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      Oprah hosts star-studded sit-down with Kamala Harris: ‘Hope is making a comeback’

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      Kamala Harris sat down with Oprah Winfrey on Thursday for a “virtual rally” that included a wide-ranging sit-down interview, during which Harris attacked her opponent’s stance on reproductive rights and pledged to sign a border security bill thwarted by Senate Republicans, but largely kept her guard up with the legendary television interviewer.The event, helmed by one of the all-time masters of the television talkshow, was filled with celebrity cameos and heart-wrenching personal stories. It was live-streamed from Michigan, a key battleground state.“There’s a real feeling of optimism and hope making a comeback … for this new day that is no longer on the horizon but is here. We’re living it,” Oprah told the audience of 400 in-person attendees and the more than 200,000 others who tuned in virtually.The star-studded list of remote attendees included Tracee Ellis Ross, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Chris Rock and Ben Stiller, who tuned in from their living rooms to express their enthusiasm for the Harris-Walz ticket.“​I wanna bring my daughters to White House to meet this Black woman president,” Rock said. “I think she will make a great president and I’m ready to turn the page. All the hate and negativity, it’s gotta stop.”“Hello, President Harris,” Meryl Streep greeted her, then covered her mouth. “Oop!”“Forty-seven days,” Harris responded, laughing.Oprah faced a challenge in sitting down across from Harris, who has been known among journalists since the beginning of her career as a rigidly controlled, repetitive interviewee.Harris did not open up much, even when Oprah asked her about her sudden transformation after Biden endorsed her to take over the presidential campaign.View image in fullscreenBut Oprah did provoke one moment of unexpected candor, when she noted her surprise at learning that Harris has long been a gun owner.“If somebody breaks in my house, they’re getting shot,” Harris said. She laughed, sounding surprised at herself. “Sorry. Probably shouldn’t have said that. But my staff will deal with that later.”“I’m not trying to take everyone’s guns away,” Harris added.During the nearly 90-minute conversation, Harris spoke directly with members of the audience, who raised their concerns about immigration, the cost of living and the crackdown on reproductive rights.Oprah said Americans were grieving with Haitians and people mistaken for Haitians, who were now living in fear because the Trump campaign had spread lurid, false claims about them. But she added that many Americans on the left, the right and in the middle did have genuine concerns about immigration into the US.In response to an audience member’s question about what she would do to promote border security, Harris blamed Donald Trump for killing legislation that would have provided more funding for law enforcement at the border.“The bill would have allowed us to have more resources to prosecute transnational criminal organizations,” Harris said. “Donald Trump called up his folks and said, ‘Don’t put that bill on the floor for a vote.’ He preferred to run on a problem instead of addressing the problem. And he put his personal political security before border security.”Also in attendance were the mother and sisters of Amber Nicole Thurman, a woman who died after failing to receive prompt medical care in 2022 when she experienced complications from taking abortion pills, just weeks after Georgia’s abortion ban went into effect. A recent report deemed her the first “preventable” death to be confirmed as a result of Georgia’s ban.Her family blamed Donald Trump and his supreme court picks for her death. “They just let her die because of some stupid abortion ban. They treated her like she was just another number,” Thurman’s older sister said of the medical professionals she had turned to for help.“You’re looking at a mother who is broken,” Thurman’s mother said, through tears. “It’s the worst pain that a parent could ever feel. I want you all to know that Amber was not a statistic. She was loved by a strong family and we would have done whatever to get our baby the help that she needed. Women around the world need to know that this was preventable.”View image in fullscreenHarris gave her condolences to the family and reiterated that Trump chose his three supreme court justices with the intention of getting abortion bans to spread across states. “They did as he intended,” Harris said.Thursday evening’s Unite for America live-streamed rally brought together 400 groups that have held virtual rallies for the Harris-Walz ticket.The first virtual rally was organized by Win with Black Women, the group that, within hours of Joe Biden dropping out of the race, brought 44,000 Black women on to a Zoom call to strategize and raise money for the Harris campaign.“We knew that we needed to get to work,” Jotaka Eaddy, founder of Win with Black Women, said during the event. “It was a moment in our country to show what Black women have always done.”Despite big bumps following the Democratic national convention and the 10 September presidential debate, the race between Harris and Donald Trump remains tight, with both candidates polling at 47%, according to the most recent poll from the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College. 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      Kamala Harris holds star-studded event with Oprah in battleground state of Michigan – as it happened

