Trump insists on calling Capitol attack a ‘day of love’ as Harris visits church in Georgia – live | US elections 2024

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During an interview with Meet the Press, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he disagrees with General Mark Milley, who allegedly called former president Donald Trump a “fascist” in Bob Woodward’s new book.

“To General Milley, you have a right to your opinion, but I don’t fear Donald Trump,” Graham said. “I fear what’s going on in the world today. If you want the world to stay on fire, vote for her,” he said referring to Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Former president Donald Trump doubled down on calling the January 6 attack on the Capitol a ‘day of love’ during an interview with Fox News.

“They protested an election,” Trump said on Sunday. “They had a right to.”

The former president previously said the thousands of people who traveled to Washington DC that day did so because “they thought the election was a rigged election”.

“And when I say we, these are people that walked down, this was a tiny percentage of the overall which nobody sees and nobody, nobody shows. But that was a day of love,” he said in a town hall held in Miami recently.

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Updated at 12.50 EDT

Stephen Starr

Despite a revitalization, Donald Trump wrongfully claimed Charleroi, Pennsylvania, is “virtually bankrupt” with “massive crime”.

There is one thing about her community that makes Kristin Hopkins-Calcek prouder than anything: her city is now one of the few boroughs in Pennsylvania with a growing population.

“We haven’t invested in our borough for a long time,” says the Charleroi council president, “and now we are finally able to do that – it’s because we have a need to.”

Surrounded by retired power plants, railway lines and steel mills, Charleroi in south-west Pennsylvania was once the epitome of Rust belt America. For decades, factories here and in the surrounding area closed and people moved away, its population falling by about 60%.

But in recent years, immigrants have descended on the town of 4,200 people, drawn by well-paying jobs and cheap housing. According to the 2020 census, for the first time in a century, more people chose to make this quiet community on the banks of the Monongahela River their home rather than flee it.

The first jobs Rodny Michel could find when he arrived in Charleroi four years ago were line work at a food-preparation company and, later, similarly grueling work at an Amazon factory in a nearby town. Today, as the native of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, sees his community grow in Charleroi, his work day involves turning an empty, dated store on Fallowfield Avenue into a Caribbean restaurant that will serve the town’s growing immigrant community.

“Sometimes I work for 12 hours a day,” he says from inside the Global Food Mart, a Caribbean grocery store where shoppers play arcade games and sift through boxes of tropical fruit.

“It will be the first for our community and I’m proud of that.”

But while locals such as Michel and Hopkins-Calcek see Charleroi as being in the midst of a revitalization, others have tried putting the town’s immigrant communities to political use. It is something that has thrust this tiny community into the national spotlight of America’s bitterly fought and divisive 2024 election.

Read more on Charleroi’s revitalization:

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Updated at 12.48 EDT

Elon Musk’s extensive influence over US government agencies is both financially beneficial and fraught with conflicts, as his companies rely on federal contracts while also facing numerous investigations, according to a review of documents by the New York Times.

If Donald Trump wins the presidency, his promise to give the Tesla CEO a powerful regulatory role could create significant conflicts of interest, allowing Musk to oversee agencies that regulate his own businesses.

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Updated at 12.49 EDT

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Speaker Mike Johnson was pressed on Donald Trump’s comments over the size of Arnold Palmer’s genitalia.

Yesterday, during a rally in Pennsylvania’s Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, Trump recounted some the stories he shared with the now deceased legendary golfer. In one instance, he praised Palmer’s genitals. “Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women,” Trump said. “This is a guy that was all man.”

Tapper told Johnson that, if it were President Joe Biden who would’ve made these comments, he would be labeled as cognitively impaired.

“You can cherry-pick a few words or lines that have a two-hour event,” Johnson said. “We could do that with Kamala Harris after a 20 minute event because she does word salads and she couldn’t hold court like that without a teleprompter.”

“We all know that the facts the American people see it and, you know, the media can pick it apart, but people are going to vote,” Johnson added. “They’re going to vote what’s best for their family and they see that in Trump.”

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Tom Perkins

Biden’s economic legacy could decide the presidential race in Scranton.

From the north, motorists pull into Scranton via the Joseph R Biden Jr Expressway. Cutting through the scenic Pocono Mountains, now at the start of autumn color season, they are greeted with a towering, electric billboard, blaring an encapsulating – if divisive – message to this working-class town: “Democrats for Trump,” it reads. “Economy,” it continues, with a green checked box next to the word.

The sign in Biden’s hometown is the perfect fall 2024 welcome mat in this crucial swing state filled with voters whose economic anxiety or satisfaction will decide next month’s election.

