Trump decries Harris’s DNC speech and calls her ‘not a centrist’ as battleground polls tighten – live

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Cecilia Nowell

At a press conference today, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson called the city’s performance hosting the Democratic national convention a success for policing. He said:

If the 1968 convention went down in history as the example of police brutality then the 2024 convention will go down as the example of constitutional policing.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the DNC this week to protest the Democratic party’s support for Israel in the Gaza war.

According to the Lawyer’s Guild, which deployed legal observers to monitor policing during the protests, close to 90 protesters were arrested over the course of the week, 14 earlier in the week and 72 during a demonstration outside the Israeli consulate on Tuesday (including two journalists). At least four protesters were hospitalized following their arrests, The Intercept reports.

“The repressive police response to a Palestine solidarity protest at the Israeli Consulate seemed preplanned and designed to stifle free expression during the Democratic Convention,” said Ben Meyer of the Guild’s Chicago chapter.

Assurances that the City would respect people’s First Amendment rights during the convention rings hollow next to this brazenly aggressive approach to free expression.

Chicago last hosted the Democratic national convention in 1968, when protesters demonstrating against the Vietnam War also gathered outside the convention and were teargased, beaten and arrested en masse.

Joe Biden asked Benjamin Netanyahu during a call on Wednesday to pull Israeli troops back from part of the Egypt-Gaza border as part of an initial phase of a ceasefire deal so that talks could continue, according to a report.

The US president asked Israel’s prime minister to agree to withdraw the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from a small part of the Philadelphi corridor during the implementation of the first phase of the deal, Axios is reporting, citing Israeli officials.

Netanyahu partially accepted Biden’s request and agreed to give up one Israeli position along the border, they told the outlet.

It comes as John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesperson, described the latest Gaza talks as having been “constructive”. Kirby told reporters on Friday:

We’re in Cairo. They’re in Cairo. We need Hamas to participate, and we need to get down to the brass tacks of locking in these details. And that’s what we’re focused on here in the next, coming days here over the course of the weekend.

Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator for Massachusetts, reflected on the roaring standing ovation she received from the crowd before her speech at the convention on Thursday.

Warren was visibly emotional before her speech, during which she gave an emphatic endorsement of Kamala Harris, whom she painted as a strong figure who “gets it” and will defend the rights and economic interests of Americans.

James Comey, the former FBI director, has posted to X to say that Kamala Harris “made me feel like it’s finally morning in America”, adding:

Everyone who cares about the rule of law and America’s indispensable role in the world should vote for Harris and [Tim] Walz. I will.

Comey, who led the FBI during the Obama administration before being fired by Donald Trump just months into his presidency, endorsed Joe Biden during the 2020 Democratic primary.

Cecilia Nowell

In separate appearances on Fox News on Thursday, Donald Trump and Georgia governor Brian Kemp set their long-held distaste for each other aside, with Kemp endorsing Trump and Trump calling Kemp “very nice”.

“We’ve got to win from the top of the ticket on down,” Kemp said, speaking in response to Kamala Harris’s nomination at the Democratic national convention last night. “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”

Responding to Kemp’s endorsement later that evening, Trump told the network: “I think we’re going to have a very good relationship with Brian Kemp.”

Later, the former president posted on Truth Social:

Thank you to #BrianKempGA for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country. I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Trump and Kemp have feuded since 2020, when Kemp refused to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results. The former president lost the state of Georgia by a narrow margin of about 12,000 votes.

This year alone, the two have continued at each other’s throats, with Kemp saying he cast a blank ballot rather than vote for Trump in the Republican primary election and Trump calling Kemp a “bad guy” at a rally just three weeks ago.

For more on the legacy of Georgia’s continued election deniers, read Sam Levine’s latest:

Donald Trump said it was “possible” he would meet with Robert F Kennedy Jr amid reports that the independent presidential candidate plans to drop out of the race and endorse Trump.

Kennedy is scheduled to deliver a public address this afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona. Meanwhile, Trump is scheduled to speak at an event in Glendale, Arizona, where he will be joined by a “special guest”, according to his campaign.

“I have no idea if he’s going to endorse me,” Trump told Fox News late last night.

I know he’s got a news conference, we happen to be in the same state, Arizona, we’ll be in the same state, but in quite different parts of the state. But it’s possible we will be meeting tomorrow and we’ll be discussing it.

