Election 2024 live updates: Trump rambles at press conference, Harris fights for swing state and Pope Francis weighs in

Kamala Harris urges Donald Trump to rethink his refusal to face her again as he doubles down on series of wild falsehoods

Trump doubles down on smears against Haitians as he tries to give himself new nickname

Donald Trump doubled down on his outlandish claims against Haitian migrants in Ohio during a rambling, low-energy press conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

“Over the past three and a half years, Kamala has resettled half a million illegal migrants from Haiti into American communities,” Trump claimed on Friday afternoon. “They're doing it right now in Springfield, Ohio, 20,000 illegal Haitian migrants have descended upon a town of 58,000 people, destroying their way of life.”

Trump falsely claimed during the debate on Tuesday that Haitian migrants in Springfield were stealing and eating domestic pets.

Kamala Harris has urged Trump to return to the debate stage despite his announcement on Thursday that he would not face her again. The former president continues to insist that he won their encounter earlier this week despite widespread opinion to the contrary.

This comes as Harris heads to the swing state of Pennsylvania on Friday for a campaign event in Wilkes-Barre.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis advised US Catholics to choose the “lesser evil” in November.

“Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants or the one who (supports) killing babies,” he said. “Both are against life.”

Key Points

• Can Kamala Harris win Pennsylvania? Just ask the mayor of Scranton
• Rove continues to rebuke ‘ill-prepared’ Trump
• Marianne Williamson denies backing Trump over ‘pet-eating’ smear
• Harris pressures Trump to return to debate stage: ‘We owe it to the voters’
• Can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump? Latest poll updates

[13 September 2024 18:09 · Gustaf Kilander]

Biden says ‘next Black job to be filled is as president of the United States’

[13 September 2024 17:51 · Gustaf Kilander]

Biden says Trump’s attacks on Haitian community ‘have to stop'

[13 September 2024 17:50 · Richard Hall]

Can Kamala Harris win Pennsylvania? Just ask the mayor of Scranton

When Paige Cognetti first ran to become mayor of Scranton, she was told she couldn’t win because she did not have an Irish last name. She also had to overcome the fact that no woman had held the position in the city’s history.

Her victory in a special election in 2019, and again two years later, was seen by many as a sign of shifting tides.

“There were a lot of factors against me,” she says over coffee at Abe’s Deli, in the center of the town. “But I think it was pretty clear that the city needed a change candidate,” she adds.

Kamala Harris visits the area on Friday to try to win over the same kind of voters that helped Cognetti win in this key city in the swing state of Pennsylvania. Donald Trump was also there last month. It is no exaggeration to say that her path to the White House runs through these streets.

[13 September 2024 17:21 · The Independent]

Live: Trump holds a news conference at Los Angeles golf club

[13 September 2024 16:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

Rove continues to rebuke ‘ill-prepared’ Trump

After writing a scathing op-ed in The Wall Street Journal earlier this week lambasting the Republican nominee for his lacklustre performance against Harris, former Bush Jr White House official Karl Rove has taken to Fox Business to repeat his attacks.

[13 September 2024 16:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Marianne Williamson denies backing Trump over ‘pet-eating’ smear

The eccentric spiritual guru/on-off Democratic presidential candidate has denied backing Trump’s claim that Haitian immigrants are eating Ohio’s pets after saying the unverified reports should not be dismissed out of hand and that “voodoo is real”.

Katie Hawkinson reports.

[13 September 2024 15:50 · Joe Sommerlad]

Relative of California Governor’s wife hosting fundraiser for Trump on Friday

A billionaire relative of Democrat Gavin Newsom’s wife is reportedly hosting a fundraiser for Donald Trump during his visit to the Golden State today.

AI developer and Silicon Valley CEO Tom Siebel, a second cousin once removed of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, will welcome the Republican nominee to his home in the Bay Area community of Woodside on Friday, according to The Los Angeles Times.

The development will come as something of an embarrassment to Governor Newsom, who relished Harris “cleaning Trump’s clock” on the debate stage earlier this week.

The situtation has some parallels with that of Tim Walz, the Vice President’s running mate, who has his own cabal of inconvenient conservative relatives to contend with.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (AP)

[13 September 2024 15:30 · Joe Sommerlad]

Harris pressures Trump to return to debate stage: ‘We owe it to the voters’

While the Republican presidential nominee AKA “Chicken Man” may have backed out of facing his new rival again after the thrashing she gave him on Tuesday, the Vice President has wisely kept up the pressure on him not to be a coward, saying the following at her rally in Charlotte last night and repeating the challenge on social media.

[13 September 2024 15:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Joe Manchin praises Harris’s position on fracking in the debate

The independent senator from West Virginia, a former Democrat who has so often been a thorn in the side of the Biden administration, has praised Kamala Harris’s debate performance, saying he was particularly impressed with her stance on domestic energy production.

Eric Garcia reports.

[13 September 2024 14:50 · Joe Sommerlad]

Democrats who called for Biden to step aside say ‘told you so’

Eric Garcia has the latest from Capitol Hill, where Democrats are very much enjoying their week, delighted with Joe Biden’s call to step aside and make way for Kamala Harris and believe Tim Walz is working “to show America that Democrats are for the people and Republicans under Trump are just weirdos”.