Biden news: Democratic sweep would be biggest boost for economy, analysts say

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. 

Trump trolls Biden and says ex-VP will take ‘big shot of something’ before their first debate

Democratic nominee Joe Biden was ridiculed by Donald Trump at a  campaign rally on Thursday for taking a day off from public speaking to prepare for their forthcoming debates, the president complaining: “He does a lid all the time [and] I’m working my a*** off”. 

The president also alleged in Jacksonville, Florida, that the challenger would “take a big shot of something” prior to their head-to-head in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, which is being hosted by Fox News and moderated by Chris Wallace. 

“Biden’s plan will crush Florida, my plan will crush the virus,” Trump blustered.

Yesterday, the president claimed on Fox News Radio that debate moderator Wallace  was “controlled by the radical left”, an absurd lie that, taken with this Biden allegation, reveals how far he is prepared to go to make excuses should he humiliate himself at the podium by claiming the Q&A was rigged.

President goes after ‘low energy’ candidate

Trump continued to pummel Biden on age grounds yesterday, saying now was not the time for a “low energy” leader as part of his ongoing insinuation that the candidate needs pharmaceutical assistance to appear invigorated on the campaign trail.

This line of attack appears to be tapping into fears shared privately by some Democrats.

Fox poll shows challenger ahead in Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania

But despite Trump’s childish jabs, it’s good news for Biden this morning as a Fox News poll puts him ahead of the president in the key states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada, where the president trails his rival by 11 points.

Voter are backing the challenger over the incumbent on such defining issues of the 2020 hellscape as response to the coronavirus pandemic, succession at the Supreme Court and police reform.

Bernie Sanders details Trump's efforts to steal election in urgent call to action

The popular Vermont senators has warned against the president’s attempts to undermine the results of the 2020 election and urged Americans to “listen to and take seriously” his threats, including his recent refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

“This is not just an election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” Sanders said in remarks on Thursday. “This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy – and democracy must win. ”

The senator said it is “absolutely essential” for Republicans, Democrats and others to combat the president’s threats “to keep faith with the American ideals we hold so dear and with the sacrifices that so many made in order to protect our democracy.”

Alex Woodward has more on this.

FBI director says no evidence of mail-in voter fraud, countering Trump’s repeated false claims

Despite the president banging the drum about mail ballots being vulnerable to exploitation at every possible opportunity, Christopher Wray is not backing him up.

Appearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday, Wray said the agency had "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise."

“We have seen voter fraud at the local level from time to time,” he said, adding that “to change a federal election outcome by mounting that kind of fraud at scale would be a major challenge for an adversary, but people should make no mistake that we’re vigilant as to the threat and watching it carefully.”

Here’s Richard Hall’s report.

‘Trump claiming he’ll “get rid of ballots” may have just lost him the Latin American votes he desperately needed’

For Indy Voices, here’s Andrew Feinberg on the president potentially alienating a crucial demographic he needs to win and handing Biden a major advantage.

Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton attack Trump over White House exit threat

The popular Masschusetts senator appeared on MSNBC’s All in with Chris Hayes last night and added her voice to the condemnation of the president over his refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose to Diamond Joe in November.

Mitch McConnell and Kayleigh McEnany both downplayed the fears inspired by the president’s “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens…” line on Wednesday but that has done nothing to stop the outcry.

“When Donald Trump says that he is not necessarily going to accept the will of the voters, he’s flirting with treason,” Warren said.

“He’s saying, peaceful transition of power doesn’t matter to him. All that matters to him, once again, is Donald Trump and whatever Donald Trump wants.”

Hillary Clinton has also warned the president’s threat needs to be taken seriously.

Here’s Louise Hall on what the beaten 2016 candidate has to say.

Biden roasts Trump over ignorance of history and bad coronavirus advice

While the president has been serving up plenty of personal insults to Biden this week, regularly implying that he is “mentally shot” and needs pharmaceutical help and a teleprompter to get through a press session, the Democratic nominee has been getting his own back.

In conversation with WRAL’s Cullen Browder in North Carolina this week, Biden ridiculed Trump for his ignorance of American history and highly questionable advice on using household bleach to combat the coronavirus, turning the tables nicely.

“I’m not the guy who by the way said the problem with the Revolutionary War is we didn’t have enough airports," Biden joked with Browder. "I’m not the guy who said the attack that took down the trade towers was on 7-Eleven.”

“I do know the difference between truth and lies, between good and bad, between hope and fear,” he said.

“So just watch me and make your decision.”

Pelosi doubles down on saying Biden should not debate Trump ahead of 2020 election: 'He doesn’t tell the truth'

The House speaker says the Democratic candidate has nothing to gain from facing off against the president.

Chris Riotta has the latest.