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      Among those at the event are Cat ladies for Kamala, train lovers for Harris-Walz, Republicans for Harris, Swifties for Kamala.Actors Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep are joining via video chat, as are Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jennifer Lopez, Tracee Ellis-Ross and Brian Cranston.This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. See all our coverage of the 2024 US electionsOprah concluded by quoting Maya Angelou, saying, “if you know better you have to do better”.That event has now ended.Harris is asked by Meryl Streep what preparations are being made for the possibility that she wins, but Trump does not accept the result.Harris says many Americans who voted for Trump have decided 6 January was a bridge too far.She says “the lawyers are working” and that is important to speak to friends and neighbours about misinformation, and to respect poll workers, and to not be afraid to vote.She doesn’t really answer the question.People who have experienced gun violence are speaking now, again speaking through tears. A woman whose daughter was involved in a school shooting recounts the feeling of not knowing if her daughter, who survived, was alright.Harris says what is needed is common sense, and assault weapons bans, and notes that she owns a gun.If somebody breaks into her house, she says, they’re getting shot. She probably should not have said that, she adds, saying her staff will deal with it later.Tracee Ellis-Ross points out that women who don’t have children still contribute a lot to society. She is saying this because of JD Vance’s childless cat lady comments.Julia Roberts is speaking now via video link.She says she wants to be able to travel and have people think it is a good thing she is American, not a bad one.Harris responds to comments from Thurman’s mother and sister, saying, “First of all, I’m so sorry.”Thurman’s family only recently learned how she died, Harris says.Amber’s mom shared with me over and over that the word preventable keeps coming to her, says Harris.Harris points out that Trump chose three members of the supreme court, which then overturned Roe v Wade. She says he did it intentionally.In 2016 Trump said he wanted abortion legality to be decided by individual states, while Clinton vowed to defend abortion rights.He has boasted that he “was able to kill Roe v Wade”.More from Donegan on that story:
      Thurman could have been cured with a D&C, or dilation and curettage, a procedure in which the cervix is dilated to create an opening through which instruments can be inserted to empty out the contents of a uterus. The procedure is a popular form of abortion, but it is also a routine part of miscarriage and other gynecological care. If the tissue was promptly removed, she probably would have been fine: a D&C requires no special equipment and takes only about 15 minutes.
      But Georgia’s abortion ban outlawed the D&C procedure, making it a felony to perform except in cases of managing a “spontaneous” or “naturally occurring” miscarriage. Because Thurman had taken abortion pills, her miscarriage was illegal to treat. She suffered in a hospital bed for 20 hours, developing sepsis and beginning to experience organ failure. By the time the Georgia doctors were finally willing to treat her, it was too late.
      A woman named Shanette is speaking now through tears about her daughter, Amber Thurman.“You are looking at a mother who is broken,” she says.Thurman, a Black 28-year-old mother to a young son died in Georgia after doctors at a hospital there refused to perform a simple procedure that could have saved her life – because the law did not allow them.Here is the Guardian’s Moira Donegan on the subject:Hadley Duvall, 22, is speaking now. She has told the story of being raped and impregnated, at 12, by her stepfather, as she helps Harris campaign for reproductive rights.When Roe v Wade was overturned, she says, she found that while her abuse was over, her story was not.She thanks Harris for “standing up” for women, and “really showing us that life is not about the hard things you go through”.“You don’t bow down,’ she says.Here is Duvall speaking in August:Harris is asked by a young person about the economy, and the difficulty of going from being a student to an independent adult.She compares her and Trump’s plans.She has been stronger than at other times on the economy here, waffling less and talking about her policies more.Harris references Trump’s response at the debate between the candidates, where he said he had a “concept of a plan” for healthcare. She will give small businesses a $50,000 grant, she says. She says the current small business grant of $5,000 is for a “concept of a business”.Harris is asked about her plan to tackle the cost of living. The economy is one of the areas where Harris has often been weak in her responses.She talks about policies she has announced. She says she will take on price-gouging to bring down the price of groceries.She says she will bring down the cost of buying a home with a tax credit. She will support small business owners.She takes a swipe at Trump’s family wealth and bankruptcy plans. She says she will extend the child tax credit.She repeats her idea of an “opportunity economy”.She says she will sign the bill into law if elected.Harris is asked by a voter what her specific steps would be on strengthening the border.“This is not a theoretical issue for me, this is something I have actually worked on,” she says. “I take very seriously the importance of having a secure border.”She says she has prosecuted cross-border criminal gangs.She talks about the border security bill that Trump blocked.“It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl,” she says. It would have allowed more agents.Trump prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem, Harris says.Oprah brings up Springfield, and the repeated false claims made by Trump and his running mate JD Vance, about immigrants in the town.“It seems to us that something happened to you the moment President Joe Biden stepped aside and withdrew his candidacy, that a veil or something dropped, and you just stepped into your power,” Oprah says to Harris.Oprah stands up and does an impression of Harris walking confidently.“We each have those moments in our lives where it’s time to step up,” Harris says.She felt a sense of responsibility, and with that comes a sense of purpose, she says.“There really is so much at stake”.Harris walks into the event, hugging Whitmer and Oprah, and taking a seat in an armchair opposite Oprah.She says when we’ve dealt with so much that is exhausting with this movement trying to divide Americans, it is important to remember what unites Americans. More

