US election 2016: Your daily dig from campaign trail

With just three weeks to go until Americans go to the polls, here's your daily election dig, including a possible visit to Moscow, plans for Trump TV and a mass walk-out of Amy Schumer's stand-up show....

The latest

Melania Trump took centre stage on Monday night, leaping to the defence of her husband in an interview with CNN. "Boy talk" was how she described lewd comments made by Donald Trump in 2005, suggesting he was "egged on" by the other man involved, TV host Billy Bush, and insisting that the man in the clip was "not the man that I know".

Hillary Clinton may be lying low but the email embarrassments keep coming on several fronts, this time a State Department official being accused of pressing for a "quid pro quo" with the FBI over email classification, and more drip-drip-drip Wikileaks revelations.

While she stays away from the campaign trail ahead of the debate, her rival had a busy day, unveiling an anti-corruption drive for Washington.

If Mr Trump does defy the polls and become the next president, his first trip could be to Moscow. Talking on radio on Monday, he said: "If I win on November 8, I could see myself meeting with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and meeting with Russia prior to the start of the administration." That won't do much to dispel claims that Mr Trump has too cosy a relationship with Russia's leader.

Even if he doesn't win, it looks like he'll be busy once the campaign's over. According to the FT (paywall), his son-in-law Jared Kushner has been looking into the possibility of setting up a Trump TV network. Mr Kushner, who is married to Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka, has become an increasingly important member of the Trump campaign in recent months - as has Roger Ailes, the former head of Fox News. Mr Trump would be following in the footsteps of famous election loser Al Gore, who launched Current TV in 2005 to much acclaim but ended up selling the failing network to Al Jazeera in 2013.

One star unlikely to appear on Trump TV is comedian Amy Schumer. Her stand-up show in Tampa, Florida, made headlines on Monday after about 200 people were said to have walked out when she described the Republican nominee as an "orange, sexual-assaulting, fake-college-starting monster". On Twitter, one member of the audience wrote: "You ruined my night. Spent 300 for a comedy show. Then you went on a political path that was rude and disrespectful to Tampa." Another said: "Big ups for getting political." Guess you can't keep everyone happy.

Quote of the day

Random stat

$382,000

The amount of money given to the Clinton campaign by 430 people that work in journalism, according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, while Donald Trump's campaign has received $14,000 from about 50 journalists. The research will be a boost to Mr Trump, who has long argued that the media is working against him.

Picture of the day

A young woman waits backstage at a Trump campaign rally in Green Bay Wisconsin, before singing the US national anthem

Tuesday's diary

Hillary Clinton is taking a break from the campaign trail to focus on preparation for Wednesday's third presidential debate, which is being held in Las Vegas.

Her surrogates are out in force though, with Bernie Sanders in Arizona, a state the Democrats are increasingly hopeful of turning blue, while Bill Clinton is in Pennsylvania and Tim Kaine is in Detroit.

There's no sign of Donald Trump focusing on debate prep, with the Republican candidate due to hold three rallies in Colorado, a battleground state where he has slipped in recent polls.

Meanwhile, Republican running-mate Mike Pence will be campaigning in North Carolina.