Trump to attend Al Smith dinner in New York; Harris rallies in Wisconsin after combative Fox interview: Live updates
Kamala Harris sat for tense Q&A with Bret Baier before heading to crucial battleground of Wisconsin as Republican nominee set to attend traditional Catholic charity dinner in New York
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Donald Trump has reacted in gloating fashion to rival Kamala Harris’s tense interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, in which the Democrat clashed with the host on illegal immigration, Joe Biden and the threat posed by Trump himself.
The Republican declared on Truth Social that Harris “is barely able to talk about any subject other than me”, called her “totally incompetent” and praised Baier for doing a “great job”.
Trump himself struggled badly on Wednesday in a town hall with Univision as he sought to appeal to Latino voters, faltering when challenged on such issues as the Capitol riot, the coronavirus, gun control, climate change and his lie about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has meanwhile reported that Trump is again attempting to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels over the affair she alleges she had with him in 2006, the subject of his recent hush money trial at which he was found guilty on all 34 counts relating to the falsification of business records.
Harris is campaigning in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin today and skipping the traditional Al Smith Catholic charity dinner in New York — Trump is attending.
JD Vance claims his mother obtained health insurance under Trump. She used Obamacare
Harris’s Fox interview starts off with fireworks as she gets into heated exchange over border security
Trump defends lies about Haitian immigrants eating pets claiming he was just ‘saying what was reported’
Trump has repeatedly demonized early voting. Republicans in Georgia are doing it anyway
Harris campaign calls plagiarism claims a partisan attack. Expert says it was 'sloppy writing'
Watch: Vance finally answers on whether he believes Trump lost 2020 election
JD Vance claims family got private health insurance for first time under Trump administration
In an attempt to boost Trump’s record on healthcare, his running mate touted his family members obtaining private insurance for the first time under the former president’s administration.
However, he failed to mention a key fact – it was through the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
Here’s Ariana Baio’s report.
JD Vance claims his mother obtained health insurance under Trump. She used Obamacare
Trump unsuccessfully attempted to repeal Obamacare during his presidency
Don Jr leading charge to compile list of names banned from Trump administration
The former president’s eldest son is reportedly leading an effort to compile a list of people who would be banned from serving in a second Trump administration should that come to pass.
On the list are people connected to Project 2025, first-term staffers who resigned in protest after the Capitol riot on January 6 and those seen as lacking loyalty to his father, two ex-Trump officials told Politico.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Don Jr ‘leading charge to compile list of names banned from second Trump White House’
‘Clearly people working on Project 2025 are blacklisted,’ former Trump official says
Trump had no sense of ‘who he was talking to’ when he made Harris slur
Donald Trump had “no sense of who he was in front of or who he was talking to” when he made a shocking slur about his Democratic rival Kamala Harris during a recent dinner for billionaire donors in New York, according to New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman.
Longtime Trump observer Haberman and her colleagues Jonathan Swan and Shane Goldmacher reported over the weekend that the Republican presidential nominee had vented his frustrations about Harris out-fundraising him by launching into a grievance-filled rant at the exclusive gathering.
During the tirade, Trump had angrily referred to the vice president as “retarded” and also rebuked affluent Jewish Americans for not backing him, the report alleged.
This is what Haberman had to say about that episode and other recent examples of Trump’s erratic public behavior in conversation with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Trump reportedly had no sense of ‘who he was talking to’ when he made Harris slur
New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman said the Republican presidential nominee has ‘less of a filter than there used to be, which is what happens when people get older’
Campaign schedule: Who’s doing what where on Thursday
Here’s a look at where the key players will be today.
- Kamala Harris is touring Wisconsin, stopping off in Milwaukee, La Crosse and Green Bay.
- Her running mate Tim Walz will be in Durham and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
- Donald Trump will meanwhile attend the 79th Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York, a Catholic gala emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan (who has been playing Walz on Saturday Night Live of late). Trump was busy last month rebuking Harris for not attending but made waves himself at the same event in 2016 by attacking rival Hillary Clinton during his remarks, which was not exactly in the spirit of the occasion.
- His running mate JD Vance will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, keeping up the pressure campaign on the swing states.
- Trump cheerleader Elon Musk will also be continuing his series of “talks” in the same state.
