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      Conspiracy theories and a $1m check: a night at Elon Musk’s surreal election giveaway

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      Standing before a large US flag, which spanned the breadth of a vast stage, the world’s richest man told an assembled audience that he loved them.“This kind of energy lights a fire in my soul,” he said, having just made one of the crowd a millionaire after everyone chanted his name.His love – and that $1m – of course, was contingent on them all doing exactly as Elon Musk wanted: signing a petition tied to his political action committee (Pac) , which is dedicated to sending Donald Trump back to the White House.The spectacle was both surreal and potentially illegal. But no one here, not least Musk himself, seemed to care in the slightest.The billionaire was in Pittsburgh on his final stop across the vital swing state of Pennsylvania, having donated $75m to help get Trump re-elected, and seemingly willing to accept a job offer in Trump’s government should he win.Musk’s latest ploy to assist Trump to attain more political power, has been to give away $1m every day to a member of the public, provided they also live in a swing state and are registered to vote.The stunt is prohibited and akin to buying votes, in the view of some experts, as it violates federal election law preventing payments for registering to vote. The state’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, on Sunday described it as “deeply concerning” and encouraged law enforcement to “take a look at”. Musk’s America Pac did not respond to a list of questions from the Guardian after the Pittsburgh town hall.Sunday’s winner was a woman named Kristine Fishell, who walked down from the theater’s balcony wearing a red Trump T-shirt as Musk waited awkwardly on stage. She thanked him, not only for the money, but also for the “wealth and responsibility, you are using to save [free] speech”. She did not return to her seat after accepting the giant check, and organizers did not make her available for an interview. Hours later a video of Fishell was posted on Musk’s X platform, where she espoused the virtues of signing his petition to an overlay of soft piano music.Many of the attendees at the Roxian theatre said they had signed up to attend the event before he announced the $1m giveaway.Most said they were not concerned by the idea of the world’s richest man taking on a job in Trump’s administration, despite the myriad conflicts of interest that would pose. (Musk’s businesses hold several multi-billion dollar contracts with the US government and Trump has suggested making him a “secretary of cost-cutting” a murky new position within the executive branch.)

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      “I don’t think it’s a conflict of interest,” said one woman who did not give her name. “I think he is fighting for many Americans who feel their rights are being taken away, especially free speech.”Evan Huber was unfazed by the argument that Musk’s entry into government would mark the establishment of a new era of American oligarchy.“At that point all you can get is power,” he said, shrugging. “You already have all the money.”Lauren Stephenson, 40, who described herself as a political independent, arrived at the venue at 8.30am, so set was she to secure a seat.“We need more entrepreneurs,” she said when asked what Elon Musk had ever done for her personally. “I don’t understand why we condemn success. We used to celebrate success.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionStephenson, who was sad not to have won the $1m but said she was planning to buy her first Tesla nonetheless, was frustrated she had been unable to ask a question during the rest of the town hall, which lasted around two hours.Throughout the event, Musk reiterated a litany of falsehoods tied to Trump’s campaign. He argued that the “constitution is literally under attack”, spread false claims about voting machines and said that a Trump loss in November could ultimately end American democracy. “I fear if Trump does not win, we are going to have a single-party state that is going to be like California, but actually worse,” he said.Many in the audience asked questions about Musk’s businesses; his views on the future of AI; even if they should be starting their own families. One asked if he would consider running for president himself in 2028. He could not, he explained, due to the natural born citizen clause of the US constitution, and he did not want the job either.“I hate politics,” he said. “I just like building stuff. And making products that people love.”At one point, when he was asked a question about the future of nuclear power and began extolling the virtues of the sun, an attendee shouted: “Yes! Go the sun!” Later on a man began attempting to get the crowd to spontaneously sing the national anthem but no one joined in. Another attendee was removed by security after trying to shout a question out of line.But others asked more conspiracy themed questions, including whether Musk would consider financing the viewing of documentaries about child sex trafficking at the US border, or if he would consider creating a Hollywood studio to finance conservative film projects. He offered no firm commitments for any investment opportunities.Some began to trickle out before the event had finished, and Musk wrapped up with empty seats visible throughout the auditorium. He exited the venue behind a privacy curtain, in a blacked out SUV as the sun began to set over the Ohio river.The motorcade did not stop as the Guardian asked from the roadside: “Why will you not take questions from journalists, too?” More

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      Progressives must walk a fine line: end the war in Gaza and elect Harris | Judith Levine

