Trump town hall: President rages against Savannah Guthrie and protesters arrested as Biden holds rival event

Trump tweet ‘gave Taliban upper hand' in negotiations, says Afghan peace official

Donald Trump’s tweet calling for US troops to be home by Christmas gives the Taliban the upper hand in ongoing peace talks, Afghanistan’s chief negotiator has alleged.

The possibility of a complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after 19 years of conflict has played a significant role in drawing the Taliban to the negotiating table in Doha, and it is no secret that Mr Trump has painted a total exit as a major foreign policy win.

But under the February accord signed by Washington and the Taliban – which enabled historic peace talks for a power-sharing deal in the Middle East nation – such a move is contingent upon a pledge by the insurgents to fight and deny refuge to terrorist groups, namely al-Qaida, and a calculable reduction in violence on the ground. 

Andy Gregory reports: 

Obama says Biden has 'good instincts' despite Iraq War vote

Former president Barack Obama praised Joe Biden’s “good instincts” and said he would use them as president, despite voting for the Iraq war.

In an appearance on the “Pod Save America” podcast, Mr Obama discussed how a Biden administration would be able to implement “actual policy that works”, and that lived-up to his “good instincts”, having learned lessons from almost five decades in politics.

On the Iraq war, the Democrat argued that Mr Biden “learned a lesson from that”, having later admitted that his vote for the Iraq War as a senator "was a mistake".

Gino Spocchia reports: 

Donald Trump wants to jail flag burners for one year if he wins second term

Donald Trump says he wants to jail anyone who burns the American flag for one year if he wins a second term.

The president made the threat during his North Carolina rally as he blamed Biden’s supporters for flags burned during racial justice protests this year.

“So the candidate whose supporters are burning American flags, and I say all the time let’s put in some kind of major, major resolution that if you burn an American flag you spend one year in jail, do it,” said Trump.

The Independent’s Graeme Massie has more on this.

Donald Trump mocks Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris for trying to break glass ceiling

The Hunter Biden story proves Trump is losing the election — badly — and his campaign knows it

Andrew Feinberg with his latest analysis for The Independent: 

Lindsey Graham says Democrats have ‘good chance of winning the White House'

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham has commented he thinks Democrats have a “good chance of winning” the White House in November's presidential election.

During a hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the Republican senator made the comment following condemnation from senator Amy Klobuchar that Judge Barrett’s nomination was taking place amidst the election.

“I just don’t think you can separate this from the election that we are in,” she said.  

“This is your country I say to the American people not Donald Trump’s and this should be your judge not Donald Trump’s judge.”

Louise Hall has the full report: 

Election 2020 polls: Biden is now more popular than Obama in 2008

Joe Biden is polling at this stage of the race not only far better than Hillary Clinton did in the entire 2016 cycle but also even better than the man for whom he served as vice president, Barack Obama.

Nationally, Biden is at 51.5 per cent, according to RCP averages of all the polls. President Obama never hit 50 per cent in his aggregate polling leading into his re-election in 2018. And 19 days before the election the past three cycles, no candidate, not even 2008 Obama, topped 50 per cent as Biden currently does.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Biden’s national polling advantage now is so large that the electoral college is not expected to come into play. While win probability isn’t about the election as much as it is about the accuracy of the polling, the site’s 40,000 simulations have Biden winning in 87 per cent of the time, most commonly by over 400 electoral votes.

Michael Salfino reports: 

Obama accuses Trump of accelerating spread of online disinformation and conspiracy theories

Barack Obama blamed Donald Trump for encouraging and inspiring the spread of disinformation during a recent podcast appearance.

“Social media, media infrastructure, the conservative media infrastructure. We've had this conversation before. That is a problem that is going to outlast Trump. Trump is a symptom of it and an accelerant to it,” Mr Obama said.. “It has gotten turbocharged because of social media. And because the head of our government, of our federal government has resorted to it.”

The Independent’s Graig Graziosi has more.

Joe Biden campaign crew tests positive for Covid-19

The ex-vp announced on Twitter that one of his transport crew who was on a charter flight tested positive for Covid-19.

“This crew member was on the plane with me, but was more than 50 feet away,” he said. “My COVID test from last night came back negative.”

Trump arrives in Miami ahead of NBC town hall event

Via White House correspondent Mark Knoller.