World

Trump campaign reportedly requests military vehicles and aircraft over fear of Iran plot – US elections live


Fearing threat from Iran, Trump campaign requested military vehicles, aircraft for ex-president

Donald Trump’s campaign requested military vehicles and aircraft to transport and protect the former president, citing fears of an Iranian assassination plot, the Washington Post reports.

It is an unprecedented request to make, and it’s not clear what has been provided. The request came after suspects with no known connections to Iran tried twice in recent months to assassination the former president. While the Secret Service says it has stepped up its protection of Trump since then, the Post reports that his campaign does not feel their measures are sufficient, citing recent briefings that Iran is still seeking to assassinate him.

Here’s more:

Donald Trump’s campaign requested military aircraft for Trump to fly in during the final weeks of the campaign, expanded flight restrictions over his residences and rallies, ballistic glass pre-positioned in seven battleground states for the campaign’s use and an array of military vehicles to transport Trump, according to emails reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the matter.

The requests are extraordinary and unprecedented — no nominee in recent history has been ferried around in military planes ahead of an election. But the requests came after Trump’s campaign advisers received briefings in which the government said Iran is still actively plotting to kill him, according to the emails reviewed by The Post and the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. Trump advisers have grown concerned about drones and missiles, according to the people.

In the emails over the past two weeks from campaign manager Susie Wiles to Ronald L. Rowe Jr., the head of the Secret Service, she expressed displeasure with the Secret Service and said the campaign recently had to cancel a public event at the last minute because of a “lack of personnel” from the Secret Service — instead only putting Trump in a small room with reporters. Wiles said Trump’s campaign is being hampered in its planning because of threats expects to hold far more events in the final weeks of the campaign.

She also wrote that the U.S. government has not been able to provide what the campaign views as an extensive enough plan to protect Trump. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), a Trump ally, also wrote a letter to the Secret Service asking for military aircraft or additional protection for Trump’s private plane, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Post.

Danielle Alvarez, a spokeswoman for Trump, declined to comment.

Secret Service officials did not answer specific questions about the discussions with the Trump campaign, but spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that Trump is receiving “the highest levels of protection.” In a letter to the campaign, Rowe said the government is assessing what can be provided.

Share

Key events

The day so far

Donald Trump will later this afternoon press his anti-immigrant message in Aurora, Colorado, a Denver suburb that he and his allies claim, over the objections of local officials, has become more dangerous because of migrants. This morning, Tim Walz campaigned for working-class voters in battleground state Michigan and decried Trump for “manufacturing bullshit” about Detroit, which the former president had insulted to its face just the day before. Hillary Clinton was on SiriusXM warning Kamala Harris to watch out for an October surprise, while the Washington Post reports that Trump campaign has asked for military vehicles and aircraft to protect the former president from an assassination plot by Iran.

Here’s what else has happened today:

  • Joe Biden will on Sunday visit areas of Florida damaged by Hurricane Milton, the White House announced.

  • Harris slammed Trump for “playing political games” by spreading misinformation about the responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

  • The misinformation over the two storms has become so bad that meteorologists are facing threats.

Share

Biden to visit Hurricane-ravaged areas of Florida

Joe Biden will travel to Florida on Sunday to visit areas damaged by Hurricane Milton, the White House announced.

The administration did not provide further details of his itinerary. Biden will visit the state as the Trump campaign attempts to sway voters with criticisms of his administration’s handling of Hurricane Milton, as well as the earlier Hurricane Helene.

We have a live blog covering the recovery from Hurricane Milton, and you can read it here:

Share

Speaking of Iran, tensions remain high in Lebanon, while the wider Middle East braces for Israel’s retaliation against the salvo of missiles Tehran launched earlier this month.

We have a live blog covering all the latest news in the crisis, which you can watch here:

Share

Fearing threat from Iran, Trump campaign requested military vehicles, aircraft for ex-president

Donald Trump’s campaign requested military vehicles and aircraft to transport and protect the former president, citing fears of an Iranian assassination plot, the Washington Post reports.

It is an unprecedented request to make, and it’s not clear what has been provided. The request came after suspects with no known connections to Iran tried twice in recent months to assassination the former president. While the Secret Service says it has stepped up its protection of Trump since then, the Post reports that his campaign does not feel their measures are sufficient, citing recent briefings that Iran is still seeking to assassinate him.