Trump reveals he had to ask what IVF was at Fox town hall
The Republican also took part in a pre-taped Fox event with Harris Faulkner yesterday in which he made the embarrassing admission that he had to ask the “young, fantastically attractive” Alabama Senator Katie Britt (yuck) what IVF was before deciding whether he was for or against it, despite outrageously pronouncing himself the “father” of that science earlier this week.
For good measure, here’s Kamala’s two-word assessment of his IVF babble, by the way.
Kamala Harris’s two-word response after Trump calls himself ‘father of IVF’
Kamala Harris issued a two-word response after Donald Trump called himself the “father of IVF”. Trump made the comment during a Fox News town hall with an all-female audience that aired on Wednesday (16 October). Asked about the Trump comment as she departed Detroit for a campaign visit to Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Harris said it was “quite bizarre.” She added: “If what he meant is taking responsibility, well then yeah, he should take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a Trump abortion ban state.”
Trump tried to strike new hush money deal with Stormy Daniels ahead of election, report claims
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported last night that Trump is again attempting to silence the adult film star Stormy Daniels over the affair she alleges she had with him in 2006, the subject of his recent hush money trial, at which he was found guilty on all 34 counts relating to the falsification of business records by a New York jury in May.
Here’s more from James Liddell.
Trump accused of trying to cut another hush money deal with Stormy Daniels
Former president’s attorneys allegedly sent adult film star an offer where the amount she owed him over a defamation suit would be lowered if she agreed not to make ‘defamatory or disparaging statements’ about him
Trump downplays deadly Capitol riot as ‘day of love’ as he fails to impress Latino voters
Before Harris appeared on Fox, Trump had addressed Latino voters during a Florida hall airing on Univision.
The Republican presidential nominee was given a pretty rough ride by an audience asking some superb questions, not least Tampa construction worker Ramiro Gonzalez, who took the former president to task over January 6, his mishandling of the coronavirus and the huge number of former members of his administration who will not now endorse him.
Just look at the reaction Trump’s insistence that Jan 6 was “a day of love” and not a deadly attempt to overthrow the government drew from these entirely unimpressed ladies in the audience.
Trump also gave desperate and unconvincing answers on gun control and climate change and was backed into a corner on his lie about Haitian migrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio.
“This was just reported,” he said when asked about the latter claim.
“I was just saying what was reported, that’s been reported, and eating other things, too, that they’re not supposed to be.”
Here’s more from Alex Woodward.
Trump refuses to admit he falsely accused Haitian immigrants of eating pets
Former president doubles down on false claims during town hall with undecided Latino voters
Donald Trump crows over Fox interview: ‘She is barely able to talk about any subject other than me’
Having predicted in advance that Baier would be “weak and soft” on Harris, Trump was full of praise for the conservative saying he had done a “great job” and in fact been “tough but very fair”.
Uh huh.
A crowing Trump again repeated his opinion that Harris is “totally incompetent” and in need of a psychological exam – this just 24 hours after his “Ave Maria” dance party in Pennsylvania, essentially an off-Broadway nervous breakdown.
His not very bright and seldom-hugged middle son Eric was also on the same network last night to insist the VP had given a poor showing (what else would he say?).
Here’s Baier himself giving a more cautious assessment of their encounter.
Kamala Harris clashes with Fox News host over immigration, Biden and Trump in contentious interview
Good morning!
Kamala Harris sat down for her first formal interview with Fox News on Wednesday and anchor Bret Baier went in hard on the Vice President over the Biden administration’s record on illegal immigration.
The interview, which lasted 27 minutes, included several heated exchanges between the Democratic nominee and the the conservative, the pair frequently talking over each other, with Harris much more animated than she has appeared in many of her recent media appearances with friendlier outlets.
Baier tried to take the Democrat to task over the “cover up” of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and how she might hope to differentiate herself from his presidency.
Harris, in turn, hit back on the threat Donald Trump poses and by taking Baier to task for not running a clip of the Republican nominee threatening to send in the military to tackle “the enemy within”, meaning America’s left-wing politicial activists.
Here’s Katie Hawkinson’s report.
Harris’s Fox News interview starts off with heated exchange over border security
Vice president’s nearly 30-minute discussion with Bret Baier marked her first formal interview with Fox News
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
Comments