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      Uncommitted movement declines to endorse Harris – but warns against Trump presidency

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      The Uncommitted National Movement announced that it will not endorse Kamala Harris for president, saying on Thursday she failed to respond to the movement’s requests that she meet with Palestinian families in Michigan and to discuss a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza by 15 September.“Vice-President Harris’s unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear statement in support of upholding existing US and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her,” Abbas Alawieh, an Uncommitted leader and delegate from Michigan, said during a press conference on Thursday.After the Democratic national convention last month, Uncommitted leaders sent a letter to Harris and her senior advisers voicing their dissatisfaction with the DNC’s refusal to allow a Palestinian American to speak, as well as reiterating their demands for a ceasefire and engagement with people who have been affected by Israel’s war on Gaza. In a response to movement leaders on Sunday, Harris’s team said “they don’t have particular engagements that they can point us to, but they can keep us updated as things develop”, Alawieh said. Harris’s campaign added that it would continue to be open to opportunities to engage with communities on vital issues.However, the movement’s leaders who helped mobilize more than 700,000 Americans to vote “uncommitted” or its equivalent in Democratic party primaries throughout the nation also acknowledged the danger of Donald Trump winning the election.“At this time, our movement opposes a Donald Trump presidency whose agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in Gaza while intensifying the suppression of anti-war organizing,” said Alawieh. “And our movement is not recommending a third-party vote in the presidential election, especially as third-party votes in key swing states could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency, given our country’s broken electoral college system.”For months, the movement had urged Harris to demonstrate a shift in her policy on Gaza, where more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, to no avail, said the Uncommitted leader and Palestinian American Lexis Zeidan.“We urge uncommitted voters to register anti-Trump votes and vote up and down the ballot. Our focus remains on building this anti-war coalition, both inside and outside the Democratic party,” said Layla Elabed, a leader of the Uncommitted National Movement and a Palestinian American.In a statement, a Harris campaign spokesperson said: “[T]he Vice President is committed to work to earn every vote, unite our country, and to be a President for all Americans. She will continue working to bring the war in Gaza to an end in a way where Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”The uncommitted movement originated in Michigan, where more than 100,000 people cast “uncommitted” ballots to signal to Biden their dissatisfaction with his Gaza policy, before spreading to Democratic primaries throughout the nation. A June CBS poll showed that a majority of Americans believe that the US should not send weapons to Israel, including 77% of Democrats.Arab American voters in Michigan and other swing states will play a critical role in the presidential election. Joe Biden won Michigan, where 278,000 Arab Americans live, by just 154,000 votes in 2020. Four years earlier, Donald Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes.Several Arab and Muslim American leaders have endorsed Harris in recent months, including the Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund and the US representative Ilhan Omar. Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, which disbanded after the Democratic national convention because of its denial of a Palestinian American speaker, reaffirmed their support for Harris a week later.