As we reported earlier, Kennedy is reported to be facing pushback from wife, Cheryl Hines, over rumored plans to throw his support behind Trump.

Cecilia Nowell

Attorney general Merrick Garland announced this morning that the justice department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the real estate software company, RealPage.

DOJ alleges that RealPage’s algorithm provided landlords with recommended prices for rentals that allowed them to align their rents.

“When the Sherman Act was passed, an anti-competitive scheme might have looked like robber barons shaking hands at a secret meeting. Today, it looks like landlords using mathematical algorithms to align their rents. But anti-trust law does not become obsolete simply because competitors find new ways to unlawfully act in concert,” Garland said.

In a statement posted on its website in June, after attorneys general in several states sued the company, RealPage called the allegations “false and misleading.”

The lawsuit comes in the wake of several other anti-trust efforts from the Biden administration just this year, including suits against Live Nation and Apple.

For more on those efforts, see:

Several Secret Service personnel from the Pittsburgh Field Office have been reassigned to administrative duties and ordered to work from home following last month’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump, according to sources speaking to CNN.

In a new report on Friday, CNN also reported that a member of Trump’s security detail has also been reassigned to administrative duties.

Earlier this month, Secret Service director Ronald Rowe said that the Secret Service takes “full responsibility” for the security failures in the assassination attempt, in addition to admitting to errors in communication and surveillance.

Trump's campaign on Harris following DNC speech: 'Dangerously liberal, not a centrist'

In response to Kamala Harris’s speech at the DNC on Thursday, Donald Trump’s campaign released an email on Friday morning, calling Harris “dangerously liberal, not a centrist.”

In the email, Trump’s campaign wrote:

“Kamala Harris has apparently expanded her press department to include the New York Times,” citing a New York Times article that described Harris’s “move to the political center” which “seems to be working.”

Citing the article, Trump’s campaign said, “That’s nonsensical,” adding, “Kamala is no centrist.”

It went on to say:

“Her record includes being named the most liberal senator, supporting eliminating private health insurance, and saying we need to ‘redirect resources’ from police. Kamala Harris is dangerously liberal, describing her as anything else is a lie.”

The latest email from Trump’s campaign follows a series of angry posts Trump fired off Thursday evening on Truth Social during Harris’s speech. In addition to accusing Harris of being “weak and ineffective” and having “done nothing for three and a half years but talk,” Trump accused her of standing for “incompetence and weakness.”

With only a few weeks left until election day, the two are neck to neck in the polls, particularly in crucial battleground states.

Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said on Friday that “the time has come” to cut rates, Reuters reports.

During a speech at the Kansas City Fed’s annual economic conference in Wyoming, Powell said:

“The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”

Powell went on to add that his “confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2%" after it rose to 7% during the pandemic.

With Democrats rejoicing as a “joyful” Kamala Harris puts them back in the game, the Guardian’s Ed Pilkington reports on Democrats’ reactions from the DNC and the long road they now face ahead of November:

Five weeks ago, Democrats were preparing to hold their national convention in Chicago under a pall, weighed down by fears of defeat and what Michelle Obama called a “palpable sense of dread about the future”. An 81-year-old president, trailing badly in the polls, would face his people as they cowered before the prospect of four more years of Donald Trump and his bloodlust for retribution.

What we got at the DNC in Chicago was a week-long celebration that went well beyond the relief that the party evidently feels now that it is back in the game. There was rejoicing in the energy and confidence that has been unleashed by the unexpected metamorphosis from Joe Biden to the “joyful warrior”, Kamala Harris.

Relief and rejoicing were written on Harris’s face as she took the stage in Biden’s place on Thursday night. She was met by a roar from delegates, many dressed in blazing white in homage to the suffragette movement without which they would not have been marking the nomination of the first Black and Asian American woman on a major party ticket.

For the full story, click here:

RFK Jr reportedly facing pushback from wife Cheryl Hines over rumored exit

Edward Helmore

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is reported to be facing pushback from wife and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines over rumored plans to throw his support behind Donald Trump later today.

The Kennedy campaign filed paperwork late Thursday to withdraw from the ballot in Arizona as speculation swirls that his presidential ambitions are coming to a close amid falling polls numbers and a campaign cash-crunch.

But according to The Hill, Kennedy’s negotiations with the Trump campaign to forge an alliance, which could in theory add Kennedy’s 5% national support to Trump’s side of the polling ledger, is not popular with Hines.