The US has staged a remarkable recovery since the pandemic and Biden has successfully pursued an economic agenda, Bidenomics, that should benefit Scranton and the state – $13bn has been earmarked from his infrastructure bill for repairing highways and bridges alone. But poll after poll shows deep-seated worries about the economy – worries that could sink Democrats’ chances of keeping the White House come November.

Like many mid-sized upper midwest cities that have faced post-industrial decline, Scranton, a longtime Democratic stronghold, has grown more conservative in recent elections. With the city’s native son leaving office, and pocketbook issues top of mind, some believe Trump could finally take Scranton – a more-than-symbolic win.

But with Kamala Harris, Biden’s successor, and Donald Trump tied in the polls, guessing who will take Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the White House is a fool’s errand. And this politically split town shows why the race is so close. On the street, one person’s economic reality may be entirely different to the next.

The complicated political mix of fears about the local economy, faith and mistrust in both Harris and Trump and shifting political allegiance was evident at the Marketplace at Steamtown, a downtown mall filled with local mom-and-pop shops.

Read more about what people in Scranton have to say:

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Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro questioned the legality of Elon Musk promising $1m giveaways to voters who sign his super PAC’s petition.

During an interview in NBC’s “Meet the Press,” governor Josh Shapiro called into question Elon Musk’s promise to give $1m every day until election day to someone who signs his petition that effectively encourages Republicans in the key battleground states to register to vote. The money would come from his Trump-supporting political action committee, America Pac.

“I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians,” Shapiro said. “That is deeply concerning.”

“Musk obviously has a right to be able to express his views,” Shapiro told moderator Kristen Welker. “But when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at.”

Shapiro added: “I think it’s something that law enforcement could take a look at.”

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Updated at 11.17 EDT

Kamala Harris concluded her remarks at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia.

She asked the crowd: “What kind of country do we want to live in, a country of chaos, fear and hate, or a country of freedom, compassion and justice?”

“The great thing about living in a democracy is that we, the people, have the power to answer that question,” Harris said. “So let us answer not just through our words, but through our action and with our votes.”

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Kamala Harris, speaking at a service at an Atlanta church, continued talking about acts of kindness recently taking place in the US, especially in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

“Right here in the Atlanta area, I saw the story of a reporter who was outside covering the storm live on television when he heard some screams, he dropped everything and waded into chest deep water to rescue a woman trapped in her car, carrying her on his back to safety,” Harris said.

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The service at the church Kamala Harris is attending is honoring breast cancer survivors during National Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Harris spoke about her mother, who was a breast cancer researcher.

“She had two goals in her life, to raise her two daughters, my sister, Maya and me, and to end breast cancer,” Harris said.

The Vice President later narrated the parable of the Good Samaritan to connect the story to a message of approaching others with kindness.

“As the Good Samaritan reminds us, it is not enough to preach the values of compassion and respect. We must live them,” Harris said. “Faith is a verb.”

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Kamala Harris kicks off her birthday at a church in Stonecrest, Georgia

Kamala Harris is delivering remarks at a service in New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta suburb of Stonecrest, Georgia. The crowd sang happy birthday when the Vice President, who turns 60 today, took the stage.

Harris began her speech by turning the attention towards the ferry dock collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, where at least seven people were killed during a fall celebration by the island’s tiny Gullah-Geechee community of Black slave descendants.

“Our administration has been in touch with state and local officials to offer any needed support,” Harris said.

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Good morning, and welcome to our continuing coverage of the run-up to the US election. We’re nearly two weeks away from election day.

Today, Vice-President Kamala Harris will kick off her 60th birthday with two church visits in Georgia. The Democratic presidential nominee is slated to to rally early voters in the state a day after a star-studded campaign Saturday in Detroit with rapper Lizzo and in Atlanta with pop icon Usher.

Former president Donald Trump is heading to a McDonald’s fast food place in Pennsylvania. The visit will probably be used to undermine Harris’s stint at McDonald’s, which Trump constantly puts into question during his rallies. He will later hold a rally in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, his second event in the battleground state this weekend.

Both candidates are laser focused on rallying support from voters in battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, will take part in a “Souls to the Polls” event aimed at using gospel performances, national and state faith leaders, elected officials and others to mobilize voters.

Here’s what else is happening today:

Elon Musk promised to award $1m every day to voters as he steps up campaigning for Trump. The commitment, which started on Saturday as Musk handed a lottery-style check to the first winner of his contest at a town hall event, could mean Musk is on the hook for $17m if he remains the sole donor to his own Pac.

A Pennsylvania town is thriving with Haitian immigrants – and is the latest target of Republican hate. Despite a revitalization, Donald Trump wrongfully claimed Charleroi is “virtually bankrupt” with “massive crime.”

Incarcerated Californians can’t vote. A prison held an election anyway. Voters in a mock election at San Quentin revealed strong feelings about prison labor, wages and the presidential race.

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