While briefly speaking to reporters, Biden praised his Vice-President Kamala Harris - the Democratic nominee for president - and her work in recent days on the response to Hurricane Helene and the crisis in the Middle East.

"I'm in constant contact with her," Biden said. "We're singing from the same song sheet."

"She's a major player in everything we've done" during his administration, he adds.

During a surprise appearance at the White House daily briefing, Joe Biden tells reporters he is confident the US election will be "free and fair", but he's not sure it will be "peaceful".

"The things that Trump has said, and the things that he said last time out when he didn't like the outcome of the election were very dangerous", he says, referring to the 2020 election when Biden beat Donald Trump.

"I'm concerned about what they're going to do," the president adds.

Biden has never appeared in the White House briefing room during his time as president, a contrast to his predecessor Trump, who frequently spoke to the press in the room.

President Joe Biden has made an unusual surprise appearance at the White House daily briefing.

He's being asked about the Middle East conflict and the presidential campaign.

Stick with us, we'll bring you the latest updates.

Image source, Reuters

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is now speaking at a campaign event in Lindale, Georgia.

Vance is repeatedly criticising his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris for not talking to the media more. This has been a common assessment of the Harris-Walz campaign among Republicans.

"I think she is the only presidential candidate in American history where every time she opens her mouth, the other side gets about 100,000 votes," he says.

"I want Kamala Harris to do interviews because I think it reveals just how hollow her entire agenda is," he adds.

He argued that the Harris campaign is running on "slogans," while the Trump campaign is running on "substance".

Harris has participated sit-down interviews with US TV networks CNN and MSNBC since she entered the campaign in July. She has another interview scheduled with CBS News next week. Trump has declined an interview with the same CBS program, 60 Minutes. She has not held a news conference since becoming the Democratic nominee.

The former president has also had several conversations with media figures in recent months, including online appearances with personalities such as Dave Ramsey, Elon Musk and Logan Paul. He has also frequently spoken before journalists at news conferences and made phone calls to Fox News.

Donald Trump's running mate JD Vance is holding a rally in the battleground state of Georgia.

He's currently speaking about manufacturing jobs in America, a key focus for the Trump campaign.

Stick with us, we will bring you any major updates from the rally.

Question Time is coming to America, as the BBC’s flagship political debate programme heads to the key battleground state of Pennsylvania ahead of November’s presidential election.

Presented by Fiona Bruce, the debate will be recorded at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia with a local audience of voters and a panel of politicians and prominent commentators, with a wide range of views.

• People in and around Pennsylvania can apply to be in the audience here., external

The programme gives American voters the chance to quiz the panel on the character and policy preferences of the two contenders - Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. It will also give UK viewers a unique insight into the issues confronting US voters at such a volatile time in American politics.

Details of the panel will be confirmed soon.

The show will be streamed on the BBC website, from 16:00 EST (21:00 BST), on 10 October.

UK audiences can also watch on BBC One and iPlayer, while global audiences can also watch on the BBC News channel.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump failed to secure the backing of another key union, as the International Association of Fire Fighters announced yesterday that they will not endorse a candidate, external in the 2024 election.

The union, which represents 300,000 workers, had been among the first to endorse Harris's boss Joe Biden during his own 2020 run.

The announcement comes only weeks after another important union, the Teamsters, also declined to make a presidential endorsement, despite Harris and Biden's efforts to frame themselves as one of the most pro-union administrations in modern history.

Another bit of labour news, however, could add a boost to Harris as part of the incumbent administration as the union representing tens of thousands of US dockworkers says it has reached a tentative agreement on wages and will end its strike and go back to work until 15 January.

The International Longshoremen's Association's deal averts potential economic chaos in the last stretch of the election, as major US ports could have been closed heading into the busy holiday shopping season.

Image source, Getty Images

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Hurricane Helene, which left widespread destruction across the south-eastern US when it came ashore and moved inland last week, hit a couple of key swing states especially hard, including Georgia and North Carolina.

With only weeks to go until the election, both major presidential candidates have visited areas dealing with the damage.

Donald Trump travelled to Georgia on Monday, where his campaign set up a fundraising page for storm relief, which has raised several million dollars.

During his visit, Trump had claimed that the governor of Georgia, Republican Brian Kemp, was having a hard time contacting President Joe Biden about relief efforts. Both the governor and Biden refuted that, pointing out that they had spoken over the phone that same day.

On Wednesday, Vice-President Kamala Harris also went to Georgia to survey storm damage, where she warned, "there's a lot of work that's going to need to happen over the coming days, weeks and months" and praised the community spirit in the area.

Donald Trump

The republican nominee's running mate JD Vance is in Georgia this afternoon, before Trump delivers remarks on Hurricane Helene at around 15:45 EST (20:45 BST).

Trump will then hold a town hall in North Carolina at 19:00 EST (00:00 BST).

Kamala Harris

The vice-president will speak from Detroit, Michigan later, before heading to Flint where she'll hold a town hall at 18:00 EST (23:00 BST).

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

Image source, Reuters

Democratic organisers in the swing state of Michigan were overjoyed by the boost of enthusiasm they say when Vice-President Kamala Harris entered the race months ago, replacing the 81-year-old Joe Biden.

But that trend may not be holding, activists in the state say.

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is locked in a tight race for re-election, told a virtual fundraiser last week that Harris seemed to be “underwater” in internal polling. "I'm not feeling my best right now about where we are on Kamala Harris in a place like Michigan," Slotkin said, according to Axios.

Polls suggest Harris is ahead of Trump by two points in Michigan - down from a larger margin of three to four points soon after she joined the race.

Before today, Harris made a number of stops to the battleground state, which has voted for the winner of the presidential election in the past four contests.

But Trump has outnumbered her in visits that have also covered more of the state. Harris's trip to Michigan today may be a sign that she's hoping to change that.

As we've mentioned, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in the swing states of Michigan and Georgia respectively today in a bid to boost votes.

The states are two of seven that could hold the key to who will take the White House: North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Right now, the polls are very tight in these battleground states with just one or two percentage points separating the candidates.

That includes Pennsylvania, which is key as it has the highest number of electoral votes of the seven states and therefore winning it makes it easier to reach the 270 votes needed.

In a sign of how the race has changed since Harris became the Democratic nominee, on the day Biden quit the race he was trailing Trump by nearly five percentage points on average in these seven states.

Marita Moloney
Live editor, in New York City

It's just a month and a day until Americans go to the polls to decide the next US president, and the Democratic and Republican nominees are campaigning in swing states in a bid to secure key votes today.

Vice-President Kamala Harris is travelling to Michigan, where she'll deliver remarks in Detroit and Flint.

Former President Donald Trump is in Georgia alongside his running mate JD Vance. Trump is expected to speak about the recent devastation caused by Storm Helene in which more than 200 people were killed across states in the Southeast.

His visit comes after Harris travelled to the state on Wednesday. She defended the federal relief response to the "extraordinary" devastation and said people would receive $750 for emergency supplies.

Meanwhile neither Trump nor Harris secured the endorsement of another key union - the firefighters union representing 300,000 workers - and which was the first to endorse Joe Biden during his presidential bid ahead of the 2020 election.

We'll be looking at the significance of this, as well as covering the campaign trail and other developments related to the election right here, so stay with us throughout the day.