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      The war in Gaza is not high among most voters’ concerns. But for many Arab Americans and protesters of the war, it is. As election day nears and the margins tighten – and with the critical swing state of Michigan, home to the largest Arab American community in the nation, up for grabs – these people are among the small, scattered constituencies that could determine the results. This makes their political strategies crucial to the US’s – and, by extension, Palestine’s – future.Some activists working to end the genocide are putting that urgent cause ahead of the other urgent cause: electing a Democrat, if only to prevent a Trump presidency. “If I’m going to be a one-issue voter and that issue is genocide, I’m okay with that,” a Dearborn, Michigan, woman told NPR’s Code Switch.For these people, Harris’s repeated assertions that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed” – spoken in the passive voice and always accompanied by even louder assertions of commitment to Israel’s “self-defense” – no longer cut it. A progressive activist who is stumping for Trump in Michigan said there’s nothing the Democrat can do to change her mind. The administration’s collaboration in genocide is unforgivable; she wants the party punished. Her eyes are on the 2028 election, she said – apparently sanguine that there will be an election after the ascension of King Donald the First.In Mondoweiss this month, journalist and activist Saleema Gul interviewed a dozen members of the Uncommitted movement in a post-mortem of its campaign and failure to secure a speaking slot at the DNC this summer. The movement persuaded three-quarters of a million Democratic primary voters to write in “uncommitted” or leave their ballots blank to signal that their support for Biden, now Harris, depends on a pledge to end unconditional military support to Israel.Some of the people interviewed in the piece felt that the movement should have tried to influence the party platform in the primary process and quit there. Others believed that pushing for a speaker at the DNC distracted from organizing anti-war delegates inside the convention. After much debate, the leadership decided to endorse no one. Instead, it is urging supporters to “register anti-Trump votes” and not vote for a third-party presidential candidate. That move, wrote Gul, “has led many to believe the Uncommitted movement has prioritized shielding the Democratic Party over forcefully pushing for an end to the Gaza genocide”.The debate within the uncommitted movement encapsulates the perennial tensions in all political organizing: radical change v incremental reform; grassroots activism v establishment engagement; insider work v outsider disruption; movement-building v election-cycle campaigns. But to put “versus” between any of the above is to misunderstand political strategy: that is, to presume that organizing is either/or.In fact, you can do more than one thing at a time: organize for an arms embargo; get Harris elected; move the Democrats leftward; and build a radical pro-liberation movement.That these tactics don’t always overlap does not mean they contradict each other. Grassroots movements move politicians, not the other way around. But grassroots movements labor for decades far from the centers of influence before policy makers code their ideas and demands – watered down, of course – into bills and statutes. The more local the politician, the more open their ears are to those demands.For instance, in New York City’s safely Democratic congressional districts nine and 10, antiwar groups are asking voters to write in the name of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed by an Israeli tank, instead of voting for the pro-Israel Democrats or any of the other parties’ candidates. The activists want to remind the Dems that their antiwar constituents are watching, without jeopardizing the party’s chances of winning back the House of Representatives. But presidential candidates are as far from the ground as candidates get – and this year a no vote for the Democrat holds potentially catastrophic consequences.You could argue that electing a woman of color as president would be a radical step forward for the US. But Harris is no radical. In fact, presidential elections rarely lead to radical change. The big difference this time is that Trump’s election would.The anti-war movement should not cease to pressure the Harris campaign to win their votes. Her supporters should not cease persuading anti-war voters to vote for her. Right now, a door is opening for both to happen.Harris herself pushed the door ajar. In her interview with Fox News last week, she suggested for the first time that she might break with the Biden administration. “Let me be very clear,” she said. “My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.” She pledged to bring “fresh new ideas” to the Oval Office.One idea – not so fresh, but good anyway – would be to call for the US simply to abide by its own law: the Leahy Law, enacted in 1997, requires the state department to vet military forces receiving US aid for violations of international human rights law. If there’s credible evidence of such violations, the aid must be withheld.Since 2000, former US senator Patrick Leahy has been pressing the state department to apply such scrutiny to Israel, which has remained practically exempt. In May, in the Washington Post, he reasserted the necessity of doing so now, citing violations in Gaza and the West Bank. A former associate general counsel at the Department of Defense told Al Jazeera that the president has no discretion in the matter. “It’s not up for negotiation. It is a binding domestic law on the executive branch,” she said.The confirmed killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Rafah this week opens the door even wider. The US can declare that Israel has decapitated its enemy. Although the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never specified what would constitute victory, candidate Harris can credibly assert that Israel has achieved it. The US has fulfilled its responsibility to its ally. If Bibi wants to keep bombing Gaza, he’s on his own.Abbas Alawieh, a leader of the Uncommitted movement, has stressed many times that its goal is to end the genocide. He has also stressed the significance of this election, not just for the US but also for Palestine. Trump’s stated intention is to let Netanyahu obliterate Gaza, Alawieh has said. The candidate is already musing about potential luxury seaside resorts in Gaza – “better than Monaco”, he said – if, as his son-in-law has put it, Israel would “move the people out and then clean it up”.The movement to end the war must continue. It must succeed. And Trump must be defeated. Both can happen – must happen – at once.

      Judith Levine is a Brooklyn journalist and essayist, a contributing writer to the Intercept and the author of five books More

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      ‘I’m not voting for either’: fracking’s return stirs fury in Pennsylvania town whose water turned toxic

