Sam Hancock
Live page editor, in Washington DC

With just four weeks to go until Americans select their next president, Kamala Harris is continuing to give an array of interviews, following criticism that she has kept a low media profile during her campaign.

Appearing on ABC's The View earlier, the Democratic nominee said "Congress has to act" on immigration - and reiterated claims that her Republican opponent Donald Trump tanked a bipartisan border bill earlier this year. Immigration is consistently seen as one of her weakest issues among voters.

Meanwhile, two of Trump's campaign stops were postponed today due to Hurricane Milton - one in Miami, Florida, and the other - which would've been a virtual appearance for Trump - a Make American Healthy Again event alongside former presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Earlier, the influential Utah Senator Mitt Romney doubled down on previous criticism he's shared about Trump, saying he doesn't want the former president to win the election. But he also said he wouldn't endorse Harris - and he thinks she'll lose the election.

We're going to pause our US political coverage there, but join us again tomorrow when Trump is due in Scranton, Pennsylvania - the birthplace of current President Joe Biden - and both VP picks, Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz, will be in Arizona as early voting begins in the state.

The race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris remains neck-and-neck in many key swing states, though she has consistently polled slightly ahead of him nationally - you can see the latest national numbers below.

While these polls are a useful guide as to how popular a candidate is across the country as a whole, they're not necessarily an accurate way to predict the result of the election.

Right now, the polls are very tight in the seven states considered battlegrounds in this election with just one or two percentage points separating the candidates, including in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona.

• Get up to speed with the latest polling numbers

Image source, Reuters

Let's turn now to remarks from another Republican politician, though this time it's one who isn't supporting the party's 2024 presidential candidate.

"I've made it very clear that I don't want Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States, and you're going to have to do the very difficult calculation of what that would mean," Senator Mitt Romney - the Republican nominee for president in 2012 - tells a student forum in Utah, implying he'll vote for Kamala Harris.

"I want to continue to have a voice in the Republican party following this election, because I think there's a good shot that the Republican party is going to need to be rebuilt and reoriented after this election."

Romney adds that he'll not go as far as endorsing the Democratic candidate - and that he believes she will lose the election.

But whether Trump wins or loses, he says: "I believe I will have more influence in the party by saying it the way I've said it, and I'm not planning on changing the way I've described it."

• For context: Romney, who has frequently criticised the former president, voted to convict Trump in the Senate both times that he was impeached by the House of Representatives for his actions while president - in 2020 over his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and in 2021 over his actions around the 6 January Capitol riots.

While speaking in Michigan earlier, Vance was asked about the Republican campaign courting votes of Arab Americans while he is in Michigan, which has large Arab American population.

He responded by referring to the conflict in the Middle East, saying Jewish Americans and Arab Americans know that peace is in the best interest of both Israel and the Palestinians.

Vance says that Donald Trump would be a president focused on peace.

Arab American and Muslim voters are an important voting bloc in Michigan.

During the Democratic Party's presidential primary vote in Michigan earlier this year, more than 100,000 Democratic voters - out of more than 600,000 - marked "uncommitted" on their ballots rather than voting for Joe Biden, with many of them citing concerns over the president's response to the war in Gaza.

Image source, US Pool

Vice-presidential contender and Donald Trump's running mate JD Vance is speaking to supporters in Detroit, Michigan.

A reporter asks Vance why African American voters should support the Trump-Vance ticket.

Vance said black Americans want to keep their communities safe and want to work with police to do so. Promoting law and order is a major campaign platform for Trump, and the major US police union has endorsed his candidacy.

He then relates the experience of black Americans to that of all kinds of Americans in Appalachia, were Vance grew up.

Image source, Reuters

We've another Harris interview to bring you now - this time on the Howard Stern show.

The vice-president compliments actress and comedian Maya Rudolph on her recent Harris impression on Saturday Night Live - something Rudolph has become known for.

"It was funny," Harris says.

In the friendly interview with Stern, Harris also discusses what it's like to run for office, saying she feels strange sometimes touting her accomplishments, as though it feels "immodest".

She adds that she "loses sleep" over how the election could turn out, asking herself at the end of every day "what more can I do?"

And taking a swipe at her Republican opponent, she says she believes "Donald Trump has this desire to be a dictator", following claims made in a new book that he sent Covid-19 test kits to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2020.

It's a fairly quiet day in the world of US politics - in part because of the imminent threat of Hurricane Milton, which is due to make landfall in Florida tomorrow and has affected some presidential campaign plans.

