Trump says he will not debate Harris againDonald Trump announced he will not participate in a second debate with Kamala Harris, saying she has turned down previous opportunities to meet and alleging she lost their Tuesday night face-off.“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH.’ Polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate,” the former president wrote on Truth Social.Trump restated his much-repeated claim that Harris and Joe Biden have “destroyed our Country”, then said:
Everyone knows this, and all of the other problems caused by Kamala and Joe – It was discussed in great detail during the First Debate with Joe, and the Second Debate with Comrade Harris. She was a no-show at the Fox Debate, and refused to do NBC & CBS. KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!
The Harris campaign has previously said she would be willing to debate Trump again sometime in October. Trump’s running mate JD Vance remains scheduled to debate Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, on 1 October in New York.ShareUpdated at 21.31 CESTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureThe White House has rebuked Donald Trump for his association with far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who has been traveling with him this week and who has been identified as a key promoter of the false rumour that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been eating people’s pets.Before Trump’s debate with Kamala Harris on Tuesday, Loomer made racist comments about Harris, who is of Indian descent, saying that if she won the 5 November election, “the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center”.“It is repugnant, these types of comments, it is un-American to say these types of things, exactly the kind of hateful and divisive rhetoric that we should denounce,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House spokesperson, said on Thursday, according to Reuters.“No leader should ever associate with someone who spreads this kind of ugliness, this kind of racist poison,” Jean-Pierre said.ShareUpdated at 00.57 CESTAt the Tucson rally, Trump also promised to eliminate taxes on overtime pay.But it is unclear how such a policy would work. It is also worth noting that Project 2025, the platform devised for a second Trump term, seeks to make overtime – also known as time-and-a-half pay – more confusing for workers to navigate and would likely reduce the number of workers eligible for overtime.From PolitiFact:
The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.
The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
ShareUpdated at 00.41 CESTRobert Reich, the former US labor secretary, responded to Trump’s incendiary claims about immigrants by noting that immigrants make up about a fifth of the country’s essential workforce.A 2020 report from the bipartisan immigration and criminal justice reform group Fwd.us estimated that one in five essential workers were immigrants, including in the medical, agriculture and food service industries. The group also estimated that “more than two-thirds of all undocumented immigrant workers serve in frontline jobs in essential industries”.America is prosperous largely BECAUSE of immigrants.Nearly 23 million immigrants are considered essential workers — that’s 1 in 5 individuals in the total U.S. essential workforce.They should be lauded for their importance and commitment to our country, not demonized. https://t.co/Fog9ip5ytx— Robert Reich (@RBReich) September 12, 2024ShareUpdated at 00.40 CESTAt his event in Tucson, Donald Trump is repeating many of his rote lines about the US-Mexico border, accusing arrivals at the southern border of “stealing” jobs and falsely accusing immigrants overall of driving up crime rates.In a city that is not far from the border, Trump doubled down on his racist denigration of immigrants and asylum seekers.He also repeated misinformation about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, “walking off” with geese in the town’s public parks and with residents’ pets. The hoax can be traced back to a Facebook post that has been debunked. Trump’s assertion during the debate that immigrants “are eating the dogs … they’re eating the cats” has been widely ridiculed.ShareUpdated at 00.39 CESTMarkwayne Mullin, the US senator from Oklahoma, would not say whether he would accept a peaceful transfer of power if Trump were to lose and every state certified the result.In an interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown, Mullin repeated election misinformation and made vague references to “irregularities”.I asked Sen. Markwayne Mullin if he would vote to certify November’s election results once every state has certified them.His response: “It’s hard to say.” pic.twitter.com/SLHHIfTohR— Pamela Brown (@PamelaBrownCNN) September 12, 2024ShareUpdated at 00.03 CESTTrump speaks in Tucson at first post-debate rallyDonald Trump is now in Tucson, Arizona, for a rally – his first since his debate with Kamala Harris.Arizona is a key swing state that both candidates will want to secure. Tucson, however, leans heavily Democratic. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff also scheduled a visit to the city today on behalf of the Harris-Walz campaign.The former president, who is widely judged as having fumbled his debate against Harris, began by airing his frustrations on stage.“Polls clearly show that I won the debate against Comrade Kamala,” Trump said. Early or flash polls after the debate found that, in fact, viewers largely thought that Harris had won the debate. Trump also called moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis “lowlives” for fact-checking him during the debate.ShareUpdated at 23.43 CESTDonald Trump’s lawyer Steve Sadow has released a statement on the ruling.“President Trump and his legal team in Georgia have prevailed once again. The trial court has decided that counts 15 and 27 in the indictment must be quashed/dismissed,” he said.Two of the charges brought against Trump by Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney, for allegedly trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 elections were dropped.The dropped charges dealt with filing false documents in federal court. But the judge in the case allowed eight other allegations against the former president to stand.Correction: A previous version of this post quoted Sadow saying that counts 15 and 17 were dismissed. Sadow corrected the quote and we updated this post to reflect that the counts were actually 15 and 27.ShareUpdated at 23.51 CEST“It is important that the vice-president continues to define and expose Trump,” Bernie Sanders wrote in an op-ed for the Guardian. “But it may not be enough to secure a victory. Voters are hungry for a candidate that will deliver meaningful, material change to their lives.”The Vermont senator writes:
I applaud Harris for laying out the fundamentals of her economic vision: she promised to cap the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans at $2,000, address the severe housing crisis we face by building 3m units of affordable housing, eliminate medical debt, and take on corporate price gouging that has made it impossible for working families to afford groceries and other basic necessities.
