Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Liveupdated1726755749

Trump raves about Elvis at New York rally as new poll shows Harris leading in two key swing states: Live

Donald Trump indulges narcissism at Long Island event while latest survey places Kamala Harris comfortably ahead in Pennsylvania and Michigan and narrowly in front in Wisconsin

Donald Trump boasts he is 'greater than Elvis'

Your support helps us to tell the story

My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.

Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.

Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond

Head shot of Eric Garcia

Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

Donald Trump delivered his latest rally in Uniondale on Long Island, New York, on Wednesday, pledging to “bring back religion” to thank God for saving his life, suggesting he was a bigger star than Elvis Presley, joking that he has not read his wife Melania Trump’s new memoir and asking New Yorkers to vote for him by saying: “What the hell do you have to lose?”

The Republican nominee also pledged to visit Springfield, Ohio, after he and running mate JD Vance spread a bogus story about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating residents’ pets, inspiring a spate of bomb threats.

Before Trump’s event began, local police were forced to shut down false claims that a car filled with explosives had been found close to the Nassau Coliseum where the candidate was speaking.

Meanwhile, a fresh poll from Quinnipiac University has placed his Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead in two key swing states – Pennsylvania and Michigan – and more narrowly ahead in another, Wisconsin.

Elsewhere, Trump has accused Harris of colluding with Iran to spy on his campaign after the FBI revealed Tehran-backed hackers had attempted to pass stolen material onto the Democratic ticket.

1726755604

Fox News host peddles wild conspiracy connecting Trump and Diddy
Oliver O'Connell19 September 2024 15:20
1726755005

Producers edited The Apprentice to stop Trump ‘from looking moronic’

I’m not sure they entirely succeeded.

Gustaf Kilander has more.

Producers edited The Apprentice to stop Trump from looking like a ‘complete moron’

‘That quality that was really bad for him in business was solid gold on the show,’ author says

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 15:10
1726753805

Watch: Nigel Farage says there’s some truth in Trump’s claim Haitian migrants are eating pets

Oh well if the Pied Piper of Brexit says it...

Farage says there’s some truth in Trump’s claim Haitian migrants are eating pets

Nigel Farage believes there is some truth in Donald Trump’s claim that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Ohio. The former US president made the claim during a live ABC debate with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this month. The Reform MP said he believes there is some truth to Trump’s comments. Appearing on LBC on Thursday (19 September), Mr Farage said: “Whenever he says something like this that is absoluley crackers in the end there is always some truth in it. “I’ll have a tenner with you that within the next month we find some evidence of it.”

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 14:50
1726752605

Trump now boasts he pulls in bigger crowds than Elvis – despite not having a guitar

James Liddell has more on Trump again claiming he’s bigger than the King by, you guessed it, obsessing insanely over crowd sizes.

Trump now boasts he pulls in bigger crowds than Elvis – despite not having a guitar

‘I’m the greatest of all time, maybe greater even than Elvis,’ the former president claimed

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 14:30
1726751405

Mystery as Trump rally attendees report bizarre eye burning symptoms post-event

Several people who attended Trump’s rally in Tuscon, Arizona, last week have since reported suffering bizarre eye burning symptoms in the event’s aftermath.

Six rallygoers who were all sat in the section directly behind the former president during the gathering on Thursday September 12 told News 4 that they subsequently had to seek medical attention after experiencing eye irritation.

Myriam Page reports.

Mystery as Trump rally attendees report bizarre eye burning symptoms post-event

One rallygoer said medical staff told her that her symptoms seemed to suggest she’d been ‘sprayed with something’

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 14:10
1726750205

‘Crypto president’ Trump buys cheeseburger with bitcoin in NYC campaign stop

This was the Republican presidential nominee yesterday, attempting to promote his new World Liberty Financial venture by buying himself a burger with a digital coin – he’s certainly come a long way since declaring cryptocurrency “a scam”, “not money” and “based on thin air” in 2019.

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 13:50
1726749005

New mugshot shows Trump’s suspected would-be assassin half-smiling at camera

Madeline Sherratt has the latest on Ryan Wesley Routh.

New mugshot shows Trump’s suspected would-be assassin half-smiling at camera

Routh, 58, is seen staring into the camera with a half-smile across his face

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 13:30
1726747805

More than 100 former Republican officials back Harris over Trump in damning letter

A group of more than 100 prominent former officials who served in Republican administrations have endorsed Kamala Harris in a scathing letter that claims Donald Trump is “unfit to serve again as president, or indeed in any office of public trust.”

The letter, obtained by The New York Times, counts signatories including former defense secretaries Chuck Hagel and William Cohen, former CIA directors Michael Hayden and William Webster and former Trump administration officials Miles Taylor and Olivia Troye, among others.

The signatories admit they probably disagree with Harris on a number of issues but argue that Trump’s affinity for strongmen and behavior on January 6 disqualifies him from serving again.

“As president, he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests, and betrayed our values, democracy, and this country’s founding documents,” the letter reads.

Josh Marcus has more.

More than 100 ex-Republican officials back Harris over Trump in damning letter

Signatories include former cabinet secretaries, intelligence leaders, and members of Congress

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 13:10
1726746605

House Speaker rebuked as his Trump-bait funding bill fails to pass Republican-controlled House

Mike Johnson pushed ahead with his doomed bid to avert a government shutdown on Wednesday, despite clear signs that the legislation was unpalatable to both conservatives in his own party as well as the Democrats who control the upper chamber of Congress.

The House voted early yesterday evening on a continuing resolution to keep the government open, laden with giveaways to the conservative right.

Those included spending cuts and a piece of legislation stapled to the broader package aimed at preventing non-citizens from voting in federal elections – something that is already illegal.

Johnson of course, admitted this in a recent interview and has evaded acknowledging that Donald Trump’s claims of massive numbers of undocumented immigrants voting are false.

“This is the play we’re running,” the Speaker told The Hill this week. “I’ll be working around the clock to try to get it done.”

His failure was evident as the vote occurred shortly before 7pm last night. The yeas trailed the nays by 18 votes, with two members voting present.

Johnson said afterwards he was “disappointed” with the outcome but refused to criticize his own strategy – and was given a surprisingly hard time about it by Sean Hannity on Fox.

Here’s John Bowden with a full report.

Mike Johnson rebuked as his Trump-bait funding bill fails to pass GOP House

The Speaker is trying to pander to Trump and the far right of his party. In doing so, he might actually end up having to do a deal with Democrats — again

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 12:50
1726745405

Trump says audience ‘went crazy’ for him at his debate with Harris... but there was no audience

Here’s Myriam Page with more on the candidate’s bizarre comment to Greg Gutfeld last night about the wild reaction he misremembers receiving from the entirely non-existent crowd in Philadelphia last Tuesday.

There’s exhaustion and understandable forgetfulness and then there’s complete divorce from reality and cognitive decline.

Trump claims audience ‘went crazy’ at debate with Harris – but there was no audience

Former president often claims his crowd sizes are huge – even wildly claiming he drew in a bigger crowd than Martin Luther King Jr during the March on Washington – but this time, he appeared to go even further by claiming there was one at all

Joe Sommerlad19 September 2024 12:30

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in