Billionaire allies hit the campaign trail for Trump and Harris

Summary

Donald Trump pokes fun at his Democratic rivals during a gag-filled speech at the annual Al Smith charity dinner in New York
The Republican White House nominee aims comedic barbs at his opponent Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden and their "woke" party
Vice-President Harris breaks presidential race tradition by skipping the bipartisan event. She campaigns in Wisconsin instead
But she appears remotely at the dinner, taking digs at Trump in a recorded video skit with a Saturday Night Live performer
Earlier on Thursday, both campaigns got a boost from billionaire allies: Mark Cuban appeared in Wisconsin for Harris and Elon Musk took to the trail in Pennsylvania for Trump
Americans are gearing up to choose their next president in less than three weeks - including a resident in Boone, North Carolina, who says that despite her home being destroyed by Hurricane Helene, she still intends to vote early in the US election
Opinion polls suggest the two candidates are running neck and neck - with Harris slightly ahead nationally, though the contest is tighter in the all-important swing states

Live Reporting

Edited by Emily Atkinson

Judge blocks Georgia order to count votes by handpublished at 12:24 British Summer Time 16 October
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Donald Trump's defeat in Georgia in 2020 triggered protests
A judge in the US state of Georgia has blocked an order for ballots in November's presidential election to be counted by hand.
Judge Robert McBurney ruled poll workers would not have received adequate training to handle millions of ballots, adding that the last-minute change would have led to "administrative chaos".
The hand count mandate was passed by the pro-Trump majority on the Georgia election board last month, and Tuesday's ruling was welcomed by Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Early voting began in Georgia on Tuesday, with record numbers casting their votes in the key swing state ahead of Election Day on 5 November.
More than 328,000 people voted in person or by post on the first day of voting, officials said - more than double the previous record of 136,000 in 2020.
About five million votes for president were cast in Georgia that year, with Democrat Joe Biden winning the state by just under 12,000.
- READ MORE: US judge blocks Georgia order to count votes by hand
What else is happening?published at 12:16 British Summer Time 16 October
It's still early in the US, so let's get up to speed up on what happened yesterday:
- Early voting began in Georgia, one of the key swing states which will decide who enters the White House. A record number of voters turned up, at least 328,000 people
- Also in Georgia, a judge temporarily blocked a move to mandate hand-counting for ballot papers, which was backed by Trump supporters
- Elsewhere, Kamala Harris has tried to refine her pitch to black voters, after polls suggested Trump is making inroads with the group
- Campaign filings show Elon Musk has donated $75m in recent months to the pro-Donald Trump campaign group he set up
Trump tells all-female audience he is the 'father of IVF'published at 12:10 British Summer Time 16 October
Brandon Livesay
Live editor
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the US election.
We're starting off by looking at a Donald Trump town hall event with an all-female audience. It airs on Fox News later on Wednesday, but we have seen some quotes from the pre-recorded event.
One that stands out is Trump declaring he is the "father of IVF".
“We really are the party for IVF,” Trump told the town hall host Harris Faulkner, when speaking about the fertility treatment. “We want fertilisation, and it’s all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we’re out there on IVF, even more than them. So, we’re totally in favour.”
IVF has become an issue in this election after an Alabama court ruled in February that frozen embryos created through fertility treatment are children.
Kamala Harris reacted to Trump's statement on X, saying: "Donald Trump called himself 'the father of IVF.' What is he talking about? His abortion bans have already jeopardized access to it in states across the country—and his own platform could end IVF altogether."
We will bring you more from the town hall when it airs. And we will have key updates from Harris's first ever formal interview on Fox News, which also airs later today.
Stick with us for another busy day on the campaign trail.