Amy Coney Barrett Senate hearing begins: US election live news

The four-day Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett has begun. Trump will host his first campaign event on Monday in Florida since announcing he had tested positive for coronavirus on October 2. Joe Biden will campaign in Ohio on Monday. Early voting begins in Georgia, a state that has become an increasing battleground, with 22 days left until the November 3 election. Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the United States elections. This is Joseph Stepansky. Monday, October 12: 11:00 ET – Biden says Senate Democrats should make health care focus of hearings, not faith Biden has said Senate Democrats should make health care the focus of Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, not the conservative judge’s Catholic faith. Biden, who is also a practicing Catholic, told reporters ahead of a campaign trip to Ohio on Monday he doesn’t think “there’s any question about her faith”. Biden says the more important matter is that “this nominee says she wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act”. Before Barrett was a federal judge, she questioned the reasoning behind Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion upholding the 2010 health care law. The law is being challenged again, with oral arguments set for November 10, a week after the election. 10:45 ET – Harris says Republicans trying to “ram through” Supreme Court nomination Democratic vice presidential nominee and Senator Kamala Harris is criticising Republicans for trying to “ram through” Supreme Court nominee Barrett while Americans are voting in the presidential election. The California senator said on Monday that running mate Biden has “been really clear” and she has been “really clear.” She tells reporters on Capitol Hill, “We are 22 days away from an election, and people are voting right now.” Harris said Republicans are “trying to push through, ram through, a Supreme Court justice for a lifetime appointment while almost 7 million people have already voted.” Harris is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee but will be attending the hearing remotely because of COVID-19 concerns. Vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris attends a memorial service in honor of the Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg [File: Erin Schaff/Reuters] 10:30 – Trump doubles down on out-of-context Fauci comment in ad Trump doubled down on his campaign’s use of comments from Dr Anthony Fauci, a lead member of the president’s coronavirus task force, even after Fauci said the comments were taken out of context. An ad released by the Trump campaign appears to show Fauci praising Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Fauci, on Sunday, said the March statements were taken out of context, and he was in fact praising his own work that of the tast force when he said: “I can’t imagine that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more”. Trump on Monday countered the comments were “indeed Dr Fauci’s own words” while retweeting his campaign spokesperson, who said Fauci’s words had been used accurately. 10:15 ET –  Trump calls group of protestors ‘animals’ Trump blasted a group of protestors as “animals” on Monday, while urging law enforcement to crack down on demonstrations that included the destruction of property. “Put these animals in jail, now,” Trump said, in a retweet of a video that said it showed a statue being torn down in Portland. The president has tried to depict himself as a leader of law and order, following a summer that saw sustained protests against police brutality and racism. Some of the protests at times turned violent. Trump will hold a rally in Sanford, Florida on Monday, his first return to the campaign trail since he contracted the coronavirus, as he pushes for a come-from-behind win in November. 10:00 ET – Federal judge upholds Minnesota’s extended ballot counting A federal judge has upheld a Minnesota state court agreement that allows counting of absentee ballots received up to seven days after Election Day. Republicans had asked US District Judge Nancy Brasel to block the seven-day extension that Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon agreed to in state court after a citizens’ rights group cited concerns about voter safety due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ballots still must be postmarked by Election Day to be counted. But Brasel ruled late Sunday night that the plaintiffs in the case — a pair of Republicans serving as electors in the presidential election — don’t have standing and denied their motion for a preliminary injunction. Previously, ballots had to be received by 8 PM on Election Day — but a consent decree in the state case allowed ballots postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted if they were received within the following seven days. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">