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe uncommitted leaders who spoke on Thursday were split on their voting plans for the top of the ticket. Alawieh said that he plans to vote for Harris so that he can continue with his anti-war efforts, despite her lack of alignment with his values on the issue. “But I am concerned with Donald Trump’s very specific plans to suppress pro Palestinian human rights organizing,” he said.As a Palestinian American with family in the occupied West Bank, Elabed said, whenever she’s questioned on her voting choice, she feels like she’s “being asked that question at a funeral”. While she said that she won’t vote for Harris, Trump or a third-party candidate for president, she continued: “I will be going out to vote and ensuring that I’m voting up and down the ballot for candidates that I have a shared value with.”Zeidan said that she also plans to abstain from voting at the top of the ticket. “Still, I’m open to having that very perspective change as it relates to what VP Harris and the administration and her campaign plan to do between now and November,” she said.Until the November election, the Uncommitted National Movement plans to continue applying pressure on the Biden administration to adopt an arms embargo on Israel and support a permanent ceasefire, as well as to block a Trump presidency. Over the next few months, Zeidan said, the movement will produce content “that is cutting through the noise and building coalitions that are going to continue to challenge both Trump’s extremism and also Harris’s status quo”. They will also continue to educate voters on the risk of a Trump presidency and will continue pushing Harris to stop sending arms to Israel.“The Democratic party, pro-war forces like [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee] want to drive us out of the Democratic party, but we won’t concede,” said Elabed. “We’re here to stay.” More

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      Teamsters decline to endorse election candidate – but claim majority backs Trump

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      The Teamsters International, which represents over 1.3 million workers, declined to endorse a candidate ahead of November’s presidential election – but released data suggesting most of its members backed Donald Trump over Kamala Harris.The union’s decision to not make an election endorsement, for the first time in almost three decades, comes in the wake of scrutiny of its president, Sean O’Brien, becoming the first Teamsters leader to address the the Republican national convention in July. John Palmer, vice-president at large at the Teamsters, called the decision to appear at the convention, “unconscionable” given Trump’s record opposing labor unions.Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, met with the Teamsters this week for a roundtable discussion prior to the decision. Trump and Joe Biden attended roundtable with the union earlier this year.“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before big business,” O’Brien said in a statement on Wednesday. “We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries – and to honor our members’ right to strike – but were unable to secure those pledges.”Polling data released by the union ahead of the announcement showed that its members supported Biden over Trump, though more recent surveys conduct by the union revealed membership supported Trump over Harris.The Teamsters National Black Caucus endorsed Harris last month.In response to the non-endorsement, Teamsters against Trump, a grassroots group of Teamster members and retirees, announced they will expand campaigning efforts to elect Vice President Kamala Harris.The California Teamsters also came out on 18 September to endorse Harris in response to the Teamsters International’s lack of endorsement.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“When it comes to my vote for President, as a proud Teamster there’s no contest. Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn about the working class. As President, Trump didn’t lift a finger to help Teamsters whose pensions were in danger. Instead, he installed his billionaire friends in the White House and did everything he could to stop workers from organizing into unions,” said James Larkin, a member of Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit, Michigan and member of the group, in a statement. More

