Trump town hall: President rages against Savannah Guthrie and protesters arrested as Biden holds rival event
Follow the latest updates
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Donald Trump and Joe Biden took part in dueling town hall appearances on what should have been the night of the second presidential debate.
On the same day that the presidential candidates should have clashed, would-be moderator Steve Scully was suspended by his employer C-Span after seeking advice from an anti-Trump activist and lying about it when confronted.
Instead, Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of NBC News’s Today show, hosted the Trump town hall in Miami while ABC News' chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos, hosted Biden in Philadelphia.
Trump says ‘Joe Biden is a totally corrupt politician’
Asked about the Hunter Biden story in The New York Post, the president lays into his rival (repeating a slur he once reserved for Adam Schiff), going after the candidate’s son and denounces the mainstream media for not giving the story more credence.
He says Twitter and Facebook are “the third arm of the DNC [Democratic National Committee]” and launches into Antifa.
‘Oh, I don’t know what a set up is’
Trump plays innocent on the Hunter Biden story, despite Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon having a hand in bringing it to the tabloid, and is now talking a mile a minute about taxes and California.
Trump denies his rallies are superspread events and says Governor Cuomo has ‘run New York into the ground’
The president insists his rally crowds are wearing face masks (falsely claiming the CDC harbours doubts about their efficacy), jokes that Biden is struggling to attract audiences (not true) before returing to his rebuke of Andrew Cuomo.
Trump insists polls are wrong and says ‘if Biden wins, China will own the United States’
Predictably, the president bats aways Varney’s question about his massive polling deficits and repeats his dire forecast should he lose the vote, attacking China but admitting he hasn’t spoken to Xi Jinping “in a while”.
‘We can’t have a president who obviously isn’t very smart’
Trump just said this of Biden in response to a line from Stuart Varney about voters taking exception to his combative style, about which I having nothing further to add.
We’re now on to him refusing to commit to a peaceful transition of power and doubting that the election will be “fair”.
Trump says Steve Mnuchin has not ‘brought home the bacon’ on stimulus
The president concludes his latest Fox nuisance call with a garbled answer on supporting the economy, struggling to articulate policy just as we saw in the first presidential debate in Ohio.
Rudy Giuliani staffers accidentally upload video of him being racist
Trump’s personal attorney can be seen mocking Asian people in a racist video that appears to have been uploaded to his YouTube channel by mistake, adopting a stereotypical accent and bowing in the clip in question.
According to The Daily Beast, the remarks were made on Tuesday when Giuliani interviewed former White House press secretary Sean Spicer for his Common Sense podcast.
Gino Spocchia has more details.
Rudy Giuliani staffers accidentally upload video of him being racist
Extended version of podcast interview appeared to be uploaded by mistake by Republican’s staffers
White House economic advisers warned investors about pandemic but not American public
Senior West Wing economists warned conservative donors and investors about their concerns over the coming pandemic earlier this year just as Donald Trump was promising Americans coronavirus would simply “disappear”, The New York Times reports.
That disconnect, which became apparent as advisers met with Hoover Institution board members on 24 February, would have enabled those investors to act prior to any economic slump caused by the pandemic.
Those details were outlined in a memo The NYT obtained written by Hoover Institution board member and hedge fund consultant William Callanan amid three days of meetings with advisers to the presidency.
Gino Spocchia has the whole story.
White House economic advisers warned investors about pandemic, but not American public
Hedge fund consultant wrote that president’s advisers raised coronavirus warnings as early as February
President to travel to North Carolina for another ‘big’ rally
Donald Trump announced on Twitter he would be travelling to North Carolina today to host a rally for a “big crowd”.
North Carolina has become a battleground state in the presidential election. The New York Times/Sienna poll has found challenger Joe Biden with a four-point lead over Mr Trump. In 2016, Mr Trump won the state against Hillary Clinton.
Mr Trump will later on Thursday compete with the former vice president in duelling town halls airing at the same time.
BREAKING: Senate to vote on subpoena for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey after Hunter Biden story blocked by platform
Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have announced plans for a vote next week on whether to subpoena Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey over the platform’s recent decision to limit sharing of a New York Post story about Joe Biden.
“Twitter is actively blocking, right now this instant, stories from the New York Post,” Senator Ted Cruz told reporters on Thursday during a break at the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
He added: “On Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee, the full committee, will be voting on subpoenas to subpoena Jack Dorsey to come before our committee."
Chris Riotta reports:
Senate to vote on subpoena for Twitter CEO over blocked New York Post story
Fact-checkers raise serious questions about tabloid story as major platforms seek to reduce its spread
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies