killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida in 2018 has resurfaced on Twitter, with viewers praising him for his compassion.
The footage shows the presidential candidate at a memorial service in Parkland, just days after a high school shooting there left 17 people dead, including sports coach Chris Hixon who died while attempting to disarm the gunman.
In the clip, Hixon’s son, Corey, runs up to Biden and hugs him. The Democratic politician responds by kissing the boy on his forehead and saying: "It's going to be okay. We're going to be okay. I promise."
Rory Sullivan has this report.
Powerful video of Biden comforting son of school shooting victim resurfaces
Attack at high school in Florida in 2018 killed 17 people
Morning Consult poll gives Biden big leads in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Minnesota and narrow victory in Texas
Those are all states won by Trump four years ago.
Meanwhile, CNN sees Biden winning Florida.
Trump pushes his preferred poll, attacks tonight’s debate moderator and lies about Obama
America, vote wisely and vote often.
Donald Trump Jr says that the Trump camapign will be watching who controls the mute button during Thursday’s debate
Donald Trump Jr told “Fox and Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt on Thursday that the Trump campaign will monitor who controls the mute button during tonight’s final presidential debate.
He said that the campaign will have have someone in the room, and added: “We’re gonna call nonsense when we see nonsense.”
On Monday, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced that “in order to enforce this agreed upon rule, the only candidate whose microphone will be open during these two-minute periods is the candidate who has the floor under the rules”.
The change was brought in after President Trump repeatedly interrupted his Democratic challenger Joe Biden during the first presidential debate.
Mr Trump Jr has also criticised the commission's handling of the debates, saying that they are biased.
President Trump complained about tough questions, before he then abruptly ended interview in newly released video of 60 Minutes sit-down
Donald Trump uploaded his 30-minute interview with CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl to Facebook on Thursday, after walking out of the meeting and accusing the network of “fake” and “biased” line of questions.
“You brought up a lot of subjects that were inappropriately brought up … right from the beginning,” he told Ms Stahl. “Your first statement to me, ‘This is going to be tough questions.'”
Ms Stahl replied: “You’re the president. Don’t you think you should be accountable to the American people?”
After a producer told them that vice president Mike Pence was due to arrive, Mr Trump said “I think we have enough” before abruptly leaving the interview.
More here:
Trump posts video of him ending 60 Minutes interview
The latest breaking news, comment and features from The Independent.
Twitter has said that there is “no evidence” of a hack on President Trump’s Twitter, after a hacker claimed his password is “Maga2020!”
On Thursday, Victor Gevers, a security expert, said he accessed the president’s Twitter account, after guessing that his password was “maga2020!”.
Mr Gevers alerted Mr Trump and US governmental services about the breach, and was then contacted by the Secret Service.
However, in a statement Twitter said: “We've seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands today.
“We proactively implemented account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the United States, including federal branches of government.”
Andrew Griffin has more here.
Twitter says ‘no evidence’ of Trump hack after president accused of using ‘Maga2020!’ password
It only took the hacker five attempts to guess the president’s password
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