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      More than 100 ex-Republican officials call Trump ‘unfit to serve’ and endorse Harris

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      More than 100 Republican former national security and foreign policy officials on Wednesday endorsed Kamala Harris for president in a joint letter, calling Donald Trump “unfit to serve” another term in the White House.Former officials from the presidential administrations of Republicans Ronald Reagan, George H W Bush, George W Bush and Donald Trump, as well as Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama voiced their support for Harris, the Democratic nominee for president in this November’s election. They were joined by some former GOP members of Congress.The letter said: “We believe that the president of the United States must be a principled, serious, and steady leader.”It went on: “We expect to disagree with Kamala Harris on many domestic and foreign policy issues, but we believe that she possesses the essential qualities to serve as president and Donald Trump does not. We therefore support her election to be president.”Among the signees were former defense secretaries William Cohen and Chuck Hagel, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, respectively. Others include William Webster, a former CIA and FBI director under the Reagan and first Bush administrations, as well as Michael Hayden, a former CIA and NSA director under the younger Bush and the Obama administrations.“We firmly oppose the election of Donald Trump. 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 document,” the letter added.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionPointing to Trump’s involvement in the 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, his “susceptibility to flattery and manipulation” by authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China, and “chaotic national security decision-making”, the former officials called Trump unfit to serve again as president or in “any office of public trust”.The former officials also pointed to Harris’s support for Nato and Israel, as well as her commitment to signing the bipartisan border security package that Republicans blocked, and her pledge to appoint a Republican to her administration as reasons for their endorsement.Several former Trump officials who signed the letter include Mark Harvey, a former special assistant to the president, and Elizabeth Neumann, a former assistant secretary of Homeland Security.In recent weeks, a handful of Republicans have crossed party lines to endorse Harris, including the former Virginia representative Barbara Comstock. In an interview with CNN, Comstock explained her decision, saying: “After January 6, after Donald Trump has refused for four years to acknowledge that he lost [the 2020 election], and his threats against democracy, I think it’s important to turn the page.”Other Republicans who have endorsed Harris include Alberto Gonzales, a Republican attorney general who served under the W Bush administration, the former Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger, as well as Trump’s former press secretary Stephanie Grisham and communications director Anthony Scaramucci. More

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      ‘Only consequential presidents get shot at,’ Trump tells event – US politics live

