Biden - news: Campaigns in deadlock as Trump’s ‘erratic behaviour’ leaves debates in doubt

'She’s like a younger sister’: – Biden says of Harris’ debate performance

"The senator had a heck of a night last night. I tell you what, you got to give me great credit for knowing how to pick them,” Biden says.

“She’s like a younger sister. I couldn’t be prouder.”

Biden and Harris appearing together in Arizona after VP debate

Kamala Harris has kicked things off with Joe Biden to follow.

Biden dodging question of Supreme Court packing receives wider condemnation

The Trumpworld is expected to criticize Joe Biden’s comments today that he will not tell voters his position on court-packing until after the election.

But the Democratic nominee has begun receiving criticism for the continued dodge from non-Trumpian boosters.

Based on this reaction, there is a risk that Biden’s refusal to answer this question could stick as an issue in the last few weeks of the campaign.

Here are a few key insights:

New York Times’ White House correspondent Maggie Haberman: “Biden appears to want to avoid angering supporters who wants this. But it's also worth hearing answers from the person who all polls show as the likely next president.”

“This is such a cop out” says CBS News’ White House reporter Kathryn Watson.

Here is Daily Beast reporter Hanna Trudo: “He needs to answer.”

And NBC News contributor Dave Wasserman here: “Yeah, this is not the best look for Biden/Harris.”

Plus Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel:

From The Hill is Joe Conca: “This should lead on the nightly newscasts tonight. It won’t.”

NBC News correspondent Mike Memoli, with this insight: “The most bizarre part of this ongoing saga is the explicit articulation of “I won’t say because if I do it’s a story.”

Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson: "So... he's saying 'You have to elect Biden to find out what's in Biden’?'

Biden refuses to confirm if he will or won’t pack Supreme Court until after election

Joe Biden said on Thursday that he will not tell voters his position on packing the Supreme Court until after the election in November.

“You’ll know my position on court packing when the election is over,” Biden told reporters on Thursday.

“Now look, it’s a great question and I don’t blame you for asking it. But you know the moment I answer that question, the headline in every one of your papers will be about that other than - other than focusing on what’s happening now."

It comes after Biden refused to address the question in the first presidential debate, and Kamala Harris refused to answer the question at Wednesday night’s VP debate.

Segments of the Democratic party have threatened to pack the Supreme Court with more liberal-leaning Justices if Trump’s Scotus pick, Amy Coney Barrett, is confirmed before the election.

That would give Scotus a conservative-leaning majority, and the idea of packing the court with Democratic nominees would theoretically put the court back into a liberal majority.

But the threat has split the party, with some warning there’s nothing stopping Republicans doing that same if they let that genie out of the bottle.

It’s sentiment that Donald Trump echoed at a rally in Florida last month.

“I guess we could do that too, right? We could do that too,” Trump said.

Biden to participate in ABC town hall on 15 October 

Joe Biden will participate in an ABC News town hall on 15 October, the date originally slated for a second town hall presidential debate between the Democrat and President Donald Trump.

The move on Thursday comes after Trump pulled out of their planned duel town hall following an announcement by the Commission on Presidential Debates that it would be held virtually because of the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

Biden has called for pushing back the town hall format to 22 October, effectively replacing the third planned debate. Trump countered with pushing back both debates, holding a town hall on 22 October and then a third debate 29 October, just days before the 3 November election.

George Stephanopoulos will host the Biden town hall in Philadelphia. - AP

Facebook finds pro-Trump group helped make hundreds of accounts to spam comments with attacks on Biden

Facebook has removed hundreds of fake accounts tied to right-wing group Turning Point USA, which enlisted a now-banned marketing group to flood comment sections of news stories to attack Joe Biden and Democrats while praising Donald Trump.

The social media company announced on Thursday that marketing firm Rally Forge had worked with Turning Point USA to make 200 profiles and 55 pages on the platform and 76 on Instagram, beginning in 2018 and continuing through 2020.

Alex Woodward has the full report.

Fox guest calls Kamala Harris ‘Hillary in blackface’ in shocking exchange

An evangelical pastor called Kamala Harris “Hillary Clinton in blackface” in a shocking exchange following the vice presidential debate with Mike Pence.

Darrell Scott made the offensive comment while appearing as a guest on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show The Ingraham Angle on Wednesday.

“I thought Kamala Harris was Hillary Clinton in blackface tonight. That’s what I thought,” the pastor said during the heated exchange.

Louise Hall has the story.

Biden and Trump campaigns talk across each other on debate timing

After the Trump campaign accepted the Biden camp’s proposal to delay the town hall to 22 October, the Biden campaign rejected their counter-proposal to delay the final debate to 29 October.

This is becoming a Monty Python sketch, or Abbot and Costello, depending on which side of the pond is looking at this palaver.

Let’s unpack what is happening here.

After the Debate Commission cancelled the live town hall in favour of a virtual format on 15 October, Trump refused to participate remotely.

In response to Trump’s withdrawal, Biden spokesperson Kate Bedingfield said this on Thursday:

“Given the president’s refusal to participate on 15 October, we hope the Debate Commission will move the Biden-Trump town hall to 22 October so that the president is not able to evade accountability,” she said in a statement.

In repsonse, Trump campaign spox Bill Stepien said this: “We agree that this should happen on 22 October, and accordingly the third debate should then be shifted back one week to 29 October.”

The Biden camp has now come back and seemingly flipped on what they meant in their first statement, saying they agreed to three dates and the Trump camp can’t “pick and choose” and add a 29 October date.  

“We look forward to participating in the final debate, scheduled for 22 October, which already is tied for the latest debate date in 40 years. Donald Trump can show up, or he can decline again. That's his choice," Ms Bdeingfield said, according to CNN.

The confusion here stems from the Biden campaign’s original statement saying they wanted to delay the town hall to 22 October. However, the debate already planned to 22 October is not a town hall format, it’s a regular debate format.

So Ms Bedingfield’s two statements on this are conflicting.

The first statement called on the 15 October town hall to be delayed to 22 October, while the second statement said the third and final debate on 22 October must go ahead as planned – that is to say, not a delay of the second town hall-format debate.

This is important because a town hall style has the candidates taking questions from voters, while the regular debate format is more of… whatever it is that was happening in the first debate.

Clear as mud?

Taylor Swift tells America it’s time to start ‘healing process’ as she endorses Joe Biden

Taylor Swift has endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential election, saying she believes both candidates will begin America’s “healing process”.

The singer made her position known on social media on Wednesday, pointing to a recent interview she gave to V Magazine.

“I will proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election,” Swift told the publication. “Under their leadership, I believe America has a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs.”

Clémence Michallon has the full recap.

Biden again tests negative for Covid

"Vice President Biden underwent PCR testing for COVID-19 today and COVID-19 was not detected,” his campaign said on Thursday.