Here’s more:

Donald Trump’s campaign requested military aircraft for Trump to fly in during the final weeks of the campaign, expanded flight restrictions over his residences and rallies, ballistic glass pre-positioned in seven battleground states for the campaign’s use and an array of military vehicles to transport Trump, according to emails reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the matter.

The requests are extraordinary and unprecedented — no nominee in recent history has been ferried around in military planes ahead of an election. But the requests came after Trump’s campaign advisers received briefings in which the government said Iran is still actively plotting to kill him, according to the emails reviewed by The Post and the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. Trump advisers have grown concerned about drones and missiles, according to the people.

In the emails over the past two weeks from campaign manager Susie Wiles to Ronald L. Rowe Jr., the head of the Secret Service, she expressed displeasure with the Secret Service and said the campaign recently had to cancel a public event at the last minute because of a “lack of personnel” from the Secret Service — instead only putting Trump in a small room with reporters. Wiles said Trump’s campaign is being hampered in its planning because of threats expects to hold far more events in the final weeks of the campaign.

She also wrote that the U.S. government has not been able to provide what the campaign views as an extensive enough plan to protect Trump. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), a Trump ally, also wrote a letter to the Secret Service asking for military aircraft or additional protection for Trump’s private plane, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Post.

Danielle Alvarez, a spokeswoman for Trump, declined to comment.

Secret Service officials did not answer specific questions about the discussions with the Trump campaign, but spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that Trump is receiving “the highest levels of protection.” In a letter to the campaign, Rowe said the government is assessing what can be provided.

Share

Hillary Clinton tells Harris: beware the October surprise

It’s a special time of year – the time when the October surprise comes.

The October surprise is a US election mainstay, and refers to the unexpected event or events that can happen in the final weeks before the election and upend the race, typically to one candidate’s advantage and the other’s disadvantage.

Hillary Clinton knows a thing or two about that. This time eight years ago, she was widely viewed as being in pole position to trounce Donald Trump. But on 28 October 2016, then-FBI director James Comey released a letter saying he was reopening an investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server. There remains lots of debate over why Clinton went on to lose to Trump days later, but that letter is generally regarded as having a major impact on voters.

Fast forward eight years and no bombshell has yet emerged, 11 days into October. It should also be noted that there was no October surprise four years ago, when Joe Biden sent Trump packing. Nonetheless, Clinton was on SiriusXM today to warn Kamala Harris of the possibility a surprise could be coming. Here’s what she said:

I believe that despite how close it is, she will win and we can all then exhale and get about the business of trying to heal the divisions in our country … I believe strongly that she has to be prepared for any last-minute October surprises that come from the Trump campaign, from their Russian support system that has now been called out numerous times by our own government, that they once again are trying to help Trump get elected … She doesn’t have a Jim Comey, thankfully, waiting in the wings, you know, a knee-capper. But she does have the combined efforts of the Big Lie machine of Trump and the people who support him that she’s going to have to be prepared for. And of course now there’s the added factor of artificial intelligence, and how it can make you look like you’ve said things that you never said because it’s now so much more sophisticated.

Share

Updated at 

As he wrapped up his remarks, Walz took a swing at Project 2025, the rightwing blueprint to remake the US government authored by people in Donald Trump’s orbit.

“I’ve also, at times, said Donald Trump doesn’t have a plan – concept of a plan, at times. That wasn’t exactly correct. He does have a plan. It’s called Project 2025,” Walz said.

He continued:

This thing is a damn nightmare. His project 2025 would repeal the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act – that would threaten hundreds of thousands of new manufacturing jobs, including those right here in Michigan. The ones that JD Vance said, those 650 jobs were table scraps, good-paying union jobs building America, and those are table scraps. He would establish, and every single economist said so, a national sales tax on everything from groceries to prescription drugs.

And the estimates is it would cost each and every one of you $4,000 he says those tariffs that Trump will pay, or that China will pay, Trump’s tariffs – you’re going to pay them. That’s the way it always works.

Share

Walz’s speech is aimed squarely at working-class workers, with the vice-presidential candidate accusing Donald Trump of breaking his promises and arguing Kamala Harris would do a better job of growing the manufacturing sector.

