US elections live updates: Trump and Harris hit battleground states

Rudy Giuliani’s sexual assault case hearing spiraled into chaos for two hours that ended with the former New York City mayor being muted by the judge.

The first oral arguments in the civil suit, brought by accuser Noelle Dunphy, unfolded on Wednesday after a series of delays in the case that was first filed in early 2023. Dunphy, who claims to be his former employee, is accusing Giuliani of wide-ranging misconduct, including sexual harassment, assault, battery and a hostile work environment. The hearing was streamed online and journalists were allowed to watch.

The remote hearing was plagued by technical difficulties, high-pitched acoustic feedback and confusion. At one point, Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian businessman and former Giuliani associate-turned-critic, tried to be admitted to the virtual meeting — a move that the ex-mayor vocally objected to. The judge didn’t let Parnas in. Justin Kelton, Dunphy’s lawyer, said he was a potential witness in the case.

Donald Trump is considering withholding federal police grants to local agencies that refuse to carry out his mass deportation plan, a report claims.

The former president has said that, if elected, he will implement a drastic plan to remove migrants and immigrants who have come to the United States – especially via the US –Mexico border.

Read more from Ariana Baio here:

In North Carolina, while discussing immigration, Donald Trump once again claimed that the US was “an occupied country” and that Election Day would mark the country’s “liberation.”

“But it will soon be an occupied country no longer – we will not let this happen,” he said.

“November 5, 2024 will be liberation day in America… on day one I will launch the largest deportation program in American history… I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered.”

Discussing his plan on taxation for older people, Donald Trump jokingly admitted he had a “conflict of interest.”

The former president, who is 78, told his supporters: “Our seniors they have a very fixed income some of them, I’m a senior too.”

“Some people would say he is a conflict of interest, these fakers back there [the media] [say] ‘he has a conflict of interest, he’s a senior, he’s gonna give himself a big tax break.’”

Donald Trump noted the lack of endorsement for the Democrats from major publications including The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, offering his own reason for why that was.

“Have noticed that the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times are not endorsing anyone – you know what they’re really saying? Because they only endorse Democrats,” he said.

“They’re saying this Democrat is no good. And they think I’m doing a great job they just don’t want to say it.”

Trump also noted his recent endorsement from NASA hero Buzz Alrin, the second man on the moon, who he described as as “great astronaut.” “Isn’t that nice? So thankyou Buzz Aldrin… and I like him too, I’ve always admired him.”

At his rally in North Carolina, Trump once again reminded his supporters that he was “not Hitler.”

The former president came under fire following reports he had once made comments praising the German dictator. Comparisons were also drawn between his recent rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden, the site of a Nazi rally in 1939.

“They’ve called me Hitler,” Trump said. “Many years ago I had a father, he was a great guy, a strong guy… he always used to tell me ‘never use the word Nazi, never use the word Hitler.

“Now we’re called Nazis and I’m called Hitler, I’m not Hitler!”

Donald Trump addressed remarks made by Joe Biden in which the president appeared to refer to Trump supporters at “garbage.”

The former president said his fans were “far higher quality” than those of the Democrats.

“This week Kamala Harris has been comparing her political opponents to the evil mass murderers in history and now, on a call for her campaign last night, Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters,” he said.

“He called them garbage and they mean it… even though, without question, my supporters are far higher quality than Crooke Joe or Lyin Kamala.”

He added: “My response to Joe and Kamla is very simple: You can’t lead america if you don’t love Americans, you just cant. And you can’t be president if you hate the American people…

“They’ve treated you like garbage, the truth is they’ve treated our whole country like garbage whether they’ve meant to or not.”