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      Fracking has burst back on to the national stage in the US presidential election contest for the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania. But for one town in this state that saw its water become mud-brown, undrinkable and even flammable 15 years ago, the specter of fracking never went away.Residents in Dimock, a rural town of around 1,200 people in north-east Pennsylvania, have been locked in a lengthy battle to remediate their water supply that was ruined in 2009 after the drilling of dozens of wells to access a hotspot called the “Saudi Arabia of gas” found deep underneath their homes.The company behind the drilling, Texas-based Coterra, was barred from the area for years for its role in poisoning the private water wells Dimock relies upon and, in a landmark later move in 2020, was charged with multiple crimes. But it has now been ushered back into the area following a deal struck by the state’s Democratic leadership.The re-starting of drilling around Dimock late last year comes as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris clamor to cast themselves to Pennsylvania voters as supporters of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, whereby water, sand and chemicals are injected deep underground to extract embedded oil and gas.“If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one,” Trump said of Harris, who previously supported a ban, during the duo’s televised debate last month. The former US president has run a barrage of ads in the state accusing Harris of wanting to shut down the fracking industry. But during the same debate, Harris insisted “I will not ban fracking”, with the vice-president boasting of new fracking leases granted during Joe Biden’s administration.This bipartisan embrace of fracking has stirred fury among residents of Dimock whose well water is still riddled by toxins linked to an array of health problems and, most spectacularly, contains so much flammable methane that people have passed out in the shower, wells exploded, and water running from the tap could be set on fire by match, according to official reports and accounts from locals.View image in fullscreen“Sure as hell, I’m not voting for either of those two assholes,” said Ray Kemble, a bearded military veteran and former trucker, as he puffed on a cigar in his home. Reams of documents and photos chronicling the long fight against fracking lay on the table next to Kemble, along with a bottle of his murky tap water, three Sherlock Holmes-style smoking pipes and a briefcase filled with handguns.Shortly after a gas well was drilled a few hundred feet from Kemble’s home, he said his drinking water turned from dark brown to green and finally jet back, with the liquid smelling like he had taken “every household chemical you can think of, dump it into a blender, take two asses of a skunk and put that in there, put it on puree, dump it out, and take a whiff”.“The water is still not fixed,” said Kemble, who blames the loss of most of his teeth to the presence of uranium, along with other contaminants such as copper and arsenic, in his water.“When a politicians’ lips are moving they are lying,” he said. “It’s a fricking nightmare. We are back to square one from before the moratorium came into effect – there’s massive drilling like crazy. I don’t care who you are, rich, poor, or whatever, without water and clean air and clean soil, we’re all freaking dead.”Kemble, a Republican who has printed cards featuring the Gadsen flag snake coiled around a gas well, has found unlikely allies in this saga, with figures such as Yoko Ono and Mark Ruffalo voicing concern for Dimock’s plight. His neighbor Victoria Switzer, a former school teacher turned artist whose paintings adorn a soaring timber-framed home beside a bucolic creek, is a rare liberal in this staunchly conservative county but also shares Kemble’s frustration.View image in fullscreen“I like Kamala, but I was unhappy when she said she wouldn’t ban fracking,” said Switzer, who said her water bubbled “like Alka-Seltzer” after the drilling started. Like Kemble, she now gets bottled water deliveries each week from Coterra.“But then the other guy [Trump] just says, ‘We’ll drill more, we’ll get rid of the regulations’ – so that should scare us. People are held hostage by the fossil-fuel industry here.”Although 1.5 million people across Pennsylvania live within half a mile of oil and gas wells, compressors and processors, not all feel as sharply affected by fracking and to win the state’s crucial 19 electoral votes, according to prevailing political thinking, means not threatening an industry that directly employs around 16,000 people, around 0.5% of all jobs in the state.“Fracking has become a big part of the election but there really isn’t much opposition to it now, it’s become part of life in Pennsylvania,” said Jeff Brauer, a political scientist at Pennsylvania’s Keystone College. “A fracking ban would be very unpopular and Kamala Harris knows she can’t be against fracking if she’s going to win here. She had to clean that up.”View image in fullscreenBut how popular is fracking? Polling shows a complicated picture rather than overwhelming support, with two 2020 surveys showing slightly more Pennsylvania voters want to ban fracking than keep it, while a separate 2022 poll found the reverse. Unusually, Pennsylvania’s constitution enshrines the right to “clean air, pure water and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment”, unlike neighboring New York, which is among a handful of states to ban fracking.“The idea you have to court some fictional rural fracking supporter with Trump signs in their yard is ludicrous,” said Josh Fox, a film-maker and activist whose 2010 documentary Gasland showed people in Dimock and elsewhere holding up jars of muddy brown drinking water and turning their tap water into a roaring flame by lighting it.“Democrats have been foolish to give up the votes of people fighting for their lives. It’s clear they are afraid of the oil and gas industry,” he said. Fox added he will still vote for Harris but that “Democrats have thrown away a chance to tell people in rural Pennsylvania they will fight to protect their children from toxins. It’s a legacy of moral failure going back to Obama.”In Dimock, particular ire is reserved for Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, who in his previous role as state attorney general in 2020 convened a grand jury and charged Coterra, then known as Cabot, prior to a merger, with eight felonies for endangering the town’s drinking water. “There were failures at every level,” Shapiro claimed, pointing to testimony of children in Dimock waking up with severe nosebleeds because of the pollution exposure.View image in fullscreenYet, the denouement of the case in a local courtroom in 2022 unveiled a deal in which all the felony charges were dropped, with Coterra pleading no contest to a single misdemeanor in return for the company agreeing to build a new $16m water pipe for residents. Crucially, on the same day, the state department of environmental protection – which had found Coterra tainted 19 private wells and barred drilling in the Dimock area for more than a decade – allowed the company back into the region.“I was shocked. I was a fan of Shapiro but he betrayed us. He betrayed me,” said Switzer, who took part in a press conference with Shapiro, prior to knowing details of the deal, where she praised the then attorney general.“I wish I could retract that. I would’ve called out that traitor Shapiro if I’d known,” she said. “We walked into a trap that allowed the drilling to restart. I mean, when I heard he was in the mix to be vice-president I almost threw up.”View image in fullscreenA spokesman for Shapiro said he is an “an all-of-the-above energy governor, and he is taking action to invest in affordable and reliable renewable energy while continuing to support the key energy resources that have helped Pennsylvania become the leader it is today”. The settlement with Coterra is “historic”, the spokesman said, and that the governor “will never forget the people of Dimock”. Coterra did not respond to a request for comment.The water line should emerge by the end of 2026, although construction of it, unlike the new drilling, has yet to start. Coterra is not allowed to drill directly in the heart of Dimock but can do so at its edges, and already has three towering well complexes boring 7,000ft down into a section of the Marcellus shale, a thick formation of layered, radioactive rock, which contains about 1.3tn cubic feet of gas worth an estimated $3.9bn.From these wellheads sprout 11 drilling lines, known as laterals, that bend underground horizontally and snake for several miles underneath about 80 Dimock properties, with one running directly under Switzer’s house. “They are cutting up the valley like Swiss cheese,” she said.The rumbling from a new oil pad two miles away keeps Switzer awake at night, as does the hundreds of trucks shuttling the vast cocktail of water, sand and chemicals used in fracking. “I can’t sleep now, so I find it harder to take than I once did,” she said. “We came here to enjoy nature, and this has just torn our lives apart.”View image in fullscreenThis new drilling requires Coterra to monitor local water supplies, plug the older gas wells that dot this rolling landscape and provide water to residents. Still, avoiding further contamination as the drills pierce the water table, via failures in the drill casings or leaks of the substances used to pry open the shale for its gas, cannot be fully assured.“The operations are on a much larger scale now, using millions of gallons more water, so no company can guarantee there will be no further leaks. Once wells are drilled they will leak,” said Anthony Ingraffea, an environmental engineer at Cornell University who has advised affected residents.“The nine square miles of Dimock is a goldmine of natural gas. It’s the most productive in the world,” Ingraffea said. “Coterra will be happy getting hold of that in return for a water pipeline that I don’t think will ever be built. It’s teasingly cruel to do this to people. When you look at people in Dimock, you see pain and uncertainty in their eyes.”View image in fullscreenMuch of the newly drilled gas will be shipped overseas and marketed as a “clean” fuel in a process that, in fact, emits more planet-heating pollution than coal. The fracking itself, which is exempt from certain clean water regulations, will also pose fresh health risks, with studies showing that Pennsylvanians who live near fracking are at heightened risk of childhood lymphoma, asthma, pre-term births and low birth weights.The Environmental Protection Agency, however, only regulates 29 out of more than 1,100 shale gas contaminants potentially found in drinking water, with a 2016 federal report acknowledging that wells in 27 Dimock homes contain unhealthy levels of lead, cadmium, arsenic and copper, with 17 of these homes at risk of exploding because of the build-up of flammable gas.For Kemble, the resumption of drilling is the final straw after years of him and his neighbors suffering cancers he believes is a result of the air and water pollution. Kemble said he has rigged up cameras at his home and fears he could be targeted for his activism.Despite the pressure around being outspoken, Kemble said: “I’m still here … but one of these wells will blow up like Old Faithful in Yellowstone one day. There’s already the constant smell, nosebleeds, headaches. I eat Tylenol like they are candy.”View image in fullscreenKemble, who hauls water from a hydrant to a huge water tank that he then has to filter into his house, recently donated his home to a new research non-profit that will test the property’s water, soil and plants for contamination, to help inform potential new laws. He will soon leave Dimock, his home of 30 years, like others have done before him, because of the water.“This is my final fuck you to everybody, there’s going to be a scientist behind every tree here,” he said. “I’m tired of all the bullshit, all the stories and all the fucking crap. I want the hell out of here.”