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      Donald Trump touched on a range of topics during his town hall with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, that included – according to The Hill – the fate of the US auto industry, climate change (which he mocked) and a rejection of the ‘rambling’ label he’s been given by Kamala Harris.The Hill reports that, after giving a long and winding answer on Tuesday during which Trump spoke about the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, appeared to confuse Bagram airbase with an oil reserve in Alaska and threatened to impose a 200% tariff on cars imported from Mexico, the Republican presidental nominee argued his words were more “productive” than what Harris says on the campaign trail.“The fake news likes to say, ‘Oh he was rambling.’ No, no. That’s not rambling. That’s genius,” Trump said of his own comments. “When you can connect the dots. Now, Sarah, if you couldn’t connect the dots, you got a problem. But every dot was connected. And many stories were told in that little paragraph.”Trump also mocked climate change. According to The Hill, Trump said that the biggest threat to the public was not climate change but nuclear warfare.“Not that the ocean is going to rise in 400 years an eighth of an inch, and you’ll have more seafront property if that happens,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Is that good or bad?’ I said, isn’t that a good thing if I have a little property on the ocean? I have a little bit more property, I have a little bit more ocean.”Donald Trump held his first campaign event on Tuesday since the thwarted assassination attempt over the weekend, telling a packed 6,000-seat arena in Flint, Michigan that the assassin “couldn’t even get a shot off” while describing the Secret Service’s “great” response to the threat.During a town hall moderated by former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump took audience questions about manufacturing and the economy, among other issues. Like his first appearance after the attempt on his life in July – also a rally in Michigan – Trump appeared ready to return to business as usual on the campaign trail, and his supporters were eager to see him in action.Susan Moore and Christopher Moore, who came to the rally from Mundy Township, Michigan, got in line at 9.30am for a chance to get inside their first Trump event, where doors didn’t open until 3pm. “The atmosphere is just electric,” Susan Moore said.Clark Grognan, a career auto worker from Whiteford, Michigan, said Bill Clinton’s “horrible” presidency convinced him to vote Republican, and that it was “exciting” to meet so many like-minded people.“God is not done with President Trump,” Huckabee Sanders said as she opened the event, calling Trump “what our country desperately needs”.Auto workers were among the most common attendees. Several people wore “Unions for Trump” merchandise, and some had UAW T-shirts.Flint, like much of Michigan’s east side, has been a bastion of the US auto industry. Trump began the night by lamenting the rise of Mexican car manufacturing. He championed new tariffs, saying about Mexico: “We’re not going to let them sell one car in the USA.”You can read the full piece here:Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the run-up to the US presidential election.The fallout from Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on Republican nominee Donald Trump is continuing. Last night the former president made his first public appearance since the incident, which occurred while he was playing golf in Florida.“It’s been a great experience,” the Republican presidential nominee said in an evening town hall in Flint, Michigan, about holding events with thousands of supporters. But he also went on to call running for president “a dangerous business” akin to car racing or bull riding.“Only consequential presidents get shot at,” he said.The crowd chanted “God bless Trump!” and “fight, fight, fight” as US Secret Service agents surrounded the stage to protect him.Sunday’s incident, for which a suspect has been charged with possession of a firearm as a felon, comes two months after Trump was lightly injured when a gunman opened fire on him at a Pennsylvania rally.In other developments:

      On Tuesday, Kamala Harris was interviewed by a panel of three National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) members, during which the vice-president talked about the anti-immigrant sentiment toward Haitians in Springfield, Ohio; Israel’s war in Gaza; domestic economic issues; gun violence; and reproductive rights. The conversation was one of the few interviews Harris has done since becoming the Democratic nominee.

      JD Vance defended his comments about Haitian immigrants eating pets during a Tuesday rally, saying that “the media has a responsibility to factcheck” stories – not him. The rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, came two days after the Ohio senator told CNN host Dana Bash it was OK “to create stories” to draw attention to issues his constituents care about, regarding inflammatory and unfounded claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had eaten residents’ pets.

      The FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service on Tuesday were investigating the origin of suspicious packages that have been sent to or received by elections officials in more than 15 states, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or that any of the packages contained hazardous material. The latest packages were sent to elections officials in Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Rhode Island.

      Donald Trump is planning to appear with Polish President Andrzej Duda in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Sunday, according to two sources familiar with the plan, reports Reuters. The dual appearance is not yet finalised, said one of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss plans that are still private. But if the dual appearance goes forward, it would mark a rare instance of a foreign leader appearing alongside a US presidential candidate on the campaign trail.

      A false claim circulating on social media that Kamala Harris was involved in an alleged hit-and-run in San Francisco in 2011 is the work of a covert Russian disinformation operation, according to new research by Microsoft. The Russian group responsible, which Microsoft dubs Storm-1516, is described as a Kremlin-aligned troll farm.

      America Pac, one of the largest and the most ambitious of the groups supporting Donald Trump’s campaign, is replacing its voter turnout operations in the crucial battleground states of Arizona and Nevada, according to two people familiar with the matter. The political action committee, backed by billionaire Elon Musk, has ended its contract with the September Group and will hire a new company to knock on doors with fewer than 50 days left until the election. More