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Trump news: President calls out ‘Barack Hussain Obama’ as supporter at Florida rally appears to make ‘white power’ symbol

Follow the latest updates

Donald Trump calls India's air "filthy"

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.  

Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load. 

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Hello and welcome to The Independent’s daily coverage of the Donald Trump campaign and the race for the White House. 

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 08:35
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Obama tears into Trump for ‘fraying fabric of our society’

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, gave a rousing speech in support of his former deputy Joe Biden in Philadelphia on Wednesday, tearing into Donald Trump for “fraying the fabric of society”, for his disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic, for having no vision for the country, for his Chinese bank account and for pushing bogus conspiracy theories on social media.

“I get that this president wants full credit for the economy that he inherited, and zero blame for the pandemic that he ignored," Obama said. “But you know what the job doesn't work that way. Tweeting at the television doesn't fix things. Making stuff up doesn't make people's lives better. You've got to have a plan, you’ve got to put in the work.”

On Covid-19, Obama said: “Donald Trump isn’t suddenly going to protect all of us, he can’t take the basic steps to protect himself. Just last night he complained that the pandemic made him go to work, he was upset, if he had actually been working the whole time it would never have got this bad.

“Somehow the idea that this White House has done anything but screw this up is just not true.”

On the economic devastation his successor had overseen, Obama roared: “He did inherit the longest streak of job growth in American history but, just like everything else he inherited, he messed it up.

"He will be the first president since Herbert Hoover to actually lose jobs.”

But the Democrat reserved his most withering ire for President Trump’s unworthy conduct as commander-in-chief.

“With Joe and Kamala at the helm you are not going to have to think about the crazy things they said every day and that is worth a lot.

"You are not going to have to argue about them every day. It just won’t be so exhausting.

"You may be able to have Thanksgiving dinner without having an argument.

"You'll be able to go about your lives knowing that the president is not going to retweet conspiracy theories about secret cabals running the world or that Navy SEALs didn't actually kill Bin Laden.

“Think about that. The president of the United States retweeted that. Imagine. What? What?”

Graeme Massie has this report.

Obama mocks Trump's record in rousing campaign speech

'The economic damage he inflicted by botching the pandemic response means he will be the first president since Herbert Hoover to actually lose jobs’

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 08:55
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Former president calls on Americans to 'vote like never before and leave no doubt’

Other than finally giving Trump the trashing his disastrous ineptitude and toxic narcissism has cried out for, Obama also used his platform at yesterday’s socially distanced drive-in rally to encourage a high voter turnout on 3 November, urging young people in particular to “give this a shot”. 

“We cannot be complacent, I don't care about the polls," he said, dismissing Biden’s double-digit lead in most national polls.

“We can’t abandon people who are hurting right now," Obama continued.

"We can’t just imagine a better future, we have to fight for it, we have to outwork the other side, we have to out-hustle the other side. Vote like never before and leave no doubt."

Graeme Massie has more on this.

Obama urges voters to turn out on the campaign trail for Joe Biden

Former president is in Philadelphia to support his one-time deputy

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 09:15
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Rudy Giuliani forced to dismiss humiliating Borat movie scene as ‘fabrication’

As Obama was appealing to the better angels of America’s nature, Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was being forced into humiliating denials after he was filmed touching his genitals in a scene from Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Borat movie sequel. 

The former New York mayor has subsequently insisted he was merely tucking his shirt into his trousers in the episode in question, a sting that saw him invited up to a hotel room by the fictional Kazakh reporter’s underage daughter (actually played by 24-year-old actress Maria Bakalova).

Giuliani - who has been trying to push a spurious Hunter Biden conspiracy with the aid of The New York Post in recent days and who was singled out by Russian spies as a gullible point of access to Trump - denied that he had been pranked by Baron Cohen, saying he had reported the matter to the police when it took place in July and claimed the suggestion that he was touching himself was “a complete fabrication”.

The film is released on Amazon Prime on Friday and the evidence available so far doesn’t look good for Rudy.

Justin Vallejo has this on a highly undignified episode that sees the idiocy of this administration come closer than ever before to finally consuming itself.

Giuliani claims he was tucking in his shirt during newly-released Borat clip

President’s personal lawyer says Sacha Baron Cohen would be a ‘stone cold liar’ to suggest anything inappropriate

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 09:35
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President continues MAGA grievance tour in North Carolina

How about Trump himself?

His cycle of grievance gigs took him to Gastonia Municipal Airport in North Carolina - another crucial state that he won in 2016 but which is now in jeopardy, with 15 Electoral College spots at stake.