      The Guardian receives support for visual climate coverage from the Outrider Foundation. The Guardian’s coverage is editorially independent More

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      Monday briefing: The Trump acolytes planning to interfere with November’s election

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      Good morning. With two weeks to go until the US presidential election, the race could hardly be closer. But when you’re next frantically obsessing over the odds, keep in mind: it may not be as simple as who most voters want to see in the Oval Office.If the attempt to subvert the 2020 election was an anti-democratic horror show, its impact was somewhat mitigated by the fact that Donald Trump seemed to be making it up as he went along. This time around, Republicans are a lot more organised in their efforts to influence the outcome – and as the Maga takeover of the GOP has rolled on over the past four years, election denialism has moved from the fringes to become a central tenet of the party.That means the wheels are already in motion for alarming interventions before and after polling day. A case in point over the weekend: Elon Musk’s plan for a daily $1m giveaway to a swing state voter who signs a petition in support of the first and second amendments, which legal experts say could amount to an illegal inducement to register to vote.For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Sam Levine, voting rights reporter for Guardian US, about the nature of the threat – and how worried you should be. Here are the headlines.Five big stories

      NHS | The health secretary, Wes Streeting, is to unveil plans for portable medical records giving every NHS patient all their information stored digitally in one place, despite fears over breaching privacy and creating a target for hackers. The news is part of a major consultation on the government’s plans to transform the NHS from “analogue to digital” over the next decade.

      Middle East | At least 87 people were killed or missing and 40 injured after intense Israeli airstrikes hit the north of the Gaza Strip. In Lebanon, hundreds of residents fled their homes in Beirut after what appeared to be an Israeli attack on areas linked to a Hezbollah banking system.

      UK news | Tributes poured in for the Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy after he revealed he had received a terminal cancer diagnosis. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Hoy, who won six golds and one silver medal for Team GB, said doctors had told him he had between two and four years to live.

      Prisons | Fewer women could be sent to jail under a review to be announced by ministers this week that is expected to cut sentences for thousands of criminals. The review is expected to be carried out by the former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke.

      Monarchy | King Charles has been heckled by an Indigenous Australian senator, who called for a treaty and accused the crown of stealing Aboriginal land, as he concluded a speech at Parliament House in Canberra. Lidia Thorpe approached the stage and shouted “This is not your land. You are not my king.”
      In depth: ‘We’re getting to a place where trust in the system is eroded’View image in fullscreenThe crucial backdrop to Republican attempts to game the system: this is a race that could rest on a few thousand votes in a few key states. If the result comes down to a decimal place in Pennsylvania or Michigan, keeping some voters at home or throwing out a few ballots could make all the difference.How serious is the risk that the election will be subverted? “If we’re on a 10-point scale, I’d say it’s about a seven,” Sam Levine said. “It’s short of a total meltdown. But there are some very alarming signs.”The reason it’s a seven and not a 10: “There’s no legal scholar I talk to who doubts that the rightful winner of the election is going to be certified and seated. No court has successfully thrown out an election in the past, and the statutes are very clear.”On the other hand, the memory of 2000’s hanging chads and the heavily conservative composition of the supreme court – as well as the fact that interventions that never make it to the courts could play a significant role – mean there are good reasons to be concerned. “When you look at all of these things together, they make a very toxic stew,” Sam said.Here are some of the ingredients.Trump supporters are taking control of election boardsSince 2020, more than 30 local officials have either refused to certify valid election results or threatened to do so. And while those efforts have ultimately failed so far, they signal a new era of activists seeking control of previously non-partisan bodies. In Georgia, for example, a pro-Trump majority on the state board of elections has attempted to force through dubious new rules including one that would have required the hand counting of results – a procedure that critics say slows down the results, makes them less accurate and creates a false perception of uncertainty – only to see their intervention struck down by a county judge last week.“Before 2020, the vast majority of Americans had no idea these boards existed,” Sam said. And while they are generally required to certify the results, that is likely to be challenged in November. “These local board meetings are now full of [Trump supporters] who get up and scream at the board members if they disagree with them,” he said.A study of boards in eight swing states published last month found there were at least 102 election deniers sitting on state and county boards. The most prominent example was again Georgia, where the 3-2 Trump majority on the state board may have been thwarted by a judge but remains in a key role ahead of what is likely to be a nail-biting race.Republicans are signing up as ‘poll watchers’Election boards are not the only place where Trump supporters have sought to intervene in the process. There has been a parallel effort to get those who were sceptical of the 2020 result to sign up to be poll watchers – who can challenge voters’ eligibility in some states. (See this excellent New Yorker piece for more on how Trump supporters are being primed to intervene.)Sam points to the Election Integrity Network, founded by prominent 2020 election denialist Cleta Mitchell, which claims to have recruited tens of thousands of “election integrity patriots” and holds regular coordinating calls. Meanwhile, Republican national committee chair Michael Whatley claims to have recruited almost 200,000 poll watchers, poll workers, and volunteer lawyers.“That creates a volatile situation,” Sam said. “There have been reports of counties buying panic buttons in case election workers are harassed. But there is no evidence for the claims being made.”Voters have been removed from electoral rolls or asked to prove their citizenshipView image in fullscreenIn Tennessee, the top election official asked 14,000 registered voters, many in areas with large ethnic minority populations, to prove their citizenship. In Alabama, the state tried to remove 3,200 people from the rolls as non-citizens before admitting that 2,000 of them were eligible. And in Texas, the governor, Greg Abbott, claimed that 6,500 non-citizens had been removed from the rolls – when in fact, almost 6,000 of them had simply failed to respond to letters from the state asking for proof.These states are so certain to vote Republican in November that the decisions will not directly impact the result. But, said Sam, “it is part of a misinformation effort – it creates the sense that voting by non-citizens is a major problem, and that if it can happen in Texas, it can happen anywhere”.The non-citizen voting claim also chimes with a debunked conspiracy theory advanced by Elon Musk, among others, that Democrats are quickly making unauthorised immigrants into citizens to tilt key states in their favour. It is also seen as a way to suppress the eligible votes of those who were on the fence about turning up anyway, particularly among immigrant communities.Republicans are preparing to use the court system to challenge resultsReuters counted 130 lawsuits from Republicans relating to the election process this year. Sam describes some of those cases here, ranging from challenges to absentee ballots to more claims of non-citizen votes. As he notes, such cases “can be a particularly powerful forum for spreading misleading information [because] public officials sometimes won’t speak publicly about pending legal matters”, meaning they go unchallenged. And they could be a preview of what follows after the election has concluded.Whereas in 2020, Republican party lawyers had refused to join Trump’s attempts to overturn the election, the party looks very different in 2024. The Republican national committee’s election litigation team is now headed by Christina Bobb, a prominent 2020 election denier who is facing criminal charges over her attempts to subvert the result.One nightmare scenario is a situation like 2000, when the supreme court effectively decided the winner of the election. “On the one hand, in 2020, the supreme court refused to go near a case asking them to invalidate the results,” Sam said. “That is reassuring – I don’t think they’re going to go chasing fringe legal theories despite their ideological leanings.”But even then, it is possible some rightwing justices with form for this sort of thing could issue opinions that might fan the flames of any tensions, Sam said. And the court could have to decide on a more technical, narrow issue with massive ramifications. In that scenario, the outcome is harder to predict – and there will be big questions about the justices’ objectivity given the court’s recent turn to the right.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionEven if these efforts fail, they fan the flames of denialismAs we’ve seen, many of the manoeuvres outlined above have been struck down by the courts. But even these failures can be a success – because they may be understood by those who denied the 2020 result as further proof that the system is rigged against them. And even as they undertake their own work to subvert the result, Trump and many of his supporters are claiming it is the Harris campaign that is trying to “steal” the election.To his point that he expects the rightful winner to be seated, Sam adds this caveat: “Even if that happens, the damage done by stoking this chaos is very, very significant. We’re getting to a place where trust in the system is eroded, and many people may not accept the result.” If so, the intensity of the misinformation this time around may make January 6 look like a dry run.What else we’ve been readingView image in fullscreen

