Kamala Harris's major campaign speech in Washington DC on Tuesday night risked being overshadowed by a row triggered by Joe Biden
Footage has emerged of the president appearing to call Donald Trump supporters "garbage". The White House say he was referring to hateful rhetoric used against Puerto Ricans, but Republicans and Trump's campaign have condemned the president
The comment came to light shortly after Harris told urged voters to "turn the page on the drama and the conflict" in politics
Earlier, at a Pennsylvania rally, Trump says Harris "doesn't have what it takes" to be president
With less than a week to go, polls suggest the race couldn't be closer
Watch: The Joe Biden 'garbage' comment which has angered Trump fans
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Image source, Getty ImagesMichelle Obama appeared at a rally in Georgia on Tuesday night in an effort to drive up turnout.
Appearing alongside stars like R&B singer Ciara, actress Kerry Washington and TV producer Shonda Rhimes, she urged young voters to "stop the spiral of disillusionment and apathy".
She said: "It’s our job to show folks that two things can be true at once: that it is possible to be outraged by the slow pace of progress and be committed to your own pursuit of that progress."
The former first lady appeared alongside Harris on the campaign trail earlier this week.
Image source, Getty ImagesTrump has seized on Biden's comments since being made aware of them on stage while in Pennsylvania
Trump learned about the Joe Biden footage while he was on stage in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with Senator Marco Rubio and immediately referenced Hillary Clinton's 2016 remark calling some Trump supporters "deplorables".
"Garbage I think is worse right?" Trump said, before adding, "But please forgive him, for he not knoweth what he said".
Biden denies he was referring to Trump supporters collectively, and says he speaking about comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who use a Trump rally to refer to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage".
Trump later weighed in again on his Truth Social website, accusing Harris of "running a campaign of hate".
He wrote: "She has spent all week comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history. Now, on top of everything, Joe Biden calls our supporters 'garbage'."
"You can’t lead America if you don’t love the American People," he added.
Image source, Getty ImagesTonight we've been reporting on Joe Biden's "garbage" comment - but let's return to the incident which started this row in the first place.
Earlier we heard Trump being asked about comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at his rally in New York on Sunday night. Hinchcliffe sparked a backlash when he called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage".
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump - who has been under pressure to personally apologise - said he had "no idea" who the comedian was before the rally.
"Never saw him, never heard of him, and don't want to hear of him," he said.
He went on to say that "somebody said some bad things" but "it's nobody's fault" and "I can't imagine it's a big deal".
Trump also claimed to have "done more for Puerto Rico than any president".
He continued: "Every time I go outside, I see somebody from Puerto Rico, they give me a hug and a kiss."
Image source, ReutersTrump's running mate had condemned Joe Biden's "garbage" comment. Writing on X, he said the remark was "disgusting", adding: "Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country."
He also said the remark should be covered as much by the media as the original comments Biden referred to - when a pro-Trump comedian who described Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage" on stage at the former president's rally.
Biden and the White House deny his remark was intended as a reference to all Trump supporters.
Peter Bowes
North America correspondent
Could President Biden’s comment, that on first hearing seems to compare Trump supporters to floating garbage, overshadow Kamala Harris’s big night and possibly harm her campaign?
Donald Trump learned about it while he was speaking in Pennsylvania, where Florida Senator Marco Rubio took to the stage to hand Trump a note with the “breaking news”.
The Republican candidate’s mind went straight to the remark Hillary Clinton made during the 2016 campaign, that half of his supporters were from a “basket of deplorables”.
Trump repeated the phrase to his advantage for the remainder of that campaign, which he won.
The White House has moved quickly to try to clarify that Biden was referring to the "hateful rhetoric" as "garbage", not Trump's supporters - but the words will not go away.
A comedian’s crude joke about Puerto Rico - a potential embarrassment for Trump - may have morphed into an awkward problem for both candidates.
Image source, Votolatino.orgRepublicans across the US are seizing on Joe Biden's comments, which have spread like wildfire on social media.
"First it was deplorables. Then it was Nazis. Now it’s garbage," tweeted Montana Senator Steve Daines.
Utah Senator Mike Lee wrote to Harris on X to ask "when President Biden called Trump supporters 'garbage' moments ago, did he mean older people, like my parents? Or younger people, like my children, nephews, and nieces?"
