Trump news: President to name Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court, reports say

Trump Jr tells supporters to ‘defend your ballot’ to join an ‘Army for Trump’s election security operation’

Donald Trump Jr has echoed his fathers calls to supporters to watch polls on Election Day in a campaign ad urging supporters to “defend your ballot” by joining an “army” on his behalf.

“We need every able-bodied man and woman to join Army for Trump’s election security operation," he said. “We need you to help us watch them.”

Voting rights advocates have warned that the president could declare a premature victory on Election Day after in-person ballots are counted, while discounting mail-in ballots.

Supporters have already been seen intimidating voters in Virginia outside an early voting location.

Events for the “election security operation” on the campaign’s website largely consist of virtual events, door knocking and canvassing, voter registration drives and “victory leadership initiative training," a virtual canvassing presentation.

Trump attacks Black Lives Matter movement during black empowerment event

Donald Trump has condemned Black Lives Matter supporters are “fools” and claimed that the movement demanding justice for police brutality against black Americans is “hurting the black community.”

The president conflated its broad support with an “extreme socialist left” and said “wealthy liberal hypocrites” are “fools” for supporting it.

He is delivering remarks to a “black empowerment event” in Atlanta, where he has contrasted his term to Joe Biden, who the president claimed "cares more about citizens of other countries" than black Americans."

Trump supporters chant ‘fill that seat’ day before president to name Ginsburg successor

Donald Trump is set to name his nominee to the US Supreme Court on Saturday, a week after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Supporters in Atlanta at a “black economic empowerment” event chanted “fill that seat."

“The Democrats don’t think we should do it," he said. "Put them in our shoes … They would be working over the weekend. They have been not good to deal with.”

Report: Trump will choose Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Supreme Court

Amy Coney Barrett will be Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg, according to reports.

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Trump Jr calls for 'army' of supporters to 'protect ballots' as he lies about Dems trying to steal election

has echoed his father’s calls to supporters to watch polls on election day in a campaign ad urging them to “defend your ballot” by joining an “army” on his behalf, stoking fears that the campaign is supporting efforts to intimidate voters over unfounded ballot fraud claims.

“We need every able-bodied man and woman to join Army for Trump’s election security operation," he said. “We need you to help us watch them.”

Democrats and election analysts, as well as social media watchdogs, have warned that the president could declare victory prematurely based on in-person votes before mail-in vote counts are tabulated in the presidential election between the Republican incumbent and Joe Biden.

The president’s supporters have already been seen intimidating voters in Virginia outside an early voting location.

‘They’re not going to be denied’: Biden says strong voter turnout will overwhelm Trump threats to undermine results

Joe Biden condemned Donald Trump’s attempts to undermine the results of the presidential election “irresponsible and outrageous" as he suggested that a massive voter turnout will overwhelm the president’s claims that the results will be disputed.

In an appearance on MSNBC on Friday, the candidate said the president’s remarks and refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power as “a typical Trump distraction.”

“The people in this country are going to be heard on 3 November,” he said. “Every vote in this country is going to be heard … All the outrageous and irresponsible attacks on voting, we’ll have an election in this country like we’ve always had, and he’ll leave.”

Biden on Trump’s election threats: ‘It’s always about distraction with him’

Joe Biden has refused to speculate on the doomsday scenarios that legal scholars and election analysts have considered following Donald Trump’s threats to the election, insisting that the president is using fear as a distraction from his administration’s failures.

The Democratic candidate instead suggested that the rule of law will prevail and American voters will have their voice heard at the polls.

“The last thing we need is the equivalent of a coup,” he said. “No one’s going to back him if that occurs. The whole notion of him talking about this … is to take our eye off the ball, not to talk about what’s happening about people dying of [Covid-19], not talking about unemployment, not talking about getting Congress together and getting off the golf course and out of the sand trap for a meeting in the White House. It’s always about a distraction with him.”

Millions still vulnerable to coronavirus infection, study finds

Fewer than one in 10 Americans have shown signs of past Covid-19 infection, as of late July, suggesting that most Americans are still vulnerable to infection, according to a wide-ranging and geographically diverse report published in The Lancet on Friday.

Researchers from Stanford University and Ascend Clinical laboratory studied blood plasma samples from nearly 30,000 patients who underwent kidney dialysis at centres across the US, revealing that roughly 8 per cent of patients tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, which may help fight off infection.

The researchers estimated that only a minority of Americans possess antibodies, potentially leaving most of the nation at risk of infection, and that “herd immunity” efforts are far from a realistic possibility.

The findings follow testimony from Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director Robert Redfield, who estimated 90 per cent of the US remains at risk of infection.

Who is Amy Coney Barrett? Inside the most controversial decisions from Trump’s likely nominee to the US Supreme Court

The White House has confirmed that Donald Trump will name Amy Coney Barrett as his third Supreme Court nominee, with Republican senators likely to quickly confirm her – or the eventual pick if she is passed over for a third time – this year, possibly before the 3 November election. Her opinions as a federal jurist show she shares Mr Trump’s views on gun rights and his hardline immigration stance. Ms Coney Barrett’s opinions on abortion rights align with the president’s promises to his conservative base. 

Washington bureau chief John T Bennett has a snapshot of some of her most telling opinions:

Trump has generated 3,400 conflicts of interest since entering White House, report states

President Donald Trump has generated 3,400 conflicts of interest since entering the White House in 2017, according to a report by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) watchdog.

Some 400 of those conflicts have come since February, according to CREW, an organisation that monitors the influence of money in Capitol Hill, and has been keeping tabs on the Trump administration.