The American people want change, and that’s what Harris must deliver
These are valuable policies. I believe, however, that her chances of winning improve if she expands that agenda to include popular solutions to the most important economic and political realities facing this country.
The American people want change, and that’s what she must deliver.
Read more:ShareUpdated at 22.41 CESTKamala Harris, riding high off Donald Trump’s poor debate performance, has honed in on one line from her opponent:During the debate this week, moderator Linsey Davis asked Trump to detail his new approach to healthcare – which he had repeatedly promised to deliver in his previous two presidential runs.When Trump equivocated, Davis doubled down: “So just a yes or no,” she said. “You still do not have a plan?”“I have concepts of a plan,” Trump replied.The fumble was especially unfortunate given that surrogates and advisers talked up the president’s dedication to talk policy.ShareUpdated at 22.20 CESTHarris says ‘we owe it to the voters to have another’ debate with TrumpKamala Harris just took the stage at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she continued to push Donald Trump to debate again, despite his announcement that he would not do so.“Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate, And I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate, because this election and what is at stake could not be more important,” the vice-president said to applause.ShareUpdated at 22.20 CESTGeorgia judge dismisses some charges against Trump in election meddling caseAn Atlanta-area judge dismissed two of the charges brought against Donald Trump by Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney, for allegedly trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 elections, but allowed the rest of the case to proceed, Reuters reports.The charges dismissed by judge Scott McAfee deal with filing false documents in federal court. McAfee allowed eight other allegations against the former president to stand.ShareUpdated at 22.04 CESTTrump says he will not debate Harris againDonald Trump announced he will not participate in a second debate with Kamala Harris, saying she has turned down previous opportunities to meet and alleging she lost their Tuesday night face-off.“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH.’ Polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate,” the former president wrote on Truth Social.Trump restated his much-repeated claim that Harris and Joe Biden have “destroyed our Country”, then said:
Everyone knows this, and all of the other problems caused by Kamala and Joe – It was discussed in great detail during the First Debate with Joe, and the Second Debate with Comrade Harris. She was a no-show at the Fox Debate, and refused to do NBC & CBS. KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!
The Harris campaign has previously said she would be willing to debate Trump again sometime in October. Trump’s running mate JD Vance remains scheduled to debate Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, on 1 October in New York.ShareUpdated at 21.31 CESTTrump campaign says support is increasing in swing states following debateDonald Trump’s pollsters say support for the former president has increased in swing states since his debate against Kamala Harris.In a memo, Tony Fabrizio and Travis Tunis write that the candidates were tied before the debate, but after surveying 1,893 likely voters in seven swing states, Trump now leads Harris 48% to 46% when third-party candidates are included, and 50% to 47% in a head-to-head matchup.“Clearly, target state voters were not impressed by Kamala Harris’ empty platitudes and while the media would have people believe she is cruising to victory, this couldn’t be farther from the truth,” the pollsters write.ShareUpdated at 21.15 CESTA bomb threat prompted the evacuation and closure of the city hall in Springfield, Ohio, which has been thrust into national focus after Donald Trump and Republicans pushed false and unsubstantiated claims of Haitian immigrants in the city eating pets and local wildlife.The bomb threat “was issued to multiple facilities throughout Springfield”, the city said.
We ask the community to avoid the area surrounding City Hall vicinity while the investigation is ongoing and to report any suspicious activity to the Springfield Police Division.
The city’s mayor, Rob Rue, indicated that the threat included complaints about Haitian immigrants in the city, according to NBC News.Local police and officials have said there were no credible reports of Haitian immigrants stealing pets to eat them.ShareUpdated at 21.30 CESTRobert TaitRepublicans are blaming the influence of Laura Loomer, a rightwing conspiracy theorist, for this week’s botched debate performance by Donald Trump, which included the former president repeating a bizarre and unfounded claim that pet cats and dogs were being eaten by Haitian immigrants.Loomer flew with Trump on his private plane to Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia and has been identified as a key promoter of the pets rumour, which has been dismissed as false by authorities in Springfield, Ohio, where the practice was alleged to have been taking place.Laura Loomer arrives in Philadelphia before Donald Trump’s debate with Kamala Harris on Tuesday. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/ReutersThe Semafor website quoted an unnamed source close to Trump’s campaign as saying they were “100%” concerned about Loomer’s sway over the Republican nominee. “Regardless of any guardrails the Trump campaign has put on her, I don’t think it’s working,” the source said.Trump this year proposed giving Loomer an official role on his campaign, but the idea was resisted by staffers. Loomer, who styles herself as an “investigative journalist”, last year promoted a conspiracy theory alleging that 9/11 was an “inside job”. On Wednesday she posted an unfounded allegation that Harris had worn earphones disguised as earrings during the debate.ShareUpdated at 21.30 CESTTaylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris following the debate on Tuesday drove hundreds of thousands of people to voter-registration resources, according to multiple reports.Swift’s Instagram post included a link to Vote.org, the federal government’s voting registration site. According to the General Services Administration:
There were a total of 405,999 visitors referred to vote.gov from the custom URL created and shared by Ms Swift during the 24 hour period the post was live.
ShareUpdated at 21.30 CESTThe day so farIt’s back to the campaign trail for both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, two days after their first and perhaps only debate. The vice-president has two events planned for this afternoon in North Carolina, while Trump will be in Arizona. Speaking of the debate, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Harris the overall winner of the Tuesday evening face-off, and slightly improving her lead nationally. In the legal arena, a New York appeals court just rejected another attempt by Trump to get the gag order imposed on him in his hush-money case lifted.Here’s what else has happened today so far:

North Dakota’s strict ban on abortion was tossed out by a judge who said it ran afoul of the state constitution and was vague.

The joint session of Congress scheduled for 6 January 2025 to count and certify electoral votes will be considered a “national special security event” by the homeland security department, all because of what happened last time.

Alberto Gonzales, a Republican who served as attorney general under George W Bush, announced he will vote for Harris.
ShareUpdated at 19.52 CESTPolls finds Harris victorious in debate, building lead over Trump nationallyReuters is out with one of the first polls since Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debated on Tuesday evening, and found voters view the vice-president as the winner in the debate, where Trump came off as the less sharp candidate.Harris is also building her lead among registered voters nationally to 47% over Trump’s 42%, a slight jump from previous weeks, according to the survey, which was conducted with Ipsos. Here’s more about it:
The two-day poll showed Harris with a five percentage point lead among registered voters, just above the four-point advantage she had over Trump in an Aug 21-28 Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Among voters who said they had heard at least something about Tuesday’s debate, 53% said Harris won and 24% said Trump won. Some 52% of respondents said that Trump stumbled and didn’t appear sharp, while 21% said that of Harris.
Harris, 59, put Trump, 78, on the defensive with a stream of attacks on his fitness for office and his myriad legal woes.
The poll surveyed 1,690 US adults nationwide, including 1,405 registered voters. It had a margin of error of around three percentage points for registered voters.
ShareUpdated at 20.49 CESTJoe Biden traveled to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, yesterday on somber business: laying a wreath at the site where Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11, crashed.He then traveled to the local fire station, where the mood lightened considerably when the 81-year-old president met a similarly mature resident, who was wearing a Trump cap.Biden offered the man, whose name reporters did not catch, a hat with the presidential seal on it, prompting the old-timer to ask the president for an autograph.“You remember your name?” he asked the president. “I don’t remember my name, I’m slow,” Biden replied. “You’re an old fart!” the resident told him. “Yeah, I know, man, I’m an old guy,” the president gamely replied.After more banter, the pair traded hats, with Biden putting a red Trump cap over one he was already wearing, before advising the room not to eat dogs or cats (cuisine that is not so bad, the elderly resident advised him).Watch the exchange here:Joe Biden dons Trump hat in show of unity at event commemorating 9/11 – videoA White House spokesperson later said Biden had put on the hat in a show of “bipartisan unity”:At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that.As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it. https://t.co/7VKZnkVMY7— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) September 11, 2024ShareUpdated at 20.48 CEST