"EVERY Democrat politician should be asked if they will disavow this," tweeted Missouri's Josh Hawley.
As a reminder, the White House disputes that Biden was referring to people who support Trump.
Ros Atkins
BBC News Analysis Editor
This was not what the Harris campaign had in mind for Tuesday night.
Earlier this evening, Kamala Harris stood with the White House behind her and addressed thousands of her supporters.
It was her last big pitch to voters - but by mid-evening, the White House itself was becoming the story.
In a now heavily-viewed clip, Joe Biden speaks about Puerto Rico being referred to at a Trump rally as a "floating island of garbage". The president says: "The only garbage I see out there is his supporters'". He goes on to reference the "demonisation of Latinos".
Joe Biden has now written on X to say he was talking about "hateful rhetoric" and that that was "all I meant to say" - but the president's decision to post so soon after Harris's big speech is a measure of how seriously this is being taken.
Already this evening at a rally, Republican Senator Marco Rubio referenced Biden's comment while on stage with Trump, and the former president's supporters are taking to social media to highlight the clip.
Comparisons are being made with Hillary Clinton's comment in 2016 referring to some Trump supporters as "a basket of deplorables" - a phrase that is still referenced all these years on.
It is always hard to judge the impact of these moments but the Harris campaign will wish it wasn't having to make that calculation so close to election day.
Watch: The controversial Joe Biden 'garbage' comment. Footage obtained by CBS News.
As we've been reporting, Joe Biden has triggered a row with Republicans in the minutes since Kamala Harris finished delivering her big campaign speech in Washington DC.
Republicans say Biden was referring to all Trump supporters as "garbage" - while Biden and the White House say he was referring specifically to a comedian who attacked Puerto Rico at Donald Trump's rally, and "hateful rhetoric" against the island.
As a reminder, when the White House released a transcript of this exchange, they included an apostrophe in the word "supporters" - which would signify the president was talking about a specific person rather than a full group.
You can watch the comments above and make your own mind up.
We have an official response from Donald Trump's campaign to Biden's comments earlier this evening.
National press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Democratic campaign has "labelled these great Americans as fascists, Nazis, and now, garbage".
It continues: "There’s no way to spin it: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him."
Biden denies that he meant to insult Trump supporters and says he was referring to "hateful rhetoric" as garbage.
Donald Trump's campaign has seized on Joe Biden's "garbage" remark immediately in a fundraising email to supporters.
"Moments ago, Kamala’s boss crooked Joe Biden just called all my supporters garbage - He was talking to you!" the email says.
It goes on to say Trump's "patriotic supporters are the best in the country," and that Harris's campaign is fuelled by "hate".
"They can call you garbage today, BUT IN ONE WEEK, WE’LL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH!" it adds.
The White House has denied Biden was referring to Trump's supporters collectively in his remarks.
Joe Biden has denied that he meant to denigrate Trump supporters earlier today, when he attacked the comedian who called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage" at a Trump rally in New York on Sunday.
Speaking on a Zoom event with voters earlier, Biden said of Puerto Ricans: "They're good, decent, honourable people.” He then appeared to say: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters... his, his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable."
On Fox News, one conservative commentator said it echoed Hillary Clinton referring to Trump's supporters as "a basket of deplorables" during her failed 2016 campaign.
In the last few moments, Biden said he was referring to the "hateful rhetoric" as "garbage" - not Trump's supporters.
The White House also released a transcript of the key line as: "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter's” with the possessive apostrophe suggesting he was referring to the comedian’s rhetoric.
Here's the clip, which you can watch for yourself below:
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Sam Cabral
Reporting from Washington DC
Image source, Getty ImagesKamala Harris just delivered her "closing argument" speech - an address a presidential candidate gives towards the end of the campaign to sum up their core message to voters.
She did so from the same spot as where Donald Trump spoke shortly before the Capitol riot almost four years ago. Here's what she said:
Importance of election: This election is "probably the most important vote you will ever cast" and a "choice between freedom and chaos". US voters can "write the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told".
Attacking Trump: Donald Trump "stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to overturn the will of the people". Trump has an "enemies list... [I would] walk in with a to-do list".
