Speaker Nancy Pelosi has urged Joe Biden not to take the stage for the three scheduled debates with Mr Trump in September and October, warning that doing so just provides the president another prime-time opportunity to spread misinformation and division.
It comes as hundreds of former staffers for former GOP presidents and presidential candidates disavowed Mr Trump and said they plan to vote for his Democratic opponent.
Even several of the president's own former advisers have ditched him in favour of Mr Biden, as one former counter terrorism official has said that Mr Trump's 'racism' fuelled white supremacist violence in the United States.
The US president, whose recent appeals to America’s ”suburban housewives” come amid other sexist remarks, will accept the Republican nomination on Thursday following a Wednesday night programme including White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
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The broadcaster claimed that the footage that played at the convention, that showed fires burning in the streets, was captured during protests in Spain in 2019, following a Spanish court sentencing Catalan separatists to prison.
At the convention, a pair of sisters provided a voice over for the video, that offered a dire warning for viewers that "this is a taste of Biden's America" as images of protests played.
"The rioting, the crime. Freedom is at stake now and this is going to be the most important election of our lifetime," they said.
Graig Graziosi reports,
Donald Trump plans to announce the purchase of 150 million rapid coronavirus testing kits, in a deal with Abbott laboratories worth around $750m (£568m), CNBC are reporting.
The president plans on announcing the partnership during his speech at the final day of the Republican National Convention tonight.
In a statement to CNBC, White House communications director Alyssa Farah, said: "Under President Trump's leadership, the US is leading the world in testing."
She added: "This is a major development that will help our country to remain open, get Americans back to work, and kids back to school. The Trump Administration is proud to partner with Abbott labs to make this purchase possible to help the American people."
Abbott Laboratories claims that the tests will cost $5 (£3.79) and will deliver results minutes, without the need for laboratory equipment.
The test was granted emergency approval by the The Food and Drug Administration last week.
Damning documentary argues Trump is a malignant narcissist
A new critical documentary, that features interviews with various mental health professionals, argues that president Donald Trump is a malignant narcissist.
The new documentary, #Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump, that will be released on 1 September, features interviews from mental health professionals who argue that the president is not fit for US office.
According to CNN, multiple mental health professionals argue in the film that the president is a malignant narcissist, which comprises of paranoia, anti-social personality disorder and sadism.
In the film, one of the experts says that that “Trump is a sociopath, a sadist, a con artist, a racist, a misogynist and a sexist,” and added: “I think that is a problem,” according to CNN.
James Crump reports,
#Unfit: Damning documentary argues Trump is a malignant narcissist
Donald Trump plans to lambaste his Democratic opponent this fall, Joe Biden, at the Republican National Convention on Thursday evening as a do-nothing career politician with a radical policy agenda.
“At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas," Mr Trump is expected to say, Politico has reported.
“We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years. At the Democrat convention, you barely heard a word about their agenda. But that's not because they don't have one. It's because their agenda is the most extreme set of proposals ever put forward by a major party nominee," the president plans to say.
In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Mr Biden previewed Mr Trump's speech as well, predicting it would be full of lies about both their governing records.
"He is a fiction writer in the extreme," Mr Biden said.
Mr Biden also criticised the president for delivering his partisan speech from the White House, a move that puts several administration officials in jeopardy of violating the Hatch Act prohibiting government employees from working in a political capacity while on the job.
"I know people don't know what the Hatch Act is — using federal properties to make political statements and political campaigns. Can you imagine what would have happened if Barack Obama did that when he was running the second time?" Mr Biden asked rhetorically in the interview.
Musical artist Kanye West has still not filed his presidential campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission a week after the most recent deadline to do so.
That means news outlets, politicos, and elections watchdogs still cannot see who has been donating to his campaign and where that money is going.