      Yes, the above picture of Daisy May Cooper is magnificent. But Rhik Samadder’s spooky interview for Saturday magazine – about her riotous new book detailing her obsession with the paranormal, and, er, the time she tried to have sex with a ghost – gives it a run for its money. Features a decent anecdote about Martin Kemp mistaking the spirit of a 16th-century maid for an extra. Archie

      A symbol of environmental destruction and excess, megayachts are a status symbol for billionaires. For New York Magazine, Charlotte Cowles asked a former stewardess what it’s really like serving the ultra-wealthy on their private floating resorts. Nimo

      Today’s Guardian leader advises Rachel Reeves to abandon the infamous fiscal rules, and offers an alternative approach: publish an overview of the government’s balance sheet and show how ministerial decisions have affected national income instead. Archie

      Ashifa Kassam takes a look at how Gisèle Pelicot, a survivor at the centre of a horrifying mass rape trial that has rocked France, has propelled conversations around sexual violence in countries around the world. Nimo

      Keira Knightley, David Walliams, Meghan Markle, and Keith Richards have something in common that they really shouldn’t: they’re all celebrity children’s authors. Ella Creamer and Lucy Knight hear from their less famous rivals, who are unsurprisingly sick of it. Archie
      SportView image in fullscreenCycling | After the news of Olympic cycling great Sir Chris Hoy’s terminal cancer diagnosis, the Guardian’s cycling columnist William Fotheringham writes that Hoy’s response is typical of “a grounded individual who always seemed to come to a stoical, humble accommodation with the things that life dealt him, good and bad; he is a man of frankly outlandish determination”.Football | Leaked WhatsApp messages from the former Newcastle United minority co-owner Amanda Staveley suggest that Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, was heavily involved in the takeover of the club, it has been reported. The messages also spotlighted the extent of the UK government’s involvement.Football | Curtis Jones’s 51st minute winner was enough to secure a 2-1 victory for Liverpool over Chelsea and return Arne Slot’s side to the top of the Premier League. Earlier on Sunday, Manchester City took a dramatic 2-1 win over bottom side Wolves thanks to John Stones’s injury time header.The front pagesView image in fullscreenTop story in the Guardian print edition today is “Labour wants NHS ‘passports’ for all patients despite privacy fears”. “Reeves is warned changes to IHT will backfire” says the Daily Telegraph – that’s inheritance tax, btw. The Times leads with “Rayner sets up ‘council housing revolution’”, while the Daily Mail covers a “‘Tsunami’ of asbestos deaths in schools”. The Metro says there is an “online con epidemic” with “9 million of us scammed”. The i has “UK air defences unable to cope with missile attack, former ministers warn”. “84% of disabled pensioners will lose winter payment” – the Express says that’s the result of a poll. “Charles: you are the best of us” – the Daily Mirror marks the 25th anniversary of its Pride of Britain awards with a message from the king. The Financial Times leads with “Faltering confidence hinders global recovery despite buoyant economies”.Today in FocusView image in fullscreenHow the US border became a toxic issue for voters – podcastOliver Laughland reports from southern Arizona, where the issue of immigrants crossing the border has become a controversial topicCartoon of the day | Edith PritchettView image in fullscreenSign up for Inside Saturday to see more of Edith Pritchett’s cartoons, the best Saturday magazine content and an exclusive look behind the scenesThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all badView image in fullscreenThe Guardian’s new section, The Filter, has a singular mission: to provide readers with help in cutting through the fake reviews, dodgy deals and AI slop that makes up so much of consumer journalism on the web. The latest has experts recommending the fair price for 14 everyday essentials, from wine, to cheddar to running shoes. And if you’re paying more than £4 for a cleaning spray you’re being ripped off.As for the wine, Pierre Mansour, director of wine at the Wine Society, says: “My advice is to spend between £8 and £15, the higher the better. The sweet spot is £12. Compared with a £7 bottle, a £12 bottle gets you four times as much value – a better return on your investment in terms of the wine’s taste, quality and balance.”Bored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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      US presidential election updates: Trump goes to McDonald’s while Harris delivers 60th birthday sermon

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      Donald Trump visited a McDonald’s franchise in Pennsylvania on Sunday, working the drive-thru and manning the fryer while he answered questions from reporters. The former president took a moment to boast about his time in office and sarcastically congratulated Kamala Harris on her 60th birthday. “Maybe I’ll get her some fries,” Trump said.The visit was meant to be a jab at opponent Harris, who worked at the fast food chain while at college. Trump has frequently called that experience into question, without providing any evidence.Harris celebrated her birthday at two churches in Georgia, continuing her campaign’s “souls to the polls” push to reach Black voters through religious communities.The Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Tim Walz, visited churches in Michigan and Minnesota while Donald Trump and backer Elon Musk held separate town halls in Pennsylvania. Both campaigns are focused on rallying support from voters in the battleground states, 16 days before an election that polls suggest is still on a knife-edge.Here’s what else happened on Sunday:Kamala Harris election news

      Kamala Harris celebrated her 60th birthday visiting two community churches in Georgia. The first congregation sang Happy Birthday as Harris took the stage, while Stevie Wonder joined Harris and sang Bob Marley’s Redemption Song at the second visit.

      Harris spoke about how religious experiences in her youth in Oakland, California, influenced her politics, addressing the congregation of the New Birth Missionary Baptist church in Atlanta. Drawing on the parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke, the vice-president argued for policies that embrace compassion. “What kind of country do we want to live in – a country of chaos, fear and hate, or a country of freedom, compassion and justice? … When we come across our brothers and sisters in need, let us, as the Good Samaritan did, see, in the face of a stranger, a neighbour.”