A source told the publication that Hines “really does not want him” to back Trump.

“He’s contending with that,” the source said.

The Kennedy and Trump campaigns are reported to have been in discussions for several weeks. “It would be so good for [me] and so good for you,” Trump said in a recorded phone call to former Democrat last month.

But it’s not clear that Kennedy supporters would necessary follow the independent candidate to the Trump ticket. Kennedy’s polling has roughly halved since Joe Biden dropped out and vice president Kamala Harris took up the mantle of presidential hopeful.

That suggests in part that Kennedy’s appeal to supporters rests on being a non-major party candidate who may not follow him en masse to the Trump ticket.

According to the Hill, Kennedy and Hines agree to disagree on some of the candidate’s conspiracy-minded positions, including those around vaccines skepticism which Trump sometimes appears to share.

When Kennedy compared vaccine mandates to the Nazi Holocaust – a comment he later walked back – Hines posted on X: “My husband’s opinions are not a reflection of my own. While we love each other, we differ on many current issues.”

Here is the response from another undecided Pennsylvania voter on CNN on why he decided to vote for Kamala Harris following her speech last night at the DNC:

“I was looking for policy information… I like what she gave on military, what she wants to do for our veterans. And with border control. I just think that she has a lot of good ideas and she is very well spoken. I think she was very professional.”

Addressing the DNC last night, Harris said:

“I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and I will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice.”

On border control, Harris vowed:

“As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law. I know — I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border.”

Following Kamala Harris’s speech yesterday evening, a handful of undecided Pennsylvania voters raised their hands on CNN in response to whether they are ready to make a commitment to any candidate in November.

Among eight undecided voters, all but one raised their hands to the question. Six voters indicated that they will vote for Harris, one said Trump and another remained undecided.

In response to what led them to make up their minds on Harris, one person said:

“I really liked her confidence. She really seemed presidential… She spoke from her heart.”

For approximately 45 minutes on Thursday evening, Kamala Harris tried to show the US who she is and why she is worthy of being its next president.

Here are several key takeaways from her speech and the DNC’s final night by the Guardian’s Sam Levine:

Kamala Harris accepted the nomination: ‘Guided by optimism and faith’: The vice-president’s final speech offered a forceful rebuke of Donald Trump and laid out the stakes of the election.

Harris said she would ‘always stand for Israel’ and called for ‘Palestinian self-determination’: After days of sustained pro-Palestinian protests calling for an arms embargo on Israel, Harris’s final address offered both a defense of Israel and a call for Palestinian self-determination.

The convention denied requests for a Palestinian speaker, sparking outrage: The convention ended without a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage, a key demand of the uncommitted movement. The Harris campaign and Democratic party faced increasing pressure throughout the week to include a Palestinian voice, particularly after parents of a Hamas hostage were given a speaking slot and delivered emotional testimony on Wednesday.

For more key takeaways, click here:

Democrats in for hard-fought election after joyful DNC as RFK Jr set to announce end of campaign

Good morning,

Following an energetic few days at the Democratic Convention in Chicago where Kamala Harris deliver the biggest speech of her career last night, Democrats are now in for the hard part.

With many Democrats rejoicing as a “joyful” Harris offered the much-needed hope following Joe Biden’s lackluster campaign performances several weeks ago, Democrats are now set to fight tooth and nail in battleground states where Harris is polling by just a knife’s edge over Donald Trump.

Additionally, with the DNC’s failure to meet uncommitted delegates’ request for a Palestinian speaker and thousands of anti-war protesters taking to the Chicago streets over their disapproval of US policies on Israel’s deadly war in Gaza, Harris and Democrats will need to figure out how to win the support of those voters, come November. For many, the answer is simple: adhere to demands for a ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel.

With Democrats rejoicing from the political stamina seen in Chicago over the last few days, Trump remains on the offence. Over the course of Harris’s speech, Trump fired off multiple posts on Truth Social, accusing her of “complaining about everything but doing nothing” and calling her “weak and ineffective.”

Meanwhile, independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr is scheduled to deliver a public address this afternoon in Arizona amid reports of his widely speculated withdrawal.

Here are other developments in US politics:

Trump is set to deliver remarks on his no tax on tips proposal in Las Vegas today before heading to a rally in Arizona.

New details have emerged about communication failures prior to Trump’s assassination attempt last month, including forgotten radios, CNN reports.