It has been widely reported that several veteran GOP strategists have helped Mr West get on the ballot in some key swing states, where some observers believe he could siphon votes away from Democratic nominee Joe Biden and thus swing the tide in Donald Trump's favour.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is moving forward with debate preparations against Donald Trump despite the public advice of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he should not even give the president the time of day.
"We certainly agree with Speaker Pelosi on her views of the President's behavior. But just as she has powerfully confronted that behavior in the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room, Joe Biden looks forward to doing the same on the debate stage," the former vice president's director of rapid response Andrew Bates has said in a statement.
In rejecting Ms Pelosi's suggestion not to debate Mr Trump, Mr Biden said he would be a "fact checker on the floor while I'm debating him."
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called on Democratic nominee Joe Biden to walk away from his three scheduled presidential debates with Donald Trump.
The president's behaviour on-stage would simply be "an exercise in skullduggery," Ms Pelosi said, arguing that Mr Trump has not "comported himself in a way that ... has any association with truth, evidence, data and facts" throughout his presidency.
"I wouldn't legitimize a conversation with him," the speaker said.
Ms Pelosi and Mr Trump have not spoken personally for more than 10 months, during which time her chamber has impeached him, negotiated trillions of dollars in aid to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and held several high-profile oversight hearings on his administrative actions.
Griffin Connolly has more:
Pelosi calls on Biden to cancel debates over Trump's 'skullduggery'
Given his history, president cannot be expected to deliver 'truth, evidence, data and facts' during debate, speaker says
Amid a fiery defence of House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to obtain Donald Trump's tax returns and produce them to the American people — even if he is voted out of office this November.
If Joe Biden defeats Mr Trump and appoints a newTreasury Secretary next year, "then the world will see what the president has been hiding all of this time," Ms Pelosi said.
Ms Pelosi said Democrats are "at the mercy of the courts" for obtaining the president's tax returns, as it stands now.
But she argued that Mr Neal, who faces a primary challenge from the left next week by progressive candidate Alex Morse, has been a "persistent" leader throughout the legal process.
"We could not have a stronger, wiser, more strategic advocate to get the president’s tax returns than Richie Neal," she said.
Trump 'failed' on coronavirus, say former GOP staffers
Here's more on the hundreds of ex-Republican staffers announcing that they are backing Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, in November's election.
The group includes more than 230 former officials from the George W Bush administration, as well as former staffers for the late Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential nominees.
In a statement on Thursday, a former senior aide to Mr Bush, Suzy DeFrancis, said "Joe Biden can bring us together to help heal the divisions in our country and find solutions to our problems", as she alleged that Donald Trump "failed to keep Americans safe during this pandemic."
Griffin Connolly has the latest:
Trump Jr denies drug claims after RNC appearance
Addressing social media speculation that he was under the influence of drugs during his address at the Republican National Convention on Monday, Donald Trump Jr. blamed the lighting for his appearance.
The president's son appeared on "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday to discuss the RNC, and online claims that he "glassy" eyes and a sweaty brow during the convention.
"I guess there must have been something with the lighting," Mr Trump Jr said. "They started doing this trending thing - 'Donald Trump Jr's on cocaine' and all of that - I said, no no no. You have me confused with Hunter Biden."
Graig Graziosi reports:
Coronavirus relief bill talks later today
Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi will this afternoon speak with the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to CNN, in a sign that Congress could see a deal on the latest coronavirus relief bill.
The call marks the first time the pair have reached-out to either side following failed negotiations on passing the next stimulus bill.
Kamala Harris set to counter Trump speech
Hours before president Donald Trump accepts his second Republican nomination on Thursday night, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris plans on delivering a speech condemning his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Her speech is expected to condemn Mr Trump's "failure of leadership" in the same week that US coronavirus deaths passed 180,000.
"Part of what I will be talking about is that they're dealing in lies, but also they are not grounded in reality," Ms Harris said during a fundraiser on Wednesday, adding that many Americans are grieving the loss of loved ones and normalcy amid the pandemic.