      Walz, attending a church service in Saginaw, Michigan, slammed Trump for selling branded Bibles. “We understand in our faith, the Bible is to be read and followed and absorbed. It’s not to be branded and sold for $59,” Walz said, telling the crowd he felt “pretty uncomfortable with this idea”.

      Harris is not planning to campaign with Joe Biden ahead of the election. The decision was mutual, anonymous Harris campaign and White House officials told NBC News. The president will instead help Harris by leveraging his longtime political relationships. “The most important role he can play is doing his job as president,” a White House official said.

      Harris sat down with the Rev Al Sharpton in a one-on-one interview in Atlanta on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation, where she discussed the latest polling suggesting a slide in her support from Black men. “This narrative about what kind of support we are receiving from Black men that is just not panning out in reality,” she said. “I must earn the vote of everyone regardless of their race or gender.”
      Donald Trump election news

      Trump doubled down on his dangerous rhetoric labelling Democrats as “enemies from within” during an interview with Howard Kurtz on Fox News, broadcast on Sunday. The former president said that “radical left lunatics … the enemy from within … should be very easily handled, if necessary, by the national guard, or if really necessary, by the military”, before specifically denouncing representatives Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff. Similar comments made by Trump in the past weeks have sparked concern and raised fears of an authoritarian crackdown if he were to become president again.

      Trump repeated his statement that the January 6 attack on the Capitol was a “day of love” during the same interview with Fox News. Asked whether he was comfortable calling January 6 a “day of love”, Trump responded: “They came down to protest a rigged election … you have the right to protest in this country.” Earlier he had said “there was a beauty to it and a love to it”, repeating comments he made at a recent town hall in Miami.

      Trump held a town hall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, his second rally in the battleground state this weekend. The former ESPN anchor Sage Steele moderated as Trump took questions from the audience. Asked whether he would protect social security and Medicare benefits, Trump listed his priorities as “no tax on social security for our seniors, that’s a big deal … no tax on tips [and] no tax on overtime”.
      Elsewhere on the campaign trail

      Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X, hosted a town hall in Pittsburgh in support of Trump. In a short speech, Musk repeated false and fear-mongering claims, telling those attending that “the constitution is literally under attack”. Musk also discussed his aims to expedite government procedures and his promised role as “secretary of cost cutting” in a second Trump administration. “I’d like to say it’s a hard job, but it’s not,” he said.

      Musk also issued his second check for a million dollars to a signatory to his petition that encourages Republicans in key states to register to vote. The tech mogul, who is worth an estimated $247bn, on Saturday pledged to give $1m each day to someone who signs a petition backing the first and second amendments.
      Read more about the 2024 US election:

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      Trump campaigns in battleground Pennsylvania as Harris visits church on birthday – US politics live

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      During the town hall in Pennsylvania, a woman with a tattoo of Donald Trump on her leg asked the former president about his plan to lower taxes for working Americans.Trump accused migrants arriving from Central America of hampering the economy.“We’re not going to let foreign countries come in and steal our businesses, our jobs and everything else,” he said, continuing to make anti-immigrant remarks during his answer.“We want to have people come in, but they have to come in legally. We have to know they love our country,” he added.During an interview on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation”, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Reverand Al Sharpton in a one-on-one interview in Atlanta.Harris discussed the death of Yahya Sinwar and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.“We have got to get this war over with. We got to get the hostages out. We need the war to end”, Harris said. “The death of Sinwar I believe has removed an obstacle to that end. And so, we’ve got to work at it and we’ve got to work at it through diplomatic means and that’s what we intend to do.”The Democratic presidential nominee also spoke about the latest polling on support from Black men.“This narrative about what kind of support we are receiving from Black men that is just not panning out in reality,” she said. “I must earn the vote of everyone regardless of their race or gender.”Donald Trump said he’s completed two cognitive tests as opponents have increasingly questioned the 78-year-old Republican presidential nominee’s mental and physical fitness.“I aced the both of them”, Trump said during a town hall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “And the doctor in one case said, ‘I’ve never seen anybody ace them’”.“I’d like to see cognitive tests for anybody running for president or vice president”, Trump added. He later expressed age is but a number, using media mogul Rupert Murdoch as an example.During the town hall in Pennsylvania, a woman with a tattoo of Donald Trump on her leg asked the former president about his plan to lower taxes for working Americans.Trump accused migrants arriving from Central America of hampering the economy.“We’re not going to let foreign countries come in and steal our businesses, our jobs and everything else,” he said, continuing to make anti-immigrant remarks during his answer.“We want to have people come in, but they have to come in legally. We have to know they love our country,” he added.Musk entered the stage at the Roxian Theater in Pittsburgh as the sound system blared “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys.He carried a yellow “terrible towel” of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city’s beloved NFL team, and jumped up and down as the crowd chanted his name.In a short speech, Musk told attendees, many wearing red Maga hats, that “the constitution is literally under attack” and urged a “clean sweep of those who believe in the constitution” in November.He then issued his second check for a million dollars to a signatory to his petition backing the first and second amendment. Kristine Fishell, who had sat on the balcony level, received the giant novelty check and smiled for the cameras before being whisked away.The event then pivoted to a lengthy town hall, where attendees asked a variety of conspiracy tinged questions and whether Musk would run for president in 2028.He could not, he explained, due to the natural born citizen clause of the US constitution, and did not want the job either. “I hate politics,” Musk said, explaining his purported reason for injecting himself into the 2024 race. “But the stakes are so high.”As the town hall began to wrap up, no attendee had asked whether Donald Trump’s promise to bring Musk, who is worth an estimated $247bn, into government as a “secretary of cost cutting” might be a conflict of interest. He told the crowd he was ready for the position, adding “I’d like to say it’s a hard job, but it’s not”.A few seconds earlier a member of the crowd had shouted “taxation is theft!”.Former ESPN anchor Sage Steele is moderating the town hall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump is taking questions from the audience.His first question was on whether he would protect social security and Medicare benefits.“Number one, no tax on social security for our seniors, that’s a big deal,” Trump said. “No tax on tips,” he said, and “no tax on overtime.”Former president Donald Trump has started delivering his remarks at an event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.His speech in the Lancaster County Convention Center follows a visit to a local McDonald’s, where he wore an apron and worked the french fries station.We’ll be following his comments as he rallies in the battleground state.The legendary singer Stevie Wonder rallied congregants at a church in Atlanta with a rendition of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song in support of Vice-President Kamala Harris.Wonder performed during a church service and early vote event at Divine Faith Ministries International. He also sang “Happy Birthday” as Harris celebrates her 60th birthday today.The Harris campaign responded to comments made by former president Donald Trump calling Democratic representatives “the enemy from within” during an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday.“Even in his Fox News safe space, Donald Trump cannot help but show himself as the unhinged, angry, unstable man that he is – focused on his own petty grievances and tired playbook of division,” Ammar Moussa, a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson, wrote in an email.“This is precisely why his handlers are hiding him from major mainstream interviews and refusing to let him debate again. They don’t want the country to see this candidate in decline,” he added.The legality of the America Pac $1m prize draw is unclear, and a justice department spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry.But several legal experts said on Saturday the petition appeared to violate federal election laws that prohibits paying or offering to pay for someone to register to vote or actually vote under title 52 of the US code.According to the justice department’s election crimes manual, for an offer of payment to violate federal election law, it must have been intended to induce or reward the prospective voter for engaging in one or more acts necessary to cast a ballot.The election crimes manual distinguishes between making it easier for people to vote, such as offering free rides to a polling station, and inducing people to vote, which is unlawful.UCLA law professor Rick Hasen said in his blog that the America Pac $1m prize draw appears to be an illegal scheme because it offered the payments to registered voters.“Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal,” he wrote.At a town hall in Pennsylvania, billionaire Elon Musk has commented on his aims to expedite government agency procedures and his role under Trump’s presidency if he were to be elected.“I will do my best to ensure that that actions are taken that maximize the benefit to the American people,” Musk said. “I don’t know at the end of the day how much influence I’ll have. But I’ll do my best to be as helpful as possible.”“There are actually a huge number of of drugs that are stuck in approval at the FDA that can help people and they’re just stuck in bureaucratic molasses,” Musk said. “Simply expediting drug approval and the FDA, I think, will save millions of lives.”The CEO of Tesla and owner of X, Elon Musk, is speaking at a town hall in Pittsburgh today in support of former President Donald Trump.Musk is in McKees Rocks to promote voter registration and mail-in balloting ahead of the November election and a promise of cash for those who attend.He’s currently taking questions from the audience.Fromer president Donald Trump doubled down on his comments labeling Democrats as “the enemy from within,” this time specifically attacking Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff.During an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News with Howard Kurtz, Trump said that “radical left lunatics… the enemy from within… should be very easily handled, if necessary, by the National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”“These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people. But when you look at ‘Shifty Schiff’ and some of the others, yeah, they are, to me, the enemy from within,” Trump said on Fox News’ “Mediabuzz.”“I think Nancy Pelosi is an enemy from within,” he added. “She was supposed to protect the Capitol.”The former president sparked outrage last week after calling for the US armed forces to be turned against his political adversaries when voters go to the polls at next month’s presidential election.Former president Donald Trump, while working at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, sarcastically congratulated Kamala Harris on her 60th birthday.“Maybe I’ll get her some fries,” Trump said.He also took a moment to boast about his time in office while he was working the fryer at the fast food chain.“We had the best economy ever. We had the strongest borders ever, a military that knocked out ISIS in a few weeks,” he said.Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson accused SpaceX founder Elon Musk of “spreading dangerous disinformation.” The comments come after Musk alleged that “Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens.”“Here are the facts,” Benson wrote in a post on X. “There aren’t more voters than citizens in Michigan. There are 7.2 million active registered voters and 7.9 citizens of voting age in our state.”“Don’t feed the trolls,” she added. More

