Trump calls Walz ‘moron’ as betting odds show him favored over Vance ahead of high stakes VP debate: Live

The Trump campaign is trying to manage expectations ahead of tonight’s vice presidential debate between Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, but the former president doesn’t appear on message.

During a campaign call with reporters, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller said: “Walz is very good in debates. I want to repeat that: Tim Walz is very good in debates. Really good. He's been a politician for nearly 20 years. He'll be very well-prepared for tomorrow night.”

“He's not going to be the wildly gesticulating, effeminate caricature we see at rallies, pointing to Kamala Harris and dancing about on the stage. Walz is going to be buttoned up. He'll be ready to defend his own radical left record in Minnesota and in Washington.”

However, the former president struck a different tone, later telling Kellyanne Conway: “You'll see it tomorrow with JD. It'll be stacked. He's going up against a moron. A total moron, how she picked him is unbelievable. And I think it's a big factor. There's something wrong with that guy. He's sick.”

The Independent will be covering the debate live tonight at 9pm ET.

Iran is preparing an imminent ballistic missile attack on Israel, a US official says, warning of “severe consequences” for Iran.

“The United States has indications that Iran is preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel. We are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend Israel against this attack. A direct military attack from Iran against Israel will carry severe consequences for Iran,” a White House official says.

Democratic insiders are said to be privately voicing concerns that Tim Walz could blow crucial vice presidential debate against JD Vance because of his tendency to be overly abrupt and defensive about his record in office and his occasionally “manic” speaking style.

Walz is due to square up to the Ohio GOP senator on stage at the CBS News debate in New York City on Tuesday night and – with no further debates in the pipeline – the contest could mark the final face-off between the Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns before November’s election.

But allies of the Democratic vice presidential candidate have warned Politico that there are fears that Walz’s abrupt manner of shutting down conversations and runaway manner of speaking – which one anonymous insider described as “a bit manic” – could ultimately count against him.

Joe Sommerlad reports.

Anti-Trump conservative group The Lincoln Project has hit out at Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, calling him “a conniving liar who will sane-wash and make palatable all of Trump’s crazy and dangerous positions”.

“Vance is a misogynist who has twisted, dark plans for America to turn women’s rights back 100 years,” said Lincoln Project Chief of Staff Ryan Wiggins. She continued, “Tonight he will lie about Trump’s past, lie about his own support for Project 2025, and deny that he ever believed Trump was ‘America’s Hitler’. The only thing Vance can be counted on is to defend Trump and wear terrible makeup.”

Watch the group’s latest ad here:

The bets are on ahead of tonight’s vice presidential debate, with bookies rounding up the odds on who will win the showdown: Democrat Tim Walz or Republican JD Vance?

Alicja Hagopian looks at the numbers.

Trump's former military guru has pooh-poohed the former president’s campaign trail refrain that he could broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia “in one day”.

“I don’t really buy it,” said HR McMaster, who was appointed as a national security adviser by Trump in 2017 and was forced out in 2018, in an interview with CBS News anchor Robert Costa.

“I think it’s a real myth, a real misunderstanding of war, to assume that you can get a favourable political outcome without a favourable military outcome. That’s never really happened in war.

“And so I think the right course of action, if you want to accelerate progress toward a settlement, is to convince [Vladimir] Putin that he’s losing the war. I think that’s the only way you get a favourable settlement.

“How do you do that? You demonstrate our resolve to continue to support the Ukrainians as they defend themselves against this continued onslaught by the Russians.”

Io Dodds has more.

According to the Harris-Walz campaign, these are the Democrats that will be stumping for Tim Walz in the spin room at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City tonight:

• Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
• Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona
• Governor Jared Polis of Colorado
• Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois
• US Representative Jasmine Crockett
• Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison
• Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico

And here’s your reminder of who is in Vance’s corner:

• Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller
• Donald Trump Jr
• Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas
• Senator Katie Britt of Alabama
• US Representative Elise Stefanik
• US Representative Byron Donalds
• Howard Lutnick