"They want better than this, and we are better than this," she said.
Associated Press
Kushner will 'reach out' to NBA star following boycott dismissal
White House adviser Jared Kushner will reportedly reach out to basketball star LeBron James after he described a boycott by NBA players over racial injustice as "fortunate".
Mr Kushner, in an interview with CNBC, said players protesting a police shooting that paralysed a Black man in Wisconsin, were privileged to "take a night off from work".
Reuters
Lara Trump misquotes Lincoln at RNC
The US president's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has been mocked after her speech to the Republican convention on Wednesday misquoted Abraham Lincoln.
According to PolitiFact, the segment quoted by Ms Trump appeared to be taken from a Facebook meme, which paraphrased the former president.
Christian McWhirter, a historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, told the fact-checker that "it is not accurate in that Lincoln never spoke or wrote it, but it is not totally fabricated either."
Here's the clip:
Former official says Trump 'racist' who facilitated white nationalism
A former Department of Homeland Security official who served under Donald Trump until this year, has accused the US president of facilitating white nationalism and terrorism throughout his presidency, in a damming new attack ad.
Elizabeth Neumann, who left the department in April, says in the video that she is supporting Democrat Joe Biden because of Mr Trump's 'racist' comments and failure on coronavirus.
"A very common refrain I was asked was, 'Does the president's rhetoric make your job harder?', and the answer is yes", says Ms Neumann on president Trump's support for far-right protesters.
She continues: "The president's language and his actions are in fact racist".
New unemployment claims top one million
According to the US Labor Department on Thursday, just over one million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in the past week.
Although the number of people seeking claims dropped by 98,000 compared to the previous week, the latest figures show the ongoing impact of coronavirus on the country's economy.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, weekly claims never topped 700,000 in a week, but since March that figure has been above one million on most weeks.
Associated Press
Former Republican staffers backing Biden
In two open letters published online, former staffers for the Republican presidential nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney, have said that they are backing the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
More than 100 staffers of the late Senator, John McCain, signed a letter titled “McCain Alums for Joe Biden”, which denounced president Donald Trump's alleged "self-interest.
“Given the incumbent president’s lack of competent leadership, his efforts to aggravate rather than bridge divisions among Americans, and his failure to uphold American values, we believe the election of former Vice President Biden is clearly in the national interest,” their letter states.
In another letter, current and former staffers for Senator Mitt Romeny said "four more years of a Trump presidency will morally bankrupt this country", as they also endorsed the Democratic candidate.
Mr Trump has maintained a long-time feud with the McCain family, whilst criticising Mr Romney for being the only Republican Senator to support Mr Trump's impeachment earlier this year.
Simpsons conspiracy on Trump dismissed
The Simpsons - a social media favourite for conspiracy theories about predicting events - did not predict the death of Donald Trump, despite claims that have gone viral on Twitter.
A number of tweets have claimed that an episode of The Simpsons predicted that president Trump would die on 27 August, 2020, but many of the tweets also feature a doctored image of an animated Trump lying in a coffin, and drawn to look like it was sourced from a Simpsons episode.
Adam White reports:
Trump had 'meltdown' over Putin calls, says report
President Donald Trump exploded with anger at one of his most senior aides about missing a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to a former UK official.
The US president’s rant about the missed call happened “right in front” of former prime minister Theresa May in Washington, her ex-chief of staff Nick Timothy has revealed.
Adam Forrest reports:
Ex-Trump insider says 'future of civilisation' hangs in balance
Tony Schwartz, the co-author of Donald Trump's 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, said on Wednesday that "the future of civilisation" was on the ballot this November, as he criticised the president.
Speaking to MSNBC host Ari Melbe, the former Trump insider said "the future of civilisation...will be profoundly influenced by the outcome of this election."
"That's an amazing thing to have to think", added Mr Schwartz, ahead of the US presidents address to the Republican convention on Thursday night.