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      Harris marks birthday with church visit after Trump’s crude rhetoric at rally

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      Democratic governors from three states in the so-called blue wall that is key to their party’s aspirations for an electoral college victory delivered closing pitches for Kamala Harris on Sunday as their presidential nominee celebrated her 60th birthday with a visit to church.Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Tony Evers of Wisconsin and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer barnstormed the Sunday morning political shows to talk up the vice-president’s policy agenda – and highlight differences with Republican candidate Donald Trump, 16 days before an election that polls suggest is still on a knife edge.Acolytes of Trump, meanwhile, attempted to defend the former president’s extraordinary and vulgar rhetoric during a Saturday night rally in Pennsylvania, when he called Harris a “shit vice-president” and exalted the size of the late golfer Arnold Palmer’s penis.“I don’t want to go back to Donald Trump when he was in charge of the country,” Shapiro told NBC’s Meet the Press.“Remember the record? I know there’s still some people that have maybe a little brain fog, they don’t remember what it was like under Donald Trump. You had more chaos, you had less jobs, and you had a whole lot less freedom.“I don’t think we want to go back to a time of chaos. I want a stable, strong leader, and that’s Kamala Harris.”It also emerged Sunday that Harris has no plans to campaign with Joe Biden before election day on 5 November, a development appearing to confirm recent reports of friction between the two after the 81-year-old president was pressured out of running for re-election over age-related questions.“The most important role he can play is doing his job as president,” an anonymous White House official told NBC News, which said the decision was mutual following discussions between the campaign and Biden administration officials.Shapiro joined Evers and Whitmer, his fellow passengers on a weekend blue wall bus tour, for a joint interview on ABC’s This Week, in which the three spoke of polls showing the presidential race virtually deadlocked in all three states.“Both candidates believe that Pennsylvania is critical – I just think we’ve got a better candidate, a better message, and what we’re experiencing is a whole lot more energy,” Shapiro said.In Michigan, according to Whitmer, voters were comparing both candidates’ records ahead of the 5 November election.“While this is going to be close, I’d much rather be playing our hand in theirs,” she said. “We got a better candidate. We’ve got receipts on the issues that matter to the American people, on the economy, individual rights, affordable housing, and we got a better ground game.”Evers, a two-term governor, pushed back on Trump’s claims that a Harris administration would tank the US economy, using Democratic policies in Wisconsin as an example.“We have the best economy we’ve ever had, the largest budget we’ve ever had, and we’re in good shape, and people are making more money than they ever made. So we’re in a good place, and it had nothing to do with Donald Trump,” he said.The swing state governors were speaking as Harris rallied Black voters in another swing state, Georgia, on Sunday with “souls to the polls” visits to two community churches.“What kind of country do we want to live in – a country of chaos, fear and hate, or a country of freedom, compassion and justice?” she told the congregation of the New Birth Missionary Baptist church in Atlanta.“The great thing about living in a democracy is that we, the people, have the power to answer that question. So let us answer not just through our words, but through our actions and with our votes.”Harris has been attempting to shore up support from the Black community, particularly Black men. Polls have warned of a lack of enthusiasm for her campaign, though newer polling from the Howard Initiative on Public Opinion found Harris had built a lead among Black voters in swing states.Singer Stevie Wonder was scheduled to join her later at a rally at the Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro. That gathering was set to occur ahead of Harris’s interview with civil rights leader Al Sharpton to be broadcast later Sunday on MSNBC.“We just have to keep doing the work,” Georgia US senator Raphael Warnock – a Black Democrat – said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “And the good news is – that’s exactly what Kamala Harris [is] … doing.”Trump remained in Pennsylvania for an afternoon rally in Lancaster and a photo-op at a McDonald’s restaurant, the day after his bizarre appearance in Latrobe, Palmer’s home town, in which he riffed at length – in an unrefined address – about how well endowed the golfer was with respect to his genitalia.Republicans appearing on the Sunday talk shows attempted to detract from Trump’s comments and other recent behavior, including suggesting in an interview this week he would use the US military against political enemies.View image in fullscreenThe South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham lost his composure when questioned about it on NBC’s Meet the Press – and tried to pivot to two recent assassination attempts on Trump, both conducted by pro-Republican persons.“When you talk about rhetoric, you gotta remember they tried to blow his head off,” Graham said. “He’s been shot at and hit in the ear, and we’re lucky they didn’t blow his head off. And another guy tried to kill him … so I’m not overly impressed about the rhetoric game here.”Graham also condemned Republican colleagues, including former members of Congress Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, as well as numerous ex-Trump administration officials who have denounced him and expressed support for Harris.The retired general Mark Milley, the former chair of the joint chiefs of staff, called Trump “fascist to the core”, according to veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s new book War.“To every Republican voting for her, what the hell are you doing?” Graham said. “You’re supporting the most radical nominee in the history of American politics. When you support her, you’re supporting four more years of garbage policy.”US House speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, was more restrained – but equally as determined to avoid questions about Trump’s commentary in an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, suggesting that it was host Jake Tapper who was obsessed with talking about Palmer’s penis.“The media can pick it apart, but people are going to vote what’s best for their family and they see that in Trump,” he said.Early in-person voting is under way in numerous states, with voters in Georgia setting a first-day turnout record Tuesday, even as polls have the candidates in a virtual dead heat.Shapiro said winning over the remaining undecided voters would determine the winner.“There are people that, frankly, don’t follow this on a daily basis, people that don’t follow the polls. They go to work, they got kids at home, they do their job with their kids and get up the next day,” he said.“The polls look at a small number. I know it’s a science, but at the end of the day I run into people all the time who just haven’t given it a thought, so we’re going to help them.” More

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      US investigates leaked documents alleging Israel plans to attack Iran

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      The US government is investigating an unauthorised release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran.The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, confirmed the investigation in remarks to CNN’s State of the Union programme on Sunday, saying the leak was very concerning.“There’s some serious allegations being made there,” the Republican from Louisiana said. “The investigation’s under way, and I’ll get a briefing on that in a couple of hours.”A US official told the Associated Press the documents in question appeared to be legitimate, but the Guardian was not immediately able to verify their authenticity.The documents are attributed to the US Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. They are written in a style similar to documents previously leaked from the Pentagon, using classifications familiar to the national security community.The first document has the title “Israel: air force continues preparations for strike on Iran and conducts a second large-force employment exercise” and the second “Israel: defense forces continue key munitions preparations and covert UAV activity almost certainly for a strike on Iran”. Both are dated 16 October and were first leaked a day later.In general terms, they note that Israel was still positioning military assets as of the middle of last week to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on 1 October.Based on monitoring from satellite imagery and other geospatial intelligence, they focus on Israeli preparations relating to air-launched ballistic missiles, refuelling aircraft and covert long-range drone surveillance in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.That could imply that Israel was planning a long-range missile response to Iran’s attack, described at one point as similar to the long-range strikes it conducted against the Houthis in Yemen on 29 September.It appears to reflect an effort by the US and its closest partners to independently monitor Israel’s plans to attack Iran, though they do not predict its scale or scope. No potential targets in Iran were mentioned in the documents.The two documents appear to represent a snapshot in time, and are likely to represent the outcome of continuous monitoring. At one point, it is said there is no evidence that Israel is planning to use a nuclear weapon.They refer to preparations to use long-range Rocks missiles, made by the Israeli company Rafael, which are designed to destroy targets above and below ground. Another ballistic system called Golden Horizon is also referred to, but no system of that name is publicly known.Israeli media speculated that could refer to Blue Sparrow missiles, which have a range of about 1,200 miles (2,000km) and are thought to have been used in Israel’s limited strike against Iran in April in response to an previous attack by Tehran. Israel keeps elements of its long-range missile programme secret to avoid its enemies becoming fully aware of its capability.Many elements in the two documents are described as shareable within the Five Eyes intelligence network made up of the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Others are marked as only shareable between the US and the UK.The documents, which are marked top secret, were posted to the Telegram messaging app and first reported by CNN and Axios.US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly. The investigation was also examining how the documents were obtained – including whether it was an intentional leak by a member of the US intelligence community or obtained by another method, like a hack – and whether any other intelligence information was compromised, one of the officials said.As part of that investigation, officials were working to determine who had access to the documents before they were posted, the official added.The US has urged Israel to take advantage of its elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and press for a ceasefire in Gaza, and has likewise urgently cautioned Israel not to further expand military operations in the north in Lebanon and risk a wider regional war. However, Israel’s leadership has repeatedly stressed it will not let Iran’s missile attack go unanswered.In a statement, the Pentagon said it was aware of the reports of the documents but did not have further comment.Johnson on Sunday said he spoke with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – referring to him as “my friend” – and explained how he had made it a point “to encourage him”. He also said there would be “a classified level briefing, and then others, but we’re following it closely”.The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the leak of the two documents. Israeli security officials were expected to meet on Sunday evening.The documents first appeared online Friday via a channel on Telegram, claiming they had been leaked by someone in the US intelligence community, then later the US Department of Defense. The information appeared entirely gathered through the use of satellite image analysis.One of the two documents resembled the style of other material from the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency leaked by Jack Teixeira, an air national guardsman who pleaded guilty in March to leaking highly classified military documents about Russia’s war on Ukraine and other national security secrets.Analytical intelligence documents have a wide distribution within the US national security apparatus, but the Pentagon has been engaged in an effort to clamp down on leaks by restricting them after Teixeira leaked dozens of slides on Discord, a social media site popular with gamers, in April 2023.The Telegram channel involved in the leak identifies itself as being based in Tehran, Iran’s capital. It previously published memes featuring Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and material in support of Tehran’s self-described “axis of resistance”, which includes Middle East militant groups armed by the Islamic Republic.The Associated Press contributed to this report More