Trump news – live: President boasts of 'high marks' despite spiralling coronavirus death toll, as Pence and Harris both take campaign to swing state

Trump hits out at Democrat-run cities

Joe Exotic’s team to ‘hand deliver’ request for Trump to pardon Tiger King star

Joe Exotic’s team will hand deliver a request for Donald Trump to pardon the Tiger King star this week, reports have claimed.

Exotic, who rose to fame after starring in the popular Netflix documentary series, is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence on charges of animal abuse and murder for hire. However, his legal representatives claim that he was wrongly convicted.

Following the show’s success, Trump was asked during a coronavirus briefing in April whether he had considered pardoning Exotic. The president replied that he hadn’t seen the show but would “take a look” into the former zoo owner’s case.

Now, Exotic’s team are reportedly ramping up the campaign again with the hope of getting Trump to pardon him.

Harris suggests Russia could hand Trump re-election 

Kamala Harris has warned that Russia is again meddling in US elections to the extent that it could once again throw the outcome to Donald Trump, compounding all the other threats to the US’s electoral system.

Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash about a Homeland Security bulletin advising that Russia is “amplifying” the president’s baseless claims of widespread mail-in ballot fraud, the vice-presidential nominee said that she had no doubt that the Kremlin’s activities will be a factor in the campaign right up until polling day.

“I am clear that Russia interfered in the election of the president of the United States in 2016. I serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee; we have published detailed reports about exactly what we believe happened, and I do believe that there will be foreign interference in the 2020 election and that Russia will be at the front of the line.”“Could it cost you the White House?” asked Ms Bash. Ms Harris did not pause.“Theoretically, of course."

“Could it cost you the White House?” asked Ms Bash. Ms Harris did not pause, saying: “Theoretically, of course."

Biden campaign announces new endorsements 

Joe Biden is set to receive the backing of three groups representing hundreds of thousands of union workers, as he makes a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on the Labor Day holiday. 

According to the Associated Press, the Laborers' International Union of North America, the International Union of Elevator Constructors and the National Federation of Federal Employees, are all set to be revealed as the latest bodies to endorse the Democratic presidential nominee. 

In election years, Labor Day has typically marked the beginning of the final stretch of the US presidential election, with less than two months to spare, until voters chose between Mr Biden and president Donald Trump. 

Trump praises US pandemic performance, despite deaths

As American deaths from the coronavirus near 190,000, with more than 6.2 million cases, president Donald Trump on Monday praised his administration’s handling of the crisis, whilst alleging that a vaccine was “coming, and fast”. 

The country has, according to John Hopkins data, consistently recorded the world’s highest death count since the pandemic reached North America earlier this year. 

President holding White House conference

Donald Trump will hold a news conference at the White House on Monday, as the US marks the Labor Day holiday.

"Will be having a Labor Day News Conference today at the White House, 1:00 P.M.," Trump said in a post on Twitter. "Jobs number, and the Economic comeback, are looking GREAT."

It comes as his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, speaks with workers in Pennsylvania, as both nominees for president make their pitches to voters.

The US president has, throughout the pandemic, promised to restore confidence in the American economy following the fallout from coronavirus. 

New York ramps-up postmortem virus testing

Officials in New York have recently announced plans to increase post-mortem testing for the coronavirus as well as the flu. 

The new regulation will see deaths linked to respiratory illnesses that weren’t confirmed before a person died receive follow-up tests for both viruses within 48 hours. 

“These regulations will ensure we have the most accurate death data possible as we continue to manage Covid-19 while preparing for flu season,” Dr Howard Zucker, the state’s health commissioner, said in a statement last week.

Katherine J. Wu reports:

President shares video with alleged protest violence

In a Twitter post on Monday, Donald Trump shared a video - originally uploaded to the social media platform in July - featuring what appeared to be Black Lives Matter protesters hurling objects at a parked police vehicle. 

The retweet, which came with the caption “peaceful protest”, also included the Black Lives Matter hashtag. 

Although the source of the clip cannot be confirmed, the US president, in an apparent attack on anti-racism protests, wrote : “A so-called peaceful protest!”

It comes after a study found that almost 93 per cent of protests against racism this summer were in fact peaceful, amid accusations - led by Mr Trump - that those who participated were “thugs”. 

The report, which was carried out by The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), analysed more than 7,750 Black Lives Matter demonstrations that took place following the death of George Floyd’s between May 26 and August 22.

Barr lying about foreign election interference, says Democrat 

The attorney general, William Barr, has been accused of lying about the threats faced by the United States when it comes to foreign interference in November’s presidential election.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff  described Mr Barr's claim last week that China is interfering with the election more than Russia, as a “false statement”.

"That's just a plain, false statement by the Attorney General. A flat-out false statement," said Mr Schiff. "You can tell that Bill Barr is just flat-out lying to the American people, and it's tragic but it's as simple as that.

He added: "It's just such a disservice to the country that we can't trust our own attorney general, but apparently Bill Barr is willing to do anything or say anything to help Donald Trump."

The Democrat’s comments follow a Department for Homeland Security report which last week warned "that Russia is likely to continue amplifying criticisms of vote-by-mail and shifting voting processes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to undermine public trust in the electoral process".  

Donald Trump has claimed his Department of Education will defund public schools that include the 1619 Project in their teaching – reviving his claim that children are “taught in school to hate our country”.

The president made his threat to the programme, which teaches the history of American slavery, while quoting a right-wing Twitter account, @Ocitman that claims that “california has implemented the 1619 project into the public schools. soon you wont (sic) recognize america”.

“Department of Education is looking at this,” wrote Mr Trump. “If so, they will not be funded!”

However, his ability to cancel funding is strictly limited, and previous efforts on the part of Republicans to keep children from studying the project have so far come to nothing.

Andrew Naughtie reports: