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Kamala Harris and Donald Trump hold dueling rallies in swing-state Michigan – as it happened

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Kamala Harris and Donald Trump hold dueling rallies in swing-state Michigan – as it happened

Key events

That’s it for today

With just 18 days until election day, both presidential candidates had a busy day campaigning across Michigan. The day ended with Trump taking the stage at a Detroit rally and Harris speaking from Oakland County, Michigan.

Earlier, a federal judge allowed the release of hundreds of documents used in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case against Donald Trump, but the majority of them are redacted. What we can see mostly concerns the legal strategy Trump and his allies concocted to block Joe Biden from taking the White House, which may be presented to jurors whenever the case goes to trial. Meanwhile, reports have emerged that Trump has canceled interviews because he is “exhausted” – something his campaign denies – and is also considering holding a town hall with one-time rival Nikki Haley in a bid to woo female voters.

Here’s what else has happened today:

  • Trump said that some of the jokes he told at last night’s Al Smith dinner were written by employees of conservative network Fox – a breach of ethics, if confirmed.

  • Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the president of Germany, warned in unusually direct terms of the threat Trump could pose if returned to the White House, during a visit by Joe Biden to the country.

  • Kamala Harris’s campaign has enlisted singer-songwriter Marc Anthony for a campaign ad aimed at Latino voters in which he condemns Trump’s comments about Puerto Rico.

  • A House oversight committee report accused Trump of exploiting tax payer money by charging Secret Service agents and other federal officials higher-than-normal rates at his DC hotel.

  • Trump hit back on reports that he’s too tired to attend events.

  • An unnamed White House employee told an investigator for the January 6 committee that Trump watched the attack on the Capitol unfold from a White House dining room while drinking a Diet Coke. The detail was included in hundreds of pages of mostly redacted documents in the federal case against Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Signing off.

Johana Bhuiyan, Diana Ramirez-Simon, Chris Stein, Anna Betts and Daniel Lavelle

Diana Ramirez-Simon

Harris wrapped up her speech reminding her Detroit audience of about 3,500 to vote. In Michigan, early voting for most jurisdictions begins 26 October. For Detroit, it begins on 19 October. “Our vote is our voice and your voice is your power.”

Trump is concluding his rally with a reminder of his campaign promises.

“In conclusion, with your vote this November we are going to fire Kamala and we are going to save America. We will teach our children to love our country honor our history…we will cut your taxes, crush inflation, slash your prices, raise your wages and create the greatest job boom the world has ever seen…we will do that very easily.

We will hire American, buy American, build American, grow American and show the whole world the American dream is back.

I will stop the global theft of American jobs. I will turn America into the manufacturing superpower of the world. I will end the war in Ukraine immediately…stop the chaos in the Middle East and prevent World War 3. We are very close to World War 3…because we have incompetent people.

I will crush violent crime and give our police the…support that they so dearly deserve. We will strengthen and modernize our military…you know I rebuilt our military. We will build a missile defense shield all made in the USA. And we will put the stars and stripes on the surface of Mars and maybe with the help of Elon we’ll get it done quickly. We’ll rebuild our cities including our capital in Washington DC. We will get…and remember this one, we will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our schools.”

“But for that to happen we must defeat Kamala Harris…we want a landslide and it looks like that could be happening,” he ended.

He closed out his rally by clapping and dancing to YMCA by the Village People.

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Harris says she will ‘proudly sign in to law’ a bill restoring reproductive freedoms

Diana Ramirez-Simon

Harris went in on outlining her other policies and criticizing Trump for having only “concepts of a plan” to which the audience echoes “Concepts!”.

She emphasizes her fight for freedom, especially in relation to abortion rights, describing the downfall of Roe v Wade and vowing that when a bill restoring national abortion rights comes across her desk she will “proudly sign it in to law”.

Diana Ramirez-Simon

Harris rehashed Trump’s job losses in Michigan, calling him “one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in American history”. She reminded her supporters of Trump’s broken promises over losing auto plants during his presidency, resulting in “thousands of Michigan auto workers losing their jobs”.

She says Trump is making the same empty promises that he made before. “But we’re not falling for the okey doke. And we won’t be fooled!” she said as the crowd hollers “Nooo!”

Harris vows to her Detroit audience to invest in American manufacturing and industry such as steel, iron and the auto industry.

“And contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive” Harris said, addressing Trump’s claim that her administration would “mandate” electric vehicles.

Trump called for the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.

Trump said that his administration will also restore the US borders.

“I think it’s the worst thing that has happened to us. 21 million people. When I win on November 5, the migrant invasion ends and the restoration of our country begins. I have no choice.”

Many of Trump’s claims about the Biden administration’s immigration policies have been previously debunked. For instance, Trump claims the Biden administration opened the borders but in fact the administration increased the number of expedited removals and added more sections to the U.S. Southern border walls.

A study that looked at 150 years of census data has also shown that despite Trump’s claims, the vast majority of immigrants do not commit crimes and are significantly less likely to commit crimes than those born in the US.

Trump in Detroit. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
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Trump has addressed a few topics in a span of a few minutes. Trump addressed what he calls an electric vehicle “mandate” that the Biden administration has set. However, the administration has set no such requirement. They have set a goal of having 50% of car sales be electric vehicles by 2030.

“On day 1 of the Trump administration I will terminate Kamala’s insane electric vehicle mandate and we will end the green new scam once and for all. We will quickly become energy independent and we will frack, frack, frack and drill, baby, drill. I will cut your energy prices in half within 12 months of taking office. That’s going to bring everything down. I will massively cut taxes for workers and we will also have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on social security benefits for our seniors.”

Diana Ramirez-Simon

Back at the Harris rally, she says, “I’m gonna just go off script for a moment.” She begins to talk about the difficulties of taking care of an aging relative and the financial toll it can take.

“My plan is to fix Medicare to cover the home health costs for seniors because it’s about dignity.”

Kamala Harris on stage. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP
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“This is the worst mic I’ve ever had in my life,” Trump quipped.

After playing two campaign videos, Trump calls Kamala Harris the “tax queen” and claims her tax proposals will kill “almost a million full-time jobs”. “It will be economic armageddon for Detroit,” he said.

Trump’s microphone is working again.

He’s talking about his “build it in America plan”. “When CEOs call me to complain about my tariffs, my answer will be very simple, build it in America. And to be specific, build it in Detroit, and we’ll give you good electricity.

His plan is to impose tariffs on companies to discourage them from building manufacturing plants outside of America.

“The centerpiece of his plan will be a 15% made in America corporate tax rate. So we brought the rate down from close to 40% to 21%…now we’re going to get it down to 15% but only if they build it in America,” he said. “For those who don’t make their product in America they will be forced to pay tariffs.”

Harris is back.

She begins again, starting with addressing the devastation in Gaza and Lebanon.

“I know this year has been very difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon. It is devastating. And now Sinwar’s death must be a turning point. Everyone must seize this opportunity to end the war in Gaza. Bring the hostages home. And end the suffering once and for all.”

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