On 10 September, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debated each other in Pennsylvania - and on Monday we learned the former president is facing a lawsuit for comments he made during that clash.

It stems from an exchange about a group of men collectively dubbed the Central Park Five, who as teenagers in 1989 were accused of attacking a jogger in New York's Central Park. They spent years in jail but were later totally exonerated by DNA evidence.

During last month's televised debate, Kamala Harris reminded the audience of an infamous full-page ad Trump took out in a newspaper at the time, which said the state should "bring back the death penalty" and called on the mayor to "unshackle" the police.

In response, Trump incorrectly said the five men had pleaded guilty to the crime. They never did.

Yusef Salaam - one of those who was wrongly accused - confronted Trump outside that debate, a moment which was caught on camera. You can watch it above.

On Monday, it was confirmed the group is suing Trump for falsely claiming they pleaded guilty.

While we're on the subject of swing states, take a look at this map showing where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have visited in recent days.

If you needed any more confirmation about which states the campaigns think are going to decide this election, here it is.

Image source, Getty Images

It is midnight on the east coast of the United States - and that means it's officially two weeks until polling day.

The race is about to enter its most frantic period as both campaigns try and win last-minute support in the swing states that will decide who enters the White House.

These include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The time polls close on 5 November will vary due to time zones - meaning people will still be queuing up to vote in Seattle and California, while ballots are already being counted in key places like Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

You can read more about those crucial swing states here and what we'll be watching for.

A court in Michigan has thrown out a Republican lawsuit aiming to block some Americans living abroad from voting in the key swing state.

The Republican National Committee had argued that voters who are eligible because they have family in the state but have never personally lived there should not be able to participate.

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel found the voting rule is legal and "there is no ground to invalidate it".

Around 2.9 million Americans living aboard were eligible to vote in 2020, according to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, a US agency that helps the group to vote.

However, only 8% of that group actually cast a ballot in that race between Trump and Biden.

Image source, Getty Images

Kamala Harris visited Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday with ex-Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney - and the 2020 election result helps explain why.

Joe Biden won these states by razor thin margins of less than 3% of the vote.

During the Republican primary earlier this year, Nikki Haley - who pitched herself as an alternative to Trump - lost in all three to the eventual nominee, but picked up more votes in all of them than the number which decided the race four years ago.

• In Michigan, which Biden carried by 154,000 votes in 2020, Haley received about 297,000 votes
• Biden won Pennsylvania with a margin of about 82,000 votes. Haley received around 158,000 votes there
• Wisconsin was won by Biden by 21,000 votes. Haley received about 77,000 votes

A small poll from earlier this month by Blueprint, a Democratic-aligned firm, suggested around 14% of Republicans who voted for Haley this year, and who voted for Trump in 2020, could take their vote elsewhere.

Harris spokesman Brian Fallon told reporters last week he believes there is a "good number of independents and Haley-style Republicans who are very open to voting for VP Harris".

In July, Haley offered her "strong endorsement" to Trump but she has yet to appear with him at any rallies - though US media outlets have reported she in talks to do so.

However, the Harris campaign clearly hopes Haley voters will switch sides - and potentially swing critical races.

Ana Faguy
US Reporter

Wisconsin is home to nearly six million people. In 2020, Joe Biden won it by 20,000 votes - and polls suggest it's going to be just as tight this time.

That's why both campaigns want to reach every single potential voter in the state who hasn't made their mind up yet - people like Jay Deshpande, a 20-year-old university student.

Deshpande isn't happy with either candidate. "It almost seems like a race to the bottom at the moment," he said earlier today.

Deshpande said he'll likely vote for Democrats down the ballot to ensure that if Donald Trump wins "there are checks and balances on him".

But the Democrat atop the ticket, Kamala Harris, hasn't yet earned his trust.

"I do hope she can move closer to the mainstream of the American people," he said.

Donald Trump's campaign stop at a McDonald's over the weekend got a lot of attention.

Lily Jamali digs into the politics behind the stunt and explains it all - you can watch below.

Image source, Reuters

A little earlier, Donald Trump spoke to evangelical Christians in Concord, North Carolina during his last event of the day.