Inflation: "Now our biggest challenge is to lower costs, costs that were rising even before the pandemic and that are still too high." On cost of living pressures: "I get it."
Abortion: People have a "fundamental freedom" to "make decisions about their own bodies". Pledged to restore protections for abortion access.
The Trump campaign has just issued a statement reacting to Kamala Harris' speech.
It says the vice-president resorted to "lying, name-calling, and clinging to the past to avoid admitting the truth".
Trump's national press secretary Karoline Leavitt continues: "Kamala’s first day in office was over 1,300 days ago, and she has spent the past four years working hand-in-hand with Joe Biden to destroy our country."
She claims a "migrant crime crisis", high inflation and global conflicts are the result of Harris's "terrible" policies.
Kamala Harris used this speech to remind voters about the chaos and violence of 6 January, 2021.
She stood at the same spot that Donald Trump spoke from an hour before rioters attacked the Capitol in a bid to stop the election result from being officially confirmed.
You can hear that part of the speech below.
Harris Ellipse: ‘Trump stood at this spot and sent an armed mob to the US Capital’
By Merlyn Thomas
Earlier in her speech, Kamala Harris said Donald Trump “would force states to monitor women’s pregnancies… just google Project 2025”.
But there's no evidence Trump is planning to force states to do this.
Harris referred to Project 2025 – an ultra-conservative wish list of policy proposals for the next Republican president by the Heritage Foundation think tank.
A section in its 900-page document does say that a future administration “should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders”.
Trump has repeatedly sought to distance himself from Project 2025, saying: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it.”
Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent
Image source, ReutersHarris hugged her husband Doug Emhoff after she finished speaking moments from the White House
The biggest message from Kamala Harris’s speech may have been the venue – the same location where Donald Trump held his 6 January, 2021, rally shortly before his supporters attacked the US Capitol.
The imagery of Tuesday night, contrasted with that cold winter day nearly four years earlier, provided the subtext for the entire the speech and the point form which Harris could pivot to her vision for what she styled was a different kind of future.
It was, in effect, a trimmed down version of her Democratic National Convention speech from late August – complete with biographical details, policy proposals and repeated swipes at her opponent.
Democrats at their August convention were riding high at that point, enthusiastic about their new nominee after weeks of despondency and infighting that led to Biden’s decision to abandon his re-election bid.
Since then, Harris’s campaign has had ups and downs, and is now locked in what is shaping up to be a photo finish at the polls next week.
In her speech, she acknowledged that many undecided American voters “are still getting to know” her after her abbreviated presidential campaign – which should be of some concern for Democrats given how election day is looming.
Set-piece speeches are a Harris strength, however. And Tuesday night’s address likely hit the key points her campaign wants to emphasis in these final days.
"Let us fight for this beautiful country we love," Harris tells the crowd of thousands, as she concludes her speech near the White House.
"Each of you has the power to turn the page and start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told."
She thanks the cheering crowd before leaving the stage to her campaign's theme song, Freedom by Beyoncé.
Image source, ReutersWinding up her speech, Kamala Harris makes a link between America's declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776 to this election.
She says that the country was born 250 years ago when "we wrested freedom from a petty tyrant".
She invokes soldiers who fought in World War II and the work of the Civil Rights era as examples of Americans who fought to preserve the nation's values.
She says they did not fight "only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant".
Image source, Getty ImagesAs Harris delivers her closing argument in Washington, Republican candidate Donald Trump is holding a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania - one of the key battleground states whose outcome could decide the presidential election.
Trump begins his address with what he calls a simple question: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
He then goes on to repeat his promises of lowering inflation and “stopping the invasion” of migrants to the US if he returns to the White House.
“Kamala has embarrassed us,” he says, as the crowd boos in response. “She doesn’t have what it takes.”
Trump also urges people to go out and vote, while claiming without evidence that there are already signs of “cheating” by his opponents.
He refers to an incident in a Pennsylvania's Lancaster County where officials have said this week that they are investigating voter registration forms that are suspected of being fraudulent.
Election officials had maintained that the county's elections are secure, and that their flagging of suspected fraud is a sign that its “systems worked”.