He couldn’t do much better than mock Barack Obama’s name in response to his predecessor’s brilliant tirade in Philly - emphasising his middle name, “Hussein”, in a fairly naked appeal to local racists - and otherwise served up the usual garbage about"saving the suburbs" and his inauguration crowd size (STILL with this?!) 

There was plenty of scaremongering over Biden, an attack on Lesley Stahl over his botched 60 Minutes interview (more on which shortly) and a false claim he could order schools to reopen from lockdown but very little on policy or his plans for a second term.

John T Bennett had the misfortune of tuning in.

Trump says little about second-term agenda as he mocks Obama’s name during grievance-filled North Carolina rally

"Barack Hussein Obama,' president says over and over as Gastonia crowd boos in unison

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 09:55
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Biden and Trump to face-off in final debate in Nashville this evening

The candidates are in Tennessee tonight for a second and final Q&A where NBC have the power to mute their microphones to avoid the ugly bickering and interruptions that derailed their first encounter in Ohio last month.

Trump has been laying the groundwork for excusing his inevitable trouncing by spending the week attacking moderator Kristen Welker, accusing her of bias and saying she is “terrible”.

According to the experts, he faces a no-win situation.

Here’s Graig Graziosi to explain.

Trump is in a no-win situation in the last presidential debate - here’s why

The topics Mr Trump and Mr Biden should embrace, and what they should avoid, according the the experts

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 10:15
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Iran and Russia using stolen data to target voters with threatening emails as part of election interference, FBI says

Trump’s director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe and FBI director Christopher Wray held a late press conference on Wednesday to accuse the two countries of attempting to sway public opinion ahead of the election, using stolen voter registration details to send intimidating emails.

“They hope they will cause confusion, sow chaos, and undermine your confidence in American democracy,” Ratcliffe said, characterising the interference as an attempt to damange the president’s re-election bid and as “desperate attempts by desperate adversaries”.

According to The Washington Post, the emails were sent by individuals posing as far-right US fringe group the Proud Boys (whom Trump refused to denounce at the aforementioned first debate, you will remember) and told their recepients: “You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. 

"Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for. I would take this seriously if I were you.”

That would rather undermine Ratcliffe’s claim this was the work of Trump enemies, seeing as their efforts would seemingly benefit him and hurt Biden.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff was highly sceptical, not least because of the timing of the announcement, which rather echoes the agency’s election-shaking letter to Congress on 28 October 2016 announcing it had reopened an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Ratcliffe is also hardly the most reliable of narrators…

Justin Vallejo has more details.

Iran and Russia using stolen data to target voters with threatening emails as part of election interference, FBI says

Director of National Intelligence says fake emails, purporting to be from the ‘Proud Boys’ and threatening Democrats were an attempt to damage Donald Trump

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 10:35
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Trump tweets pictures of 60 Minutes interview he walked out of 'because he didn't like journalist's tone'

The president spent his evening pushing out anti-Biden #content from Breitbart, puffing up Republican election candidates and whining that he is “not just running against Biden, I am running against the Corrupt Media, the Big Tech Giants, and the Washington Swamp”. 

Not just running, sir. Losing.

He also, rather oddly, cast some light on his mystery beef with Lesley Stahl by posting backstage photos of their aborted Tuesday interview, in which she looks pretty bemused after being handed what looks suspiciously like a stack of blank documents.

Graeme Massie has more on this.

Trump shares pictures of interview he walked out of 'because he didn't like journalist's tone'

President ‘abruptly’ walked out of interview with broadcaster

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 11:00
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Can Obama send Biden to White House?

The 44th president was on exceptional form in Philadelphia yesterday but will it be enough to send his former deputy to the Oval Office? Is he just preaching to the converted?

Alex Woodward reads the room.

Can Obama's campaigning help send Biden to the White House?

The 44th president is on the campaign trail, starting in Philadelphia, where ghosts of past elections loom in a swing state Democrats are ready to flip, writes Alex Woodward

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 11:20
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Trump mocks sparse crowds at Biden rallies:‘You couldn’t catch Covid no matter what you did’

This president apparently continues to find the coronavirus a laughing matter, performing the dance of death to “YMCA” with 222,000 Americans lying in early graves on his watch.

Compare the crudity of that with the simple compassion of Biden or Obama.

Gino Spocchia has this report.

Trump mocks sparse Biden rallies: ‘You couldn’t catch Covid no matter what you did’

President laughed at Biden’s smaller campaign events, says 'they can’t fill them up’

Joe Sommerlad22 October 2020 11:40

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