“Trump has spent his life talking a big game, but he has been an absolute disaster for working people, one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs of any American president in history. Under Donald Trump, we saw 280,000 Michigan jobs gone, 30,000 of those manufacturing jobs gone, nearly 9,000 auto industry jobs gone. Trump’s presidency was an endless string of broken promises,” Walz said.

In his rapid-fire style, he then told the crowd about what Harris would do, if elected:

Let me tell you exactly what vice-president Harris and I will do. We’re going to create an American forward strategy for manufacturing, one that builds on the historic investments, bipartisan infrastructure, law, Chips act, science act, Inflation Reduction Act, creating all kinds of new opportunities, ones that empowers American workers, revitalizes manufacturing communities, leads us into an industries of the future and keep out innovating and out competing the rest of the world.

We never fear the future. You build the future, and this gives us the opportunity to do it.

Share

Walz defends Detroit from Trump insult, accusing him of ‘manufacturing bullshit’

Tim Walz just opened fire on Donald Trump, who yesterday insulted nearby Detroit during a visit to the city.

Speaking at a community college in Macomb county, which is part of the Detroit, metro area, Walz reminded the crowd of what Trump said yesterday: “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if [Kamala Harris is] your president. You’re going to have a mess on your hands.”

Tim Walz in Michigan: all Trump knows is ‘manufacturing bullshit’ – video

Then Walz told the crowd:

If the guy would have ever spent any time in the midwest, like all of us know, we’d know Detroit’s experience in American comeback and Renaissance.

We know the city’s growing. Crime’s down. Factories are opening up. But those guys, all they know about manufacturing is manufacturing bullshit every time they show up.

Here’s more on what Trump said:

Share

Updated at 

Walz stumps for union vote in Michigan

Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, is onstage in Macomb county, Michigan, aiming to woo working class voters in a vital state with an event centered on his campaign’s support for unions.

He began with words about the two recent hurricanes that have upended life in parts of the southeastern United States:

Our hearts are going out to those communities across the southeast that have been devastated by Helene and then Milton. Vice President Harris, President Biden, watching developments closely, working with states, local governments and the governors, shall stand with the people of the region every step of the way until this recovery and rebuilding is done from these storms, because that’s what Americans do at a time of crisis.

Share

Trump set to drive anti-immigrant message in Colorado rally

Donald Trump will this afternoon hold a rally in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado – which is not a swing state.

So why is the former president going there? It’s all due to immigration, which Aurora has seen a lot of, and which Trump has made a focus of his campaign, spreading factually wobbly allegations that new arrivals in the United States are committing crimes.

Crime is generally on the downslope in Aurora, as it is nationally, but Trump has made reports of shootings and potentially a murder connected to Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua a talking point at recent rallies, and is set to drive the message in person during his 3pm rally in the suburb.

“Aurora, Colorado has become a ‘war zone’ due to the influx of violent Venezuelan prison gang members from Tren de Aragua,” his campaign said in announcing the rally.

“Kamala Harris’ open-border policies are turning once-safe communities into nightmares for law-abiding citizens.”

As the Guardian’s Josiah Hesse reports, all signs point to Trump and his allies greatly exaggerating the situation in Aurora:

Share

Meteorologists are also facing threats as conspiracy theories swirl in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Guardian’s Oliver Milman reports:

Meteorologists tracking the advance of Hurricane Milton have been targeted by a deluge of conspiracy theories that they were controlling the weather, abuse and even death threats, amid what they say is an unprecedented surge in misinformation as two major hurricanes have hit the US.

The extent of the misinformation, which has been stoked by Donald Trump and his followers, has been such that it has stymied the ability to help hurricane-hit communities, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

Katie Nickolaou, a Michigan-based meteorologist, said that she and her colleagues have borne the brunt of much of these conspiracies, having received messages claiming there are category 6 hurricanes (there aren’t), that meteorologists or the government are creating and directing hurricanes (they aren’t) and even that scientists should be killed and radar equipment be demolished.

“I’ve never seen a storm garner so much misinformation, we have just been putting out fires of wrong information everywhere,” Nickolaou said.

Read the Guardian’s full report:

Share

Harris accuses Trump of ‘playing political games’ over hurricane response

Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump’s attacks on the Biden administration’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton yesterday, accusing Republicans of “playing political games” while Americans are suffering.

Speaking at a town hall hosted by Univision on Thursday, Harris lamented the “mis- and disinformation” about the White House’s response efforts.

“People are playing political games, suggesting that resources and support is only going to certain people based on a political agenda, and this is just not accurate,” Harris said.

Harris noted she has traveled to states affected by the storms, including Georgia and North Carolina, to ensure victims know they are entitled to government relief as they attempt to rebuild.

Trump and his Republican allies have falsely accused Democrats of redirecting recovery resources toward migrants instead of helping victims of the storm, and Joe Biden warned yesterday that the baseless accusations are causing threats against response workers.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Biden delivered this sharp rebuke to Trump: “Get a life, man. Help these people.”

Share

During his event in Warren, Michigan, today, Tim Walz is expected to defend Kamala Harris for casting the tie-breaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, according to speech excerpts shared by a senior campaign official.

The law allowed for a $500m investment to refurbish a General Motors plant in Lansing, but JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, recently mocked that grant as “table scraps”. Vance also dodged questions about whether the Trump administration would move forward with Joe Biden’s investments in electric vehicles.

“Table scraps! Tell that to the 650 families who rely on them for putting food on the table,” Walz will say in Warren. “These guys couldn’t care less about Michigan workers.”

Share

Walz to denounce Trump’s manufacturing record

Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, will denounce Donald Trump’s record on supporting US manufacturing during a campaign appearance in the battleground state of Michigan today.

According to speech excerpts shared by a senior Harris campaign adviser, Walz will use his event in Warren, Michigan, to criticize Trump’s “broken promises” to workers and celebrate Detroit’s “great American comeback”.

“Crime is down. The city is growing. Factories are opening again. All these guys know about manufacturing is how to manufacture bullshit,” Walz is expected to say.

“Trump’s presidency was an endless string of broken promises. He actually came here to Warren when he ran the first time and promised that, under a Trump presidency, ‘you won’t lose one plant.’ I guess, technically, that wasn’t a lie — because he lost six of them across the country.”

Walz will also dismiss concerns about Democrats mandating the use of electric vehicles, which has become a talking point among Trump and his allies.

“People are looking for choices — and we need to make those choices more affordable,” Walz will say. “Nobody’s mandating anything. If you want to drive a ‘79 International Harvester Scout like I do, knock yourself out.”

Share

Obama takes down Trump’s lies and fake ‘strength’ – urging men to ‘show real strength’ and vote Harris

Good morning, US politics blog readers, there’s another busy news day in store and we’ll keep up with all the developments as they happen. Party politics has seeped further into hurricane news, and you can follow all that in our storm blog, here.

Elsewhere, much is afoot on the campaign trail. Here’s what’s in store.

  • Barack Obama said he had “a problem” with men who keep coming up with bogus excuses not to vote for Kamala Harris and leaning into Donald Trump’s macho aggression, in his first appearance on the campaign trail for the Democrats in Pittsburgh yesterday, in the must-win state of Pennsylvania. Expect more events with the former, two-term president.

  • The former president told the crowd: “I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior of bullying and putting people down is a sign of strength. And I am here to tell you: that is not what real strength is.
    ”It never has been. Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves, that is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons, and that is what I want to see a president of the United States of America.”

  • Obama also condemned Trump’s spreading of disinformation about the hurricane, railing against “the idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments”. He highlighted that lies may discourage some of the people affected from seeking help. Visibly emotional, Obama asked: “When did that become OK?”

  • The Democratic governors of three vital battleground states, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, are going to hit the trail together.

  • Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Wisconsin’s Tony Evers plan a midwestern bus tour from next week, called Driving Forward , Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC said and Axios reported this morning.

  • Bill Clinton, who maybe didn’t set the Democratic voting world alight with his lengthy address at the party’s convention in August but is nevertheless always a big name in US politics, is going to Georgia this weekend and then North Carolina, where Trump is marginally ahead in the polls and it’s all hands on deck for the Dems.

  • Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice presidential pick, is going to do a TV interview blitz in, where else, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the coming days, Axios reports.

  • Donald Trump will speak in Aurora, Colorado, this afternoon, a state that’s confidently Democratic these days, but the former president plans to slam it to migrants and asylum seekers again, planning to make claims about Venezuelans and crime levels.

  • This comes after Trump again used brutal language to undercut United States allies in the NATO alliance, saying “we will not protect you” from Russia if they don’t spend as much as they should on paper on their militaries. Trump was speaking in Detroit.

Share

Updated at 


Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *