Election 2024 live updates: Trump and Harris tied in latest national polls

The campaign appearance will mark the “Texas Hold Em” singer’s first public endorsement for the Democratic presidential nominee. While Beyoncé has yet to make a statement in support of Harris, the vice president has continued to use the track “Freedom” – from Beyoncé’s 2016 album Lemonade – as her 2024 campaign song.

Meredith Clark has the details.

His reasons are threefold, as Katie Hawkinson reports.

Harris-Walz 2024 Director of Rapid Response Ammar Moussa gave the following statement on Donald Trump promising to fire Jack Smith in this morning’s interview with Hugh Hewitt:

“Donald Trump thinks he’s above the law, and these latest comments are right in line with the warnings made by Trump’s former Chief of Staff that he wants to rule as a dictator with unchecked power. A second Trump term, where a more unstable and unhinged Trump has essentially no guardrails and is surrounded by loyalists who will enable his worst instincts, is guaranteed to be more dangerous. America can’t risk a second Trump term.”

No, really…

It is now less than two weeks until election day, and the polls are no closer to showing who will be the next president of the United States.

In the past few days, polls have ranged from a 4-point Harris lead, to Trump 3 points ahead overall.

With this much variation, can (and should) we really trust the polls?

Here’s Alicja Hagopian to explain:

Here at The Independent, we rely on the Associated Press to call the results of races during US elections, so I’m just going to leave this here:

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — AP sources: Beyoncé, whose song ‘Freedom’ is Harris campaign anthem, is expected to be at Harris’ Houston rally Friday.

Now, look… we’ve been burned before by rumors about Beyonce campaigning with Kamala Harris — remember the appearance at the DNC that never was?

However, multiple news organizations are now reporting that the global superstar will appear with the vice president tomorrow in her hometown of Houston, Texas, and will perform…

Harris is scheduled to speak in Houston tomorrow and give remarks focuses on reproductive rights.

Here’s a more pragmatic approach to the news that summed up the response from many on The Independent’s news desk:

Mick Foley, the retired professional wrestler — considered the greatest of his era in the WWE — has a message for America about Donald Trump as the election nears.

Appearing over the years in the ring as Mankind, Dude Love, and Cactus Jack, Foley slams Trump’s rhetoric about “the enemy within”, is frustrated so many cannot see how he is only out for himself, and explains the former president’s history of screwing over the working class by not paying contractors.

Returning to Trump’s threats to jail his opponents, Foley addresses the former president directly: “Are you going to put me in jail for criticising the Supreme Court?” He then lays into conservative justices one after another, before calling Trump a “douchebag”.

He closes out his video message with an emphatic: “Vote for Kamala Harris!”

Donald Trump was interviewed on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show this morning. A transcript is not yet complete and the audio quality wasn’t great because the former president was on a plane, but here are some highlights:

• Yes, he’d use military force to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons
• Asked whether he’d pardon himself or fire Jack Smith on his first day in office: “Oh, it’s so easy. It’s so easy. He’s a crooked person. … We had a brave and brilliant judge in Florida … I would fire him within two seconds. … I don’t think they’ll impeach me if I fire Jack Smith … He’s a scoundrel … He’s so mean.”
• Would he pardon Hunter Biden?: “I wouldn’t take it off the books. … Hunter’s a bad boy, there’s no question about it … But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country … I could’ve gotten Hilary Clinton very easily. … I could’ve had her put in jail.” [huh?]
• His response to a question about “why do some people hate you so much” is almost a free association chain of thought worthy of James Austin Johnson’s impression of Trump on Saturday Night Live: Well, it’s a gift, or it’s something like being left a gift. But it’s one way or the other, because I have a tendency to win. It’s a nice thing, and that bothers people. Sometimes, I play a little bit rough, but they play rough. They are rough and vicious people. They are vicious people. They’re dirty people. They’ve weaponized government. They’ve weaponized everything. And it’s actually made me more popular. It’s hard to believe. That’s, they’re also going to be wrestling with for years, because every time they do something, it makes me more popular. And even I’m surprised about the others. But the people, the thing I’ve learned is the people are very smart. They get it. They get it better than the Democrats get it. And every single time they’ve pulled that weaponization, every single time, with Fani, you know, Fani is…with Fani, with everybody, every time they do this, it’s shocking. You know, my pollster will call me, “Sir, you’re up seven points.” The next time, “Sir, you went up six points.” And it’s rather amazing. But Trump Derangement Syndrome, I don’t know, it’s, I think I’m a nice person. But I’m a negotiator, but I win. And look, I’ve won for the Republican Party. I’ve taken the Republican Party and made into an entirely different party…The Republican Party is a very big, powerful party. Before, it stood, it was an elitist party with real stiffs running it.