Among the dozens of people in the crowd he singled out to mention was former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, who Trump said told him in 2016 that God had selected him as the next US president.

At one point some of the crowd chanted "Jesus" as Trump spoke.

Towards the end of his remarks, he spoke at length about the assassination attempt against him on 13 July in Butler, Pennsylvania, saying he felt as though he had been "knocked to the ground by a supernatural hand".

"I now recognise that it's been the hand of God leading me to where I am today," he said.

He also claimed, without evidence, that the FBI has been sending "spies" into Catholic churches. He claimed that Democrats consider Catholics to be "potential domestic terrorists".

Trump is using the final days of this campaign to try and appeal to religious Americans, including Catholics, evangelicals and Jews, in the final days of his campaign.

Image source, Getty Images

Harris has been taking questions from undecided voters at a town hall event in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

The first question came from a woman who noted that federal abortion rights were eliminated by the Supreme Court after Trump placed three conservative judges on the bench.

The woman, who says that she voted Republican before Trump entered the political stage, notes that her daughter has less rights now than her mother or grandmother.

"This decision came down and we are seeing the harm," says Harris, describing stories of women who have been injured after being unable to have a medically-required abortion.

"Eventually, Congress needs to pass a law restoring these protections," she says.

Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman who has been campaigning today with Harris, also answers the question.

She notes that she is against abortion, but still believes America needs "a president who understands what compassion is".

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Kamala Harris’s third stop on her Monday campaign swing brings a new state, a new crowd and a new moderator - the conservative commentator Charlie Sykes.

The venue, a wood-panel suburban performing arts centre, is also the nicest of today’s locations but the stage set-up here in Brookfield, Wisconsin, is virtually identical to the two previous events in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

There are large “country over party” and “a new way forward” slogans printed on bright red and blue backdrops.

The message from the vice-president is also the same: Donald Trump, in her view, is unfit to return to the Oval Office – and Republican voters should follow the lead of members of their party who have broken ranks and backed the Democrats.

Waukesha County is a mix of wealthy Milwaukee suburbs and rural areas. It is the backbone of the Republican Party in Wisconsin.

Donald Trump carried this populous county with 60% of the vote over Joe Biden in 2020.

Harris has made this the last stop of her day of campaigning to try to chip away at that margin in a state that polls show is a virtual dead heat.

Donald Trump has now finished his last scheduled event of the day. And Kamala Harris has just started her final event in Wisconsin with former Republican representative Liz Cheney.

Cheney was also speaking alongside Harris earlier today in Michigan.

Stick with us, we will bring you key updates.

Mike Wendling
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

New details into the assassination attempt in July against Trump that left him with a bloody ear have emerged from the congressional task force probing the attack.

A local policeman testified that he locked eyes with the gunman moments before the attack, the report says in its preliminary findings.

“I see [Thomas Matthew] Crooks facing downrange towards the stage, but his eyes are back at me as I'm coming up [onto the roof],” the police officer said.

“And I would say, like, his facial expressions was surprised. His eyes were very big, like, 'what are you doing up here?'"

But it does not appear warnings about the gunman on the roof, who opened fire shortly after, made it to the Secret Service at the event.

The report noted: “To date, the task force has not received any evidence to suggest that message reached the former President’s detail prior to shots fired.”

The investigation, which is still ongoing, also noted several security failures, including that local sniper teams had a limited field of vision at the outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

• Read more:Officer reveals how he locked eyes with would-be Trump assassin

Trump has spent much of his time speaking to Christian supporters at this event thanking various religious figures and his own family members.

He also addressed the assassination attempt in Butler, which bloodied his ear after he turned his body at the last moment before being struck by the bullet.

"Looking back I realise it's the hand of God that's been leading me to where I am today," says Trump

"My faith took on new meaning," after the assassination attempt in July, he continues.

"I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose, and that's to make our country greater than ever before."

In North Carolina, Donald Trump is about to speak at an event called the "11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting".

Eric Trump just spoke - he told the audience they were a "movement of absolute love".

Also at the event is Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to Trump who served a four-month prison term for contempt of Congress.

Dr Ben Carson, Trump's former Housing and Urban Development secretary, will also speak.

We'll be bringing you any key moments, stick with us.