If you're just joining us, or need a recap, here's what you need to know:

• Trump has cancelled an event which was scheduled to take place later at his Florida-based Doral Golf Club because of the storm - which you can follow live updates about here
• He'll still be appearing virtually at another event, alongside former presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, called Make America Healthy Again
• Harris, meanwhile, has continued her media blitz, appearing on The View earlier and since then Howard Stern's show. We aren't aware of her having to cancel appearances but will let you know if that changes
• The Democratic candidate has also attacked Trump over a newly-released book, by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, which claims the former president secretly sent Russian leader Vladimir Putin Covid-19 tests during the 2020 shortage
• Another book has also been released today - the memoir of Trump's wife, Melania - detailing her account of various events, including the attempt made on her husband's life in July

Fact-checking Harris's claim about creating 800,000 manufacturing jobspublished at 18:34 British Summer Time 8 October

18:34 BST 8 October

By Jake Horton

In her interview with on The View earlier, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said the Biden administration had been "in terms of manufacturing... creating almost 800,000 new jobs."

This claim is somewhat exaggerated and needs context.

Since January 2021, 729,000 manufacturing jobs have been added under the Biden administration, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, external.

However, manufacturing jobs have fallen over the last five months.

From May to September this year, the sector lost 44,000 jobs. As of September 2024, the data shows just over 12.9 million people working in the sector - 90,000 more than at its peak under Trump.

Like most industries, manufacturing jobs dropped off dramatically during the pandemic, but began to bounce back under Trump. He added more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs during his three years in office.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US Reporter

Countries including Russia, China and Cuba are expected to try "undermine trust" in the upcoming election, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI.

In an election security update published on Monday, the ODNI said that the US intelligence community believes that Russia "prefers" former President Donald Trump, while Iran would rather Kamala Harris win next month.

The ODNI also believes foreign actors "are also supporting or denigrating" congressional candidates, as well as state and local races.

In Russia's case, for example, the US believes that is using a variety of methods "intended to encourage the election of congressional candidates Moscow assesses will oppose aid to Ukraine."

Similarly, China is seeking to influence races - regardless party affiliation" - that it believes could be harmful to its interests, particularly in relation to Taiwan.

The report added that Cuba is "almost certainly" trying to "curry favour from congressional and subnational politicians that it believes would support their preferred policies".

We've heard similar warnings from the State and Justice Departments in recent months.

Has illegal immigration been cut in half?published at 17:25 British Summer Time 8 October

17:25 BST 8 October

by Jake Horton

As Kamala Harris is continuing with more media interviews today, BBC Verify has been looking back at her appearance on the 60 Minutes programme last night, where she talked about illegal immigration - an issue Donald Trump has been criticising her over, and one of her weakest issues among voters.

"We've cut the flow of illegal immigration by half,” she said. She didn’t give a timeframe, but this claim needs more context.

There has been a 57% drop in encounters of people crossing into the US since the peak under the Biden administration. This was from a record monthly high of more than 370,000 encounters, external of migrants in December 2023.

These numbers include people who attempted to cross illegally and people who tried to enter legally but were deemed inadmissible.

There has been a significant reduction in encounters at the southern border since June, when President Biden introduced regulations restricting the right of those crossing the border to claim asylum.

Since January 2021, when Biden came to office, there have been about 8 million encounters with illegal migrants crossing the US land border with Mexico.

Under Trump, there were 2.4 million encounters at the southern border.

During her appearance on The View, Harris discussed a policy proposal to allow Medicare to cover in-home healthcare.

"Helping an aging parent or person, prepare a meal, put a sweater on - it's about dignity for that individual," she said of the proposal while discussing her experience caring for her mother when she had cancer.

Harris has faced questions about how her potential administration would pay for such policy ideas.

The vice-president also discussed immigration and the perception that the Biden administration waited too long to address the border issue.

"If we want a real fix to this, Congress has to act," she said.

She reiterated that Trump tanked a potential immigration reform bill earlier this year, a line she frequently touts on the campaign trail. Trump had urged allies in Congress to vote against the deal.

"I went down to the border," she said. "These border agents are working around the clock, they're trying as hard as they can, they need more resources."

Image source, Reuters

Kamala Harris is sitting for her first live TV appearance since she became a presidential candidate, on ABC's morning talk show The View.

Her first question from the hosts is about her conversation with President Joe Biden when he told her he would be stepping aside as Democratic nominee in July.

She said she was eating breakfast and completing a puzzle with her grandnieces when the call came from the president.

After he revealed to Harris he was stepping aside, she says she asked him, "Are you sure?"

The rest of her day was "surreal" she says, noting that one of the first people she spoke with after the president was her pastor.

Harris is also asked about a recent back-and-forth with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Reports suggested he ignored her calls to discuss the dangerous Hurricane Milton, which is threatening the state's Gulf Coast. DeSantis has said that he is contact with the Biden administration over the storm and that Harris has "no role" in the preparations.

She says she'll continue to offer assistance for the storm as vice-president - and if she's elected president - and urges residents to listen to evacuation recommendations.

"If they're telling you to evacuate, get your stuff and go," she says.

