Trump to host New York rally following false reports of explosives nearby spread online: Live updates

Former president to speak in Democrat-stronghold of New York as polls show key swing states trending toward Kamala Harris

Donald Trump claims 'only consequential presidents get shot at'

Donald Trump will host a rally in suburban New York on Wednesday evening making a pitch to reverse a tax policy he signed into law in 2017 that has a bigger impact on higher tax states.

The former president will speak at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, at 7pm, just three days after a second assassination attempt against him. Earlier in the day there was a brief security scare regarding a false report of an explosive device near the site that was quickly dismissed by law enforcement as having no factual basis.

"There is no validity to the report," a Nassau County PD spokesman told The Independent.

Trump’s decision to host a rally in New York is curious given that the election will almost certainly come down to voters in a handful of swing states. New polling from Quinnipiac shows Kamala Harris leading Trump by six points in Pennsylvania and five in Michigan — outside the margin of error.

A survey commissioned by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows the race between the former president and Harris tightening in Georgia, with Trump leading the vice president by just three percentage points, signaling yet another nail-biter from the Peach State in November.

Key Points

• Donald Trump declares ‘only consequential presidents get shot at’ at Michigan town hall
• Trump surprises booing supporters by praising Kamala Harris’s ‘very nice call’ after foiled attack
• Harris condemns Trump’s pet-eating migrant conspiracy: ‘Exhausting, harmful and hateful’
• Sarah Huckabee Sanders slams Harris for not having biological children
• Democrat leads Trump by record margin of six points nationally, new poll finds

[18 September 2024 09:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Sarah Huckabee Sanders slams Harris for not having biological children

Back in Flint, the Arkansas Governor appeared to criticize the Vice President for not having biological children during last night’s event.

“My kids keep me humble,” Huckabee Sanders said in Flint. “Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”

Here’s more on an appalling low blow echoing JD Vance from Gustaf Kilander.

[18 September 2024 09:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

Kamala Harris condemns Trump’s pet-eating migrant conspiracy: ‘Exhausting, harmful and hateful’

The Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee was speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia last night, the same organisation Trump spoke to in late July when he made his notorious “happened to turn Black” comment about her race.

Here’s what she had to say about the Springfield, Ohio, conspiracy the Republican ticket has been pushing.

[18 September 2024 09:05 · Joe Sommerlad]

Trump surprises booing supporters by praising Harris’s ‘very nice call’ at town hall

Drawing boos in Flint, Trump said he had a “very nice” call with Vice President Kamala Harris when she checked in on him after the second failed assassination attempt against him during this campaign.

“I have to say that President Biden called me yesterday, [it] was... a very nice conversation. I appreciated that he called about, you know what happened the other day,” Trump began.

“A little while ago, I got a very nice call from Kamala. It was very nice... and we appreciate that, but we have to take back our country. We have to win. We’re going to win, and we’re going to make America great again.”

As he spoke, sections of the crowd at the town hall booed at the mention of Harris’s name.

Despite that, Trump mentioned the call again later in the town hall, insisting that the Vice President “couldn’t have been nicer.”

Gustaf Kilander has more.

[18 September 2024 08:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Trump declares ‘only consequential presidents get shot at' at Michigan town hall

Good morning!

Let’s take a look back at Donald Trump’s madcap town hall with his former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Flint, Michigan, last night.

The Republican presidential nominee attempted to turn the threats against his life into a compliment by claiming that “only consequential presidents get shot at” and insisted again that he does not “ramble” during his public appearances.

“The fake news likes to say, ‘Oh he was rambling.’ No, no. That’s not rambling. That’s genius,” Trump said.

“When you can connect the dots. Now, Sarah, if you couldn’t connect the dots, you got a problem. But every dot was connected. And many stories were told in that little paragraph.”

Alrighty then.

Among the examples of his “genius” on show in Flint was his confusing an Alaska wildlife reserve with an Afghan airbase, saying climate change would be great for the seafront property sector, suggesting that China had deliberately unleashed Covid-19 on the world to sabotage his presidency and raving about windmills and the threat nuclear warefare poses to local manufacturing.

[18 September 2024 08:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

Brittany Mahomes now questioning Trump support, report says

Brittany Mahomes is reportedly questioning her support of Donald Trump, following the former president’s attack on one of her close friends – Taylor Swift.

Trump’s recent attacks on Swift – who last week officially backed Kamala Harris for president – have reportedly shaken Mahomes “to her core.”

Mike Bedigan has the story.

[18 September 2024 07:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

[18 September 2024 06:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

I traveled with Tim Walz after the second attempted Trump assassination. Here’s how he reacted

The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg has been traveling with Tim Walz — something he calls a ‘surreal affair’ — and details how Harris’s running mate responded to the second attempted shooting of Trump at his golf course in Florida.

[18 September 2024 05:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Former Trump aide says second administration will be filled with the ‘Laura Loomers of the world'

A former Donald Trump aide warned that the Republican presidential nominee’s staff would be full of “Laura Loomers of the world” if he is re-elected president in November.

Loomer, 31, the conservative conspiracy theorist who once described herself as a “proud Islamophobe,” has been placed under the microscope in recent weeks for her presence and perceived close relationship with the 78-year-old former president.

Now, Trump’s former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews weighed in on the Republican presidential nominee’s connection to the MAGA stalwart, and what role she might play in a second administration.

Read on...

[18 September 2024 04:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Trump’s pal recalls watching Secret Service jump on former president during assassination attempt

One of Donald Trump’s golfing partners has recalled the moment that Secret Service members “converged” on the former president after gunshots rang out across the Florida golf course.

Businessman Steve Witkoff, a longtime Trump friend and political donor, said the agents present took “two seconds, maybe three” to spring into action and usher Trump off the course.

The incident happened on Sunday as the pair played at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

Mike Bedigan reports.

[18 September 2024 03:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

‘Sorry!’: MSNBC host curses live on air while taunting Trump’s ‘dirtbag’ crypto partner

MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle cursed live on air while delivering scathing criticism about Donald Trump’s business partner in his new cryptocurrency venture.

Chase Herro, the self-styled “dirtbag of the internet,” is the dealmaker behind World Liberty Financial, the crypto project Trump is working on with his two eldest sons, Eric and Donald Jr.

The four men, along with fellow crypto entrepreneur Zachary Folkman, unveiled the new venture in a virtual address from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday — a highly unusual maneuver just weeks before election day on November 5.

James Liddell has the details.