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon will be released from prison next week after serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.

The podcaster was found to have illegally refused to testify before the committee investigating the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot.

His lawyers had tried to get an early release, but it was denied. Bannon has been in a federal prison facility in Danbury, Connecticut.

Bannon was a key player in Trump's 2016 rise to the Oval Office and later became chief strategist at the White House.

He left the administration after a violent far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, but remains a top ally of the former president.

Bannon has said he was following legal advice in refusing to testify before the House committee investigating 6 January, when rioters ransacked the US Capitol with the goal of stopping the certification of Joe Biden's election win.

He is scheduled for release on 29 October.

Ana Faguy
US Reporter

For the past few months, I've spent much of my day speaking with voters about how they're feeling about the election.

This afternoon I chatted with Nick Oviatt, a 30-year-old Nebraska voter.

Oviatt, a registered Republican, switched from voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016, to Donald Trump in 2020. He plans to vote for Kamala Harris next month.

He doesn't feel he can go back to supporting Trump again given the candidate's age and his recent comments, which Oviatt described to me as "not diplomatic".

"[Trump] doesn't seem to be making any new friends in Washington," Oviatt said. "I don't see how a Trump administration would be effective."

Harris, he said, is casting a wider net. Oviatt is impressed by Harris earning Liz Cheney's endorsement.

"She's getting a broader coalition, granted it's because people don't like Trump, but she's casting a wider net," Oviatt tells me.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent, reporting from Michigan

In a moment of levity here in Michigan, Maria Shriver started listing some of the ways people are coping with the stress of this taut presidential election.

“Everybody I talk to says, I’ve got to turn off the news,” she said.

“I can’t do anything. I’m meditating. I’m doing yoga. I’m so anxious. I just don’t even know. I’m eating gummies. What are you doing?”

“Not eating gummies,” Harris answered to audience laughter.

While she’s not partaking in marijuana-laced edibles, she said she is dealing with the stress by exercising, eating right and talking to her family regularly.

Although the Michigan town hall is over, the vice president's packed day hasn't concluded quite yet.

She's now on her way to the airport to fly to another event in Wisconsin before heading back to Washington, DC.

Is there a precedent for Musk’s $1m reward for registered voters?published at 22:24 British Summer Time 21 October

22:24 BST 21 October

By Jake Horton

Elon Musk says he will give away $1m (£766,000) a day until 5 November to a person who will be selected at random from those who sign a petition pledging support to free speech and gun rights.

Only registered voters in key swing states can sign this petition - leading to questions about the potential legality of the initiative. It is against US law, external to pay people to register to vote.

Musk has pushed back against the criticism, claiming that Democrats and their donors have funded similar initiatives in the past.

On X, he shared a post which claimed the boss of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg “did the same thing in 2020”.

Zuckerberg donated $400 million, external in the 2020 election - but this was given to two non-partisan organisations to help with the logistics around postal ballots. It was not given directly to voters.

The Democratic Party has invested in initiatives in the past elections to mobilise supporters, such as a $25 million voter registration campaign in the 2022 US midterm elections, external.

However, this money was not given directly to voters. The funding went towards initiatives which encouraged voters to register, such as employing people to knock on doors and television and digital advertising.

“It’s legal to pay people to go out to register voters, but you can’t pay people directly to register,” says Michael Kang, a professor of law at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

“I’ve never heard of something quite like Musk’s initiative,” Kang added.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent, reporting from Michigan

Image source, Getty Images

In their opening conversation, Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris are making a direct pitch to Republican voters who may be open to supporting the Democrats but are worried that they might be opening themselves up to threats or scorn from their peers.

“You can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody,” Cheney says. “And there will be millions of Republicans who will do it.”

Harris adds that she has seen Republicans who have approached Cheney and thanked her for speaking out against the former president - even if they never say anything publicly.

“From my vantage point, she is not alone,” Harris says.

Current public opinion polls show a neck-and-neck race for the presidency. At the moment, most surveys indicate less than 10% of Republicans are backing the Democrats.

If those numbers turn out to be understated - if Cheney is right and there are shy Republicans who will ultimately break ranks and vote Democratic for the first time - Harris’s path to the White House would become much easier.