Even if you've been in other hurricanes before, "this one is going to be different".

Stick with us, we'll bring your more top lines from the vice-president's interview.

Another book about the Trump world was released on Tuesday, by esteemed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, detailing some of what former president Donald Trump has been up to since he left office.

The book, titled War, looks at how Trump and President Joe Biden responded to international crises, including the Covid pandemic.

According to the book, Trump in 2020 sent Covid tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin for personal use.

The former president has also stayed in touch with the Russian leader, the book says the pair may have spoken as many as seven times since Trump left office.

Trump's campaign responded to the book's allegations saying, "none of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true".

"Woodward is an angry, little man and is clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously," Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesman, said in a statement.

"President Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book that either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue."

Madeline Halpert
US Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Several media outlets had already leaked portions of Melania Trump's new book, including the former first lady's apparent pro-choice views on abortion rights, which sparked controversy given her husband's anti-abortion rights stance.

Other than that revelation, the 256-page work, called Melania, mostly leaves out any deeply personal details of the former model's life. It does feature new information such as how she met her husband Donald at a New York City fashion week party in 1998, as well as claims she says are false that their 18-year-old son, Barron, is autistic.

Melania also discusses what it was like to witness a gunman attempt to assassinate her husband on live television at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.

"In the days that followed that harrowing and surreal event, I found myself reflecting on the sequence of moments that led to my husband’s near-tragic brush with fate. Donald's survival that day was nothing short of a miracle," she writes.

The book also delves into some of the controversial moments of Trump's presidency, including the 6 January riots at the US Capitol.

The highly anticipated self-titled memoir from former first lady Melania Trump is released on Tuesday.

There had been a lot of chatter about the book ahead of its release as Trump has a reputation of staying mum when it comes to her personal and professional life.

Pre-release revelations that Trump alluded to support for abortion rights caused waves.

In an excerpt she writes: “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government."

In short video clip promoting her book last week, Trump expressed her support for women's "individual freedom", describing it as an "essential right that all women possess from birth".

Image source, Getty Images

Harris made one of her most prominent media appearances yet on Monday, during a one-on-one interview with CBS News's 60 Minutes.

The interview featured tense discussions on the Middle East and immigration and comes as the election is less than a month away.

On the anniversary of the 7 October attack on Israel, Harris declined to agree when asked whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a strong ally to the US.

"I think, with all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people," she said. "And the answer to that question is yes."

Harris was also asked about her record on immigration - a frequent line of attack from Republicans as encounters at the border reached record levels under the Biden administration, though they've dropped in recent months.

Harris said she and Biden had "cut the flow of illegal immigration by half", while blaming Trump for squashing a bipartisan border bill last year that would have increased immigration enforcement.

Trump was asked to appear on the show as well, but declined. You can read more about Harris’s interview here.

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter.

Readers in the UK can sign up here.

Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Image source, Getty Images

Both Trump and Harris spent Monday honouring the victims of the 7 October attacks in Israel.

Trump made a number of stops, including to the gravesite of the Lubavitcher rebbe in Queens, New York. The rebbe was a Russian-American Orthodox rabbi who is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders in recent history.

From there, Trump went back to his golf club in Doral, Florida, where he met Jewish community leaders for a 7 October remembrance.

Harris, meanwhile, planted a memorial tree at her home at the Naval Observatory in Washington, to honour the victims.

On 7 October, 2023, Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took around 250 people hostage in Gaza. Since then, nearly 42,000 people have been killed during Israel's offensive in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Image source, Getty Images

It's a busy day for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's running mates as well.

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz is attending a number of fundraising and campaign events in California, Nevada and Arizona, over the next two days. He starts his day in Seattle at a private fundraiser before heading to Sacramento for another one.

Tomorrow, he'll be in Reno, Nevada for a rally and fundraiser before heading to Phoenix.

Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee JD Vance is going back to Michigan to speak to auto workers. He is later attending a fundraiser in Denver, Colorado hosted by Republican donor Larry Mazel and former Senator Cory Gardner.

Image source, Getty Images

The major hurricane set to make landfall in the US state of Florida is interfering with Donald Trump's campaign plans.

He was supposed to hold a roundtable at the Latino Summit at the Trump National Golf Club in Doral, Florida, but the event has been postponed as the storm - named Milton - is expected to make landfall on Wednesday.

The hurricane is expected to bring flooding and storm surges as high as 15 feet (4.5 metres) to Florida, just a week after the state was hit by the deadly Hurricane Helene.

Officials have ordered evacuations for the Tampa Bay area, where the storm could be one of the most destructive for the region in history, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Trump is expected to appear virtually for a different town hall with the former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr - who has since ended his campaign and endorsed the former president - called Make America Healthy Again.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is pushing on with her media blitz today, recording several interviews including the View and the Howard Stern Show in New York City.